Several carriages carrying Li Lingrui and others slowly drove into the royal city, and then headed north along the main road.
The wheels pressed against the snow, making a squeaking sound.
There is a heater in the carriage, and the curtains are made of heavy cotton, making it extremely warm.
After trekking in the wind and snow for more than a month, sleeping in the open air, Li Lingrui was hungry, tired and cold. If they had walked for a few more days, Li Lingrui and the others might have died of exhaustion on the road.
Li Lingrui couldn't help but slumped down in comfort, closed his eyes, and took a rest while thinking about how to deal with Li Lingxuan when he saw him later.
The carriage drove for more than twenty minutes before stopping.
The eunuch opened the curtain and took a look outside: "Your Highness, we are here!"
Li Lingrui thought the carriage would pull him to the palace, but when he got off the carriage, he realized that he was not in the palace, but in a strange courtyard.
"Does the emperor want to imprison me?"
This thought came to Li Lingrui's mind.
This time the Southern Expedition returned with a disastrous defeat. As the commander-in-chief, he naturally has an unshirkable responsibility. Remember it in one second.
Even if Li Lingxuan cuts him, it will be normal.
But then Li Lingrui felt that it didn't look like it.
If Li Lingxuan wants to imprison him, he will definitely send someone to escort him.
But the people who came to pick him up were only a eunuch and a few grooms, not a single soldier, and the courtyard in front of him was quiet, and there was no sign of an ambush at all.
"Where is this?" Li Lingrui asked with a frown.
"Your Highness, this is Ding San Street, Xionglufang." The eunuch replied.
Dangxiang was once a vassal state of Dakang, and was deeply influenced by Dakang culture. The internal division of Dangxiang City was also modeled on the Dakang capital, divided into small squares and named after xx squares.
Xionglufang is not far from the palace, only one street away from the palace. Many party ministers live here.
"If you don't take me to see my brother, what are you doing here?" Li Lingrui asked.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, Your Majesty ordered this villain to bring His Highness here." The eunuch bowed and replied: "As for why Your Majesty is doing this, I don't know!"
"I understand!" Li Lingrui nodded and looked around.
The yard is not small, and there are several carriages parked in the middle of the yard, so it doesn't seem crowded at all.
"Your Highness, this is the backyard, and your residence is in the middle courtyard."
The eunuch led the way and introduced the courtyard.
But Li Lingrui didn't care about this at all, he just wanted to see Li Lingxuan as soon as possible.
Just as he was about to ask the eunuch about Li Lingxuan's situation, he found that the eunuch stopped and knelt directly on the ground.
Li Lingrui looked up and found a person standing under the eaves of the bedroom, it was Li Lingxuan, the new emperor of the party.
"The guilty minister Li Lingrui pays homage to the imperial brother!"
Li Lingrui ignored the snow on the ground and knelt down on the ground, touching his head to the ground: "Long live my emperor!"
"Come in!" Li Lingxuan glanced at Li Lingrui coldly, turned around and entered the house.
Li Lingrui got up from the ground and followed him into the house.
After entering the house, Li Lingrui knelt on the ground again: "Brother, the Southern Expedition was defeated. Please punish me..."
"If punishing you was effective, I would have cut you into pieces!"
Before Li Lingrui finished speaking, he was interrupted by Li Lingxuan: "Li Lingrui, Li Lingrui, I gave hundreds of thousands of troops, but in the end you couldn't even defeat tens of thousands of Shu troops, and Qinghuai blocked your way out, what's your evil intentions?
Is it blocked by horse dung? Why aren’t heavy troops guarding such an important place like Tongqiankou? Why aren’t people patrolling the north?”
"Brother Imperial, do you know everything?" Li Lingrui looked up at Li Lingxuan, somewhat surprised.
When the Tielin Army suddenly came out, the camp where the carrier pigeons were kept was a key bombing target of the Tielin Army. Before Li Lingrui had time to send a message to Li Lingxuan, the location of the carrier pigeons was destroyed by an airship.
Later, the Southern Expeditionary Army was completely in chaos, and Li Lingrui could only escape with his personal guards.
He thought Li Lingxuan didn't know the news about the defeat of the Southern Expeditionary Army, but Li Lingxuan told Qinghuai and Tongqiankou.
This shows that Li Lingxuan understands the battle very well.
This shows that Li Lingxuan arranged an informant in the Southern Expedition Army and did not tell Li Lingrui.
Thinking of this, Li Lingrui felt a little uncomfortable, but then gave up the idea.
This southern expedition was related to the fate of the party, and Li Lingxuan attached great importance to it, so it was normal for him to arrange several informants.
So Li Lingrui buried his head even lower: "Brother Emperor, I know that my sins are serious and I dare not ask Brother Emperor for forgiveness. I only hope Brother Emperor will grant me death to calm the anger of the court and the people!"
This is also the reason why Li Lingrui traveled thousands of miles to return to Dangxiang.
He escaped not to survive, but to die.
Because this southern expedition was the largest in the history of the party and the one with the heaviest casualties.
Li Lingxuan's time on the throne was too short, and his status was inherently unstable, so someone must take responsibility for this failure, otherwise Li Lingxuan's throne may not be stable.
This responsibility is so great that ordinary generals cannot bear it even if they want to.
As the commander-in-chief of the Southern Expeditionary Army, Li Lingrui is also the prince whom Li Lingxuan values the most. He is considered to be inferior to one person and more than ten thousand people, and his weight is barely enough.
So he wanted to escape back, hoping to use his own life to calm the anger of the court and the people and stabilize Li Lingxuan's position.
When Li Lingxuan heard this, he couldn't help but look at Li Lingrui deeply.
There has never been much family affection in the royal family, but it was an accident between him and Li Lingrui.
Li Lingrui has been following him since he was a child, rushing in front of him to protect him every time he gets into a fight. Every time he gets into trouble, Li Lingrui takes the blame.
"Ling Rui, what would it be like if you hadn't met Jin Feng?"
Li Lingxuan stepped forward and helped Li Lingrui up: "Go away, and don't come back again!"
"I'm leaving, what will happen to my brother? How will I explain to the ministers and the people?" Li Lingrui shook his head and asked.
"Actually, there is no point in confessing or failing to confess!" Li Lingxuan said with a look of despair: "The party item is over!"
When Li Lingrui heard this, his eyes widened and he looked at Li Lingxuan in disbelief.
He couldn't believe that the words "Dangxiang is over" would actually come out of Emperor Dangxiang's mouth.
"Ling Rui, don't look at me like that," Li Lingxuan said with a bitter smile: "You may not know yet, but not long after Jin Feng defeated you in Zhuangzhuanggou, he sent airships to attack the vassal kings and dignitaries in various places in Dakang on the same day.
The aristocratic family killed the king of Wu, the king of Chu, and the king of Lu. They also destroyed the Zhao family, the Pei family, and the Fei family in the Central Plains. They also killed the father and son of the King of Qin in Brass Valley to pay tribute to the dead Shu army.
Except for the King of Jin and Chen Zheng, all the other vassal kings and powerful people in Dakang were basically destroyed by Jin Feng. Now the entire Dakang is in chaos, just like the recent Tubo in Sichuan and Shu.
Not to mention the Eastern Barbarians, the Chanyu is still imprisoned in Xihewan.
In other words, no one can stop Jin Feng and Sichuan Shu in the future!"
When Li Lingrui heard this, his face instantly turned pale!