The clouds in the evening smudged the entire sky, turning the sky into a fiery red. The maple leaves in front of the steps fell, picked up by bursts of autumn wind, and swirled outside the palace wall.
The scenery is picturesque, but not everyone's mood is as beautiful as the clouds.
In Cining Palace.
Empress Dowager Sun squeezed the memorial in her hand tightly, threw it to the ground, sneered and said in a hateful voice.
"The actions of the Ministry of Rites this time are really very fast. I'm afraid they have already discussed it in private and are just waiting to join forces to persecute the Yi family, these wolf-hearted people!"
The group of servants serving below looked at me and I looked at you. They were all trembling and did not dare to speak.
This is the third time that the Queen Mother has lost her temper since she came back.
The first time was when I just came back, I was very angry for a while. Three or four of the maids who usually served me were punished and grounded if they made the slightest mistake.
Afterwards, the Queen Mother was summoned again. Through the door of the Nuan Pavilion, people outside could faintly hear the Queen Mother's scolding voice. I don't know exactly what she said, but looking at the Queen Mother's red and swollen eyes when she left, I was afraid that she was scolded.
Not light.
This time, I don’t know why...
Jin Ying sighed, stepped forward to pick up the memorial from the ground, smoothed it, and whispered.
"Holy Mother, please calm down. Even if the Ministry of Ceremonies was well prepared, it must have followed orders. Why do you need to get angry and make yourself angry? Someone will be happy for you."
This memorial was brought over by Jin Ying, and he naturally knew the content of it. It was a new ceremonial note for the canonization of the prince published by the Ministry of Rites. However, the difference from the previous one was that it included the content of the ministers jointly requesting the appointment of a new king.
It was precisely because of this that Empress Dowager Sun became furious.
But even though he said this, Jin Ying knew in his heart that what Empress Dowager Sun said was simply impossible.
He had read this memorial, and many parts of it were copied. Even a minister like him, who was not very familiar with etiquette, could see that there were many things in it that needed to be discussed, and it seemed that they had been rushed out at a glance.
Of course, these words cannot be said. Now that Empress Dowager Sun is angry, of course she has to obey her.
As expected, after listening to Jin Ying's words, Queen Mother Sun felt a little calmer. She wanted to call someone, but she remembered that Li Yongchang had already been arrested and sent to prison.
After all, he was her servant who had been with her for so many years. Thinking of it at this moment, Empress Dowager Sun couldn't help but sigh softly, and her hatred for Zhu Qiyu deepened in her heart.
Breaking free from this depressed mood, Queen Mother Sun raised her eyes and looked at Jin Ying. After a long while, she spoke.
"Eunuch Jin, you are considered to be of high moral character and seniority in the palace. Neither the Ai family nor the emperor treat you as an ordinary eunuch. I think Wang Zhen has a monstrous momentum, but in the end, he really holds the throne.
The person in charge of etiquette is still you."
As mentioned in the previous chapter, although Wang Zhen was the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, most of his energy was focused on the East Factory.
Most of the government affairs of the Si Li Jian were still handled by Jin Ying, the eunuch with a pen.
Therefore, Empress Dowager Sun said that it was Jin Ying who really held the position of Supervisor of Ceremonies, which was quite true.
However, after hearing this, Jin Ying immediately knelt down on the ground and said: "The minister is deeply gracious and kind to the late emperor and the queen mother, and he has the trust of the emperor. Naturally, he does his best and does not dare to be praised like this by the queen mother."
Looking at Jin Ying kneeling on the ground, Queen Mother Sun's eyes turned cold and she said.
"The Aijia vaguely remembered that it was you who persuaded the Aijia to let King Xi take charge of the affairs, and that you would look after him for the Aijia. So the Aijia was a little confused.
How about this?"
A drop of cold sweat slipped from Jin Ying's head.
He was a smart man and he immediately understood that the Queen Mother was suspicious of him.
What went wrong?
Jin Ying quickly recalled his words and deeds in these days, and finally settled on the meeting.
It is inevitable that King Tan will be in charge of the country and his power will grow day by day. Even if he did not let himself pass at that time, but sent the reviewed memorials to Cining Palace, it would only be drinking poison to quench his thirst.
