Emperor Phoenix

Chapter 97

The footsteps were getting closer and closer, but there was still no one there. He became anxious, and suddenly saw someone coming with light clothes and thin clothes, spreading flowers and leaves, and his posture was as light as fluttering with the wind. He greeted him with great joy, it was a long song!

But he found that he couldn't move his feet no matter what.

He looked back anxiously, but it was his younger brother who suddenly appeared, the same little boy, holding his hand by the corner of his clothes, and said to him joyfully and eagerly: "Brother, you dance really well."

I feel a little strange in my heart, isn't Ah Chen already seventeen this year in Yunzhou?Why does it look so small?I thought again, why did he appear here?

Changge suddenly backed away.

He was frightened and wanted to chase, but Changge only drifted further and further away. She leaned against the plum tree, looked at him coldly, and gently parted her red lips.

Ask again and again:
"Your Majesty is reluctant, isn't it?"

"Your Majesty is reluctant, isn't it?"

The voice was soft and cool, but it sounded like a yellow bell, rumbling in my ears!

He opened his eyes suddenly!
As soon as he entered his eyes, he felt the dazzling golden light, which made people dizzy. He hurriedly closed his eyes and opened them again. After a while, the hazy vision gradually became clear... Eighteen golden dragons hovered above his head, chasing a round of bright red sun, The body of the dragon inlaid with gold powder was shining brightly, and its momentum was soaring... He was stunned for a long time before he remembered that this was the dome of the Dragon Palace decorated with eighteen golden dragons, and it was just a strange dream.

The dream seemed real but not real, illusion but not illusion, but every scene directly pierced his current contradictory, painful and unspeakable thoughts.

Xiao Jue sat up from the chair, staring at the roll of paper on the desk, the thin paper was rustled by the wind, and the words that he didn't want to see were flipped quickly, forming a blurred light and shadow. Already dripping with cold sweat.

Back then, she said, the emperor was selfless.

Back then, he said that the emperor's family affairs were also about the country.

At that time, she said that if a minister is too close, he will endanger the master's body, and the harem is also a minister of your majesty, so please do not need to favor Changle Palace exclusively.

At that time, he said that a minister is too expensive, and he must change his position. Although a minister is your majesty's younger brother, he should first be your majesty's minister. , There is a chaotic court program, please do not indulge lightly, whether to punish or not, please start from the ministers and younger brothers.

At that time, she said that the law is not expensive, the rope is not bent, the world is the scale, the people's hearts are the balance, and the weight is self-knowledge.

At that time, he said that His Majesty does not need to blame himself, and the two brothers should be punished for their crimes.If punishments are severe enough not to spare relatives; if rewards for kindness are slight enough not to spare everyone, then the world will be in great order.

Such two intelligent figures whose political opinions almost agree completely, such two persons who wholeheartedly serve his subjects in the country, such two persons whom he loves and respects equally as his own.

His right-hand man, his, relatives.

Really... Really... Fighting with life and death, ossification and fly ashes made the final ending?

why?
He couldn't imagine that the handle of the demon fire that ignited the Chalk Golden Hall of Changle Palace was held in those sick and thin white palms.

He didn't want to believe those clear and bright eyes. He once watched coldly his sister-in-law and nephew were buried in the sea of ​​fire, coldly watched the palace collapse, and watched his own brother lose his wife and son and become eternally addicted to pain. The lonely man of the sea.

Ah Chen, the little boy who held my hand by the corner of my clothes and praised me for being a good sword dancer, and my close brother who has followed me for many years and has never had a relationship, are you serious and have the heart to do this?
no no……

That day, when Chang Ge's death, through the mouth of the holy monk, struck into his mind like thunder, he swore an oath to himself.

Even if the blood of the emperor is exhausted, and the lifespan of this life is exhausted, he must seek justice for Changge and the child who died young.

He swears—no matter who he is, even if he is rich in a country, even if he dominates the world, even if he turns his hands into clouds and rain.

However, when the mysterious woman Mingshuang made a seemingly unintentional call, and when he read the sealed case file with an attitude of almost disbelief, the seemingly unrelated words on the paper file immediately disappeared under the directed search and connection. A cold fact that he was least willing to see was placed in front of him.

Three years ago, not long after the two kings of Qin and Chu were imprisoned, there were a lot of court discussions, and the kings were in danger. In order to avoid the suspicion of the emperor's heart, Ah Chen asked himself to be the minister of the bodyguard and take on the role of the guard of the palace. post.

At that time, he was quite happy, because Xiao Chen's move was like announcing to his subordinates and the world that His Majesty is not a mean and unforgiving lord, and he has no brotherly suspicion, otherwise he would not still be concerned with his own safety after the incident of the two kings The important task of the palace ban was handed over to the half-brother.

It's just that he is weak and sick, and he only holds a false title, so he doesn't really enter the palace for night duty, but all palace guards and defense transfers need to be reported to him for approval.

At that time, the general manager of the palace ban and the commander of the imperial forest army was Dong Chengjia, the champion of martial arts in the second year of Tianbi.

This person fell off his horse and died in the first year of Qianyuan. Xiao Jue remembered it clearly. It is said that a group of good officials invited him to go hunting, and he accidentally fell into the trap of a local hunter.

Now it seems that who are those officials and who will be among them is really worth investigating.

For example, Jiang Hua, is he among them?
As for Jiang Hua, in the third year of Tianbi, he was an inconspicuous secretary in the Ministry of Criminal Justice.On the night of the incident, he was on duty.

What Jiang Hua did that night three years ago remains to be investigated, but what Dong Chengjia did is very clear.

