Jiuxi

Chapter 983 981 [Where the Heart Desires]

Jiangnan, Beijing.

The afternoon in late June was quite hot and humid. In previous years, the palace would have kept ice cubes on hand, but last year the court was in an extremely difficult situation, so Empress Dowager Ning issued an edict to cut palace expenses as an example, and naturally no money was spent on storing ice.

Emperor Li Daoming was seven years old at the time and gradually began to behave like a teenager, but in the eyes of Empress Dowager Ning, it was still too slow. She wished he were seventeen instead of seven.

Although this cannot change the current situation where Lu Chen holds the military power alone, in the eyes of others, the difference between an emperor who is about to come of age and an emperor who is only seven years old is unimaginable.

Empress Dowager Ning was not worried about the stance of loyal ministers like Xue Nanting. What she cared about were the numerous wavering people. Even if these people wanted to gain wealth and glory, they would not place their bets on a seven-year-old emperor.

In today's era, ten years means countless risks, and no one can guarantee that the emperor will not die young.

"Ugh……"

Empress Dowager Ning, leaning on the couch, sighed softly.

"Why is the Queen sighing?"

Li Daoming asked obediently.

Queen Mother Ning shook her head and forced a smile, "Nothing."

Li Daoming asked softly: "Mother, will the Prince of Huai'an rebel?"

After these words were spoken, Queen Mother Ning slowly sat up straight and looked around with cold eyes.

The palace maids quickly knelt down.

Li Daoming pulled his mother's sleeve and said, "Mother, no one is talking nonsense in my ear. This is my own idea."

Queen Mother Ning glared at Yuan Yuji, who was looking pale, and said in a deep voice, "All of you go down."

"Yes."

The palace servants responded tremblingly.

Queen Mother Ning held Li Daoming's hand and frowned, saying, "Prince Huai'an is a loyal minister of the Great Qi. He will not rebel. Remember that?"

Li Daoming hesitated for a moment, then said, "I believe my mother, but I don't understand why the Prince of Huai'an is unwilling to return to the capital to accept the reward after his great victory."

Empress Dowager Ning remained silent.

Li Daoming continued, "Mother, before the late emperor was assassinated, the Prince of Huai'an could have prevented it, right?"

"Nonsense!"

Queen Mother Ning raised her eyebrows slightly, and her tone became colder: "Who instigated you to say these words? If you don't tell me, I will have Yuan Yuji arrest all the palace servants serving you and interrogate them one by one."

"Mother, no one instigated me."

Li Daoming had a childish face, but his eyes were extremely clear. He said proudly: "Even if my mother didn't say it, I know that the Prince of Huai'an has made great contributions. When the late emperor passed away, the Empress Dowager held the power in the palace and asked the third uncle to stay in the palace. At that time, it was the Prince of Huai'an, the Prince of Zhongyi and the Duke of Rong who stood up to advise. Later, it was the Prince of Huai'an who asked my mother to stay with me. I will never forget these, but I don't understand, could the Prince of Huai'an be so good at calculating that he guessed the unrest in the capital early, so he moved the border cavalry into the capital in advance?"

Queen Dowager Ning let go of his hand, not knowing how to answer this question.

After a moment, her eyes turned slightly red and a look of sadness appeared on her face.

Although Li Daoming was very smart, he was only a child of seven or eight years old after all. He became flustered and knelt down quickly, saying, "I am an unfilial son and have made my mother sad. Please punish me."

Queen Mother Ning pulled him up and shook her head, saying, "I will not punish you, because you did not say anything wrong."

Li Daoming seemed a little confused, but then he reacted and said naively, "Mother, since I'm not wrong, why don't you hold the Prince of Huai'an responsible? Is it because he now holds the military power?"

After a brief hesitation, Queen Mother Ning finally nodded and said, "Yes."

Li Daoming thought about it seriously, then approached and said, "Don't worry, mother. I know what to do."

Queen Mother Ning looked at him steadily: "You know?"

Li Daoming replied: "No matter what the Prince of Huai'an wants to do, I will not stop him, so he cannot rebel."

Things in this world are not that simple...

