From the western part of the capital to the Hebei Palace, it only takes two days for a thousand miles of horses to run.
But for two days like this, eating had to be done on horseback, and sleeping could not be done, running day and night without rest.
Gu Yuanbai couldn't take it.
But he was prepared to deal with all the hardships and dangers on the road, and said with Xue Yuan, "Don't worry about me."
Xue Yuan nodded and said, "I know."
When he passed through the post, Xue Yuan brought with him fresh water and dried meat, bought a thick quilt, and placed Gu Yuanbai horizontally on top of his horse, so he traveled day and night, hoofing it to the palace without stopping.
Because there were no escorts and time was running out. Xue Yuan took a little-known shortcut for safety. He traveled in circles among the official roads and paths, putting up with possible trails and crises.
At night, the cold moon hangs high.
Xue Yuan's arms around Gu Yuanbai tightened, and Gu Yuanbai fell asleep with the thick quilt resting on Xue Yuan's chest, her brows frowning uneasily and tightly.
At this point, Xue Yuan would briefly loosen Red Cloud's reins and quickly straighten out the cloak covering Gu Yuanbai's body before lowering his head, dropping a kiss with his coarse, dry lips on the brow of the person in his arms and whispering, "Sleep well."
Even if Red Cloud was a thousand-mile horse that could not be bought for a thousand dollars, it still needed to eat grass, drink water, and rest. Xue Yuan left these things for the night, and after Gu Yuanbai fell asleep, he dismounted from the horse with Gu Yuanbai in his arms, leading Red Cloud to let it have a good meal and a short nap.
Gu Yuanbai slept uneasily, occasionally struggling to wake up from his nightmares, so Xue Yuan turned his head sideways and kissed him delicately, good-naturedly lowering his voice: "It's fine, it's fine."
Gu Yuanbai survived the night and the drowsy night in this appeasement.
Hong Yun rested well during the night and then set out on the journey to the palace in the daytime in high spirits, Gu Yuanbai pursed his lips, he was well taken care of, but Xue Yuan was tired, "You lean against me and rest for a while."
Xue Yuan smiled and leaned in to take a deep breath between his neck, "Don't move, let me smell it."
That's the break.
Cold wind or dust, flying between stepping on the horse, Xue Yuan slowed the trip to three days, in the morning of the third day, thousands of miles of horses galloped to the summer palace before.
The guards of the palace were startled by the sudden arrival of His Majesty.
Gu Yuanbai, wrapped in the dust and wind, rushed towards the residence of Mrs. Wan under the support of Xue Yuan. The palace staff he met along the way were either stunned or full of grief.
When he finally arrived in front of Consort Wan's door, those clan children he had sent over to accompany Consort Wan were gathering outside the door, and I don't know which one of them was the first to see him, shouting in surprise, "Imperial Uncle is here!"
Gu Yuanbai's heart sank.
Suddenly he could not walk, from here to look into the door of the room, there is only a deep darkness. These darkness seemed to have an entity, heavy as a thousand gold, emanating a mournful meaning. Gu Yuanbai pinched his palms and told himself, You have to go.
He pushed himself through the door.
The number of people in the dimly lit room was sparse. There was a person lying on the bed in the middle of the bedroom, and the Prince Consort of Harmony was sitting on the side of the bed, wiping her tears.
The person in the quilt reached out a still warm hand, but his breath was so broken that he couldn't catch it, "Yuan, Bai."
Gu Yuanbai's eyes instantly reddened as he stepped forward to hold Consort Wan's hand, "Mother consort, son is here."
"My son," Mrs. Wan has been palace people changed into a beautiful and complicated clothes, this body of clothes layer upon layer, embroidery map such as living general exquisite, really where all meticulous. Lining the gentle eyes of Mrs. Wan, all seem to have a few points back to the spirit of the blood, "How do you not listen to the mother consort, you are rushing how long, how long to come?"
Gu Yuanbai opened his mouth but no sound came out, he coughed his throat hard and finally managed to speak, "Many days."
Tai Consort Wan looked at him angrily, her fingers slowly rubbing on the back of Gu Yuanbai's hand, "Mother Consort is leaving and can't admonish you anymore, Yuanbai, you must remember what Mother Consort said ......"
