Jiuxi

Chapter 1026 [Above the Peak]

It takes about a quarter of an hour to get from Zhuoyuan to the imperial palace.

After leaving Zhuo Garden, Queen Mother Ning stayed quietly in the Phoenix Chariot and did not say anything more to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen would not cause any trouble. Everything that happened in Zhuo Garden today had been sealed in his memory.

When the emperor was about to enter the palace, Lu Chen took a file from Nan Yi who had hurried over, handed it to Ruolan, and said to the woman in the phoenix chariot: "Your Majesty, I will take my leave."

"Thank you, King Qin, for your concern today."

The gentle voice of Queen Mother Ning came from the Phoenix Sedan, and she added, "It is rare for me to have this leisure time. This is all thanks to you. Now go back home and rest."

"It is my duty as a minister."

Lu Chen bowed and then stepped aside with steady steps.

When the imperial carriage returned to the palace through Chengtian Gate and completely disappeared in the deep palace, Lu Chen withdrew his gaze.

Qin Zilong and Nan Yi came forward, and the former asked in a low voice: "Prince, are you going back to the mansion now?"

"Do not."

Lu Chen shook his head slightly and said, "Go to Taishan Tower."

The two confidants reacted quickly.

Taishan Tower is one of the most well-established restaurants in Beijing, located at the junction of the Imperial City and Chengpingfang. However, many people do not know that Taishan Tower is actually an asset of the Lu family business, and the real boss behind the scenes is the Prince of Qin's Palace.

The building is three stories high and has a wide field of vision, which allows you to have a panoramic view of most of the external movements of the imperial city.

Lu Chen came to the top floor, chose a seat by the window, ordered someone to serve a pot of fragrant tea, and then waited quietly.

Today, the capital city seems calm on the surface, but in fact only a very few people know that except for Chengpingfang and Zhuoyuan which are heavily guarded, the Dingbei Army, Guangling Army and Feiyun Army in the city and the Feiyu Army, Laian Army and Panlong Army outside the city are all ready to go. Even Li Bingxue personally rushed to the military camp outside the city to take charge in order to deal with any possible accidents.

The secret guards of the Prince of Qin's Palace were on high alert and did not dare to relax at all.

Lu Chen thought he was not an indecisive person, but since Empress Dowager Ning was able to do this, he was certainly willing to sit here as an outsider for the time being and see how the situation would develop.

At about 2:30 pm, the first group of eunuchs left the palace. Leading them was Lu Wei, the current head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

They went straight to Buzhengfang, and after passing the message, they went straight into the residence of the Left Prime Minister.

Xue Nanting, Xue Ruogu and his family members were in the central hall to receive the imperial edict.

After half a day of waiting and thinking, Xue Nanting had roughly figured out what Empress Dowager Ning was going to do.

It is difficult to describe in words how complicated his mood was at this moment.

In fact, there was a reason why Empress Dowager Ning made such a decision. Otherwise, she would not have tried to eliminate Lu Chen in the most direct and decisive way in the past few years to seize the one in a thousand or even one in ten thousand chance of regaining power.

For Xue Nanting, although he had long since put life and death aside, once the royal family made a clear choice, he could not destroy the current situation and put the royal mother and son in an extremely dangerous situation just for the sake of pursuing the reputation of loyalty.

The prime minister sighed silently in his heart, but noticed from the corner of his eye that his eldest son seemed to be still struggling secretly, and he couldn't help but shook his head.

Lü Wei looked at the completely different expressions of the prime minister and his son, spread out the imperial edict and read aloud: "According to the imperial decree, Xue Ruogu, the director of the Imperial College, is in charge of general affairs and is to be transferred to the post of prefect of Dongqing in Lingzhou. He must take office today without delay. I command you."

There was dead silence in the hall.

Both of these official posts were of the fourth rank, but being transferred from a Beijing official to a provincial position itself implied a demotion.

Xue Ruogu raised his head in disbelief. He didn't care about the size of the official position, but the following sentence.

Take office immediately without delay.

There was only half a month left before the year-end court meeting, and Empress Dowager Ning banished him from the capital at this time, and to the Lingzhou area which was completely controlled by Lu Chen. Her intention was self-evident.

He suppressed his shock and bowed his head and said, "May I ask Junior Supervisor Lu whether this decree is——"

"presumptuous!"

How could Xue Nanting let him continue to say the following words? He frowned and said, "Why don't you accept the order?"

Xue Ruogu was filled with bitterness and finally had to step forward to accept the imperial edict and express his gratitude.

Lu Wei glanced at the panicked Xue family members, then said to Xue Nanting, "Prime Minister Xue, His Majesty hopes that Xue Siye will leave Beijing immediately to take up his post, because the implementation of the new policy cannot be delayed, and the people are crying out for food, and they need capable officials like Xue Siye to benefit the people."

"That's how it should be."

Xue Nanting had already noticed the dozen or so fierce and elite guards outside the central hall. He immediately asked Xue Ruogu to hand over the official seal, and then ordered his servants to pack some luggage for him.

In less than half an hour, the confused and expressionless Xue Ruogu boarded a carriage brought by Lu Wei. Surrounded by more than a dozen Xue family retainers and more than a dozen palace guards, he left the capital city on this cold winter day and headed for the distant and bitterly cold Lingzhou in the north.

After seeing off his eldest son, Lu Wei and others, Xue Nanting ignored his panicked family members and dragged his heavy steps back to the inner study.

At this moment he seemed to have aged a lot, but his shoulders seemed to have relaxed a little.

