Lu Xiao immediately asked, "So after Sima Lan confessed his guilt, the prince knew the content of the secret order?" ”

Xiao Shaozong shook his head and said, "After Sima Lan was executed, I didn't open the secret order immediately. The Sima clan has many henchmen in the government and the opposition, and my father said that if the Sima clan is in the court for a day, I will not be able to open the secret order for a day, which means that as soon as Sima Lan dies, I can open the secret order immediately, but until the Sima clan's power is indeed free of trouble in the court. ”

"When did the prince know the contents of the secret order?" Lu Xiao asked.

Xiao Shaozong groaned slightly, and then said: "It was when my Chu army went north." ”

"That is, a few months ago, the prince knew the contents of the secret order." Lu Xiao's expression was grim.

Xiao Shaozong nodded and said, "Not bad." The saint is wise and wise, if the remnants of the Sima clan will still pose a threat to the imperial court, the saint will naturally not be able to easily send troops to the north, since my Dachu has waved his army to the north, it will also prove that the Sima clan has indeed been eradicated, and there is no more Sima clan's rebellion in the court. He looked left and right, and then said: "Since there are no traitors in the court, I opened the secret decree left by my father according to my father's instructions, and wanted to see what kind of secret decree the first emperor left for my father." ”

In fact, after the Sima clan was eradicated, most of the many officials who were originally attached to the Sima clan still remained in the court as officials.

After the death of the first emperor, the two major forces of the DPRK and China were clearly distinguished, the King of Huainan and the Sima clan were-for-tat, and the officials of the DPRK and China wanted to gain a foothold in Beijing, and if they wanted to be in the center like the Yuan family but not targeted by the two factions, it was really a rare outlier, and they must take refuge in one side as a support.

The power of the Sima clan at that time far exceeded that of the king of Huainan, and six or seven out of ten officials in the court were somewhat involved with the Sima clan, if these people were really implicated, the state of Chu would inevitably suffer more serious consequences than Sima Lan's rebellion, because the little emperor did not pursue the crime of following the party.

At this time, Xiao Shaozong said that there was no more rebellion against the Sima clan in the DPRK, but it was used by many officials who had followed the Sima clan.

"When King Huainan handed over the secret decree to you, he revealed to you that it was the secret decree of the first emperor?" Lu Xiao asked again.

Xiao Shaozong said: "My father knows that the notification is the secret decree of the first emperor, so I will be more careful and properly kept, and my father has instructed that it should not be opened, so there should be no guilt for revealing the secret decree of the first emperor in advance, right?" ”

Lu Xiao groaned slightly, and then said: "Since the prince knew the contents of it after our army went north, why didn't he take out the secret decree for a long time?" Now that it has been more than a few months since our army went north, why did the prince wait until today? ”

"I was surprised to see the secret decree." Xiao Shaozong sighed: "I wanted to present the secret decree to the emperor immediately, but at that time, it was the time to use troops, and I really didn't want to distract the emperor and hesitate because of this matter, so I never took it out." Speaking of this, he raised his hand suddenly, with a handkerchief in his hand, covering his mouth, and then coughing violently, he was like a dwarf, very short, at this time he coughed, his body bent up, and it looked like it really made people feel a trace of sympathy, and the ministers looked at each other, thinking that Xiao Shaozong was terminally ill, and now it seems that the rumors are true, seeing Xiao Shaozong's violent cough seems to cough out his lungs, coupled with that bloodless face, I am afraid that his life will not be long.

After a cough, Xiao Shaozong arched his hand and said: "The sinner is rude, and please ask the saint to surrender." ”

The emperor said, "I forgive you for your innocence!" ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xiao Shaozong then said: "The body of the criminal minister is getting worse day by day, I'm afraid he won't live long, if he dies one day suddenly, this secret decree has never been presented, and the criminal minister is only worried that his father's innocence will never be restored, so he has the courage to play to the emperor, and today in front of the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty, this secret decree will be presented to the emperor, and I also hope that everyone can know that the father is not a rebellious minister, everything he does is in accordance with the will of the emperor." ”

There was silence in the hall for a while, and finally saw Yuan Laoshangshu of the Ministry of Rites come out and said: "Qi Shengshang, to distinguish whether this secret decree is true or false, you only need to go to the imperial file to find the record, if there is really a backup, this secret decree is naturally true, otherwise it will .....!" ”

Lu Xiao immediately said: "Exactly, Holy Lord, what Lao Shangshu said is extremely true. He asked Xiao Shaozong: "Son, the king of Huainan handed over this secret decree to you, did you mention the preparation file?" ”

Every decree issued by the emperor is archived in the imperial archives of the palace, so each will is actually two copies.

The first emperor handed over the secret decree to the king of Huainan in person, such a secret decree is very important, and it is impossible that there is no archive in the imperial internal file, and this kind of earth-shattering secret decree, in order to check it in the future, will often inform the location of the file, the ministers saw Xiao Shaozong take out this amazing secret decree today, and naturally had doubts in their hearts, knowing that to determine the authenticity of this secret decree, they could only see if there was a reserve file in the imperial internal file.

"Sixth storehouse, thirteenth plane!" Xiao Shaozong said respectfully.

The emperor immediately said: "Guihe, you personally go to the imperial file to look for it, and if there is a reserve, take it immediately." ”

The deaconist eunuch hurriedly said, "The slave obeys the order." He quickly retreated.

