Handsome Broken Legged Little Military Advisor [12]
After returning home, Chen Liguo immediately contacted two groups of people.
One group was the courier station, the other group was the carrier pigeon station, then Chen Liguo wrote his own letter and asked them to urgently send it to the battlefront.
At this time, the news about Emperor's serious illness had not been spread, and all of the Second Prince's attention was on the Emperor. He was not aware that the letter news had been leaked and did not set up a checkpoint, and thus the letter that Chen Liguo sent out pa.s.sed through without any obstruction.
Even if the pigeons were to spur the horse to full speed <sup>[1]</sup> , it would take at least a dozen days for the letter to be sent to Yan Jingyi, which does not include the impact of weather conditions along the way.
At this point, Chen Liguo could only secretly pray that the Emperor would live a few more days.
The wind sweeping through the tower heralds a rising storm in the mountains <sup>[2]</sup> . These days, although seemingly calm and peaceful, the sensitive people had a sense of unfounded suspense in their hearts.
A minister with a good relations.h.i.+p with Chen Liguo sought out Chen Liguo in private and said, “Lord Ji, do you think that something is going to happen? My eyelids are have been continuously jumping these days.”
Chen Liguo said, “What can happen?”
The minister lowered his voice and said, “Ai…the Emperor hasn't been seen for many days now.”
Chen Liguo lifted his eyelids.
The minister continues, "I heard that the imperial doctors have all been kept back….I think this is going to be a big deal."
Chen Liguo laughed and said, "You ordinarily don't care about such things."
The minister sighed helplessly, "Heaven heals to materialize people's wishes, I thought I would retire after a few years, but unexpectedly…..alas."
Chen Liguo said, "What are you afraid of? The one who needs to be afraid is me."
Although Yan Jingyi had no connection with him after he went to the army, he was firmly labeled as one of the Third Prince's people.
In the past three years, the Second Prince has never given him a good look.
The minister said, "You…..do have bad luck. Alas, I told you before that you should not work together with the Second Prince, and now, as luck would have it."
Chen Liguo smiled and said, “Who was it that told me his grand tutor?”
The minister gave a long sigh, rueful that the affairs of life were fickle. With a calm look, Chen Liguo took a sip of the tea in front of him then took another sip.
As to how much the Second Prince hated him, he didn't care. Instead, Chen Liguo is determined to help the Third Prince ascend the throne.
With this contribution, surely he would be able to find a good ending for Yan Zhiyao.
Chen Liguo admired in his heart, he really was smart and witty, a brave little angel.
The Second Prince was not fit to be the Emperor, as could be seen from his att.i.tude towards Chen Liguo and the Third Prince. That person had no courage, no strategy, was overly suspicious, dealt with matters with too much anxiety, and was not a wise master. If he became the Emperor, the Yan Country would certainly never expand its territory and become an overlord like its original destiny.
Yan Jingyi who was in the army received the letter sent at full speed. The letter said just one broken sentence: Pa.s.sed away <sup>[3]</sup> , quick return.
He clutched the letter, brought it to the tip of his nose, and sniffed. It was reasonable to say that after being rushed over at top speed for more than a dozen days, the ink fragrance of the letter had since long faded away. But Yan Jingyi inexplicably smelled a faint hint of Chinese medicine, just like what he smelled on a certain person.
"Prepare the horses." Yan Jingyi put the letter in his bosom, and laid down the order: "We're going back."
Chen Liguo in the past dozen days thinned down radically. He couldn't swallow down his food or sleep peaceful and silently stared at the chessboard before him all day.
Le Qi asked him what he was looking at.
Chen Liguo smiled and said, I am looking at Yan Country's future."
Le Qi said anxiously, "Milord, you must pay attention to your own health."
Le Qi’s remark caused Chen Liguo’s expression to become even more miserable. He said, “This broken body of mine, if it could be used to help Great Yan, it would be worth it."
Le Qi burst into tears.
Chen Liguo: "System, how was it? Give me a score for my acting."
System："……"
Chen Liguo: "Who knows when my family's little cutie would come back."
System: "Little Cutie?"
Chen Liguo: "Yup, I'm still older than him by a few years."
The System felt tired and began to ponder over why there wasn't a 'block host' function.
After receiving Chen Liguo's letter, Yan Jingyi didn't dare delay and leading a team of people, he rushed to the Imperial City.
The only thing that Chen Liguo could do at this point was wait.
Fortunately, his luck was not too bad and Yan Jingyi finally returned.
When Yan Jingyi arrived at the imperial palace, the inner palace was already on guard. Yan Jingyi did not rush to reveal his ident.i.ty. Instead, he took the tiger tally <sup>[4]</sup> that the emperor gave him privately and went to the commander of the city guards.
In recent years, the emperor had been in poor health and had a time-consuming heart disease. He originally wanted to let Yan Jingyi practice in the army for a few more years then hand him the throne.
But didn't think that such a mishap would happen.
The tiger tally in Yan Jingyi's hand was only one part of it and the other part was still in the Emperor's hands. And by now, who knew if it had been taken away by the Second Prince.
But now the most important thing is obviously to control the most powerful military force in the imperial city—the imperial guards.
When a sudden decree was issued in the palace to have all the ministers and officials go to court, Chen Liguo keenly perceived its political meaning. Because the emperor had been ill and had not gone to court for a dozen days. For the people to be summoned suddenly at this time, either the emperor was getting better soon or the emperor… was at the point of death.
