From Jianye to Wuyang, it was more than 1,600 miles by water and land. Zheng Tu galloped day and night to arrive at Wuyang. Everyone collapsed on the ground and was asked to be carried under the armpits into Xu Huai's study in Xingyuan's back house.
Of course, if you choose to go north via Luzhou after crossing the river, taking the road from Shouzhou and heading west along the south bank of the Huaihe River, the journey will be three to four hundred miles closer than taking Jinghu.
However, no matter how courageous Zheng Tu was, he would not dare to swagger through the territory of Prince Huai's army with a secret edict.
He went to Chushan so hard because, firstly, the secret edict was really not a trivial matter. If it were delivered to Xu Huai earlier, the danger would be saved for a day. Secondly, he was really afraid that the Huai Palace's guards would disguise themselves as assassins.
Intercept.
This time he suffered enough.
After five days and five nights of traveling for more than 1,600 miles, changing horses without changing people, it may not be difficult for the elites with strong muscles and tenacity to survive, but when Zheng Tu was roaming the streets, he couldn't stop Xu Huai's punch. In these years, he has been pampered and pampered.
, that Hu Ji beside him was really good at draining people - in the last two days of the journey, he had guards riding on the same horse with him, so he could barely survive.
The conditions of the two supervisory officers of Tongzouyuan and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were even worse than Zheng Tu.
They rode horses all the way, their thighs were bruised by the saddle, and their robes were soaked with blood. They watched the brocade box enclosing the secret edict being handed over to Xu Huai's hands, and when they asked people to carry it to the post house for treatment, they had little air intake.
Too angry.
The cavalry team that had been escorted from Jianye before arrived at Shangcai was unwilling to continue moving forward. The people could barely bear it, but there were not so many horses to replace at the stations along the way. By the time they arrived at Shangcai, the horses were useless.
Nearly half.
In the end, Zhou Jing personally led a group of cavalry in Shangcai to escort the secret edict to Wuyang.
The news that Emperor Jianji was critically ill and that Zheng Tu had returned with a secret edict had reached Wuyang two days ago.
A few days ago, Zhang Xiongshan brought back the news that King Lu had been assassinated. Everyone in Chushan thought they could finally breathe a sigh of relief, but they didn't want to be greeted by a bolt from the blue at this moment.
No one dared to think too deeply about the chaos this might bring to Dai Viet, which had just breathed a sigh of relief.
Before the secret edict was sent to Wuyang, no one knew what was written in the secret edict. At the same time, they were all confused as to why Emperor Jianji wrote this secret edict in such a short period of waking up.
A group of sparrows flew up from the woods, seemingly frightened by the strict guards inside and outside the camp.
Zheng Tu also carried it down first to treat the injury on the thigh. Shi Zhen, Su Laochang, Wang Ju, Xu Wuqi, Xu Wujiang and Zhou Jing accompanied him and sat in the study, watching Xu Huaicai open the box and take out the secret edict.
"What did His Majesty write in the secret edict?" Mr. Su couldn't help asking when he saw that Xu Huai looked solemn and silent for a long time after reading the secret edict, as if a huge stone was weighing on his shoulders.
Xu Huai sighed softly and handed the secret edict to Su Laochang and others.
"..." Su Laochang took the secret edict, but found that the handwriting of the secret edict was messy, with many omissions and erasures, and the wording was not very particular. It can be seen that Emperor Jianji reluctantly wrote down the pen when his illness was extremely serious:
"...How is Chushan? We haven't seen each other for another year, and we miss each other very much. Although I knew that drinking alcohol would be harmful to the body, since Xiangyang came to the throne, I have been having trouble sleeping all night. Only after drinking can I get a sound sleep or two to relieve fatigue.
I often warn myself, but it is difficult to abstain. You must not learn from me in this matter. When I heard about the assassination of the king of captives, I was extremely happy. I convened a banquet with all the ministers. I thought about drinking heavily before I restrained myself, but I didn't want to get drunk in the early morning.
I woke up with a splitting headache, constant vomiting, and paralysis of the limbs. I am afraid that the evil illness will not be cured, but the internal and external troubles have not been eliminated, so I write this edict for you. The prince is young, the younger brother is too thoughtful, the officials are stubborn, the generals lack courage, and Hu
The captives are like jackals and leopards watching, I am worried about my cousin Zheng..."
"It's gone, it's gone, what kind of secret edict is this..." Everyone came over and were shocked to see this.
Zhou Jing picked up the secret edict, turned it over and read it several times, shook his head and said, "It doesn't look like there is anything fishy..."
Everyone stared at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Su Laochang took the secret edict and looked at it carefully and said: "At first, the handwriting was quite clear, but as it went on, the handwriting became more messy and messy. When the word 'Zheng' was written, a thick and dark ink line was drawn out.
Outside of the rice paper, there was even a crack in the secret edict. It can be seen that His Majesty was really unable to hold the pen when he wrote this..."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. What kind of secret edict was this? It ended abruptly before the key point was written from beginning to end.
What does Chushan do with this sealed edict?
Now all the ministers of the third rank and above in Dai Viet know that when Emperor Jianji was dying, he had a secret edict for Xu Huai, and it has now been sent to Chushan and into the hands of Xu Huai.
