Golden Stage

On the seventh day of July in the fourth year of Changzhi, according to the news from the southwest front, Fu Shen, the commander of Zhengxi Army and Duke of Yasukuni, was killed by the rebels and unfortunately died.

On the ninth day of the seventh month, the Tianfu army sent Yan Xiaohan to divert from Jinling to the southwest, but failed to obtain Fu Shen's body from the rebel army.Duan Guihong angrily reprimanded Yan Xiaohan before the battle, claiming that the traitors in the DPRK and China were forming a party for selfish purposes, harming meritorious officials, deceiving the saints, and causing Fu Shen to die of hatred.The armies of the southwest swore to clear the emperor's side and punish the courtiers, in order to tell Fu Shen's spirit in heaven.

Fu Shen was in the Southwest University of Nutrition, and after hearing Du Leng's recitation of what Prince Duan said before the battle, he almost choked with laughter: "He didn't think of those words himself, did he?"

If Duan Guihong had the ability to turn black and white and talk nonsense with open eyes, he wouldn't have such a deadlock with the emperor.

"Who else could it be?" Duan Guihong walked in angrily, and said sarcastically, "Of course it was taught by my exquisite 'niece and daughter-in-law'."

Fu Shen was not ashamed, but rather proud: "It's too much, it's just a little cleverness, nothing to be proud of."

Duan Guihong: "..."

The incident of being scolded before the battle seemed to make Yan Xiaohan very uncomfortable. When he returned to the army, he strictly ordered all the troops not to leak this matter.But Fu Shen's death was full of suspicions. The stricter the military order, the more people felt that what Duan Guihong said was the truth, and the rumors spread more and more widely. Some people even said that Emperor Changzhi feared that Fu Shen had too much power in the military. He sent his confidantes to assassinate Fu Shen secretly, and later blamed Duan Guihong.

The obituary and gossip were sent back to the capital, and the court was shocked. The garrison in northern Xinjiang almost mutinied on the spot.Emperor Changzhi couldn't stop the gossip and gossip in the court, and under the pressure of public opinion, he had to call the Yanying Hall again to discuss how to present Fu Shen as a gift and fill the vacant seat.

On the twelfth day of the seventh month, the day when the Yanying Hall was held, Yan Xiaohan returned to the capital with Fu Shen's armored seal and went straight into the palace.The courtier Ya Que was silent, he didn't say a single extra word, he just slammed the iron armor on the table, and with a "clang", shattered the teacup in front of Xue Sheng.

There were bloodstains on the armor that had not been washed off.

The courtiers from the four prefectures of northern Xinjiang wept bitterly on the spot, while the others either lowered their eyes, or remained silent.Xue Sheng's face sank like water, and Emperor Changzhi was panicked, and his tone couldn't help showing a bit of compromise: "Yan Qing has worked hard, sit down first... come and serve tea."

Eunuch Yuan Zhen, who is favored by the emperor, hurried forward, filled Yan Xiaohan's tea, and said respectfully, "My lord, please."

Yan Xiaohan glanced at him with a frosty face, and Eunuch Yuan Zhen shrank his neck, not daring to let out his breath, and quickly slipped back to the emperor's side.

"Duke Yasukuni has fought for the country for many years, and he has made great contributions to helping the community. He should enter the golden platform and take a photo in the Qilin Hall." The new minister Chen Zhi, who entered the palace instead of Zheng Duanwen, the former minister of rites, said tremblingly, "It's just the Lord Yasukuni. Enrong should have shaded future generations, but the one of the two lords...has no children, but I remember that Lord Yasukuni still has a brother..."

"That's exactly what you said," Yan Xiao said coldly, "I heard that Young Master Fu has not become a noble until now, and he was lost a few days ago, have you found it now, Lord Xue?"

Xue Sheng didn't know if he didn't sleep well recently. He had dark circles under his eyes, his eyelids were drooping, and he looked unreasonably sinister: "How would I know about the Fu family? Master Yan just joked."

"Duke Jingguo has passed away. No matter how heartless I am, I won't be joking at this moment," Yan Xiao said coldly, "Master Xue, do you know what kind of rumors are spreading outside now? I was not in the capital when the incident happened. I would like to ask you, who pushed the court to the forefront?"

What he said was vague, but the implication was very obvious. Everyone pricked up their ears, feeling that they would hear some amazing inside story.

"Since you have just returned from the front, you should know that Duke Jing was killed by the traitor Duan Guihong," Xue Sheng gritted his teeth. Use this to find Xue's fault? You can see clearly, this is the Yanying Palace, not your Feilongwei!"

"That's enough! Shut up!" Emperor Changzhi sternly yelled, "How decent is it in public!"

Yan Xiaohan and Xue Sheng put down their flags and drums, and stood up to confess their crimes. Emperor Changzhi had a headache and said helplessly: "The deceased is gone. The meritorious service of Yasukuni is in the country, so there should be generous compensation. As for taking pictures in the Qilin Hall... the Ministry of Rites will make arrangements as usual. , Yan Qing, you go and see him off. The Southwest matter needs to be discussed again..."

Before he finished speaking, his heart suddenly felt cramped, his body couldn't support himself, and he fell straight towards the imperial case. Yuan Zhen hurriedly rushed up to support him, and said in a broken voice: "Your Majesty! The imperial physician! Hurry up and announce the imperial physician!"

The Hall of Yanying suddenly became chaotic.

