Yang Fan had wanted to confirm this person's identity, but with Li Xian's question, Yang Fan immediately knew that this person was Li Xian.
Yang Fan knew that his rash intrusion would frighten the owner of this room, but he didn't expect that it would frighten this former emperor to such an extent, as if he had seen a ghost.
Yang Fan hurriedly bowed and said, "This subject greets Your Highness by imperial edict. Here is a secret edict from His Majesty, asking Prince of Luling to … "
Yang Fan took out the neatly wrapped imperial edict from his bosom. Li Xian was like a rabbit that had been shot by an arrow, jumping up with a whoosh and hurriedly retreating two steps. Waving his hands, he said in a trembling voice, "I won't look! I won't look! If you want to kill me, then kill me. This prince will not accept an imperial edict! "
Yang Fan laughed and cried as he stood there holding the imperial edict, not knowing how to explain for a moment.
Gu Zhuting closed the door and flashed in. Seeing this scene, she hurriedly said, "Your Highness, do not be alarmed. The imperial edict that we have come here on is definitely not to harm Your Highness."
In this kind of situation, women had an advantage over men, especially beautiful women.
Gu Zhuting was dressed in black with a sword at her waist, but the tight clothing accentuated her graceful curves, displaying the gentleness and beauty of a woman. Li Xian and his wife saw that it was a woman with a charming face and a graceful figure, and their fear was greatly reduced. Madam Wei forced herself to remain calm and stepped forward to ask, "You … you have come on imperial edict, why … why are you like this …"
Yang Fan understood and said, "This must be Princess Consort. Subject Yang Fan greets Your Highness. Subject has indeed come on imperial edict. As for why subject is stealthily trespassing, I ask Your Highness and Your Highness to look at the imperial edict first, then this subject will explain his difficulties. "
Madam Wei saw that he was respectful and courteous to her, and her timidity faded even further. She stretched out both hands and received the imperial edict.
Only now did Yang Fan see Empress Wei's appearance clearly. He was both shocked by her youth and shocked by her beauty. He hadn't expected that this former Holy Empress would still be this beautiful. Under the light of the fire in the quiet room, her beauty was still faintly discernible, as if she was in her twenties.
Madam Wei took over the secret edict, then slowly moved to one side. She untied the seal, took off the tube jacket, pulled down the lid, and slowly pulled out a yellow silk. Then, she unfolded it slowly under the light of the fireplace. Li Xian stood by her side, looking as if he wanted to look but didn't dare to.
Madam Wei read through the secret edict carefully. Her eyebrows twitched at first, then her eyes narrowed. She read it again, word by word, as if she wanted to swallow them into her stomach and chew them over and over again. After a long while, she slowly raised her head, her serious and pretty face was reflected in the red firelight. She asked word by word, "Mother wants you to escort Prince back to the capital city secretly?"
Yang Fan corrected her, "It's the Emperor!"
Li Xian had been the Emperor for thirty-six days before he was kicked out by his mother and replaced by his younger brother, Li Dan, while he was kicked off to Fangzhou to be imprisoned. He couldn't make it in time for Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne. His family was trapped in this Yellow Bamboo Ridge, living a secluded life. They were still used to calling Wu Zetian 'Mother Empress'.
With Yang Fan's reminder, Madam Wei reacted. She hurriedly said, "Yes! It's the current Holy Lord! The Holy Lord wants you to escort Prince back to the capital secretly? "
Yang Fan said, "Yes! This is the mission of this lowly subject! "
Li Xian said in panic, "Mother Empress … why does Mother Empress want you to escort me back to the capital secretly? I won't go! Even if I die, I want to be with my family. I won't go with you … "
Yang Fan's brows furrowed. Why was this Prince of Luling so timid?
Madam Wei turned her head and gave her husband a fierce glare. However, in front of Yang Fan and Gu Zhuting, she couldn't speak rudely to her husband. Nevertheless, her tone was filled with reproach as she said, "Prince, don't always think about death. If Mother Empress wanted to kill you, these two guards would have already done it. Why would they still escort you back to the capital secretly?"
When she finished, Madam Wei turned to Yang Fan and said with an apologetic smile, "Prince was not like this before. All these years, Prince has been living in seclusion in the mountains, and often heard some rumors that he shouldn't have heard. He has been paranoid, and as time goes by, he has become ill at ease."
Yang Fan bowed slightly but didn't answer.
As if she suddenly thought of something, Madam Wei quickly walked to the corner of the room, picked up two stools, and brought them to the center of the room. She greeted Yang Fan and Gu Zhuting politely, "Come, come, come, you must be tired from the long journey. Quickly sit down and talk. I am ashamed to say that this is a prince's mansion, but the shabbiness of this cold room is even worse than an ordinary village residence. I have neglected you. "
At first, Yang Fan and Gu Zhuting did not know what she was going to do, but now they knew that she was going to bring them stools. No matter how down she was, she was, after all, the Empress of the Tang dynasty and now the Princess Consort. Yang Fan and Gu Zhuting hurriedly took the stools, expressed their gratitude, and sat down. The bamboo room was empty and filled with miscellaneous things, so they couldn't tell who was sitting first. Therefore, they could only sit across from Prince of Luling and the Princess Consort.
