Passing through a dark and deep corridor, there was a room that looked quite large.
The lights were brightly lit in front of the door, and eight strong men dressed as guards stood with one hand on their waists and a sword in the ring, looking majestically ahead.
Seeing Zhou Neiguan coming over with two men who looked very embarrassed and miserable, a bearded guard took two steps forward and stretched out his hand to stop them.
"Stop, who did you bring?"
The guard's attitude was arrogant, and he didn't care at all about the identity of the regular guard among the officials in front of him.
Zhou Neiguan also looked arrogant: "Who are you bringing here? By His Majesty's order, the Crown Prince of Jiangxia has been invited back."
The guard glanced at Zhu Yi rudely again: "Where's the other one?"
"Zhu Shizhong, don't you know him?" Zhou Neiguan asked.
"Forgive me for my poor eyesight. In the past, I was only on duty outside the palace, and I never really saw such a big person."
Zhu Yi had never seen anyone be so rude to him. Although his face instantly turned pale with anger, he did not show any displeasure on his face. He bent down and smiled at the guard with a loyal look on his face.
"Xiao Chen... Hehe... Xiao Chen is Zhu Yi..."
Xiao Yu didn't care about Zhu Yi's low-profile flattery. There was only a sneer at the corner of his mouth.
Zhou Neiguan said at this time: "Since our identities have been revealed, it's time for our family to take them in and wait for His Majesty to summon them!"
"Don't worry, we haven't searched you yet!" the guard sneered.
Zhou Neiguan was stunned for a moment when he saw a guard coming forward to search him. He quickly tapped the guard's outstretched hand with a whisk.
"How dare you be so rude to our family, we are the emperor's regular servants!"
"So what if you, the Imperial Guard, are you just kneeling down to beg for mercy to save a lost dog?" the guard scolded, "I don't care at all whether your eunuch has that thing or not, we only care about the emperor's safety."
Zhou Neiguan was so angry that his face turned red. Although he knew that this was an extraordinary period, he still felt inexplicably ashamed and humiliated: "If you want to see it, our family is so shameless that we don't care about the dignity of the royal family. I’ll take it off right here for you to see!”
Seeing that Zhou Neiguan and the guards were at odds like this, Xiao Yu suddenly became nervous. He didn't want to ruin his plans just because of a small guard, so he shrank subconsciously.
Seeing the two of them arguing, no one's attention was on him.
He frowned and glanced around, trying to find a way to bypass the guards' search.
But in the process of scanning, Xiao Yu suddenly noticed that the eyes of the guards in front of the door had been suddenly focused on him. It seemed that they had paid attention to him because of his slightly uneasy glance.
He was slightly frightened, but he seemed to think that the guards looked familiar.
He suddenly realized that those guards were the same people who had pretended to be internal officials and wanted to murder him!
They have seen what he is capable of, and perhaps because of this, they will be more wary of him, and body searches are inevitable. The less you want, the more things will happen.
Just when Xiao Yuzheng didn't know how to get over it, a familiar woman's voice suddenly sounded in his ears.
"Why is there so much noise in front of the audience room?"
Everyone present turned their heads to look in the direction of the sound, and all the guards present became courteous.
Xiao Yu also turned his head to look with everyone, and when he saw the person in front of him, he couldn't help but be shocked. He saw Xiao Yurong, the eldest princess of Jincheng in gorgeous clothes, appearing not far away accompanied by several guards.
He was a little confused as to why Xiao Yuwan, who had helped him escape, had such a high dignity in front of these guards. He couldn't figure it out more and more.
But Xiao Yurong's face was calm. Her eyes passed over Xiao Yu's face, and she did not show any disturbance. Instead, she glanced directly at the two people who were arguing.
"The King of Huainan summoned them, why didn't they let them in?" Xiao Yurong asked. She didn't call Xiao Wei "Your Majesty" like others.
The guards present did not find anything inappropriate because of Xiao Yurong's title and were still very respectful to her.
"Princess, I have no ill intentions towards this Duke of Zhou, and it is for the sake of your majesty's safety... I know that he is a close confidant of Emperor Daxing, and he was not of the same mind as your majesty from the beginning. He surrendered later... "The guard cupped his hands and said.
Zhou Naiguan narrowed his eyes and snorted coldly: "Come here to surrender? Huh, our family has been in the palace for so many years and has served four emperors, why should we surrender? It's a joke, our family can only do the things that all slaves in the palace can do. That is She Ji who is loyal to Da Qi and the emperor of Da Qi! The palace has court etiquette and conventions. In all dynasties, we have never seen a body search on an official who passed the decree. If it was found on our family, it means disregarding the dignity of the royal family. , His contempt for the imperial power is worthy of death!"
