The scene fell silent.
A Qi and a group of shadow attendants led three hundred cavalry to confront Emperor Jianwen. Behind Zhu Yunwen is Jianwen, the film attendant who has followed him for many years.
No one spoke first, only Hu Hui whined on the ground.
Aqi thought for a moment, then got off his horse and bowed: "My lord, by the order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I have come to invite His Majesty Jianwen to go to Beijing to have a talk with His Majesty Yongle. His Majesty Yongle misses his uncle and nephew deeply. He has missed His Majesty Jianwen for a long time. Please return." I hope His Majesty Jianwen can put aside the past grievances and return to Beijing with his ministers."
Shadow Attendant Jianwen said disdainfully: "He, Zhu Di, is a rebellious minister and has an uncle-nephew relationship. I think he has the intention of regicide in his heart. If you want to take His Majesty away, step over my body!"
A Qi's hand was already on the hilt of the knife. She had no intention of negotiating peacefully, but was just being polite in a symbolic way.
Do you really think that the three hundred cavalry she brought here are just for show?
Zhu Yunwen scolded Jianwen Shadow Attendant: "Don't be rude!"
He looked at A Qi with a smile, kept silent about his meeting with Zhu Di, and asked instead, "Are you a child of the Lan family?"
Aqi paused for a moment: "Your Majesty Jianwen still recognizes me?"
Zhu Yunwen smiled and said: "If my father had not died of illness, you should still be the daughter of the Duke's palace now."
A Qi shook his head: "It's just the past. Your Majesty Jianwen doesn't need to mention it again."
Zhu Yunwen sighed: "The clouds of the past, Emperor Jianwen, are just the clouds of the past. Go back and tell your fourth uncle that I am just a monk now, and he does not need to be sentimental."
Aqi stood there and stared at Emperor Jianwen calmly.
How could she just go back like this?
Those polite words were taken into consideration that Zhu Yunwen was once the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so that he could give the other party a step down. If Zhu Yun can't do it, then she will take action directly.
A Qi suddenly remembered something and said, "Before coming, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asked me to send a message to His Majesty Jianwen."
Zhu Yunwen's brows narrowed slightly: "The prince...is he my cousin Gao Chi?"
He had been playing hide-and-seek with Hu Hui and traveling around mountains and rivers for these years. He was completely unaware of the changes in the court. He thought that the current prince was Zhu Gaochi, the former crown prince of King Yan.
A Qi shook his head: "His Royal Highness, he is the fourth son of His Majesty."
"Gao Jie, has he become the prince?"
Zhu Yunwen was a little surprised, "Well, this has nothing to do with me anymore. What message did Gao Jie ask you to pass on to me?"
A Qi said expressionlessly: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that if Emperor Jianwen is willing to go to Beijing and have a long talk with His Majesty Yongle, then everyone will be happy. If Emperor Jianwen is not willing to go to Beijing, then let me send the old ministers in Zhao Prison Hit the road.”
When Emperor Jianwen was defeated, he ran away from Nanjing. After Zhu Di entered the capital, he launched a bloodbath. Many of Jianwen's old officials died in that bloodbath.
Those who survived were either dismissed from office or imprisoned in prison.
To this day, hundreds of former officials of Jianwen are still detained in Zhao Prison in Nanjing, living a life of darkness.
Shadow Attendant Jianwen immediately drew his knife and pointed it at A Qi: "Who do you think you are talking to?"
The Lord humiliates his ministers to death. Aqi's words are tantamount to humiliating Emperor Jianwen in front of them. How can the Shadow Attendants tolerate this?
A Qi glanced at Shadow Attendant Jianwen: "Nothing big or small."
Although she is also a girl, she is now negotiating with Emperor Jianwen as the envoy of Emperor Yongle.
If the Yongle Shadow Attendants are silent, they must not interrupt if the emperor is silent. No one like Jianwen Shadow Attendant looks more majestic than Emperor Jianwen himself.
"you!"
Jianwen Film Attendant was about to say something, but was interrupted by Zhu Yunwen raising his hand: "Okay."
"Isn't it just a trip to Beijing?"
"I can go."
Zhu Yunwen stared at A Qi and said, "But you have to promise me that if I go to Beijing, your Highness the Crown Prince will release the old Jianwen ministers who are detained in Zhao Prison."
A Qi shook his head: "I can't make the decision. His Majesty Jianwen needs to negotiate with His Majesty the Crown Prince or His Majesty Yongle."
Zhu Yunwen frowned and said nothing.
He could understand what A Qi wanted to express in his words.
What she said was that A Qi was not qualified to make the decision. In fact, she was clearly telling Emperor Jianwen: You have no choice.
If Emperor Jianwen didn't agree, Aqi, with a group of Yongle shadow attendants and three hundred cavalry, could still take him away by force.
