In the year 2111, the 556th year of the empire, and the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Wude, the July of the 11th year of Emperor Huiwu, for the Tianlong Empire, which had been established for more than 500 years, was the most stormy month, and this month, also known as the Black July, was also the beginning of this month, and the Tianlong Empire began to move towards chaos, division, and complete destruction.

After Situ Tuo collapsed, the great eunuch Hu De urgently ran to the court, including the three kingdoms, the five major ministers, and told the news of Situ Tuo's death, several people were immediately shocked, and hurriedly ordered to lock the imperial city, and the five major ministers continued to take over the government affairs as before, and the three kingdoms also took over the forbidden army again.

However, the forbidden army's transfer of troops to the dragon talisman was gone, but fortunately, the protégés of the three major kingdoms were all over the world, especially the Duke of Weiguo who had been in charge of the Shengtian Academy for more than 20 years, and had repeatedly fought against Beihu as the commander of the imperial army, and many generals had served under him.

In addition, although Situ Tuo wanted to take back the military and political power, he only mentioned it in the small court, and it was originally going to be formally proposed in today's court, but he didn't want it to be just one night, and the emperor who was still healthy yesterday and had a red face died, which is really too incredible.

The news that the Emperor wanted to take back the military and political power was only circulating, and it was the only good news among the many bad news that they were able to continue to control the military and political affairs of the empire in the name of protecting the country.

The imperial city has been locked down for a day, and some news is naturally impossible to hide, such as several princes, but this is enough time for them to operate, and the concubines who served that day will naturally be imprisoned and asked, and the Heavenly Spirit Alchemist is also among those who have been arrested, especially the loss of the dragon talisman of the troops, which makes everyone have a hint of conspiracy. In the days that followed, although the hundred officials were put back, but they were all given a ban order, but how could this kind of news be banned, rumors flew all over the city within a few days, but the palace only released the news that His Majesty the Emperor fainted again, although the rumors were everywhere, but because the imperial power had been scattered in the hands of the cabinet and the three kingdoms, there was no chaos in the court, and the forbidden troops and horses were strictly forbidden to leave the station, and everything was quite calm.

However, who will serve as the heir to the throne has become a topic that cannot be bypassed, Situ Tuo died suddenly, and even the previous heir's edict is said to have been burned a few days ago, after being ill, the content is not even known to the great eunuch Hu De, and the heir to the throne is undecided, which undoubtedly increases the turmoil in the imperial capital.

Situ Tuo had twenty-three sons and six daughters in his life, the eldest son was forty-six years old, just in the prime of life, and the youngest was still in infancy.

manage

The eldest prince Situ Nan, the third prince Situ Yun, the fourth prince Situ Zhengfeng, the fifth prince Situ Feng, the sixth prince Situ Hao and the ninth prince Situ Ming, among the six princes, the most promising prince to compete for the throne is the eldest prince, the third prince, the sixth prince and the nine princes.

although

Although the mother of the fourth prince Situ Zhengfeng Zheng Lanfei is a princess, she used to be a wealthy person with a family background, and she is also beautiful and captivating, but her family did not support Situ Tuo back then, but Situ Tuo coveted the beauty of one of the four beauties of his imperial capital, and he was included in the palace, fresh for a while, and forgot about it, and although the Zheng family has not weakened over the years, it has not made much achievements in the court, and the family has moved away from the imperial capital, which is extremely low-key

contend

The fourth prince Situ Zhengfeng competed for the throne, the probability is quite small, but it can't be said that there is nothing at all, the fifth prince Situ Feng is not even as good as Tu Zhengfeng, Situ Feng's mother is just a palace maid who was lucky after Situ Tuo was drunk once, and she has no family background at all, Rao is Situ Feng is very competitive, but that position is not something that can be obtained just by hard work.

The remaining four princes, the eldest prince Situ Nan is the oldest in 1 year, has been a prince for 19 years, the first to open a tooth to build a mansion, including talents, the queen mother is one of the four noble concubines, and her mother is the Ximen family of the four major families, the only thing that is almost is that this person is not popular enough, and he is the most powerful contender for the throne.