She said a sentence will be a long time, I do not know who in the room has sounded the sound of sobbing. Gu Yuanbai, however, felt that his eyes were dry, and only looked at Mrs. Wan's temples out of a few white hair, her eyes next to a few smile up wrinkles.
Mrs. Wan was still very young, but her skin exuded a deep twilight from the inside out. Such twilight was visible to the naked eye, and only four words were written - oil and lamps running out.
"When mother consort reaches the Yellow Springs, she will be able to talk to the late emperor with her sister," Mrs. Wan's eyes reddened, teardrops streaked along the side of her face, drops were sucked away by the soft pillows, "Our Yuanbai, is a good emperor, a good son."
Gu Yuanbai held her hand tightly, gritting his teeth to suppress the sobs in his throat.
After finishing these few words, Tai Consort Wan became a bit tired, she turned her head to look at Gu Yuanbai and laboriously raised her hand, wiping away the dust from Gu Yuanbai's face, "On the day of Mother Consort's burial, you're not allowed to come."
Gu Yuanbai spat out one word: "No."
Mrs. Wan wanted to talk about him, but when the words reached her mouth, she swallowed. She did not speak, her eyes showed a look of reminiscence, mother and son's hands clasped tightly, after an unknown period of time, Mrs. Wan's hand suddenly lost its strength.
Gu Yuanbai blinked extremely slowly against her hand, "Mother consort."
Mrs. Wan didn't make a sound.
Gu Yuanbai opened his mouth and breathed in and out in large gulps, his breath shuddering. He lifted his head from Consort Wan's hands and saw Consort Wan's eyes closed tightly, as if she had slept through her face.
With a tremor in her hand, Consort Wan's hand slipped away from Gu Yuanbai's fingers and left, pounding heavily on top of the mattress.
Mrs. Wan was sworn in.
Gu Yuanbai only felt that his breathing was going to stop. The cries in his ears suddenly rang out, and it was as if he was separated by thousands of mountains and miles like that, and in front of him it was as if someone had come up to advise, "Your Holiness, let go."
Put what?
His heart suddenly ached, and Gu Yuanbai was sweating profusely as he covered his chest, and the shouts around him were suddenly loud and deafening as they drilled into Gu Yuanbai's ears. Gu Yuanbai, however, was having a hard time, his breathing was rough, and his eyes went black.
Xue Yuan said, "Your Holiness!"
Gu Yuanbai's last glance was his twisted, hideous, tense expression, and after that, darkness struck.
*
His Holiness fainted.
The entire palace in the imperial doctors gathered in the temple one by one to take the pulse, everyone's nerves are tightly taut, Xue Yuan stood at the end of the bed, looking at the bed of the person's eyes blood red.
The guards chasing after the saint had finally reached the palace, they rushed in with hurried steps, and a large number of people filled the entire palace, making it difficult for people to even catch their breath.
They rode a good horse, could not catch up with the speed of a thousand miles of horse, and took the official road, even if they were more tired than Xue Yuan, day and night to rush, but still late there are two hours, just within these two hours, the saint fainted.
The head guard tried to rush up and raise his fist at the sight of Xue Yuan, but his fist fell in frustration before he could raise it.
Was Xue Yuan wrong to bring His Majesty to see Mrs. Wan one last time?
If you don't come to see Mrs. Wan for the last time, if you hear the news that Mrs. Wan has regretted her death, will His Majesty not be like this?
It's going to be this way, and it's going to be even sadder than that.
The head guard's nasal voice was heavy, "Lord Xue, how many hours has His Holiness fainted?"
It was as if Xue Yuan had no soul left, and after a long, long time, he snapped out of his dull aching heart and said hoarsely, "One and a half hours."
The head guard asked again, "Did the Imperial Doctor say anything?"
Xue Yuan, however, did not see an answer, and the head of the guards looked up to see that Lord Xue was staring at the saint without blinking, his eyes red.
*
The imperial doctors originally thought that His Holiness would only be unconscious for a day at most, but they did not expect that His Holiness would not open his eyes until two days later.
The imperial physicians were in a complete panic, the palace was not suitable for treating His Majesty, and the forbidden army marched out and escorted His Majesty all the way back to the capital. The imperial doctors at the Imperial Hospital stayed awake day and night, pondering the reasons why His Majesty was in a coma. Tian Fusheng and the Supervision Department, after discussing with the ministers of the Emperor's inner circle, suppressed the situation of the Emperor's unconsciousness and only used the excuse of the Emperor's recuperation to cope with the hundred officials.