The guard was furious and was about to draw his sword: "Believe it or not, I will kill you now. There is no shortage of you as a regular servant in this palace!"
Zhou Naiguan shrank his neck and tilted his body to the side, with a look of panic on his face. He knew very well that in this extraordinary period, moving his head was not a big deal.
But as soon as the long knife was halfway out, Xiao Yurong shouted: "Stop!"
No one could have imagined that such a delicate body could burst out with such an oppressive sound. The sound was so shocking that everyone present did not dare to make a mistake.
Xiao Yuwan took two steps forward: "There is so much noise outside the audience. Such a thing happened before King Huainan took the throne. If it spreads, it will lose the face of King Huainan."
"But..." The guard hesitated.
Xiao Yurong ignored the guard and turned to look at Zhou Neiguan: "Don't be surprised, Duke Zhou. Guard Zhang is loyal to his duties. It is understandable that he is so harsh in extraordinary times."
Zhou Naiguan cupped his hands and said, "What the princess said is absolutely true. If this is the case, what else can I say? Just search. It's just that the guard's attitude is arrogant and arrogant. In fact, what I really care about is the royal family's face."
After Zhou Neiguan said this, he stretched out his arms and said, "Just search! See if there are any sharp weapons in our house that can hurt people."
Xiao Yurong stood here and did not leave. The guard guarding the door did not dare to make any mistakes. He only touched Zhou Neiguan's body symbolically, without searching particularly carefully, just like a formality.
After searching Zhou Neiguan, and then the two Xiao Huangmen who had been silent all the time, the guards searched them even more simply, just touching back and forth on their limbs and torso.
Seeing this situation, Xiao Yu suddenly thought that if Xiao Wei really became the emperor, then the search in the palace would really touch his body foot by foot, not even sparing a hair of his.
Thinking of this, the two small yellow gates had also been searched. Xiao Yu was about to bite the bullet and move forward, but Zhu Yi took the initiative to move forward at this moment.
"Little minister, come first! Hehe..." he said with a smile, his attitude was very naughty.
Two guards came forward to search Zhu Yi. They searched very carefully. It seemed that they even searched the hair under the crown one by one.
Xiao Yu frowned. It seemed that he didn't search so carefully when he met with Xiao Yuheng last night. His heart began to beat secretly.
At this time, Zhu Yi had also been searched, and the two guards looked at Xiao Yu in unison. On the surface, they seemed to be respectful, but their eyes were full of vigilance.
Xiao Yu smiled faintly, trying to cover up the uneasiness in his heart with a smile. At this time, he noticed that Xiao Yurong's eyes finally came to her, and he felt like someone could see into her heart at a glance.
When the two guards had just finished searching Xiao Yu's upper body, Xiao Yurong suddenly stopped them: "Okay, Prince Jiangxia doesn't need to search anymore."
The two guards were stunned, and at the same time they moved their gazes to the leading guard.
"Listen to the eldest princess." The guard said respectfully. He turned and looked at Xiao Yu again, "Little prince, I just offended something. I also have my responsibilities."
Xiao Yu smiled lightly but said nothing. What no one knew was that a layer of white hair had already formed on his back.
When he wanted to see Xiao Yurong again, the eldest princess had already walked straight into the audience room.
"Little prince, little prince..."
At this time, Xiao Yu heard Zhou Neiguan calling his name and quickly turned his head.
Zhou Neiguan smiled respectfully at him: "Young prince, please come with us!"
"Thank you, Duke Zhou."
With that said, Xiao Yu followed Zhou Neiguan into the audience room.
Inside is a rectangular room, which is quite large. Opposite the door is a dragon chair on top of the Danbi, which is magnificent and exudes royal style.
There are more than twenty couches arranged opposite each other on both sides of the throne. Most of the couches have courtiers with loose clothes and long sleeves sitting on them.
They were all surprised when they saw Xiao Yu and Zhu Yi, who were in utter embarrassment, walking in from outside. The buzzing room suddenly became quiet.
Many people were staring at Xiao Yu, but Xiao Yu didn't care about these eyes. Under the guidance of Zhou Neiguan, he came to sit on a couch reserved by His Majesty Dan.
