Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 187: Infiltrating the Fanyang Army and putting on a show for the East Palace
Dou Li gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince was just confused for a moment. After all, he is your flesh and blood, and he will definitely change his mind!"

Emperor Yongjin closed his eyes and stopped talking, two lines of tears slowly flowing down the corners of his eyes.

He knew it was all over.

The Great Zhou Dynasty, which he had worked so hard to build, ultimately could not escape the fate of the princes fighting for the throne.

Seeing that Emperor Yongjin was disheartened, Dou Li said, "Your Majesty! Your health is the most important thing! Even...even if the situation is not favorable now, you must take care of yourself. What if His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin and his men arrive and quell the turmoil, but you...injure your health because of excessive worry? Wouldn't His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin and his men be heartbroken?"

Emperor Yongjin turned a deaf ear to the consolation and just waved his hand.

"Go, bring the pen, ink, paper and inkstone."

Dou Li was stunned, not understanding what Emperor Yongjin wanted pen, ink, paper and inkstone for at this time.

But he didn't dare ask more questions and could only order the palace servants to get it.

Emperor Yongjin's gaze was distracted and fell on the dragon pattern carved on the ceiling of the bed, his eyes were empty.

"I am tired and don't want to fight anymore. I don't want to sit on the throne anymore."

Dou Li was shocked when he heard this.

No matter how stupid he was, he should have guessed that Emperor Yongjin was going to pass on the throne to a future emperor.

At this moment, Dou Li once again felt a sense of desolation.

Throughout history, all royal families have ended up killing each other because of fighting for power.

But every dynasty has still done this. This is human nature, this is human ambition.

Faced with power, no one is willing to give up.

But sometimes I think, is imperial power really that important? Is it really more important than blood ties?

In the end, isn't it true that you can't bring anything with you when you are born and you can't take anything with you when you die?
There is no way. People will always try their best to get something they can't get.

At this moment, Dou Li was a little panicked.

He didn't care about anything else. At least he was protecting the emperor now. He couldn't let the emperor scare himself to death before anything happened.

He still has to keep the emperor alive, and even if he dies, he has to let that guy from the East Palace do it himself.

And Dou Li naturally could not escape this disaster.

But, even if I die at that time, I will be famous throughout the ages, because I died protecting the emperor.

It will be recorded in the history books and admired by thousands of people.

Will be famous for eternity.

"Your Majesty, you must not do that!"

Dou Li was horrified and said quickly, "Your Majesty, you must not say such things! You are the monarch of the Great Zhou, and it is the destiny of heaven. How can you give up so easily?"

Although, he knew that it was useless to say such nonsense at this time.

But what needs to be said still needs to be said.

Emperor Yongjin smiled self-deprecatingly, his smile full of bitterness.

"God's will? I think God wants to kill me! My son wants to rebel, my subjects want to betray me. This destiny really favors me!"

Soon, the palace servants brought the pen, ink, paper and inkstone and placed them beside Emperor Yongjin's bed.

Emperor Yongjin picked up the brush with trembling hands, dipped it in ink, and began to write on the paper.

Dou Li watched from the side, anxious but not daring to disturb them.

He felt mixed emotions.

Emperor Yongjin wrote very slowly and with great effort, as if every word exhausted all his strength.

After finishing writing, he put down the pen, leaned weakly against the head of the bed, and let out a long sigh, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from him.

Dou Li hurried forward and picked up the paper, which read:

"Since I ascended the throne, I have been worried and diligent in government affairs, but God has not given me much time. I am now bedridden and I am afraid I will not live long."

"After much deliberation, I have decided to pass the throne to Jin Wang Chu Shizhao, hoping that he can inherit the throne and benefit the people. I decree this."

After Dou Li finished reading it, he felt a black screen in front of his eyes and almost fainted.

This decree of succession has already been written into a will!
Emperor Yongjin is about to give up resistance and accept his fate completely!

What's even more speechless is that at this time, he didn't write a single word about the rebellion in the Eastern Palace.

"Your Majesty! You... why are you doing this?"

Dou Li's voice was trembling, almost crying.

Emperor Yongjin smiled weakly, his eyes full of fatigue.

"I am tired, really tired. I can't sit on this throne any longer. Let the Prince of Jin take it. I hope he can do better than I can."

Dou Li wanted to persuade him again, but was stopped by Emperor Yongjin.

"No need to say more, I have made up my mind. You can go down, I want to be alone."

Dou Li had no choice but to put away the imperial edict and quietly retreat.

It has to be said that even at this time, Emperor Yongjin still sided with his son.

