When the sun is beautiful, half of the pond is red, the pink lotus Tingting shines on the water, the wind passes, and the Qionghua is rolled up and scattered, like an early snow.

In the middle of the place, the fragrance of the half court, under the shade of the water's edge, a few, a seat, a piano, and a person.

The sound of the piano was slow to sound, and the man's pale fingertips remained on the silk strings for a long time, nothing more.

This jade qin has been groaning for a long time.

Just like this palace, since it was built, there have been only a few visitors, and it has always been quiet.

At the slanting sun railing, there is no one to rely on.

In the shadows, the dark blue brocade clothes on the Son of Heaven were dull in color, and they seemed to be incompatible with this gorgeous evening.

For a long, long time, with a long sigh, he raised his eyes and looked at a pair of warblers chasing and frolicking in the shade of the flowers.

"I really hope that my husband is not the prince." There seemed to be a haunting voice in his ears, and the Son of Heaven stiffened his spine, and he turned to the side, and in a trance, he seemed to see the woman who was in the prime of life, lying on several cases, with her cheeks facing him half-up, and she was tender.

"But if you weren't the prince, we wouldn't have met and met, let alone joined hands like this." The woman's slender jade fingers seemed to be about to touch his palm.

At this time, the Son of Heaven spread his hands slightly, and was not covered with the expected softness, only a palm of Qionghua fell, and it was swept by the evening wind, leaving only the void.

Maybe there is only such a person in the world, not because of his noble identity to stay, but in the end he was burdened by his identity, Bai Shou finally became an empty promise, and he didn't even regret saying goodbye, in this deep palace, she died so desolate and tragically, he didn't even know if she regretted it at the last moment.

In exchange for her life, she only spent a little time with him, and she should not have been involved in such a sinister world.

On this day, the Son of Heaven issued a holy edict, the Confucian family copied the full door, the queen was abolished, and Concubine Wan was posthumously crowned as the imperial concubine.

"Lan Zhu, I can't give you anything after all." The retracted fingers trembled slightly, covering the silk strings: "For the sake of San Lang, he wants to stay in the country where you were born and raised, I allow it, and letting him go is the only thing I can do, but I can no longer make you the queen and make you my rightful wife, even this, I can't do it...... Lan Zhu, you will laugh at my incompetence then. ”

This person muttered, and the piano was silent, until the shadow of the sun dissipated, the sun did not go west, and the night engulfed the scenery in the garden inch by inch.

In July of the ninth year of Yuanqing, before the late autumn, it was already slaughtered.

Most of the people in the world were shocked by the fall of the empress and the Confucian family, and few people knew that their emperor had fainted again on this night.

When I woke up, the night was already dark.

There was only a more swallowing "Xian'er" in the ears of the Son of Heaven.

It took a while for the groggy vision to become clear, and the Son of Heaven saw clearly that his mother was next to the couch, his temples were frosty white, and there were still tears on his face.

This time, the Son of Heaven was unable to sit up for a long time, and he already clearly felt the approach of death.

But he still has a lot of things to do, and his country, which has not yet chosen an heir, can be delivered with confidence.

After a period of chaos by the imperial doctor, the Son of Heaven became a little more conscious, and gradually gained the strength to gasp and speak.

In the spacious and cool hall, only this pair of mother and son remained.

"Queen Mother, what did the envoy of the Jiang Academy say, how long does the son have left?"

One sentence made the Queen Mother burst into tears, turned sideways, pressed one hand on her chest, and replied without sorrow for a while: "Don't think about it, Mr. Jiang said that as long as you recuperate, relax your mind...... "If it is well maintained, it is not difficult to survive this autumn and winter, but these words really can't bring any joy, the Queen Mother can't go on, and covers her mouth tightly."

The Son of Heaven shook his head and smiled bitterly, recuperate? He didn't have time anymore, and every moment of breath was precious.

"Queen Mother, you saw the Kong family a few days ago." The Son of Heaven finally sat half-seated, and when he said this, he did not look at the Queen Mother.

"I've seen it, what she can say, Xian'er must have expected it." It was easy for the Queen Mother to calm her tone slightly, wipe away the tears on her face, and then turned around, looked at her pale son, and took a heavy breath.

