Live up to the country

In the Xuanzheng Hall of the Daxiling Imperial Palace, the civil and military ministers are divided into two classes, solemn and solemn. The emperor Liu Hongjing is wearing a yellow robe with a dragon and a nine-pronged crown on his head. He sits high on the dragon chair. The curly beard extends behind the ears, and the lines of the face are tough, without anger and prestige. Although he is nearly fifty years old, he can vaguely see the handsomeness of that year.

After the ministers finished playing the book, they stood quietly on both sides, waiting for the emperor to speak.

"Teacher, when can the crown prince return to Beijing?" Liu Hongjing looked at a silver-bearded veteran sitting in front of the hall, and said in a low voice.

The silver-bearded old minister was Taifu Sima, he stood up tremblingly, and replied: "Your Majesty Bing, if there is no delay on the way, His Highness the Crown Prince can return to Beijing a few years ago."

"Well, did anything happen along the way?" Liu Hong nodded.

"When His Highness was passing through Xihe, there was an outbreak of dysentery in Xihe, and His Highness successfully controlled the epidemic." Sima Taifu said.

Liu Hongjing smiled reassuringly, and said: "Okay, pass on my will, it's freezing cold, and tell the prince to be careful all the way." The earnest concern was beyond words.

Sima Taifu held Yahu and held the order, returned the chair and sat down.He is an important minister of the three dynasties, and he is very old, so he has the chair of the grand master specially bestowed by the emperor.

Among the officials, a fat-headed and big-eared minister stood up and held his fangs and said: "Your Highness, the First Prince, has succeeded in suppressing the bandits in the north, and he will return to Beijing a year ago."

Liu Hongjing replied lightly: "Okay, I will reward the emperor when he returns to the capital." His words were far less concerned about the prince.

The fat minister bowed his head and stepped back, with a bit of resentment on his face.

After retiring from the court, the fat minister came out of the Golden Palace, and the silver-haired Sima Taifu walked in front, supported by a minister in the prime minister's court uniform.

"Lord Yin, Lord Sima." He greeted with cupped fists.

"Uncle Guo." The Taifu and Prime Minister Yin turned their heads and returned the greetings with him.

This person is Duanmu Mengzheng, the elder brother of Empress Duanmu Yunji. With a sneer on his face, he said to Sima Taifu and Yin Prime Minister: "The crown prince has made great achievements in going to Dongling, and he has lived up to the teachings of the Taifu for many years. Congratulations." Fan has been hiding his sharpness in the palace and only acted absurdly incompetent. This time Xihe's control of the epidemic is just a trivial matter, but Duanmu Mengzheng said it was a miraculous achievement. Compared with the great prince Liuhuo's suppression of the northern rogues, this statement is a great irony Taifu and Prince.

"Hahaha, Uncle Guo has won the award." Tai Tuo and Prime Minister Yin glanced at each other and replied with a big laugh. Then they held hands and continued on their way, ignoring Duanmu Mengzheng.

"Hmph!" Duanmu Mengzheng flicked his sleeves, waited for the two of them to walk away before going out of the court gate, and returned to the uncle's mansion in a small sedan chair.

A white-haired father-in-law sat on the guest seat in the lobby of the uncle's mansion, drinking tea and waiting for him to come back.

"Eunuch Tong!" Duanmu Mengzheng greeted with fists together.

"Uncle Guo." Eunuch Tong put down the teacup slowly, swept the whisk away, and stood up to return the gift.

"Eunuch Tong has been waiting for a long time." Duanmu Meng was sitting on the main seat, and the maids in the family brewed fragrant tea after a while.

Eunuch Tong glanced at the servant girls standing in the hall, Duanmu Meng was busy waving his hands to order them all to retreat, and asked in a low voice, "Is there any news from your empress?"

"Your Majesty sent two batches of masters one after another, but they all left without a trace, and even my brother disappeared. No one was alive or dead." Eunuch Tong's face was full of gloom.

"Is there such a thing?" Duanmu Meng frowned.

"I have sent several disciples to inquire about the news, and they are on the way now." Eunuch Tong said.

"Well, then we have to wait for the news." Duanmu Mengzheng nodded.

