"Gu Chen ended up with such an ending, it was really unexpected by this king." After walking out of the wing room where Gu Chen was, Li Yuntian shook his head and sighed to Lin Xin, who was following behind, to be honest, he would rather Gu Chen die on the battlefield and be wrapped in horse leather.

"Lord Wang, Gu Chen's choice to fall into the hands of the prince is not a good fate, the prince is the prince of the Ming Dynasty, and his military exploits are impressive, thousands of times stronger than him dying under the knife of a nobody!" Lin Xin groaned for a moment when she heard this, and replied in a coquettish voice.

At this moment, Lin Xin's heart was full of admiration for Gu Chen, she could see it clearly just now, there was a faint smile on the corner of Gu Chen's mouth when he said goodbye to Li Yuntian and went out, this kind of calm and free is very human.

"Although Gu Chen's crime deserves death, he has also made meritorious contributions to Da Ming before, you order him to go down and keep him here in the name of interrogating him." Li Yuntian shook his head with a wry smile, and said solemnly to Lin Xin, "Remember, don't embarrass him. ”

"Don't worry, your subordinates know what to do." Lin Xin nodded, she knew that Li Yuntian wanted Gu Chen to spend the rest of his life here, so as not to be humiliated again when he arrived in the capital.

Lin Xin believes that if Li Yuntian unfortunately falls into the hands of Gu Chen, then Gu Chen will definitely not embarrass Li Yuntian, people are so strange between people, especially those who are extraordinarily strategic, don't look at fighting to the death on the battlefield, but in private, they pity each other and give each other due respect, Li Yuntian and Gu Chen belong to such people.

It can be said that if it weren't for the troubles that Gu Chen was looking for, then there would be no Li Yuntian today, and Li Yuntian's military exploits in being able to enter the crown prince were "given" to him by Gu Chen.

I don't know why, the moment he walked out of the room where Gu Chen was, Li Yuntian's heart suddenly felt empty, as if he had lost something all of a sudden.

It stands to reason that Gu Chen, who has been giving him a headache, was arrested, and the explosives were found, he should be happy, but he couldn't be happy.

Due to his bad mood, Li Yuntian did not stay in Hangzhou City for long, and set off to return to Zhenjiang Mansion the next day.

After Gu Chen's death, Li Yuntian helped him realize his last wish to return to his roots, and quietly sent someone to bury his body in the ancestral grave in his hometown, and erected a wordless tablet on the grave, on which a broken sword was engraved.

As a traitor to the Ming Dynasty, Gu Chen should have been thrown into a mass grave after his death, so it was naturally impossible for him to have a tombstone on his grave.

In Li Yuntian's view, Gu Chen should have become a sharp sword for the Ming Dynasty to expand its territory, but due to the unforgivable sin committed by a single thought, this broken sword vividly described Gu Chen's life.

At the end of September, when Li Yuntian was leading Ma Yu around the south of the Yangtze River, an urgent report of 800 miles came from the capital, asking him and Ma Yu to return to the capital immediately.

The urgent report was sent by the ministry, the content was very brief and did not explain the reason for letting the two go back, this situation is very abnormal, no matter how Li Yuntian is also the prince of Daming, it stands to reason that the ministry should not be so abrupt, unless there is something unspeakable and it is not good to say it clearly in the emergency report.

"Oh no, it seems that the Empress Dowager's condition is not good." After putting down the urgent report in his hand, Li Yuntian frowned and said to Ma Yu who was sitting on the side.

In Li Yuntian's opinion, the only thing that Da Ming can alarm him now and make him return to Beijing immediately is the illness of the Empress Dowager Zhang.

Although the doctors of the Tai Hospital tried their best, the condition of the Empress Dowager Zhang was getting worse day by day, after all, she was now an old man over sixty years old, and she was in her last years.