The queen knelt down that day and begged the Queen Mother to protect the East Palace, and that remark -

"The Kong family is full of beheading, the concubine will also be abolished, the prince no longer has a mother to rely on, the queen mother, the prince will only rely on you in the future, rely on the Yan family, the prince is filial, he will obey the queen mother, the Yan family assists the emperor, and the prestige is heavier...... If a new prince is appointed, the princes will have their own wives and mothers to rely on, and they will inevitably reject dissidents......"

The Wei family, the prince's wife, does not have too much prestige, relying on the Weiguo Mansion, but the Yan family is the eldest princess's foreign family, closely related to the Su family, the queen mother has always believed in the Su family, and there is no contradiction between the Su and Yan families, the queen mother controls the prince, and the Su family assists, and the Yan family will be able to tilt the power into the government and the opposition in the future and rank among the top of the powerful.

The Queen Mother sneered slightly: "The Kong family also underestimates the Mourning family, it is true that the Mourning family is from the Yan family, and they must take into account the honor of the family, but the Mourning family is also the wife of the heavenly family, and it is your mother, and she will never interfere in the government just for the power of her mother's family...... The mourning family did not approve of Yi Chu at the beginning, because they were worried that once the heir was abolished, the sons would fight each other, causing the royal family to close the wall, and then follow the mistake of the sons seizing the throne and causing civil strife. ”

"Although the crown prince is not talented enough, but this child does not have a vicious heart, for most of the siblings, his eldest brother still loves and cares, the royal heirs are prosperous and strong, and the rule of the surname Yu can be stable, and the mourning family is worried that if the incumbent is too suspicious and ruthless, it will weaken the power of the clan even more, and instead promote the power of foreign relatives and ministers, the mourning family is thinking that if the prince is assisted by virtuous ministers in the future, it is not difficult to keep it." The Queen Mother shook her head: "In the end, the mourning family still underestimated the ambitions of the Kong family, and Xian'er understands that the mourning family supports the hidden danger of eradicating the Kong family." ”

Seeing that the Son of Heaven seemed to want to speak in a hurry, the Queen Mother clenched her son's hand: "Xian'er, the queen mother understands that as an emperor, you must be more thoughtful than the mourning family...... Xian'er, you are the only son of the queen mother, and you are the most important in the mother's heart, as long as you make a decision, the queen mother will support you, no matter which prince you entrust the throne to, the queen mother and the Yan family will do their best to assist the new monarch. ”

The corners of the Queen Mother's eyes were filled with tears again, and she raised her hand to gently stroke the sweaty sideburns of the Son of Heaven, she also had resentment in her heart, resentment of God for being ruthless, her son's sideburns were not white, and he was in the prime of life, but he was tortured by illness, and in a blink of an eye, it was the difference between life and death.

The Son of Heaven clenched the hand of the Queen Mother, and there was a cramp in his heart, but he forced himself to hold back the sourness, and took a long breath: "Queen Mother, my father and the emperor are on their deathbed, and the sons dare not slack off, and they are determined to reform the official system, in order to cultivate new forces to gradually replace the old magnates...... In order to finally realize the reform of the military system and standardize the unification of military power and imperial power, but his son is incompetent and has no time to realize it...... Now is not the time to keep the success, the prince is cowardly and incompetent, without any opinions, although he is assisted by virtuous ministers, but I am worried that in the future he will not be able to distinguish between loyalty and treachery, and will be bewitched by the courtiers, the word power makes people greedy, and those who have desires are by no means only the Confucian family. ”

"Regarding the reform of the military system, I and Yuanyang have agreed on a detailed plan, we cannot rush for a while, we must plan it slowly, and to achieve it, it is also inseparable from the coercion of the Su and Chu governments, those who occupy the throne must be of the same heart with them, the implementation of the reform will inevitably hurt the power of the nobles of the family, once the monarch and the ministers have a gap, they will be instigated by others, so that the success will fall short." The Son of Heaven sighed lightly: "Although I believe in the loyalty of the two governments of Su and Chu, no matter who they are, they must have the heart of self-preservation, once the two governments perceive their danger, they may not be ...... Therefore, in the future, the new monarch must be decisive and firm, and he must be good at observing people's hearts, and he can't be gullible and can't be too suspicious. ”

