The flat sand is deserted

"What do you mean?"

Ji Mingxiu raised his head suddenly and stared into Li Qingyun's eyes. His intuition told him that Li Qingyun was not just talking nonsense.

The black hair hanging at the corners of the eyes was gently lifted by Li Qingyun. At this moment, he finally pulled His Majesty and himself into the shadows.

"Your Majesty, do you know how Gu Linqing died?"

Gu Linqing?

Ji Mingxiu's eyes were blank for a moment. It had been a long time since he heard this name. Because most of the time he was more accustomed to calling him General Gu or Gu Zi'an's father.

"He...seems to have died of an epidemic in South Vietnam..."

Ji Mingxiu pursed his lips, his tone hesitant. He was only ten years old at the time, and he happened to hear his father and brother mention it once at a family dinner, so he didn't remember it very clearly.

"Plague? What a good excuse."

Li Qingyun clapped his hands and chuckled. This was a good idea he and the late emperor came up with together.

"There are many snakes, insects and poisonous ants in South Vietnam, and the abnormalities on the corpse caused by the poison have a reasonable explanation."

He tilted his head slightly, staring into Ji Mingxiu's eyes with a cold smile, recalling every sentence and every word he had said to the late emperor at that time.

"August was extremely hot, and the body would rot easily. The journey back to Tiandu was also long, so they had to bury it in the barren land of South Vietnam."

Li Qingyun's tone was so calm, as if he was describing what meals had been eaten today, but it made Ji Mingxiu feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

"so……"

Ji Mingxiu murmured in disbelief, "There will only be a cenotaph..."

He could not remember the rest, but this incident was particularly clear to him.

That was the first time he heard about the cenotaph, and out of curiosity he asked Gu Zi'an about it. At that time, Gu Zi'an was still his brother's study companion.

"A cenotaph is... a place where your belongings replace your body, so that they can stay with your loved one forever."

To this day, Ji Mingxiu still remembers Gu Zian squatting in front of him in silence for a long time before speaking word by word with red eyes. The bright yellow light cast a shadow around him. His father died in a foreign land, and his mother committed suicide at the funeral. In a short time, he went from being the envy of everyone to having nothing.

But after saying this, Gu Zian seemed to have figured something out. He lowered his head, took off the ring he had been wearing for many years, and hung it on him instead.

"Swords have no eyes on the battlefield. I also hope... that this jade can always be by your side."

Later, he received countless rare toys and exquisite objects, but he always kept the jade pendant in a box, carefully keeping it and never forgetting it.

If... that's the case...

The epidemic was an excuse for poisoning, and the cenotaph was a disguise for hiding the evidence of the crime.

Ji Mingxiu closed his eyes with a dazed look, then what were the differences between him and Gu Zian?

Even though he didn't want to believe it, deep down, he already believed it.

This is something that my father can do.

At this point, all plans were left to the people to decide. Li Qingyun seemed even happier, with a slight smile on his lips and eyes full of anticipation.

"From the tenth year of Dingyuan to the fourteenth year of Dingyuan, I have handed over all the correspondence between me and the late emperor regarding this matter to General Gu."

"I'm sure General Gu will like it very much."

"impossible!"

As if he had grasped a glimmer of hope, Ji Mingxiu suddenly raised his head and stared into Li Qingyun's eyes, retorting without thinking.

"If it was my father, he would not leave any possible evidence behind!"

The condensed atmosphere seemed to be a sudden disturbance, making people feel bumpy and heaving.

"Yes, these letters were indeed written by me."

Li Qingyun raised his eyebrows in response, with a look of admiration in his eyes. His Majesty was more mature than he had imagined, as he was able to grasp the loophole in the problem so quickly.

He turned around, took out a stack of letters from the secret compartment and handed them to Ji Mingxiu, his tone casual yet sharp.

"It's just true and false, true and false. A person's handwriting is easy to imitate, but his writing habits and intonation are extremely difficult to fabricate out of thin air."

"Your Majesty, please read carefully. I have copied every word from memory without error."

Of course, this alone is not enough.

Li Qingyun continued to tease his fragile and sensitive nerves, smiling smugly and wantonly.

"What I gave you is just a small gift. Gu Zi'an has come into contact with many of Gu Linqing's former subordinates at the border in the past few years."

"Do you think he knows nothing?"

Ji Mingxiu read the letter in his hand over and over again, carefully examining every word, trying to find evidence that it did not come from his father.

Until all hopes were crushed, even the tears at the corners of the crimson eyes dried up, and the emptiness in the heart could no longer hide.

Why?

Father clearly has high expectations for Gu Zi'an...

Li Qingyun stood in the shadows, watching his pain with amusement, and slowly revealed the long-hidden truth.

"The Gu family is a military family with roots in all four borders of Daxuan, especially in the northwest. When the late emperor was still a prince, he had already realized that the power of the aristocratic families was a threat to the country. It was too late to deal with the Gu family. Even the Chu family of the late emperor and his wife could not escape this disaster."

"As for Gu Zi'an."

