The crown prince Zhu Gaochi sat in the East Palace, unspeakably restless in his heart.

The East Palace is actually not in the imperial city, and a palace should be designated as the prince's east palace in the imperial city according to the system, but firstly, Zhu Di really doesn't like this fat son who "is not like a father", and secondly, Zhu Gaochi is indeed afraid of this father in his heart, so he just renovated the mansion before he was canonized as the prince, and renamed it the East Palace.

Although today's East Palace is the residence of the prince, no matter the size of the area, the exquisite scenery or the luxury of the house, the setting is not as good as the Han Palace.

However, Zhu Gaochi didn't care about this, he knew the weight of this second brother in his father's mind. He was really a little surprised that he was the prince, and the whole world knew that his father had the intention of a prince to the king of Han, but in the end, under the protection of Xie Jin and other ministers, he still sat on the throne of the prince.

As the eldest son of the emperor, if you want to say that you don't want to be a prince, it must be false. But his strong second brother, Han King Zhu Gaoxu, has long coveted this position, and even the third brother Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui, who is usually inconspicuous, seems to have thoughts about this position. This prince of his own is really trembling and walking on thin ice.

The three brothers, who were originally born from one mother, actually made the current situation for the position of a prince, Zhu Gaochi was really a little uneasy in his heart.

Fortunately, in addition to the Chinese courtiers, Empress Xu was also on her side, which made Zhu Gaoji's heart slightly calmer.

But now, his heart is in turmoil.

He was now sitting in the room of the concubine Ru Yun, stunned.

Ru Yun was appointed by his father to let him enter the door after the Battle of Jingjing, and her father was a famous Confucian in the capital and had a great reputation.

At that time, my father had just won the world, and most of the literati and Confucian scholars in the capital and even the world sympathized with and supported the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen, in order to subdue the hearts of the literati, the father thought of a lot of ways, and even later appointed the abbot Xie Jin, who was famous all over the world, to compile the "Yongle Canon", all in order to win the hearts of these people.

Zhu Gaochi and Ru Yun's family affair is naturally for this purpose.

It was also in the past two years that Zhu Gaochi learned that this Ru Yun had also had a past with his second brother Zhu Gaochu, and even to this day, the second brother is secretly bribing his subordinates in the East Palace and secretly helping him send a letter to Ru Yun.

It's not that Zhu Gaochi doesn't like Ru Yun, she is very beautiful, and she is proficient in poetry and books, and more importantly, she has a chivalrous aura that is extremely rare for ordinary women, which makes Zhu Gaochi very fond of it.

But in his heart, women are far inferior to siblings, let alone the world. He didn't want to anger his second brother because of this woman, causing a brotherly fight, which led to the instability of the court.

But after all, she has become her own woman, and she was appointed by her father, so she can't divorce her, right? So he only alienated and snubbed Ru Yun against his will, and even pretended not to know about the correspondence between Zhu Gaoxu and her.

He did not want to exacerbate the conflict between himself and his second brother.

Until this morning, someone came to report that the sergeant of the Beijing Patrol Battalion had found Ru Yun's body in an abandoned house on the outskirts of Beijing.

Ru Yun is dead?

Zhu Gaochi didn't know and didn't want to know what Ru Yun had done secretly, why did she die inexplicably in a dilapidated abandoned house in the suburbs?

He only knew that Ru Yun was dead, and he would never be able to see her flowery face in the future, and he could no longer talk about poetry and books with her, and listen to her tell the stories of those prancing horses and rivers and lakes, and the world of heroes.

Zhu Gaochi sat on the edge of the bed in Ru Yun's room, recalling all the warmth he had before, and felt a burst of sadness in his heart.

He wanted to send someone to call Li Feihu, the commander of the patrol battalion in the capital, to ask what was going on, after all, he was Ru Yun's cousin, but the subordinates reported that from early this morning, martial law was suddenly imposed in the capital for no reason.

