Lin Qingzhi hasn't had a good night's sleep for many days, and is always awakened by nightmares, either dreaming that her father is looking at her with a desperate face, or dreaming that she falls into the cliff and is lonely and hopeless.

In a blink of an eye, it was August 16, this day was a bright weather, the sun was shining from the sky, the civil and military officials gathered in the Changding Palace, Xiao Mufeng was wearing the crown dress of the prince, and his appearance was even more extraordinary, and his bearing was luxurious, but there was still no joy on that face, and there was only that indifferent and cold face that remained unchanged for a long time.

After the official read out the edict, Emperor Xiao Jingjiao awarded him the crown prince's seal, and Xiao Mufeng worshiped Xie Longen.

After the court ceremony, the new prince sat down and accepted the congratulations of the hundred officials.

In the afternoon, the emperor Xiao Jingjiao and the prince drove to the temple, to tell the ancestors, along the way to accept the people's road advice, the scene is very spectacular, the people are praised for the new prince has both ability and political integrity, and can lead the army to fight, it is well deserved.

Lin Qingzhi stood in the bustling crowd, looking at the tall and jade figure on the horse, her heart was excited, and the corners of her mouth curved to reveal a heartfelt smile.

On the high altar of the temple, Xiao Mufeng wore a noble crown, knelt down slowly with incense in his hand, kowtowed three times, and then got up and inserted the incense into the incense burner on the altar.

Slowly walked down the altar and returned to the harem to meet the Queen Mother.

Xiao Muheng in the audience also turned around and returned to the empty and lonely mansion, now he has no use value, the ministers are no longer courteous to him, there is no princess in the mansion, and he can't see his mother, Xiao Muheng sat in the flower hall in the mansion and drank himself, knelt on the table and said in a choked voice: "Second brother, fourth brother still can't hold a butcher's knife to you, I don't have the courage to kill my own brother like Li Shimin, I don't want to live in guilt and self-blame for the rest of my life, mother, I'm sorry, Heng'er can't do it!" ”

"Do you think that if you let him go, he will be grateful to you? You are wrong, the current Xiao Mufeng is no longer the former Xiao Mufeng, let alone your second brother who protects you in everything, he will eradicate your wings little by little. The man in black appeared in front of him again, only this time he was dressed as a small servant, but Xiao Muheng would not forget the brilliance and voice in his eyes.

"I don't have any threats, how else do I need to get rid of my wings, besides, I don't have any wings, if you want revenge, do it yourself, why expect me to be a prince who has no power?"

"I'm just looking for an ally, don't worry, I believe that one day soon, you will want to form an alliance with me, then go to the Shenshui House on Suzaku Street to find me, I'll wait for you!" After speaking, the man in black disappeared from Xiao Muheng's sight.

Xiao Muheng was stunned for a long time, got up and walked to the inner courtyard.

Perhaps due to the complicated etiquette of the crown prince's canonization, after a day of fatigue, the emperor became more and more unwell on the second day after the canonization of the crown prince, and the edict should be decided by the prince in charge of the state affairs.

After Xiao Mufeng returned to the court, he had been to Lixin Garden, but Lin Qingzhi blocked him outside the door on the grounds that he was unwell and inconvenient to meet guests, and Xiao Mufeng stood under the scorching sun for two hours, and finally shouted back on the grounds that he was summoned by the emperor.

After Xiao Mufeng moved to the East Palace, his style of governance was completely different from that of Emperor Xiao Jingjiao, deleting some troubles and cumbersome procedures, and paying more attention to efficiency and results. It is ordered to recruit people with lofty ideals from all over the world, and after assessment and screening, they can be given official positions and careers.

In the military and political affairs, we should reuse some capable military generals, innovate the system of suffocation, and put an end to the phenomenon of cronyism.

In the area of taxation and forced labor, the government has been benevolent and benevolent, reducing the previous system of collecting taxes and forced labor on a four-season basis to only two times, ordering rest and recuperation, building water conservancy, and reducing the occurrence of droughts and floods.

