Wu Jie took Chen Jiao to the open space in front of the imperial mausoleum.

The guards and eunuchs brought along for the funeral were digging urgently behind the imperial mausoleum. The Queen Mother Hong had already been rescued, but the emperor had not been seen for a long time.

Across the busy crowd, Wu Jie saw Concubine Hongshu standing on the side of the mountain holding the hand of the female officer, her lips were as pale as iron gray.

After half a day, the news gradually spread.

Master Xie and his group are indeed a group of tomb robbers, who actually dug tunnels in the imperial mausoleum in an attempt to steal the burial companions from the late emperor's tomb. The guards who were entered found the clue and reported it to the emperor's ear.

The emperor was furious and out of breath for a while, he personally led people to investigate.

I'm afraid that this group of tomb robbers jumped over the wall in a hurry, took the risk and dug the cave and collapsed it. Or the caves they dug were not stable in the first place, and now more than a dozen halls have collapsed on the west side of the underground palace, and the emperor and hundreds of guards and internal prisons are buried inside.

Empress Dowager Hong escaped in time and was safe and sound.

If she hadn't met Xianshi Xie himself before, Wu Jie would really believe in this satisfactory explanation.

At night, the weather was not good, and it began to rain again. The rain was getting stronger and stronger, washing away the mountains and forests.

Lin Desheng and other generals led thousands of elites to dig in the tunnel. The Empress Dowager's mausoleum was built deep in the mountains, with winding corridors and hard soil, so the excavation progress was slow. It was even more difficult when there was heavy rain.

For a few days, all the concubines stayed at the foot of the mountain and looked forward to it, from anxious to gradually ashamed.

Worst of all, the news came back to Capital City, and the hearts of the people in the center were floating. Gradually, courtiers began to ask the queen mother to return to the palace to appease people's hearts.

Empress Dowager Hong refused twice, and finally had no choice but to nod in agreement.

In the early morning of the third day after the incident, Queen Mother Hong took some troops back to Capital City.

The fast horse galloped on the official road, seeing the magnificent city wall of Capital City appearing at the end of sight.

Empress Dowager Hong's hanging heart finally relaxed.

"Mother, father's message from Capital City." Hong Chongyue leaned closer to the frame and presented a letter with both hands. It was just delivered from Capital City by my trusted friend Kuai Ma.

Empress Dowager Hong immediately took it and opened it, scanning ten lines at a glance, her originally sad expression became more serene.

Hong Chongyue watched from the side, and knew it should be good news. After hesitating again and again, I still couldn't help asking: "Queen Mother, what did you say?"

Hong Chongyue looked a little worried. No wonder he was worried. In fact, they didn't go through Prime Minister Hong, or even use the huge power of the Hong family, to act this time.

Although the Hong clan has the title of Hong Banchao, but it is about the power of the government. If it is said to kill the king and rebel, I am afraid that most of the crowd will immediately disperse.

Not to mention Prime Minister Hong didn't have this idea, and even Queen Mother Hong didn't have this idea earlier.

Hong Chongyue still doesn't understand why the Empress Dowager Hong suddenly had the idea of ​​killing the emperor. That day, she summoned herself into the palace, and at the beginning she asked a few questions about the affairs of the army in a casual way, perhaps her resentment towards the emperor was unknowingly revealed in her words. The Empress Dowager Hong did not appease and reprimand him as usual, instead she was silent for a while, and suddenly asked: "If the emperor does not have holidays, will the life of the Hong family be smooth."

He has been close to the empress dowager's aunt since he was a child, and he knew the elegant meaning immediately after hearing the string song. After being shocked, he suddenly thought that if Yuan Jing died unexpectedly, he would only have one prince under his knee...

This is simply a huge temptation, and everything that thinks twice is thrown aside.

