Zhurou

Chapter 255 How

After learning the three words "Jingzhao Prefecture" and remembering the name of Jiedushi Pei Yong, Concubine Li found that if she wanted to find out more about this person, it would be as easy as drinking water - it turned out that she didn't even need to go outside the palace, she could learn a lot by just asking a few eunuchs.

However, within just a few days, Concubine Li learned that the relationship between Jingzhao Prefecture and the imperial court was extremely bad. It turned out that for more than ten years, this northwestern region had almost never been subject to any constraints. Even a few years ago, someone in the Western Army had killed the deputy envoy of transportation sent by the imperial court.

For example, the old Jiedushi Cao Mang was originally a bandit, and today's Jiedushi Pei Yong was Cao Mang's former subordinate. How can he be clean when an old thief leads a little thief?

There is also Pei Yong who is not young anymore but still unmarried. However, there are rumors outside that thieves have a habit of going to places where no one knows them, pretending to be the son of a good family, and then marrying and having children as an ordinary person. He will never make it public to avoid implicating his wife and children, and in public he will marry someone new.

As the saying goes, new clothes are worse than old ones, and old friends are worse than new ones. Naturally, the bandits will not have any feelings for their new wives. As for the children born to them, although they are also their own children, it is not without precedent that they will abandon them and run away if anything goes wrong.

——Concubine Li was quite accepting of this statement.

  She had also seen excerpts from the opera. In the past, when Emperor Liu fled, he didn't even leave his wife and children behind. If it weren't for Zhao Zilong of Feishan, he would probably have to be the last one to leave. This was the king of a country, let alone those bandits?

Isn't this what it means to have a beggarly mother rather than an official father?

Even though he was far away in the capital, he still thought about his daughter every day and tried every possible means. The emperor was in Xiazhou. He heard that several princesses, imperial concubines, and even princes had suffered misfortunes, but he never cared. After Zhang Li came back last time, rumors gradually spread in the palace that the emperor had added a few more little princes and princesses to his family...

Based on this inference, Pei Yong must have married and had children in another place a long time ago, but he just didn't show it to anyone.

This man is also a man. Men are selfish and cold-hearted, but they are generally lustful. Zhao Mingzhi has many faults, but her appearance is really impeccable. If he is given a stunning beauty for free, and she is a princess, he will have both face and money. How could he refuse?

The most important thing is that not only Sun Chong, but almost everyone in the court and the country believes that Pei Yong will return to the northwest sooner or later.

Pei Yong was working for his subordinates at this time. It was said that he wanted to send his capable subordinates back to Jingzhao Prefecture first and then leave himself. However, the court refused.

The officials of the two governments were afraid that he would swim into the sea and escape, so they held on to him tightly, but it would not last long.

This person has made such great contributions. If he really wants to leave, who can stop him?

  Are they really going to hold a Hongmen Banquet and kill people?

It should be noted that although Pei Yong was rumored to be domineering, he had been back in Beijing for too short a time and had indeed not had time to do anything that could be used to make a fuss. If he was really executed suddenly, where would the prestige of the court and the emperor be?

  In this case, we all have to go back. When the time comes, the emperor will be far away and we can take the princess back with us. Then he can do whatever he wants with her, right?

When Zhao Mingzhi goes to Jingzhao Prefecture, he will no longer be able to talk about the affairs of the capital. Will the two prefectures be unhappy?

Now that the Di people have retreated, there must be no danger in the capital. The ministers will take charge of matters outside. Once Zhao Mingzhi leaves, the emperor Zhao Hong is young and ignorant of human affairs and worldly affairs. It will definitely be her turn to take charge of the palace. At that time, she can live in whichever palace she wants and eat whatever she wants.

It would be best if my daughter came back early, and it would be best if the emperor didn’t come back at all.

  The emperor should just stay in Xiazhou! It's not impossible - is Zhao Hong willing to ask him to come back?

Concubine Li was thinking a lot in her mind, because she knew that if this matter failed this time, it would never be successful in the future. So she became unusually cautious, trying to find out all kinds of situations while making secret plans.

  ***

Concubine Li had just met a Taoist nun at Sanqing Temple at noon. She had not yet returned to the palace. At 1:00 p.m., Zhao Mingzhi received the news.

Although she didn't know what the concubine's intentions were, since ancient times, anyone in the harem who had any connection with the so-called gurus and fairies would have no good results, unless they just wanted to listen to the lectures - and how many people would be willing to listen to them?

But since there were no signs for the time being, Zhao Mingzhi would not give up on suppressing anything. He just asked people to keep an eye on both ends to make sure no trouble occurred, and then he let it go.

She had a high fever a while ago and had been bedridden for many days. She didn't know if it had damaged her body. This time, her menstrual period came strangely, with the blood taking a long time to come out. She had a heavy pain in her lower abdomen, which made her so uncomfortable that she almost rolled over on the bed.

