In the 21st year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, Empress Xiao of the Sui Dynasty died at the age of 81.

Empress Xiao enjoyed the prosperity of the world in the first half of her life. Although Yang Guang was a little happy with merit and had many concubines in the palace, she always respected and loved Empress Xiao very much, and the couple had a good relationship. However, since the Jiangdu Rebellion, Empress Xiao suffered from displaced and even went into exile to the Turks. It was not until the fourth year of Zhenguan that she returned to Chang'an again.

However, although Empress Xiao in Chang'an was treated with courtesy from Li Shimin, as the queen of the previous dynasty, her life in Chang'an was not satisfactory. Usually, no one dared to visit her except her younger brother Xiao Yu. It was not until later that Concubine Yang resolved her past grudges and Li Yan and Li Ke brothers often went to her place, which made the Lady of Sui State's Mansion a little angry.

However, although the appearance of Yang Hing later made Queen Xiao feel very relieved, she then experienced another pain of losing her son, which made her sad when she was old. Later, Li Yan left Queen Xiao and Caier in Taiwan to relax. However, even with him and Caier and other juniors, Queen Xiao could not get out of the grief of Yang Hing's death. Fortunately, she was a long-lived person, and with Caier, her granddaughter, forever, she was able to stand by until now.

Thinking of the first time he met Queen Xiao and the other party mistakenly thought that it was Yang Guang's incident, Li Yan felt like it was yesterday. On that day, Queen Xiao gave him the four guard rings as a gift for him, and they are still wearing them on Li Yan's hand, but the ring is still there, but the person who gave the ring is no longer there.

"My sixth brother is mourning. The wife of Sui State passed away at the age of 80. It is a rare longevity!" Li Zhen and Li Yun and his family saw Li Yan off for Li Yan outside the port of Qiaola City. Li Yun was the first to comfort him.

"Well. I know that you have to do the things on Tianzhu by yourself. If you need any cooperation, send someone to the Buddha City to find Liu Rengui." Li Yan also spoke, but now his expression was gloomy and his eyes were covered with blood. Since receiving the news of Queen Xiao's death yesterday, he has not closed his eyes all night.

Seeing Li Yan's expression was so haggard, Li Zhen, Li Yun and others were a little worried. They wanted to say something else, but Li Yan waved his hand. Then he turned around and waited on the boat before waving goodbye to everyone.

After Li Yan's fleet left Qiaola City, it did not return to Ceylon Island. Instead, it directly sent someone to remind Liu Rengui, asking him to cooperate with Li Zhen and Li Yun's actions as much as possible. Then the fleet headed eastward, crossed the Strait of Malacca to reach Li Shicheng, Li Yan immediately changed the boat to a steamboat. When he arrived in Taiwan, he stopped again, took Wen Xin and others to the ship together, and then rushed towards Yangzhou at the maximum speed.

Tianzhu is too far from Chang'an, even if Li Yan rushed to Chang'an day and night, it would take at least two months to reach Chang'an, so Empress Xiao's funeral naturally could not wait for Li Yan to rush back. In addition, Empress Xiao's special identity is that Cai'er is Li Zhi's crown princess. So in the end, Li Shimin personally issued an order to order Li Zhi and Xiao Yu to prepare for the funeral of Empress Xiao. He also buried Empress Xiao in the tomb of Emperor Yang in Yangzhou with the ritual of the queen. When Li Yan rushed back, Empress Xiao's funeral procession was almost in Yangzhou.

Compared to Li Yan's previous unaware, Li Ke received news that Empress Xiao was seriously ill a few months ago, so he arrived in Chang'an early. He also put a lot of effort into this funeral. When Li Yan arrived in Yangzhou, it happened that Empress Xiao's body was sent to Yangzhou.

Seeing Empress Xiao's coffin, Li Yan naturally burst into tears. Although Li Zhi and Xiao Yu spoke out, it was useless. When Concubine Yang, Princess Nanyang, Caier and others saw Li Yan's sad look, they couldn't help but feel sad again and started crying on the spot.

However, no matter how sad Li Yan was, the day of Empress Xiao was settled. He could not delay the day of his burial. Therefore, after the burial, Li Yan had to wear a filial piety to guard the tomb of Empress Xiao to express his guilt towards Empress Xiao, which was useless to persuade him. After all, in his opinion, as his grandson, he was unable to stay by his side when the old man died, which made Li Yan very guilty. Now he can only make up for it in this way.

However, after Empress Xiao was buried for nine days, Caier and Li Zhi found Li Yan. However, when Caier saw Li Yan, she immediately burst into tears. Finally, she stopped crying under the joint comfort of Li Zhi and Li Yan. Then Caier said, "Cousin, when my grandmother passed away, she told me not to delay her official duties because of her funeral. Now that my grandmother has been buried for nine days, your filial piety grandmother must have felt it, so let's go back. There are still many government affairs in Taiwan that need you to deal with!"

