Fan Xian walked out of the East Palace, turning back to personally close the two heavy palace doors. He glanced at the dense crowd surrounding the East Palace and remained calm, though his heart churned with an unknown emotion. After composing himself slightly, he beckoned to Eunuch Yao, who stood at the front of the crowd.

Eunuch Yao had spent the difficult times on Great Dong Mountain with the Emperor. After Grandfather Hong sacrificed himself for the country, Yao naturally became the number one figure in the Qing Kingdom's inner court. However, Fan Xian still waved casually as usual.

Eunuch Yao hunched over and respectfully stepped forward to receive orders. From this display, no one doubted that Fan Xian would possess supreme power in the future.

Fan Xian whispered something into Eunuch Yao's ear. Eunuch Yao's face showed slight doubt, but he dared not question Fan Xian's orders. Unable to seek instructions from the Emperor within the East Palace, he pondered for a while and led the group outside the East Palace to retreat to the periphery, maintaining a long distance from the East Palace.

Fan Xian also walked with them to the side of the small forest in the palace, watching the quiet East Palace from afar, guessing what the Emperor and the Crown Prince were saying. He had the people from the palace retreat further away for safety reasons. He didn't know if the Emperor, once enraged, would say things that he would never want anyone to know.

This was even more for his own consideration, because only a few people in the world knew the true reason why the Emperor was determined to depose the Crown Prince, and this matter was entirely of his own making. The Emperor knew his cultivation level. If he stayed outside the East Palace and heard the private matters of the palace, no one would be happy.

Fan Xian licked his dry lips and looked at the East Palace with worry. He thought that Chengqian was gentle on the outside but firm on the inside, and feared that he would eventually follow the same path as the Second Prince. After careful consideration, he realized that he was indeed a complex person. He had forced the Crown Prince into a dead end, but... who could have imagined that the situation would develop like this? What he and Chen Pingping had secretly done, seemingly to drive wolves to ward off tigers, unexpectedly stirred up a real dragon in the world.

Over the years, everyone around the Emperor had been passively or actively standing against him. Chen Pingping and Fan Xian had finally succeeded in turning the Emperor into a lone wolf. However, even as a lone wolf, he was still the most powerful person in the world. Once he unleashed his power, he would swallow the sun and the moon, making Fan Xian feel chilled and fearful.

……

……

The situation in the East Palace was different from Fan Xian's guess. The Emperor and the Crown Prince did not fall into some kind of hysterical family drama after the first few words. In the real imperial family, there would never be excited people like Ma Jingtao, only indifference, depression, calmness, and ruthlessness.

The Emperor sat comfortably on the stone steps, his legs wide apart, looking at the gate of the East Palace, thinking about many years ago when he was waiting outside the palace gate for the good news of the Empress giving birth. The palace was full of joy that day, and the Empress Dowager was exceptionally happy, but in addition to joy, his mood was also a bit solemn.

It wasn't until the woman outside the palace who was also pregnant sent a letter that he became happy. He knew that the other party was indeed not an ordinary woman in the world, and did not care about the dragon throne at all, nor did she ever think of seeking the seemingly tempting imperial position for the child in her womb.

It was this attitude that made the Emperor feel a little unhappy. Twenty years had passed, and this unhappiness had long become a forgotten emotion. Only occasionally, when he looked at the woman in the yellow shirt in the painting in the small building of the harem, he couldn't help but complain, "Anzhi is your child, isn't he also my child?"

Twenty years had passed, and the child who was destined to be the successor to the Qing Kingdom's throne since birth had grown up. At this moment, he was sitting beside him, with long hair smoothly draped behind him, and only calmness and acceptance in his eyes.

And the child in the womb of the woman outside the palace was now outside the East Palace, not knowing which corner he was standing in, watching the movements of the East Palace.

The Emperor subconsciously picked up the teacup that the Crown Prince had drunk from the clean table in front of the steps and took a sip, but he did not know if it was hot or cold.

