Due to the rush of time and Li Shuliang's urging, although Li Zhiyun felt that it was abnormal to enter the palace to meet the saint this time, he did not have time to continue to delay thinking.
Not only Du Ruhui noticed something was wrong, but Liu Wenjing also felt something was wrong.
"Your Highness, you must be careful when entering the palace this time. The old minister is suspicious. The saint wants to ask Your Highness the reason for the death of King Qin."
Li Jiancheng felt solemn as he thought of Zuo Xiaowei outside.
"You mean, my father wants to deal with me?"
Liu Wenjing muttered: "It's hard to say, but the saint must have suspicions."
Li Jiancheng was a little hesitant, because he knew that he was responsible for the death of King Qin. What if his father really saw something...
Thinking of this, Li Jiancheng shuddered and asked, "Is there any way not to enter the palace?"
Liu Wenjing shook her head, "No, unless His Highness raises troops now, sooner or later he will have to go to the palace to see the Saint. I think the Saint should also be on guard against Your Highness. If we make any changes at this time, I'm afraid the consequences will be disastrous.
More importantly, among the current army, King Chu has the largest number of troops, and King Chu is not His Highness yet, so we cannot act impulsively."
Hearing this, Li Jiancheng's face turned gloomy and uncertain.
Seeing this, Liu Wenjing persuaded: "Your Highness, as long as you insist that King Qin's death has nothing to do with you, the saint will not do anything to you. When necessary, Your Highness can betray the old minister."
Li Jiancheng was silent for a while, still unable to think of a solution, so he said: "Don't worry, Mr. Liu, I will act according to the opportunity."
"Well, Your Highness, be careful in everything you do." Liu Wenjing warned.
An hour later, the prince, the king of Qi, the king of Chu, and the king of Qin who was lying in the coffin followed Li Shuliang and headed for Chang'an under the escort of Zuo Xiaowei.
After they left, Li Daoxuan found Du Ruhui.
"Mr. Du."
"See His Royal Highness the King of Huaiyang."
"No gift." Li Daoxuan helped him up and said solemnly: "This time the saint asked me to come over to reward the three armies. In fact, it was to guard against some people. I need the help of Mr. Du and the King of Chu's army."
It's really straightforward, Du Ruhui thought to himself. But he was not surprised, because in the clan, King Huaiyang and King Rencheng were His Highness's confidants, so there was no need to conceal politeness when asking for help.
"May I ask the King of Huaiyang, who should I guard against?"
Li Dao
After saying this, Du Ruhui understood.
"Don't worry, I will cooperate with you next time."
"That's good." Li Daoxuan nodded.
Speaking of this, Du Ruhui basically understood. The saint was guarding against the prince and the King of Qi, otherwise he would not have sent Li Daoxuan to monitor them.
Du Ruhui thought to himself, if the prince and others enter the palace this time, it will either be safe or bloody.
The saint, after all, still suspected that there was something wrong with King Qin's death.
He then thought that the pressure should be on the prince now, because he was the one with the greatest suspicion.
Thinking of this, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
The pressure on the crown prince and King Qi was indeed great. When Li Shuliang asked the three brothers to go to Chang'an with the body of King Qin, Li Jiancheng felt something was wrong.
For this reason, he and Liu Wenjing discussed for a long time, and the result was that the saint might take this opportunity to launch an attack and question King Qin's death and why he failed to provide sufficient support.
To be honest, Li Jiancheng thought a lot in an hour, and even thought of directly raising troops to enter Chang'an.
But he didn't dare.
Because the King of Chu's army obeys the orders of the King of Chu, and the army of the King of Qi obeys the orders of the King of Qi, he can only command the King of Qi, but the King of Chu cannot command.
After thinking about it, he realized that he was not completely sure, so he could only take a few loyal guards to follow King Changping to Chang'an.
Li Yuanji, on the other hand, didn't think too much about it. He just thought that his father wanted to meet them alone.