The former was nearly impossible, which only leaves the latter.
Chen Liguo entered the palace in a carriage. He arrived at the main hall and heard the ministers whispering.
Chen Liguo looked around and found that people’s faces and expressions were different, some were tense, some were doubtful and others frightened… All kinds of expressions and movements showed their position.
When people guessed what had happened, the Second Prince who lived in the palace on the grounds of taking care of his Emperor father appeared.
He looked tired, but his eyes could not hide his uncontrollable excitement. He pretended to be sad and declared, “My Emperor father just now, pa.s.sed away.”
That one sentence was like a bomb, immediately blowing up in the crow. The ministers burst into loud cries.
The Second Prince said, "In my hand, is his final edict."
The voices of the crowd became silent again in an instant.
The Second Prince cleared his throat and screeched, "All subjects hear these orders."
The ministers standing in the main temple knelt down.
At that moment, however, there was a voice that was not salty nor light <sup>[5]</sup> in the temple, which said indifferently, “How do we know if this last edict is true or false?”
The Second Prince's face flushed red in anger, he turned to look at the owner of the voice and realized that the person was actually Ji Shang. He said furiously, "What does Lord Ji mean?"
Ji Shang did not seem to be afraid of the Second Prince's glare. He sat in the wheelchair, his back as straight and upright as before, and said, "This edict, has anyone seen it before? Is it stamped with three seals?"
The Second Prince angrily said, "Your meaning is that I faked the imperial edict?"
Chen Liguo's expression was light, “If Your Highness has a clear conscience, why should you be angry?”
The Second Prince didn't know whether he was afraid or angry. Trembling all over, he walked over to Chen Liguo, and actually went as far as to kick Chen Liguo's wheelchair with a foot.
Chen Liguo fell to the ground, he frowned slightly, but still laughed sarcastically: “Your Highness’s reaction is so great, don't tell me you've flown into a rage out of humiliation <sup>[6]</sup> ?”
The Second Prince pointed at Chen Liguo's nose and shouted angrily, 's.l.u.t!"
Chen Liguo gave a sardonic grin.
The Second Prince said, “You think I don’t know what your relations.h.i.+p with my younger brother is? Who are you show this strength of character to? Who doesn't know that you slept with my brother? Ha, for what reason do you interrogate me?!”
Chen Liguo's complexion became pale, seemingly stimulated by the Second Princes words, and directly spewed out a mouthful of blood.
Someone nearby couldn't stand to see this anymore, and said bluntly, "How could Your Highness say such a thing?"
The Second Prince trembled from head to foot. He sneered: “I know what you all think, isn't it that you want my younger brother to ascend the throne? Let me tell you, he's still at the frontier! He can’t come back anymore!”
Chen Liguo leisurely wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve. He had seen through the Second Prince's bluff—but because he was pressed for time, he could not find the three seals of power.
Chen Liguo said, "Your Highness has said so much, do you dare to let the ministers take a look at that imperial edict?"
The Second Prince grit his teeth and said, "Will you all stake your lives to see it?"
A loyal and honest man, Lang Sheng, said, “The state should not abrogate propriety. Since your Highness has a clear conscience, what harm is there in allowing us to have a look at the edict anyway?”
When the Second Prince heard this, he directly pulled out his sword from his waist, at the same time, a dozen imperial bodyguards surrounded the hall. He sneered: “I’d like to see today, who dares to say that my imperial edict is fake?”
When the people heard this, they turned pale, realizing that the Second Prince wanted to use force.
However, at this critical moment, outside the call came a voice that should have been impossible to show up. The voice said heavily, “I haven’t seen you for a few years, I didn't expect older brother, that you would actually change into something like this.”
His Royal Highness opened his eyes wide and even thought that he was having a hallucination. He said, “Who, who is there?”
Yan Jingyi wore heavy armor and held a long spear <sup>[7]</sup> . Behind him stood several hundreds of guards, a clear contrast to the Second Prince's lonesome appearance <sup>[8]</sup> . He laughed and said, "Elder brother, you can't even remember this younger brother of yours?"
"No——Impossible!" The Second Prince's desires cracked before his eyes, the originally violently trembling body this time began shaking as though sifting chaff <sup>[9]</sup> .
Yan Jingyi smiled scornfully, "If I didn't come back, wouldn't I allow you, this disloyal and unfilial unjust generation, to steal my Great Yan’s rivers and mountains <sup>[10]</sup> ? Come, take him down!"
How could it be possible for the Second Prince to have his hands tied and wait to be captured <sup>[11]</sup> ? And so the two sides fought in the hall.
Yan Jingyi’s overwhelming number of troops doomed the battle to be without suspense, with merely the time it takes for an incense stick to burn's <sup>[12]</sup> worth of effort, the Second Prince was captured. After he was captured, he still wanted to say something, but Yan Jingyi, who was watching him, kicked him in the mouth, and the second prince lost a few teeth, pa.s.sing out.
"Take him downstairs." Yan Jingyi was covered in dust, but could not hide his dazzling brilliance. He glanced around the hall and noticed Chen Liguo lying on the ground.
However, Chen Liguo didn't expect that Yan Jingyi would just look at him and turn away.
Chen Liguo had a sense of desolation as though he had been abandoned. He said, “This brother turned out to be such merciless man…………!”