Speaking of this, the Son of Heaven's face turned even more discouraged: "Now that the matter is now, it is useless to mention the old words, and I also understand that San Lang can't count on it...... Wei Guogong is Erlang's father-in-law, and in the future, he will try his best to assist Erlang, but I am worried that Erlang is not decisive; Shiro is quite talented, but his shortcoming is that he is too suspicious, the ambitions of the Qin family and the Chen family are not lost to the Kong family, if Shiro succeeds to the throne, he will not trust Wei and Chu, and will use Qin and Chen's henchmen first. ”

Most of the Qin and Chen henchmen were civil servants, and once they competed with the Wei and Chu governments, they would inevitably lead to civil officials and military generals, which might lead to civil strife.

And the Queen Mother is even more worried, although she can trust the Su family, but for the Chu Palace...... Even if there is no in-law of the Weiguo Mansion, the military power in the hands of the Chu Wangfu is enough to threaten the emperor's throne, not to mention that Yu Feng is wise and resourceful, and more importantly, the King of Chu is a descendant of Gaozu and a clan surnamed Yu.

If the Heavenly Family has always been kind, the Chu Wangfu should not have two minds, but just as the Son of Heaven is worried, once the new monarch is instigated to have a quarrel with the Chu Wangfu and is forced to be helpless, the Chu Wangfu may not do anything rebellious.

"Gorou is good at forbearance, because of this, I can't see through his city, Liulang and Qilang are not as good as the prince, Hachiro is studious and motivated, but he lacks the ruthlessness of being an emperor, if he is grinding, or can be reused, it's a pity that I don't have much time for him." As for the eighth prince and below, he is even younger, and his temperament has not yet been sharpened, let alone subduing the courtiers, I am afraid that he is not yet capable of dealing with the first few adult brothers.

"Queen Mother, it is difficult for me to make a decision, and I have to observe a few more princes, so it is not beneficial to start the abolition of the prince at this time."

The queen mother also understood, the Son of Heaven is hesitating in the second, fourth, and fifth princes, if he resolutely wants to implement military reform, the second prince Fu Wang is undoubtedly the most advantageous, if the prince is abolished, he will be the longest among the sons, and there is a strong wife family of the Weiguo Mansion to rely on, the Chu Wangfu and the Weiguo Mansion are in-laws, and the Fu King should not persecute the Chu Wangfu in the future, but the four princes are still eyeing each other, if the emperor is passed to the Fu King, he will take the lead in cutting off the Qin and Chen parties, which is another big move.

What the Son of Heaven is worried about is that King Fu does not have the decisive ability of the three princes, if he really cuts off the Qin and Chen two parties, before the emerging forces of the imperial examination are cultivated, there will be no more forces that hinder the Su and Chu governments, although the Son of Heaven has relative trust in the two governments, but it is only relative, and those who are on the throne must not be unguarded.

If King Fu can't control and subdue people's hearts, in case Wei Guogong gradually becomes greedy after holding absolute power......

The Son of Heaven believed that the methods of the three princes would not cause trouble for raising tigers, but he could not trust King Fu to fully control the overall situation, and except for the three princes, it was true that only the four princes showed their ruthless and resourceful talents, but the four princes could not be concentric with Su and Chu.

The current situation is to put it bluntly, the prince who can do his best to assist the auxiliary minister trusted by the Son of Heaven is lacking, and the powerful minister who has the ability of the prince does not trust.

The choice is not easy, and the Son of Heaven is at a loss, so he has to test a few alternative princes first.

The consequence is as said today, and he has never argued with the Son of Heaven about the choice of the storage position, and after the abolition, the Kong family still thought that his words had moved the queen mother, and the crown prince's throne was at least seventy percent sure that it could be guaranteed, even if he was banned from the cold palace, he was calm, and only secretly cursed the three princes who were beyond the reach of the whip to die well in the future.

At this time, far away in the southwest, the three princes were talking secretly with Xue Guoxiang.