From the beginning, the two sides were not negotiating on the same level, or in other words, this was not a negotiation at all.
Jian Wenying, the attendant, saw that Zhu Yunwen was being criticized everywhere, and then he put the blade on Hu Xi's neck: "Since you are so sincere, I will see blood first and give Zhu Di a greeting gift!"
Hu Bi: "!!!"
Zhu Yunwen didn't stop him this time, he just acted as if he couldn't see him.
Although he had packaged himself as a compassionate monk during his more than ten years of traveling, in his heart, he was still the cold-blooded and cruel Emperor Jianwen. He didn't even bat an eyelid when he killed his own uncle, let alone an unrelated person like Hu Hu.
During these years of escape, the reason why he never took action against Hu Hui was because Hu Hui posed no threat to him and because he wanted to fool Zhu Di.
Who would have thought that Hu Hu, an inconspicuous little person, would really catch him by the tail. Zhu Yunwen was filled with regret now. If he had known it, he would have killed him with a knife named Hu.
However, facing the knife placed on Hu Hui's neck, A Qi didn't even blink.
"Whether he dies or not, what does it have to do with me?"
Upon hearing this, Hu Hui lay on the ground with his arms and legs spread out, looking up at the sky with dead fish eyes.
This damn Aqi, generous to others, squandering other people's wealth, so gentle and indifferent, you will die if you co-write.
"Wait!"
Zhu Yunwen finally spoke, stopped Shadow Waiter, and rescued Xiao Hu.
He finally understood that A Qi really didn't care about Hu Hui's life and wanted to use Hu Hui's life as a bargaining chip, so the bargaining chip was worthless. If Hu Xi is killed at this time, it will only anger Zhu Di, and he will be greeted with more ferocious revenge.
Yongle Shadow Server is more cold-blooded and cruel than the Jianwen Shadow Servers around him, and his methods are also more sophisticated.
Zhu Yunwen clenched his fists, and finally bowed his head slightly: "Excuse me, please lead the way."
"I would like to go to Beijing with you and meet my fourth uncle."
…
In the Wenhua Hall, the flames of the candlesticks swayed, like a sincere dancer dancing on the bright red stage. In the silent night, the hall was still filled with people.
Zhu Gaojie was feeding small dried fish to the big white cat. He held his chin in one hand and seemed to find it a bit novel.
Although I have had this cat for a long time, he rarely feeds it, and A Qi takes care of it on weekdays. It's just that this time Ah Qi traveled far away, and Zhu Gaojie didn't want anyone else to take care of his cat, so he took time out of his free time every day to feed it himself.
"Aqi's side should have already received Emperor Jianwen."
Zhu Gaojie was feeding the cat while thinking about something, "Bring Emperor Jianwen back and let him meet the old man. The old man probably can't do this, so I can only do it..."
"Grandpa, you misunderstood me. I wanted to bring Emperor Jianwen back to support him in his old age. I didn't want to kill him."
"It's true, I said this from the bottom of my heart. You can't wrong your grandson."
Lao Zhu in the world of his mind seemed to hear Zhu Gaojie's thoughts and issued a strong protest. Zhu Gaojie almost forgot about this and had another good explanation.
"Meow~"
Zhu Gaojie looked down and saw the big white cat nibbling his finger, meowing as if to express something.
"Why, do you think the dried fish is unpalatable, or... hmm?"
Zhu Gaojie frowned slightly and looked toward the back door of the hall. He was keenly aware that there was an unknown sign that was slowly approaching him.
The big white cat held the dried fish in its mouth and paced slowly and hid behind him. This little thing must have sensed danger and hid behind its owner to avoid disaster.
Zhu Gaojie sighed: "After all the things in the world have been calculated, in the end, others have plotted against me."
The back door of the main hall slowly opened, and more than ten masked swordsmen wearing raincoats slowly walked in.
…
Outside the Wenhua Palace, there happened to be a group of twelve imperial guards patrolling.
"Sir, aren't we supposed to be patrolling the temple in normal times? Why did we go around it today?" a Imperial Guardsman asked in confusion.
The leader, riding on a high horse, glanced at the Wenhua Palace, which was lit with lights in the middle of the night, and said, "I will patrol this road from now on, so as not to disturb the Crown Prince. As you know, the Crown Prince always works at night. , if we disturb him from handling state affairs, wouldn’t we miss important national affairs?”
The soldier frowned and said, "But there was no such order from above..."
"But what but!"
The team leader was a little impatient, "This was just drawn up by several of our team leaders last night. If you have any objections, you can ask the other team leaders tomorrow morning. Otherwise, you can go directly to General Fan Zhong and file a complaint against me."
"I don't dare to do this in a humble position."
"If you don't dare, just stop talking nonsense and continue patrolling. If it's none of your own business, stop talking. Are you asking for trouble by asking so many questions?"
"That's what the adults taught you."