The third prince Situ Yun, who is a little worse in age, but also back then, the queen mother was also one of the four noble concubines, and her mother's family was one of the nine marquis, the Zuo Yuhou family, which controlled the Youzhou Phoenix Legion, but this power should not be underestimated.

The sixth prince Situ Hao, aged twenty-six, was young and strong, but he was on the throne for less than two years, and it was too late to build a mansion, but Situ Hao's mother was also the four noble concubines, and his mother was the Tang family in Yangzhou, and the Tang family was a thousand-year-old family.

The ninth prince Situ Ming, twenty-two years old, is the youngest of the princes, but his military exploits on the throne have a lot of water, but Situ Ming's mother is the queen of the empire, Dongfang Wenqian, and Situ Ming's half-brother, that is, the second prince, died that year, but it was related to Situ Tuo's struggle for the throne that year.

Situ Tuo has the most respect for the queen, and the Dongfang family is firmly ranked first among the four major families, and the power is extraordinary, if Situ Tuo is seven or eight years late, no, as long as three or five years, the battle for the throne is actually not too much suspense, but now, the ninth prince Situ Ming is the youngest, the shortest one to build a mansion, although there is a big backer, in the current situation, whether he can take the throne is quite difficult.

But in any case, if there is only a glimmer of hope among the six princes to ascend to the throne, no one will give up, so after knowing the news of Situ Tuo's death, the six princes invariably moved, that is, when the battle between the major princes was in full swing and began to intensify.

The news of the poisoning and death of the eldest prince Situ Nan almost smeared another frost on the imperial capital, the eldest prince Situ Nan is the prince who has the best chance to ascend to the throne, after all, after many years of building a mansion, Situ Nan has the most resources, and there is a Ximen family waving the flag and shouting, the call is not ordinarily high.

And Situ Nan was suddenly poisoned, but it seemed to have become a fuse, which made the subsequent battle for the throne white-hot, and the Ximen family naturally could not have no reaction, this despicable means to poison the prince of the empire, if it was found out, no matter who was implicated, it would cause a storm.

So for a short time, the battle for the throne became quiet, no matter who did it, but the spearhead must be pointed at the other five princes who have a chance to ascend to the throne, otherwise it will not be good to die at this time.

The temporary tranquility was only a prelude to the storm, because Situ Nan's poisoning, coupled with the absence of an heir to the throne, was destined to be extremely tragic in the next battle.

However, just when the imperial capital was cloudy and the rainstorm was about to come, there was unfavorable news in the north one after another, and the grassland Hu people gathered in a big way, and it was the seven golden tribes on the grassland who jointly summoned the warriors of each tribe.

After several small court meetings, on July 27, led by the three major princes, with the participation of the cabinet leaders and the five princes, a grand court meeting was held.

According to the imperial law, after the collapse of the emperor, the three princes will automatically become the ministers of the state, lead the military government, and stabilize the overall situation with the five ministers of the cabinet.

Wei Guang is naturally the most senior and powerful one among the three major princes, so this court meeting was presided over by Wei Guang, and after hundreds of officials, princes, and ministers entered the venue one after another, Wei Guang stood up and said: "All the ministers and colleagues, we called everyone to this court meeting this morning because our great emperor His Majesty relapsed last night due to an old illness and collapsed!"

"This news is sad news for the Empire, but I hope you can cheer up, there are five major events to discuss in the Great Dynasty today!"

The first is the state funeral of His Majesty, the second is the auxiliary country, the military and political affairs, the third is the heir to the throne, the fourth is the invasion of our empire by Beihu to the south, and the fifth is the poisoning of Prince Nanzheng!

After Wei Guang finished speaking, the following was silent at first, and after a while, someone began to whisper, although everyone had heard of these things for a long time, and they didn't know how much they thought about when they were at home, how to deal with it, but when they really faced it, everyone felt heavy, one after another, so many big things happened, it can be regarded as an eventful summer!

"According to the law of the ancestors of the empire, Your Majesty's state funeral can be handed over to the inner court and the outer court etiquette department to jointly organize, everything refers to the old practice, according to the foot!"