Even though the rebellious son had already pointed the knife or gun at his head, it was still aimed at his son.

This is the father.

Emperor Yongjin was the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, but he was also a father.

Whenever his son makes a mistake, the father will choose to forgive him, but if the father makes a mistake, the son will never forgive him.

Even the slightest bit of favoritism cannot be tolerated.

If the East Palace had not seen that the Emperor favored Prince Jin, his jealousy would not have continued to grow, and he probably would not have taken action so quickly.

Of course, the contributions of the counselors in the Eastern Palace are indispensable.

Those troublemakers have been involved in this a lot.

The fire will only grow bigger and bigger. One person's strength alone cannot create any waves.

Emperor Yongjin looked at the dragon pattern above the bed. It was finely carved and displayed the glory of the past.

But now, looking back, it all seems like a dream.

It’s just like the saying goes, life is like a dream.

You walk through life, but when you die, you bring nothing with you and nothing with you. Can you take the great Zhou Dynasty with you?
After working hard all your life, in the end you can't even take the air with you.

Emperor Yongjin sighed sadly.

He lay on his bed, reviewing his life.

I have planned everything and thought I could control everything, but in the end I found out that I can't control anything.

This is all fate.

No one can escape the arrangement of fate.

He also has supreme power, but that power brings him endless loneliness and even the pain of betrayal by his own flesh and blood.

This time, Emperor Yongjin was really tired.

He didn't want the throne for even a moment.
Even the thought of not being the emperor made him feel as if a huge weight had been lifted off his body.

Feel free.

Not only did he not want the throne anymore, he didn't even want to live anymore.

……

After Dou Li left the bedroom.

But he was pacing back and forth in the front hall with his hands behind his back.

The source of the information just now was from Wang Huai. To be honest, Dou Li did not completely trust Wang Huai.

Although Wang Huai had expressed his loyalty to King Jin before, he knew that Wang Huai was mainly concerned about interests.

What if he has been hiding in the Eastern Palace during this period of time, and the Eastern Palace has given him benefits, and he has other ideas?

Even if someone deliberately sent false information to the palace, we still have to verify it with Guo Qian.

Guo Qian is now in the Sanfu Army, with Huangfu Jian and the others. Logically, Guo Qian should have sent someone to deliver the news in time, but why has Guo Qian's message not been received yet?

Could it be that something happened to Guo Qian as well?
As soon as he had this thought, Dou Li didn't dare to think further.

If something really happened to Guo Qian, then they would be completely in the dark if they stayed in this palace.

Then we will completely cut off contact with the outside world.

Guo Qian is absolutely trustworthy, but the key is that I can’t get any news from Guo Qian now.

……

Located fifty miles outside the imperial city, the Fanyang army was stationed here.

In the central army tent, Ma Su'an, Huangfu Jian and Heng Yi, who were disguised as soldiers of the Fanyang Army, sat in a circle. The atmosphere in the tent was solemn.

The flickering candlelight reflected on the faces of the three people, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, adding a sense of solemnity.

"It has to be General Huangfu!"

Ma Suan was the first to break the silence and looked at Huangfu Jian with admiration.

"I, Ma Suan, really admire you for coming up with such a brilliant plan!"

Ma Su'an clasped his fists towards Huangfu Jian.

Upon hearing this, Huangfu Jian waved his hand and looked humbly at Hengyi who was sitting next to him.

"General Ma, thank you for your praise. This is all General Heng's strategy. I am just relaying it on his behalf."

Ma Suan narrowed his eyes and looked at Hengyi, his eyes lit up.

"So this was General Heng's plan. No wonder the King of Jin loves you so much!"

Hengyi felt very happy after hearing this.

But Hengyi naturally couldn't show his joy.

Although she is a member of the Heng family army, she is also the woman of King Jin. This identity requires her to always remember that she must not lose her manners.

Therefore, these outsiders have never seen what Hengyi looks like as a little woman.

After all, she only acts coquettishly in front of King Jin.

For example, now, Hengyi is dressed in armor, looking heroic, without any trace of the weak attitude of a girl.

In response to Ma Suan's praise, she just nodded slightly.

Just now, Ma Suan killed Lu Yi with his own hands, clearing the way for their next plan.

Lu Yi is the confidant of Crown Prince Chu Shixu, and has always been eyeing Prince Jin.

Now that Lu Yi is dead, the Fanyang Army is leaderless. This is a good opportunity for them to take control of the Fanyang Army and counterattack the Eastern Palace.

Ma Su'an originally planned to lead the Fanyang army directly back to the capital, march straight to the Eastern Palace, and bring Chu Shixu to justice.

