After extinguishing the fire, the prince stood there with a gloomy face, and said in a deep voice: "Can anyone tell me what is going on with today's fire?"

"Qi, Prince Qi, is a little eunuch who patrols the night and accidentally knocked over the candle, but at that time, because it was the time when the two of them were changing shifts, and it was late at night, so neither of them noticed it." A little guard on duty replied in a trembling voice.

"Waste, it's all a bunch of waste, can't so many of you see the fire? It wasn't until the fire burned half of the sky that you hurried to put out the fire, what did you do before? What's the point of this palace keeping you? The prince scolded angrily.

"Prince, the villains are wrong, the villains really didn't expect it to catch fire, and asked the prince to spare us this time." Immediately the crowd cried.

"Didn't predict? If you could have predicted in advance that there would be a fire tonight, wouldn't it be too condescending to stay in the palace as a guard? It's almost the same as going to heaven to be an immortal. The palace will give you a monthly salary every month, and there has never been a deduction, but what about you? Is that how you deserve it? Is this how you repay your master? You are all derelict in your duties, and you can't even see the fire, will you only see it next time you burn the palace to death?"

"Also, please too, the prince is angry. It's really that the fire is burning from the inside, and the little people are there, and they can't see it outside. One of the guards stammered in defense.

"What, do you have a problem with what Hongu said? It's not a small amount of courage, but he dares to rashly contradict this palace, come on, drag this bold slave to this palace and kill him. The prince said angrily.

"Spare your life, the prince spare your life! The villain doesn't dare, the villain really doesn't dare! The little guard who had just spoken immediately knelt on the ground with a "plop" and kowtowed desperately to beg for mercy, and the blood soon stained the ground red.

The prince didn't even look at him, waved his hand, and immediately several guards standing behind the prince stepped forward and dragged the little guard away.

Soon, the mournful shouts of the little guards were heard outside, and gradually, the voice became weaker and weaker, and then there was no more sound.

After a while, those guards dragged the little guards covered in blood up, walked up to the prince, lowered their heads and respectfully said, "Your Royal Highness the prince, the person is dead, what should I do with the rest?"

"Throw him to the main palace and go to the mass grave." The prince took a cursory look and said in disgust.

"Yes." With that, he dragged the little guard away. The blood on the little guard's body trickled to the ground, paving a bright red blood path in the direction he left.

Some timid palace maids and concubines even fainted on the spot.

For a moment, the people around seemed to freeze, and everyone didn't dare to say a word, and they couldn't even hear their breathing. It was as quiet as if time had stood still, and now I could hear even the sound of a pin dropping.

At this moment, a person stumbled out, breaking the eerie silence of the moment.

Seeing this, the prince immediately asked eagerly, "How is it?" Have you found your father? Why didn't anyone else come out with you?"

I saw that the man's clothes had been burned to tatters, his hair had been burned, his exposed skin had been burned black, and he could even smell the burning paste and asked.

"Qi, Qiyutai, His Royal Highness the Prince, it, and everyone else were burned alive and burned to death, and the slaves were sent out by them desperately. The emperor, the emperor is lost, missing, down, whereabouts are unknown, the servants searched the entire bed, the palace, but they did not see the emperor, the emperor's trace. The man said in fits and starts. It seemed that every word he uttered had exhausted his life's strength. As soon as he finished speaking, he fell to the ground, and lay there motionless, his eyes wide open, and he lost his breath.

"This, how is this possible? This, this must not be, it is not true, the queen mother, tell her sons, all this is not true. At this time, the prince was like a child, holding the queen's hand tightly and looking at her earnestly.

The queen mother glanced around, and then commanded in a cold voice, "You all go down, there is no need for all those who are derelict in their duties to live tonight, and there is never a useless person in the palace." In addition, send people to find the whereabouts of the emperor, no matter what the result is, this palace will see people in life and corpses in death! ”

"Yes."

"Mother, mother, mother. There are old and young in the slave's family, and they are all waiting for the slave to support the family, and they also ask the mother to spare the slave's life. ”

"Niangniang, the slave knows that he is wrong, the slave will never dare to neglect his duties in the future, and ask the slave to give the slave another chance."

"Niangniang, please be gracious!"

For a while, all kinds of voices came and went, but the queen didn't even look at them, and directly waved her hand coldly, and let people drag them all down. Soon, the surroundings returned to their previous tranquility.

However, the prince seemed to turn a deaf ear to what had just happened, and his eyes stared blankly and blankly ahead.

The queen mother looked at the prince with pity, reached out and gently stroked his cheek, and comforted him softly: "Emperor, don't be afraid, there is still the queen mother, and the queen mother will always be by your side."

