Chang'an is good

Without waiting for him to ask, Kang Zhi was also happy to take the initiative to answer his questions: "I am the general of the court."

“……”Gu Erlang felt as if the sky was falling.

Who is he and why is he standing here?

Are all the people in the capital city so unwilling to leave anyone a chance to survive?

Seeing Gu Erlang deeply shocked, Kang Zhi was in a good mood.

The King of Dongluo came in person to congratulate him, and all the officials in the palace were in a good mood.

Also in a good mood was Xier, who was setting up the bedroom in Ganlu Palace with a group of eunuchs and palace maids. The palace maids were busy moving things in and out, and everyone was preparing for the upcoming ceremony.

Outside the imperial city, looking at the people among the people, one can also see the atmosphere of prosperity filling the capital.

Even the prisons in the capital had become more lively. Many prisoners with minor crimes, as well as those who had been imprisoned due to the change of the overall situation, were looking forward to the amnesty and reversal of the verdict after the enthronement of the new emperor, waiting for the opportunity to see the light of day again.

But this opportunity is destined not to belong to those death row prisoners who are held in solitary confinement in the dungeon of the Ministry of Justice.

There is no sunlight here, and you can't tell day from night. Even in the summer, there is a hint of dampness and coldness, as if the connection with this world has been cut off, and it has reached the underworld.

In a small cell, a prisoner crouched in a corner, letting centipedes and other reptiles crawl over his body without moving. If it weren't for his eyes being open, he would have looked like a dead body. It was hard to imagine that this was the famous Prince Rong who was about to ascend the throne a few months ago.

At this moment, there was only a hint of unwillingness in those eyes. The unwillingness to die in such a humiliating way, in such a dirty place.

In another cell not far away, there was a female prisoner locked up.

Ming Luo was escorted here directly by Xuan Ce's army. She had not changed into her prison uniform and was still wearing her original skirt. The dress was made of high-quality materials and had intricate embroidery, so it was difficult to recognize its original color. No one in Cui Jing's army tortured her, but being a prisoner and following the march was enough to torture her, who had been pampered for a long time and had a strong self-esteem.

After being thrown into this cell, many muddy past events that she did not want to recall entangled her uncontrollably. In this dirty and dark cell, she saw her own miserable reflection in the bowl of water and collapsed again and again.

She had done so much just to avoid having to go back to the mud, but why was she still left in such a place despite her best efforts? Was it really fate? Why was she born with such a fate? This was not fair!
Ming Luo recalled it over and over again. At this moment, she was sitting huddled in the corner, muttering to herself in a daze. Her teeth were trembling slightly uncontrollably, and the sound she made overlapped with the sound of rats gnawing.

Her eyes kept changing, sometimes resentment, sometimes fear, sometimes disgust, and sometimes filled with murderous intent.

No one here would pay attention to her emotions. Two jailers passed by the cell, and one of them said, "In three days, it will be the coronation ceremony of Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess... Yesterday, I happened to hear that Lord Tan and Lord Song said that people from the six ministries will be rewarded, and maybe we can get some of it."

"The people in the Ministry of Revenue are complaining all day long. Is there no reward from the national treasury?"

"It's not the national treasury, it's brought by the people of Huainan Road... Her Highness the Princess's private treasury! Jiangdu is very rich. Not only does it have workshops, but I heard that it has also made a lot of money from maritime trade in the past two years... And those wealthy merchants of Huainan Road, the tribute gifts are all transported to the capital by carts!"

"I thought so. When I got off duty yesterday, I saw Minister Zhan's face was rosy when he got into the sedan chair. I thought there was some happy event in his family..."

"After Her Royal Highness ascends the throne, we may be able to have a good life."

Long before the Bian army entered the capital, the salaries of various government offices had not been paid normally for a long time. Life was even more difficult for minor officials like them, not to mention the several disturbances that followed.

"It's more than just a good day... I also heard that the King of Dongluo came to congratulate him personally! Our princess is both civil and military, and she has won the hearts of all people in the world and dared not to bow down to her..."

The jailers' and You Rongyan's voices faded away. Ming Luo's mind kept echoing with the words "The Crown Princess Ascended the Throne". She felt as if long needles were piercing her brain, causing her head to split in pain. Countless strings of her thoughts broke and shattered.

She stood up suddenly, feeling even more dizzy, and looked around, muttering, "This should have been mine!"

"She is an evil spirit!" Ming Luo rushed to the prison bars and shouted, "Li Suining is an evil spirit! You have all been deceived by her!"

A jailer heard the noise and came over. He saw the woman clinging to the cell door in a daze, saying something: "No... She should have chosen me!"

