Yindu, the Imperial Palace.

The golden hairpin in the hand of the emperor Sun Changping suddenly fell to the ground, and the maid behind him quickly knelt on the ground, not daring to look up, for fear that this uncertain queen mother would slap herself, you must know that they have not been slapped by the queen, and sometimes the reason for the beating is so lame that it is just because they did not put the tea set on the table.

Gongsun Changping breathed rapidly, her face was pale, she looked back at the personal maid beside her who told him the news of the death of the Son of Heaven, and said sharply, "Are these things you said true?" Your Majesty is gone? ”

"Qi Yu Niangniang, the next sentence is true, Your Majesty passed away in the same city, the news has been transmitted back to Yindu, the coffin has departed, and it will arrive in Yindu in a few days." The maid said with her head bowed.

As the queen, Gongsun Changping gasped violently, sat on the chair and looked at himself with a pale face in the bronze mirror in front of him.

She is unwilling, she has not helped her son to the position of the prince, she has not enjoyed enough treatment as the master of the harem, she still doesn't want to lose everything she has so hard, she is really unwilling.

"Mother." The maid next to her also tried to comfort the queen, but Gongsun Changping yelled directly, "Go out to the palace, go out ......."

The maids and maids in the room all walked out in a gloomy manner, leaving Gongsun Changping alone in the room to vent.

……

Qin Mansion.

After Qin Wanzuka learned the news of Gao Zhen's death, he and Gongsun Changping were completely in two states, and the great Fengguo teacher walked around the courtyard with his fists clenched, and his face could not hide his excitement.

Just three days ago, he just received a letter from Shanzhou, saying that everything was going well, and the Shanzhou rebels had suffered heavy losses, especially the Langqi tribe, which could be described as the annihilation of the whole army, but their leader Langqikan still did not catch it, but he alone could not set off any storms.

The succession of good news made Qin Wanzun extremely happy, now there is no Guan Zhongxian above the court, and there is no Gao Zhen, the son of heaven, wait until the prince ascends the throne, see who can control him, at that time he is the national teacher under one person and above ten thousand people, at that time, who dares to be disrespectful to himself above the court.

"Master, master, General Qin has sent a letter." A housekeeper hurriedly ran in and said.

Qin Wanzun coughed twice, took the letter, waved his hand to signal the family to retreat, and the family quietly retreated.

When Qin Wanzuka finished reading Qin Feng's letter, his originally relaxed expression became serious again.

Qin Feng's letter mentioned in the letter is the Ning family, his good grandson intends to recruit the Ning family, although Ning Zhi is no longer the Duke of Liguo, and he no longer has the right to speak in the court, but the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, if you ask Ning Zhi to go to the court now to say a word, those military attaches will definitely not dare not listen.

What's more, Ning He still has 100,000 state troops in his hands, and the Praetorian Guard in Qin Feng's hands is still a royal army after all, and the military power is not in his hands, so in this comparison, it seems that the Ning family is even more terrifying than the Gongsun family.

Qin Feng crumpled the letter into a ball, rubbed the corners of his eyes, and began to think in his heart, what a scourge the Ning family was.

……

At the end of July in the fifth year of Yongping, the clouds were thick and accompanied by a breeze, which ushered in a rare coolness in this hot and dry July.

Zhongzhou, ten miles outside the city of Yindu, the coffin of the Son of Heaven is coming, and hundreds of officials go out of the city to greet each other.

When the 800-mile army report of Cangtong City was sent to Gao Yuan, Gao Yuan was stunned, he had just received news from the front line some time ago that he had won the battle and would be able to return to the court in a few days.

The news of the return of this class did not wait, but waited for the news that the coffin of the Son of Heaven returned to Beijing, and at this time, Gao Yuan thought of the words that Gao Zhen said to him before leaving Yindu, and he couldn't help but feel sad.

It turned out that Gao Zhen had already expected that he might not be able to come back, but he still insisted on dragging his seriously ill body on the expedition, he was not a Northern Barbarian, but an obstacle on his way to ascend the throne, otherwise King Jingbei would not have died of illness for no reason, and the King of the East China Sea would not have been assassinated inexplicably.

The ruthlessness of the royal family was vividly displayed at this moment, Gao Yuan believed that if he gave his father another ten years, Gao Zhen would definitely think of a better way to get rid of his two uncles; Although he was disgusted by the act of cannibalism, he had to admit that this was the best way to avoid the royal family from meeting each other.

The crown prince Gao Yuan, the second prince Gao Ling, and the third prince Gao Chang, wearing white cloth filial piety clothes, stood in the yellow sand with hundreds of civil and military officials, quietly looking at the distant horizon, Ning Xiaochuan and Ning Feng in the crowd were also impressively listed, and Wei Yulou, Zheng Chongguan and the younger generation of officials were like Yu Gongming, Hu Shangyi and others, all dressed in plain white, standing silently in place.

When the news of Gao Zhen's death spread in Yindu, the entire Yindu instantly fried the pot, hundreds of officials rushed to tell each other, convey condolences, less than three days, the entire palace was hung with white cloth, the original Dafeng Heijing banner became white, the Son of Heaven died, and the whole country mourned.

When the news reached Ning Mansion, Ning Zhi stood silently in the courtyard all night, while Ning Xiaochuan had complicated thoughts and didn't know how to express it.

