"His Majesty decreed that King Li Xian of Zhou Dynasty should enter the palace immediately and pay homage to Liangyi Palace!"
As expected by Li Xian, only about an hour after Yuan Wanqing left, Emperor Gaozong sent Sun Quanfu, the deputy chief eunuch of Liangyi Palace, to deliver the oral message.
"Your Majesty, please accept the order and thank me!"
Li Xian followed the rules and thanked the saint. As he stood up, he shook his hand and took out a folded ten-guan fly note (a voucher issued by the government to facilitate merchants' settlement). ), quietly stuffed it into Sun Quanfu's sleeve, and then said with a smile: "Thank you, Eunuch Sun. I wonder why my father summoned Xiao Wang so urgently, but what's the important matter?"
The Liangyi Hall is the transfer place between the inner court and the outer court. It is where the emperor meets with his close ministers after leaving the court. Those who can serve in this hall are definitely not just ordinary people. Sun Quanfu is the deputy eunuch in charge. Since he had long been accustomed to collecting money, he would not be moved by Li Xian's approach. He did not directly answer Li Xian's question, but made a "please" gesture and said: "Please, Your Highness, please." Your Majesty and the Queen are waiting impatiently."
Sure enough, this is Empress Wu going to uphold justice for Yuan Wanqing. Interesting! Li Xian is an awakened person. As soon as he heard Sun Quanfu pronounce "Queen" with an accent in his words, he immediately understood the strangeness and raised his eyebrows. Wan couldn't help but smile, and without saying any more nonsense, he nodded silently, flicked his sleeves and walked out of the mansion, just giving Gao Miao a secret signal quietly as he walked.
The carriage rumbled forward in the snow. Li Xian's face in the carriage was gloomy. He did not have the calm look before. His hands were tightly clenched into fists, and the worry was beyond words - all over the world. Everyone knows that Empress Wu is not easy to mess with. Once she is messed with, a layer of her skin will be peeled off even if she is dead. There is no doubt that Li Xian is taking risks at this time. If he is not careful, he will be very dangerous. You may end up losing everything, but then again, opportunities always go hand in hand with danger. If you want to fight against such a behemoth as Empress Wu, you will never succeed without taking risks. To plan for the big things in the future, at this time It is always better to take risks than risk in the future. This is the reason why Li Xian decided to take a gamble. Now, the stakes have been raised. As for whether it will succeed or not, Li Xian does not dare to guarantee it. He can only take it one step at a time. Understand.
"Your Highness, His Royal Highness King Lu has arrived."
The carriage Li Xian was riding in had just arrived at the square in front of Chengtian Gate. Before it could stop, Gao Miao could not wait to stick to the carriage curtain, lowering his voice and reporting with a hint of excitement.
Well, this guy finally lived up to his expectations! As soon as he heard that Li Xian had arrived, Li Xian's tense heart finally relaxed a little. He waved his clenched fists energetically, lifted the curtain, and stepped out of the carriage. Li poked his head out. Seeing this, Gao Miao hurriedly leaned over and waited on Li Xian to get off the carriage.
"Brother Six, you are here." Li Xian got off the carriage and immediately walked a few steps to get in front of Li Xian. He bowed respectfully and said hello.
"Hmm." Li Xian's complexion was obviously not very good. He waved his hand with a sullen face and snorted from his nostrils - after receiving Li Xian's urgent letter this time, Li Xian had no intention of joining in the fun. Afraid that Li Xian would lose his composure and reveal everything about his previous imprisonment, he had no choice but to rush here. He was already scolding Li Xian for causing trouble. , how can I have a good look at all?
Oh, I'm really angry, I'm so petty! When I saw Li Xian looking at him, I laughed secretly in my heart, but with an extremely aggrieved look on his face, he called out in a low voice: "Sixth brother, little brother...
"
"I know, I know, just hand me the sign."
As soon as Li Xian's pitiful appearance came out, Li Xian couldn't bear it. When he thought about Li Xian's contribution to helping him become famous, most of his anger disappeared. Besides, in front of so many subordinates, Li Xianshi was not good either.
It was too much. In desperation, he shook his head with a wry smile and replied angrily.
"Yes, I will obey Sixth Brother's order."
Li Xian is a master of acting. This change of face was faster than turning the page of a book. It was still cloudy at first, but in a blink of an eye, the sun was shining brightly. He took the sign with a smile on his face, and Gao Miao ran to the Chengtian Gate with it.
After handing over the waist badge, within a few moments, Sun Quanfu, who had already entered the palace, came out with two young eunuchs. The two young eunuchs straightened their clothes and hurried forward to meet him.
"Your Majesty has a decree to announce that King Lu Li Xian and King Zhou Li Xian will pay an audience at the Liangyi Palace!"
When Sun Quanfu saw the Li Xian brothers approaching, he immediately stood still and reservedly. When the younger brothers arrived, he announced Gaozong's oral edict in a convincing tone.
"I accept the order and thank you for your kindness."
The two brothers thanked each other as if they were scripted, and after looking at each other, they walked into Chengtian Gate side by side, and walked straight to Liangyi Hall along the palace avenue. They just turned around Taiji Hall, and they didn't even arrive at Liangyi Hall.