"His Royal Highness the First Prince will return to Beijing soon. This time, His Royal Highness has made great contributions to defeating the invaders. What does the Emperor say above the court?" Eunuch Tong asked.

"I only said that I will reward you after returning to Beijing." Duanmu Mengzheng said truthfully, he sighed: "The emperor is obviously partial to the prince, and he is full of concern for the prince, but he speaks indifferently to the eldest prince, which makes people feel cold."

"This time the queen swore to let the prince die halfway, and it happened that the eldest prince returned to the capital after making meritorious service, and he was justified as the prince." Eunuch Tong said.

Duanmu Mengzheng nodded: "Well, I will contact the owner of Jifeng Jianzhuang, and ask him to lead his disciples to intercept the Jiyujianzhuang, Jileijianzhuang, and Jidianjianzhuang that my Duanmu family has cultivated for many years. The prince will be killed on the way!"

"Okay! It's inconvenient for me to stay like this for a long time, so I'll take my leave first." Eunuch Tong stood up and cupped his fists to say goodbye.

"Eunuch, go slowly." Duanmu Meng was getting up. According to the usual practice, he sent Eunuch Tong out from the backyard. Eunuch Tong brought only a few eunuchs with him, and quietly returned to the palace in a small sedan chair.

Three days later, Empress Duanmu Yunji received a secret report: "The crown prince and the princess who came from Dongling have fallen off the cliff and died. More than half of the horses who went to Dongling with the prince were killed or injured, and they are returning to Beijing."

"The prince is dead!" Duanmu Yunji trembled while clutching the secret report, she came back to her senses after a while, looked up to the sky and laughed loudly: "Hahaha, you are finally dead! You have occupied the position of the prince of Huo'er for more than ten years. Should have died long ago! Hahaha!"

After she rewarded the eunuch who reported the letter, she burned the secret report on the candle, and only waited for her son Liuhuo to return to the capital and inherit the prince's rule, but unexpectedly what the reporter received was a fake letter intentionally released by Liu Fan and Xiao Zhu.

It turned out that at the bottom of the cliff, after Xiao Zhu and Liu Fan stabilized their injuries, everyone sat together to discuss countermeasures. The queen was chasing and killing so wildly, it was too dangerous to think of a way to deal with it.After pondering for a while, Liu Fan came up with a way, he said to Xiao Zhu and the others: "We fell off the cliff, why don't we cheat our deaths."

"Fake death?" Xiaozhu looked at him and nodded slightly, "Well, we have killed all the people sent by the queen, and we have disposed of the bodies without a trace. She will definitely send people to inquire about the news again. And to hunt us down, we can only release the news that the crown prince and princess have fallen off the cliff and died unfortunately, and I have also jumped off the cliff to kill myself in order to escape the crime."

Wuyou went on to say: "None of us revealed our identities, we immediately climbed up the cliff to deal with these matters, ordered the prince's army and horses to return to the palace, and spread the news that the prince fell off the cliff and died."

Liu Fan nodded and said: "Yes, you continue to dress up as tourists, while the Princess and I, Xiao Zhu, dress up as civilians on their way, and we will take a shortcut back to the palace."

Do what you say, do it, Wuyou led Xiaogudong, flew over the hot spring with Yunshang, Ni Er, and Xiaohui in sequence, and climbed up the cliff along the rope made of vines. Convey the meaning of the prince and Xiaozhu to the owner of Hua Zhuang. It is inconvenient for the owner of Hua Zhuang to meet the prince here, so he has to lead his disciples back to Xianren Jianzhuang.

When Feng Lin saw someone coming up from the bottom of the cliff, he didn't care who they were, so he hurried over and asked, "Where are the Crown Prince and the princess?"

Wuyou didn't want to talk too much with this court lady, so she frowned and said, "Leave your business alone, and immediately follow the team back to the palace. If anyone asks His Highness the Crown Prince along the way, just say that His Highness has unfortunately fallen off a cliff and died. If you dare to talk nonsense, Be careful of moving your head." She stretched out a hand to pinch Feng Lin's neck, and Feng Lin nodded in fright.