"Lord Wang, when are we leaving?" Ma Yu took the urgent report and glanced at it, and asked anxiously, the Empress Dowager Zhang can be called the pillar of the Ming Dynasty, if she has three longs and two shorts, the Ming Dynasty will definitely be turbulent, and the cabinet will bear the brunt of the blow.

"Let's go." Li Yuntian didn't think about it, and said to Ma Yu in a deep voice, now that the tax reform in various parts of Jiangnan has come to an end, there is no need for him and Ma Yu to stay here anymore, and the top priority is to rush back to the capital as soon as possible to meet the Empress Dowager Zhang.

In order to rush back to the capital as soon as possible, Li Yuntian and Ma Yu gave up taking the waterway, but rode all the way north under the escort of the guards, day and night.

At the beginning of October, Li Yuntian and Ma Yu, who were in the dust, finally arrived in the capital, and after the two entered the city, they bathed and changed their clothes, and they hurried into the Forbidden City without even having time to eat.

From Zhou Yuting, Li Yuntian knew that the condition of the Empress Dowager Zhang had suddenly deteriorated some time ago, and her current condition was very bad.

Cining Palace, inner sanctum.

The Empress Dowager Zhang lay quietly on the bed and closed her eyes to rest, and the Empress Dowager Sun and Empress Hu sat on the edge of the bed and took care of them carefully.

In addition to Empress Dowager Sun and Empress Hu, there were also several imperial doctors from the Imperial Hospital in the inner hall, who were closely following the condition of the Empress Dowager Zhang.

In the outer hall, the orthodox emperor paced back and forth uneasily, and on the side stood Zhang Fu, Yang Shiqi and Zhou Zheng and other civil and military dignitaries of the imperial court, privately whispering about the illness of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family.

"When will King Chung arrive?" Suddenly, the Orthodox Emperor stopped and asked Zhang Fu, who was closest to him, with an anxious expression.

For a long time, the orthodox emperor has been under the care and care of the Empress Dowager Zhang, but now when the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family has an accident, he panicked and seemed a little overwhelmed.

In the heart of the orthodox emperor, except for the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, Li Yuntian is the person who is most worthy of his trust and reliance, so he is now desperate to see Li Yuntian, hoping that Li Yuntian can stabilize the situation in the capital.

"Your Majesty, Jiangnan is far away from the capital, and King Zhong estimates that it will take a few days to arrive." Zhang Fu knew that Li Yuntian occupied an extremely important position in the heart of the orthodox emperor, so he bowed down and replied.

"I should have summoned King Chung back earlier." When the orthodox emperor heard this, a look of annoyance suddenly appeared on his face, and he couldn't help muttering to himself.

In fact, the orthodox emperor had long wanted to recall Li Yuntian back to the capital, but the Empress Dowager Zhang stopped him, and the Empress Dowager Zhang knew the importance of the tax reform in Jiangnan, so she didn't want to disturb Li Yuntian's official duties because of herself.

Therefore, it was not until the condition of the Empress Dowager Zhang deteriorated that the orthodox emperor asked the officials to send Li Yuntian an urgent report of 800 miles, urging Li Yuntian to return to Beijing as soon as possible.

Wang Zhen and Song Dashan bowed their heads and stood aside, Song Dashan looked serious, and Wang Zhen's eyes had a trace of irrepressible excitement and excitement.

Since the Empress Dowager Zhang beat Wang Zhen last year, Wang Zhen's life has been cautious, walking on thin ice, for fear of angering the Empress Dowager Zhang and causing a catastrophe.

Now that the Empress Dowager Zhang is seriously ill, Wang Zhen is naturally happy in his heart, he has been waiting for this day for a long time, once the Empress Dowager Zhang dies of illness, then he can use the power of the orthodox emperor to usurp power and compete for fame and fortune.

Yang Pu secretly paid attention to Wang Zhen, keenly noticed the joy in Wang Zhen's eyes, and frowned tightly, I am afraid that no one will be able to balance Wang Zhen, who is deeply favored by the orthodox emperor, in the future.