"My Great Qing is, after all, only recently established." For some reason, the Emperor chose to start here, slowly saying, "Although Northern Qi has only two generations, it inherited the legacy of the Great Wei Dynasty and is much more stable internally. More than ten years ago, the Emperor of Northern Qi died suddenly, the Empress was young, and the crown prince was young. If it were in my Great Qing, I am afraid that the coup would have succeeded... Even Ku He's intervention would not have worked."

Li Chengqian's gaze fell on the hand of his father holding the teacup.

"The reason for this is that my Great Qing was originally a country won from the battlefield. The military power is strong, and it is accustomed to reasoning with swords and sabers. Etiquette and imperial power are not very convincing." The Emperor's gaze was a little indifferent. "Therefore, to be the monarch of my Great Qing, it is not enough to be simply benevolent. You must have iron-blooded means and a tenacious heart."

He turned his head and looked at his son, saying, "You have grown up in the palace since you were young. When you were only eight years old, you had a reputation for benevolence..." At this point, the corner of the Emperor's lips revealed a hint of ridicule, "It was just helping a few injured rabbits wrap their feet. Those servants flattered the Empress Dowager, saying that you would definitely be a benevolent ruler in the future."

"Simple benevolence is cowardice, and my Great Qing will surely unify the world. There will be constant disputes in the world for fifty years, and the old royal families everywhere will definitely not be convinced. Half a century, but to lay the foundation for ten thousand years... I only have time to conquer this country, but it is up to you to defend it." The Emperor retracted his gaze and said, "A benevolent ruler, a cowardly ruler, how can he defend this vast country?"

Li Chengqian glanced at his father, a self-deprecating smile on his lips. Only then did he understand that his father had already been thinking about things decades later more than a decade ago. He had the confidence to unify the world, but he had to think about how the country would continue after a hundred years.

"So I brought Chengze out to compete with you." The Emperor closed his eyes and said slowly, "Looking back now, you two were still young at that time, and I seemed to be a little too hasty."

Li Chengqian still did not open his mouth to respond.

"I also wanted to see if Chengze was promising, but... in just one year, I saw that his mind was too hypocritical. As an emperor, one should have an awe-inspiring aura, but he... does not have it." The Emperor still closed his eyes, as if recounting a distant story, "So I strengthened my idea of passing the country to you, but in those years, your performance was really disappointing, lingering in brothels, singing and dancing every night, making your body look like it was not human."

Li Chengqian smiled self-deprecatingly and finally spoke slowly: "Father, I was only fourteen or fifteen years old at that time, and I was just beginning to understand human affairs. I thought you wanted to depose me, so I was frightened every night and had to find some feeling in the pile of rouge and powder."

Somewhat surprisingly, the Emperor did not get angry when he heard these words, but smiled and said, "Chengze is too restless, but he is smart and finally saw clearly what I was really thinking in my heart, but he has already come out, so he has to continue to go on. In this regard, your second brother can be regarded as deeply understanding my heart."

"A knife may be broken if it is sharpened, but if it is not sharpened, it will never be sharp." The Emperor opened his eyes and looked at his son calmly, saying, "The Second Prince did not sharpen you, but instead dulled you. It just so happened that Anzhi entered Kyoto..."

Li Chengqian laughed, thinking of the scene when he first saw Fan Xian outside the villa. At that time, as the Crown Prince, he had never taken this son of the Vice Minister seriously. Who knew that this son of the Vice Minister would eventually become his brother and become the hardest whetstone in the tempering of the inheritance of imperial power.

"You have made great progress in the past two years." The Emperor sighed and said slowly, "I don't know if it is because you have reached maturity or because Yun Rui has taught you many things. The court and the public have recognized your identity as the Crown Prince, and your performance has satisfied me very much."

Hearing the words "Yun Rui," the corner of Li Chengqian's lips twitched slightly, and then he opened his mind, smiled with great courage, and said, "You let me follow my aunt to learn politics, so naturally there will be some effect."

