The prince suddenly fell ill, which frightened all the servants in the East Palace to the point where they wished they would fall ill.
The recent situation in the imperial court is extremely difficult to describe. The hearts of servants like them are in a state of turmoil, as if they are being fried in a frying pan.
For the prince's wedding, there were quite a few vassal princes and clans who came to the capital in compliance with the decree. For most of them, as long as the Li family sat on the throne, there was not much difference... In comparison, they were more
Willing to "accommodate the current situation" and support the prince.
As for revolts in their own names, it's not that they don't want to, but that very few of them have the capital to do so.
After the empress ascended the throne, in order to prevent the power from falling back into the hands of the Li family, she massacred and suppressed the Li family members. Therefore, very few of the Li family's descendants had actual military power. This time, Fanyang King Li Fu was able to cause such chaos.
Xiang, in the final analysis, just borrowed the power of Fan Yangjun and Duan Shiang.
In today's Dasheng, most of the local military power is in the hands of the Jiedushi.
Today there are ten Jiedu envoys in Da Sheng, and six of them are entering the capital this time.
The remaining four people who have not yet arrived are: the first is the military envoy of Longyou Road. Longyou shoulders the important task of fighting against Beidi. Regarding his failure to enter the capital, the military governor of Longyou once sent a letter to Beijing to apologize. He explained in detail that he did not dare to leave his post without permission.
The reason. Now that there is another war in the north, the imperial court cannot criticize anything harshly for a while.
Another point is that although the Longyou Jiedushi has not yet arrived, Shuofang Jiedushi, who is adjacent to Longyou and is in charge of the Guannai Road, has arrived in Beijing early. This move also alleviated some of the court's suspicions about the northern forces to a certain extent.
In addition to the Longyou Jiedushi, there were also Huainan Road Jiedushi, Shannan West Road Jiedushi, and Qianzhong Road Jiedushi who had not entered the capital.
There seems to be a reasonable explanation for the reason why Chang Sui Ning, the governor of Huainan Province, never entered the capital - he sent troops to Luoyang on orders.
However, many people in the court felt that there was something fishy about the so-called "obeying the decree". They did not know anything about it in advance, but it was said that this decree was the emperor's secret decree...
A few days ago, the Holy Emperor confirmed this matter through the prince's mouth - Huainan Road Jiedushi Chang Sui Ning indeed went to Luoyang to quell the chaos under the Holy Will.
This made many officials feel conflicted. According to their respective positions, at this juncture, some of them hoped that Chang Sui Ning could put down the rebellion of King Fan Yang, but they were also worried that Chang Sui Ning would grow rapidly again as a result.
After all, that little girl's ambition to pursue power can be seen everywhere from the time she took the initiative to be appointed governor of Jiangdu.
But now there are crises all over the place, and the one that worries people the most is not Chang Sui Ning...
Shannan West Road is only a few hundred miles away from the capital, and its governor has never entered the capital. The reason given is that "there are frequent civil unrest and it is impossible to leave without authorization"... There is already an air of perfunctory in it.
The reason given by the Jiedushi of the Central Guizhou Road was not very sincere. He claimed that he was seriously ill and could not travel long distances.
What is disturbing is that the Central Guizhou Road is directly south of the Shannan West Road. The two roads are closely adjacent to each other, and they both refused to enter the capital with excuses. If it is said that these two Jiedu envoys did not conspire in private, they almost did not.
People will believe it.
The Jiannan Road located on the west side of these two roads is where the Prince Rong's Mansion of Yizhou is located.
If we add Jiannan Road, these three connected roads will cover most of the territory southwest of Dasheng...
There were inevitably people in the court who were suspicious that the Central Guizhou Road and the Shannan West Road might have secretly returned to Prince Rong's palace.
A wedding for a prince is like a fire. The fire spreads everywhere it goes, burning away all the coverings and revealing the true face.
But what surprised the court was that the Jiedushi of Jiannan Province entered Beijing... just five days ago.
Yizhou Rongwang's Mansion is located on Jiannan Road. Since the situation gradually became clear, in the eyes of most people, it has long been assumed that the Jiedushi of Jiannan Road has been driven by King Rong.
Jiannan Dao Jiedu came to Beijing alone, which aroused different speculations.
The reason why everyone pays special attention to the actions of the Jiedushi envoys in the southwest is that in the final analysis, their eyes are still surrounding King Rong. King Rong, who had previously said that "Li Yin will definitely come", sent people to the capital four days ago to bring
A letter of apology.
The official of Prince Rong's palace who came to report the letter presented a letter of apology to the prince in the morning court. This letter of apology was written by Li Yin himself. It said that on the way to Beijing, he was passing through Shannan West Road and encountered a military riot. He was accidentally seriously injured and could not help.
Let’s continue on our way——
When the prince heard this, he could not sit still.