He adjusted the time for changing defenses. According to the rules of the Xiliang Palace, each class of guards is in charge of each palace area, and they change defenses in turn according to their ranks.

Because in the Yuan Dynasty, Qin Changge often visited the Yuan Palace and sneered at the defense arrangement of the Yuan Palace, so after she took charge of the Inner Palace, she made detailed regulations on the defense of the palace. It is easy for people to take advantage of the situation to change defenses at a fixed location. Changge once stipulated that the location of the defense change every day is not fixed, and it is temporarily decided by the minister in charge of the guard.

That night, Longzhang Palace switched defenses as usual, but Changle Palace and Changshou Palace switched.

The location of the change of defense was set outside the West Palace Gate of Changle Palace. In the second half of the night, the guards lined up in shifts, and handed over at the West Palace Gate with the shift team assembled in the opposite direction at the same time.

Under normal circumstances, the rule when changing defenses is that the team of guards who are scattered around the palace are constantly cruising and preparing to get off work. While shrinking with the West Palace Gate as the axis, the guards who come to take over are simultaneously dispersed in the opposite direction. Connected, trying to ensure that there are no gaps and dead ends in the palace during the short period of defense change.

However, judging from the check-in records of the change of defense that night, it seems that Commander Dong issued the wrong order, so that the off-duty guards contracted completely, and the successor guards had not had time to get on duty. Xiao Jue carefully calculated the time, and it took about a quarter of an hour. In time, there will be an unguarded dead corner somewhere in Changle Palace.

Frowning and picking up a pen, Xiao Jue drew the layout of Changle Palace from memory on the paper. According to the time difference in the records, compared with the meeting point and route direction at that time, he calculated for half an hour and finally came to the result.

Putting down the pen, he looked stunned.

The empty corner was actually the gate of the main hall of Changle Palace!
What does it mean?
Even if he tried his best to clear this blind spot, what murderer would choose to enter through the main entrance?

What's more, Changge's martial arts is peerless, a master of thousands of peers, who in the world doesn't know?

Xiao Jue fell into deep thought, and tapped his fingers on the mahogany tabletop unintentionally... The truth of Changge's death is like an endless maze of whirls and twists and turns without end. Sometimes I feel that I have walked out of a dead end, and I can reach it The clear sky outside the maze, but the fog returned in an instant, making people puzzled.

There are many doubts, and the direction of every clue is specious.

It was almost late at night, but he woke up with bright eyes and no sleepiness. He was about to send some eunuchs in to make insinuations about who was communicating with the ministers, when he suddenly heard a faint commotion outside the hall.

Frowning, Xiao Jue straightened up and saw Yu Hai trotting over, followed by Tong Shun, the chief eunuch of the Longevity Palace.

Xiao Jue narrowed his gaze, and said coldly, "What are you yelling for?"

The two of them knelt at a distance, Tong Shun said: "Report to Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager's body is not in good condition, Ye Lai burst into delirium, and her mind is not clear, it has been reported to Shao Yizheng of the imperial hospital, this slave thinks that the matter is of great importance, so I come here to report to Your Majesty."

Sudden delirium... insanity... what do you mean?Xiao Jue drew his eyebrows together, his eyes flashed, and he met Tong Shun who raised his head quietly, he lowered his head abruptly, but at that moment, the meaning in the eunuch's eyes made Xiao Jue suddenly understand.

Standing up, he solemnly said: "The Queen Mother is not well, I will personally go to take care of you and ask for peace, and I will be in the sea, ready to drive."

There was a fog in the winter night, and the swaying white mist, like the lingering softness of the pen of heaven and earth, was calmly and leisurely delineating the solemn outline of the Longevity Palace.

However, the Longevity Palace was in chaos like boiling porridge.

The Empress Dowager Jiang just entered the small Buddha Hall to pay respects to the Buddha, and within a moment, she was carried out in a semi-conscious state, full of delirium, with a dazed look on her face. These palace people were temporarily dispatched to serve the Empress Dowager after the Golden Crossbow incident last time Yes, she made the old maids and maids do the most humble jobs in the palaces, and there was no one to take advantage of at the moment. , Kneeling down to pick up the bricks in a daze, and those who hid aside and dared not take up the work. It was the eunuch Tong Shun who rushed to direct them one by one. If you should serve the Queen Mother, you must go to serve, and if you should invite the imperial physician, please invite the imperial physician. Tong Shun came to Longzhang Palace.

Empress Dowager Jiang never allowed other people to interfere in worshiping the Buddha. No one knew what happened in the Buddhist hall, and no one could understand what she was muttering, let alone dare to listen. Knowing that the emperor was coming, everyone looked at each other and felt uneasy. I am afraid that what the queen mother said is a royal secret, what should I do if the emperor suspects that I heard it?Not daring to serve in front of the Empress Dowager, one by one found excuses and slipped out, and the imperial doctor hadn't arrived yet, there was no one in front of the Empress Dowager Jiang for a while.

The inner hall of the Longevity Palace, two dark and one bright, in the middle is a small Buddhist hall. The Empress Dowager Jiang’s daily residence is a dark room on the left and a dark room on the right. There is a small lotus pond on one side, the lotus pond has no water, and sapphire is used as the ground. The jade is naturally rippled, and it looks like a pool of clear water from a distance. The petals, the jade lotus with the crystal as the lotus root, its delicacy and luxury are astounding, but although it is precious, it reveals a faint charm and charming charm, which does not meet the status of the Empress Dowager Jiang, and it is said that the Empress Dowager's palace should not be arranged like this—indeed, this The lotus pond was indeed not the work of Empress Dowager Jiang.

(End of this chapter)