The early morning sun shrouded the land.

The autumn wind could not disperse the bloody smell in the square outside the palace.

In the Duancheng Palace, the Son of Heaven, who had not closed his eyes for a night, seemed to be in good spirits, but there was no joy on his face to calm the chaos, only a deeper gaze than before.

For the ministers of the Great Qi Dynasty, this is destined to be an unforgettable court meeting.

At this moment, there are still a large number of corpses of rebels outside the hall, it can be seen that they once attacked the gate of the Duancheng Palace, which represents the core of the power of the Great Qi, and they were almost able to break through the defense line of the forbidden army.

"All the ministers should know that there was a rebellion in the city last night."

Li Duan spoke slowly, and the ministers all listened respectfully.

He looked around at everyone in the hall, and his tone changed to Shen Su: "Wang Yan, Guo Congyi, and Ning Yuanfu are the masterminds of this rebellion. They first held King Chen hostage, hoping to kill King Chen under the pretense of killing his father and king, and then kill King Chen after killing me, and then they could claim that this rebellion was a cannibalism between father and son, and they were still loyal ministers who supported and protected the Great Qi country. ”

This is a rather crude plan, and there are many doubts in it that are difficult to convince the world.

For example, the eldest prince has never had the right to observe the government, and has not developed his own power in the court, where did he come from tens of thousands of troops to attack the palace?

But the important ministers standing in the hall know that there are many things in this world that cannot be measured with common sense.

If Wang Yan and the others can really kill the Son of Heaven and the Great Prince, and then smoothly control the situation in the capital, they can put the Three Princes on the throne, and then find ways to eliminate the strangeness of this night and beautify themselves as loyal servants of the Great Qi.

Thankfully, their plot failed.

Li Duan continued: "As the eldest son of the Heavenly Family, King Chen was calm and resolute and indomitable after being coerced by the rebels. He first pretended to cooperate with them, and when the rebels dragged him to the palace and outside the Ningmen, he resolutely rose up with the courage to die and survive, fought a bloody battle with the rebels for a long time, and finally killed dozens of rebels on the spot. This incident was seen by thousands of soldiers of the forbidden army. ”

The ministers all showed a look of shock on their faces, even if someone spoke out to praise the Son of Heaven and the Prince of Courage and Courage.

However, Li Daoyan, Xue Nanting, Lu Shen and the second prince all showed solemn expressions.

They didn't know the situation of the eldest prince, but they only felt that the words of the Son of Heaven seemed to have the meaning of closing the coffin.

After the hall was quiet, Li Duan said slowly: "King Chen's move is worthy of my expectations of him, and worthy of the name of the son of the Heavenly Family. When the forbidden army rescued him back to the palace, he suffered eleven knife wounds on his body, and countless internal injuries. Although the imperial doctor tried his best to treat him, he was unable to return to heaven after all, and at three o'clock last night, King Chen died of serious injuries. ”

In the Duancheng Palace, there was a dead silence.

It's almost like a pindrop can be heard.

The eldest prince actually died in last night's rebellion?!

Everyone fell into a state of shock and stunned, although it can be seen from the Son of Heaven's account that the death of the eldest prince was not at all, on the contrary, extremely heroic, and there was no stigma at all. But after all, he is the eldest son of the Son of Heaven and the Empress, and he is the eldest son of the righteous concubine, and he was killed by the rebels, which is ......

After the consternation, a strong chill surged up in the hearts of the ministers.

They cautiously looked at the Son of Heaven on the dragon chair, and did not see the picture of old tears or thunderous thunder, the Ninety-Five Venerable just sat with his waist straight as usual, without any emotional changes on his face.

But the more calm the Son of Heaven was, the more silent they became, for no one knew what kind of terrible anger was hidden beneath the calm waters.

Among the ministers, only one quietly wept.

That is the second prince standing at the front of the Wuxun train, he did not speak at length to comfort the Son of Heaven, and he didn't even have the desire to speak at all, just stood quietly in place, tears kept pouring out of his eyes.

Perhaps in the eyes of the world, today's second prince and the eldest prince are rivals for the crown prince, and there are countless examples of similar brothers turning against each other in the history books, so the death of the eldest prince is not happy for the second prince, but it will be somewhat relieved.

In fact, these two people have not really come to the point of strife, the relationship has not yet broken down, and compared to the gloomy third prince, the image of the eldest prince in the eyes of the second prince is much stronger.

At least at this moment, the second prince has no distracting thoughts in his heart, only sadness for the early death of his eldest brother.

The head of the Wenchen, the left prime minister Li Daoyan's face was full of sadness, and the old man understood the grief of a white-haired person sending a black-haired person.

In the silence, he stepped forward and said earnestly: "Siren has passed away, please mourn Your Majesty and take care of the dragon's body." ”

The ministers hurriedly chimed in: "I beg Your Majesty to mourn." ”

Li Duan's gaze swept from left to right, lingering on the face of the second prince for a moment, and finally landed on Li Daoyan's face, and asked, "What is Prime Minister Zuo's opinion on the handling of this rebellion?" ”

Li Daoyan sighed in his heart, and said without hesitation: "This case should be adjudicated, how dare the old minister put his beak." ”

When it comes to rebellion and rebellion, it is natural for the Son of Heaven to be arbitrary, but compared with the more or less perfunctory nature of the past 14 years, this time Li Daoyan's answer did not have any water.