"I am the one chosen by my aunt. Li Shang should choose me... Why did she choose Chang Suining?"

Ming Luo retreated in confusion, his eyes filled with tears of resignation: "Obviously, I am the one who looks most like her!"

Because she looks similar enough, that's why the aunt brought her into the palace... to welcome Li Shang back, right?
The aunt was looking forward to Li Shang's return, and she also wanted to continue to manipulate Li Shang after his return, so the aunt chose her and kept her by her side...

She had figured everything out, but...but why didn't Li Shang choose her?

She repeated over and over again: "It's obvious that I am the most suitable candidate!"

If Li Shang chooses to wake up in her body, then Ming Luo will replace Li Suining and become the new emperor of Dasheng! The country, the imperial power, Cui Jing... everything will be hers!

Her name, Mingluo, will be recorded in history books as an emperor!
Instead of being like this... totally defeated! Miserable and dirty!

You, me, her, the main and the secondary, the true existence and disappearance of the self, Ming Luo could no longer distinguish them. With all her strength, she still ended up in a miserable defeat, which made her completely collapse inside. She could not accept failure, so she would rather seek help from others, and become a vessel to accommodate other people's souls, and become a body embracing power and victory.

At this moment, she only had one confused thought left: "...I want to see her! I want to see Li Shang! I want to ask her why she didn't choose me...why!"

She slammed the prison door hard, the chains rubbing against each other and making a loud noise. Her voice was sharp and trembling: "I want to see Li Shang, let her come to see me! Why doesn't she come to see me? Why doesn't she come to interrogate me!"

"And my aunt, I want to see my aunt! I want her to answer me why she brought me out from there and then abandoned me!"

"Why do they treat me like this?"

"answer me!"

Hearing her talking all the time about the late Crown Prince Li Shang, several jailers exchanged glances and thought that this woman might be crazy.

Soon, those crazy words were blocked by a piece of dirty cloth, and only the vague humming sound was left in the dark cell, still echoing unwillingly.

Unlike the damp and dark inside the cell, outside the sky was filled with sunset glow.

Of all the seasons, the sunset in summer is the most spectacular and brilliant, dyeing the entire imperial city in dazzling gold.

Inside a palace to the west of the imperial city, there were signs of cleaning, but it was so quiet that it seemed as if no one lived there.

Until a eunuch came back from outside and broke the silence as he walked.

The eunuch came to the inner hall and bowed to the figure sitting by the window. The owner of the figure asked the eunuch slowly, "How is it, has the princess agreed?"

"Reply..." The eunuch was about to say something, but he didn't know how to address the abdicated emperor properly, so he could only bow his head and say, "Her Highness the Crown Princess has agreed."

Ming nodded, holding the dragon staff, she slowly stood up and said, "In that case, tomorrow morning, you will leave the palace and offer sacrifices to Ma Xiang on my behalf."

"Yes, I obey."

Ming turned her head and looked out the window, muttering to herself, "Prime Minister Ma saved my only dignity as an emperor with his life, but it also makes me feel ashamed..."

Ma Xiang died to protect her. The fact that there was such a wise minister willing to die for her at least proved that she was not a useless monarch, and at least she had won the deep and loyal support of the people.

But even so, she had been suspicious of Ma Xiang before.

Those who are loyal to her will also be suspected by her - she originally thought suspicion is a necessary skill for an emperor, but now she knows that it is only because she has never had the ability to trust anyone.

She is now alone and alone, which is what she deserves.

Ming looked at the gradually fading glow outside the window. Until the night swallowed the world, she was still standing alone in front of the window.

The imperial city in the night, illuminated by colorful palace lanterns, looks like a gorgeous and transparent glass world.

Li Suining had finished her official duties and was now reading letters in the palace. During the day, Cui Jing had screened the letters for her and arranged them according to their importance.

Yao Ran was busy checking the ceremony procedures, and everyone was busy. Cui Jing came in like a timely brick, handling all kinds of trivial matters around Li Suining very well.

Cui Jing's family background and upbringing exposed him to the ways of political tactics at an early age. He then joined the army and gradually became the commander of the Xuan Ce Army. He was truly a man of both civil and military talents, and had rich experience, enough to deal with all kinds of matters.

He handled many simple military affairs for Li Suining, as well as the defense arrangements of the imperial guards in the city and the imperial city, and many other complicated and trivial matters within his ability.

But when it comes to confidential matters, he will take the initiative to avoid them unless Li Suining pulls him to discuss them, otherwise he will never touch them.

Even if he believes in himself and even if Li Suining believes in him, he will not cross the bottom line. The uniqueness of imperial power cannot be violated. He will be the guardian of her power and also the practitioner.

