The emperor, who had been sick for many days, finally came to the early court.

The first major event at the court meeting was the impeachment of the Gyeonggi Wei commander Lin Hecao for his life. The emperor didn't say a word, and suppressed the opinions of the court, suspended Lin He, and ordered the Criminal Department to thoroughly investigate the case.

And the new Shangshu of the Criminal Department was single-handedly promoted by the emperor.

"Your Majesty's intentions are clear. He is determined to establish the king of Qi as the prince, and he is afraid that Chen Dangyu will rebel directly, so he must first pinch the military power. Pei Zhang looked at the dark clouds piled up like mountains, and heavy snowflakes fell between the cracks of the thick clouds, and sighed, "The snow in the imperial capital this year is extraordinarily heavy. ”

Chu Zhixia squatted in the snow, piled up a white and chubby snow rabbit, and folded his hands to sigh. Chu Zhixia's pink earlobes were frozen red, like two coral beads, adorned with sparkling butterfly earrings.

"Your Majesty is in too much of a hurry." Chu Zhixia said.

"Do you think Bai Huan will be the opposite?"

"He's going to be against it, it's just a matter of time." Chu Zhixia embellished the eyes of the snow rabbit with red wild fruits and said nonchalantly.

"Are you confident?" Pei Zhang was stunned.

"Bai Huan is the best at playing the role of a living bodhisattva of all sentient beings, but he is actually very selfish. But he is a true bodhisattva to someone. If he were to rebel, he would have kept him out of the way. Chu Zhixia's eyes were bright and bright, and he said.

Pei Zhang took a reassuring pill and affirmed: "Bai Yu." ”

Once Bai Huan rebels, Bai Yu will be implicated.

If Bai Huan wins, Bai Yu will naturally be the incomparable King of Qin in the Great Zhou; If Bai Huan loses, it is difficult for the emperor to say that he will not kill Bai Yu to vent his anger. With Bai Huan's temperament, he either sent Bai Yu to hide thousands of miles away in the imperial capital, or sent him to the fiefdom openly, put aside his relationship with him on the surface, and wait for the end of this gamble to decide Bai Yu's coming.

"I have sent someone to keep an eye on Bai Yu, when Bai Yu will disappear, and when Bai Huan will prepare to rebel. The Yulin Guards are all our men, and the forbidden army is also under control, so we only need to guard against the Gyeonggi Guards and the Mountain Ghost Assassins. Chu Zhixia said slowly.

"But His Majesty has suspended Lin He, and I think that the new Gyeonggi Wei Commander will soon take office. Is this necessary? ”

"That's not how military power is sometimes counted." Chu Zhixia shook his head and said.

——

Qin Wang's Mansion.

Bai Huan walked into the door and stepped on the fragment of the vase. Bai Yu sat down dejectedly in the middle of the overturned tables, chairs, and screens, as if he was biting and killing in vain in a cage, but in the end he only injured his own little beast. Bai Yu looked up and saw his brother, and the corners of his mouth were about to cry.

"With such a big person, how can he lose his temper or like to smash things?" Bai Huan spoke softly, without any sense of blame, and his eyes were full of distress. Bai Huan reached out and pulled Bai Yu up, patted the dust off his body, and stroked the scars on his wrists—the bruises that Sun Yan had picked up when he grabbed him.

"What are you going to do with Bai Ziche, is it true that if he dies, my father will appoint me as the prince?" Bai Huan smiled bitterly and said, "You still don't understand, as long as it's not me, anyone in the East Palace can be." In fact, when Huo Wenqing was in the case, he wanted to kill me. ”

Bai Yu was pained and puzzled, and asked incomprehensibly, "Why?" Even if the marriage between the father and the queen mother was forced, we are also his sons! Why is it that he can be kind and pleasant to Bai Ziche, who is from a humble background, but he hates and hates us to such an extent? He hates his mother so much, and the queen mother is his wife! ”

Bai Huan didn't know how to explain to Bai Yu.