Empress Dowager Ning sighed in her heart, but Li Daoming's answer still made her feel relieved, but at the same time she felt a bit of unspeakable bitterness.

She reached out and pulled Li Daoming to sit beside her, and said in a slow tone: "The most important thing for you now is to grow up safely. Your mother will help you with other things, understand? Also, you must keep these words you said today in your heart from now on, and you are not allowed to tell anyone."

"Yes, I noted it down."

Li Daoming nodded vigorously.

Just then, footsteps were heard outside the palace, followed by Yuan Yuji's voice: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Xu has returned to the capital and has just arrived at the North Gate."

Queen Mother Ning's expression changed slightly, and she immediately said in a loud voice: "Quickly summon Prime Minister Xu to the palace, and also invite Prime Minister Xue."

Yuan Yuji agreed.

Less than half an hour later, in the side hall of Wende Hall.

Queen Dowager Ning looked at Xu Zuo, who was exhausted and had a haggard face, and said apologetically: "Prime Minister Xu has traveled thousands of miles, and I should have asked you to return home to rest for a while, but I am concerned about the important affairs of Jiangbei, so please bear with me."

"Your Majesty, I am so ashamed to accept your kindness."

Xu Zuo bowed his hands and then got straight to the point: "Your Majesty, I arrived at Guxian County, Dongting Prefecture, Dingzhou on May 28th, and conveyed your majesty's commendation to the Prince of Huai'an. I also discussed the relocation of the capital with him for five days. After the general agreement was reached, I set off for Beijing on June 4th."

Empress Dowager Ning nodded and said, "Prime Minister Xu, you have worked hard. Come, please give the two prime ministers a seat."

Xue Nanting and Xu Zuo thanked him and sat down.

Queen Dowager Ning asked again, "Prince Xu, why did the Prince of Huai'an meet you in Dingzhou?" Xu Zuo replied, "Your Majesty, the Prince of Huai'an has designated Gu County as a restricted area. Even Dingzhou Governor Ding Hui cannot enter without permission. After I entered Gu County, I found that the craftsmen under the Prince of Huai'an have made progress recently. They have developed more powerful firearms."

Although Ding Hui and other Dingzhou officials had long been following Lu Chen's lead, Xu Zuo knew that the guards protecting him along the way would not conceal what they saw and heard, so he reported these details frankly.

Queen Mother Ning's heart moved slightly, and she asked curiously, "Didn't they say that those craftsmen belong to the Seven Stars Gang?"

Xu Zuo shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, this is just an excuse from the Prince of Huai'an. The Seven Stars Gang and the Seven Stars Army are his private soldiers."

Hearing this answer, Queen Mother Ning nodded and turned to the main topic, "I wonder what details did Prime Minister Xu and Prince Huai'an discuss?"

"Your Majesty, allow me to report them one by one."

Xu Zuo first explained the two things that Empress Dowager Ning had told him. When the court began to move the capital, Huo Zhen would lead 20,000 elite border troops southward and use this force as the framework to form the Jiangnan camp. At the same time, Shen Yulai would lead the selected imperial guards to escort the royal family northward.

After returning to the capital Heluo, Shen Yulai continued to lead the imperial guards to guard the imperial palace, while the defense of Heluo was jointly managed by Lu Chen, Liu Shouguang, Zhang Xu and Shen Yulai.

"Zhang Xu..."

Empress Dowager Ning hesitated to speak.

At this time, Xue Nanting said, "Your Majesty, since Marquis Linjiang is going to be stationed at the border, it would not be wrong to let Marquis Yongding take his place. They are both former commanders of the Beijing Camp, and their loyalty, qualifications, and abilities are similar."

Noticing the deep meaning in the left prime minister's eyes, Queen Mother Ning nodded and said, "That's good."

Xu Zuo pretended not to notice the eye contact between the two and continued, "At present, the officials selected by the court have not arrived yet, so the Prince of Huai'an has temporarily transferred a group of officials from the three states in Jiangbei and the Governor's Office, plus famous scholars recruited from all over Jiangbei, to temporarily perform the duties of the government to appease the people, and will make adjustments in the future."

