Suo Diling

Xiao Lan's triumphant return made his throne even more stable, and even a few senior cabinet ministers who had been critical of my brother's position changed their direction, which made my plan to regain the throne aborted.

I am very unwilling, but I know that I can't act too hastily, otherwise I will cause a disaster and lose my life.

On the night when I heard the news of Xiao Lan's triumphant return, I was having dinner when an uninvited guest came to my door.

At that time, when I heard that delicate female voice asking Shunde if I was feeling better, I knew it must be the maid of Shuyu Palace who invited me to a family banquet with Concubine Meng, but naturally I would not go to this Hongmen banquet. .

There are many people in the court who regard me as a deposed lord as a hidden danger, and want to get rid of it quickly. They are still headed by the Meng family who regained military power after Xiao Lan ascended the throne. My aunt, Empress Meng.Xiao Lan's noble concubine is my aunt's niece, and I know exactly what she is thinking.

Because after Xiao Lan left, the palace guards were added to guard me closely, and I claimed that I would not be sick, and Concubine Meng Gui couldn't do anything to me.

Seeing that it was impossible, she made a secret move, and that night, she sent an assassin to assassinate her.

But she didn't expect that I had been prepared for a long time, and I resisted it with the white-clothed guards that Bai Yanzhi had placed in the palace.

After capturing the assassin alive, I ordered Shunde to torture him and destroy his mind. On the second day, I sent the white guards to stab the Taiwei Yueyuan who was in charge of supervising the country, and threw the insane assassin into his residence.

The Yue family and the Meng family, the former holds political power, while the latter holds military power, so there has always been a disagreement.I was wondering where to start to create a huge crack in Xiao Lan's rule. In this way, it can be said that the nectar of heaven fell right into my arms.

Sure enough, the Yue family suspected the Meng family, and before Xiao Lan returned to the palace, the two families had secretly clashed.

That night, I was listening to Shunde's report on the movements of the Yuemeng family when I suddenly heard a bird singing outside the window.

This is Bai Yiwei's signal.

I pushed open the window and let the white-clothed guard dressed as a maid from the Shangyi Bureau come in, but I saw Bai Li, the chief of the white-clothed guard who had guarded my biological mother for ten years, with a nervous expression on his face, one hand on his left arm, faint bloodstains from his clothes.

I thought he was blocked in the Yue Mansion, but after asking, I realized that was not the case.

When the assassin came to assassinate me, he met a mysterious masked man and fought with him, only to find that he also came to stop the assassin. Seeing that Bai Li had captured the assassin, he fled without a trace .The next day, Bai Li sent the assassin into the Yue Mansion, almost unable to escape, but this mysterious visitor suddenly appeared and came to help.

After escaping from the Yue Mansion, Bai Li followed him all the way to the outside of the palace, but was injured and lost the whereabouts of this mysterious visitor.

Could it be Xiao Du, the little wolf cub?Hearing him explain in detail, I became suspicious, but also felt that it was impossible.

Xiao Duyuan fought against the bandits in the earthquake disaster in Yingzhou, and he was at his wits' end.

And Bai Li's description also denied my guess even more.

This person is more than eight feet tall, agile, slender and slender, with a scimitar that makes him perfect, obviously he is not Xiao Du.Hearing Bai Li mentioned that he was missing two fingers on his right hand and his eyes were blue, I immediately thought of someone.

This man is a member of the Chi tribe, named Wusha, and he is also a fierce general beside King Wuxie of the Chi Kingdom, and he has fought against me before.

He is good at assassination and stealth, and he is fierce and decisive. He is known as "ghost shadow" in the desert.

When Wu Dun came to the palace as an envoy that day, Wu Sha must have come together.

Thinking of this man, I can't help breaking out in a cold sweat.

Why did Usha hide in the Great Crown Palace?