"Queen Mother, you say, will my father be dead? That fire was so big, could it have burned him to the ground?" The Tao of Prince Mune.

"Emperor, the queen mother doesn't want to deceive you, you also saw the fire just now, the fire burned so big, even the sky was red, how many houses have been burned down, not to mention your father's flesh and blood? Under that kind of fire, no one could escape safely. Therefore, the emperor is afraid that he has already ......"

"No, no, he must not be dead. He hasn't seen everything he cares about destroyed by me little by little, he hasn't apologized to me, he hasn't made up for what he owes me, he still owes me so much, how can he die so easily? He must be watching my joke somewhere. Yes, it must be. The prince said to himself.

"Emperor, wake up, the emperor is gone, and now all this will be yours soon. You have to take care of it, there are many things to deal with next. The queen clutched the prince's arm.

"Yes, there are still many things to be dealt with. Queen Mother, you see, this Xichu will be ours soon, and whoever it is will prostrate at my feet. I must let my father see clearly that I am much better than his favorite four princes, I want to make Xichu stronger in my body, and I want to make my father regret what he has done before. The prince hooked his lips and said coldly.

The queen mother looked at the prince who had regained her vitality in front of her, and a relieved smile appeared on her face.

…………

The Four Princes' Mansion.

"What do you say? There was a fire in my father's palace, and now his whereabouts are unknown, and I don't know if he lives or dies?" The fourth prince exclaimed incredulously.

"Yes. I heard that it was the little eunuch who was keeping vigil who accidentally knocked over the candle flame at night, but no one found it at the first time, and by the time everyone arrived, the fire had already burned big, and I heard that the sky was half red at that time. Wang Qi said truthfully.

"Waste, it's all waste, how do they patrol the night, they can only see it when the sky is red, are they all blind? The royal family really raised them for nothing. The four princes were furious.

"Lord, you say, could this incident be a play directed and acted by the prince himself, in order to ascend to the throne as soon as possible?" Wang Qi said cautiously.

The fourth prince avoided Wang Qi's question and asked rhetorically, "What was the prince's reaction at that time?" How did you deal with this?"

Wang Qi replied respectfully: "I heard that when the prince heard the news, he immediately showed a look of disbelief, muttering to himself, as if he was crazy. The rest of the matter was handled by the queen mother, and all those who were derelict in their duties were ordered to be executed by the queen mother. ”

"Like crazy?" After hearing this, the fourth prince closed his eyes, muttered to himself, and tapped his fingers on the tabletop, as if he was in deep thought.

Seeing this, Wang Qi stepped aside with a special look and stopped disturbing him. For a moment, the room became quiet, and only the sound of "tuk-tuk" and breathing could be heard lightly tapping the tabletop.

"Wang Qi." After a long time, the fourth prince spoke softly.

"The villain is here. I don't know what the prince commands?" Wang Qi stepped forward and stood in front of the four princes.

The fourth prince closed his eyes and instructed lightly: "Send someone to inform Mr. Gu, saying that there is a change in the plan, there is something important to discuss, and ask him to meet in the king's study tonight."

"Yes, my subordinates will do it." After that, he bowed and retreated, and closed the door thoughtfully before leaving.

Inside the room, the four princes leaned motionless on their chairs with their eyes closed, as if they were contemplating and sleeping lightly.

…………

Prince's Mansion.

"Shuofeng, what do you think of what happened last night?" After the prince returned to the palace from the palace, he immediately ordered someone to find Shuofeng, and then all the subordinates were withdrawn, leaving only the two of them in the study.

"Your Highness, your subordinates think this is a good time for us to do it."

"What do you mean by that?" The prince said puzzled.

"Your Royal Highness, now that the emperor's whereabouts are unknown, life and death are unknown, there must be people in the court and the middle of the country, and there will be many people who are ready to move, at this time, there needs to be someone who stands up to preside over the overall situation and control the government, and this person is naturally none other than Your Highness." Shuofeng explained.

"What exactly should Hongu do?"

"Your Highness, more than ninety percent of the current ministers of the DPRK and the Central Committee are your people, you only need to implicitly reveal your thoughts, and someone will definitely respond, and at that time, Your Highness only needs to push the boat down the river, and you can reach the pinnacle of power that many people have dreamed of for a long time."

"Okay, just do as you say. You go and invite all the highly respected ministers of the court and the central government for the palace in a moment, and the palace will talk to them in detail. If this palace can really ascend to the supreme position as you say, this palace will not treat you badly. The prince stepped forward and patted Shuo Feng on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Your Royal Highness the Prince, my subordinates will do it." Shuo Feng bowed his head respectfully and saluted, hiding the disdain in his eyes.