"Yes, Brother Six, when grandmother was seriously ill, I was also present. She must have asked to hide this news from you, because she knew that you had a lot of business in Taiwan and you should not be distracted by her affairs. This shows how much grandmother cares about you. Although she is no longer here now, don't delay the serious business because of too much pain!" Li Zhi next to him also advised.

However, after hearing this, Li Yan shook his head and said, "My grandmother regards me as her grandson, but she can't even see me for the last time. This is my unfilial piety, so don't persuade me again!"

Seeing Li Yan so persistent, Li Zhi wanted to say something else, but Caier gave Li Zhi a wink. This made Li Zhi immediately understand and turn around and leave the place, asking Caier to persuade Li Yan alone.

Seeing Li Zhi leave, Caier said to Li Yan softly: "Cousin, you should know what grandmother expects you. Even in her eyes, you are the continuation of grandfather's life, so she hopes to see that you can build a great empire comparable to the Tang Dynasty, so if you let your grandmother know about it now, it will only disappoint her!"

Caier's tone became a little stern at the end. Li Yan was silent after hearing this. He naturally knew Empress Xiao's expectations for him. Although the former Sui Dynasty was destroyed, he had half of the Yang family's bloodline, and his appearance was very similar to Yang Guang. Therefore, from the beginning, Empress Xiao supported Li Yan's development and regarded Li Yan's power as a continuation of the former Sui royal family. Although this idea was a bit wishful thinking, it was not a kind of comfort for an old man in his twilight years.

It was precisely because Empress Xiao had this idea that made people hide the news of her death. In fact, this is not the first time. When Yang Qing passed away, she also concealed the news from Li Qing because it was the critical period when Li Qing invaded Silla, and this time Li Qing was even far away in Tianzhu. Although Empress Xiao didn't know whether the matter of Tianzhu was important to Li Qing, she did not want to disrupt Li Qing's plan because of her death.

Thinking of this, Li Yan finally breathed a long sigh and raised his head to Caier and said, "Caier, I know what to do. I also know my grandmother's thoughts. Today is the ninth day. After guarding, I will leave here tomorrow."

Seeing that Li Yan was finally explained to her, Caier finally breathed a sigh of relief. The next day, Li Yan indeed left the cemetery of Empress Xiao and Yang Guang and came to Yangzhou City to reunite with Concubine Yang and the others. Although Concubine Yang was worried about Li Yan during this period, she was very happy to see the two grandsons of Li Qi and Li Mian. She took two grandsons all day long, and even Li Yan, the son, forgot to think about it.

Li Yan and Li Ke have not seen Concubine Yang for several years. In addition, there are third generations such as Chou Chou and Li Qi, which naturally makes people feel more happy, and this also dilutes the sadness of Empress Xiao's death. It is also worth mentioning that Li Zhi and Caier had already married last year, and now Caier has officially become the crown princess of the Tang Dynasty, and Miss Hu Yuyi entered the palace as a good wife.

Although Yangzhou is good, Concubine Yang and Caier cannot stay for a long time. After all, after handling Empress Xiao’s funeral, they still have to go back to Chang’an. However, before they set off, another news came from Chang’an that Gao Shilian, Duke Shen, died of illness, and Li Shimin cried bitterly.

Although Li Yan didn't have much impression of Gao Shilian, he only remembered that the other party was a very serious old man, but he knew that Gao Shilian ranked sixth among the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, under Fang Xuanling. Moreover, in the 17th year of Zhenguan, Wei Zheng, who ranked fourth, also passed away. In addition, old ministers like Li Jing, Fang Xuanling, and Xiao Yu, have become older in recent years. This also shows that the ministers who helped Li Shimin conquer the world are gradually getting older, and this is undoubtedly a huge challenge for the Tang Dynasty, and it is another huge opportunity for some young ministers.

This time, Concubine Yang and the others did not go to Taiwan again, but went to Shanghai for a while. Concubine Yang also summoned Li Chengqian specifically because before coming, Empress Changsun asked her to help him bring him a few words. As a result, when Li Chengqian came out after seeing Concubine Yang, there seemed to be traces of crying on his face.

In addition, Li Yan specially brought Wen Xin and his son Li Mian to visit Xiao Yu. After all, Wen Xin is nominally Xiao Yu's granddaughter, and Xiao Yu has not been in good health in recent years. He was hit by the death of Queen Xiao. He was extremely thin and he was a little breathless when he spoke. However, when he saw Li Mian, there was a hint of spirit in his eyes.

Seeing that Xiao Yu was in such a bad health, Wen Xin advised him to let go of the court affairs several times, and it would be best to move to Taiwan to recuperate for a while. However, Xiao Yu was a stubborn and didn't care about Wen Xin's words at all, so in the end, Li Yan and Wen Xin could only tell him to take care of his health.
Chapter completed!