"Did it scare you?"

Emperor Hongwei leaned back on the bed and said calmly.

When Xu Rui left Changxing City, Emperor Hongwei was only in his early fifties, although he had passed the age of his prime, he was also at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, and it was the most mature and majestic time for a man.

However, today's Hongwei Emperor described him as withered, with a sallow complexion, a large area of red spots on his face, and two deeply sunken eye sockets, without a little brilliance, more like a ghost than a human.

The old dragon clock, with a sick face, is the most appropriate to describe him at this moment.

Xu Rui couldn't imagine how Emperor Hongwei had changed from a majestic emperor to the sad appearance he has now in just over two years.

He couldn't help but have such a thought in his mind, was the old man in front of him still the Hongwei Emperor who stood up to the sky, had the ambition to swallow the sky, and firmly held the entire empire in the palm of his hand?

Hearing Emperor Hongwei's words, Xu Rui came back to his senses and shook his head: "The situation is better than I imagined, and it is worse than I imagined." ”

Emperor Hongwei seemed to have adjusted his mentality, and he did not feel any sadness for his body, but looked at Xu Rui with interest and said: "This is interesting, what does it mean to be better than you imagined and worse than you imagined?" ”

Xu Rui struggled to reconcile the impression of Emperor Hongwei with the old man in front of him, suppressed the shock and doubts in his heart, and said lightly: "When I received the holy decree on the grassland at the beginning, I thought that the situation was out of control, and it was very likely that the saint would ...... Probably ......"

As he spoke, Xu Rui looked at Emperor Hongwei with a somewhat hesitant expression.

Emperor Hongwei said, "Think I'm no longer good? ”

Xu Rui nodded: "That's what the minister really thought at the time. ”

"When did you stop thinking so?"

Emperor Hongwei asked calmly.

Xu Rui said: "When I met the 200,000 army led by Wang Yi in front of Loushan Pass. ”

"Oh?"

Emperor Hongwei grinned with difficulty: "How can you see it? ”

Xu Rui explained: "Behind the King of Liao is a group of civilian officials, and it is not surprising that he can control the capital, but it is impossible to control the army.

The Great Wei army was self-contained and not subject to civilian control, and even if the Liao King could cut off Liu Dadu and Xiao Shangshu through court battles, it was impossible to make the twelve guards of the Beijing Division obey him so quickly.

What's more, although the minister has not been in the army for a few years, after all, he fought side by side with the twelve guards of the Beijing Division, and he kept an incense feeling.

If the king of Liao sent these 200,000 troops to intercept and kill his ministers, it means that he is afraid of his ministers, and since he is afraid of his ministers, how can he not prevent his ministers from taking this opportunity to abduct these 200,000 troops?

So unless the King of Liao is crazy, he will never send the twelve guards of the Jingshi to oppose the ministers, at least not at this point in time! ”

Emperor Hongwei glanced at Xu Rui deeply, and said lightly: "So you think that this 200,000 army was sent by me?" ”

Xu Rui nodded: "Even if it wasn't sent by the saint, at least it was acquiesced by the saint, so at that time, the minister thought that the saint had already passed the difficulty, but he didn't expect to be so sick." ”

When Emperor Hongwei heard this, he finally showed a touch of loneliness, sighed and said: "Birth, old age, sickness and death are human nature, and there is nothing to blame originally, I just hate God for not opening my eyes."

In the first half of my life, I have been working hard to strengthen the country and accumulate strength for dominating the world, and finally waited for a good talent like you, and the Great Wei has gradually become rich and powerful, and the time is almost ripe to dominate the world, but God refuses to give me a little more time.

Alas...... Creation makes people, creation makes people......"

Xu Rui heard a kind of bitterness from Emperor Hongwei's emotion, and his heart was silent, and he pondered for a moment before saying, "What kind of disease does the saint have?" Can you ask Mr. Changpo for treatment? ”

Emperor Hongwei came back to his senses, waved his hand weakly and said: "I invited Mr. Changpo to come and see it early in the morning, not only him, but also the imperial doctors in the palace and the folk doctors were invited to diagnose and treat me, but all the doctors were helpless, only saying that it was a strange disease that had never been seen before."