No one has found out for so long, where is he hiding and what is his purpose?Is it to deal with Xiao Lan, or to avenge me, the deposed lord who once severely damaged the Chi clan?If it's the latter, why didn't Wu Sha hide in the palace for several months, why didn't he alarm the white guards, and then suddenly appeared when the assassin assassinated me, and actually helped Bai Li in his actions?

Is he friend rather than foe?Could it be that the Chi tribe wants to use the hand of me, the deposed lord, to get rid of the current emperor of Da Mian?

If so, the Chi clan really made a good plan.

Have they ever thought that I was once the king of a country, but in order to regain power, I would be willing to cooperate with foreign enemies?

In fact, if Xiao Lan pushes me too far, I am indeed willing.This is the reason why we must first settle down in order to fight against the outside world.

"Your Majesty, do you need me to thoroughly investigate this person to confirm whether he is Usha?"

Seeing that I was silent for a while, with a sneer on my face, Bai Li asked for his life.

I nodded: "If you find this person, bring him to see me. I will meet him personally."

Bai Li bowed back: "I obey."

After this night, my days returned to calm for the time being.Time flies, Xiao Lan returned to Mianjing not long after, and Xiao Du also returned from Yingzhou ahead of his third brother Xiao Mo, and followed his father's footsteps into the gate of Mianjing.

From the top of the palace tower, I saw their troops marching mightily at the Beiyao Gate of Mianjing.

There are crowds of people on both sides of the city road, and the towering Beiyao Gate slowly opens. When the dawn shines through the gate, tens of thousands of white pigeons fly up to the sky, and the summer wind blows all over the city. Like fireworks.

Wearing a golden armor, wearing a helmet of the Rising Sun King, and riding a white elephant, Xiao Lan attracts the attention of all people, and is as heroic as a god; after his eight imperial guards, is Xiao Du who enters the city later, he is black armored and black, and his body is full of blood. Hei, who was up and down the water, held the head of the pirate leader he had beheaded by himself in one hand. Although he followed his father, he was still domineering and imposing.

The father and son are infinitely beautiful, and this situation is only more prestigious than when I was triumphant back then.

I don't know if the people in Mianjing still remember me as the deposed emperor, maybe in their eyes, my rule is just a flash in the pan.If my biological mother, who had placed high hopes on me, saw me like this today, I don’t know how disappointed I would be.

Instead of soaring into the sky, I fell here. I am really ashamed of the word "Ling" she chose for me.

Thinking of standing alone on this tower, I have the urge to jump down.

I opened my arms, letting the scorching wind tear my red robe and black hair, just like a mother dying.

She is such a beautiful and resolute woman, even though her father made her a concubine and confines her in this huge palace, he spent his whole life without making her fall in love with him.When he died, he ordered her to be buried, but he failed to get his wish.

"Look, who is that?"

"It's Xihe, the goddess Xihe has appeared!"

"Good omen, good omen!"

"Kneel down and pray!"

There were people making noise one after another, obviously noticing my presence.

I lowered my head and looked down, and I saw thousands of people kneeling towards me one after another, with their heads upturned in the sky, and even the marching people and horses in the middle of the city road stopped. Looking at me, only listening to the two of them ordering at the same time, hundreds of imperial guards rushed to the bottom of me, pulled up the huge crown flag, as if afraid that I would really jump down, but Xiao Du took the lead and rushed over the imperial guards palace gate.

I admired the turbulent scene below, laughed so hard that I coughed, and had to cover my face with my sleeves, but I couldn't help but think of Bao Si who attracted King Zhou You to play with the princes—how similar she is to me at this time!

As the lord of a country, I failed, and as a disaster for the country, I looked decent.

Irony, irony.Being an emperor is a joke!

I raised my head and laughed, and fell backwards into a man's hard arms.

There was a bloody smell of killing on his body, mixed with the saltiness of the sea water, he looked like a pirate, his strong and strong arms were retracted, and the cold armor pressed against my back, making my bones ache and my whole body hurt. Like falling apart.

"Uncle Huang, I haven't seen you for a few months, you seem to have lost weight again."

Xiao Du's voice sounded in my ears, it faded a bit from youthfulness, a little more wild, like a big man.