The former court and the inner court were thus temporarily stabilized as usual.
The Prince of Harmony's residence.
Mr. Wang received the news and was overjoyed! When he sent his men to assassinate Gu Convergence, he didn't realize that Xue Yuan had taken Gu Yuanbai down a different path in order to take a shortcut. Thousands of miles of horses galloped by and just missed Mr. Wang's men. When he tried to sneak in again on the return trip, he waited for the black-armored forbidden army.
Although the assassination of Gu Hui was unsuccessful, there was an unexpected gain, Gu Hui was now unconscious, wasn't this a great opportunity?
This chess piece beside Mrs. Wan is the biggest chess piece in Mr. Wang's hand, it is really not a waste of a lot of effort, finally it is playing a role.
Mr. Wang took immediate action and must not waste this heavenly opportunity.
Within a few days, the news spread that His Majesty was critically ill and that his life was at stake.
This rumor is getting stronger and stronger. The governor of the capital reacted in time by strengthening the patrols of soldiers, and once such false rumors were found, they were immediately caught and thrown into prison.
But the fact is in front of us, the hundred officials have not seen the emperor for several days, the emperor recuperates, what kind of illness is recuperated? Why can you see the Councillor, the Privy Councillor, and a few Ministers, but not the others?
The ambiguity in the words of the palace attendant waiting in front of the palace, the anxiety and haggardness that gradually deepened on the face of General Manager Tian. Panic is still gradually rising, among the hundred officials, the people are on edge, all want to know how the saint is now.
His Holiness is still in a coma today.
Has been in a coma for over ten days.
What would cause a person to fall into such a long coma?
The imperial doctors at the Imperial Hospital were bewildered, they had tried everything, but they were still at their wits' end, unable to do anything.
Each day was more anxious and uneasy than the previous one. Uneasy hundred officials also gathered in front of the Xuanzheng Hall, shouting "long live", and asked the emperor to see them.
The faces of the people in the hall stared at each other.
It can no longer be suppressed today.
And how is it possible that only the hundred officials and the people of the capital are on edge? These to the saint as the center of the heart of the ministers, monitoring office and the East Lingwei, the palace eunuchs, every one of them are anxious mouth blisters, all feel that the storm is about to come.
They are also uneasy, they are more anxious, so anxious that day after day in front of the temple waiting for His Majesty to wake up. If you don't wake up, we won't be able to bear it anymore.
On that day, the Councillor and the Privy Councilor stepped in and blocked the hundred officials from meeting. But on the second and third ...... days finally, the news that the saint was unconscious was finally and helplessly announced.
The court was in an uproar.
And on this day, Mr. Wang, well-dressed, having deliberately straightened his cuffs and crown several times, walked slowly into the room of the Prince of Harmony.
The Prince of Peace was sitting behind his desk, on which was spread an untouched book. His face was haggard and drowsy, and his eyes were lifeless.
"Your Highness," Mr. Wang bowed and said bluntly, "His Holiness is seriously ill and is now dying."
The Prince of Harmony rose abruptly and snapped back to his senses as he stared at Mr. Wang dead in the face, "What did you say?!"
Mr. Wang had used the Western Xia emissary to test the Prince of Hepatitis, Prince of Hepatitis is easy to anger and irritable, but in the big things but exceptionally clear. He will never cooperate with Mr. Wang as a foreigner to plot the throne of Daheng, so Mr. Wang has never intended to do useless work.
He just said worriedly, "His Majesty has been in a coma for several days and has not woken up, and the imperial doctors in the palace are also unable to do anything. In my mind, if the doctors cannot cure him, then it is witchcraft. If someone has used witchcraft to keep His Holiness awake for a long time, how can this be curable by the imperial doctors?"
Prince He panicked and ran out from behind his desk, clutching Mr. Wang's hand tightly, "Sir has a solution?"
"When I traveled the four seas in the clouds, I once knew a good friend who was proficient in the art of witchcraft, and this good friend should be in the capital at this time," Mr. Wang sighed, "It's just that, Your Majesty, we are detained in the mansion, and even if this good friend of mine is willing to help, we can't get to His Majesty's face ah. "
The Prince of Peace's breathing was ragged, and he gritted his teeth, "I'll figure it out."