Born short-lived

"What? The prince is in prison?" Zhou Zirong asked incredulously, his mind went blank, "Why did he go to prison?"

Wasn't it okay before you left?

"Your Majesty's order?" Zhou Zirong asked.

Luo Chi was puzzled, thinking that this was nonsense, otherwise, besides the empress, who else would have the ability to put the prince in prison?

He nodded cautiously: "Well, it is said that His Royal Highness murdered the imperial court official, but... But how is this possible?!"

Zhou Zirong's lips trembled, and he asked again, "Zhang Lunian?"

Luo Chi: "Yes."

Zhou Zirong lowered his eyes, a chill of fear quickly spread in his blood vessels, his palms were sweating, he took a few breaths, and then couldn't hold back anymore and jumped up: "Go back to Beijing, go back to Beijing immediately! "

Luo Chi wanted to go back a long time ago, so of course he had no objection, so he rushed to clean up after hey.A personal guard next to him couldn't stand it anymore, and hurriedly stopped him: "General, His Royal Highness told you not to return to Beijing. There must be a reason for it. General, please think again."

Yuan Li's messages have always been concise and to the point, which won Zhou Zirong's appreciation in the past, but now he can't help but blame him bitterly in his heart

, I thought to myself that if you speak more and be clearer, you will lose a lot of meat? !

But even if Yuan Li only said so much, Zhou Zirong could still make a guess. He suspected that Jiang Kun and Zhang Lunian would never give up on this, and wrote an urgent letter to remind Dong Sheng— —It seems that it still hasn't caught up.

Dong Sheng grew up in the East China Sea. He had no foundation in the temple. The Queen was his only backer. If the Queen turned her back on her, it would be very difficult for him to turn her back.

But if he hurried back now, he might only add fuel to the fire.Everyone in the Golden Luan Palace knew that he was a hard-nosed princeling. If something happened to the prince, he would go back to Beijing regardless of his envoy. Isn't that obvious that he would force the palace?If the crown prince's crime of murdering the official has been finalized, he will probably be charged with another layer of deliberate rebellion when he returns. After all, Zhou Zirong is also a military general on the side of the tiger.

The empress should be sensitive now, so he just went back, and I am afraid that he will involve both of them.

Even if he said that it was because he encountered pirates pretending to be Panyang troops on the way, few people would believe them. It was not because of anything else, but because the current wind was not going to their side. Are these pirates the Panyang army? It's just his words, which are not very credible in themselves, and with the prince's imprisonment, his identity has also become sensitive. Now if he tells the queen for no reason that those pirates are pretended by Panyang people, I'm afraid He also needs to be given the title of destroying diplomatic relations and deceiving the king.

But what if you don't go back?

He asked Luo Chi before if it was the Queen's order, because he wanted to know whether the verdict came from the Queen's mouth, or from the Dali Temple or the Ministry of Criminal Justice.If it came from the empress, then there may be some room for maneuver. The empress does not want to hand over Dong Sheng to Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment. She personally sent Dong Sheng to the prison. a handful.

But even if the queen didn't intend to kill him, he couldn't guarantee that something unexpected would happen if such a big incident happened.

Besides, the situation in Panyang is unknown, and they were attacked by a group of pirates pretending to be pirates before they landed. If they just go there rashly, he doesn't care. How can the safety of the civil servants on the main ship be guaranteed?

Zhou Zirong hadn't been in such a dilemma for a long time. He walked around the room a few times, then sat back heavily on the chair, pressed down his hand that was still trembling slightly, leaned his neck and took a deep breath, and looked at the guard. Lightly ordered: "Go and get Luo Chi back for me."

As soon as the personal guard heard that his advice had worked, he hurriedly took orders and left.

Zhou Zirong called all his cronies, and planned out all the conceivable situations.Then they discovered that no matter what, returning to Huajing now was the worst policy.

Zhou Zirong kept telling himself in his heart that he must not go back so hastily, otherwise he would not be able to get Dong Sheng, and he would have to take himself in.He was the only one standing beside Dong Sheng, if he also went in, who would save Dong Sheng?

The queen didn't intend to kill him, and being in prison would be a kind of protection for him, so Dong Sheng should be fine for the time being.

Zhou Zirong thought about the reason why he shouldn't just go back all day, but finally made a completely different decision in the middle of the night - he left Luo Chi behind and returned by himself on a small ship with fifty personal guards.

He felt that he was crazy countless times along the way, but every time after scolding himself in his heart, he would still urge the soldiers to drive the boat faster from time to time.

"Uncle," the princess was supported by a maid, and rushed into the capital, stumbled all the way, making the maid sweat profusely: "Your Highness, Your Highness, be careful where you step."

Jiang Kun had heard the commotion in the outer court a long time ago, so he tidied himself up in front of the mirror in a leisurely manner, and then put on an anxious and bewildered look on his face, and then hurriedly greeted him. go out.

