The capital city, the imperial palace.
Although it was late at night, several palaces were still brightly lit, and the sounds of stringed instruments and banquets could be faintly heard.
The Hejian Alliance seemed to temporarily dispel the clouds of war, allowing some people to indulge in a false sense of peace again.
However, in the streets outside the palace walls, cold and hunger mercilessly devoured lives, and every night frozen corpses were silently dragged away by patrolmen.
In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Emperor Yin Zhao was alone, staring at the flickering candlelight in a daze.
He was wearing casual clothes, his face was haggard and his eye sockets were sunken.
The humiliation of the alliance, the quarrels in the court, and the alarms in various places gnawed at his heart like a poisonous snake.
He felt more lonely and panicky than ever before.
He stood up suddenly, driven by a strong impulse that was almost instinctive.
He wanted to see his father, the retired emperor Yongchang, who was under house arrest in the deep palace.
Perhaps only the old man who once controlled everything and is now on his last legs can give him some empty guidance in this desperate situation, even if it is just to bear his confession.
"Prepare for...Qingyun Palace!"
Yin Zhao's voice was hoarse.
The commander of the Imperial Guards, Chen Xiong, and the eunuch chief, Cao Chunfeng, looked at each other in surprise, but did not dare to ask any more questions and made arrangements immediately.
The imperial carriage moved silently to Qingyun Palace, a remote and deserted palace in the northwest corner of the imperial palace.
This place seemed like a forgotten corner in a bustling imperial palace. It was terribly quiet, with only the sound of wind and snow hitting the window frames.
As the palace gate was opened, a strong smell of Chinese medicine and stale air hit me in the face.
The lights were dim, and there was only an old eunuch guarding the outer room, and that was Lu Chunfang.
In just a few months, his hair had turned completely white and he looked extremely old.
Seeing the emperor's sudden arrival, he was so frightened that the whisk in his hand fell down, and he knelt down hurriedly, his voice trembling with tears:
"Your servant...your servant pays homage to His Majesty! Long live His Majesty... Long live His Majesty..."
This is the first time that Yin Zhao has set foot here since he forced the emperor to abdicate and seized the throne.
Yin Zhao looked at Lu Chunfang's old age and the desolate state of the palace, and felt an inexplicable pang of sadness in his heart. He waved his hand and said, "Get up! Is the Emperor...resting?"
"Your Majesty, the emperor just drank the medicine and is awake!" Lu Chunfang lowered his head and answered cautiously, his body trembling slightly.
Yin Zhao said to Chen Xiong and Cao Chunfeng, "You take your men and stand guard outside. No one is allowed to approach the palace gate within a hundred steps."
"As you wish!"
The two men bowed and accepted the order, then retreated far away with the guards and eunuchs.
Yin Zhao took a deep breath of the cold air with a smell of medicine, and pushed open the heavy bedroom door that symbolized imprisonment.
The palace was even darker, with only a small, eternal lamp by the bed flickering with a faint light.
Emperor Yongchang was lying on the huge dragon bed, the thick brocade quilt almost buried him, making him look even more emaciated.
His face was a lifeless sallow color, his eye sockets were sunken, and his cheekbones were high, like a skeleton covered with human skin.
Hearing the footsteps, his cloudy eyes moved very slowly and looked towards the door.
He had already known about the Hejian Alliance and Concubine Xiao being sent to the Tartar camp through Lu Chunfang and other channels.
At that time, he vomited blood continuously and everyone thought he would not survive.
But when he saw Yin Zhao at this moment, there was no anger or resentment on his withered face.
There is only a kind of calmness that sees through everything, and a trace of indescribable compassion.
His lips moved, and he uttered an extremely weak, hoarse voice: "Zhao'er...you're here..."
This calm reaction actually shocked Yin Zhao.
He walked step by step to the bedside, looking at his father in this state, thousands of words stuck in his throat, and finally turned into only a dry sentence: "Father... your son... came to see you."
"sit…"
Emperor Yongchang's fingers moved very slightly.
Yin Zhao sat down on the embroidered cushion in front of the bed. Silence fell between father and son, with only the old man's heavy and difficult breathing as the sound.
After a long time, Yin Zhao seemed unable to bear the silence and began to speak intermittently.
He talked about the Tartars' insatiable greed, the incompetence of the court officials, the inaction of the feudal lords, and the fear and pressure in his heart...
At this moment, he was no longer an emperor, but more like a lost child seeking comfort from his father.
Emperor Yongchang listened quietly, his dim eyes blinking occasionally, without any interruption.
Only after Yin Zhao finished speaking and lowered his head wearily did Emperor Yongchang slowly speak, his breath weak but unusually clear:
"You... have encountered... a hurdle that you can't overcome... and you came to me... for advice..."
Yin Zhao raised his head abruptly, meeting his father's all-seeing gaze. Unable to deny it, he nodded with difficulty, "Father, please... teach me."
Emperor Yongchang smiled miserably, and that smile looked particularly terrifying on his dry face.
He almost exhausted all his strength and squeezed out three words from his chest: "Zhao...Mu...Yun."
Yin Zhao was struck by lightning and cried out incoherently, "Zhao Muyun? Didn't he...didn't he fall off the cliff and die?"
Emperor Yongchang did not answer this question. Instead, he gathered his strength for a moment, raised his voice slightly, and called out, "Wuying..."
The shadow in the corner of the bedroom seemed to come alive.
There was a slight ripple, and a thin, ghostly figure silently appeared in front of the bed. He knelt on one knee and bowed his head, saying, "Your Majesty."
It was none other than Xiao Wuying, the commander of the Longcha Division, which was believed by the outside world to have been disbanded long ago.
Emperor Yongchang turned his gaze to Yin Zhao and said to Xiao Wuying, "From now on... you... and Longchasi will be loyal to the new emperor... and help him... to stabilize his rule... This is... my final decree..."
Without any hesitation, Xiao Wuying turned to Yin Zhao and kowtowed deeply: "Your servant Xiao Wuying will obey the order of the Supreme Emperor! The entire Longcha Division swears to be loyal to His Majesty until death!"
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