With the fall of Hebei and successive defeats, the Liang Kingdom had not heard good news for a long time.

When the country was in a state of depression, "good news" first came from Jinling City. One of Emperor Liu Xuan's concubines gave birth to a prince.

This concubine was born as a daughter of the Xiao family and was named a virtuous concubine. Now she finally gave birth to a prince, but Liu Xuan was so excited that he vomited half a basin of blood and fainted. Qin Zhong and Qin Gouer quickly took the imperial doctor to treat her for several days.

Liu Xuan rescued him.

Qin Zhong held the little prince in his arms and showed it to Liu Xuan: "Your Majesty, you have a prince. Concubine De has given birth to a dragon seed!"

Liu Xuan looked at Qin Zhong in surprise. Qin Zhong winked at Qin Gou'er, and Qin Gou'er also came forward: "Your Majesty, this is indeed a dragon species. Congratulations, Your Majesty."

Liu Xuan was about to speak but stopped. Qin Zhong and Qin Gouer screened away the other eunuchs and guards, closed the door and knelt down next to Liu Xuan.

Qin Zhong burst into tears: "Your Majesty, I deserve to die. You must be on guard. I didn't expect something went wrong in the harem. Now you are in disgrace. Your Majesty's reputation in the next life will be ruined. If you recognize the identity of this prince, Jiangshan will change his surname."

Qin Gou'er looked at the sleeping baby and gritted his teeth: "Let me bear the sin. I am willing to take the blame for Ling Chi's murder of the prince!"

Liu Xuan sighed: "Forget it, this child is innocent. If God's will does not destroy me, Liu Jian will definitely be able to overcome the troubles in the future. If God does not destroy me, no matter how many people are killed, it will be in vain."

Qin Zhong rolled his eyes and said: "They can steal and replace others, and your Majesty can also imitate the story of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty!"

Liu Xuan had read history books and naturally understood what Qin Zhong meant. He looked at the baby and said, "Very good!"

On the first day of February in the third year of Yanchang, Zhong Zhiming led his troops back to Jinling. A few days later, a nursery rhyme spread in Jinling city: "The big dragon is defeated, the old dragon is sick, the world is at peace, and the little dragon is sitting in the court."

By the eighth day of February, Zhong Zhiming's troops had taken over the defense of Jinling City, leaving only the palace guarded by yellow-clad inner guards.

On the tenth day of the second lunar month, all the ministers sent congratulations one after another, asking Emperor Liu Xuan to appoint a crown prince instead. Liu Xuan coughed and refuted the ministers, but at this time, with Zhong Zhiming's army to rely on, the aristocratic family became unscrupulous.

Xiao Shan first rebuked the emperor for not distinguishing between relatives and for not following the ancestral system. Later, he bluntly said that the emperor was approaching the end of his life and must be crowned heir apparent as soon as possible.

Yuan Kang, Xiao Ding, Xie Rui and others also quoted scriptures to force Liu Xuan.

Liu Xuan knew that they had been planning this for a long time, so he sneered twice: "Very good, I really don't have much time. Just like the story of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, someone comes and brings Concubine Xiao De!"

Qin Zhong and Qin Gouer led several internal prisoners to drag the disheveled Concubine Xiao De into the main hall. Concubine Xiao De looked at Xiao Shan and shouted for help.

Xiao Shan also knew what was going on, so he wanted to save Xiao De Concubine: "Your Majesty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty killed his mother by having a son, and was criticized verbally and written by descendants. Why should your Majesty bear this infamy? Today's ministers are shattered to pieces, and I cannot let your Majesty do such a thing.

Cruel thing." After saying that, he and several ministers went to pull Concubine Xiao De over.

Liu Xuan didn't know when he had already opened his bow and nocked an arrow in his hand. He let go of his right hand and hit Concubine Xiao De with an arrow. Concubine Xiao De fell to the ground struggling and crying.

The ministers were in an uproar, and Xiao Shan even accused Liu Xuan of being the king of Jie and Zhou.