The Emperor was not angry, but said lightly, "The so-called politics, it is good to have the two Grand Secretaries Shu and Hu teach you. In fact, you also know that what I let you learn from Yun Rui is the art of scheming. Looking around the world, you can't find a few better teachers than Yun Rui."

"How good it would be if it continued like this." The Emperor said softly, "There are still many things that cannot be learned. When I get old, you should have seen many things, and the final imperial art should also be pure. At that time, I will be relieved to pass this country to you."

Li Chengqian's mood was a little strange. Although he had been the Crown Prince since he was young, his father had always been strict with him and lacked warmth, so he had developed his cowardly nature. Although his temperament had changed a lot in the past two years, sitting with his father like this and talking to each other... seemed to be the first time.

"Anzhi told me about the situation in Kyoto." The Emperor said gently, "Your performance is good, and your performance in the rebellion is very appropriate, but there are a few problems."

Li Chengqian, for the last time as the Crown Prince, knelt beside the Emperor and humbly asked for advice.

"The struggle for the supreme power in the world does not need any warmth, nor does it need any scruples. When He Zongwei led the imperial censors to resist the order in court, you should have killed him on the spot with a staff."

The Emperor's gaze was extremely cold: "Anzhi persuaded the civil servants in the court to compete with you at the enthronement ceremony, you should have killed them."

He looked at his son, as if teaching him for the last time, and said, "As long as someone is in the way, just kill them. In this regard, you are not as good as Anzhi."

The Emperor continued, "The two Grand Secretaries of the Chancellery and the Department of the Interior, as well as those civil servants, you only imprison them without killing them, what effect can this have? This is the biggest mistake you made in the Kyoto incident... If Yun Rui had handled this matter personally, instead of you and the Empress Dowager discussing it, perhaps Kyoto would have been stable long ago, the court would have been blood-washed, and Fan Xian would not have been able to drag on until the time to launch it."

Li Chengqian smiled bitterly to himself, sighed a long sigh, and looked at his father softly, "Father, do you know why I couldn't bear to kill those ministers?"

Without waiting for the Emperor to speak, Li Chengqian said quietly, "Perhaps you have forgotten that at the beginning when you intended to abolish the crown prince... it was these old ministers who bravely stood up, opposed your decree, and stood behind me to support me... I may not be a very powerful person, but I am a person who knows how to repay kindness. Although the two Grand Secretaries Hu and Shu supported me for the sake of the country, I am... I really can't bear to kill them."

The Emperor was silent, not knowing what he was thinking about. After a long while, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, "When I decided to abolish you, there were still people trying to save you."

Li Chengqian was startled, and then a scene appeared in his mind, the green banner that had been faintly following the delegation on the way to Southern Zhao, and said in surprise, "Fan Xian?"

He knew that Wang Shisanlang was Fan Xian's man, but he had never understood why Fan Xian did this. It was not until the Emperor pointed it out at this time that he could not help but feel infinitely complex emotions in his heart. He did not know that the private affairs between himself and the Eldest Princess were exposed by Fan Xian. He repeatedly savored it in his heart, and when he thought of Fan Xian preparing to help him escape from the palace at the beginning of the failure, he could not help but be stunned for a while.

The Emperor squinted his eyes and said, "Anzhi is a real person, like you, and occasionally has a true temperament."

"I am not as good as him." After a long silence, the Crown Prince sighed, and then he stood up, kowtowed to the Emperor extremely seriously, and said solemnly, "Father, I have always had resentment towards you in my heart. Today, I can listen to your instructions, and my heart is much better... But I have one sentence before I leave... Enough people in the family have died, and I hope that my father will be more benevolent to those who are still alive in the future."

Benevolence naturally meant that the Emperor's previous methods were too harsh. The Emperor's face suddenly became cold, but when he heard the words "before I leave," for some reason, the Emperor did not get angry. Instead, he looked at Li Chengqian with an extremely complicated look and slowly said, "I promise you."

