Wandering the Heavens

"Yan Que pays his respects to the prince." Yan Que quickly walked into the big tent holding Xiao Xuan's sword.

"Uncle, you're too polite. Please stand up!" Xiao Jinghuan hurriedly stepped forward and helped the man up.

"Your Majesty sent Yan Que here because you want to know why Prince Yu colluded with Xu Anmo to rebel." Yan Que dropped the bomb as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Uncle, to be honest, General Xu is loyal to Daliang and father. It was Jinghuan who was wronged, so he used his private affairs to coerce the Qingli Army to come to father and ask for an explanation. Jinghuan's request has been written in these two imperial edicts. Please take them back to father. Father has half a month to consider it." If it were someone else, Xiao Jinghuan might not answer like this.

"That's good."

The soldier closed the small box containing the imperial edict and presented it to Yan Que.

Yan Que didn't act pretentiously. He took the box and left the military tent.

"how!"

Everyone was a little surprised to see Yan Que return in less than a day.

"Your Majesty, Prince Yu said that he surrounded the West Mountain out of helplessness, and what he wanted is here. Please make your decision, Your Majesty!" Yan Que returned the sword and presented the small box.

Two eunuchs took the small box from Yan Que and brought it to Xiao Xuan. Xiao Xuan looked at the small box and then at the court officials in the hall. They knew that the conditions of Xiao Jinghuan were inside.

Xiao Xuan could only let Meng Zhi open the box on the spot, and Gao Zhan took out the written imperial edict and presented it. Xiao Xuan took one of the edicts with a dark face and slowly unfolded it. His face turned even darker, and he threw it at Gao Zhan, and then snatched another imperial edict and couldn't wait to open it.

"Rebellious son! Rebellious son! This is forcing the emperor to abdicate, this is a mutiny, this is treason!" Xiao Xuan lost his composure as an emperor and cursed angrily in front of all the ministers.

In the end, he was still not satisfied, so he snatched the two imperial edicts that Gao Zhan had packed with great difficulty, lit them over the candlelight, and then threw them on the floor.

"He is dreaming! I will never agree to it!" Xiao Xuan shouted while waving his arms while looking at the flames on the ground.

Everyone in the hall was confused as to what the two imperial edicts drafted by Prince Yu were about. If it was just an abdication decree, the emperor would not be so angry.

"Your Majesty, Prince Yu has put forward some conditions. Perhaps the ministers can discuss them here." This was the only thing Prime Minister Liu could offer.

"This rebellious son, he...he wants me to abdicate and posthumously confer the title of Empress Dowager on his early deceased mother!" Xiao Xuan was really angry.

Died young? The ministers knew how Princess Linglong died. It was normal for Prince Yu to ask for a title for his biological mother, but Xiao Xuan couldn't accept it because Princess Linglong was poisoned under his instruction. In his eyes and heart, he never regarded Princess Linglong, who was born in the Hua clan, as a person. She was just a tool for him to destroy the Hua clan.

"What else did that rebellious son say?" Xiao Xuan then remembered that Yan Que had not finished speaking.

"Prince Yu said that Your Majesty has half a month to decide." Yan Que said neither more nor less.

"Haha, Lord Yan, as my ambassador, didn't you reprimand this rebellious son?" Xiao Xuan was very dissatisfied with Yan Que's poor performance.

"Your Majesty, as soon as I entered the tent, Prince Yu burst into tears and complained to me that he had no choice but to raise an army, and that he missed his biological mother and felt guilty. I have watched Prince Yu grow up, and I couldn't bear to say anything harsh to him." Anyway, no one in the palace knew what was going on in the military tent, so what I said was final.

"What? He's crying again. He's the one who's rebelling against me! He's the one who's disobeyed me! He still has the nerve to cry!" Xiao Xuan got even angrier when he heard this.

"I will never agree to his conditions, Meng Zhi!"

"Chen is here!"

"You arrange people to break out of the siege and go to Nanjing to gather troops to defend the king!" Xiao Xuan said without hesitation.

"Your Majesty, Xu Anmo told me that the Qingli Army has taken control of Jinling and the Queen has been controlled by them." Yan Que interjected.

