"Third brother, you wait for me!"

A girl about thirteen years old shouted happily while chasing the boy who was running in front of her and playing, this girl was Xia Zhen, the princess of the Xia Empire, and the boy she was chasing was the third prince of the Xia Empire, Xia Tao, who was only fifteen years old.

The two children were chasing and playing, and the imperial guards in exquisite armor stood not far away to guard the two prominent princes and princesses.

The Imperial Guard stood there with a great sword on his back, his hands crossed on his chest, and he looked dignified and majestic, but his expression was extremely indifferent, as if nothing could arouse his interest.

At this moment, an old man with gray hair and wearing the same style of delicate armor walked over, and this old man had a long sword inlaid with gorgeous gems pinned to his waist.

The imperial guard looked at the old man, he didn't know what the old man was doing here, but he knew that if the old man didn't have something special, he wouldn't come to him easily, because the old man was the commander of the imperial guard, and the respected Liu Chengyuan was also a person who knew his personality well.

The imperial guard saw that Commander Liu came to his side, so he nodded slightly, which was regarded as a greeting, and Commander Liu had obviously long been accustomed to his personality, so he also smiled slightly and nodded.

"Li Que, the emperor asked you to go to him."

Commander Liu's tone was soft and smiling, but the face of the imperial guard Li Que still showed a slight hesitation, he frowned, and seemed to be reluctant to pass, and Commander Liu obviously saw the change in his mood, but Commander Liu didn't say anything, just looked at him with a smile.

"What should I do in the past...... I'm over, what about the kids? Li Que said angrily, but in fact, he himself understood that the king's order could not be violated, he just wanted to complain.

"I will arrange for others to protect the three princes and princesses." Commander Liu still smiled and said softly, and Li Que had no choice but to nod, and then he turned to look at the two children again, and then bowed his head and left alone.

Li Que walked towards Emperor Xia Ling's tent alone, and now they were already in the territory of Changhu Bay, but Li Que saw that the soldiers of the imperial leadership were still very loose and gathered together and laughed, which made Li Que frown, how could such an army bring deterrence to the kings.

Li Que bypassed several military tents, and finally came to a wide area, where a large number of soldiers were guarded, and Emperor Xia Ling had always paid attention to his own safety, so Li Que was not surprised that there were so many soldiers guarding here.

Not far from the camp tent, there was a tall young man with a dignified appearance in front of Li Que, and this young man was accompanied by a colleague of Li Que, Qiu Minzhong, the imperial guard.

Li Que didn't like Qiu Minzhong very much, because Li Que felt that Qiu Minzhong was greedy and cruel, and Li Que even felt that Qiu Minzhong was not worthy of being a royal guard at all.

If he had met Qiu Minzhong alone, Li Que might have ignored this person completely, but now he had to take a look, because Qiu Minzhong was now following Xia Shang, the eldest prince of the Xia Empire.

Emperor Xia Ling has many concubines, but only four children, among which the queen Li gave birth to the eldest son Xia Shang for Emperor Xia Ling, Xia Shang is now twenty years old, was named the crown prince, Xia Shangsheng's appearance is dignified, outstanding intelligence, and unlike Emperor Xia Ling, Xia Shang is quite kind-hearted, but it is precisely because of this that Xia Shang disappointed Emperor Xia Ling, and Emperor Xia Ling always felt that Xia Shang was too kind of a woman.

Li Que and Xia Shang met head-on, Li Que bowed slightly, Xia Shang nodded at Li Que with a sad face, Li Que wanted to say something, but he wanted to stop talking.

"Father is in a good mood now, and if he kills more people, his mood will always become very good." Prince Xia Shang said with a wry smile, Li Que felt that he could understand the prince's mood very well, with such a father, I don't know whether to be proud or difficult.

"Your Majesty, hasn't he always been like this......" Li Que said helplessly.

However, Li Que's words angered Qiu Minzhong, only to see Qiu Minzhong with a cold face, glaring at Li Que, Li Que glanced at Qiu Minzhong, which made Qiu Minzhong even more angry.

"Li Que! Are you mocking the emperor in such a tone? Qiu Minzhong said viciously.