After the prince and others left, Liu Wenjing felt a little uneasy because he knew very well what happened with King Qin's death.
He was very worried that this time the saint allowed the prince and others to enter the palace first in order to control the prince.
However, there was nothing he could do now and he could only silently pray that the prince was safe.
On the way to Chang'an, the prince was quite silent, looking from time to time at the Zuo Xiaowei soldiers who were wearing armor on his left and right.
He had some misconceptions, as if those Zuo Xiaowei were escorting him.
As for Li Zhiyun, his mood was complicated. He knew that Lao Li would not do anything to him when he entered the palace this time. Because of King Qin's death, there was no suspicion on him.
However, he was worried that the prince and King Qi would suddenly become violent.
As he got closer to Chang'an, Li Zhiyun gradually felt relieved. Because Chang'an was the center of the emperor's sphere of influence. Now the prince and the king of Qi had no soldiers and could not cause trouble.
Li Zhiyun felt relieved, but Li Jiancheng began to worry.
After entering Chang'an, King Qin's coffin was brought to the palace and placed in the Wude Hall.
When Lao Li saw the corpse of King Qin, he burst into tears. He lost his son in his later years and couldn't extricate himself from the pain. All the ministers mourned one after another, among which the former ministers of King Qin cried the most.
As for the other courtiers, if they could squeeze out a few tears, they were performing attentively.
Of course, more people actually don't want to stay in Wude Hall.
Because it had been some time since King Qin's death, his body had begun to rot. As the coffin was opened, a peculiar smell filled the Wude Hall.
Even though there were antiseptic measures in place, the body still started to rot and smell due to weather, time, and lack of professionalism.
Li Zhiyun was so close to the coffin that he almost fainted from the smoke. He could only endure his nausea and kept persuading Lao Li to refrain from mourning.
The other ministers were also very sensible, and they did not want to continue to be smoked to death, so they tried to persuade the emperor.
Despite this, Lao Li still endured the rancid smell, or in other words, excessive sadness had made him ignore the rancid smell.
He looked at his son and his heart was broken.
He once buried his third son, Xuan Ba, with his own hands, but he never thought that one day he would have to bury another son with his own hands.
"Oh my god, why do you torture me like this, Li Yuan!
If you want my life, just take it, why do you want my Erlang's life, God, you are unfair!"
His face was full of tears, he opened his hands and turned his palms into claws, looking up to the sky and crying loudly.
"His Majesty!"
"Your Majesty, my condolences."
"His Majesty......."
The ministers cried and tried to persuade Li Yuan.
Due to excessive grief, Li Yuan fainted again. Everyone hurriedly carried Old Li to the harem to rest, and at the same time the imperial doctor was on standby day and night.
Li Yuan's syncope seemed a bit serious this time, his breathing was intermittent, and there was no sign of waking up.
Pei Ji watched the chamberlain close the palace door, turned to the prince and said, "Your Majesty, you have had a long journey, go back to your residence and rest first. Your Majesty will be summoned when he wakes up."
How could Li Jiancheng be willing to leave here at this time? He couldn't guarantee whether Pei Ji would do something small if something happened to his father.
"Prime Minister Pei, as a human son, how can you leave your father's side at this time? I will stay here waiting for my father to wake up."
The corner of Pei Ji's mouth twitched slightly, and he immediately stood up with his hands tied.
Li Zhiyun really wanted to go back to his hometown, but since neither the prince nor King Qi left, he naturally couldn't leave and could only stay.
A few hours later, Li Yuan finally woke up. However, he did not summon the prince. He only ordered someone to send a message and asked them to go to the Wude Hall to keep watch for King Qin.
After receiving the news that his father had woken up, Li Jiancheng felt inexplicably disappointed. He didn't know what that trace of loss was.
However, fortunately, after entering Chang'an, things were not as bad as he and Liu Wenjing thought.
Chapter 41 Suspicion and guarding against speculation before entering the palace [Thanks to Easy Ten Rings for the reward]