At the same time, in the Imperial Guards' headquarters, Wang Hong, the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards' Left Guard, turned pale because he received an imperial edict dismissing him from office.

The imperial edict did not specify any reason, but simply dismissed him from his military post and asked him to return home to retire.

You know, he is only 33 years old this year, why would he need to retire?
Wang Hong did not make too many excuses. He knew why Queen Dowager Ning did this, and he also understood that all their plans in this year were actually under the control of the King of Qin.

The other party had been holding back, perhaps just waiting for them to take the initiative so that they could capture them all in one fell swoop. However, Empress Dowager Ning no longer wanted to see any more bloodshed, so she intervened and interrupted all their plans.

Wang Hong sighed deeply, leaned forward to accept the order and express his gratitude.

Cui Wei, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, took out the second imperial edict, looked at Shen Yu, who had been silent, and said, "My Lord, your Majesty has already discussed it with the King of Qin. From now on, you will work in the Military Affairs Office, and the Imperial Guard will be temporarily taken over by the Marquis of Linjiang."

Shen Yulai looked at him steadily, and finally said nothing, but bowed his hands.

All along, he felt that he was too quiet and never thought about taking the initiative to do something for the royal family. But when he really made up his mind to do something, the world had already changed drastically, and Empress Dowager Ning was obviously standing higher than him and seeing farther.

Many people did not seem to notice that since more than half a year ago, Prince Qin Lu Chen no longer entered the palace. At most, he handled government affairs in the Prime Minister's New Policy Office.

When Linjiang Marquis Chen Lanyu walked into the Imperial Army Command Hall, Shen Yulai looked at him and suddenly laughed at himself: "It seems that you are more reassuring to His Majesty."

Chen Lanyu was silent for a long time before he said, "As ministers, how can we leave the saint aside and act on our own?"

Shen Yulai nodded, and then began to hand over the tiger seal.

Batch after batch of eunuchs carried imperial edicts out of the palace and headed to various places in the capital.

In just half a day, Chen Lanyu replaced Shen Yu to take charge of the imperial guards, and some young generals in the army were dismissed or transferred to the border troops.

More than 20 young officials, including Xue Ruogu, Director of the Imperial College, Sun Qi, Deputy Director of the Dali Temple, Chen Jing, Right Counselor of the Ministry of Public Administration, Zuo Hao, Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel, and Qian Rang, Editor of the Hanlin Academy, were either dismissed from their posts or directly transferred out of the capital. The latter received orders to leave the capital immediately and, under the protection or surveillance of the palace guards, go to Jiangbei to take up posts in places where the environment was the most difficult and where the new policies needed to be vigorously promoted the most.

Royal Palace, Qinzheng Hall.

The nine-year-old emperor Li Daoming sat there in a daze, his young face pale.

Empress Dowager Ning didn't care. She pointed to the dozen civil officials below and said, "Emperor, these are the teachers I have found for you. They are knowledgeable and well-mannered, and will surely teach you many useful principles. I hope you will be humble and calm under their guidance and study hard."

"I will do my best to assist the emperor."

The ministers bowed in response.

"No gift."

Li Daoming finally squeezed out two words.

Queen Mother Ning's eyes flashed with sadness, but then turned into determination. She looked at Jiang Hui, the new lecturer of the Imperial Academy, who was standing at the front, and said earnestly, "Master Jiang, please don't let me down."

Jiang Hui bowed his head and said, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will never slack off in the slightest."

Empress Dowager Ning nodded slightly, and when she turned around, her back was lonely.

Regardless of any incidents that occurred outside the palace or any movement that occurred within the palace, all kinds of news were sent to the top floor of Taishan Tower.

Lu Chen stroked the teacup and quietly looked at the outline of the imperial city in the distance.

The silence in the building was broken until an uninvited middle-aged man reached the top floor.

Lu Chen turned his head and saw Xu Zuo had a solemn expression and was not smiling.

He came and sat down opposite Lu Chen, and asked directly: "Is it the King of Qin's intention to let Chen Lanyu replace Shen Yu?"

"Yes, Your Majesty originally wanted me to directly command the 20,000 imperial guards, but it seems that this is no longer necessary. Letting Chen Lanyu take over for a while and maintaining stability and harmony between the court and the people as much as possible may be the most reasonable choice."

Lu Chen did not hide anything.

Xu Zuo was silent for a moment, and then hesitantly said: "In the future——"

"Xu Xiang."

Lu Chen looked at him seriously and said slowly, "People like Xue Ruogu will definitely not disappear. This is a conflict of ideas and beliefs. I have always been prepared and prepared for it. Now that your majesty is willing to do this, Prime Minister Xu should understand that I will also limit the subsequent disputes to a very small scope. Please believe that from today on, no one can use or harm the mother and son in the palace."

Facing his firm and bright gaze, Xu Zuo finally nodded and let out a long sigh.

A hint of longing flashed in his eyes, and he whispered, "I really hope I can live a few more years to see what the world will be like in the future."

……

December 26th, the third year of Yongning in the Great Qi Dynasty.

The grand court meeting at the end of the year was held as scheduled. No accidents occurred during the meeting. Only an order from Empress Dowager Ning moved all the civil and military officials in the court.

King Lu Chen of Qin made great contributions to protecting the country and governing the country, so he was specially granted the power of regent, in charge of military and national affairs, and was awarded the nine gifts.

Under the gazes of countless people, Lu Chen raised his head slightly, looked at the rare woman on the throne, bowed, and said loudly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"

(End of this chapter)