He was a daring person in the first place, and it just so happened that the Empress Dowager's plan to turn the dead back to life, the Yin Yiwei found out the heels of Xie Xianshi and his group, and Yuan Jing ordered him to set up a trap to wipe out these daring guys. It was an opportunity for him to take advantage of it.

Empress Dowager Hong glanced at her nephew, "The letter said that your father did a good job in comforting you, and the people in the court are still at peace, and they are all waiting for Ai's family to go back."

Hong Chongyue hastily bowed and said: "It's all empress Fengyi who is grand, father's peace of mind is only temporary, and when empress returns to the palace to be regent, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty can really feel relieved."

The imperial court of the Great Wei Dynasty has always had the custom of the queen mother regent.

Mrs. Hong's expression on the back was lazy, "Who cares about these things patiently, and your father will have to worry about it then."

After all, she seemed to have no interest in talking, and ordered the female officer to put down the curtain.

Hong Chongyue retreated respectfully, wondering in her heart, looking at the appearance of the Queen Mother, it seems that she has no interest in the power of the government, so why is she suddenly determined to kill the emperor?

It can't be that she disliked the dispute between her and Queen Gao before, and the emperor was on the queen's side, right?

Thinking of Empress Gao again, the Lingbei Gao family is not easy to move, and when they return to the court, they have to figure out how to deal with it slowly.

Just thinking that no matter how turbulent the palace is, after a few months, those who sit in that position will become her own blood, and Hong Chongyue's blood surged.

In the silent carriage, Empress Dowager Hong suddenly sighed,

The emperor's body has not been dug up so far, and he must have passed away. She felt relieved.

Get rid of that ungrateful bastard, that prophecy will never come true again.

When the news of Prince Fu's decapitation came, she began to panic, and the prophecy in the Buddhist temple gave her another blow. She couldn't eat, and couldn't sleep. Now can finally feel at ease.

I am going to die at the hands of her son, ha, don't wishful thinking!

Concubine Jing, that bitch, with that coquettish face, took away the heart of the first emperor. From the time she came to the harem, her husband would never see another person, and even if the person died for many years, he would still dream of him. soul lead.

God knows how much she hated her! The first emperor is also ridiculous, even wanting to raise her son himself.

Now they are finally relieved, their mother and child have disappeared and will never appear again.

The chariots and horses quickly entered the city gate and arrived at the palace.

After getting off the car and looking at the familiar palace, the Empress Dowager Hong felt at ease and finally came back.

Supported by the female officer, the Empress Dowager Hong walked on the corridor. After leaving for only a few days, all the scenery in the palace was as before, and even under the washing of the rain, it was even more verdant and bright.

Empress Dowager Hong walked slowly, but she always felt that something was wrong, and when she approached the main hall of her Compassionate Peace Palace, this kind of something wrong became more obvious.

The few useful female officials in charge disappeared, and there were only a few young maids waiting at the gate of the hall.

Empress Dowager Hong stopped in her tracks.

"Where did Yongfu and Lu Qian'an go?"

The leading palace lady respectfully said: "Reporting to Madam, Fushang Palace and Guanshi Lu are cleaning the room for Madam in the back hall."

Empress Dowager Hong stared at them suspiciously, and stepped across the door.

I went to the apse, but I didn't see the figures of my cronies, only the empty and vast hall.

She instinctively sensed that something was wrong, turned her head and shouted sharply, "Where did everyone go?"

His eyes swept over, but he saw that the maids and eunuchs who had been following him had disappeared, and only his lonely figure was left in the huge hall.

She cried out in horror: "Come here, Chongyue! Chongyue! Where did you go?"

"Chongyue has already gone down to rest, what needs does the queen mother have, how about my son to share your worries."

A familiar voice sounded from behind the screen, and immediately a figure appeared in the hall by bypassing the Su-embroidered screen embroidered with black golden phoenix.