I struggled to get up, but Xiao Du didn't let go of his strength, instead he hugged me even tighter.

"Uncle, what did you want to do just now?"

I smiled and said, "Of course I came to watch your triumphant return. Why, do you think you have to jump off a building alone?"

Xiao Du remained silent, his arms loosened.

"How could you enter the palace before your father? It's just nonsense." I opened his arms, put my hands behind my back, and suppressed my smile. Why don't you go out and kneel to welcome your father?"

"Yes, Uncle Huang taught you a lesson, so my nephew will go now. I'll see Uncle Huang later."

Saying this, Xiao Du snorted and turned to me.He raised one eyebrow in a bit of anger, and saluted me. A pair of narrow green eyes looked up at me from bottom to top, and turned into an overwhelming look down when he straightened up.

His body blocked the daylight, and a shadow fell over me, making me look very small.

I couldn't help but take a step back a little, so as not to lose the prestige of the elders.

Xiao Du turned around and left in a very face-saving manner.He seems to have grown taller again, because he is wearing a black iron animal horn helmet, which is a full head taller than me, and he has the broad shoulders and long legs of a barbarian. With this body shape, he is extremely intimidating on the battlefield.

I heard that he was brave and good at fighting in Yingzhou, and he was brave and resourceful. Not only did he wipe out the pirates who invaded Yingzhou City, but he also personally led an elite army to pretend to be captives on the warships of the pirates and lure them. Entering the bay where there was an ambush for a long time, dumping kerosene from above, burning hundreds of large and small warships of the pirates, and leaving alive to guide the way. Destroyed their lair.

Probably no one thought that Xiao Du was a natural general, a natural god of war.

I also didn't expect that my nonsense word interpretation of "Unparalleled in the World" turned out to be a prophecy.

He may indeed be peerless.

There was a vague sense of ominousness in my heart.

Not only because of Xiao Du's sharpness, but also his attitude towards me just now, which seems to have changed a lot.

Why, after hanging out with the pirates for a few months, did you develop a ruffian?

I shook my head, feeling displeased, and walked down the palace building with Shunde's extended hand.

That night, Xiao Lan held a military parade in front of Jiuyao Palace to reward the three armies.

When it comes to rewards for meritorious deeds, Xiao Du is naturally indispensable.

Because of his great achievements, Xiao Lan naturally couldn't break his promise, so he had to canonize him as the crown prince in public. The canonization ceremony was scheduled to be held on the day of the autumnal equinox. On the same day, Wu Zhu was canonized as the crown prince and the ceremony of their marriage was held.

congratulations.

Hiding in the shadow under the eaves, I watched Xiao Du and Wu Zhu kneeling under the stairs, thinking so.

In this war, the Kingdom of Chi has helped a lot, and Wuzhu is the noble princess of the Kingdom of Chi, so Xiao Du, the crown prince, is not something that Xiao Lan can abolish at will. .

Xiao Lan originally wanted to use Xiao Du as a shield, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be self-defeating.I don't know if Xiao Du, who has half of the blood of the Chi clan in his body and is married to the princess of the Chi clan, will have his heart turned towards his royal father.

Now, apart from resolving internal disputes, Xiao Lan also has to guard against the wolfish ambitions of foreigners, but he is busy.

The next day, Xiao Lan ordered a thorough investigation into the truth of the Taiwei's attack, and found out the Meng family following the tone revealed by the mad assassin.

It is reasonable for the Meng family to send someone to assassinate the Taiwei who is in charge of supervising the country.

I guess Xiao Lan, like me, has a grudge against the fact that the Meng family holds military power, and is worried about the monopoly of foreign relatives. Even if he has doubts in his heart, he will take this opportunity to suppress the Meng family.In the end, he did it more simply than I thought. He put Concubine Meng into the cold palace, dismissed her brother, Minister of the Ministry of War, Meng Qian and other party members, and sent them far away.