"Yes, I should have thought of it. This rebellious son was able to get the blank imperial edict and has already controlled Jinling. Is it possible that there are no loyal and righteous people in Jinling?" Xiao Xuan hurriedly excused himself.

He placed his hopes on the private soldiers of the major families, but in Jinling, even if there were private soldiers, there would not be many, so how could they be organized to fight against the Qingli Army?

"Could it be that my Daliang has no available army at this time?" Xiao Xuan sat weakly on the main seat.

Of the three main armies of Liang, the Chiyan Army had been destroyed, the Qingli Army had rebelled, and the Mu Wangfu Army in the south was far away. The rest were local armies, and with the inside story of the Chiyan Army's destruction flying everywhere, they had already alienated themselves from the emperor and would never take the lead. To put it bluntly, even if the eunuchs delivered the imperial edict to these generals, they might not raise their armies.

In addition to the unreliable local garrisons, Liang also has border troops in Jiangbei to defend against Yu and Yan, but they cannot leave unless Xiao chooses between the throne and the destruction of the country.

"My fellow ministers, where can we find loyal and righteous men in Daliang?" Xiao Xuan asked, looking at the people present.

"Father, I am willing to fight the rebels to the death!" Xiao Jingyan stepped forward to express his stance.

"Go back. There are only a few people in your patrol battalion. The defenders of Nanjing have now surrendered to the Qingli Army. What's the point of fighting to the death?" Xiao Xuan scolded his stubborn son angrily.

"Your Majesty, I suggest summoning the troops from Prince Mu's Mansion in the southern border to come to the king's aid." Prime Minister Liu gave a way out.

"They are too far away." Xiao Xuan sighed.

"Your Majesty, what Prime Minister Liu said makes sense. The army of Prince Mu's palace are all cavalry and can march quickly. When the State of Chu saw that the young Prince Mu returned to the southern border, it has sent the assembled troops back to the garrison. There is no need to worry about the southern border in the short term. I think the troops in the southern border can be summoned to serve the king." Seeing this, the Minister of War could only stand up and second the motion.

"Xia Chun." Xiao Xuan agreed.

"I'm here." Xia Chun quickly stood up and listened to Xiao Xuan's arrangements.

In fact, since Xiao Jinghuan launched the rebellion, Xia Chun has been pretending to be dead in order to live longer.

If Xiao Jinghuan's rebellion succeeded, he would have to do the dirty work, and he could still make a living under the new emperor. If he failed, he would soon be held accountable and executed by the emperor, because Xiao Jinghuan stayed at home pretending to be a grandson, secretly contacted Xu Anmo, and then the Qingli Army led an army to capture Jinling, and now the army is besieging Xishan, but the Xuanjing Division has no news at all!

This is a serious dereliction of duty, and even my own life is not enough to compensate for it.

"Use the carrier pigeon of the Xuan Jing Division to convey the order to Mu Qing in Prince Mu's Mansion, and immediately raise an army to support the king!" No matter what, Xiao Xuan had been the emperor for decades, and he knew Xia Chun's thoughts very well.

Compared to his master Xia Jiang, this man is far less talented and loyal.

"How is it? We still can't get in touch with our people?"

After discovering that the defenses of Jinling City had been taken over by the Qingli Army, Mei Changsu tried to send people out of the city to the Xishan Hunting Ground to report the news. He bribed the soldiers guarding the city gates to send several people out, but there was no news from them after they left, and there has been no reply to date.

"Master, please calm down first. Prince Yu has been planning his rebellion for a long time and has made careful arrangements. Our people must not have been able to meet Prince Jing smoothly. They need some time." It's okay to let Li Gang do the work, but it's a bit heartbreaking to comfort him.

I know that Prince Yu started planning a rebellion after being demoted, and I know that Xu Anmo is an excellent general who is well versed in military strategies and can make flawless arrangements, but there is no need for you, Li Gang, to emphasize it again.

"Shut up, me!"

Seeing that Mei Changsu's expression was becoming increasingly strange, Doctor Yan glared at Li Gang harshly.

"Li Gang, go and make some arrangements. We'll go to Hongxiuzhao in the evening." Mei Changsu thought about it and decided to ask Qin Banruo for help.

"No, I don't agree!" Doctor Yan got furious when he heard that Mei Changsu was going out again to visit Hongxiuzhao.