Empress Dowager Hong looked at him, terrified as if seeing a ghost,

"You...you actually..." When seeing this person for the first time, the Empress Dowager Hong's feet went limp. I only thought that he was resurrected from a wronged soul, came to claim his life, and staggered back, but saw that his face was alive and his actions were natural.

Looking down at his shadow again, he suddenly realized: "You are not dead."

Yuan Jing smiled, "Yeah, I'm not dead, is the queen mother disappointed?"

Empress Dowager Hong retreated step by step, Yuan Jing pressed on step by step.

"What is it about me that makes the queen mother so afraid? I really want to kill her and hurry up." Yuan Jing's voice was full of resentment, and he couldn't accept it. Although he knew that the queen mother was not his biological mother, he was also dissatisfied with himself. . But in the past ten years, at least on the surface, it can be regarded as motherly kindness and filial piety, and get along with each other happily.

"How dare you say anything, you ungrateful thing, the Hong family has helped you so much, but you are so mean and ungrateful." The Queen Mother Hong tried her best to argue.

"I have not forgotten the help of the Hong family, but please remember, the queen mother, this world belongs to the Yuan family, not the Hong family. I can keep the Hong family rich and honor forever, but it is impossible to hand over the world. Give in."

"You say you are rich, but you treat Chongyue and the others harshly..."

Yuan Jing laughed back angrily, "Did I treat the Hong family harshly? My mother and queen begged for an official for the Hong family. Although I was annoyed, I obeyed. Before Chongyue ruined the overall strategic situation in the frontier, I didn't care about it. Later, in order to make meritorious service, He even dared to put Yelan Country's assassins into Capital City, and let them set up a murderous plot by the lake, implicating countless lives in the clan and palace. Concubine, I had an affair with Mrs. Li, and I didn't say anything..."

Empress Dowager Hong was dumbfounded, she really didn't know what happened next, especially things like getting involved with the concubine and having an affair with Mrs. Li. Now there is only one concubine surnamed Li in the harem, Concubine Lijin who just gave birth to the eldest son of the emperor.

Is it possible...

Yuan Jing's expression was as cold as ice. Angry and hated to the extreme, but there was no anger at all, and only a coldness remained in his heart.

He really treated the Hong family as his mother clan, and tolerated everything, but not only did these forbearance not bring him understanding, but now he even wanted his life.

Under such overwhelming pressure, Empress Dowager Hong panicked and retreated step by step, "Do you want to kill your mother?"

"Queen Mother, don't slander me." Yuan Jing said in a deep voice, restraining her killing intent.

The Empress Dowager Hong was still nervous, regardless of whether she shouted, "You want to kill me, the Ai family already knew, you want to kill me..."

She was not a strong-minded person in the first place, but now she was overturned and lost so badly that she almost collapsed immediately: "You really want to kill me, just like you killed Prince Fu." Her tone was flustered, "The god in the Chongsheng Temple before The oracle is indeed true. You ungrateful wolf cub."

Yuan Jing frowned. The Queen Mother Hong's insane words meant that the document signed at Chongsheng Temple foreshadowed that he was going to kill her?

Yuan Jing laughed back angrily: "Just because of a signature that I don't know the so-called? My mother wants to put me to death? Or my mother thinks that I already know the old things back then, the cause of death of my birth mother Concubine Jing."

Empress Dowager Hong's trembling body suddenly froze, she stared at Yuan Jing, full of horror: "As expected, you already know. The Ai family knew it, from the moment you killed Prince Fu."

While speaking, she staggered back and fell to the ground. She looked at Yuan Jing in horror, as if she was looking at some beast devouring people.

Looking at the flustered Queen Mother Hong, Yuan Jing suddenly felt a kind of helpless sadness.

He had indeed known for a long time that the death of his biological mother, Concubine Jing, was the result of the joint efforts of the Empress Dowager and Prince Fu.

During that palace banquet, Prince Fu got drunk and strayed into the harem, and met the talented concubine Jing. On impulse, he even stepped forward to indecently assault her.