A gust of early autumn night wind poured in from the north of the imperial city, whistling along the palace's corridors, gardens, and quiet waters, adding a bit of sorrow.

"Live, I... can pretend that some things never happened." The Emperor opened his mouth and said something that Li Chengqian was extremely surprised to hear.

A trace of bitter laughter appeared on Li Chengqian's face. He knew what kind of person his father was. The Emperor valued the heart first and foremost. Since he had betrayed once, he would never be able to gain the other party's trust again. What's more, the matter between himself and his aunt had already struck the other party's sore spot. Although no one knew why this was a sore spot.

Life imprisonment was something Li Chengqian would not accept. As a man of the Li family, he always had the courage to kill himself. His eyes calmed down, and he looked at the Emperor and said softly, "What's the point of saying such things now?"

"I asked before, what exactly will history record this passage?"

"Now we are rebellious and treacherous subjects, and everyone can punish us. We collude with foreign enemies and defile the palace... You are a brilliant and dazzling generation of monarchs. You have done nothing wrong, and all the wrongs are other people's."

The Emperor's face had returned to calm, quietly listening to Li Chengqian's words, which were indifferent in tone but deeply piercing to the bone.

"But you seem to have forgotten one thing, no matter how history smears it, you must always remember how many people died in Kyoto in the early autumn of the seventh year of Qingli, how the Li family lost a grandmother, lost an empress, lost an Eldest Princess, lost a Crown Prince, and a Prince."

Li Chengqian sighed and looked at his invincible father for the first time with a look of equality, even superiority, and said, "You will be the eternal emperor in history, and your side will be so clean, so clean that there is not a single person. Won't you be lonely?"

The Emperor looked at him indifferently, without saying anything, with a slight smile on his lips, as if to indicate that a deity above the nine heavens would not care about the loneliness on the top of the clouds and the bustle in the world.

Then he stood up and walked out of the gate of the East Palace. At the palace gate, his heart moved slightly, and he took out a letter from his sleeve. This letter was the Second Prince's suicide note, which was previously handed to him by Gong Dian.

The Emperor took out the thin letter paper to see what his second son wanted to tell him at the time of his death.

There were two lines of extremely scribbled characters on the letter paper, with withered ink, showing that it was made in a hurry, but the turns were powerful, like a sword piercing straight into the back of the paper, full of anger and unwillingness.

The first whetstone that Emperor Qing threw into the court, the Third Prince Li Chengze, shouted to his high-ranking father in his last suicide note, with a similar meaning to the Crown Prince, but the words were even more piercing and sharper, especially the last four words.

"Widower! Orphan! Alone! Solitary!"

Old and without a wife is called a widower, to reign over the world without anyone close is called an orphan, to survive alone after losing a mother is called being alone, old and without children... is called solitary!

From Great Dong Mountain to the Kyoto battle, the Qing Emperor broke two great grandmasters in the world one after another, lured out and eliminated the unstable factors in the imperial family and the army, and picked out the treacherous thieves in the court, laying the foundation for the great cause of unifying the world in the future. This grand scheme that had been woven for decades became a reality in one fell swoop, which was undoubtedly the most glorious moment in the Qing Emperor's life.

However, the Empress died, that woman from that time had long since died, the Empress Dowager died, the Eldest Princess who had accompanied the Emperor for twenty years and had devoted her youth to him also died, the Crown Prince died, and the Second Prince died. Everyone was dead.

Only the Emperor was left alone, a lone wolf.

The Qing Emperor looked at the letter indifferently, his fingers trembling slightly. The letter paper turned into a pile of white powder, which slipped from his fingers and was blown away by the autumn wind at the gate of the East Palace, like a bleak snow.

