Sima Lan drank the imperial poisonous wine, and this force was headless. Moreover, Sima Lan's biggest weakness during his lifetime was that he did not control the military power. In this situation, the money fell and scattered.

Longtai did not set off to return to Beijing immediately. The ministers who accompanied him had already presented the memorials to the emperor before dusk. Hundreds of memorials naturally criticized Sima Lan for harming the country and the people, and all the ministers also asked the emperor to confiscate Sima's family and destroy the ancestors.

Longtai personally said that he would only punish the evil people and promote Qu Yanzhi as the commander of the Black Sword Camp. His attitude was naturally understood by the ministers, and no one asked to investigate the Sima clan's followers in the memorial.

Pinglin Qiushou was originally a bureau for Longtai to eliminate Sima Lan. After the memorials were submitted, it seemed that Longtai followed the will of the people and eliminated the treacherous ministers of Chu.

Sima Lan was eradicated, so Longtai naturally would not continue to stay in Pinglin to hunt. The next morning, the emperor set off for Beijing.

Along the way, Qi Ning clearly felt that the attitude of the ministers towards him had changed a lot. As his eyes passed, any ministers who were in contact with him immediately showed respect and looked very humble.

Qi Ning naturally knew it well.

Previously, the Sima family was extremely powerful, and almost no one in the court dared to offend him. Many ministers knew that the Sima family would sooner or later take over the Jinyi family, and the power of the two sides was very different. The Jinyi family could never be the opponent of the Sima family. Therefore, in the eyes of many ministers, the collapse of the Jinyi family was sooner or later.

Now that Sima Lan has collapsed, Qi Ning has always been a close minister of Longtai. From now on, Jinyi's family's status in the court is naturally very different.

Although Longtai said that he would only kill the evildoers and would not continue to investigate the Sima clan's followers, no one could guarantee that the emperor would really stop. Qi Ning, who was promoted to Duke of the State, would naturally have a considerable influence on the emperor in the future. The ministers knew this very well, and it was reasonable to show respect to Qi Ning now.

The team returning to Beijing was very fast, much faster than when they came to Pinglin before. Seeing that they had seen the outline of the distant capital, the cavalry at the front of the team saw several cavalry coming towards each other.

Several cavalrymen immediately drew their swords to meet them, forming a row, and one of them had already said in a deep voice: "Stop!"

The riders quickly stopped the horse and all turned over and got off the horse. One of them rushed over quickly, but the other people were all bowing to the ground.

The team suddenly stopped, and the ministers were a little surprised. Qi Ning rode on the horse and followed Longtai. Soon, a cavalry rushed over, but he was holding a letter in his hand and presented it to Longtai. Longtai took the letter and quickly opened it to see. Although Qi Ning was behind Longtai, what was written on the letter was naturally impossible at this time. Suddenly, Longtai's body shook and held the letter in his palm. Qi Ning vaguely saw Longtai's hand trembling.

He frowned, thinking that although the emperor was not old, he was a calm person. After reading the letter, his uneasy thoughts were revealed. He couldn't help but shake the reins of the horse, approached and asked in a low voice: "Master, is there any change in the capital?"

Longtai turned his head and looked at Qi Ning, with an extremely serious expression, and handed the letter in his hand to Qi Ning.

The ministers followed the team, and most of them knew only what happened suddenly. But they knew nothing. The ministers near Longtai saw that someone was sending a letter, and when they saw Longtai read the letter, they seemed to be something wrong, but their hearts were sinking, thinking to myself, thinking that it was when the emperor left the capital, something big happened in the capital?

Qi Ning just glanced at him and understood why Longtai had such a reaction.

The letter only brings a simple message.

Duke Dan Taihuang of Yiguo passed away!

Since Emperor Taizu, Dan Taihuang, who has been conquering the world for the Great Chu Empire, passed away at dawn.

Qi Ning met Dan Tai Huang for the last time a few days ago, and knew that Dan Tai Huang had not had much time, but he didn't want to leave so quickly.

"Return to Beijing!" Longtai tried his best to calm himself down, shook the reins of the horse, and the team continued to move forward.

Qi Ning was also feeling a little sad.

The four hereditary old marquis of the empire, the old marquis of Jinyi and the old marquis of Wuxiang have long passed away. Sima Lan was sentenced to death by the emperor, and now Dan Tai Huang has passed away. None of the four founding heroes who had made great achievements at that time survived.

With the passing of Qi Jing, the only famous general in the Chu State was Dan Tai Huang. Now that Dan Tai Huang is gone, looking at the Great Chu dynasty, there is no more general who is terrified. Although Yue Huanshan commanded the Qinhuai Legion, the Northern Han people may not be afraid of Yue Huanshan.

Qi Ning suddenly thought that Dan Tai Huang said last time that if Beitangqing, the Marquis of Changling in the Northern Han, had really passed away, then the State of Chu would have the power to compete with the Northern Han. However, if the Marquis of Changling was alive and were appointed by the Northern Han in times of crisis, the State of Chu would face a terrible opponent.

Pinglin Qiushou's team entered the capital, and the ministers sent the emperor into the palace, but Longtai sent someone to pass on the message and ordered Qi Ning to wait outside the palace.

Qi Ning waited for nearly two hours, and finally waited until Fan Dehai came out to summon him.

Fan Dehai looked in a really good mood this time. When he saw Qi Ning, he immediately smiled and said, "Congratulations to Duke Guo for being promoted, Duke Guo, the emperor is waiting."

Qi Ning followed Fan Dehai into the palace. Seeing Fan Dehai's pace briskly, he smiled and said, "My father-in-law seems to be in a good mood?"