"Lord Qiu hasn't caught the bone yet, but his tail is waging first." Li Que replied with a sneer.

This made Qiu Minzhong immediately angry, only to see Qiu Minzhong holding his hand on the handle of his big axe, and Li Que immediately pressed the hilt of his giant sword with his hand, and the atmosphere on the scene immediately became tense.

"Calm me down! Do you guys and I don't exist?! ”

The prince clenched his fists and roared angrily, Li Que immediately put down the hand holding the hilt of the sword, and then bent down deeply at the prince, and Li Que noticed that Qiu Minzhong also immediately bent down, looking apologetic, Qiu Minzhong's posture made him feel disgusted.

"Li Que, pay attention to your words, if you say too much, you will lose." The prince's face softened slightly, and then he said to Li Que in a serious tone, Li Que nodded gratefully, he knew that the prince did not want to bring him death because of his words.

"Qiu Minzhong, just now Li Que's words, you should pretend that you didn't hear it, if my father knows something, I will definitely not let you go." The crown prince warned Qiu Minzhong again, and Qiu Minzhong immediately agreed, Li Que knew that Qiu Minzhong would definitely not let himself fall into a passive situation because he wanted to get rid of him.

Li Que nodded to the prince Xia Shang again, then said goodbye to the prince, and walked towards the big tent alone, outside the big tent, there was a royal guard Duan Hai, this is a colleague who has a good relationship with Li Que, Duan Hai saw Li Que, nodded slightly, Li Que also nodded, it was a mutual greeting.

Li Que walked into the big tent, only to see that Emperor Xia Ling was sitting in the chief position of the big tent at this time, and Emperor Xia Ling's second son, Xia Lin, King of Guangping, was sitting in the second seat, King Guangping was talking with Emperor Xia Ling excitedly, and Emperor Xia Ling looked pleased.

Xia Lin was born to Concubine Zhou, now seventeen years old, Zhou Guifei was born in the Han clan in the land of fish and rice, originally a singer of Hangxia, because of her stunning appearance and good at music, so when Emperor Xia Ling visited Hangxia, the land of fish and rice, Zhou was included in the harem, and has been loved to the extreme, and it is still the case today.

Xia Lin is favored by his mother, so he is domineering, even the prince Xia Shang is quite jealous of this younger brother, and Emperor Xia Ling is also quite fond of Xia Lin, when Xia Lin was ten years old, he was named the king of Guangping by Emperor Xia Ling, and gave Guangping autonomy, which made Xia Lin even more empty-eyed.

Li Que didn't like King Guangping at all, because King Guangping was too much like Emperor Xia Ling, and he still preferred the generous prince Xia Shang.

"Minister Li Que, knock on the emperor." When Li Que saw Emperor Xia Ling, he immediately bowed his head and saluted.

"Get up."

Emperor Xia Ling said happily, so Li Que immediately stood up, and then bowed to Xia Lin, the king of Guangping, but the king of Guangping just snorted, but Li Que was also used to the appearance of the king of Guangping.

"What are Li Que, Tao and Zhen doing now?" Emperor Xia Ling asked softly.

"King Dongjun and Princess Qingle are having fun in the open space at this time." Li Que responded politely.

The king of Dongjun is Xia Tao, Princess Qingle is Xia Zhen, their mother is Yu, Yu itself is from the royal family, she is the sister of Yu Shicheng, the king of Qingyuan Qin, and her family background is prominent, so such an identity also makes Emperor Xia Ling feel jealous, and because of this, Yu Guifei is not favored, but Emperor Xia Ling does not dare to offend Yu Guifei head-on. In this regard, Li Que also felt that Emperor Xia Ling must be very unhappy, but this made Li Que feel very interesting.

"Humph! Know how to play all day long! Something that doesn't make a difference! Emperor Xia Ling frowned and said, because of Concubine Yu, Xia Tao, the king of Dongjun, and Xia Zhen, the princess of Qingle, were not favored.

"It's a child's nature to play." Li Que said softly.