Bai Huan has been watched by the regretful eyes of the palace people since he was sensible, although he is the eldest son of the prince and queen of the Great Zhou, he has to live in the shadow of a woman who has no name. Until the woman died silently, and all the topics about her in the palace became taboo, Bai Huan thought that he could have the slightest breathing space, but he faced his father's resentful gaze - as if he had robbed someone of someone's place.

Concubine Rong only has a certain angle and fleeting expression that looks like that woman, and she has been able to be favored to this day; Bai Ziche only painted a picture, and the emperor noticed this long-forgotten son.

Sometimes Bai Huan felt that the woman was not dead at all, her soul wandered in the empty court, and sneered coldly at Bai Huan, who was struggling and suffering.

"Father, I'm just confused." Bai Huan tried his best to hide the cruel truth, saying, "He actually loves us too." ”

Bai Yu was surprisingly sober, shook his head firmly, and said, "No, he hates us." If it weren't for our grandfather's survival, we would have died long ago. ”

Bai Huan was speechless, Bai Yu grabbed his wrist violently, and asked urgently: "Brother, my father wants to appoint Bai Ziche as the prince, what are you going to do?" If Bai Ziche really inherits the unification, he will definitely kill us! ”

Bai Huan didn't speak, Bai Yu gritted his teeth and said, "Since my father is unkind, then-"

"Ah Yu," Bai Huan interrupted him, "Brother will send you away." ”

Bai Yu looked at him stunned.

"When it's all over, I'll pick you up. If I lose, you will never go back to the imperial capital. It's like when you don't have a father, you don't have an older brother, and you live a free life. Bai Huan said softly but firmly.

Bai Yu's eyes were filled with mist, and he couldn't stop shaking his head. He wiped away his tears and said, "If I don't go, I won't die!" Growing up, I never left you. I don't want to go! ”

"Obedient." Bai Huan held him in his arms like a child, stroked his hair, and said.

——

Weiyang Palace.

Qin Tianjian said that this year will be the heaviest snow in a decade. The weather is cold, and the father should cherish his body. "Bai Ziche is very good at taking care of children, and he is naturally not a problem to take care of the sick, and he serves the emperor lightly.

The portrait at the end of the emperor's bed had been removed, and after years of weak luck had been shattered, he seemed to have figured it out. The emperor never received the prince when he was sick, Bai Ziche was one of the few exceptions, and when he received the will, Bai Ziche was also a little surprised.

"What's wrong with the hand?" The emperor took a sip of the medicine and stared at Bai Ziche's palm wrapped in white gauze and asked.

"I accidentally fell." Bai Ziche's face did not change his color.

"The guards around you are more honest than you, and they are obviously injured by Bai Yu, but they want to lie and deceive me." The Emperor sighed, "It's because I've been treating you badly all these years that made you lose your teeth and swallow blood. The fault of others should also be taken on oneself in a compromised manner. ”

"The third brother is just impulsive." Bai Ziche added fuel to the fire and defended Bai Yu.

The emperor snorted coldly, "Bai Yu is spoiled by Bai Huan, and he has nothing to fear, I'm afraid there is nothing in this world that he doesn't dare." Don't say that he killed his brother, even if he poked a hole in the sky, Bai Huan would make it up for him. ”

Bai Ziche didn't answer.

"Ziche, what do you think of Xu Yan?" The emperor asked.

Xu Yan is now serving in the Hanlin Academy, and the errands given to him by the emperor are all beautiful. Xu Yan was originally the champion of the new department, and he was favored by the saints, so he should be dazzling. It's just that the DPRK and China have been turbulent recently, but Zhang Gui of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is at the center of the rumors, and Xu Yan is inconspicuous.

"Xu Yan is a protégé of the Huo family, with good conduct and talent." Bai Ziche groaned slightly and said, "It's a great talent in the world." ”

"Then why do you think I let him beat him in the Hanlin Academy?"

Bai Huan was stunned, not that he couldn't answer, but the emperor asked delicately.

The Jinshi who have always been put to serve in the Hanlin Academy have either been calculated by others and have been a banquet lecturer for a lifetime; Either you are accumulating seniority and preparing for the Cabinet. The emperor repeatedly announced that Xu Yan was with him, and the Huo family was also famous all over the world, and Xu Yan was obviously the latter.

