Amid the cheers of the officials and people of Youzhou, Li Jiancheng's Luan drove from Youzhou, and Pei Lian, Xiao Yu, Feng Deyi, Wei Zheng, Wen Yanbo and others accompanied Luan back to Beijing. Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui temporarily stayed in Liaodong to garrison. Li Chenglu, the king of Hengshan, and Li Chengdao, the king of Hengyang, received Li Jiancheng's edict. The two of them were ordered to travel in the Central Plains for three months, and after three months, they returned to Chang'an and handed in their homework. Before Luan drove away from Youzhou, a team of people dressed as businessmen had already left Youzhou and ran directly to Chang'an.

Chang'an, Renshou Palace. Emperor Li Yuan has reached the point of dying. The mouth kept saying:

"Prince, Emperor, where is my Emperor?" Outside Li Yuan's dormitory, Li Yuan's concubines and children who stayed in Chang'an all stood outside. Li Yuan's illness could not be hidden, in order not to cause chaos, Li Jing and Xu Jingzong ordered that all Li Tang clan relatives should stay in the mansion and not move around casually, Chang'an City was immediately curfew, and the people were not allowed to go out at night. The civil and military officials were not allowed to discuss casually, and they also sent the emperor's cronies Xiong Kuohai and Kuo Ling Li Yuan, and the remaining children and concubines were all gathered outside Li Yuan's bedroom in Renshou Palace, and they were all anxiously waiting. Many young concubines hugged their sons, and there was an unknown depression and fear in their hearts. Xu Jingzong and Youwang Li Ying were also anxious. Now that Li Jiancheng is out of Beijing, and the older princes Li Chengdao and Li Chenglu are also outside, and there is no one to supervise the country, the only consolation is that Li Jiancheng was very successful in conquering Goguryeo, and by the way, he also annexed Baekje and Silla, so that Li Tang washed away the shame of the Central Plains in the former Sui period. It also raised Li Jiancheng's prestige to a higher level, which temporarily suppressed the situation for a while, but it couldn't last long! Just when Xu Jingzong and Youwang Li Ying were anxiously waiting, a turning point appeared:

"Your Majesty has arrived!" Xu Jingzong and Li Ying immediately looked at the voice. I saw the sound of eunuchs and palace maids kneeling along the road.

"Ahh Your Majesty! Li Jiancheng, Pei Xingjian, and Di Renjie were all wearing civilian clothes. It can be seen that Li Jiancheng, Pei Xingjian, and Di Renjie are a little tired. Li Jiancheng walked quickly into Li Yuan's dormitory.

"Ahh Hail to Your Majesty! ”

"How's my father?" The imperial physician who was waiting for Li Yuan knelt on the ground.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor is ......"

"Ahh Yes! Yes! ......" Li Jiancheng heard Li Yuan's groan. immediately came to Li Yuan's bed and took Li Yuan's hand like dead wood:

"Father, the son is back, it's the son!" Li Yuan was still moaning. Li Jiancheng angrily scolded the imperial doctor who was kneeling on the ground:

"What's the matter, Emperor Tai, what's going on?"

"Your Majesty! The Emperor Taishang ...... three days ago Only...... has already lost his voice, and the time limit is approaching, and he has been supporting himself with medicine these days......" At this time, I only heard Li Yuan suddenly scream a few times, and the hand holding Li Jiancheng suddenly tightened. Li Jiancheng immediately looked at Li Yuan on the bed and felt that Li Yuan was very painful.

"Father, father, what's wrong with you? Father! How do you feel? Li Yuan grabbed Li Jiancheng's hand, and the tighter he gripped it, and suddenly, Li Yuan's hand was released. Li Jiancheng shouted loudly:

"Father, father!" The imperial physician present placed a goose feather in front of Li Yuan's nose. The goose feathers are motionless. The imperial physician said sadly to Li Jiancheng:

"Your Majesty, His Majesty the Emperor has passed away!" The whole dormitory and the dormitory wept loudly. Li Jiancheng also knelt in front of Li Yuan's window and shouted:

"Father! ......" Li Jiancheng shed a few tears after that.

