In the palace, Empress Dowager Xie held her granddaughter and talked to Queen Li Ping'an.

The weather was good early this morning. The Queen Mother wanted to take her granddaughter to the garden for a walk, but the little guy stayed by her side and refused to leave.

Li Ping'an, who was pregnant, felt weak and didn't want to go out, so he changed his travel to indoor chat.

Let’s talk about the child, and then the child’s father.

The little guy looks like his father. When the queen mother looked at her granddaughter, she naturally thought of her son when she was a child.

I couldn't help but sigh: "When I saw her, I remembered the emperor when he was a child. Alas, he had just been born and went through a hardship..."

It was during the Taiqing period. After Wei rebelled against Hou Jing, the general of Wei State, and after the Liang State was thrown into Nantou, he rebelled again and led his troops to attack Jiankang, and soon surrounded Taicheng.

At that time, Xiao Xun had just been born, and Taicheng had been besieged by rebels and was cut off from outside news.

The rebels attacked the city day and night, and Xiao Xun's father Xiao Daqi was appointed as the governor of Taiwan by Emperor Gaozu (Xiao Yan) and was responsible for city defense matters.

However, the actual city defense affairs are under the responsibility of Su Jiang Yang Kan.

Because the war lasted for a long time, the situation in Taicheng became increasingly bad, because of the shortage of food and supplies, and the lack of fuel (firewood, charcoal). In addition, the plague was rampant, many people became ill one after another and then died of illness.

Yang Kan also died of illness, while there were more and more rebels, and reinforcements were not delayed, and people in Taicheng were panic.

The plague killed many people in the palace. Xiao Xun, who was in the cradle, fell ill, felt uncomfortable, and cried day and night, which made Xie, the mother-in-law, feel anxious.

Fortunately, a turn of opportunity appeared.

The young Shaofu Temple Supervisor Li Li showed his courage and helped the Prince of Poyang and other officials and generals to defeat the rebels and approach the palace city.

Li Li even flew to Taicheng with the Prince of Xiangdong in a magical flying equipment.

Empress Dowager Xie was fortunate to witness the "Flying Monster" passing by from a distance, and she was so frightened at that time.

This monster did cause a panic, but later I learned that it was a reinforcement envoy entering the city, and the people in the city were excited.

After Li Li entered the city, the rebels broke through the city gate at night. At that time, the situation in the city was in crisis. It was Li Li who offered advice to block the rebels and drove them out to ensure that Taicheng was safe.

Taicheng rescued the siege, and people then cleared the corpses in the city, the plague disappeared, and Xiao Xun's illness was cured.

Later, the government army fought against the rebels, and Li Li defeated and captured Hou Jing alive, allowing the court to quell the rebellion as soon as possible.

That happened nearly fifteen years ago. When Empress Dowager Xie said it, it seemed that the incident had just passed, Li Ping listened quietly, listening to the heroic deeds of his father as others said.

When Hou Jing started to cause trouble, she was less than one year old and was with her mother in Poyang, of course she didn't know anything.

When I became a little sensible, I went to Jiankang with my mother, but my father returned to Poyang to be a parent-official.

Later, his father kept running around and fighting. Until he recovered Xuzhou and became the governor of Xuzhou, Li Ping'an followed his mother to Hanshan and reunite with his father.

My mother did not talk about her father's heroic deeds, so in Li Ping'an's heart, her father was amiable and not a mighty general who galloped on the battlefield.

Later, when I grew up a little, I gradually realized how great my father was.

Now that he heard what my aunt (mother-in-law) said, Li Ping'an realized again that his father had made so many contributions and done so many amazing things in the past ten years.

Seeing that Li Ping'an was in a good mood, the empress dowager struck while the iron was hot: "Ping'an, the emperor always has to take concubines, don't take it to your heart."

"You are the queen, don't be as knowledgeable as concubines."

Li Ping'an smiled and said it was okay. She and Guiren Zhang were pregnant, and it was not a big deal that the emperor had no one to serve him.

Zheng was a lady from a famous family, with proper manners, knowledgeable and reasonable knowledge, and good at taking good care of the emperor.

The Empress Dowager didn't know whether Li Ping'an said this, was sincere or perfunctory, but she felt relieved when she saw that Li Ping'an was in a good mood.

The Empress Dowager hopes that Li Ping'an will give birth to a prince this time. In this way, Li Li will be determined. Only in this way can the emperor be firmly in his position.