This is also his basic sincerity in wanting to stay with her for a long time.

Cui Jing's sincerity goes far beyond this.

Since returning to the capital, he only traveled between Xuan Ce Mansion and the imperial city every day, and the affairs of the military camp were temporarily handed over to Chang Sui'an.

Chang Sui'an didn't think too much about it. He also felt that General Cui should have a good rest for some time. Besides, there were no urgent matters in the army now - it was more important than anything else for the General to accompany Ningning well!

Cui Jing was indeed a good companion, and Li Suining also thought so.

She simply didn't know what else Cui Jing wouldn't do. It was enough for him to share official duties with her. But today at noon, when she came out of the palace, she saw him leading a group of eunuchs to repair the roof of the side hall.

At that time, Li Suining walked over, facing the dazzling sunlight, shielding her eyebrows with her hands, and looked up at the person on the roof. She suddenly remembered that five years ago, when she went to Dayun Temple, she also saw him repairing the eaves of the Tiannv Pagoda.

At that time, she didn't know the purpose of the Heavenly Maiden Tower. She just thought that this general was really hardworking and did not put on any airs at all, or he was very devout in his belief in Buddhism.

Later I found out that what he treated with such piety were not gods or Buddhas.

There are no gods or Buddhas in the tower, only a white jade statue.

Looking at Cui Jing repairing the roof of the side hall today, Li Suining thought that Cui Ling'an seemed to be always repairing things for her, repairing the roof related to her, repairing her Xuan Ce Army, her old horses, and even repairing her Great Sheng Empire and her confused mood that was once caused by betrayal.

The world had been deteriorating, but fortunately Cui Lingan had been patching things up.

Looking at the people on the roof of the palace, Li Suining felt extremely relieved. When Cui Jing on the roof also looked at her, she looked up and ordered him: "Cui Ling'an, I'm hungry, come down and have dinner with me!"

The sun was blinding, and Cui Jing seemed to smile. Li Suining couldn't see clearly, but he just said, "Okay, I'll come."

When Li Suining was waiting for the meal, he first met Cui Jing. He had washed off the sweat and changed into fresh and clean clothes. Adian also came with him. Adian was holding a few half-opened lotus flowers in his hand. It was unknown which pond he had picked them from. He put them in a white jade vase beside him.

After lunch, Li Suining went back to her official duties. She didn't have time to take a nap before the ceremony was over.

In the afternoon, Chang Kuo came. Li Suining was too busy to come, so Cui Jing went to see Chang Kuo on her behalf. It was unknown what the two talked about the whole afternoon. Chang Kuo was smiling when he left.

It was evening at this time. Li Suining was sitting cross-legged on the Luohan bed reading letters. He saw the two letters that Kang Zhi had brought into the palace earlier, one from Shi Man and the other from Kang Cong.

Kang Cong and Shi Man were guarding an important border town. The northern border had just been settled, and there were many follow-up defenses that needed to be rearranged. It was inconvenient for them to travel a long distance to Beijing, so they wrote letters to congratulate.

Kang Cong was now very honest and no longer dared to treat Li Suining as a female Rakshasa. He was very respectful and cautious in his letters.

In the letter, Shi Man reported in detail the affairs of the Pinglu army and the situation in the Fanyang area.

Finally, Shi Man did not forget to convey a message for his mother, Madam Shi. Madam Shi was a strong woman and probably would not allow her son to change her words, so the words he chose were particularly plain, including but not limited to "I kowtow to you and congratulate you, Your Highness", "My dog ​​and the boy from the Kang family will guard here, Your Highness just rest assured", "When there is a chance in the future, I will risk my old bones to go to the capital to pay my respects to Your Highness in person, and by the way, take a look at how prosperous the capital is", etc.

Li Suining raised the corner of his mouth and felt very happy.

After reading the letter, Li Suining stood up, stretched, and walked out of the inner hall.

Cui Jing had not left yet. Every day he would wait for Li Suining to finish his official business before leaving. Sometimes when the imperial city was locked, he would go to Adian's place to rest.

Li Suining likes sitting on the stone steps very much, which makes her feel inexplicably relaxed.

At this moment, she sat down on the stone steps in front of the hall, enjoying the summer night breeze and watching Cui Jing dancing with sword under the bright moonlight.

When Cui Jing put away his sword, Li Suining clapped his hands in approval generously.

Afterwards, Xier brought two cups of cold tea, and Cui Jing sat on the stone steps with Li Suining to talk.

The rest of the palace servants retreated far away, leaving only Xi'er and Zhai Xi standing ten steps away. (End of this chapter)