The Manchu civil and military people all had different thoughts, but no one spoke anymore, but the emperor did not continue to wait in the hall, got up and went to the side hall, and soon a eunuch came out and said: "Huainan Wang Shizi, the saint knows that you are not in good health, so he summons you to go to the side hall to rest first, and the other ministers will wait for the time being." ”

The ministers thought to themselves that this prince was indeed very weak, and the eunuch Guihe went to get the archive, not to mention that it would take an hour, if Xiao Shaozong was allowed to stand on the palace all the time, I was afraid that it would be difficult to support it.

Many ministers already know that when this prince was young, in addition to being stuffed in the palace day and night, he would occasionally enter the palace, and in fact, he had done the companionship of today's saints, and the relationship between the two was actually quite good.

Xiao Shaozong followed the eunuch to the side hall, passed by Yuan Laoshangshu of the Ministry of Rites, stopped, arched his hand, but said to the eunuch beside him: "You go and move a few chairs, old ministers like Yuan Laoshangshu can't stand and wait all the time, I see the emperor, and I show myself to the emperor." ”

The eunuch didn't receive the decree, hesitated for a moment, and Xiao Shaozong sighed: "I'll go and ask the emperor for an order." Going straight to the side hall, the ministers thought that this prince was careful, he was already sick like this, and he needed to be taken care of by others all the time, but he still remembered these old ministers in the court.

Xiao Shaozong arrived in front of the door of the side hall, since someone opened the door, after Xiao Shaozong entered the door, the door of the side hall was immediately closed.

Xiao Shaozong's footsteps were very slow, he entered the side hall, looked around, his steps suddenly became faster, bypassed a large screen, and saw the emperor standing in front of a table, there were melons and fruits on the table, the emperor chewed the snack in his mouth, but one hand was still pulling in the snack box, hearing Xiao Shaozong's footsteps, he turned his head to look over, his face changed slightly, his pupils showed a look of fear, and he immediately withdrew his hand, and couldn't find anything to wipe his hands for a while, so he went to the back and wiped it twice on the dragon robe.

Xiao Shaozong was six or seven steps away from the emperor, with his hands behind his back, but he didn't get close to salute, just stared at the emperor coldly.

On the contrary, the emperor hurried over, came to Xiao Shaozong, and said in a low voice: "Shizi, the villain did what you wanted, and he didn't say a wrong word." ”

Xiao Shaozong just stared coldly at the emperor's eyes, the fingertips he carried behind him moved slightly, the emperor didn't dare to look at him, lowered his head, and after a while, he heard Xiao Shaozong sigh lightly: "You should say 'flat down', not 'flat down', don't make such mistakes in the future." ”

The emperor was stunned for a moment, as if he wanted to justify, but although Xiao Shaozong's voice was calm, his eyes were indeed extremely cold, and the emperor didn't dare to say much for a while, so he could only say: "Yes!" ”

Xiao Shaozong didn't say much, walked over and sat down on a chair, the emperor followed, there was a chair next to him, but the emperor didn't dare to sit down.

Xiao Shaozong glanced at him, and the emperor sat down a little nervously.

Xiao Shaozong closed his eyes slightly, as if he was recuperating his spirits, but the emperor seemed unusually restrained, his eyes were full of uneasiness, and he suddenly heard a slight sound of footsteps, the emperor looked up, only to see a eunuch walking slowly, the eunuch was straight, not at all like the other eunuchs in the palace saw the emperor groveling, looking at it, it seemed to be walking around in his own room.

Xiao Shaozong's eyes were still closed, and the eunuch walked up to Xiao Shaozong and stopped.

The eunuch looked like he was in his forties, with a thin body, even his face was very thin, his cheekbones were protruding, and his appearance could be said to be quite ugly, but his eyes were unusually sharp, and he was very sharp.

"Shouldn't I congratulate you?" The eunuch suddenly spoke: "The prince of the world, who has never appeared in front of people, shocked the court when he appeared for the first time today, and with a little trick, the charges of the King of Huainan can be washed away, and no one will be able to say anything when the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are at that time, if the former emperor of your Chu State knows that he will be used by you after his death, I don't know how he will feel under Jiuquan?" ”

Xiao Shaozong opened his eyes at this time, raised his eyes slightly to look at the eunuch, and said lightly: "You shouldn't have been by my side often. ”

"Sometimes I'm there for you, and it's not a bad thing." The eunuch smiled slightly: "At least let you understand that there has always been a friend by your side, there are not many real friends in this world, and there are even fewer friends like me who can do things for you." ”

Xiao Shaozong shook his head: "We are not friends, never have been." ”

"Oh?" The eunuch sighed: "I always thought we were friends, but I didn't expect that in your eyes, we were not even friends." ”

"I don't do business with my friends." Xiao Shaozong was calm: "Since I have a gentleman's agreement with you, I am destined not to be friends." ”

The eunuch also shook his head: "You are also wrong, we are not friends, and what we have reached is not a gentleman's agreement, but a blood alliance, a gentleman's agreement and a blood alliance are two meanings, in other words, what I promised you, even if it is broken bones, I will do it for you, and in the same way, the thing you promised me, even if the soul is scattered, it must be fulfilled." He smiled faintly and said, "Otherwise, we will all die ugly!" ”