In his opinion, this was the most direct and effective way. However, his proposal was rejected by Huangfu Jian.

"General Ma, this plan is good, but it is too reckless."

Huangfu Jian explained, "The East Palace doesn't know that there are problems within the Fanyang Army, nor does it know that Lu Yi is dead. Why don't we take advantage of their situation and pretend to continue to support the East Palace to paralyze their nerves?"

A wise man doesn't need to speak too much.

Ma Suan immediately understood Huangfu Jian's intention.

This is to continue pretending to cooperate with the East Palace so as to catch them off guard.

After Ma Suan understood Huangfu Jian's intention, he immediately asked, "General Huangfu, do you have any further plans?"

Therefore, Huangfu Jian suggested that his 500 men and Hengyi's 100 men should all be disguised and penetrate into his Fanyang army.

Then they went to the imperial city together to perform a play for the East Palace.

"We can send a small team of troops, under the banner of the Fanyang Army, to support the Eastern Palace. In this way, the Eastern Palace will certainly relax their vigilance and think that reinforcements have arrived."

"We can gather our forces in secret and wait for the right time to capture the East Palace in one fell swoop!"

Huangfu Jian told the story slowly and leisurely.

After hearing this, Ma Su'an couldn't help but clap his hands and exclaim: "Great plan! Great plan! In this way, we can take over the East Palace without spending a single soldier!"

After all, if they directly broke off relations with the Eastern Palace, the Eastern Palace would definitely gather all its forces to defend the imperial city at all costs and prevent the Fanyang army from entering.

At that time, even if the Fanyang Army of 100,000 troops rushed in, it would inevitably cause certain casualties.

However, Huangfu Jian's strategy adopted a direct deception method. At that time, the other party would not only not stop him, but would open the city gate and welcome the Fanyang army into the city.

By then, the Eastern Palace will be so angry that they will die.

However, Ma Suan is not a fool.

When he learned that this plan was proposed by Heng Yi, he had a vague feeling that the other party was still on guard against him.

If it was Huangfu Jian who proposed it, then Ma Su'an would naturally have no doubts.

After all, Huangfu Jian is just a rough man. In terms of strategy and cunning, he is far behind Hengyi.

But Ma Suan knew Hengyi's other intention.

That means being on guard against yourself.

After all, he was one of the main forces of the Fanyang Army.

Now that Lu Yi is dead, there is no other option.

What if I pretended to cooperate with them, but actually went to help the Eastern Palace build momentum?

Aren't they being fooled then?
Hengyi also knew that Ma Su'an was a fence-sitter, a two-faced person.

What if he has some hidden agenda of his own?

The reason why he killed Lu Yi was just to go to the East Palace alone to receive all the benefits.

Aren't they completely fooled by this villain?
Therefore, Hengyi resorted to this bad strategy.

It was decided to let these several hundred people disguise themselves as Fanyang troops and go to the imperial city with Ma Su'an.

A few hundred people mixed in with an army of one hundred thousand could not be seen at all.

There is no need to worry about being discovered by people from the East Palace.

In order to reassure the Eastern Palace and have them open the city gates, Hengyi even had someone collect Lu Yi's head.

If I go to the city gate tower, maybe it can be useful.

After all, those guys in the East Palace are very cunning.

Although Ma Suan knew Hengyi's little thoughts, he didn't dare to point it out.

He also knew that the other party's suspicion was reasonable and necessary.

If it were him, he would think the same way if he put himself in their shoes.

You know, up to now, there is no news about the Liangzhou border army and the Jinyang army.

To put it bluntly, whether the Eastern Palace wins or the imperial court wins depends largely on Ma Suan.

With such great power, how could Hengyi not do that?

How could someone like Huangfu Jian, a rough and timid man, really trust Ma Su'an so confidently and boldly?

At this time, Ma Suan stood up, looked at the foggy area ahead, and asked when to get up.

Huangfu Jian said without thinking, what are you waiting for, let's go now, it's almost time to relax anyway.

However, just as he finished speaking, Hengyi stopped him with a look.

Hengyi picked up the kettle, took a sip, then walked up to Ma Suan and said, don't be in a hurry, just wait a little longer.

Although Ma Suan didn't understand what Hengyi meant, he could only nod woodenly.

But Huangfu Jian was a little impatient.

He called Heng Yi aside and asked in confusion, "General Heng, we are less than fifty miles away from the imperial city. We have been resting for a while. If we delay any longer, it will be dark!"

If an army of 100,000 were to remain outside the city, they would be in trouble once their food ran out.

(End of this chapter)