"The second thing is that you can also act according to the law of your ancestors, not to mention that before the collapse of Yue, Your Majesty has entrusted the military to the three princes, and the government affairs are entrusted to the cabinet to decide, as long as it is customary, the ministers of public health and auxiliary states of the three major countries will be crowned, and the cabinet will cooperate with the cabinet to deal with the government until the new emperor ascends the throne!"

Two of the five things went, but the remaining three were extremely difficult problems, this is the main thing, the ministers below did not dare to speak here, no matter whether they were right or wrong, but it was no good, so everyone kept silent, waiting for the above few to speak.

After a while, Wei Guang finally coughed and said: "Your Majesty died suddenly, the throne is vacant, and the Hu people in the north have already put on a big move to the south, it can be said that the empire is in danger, and we have no time to delay here, according to the situation from the north, the Hu people can be regarded as a large-scale southward invasion this time!"

"From the labyrinth swamp in the east, to the golden grassland in the middle, to the desert Gobi in the west, a total of seven grassland golden tribes in the east, middle and west have been united, divided into several ways to assemble, although there is no specific situation to send back, but this time the northern Hu southern invasion is the largest in the five hundred years of the empire!"

"Your Majesty died suddenly, but there was no edict left behind the heir to the throne, and now the five princes have the potential to inherit the throne, but how to choose is not for us to decide, my Tianlong Empire has established the country with force since the Holy Ancestor, and the descendants of the royal family in the past generations have not been crowned kings unless they have military merits, and they are not allowed to inherit the throne if they are not princes!"

In order to prevent the empire from causing trouble due to the unresolved throne, and then delaying the defense of the Hu people's southward invasion, so after our discussion, this time to meet the north Hu south, the most meritorious person will be able to ascend the throne, I don't know if the five princes have doubts about this matter!"

Obviously, this battle is decisive, and several princes also know that it is difficult to have a result if they continue to fight like this, and they are still fighting in the south of the Hu people, and if the empire loses the war, it will not be good news for them.

"I'll agree!" the five princes nodded together, no doubts.

"In this case, four of the five major events discussed in the court today have passed, and the last one, the poisoning of the eldest prince Situ Nan, after some verification, there is further progress, and at this time when the empire is in danger, this matter will be put on hold for the time being!"

Although the people of the Ximen family below were dissatisfied, they had no choice, after all, the person was dead, and the three great princes, together with several others, had already put pressure on them and given great benefits, and the Ximen family could only focus on the overall situation.

The subsequent court meeting, naturally revolves around sending troops to defend against the invasion of Beihu South, the five princes will be the generals, this time each led the private soldiers of the guards, the third prince Situ Yun, the fourth prince Situ Zhengfeng, the sixth prince Situ Hao will go out of Youzhou, the fifth prince Situ Feng ran to Liangzhou, and the nine stars Situ Ming went to Yunzhou.

From this distribution, in fact, we can also see the advantages and disadvantages between several princes, the fifth prince Situ Feng is the most inferior in terms of power and strength, and is also the least optimistic, so he was arranged in Liangzhou in the northwest, Liangzhou is vast and sparsely populated, the desert Gobi, the environment is harsh, and the logistics supply is also the most difficult, obviously the conditions are the worst.

And Youzhou all the way, has always been the main passage for Nanhu to go south, the north is the endless prairie, and it is also the place where the empire and Beihu have always fought each other, in the future, the battle situation will be the most difficult, and arranging the three princes to meet the enemy from here is also a fair competition.

There is no doubt that the conditions of the Northeast Yunzhou are the most superior, without him, the grassland is undoubtedly the best at fighting the Hu people of Dayue Lake in the Golden Plain, they are fighting with the empire for several years, so their combat effectiveness is the most strong, and although there are swamp Hu people in the labyrinth swamp, this road is dull for three hundred years, and there has been no major war.

The Hu people must be a partial division here, and the strength will not be too thick, and then go to Yuntian Fortress, which is the closest to Yunzhou and has the shortest supply, so this road is the easiest to make merits, and Situ Ming can compete for this way, which is also the result of the operation of the Dongfang family.

The July court meeting finally came to an end, and this time the court agreed on the procedure for the struggle for the throne, as well as the general layout of the empire for Hangbei Hu, and what kind of outcome this war will have, but let time verify. (To be continued.)