If the Queen Mother had not understood this, she would not have agreed at the beginning.
Over the past few days, Jin Ying has not deliberately concealed any important news from the Queen Mother Sun. It seems that she did not have any doubts about King Tan because of his rise.
Then, this mild hostility can only come from the fact that he led Dongchang's troops to rescue King Xi at the Great Court Meeting.
After thinking about this section, Jin Ying immediately spoke.
"Holy Mother, today's court meeting happened unexpectedly, and the ministers did not know about it in advance. However, before going to court, His Highness King Tan ordered the ministers to immediately go to Dongchang and Jinyiwei to dispatch five hundred soldiers after the court meeting was over.
The horse will be ready at the Meridian Gate."
"At that time, it was already time to open the palace gate, and there was no time to report to the Holy Mother. The ministers also thought about the presence of the Holy Mother. Firstly, if the soldiers and horses arrived, they should listen to the Holy Mother's dispatch first. Secondly, they were afraid that there would be some trouble that would hurt the Holy Mother, so they killed her first and reported later.
, I beg the Holy Mother not to blame the ministers for making their own decisions."
Queen Mother Sun didn't say anything, she just looked at Jin Ying, as if she wanted to see a flower in him.
After a while, Fang said.
"Get up!"
Jin Ying wiped his sweat and knew that this level of difficulty was barely passed.
As soon as she got up, she heard Empress Dowager Sun sigh faintly and said: "If it is according to what you said, then the Ai family's prediction is good, then King Tan has already guessed what will happen in the court meeting. I can't guarantee that.
He was the one who secretly promoted the remonstration of the foreign court. I don’t know what kind of benefits he promised those people, but he dared to act so boldly and kill people in public..."
Jin Ying thought for a while and boldly said: "The Holy Mother will bluntly say that this matter does not require any benefits. For the ministers of the outer dynasty, the fact that King Tan allowed them to remonstrate without punishing them is the greatest benefit in itself."
Empress Dowager Sun nodded. She had also heard about some of the customs in the outer dynasty.
Especially in recent years, several generations of emperors have treated officials favorably, making it a blessing for them to offend their officials.
There was such an opportunity for the ministers to remonstrate without being punished, so naturally they would not miss it.
It's a pity that my control over the outer court is still too low. If I make one mistake, I will lose everything. Even Li Yongchang will lose.
The more Empress Dowager Sun thought about it, the more irritated she became. She stood up and paced back and forth in the Nuan Pavilion, saying:
"Then in your opinion, what should Aijia do now?"
Jin Yingdao: "Going back to the Holy Mother, the ministers dare to say that in the current situation, King Ni has conquered the hearts of many ministers from the outer dynasty. Looking back on these days, what King Ni has done is nothing more than relying on the outer dynasty in the name of righteousness.
The power of the ministers suppresses the Holy Mother, but if you take any action, in the minds of the courtiers, you are ignoring the overall situation. It is for this reason that you will repeatedly restrain your hands and feet and be controlled by others."
Queen Mother Sun nodded and motioned for Jin Ying to continue.
"Therefore, under the current situation, the ministers believe that it is better to be still than to move. The succession of King Tan is a foregone conclusion, so it is not appropriate for the Queen Mother to make any further fuss about this matter, otherwise she will be easily criticized by the ministers again."
Empress Dowager Sun glared and said displeasedly: "So your idea is to ask the Ai family to let King Tan ascend to the throne?"
Facing the unkind gaze of Empress Dowager Sun, Jin Ying knelt down on the ground again and said bravely: "Back to the Holy Mother, it is indeed the case. In the current situation, King Tan is the one whom everyone expects. If you forcefully stop him, it will inevitably cause a backlash from the ministers.
If there is another case of forcing someone to remonstrate, it may be difficult to deal with it."
Thinking of the scene outside Zuoshun Gate today, Empress Dowager Sun felt a chill in her heart. She had never thought that these courtiers were so terrifying.
After hesitating for a moment, Queen Mother Sun reluctantly nodded and signaled Jin Ying to get up.
