Heaven and earth return to one

The matter was handed over to the people in Zhuangzi, so Li Yunke slowed down his return journey a bit, and did some private affairs along the way, and it was almost a month before he returned to Yingzhong.

Kang Hui, who came back one step ahead of him, waited for him at the Shili Pavilion outside the city gate, and disappeared without a trace after informing him of the completion of the matter sent by Zhuangzi.

Li Yunke sat alone on the horse for a while, looked down at his neat clothes, suddenly jumped off the horse, took off the outer shirt, crumpled it into a crumpled ball, shook it off and put it on again go back.

He didn't think it was enough, so he grabbed two handfuls of soil from the ground, raised them upwards, raised his face and closed his eyes to pick up a lot of dust.

Prince Duan was finally satisfied, turned back on his horse, put on a dusty and disheveled disguise, and went to the palace to face the saint.

In the imperial study room, Emperor Ronghong Li Yunshen was reviewing the memorial.

Hearing that the personal chief eunuch Xiao Baizi said that Prince Duan asked to see him, he paused his hand holding the pen and said, "Let him in."

After a while, Li Yunke walked in quickly from the outside, knelt down on one knee in front of his desk, and said, "My brother, please see the emperor."

Li Yunshen only felt a cold air mingled with a choking dusty air rushing towards his face as he approached, so he couldn't help hiding back, looked at his dirty appearance, and said unexpectedly: "How did you do this?" This look?"

Li Yunke didn't stand up, didn't even look at him, maintained his kneeling posture and said: "My brother was in a hurry to return to his order, and didn't go back to the mansion to wash up first. If you lose your manners, please punish the emperor."

"Forget it," Li Yunshen waved his hand, "Get up and talk."

Only then did Li Yunke stand up slowly, and said: "Brother Huang, I chased the spy all the way to Mount Shura outside Luohuai City, and finally killed him. I can be sure that he didn't talk to anyone else along the way. There was no chance to deliver the news, and no secret letter was found on him. However, I was still worried that there would be omissions, so I burned his body."

Li Yunshen pondered for a while before saying: "You have done a good job in this matter, and naturally I will be able to reward you later."

"Thank you, Brother Huang." Li Yunke was not polite to him, and asked for it, and said, "Brother Huang, I have a merciless request."

Li Yunshen looked over expressionlessly, "What?"

"The prefect of Luohuai also contributed to this matter..."

"Do you want me to give him some rewards?" Li Yunshen stood up slowly, his tone of voice could not hear the joy or anger, "With his official position, he is not qualified to know about this matter, why are you not surprised by this at all?"

Li Yunke respectfully said: "Everyone is ordered by the emperor to work for Chengning, who is qualified and who is not, isn't it all a matter of what you say?"

Li Yunshen nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer.

"Brother Huang, after going down the mountain, I originally planned to rest at Lord Wang's place for two days before coming back, but I fell asleep that night and suddenly remembered that I can't delay at this time, otherwise Brother Huang must be worried, so I rushed back overnight." Li Yunke He said, "I didn't have time to inform Mr. Wang, so he must have been in a hurry. According to Brother Huang, should I write a letter to apologize to him?"

Li Yunshen snorted, "You dignified prince go apologize to him, what's the face of my royal family? Okay, let's not talk about this, you ask the people in your house to send a set of clean clothes to the palace, and go to Hualu Garden to wash them well. The queen mother is still thinking about you, you pack yourself up and go to see her old man."

Although Li Yunke and Li Yunshen are brothers born of the same mother, they have no relationship at all, and they barely maintain a passable appearance for the sake of the Queen Mother is still alive.

This is also the only reason why Li Yunke has not been kicked out of Yingzhong. He knows in his heart how guarded this imperial brother is against him.

Li Yunshen was the fourth son of the first emperor, and Li Yunke was the youngest. There was a 20-year age difference between the two.Emperor Rong Hong was suspicious at first, if he said that he had no doubts about Yaodi who had grown up now, no one would believe him.In addition, the prestige of the prince who is similar to him is far less than that of Prince Duan, so how can Li Yunshen not be afraid of him?

However, because the Queen Mother loves this son who was unexpectedly obtained after a certain age, Li Yunshen, who values ​​filial piety, could not overtly persecute his disliked younger brother, but never stopped making things difficult secretly.

Naturally, Li Yunke would not be unclear, but he never explicitly expressed his loyalty to Li Yunshen, because he knew that it would only arouse the emperor's greater suspicion.

This is the reason why he is twenty-seven this year, but he didn't even marry a princess.He didn't want to leave an heir, so that Li Yunshen would have more suspicions about himself, at least from this aspect, it could somewhat reassure his suspicious brother.

Prince Duan did not marry a wife and had no children, Emperor Rong Hong saved a lot of heart, but the Queen Mother was heartbroken.

