Three days later, Pingcheng, Gongcheng, and Liangyi Palace.
This former hall for court meetings has now been transformed into a mourning hall. Tuoba Gui's body is dressed in the same clothes as when he was fighting. His expression is peaceful, as if he is asleep, and his hands are holding the gun. The giant sword, lying among the flowers, is an old ritual of the Tuoba tribe. Warriors all dress like this before funerals, but this time, according to the rules of the Central Plains and Han Dynasty, they have to go too far.
Tuoba Shao and He Lanmin, mother and son, dressed in heavy mourning, knelt down in front of Tuoba Gui's body. There was a brazier in front of them, and from time to time they added paper money to it, or stirred up the ashes with a fire stick. , more than a hundred adults from various ministries who had been summoned into the palace a few days ago were now wearing sackcloth and wearing mourning, and were crying below. And Wang Jian was crying all over the place, as if he was even worse than his own father who died. sad. Only the powerful tribesmen such as Ba Ba Song, Da Xi Jin, Shu Sun Jian and others sat in their seats with sad expressions.
Tuoba Shao curled up his lips. He was very sure that at this distance of dozens of steps away from everyone, no one would hear his whispered words to his mother. He whispered: "Mom, these days We put out a list to search for Tuoba Si, but has there been any news?"
He Lanmin calmly grabbed a handful of paper money, put it into the brazier, and whispered: "An informant reported that Tuoba Si had quietly sneaked back to the vicinity of Pingcheng and was hiding among the houses in the Western Mountains. There is also the unscrupulous man Li Dao who is working hard to help him, and he is looking for support from all over the country."
Tuoba Shao's eyes lit up: "Is he looking for death? If this murderer of my father doesn't hide now, does he still want to come back to seize the throne? But everyone knows his treacherous act, we Also announce it to the world."
He Lanmin sneered and said: "The unjust man Li Dao who linked up with him, said everywhere that he was the king we killed, and he was wronged. Huh, these ignorant fools, they are just like the wind. What do they know? However, among these people In our eyes, Tuoba Si is a filial son who can offend his father for the sake of his mother, and his words are easier for people to believe, so we must not let him confuse people like this!"
Tuoba Shao became a little nervous, glanced around, and whispered: "Mom, are you really the father you killed?"
He Lanmin's face changed slightly, then she gritted her teeth and said, "Why are you asking me this now?! Don't you know what your damn dad has done to your mother these years?"
Tuoba Shao's face turned pale and his voice was trembling: "But, you really, really don't miss the love between husband and wife for so many years, so you just do it like this?!"
He Lanmin was so angry that she almost wanted to slap her son in the face. As soon as he lifted it up, he realized that he couldn't do it. He grabbed the pole and stirred it in the brazier. While stirring, he whispered: "It's not you. The trouble caused by the little thief? Your father found out about your affair with those ten thousand people. He asked me to enter the palace that day just because he wanted to put us both to death together. He detained your mother first, and then asked you to come. He said, in this situation, if I don't take action, will we still be alive? If he dies now, he can still lie down here to receive worship. If we die, we will just be thrown out of the suburbs to feed wild dogs, even the whole body will be lost. will not have!"
Tuoba Shao lowered his head in shame, and after a long while, he murmured: "Mom, after this incident is over, can you, can you spare the lives of ten thousand people?"
He Lanmin sneered and said: "You really fell in love with this bitch? My mother asked you to get close to her at that time, but in order to find out your father's whereabouts so that you can fight in an emergency, you became the emperor, why are you afraid of not having a woman?!"
Tuoba Shao sighed: "She is a poor woman. Maybe, you can see some of your mother's appearance in her, so the child..."
He Lanmin bit her lips and whispered: "She was involved in the assassination of your father this time. According to mother's wishes, she should be killed that day to avoid complications, but Ba Ba Song and the others insisted on keeping her with them. , and you force us to keep vigil like this, huh, we can’t force these old people to rebel now. When you are firmly seated on the throne, mother will be like Murong Lan of Nanyan and kill all these old people."
Tuoba Shao curled up his lips: "She is the daughter of Fan Yanglu's family. Maybe, after the child ascends to the throne, if she is pardoned and married, it will ease the relationship with the Han family in Hebei. We can't put all our hopes on it." Let’s take care of the Cui family.”
He Lanmin nodded thoughtfully and said: "You boy, you do have some knowledge. What you said makes sense. I originally thought that Cui Hao was directly involved in our assassination operation, and Cui Hong would definitely be on our side, but now it seems that this The old man is very ghostly, and it’s not certain who to support. Huh, none of these Han families are good. Our support of the women of the Lu family is also a warning to them. Well, the most important thing now is still to find Tuoba. They were killed together. I originally thought that Yu Lihuan would come to the duel as scheduled that day, so that I could kill him on the spot and die without evidence. But I didn't expect that he never showed up from the beginning to the end, and there was no search in the city. When it comes to him, it seems that someone has tipped him off, which is very troublesome."
Tuoba Shao asked in surprise: "Is there anyone else who knows about the assassination that day?"
He Lanmin waved his hand: "Walls have ears. I can't say whether there were secret guards around Tuoba Gui at that time, or whether there were people eavesdropping outside the door. In any case, as long as Tuoba Si is captured, then Yu Liyi will It’s not a problem. After the wake is over in the past few days, I can personally go out and make arrangements to track down Tuoba Si. Well, it’s okay if he doesn’t show up. If he dares to show up, I’ll tell him to never come back!”
Tuoba Shao said excitedly: "Then the Orion Li Dao captured this time, has the whereabouts of Tuoba Si been found out from him?"
He Lanmin sighed: "It's a pity that Tuoba Si ran away a few hours late. I don't know if he is still near Pingcheng. However, the unruly people outside the city seemed to be deliberately protecting him and refused to reveal his whereabouts. Humph, these useless trash can’t even find out this little bit of information. I won’t believe that I won’t be able to find out his whereabouts when I go out and take action myself!”
While he was talking, there was a rush of footsteps outside. Haram and his deputy Huang Taiji came in a hurry. Behind them were two soldiers who looked like soldiers. Haram's face was full of excitement. , regardless of wiping the sweat on his face, he hurriedly saluted Tuoba Gui's body, and shouted to He Lanmin: "Madam, good news, great news, Tuoba Si's whereabouts have been exposed!"
He Lanmin suddenly jumped up from the ground and rushed forward with a single step. Her voice was trembling: "Where is the thief?!"