Mo Xiang hurried to summon the imperial physician.

Although Zhao Mingzhi felt a little better after taking the medicine, he still felt uncomfortable. Moreover, the amount of blood he swallowed was extremely large, and it was like a spring gushing out when he moved. He had to stay in bed for a while and reported his illness to the previous court.

The princess took sick leave, so the court meeting was only of a ceremonial nature and naturally went on as usual. When the court meeting ended, because the co-prime minister Sun Chong had just returned to the capital not long ago, everyone had to gather in the Chongzheng Hall again to discuss previous military and political affairs one by one.

Sun Chong was a stubborn person to begin with. When he was alone in Caizhou, he always had the final say. Although he has returned, he is still used to his previous ways and it is difficult for him to change for the time being. Although his words are not aggressive, they still sound quite harsh.

At one moment he argued with several members of the Privy Council about garrisoning troops and suppressing rebellions; at another moment he questioned several members of the Council of State over border trading posts, disaster relief, taxes, and corvee labor.

There was a lot of noise going on here, and Zhao Hong couldn't even get a word in, so he could only listen and take notes at the same time.

Sun Chong certainly did not expect to overturn all the previous events as soon as he came back, nor did he want to offend too many people. After the count was completed, he was about to stop, but the ceremonial officer outside suddenly came in and reported that Concubine Li was outside the palace.

Zhao Hong just felt strange.

It should be noted that Concubine Li had never been involved in the affairs of the court. On that day, the officials had asked her to take charge of the government, but she started crying and making a fuss and simply refused to agree. She hid far away at that time and never set foot in the Chongzheng, Chuigong and Zichen palaces where the emperor and his ministers discussed state affairs.

But I don't know why he suddenly changed his nature today and actually ran over here.

He said to the ceremonial gate officer, "If the queen has nothing urgent to do, please go to the side hall and sit for a while. I will go over right away."

The ceremonial gate officer left the hall, but after a short while, he came back in and bowed, saying, "The Queen Mother is still outside the hall, and I have something to say while all the officials are here today."

All the officials were surprised and looked around. Some were genuinely confused, but some had a clear idea of ​​what was going on.

Especially Zhang Yi and others, although they all looked straight ahead, only they themselves knew how their heartbeats were.

At one point, Concubine Li came into the palace, and Zhao Hong had to wait for her to sit.

Concubine Li declined and sat down again. She first glanced at the officials from the two governments below the stairs. Her palms were already sweaty and she did not dare to look at their faces. She had to turn around and said to Zhao Hong, "I heard some days ago that the court was going to send an envoy to the Northern Dynasty to redeem the retired emperor and the princes and princesses, but there is still no news today, so I came to ask." It was natural for the concubine to ask the retired emperor. If the emperor ignored her, the word "filial piety" would be like a mountain of pressure on her.

Zhao Hong said: "The two governments are still discussing it. Sun Pingzhang just came back and also asked about this matter. I think there will be a candidate soon."

Upon hearing this, Concubine Li burst into tears immediately. While wiping away the tears, she stood up and saluted to all the officials.

No one expected her to do this, and they all stepped aside.

Concubine Li said: "The Emperor is suffering in the Northern Dynasty, and the princesses, princesses, and princes are also suffering in the Northern Dynasty. I recite scriptures for them in the palace day and night, and pray for the safety of my husbands. I only hope that they can be brought back soon!"

When these words were spoken, no one in the hall dared to respond. They just looked at each other with their eyes on their noses and their noses on their hearts, wishing they hadn't heard anything.

When Concubine Li saw that no one responded, and that the people opposite her were looking straight ahead with serious expressions, her heart skipped a beat. She turned to look at Zhao Hong. The latter was young and could not hide his expression very well, and his face did not look very good.

She suddenly came to her senses at this moment, and hurriedly added: "I also hope that Your Majesty will remember that Xiazhou still has the Supreme Emperor, and all your sisters and brothers!"

It would be better not to say this, as it is like scolding Zhao Hong to his face for not saving people.

Seeing the increasingly strange atmosphere in the palace, Concubine Li's legs began to tremble. She just thought of her daughter and what she had heard: when Zong Gu came to ask for the princess' hand in marriage, almost everyone in the two houses agreed, and only a few disagreed. She felt a little more confident and said, "There is another matter, which concerns the princess."

When she spoke just now, everyone played dumb, but when she mentioned the princess now, almost everyone in the hall looked over at once. Even the eunuchs and guards standing by couldn't help but secretly peek at her out of the corner of their eyes.

For a moment, Concubine Li felt as if she was being stared at by dozens of pairs of eyes. Her mouth and tongue became dry, and even her lips felt a little itchy.