Concubine Jing couldn't resist, the two tore and struggled, and fell into the pool at the back of the hall together.

In the cold winter weather, falling into the pool is not pleasant. Shocked by the cold water, Prince Fu suddenly came to his senses, quickly climbed ashore, and sneaked away.

Concubine Jing was originally weak, but after such a toss, she developed a high fever that night, and passed away two days later.

Everything happened so fast, the palace people all said that Concubine Jing was passing by the pool, stepped on the ice and snow and slipped into it. Emperor Zhanghe was ill, so he didn't investigate the matter carefully, but he was heartbroken over the death of his beloved concubine, and killed dozens of palace servants who served him with sticks.

After Yuan Jing succeeded to the throne, he carefully investigated the past events of the year, and soon found clues.

Why did Prince Fu go all the way to the harem during the palace banquet without any danger? Why did all the palace servants around Concubine Jing disappear when the accident happened, and why the incident was suppressed silently, even Zhang and Di found no abnormality after investigation.

Of course, someone made a secret move and took advantage of Prince Fu's lust.

And it was Concubine Hong who made the move. She came from a noble family. Before Concubine Jing entered the palace, she was Emperor Zhanghe's favorite concubine. But ever since Concubine Jing entered the palace, her favor has plummeted. Not to mention, Emperor Zhanghe has never visited his son, whether he was sick or dying, and he put all his heart on Concubine Jing.

After her son died of illness, she, who has always been weak, was ruthless and set up this poisonous plan, but she never expected that after the death of Concubine Jing, her unsightly child was sent to her knees, became her son, and later became her next son... One term emperor.

After Yuan Jing came to power, Prince Fu began to feel uneasy, although Yuan Jing did not show any trace of finding out the truth back then. Prince Fu is still in full swing to start preparations for the cause of rebellion.

After tearing everything apart, the Empress Dowager Hong shrank into a ball: "Didn't you kill Prince Fu already, kill uncle, then kill Aijia..."

After the death of Prince Fu, and even the loss of his head, Empress Dowager Hong began to fall ill, suspecting that the emperor had discovered the original truth. Immediately afterwards, the signature letter obtained from the Chongsheng Temple mysteriously foreshadowed his own death.

Empress Dowager Hong immediately believed in Yuan Jing's killing intent towards her. That's why I thought about making the first move.

Yuan Jing didn't make any distinctions, any words are powerless at this time. The death of Prince Fu was also an accident for him, he didn't intend to kill him, nor even thought about avenging his mother, but Queen Mother Hong would not believe it.

He really never wanted to kill her.

"The Queen Mother's kindness in nurturing these years, I will always remember it in my heart." He whispered, "In my heart, the kindness of living is not as good as the kindness of nurturing. I have always remembered the days in the palace and Hong's family all these years, and I will also remember it." Will always remember."

He looked up, and the Queen Mother Hong seemed to be insane, as if her whole body had collapsed.

Regardless of whether she was listening or not, Yuan Jing continued talking on her own.

"Why have you come to this point today? Is it my mistake, or are you too greedy?" Yuan Jing looked out of the window, the dense raindrops were beating on the green leaves, and her voice was cold and cold.

He boasted that he had done his utmost to Hong Jiaren and gave in every step of the way, but he did not expect such an ending in return. Maybe he was born with weak family affection, so he shouldn't desire these things that are destined to be unavailable.

As twilight gradually fell, he whispered: "Don't worry, queen mother, I will not kill you, and I will not let any messy signatures come true. The prime minister is old, and I can't bear to continue to work hard for the country. Wait until the matter subsides." , allow the old man to retire and return to his hometown, and to play with his grandchildren. I also hope that in the future, the Empress Dowager will eat more vegetarian food, chant Buddha, meditate on the late emperor, and stop bothering about these miscellaneous things."

"It's late at night, the queen mother should have a good rest." Finally, he bowed and retreated.