The huge ship docked slowly, and as the band played triumphant music, groups of Han generals disembarked from the ship on the stairs, and Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty also appeared in front of everyone.
The music stopped, and Zhu Di's majestic voice rang out: "Everyone is at peace."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." The ministers stood up. When the Emperor came down the stairs, Dingguo Duke Xu Jingchang knelt down and offered three glasses of wine. Originally, this was supposed to be the prince's errand, but at the moment the prince was absent, so he had to do it first.
Looking at his wife and nephew, Zhu Di suppressed his displeasure, took up the wine glass and offered sacrifices to the ancestors of heaven and earth, and asked Xu Jingchang to take off his cloak, which was regarded as completing the ceremony of 'undressing the war robe'... This should be done by the prince.
Immediately the sound of music resounded, Zhu Di boarded the carriage, and walked slowly toward the city gate with the retinue of the civil and military ministers.
On the street, firecrackers crackled like a pot of porridge, and people cheered and greeted one after another. Zhu Di smiled lightly and waved to his subjects, but coldly asked Yang Pu, an official of the East Palace who was called to Luan Yu, "Where is the prince?"
"Uh..." Yang Pu felt regretful... He came to Longjiang Pass early this morning before five o'clock in order to supervise the reception. If he knew the result, he would definitely abandon everything first, and he would not let it go.
The prince was late and had to whisper: "His Royal Highness the prince has been delayed for some reason. He should be here soon. The emperor will know as soon as he asks."
"Hmph." Zhu Di snorted and said, "Is this how you assist the prince?"
"I am guilty." Yang Pu hurriedly kowtowed and said, "His Royal Highness is always punctual, and it is an important event to welcome the Emperor. Something must have happened to cause this."
"Is there something wrong?" Zhu Di's face became more and more gloomy as he said: "I returned from Hulanhu hypothermia all the way, thousands of miles away, but nothing happened. He went from the East Palace to Longjiang Pass, only four or five miles away, but something happened."
He said with hatred: "With my old body, I went to Mobei and went through life and death, not all because of this trash like him? But he didn't take me to heart at all. He is really not the son of a man."
Hearing the emperor's rage, Yang Pu sweated profusely and didn't know how to speak for the prince.
When they arrived at the palace, the chamberlain was waiting for Zhu Di to wash up. At this time, Ji Gang, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, came in hurriedly and reported in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I found out that His Highness the Crown Prince is still hungover, so he was delayed in greeting him..."
"Okay." Zhu Di was already full of anger, but now he added fuel to the fire, and said angrily: "I didn't believe you before when you said he was voluptuous, but I didn't expect it to be true. He was so drunk the night before I came back.
Like mud, you can imagine what will happen in normal times." Zhu Di was really angry. At such an old age, he was sleeping outside in the open air, suffering from hunger, and had to personally mention going into battle to kill people, while his prince was drunk and dreaming in the rear. This kind of being
The feeling of being deceived and fooled made the emperor, who had always been self-centered, intolerable:
"How can I pass on my kingdom to such an evil beast? Bring that evil son to me." The emperor's roar echoed in the golden palace: "And all his soldiers and generals, catch them all to me."
This is about to build a big prison. It's time for the imperial guards to show off their power. Ji Gang swallowed his mouth excitedly and asked in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, who are you going to arrest?"
"You know who should be investigated, who should be arrested, who should be interrogated, and how to interrogate." Zhu Di said with a sullen face.
"Yes" Ji Gang responded, stood up and strode out. Outside the Golden Palace, one of his men had been waiting there, obviously knowing that he would arrest someone today.
His eyes swept over the crowd coldly, and he said sternly: "The Emperor has a decree to capture all of the subordinate officials in the East Palace. There are also ministers who are left behind, and all of them must be questioned."
Although all the high-ranking officials in Jinyi knew that they were going to take someone today, they didn't expect that they would kill the civil servants who were staying in the capital. They all looked shocked and said, "Are we going to take someone now?"
"Wait." Ji Gang said with a gloomy look: "The emperor will hold a banquet and arrest all the people. The emperor's face will not look good. You first mobilize the troops and wait in their private homes. When they return from the banquet, you can take the people
"Here!" All the high-ranking officials in Jinyi responded in unison, and hurriedly went down to make arrangements.
"You two come with me to the East Palace." Ji Gang glanced at his confidants Zhuang Jing and Yuan Jiang and said coldly.
In the study room in the East Palace, the imperial doctor tried his best to give the prince sobering soup and use acupuncture. After struggling for a long time, he finally woke up the prince from his slumber...
"Wake up, finally wake up." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but their expressions were still solemn.
Zhu Gaochi slowly opened his eyes, and his eyes were full of double images. It took him a long time to hold back his eyes, and asked in a hissing voice: "What time is it?"
"It's three o'clock in the morning..." the princess whispered.
"What time?" Zhu Gaochi's eyes widened.
"It's three o'clock."
"Ah?" His Highness the Crown Prince's huge body made Huo De jump out of bed and said in a panic: "How did I sleep until now? Go to Longjiang Pass quickly."
"Father, there's no need to go." A familiar voice sounded, and Zhu Zhanji appeared in front of the prince: "Grandpa Huang has entered the palace."