Liu Xuan laughed wildly: "The king of Jie and Zhou must have Fei Zhongshen, Gongbao and other treacherous ministers in the court. I will be responsible for the sins I have done, and the sins you have done will also be repaid in the future!"

Xiao Shan calmed down his emotions and continued to press Liu Xuan: "Since your Majesty has killed Concubine Xiao De, you must make Long'er, the son of Concubine Xiao De, the crown prince. Only in this way can the people of the world be stabilized!"

Liu Xuan waved his hand and said: "If I change the throne, I will obey you. Liu Jian will still be the King of Han. You have drafted the proclamation. I will ask Qin Zhong to stamp it with the jade seal! Retreat from the court."

Xiaoshan Xiao Ding, Xie Rui, Yuan Kang, Liu Qian and others shouted long live and left the palace gate proudly.

Li Xiaofei heard two pieces of news on the same day, one was that Liu Jian was deposed as the crown prince, and the other was that he had become a father. Hong Rui also gave birth to a girl, named Li Youran, and wrote a letter to Li Xiaofei. The letter was brought to Chang'an.

Li Xiaofei held the letter while walking and jumping, shouting to everyone he met: "I'm a father."

Everyone was smiling and congratulating each other. Li Xiaofei saw so many people that he got so excited that he shouted: "I am your father" and was almost beaten.

Li Xiaofei held the letter and went to Murong Ling to announce the good news. Murong Ling was also very happy: "Very good, if you give birth to a daughter, my Xuejiao's son will marry your daughter in the future. Not bad, not bad!"

Only then did Li Xiaofei react and punched Murong Ling: "Murong, you are very bad. I have worked hard here for the rest of my life and it belongs to you in the end."

Murong Ling laughed evilly: "You fool can't keep it anyway. Your property belongs to me, and I will buy you a coffin in the future. Isn't this good?"

The two had a fight and found a remote place to drink.

The two of them were drinking when two girls ran towards them on the roadside. Their eye sockets were sunken, and it looked like they hadn't eaten for a long time.

Li Xiaofei took out all the Hu cakes he had brought and gave them to them. Murong Ling also gave a large piece of meat that he brought from Wang Xian's mansion. The two children held the cakes and meat and refused to leave, continuing to stare blankly. holding their wine bottles.

Li Xiaofei looked at the wine bottle: "Do you want to drink?"

The taller girl timidly said: "My mother gave birth to a younger brother for us. We want to find some wine for my father."

Murong Ling took the wine bottle and handed it to them: "Take them all, let's go and feel happy too."

Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling followed the two girls to a straw hut. The man was sharpening a knife, and the woman was lying on the bed holding a few-day-old baby. There were several pieces of straw woven clothes piled in the hut, and a few piles in the corner. A pork bone and a small bowl of corn.

The two girls waved the things in their hands: "Father, mother, we met two kind-hearted uncles who gave us a lot of food, please eat quickly."

The male host looked at the visitor, put down the knife, smiled shyly, and thanked the two of them profusely.

Murong Ling noticed the knife, which was extremely smooth and sharp. Murong Ling patted the male host on the shoulder: "Come out with us for a moment."

The male host hesitated a little, but Murong Ling's hand had already clasped his wrist and walked outside.

When Li Xiaofei saw the two of them going out, he also walked over and passed through several empty rooms. Murong Ling stared at the male host: "Which child are you sharpening the knife to kill?"

The male host quickly knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "My daughter-in-law has just given birth to a son, and the only food in the family has been requisitioned by the court as military rations. The whole family cannot starve to death. There is nothing I can do."

Li Xiaofei then realized: "You, you actually want to kill your two daughters and eat them. Are you still a human being?"

The man kowtowed like a fool: "Sooner or later, my daughter will belong to someone else's family. I have to let my son live. Please forgive me, sir. I just sold them and didn't kill them."

Murong Ling pulled out a long knife: "A person like you who wants to harm his own daughter is not worthy of being a father!"