The dinner was served by brothers Li Yunshen and Li Yunke with the queen mother. The old lady who will be 70 years old in the next year is very energetic. Seeing Li Yunke coming back, she dragged him and talked non-stop. Waiting for the girls in the boudoir to count them one by one and ask him if he has any favorites.

Li Yunke naturally said he didn't like it, and made up a set of arguments that he is still young and doesn't want to be taken care of by his wife too early to fool the queen mother. The old lady compared the prince with a son and scolded him all night. down to business.

Only at this time, Li Yunshen will speak for Li Yunke, and persuade the queen mother not to worry, and let Li Yunke be free for a few more years.The old lady murmured that she would be buried in the ground in a few years, and at the same time gave her youngest son his favorite dish with a face full of disgust.

Li Yunke secretly sighed, it seems that his step is still effective, at least in front of the queen mother, they can still maintain the illusion of being brothers and sisters, and make the old lady happy.

It was already dark when he came out of the palace. Li Yunke rubbed his swollen temples, feeling a little tired from the day, and he should go back earlier to take a comfortable hot bath and sleep.

There are not many times to enjoy in the palace, he thought, don't waste that big bed.

But it happened that there was a person who didn't know what to do, and when he returned to the bedroom with the heat from the shower, he saw Kang Hui standing in his room waiting for him.

Li Yunke: "..."

What kind of mood would you feel if you were told about marrying a wife all night and found someone waiting in the room when you came home?Li Yunke gave Kang Hui a white look, and said, "You look good, but it's a pity that I don't like it."

The room was not lit, and Kang Hui couldn't see his expression clearly, so he asked inexplicably, "Huh?"

"What do you want from me?" Li Yunke walked straight into the room, took off the outer shirt he was wearing without hesitation and threw it aside, and sat on the soft and comfortable big bed.

Kang Hui said: "Wang Shuangwu has already realized that the official messenger who delivered the letter was lost. Although he couldn't imagine that the person was killed by us, he has already delivered the letter again. Should we continue to stop it?"

"One time is a coincidence, but two times it doesn't make sense," Li Yunke shook his head, "Don't worry about it, let him deliver the letter successfully."

Kang Hui was not at ease, "But..."

"Worried that he will threaten me?" Li Yunke smiled, "Wang Shuangwu is not a fool, he knew that I arrived at Yingzhong with his letter one step ahead, so he naturally guessed what my face would say; he also knows the emperor's temperament , will definitely change the contents of the previously lost letter, and follow my words. But no matter what he says, it doesn't matter, his letter came too late, Brother Huang has already become suspicious, no matter what he says, he will not fully believe it .”

Kang Hui thought about it and found it reasonable.He could hear a little tiredness from Li Yunke's voice, and hurriedly said: "It's the subordinate who disturbed the master to rest, and the subordinate will leave."

After he left, Li Yunke enjoyed his own big bed as he wished, but he was obviously very tired, but he couldn't fall asleep again.

"Should I really find someone to accompany me to pass the long night?" Li Yunke wiped his face depressedly, thinking for no reason of that night with Nangongxuan on Shura Mountain, and felt that something had changed in him.

He couldn't help laughing twice, planning to solve the problem for himself, and at the same time thought: If you don't want to leave an heir, wouldn't it be good to find a male princess?

Li Yunke's prediction was really good, and his good days are only a few days away.

Five days later, at the end of the ugly time, Yin Shi came out, and the Babaili urgent battle report was sent into the palace, and Emperor Rong Hong, who was sleeping soundly, was dragged from the bedroom directly into the main hall.All the ministers in the court came soon after receiving the announcement, and the early court was ahead of schedule.

According to the battle report, Qiujue suddenly launched troops on the western border half a month ago, caught Chengning by surprise, and under the flustered response, a small group of enemy troops successfully broke through. .

The two sides have been living in peace for decades, and finally some people can't help it.

Li Yunshen on the dragon chair didn't speak for a while, thinking to himself that now is really not a good time to start a war.Xi and Qiujue have already torn their faces apart, Bei and Beimo dislike each other, and Nan's relationship with Cangxun 36 Prefecture is almost the same as his relationship with Li Yunke - face and heart are at odds.

Once they fight with Qiujue, it's hard to say whether Beimo and Cangxun will take advantage of the fire to loot them. Even though Chengning's national strength is strong, Li Yunshen dare not say that he can settle all three places.What angered him the most was that Qiujue, Beimo and Cangxun were all separated from Chengning's territory a hundred years ago, and they should have belonged to Chengning's territory.

Li Yunshen is no longer young, and he has long since lost his ambition to dominate the territory when he first ascended the throne. Now he just wants to keep his throne well and pass it on to the crown prince smoothly.As for the war, it is more appropriate to leave it to young people.

After making up his mind, he said impatiently: "Qiu Jue has already withdrawn his troops from the border, so we can handle this matter more simply. Didn't it mean that there will only be more than [-] soldiers who break through the encirclement and enter the country? Prince Duan, I will give you a hundred elite soldiers, you go and deal with those people."