So Jin Ying stood up and continued: "Queen Mother, since this matter has become unstoppable, what you should consider is what happens after King Tan inherits the throne..."
"Do you mean?"
"Of course it's the power of the harem and the emperor who welcomes you back."
"After so many days, looking at everything King Yi has done, he is seizing power from the Holy Mother. This time King Yi took the opportunity to imprison Eunuch Li, which shows that he has turned his attention to the harem."
Empress Dowager Sun nodded and said: "Yes, even if King Tan could not think of this, Wu's scheming will never let it go."
Jin Ying continued: "So I guess that after King Xi ascends the throne, he will use the pretext of dealing with Wang Zhen's party to eliminate dissidents in the palace and support his cronies. For this purpose, the Holy Mother should try her best to keep the harem and keep the relationship with her.
Wang Zhen's involvement is not deep and he is a trustworthy person to prevent King Tan from implicating innocent people and plotting later."
After hearing this, Queen Mother Sun glanced at Jin Ying.
She is very clear about the power in the palace. Among the current ministers, there are three most prominent ones.
Headed by Wang Zhen, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, followed by the two eunuchs Jin Ying and Fan Hong. Most of the eunuchs in the palace can trace their roots to these three people.
But in this civil engineering battle, both Wang Zhen and Fan Hong left with them and died outside, so only Jin Ying was left.
The meaning of his words was to allow himself to preserve the people of his lineage. Perhaps, he would also take this opportunity to take Fan Hong's lineage into his own.
After all, among the ministers, there are also competitions for power and profit.
However, Queen Mother Sun was not angry. No matter who she was, it was human nature to plan for herself. When the water was clear, there would be no fish. She did not force Jin Ying to be a saint. She had some small thoughts of her own, which reassured her.
Nodding, Empress Dowager Sun said: "What you said makes sense, and the Ai family knows this. Li Yongchang just happened to be imprisoned. In the past few days, you can choose some capable and innocent people, meet with the Ai family, and place them in various places."
Just be on duty."
Jin Ying bowed his head and accepted the order. Empress Dowager Sun added: "This matter is not difficult. After all, even if King Xi succeeds to the throne, he will not cross the Ai family. It is possible to stop him from getting involved. But what did you say just now about welcoming the emperor back?"
Is it possible that he dares to do anything about this matter?"
As she said that, Queen Mother Sun's eyes turned cold. She could give in to anything else, but this was the bottom line and she could never give in.
Jin Yingdao: "Holy Mother, don't worry. After all, the emperor is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. No matter how arrogant King Xi is, he will not dare to openly stop the emperor from welcoming him back. At most, he will make some stumbling blocks secretly. Otherwise, the outer court will
Those ministers will not agree."
"What the minister is worried about is what will happen after the emperor is welcomed back?"
Queen Mother Sun understood.
The so-called power touches people's hearts. How can there be any reason to give up what is in hand?
Now that Zhu Qiyu has inherited the throne, if the emperor returns then, will he be willing to return the throne? Definitely not.
Not only would he not be willing to relinquish the throne, he was also afraid that ministers from other dynasties would not let Zhu Qiyu hand over the throne for the so-called stability of the dynasty.
Her brows furrowed involuntarily. Empress Dowager Sun dispelled her last doubts about Jin Ying and asked.
"As you just said, King Tan's succession to the throne is unstoppable. If you want to stop it, the Ai family can't stop it. But apart from that, what can the Ai family do?"
Jin Ying pondered for a moment and said: "Holy Mother, the so-called righteous title, held by King Tan, is nothing more than righteousness. In this situation, it is true that he cannot stop him, but he might as well do some tricks secretly and do something about the title...
…”
As he spoke, Jin Ying lowered his voice.
After hearing this, Empress Dowager Sun relaxed her brows slightly and hesitated: "Can this be done?"
Jin Ying cupped his hands and said, "Nothing is perfect in this world. This method that the ministers thought of is also to prepare for any eventuality, so that if one day...it will be a good example."
Queen Mother Sun nodded and sighed.
"That's all we have to do. In this case, after tomorrow, you can summon Hu Hui and the Aijia will talk to him personally."