This was something that Empress Dowager Ning and important officials in the court had anticipated long ago, and it was also the root cause of her decision to proactively move the capital.

If the imperial court continued to stay in Jiangnan, even if it sent officials north, it would be difficult for these people to resist Lu Chen's orders, and the final result would be self-evident.

Queen Dowager Ning skipped over this and asked, "Prime Minister Xu, have you and the Prince of Huai'an reached an agreement on the authority of the Military Academy after the capital is moved?"

Xu Zuo hesitated slightly, and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, before I went north, the Prince of Huai'an had already made some adjustments to the military system. He proposed to change the Military Academy into the Military Affairs Office, and appoint a number of military ministers. In the future, each military minister will be responsible for a part of military affairs."

"Oh?"

Empress Dowager Ning asked calmly, "Who does he have in mind to be the Grand Councilor?"

Xu Zuo replied: "In addition to the Prince of Huai'an himself, he also recommended Anlu Marquis Liu Shouguang, Nanxun Marquis Li Jingda, Linjiang Marquis Chen Lanyu, Yongding Marquis Zhang Xu, and Chengzhou Governor Tong Shiyuan."

Xue Nanting narrowed his eyes slightly, seeming a little surprised by this list.

Empress Dowager Ning felt similarly. She originally thought that even if Lu Chen did not take the opportunity to place all his cronies in positions of power, he would at least do his best to prevent Chen Lanyu and Zhang Xu from entering the core. However, she did not expect that compared with the former Minister of Military Affairs of the Military Academy, the current Military Affairs Council only had the less famous Tong Shiyuan.

The important person Xiao Wangzhi is missing.

Therefore, Queen Mother Ning asked with a puzzled look: "Why is Duke Rong not here?"

Xu Zuo said, "Your Majesty, because the battle of Pingyang exhausted all his energy, Duke Rong decided to retire. He has already persuaded the Prince of Huai'an, and the resignation letter should be arriving in the capital soon."

The hall fell into silence.

Queen Mother Ning said with a sigh: "Duke Rong is the pillar of the country. I really can't bear to see him leave the court. Well, let's discuss this matter later. If Duke Rong insists on not staying, I and the court will certainly not treat him badly. Prime Minister Xue, do you think the proposal of the Prince of Huai'an is feasible?"

Xue Nanting seemed unusually silent today. He bowed his head slightly and said, "I think it is feasible."

Queen Mother Ning no longer hesitated and said calmly: "In this case, please ask the two prime ministers to work harder and work with all officials to draft the rules for moving the capital as soon as possible, and then announce it to the world."

The two prime ministers accepted the order in unison.

After they left, Queen Mother Ning sat alone for a long time, seemingly thinking about something very important.

"Yuan Yuji."

"Wei Chen is here."

As the Junior Supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in charge of all the palace maids and secret guards in the harem, Yuan Yuji is qualified to call himself a minister. This is also a grace specifically granted by Empress Dowager Ning.

Queen Mother Ning still looked ahead and asked softly, "Where is Qin Zheng?"

Yuan Yuji bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, according to the estimated journey, Lord Qin should be in the Changyun Prefecture area of ​​Hezhou now, and will arrive in the capital in about half a month."

Queen Mother Ning was silent for a moment, then said with a complicated expression: "Let your people make arrangements. I don't want anyone else to know his whereabouts, especially... the Lu family's spies."

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I can definitely do it."

"Okay, let's go down."

Empress Dowager Ning gave a faint instruction, then stood up and walked slowly to the window.

She did not invite the female official to come in, but ground the ink herself and wrote three names on the paper.

Xue Nanting is on the left and Xu Zuo is on the right.

In the middle is Qin Zheng.

Looking back to the past, they were the three most trusted and capable aides of Emperor Gaozong.

Empress Dowager Ning's gaze first turned to Xue Nanting, then to the word "Xu Zuo", and she shook her head slightly.

"Everyone has their own aspirations, and I don't complain, but many times, they are ultimately trapped by their own fate."

"It is the same with me."

She stared at the paper in the middle, the former head of the Weaving Department who seemed to have been forgotten by many people, and murmured, "What about you?"

(End of this chapter)