In the Nanchao Imperial City bathed in the morning light, Xiao Yan slowly raised his head.
The imperial study room was burning with spices from the South China Sea. This kind of spice could soothe the mind, but it was too expensive. Even the palace's warehouse did not have much of it. And since he came to the throne, he had always advocated frugality, so he would never use it on weekdays.
But now he has to use it.
He felt uneasy.
The ministers still went to court in the morning, the audience with all the officials was still orderly, and all kinds of documents that needed his approval also gathered in front of his case like a sea.
Everything seems to be no different from before.
However, he knew very well that what he was sitting on at this time did not seem to be a dragon's chair, but an undercurrent that did not know where it was going.
He has never been a very proud person, on the contrary, he has always been very humble. He also does not like to be overjoyed in his achievements, and he even does not like to let others see how outstanding he is.
So even if he won the throne by force, few people in the world knew his true cultivation.
It's just that no matter how humble he is, he will never think that he is really bad and stupid.
He has always been diligent and considerate of his people.
Just why is it like this?
He has always despised the faint emperor who was overthrown by him, and always thought that what kind of rotten existence he had brought his dynasty to such a state. However, in the morning light today, looking at this building that once belonged to that
In the Hunjun's palace, he felt inexplicably that if it were him, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything at that time.
Unable to change.
Cannot be changed.
He seems to be facing such a situation now.
Everything seemed to be the same as usual, but he knew very well that many places in this dynasty that belonged to him, which seemed to be in order, were actually out of his sight and out of his control.
The entire dynasty was originally like a piece of intact wood, and it still looked intact on the surface. However, many places inside had actually been eaten away by various forces, and he was powerless to stop or change it.
He felt a deep sense of powerlessness and frustration.
If it had been someone else, would the results have been different?
If he does not support his mother and breaks up with his mother, then given his mother's temperament, she may even try to kill him, and the world may be in chaos.
As for his mother, who was now supporting him, he originally thought that such thunderous means could suppress He Xiuxian's lineage in one fell swoop. However, the result was that his mother died.
The threat of the Northern Wei Dynasty is still there, and those in the north
Each of the five border troops has their own ideas. The Chen family controls some, some will choose not to help either side, and even if some others can obey his orders, how many will they have at most?
One third of the frontier troops?
Can he completely mobilize all the one-third of the frontier troops?
Deployed to work on party projects?
Even if those border troops were willing to do this and fight against Lin Yi, I am afraid that the current Southern Dynasty could no longer support such a long-distance migration and war.
A large part of military rations and ordnance originally came from supplies from various states and counties, and many even came from funding from prominent families in various places, but now many people will not stand on his side.
As long as certain links are not supplied, even those armies that he can mobilize will suffer disaster.
So he can't seem to do anything.
In this morning light, he felt very wronged.
He has tried his best to be a good emperor.
He Xiuxian has always been his enemy. He has always thought that He Xiuxian is his biggest threat in this world, so he is naturally full of inexplicable disgust towards Lin Yi. However, at this time, he can't help but
It occurred to me that maybe He Xiuxian was right all along.
There was already a big problem with relying too much on his mother to obtain the throne, which is why he was put into such a situation today.
News about the Demon Sect is still coming.
He keeps killing.
Many royal families and monasteries were slaughtered by him in the past five or six days.
But there was really nothing he could do.
It seems that he can only watch helplessly as this dynasty of his own becomes moldy and slowly dies.
In this morning light, too many things happened.
Jiuhuashan Sect, which has been passed down for hundreds of years, has also disappeared from the world.
The carriage of a veteran of the Southern Dynasties stopped at the inn. The inn officials who had known the news a long time ago prepared the food and wine with great respect and joy.
Even though it was early in the morning, the post official still brought out his best treasures as much as possible to entertain the old man who came back from the border, this tiger general who was in awe of the people of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The officials at the inn naturally kept Wei Rui's whereabouts strictly confidential, but this was not a secret in the military, so some people still got the news along the way. Before these carriages arrived, even the inn was close to the nearest village.
It took an hour's journey, but the area around this inn was still dark and crowded with countless people.
Some people are carrying some land
Among the melons and fruits inside, some people just grabbed a few hard-boiled eggs, and some held newly spun cotton cloth. However, these were the best things these people could come up with.
They gathered on both sides of the road, waiting for the return of the old man who had fought for the country for many years.
It should have been a happy event for the beloved general to return to the court, but when these carriages finally arrived and the moment they saw the legendary veteran stepping out of the carriage, there was not much cheering.
Looking at the gray hair of the veteran and the common clothes on his body, the station official who was standing and waiting with excitement was excitedly shouting to the two people behind him for hot dishes a few breaths ago, but at this moment
Inexplicably, the corners of my eyes got wet for the first time.
"General Wei!"
Someone in the crowd made a sound.
There was a cry, and many people knelt down and saluted the old man, but there were sobs in their voices, and this sob seemed to be contagious.
For a while, many people cried.
The officials at the inn were also so sad that they couldn't help themselves.
He was originally greeted with joy, but he didn't know why it was like this.
They had clearly won a great victory, and seeing that the frontier troops in the north had come to their senses, and could even march straight into Luoyang, and could even unify the north, why did such a general have to be transferred back?
Why did General Lin suddenly turn into a traitor after clearly pacifying the Dangxiang border?
"General Wei, is General Lin really a traitor?"
The station official couldn't ask this question, but some of the crying people asked such a question.
"We will be at the border, and there will be many gaps in information, so misunderstandings may be inevitable."
Wei Rui himself couldn't answer this question, but he knew what these people wanted to hear, so he sighed in his heart and said: "Maybe there will be a chance for relaxation."
But will there really be an easing?
According to the new news coming in the past two days, he knew in his heart that the chance of such relaxation was close to non-existent.
This is just a white lie.
At this moment, he saw a little girl on the edge of the crowd.
That girl's age was, to him, just a little girl.
It's just that the little girl just glanced at him, and in just one glance, he had already vaguely guessed the identity of this person.