Emperor Changzhi's complexion was pale, except for two abnormal blushes on his cheeks. He leaned against Yuan Zhen and couldn't hold his breath, with one hand firmly pressed to his heart, a little red foam overflowed from his lips.Immediately after the imperial doctor arrived, he treated Emperor Changzhi with acupuncture, and ordered people to take medicine and decoct it. He tossed and tossed in chaos until the afternoon, when Emperor Changzhi's symptoms were slightly relieved, so he moved back to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

The emperor is ill, which is a big deal.After the courtiers dispersed, they hugged each other and passed messages.Seeing that the emperor looks like he has a heart disease, he will suddenly fall ill someday. Now that the crown prince is young and the emperor has no other heirs, the brothers are still young and strong. When the throne changes, it will inevitably be another disturbance.

These palace ministers are in the center, but in fact they are still doing their own thing, and they are making small calculations in their hearts.For a moment, the atmosphere in the hall became strange and unpredictable.

Emperor Changzhi woke up once in the evening, and the queen and all the concubines were waiting on the bedside.He moved his fingers and let out a slight gasp in his throat. The imperial doctors huffed and surrounded him. Emperor Changzhi let them fiddle with him drowsily, and waved weakly at Yuan Zhen who was standing beside the bed.

Yuan Zhen immediately stepped forward: "Your Majesty?"

"What time is it?"

Yuan Zhendao: "Return to Your Majesty, it's the first hour of Xu."

"Tomorrow... the imperial court will be terminated," Emperor Changzhi said slowly word by word with a weak breath, "If there is an undecided matter... I will pay all the people in the Yanying Palace. Where is Yan Xiaohan?"

"Your Majesty," Yuan Zhen said cautiously, "Master Yan, he went home to observe his filial piety..."

Emperor Changzhi was depressed for a while, and the imperial doctor hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, don't get excited."

"Let him come back," Emperor Changzhi closed his eyes wearily, "at this critical time, there is no need to be formal, and he will preside over the Yanying Hall."

When he said this, he thought of something, opened his eyes and glanced at Empress Fu who was drooping her head and said nothing, and saw that she was dressed in plain clothes, with no hairpins, rings or jewelry. Serve me, and everyone else will go back."

Fu Ling's eyebrows were stained with sorrow, thin and weak, and he prostrated himself in front of the imperial couch, like a hazy white flower separated by rain and fog, and said in a low voice: "The concubine will leave."

In the evening, Yan Xiaohan received a message from the eunuch in the palace, ordering him not to keep his filial piety behind closed doors, but to return to the court to preside over the Yanying Palace. Seriously?"

Yuan Zhen's face remained unchanged, he looked at his nose, nose, nose, and heart, pretending that he didn't hear anything.

"Go back, I understand," Yan Xiaohan said, "It's only been a few months, I can still afford to wait."

Since then, Emperor Changzhi's heart disease has not improved, and the original trip to the south of the Yangtze River in September has not been able to take place. When winter comes, his illness is getting worse day by day. Emperor Changzhi used to be able to occasionally show up at court meetings , completely bedridden after October.The imperial doctor in the palace kept his mouth shut, only reporting good news but not bad news. Even so, some well-informed people learned from various heresy that the emperor might be in trouble, and secretly prepared.

On the fifth day of November in the fourth year of Changzhi, the capital had the first snow since winter.

In the middle of the night, there was a knock on the corner door of Yan Mansion. A man of modest stature wrapped in a cloak and a hood, carrying a wind lamp, whispered to the housekeeper who came to open the door: "Please come out, sir, immediately. Gong. Duke Yuan sent a message, that one is a little bit bad."

Not long after, a small carriage stopped outside Zhangxuanmen.The man in white clothes got off the carriage, Yuan Zhen was waiting inside the door, and hurriedly asked the servant to hold an umbrella for him: "My lord, you can count yourself here, hurry up, you won't be able to stop it any later..."

"What are you panicking about?" A snowflake floated onto his eyelashes and turned into a small drop of water. Yan Xiaohan walked towards the palace unhurriedly, and said casually, "It's not death at whose hands? Sooner or later."

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the candle lights went out.

Emperor Changzhi had been tortured for several months, and now he was so thin that only a handful of bones remained, and he could hardly even support the quilt when lying on the couch.His face was as white as paper, but his lips were black, his breathing was almost inaudible, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, and there was no trace of his former gentle and handsome appearance.

Fu Ling wiped his face with a wet towel, meticulously.There was no one in the hall, only the flickering candles, casting her thin shadow on the bed curtain, twisted and crooked, looking in a trance, as if it was a vine crawling out of the dark ground.

Her eyes lingered over Emperor Changzhi's forehead and bridge of nose, counting his light breathing, and her five fingers holding the cloth scarf tightened involuntarily, as if firmly grasping a dangerous thought that was about to come out.

He looked like he might die at any moment, his throat snapped with a fragile pinch.

Fu Ling's wrists trembled, and she could barely hold the cloth towel, but there seemed to be an invisible rope pulling her hand, making her fearfully and persistently send the wet cloth to Emperor Changzhi's mouth and nose.

This man had been her life's support and destination, but it was also he who personally ruined the friendship between husband and wife for many years, and even sent her only elder brother to death.

The Tian family has no father and son, no brothers, and of course... no husband and wife.

With a sound of "squeak", the palace door opened wide, and a gust of wind swept into the warm palace. Fu Ling's expression froze, he withdrew his hand as if he had been scalded, quickly threw the cloth towel into the basin, stood up and said sharply: "Who is here?" Outside?"