Xiao Yu raised his head and looked at his surroundings. The throne on Lord Dan was empty, while Xiao Yurong was sitting on a couch next to the throne, lost in thought.
Looking around him again, there were court officials wearing red robes sitting across from him and to his right. Zhu Yi was slightly further back, about four or five people away.
There were also strong men in guard uniforms in the room. Most of them stood behind themselves and the courtiers. Although they did not restrict the freedom of the courtiers, they still played a surveillance role.
It's just... I can't see Xiao Wei. Is everyone just sitting here? I don't know what he would have planned.
Looking towards the middle of Danbi, one could see Neiguan Zhou standing there motionless with his head held up while holding the fly whisk. As soon as his eyes met Xiao Yu, he hurriedly avoided it, as if he was deliberately avoiding Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu was sitting a little bored among this group of strange old ministers. He heard others whispering in low voices. He also wanted to hear what others were saying, but it seemed that none of the courtiers wanted him to get involved, either. Just turn a blind eye, or just smile politely and say nothing else.
Xiao Yu had a strange feeling of being isolated. He seemed to understand all of a sudden. In the eyes of outsiders, contact with him, a loser in political struggles, would not only lead to suspicion by the future rulers of the empire. These long-standing people A cunning old man who has had many ups and downs in officialdom will not make such a joke about his political future at such a critical moment.
Just when he didn't know what to do, Zhu Yi suddenly left his couch, bowed his hands apologetically to several colleagues around him, and then bent over and leaned towards Xiao Yu.
"Little prince." Zhu Yi cupped his hand.
Xiao Yu frowned, looked at the flattering Zhu Yi and said, "Zhu Shizhong, what are you doing here? No one dares to talk to me until I see him!"
Zhu Yi whispered: "They don't dare, and it's not because they are timid. They may have their own interest groups behind them. Everything they do is for the small groups behind them. It can only be said that these ministers and Those people behind them don’t think highly of the young prince.”
Xiao Yu sighed: "I thought of this originally. I have been crazy for so many years, and I have no foundation in the court and no one I know well."
Zhu Yi smiled ambiguously: "My dear prince, you know Wei Chen. Isn't Wei Chen always by your side?"
Xiao Yu looked around: "You are so close to me, why are you not afraid of being targeted by Xiao Wei? It will not be good for your future career, and it may even cause disaster."
"Weichen said, Weichen is following the prince and the young prince." Zhu Yidao, "The King of Huainan has no chance of winning at all! The young prince said that Weichen is a profit-seeking person and does not do business that loses money, but Weichen wants to take a gamble If it’s big, then you won’t be afraid of losing everything.”
"Haha, what a gambler."
"Wei Chen knows that the young prince is so stubborn and will not give in so easily."
"What if Zhu Shizhong is disappointed? What kind of situation is this prince in now? He is just a prisoner." Xiao Yu said.
"Haha... The thing in the young prince's boots is probably to deal with the Huainan King!" Zhu Yi smiled mysteriously, "So... Weichen has confidence in the prince, Weichen thinks about it, it is better to fight with Zhou Nei It’s better for the officials to be consistent.”
Xiao Yu was not angry: "Then you don't have to go back and bring your five guards to support my father."
Zhu Yi looked cunning: "The Five Guards Army is the Five Guards Army of the imperial court, and it is not my personal property, Zhu Yi. If King Qin is needed, then the Five Guards Army will be dispatched without hesitation."
Xiao Yu sneered: "Then Zhu Shizhong is ready to watch from the sidelines?"
Zhu Yi looked around and whispered: "Little prince, it's better for the Fifth Guards not to move at this time. The news inside the palace was spread outside the palace last night. General Wei Rui has returned. Xiao Wei seems to have sent someone He went to recruit him to surrender, but General Wei has not replied yet. But this morning, several imperial troops who had been waiting and watching began to attack several palace gates. The war is still in progress. Wei Chen thinks... Huainan The king still wants to keep the young prince as a hostage. If the Five Guards Army takes action again at this time, there will be a lack of contact and tacit understanding between the armies, and it will be easy for one of his own people to fight his own people, and then Jiankang City will be in chaos."
Xiao Yu frowned: "How did you know this news?"
Zhu Yi looked around and saw that he took out a piece of paper from his wide sleeves, with several lines of words written on it. The content was roughly what Zhu Yi had just said.
"This is……"
"Young prince, please don't ask. Weichen has Weichen's channels, and news will be sent in continuously."
Xiao Yu thought for a while. He still couldn't figure out at what point Zhu Yi received the note.
