Shen unexpectedly saw the prince pushing open the door and coming out. He looked extremely haggard, and his hair was half messed up. His eyes stared blankly around, and his steps were not steady.
"Prince, are you going back to the palace?" Manager Shen hurriedly greeted him.
"Eunuch... I'm fine. Please take care of yourself." After saying that, he patted Shen Jing's arm and walked down the steps slowly.
"Jie Shangshu, you two adults," a petty official squeezed into the door sideways and bowed to Jie Wenwu, "I have inquired, the prince has returned to the palace from the inner garden, and his face does not seem to be very good. "
"Huh?!" Jie Wenwu stood up in panic and looked at Liu Mian and Chen Tongpao next to him.
"Stay back first." Liu Mian ordered seriously. The clerk kowtowed, then leaned over and retreated.
"Old Minister Liu, is the emperor really going to abandon us?" Jie Wenwu pinched his lips and asked worriedly.
Liu Mian also sensed the crisis, and sighed repeatedly: "Lan Yuan and the others must have been too anxious, and taught the prince to say some inaccurate words... If the Holy One refutes it with a straight face, that would be better; if he gets angry, there is no guarantee that he will succeed. There is a danger of annihilation.”
Jie Wenwu suddenly couldn't sit still and stood up and said: "The matter is urgent. We have to go to the palace in front of the ban to remonstrate and ask the emperor to make a decision! You two, each of you bring the copy of the memorial and come with me. !”
After hearing this, Tongpao Chen hurriedly pressed his shoulder: "Master Jie should take a long-term approach and discuss with Mr. Liu to come up with a good solution. Don't be reckless."
"Lord Chen!" Jie Wenwu put aside his arm, "I know you have always been steady, but things have reached this point. How can the emperor be restored? Why don't you give it a bloody fight? Maybe you can scare him. Those Liu gang!"
Chen Tongpao firmly remonstrated: "In the Ministry of War, the emperor is a thoughtful person after all. Although he disagreed with the prince, he did not issue an edict in a hurry, which shows that he is still waiting and watching. By doing this, you are completely dragging the emperor into the water. Putting the emperor in a dilemma."
Jie Wenwu stroked his beard, thought for a moment, and then slowly sat back: "What Gongzhou said is true. But we still don't know exactly what happened to the prince. We need to ask there again. If the situation If the situation is more serious than expected, we must not sit idly by and wait for death.”
"Well, it's always a good thing to be prepared." Liu Mian nodded slightly and turned to Chen Tongpao, "What do you think?"
Chen Tongpao knew that something was wrong, but seeing that both of them had made up their minds, he himself, a minister, couldn't say much, so he agreed: "The two seniors are far-sighted and take precautions. How dare I disobey you." As he spoke in his mouth, he thought in his mind. Li was already thinking of a way out.
"Well, I will send someone to the East Palace right now." Jie Wenwu said, calling the clerk at the door in and giving detailed instructions.
A bright moon is rising quietly above people's heads, and the scattered light is getting brighter and brighter. Although it adds a touch of cold light to the dark world, everyone here knows that the night is getting deeper.
The sedan stopped in front of the main hall of the East Palace. The lanterns in the hands of the guards were extinguished and they stood upright on both sides of the handrails, staring at the steps where the moonlight shone.
The prince opened the yellow curtain, lowered his body first, planted his feet firmly on the ground, and then walked out.
Lan Yuan was waiting in front of the palace door, looking carefully at his face, but he couldn't see it under the moonlight.
"Let's go in and talk." The prince ordered coldly and walked straight into the thermal pavilion in the side room.
Lan Yuan sat down with him, and just now saw that his face was slightly pale and his eye circles were still a little red.
"Things are broken."
The prince just threw out these four words, and then fell into silence for a long time. He said after a long time: "I met with my father and handed over the memorial. However, he asked me what I thought, so I advised him to make a decisive decision. Who knows? I'm afraid there will be trouble if you curse angrily! It's really inexplicable..."
"I initially advised the prince not to go, but you didn't want to listen. It's true!" Lan Yuan lamented and patted his thigh.
"Mr. Lan, why didn't you persuade me more? You didn't say anything at the time, but now you are shifting the responsibility to me." After hearing his complaints, the prince felt even more depressed.
"It's not like His Highness doesn't know that the Emperor doesn't like to get involved in things, so he has to push the responsibilities down to the lower officials. When the superior asks for your opinion, it's clear that he wants you to take over this responsibility and coordinate the relationship with the Liu Party for him. But on the other hand, you want to carry out the death remonstrance, which makes the emperor unable to come to the stage, so he is very angry."
"Figure out your intentions, figure out your intentions..." The prince gritted his teeth and said, "I am the prince of the current dynasty, his biological son! Do I want to act fearfully like those ministers? You are on guard against me at every turn..."
"Before His Majesty succeeded to the throne, he encountered many changes, which is why he is so suspicious. Have you seen the superiors playing chess?"
"No. Does he still like to play chess?" The prince was thinking about it carefully. From childhood to now, he could not think of a single moment when he was by his father's side.
"It is said that the emperor's moves are extremely clever, and his use of power is also based on this. The six departments, Zhongshu, loyal ministers, traitors, including you, are all just chess pieces for the purpose of winning. The chess pieces naturally cannot move, so Everyone should find their own position and work hard for him without complaint. In his heart, the prince should do what he should do, and the ministers should do what they should do. There is no difference in essence, just different uses. "
"Sir, you are right. In my impression, my father is the same kind of person." After hearing this, the prince was quite impressed. "It's just that when the eldest brother was still alive, he was still a little warm. After the eldest brother died, he was probably still feeling the same. Things... hate me, King Xu."
"Shidu Lan, there is someone standing outside the door, asking to see him!" Just as he was saying this, he suddenly heard the guard outside the door shouting.
"Prince, let me go out and take a look first." Lan Yuan walked out of the Nuan Pavilion, his footsteps getting farther and farther.
The prince waited for a while and then saw Lan Yuan coming back. He hurriedly approached and asked, "Who was it just now?"
Lan Yuan's face was as calm as water, and he showed no signs of panic. He smiled calmly and replied: "It's just some secular affairs. Let me put the old books in the other room in the secret pavilion."
"Now that Mr. Lan knows what my father is thinking, is there any way to get this king out of this predicament?" Seeing that it was not a serious matter, the prince hurriedly asked this important question.
"Your Highness, what remains unchanged should remain unchanged. As long as you sit firmly in the East Palace, like I said, we will do what a chess piece should do and take care of our responsibilities."
"But I always feel uneasy." The prince pointed to his heart and held his arm tightly, still looking worried.
"That's because you're overthinking it. Your Highness, please go back to your bedroom and I'll ask the slave to bring you a pill to calm your nerves. You can sleep peacefully until tomorrow. Maybe things won't be so bad."
"There is Mr. Lao Lan..." The prince looked at his back, feeling increasingly uneasy.
