The blacksmith lady is killing people in the harem, and her son is responsible for it.

When the emperor passed away, the Ministry of Rites was in charge of all etiquette regulations.

Qin Wan didn't understand these ancient rules, so she didn't interfere too much in these matters.

There is no objection to the emperor's body being kept for 49 days.

What's more, we have to wait for Zhao Zhen to come back. We can't bury him directly without him coming back.

Qin Wan gave an order directly and immediately sent someone to the north to deliver a message to Zhao Zhen, asking him to return to Beijing as soon as possible.

The ministers in the court are also waiting, the throne cannot remain vacant forever.

After the emperor's death, news spread like wildfire to all places.

The prince did not return to the capital, so the news of the emperor's death had not yet been sent to the various provinces.

Except for the people in Chang'an City, people in other places don't know yet.

In this era, the speed of message transmission is also slow.

Changxin City.

Shang Yunze really helped Zhao Zhen when he kept Li Guozhu in Changxin City.

Ever since Li Guozhu received the secret report that Shang Yunze died in Chang'an City, he began to have ideas.

At that time, Shang Yunze took his confidants away and sent other generals to attack Zhao Zhen's large army.

The suspected Li Guozhu was guarding Changxin.

Li Guozhu is not a fool. He used to have tens of thousands of men under his command, and they were all his people.

He responded quickly by joining the Yan Dynasty.

His niece is the Crown Princess of the Great Yan Dynasty, so he has a bright future ahead of him.

So before Zhao Zhen attacked Changxin City, Li Guozhu directly opened the city gate.

He surrendered with tens of thousands of soldiers.

Zhao Zhen didn't expect that this time it would be so smooth.

He didn't have a good impression of Li Guozhu because he knew that Qin Wan's life in the Li family was not good.

However, Li Guozhu was often away fighting outside, and the affairs of the inner house were all taken care of by his wife.

Li Guozhu was the matchmaker between him and Wanwan, so Zhao Zhen's expression became much better.

Moreover, this time we were able to capture Changxin so smoothly without any casualties among the soldiers, which was the best result.

"General Li Guozhu pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhao Zhen rode on the horse and looked at Li Guozhu, "Uncle, please get up!"

Zhao Zhen's call of "uncle" gave reassurance to the generals who surrendered with Li Guozhu.

Lieutenant General Li did not lie to them. His niece still held a lot of importance in the prince's heart.

Li Guozhu spent a lot of effort these days persuading those people to surrender.

At the same time, he was also feeling uneasy because he had forced his niece and Zhao Zhen to consummate their marriage.

He was afraid that the prince would be dissatisfied with him because of this matter.

Now when he heard Zhao Zhen call him uncle, Li Guozhu knew that he was safe.

"Your Highness, please follow me to the city. The wine and food are ready."

"Yes, Your Highness, we have been looking forward to your arrival. In the past few years, Shang Yunze has suspected that Lieutenant General Li has ulterior motives and is always on guard against us. We are also very helpless here."

Li Guozhu glared at the deputy general, then said to Zhao Zhen with a smile, "Shang Yunze's suspicion is correct. It's hard not to be suspicious of the relationship between me and His Highness."

"Now it's finally okay. I can lead my subordinates and continue to serve the court."

"None of the Shang family's father and son are good people. They only know how to fight among themselves and work with the Hu people to dig into our Central Plains."

Li Guozhu was really frustrated. Later he found out that the King of Qi, like the King of Jin, had colluded with the Hu people, and he was extremely angry.

Many of their people had died at the hands of the Hu people in the past, so there was no way they could surrender to them.

It couldn’t be better to be able to return now.

Zhao Zhen looked at the generals and soldiers and said, "Commendants and soldiers, you were all soldiers of the Shang Dynasty, and now you are soldiers of the Yan Dynasty. We are all from the Central Plains, and our only enemy is the Hu people."

"I guess many of you haven't seen your families for a long time. I promise you that you can all go home after the war is over."

As soon as Zhao Zhen said this, many soldiers who had fled westward in panic with Shang Yunze had tears in their eyes.

Even those generals who left in a hurry and did not bring their families with them must have missed their wives, children and mothers at home.

Changxin City was very lively on this day.

Zhao Zhen was also very happy to drink with the soldiers to cheer them up.

Now that Changxin City has been taken, it will be easier to defeat the remaining remnants.

Most of them were Li Guozhu's own people, and those who were instigated to defect accounted for as much as two-thirds.

Li Guozhu wanted to make a contribution, so in the remaining time, he led his former subordinates and new soldiers to attack other cities in one fell swoop.

Zhao Zhen stayed in Changxin City. Now that the overall situation has been settled, he can return to Beijing after arranging things.

Because his whereabouts are now fixed, the news has been passed on.

At this time, Xu You hurried in with a letter.

"Your Highness, there is news from Chang'an City. The Emperor... The Emperor..."

Zhao Zhen's heart sank, "What happened to my father?"

Xu You lowered his head, "The Emperor has passed away, Your Highness!"

Zhao Zhen staggered two steps and his eyes immediately turned red.

Father, he is gone!

The man does not flick when he has tears, but he has not yet reached the point of sadness!

Zhao Zhen couldn't hold back and tears rolled down her eyes.

"Quick, go gather the troops and return to Chang'an City immediately!"

"Yes!"

Soon, the prince brought his personal guards and selected 200 men from the cavalry camp and set out overnight.

Yang Su stayed and took charge of the situation.

Zhao Zhen traveled day and night. It would have taken him half a month to complete the journey, but he only took five days and had already covered half the distance.

At night, in the forest.

Soldiers feeding hay to horses.

Mo Yi brought a bowl of medicine into Zhao Zhen's tent.

"Your Highness, the medicine is here!"

Zhao Zhen became ill because of traveling day and night and being sad about the emperor's death.

Today I had to rest on the road because I had a fever, otherwise I would have to travel at night on weekdays.

Zhao Zhen took the medicine bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

He needs to get better quickly so that he can return to Chang'an City as soon as possible.

Maybe it was because of the effect of the medicine or something else, but Zhao Zhen, who couldn’t sleep, felt her eyelids getting heavier.

The next day.

After a night's rest, everyone felt much better when they woke up in the morning.

After all, they are human beings, and they cannot endure without sleep for several days and nights.

I had a good sleep last night, and now I feel refreshed both mentally and physically.

"Xu You, how was your rest yesterday?"

Xu You nodded, "Yeah, not bad!"

Mo Xuan stopped asking, "I'll go see His Highness. My eldest brother was watching over him last night. I wonder if His Highness is feeling better now?"

Mo Xuan came to Zhao Zhen's tent, "Your Highness, I am coming in!"

At this time, the tent was pulled open from the inside, "Let's go, it's already bright now, we can't delay any longer."

Mo Xuan glanced at Zhao Zhen and found that his face was no longer red. He smiled and said, "It seems that the medicine I took yesterday worked. Your Highness doesn't have a fever anymore!"

Zhao Zhen nodded calmly, "Well, let's go, we can't delay any longer!"

"it is good!"

After everyone had packed up, Mo Xuan carefully came to Zhao Zhen and said, "Your Highness, my elder brother has been away for a long time. I have been looking for him for a long time."

Zhao Zhen said calmly: "I forgot to tell General Yang something, so I asked Mo Yi to go to Changxin."