But this question, the emperor should not have asked the prince.

"I'm going to leave him to you." The emperor pointed at Bai Ziche and said.

As soon as Bai Ziche put the medicine bowl, he had to kneel down in fear. The Emperor grabbed him by the arm and made him stand up straight in front of the bed.

"Mo Xue came to visit me that day, and there is a very good saying, all the people in the world are my children. If the person I care about is reincarnated as a human being and born on the territory of the Great Zhou, I hope that this position will be a good emperor, and I hope that the officials of the Great Zhou will be honest and honest, love the people like sons, and the people will live and work in peace and contentment, peace and happiness. ”

The emperor hung the wooden box next to the pillow three inches on Bai Ziche's hand, Bai Ziche was within reach, and he said with an earnest gaze, "Ziche, you are a child who has suffered hardships, and you can suffer more from others." You're going to live up to my promise, aren't you? ”

Bai Ziche slowly knelt down, raised his hands high, and said word by word: "Erchen will live up to his trust." ”

The emperor solemnly placed the wooden box in the palm of Bai Ziche's hand, and in the box was the prince's book treasure.

——

Choshin Palace.

The queen herself replaced the burned candles and lit new ones with a fire breaker. In front of the Buddha shrine, the queen looked up at the solemn Buddha statue, and there was only boundless loneliness and confusion in her heart. There has always been no one to serve in the Buddhist hall, and when the queen kneels alone, she always hears the sound of the wind strolling through the gap in the palace wall outside the window, which is long and lonely.

"Didn't your father forbid you to enter the palace again, what are you doing here?" The queen asked with an indifferent expression.

Bai Huan lifted the hood that covered his appearance, and he was clearly wearing eunuch clothes.

"Mother, Your Majesty is going to appoint Bai Ziche as the prince." Bai Huan said.

"I know." The queen lowered her eyes slightly and smiled self-deprecatingly, "I knew there would be such a day. Twenty-one years have passed, and this nightmare that has haunted me for countless days and nights has finally arrived. It turns out that the gods and Buddhas really didn't forgive my sins. ”

Bai Huan felt a wave of anger in his heart, but he couldn't bear to say anything serious to her, so he only said, "What is the sin of my mother? It is Bai Ziche who cares about your nurturing grace in vain, it is his father who betrays his grandson, for so many years, you have been forbearing, retreating, and outsiders laugh at you for not being favored, this is the result, are you really willing! ”

The queen turned her head to look at Bai Huan, she was dressed plainly, only a silver hairpin inlaid with night pearls in her hair shone brightly, like a tear in the moonlight against the candlelight.

"I have a nurturing grace for Bai Ziche because his mother died in a palace battle; Your Majesty abandoned the eldest son and established the second son because you killed the Huo brothers and sisters, lost virtue and lost virtue; The queen said sadly, "I retreated to the Buddhist hall to atone for the Chen family's disloyalty and injustice, and for His Majesty's wife and children who died because of me." ”

"You are the queen of Da Zhou, you are his wife!" Bai Huan roared, "That woman, what Loulan Goddess, is just a calamity of unknown origin and troublesome monarch's heart!" ”

The queen lowered her eyes in disappointment and said, "To this day, you still don't feel that you are at fault, do you?" ”

"What's wrong with me? The location of the East Palace should have been mine! ”

The queen seemed to sense something from Bai Huan's angry words, and begged: "Ah Huan, don't follow in your grandfather's footsteps. The Chen family has been reduced to a minister who messes with power and disorderly government, do you want the history books of later generations to also refer to you as an unrighteous king who killed the king and killed his brother? ”

Bai Huan's eyes were scarlet, and he declared in a frenzied and crazy manner: "If I am the emperor, I will write the history books." ”

The queen closed her eyes in agony.

"Mother, on the day of the coup d'état, I will send someone to take you away. When I win, you, me, and Ah Yu's family should be reunited. How many years have you not been home? Don't you miss home, don't you miss your grandfather? ”

"Let's go."

