Blood splattered everywhere, and a pungent smell of blood filled the entire dormitory.
Two young palace maids lay on the ground, covered in blood and lifeless.
Several eunuchs carefully collected the bodies and cleaned the blood stains on the ground.
Last night, His Majesty the Emperor tortured and killed two more maids.
Let them, the palace people, become more and more frightened when doing things.
Emperor Zhaowu, Zhao Kai, only wore a thin purple robe. He sat on the steps, looking at the sky outside the palace, in a daze. No one knew what he was thinking.
No one dared to ask.
At this time, news of the fall of Kaifeng had just reached Yandu.
The Qing Jing Department has already reported the news of Kaifeng's surrender, clearly stating that a few thousand Han households kidnapped He Ting Naxi and presented the city to surrender.
Emperor Zhaowu had no expression on his face and was in an extremely bad mood.
However, he was just in a daze for a while, then stood up silently, closed his eyes, and said: "Change clothes and go to court."
Several palace maids immediately stepped forward, trembling slightly, to put the emperor into court clothes.
When the sun climbed up, Emperor Zhaowu appeared on time in the Jinluan Palace, sitting high on the throne.
All the civil and military officials knelt down and kowtowed.
"Long live my emperor, long live me."
Zhao Kai raised his hand, with no expression on his face.
"Just be flat."
Only then did all the civil and military officials stand up and begin today's court meeting.
Throughout the whole process, Emperor Zhaowu showed no expression on his face, just like a puppet.
After almost half an hour, a palace official came into the palace, knelt in front of Emperor Zhaowu, lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, General Naxi has rushed back to Yandu and is waiting for the edict outside the palace."
Emperor Zhaowu finally had some expression on his face.
He knew the news of Na Xi's return in advance.
To be precise, he knew that Naxi was on his way back, but he didn't know exactly where he was.
Now, Na Xi suddenly arrived in the palace, which surprised him a little.
Tang Yi, the eunuch of the inner court, came slightly closer to Zhao Kai and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, according to the itinerary reported by the Cleansing Department yesterday, this and that Xi were not supposed to arrive in Yandu until tomorrow, but they have arrived now. It is estimated that they have to work all day and night to get there.
Coming back…”
Emperor Zhaowu exhaled a breath of turbid air and said expressionlessly: "When he comes in, I want to see what he has to say."
Soon, the joy was conveyed.
As soon as he entered the hall, all the civil and military officials present frowned.
Because the smell is really unpleasant.
At this time, Na Xi was not only in rags, but also had blood stains all over his clothes. Moreover, it was already summer, and he probably hadn't taken a shower for several days. The smell of his body was really unacceptable.
In particular, there was a long visible wound on his left shoulder that had not healed. Because it was not treated in time, it seemed to have suppurated.
As soon as Naxi stepped into the main hall, the censor in front of the censor's platform shouted loudly: "Naxi, why are you disobeying me!"
Na Xi did not care, walked directly to the hall in three or two steps, and knelt down with a plop.
Such an eight-foot-old man, after kneeling on the ground, burst into tears and howled incessantly.
"Your Majesty..."
He cried and howled: "The Han people are harming the imperial court and the slaves!"
Seeing his appearance, even Emperor Zhaowu couldn't help but frown.
"How did it happen?"
Na Xi still kept wailing. After a while, he calmed down and said through gritted teeth: "Your Majesty, my servants and He Zhongcheng were ordered to stick to Kaifeng. Although Kaifeng was besieged, there was enough food and grass in the city, and the defenders had nearly two men. How can tens of thousands of people guard the throne for you, the Emperor, for a year and a half?"
"I didn't know..."
He cried loudly: "Who knew that those Han generals under my command were not only bewitched by the Southern Dynasty man named Shen, but they actually conspired at night to kidnap the slaves and Zhongcheng. Early the next morning, they opened the city gate and dedicated it to the city. Surrender!"
"Both the slaves and He Zhongcheng were captured by them and sacrificed to the Southern Dynasty traitor Shen Yi. Fortunately, my son led the remnant soldiers and attacked the prisoner camp at night, so I managed to survive and escaped."
When mentioning her son, Naxi burst into tears again.
"The dog Naduo was lost in the enemy camp because of this, and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead."
The general gritted his teeth and trembled with anger.