The streets of the capital were full of sergeants from the patrol battalion, pedestrians returning home, the doors were closed, and there was a mess everywhere.

For such a big event, there was no holy decree, no edict, and no one from the yamen to notify the various mansions, could it be that the Beijing patrol battalion did it privately?

Thinking of the series of cases and various legends that happened in the capital before, Zhu Gaochi faintly felt in his heart that something big was going to happen.

Therefore, at this moment, he is even more confused.

At this moment, someone came to tell him, saying that he saw Li Feihu, the commander of the capital patrol battalion, enter the East Palace.

Since learning that martial law was in place on the street, Zhu Gaochi ordered the guards of the East Palace to guard everywhere and monitor closely to prevent changes.

Now that Li Feihu has suddenly come to the East Palace, what is he doing now? Is he here to report about Ru Yun?

Anyway, I wanted to look for him, but he came to the door by himself.

Zhu Gaochi raised his hand and beckoned the two personal attendants to stand up and walk out.

He has suffered from a leg disease since he was a child, and his body is obese and he has difficulty moving, so he also needs two attendants to support him when he walks.

He walked to the main hall with such difficulty, and as soon as he passed the garden, he saw Li Feihu standing in a corner of the garden, talking to someone.

Zhu Gaochi felt a strange feeling in his heart, this Li Feihu came to the East Palace and didn't wait for him to see him in the main hall, why did he come to this garden?

There was a faint movement in his heart, could it be that he didn't come to the East Palace to see himself, but someone else?

Getting closer and closer, Zhu Gaochi saw the person who was talking to Li Feihu, how could his back be so familiar?

The man noticed Zhu Gaochi and their approach, and when he turned around and looked over here, Zhu Gaochi saw clearly that this person was the prince who was very trusted by his side, Xima Yang Pu!

Since the crown prince was canonized, Yang Pu was appointed by Zhu Di as the prince to wash the horse, and became a subordinate of the prince's side.

Once reading the Book of Han, Zhu Gaochi liked Zhang Shizhi, the court commander of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, and praised him for his strict law enforcement and uprightness.

Yang Pu said: "Even if Zhang Shizhi is talented, if it weren't for Emperor Wen of Han's generosity and benevolence, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to display his ambitions." ”

Then, he extracted a lot of deeds of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty's generous governance, classified them, and presented them to Zhu Gaochi, in order to make him understand the way of benevolence.

Zhu Gaochi was very happy, and he trusted Yang Pu very much after that.

But what is he talking about with Li Feihu here at this time? Do they know each other?

Zhu Gaochi walked over with a stomach full of questions.

The two immediately knelt down to pay homage to the prince, but Zhu Gaochi did not immediately let the two of them get up as usual.

He looked at Li Feihu who was crawling on the ground and asked, "Li Qing must have something important to do when he suddenly came to the East Palace, right? Why are you so leisurely and chatting with my staff in the East Palace here?"

Li Feihu didn't raise his head and replied: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Qiqi, the minister led people to find the body of Mrs. Ru Yun in an abandoned house on the outskirts of Beijing last night, so the four gates were closed this morning and the murderer was arrested in the city under martial law. ”

Zhu Gaochi rebuked: "There is no emperor's holy decree in the capital, you dare to close the four gates and impose martial law, you are so bold! How many heads do you have?"

Li Feihu played: "It's just because Mrs. Ru Yun died strangely and the murderer's identity is special, so I have to make this decision." ”

Zhu Gaochi originally wanted to ask about the details of the case, but at this moment, Li Feihu's words clearly stated that he knew the identity of the murderer, so he asked eagerly: "Do you have clues about the murderer? Who did it?"

Li Feihu hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Last night, someone saw His Royal Highness King Han also appear in that abandoned mansion. ”

Zhu Gaochi chuckled in his heart, second brother?

He remembered the secret correspondence between the second brother and Ru Yun, could it be that the two really had a private meeting?