Li Xiaofei stood in front of the man: "Murong, I believe that if he had not been desperate, he would not have done something worse than a beast. If we kill him today, his wife and children will also die. If we kill him, it seems that we It’s justice, but the result will still be that his family will starve to death.”

Murong put away the knife: "Forget it, I'll take your two girls away. I'll give you five thousand zhi. You can take your wife and children and escape south for a while. I don't want to see you again."

On the way back with the two girls, Li Xiaofei asked Murong Ling: "Murong, I don't see that you are quite caring. Aren't you the most afraid of trouble?"

Murong Ling looked at the two sobbing girls in front of her: "I'm in a good mood today, and these two children are so pleasing to the eye!"

Li Xiaofei originally wanted to go back to Luoyang with Murong Ling to see Liu Jian, but he was afraid that leaving his post without authorization would cause trouble to Liu Jian, so he wrote a letter together and asked someone to take the letter and the two girls to Luoyang.

Liu Jian was dethroned as the crown prince, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Wang Xian was so angry in Chang'an that he withdrew Wang Daozhi. Now no one was monitoring Liu Jian. Liu Jian and Xiang Xiaoyu combined their efforts and decided to take over the palace.

The guards continued to train to prepare for any eventuality. Princess Xiao Qian's belly was getting bigger day by day, and she was thinking about giving her child a royal name in the future. Now Liu Jian's position as prince was gone, and Xiao Qian also stopped.

However, Liu Jian spent the whole day happily trying to persuade Xiao Qian: "Being an emperor is not comfortable or safe. How can I be a happy prince? If I become an emperor, your father and your uncles will

If I control the imperial court, I will definitely give them a white knife to go in and a red knife to go out, so why bother?"

Xiao Qian thought about it carefully, and it was true that no emperor could satisfy all the Xiao family's requirements. The Xiao family would always put the interests of the Xiao family first, not the interests of the country.

Zhu Yaoshi got a lot of money from selling his official position, and selected 6,000 soldiers and horses who were loyal to him, so he summoned craftsmen to build a large ship in Liyang. Everyone thought that Zhu Yaoshi was going to cross south, and Hu Gao was also very happy.

With Zhu Yaoshi as cannon fodder to contain Liang Jun, the Black Flag Khanate can progress more smoothly in the Central Plains. Chen Hongyi was also very happy. With Zhu Yaoshi acting like this, Jinling had to send people to resist.

Xiaoshan saw that Emperor Liu Xuan had changed his position to crown prince. In order to prevent Zhong Zhiming from being bribed by Liu Xuan, he asked Zhong Zhiming to lead the army to prevent Zhu Yaoshi from going south.

Zhong Zhiming discussed with his staff and believed that Pharmacist Zhu was just a greedy person and could be bribed, so they jointly decided to recruit Pharmacist An Zhu.

Zhu Yaoshi actually had no intention of going south. More than 6,000 people had no chance of winning against Zhong Zhiming and nearly 100,000 people from various states and counties. He rushed to build a large ship in order to take the sea route to Goryeo and trade with the south. After all, the north

When the war broke out, trade with the south was cut off. The purpose of taking the sea route to Goryeo was to open up trade routes and to contain the Black Banner Khanate with the help of Goryeo reinforcements.

After sending a shipload of goods to the Golden Turtle King, the leader of Goryeo, Zhu Yaoshi met the Golden Turtle King. The Golden Turtle King had great ambitions and wanted to conquer the world. Zhu Yaoshi expressed his willingness to serve the Golden Turtle King and lent Goryeo 10,000 soldiers and horses.

All the territory that will be acquired in the future will belong to Goryeo. The Golden Turtle King agreed immediately, but the ministers around him advised him not to trust Zhu Yaoshi. The matter was delayed for some time. After Zhu Yaoshi knew the whole story, he sent gifts to the ministers of Goryeo, and it turned out to be a success.

In April of the third year of Yanchang, Zhu Yaoshi led 10,000 Korean soldiers and horses to Liyang, and rewarded them with wine, meat, and money every day. The Korean soldiers and horses were very happy.
Chapter completed!