In Fengxiang Mansion, the emperor who lived in the palace sat up from the couch, staggered and almost stopped standing.
The eunuch Li Fuguo who had been serving on the side quickly stepped forward to help the emperor.
Li Heng waited for a long time before standing still. He pushed Li Fuguo away and said, "I can do it myself."
Li Fuguo was extremely ugly, but he was the emperor's favorite eunuch. Li Fuguo, who had served Li Heng since childhood, knew that this saint looked approachable on the surface, but was actually very stubborn.
Being the crown prince of the emperor is not an easy task. Li Heng was granted the title of crown prince in the 26th year of Kaiyuan Dynasty. He encountered the crisis of deposing the crown prince many times, and finally survived with difficulty.
The first half of Li Heng's life was full of trepidation among the emperor, the powerful ministers, the courtiers, and the feudal lords, trying hard to play the role of a filial prince.
He should not be too capable, as that would make the emperor wary. He would always have to play the role of a young and impulsive prince, who would often have conflicts with his father's favored officials over trivial matters in the court.
He couldn't be too incompetent. Emperor Li Longji looked down on incompetent idiots. To be able to stay in the position of prince for so long, Li Heng had good abilities in both politics and military affairs.
After crawling under the emperor's throne for so many years, the East Palace was like a prison. Li Heng could only reveal his true self in front of a trusted eunuch like Li Fuguo.
"Sage, it's time to take the elixir." Li Fuguo took out a small box and presented the elixir to Li Heng.
Li Heng picked up the elixir. The emperors of the old Li family had a tradition of taking elixirs. Li Heng also personally learned alchemy and specially made elixirs for the emperor to celebrate his birthday.
It's just that the emperor didn't take the elixirs he refined. Instead, he gave these elixirs to Li Heng himself.
In front of the emperor, Li Heng took the elixir he had made without hesitation. However, from then on, Li Heng never made elixirs by himself again. Instead, he asked famous alchemists in the world to make elixirs.
In recent years, Li Heng began to believe in Buddhism again. Many monks chanted sutras while walking, and Li Heng even conferred the title of several great masters at once.
Li Heng's headache has become more serious in the past few days, but Li Fuguo still supported Li Heng and walked into the yard.
The Fengxiang Mansion was originally the emperor's palace. Fengxiang Mansion was located in a strategic location. When the emperor was in power, he visited Fengxiang Mansion many times and ordered Fengxiang Mansion to build a huge palace.
"Fuguo, I wonder if the emperor is doing well in Shu?" Li Heng supported Li Fuguo and looked toward the southwest.
Li Fuguo immediately understood what the emperor meant and said: "The old slave heard the news from Shuzhong that the emperor travels and reads every day, but he missed Concubine Yang a few days ago and fell ill again."
Li Heng snorted coldly, Concubine Yang was Yang Yuhuan. When she doted on the harem alone, her brother Yang Guozhong also monopolized the government as prime minister. At that time, Yang Guozhong made several suggestions to abolish the prince. If Li Heng hadn't been cautious, he would have been dismissed.
Her brother and sister looked for opportunities to destroy them.
During the Maweipo mutiny, Li Heng watched his father's companion strangle Concubine Yang to death with his own hands, and it was he who took Concubine Yang's body to kill her.
At that time, the father, who was once so majestic that a cold snort could make the court officials tremble, was as frightened as a caged bird. He agreed to the rebellious sergeant's request without hesitation, killed Yang Yuhuan, Yang Guozhong, brother and sister, and also
Use all your property to reward these soldiers.
When he thought of this, Li Heng understood even more how insignificant the so-called emperor's favor was in the face of the emperor's own life.
If he followed the emperor to the middle of Shu, which was Yang Guozhong's hometown, and he, the prince who had no dealings with Yang Guozhong, went there, the soldiers in Shu would be like the soldiers who rebelled in Maweipo and asked the emperor to depose him as the prince.
So Li Heng went to Lingwu and became emperor with the help of Guo Ziyi, the governor of Shuofang.
Li Fuguo saw that the emperor's face was not good, and he added: "The emperor has also heard about the rebellion of King Yong. He sent several orders in succession, saying that he wanted to recall King Yong to serve him in Shu. In a few days, King Yong
The news of the defeat should be sent to the Emperor."
Li Heng responded coldly, Yong Wang Li Lin was not favored by the emperor, so he was appointed Yong Wang to control the military affairs in Jianghuai. This was also the emperor's method to control himself as the emperor.
Even if he knew the news of King Yong's defeat, I'm afraid the emperor would be more frightened than sad.
Compared to the emperor, Li Heng raised King Yong since he was a child and felt even more unhappy.
In the face of power, even the younger brother he has protected for more than twenty years is no longer reliable.
"What's the news from the front?"
Li Fuguo said respectfully: "The military information sent by the Fish Supervisor Army indicates that the army has arrived in Xiangzhou."
Li Heng nodded. Xiangzhou is the gateway to the two capitals. As long as Xiangzhou is captured, the two capitals will be within easy reach.
At the same time, Xiangzhou is also the gateway to Fan Yang, the rebel's lair. If Xiangzhou is captured, the connection between the rebels and their lair between the two capitals can be cut off.
Originally, Li Heng vetoed Guo Ziyi's plan for the Eastern Route Army. His plan was to attack the rebels from the west of Xijing and directly recapture Xijing.
However, the progress of the West Route Army was not smooth. On the contrary, the East Route Army, which did not have many troops, advanced all the way and was about to enter Xiangzhou.
At this time, Li Heng could only order the West Route Army to advance eastward, and ordered Guo Ziyi to repair the army in front of Xiangzhou, and then attack Xiangzhou together with the West Route Army.
Li Heng was very unhappy, but now that the matter had come to this, he could only attack Xiangzhou first and then recover the two capitals.
More importantly, Guo Ziyi cannot be allowed to take the credit for capturing Xiangzhou.
Now that the prince is the general marshal of the world's troops, Li Heng no longer allows the prince to lead the troops in person, but stays in Fengxiang Mansion to handle government affairs.
The prince has the support of Li Mi and Guo Ziyi. If Guo Ziyi takes the credit for capturing Xiangzhou, Li Heng will be even more passive in the court.
Li Heng successively issued orders to mobilize the troops from the ten towns to gather in Xiangzhou. However, he did not appoint a marshal. Instead, he sent his confidant Yu Chaoen to serve as the military envoy to watch the Tenth Army and to serve as the supervisor of the Tenth Army.
Only with the Tenth Army under his control, Li Heng felt relieved. After Yu Chaoen arrived in Xiangzhou, he quickly took over the army and would soon attack Xiangzhou.
Li Heng's mood improved slightly, but he had a headache again. The current situation seemed to have returned to the era of the emperor, except that the prince changed from Li Heng himself to Li Heng's son.
What's even more troublesome is that my son seems to be too capable.
King Guangping Li Chu was favored by the emperor during his reign. Li Heng was even able to be appointed as the crown prince. It is said that it was because King Guangping was favored by the Holy Spirit.
Since the Anlushan Rebellion, King Guangping has commanded the armies and performed very well.
With such a prince, Li Heng always felt that the throne under his butt was not so peaceful.
Thinking of the young son born to him by the newly enthroned Queen Zhang, Li Heng became even more afraid of this overly capable prince.