But why did the second brother kill Ru Yun? Could it be that there was a quarrel between them?

Zhu Gaochi's heart became even more chaotic.

He asked in a hoarse voice, "Is this true?"

Li Feihu raised his head and replied categorically: "It's true." The humble post has already sent someone to investigate, and His Royal Highness the King of Han was originally punished and grounded, but he is not in the palace at the moment. ”

He was sure, but Zhu Gaochi didn't listen.

At the moment when he raised his head and met Zhu Gaochi's gaze, a very certain feeling surged in Zhu Gaochi's heart, he was lying!

Over the years, Zhu Gaochi and his second brother began to fight for the position of the prince of Yan, and now they are fighting even more fiercely for the position of the crown prince.

Naturally, they are indispensable to support their respective courtiers, plus they have been observing words and emotions by their father's side for many years, and they have been cautious, Zhu Gaochi has not had other skills over the years, but his art of observing people has been perfected.

Although Li Feihu spoke in an incomparably affirmative voice just now, his eyes unconsciously glanced to the side, his eyes drifted, and he avoided Zhu Gaochi's gaze intentionally or unintentionally.

So Zhu Gaochi is very sure that he is lying!

That is to say, it was not the King of Han who killed Ru Yun!

Zhu Gaochi's pupils contracted, perhaps, Ru Yun's death was inseparable from her cousin Li Feihu!

Thinking of the series of big cases in Beijing, as well as the rumors that have long spread about framing King Han, the identity of Li Feihu in front of him does not seem to be simple at all.

He was suddenly shocked in his heart, Li Feihu cut first and then played, and then came to report this matter to himself after he had already imposed martial law on the capital, obviously wanting to detain this black pot on his head, and in the future he could be said to have been ordered by the prince to impose martial law on the capital.

Although Zhu Gaochi was secretly surprised in his heart, he said quietly on his face: "Li Qing doesn't have to be nervous, the palace on the side of the King of Han will go over to verify, you first lift the martial law in the capital, so as not to get into trouble." ”

Li Feihu didn't squeak, and he didn't even move.

Zhu Gaochi then said sharply: "If you insist on going your own way, the palace can now ask the guards to take you down and send you to the emperor for punishment!"

Li Feihu still didn't react, but looked sideways at the crown prince Yang Pu who was kneeling beside him.

Zhu Gaochi was wondering, but saw Yang Pu slowly stand up.

He saluted Zhu Gaochi respectfully and said, "Your Highness, this martial law must not be stopped now. There is chaos outside at the moment, and His Royal Highness the King of Han is nowhere to be found, and I heard that the Jingying army has also moved, and this Cheng is in danger of survival. ”

He raised his head and continued: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince should not go out at this time, it is better to stay in the palace and wait for news, and the outside affairs will be handed over to Weichen and General Li, I believe that in the near future, there will be good news in return." ”

Zhu Gaochi listened to the shock in his heart, it seems that Yang Pu and Li Feihu are in a group.

But how could it be him? Wasn't he always loyal to himself?

They actually dared to use the Jingying army, it seems that they have been planning for a long time.

Thinking of his sentence "There must be good news in return", this is obviously to carry himself to the top. Could it be that they want to mutiny?

Zhu Gaochi's face changed greatly, and he was about to call the guards to come and take down the two, but when he saw Yang Pu wave his hand, more than ten East Palace guards suddenly appeared in the garden and stepped forward.

Yang Pu raised his voice and said: "Please go back to the palace to rest and protect the prince's safety!"

The guards replied in unison: "Yes!"

Zhu Gaochi's heart was cold, it seemed that the guards of the East Palace had now fallen into the hands of Yang Pu and them, and he had nothing to do.

He sighed helplessly, turned around and walked slowly towards the dormitory with the support of the chamberlain.

Behind him, Yang Pu bowed deeply to the ground and said loudly: "Congratulations to His Royal Highness the Prince!"