Now everyone in Dai Viet is staring at this sealed edict and how Chushan will act according to it. Is this the end?
Seeing that Shi Zhen's face was serious and he seemed to be thinking, Xu Wujiang asked: "Mr. Shi, what do you think this secret edict is about? His Majesty can no longer recognize anything..."
"It is better to find Zheng Tu and ask more questions," Shi Zhen said to Xu Huai.
Xu Huai nodded and asked people to carry Zheng Tu, who had just been carried down to treat the injured area, and then carried him back to the study.
"What does it matter to me now? This old man fell apart because of Hou Yedian!"
Wuyang is the headquarters of the Chushan camp. Except for the generals who commanded the troops outside, almost all other important figures were in Wuyang. However, at this time, only Xu Wuqi, Xu Wujiang, Wang Ju, Shi Zhen, and Su could participate in the secret edict.
They are just Lao Chang, Zhou Jing and others; and they are indeed the most important figures in Chushan besides Xu Huai
"After you entered the palace, you saw with your own eyes that His Majesty could still open his eyes and was awake, but could not speak. Who were the people in Funing Palace at that time, what did they say, and what were their expressions? Please think about it carefully.
, tell us more about the situation at that time..." Shi Zhen looked at Zheng Tu and said.
"I followed Prime Minister Zhou, Prime Minister Hu and Qian Shangduan, Qiao Jisi entered Funing Palace, Zhang Xin wore armor and guarded outside Funing Palace, Prime Minister Wang and Jin Zhuangcheng, Qian Zerui and other ministers waited outside the palace - I didn't do any of them one by one.
A closer look shows that all officials of the fourth rank and above in the capital should be there. In addition to the imperial physician, Concubine Zheng, and Princess Yingyun, there are also Prince Huai, Prince Wuwei, and Prime Minister Zhu Hang waiting in the inner hall. In addition, there are the Prime Minister of Zhou,
Hu Xiang, Gao Chunnian, Gu Fan, Wang Boqian and others are still waiting in the outer hall, probably because they don’t want too many people to interfere with His Majesty’s treatment!”
Zheng Tu recounted the details of what happened when he entered the palace, making sure nothing was missed, and said,
"Princess Yingyun took out the secret edict from her sleeve, sealed the box and handed it to me in front of everyone. From then on, she never left my body until Wuyang - she hugged me tightly even when I took a nap on the way.
In his arms, he held the cloth belt tightly. The expressions of everyone in the inner hall at that time - King Huai's face was ugly, very sinister, and wanted to stab someone. Prime Minister Zhou was somewhat panicked. Prime Minister Hu and Mr. Zhu Hang were okay.
Calm. At that time, His Majesty was lying in the arms of Concubine Zheng, his hands and feet were hanging down weakly, and his face could no longer be shown. By the way, Concubine Zheng even used a silk handkerchief to wipe the corners of His Majesty's mouth. His Majesty was awake at the time.
It is certain that when Princess Yingyun handed over the secret edict to me, Mr. Zhu Hang was still worried that the others would not acknowledge it day and night, so he asked loudly in front of His Majesty whether the secret edict had been delivered to the Commander-in-Chief, and His Majesty's eyes were still a little twitching at that time.
, it should mean affirmatively, this is called King Huai, and Prime Minister Zhou and the others have nothing to say..."
After listening to Zheng Tu's more detailed description of the details of entering Funing Palace, everyone fell into deep thought.
Shi Zhen pondered for a moment and said to Xu Huai: "The secret edict should be true. However, His Majesty knew that the secret edict had not been completed yet and still insisted on Princess Yingyun handing it over to Commander Jie. She probably believed that Commander Jie could guess the holy intention.
What is it..."
"What is the holy intention? What is your Majesty's intention? Your Majesty wants Chushan to establish a prince as emperor, but how can we support a young emperor with this secret edict?" Xu Wujiang patted his forehead and asked thoughtfully.
"The matter of the secret edict is very simple. If that is your Majesty's intention, only Princess Yingyun has read it from beginning to end. When we come up with a complete secret edict that is in line with Your Majesty's wishes, Princess Yingyun will not be able to expose it..."
..." Zhou Jing said.
Xu Huai stood up and walked to the window, looking at the courtyard without saying a word for a long time.
At this time, Wei Wei ran over and handed over a secret letter.
"What urgent matter is there in Xinyang? Why did you spend 500 miles to rush to deliver the secret letter?" Xu Wujiang was sitting at the door of the study. He saw that the secret letter was sent from Xinyang by Xu Xin'an. He looked at the top secret urgent sign on the secret letter and was shocked.
One jump.
Xu Huai took the secret letter and indeed did not open it in the middle. He stood in front of the window and opened the seal. He handed the secret letter to Shi Zhen and said, "The Zheng family moved so fast. Zhao Fan arrived in Xinyang in the early morning."
, I want to come to Wuyang to meet me..."
"The Zheng family can't wait to see the secret edict!" Su Laochang said, "But, can this secret edict be shown to Zhao Fan?"
"You guys go and have a rest first, I'll think about it later..." Xu Huai said, motioning for everyone to leave first.