A trace of hidden pain flashed in his eyes, and his brows were furrowed extremely tightly. The words of his two sons before their deaths deeply pierced the heart of this monarch. The white hair on the temples of the middle-aged man became deeper and deeper, his eyes gradually dimmed, and there seemed to be a trace of moisture in the corners of his eyes, but his body was still so straight and strong.

……

……

The gate of the East Palace was closed tightly again. No one knew what happened inside, but everyone knew that the last days of the deposed Crown Prince Li Chengqian would inevitably be spent in this deserted palace. It was just that he did not know when the bells of the palace would ring again, or would not bother to ring, but would coldly and ruthlessly watch his death.

The Emperor dismissed all the servants, leaving only Fan Xian to accompany him, and silently walked towards the depths of the harem at night, passing through Chen Corridor, passing through the Cold Palace, passing through those overgrown weeds, and came to the front of the small building that no one had visited for a long time.

The father and son did not go up the building, nor did they look at the portrait in the building. The Emperor just silently looked at the small building a few times, and then resolutely turned around and walked away, along the path of autumn grass, to a place where no one was.

Fan Xian silently followed three steps behind him, his heart was heavy, without any pretense, it was truly heavy. Vaguely, he could guess the Emperor's mood at this time. So many relatives had died one after another, although these relatives were enemies he had to eliminate... but no one could get rid of the feelings of blood.

The Emperor was like a god, but he was still a mortal. Only the Supreme Being could forget emotions, but if he was really a Supreme Being, why bother struggling and striving in this world?

The continuous deaths made Fan Xian's mood depressed, not to mention the Emperor. No matter what, this middle-aged man with a somewhat tired face was ultimately a father, an elder brother, a husband, and a son.

The two stood in the knee-deep weeds, maintaining a tacit silence, looking at the quiet palace at night. The Emperor did not open his mouth to speak, and Fan Xian naturally dared not speak, but carefully paid attention to the expression on his side.

The Emperor was silent for a long time and still did not open his mouth. He had a lot of things to say to people at this time, but Fan Xian was only his son.

"Let's go back to the palace."

"Yes."

Fan Xian responded, his face heavy. The Emperor happened to see this expression, and his heart became slightly dark. His feelings for this son became better and better, coupled with what the Crown Prince had said before, which could not help but make the Emperor fall into deep thought again.

After thinking for only a moment, the Emperor waved his hand weakly and said, "If you are still feeling unwell, come to the palace to ask me."

Fan Xian was shocked and knew what this sentence meant. Just as he was about to say something, he found that the Emperor had turned and left.

……

……

Returning to the imperial study, after eating some supper, the Emperor was a little tired. Fan Xian wanted to leave the palace, but was stopped by the Emperor, as if he needed someone to accompany him very much at this time.

After a while, Eunuch Yao came in and said something softly. The Emperor nodded and let Fan Xian go back to his residence to rest and come to the palace tomorrow to discuss matters. Fan Xian obeyed the order and left, but on the corridor outside the imperial study, he heard an extremely familiar sound, which was the sound of a wheelchair rolling on the ground.

He knew that the Emperor was watching him from behind. In the dim light of the imperial study, he showed a gentle expression, bowed deeply to the old man in the wheelchair, and said, "You've come."

Chen Pingping had finally returned to Kyoto, returned to the palace, and returned to the Emperor's side, just when the Emperor was most lonely and needed someone.

The imperial study was silent. The Emperor looked at his most loyal subject, his most confidant friend, his most reliable comrade-in-arms, closed his eyes, and said, "I... forced these sons too hard."

……

……

(Writing these chapters is really tiring on the brain and emotions. I still didn't let the Emperor shed tears in the end. Crocodile tears can't move people, and sometimes they are just a kind of self-pity and self-comfort. But I really admire people like Emperor Qing. In a sense, he and Ye Qingmei are both idealists, but idealists don't necessarily bring ideal results to the world...

I am a mercenary person, so I only respect such people from a distance. Therefore, I am seriously asking for monthly votes to strive for the top three, because there is a bonus of six thousand yuan.)