Just yesterday, the two brothers Ning Feng and Ning Xiaochuan talked all night, probably revolving around the crown prince's accession to the throne.

"Second brother, after the crown prince ascends the throne, according to the decree of the Great Emperor, the second prince and the third prince will be crowned kings and leave Yindu, and the concubines of the first emperor will also follow their sons to the station, and those who have no children under their knees will also be sent back to their mother's house by the palace to support them, and when the second prince and the queen leave, without the checks and balances of the Gongsun family, is the Qin family like a fish in water in the court?" Ning Xiaochuan said with a deep brow.

Ning Feng sipped the tea and said softly, "One person has ascended to heaven and the Gongsun family is gone, and the Qin family is bound to take the opportunity to get involved in the court, but the prince is different from His Majesty, after such a long period of contact, I can feel that the prince wants to cultivate his own power, so as to achieve the goal of breaking away from the influence of the Qin family, once the imperial power is threatened by relatives, it is very likely to evolve into a rebellion." ”

"Second brother, I have a hunch that there will definitely be a bloody storm in the court after the crown prince ascends the throne, and this bloody storm is very likely to cause a major reshuffle of officials in Yindu." Ning Xiaochuan said solemnly.

Ning Feng pondered for a moment and said slowly, "The replacement of new and old officials is nothing more than that, Your Majesty is gone, and the demons and monsters in Yindu City will all be revealed......

Ning Xiaochuan kept recalling the picture of him talking to Ning Feng in his mind, it was true, among these officials in front of him, the saddest one to cry was Yan Shisong, the head of the household, the minister of the first product lay on the ground and couldn't cry silently, crying was miserable, and even Meng Yan and Liu Wei next to him were a little helpless.

Looking at Yan Shisong, Ning Xiaochuan shook his head helplessly, it turns out that there are really officials who can shoot sycophants to this extent, it is estimated that he didn't cry so sadly when Yan Shisong's old father died.

On the other hand, Wen Zhe, as the prime minister, stood in front of the hundred officials, his expression was indifferent, his eyes were slightly red, his hands were folded in front of his knees, and he quietly looked at the emperor's coffin that was getting closer and closer in front of him, and he had a lot of thoughts in his heart.

About an hour later, the first Imperial Forest Army slowly appeared in everyone's field of vision, led by the Royal Forest Army with white hanging on his waist, holding a white flag, opening the way in front, seeing the situation, tears instantly couldn't stop flowing down, immediately performed nine knocks, and the hundred officials behind him also followed the salute, "Erchen welcomes the soul of the father and the emperor back to his hometown, long live my emperor, long live long live, long live......

Gao Yuan cried loudly, and all the officials behind him were moved, shouting in unison, "Long live my emperor......

Gao Yuan knelt on the ground and wept bitterly, grief, and a hundred drums on the city wall behind him sounded in unison, accompanied by the mourning music of the Imperial Music Mansion, which made the whole atmosphere look particularly solemn.

Ning Xiaochuan slowly looked up, and half an hour later, the eunuchs, palace maids, and royal forest soldiers dressed in white appeared at the end of the road, and behind them was Gao Zhen's eight horse holy car, eight horses when he left, and eight horses carried the coffin when he returned.

"When the Son of Heaven returns, all officials surrender." Han Zhongxuan's shrill voice echoed in front of Yindu City, and the hundred officials kowtowed again, shouting in unison Long live our emperor.

Han Zhongxuan walked quickly in front of Gao Yuan, helped the prince with red eyes, and looked at the prince's red eyes and grief-stricken appearance, the old eunuch was sad for a while, and Han Zhongxuan said softly, "Prince, send Your Majesty home." ”

Gao Ling, who was standing behind Gao Yuan, couldn't help frowning when he heard this, but Han Zhongxuan seemed to turn a blind eye to this, ignoring Gao Ling at all, and Gao Chang on the edge said very familiarly, "Big brother, take your father home." ”

Gao Yuan bowed silently, bowed to Han Zhongxuan, then wiped his tears, came to Gao Zhen's coffin, and silently picked up the peach branches and apricot branches that had been prepared long ago.

As the folk saying goes, the soul of the peach branch town enters the Yellow Spring, and the apricot tree beckons the soul to return to the hometown; When the deceased returns to their hometown, the descendants must hold the peach apricot to attract the soul and guide the way back to the hometown for the deceased, otherwise the soul will not return, and it will be difficult for the deceased to enter the earth.

Gao Yuan held the peach apricot in his hand and walked towards Yindu City under the leadership of eight pairs of boys and girls.

Behind Gao Yuan, the second prince Gao Ling and the third prince Gao Chang silently followed behind the crown prince, and the hundred officials got up and bowed their heads to make way, followed behind the princes according to the size of their official positions, and set off to return to Beijing.

"A shout, the soul returns to the heavens, bless the loess mound of future generations......" Han Zhongxuan walked beside Gao Yuan and shouted "Nine Songs" loudly, making the already solemn scene more solemn.

Nine songs are sung, and the long soul leads the lamp.

"Two shouts, the soul returns to the holy land, but the sycamore in front of the bridge cries."

"Three shouts, the soul returns to the underworld. Hades has a little ghost on the account. ”

……

"Nine shouts, the soul returns to the common people, and a hundred turns and turns look for spring and autumn."

After nine songs, eight horses entered the city, and the soul of the Son of Heaven returned to his hometown.