Several groups of black - clothed men kept pouring over the wall outside the medicinal herb field and fought with the secret guards that Huo Wei had brought out of the palace.
Meng Tan had some scarlet bloodstains on his cheek. "Guards! Protect His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Military Advisor Shen and get them out of here!"
Outside the Prince of Yuzhang's Mansion, it seemed calm, but inside, it was already a river of blood.
Shen Guilan seemed to have been hit by a boulder in every part of his life. He stood there pale - faced, a bit dazed.
Huo Wei stood in front of him, waving his long knife. "The knives are already on our heads, and you still have the time to be sad?"
Shen Guilan seemed to have no will to struggle for survival. He was still muttering there:
"It's meaningless, really meaningless. You took the traitor as your father, and I took my father as a traitor. Our lives are really..."
Huo Wei gritted his teeth, grabbed his shoulder and flung him aside, just in time to dodge the long knife of the black - clothed man. "Shen Guilan, what time is it? Are you out of your mind?"
Shen Guilan was heart - broken. "Huo Wei, I'm so aggrieved."
Huo Wei glared at him with blood - thirsty black eyes. "Have you been possessed by a ghost?"
The snow was falling rustlingly from the sky. The snow on the ground was getting thicker and thicker, and the scarlet blood on it was shocking.
Meng Tan said, "These people had been hiding in the mansion long ago. There are a great number of them. Your subordinate wants to escort Your Highness and the military advisor out. It's not a good idea to fight head - on now. Hurry up and leave!"
In the mansion, the maids were screaming and running around in a panic. The servants were shouting in horror, "No good! No good! There are explosives. Run quickly!"
The Prince of Yuzhang's Mansion was already full of deadly traps, just waiting for Huo Wei to fall into the trap.
As long as he died, even if Shen Guilan was buried with him, no one would care.
The wind and snow swept across, covering the whole mansion in a cold and deadly atmosphere.
A team of imperial carriages passed by the front of the Prince of Yuzhang's Mansion. On it sat the clan elders of the Murong family in the Northern Yan and Prince Chen, Murong Lian, who had left the palace to practice in the Buddhist temple. They were driving towards the palace.
The clan elders of the Murong family, although they had no specific practical duties in the court, had great influence in the Northern Yan. They were the elders of the entire Murong family. Even Murong Min would show them respect.
Murong Lian had been practicing in the Buddhist temple for nearly twenty years. He came back this time after hearing that Murong Min was seriously ill.
In the Zichen Palace, Dugu Luanyue was holding a medicine bowl to feed Murong Min. There was a new wound on the back of her hand, which was scratched by Murong Min with the hairpin on her head.
Dugu Luanyue was no longer as gentle and attentive as before to coax him. Her face was cold.
"Your Majesty already knows that the situation is hopeless. Why do you vent your anger on a weak woman like me?"
Murong Min had regained some energy in the past few days. He sat up from the bed, his lips extremely pale.
"Bitch! I was just tricked by you! You and the Crown Prince really have an affair!"
The spies around Murong Min had told him that Huo Wei had been to the Fengluan Palace and had secretly taken the queen out of the death - row prison and ordered the imperial doctors to treat her carefully.
Dugu Luanyue sneered. "So what? Does Your Majesty still want to depose the Crown Prince who is already in charge of the state affairs and fully in control of the court now?"
Murong Min picked up the porcelain bowl and threw it at her. "Bitch! You deliberately imitated Lu Wanyin and dug out the pain in my heart back then, leading me to think that Huo Wei was the Crown Prince and I protected him.
At that time, I should have suspected that you had feelings for Huo Wei. I was careless, so careless!
Now that Huo Wei is in charge of the state affairs and has joined hands with the Wei family to strip me of my power, making me a nominal emperor. Next, is he going to kill the king?"
As soon as the porcelain bowl flew over, Dugu Luanyue dodged.
"Murong Min, you should be lucky that Huo Wei still orders the imperial doctors to treat you. It's because of this blood - relationship that he can't bear to do something too extreme.