Naturally, the ministers understood this.

Today, there are many vacant places in the Duancheng Palace, and they look at the open space around them or in the distance, where many colleagues once stood, but now they have no chance to stand in the court again, waiting for their fate to be self-evident.

At this point, the Son of Heaven's control over this court has reached its peak.

No one dares to question it lightly.

Especially under the premise that the Son of Heaven lost the emperor's eldest son, who would dare to touch this mold?

They were only worried about one thing now, because the Son of Heaven was so grieved that he went on a killing spree, and even implicated many people who had nothing to do with the rebellion.

At that time, it was the real crisis of Daqi.

On the dragon chair, Li Duan seemed to know the thoughts of the courtiers below, and said slowly: "Liu Shouguang." ”

The burly general Liu Shouguang came out of class and responded: "The minister is here!" ”

Like Lu Shen, he was covered in blood and murderous.

Li Duan looked at this general who had made it clear that he had supported him a long time ago, and there was a little more praise in his eyes, and he said: "You are fully responsible for the entire army of the Northern Ya for the time being, and I will put the safety of the capital in your hands, so don't have a second incident last night." ”

Liu Shouguang immediately knelt down and said: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, there will be no mistakes with the guarantee of your life." ”

Li Duan bowed slightly, and said to Zhang Xu, the Marquis of Yongding: "Zhang Qing's family, in addition to the Wuwei camp, the Xiaoyong camp will also be temporarily handed over to you to assist in the management, and I will make other arrangements after a while, and the main thing is to stabilize the situation in Gyeonggi at the moment." ”

Zhang Xu responded calmly as usual: "The minister's order." ”

Li Duan looked at Li Daoyan and Xue Nanting again, and said slowly: "In all matters between the DPRK and China, the two prime ministers have to pay more attention. There are not a few courtiers involved in this rebellion, and there will be many vacancies in the ministries, so you should draw up a statute as soon as possible, and then submit it to me before the emperor. ”

There are a lot of things to do, but for the two tried and tested prime ministers, it is obviously not an impossible difficult thing to complete, so the two of them went out and responded: "The minister obeys the order." ”

Li Duan took a light breath, his gaze moved to the left, and fell on the young courtier's face, and his tone became more and more gentle: "Lu Shen." ”

"The minister is here."

Without rest for a day and a night, long-distance running and repeated battles, if it weren't for Lu Shen's blessing from the Xuan Sutra, it would definitely be difficult for him to persist until now.

Looking at his still calm and clear gaze, Li Duan felt a lot of feelings, and said with his chin bowed: "You are very good." ”

Lu Shen was slightly stunned, although the ministers around him were envious in their hearts, they also felt that the praise of the Son of Heaven was taken for granted.

After all, Lu Shen led the cavalry of the border army to run hundreds of miles overnight, defeated the rebels led by Hu Hai and Guo Congyi one after another, and finally completed the fatal blow to the main force of the rebels outside the palace.

Today, the ministers have long understood that this young prince's position in the heart of the Son of Heaven is unshakable, and he is also destined to be a towering tree with lush foliage in the Great Qi court.

Lu Shen quickly came back to his senses, bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, the minister, like all the soldiers who fought bravely to the death last night, is just doing his duty. ”

"That's a good saying."

Li Duan slowly stood up and said solemnly: "From this moment on, martial law in the capital will be imposed for ten days, and no entry or exit will be allowed, and violators will be punished for plotting against the same party." Lu Shen. ”

"The minister is here!"

"I ordered you to preside over the investigation of the case of the rebellious party. I will give you ten days to find out all the officials and dignitaries involved in this case, and not a single person will be left behind. In addition to the Feiyu Battalion and the Seven Star Army that you brought to the capital, the personnel of the Warp Weaving Division, the Criminal Department, the Dali Temple and other official offices will obey your dispatch. Remember, I want an exhaustive list of the rebels, and what each of them has done in it. ”

Lu Shen took a deep breath and bowed: "The minister's order!" ”

Li Duan looked around the hall, and the ministers all bowed their heads, and no one dared to say a word.

He turned around and walked towards the back of the hall, and the great eunuch Lu Shizhou said in a loud voice: "Retreat!" ”

A neat and high-pitched voice sounded behind the Son of Heaven.

"Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live!"

……

After about a stick of incense, in the Hall of Benevolence.

On the funeral bed lay the body of the eldest prince Li Zongchao, and ice cubes had been prepared underneath, exuding a trace of coolness.

Li Duan sat on a chair, looked at the lifelike face of the eldest prince, and watched quietly.

The candles in the hall were bright, and there was no one else.

After a long time, Li Duan slowly spoke, his tone was difficult and trembling slightly.

"They say long live long live long live, but who in this world can not die? I'm going to die, and you're going to die, but I didn't think you'd get ahead. ”

"I do have a hunch that those people will do it this time, but I don't know their specific plans, I can only use myself as bait or they won't take the bait."

"At the moment of death, did you have any resentment in your heart? Blame me for not teaching you well, blame me for not protecting you well. ”

"Maybe in the history books of later generations, I will be a fairly competent emperor."

"But I know that I'm not a good father."

"Son......

Li Duan raised his hand and touched his eldest son's face one last time.

A cloudy tear slipped from the eyes of this son of heaven.

(End of chapter)