The officials of Prince Rong's Mansion then conveyed to them that Prince Rong was deeply ashamed of this, and when he recovered from his injury, he would personally go to the capital to apologize to the saint and the prince.
The prince was sweating, his lips were trembling, and he almost blurted out "How dare I".
Not to mention whether it was true or false that King Rong was injured, how could he dare to ask King Rong to plead guilty to him in person?
The prince, who was not sensitive to political struggles but was very sensitive to danger, was so frightened that he dared not speak.
It was Ma Xingzhou and Wei Shuyi who took over the words of the officials from Prince Rong's palace and maintained the situation and dignity for the prince.
Immediately afterwards, the prince heard the news that King Fan Yang had sent messages to all parties after taking control of Luoyang, and there were even signs of sending troops to Henan Province...
The prince's vision turned black and his head was buzzing.
Shannan West Road, Qianzhong Road, Rongwang Mansion...
Fan Yangwang, Luoyang, Henan Province...
The former is to the southwest of the capital, the latter is to the northeast of the capital... No matter who raises troops to attack, the capital will probably be destroyed!
The prince felt infinite fear in his heart, but he had to face the ministers discussing matters every day, and he had to follow the instructions of the Holy Emperor to win over the Jiedushi and the royal family who came to Beijing...
This tense and hectic situation lasted until the day before the wedding, before the ministers were willing to let the prince go to prepare for the wedding.
But after letting go, the prince was finally freed from the tightness for a short time, but his body and mind suddenly collapsed together.
He had developed a high fever since the afternoon. When he was in a daze due to the fever, he would suddenly scream: "Don't kill me!"
The people in the palace were as silent as a cicada, trembling and not daring to answer, let alone concealing anything, so they quickly reported the matter to the Ganlu Palace.
Recently, the Holy Emperor has also become ill.
Unlike the previous news that the emperor was seriously ill, this time the emperor was really ill.
Not many people know the inside story, but Wei Shuyi is one. He knows very well why the emperor fell ill - the secret edict sent to Jiangdu was tampered with, and the edict was killed by Chang Sui Ning with a sword.
.
After the news reached the capital, the emperor fell ill.
After being diagnosed by the imperial physician, it was caused by stagnation of heart disease.
In this regard, Wei Shuyi had only one word of consolation: "... Changjie Envoy still only claims to be serving orders to quell chaos, which shows that he still has the overall situation in mind."
The Holy Emperor sighed almost imperceptibly, and his voice was unusually weak: "The overall situation in her heart is not my overall situation. The room she left is not for me."
Ashang clearly knew that this was the time when she needed him most by her side.
She used the prince's wedding to set up a trap, trying to gather the forces of all parties and test the hearts of all parties. However, Ah Shang just drew his sword and refused, and went straight to Henan Road. There was a determination that he did not want to look back at her as a mother.
Does Ashang really hate her so much?
The moment this idea appeared, the Holy Book Emperor closed his eyes, not letting himself get too immersed in it.
"Forget it, just let her go." The empress finally said: "Now at least Henan Road and Luoyang are protected by Ashang, so I can concentrate on dealing with King Rong's party..."
At this point, the situation is very clear.
"Even if the Jiannan Dao Jiedushi's trip to the capital is just a deception by Li Yin, I still have five Jiedu envoys available." The emperor's voice regained its former majesty and fearlessness: "I will first clear up these suspicions.
Those with different intentions will be eradicated one by one..."
More than ten years ago, she was able to eliminate all those who coveted the throne, and she can certainly do the same now!
At that time, even if Ashang still doesn't want to stand with her, it will still be a matter between their mother and daughter... There is always a difference between the inside and the outside.
Wei Shuyi stood there with his eyes closed, but his mood was extremely heavy.
The empress is decisive and never lacks courage, but in this current situation...
Wei Shuyi privately believed that to this day, what most determines the direction of the overall situation may not be the struggle for power at all, but the will of the people of the world... That is exactly what the emperor has always paid the least attention to.
Wei Shuyi once tried to discuss this issue with Ma Xingzhou, trying to get Ma Xiang, who was most trusted by the emperor, to give some advice, but Ma Xiang just sighed longly.
It’s not like Ma Xingzhou has never tried to persuade him.
Now that we have come to this point, there is no room for the so-called "awakening"... The empress has no way out, and as the emperor's confidants, they have no choice.
At this time, regardless of the chance of winning the overall situation, there is another problem that makes Wei Shuyi feel heavy -
The meaning of the emperor's words just now is that Chang Sui Ning should go away, she needs to calm down the overall situation first...
If there really comes a day when only mother and daughter are left to confront each other, and if Chang Sui Ning still has no intention of being "obedient", what will happen to the emperor?
This was not something Wei Shuyi could ask rashly, but just thinking about it in his heart, he felt only endless chill.
Perhaps, in the eyes of the emperor, this is also a duty of being an emperor?