If Huo Wei weren't your son, the knife would have already been on your neck."
Murong Min roared at her. "Bitch! I will write in the imperial edict that I order you to be buried alive with me. In the underworld, I will still torture you for thousands of years!"
A palace maid in the Zichen Palace reported, "Your Majesty, the clan elder and Prince Chen have arrived outside the palace."
The clan elder and Murong Lian walked in. First, they glanced at Dugu Luanyue, the queen, and then went to the dragon - bed to cry. Murong Lian sobbed, "Brother Emperor, you've suffered!"
Murong Min gasped and pointed at the imperial desk. "Go and get a writing brush for me. I'm going to add the queen to the list of those to be buried alive."
Murong Lian said, "Brother Emperor, these are all trivial matters. I'm here to tell you that Huo Wei deceived you. He is the son of Lu Wanyin and Xie Jinyang. He is not your prince at all."
The clan elder also said, "This matter is absolutely true. Your son died of illness on the way to Fuyue Temple. I even know where the coffin of that child is buried.
It's just that Your Majesty recognized your son too quickly. We didn't have time to report. Then Huo Wei suddenly became the Crown Prince."
Murong Min grabbed his robe. "What did you say?"
Dugu Luanyue narrowed her jade - like eyes. These two people clearly came to stir up trouble. People she had never seen before suddenly showed up.
The clan elder said, "Your Majesty, you must establish a legitimate heir to the throne. Huo Wei is a fake. Someone deliberately set up a trap to mix up the identities of the real and fake princes. You must see clearly!"
The clan elder ordered someone to bring in his package, which contained a very small coffin.
The wood of the coffin looked very old. It didn't seem to be newly made. There were the name and the date of birth of the child written on it, and a dagger was also left.
The clan elder handed the things over.
"Your Majesty, do you still remember the words on this dagger? It was Lu's thing.
The character of the Lu surname on the dagger had become extremely blurred after years of erosion, along with the scabbard of the dagger.
Murong Min took the things and finally realized. He roared, "Huo Wei, Huo Wei! I'm going to kill him!"
Murong Min remembered very clearly that the words on the dagger on the day when he protected Huo Wei were much newer than this one.
Although it could be made to look old, a fake was always a fake. There was a difference when compared.
Dugu Luanyue's heart tightened. Where on earth was Huo Wei? Why hadn't he shown up yet?
Murong Lian sobbed, "Brother Emperor, Huo Wei used tricks to kill your two adult princes. The Second Prince and the Third Prince are both dead. The remaining princes are only a few years old.
Now in the Northern Yan, the aristocratic families are powerful. We can't hand over the country to a child, in case the foreign relatives take power."
He looked at Dugu Luanyue with a venomous look in his eyes. "Especially the queen who came here for a marriage alliance. Maybe one day the Northern Yan will be named Dugu."
Murong Min struggled to get out of the bed. "Pass on my order to arrest Huo Wei and depose him as the Crown Prince. I'm going to pass on the throne to... to..."
He really didn't know who to pass the throne to, and he hesitated.
Huo Wei was already in power, and it seemed that he couldn't arrest him.
Murong Lian excitedly grabbed Murong Min's arm. "Brother Emperor, your elder brother has already killed Huo Wei for you.
I sent people to lead him into a deadly trap. He has drunk the poison that seals the throat upon seeing blood, and there are also the killers I sent to besiege him. Now he is lying dead in the Prince of Yuzhang's Mansion!"
Dugu Luanyue's body instantly turned cold and she stood there motionless. No wonder Huo Wei hadn't shown up for so long.
She was in a panic. She watched helplessly as Murong Min took out the Imperial Seal and was about to write the imperial edict.
Murong Lian's eyes were almost popping out. "Brother Emperor, the legitimacy of the bloodline and the inheritance of the Murong family are greater than everything!"
Dugu Luanyue walked over and pushed Murong Lian away. "Tell me, who on earth are you? Are you the mastermind behind this?"