"What a shame, I have been in Henan for seventy years. During the past emperors and emperors, we have nurtured and benefited all the people, but we have not brought up these rebellious Han people at all!"
"emperor…"
He knelt down and cried bitterly: "This really echoes the old saying of the Han people!"
"Non-my family, its heart must be different!"
Emperor Zhaowu frowned when he heard this.
At this time, he was so absorbed in the content of Na Xi's words that he completely failed to notice that General Zhu Lizhen, who could not even recognize the words in front of him, was speaking with rigorous diction and conveyed his emotions layer by layer. Enter.
It no longer sounds like the words spoken by a military commander.
However, not only Emperor Zhaowu did not notice these small problems, but also the ministers in the palace did not notice them.
Emperor Zhaowu was thoughtful.
The ministers in the palace looked at me and I looked at you, but none of them spoke.
Na Xi knelt on the ground and continued to shout: "Your Majesty, this servant wants to impeach Zhou Shizhong, Zhou Yuanlang and his son!"
"These two people have won the trust of the emperor and have been entrusted with the important task of leading the imperial army to fight against the southern thieves!"
"According to logic, Henan is in a tight situation, and the Zhou family and his son should send troops to support Henan. However, our troops have been holding on in Kaifeng for more than a year, and not even a single soldier of the Zhou family and his son has been seen!"
"emperor!"
General Naxi was weeping blood.
"The Zhou family is also Han Chinese!"
"No one can tell what they are thinking!"
The general knelt down and kowtowed, making a loud banging sound.
"Your Majesty..."
Hearing this, all the people in the court, Zhu Li, were moved.
Many Zhu Li Zhenren, who were more temperamental, had already stepped forward to help Na Xi, and several generals also shed tears.
Emperor Zhaowu always watched the farce in the palace silently.
Then he looked at some of the Zhu Lizhen nobles standing on his right.
These Zhu Lizhen nobles, without exception, were also raising their heads and looking at the emperor silently at this moment.
Emperor Zhaowu withdrew his gaze, and after being silent for a while, he said, "Your loyalty and bravery are commendable. I will give you a thousand taels of gold and a yellow robe, and I will wear it back home to recuperate."
"After you recover from your injury, you can be appointed again."
Having said this, the emperor stood up, rubbed his temples, and exhaled a long breath.
"I'm a little tired today, other things..."
"Let's discuss it another day."
After that, he stood up, left the court, and returned to his bedroom.
After returning to the palace, Emperor Zhaowu looked gloomy and did not speak for a long time.
After a while, he slowly said in a hoarse voice: "Go and invite Prime Minister Yan to come into the palace."
"Go and invite me immediately."
The few accompanying eunuchs immediately nodded in agreement and went to invite the former prime minister Yan Li, who was already idle at home, to the palace.
Although Old Man Yan has retired now, his energy and spirit are still good, and his spirit may even be better than that of Emperor Zhaowu.
After he saw the emperor, he also knelt down habitually, kowtowed and saluted: "The common people pay homage to the emperor with strict obeisance."
Emperor Zhaowu opened his eyes and sighed silently.
"Give Prime Minister Yan a seat."
Yan Li bowed his head to thank him.
After sitting down, the emperor looked at Yan Li and said, "Does Prime Minister Yan already know what happened in the court today?"
What happened in the court hall took place no more than half an hour ago.
Theoretically speaking, it is impossible for Yan Li, an old man who is idle at home, to know.
But he did not deny it, and nodded silently: "On the way into the palace just now, I heard a few words from some Han ministers."
Emperor Zhaowu stretched out his hand to serve the tea, his hands trembling slightly.
"What does Prime Minister Yan think?"
Yan Li lowered his head and sighed: "I feel that the general is probably being used by others."
The emperor clenched his fist slightly.
"He was caught by the Southerners. Whether he was being used by others or not is a matter of debate."
Yan Li nodded lightly and continued: "But no matter what the situation is with that general, the emperor cannot touch him now, and must comfort and reward him..."
Old Man Yan sighed softly.
"Now, the emperor should pay more attention to the people of the upper clan..."
"If there is internal strife in the upper clan, it will play into that person's hands. When the time comes, we will unite and we will be in chaos if we don't attack."
Emperor Zhaowu clenched his fists.
"What about Han Chen?"
Yan Li basically represents the Han officials in Yandu.
The old man was silent for a while and said in a low voice.