Li Qingyun saw what His Majesty wanted to ask, and told him everything without hiding anything.

"That was a chess piece that the late emperor left for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Without the support of the noble family, whether to give it up or keep it is entirely up to the Crown Prince."

"Brother, do you know about this?"

Ji Mingxiu clenched the letter in his hand tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. He looked at Li Qingyun with trembling lips, as if looking at the last glimmer of hope.

Fortunately, no matter how unpredictable the world is, it still gives him a chance to catch his breath.

Li Qingyun shook his head, and real tenderness seemed to finally emerge in his eyes. It was a kind of calmness as surging as waves, different from the false gentleness of the past.

"Only the late emperor and I know about this matter."

"Also, let me tell you another secret, Your Majesty."

Li Qingyun leaned over and gently pried open Ji Mingxiu's tightly clenched hands, leaving deep red marks on his white palms. Ji Mingxiu remembered what Li Qingyun had said about not liking him to hurt himself, and subconsciously shrank back and tried to pull his hand back, but he was pulled back by him.

"The late emperor's move against the Chu family was approved by Empress Zhaolie."

"How is that possible!"

That was the Empress Dowager's maternal family. How could she allow her father to deprive her maternal family of their power, detain them in Chu, and eventually lead them to decline like Canyang?

"After ascending the throne, the late emperor made a promise to Empress Zhaolie that as long as the empress lived, he would not touch the Chu family."

"Don't be afraid, my good majesty, it's not what you think."

Li Qingyun chuckled and reached out to smooth Ji Mingxiu's frown.

"Empress Zhaolie has a ruthless temper. It is common for her to kill people blindly on the battlefield. This agreement is not to restrict the late emperor from attacking the Chu family. It is to let Empress Zhaolie control her temper and not fight for her life at every turn."

only……

It was like a silent sigh that kept circulating between them, silently denouncing the fate that played tricks on them.

No one could have imagined that this agreement would become invalid forever before it could even come into effect. Without the chains of the late empress, the late emperor completely lost all the emotions that a human should have, and turned himself into a most qualified king.

Yes, where does the emperor’s throne sit?

Ji Mingxiu couldn't help but smile bitterly, thinking that his mother might understand.

From the moment she chose her father, she understood that the rising and setting of the sun and the moon, the withering and flourishing of plants and trees in this world are all the same and will eventually fade.

This is true for both the Chu and Gu families.

so……

Ji Mingxiu recalled what Su Yuanbai had said to him that night in the Qianqing Palace.

"The late emperor and the empress, in fact, had the same destination through different paths."

It's just that he didn't see it clearly.

*

The setting sun illuminated the banner, and Ma Mingfeng was in a bad mood.

The sandstorm from the northwest was so strong that it made it almost impossible to see on the battlefield full of blood and gore.

Smoke filled the air all around. In the center of the dark encirclement, King Cheng was half-kneeling, using a long sword to support his blood-stained body, staring sharply at Gu Zi'an who was riding a horse in front of him.

The ground beneath him was soaked and stained red with blood, but there was no fear in his eyes. He even had the leisure to provoke Gu Zian.

"Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are trying to kill me. Even if I lose, it's my own fault! Kill me if you dare. Otherwise, I will rebel sooner or later!"

"Why?"

Gu Zi'an was not angered by his clumsy means, his bloodshot black eyes were as deep as the abyss. He knew how important King Cheng was in His Majesty's heart, and he asked this question on behalf of His Majesty.

"Why so many whys? You can kill me or behead me as you please!"

King Cheng spat out a mouthful of blood foam, stiffened his neck and begged for death, but what he got was a long silence from the three armies.

Realizing that he would not even die if he did not answer this question, King Cheng lowered his eyes and stared at the blood stains dripping from the tip of the knife, his tone extremely awkward.

"...If he is just my nephew, I would be his good uncle."

His voice suddenly became louder, and the hand holding the hilt of the knife involuntarily exerted force.

"But he is the emperor, ahem...then I can only be a traitor!"

"How can we hand over the kingdom of Daxuan to him?"

"It's much better than leaving it in your hands."

After getting the answer to the question, Gu Zian frowned and didn't want to say anything more. How dare a person who trades the interests of his country with foreigners say that His Majesty is not worthy of being the master of the world?

No matter how conceited he was in thinking that everything was just a means for him to become emperor, his actions were enough to nail him to the pillar of shame.

Gu Zi'an turned his horse around, and the three thousand cavalrymen behind him also stood in unison with their backs to King Cheng, leaving him with the last bit of dignity.

The long sword flew into the air, blood splattered, like a dim red sun sinking into the yellow sand.

*

Everything seemed to have finally settled.

Under the flickering light, Gu Zi'an's shadow in the military tent was infinitely stretched.

He stared at the map in front of him for a long time, and the thick thread of his fingertips caressed the route back to Tiandu.

At his side lay an open box, cluttered with unsent letters.

Each letter begins with "Your Majesty" and ends with "Respectfully presented by Gu Zi'an".