Emperor Phoenix

Chapter 73

Raising his eyelashes, he looked at Xiao Jue quietly, his expression was dazed, he stared at the dish in front of him without saying a word, there was a haze between his brows, as if he was thinking how could he do such a thing?
Xiao Jue was indeed puzzled. At that moment just now, when he looked at the court lady named Mingshuang who was standing behind Wenchang, her eyes flicked past the Queen Mother, for some reason, her expression at that moment made him return to the scene in a daze. Back in the past, there was a similar scene in my vague memory. The girl fluttered her sleeves in the vermilion palace, her somewhat scattered and unrestrained gaze, like water passing by the mother of the country who was deep in thought in the center of the seat, smiled gracefully It's kind of cold and clear.

The scene overlaps, it seems familiar, and the heart is shaking, as if the past is returning to the past, he clings to the silver dragon wine bottle, so naturally he wants to blurt out, "You go to persuade the bar..."

Fortunately, just as she uttered the first word, the court lady suddenly raised her eyes, with a gentle look of timidity and excitement, which was no different from ordinary women but definitely belonged to her, and that face was also unfamiliar.

Not her!
Looking at the slender figure of the woman holding the jug and following Wenchang to toast each table, Xiao Jue raised the wine bottle, the tall and straight body covered his face, he drank the wine in one go, the liquid entered his throat, heavy Slowly, as if what he drank was not the mellow royal wine, but some burning stones or scorching coke, which were hot and stiff in his chest.

Unwilling to face the familiar pain...

Drinking too fast, he was a little dizzy, and in the dizziness, he heard the empress dowager beside him suddenly put down the wine bottle and sighed slightly.

The crisp sound of the wine bottle being dropped on the table was not too loud, but it was heard by everyone immediately. The palace was full of jewels, and the concubines and wives who were enjoying the glory of the royal family immediately stopped laughing and looked up together.

The hall, which was still smiling and talking warmly just now, was so quiet that a needle could be heard.

The Empress Dowager Jiang waited until everyone's eyes fell on the top, and Fang smiled lightly: "It's rare for you to come here, just feel free to ignore me, I just see you happy and lively, and I feel emotional for a while."

Everyone is human, of course they know that this is just false talk, how dare they "take it easy"?Sitting upright, he just listened, waiting for the next sentence, Qin Changge frowned.

Sure enough, she still doesn't give up?

The Empress Dowager Jiang really continued: "Aijia just thought of my poor niece. The Longevity Palace is lively and festive at the moment, but the Cold Spring Palace is so desolate. I have a pity that her fate is so bad. My aunt is not able to come to congratulate her in person on her tenth birthday." As he spoke, he wiped away his tears.

For a moment, everyone looked at each other with horror in their eyes.

Everyone knows that this topic is equivalent to explosives, so it is absolutely unacceptable.

The matter of abolishing the empress is related to the secrets of the palace and the political situation in the world. It is an irreconcilable contradiction between the empress dowager and the emperor. Now that the empress dowager chooses to mention the abolition of the empress on such a day, who knows what she will do? Do you use this opportunity to coerce the emperor to obey filial piety and satisfy her long-cherished desire to make a daughter of Jiang's family queen again?
When the emperor was forced to appoint daughters of the Jiang family, he immediately married several ladies who were also important officials in the court and powerful families, and made them the fourth concubines of high rank, in order to contain the power of the Jiang family. In less than a year, These forces escalated their conflicts and continued to make troubles, fighting to the death. In the end, the Jiang family was first sued by Sima Wei, the concubine's father, for "enclosing land, plundering people, and privately storing grain and grass to drive up market prices for huge profits." This is irrelevant to the overall situation. The court sent personnel to investigate the crime, but the Jiang family didn't take it seriously, but in the end it was found out that the Jiang family communicated with the Northern Wei Dynasty, trafficked grain to the Northern Wei Dynasty in exchange for weapons and supplies, and attempted to usurp the throne. The case shocked the world, and the Jiang family was arrested by the court. The house was ransacked in a thunderous manner, and a number of illegal items were found. The century-old wealthy family and the family of Yiying were killed in an instant. Then, the emperor issued an order saying that the crime of treason was unforgivable, and the three sons of the Jiang family who were the first offenders were executed. , the rest of the people, etc., remember that in the past, the Jiang family had made great contributions to the dragon, so they were exempted from death and exile. , a wealthy family with two daughters who are the mother of the dynasty, destined to live forever without a chance to stand up. As for the queen mother and queen, the ministers thought they were somewhat involved, but the emperor said: "The crime of father and brother, the crime of injustice and the deep palace woman " Having said that, it didn't take long for Empress Jiang to be deposed for a felony, leaving only one Empress Dowager Jiang who was not the emperor's own mother.

And Sima Wei, who was the first to accuse him of meritorious service, immediately conferred the title of Shao Fu, and the Sima family was overjoyed, thinking that it would be a matter of time before they would sit on the Diaoyutai, be conferred the title of Concubine Virtue, and aspire to the crown.

Unexpectedly, not long after, Concubine De fell ill, the dream of the Sima family fell through, and she lost her status as a relative of the state, and was transferred from a real job to an honorable but vain title without real power. The eunuch fell from the horse.

In this way, in less than two years, the most powerful and longest-stretched wealthy families in the past were severely injured in the constant battles, and no one was in the right place. But it became more and more stable. In the second year of Tianbi, Xiao Jue established the pregnant concubine Qin Changge as the queen, and Xiao Rong immediately became the prince after the birth.