The queen stopped looking at him, turned and knelt on the futon, bowing her head to the gods and Buddhas.

Bai Huan gritted his teeth and left.

——

Blacksmith Alley.

Chu Shixia spread out a huge map of the imperial capital in the open space, outlining it with ink lines, accurate to every square city, every city gate, and even the layout and structure of the palace city were clearly visible. Bai Ziche, Cheng Yuan, Pei Zhang, Sun Yan, Xu Yan, and Shen Zhou sat down around this map, and Pei Zhang and Xu Yan all showed shocked expressions.

"Where did you get the city defense map?" Xu Yan was a little nervous and said, "Stealing the defense map of the imperial capital is a big crime!" ”

Pei Zhang's nervousness was completely different, "When did you draw it, and you touched it into the Gyeonggi Guard?" ”

Shen Zhou didn't care: "There are a lot of words, a lot of paintings, I can't understand it." ”

"Do you still need to touch Gyeonggi Guard?" Chu Shixia was very disdainful, "You can draw it after two more walks." And this is just a map, there is no deployment of troops, it is not a map of city defense. ”

The map of the four northern prefectures is redrawn every two years, with special attention paid to the changes in hydrology, mountains and forests, and remote trails to ensure accuracy. In the previous life, when the Beidi people were honest and honest, Chu Zhixia would personally follow the officers who drew maps in the army to trek through mountains and rivers, and personally felt the differences in terrain. Compared with the treasured maps in the Yongxue Pass and Zhenbei Wangfu, this map can be called shoddy.

"The commander of the Gyeonggi Guard, Lin He, has been suspended, but he has been deeply involved in the Gyeonggi Guard for many years, and the army is full of his henchmen. Therefore, if Baek Hwan wants to rebel, he will definitely mobilize the Gyeonggi Guard. Chu Shixia used cinnabar to make a cross on the gates of the imperial capital.

"The Gyeonggi Guard is responsible for guarding the imperial capital, and if the Gyeonggi Guard rebels, we can only hold on to Miyagi." Cheng Yuan's expression was not very good-looking.

"The good news is that the imperial capital is heavily defended and not attacked, and Gyeonggi Wei does not have large-scale city-breaking equipment like trebuchets and rhino horn charges. The nearest large military fortress to the imperial capital is more than 100 li, if you want to mobilize from here, one is too late, and the other is to mobilize the army. Therefore, if Gyeonggi Wei wanted to take Miyagi, he had to borrow a ladder to climb the city wall. ”

Chu Zhixia talked eloquently, Sun Yan half-knelt behind Bai Ziche, his eyes were shining, all admiration and admiration.

Pei Zhang nodded, and asked at the right time: "If Bai Huan rebels first and then transfers the equipment of the palace, what will you do?" There are not many loyal and diligent kings in the imperial dynasty, and there are many people who see the wind and make the rudder! ”

"So it's important to be quick."

Chu Shixia talked about military mobilization at his fingertips, and said, "I have calculated, from the nearest place to transfer the siege of the city to the imperial capital, it will take three days to dig through the factors of the ground freezing and the wheels stuck in the snow." ”

"With the ability of Yulin Wei and the forbidden army, it is unrealistic to defend Miyagi City for three days under the Gyeonggi Wei offensive." Cheng Yuan shook his head when he heard this, "Yu Linwei has been better over the years, and some of the forbidden army have been stationed in the East Palace, and they are all Bai Huan's cronies. ”

"You don't have to guard it for three days," Chu Zhixia interrupted, "Just keep it until Bai Huan dies." ”

The people who followed Bai Huan's army to force the palace all expected him to inherit the unification and become a minister of the dragon himself. But if Bai Huan died, their calculations would have failed. Without the prince as an excuse, even if the palace city was captured, he would just sit and wait in the imperial capital, waiting for the Chu clan in the clouds to justifiably rebel against the king of Qin.

As soon as everyone heard this strategy, they understood that the key to this victory and defeat was the word "assassination", and they all looked up at Shen Zhou.

"No problem," Shen Zhou said indifferently, "He's not hard to kill." ”

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