Fan Dehai smiled and said, "The Za Family had always thought that the emperor would not be a slave anymore, but today I realized that the emperor was still thinking of a slave." At this point, he sneered and lowered his voice: "Duke, the emperor handed Liu Yi to the slave to deal with it. This dog slave was trampled on inside and outside. The Za Family had someone beaten him thirty sticks. Liu Yi's dog slave could not eat and was beaten to death."

Qi Ning was stunned, but he also understood in his heart that Liu Yi had been by Longtai's side before as Sima Lan's eyeliner, so Longtai naturally could not tolerate such a slut. However, as the king of a country, there was no need to issue an order to deal with him by himself. Throwing him to Fan Dehai is equivalent to giving Liu Yi's life directly to Fan Dehai. Fan Dehai hated Liu Yi deeply, and Liu Yi was in his hands, so he naturally had no way to survive.

However, it is not a bad thing for Qi Ning to use Van der Hai again by Longtai.

Liu Yi was successful and had a bad relationship with Qi Ning. However, Fan Dehai got along quite well with Qi Ning.

Fan Dehai took Qi Ning directly to the imperial study room and retreated when he arrived in front of the door. Qi Ning thought that only Longtai was waiting in the imperial study room. When he entered the room, he suddenly found that Xiao Shaozong, the prince of the King of Huainan, was also in the imperial study room.

Qi Ning went forward to salute, and Xiao Shaozong had already smiled and said, "Congratulations to Jinyi for waiting for the title of Duke of the Kingdom."

Qi Ning immediately said, "This is the great grace of the emperor." But he was puzzled and thought that Longtai had just entered Beijing and Xiao Shaozong was here. It seemed that while he was waiting, Longtai had sent someone to summon Xiao Shaozong.

He remembered that night Xiao Shaozong sneaked into the palace from the underground passage of Maitreya Temple, but he didn't know what the prince of Huainan wanted.

Longtai signaled Qi Ning to sit down, and then said, "I am sad in my heart when Duke Yi passed away. From now on, I will rely on you to assist me in governing the Great Chu." He said, "You have made great contributions to being able to eradicate Sima Lan."

Qi Ning bowed and said, "It's all the emperor who is planning."

"It's not me who is planning." Longtai smiled slightly, looked at Xiao Shaozong, and then said, "If there was no prince, I would not be able to eliminate the treacherous and slander so smoothly."

Qi Ning was stunned and Longtai said, "Sima Lan's ambitions are getting stronger and stronger, and she wants to use the Northern Expedition to control military power. If the military power falls into his hands, he is afraid that he will usurp the throne. I will naturally eliminate him completely before the Northern Expedition."

Qi Ning nodded slightly, and Longtai said again: "I said that you are my close minister. If I were with you often, Sima Lan would naturally think that we would be cautious when we plan to deal with him. He is always cunning, and if he notices it, I will not find a chance to take action."

Xiao Shaozong nodded slightly and said, "Sima Lan is calm. Before he takes action, he must have planned comprehensively. Everything is under his control of the change in the imperial tomb."

Longtai nodded and said, "That's right, so he must not notice my plan."

Qi Ning seemed to understand and asked, "Emperor, has this been planned together with the prince and the emperor?"

Longtai nodded and said, "That's right. I grew up with the prince since I was a child. I knew that he was extremely wise and that I was not enough to deal with Sima Lan alone, so I secretly discussed countermeasures with the prince. Sima Lan only thought that when I was about to take action, I would definitely plan with you, so I stared at you. I just used you to attract Sima Lan's attention and secretly prepared with the prince."

In an instant, Qi Ning suddenly realized.

Longtai was naturally very smart, but he did not have long been the throne, and he did not participate in political affairs too much. However, this time he took action and his style of conduct was quite different from Longtai's temperament. At this time, Qi Ning finally understood that it was Xiao Shaozong who helped Longtai to provide advice behind his back.

In this way, Xiao Shaozong entered the palace from the underground secret passage, but did not have another picture, but went to the palace to discuss secretly with the emperor.

"Although I have done my best, the emperor is wise and decisive." Xiao Shaozong said: "In the change of the imperial tomb, Sima Lan exposed almost all his strength in order to defeat his father. We know the strength in his hands, so that we can know ourselves and our enemy and hit it with one blow." Speaking of this, Xiao Shaozong suddenly coughed violently, and Longtai frowned and said: "How are you in good health?" He shouted: "Come here, please pass on the imperial physician."

Xiao Shaozong waved his hand slightly, but the cough became even more intense. He took out the brocade cheetah from the sleeve and covered his mouth. After the coughing stopped, he wiped the corner of his mouth and wanted to put the brocade cheetah into the sleeve. Longtai had already stood up quickly and grabbed Xiao Shaozong's wrist. At this time, he saw that the brocade cheetah was covered with blood, and the blood was even a little black.

Longtai looked solemn and said, "I will let the imperial physician do my best to cure you."

Xiao Shaozong shook his head and smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you know very well that I am already terminally ill. I know that I am afraid I will not be able to survive this year. It is only before I die that I am satisfied that I can help the emperor eliminate treacherous slander."

"Don't say that." Longtai said: "There are many strange people in the world. I immediately issued an edict to seek medical treatment from the world."

"Emperor, when my father was alive, he spent so much money, searched for famous doctors, and found countless precious medicinal materials, but his fate was so great that he was unable to make the world come true." Xiao Shaozong looked a little pale and smiled faintly: "I have accepted my order. The emperor can now take charge of the rule and manage the country of our ancestors." Another severe cough-
Chapter completed!