Okay, I am the king of a country, and my illness is also a bit of an emperor, whether it is a miracle doctor or a quack doctor, there is no way to take my illness, so it can be regarded as a beautiful talk, right? ”

Xu Rui was silent for a while when he heard this, although Emperor Hongwei said it easily, he could imagine how desperate and tormented the ambitious Emperor Hongwei would be when he learned that he was seriously ill.

The most unguessable thing is how this old man could adjust his mentality from such a heavy blow, and then face his doom so calmly.

You must know that in another world, no matter how great an emperor is, he is just as cowardly in the face of aging and death, and even a great man like Emperor Qin and Han Wu has tried his best to seek immortality in the twilight of his life.

Therefore, Emperor Hongwei's calmness at the moment seems even more rare, but there seems to be something strange hidden under the disease.

"Apart from the Holy Sickness, what else is going on these days?"

After a long while, Xu Rui suddenly asked with a frown.

When Emperor Hongwei heard this, the corners of his mouth grinned slightly, revealing a meaningful smile and said, "What does Xu Qing think?" ”

Xu Rui groaned slightly: "If the minister's expectation is good, the holy decree that the minister received in the northwest was personally ordered by the saint, and the purpose is to let the minister rush back to the capital as soon as possible, because the situation in the capital is getting out of control!" ”

Emperor Hongwei's face gradually became serious when he heard this, and a trace of memory flashed in his eyes.

"You're right again, just when the good news of your sweep across the grassland reached the capital, a major case broke out in the capital, and Liao Wentao, the leader of the Imperial Forest Army, plotted to plant explosives on the road of my spring hunt and send me back to the west.

This matter is very secret, if you didn't happen to be fighting with Sukhbaru on the steppe at that time, and urged the military headquarters to deliver supplies several times, no one would have found that little explosives were missing, and their conspiracy would not have been discovered by Dongchang. ”

Xu Rui was slightly stunned: "The matter was discovered by Dongchang?" Could it be that this matter has something to do with the crown prince? ”

Dongchang has always been in the hands of Hu Miao, and Hu Miao has almost fallen to the King of Liao, except for framing Zhongliang on weekdays, Dongchang has never been so active, this time it is possible to take the lead in solving major cases is meaningful, so Xu Rui will have this question.

Emperor Hongwei didn't seem surprised that Xu Rui could guess the cause and effect, and nodded.

"Liao Wentao was born in the East Palace, he is the prince's henchman, and after the defeat, he entered the edict of Dongchang, but it is ridiculous that this guy didn't even survive a day before he was recruited, and it was the prince who instructed him behind his back!

The crown prince not only conspired with him to assassinate Yu Zhen, but even arranged all the details of the follow-up transfer of troops to force the palace, and there was also the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies as an internal response. ”

"So the saint dismissed Liu Yi?"

Xu Rui was stunned.

Emperor Hongwei nodded: "The five military governor's mansion is such an important yamen can be so lax, and it is easy for these young people to find an opportunity, shouldn't he, the chief, be responsible?" ”

Xu Rui frowned and said, "Has the prince admitted this matter?" ”

Emperor Hongwei sneered: "This prince of mine is not a master who dares to be a daring to be a child, he was almost scared to pee his pants when the East Window incident happened, and he found all the reasons he could find, how could he puff up his chest and admit it?" ”

Xu Rui's brows furrowed even deeper when he heard this, and he hesitated: "The main culprit Liao Wentao was born in the East Palace, and the evidence of the prince's involvement in the rebellion is conclusive, so obvious and so simple, didn't the saint suspect that someone was blaming the prince?" ”

Emperor Hongwei sneered: "Of course I have doubted that after the prince's accident, the turbulence of the court situation exceeded my expectations, and the originally most powerful Xungui group seemed to have been caught off guard and was restrained everywhere, and the balance of my painstaking management was instantly broken.

It all came so suddenly, and so naturally, that I felt as if there was an invisible black hand behind it.

At that time, I had a problem with my body bones, I had chest tightness and shortness of breath, and I didn't have enough energy, so I thought about taking this opportunity to give those clowns a stage. ”

"So you called it sick to the outside world, but you didn't expect the situation to suddenly get out of control?"

Xu Rui's eyes sharpened, and he asked in a deep voice.

Emperor Hongwei nodded, a hint of coldness flashing across his face.

"What happened next was indeed so much more than I expected, that the situation was so bad that I knew that the grassland still needed you, but I had to recruit you back!"