She also hopes that her son will not be bored with the new and old, and will not neglect Li Ping'an just because of his famous family of Concubine Zhang and Concubine Zheng.

Because the empress dowager could see that Li Li was very concerned about his daughter Li Ping'an. As long as he could make the other party concerned, at least, the possibility of this tiger having problems was smaller.

The Empress Dowager believed that only Li Li could have a way to help the emperor compete with the uncles and royal families, and the facts proved this.

The emperor personally led the expedition, and two consecutive Northern Expeditions were successful with the assistance of Li Li, thus accumulating a huge reputation. The confidence of civil and military officials, both inside and outside the court and the country, increased day by day.

Xiao Xun has grown a lot in the past two years, and Li Li has made great contributions. The Empress Dowager sees it and is happy in her heart.

In time, the emperor will be able to firmly grasp the power, but before that, he must be careful.

Recently, many officials have submitted a letter asking the emperor to take charge of the rule. The emperor is eager to try this, but the empress dowager disagreed.

Because she thought her son was still younger and didn't have many people to use, the time was not yet ripe.

These officials simply wanted to leave a good impression on the emperor, and might not be able to rely on the support of these people, so they let the emperor take power and take control of the power.

Therefore, the Empress Dowager hopes that her son will wait a few more years to build his own team, straighten out all aspects, and then take charge of the government.

For example, if you win over the meritorious generals that emerged during the Northern Expedition and let them serve them, as long as you have an army that can fight tough battles and civil servants who are willing to be a front pawn, you will not be afraid of your uncles' rebellion.

During this period, Li Li needs to shelter from the wind and rain, so no matter what, Xiao Xun must be kind to Li Ping'an.

The Empress Dowager paid great attention to this point, so she always kept a string in her heart, urging her son to care more about Li Ping'an. Even if she had a new love, she had to talk with Li Ping'an every day.

While the two were talking, an eunuch was looking for a meeting outside. The empress dowager sent the other party in, but the eunuch who sent the order had a strange expression.

What he said, "I have done something wrong and it is hard to make a statement. Please ask the Queen Mother to deal with it myself."

The empress dowager felt a little moved and knew that it might be something that the queen might not see, so she asked her granddaughter to play with her mother and walk out by herself.

When I arrived at the hall gate, I saw a pale eunuch standing against the hall gate, panting, as if his legs were weak, and I felt strange:

"Why are you so panicked?"

......

Xiao Xun died, died on the imperial bed in the bedroom, and was strangled to death.

When the palace maids discovered it, they were already cold.

Li Li, who was rushed to the palace and only realized that the emperor had passed away after entering the palace, stood in front of the imperial bed, looking at his son-in-law who was dying with his eyes open, felt unbelievable:

Why did something happen if something happens?

The Empress Dowager was already crying, pounced on her son's body and sobbed.

Li Li knew that before he entered the palace, the empress dowager must have cried heartbrokenly after learning the bad news, and now she was so tired that she had no energy to cry.

Xiao Xun died, and he died completely, and there was no possibility of survival. The murderer was the emperor's newly established nobleman, the daughter of Zheng, Xingyang, and Zheng Jingyu.

No, this is a fake, and its real name is He Yuyuan.

Why did Li Li know about this? Because before the murderer committed suicide, he bit his finger and wrote ten words "Chen Jun He Yuyuan avenged his relatives" on a silk skirt.

Then he swallowed gold and committed suicide.

This method of death is said to be very uncomfortable. The principle is that after swallowing heavy gold, it causes the intestines and internal organs to break and die.

He Yuyuan's body was placed elsewhere, and the person was already cold and could not die again.

He Yuyuan committed the murder and strangled the emperor to death. At that time, there were palace maids on duty outside, and it was said that the murderer should not succeed.

The reason why the palace maids did not notice it was because the emperor and the newcomers were "playing" these days, and the movements were very loud, so the palace maids were paralyzed.

The palace maids and other relevant people on duty at the time of the incident have been strictly under supervision, and the blood letter left by the murderer has been put away. Various measures are to prevent details from leaking.

But the sudden death of the emperor cannot be concealed.

Once the news spreads, it will inevitably shake the world.

Li Li looked at the son-in-law who was dying with his eyes closed and was heartbroken. The first thing he thought about in his mind was not how to deal with it, but his daughter Li Ping'an.

My daughter became a widow at a young age!!
Chapter completed!