"Oh, Your Royal Highness, what's the matter?"

Dong Li looked like he was about to cry, and said hastily: "I heard that the emperor's brother is in prison, and the mother emperor doesn't want to see me, what can uncle do?"

Jiang Kun looked around with a sad face, stretched out his palm and pressed it down, signaling the princess to whisper, then pulled the princess over, and said nervously: "Your Highness, you must not interfere in this matter."

Dong Li was even more anxious: "Why?! The black water prison is not a place for people to stay. It's dark and humid, full of rats and insects. The emperor's brother is a dragon's blood and a phoenix marrow. How can he suffer such a crime?!"

Jiang Kun sighed: "But..."

He lowered his voice very low, as if he was talking about some ulterior secret: "His Royal Highness murdered the imperial court official, that is a serious crime."

Dong Li retorted: "How is this possible?!"

Jiang Kun said in pain: "But the witnesses, material evidence and motives are all complete, and it is almost impossible to reverse the case..."

After he finished speaking, he raised his eyelids calmly and looked at the princess's expression.

The expression on Dong Li's face was blank for a moment, he looked at him blankly, and said dumbly: "This...how can this be?"

Jiang Kun then comforted him heartbroken: "It's better for the princess to go out less these days, and stay in the harem with peace of mind. This fire will never burn you."

Then he looked unpredictable again, and said to the princess very nervously: "If His Highness the Crown Prince is unlucky this time...then you will be my Crown Prince Hua Xu. You must take care of yourself."

He pressed the princess's immature shoulder, and the little princess didn't react for a while, and was sent back by Jiang Kun in a daze.

After Jiang Kun sent the princess away, the earnest look on his face also subsided.He is the person who knows Dong Li best. No matter how much Dong Li deceives himself verbally, no matter how much he expresses his admiration and concern for Dong Sheng, the kind of jealousy and longing for superiority in his heart are indelible.

He smiled confidently, turned and went back to the house.

He didn't believe that the princess really didn't want the Ninth Five-Year Supreme.

Dong Sheng was stripped of his court clothes, and rushed to the Heishui Prison in a panic.As the name suggests, the black water prison is a water prison. When adults enter, the water can overflow the waistline.The underground is dark, causing the water to look black, hence the name Black Water Prison.

There are unpredictable water bugs under the water, some are poisonous and some are not. Whether they get poisoned or not depends on luck. Many people died in the water prison without making a sound.But even if it is not bitten to death by poisonous insects, the water is freezing cold, and it has not circulated for a long time, soaked in too many dead things, and diseases are rampant.If they were locked up for too long, they would either be paralyzed from the cold, or eventually fall ill and die.

But as soon as Dong Sheng entered, he found that the peculiar smell in the water prison where he was held was much lighter than other water prisons.He was led in by the jailer and tied to the stone wall. The cold "black water" overflowed his waistline, but he didn't feel much discomfort—the water was newly replaced.

Moreover, there is still a faint smell of realgar on the stone wall.

Dong Sheng secretly told himself that there was still room for things to turn around.

Although things have come to this point, no matter whether the Queen believes him or not, at least she still wants to protect him.Otherwise, he would be left until the afternoon for the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Criminal Justice to judge. He couldn't count how many Jiang Kun's people were in those two departments.If they were really sentenced, Dong Sheng didn't know if he could still stand up like this.

The secret agent he sent came over to look at him a few times, and said that the matter in Kunzhou had some clues, so he asked him to wait patiently.

Dong Sheng thought, all he had left now was patience.

The luck in the misfortune is that before he went to prison, he finally got his mind back, arranged everything that should be arranged, and waited to get himself out—as long as things went smoothly from Huajing to Kunzhou.

After staying in the water dungeon for a long time, Dong Sheng became more and more aware of his low-bone nature. He used to suffer from insomnia in the rich and well-clothed East Palace, but now he was locked in the dark and damp water dungeon and started to feel sleepy from time to time. .

He forced himself not to fall asleep, otherwise his body would definitely be soaked in the ice water.

Dong Sheng's life was about to fade away, and he didn't know day or night when he was underground, and he didn't know how long it had passed, but another person came to him.

The man was dressed as a prison guard, but when Dong Sheng saw his face, he felt familiar, and instinctively felt that he was not from here.Maybe it's because he has been disguised for a long time before, and he is extremely sensitive and picky about these disguised ways, and he can see any violations at a glance.

He looked up at the "jailor" and asked, "What's wrong?"

The jailer didn't say a word, and didn't open the door of the water prison. He found a place closest to Dong Sheng through the iron fence, and mouthed to him.

The light in the dungeon was very poor. Dong Sheng raised his eyebrows to identify it carefully before realizing that the word he said was "Zhou".

[The author has something to say: Lao Gong is coming back to save his wife. 】