"Where is Xu Jingzong?"

"The minister is here!"

"Immediately send an edict and recruit Li Ming, the king of the great sect, to come in."

"Yes!" When Li Ying walked in. said to Li Jiancheng with a crying voice:

"Your Majesty! The Emperor ...... He's dead! Li Jiancheng nodded.

"Brother Xuan, the funeral of the Emperor Taishang, I decided to let you handle it, and you must handle it grandly. In addition, the decree was that the Emperor Taishang was called Emperor Taiwu, the temple was called Gaozu, and his mausoleum was named Xianling, and the three adults who followed me were Pei Lian, Feng Deyi and Xiao Yu to come back quickly. The three of them are all the emperor's personal ministers, and when the emperor leaves, if Pei Lian, Feng Deyi and Xiao Yu and other three adults don't come back to see the emperor off. The Emperor will be very lonely. ”

"Yes! Your Majesty! Li Ying agreed, but he hadn't left yet. Li Jiancheng looked at Li Jin

"Brother Yu, what else do you have to do?" Li Ying heard Li Jiancheng not call himself like this for a long time. I was moved in my heart for a while.

"Your Majesty! The Emperor Taishang died, and the two older princes were still outside. Is it to summon the two highnesses to come back together and attend the funeral of the emperor together. After Li Jiancheng listened to Li Jin's words, he shook his head.

"The two princes have other things, so they won't attend their grandfather's funeral for the time being!" Li Ying seemed to have something to say, but swallowed it again.

"Yes! We're in charge! Li Jian's reaction made Li Jiancheng look at it, but Li Jiancheng didn't say anything. Ten days later, Pei Lian, Feng Deyi and Xiao Yu also returned to Chang'an quickly. The entire coffin procession, under the leadership of Li Jiancheng, slowly went to Li Yuan's mausoleum. Li Yuan's mausoleum was not built when Li Tang founded the country, at the beginning, Li Tang was still in the entrepreneurial period, and later when Li Jiancheng ascended the throne, he began to build it. At that time, when designing the drawings, Li Jiancheng decreed that Li Yuan's merits could be compared with Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the mausoleum should be built according to the specifications of the original mausoleum of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The mausoleum faces south in the north, the sealed soil is the mausoleum, it is the type of covered bucket, the plane is rectangular, the cemetery is rammed to build the city constantly, the wall is one door on each side, and the stone tiger is placed outside the door. Take the south gate as the main gate, there is a pair of tall Huabiao and stone rhinoceros standing outside the south gate, and the door is engraved with double dragons to suppress evil. The whole burial chamber looks solemn and majestic. When the mausoleum was closed, Li Jiancheng took out the sacrificial text he had written:

"In the ninth year of Yongshuo of the Tang Dynasty, the deceased of Li Yuan, the father of Jian's son, was born in Chang'an, stood in danger, the former Sui had no way, lost its elk, the Central Plains melee, the barbarians poisoned my fertile land in China, the people suffered and were displaced, my father Li Yuan, could not bear the disaster of heaven and earth to poison the people, raised troops in Jinyang to quell the chaos, unified the Central Plains, created my Li Tang Sheji, for my Li descendants to be rich and noble, today, the day is not a holiday, the father returns to the heavens to answer the fate, sigh!" Listening to Li Jiancheng's sacrificial text, Li Yuan's seventeen sons and eighteen daughters in addition to Li Jiancheng, as well as those concubines, cried loudly, and the Li Tang clan relatives and civil and military officials present also cried bitterly, but Li Jiancheng always felt in his heart that there was a dark cloud attacking him.