A group of forbidden troops continued to patrol along the road, but did not notice that the lights of the Wenhua Palace suddenly went out.
…
Zhu Di woke up from his sleep. He was breathing heavily, and there was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.
He just had a nightmare. In the dream...
He didn't dare to think about it further and shouted: "Tang Cheng! Tang Cheng!"
"Little Chengzi, where did you die?"
Tang Cheng crawled over and ran over, knelt down and kowtowed: "I'm here, please give me your instructions."
"Quick, quick, help me to the Wenhua Palace...quick!"
His Majesty the Emperor looked panicked, "I dreamed, dreamed of... damn thing, why don't you help me to see the prince!"
"Here!"
Tang Cheng quickly helped His Majesty the Emperor stand up, not daring to say anything.
Ever since he fainted once, the emperor's health has become increasingly unsatisfactory, and he has not had a good night's sleep for half a month. I finally managed to fall asleep tonight, but I suddenly woke up. It really makes people worry about whether the old man's body can withstand such a torment.
But this is not something he should consider. He will do whatever His Majesty the Emperor says.
"By the way, ask Fan Zhong to follow me, and ask him to bring the Imperial Army with him to the Wenhua Palace with me!"
Zhu Di shouted as if grasping a life-saving straw, "I have a hunch that something big is going on!"
…
With Tang Cheng's support, Zhu Di walked tremblingly all the way to the Wenhua Hall.
Behind him, Fan Zhong led hundreds of armored men from the Forbidden Army and stood ready.
"Open the door!"
Zhu Di shouted loudly, and Fan Zhong stepped forward quickly and pushed open the door of the main hall, but his eyes widened and he took a few steps back suddenly, as if there was some terrifying beast in front of him.
"Your Majesty, this, this, this, this..."
Fan Zhong didn't know what to say for a while. He was sweating profusely and wanted to explain to the emperor, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence.
Regardless of everyone's dissuasion, Zhu Di pushed Tang Cheng away and rushed into the hall.
When he saw the scene in the palace, he also froze on the spot.
However, they saw Zhu Gaojie sitting calmly behind the desk, his snow-white fox fur cloak stained red with blood. He gently stroked the big white cat's fur with one hand, as if to comfort the frightened pet. The other hand held the wolf's hair, dipped it in some blood spilled on the table, as if it were dipped in cinnabar, and continued to use the blood to correct the paper.
Behind him, there was a red and blood-stained barrier knife hanging, the tip of the knife was downward, and blood dripped down the blade onto the floor.
In the Wenhua Hall, there lay the corpses of more than a dozen masked swordsmen in coir raincoats. They died in strange shapes and were covered with stab wounds. The strong smell of blood hit my face, like a dark hell.
The people behind the scenes may have forgotten one thing:
Even if he could bribe the Twelve Guards to open the way, even if he caught A Qi leaving the Wenhua Hall, Zhu Gaojie himself was also a fierce general with a bravery that could not be matched by ten thousand men.
He once defeated thousands of troops in the school field, and also led 800 knights to stand alone against the majestic wind of Wala at the pass where the temperature suddenly dropped.
Although he feels that personal force will have little effect on a battlefield with hundreds of thousands of people, it does not mean that he is really a politician who can only play with pen and ink.
Holding the sword, he is the general who suppresses one side.
Putting down the knife, he is a calculating schemer.
Zhu Gaojie raised his head and looked at Zhu Di: "Your Majesty, why is this?"
…
Zhu Di waved his hand tiredly to disperse Fan Zhong, Tang Cheng and others, sat next to Zhu Gaojie, and asked, "What on earth is going on?"
"The cinnabar in the Wenhua Hall ran out. Seeing that this person came to bring warmth, I simply replaced the cinnabar with blood and continued correcting the papers."
"You know that's not what I'm asking."
"If you are asking about Emperor Jianwen, he should be here soon..."
"That's not what I asked."
Zhu Di frowned and said, "Who did it? Who has the ability to bribe the Twelve Guards, bypass many obstacles, and send the assassin into the heavily guarded Wenhua Palace? How could he catch you without a shadow? Did he launch a sneak attack on you during this period of time?"
Zhu Gaojie was silent for a while and said, "Dad, don't think too much about it. This is a coincidence."
"You don't have to fool me. There are not so many coincidences in this world."
Zhu Di said solemnly, "All coincidences are because someone has already arranged everything. This is not destiny, but the work of manpower. I am not old and stupid yet. Even if you want to carry all the burdens alone, you should be more or less Tell me so that I can feel at ease."
"You are not a god, you are a human being. You will also be born, old, sick and die. As long as you are a human being, there are things you cannot do."
"Just tell me and I will help you."
"Don't let me, the father, just walk away in a daze and leave all the suffering and fatigue to you, the son. How can I rest in peace underground?"
(End of chapter)