After they sat down, Madam Wei said politely, "Since Mother Empress has issued an imperial edict, Prince naturally has to follow it. It's just that Prince has been living on this Yellow Bamboo Ridge for fifteen years and is isolated from the outside world. You haven't seen Mother Empress for many years. I wonder what Mother Empress is planning by secretly summoning Prince back to the capital this time? Please explain it to the Celestial Ambassador so that Prince can be prepared, lest he acts abruptly and displeases Mother Empress. "
Wu Zetian only needed to issue an imperial edict to summon Prince of Luling back to the capital. That would be a true order to summon Prince of Luling back to the capital. It was impossible to write down the decision that had not been announced to the public yet. Even though Madam Wei had already guessed this, the more it was so, the more she didn't dare to believe it. Because she had been looking forward to it too many times and had been disappointed too many times.
"This …"
Yang Fan hesitated. Madam Wei hurriedly said, "This imperial edict says that Prince is to go to the capital secretly, but Prince is not free in Yellow Bamboo Ridge. As for how to leave and how to keep it a secret, you still have to discuss with the two Celestial Ambassadors. We don't dare to make things difficult for the Celestial Ambassador. As long as you say something that we husband and wife can know, it will be fine. No matter what, we husband and wife will be eternally grateful. "
This matter required the cooperation of Li Xian and his wife. Of course, they had to be informed of the current situation. Yang Fan purposely acted like this because he didn't want to leave the impression that this legendary prince, who had changed from Crown Prince to Emperor, from Emperor to Prince, from Prince to Crown Prince, could not speak and act cautiously.
When Madam Wei finished speaking, Yang Fan bowed and said, "I don't dare, I don't dare. Princess Consort is too polite. This subject was just about to tell Prince and Princess about His Majesty's instructions."
Li Xian no longer cared about stuffing firewood into the stove. His old legs no longer seemed to be in so much pain. He impatiently stared at Yang Fan, like a primary school student who was all ears to listen.
Yang Fan first briefly explained the chaos between the Khitans and the Turks. Then he mentioned that the Empress was getting old, missed her son, and hoped to bring the Prince of Luling back to the capital to reunite with him. He didn't clearly point out that the Empress intended to make the Prince of Luling the Crown Prince. After all, this was something that wasn't clearly stated in the imperial edict.
But this way, the two matters became completely unrelated. When Yang Fan brought up the previous matter, it was very abrupt. When Li Xian and his wife heard this, they naturally understood the meaning behind it. For a moment, the husband and wife were pleasantly surprised. They sat there, not knowing what to do.
Li Xian composed himself and his thoughts became clearer. Only then did he ask in confusion, "If the Empress wants to see me, she can just send an edict to summon me back to the capital. Now, she has sent a secret edict and even asked for two angels to secretly receive me. Why is this?"
Yang Fan thought for a moment. There were some matters that even if everyone knew about, it was not good to say them out loud. He had to think carefully about how to phrase them.
Yang Fan thought for a moment before slowly saying, "There will always be some people in the court who do not wish to see Prince and His Majesty reunite, and these people just happen to hold many positions in the military. His Majesty is worried that once the news of Prince's return to the capital gets out, there will be people who will act against Prince. Once the news gets out, it will be impossible to guard against adverse actions against Prince. Does Prince and Princess understand what this subject is saying?"
Li Xian and his wife naturally understood. The so-called "some people" were naturally members of the Wu Clan. The troops guarding them at Yellow Bamboo Ridge belonged to the Wu Clan. Every year, the Wu Clan would send people to inspect this place. During and after each inspection, the days of their family would be the most difficult. Their hatred and fear of the Wu Clan had been engraved in their bones.
Li Xian and his wife silently nodded. Yang Fan sighed and said, "Thus, this subject snuck in late at night to seek an audience with Prince. This subject wishes to have a good discussion with Prince on how to smoothly take Prince away without being discovered by the people guarding Prince. At the very least, we cannot let them discover us quickly. This way, Prince's trip will be safer. "
Li Xian was so excited that his lips trembled. "How many people did you bring?"
Yang Fan said, "In order to keep it a secret, we did not bring too many people, but they are all elite soldiers. We took twenty people from the one hundred cavalry and the inner guards. Including the two of us, we have twenty-two people in total! "
Li Xian frowned and said somewhat discontentedly, "Only twenty-two people? How is that enough?"
Madam Wei sat at the side with her brows tightly knitted and did not speak. Li Xian was concerned about his safety, and Madam Wei had already started to think about how to sneak Li Xian out without being discovered.
She looked down on this useless husband of hers, but she was also very clear that whether or not she could make a comeback completely depended on her husband, because he was a prince. If the current Crown Prince had already been abandoned by the Empress, then her husband would be the first in line to inherit the throne of Li Tang's imperial clan.
Madam Wei thought for a long time, then said slowly, "They often check on Prince's whereabouts. It is impossible to hide from them forever! But … if we can hide it for five to six days, I still have some confidence. But, if it is five to six days … is it possible? "
Yang Fan thought for a while and said, "Five to six days, we should be able to cover half of the distance. By that time, when they discover us, the time they can use to deal with us will be very short. If Princess can't buy more time, then … let's try our best to buy five to six days."
Madam Wei raised her brows and said resolutely, "Alright! Then let's do it! Tomorrow morning, I will ask Prince to pretend to be sick, pretending to be infected. This way, they will be too lazy to come and check on him. I estimate that it is possible to buy five to six days. "
Yang Fan asked worriedly, "Won't they find a doctor to treat Prince?"
Madam Wei smiled and said, "They can't wait for Prince to die as soon as possible. Every time they send someone to patrol, they will try their best to threaten Prince, hoping that Prince will kill himself as soon as possible. Luckily, Prince has a strong and unwavering temperament. Otherwise, they would have fulfilled their wish long ago. Will they find a doctor to treat Prince? Absolutely not! "
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