"Hah! Talent is such a thing, you can see it since you were a child, and Dongjun Wang can see at a glance that he is a guy with mediocre talent. King Guangping said sarcastically, Li Que frowned slightly, but obviously no one noticed, he never felt that King Guangping had any special talents, and some were only arrogant.

"But their mother's family is very big." Emperor Xia Ling said with a little annoyance.

"The Yu family is big, can it be bigger than our royal family? This entire Great Xia belongs to our Xia family! King Guangping said quite proudly, speaking of which, he also deliberately straightened his waist, and this kind of behavior, in Li Que's eyes, is very funny.

"You can't think like this, if you are too careless, you will die a miserable death, these feudal kings have been running their own territories for generations, and their strength cannot be underestimated." Emperor Xia Ling seemed quite calm at this time, and Li Que was not surprised by this, after all, this throne was taken by Emperor Xia Ling himself, and Emperor Xia Ling was not a flower that grew in a greenhouse.

"This hateful feudal system should have changed a long time ago, father, as a monarch, you should concentrate power in your own hands, instead of handing it over." King Guangping said loudly, as if he knew everything.

However, King Guangping's words made Emperor Xia Ling raise his eyebrows, King Guangping saw that the style of painting was wrong, so he immediately lowered his head, Li Que sneered in his heart, King Guangping was too self-righteous, you know, when Emperor Xia Ling seized power, he was helped by these kings, how could Emperor Xia Ling simply hold power in his own hands.

"It should change, it will always change, but that's not what you kid says." Emperor Xia Ling said coldly.

"Yes, that's what you said, Father." King Guangping nodded again and again, but Li Que saw disdain in King Guangping's eyes.

"Li Que, your previous performance was remarkable, fortunately, we discovered the conspiracy of the Luo brothers, so we were able to design and annihilate these thieves." Emperor Xia Ling was full of praise, but this could not make Li Que happy in the slightest.

In order to completely eradicate the Li brothers, Emperor Xia Ling did not hesitate to sacrifice a large number of attendants and maids, but Li Que, who was the imperial guard, could not have any disobedience to this order, Li Que has been an official for so many years, and has always firmly believed in one thing, that is, the king let the ministers die and the ministers have to die, he has killed countless people for Emperor Xia Ling, among which there are those who should be killed, and there are many who should not be killed, there are good fighting generals, and there are also unarmed and innocent people, Li Que has no way to do this, he can only carry out his own orders.

"When I see King Qi, I plan to let you personally give him a big gift." Emperor Xia Ling said with a smile, but such a smile made Li Que shudder.

"I can't wait to see King Qi's reaction! The prince is still weak and doesn't want us to do this, it's really a shame for the Xia family! King Guangping said excitedly, and at the same time showed disdain for the crown prince Xia Shang.

The appearance of King Guangping couldn't help but make Li Que's heart cold, he felt more and more that King Guangping was like Emperor Xia Ling, Emperor Xia Ling won his current status by killing his brother and killing his brother, King Guangping may also embark on this cruel road of fratricide, and then Li Que will inevitably be stained with blood for such a person again, but what makes Li Que feel a little relieved is that King Guangping has less talent than Emperor Xia Ling.

"Don't worry too much, I won't be stupid enough to do it directly to King Qi in Lihu City, Changhu Bay, I just let you throw the heads of the Luo brothers in front of King Qi when you see King Qi on the first day, I want to make him overwhelmed and completely flustered." Emperor Xia Ling smiled coldly.

Li Que's face did not change, but he felt very helpless in his heart, he still remembered the moment when he cut off Luo Zifei's head with his own hands, killing Luo Zifei, Li Que did not regret it, because when Luo Zifei was crazy to slaughter innocent attendants and maids before, he wanted to kill Luo Zifei with his own hands, but he also knew that every time he carried out the king's order and slaughtered innocents, there must be many people who wanted to kill him like this.

Li Que also knew that throwing the heads of the Luo brothers directly and mercilessly in front of King Qi was definitely something that no one wanted to do, no one would be willing to offend King Qi like this, only he, only he could carry out such an offending and ruthless task, just because he was Li Que, he was born to be Que, and he was born to be a wrong and loyal minister.