At the same time, in a garden on the south side of the East Palace of the Imperial Palace.

Here there are tributaries from the moat outside the palace walls lingering among them. Flowers and trees on both sides of the tributaries are densely planted with lush branches and leaves, and willow trees are shaded. There are corridors on them tortuously flowing along the water.

Gauze hangs on both sides of the corridor to block the wind. As the gauze blew, there was a light sound of golden bells, the sound of water, ringtones, and wind mixed together. Not only did it not seem noisy, but it gave people a quiet and elegant feeling.

At the end of the corridor is a water pavilion built by the water.

This water pavilion is a lotus-shaped and has a very interesting appearance. Bright lights emerge from the window lattice and are reflected in the water. From a distance, the whole water pavilion looks like a lotus lantern floating in the lake.

There were soldiers patrolling around the water pavilion with halberds and armor, surrounded by maids with thin makeup, and eunuchs in green clothes with trays and cups were circling.

The space inside the water pavilion is very open, and there is an empty seat in the hall.

In the middle of the seat, a half-sitting and half-lying woman in the palace dress supported her chin with one hand and stared at the water outside the window in a daze.

At this time, a palace maid came in from outside quickly, knelt down and bowed, "Empress, Zhennan Hou asks for your visit."

It turns out that the woman on the recliner on the mat is Xiao Qiang, the current Northern Wei empress.

"Come here? Say it!"

Xiao Qiang slowly stood up, straightened his waist, and stared forward. After a while, a man in a black brocade robe, about thirty years old walked in, "My minister Xiao Feng greets the Queen Qiansui, Qiansui, Qiansui!"

"Second brother, please get up quickly. There are no one else here, so why do you need so much politeness?"

Xiao Qiang said gently.

"Sister, you are the queen of the Great Wei Dynasty, the future empress dowager, and the courtesy cannot be abolished."

As he spoke, Xiao stood up and walked to the seat beside him and sat down. "I should have come to pay my respects to my sister early, but I didn't expect that when I changed the palace, I had a fight with the old man from the Privy Council, so it was too late."

When Xiao Qiang heard this, he frowned slightly, "The Privy Councilor Wanyan Han is the younger brother of the late emperor and has a great influence in the royal family. If it is not necessary, it is better not to have conflicts with him."

"Sister, I know it, don't worry, this time I brought 30,000 Erlang to Beijing. No matter who is the emperor, I have to pass the sister's level first. Unfortunately, Jing'er's life is poor, otherwise he would be the turn of those little bastards--"

Speaking of this, Xiao Feng immediately noticed the sadness on the face of the queen Xiao Qiang, and suddenly slapped himself, "I blame my stinky mouth for reminding my sister of sad things."

Xiao Qiang wiped the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief, and removed the topic and said, "Second brother thinks that among all the princes, who is more safe to be this emperor?"

"Sister, can anyone choose?"

Xiao asked back.

"Among all the adult princes, except for the dead eldest, Lao Liu, Lao Qi and Lao Jiu, the other princes are supported by the forces in and outside the palace. Once any of them ascend to the throne, it will not be a good thing for us."

"What sister means is to let me support the sixth prince, the seventh prince or the ninth prince ascend the throne?"

Xiao Feng frowned.

"You think it's inappropriate?"

Xiao Qiang did have this idea. Among them, she was interested in the sixth prince Wanyan He, because among these three princes, only his mother had passed away, and without a backer, it was easiest to control.

"Although these three people do not have any power, once they ascend to the throne, someone will naturally turn to them, especially the neutral factions of Chaozhong. This is a considerable force. If they are supported by this power, no one can guarantee whether the emperor will listen to us."

Although the Xiao clan is now in Xu Jing, it is because of the fact that Xiao Qiang, the Empress Xiao Feng, the Marshal of Zhennan, and the Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council and the Marshal of the Du, once the new emperor ascends the throne, the Empress Xiao Qiang, will become the Empress Dowager, and the authority of the harem will be handed over to the new queen. Whether Xiao Feng, the Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council and the Marshal of the Du position can still be firmly dependent on the New Emperor.

"Does the second brother have other candidates?"

Xiao Qiang asked.

"Instead of choosing an adult prince to ascend the throne, it is better to choose a young one. In this way, as the empress dowager, my sister can use the reason for the new emperor to be under the age of a child and rule the country behind the curtain. This is the safest way for us."

Xiao Feng clenched his fists and said with a faint smile.

“This is impossible.”

Xiao Qiang shook his head, "Not to mention those adult princes and the supporters behind him, even the royal family and other ministers in the court will not agree to choose a minor prince as the new emperor. At that time, our Xiao clan will become the target of public criticism and a disaster will come."

"Sister, this is not simple. As long as those adult princes are gone, there will naturally be no reason for the royal family and court officials to object."

Xiao Feng said coldly.

Hearing this, Xiao Qiang's face changed drastically and he looked at Xiao Feng with some disbelief, "You really want to do this. Once things are exposed, the Xiao clan will be doomed. You can figure it out."

"I have already thought about this very clearly. Even if I don't do that, once any prince of the five concubines ascends the throne, our Xiao family will not have a good life. Sister, don't worry, the five princes who are most capable of reaching that position are fighting openly and secretly. I don't need to do it myself at all. Just sit in the mountains and watch the tiger fight and let them kill each other, and finally come out and clean up the mess."

Xiao Feng smiled faintly and said that he would even pretend to be recruited by one of them and then fuel the fire.

"You can decide this matter yourself. If you need help, go to the palace to find me. I am tired. Please kneel down and help me greet my parents after I go back."

Xiao Qiang rubbed his eyebrows and waved his hands, saying, after the old emperor died, the people in the palace were not at ease. These days, he could be said to be hardworking and sleeping uneasy.

Tomorrow she will take the princes to deal with the matter of keeping the swaying matter. The corpse in the coffin has been placed for more than a month. Although there were many spices and some protection, the stench still smells to death. However, there is nothing we can do about this. According to the days calculated by the Imperial Heaven Supervision, there will be five days to bury the old emperor's body.

······

On the first day Liu Feng arrived at Xu Jing, a lot of things happened far away in Jiangzhou. After receiving the order from Liu Feng, General Fan Wei of the South of the Conquest Army expanded his army to 150,000. Relying on the line of Xiqi, he purchased many Western Qi war horses and formed a cavalry of 30,000.

Relying on this army, he successfully received most of Jiangzhou from the Ganchao Guardian, and then advanced eastward to repel Chen Sheng's defeated army that broke in, and then blocked the border between Jiangzhou and Jizhou. During this period, there were several conflicts between the two sides, and they were eventually informed of Chen Sheng's defeat.

He couldn't beat him and the food was too short. Chen Sheng had no choice but to send someone to negotiate with Fan Wei.
Chapter completed!