In front of the hall, separated by an inner wall, I heard a series of intense howling sounds coming from inside, and there was also the crackling sound of boards breaking flesh. The sound was so miserable that the two brothers couldn't help but feel terrified.
.
Huh? What's going on? Do you want to give us a slap in the face? No, why is Lao Liu's face so ugly? As soon as Li Xian and others turned around the door on the inner wall, they saw a young eunuch lying on the ground being tortured.
There were two eunuchs holding down his struggling body, and two strong eunuchs who were vigorously hitting him with boards. When he saw this, Li Xian couldn't help being stunned - the eunuchs who punished the offending eunuchs in the palace committed suicide.
It is a common thing, but most of them are executed in internal prisons, and there are very few executions in outside courts. If there is nothing strange here, how can Li Xian believe it? When he saw that Li Xian's face looked wrong, Li Xian's heart immediately twitched.
It got tighter.
"Your Highnesses, please stop. Your Majesty and the Queen are already in the palace."
Sun Quanfu, who accompanied the two brothers into the palace, saw that the two brothers could not move any further, so he had to pretend to cough and give some advice.
"Wait a minute, what did the eunuch do? Why is he being executed here?" Li Xian was about to leave, but Li Xian obviously had no such intention. He stretched out his hand and stopped Sun Quanfu in front of him. He gritted his teeth and said coldly.
asked in a voice.
"Returning to Your Highness, this little guy lost his manners in the palace today and offended the Queen. Therefore, he deserves to be punished with a stick. Your Highness, you'd better go to the palace first." In front of Li Xian, a prince whose reputation is gradually rising.
, Sun Quanfu did not dare to be rude and hurriedly explained with a smile.
"Disgrace? Humph, what a disgrace!"
Sun Quanfu refused to explain. After this explanation, Li Xian's face turned livid instantly and he clenched his fists tightly, showing signs of going crazy.
No, this little eunuch is most likely Lao Liu's insider. Hey, this is just to scare the monkeys. What a ruthless trick! Li Xian is a smart person. How could he not understand what the drama in front of him is after hearing this?
What's going on? His heart was shocked. He didn't care much. He hurriedly pulled Li Xian's sleeves and lowered his voice and said: "Sixth brother, if you have anything to do, I can discuss it with my father."
Li Xian's guess was correct. The eunuch who was pushed to the ground was Zhang Dekai, the chamberlain who had reported the news to Li Xian. The reason why Empress Wu used the stick to kill him was to teach Li Xian a lesson.
Li Xian obviously thought about it, but after all, he was not as able to hold his anger as Li Xian. He was so angry that he was on the verge of breaking out. If Li Xianyan hadn't pulled him out quickly, Li Xian would have been unable to bear it.
He rushed forward and shouted loudly to stop.
"Let's go into the palace!"
Although Li Xian was a bit impulsive, he was not a brainless person. After being pulled by Li Xian, he came to his senses. After his face changed for a while, he gritted his teeth, stamped his feet, and walked towards the palace with a flick of his sleeves.
It seems that this level is not easy to pass. If that guy can give Lao Liu a brick, there must be another brick prepared for us. I wonder how heavy this "meeting gift" can be! Although Li Xian's steps are steady, but
But he was making quick calculations in his mind, and his original full confidence could not help but be discounted. However, now that the matter has come to this, there is no turning back. Now the only way to deal with it is to resort to tricks. When I think of this, my heart
I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.
Huh? Why are there so many people here? Li Xian followed Li Xian into the palace and saw Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu sitting side by side, and Prince Li Hong sitting upright under the front robe with a smile on his face.
There were actually quite a few people standing on and below the chariot. Upon closer inspection, all the five prime ministers were present. Yuan Wanqing, the master of suffering who was not qualified to enter the Liangyi Palace, was also standing aside with a dark face.
The group of people seemed to be chatting happily, and laughter floated out of the hall from time to time. Li Xian did not dare to look at it, and he followed Li Xian and walked forward, each of them saluting.
"My sons and ministers have met their father, the emperor, and their mother, the queen."
Although the two brothers have different ideas, they are very considerate in their etiquette and there is no rudeness at all.
"Xian'er, Xian'er is here, just get up."
As soon as he saw the two brothers arriving, a strange look flashed across Gaozong's face, as if he couldn't bear it, but then he laughed and raised his hand in a kindly manner.
"My son, I am waiting to thank my father for your kindness."
When they heard their old father calling out, the two brothers didn't think much. They thanked each other in unison, stood up, and were about to step aside. Unexpectedly, at this moment, Empress Wu suddenly spoke: "Wait a minute.
Come and stay!"
When Empress Wu spoke, the two brothers Li Xian couldn't help but stand still. After looking at each other, Li Xian gritted his teeth and stepped aside, leaving Li Xian standing alone in the hall.
"Mother, my child is here to listen to the holy teachings."
Li Xian had long expected that he would not be able to pass easily, but he did not panic. He shook his sleeves, bowed, and spoke calmly. However, after waiting for a long time, Empress Wu never called out.
After getting up, there was no instruction from Empress Wu, so poor Li Xian could only stand there humiliated and bent over, and the hall became eerily quiet.