Then, he elected a new minister of the Ministry of War, Lou Cang, the father of Lou Jieyu, who gave birth to him just last year.Since then, a new atmosphere in the DPRK and China has been formed.But what's new is new after all, it's not as balanced and stable as the two Mengyue families who are equally well-matched and restricted each other for many years. It will be much easier for me to defeat Xiao Lan's rule.

Because of being implicated by their mother, the happy days of Xiao Jing and Xiao Mo ended, and their status plummeted.

However, Xiao Lan probably had hopes for these two sons. Although he enshrined them as feudal lords, he did not drive them to his own fief, and allowed them to stay in the Mianjing Palace. bit.

I know in my heart that Xiao Lan's sons should not be underestimated, and they will definitely become obstacles for me to regain the throne in the future.

Even Xiao Du, who is close to me, is the same.

When I was thinking about it, there was a cold sound of wooden wheels rolling across the ground behind me.

When I went back, I saw Xiao Yu, whom I hadn't seen for several months, sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed in front of me by the eunuch.

Completely different from the previous haughty and arrogant appearance, he seems to be a completely different person, with thin cheeks, between the brows like accumulated snow that never melts all year round, a pair of beautiful luan eyes are deep and gloomy, and his skin is paler than mine, The whole person is skinny, as if relying on the thin shoulder bones to support a large silver-patterned python robe.

He held a bamboo shovel in one hand, and tapped lightly on the palm of the other hand, echoing the sound of drums at the military parade.

His appearance made me think of Xiao Lan when I was young, and my heart tightened.

The fall in the ice play competition may have destroyed his body, but it stimulated him to mature rapidly.

"It sounds good, it sounds good, it's really exciting. Does the emperor feel happy listening to it?"

He focused his distant gaze on my face and slowly smiled.

I lazily leaned on the stone pillar and answered casually: "The whole world celebrates together, how can I not be unhappy?"

Xiao Yu rubbed the Xiaoguan with his thumb, and the knuckles of his fingers were slightly raised: "We celebrate together? What a celebration."

I looked down at his legs hidden under the hem of the robe, bent down to reach out to touch them, and pretended to be concerned: "How are the eldest prince's legs recovering? If you still can't walk, I know that there is a cure for it." .”

This kid has changed his mind, I don't know if it will become a troublesome trouble, it's better to get rid of it as soon as possible.

The fireworks exploded in the air with a "bang", illuminating Xiao Yu's eyes that were as dull as stagnant water.

He stared at me for a long time before he smiled and said softly: "No need. Thanks to the emperor's uncle, my nephew will not need to toil his legs in his whole life. He is destined to sit."

I heard the hint in his words, narrowed my eyes, and smiled coldly.

What a big ambition, I'll see how you, a disabled person, fight for the throne.

"What the nephew said is wrong. I just do bad things with good intentions, but I have no intention of harming you." I patted his shoulder hypocritically, but felt a long and bony hand suddenly gripping me firmly. wrist.

"Uncle Emperor, I will never forget this great gift you gave me..."

"Brother, uncle, what are you doing?"

A deep voice pierced through the dense explosion of fireworks.

When Xiao Yu raised his voice, he raised his chin: "Of course I'm chatting, don't you have eyes, fifth brother?"

I broke away from Xiao Yu's hand, but the belt hooked the jade pendant on his body, and I leaned over and threw myself on his wheelchair.

Xiao Yu stretched out his hand to wrap around my waist: "Uncle Emperor, are you alright?"

I was annoyed, and before I could stand up, I heard a few steps behind me. As soon as my belt tightened, I was pulled up, staggered two steps, was stabilized by Xiao Du's outstretched arms, and climbed up with half support and half hug. Go up the stairs on the side of Jiuyao Hall.

He walked so fast that my feet almost didn't touch the ground: "Du'er, you, what are you doing with Gu?"

"Watch the fireworks."

"Ah?" I was taken aback for a moment, then he paused, and he squeezed out a few more words, "The royal relatives are all on top, and you cannot be missing."