Half an hour later, when Wei Shuyi was about to retreat, a palace attendant from the East Palace came over. The palace attendant trembled and knelt down, explaining that the prince suddenly fell ill.
The prince's fever persisted and he even became delirious...
Wei Shuyi's mind froze for a moment, and a thought flashed through his mind - perhaps, there is a possibility that the wedding will be postponed tomorrow?
But in just a moment, he realized that this idea was unrealistic, at least it was definitely not within the scope of the emperor's consideration.
In the eyes of the Holy Emperor, the prince's wedding is nothing to play with. If the news of the prince's illness suddenly comes out at this time, it will only intensify the turmoil of people's hearts, and the forces gathered in the name of the prince will probably be shaken again.
What does falling ill mean? Compared with the overall situation, what does a mere Li Zhi mean?
Li Zhi only represented an identity, and she needed Li Zhi to use this identity to fulfill the role that the prince should perform.
Emperor Shengce immediately sent orders to all the doctors from Taiyuan Hospital to go to the East Palace, asking them to make sure that no matter what method they use, the prince can successfully complete the wedding process tomorrow.
Wei Shuyi saluted silently and slowly exited the Manna Hall.
That night, no one in the East Palace dared to relax for a moment.
The doctors tried almost all methods to reduce the fever on the prince. Finally, they used acupuncture and strong medicine. After an hour of tossing, the prince was finally able to wake up temporarily.
The moment the prince woke up, someone in the palace conveyed the sage's instructions: "Your Highness, the prince, must be careful tomorrow and never lose the dignity of a prince in front of all the officials..."
After the fever subsided, the prince, whose clothes were soaked in cold sweat, nodded tremblingly: "I'd like to thank the saint for trouble, but I must be vigilant and cautious..."
The process of a prince's wedding is extremely complicated, especially the countless rituals of bowing to the ancestors of heaven and earth.
Wei Miaoqing was wearing the heavy wedding dress of the princess, and she did not dare to take a breath during the whole process, fearing that she would make a wrong step.
However, she quietly glanced at the prince beside her, only to find that his forehead was covered in cold sweat. Although he was trying to stay calm, it was not difficult to see that he was even more nervous and nervous than she was.
In such a comparison, Wei Miaoqing felt that she seemed to be quite outstanding. On such a big occasion, she was actually more calm and calm than Li Zhi, who had been the prince for many years.
Thinking about it this way, Wei Miaoqing was indeed much more calm.
Moreover, she has been forced to rehearse the wedding process these days, and her physical strength has really been developed. After most of the day, besides being so hungry that she could swallow a pig and mix it with a cow, she was not so tired that she felt weak.
The degree of falling apart.
After all the procedures were finally completed, Wei Miaoqing got on the chariot and was carried to the East Palace.
The Holy Emperor, who had not appeared in public for a long time, held a banquet in the Hanyuan Hall with hundreds of officials, vassal kings and various military envoys. The sick look on the emperor's face that had not faded was seen by everyone, which confirmed his previous claims of illness.
At the banquet, the Holy Emperor had many kind words for the prince and asked the prince to pay homage to all the officials.
Although there is no explicit statement, every move and every move reveals the omen of abdicating the throne to the crown prince.
Everyone looked at it and thought about it.
The eldest princess Xuan'an's eyes fell on the toasting prince, but she only sighed in her heart, this child who was pushed to the top of the whirlpool was nothing more than a wretch.
After the banquet was over, the prince was able to return to the East Palace accompanied by a group of servants.
When Wei Miaoqing heard the noise outside, she quickly took away the hand that was rubbing her belly that was so hungry that it could no longer be flat, and folded it dignifiedly on her lap.
After the prince came in, under the guidance of a female historian, he drank Hexin wine with Wei Miaoqing.
All the procedures were finally over. After the palace maids and servants bowed, they withdrew and stood guard outside.
The room suddenly became uncomfortably quiet. Wei Miaoqing, who was sitting beside the wedding bed, turned to look at Li Zhi beside her, only to see him sitting there with his jaw tensed and motionless.
Wei Miaoqing looked away in confusion, endured it for a while, and finally couldn't help turning her head and asked: "Your Highness the Crown Prince..."
However, before she could finish her question, Li Zhi suddenly swayed and fell down with a "plop".
Wei Miaoqing screamed and stood up suddenly, at a loss what to do: "Your Highness... what's going on!"
She hurriedly bent over to help Li Zhi and said incoherently: "If word of this spreads, those censors may want to impeach my husband... It's my first day in the palace, please don't harm me!"
She hadn't even had time to step into the palace battle. The cake she had promised to her friends had just been put into the furnace. She couldn't just let it go!
"Hey!" Wei Miaoqing tried to shake, but saw that Li Zhi's eyes were closed tightly and he was obviously unconscious.
The palace people outside heard the commotion and quickly rushed in.