At this point, all the nobles finally realized that they had once again underestimated the seemingly rootless imperial concubine, but they had already accumulated so much that they were powerless, so they had to hide their strengths and bide their time, and behave carefully.

Those who participated in the battle without knowing how deep they were were all old families from the nobles of the Yuan Dynasty. When the city was destroyed, they huddled in the countryside and fled far away from the flames of war. Afterwards, the iron-blooded demeanor on the battlefield, and I have never seen how the always smiling imperial concubine overturned the situation at the beginning, but those upstarts who followed Xiao Jue in the southern and northern wars knew Qin Changge's power well, not only did they not dare to intervene in palace affairs, He also deeply warned his daughter not to quarrel with the imperial concubine, and to live peacefully is the greatest support for the family. Therefore, the concubine fell ill when she entered the palace, and the concubine Shu and concubine Yao were very jealous, but they could only smear a few words. sentence, it was finally preserved.

The wives and concubines present here are the highest-ranking ladies of the Xiliang Dynasty. Naturally, they know all about the political affairs of the court, but no one dares to put them into words. Seeing the Empress Dowager bring up such a thorny topic, they all bow their heads , Pretending to be eating food, he didn't even dare to look at Xiao Jue's face.

Unexpectedly, someone answered the call.

The one who opened the mouth was the woman sitting first on the lower left of the Empress Dowager Jiang, wearing a drape of lotus flowers inlaid with gold, and a long skirt of Tianhua brocade with large sleeves lining her double-luan skirt. I don't know her, but some people recognize her as Empress Dowager Jiang's distant cousin. She married Xiao Jue's uncle Xiao Yi in her early years. Wu was repeatedly punished by Xiao Jin, and Xiao Yi would always say a few good words for his nephew when he saw him. Therefore, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xiao Jue also took good care of this uncle who gave charcoal in a timely manner. After leaving him, it is only natural for Princess An to come from thousands of miles to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday. Speaking of which, this Princess An is both Xiao Jue's aunt and his aunt, so it is considered a very close relationship.

"As the saying goes, if one person is in the corner, the whole seat is not happy." As everyone held their breaths, Concubine An was also saddened, and said: "Although today is a good day for the Queen Mother, I shouldn't say this, but I think, if you can take care of yourself Come to pay tribute to my aunt in person, the queen mother should be more happy, this is also my own selfish thought, since the first year of Tianbi, I went to the fief with the prince, and bid farewell to the empress at Zheng'anmen, counting, I have not been here for six years Seeing my niece, the prince also misses her in Anzhou. He always said that Zhaowei was lively and cheerful when she was young. I don’t know what she looks like now? So I thought, if I have the opportunity to meet Zhaowei, I will tell you about her recent situation. Let the prince hear it, and forget about the wish of our dying old couple." Then he wiped away his tears, and apologized to the empress dowager for his rudeness.

She brought out King An, without mentioning the matter of abolishing the empress, and making a fuss about human ethics in every sentence, which was a good-sounding reason-it was just that the old aunt and uncle missed their niece and wanted a side, and it was the queen mother's birthday banquet , No longer accommodated, the emperor who has always been known as advocating filial piety and physical fitness will inevitably be ridiculed.

In the silence, everyone buried their heads in the food, but they all strained their ears to catch Xiao Jue's voice. They all heard that although the emperor was wise and kind in the past, in recent years, his temperament has become colder, his dignity has become more serious, and he is moody and angry. His seizures are quite terrifying. Everyone was afraid of suffering, so they didn't dare to talk too much, they pretended to hold a chopstick in their mouths, and only dared to chew it after a long time, and they didn't dare to make a sound.

And Xiao Jue was just holding the wine bottle, staring intently at the liquid in the glass, as if there was some western scene in the wine bottle.

Too long of silence would be embarrassing. The Empress Dowager's expression was already a little stiff. Princess An twisted her fingers, fidgeting.

Fortunately, at the moment when the sluggish silence reached the limit of breaking out, and Princess An leaned slightly, as if she was about to leave her seat to plead guilty, Xiao Jue suddenly raised her head, and swept her long, narrow and sharp eyes sideways. There was a stern smile on the faces of Empress Dowager Jiang and Concubine An, and said lightly: "Since it is the wish of the empress mother and the prince and concubine, there is no reason why it cannot be fulfilled. I also intended to do so, but I was just worried that she would lose her mind. It is not good to frighten the empress dowager and concubines and all the ministers and family members, since the empress dowager and the princess are taking care of it, it is no harm."

Empress Dowager Jiang didn't seem to hear the last sentence, she just smiled and said: "The emperor is more considerate and considerate." Then she ordered someone to invite Jiang to the Cold Spring Palace.

At this time, although everyone was still trying to pretend to be happy, they were actually uncomfortable sitting in their seats. They didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd of the Empress Dowager Jiang, so why did they meet the Empress Dowager on this occasion?

Empress Dowager Jiang sat on the seat with a calm smile, but there was a hint of uneasiness in her changing eyes.

She has been waiting for this day for a long time.

After Zhaowei was abolished, she has been insane and confused all the time. She thinks that this child is always from her Jiang family. Now that the Jiang family is dying, she can still take care of Zhaowei. Zhao Fu, unexpectedly a few days ago, Xiao Le'er, the servant of Zhaowei, when she was going to deliver food to her mother, pulled her mother aside, saying that Zhao Wei had nightmares every night, dreamed of demons in her arms, and woke up. From time to time, she kept chattering absent-mindedly, saying, "She's back, she's back." Apart from this, her sanity became clear day by day, and she clamored to see the queen mother every day.

(End of this chapter)