"What?" Zhu Gaochi couldn't believe it, but when he saw that his son who was beside his father was back, he couldn't bear to believe it. He immediately sat down slumped, his red face turned pale, and big beads of sweat covered it.
On his forehead, he trembled: "How could this happen? How could this happen?" He suddenly raised his head, looked at the people around him and said: "Why don't you wake me up?"
"Your Highness." Huang Huai, the minister of the East Palace, sighed and said, "You are hungover and you can't wake up. In the end, you hired an imperial doctor and it took until now..."
"I'm hungover?" Zhu Gaochi said in disbelief: "How is it possible..." He rubbed his painful head vigorously and said: "I couldn't sleep last night and only drank a glass of soda? How could I be hungover?
"
"Is there something wrong with the wine..." Zhu Zhanji said solemnly: "But now is not the time to pursue this." He paused and said: "Father, no matter what, things have happened. Let's try to face it."
"The grandson is right." Huang Huai said: "The prince has definitely violated etiquette this time, but whether this matter is big or small depends on how the emperor views it."
"Grandpa Huang will definitely use the topic to his advantage..." Zhu Zhanji said coldly.
"That's right." Zhu Gaochi said dejectedly: "Father has heard too many slanders and has long wanted to deal with me. This time I just gave him a chance." He sighed and said, "I want to go to the palace to apologize for changing my clothes."
The chamberlain hurriedly dressed His Highness the Crown Prince. Zhu Zhanji helped Zhu Gaochi stand up and slowly walked out: "I will go with my father."
"You just came back, so you should rest at home." Zhu Gaochi said.
"When the father is in trouble, the son suffers the same." Zhu Zhanji shook his head and said: "Besides, the emperor is so angry now that he may not be able to listen to his father. It's better for me to explain to him."
"That's true." Zhu Gaochi nodded and said, "That would be wronging my son."
The father and son got on the carriage and drove to the palace. Before they had gone very far, they were stopped head-on - Ji Gang, who was dressed in a bright red python robe, led two hundred royal guards in flying fish uniforms and embroidered spring knives at their waists.
The prince's chariots surrounded him.
The guards of the East Palace were not afraid of the Jin Yiwei. They scolded: "Who dares to block the prince's driving? Why don't you get out of the way?"
"According to the order." Ji Gang did not speak, but Zhuang Jing was the one who spoke. He shouted violently: "Please enter the palace to meet the emperor."
"Your Highness, please come with us," another confidant Yuan Jiang also said sharply.
The expressions of the guards in the East Palace changed drastically. They were trying to capture the crown prince. If His Highness the crown prince was captured in the street by the royal guards, how could he have the dignity to be the crown prince?
But near the palace, the Jinyi guards are carrying out errands according to the imperial decree. Who dares to stop them? To stop them is to rebel, and they will punish the nine tribes.
While the guards were wandering around, they heard a low voice: "Ji Gang, don't pretend to preach the imperial edict." Zhu Zhanji, with an angry look on his face, got off the carriage and appeared in front of Ji Gang.
"Isn't this His Highness the Grand Sun?" Ji Gang clasped his fists and said with a smile: "I have an imperial official on my side, so I can't do the full ceremony. Please forgive me." After a pause, he said, "But Your Highness said that I pretended to pass on the imperial edict.
That is a complete false accusation. At the gate of the palace, even if I am too ambitious, I dare not say a single wrong word."
"Bring it here." Zhu Zhanji stretched out his hand.
"What?" Ji Gang was stunned.
"Imperial edict" Zhu Zhanji said these two words from between his teeth.
"The emperor's message was oral. Your Highness went with us to see the emperor, so he naturally knew that what he said was true." Ji Gang said.
"There is no basis for what you say." Zhu Zhanji said coldly: "Who knows if you intend to do evil to my father.
"Why did Your Highness say this? How could I be unfavorable to the Crown Prince?" Ji Gang said helplessly.
"Everything is possible." Zhu Zhanji said solemnly: "If you don't leave quickly, my father will go to see the sage and ask for clarification."
"Let us protect His Highness the Crown Prince." Ji Gang insisted. This was a special order from His Highness the King of Han, to make the Crown Prince lose face.
"Don't you understand what I'm saying?" Zhu Zhanji didn't talk nonsense to him and yelled: "Get out!"
"Your Highness, calm down, I forgive you for not following..." Before Ji Gang could say a word, he heard a sharp sound, and a long sword was already pointed at his throat. The bone-chilling chill immediately made him speechless and body.
Can't move.
There were naturally many experts around Ji Gang, but the sword from the Flying Immortal came too suddenly. By the time everyone reacted, Ji Gang had already been restrained.
The sword technique is Sun Zhenren's unique skill in Wudang Mountain, but it is Zhu Zhanji who wields the sword. He specially learned this move from Xianyun, just to use it desperately at critical moments.
"Your Highness, don't mess around." Zhuang Jing and others were anxious, but Zhu Zhanji was the grandson. Although in their eyes, the grandson was already a thing of the past, they still did not dare to be disrespectful, and they only dared to stop him: "
We, sir, are the emperor’s imperial envoys.”
"It's just a dog from my Zhu family. When did it bully its owner?" Zhu Zhanji snorted coldly: "Everyone, get away, or I will cut off his dog's head." He said with tongue
Chun Lei burst out and shouted loudly: "Get out of here"