She swallowed her saliva, clenched her fists to strengthen her courage, and then continued: "I shouldn't have said this, but there are not many people in the harem now. Your Highness... Your Highness is a woman, and she is thin-skinned. It's not good... not good to say such things. At her age now, she should have discussed marriage."

Concubine Li had said these words countless times in front of the mirror. She had also repeated them in her mind while waiting outside the palace just now. However, when she really said them in public, she still stumbled a little.

Zhao Hong was just frowning at first, but when he heard the last sentence, his expression changed drastically, and he said with a dark face: "My sister's marriage, how can you talk about it here..."

If Zhao Mingzhi was in the same palace, Concubine Li might have been a little more afraid. However, since only Zhao Hong was speaking, she was not timid at all. Instead, she brought out the words she had prepared long ago and said, "I heard someone say in the past that the royal family...there are no trivial matters in the royal family, and family matters are also matters of the court."

He added, "Your Majesty has only this one sister, who is as precious as gold and jade. Today, she is in charge of the affairs of the court and the harem, and she is busy all day long. If you don't choose a prince consort soon, and let it drag on like this, it will ruin her life, which is really bad!"

As soon as she finished speaking, someone followed up, "The war in the court has just ended, and the population is low. The states and counties are about to increase their population. At this time, if Your Highness has reached the age of marriage but has not yet found a prince consort, it is indeed not appropriate..."

This person was in the crowd, and his voice was not loud. Concubine Li thought the words were very interesting, and even related to national affairs. She thought to herself that officials have good brains, why didn't she think of this? She raised her head to recognize the other person's face.

However, the man was blocked by the crowd and could not be seen clearly for a while.

She could only praise him from a distance: "This gentleman is very reasonable!" She turned around and looked at Zhao Hong seriously, "Your Majesty is young and does not know that women age easily. This matter needs to be handled by the elders, otherwise it may delay the princess' life."

Zhao Hong felt that Concubine Li came for no apparent reason. When she said she was going to take the emperor back to the capital, he could tolerate it, but now she was interfering in the princess' marriage. How could he tolerate it? He could not help but shout, "Your Majesty, no matter how young I am, I am still the emperor. Can't I choose a husband for my elder sister?"

He added: "I will think about this matter myself, Your Majesty, please return to the palace first!"

Before Concubine Li could reply, the Imperial Censor Yang Ting stepped forward upon hearing this and said, "Your Majesty and the princess have a deep relationship and will definitely make a careful selection. However, what the Concubine said just now makes a lot of sense. There is no trivial matter in the royal family, and the princess is currently in power, so her every move will affect the court."

While Yang Ting was still speaking, Lu Xianzhang, who was standing below him, had his heart beating wildly in his chest.

He had just heard Concubine Li talking about the princess's marriage, and cold sweat had seeped out of half his body, and his scalp was numb. He took a few deep breaths and strode out again, saying, "Your Majesty, if the princess wants to choose a son-in-law, you must consider the candidate carefully. In addition to factors such as character and birth, you must also act according to the person's background. It is best if the family is simple, and literary talent is given priority, so as to avoid the chaos of foreign relatives interfering in politics in the future!"

"Councillor, what you said is wrong. Marriage is the union of two families. In the past, the chaos caused by the relatives of the emperor was caused by the clan members. With your character, can't you control the clan? Don't you underestimate her?" Zhang Yi took a step forward and responded, "The Di bandits have just retreated, and there are chaos in the north and south. Councillor only asked the princess to select someone with outstanding literary talent. If the army knew about it, what would they think?"

Zhang Yi had a background in military skills and was also in the Privy Council, so he was qualified to say this at the moment.

Lu Xianzhang immediately refuted: "There are so many stories in the past, let's learn from history..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhang Yi added in a cold voice: "Looking at history as a mirror, there were so many stories in the past where civil officials intervened in politics - could it be that among those sycophantic officials in the previous dynasties, there were no literati?"

After he finished speaking, he snorted again, as if he had suddenly come to his senses. He glanced at Lu Xianzhang first, then said, "It seems that the councilor doesn't have a wife either..."

Zhang Yi said half a sentence, then looked as if he had spoken out of turn, took a step back, and put his hands back and returned to the line.

For a moment, only Lu Xianzhang was left there in awkward situation.

  Zhang Yi's words had revealed to him that he had not actually meant that, but had only used it to guard against Pei Yong. Now that he had carefully thought about it, he felt that he himself could not be considered clean, so how could he dare to pretend to be unintentional at this time - what if he was really treated as unintentional?

But if I don't declare my intention first, I'll be seen as someone trying to curry favor with the powerful...

Just as he was in a dilemma, Zhang Yi turned around and looked at the Privy Council officials beside him. He named them one by one and then said, "When choosing a husband for the princess, how can we limit it to civil and military talents? What do you think?"

Then he looked to the far right, where a man was standing upright.

He spoke again and asked loudly: "Jiedu, I wonder what Jiedu thinks?"