For a time, the people praised the new prince and praised him as a benevolent and virtuous king.

On August 20, just as Xiao Mufeng was buried in a pile of twists and turns in the East Palace, Zhou Shixiu, the secretary of the Criminal Department, knocked on the door of the East Palace with a solemn face, and Xiao Mufeng heard the report from the internal supervisor that Zhou Shangshu said that there were 100,000 urgent things to report, so he hurriedly ordered someone to invite the white-bearded Zhou Laoshangshu into the door.

Now in the six ministries of the DPRK, except for Li Chengqi, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Zhou Shixiu, the secretary of the Criminal Department, the other four departments are all new people, because Li Chengqi, the secretary of the Ministry of War, is the person who supports Xiao Mufeng, the king of Ning, and he is cautious and proper, and Zhou Shixiu, although he has not expressed support, but since he has been in charge for eight years, the Criminal Department has always been fair and selfless in handling cases, and it has been well organized.

It turned out that a person who claimed to be Liu Zhiyuan surrendered to the Criminal Department, saying that there was another inside story about the murder of Zuo Xiang Lin Chengde, and that the person who testified against Zuo Xiang in the court was not himself, but his younger brother Liu Zhigao, and told Zhou Shixiu in detail.

Zhou Shixiu felt that this matter was important, so he found the prince and hoped to report to the emperor and give him a direction to deal with.

Xiao Mufeng paced around the house a few times in a black brocade robe, and decided to let Zhou Shixiu ask for a retrial in the court on the second day, and he would ask the emperor to go to the court to listen to the government on the second day, and then inform the emperor of the matter, and the emperor would decide.

On the second day, after Zhou Shixiu, the secretary of the Criminal Department, played the matter in the court, he saw that the emperor's face was as black as charcoal.

The emperor is naturally reluctant to retry the case that has passed, and the case is still closed by him, if the result of the retrial is that Zuo Xiang Lin Chengde was unjustly killed, then it is a slap in the face, so after several hesitations, he wants to calm down.

But Zhou Shixiu has always been upright, and it is precisely because he does not cling to others, does not look at other people's faces, and does not involve party disputes, everything is convincing people with reason, and the position of the secretary of the Criminal Department for so many years can be regarded as stable.

I saw Zhou Shixiu leaning over, kneeling and kowtowing: "Please ask the emperor to decree that this case will be retried, if this matter is suppressed, if it spreads, I am afraid that it will damage the emperor's prestige." ”

Liu Zhiyuan also knelt down to ask for a retrial, and also said that his brother Liu Zhigao was also in Luoyang, and this matter was true.

After a long silence, the emperor turned his gaze to Xiao Mufeng and asked, "Prince, according to what you see, how should this matter be handled?" ”

The emperor originally thought that he had given the crown prince to Xiao Mufeng, so Xiao Mufeng should be grateful for his favor and value, and would take into account his face and ideas and dare not disobey, after all, he was only a prince, and he could be established or abolished.

But what he never expected was that Xiao Mufeng suddenly knelt down and said solemnly: "Erchen thinks that Zhou Shangshu is reasonable, if this matter is not investigated, then I am afraid that it will chill the passionate heart of patriots, and ask my father to issue an order to thoroughly investigate and retry this case!" ”

The emperor took a step back in shock, his pace was unsteady and he sat in the dragon chair, Xiao Mufeng knelt, and everyone in the court knelt down, until this time Xiao Jingjiao realized that after a period of time, his son had collected all the hearts of the people in the court, and his emperor was only a nominal emperor, and all the power had already fallen into the hands of this son who was popular with the people.

He has been sitting in this supreme position for more than ten years, and he has been lonely for more than ten years, and it is only then that he feels what it is like to be isolated, and the most important thing is that he is powerless to change the situation.

In the end, the case was presided over by Zhou Shixiu, the impartial and impartial secretary of the Criminal Department.

The emperor's eyes were full of disappointment and loneliness, and under the bright dragon robe, Xiao Jingjiao was just a weak and old man.