After Li Yuan's funeral, Li Jiancheng returned to Taiji Palace and asked his personal eunuch Mingyu's father-in-law:

"Mingyu, let's talk about it! I've been away from the palace for so long, what's going on in the palace? "Since Li Jiancheng found out that Ashina Yunge also had ambitions, he felt that Di Renjie's Qilin secret guard was inconvenient after all, and for the eyes and ears in the palace, the eunuchs were still more convenient than the people outside the palace. When he left the palace, he secretly ordered his personal eunuch Mingyu to recruit eunuchs in the palace, closely monitor the movements of the palace concubines, and the contact between relatives outside the palace and the concubines in the palace.

"Your Majesty! Since His Majesty ordered the slaves and maids to set up the internal eunuch (the name given by Li Jiancheng, mainly to the palace attendants, to the etiquette, and to supervise the affairs), the palace attendants are the main officials, and they are all in the palace of the nobles. According to the news from them, since the news that the Emperor Taishang was in poor health, the first to get the news was the queen mother, followed by the noble concubine and the concubine De, and Ashina Zhaoyi and Wu Jieyu also made some moves. ”

"Oh!" Li Jiancheng was not surprised by the actions of Empress Zheng Wanzhen and Concubine Yang Yan. Putting aside the identities of Zheng Wanzhen and Yang Yan's queens and concubines, Li Chengdao and Li Chenglu they gave birth to, one is the eldest son and the other is the son-in-law, and they have both grown up and have been given the title of prince, if they don't make any moves, I'm afraid there will be ghosts. And Concubine Cao De, Ashina Zhaoyi, and Wu Jieyu also participated, and Li Jiancheng was not surprised. Concubine Cao De gave birth to Li Chengyou, Ashina Yunge gave birth to Li Chengen, and even Wu Jieyu was pregnant. Just waiting for the delivery. For the sake of his son's future, and for the glory and wealth of the future, it is strange that the woman in the harem has no action!?

Just when His Majesty the Emperor had a physical problem, the prince and Pei Shilang secretly came to the queen's bedroom and talked secretly for a long time. After Pei Shilang and Guozhang left, the next day, Pei Xiangguo and Pei Shilang left Chang'an. In addition, in the palace of the noble concubine, several Lord Yang, as well as the clan relatives of the Xiao family and the clan nephews of Lord Feng are also discussing. Also, in Concubine Cao De's palace, Lord Cao and the head of Evergrande also appeared. In addition, Ashina Zhaoyi is mainly the Hu officials on the grassland, and Wu Jieyu met mainly with her mother's family, Lord Helan, however, after Lord Helan left, Wu Jieyu immediately left her bedroom and went to the queen's mother, but the queen mother did not see it, saying that she was unwell, and said that Wu Jieyu was pregnant, so Wu Jieyu went back. Mingyu's father-in-law said while secretly observing Li Jiancheng's face - originally, Mingyu's father-in-law was instructed by Li Jiancheng to let himself form an internal supervisor, and he was very excited, but when he calmed down, Mingyu's father-in-law felt that he had taken over a hot potato, and the princes' struggle for the prince and heir had begun, and the officials had begun to stand in line, and these were the emperor's taboos, the emperor was the least fond of forming a party between princes and princes, and he was the emperor's eyes and ears to find out such a trend for the emperor. This kind of 'bullshit' thing in the royal family, the more you know, the more unfavorable it will be to yourself, and when the time comes, the current emperor will become the first emperor, and the prince will become the new emperor, and you will be waiting to be stabbed as the eyes and ears of the previous dynasty! Even Imagami will eradicate himself when the time comes, because he knows too much. It's just that Li Jiancheng didn't feel unhappy in his heart, because Li Jiancheng felt that the prince was born a political figure, and it was not a bad thing to form a party for profit for that chair. Didn't Kang Mazi of the Manchu Dynasty in later generations also find out about the Nine Dragons seizing the heir! As long as you can show your ability, when the time comes, it will be a benefit to the world and the people, the chair in the Xuanzheng Hall is not an ordinary chair, after sitting on it, it means more responsibilities than ordinary people, and it also means facing more risks. It's like sitting on a volcano.