Do you want to pull Song Dashan over? Subsequently, Yang Pu's eyes fell on Song Dashan, who was like a stagnant face, Song Dashan was more favored by the orthodox emperor than Wang Zhen, but he was not as low-key as Wang Zhen to intervene in the affairs of the celebrant eunuch, how easy it was to pull him over, no matter how Song Dashan was also a eunuch, and he was also a friend of Wang Zhen.

Thinking of this, Yang Pu couldn't help but sigh secretly, the only way to do this is to wait for Li Yuntian to come back, Li Yuntian is not only a high and powerful position, but also the most respected teacher of the orthodox emperor, if Li Yuntian is in the capital, Wang Zhen must not dare to be too presumptuous.

Although the civil and military ministers in the palace are concerned about the illness of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, they have secretly calculated the aftermath of the death of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, and the power structure of the court will be redivided.

Compared with those courtiers with different thoughts, Yang Shiqi, who was standing beside Yang Pu, seemed a little lonely, and Yang Ji's charges had been ascertained by the imperial history who went to investigate thoroughly, and he reported to the court in a letter.

After investigation, Yang Ji was rampant in the township, a vicious place, and an out-and-out bully in the local area, and more than 20 people died at his hands alone, which can be described as a vicious and vicious person.

The orthodox emperor was taken aback after receiving the report, he never expected that Yang Ji's evil deeds would be so prosperous, and the civil and military officials in the court demanded that Yang Ji be severely punished, especially those officials who were impassionedly reprimanded Yang Ji in the Taihe Palace, saying that not killing was not enough to anger the people.

Due to the failure to discipline Yang Ji well, Yang Shiqi, who was full of self-blame and guilt, knelt in front of the palace to apologize to the orthodox emperor, and listened to the reproaches of the civil and military officials of the imperial court, which made the cabinet chief, who was already more than seventy, have to kneel there for most of the hour.

If it weren't for the orthodox emperor's concern for Yang Shiqi's body, he ordered someone to bring a soft futon for Yang Shiqi to kneel on, I'm afraid Yang Shiqi would have fainted on the spot.

But even if there was a futon on the ground, Yang Shiqi couldn't get up after the court meeting, it was Yang Pu and others who helped him up and let the palace guards carry him onto the carriage parked outside the palace.

After this incident, Yang Shiqi was hit hard, not only lost face but also physically and mentally exhausted, the whole person was obviously much older, and he no longer had the spirit he had before.

This also made the power structure of the DPRK and China change imperceptibly, and some civilian officials who were attached to the cabinet, especially Yang Shiqi, secretly changed their ways and took refuge in the camp of the Sixth Ministry, planning for the way out in the future.

Yang Pu is powerless about this, and it is a major rule of survival in officialdom to be red and white, and to be inflammatory, and he has no way to forcibly keep those officials who have changed their courts, so he can only find a way to maintain the status quo and appease the civil officials in the cabinet camp.

As for the Xungui group, on the surface it is a harmonious group, but in fact, in order to fight for control of the reorganized guard army in the north, there is a fierce struggle between the founding nobles and the Jing Nan nobles, and even between the Jing Nan honors and the Jing Nan honors, and they all want to control the power of the new guard army.

It is conceivable that with the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang, the infighting of the Xungui group will become more intense, which is related to the vital interests of those nobles and is an irreconcilable contradiction.

Compared with the Inner Court, the Civil Bureaucratic Group, and the Xungui Group, the officials of the Jiangwutang family were the least affected by the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang.

First, the territory of Wutang is not in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and there is no conflict of interest with the inner court, the civil official group and the Xungui group, and secondly, the officials of the Wutang family who are in charge of Li Yuntian get along well with each other, and there will be no entanglement of interests because of the accident of the Empress Dowager Zhang.

Moreover, there is a complete and systematic system for the promotion and promotion of military attachés in the Jiangwutang, which makes it difficult for the nobles of the Jiangwutang family to interfere in personnel appointments.