Although the hottest summer has passed, the lingering power of the heat is still there.
Quan Cong, wearing formal attire, stood under the palace gate. After a while, small beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
The sun, which had already passed its zenith, shone on the tall palace palace, casting a huge shadow.
But Quan Cong stood respectfully, not daring to go to the shadows.
I don't know how long it took, but Quan Cong's back and thick Chinese clothes gradually began to seep with sweat stains, growing from small to large, and finally stained the entire back.
In a certain back hall of the Taichu Palace, Bingjian was exuding bursts of cool air.
The residual heat outside has not dissipated, but it is cool and pleasant inside the palace.
On the incense couch, there is a light gauze curtain.
There was a strange smell filling the hall.
It is the residual smell of love between a man and a woman, as well as some lingering spice smell, mixed together in the air, forming an indescribable and lustful fragrance.
A snow arm stretched out from the gauze tent, hooked its slender fingers on a tulle, and then pulled it back again, and the tulle was slowly pulled into the gauze tent.
Under the hazy gauze curtain, you can see a graceful body sitting up.
But first she stretched out her hand to cover her mouth, and then a lazy yawn came from the gauze curtain:
"Haha..."
Although the wonderful person inside the gauze curtain cannot be seen clearly, just seeing the figure and movements, as well as the seductive yawn, is enough to make people imagine endlessly.
After yawning, the people in the gauze tent put on gauze clothes.
Then, a straight and white calf stuck out of the gauze tent, and the instep was so tight that one could clearly see the veins under the skin.
The toes with bright red nails first tapped lightly on the wooden floor, as if to test the heat and coldness of the ground.
Maybe he felt satisfied, and then he continued to put the jade feet down with confidence.
The round thighs wrapped in tulle were then exposed outside the gauze tent, and it was almost as if the wonderful woman was about to reveal her true face.
Unexpectedly, another man's voice suddenly came from behind her:
"Where do you want to go, concubine?"
At the same time, a big hand wrapped around her slim waist, and with a little force, he pulled her back into the tent.
"嘤咛!"
Following the gasping sound, a charming voice sounded in the gauze tent:
"Your Majesty, I can't survive this concubine, please spare me!"
"Hahaha!"
It seemed that Sun Quan was greatly satisfied by his begging for mercy, "Since my beloved concubine is tired, please sleep with me for a while."
Mrs. Pan lay obediently in Sun Quan's arms, her slender hands rubbed circles on Sun Quan's chest, and said softly:
"Your Majesty, the Grand Governor has been waiting outside the palace for a long time. Wouldn't you like to see him?"
When Sun Quan heard this, he had a look of displeasure on his face and snorted:
"What's there to see? Don't worry about him!"
Normally, if Mrs. Pan saw that Sun Quan was unhappy, she would definitely not mention this matter again.
But at this time, she had a slightly bitter look on her face and continued to persuade:
"Your Majesty has been staying in my concubine's palace for many days. The ladies in the harem are already very dissatisfied. They only say that I am too greedy and want to monopolize Your Majesty. I will not give them some rain and dew."
"Now if Your Majesty does not see the foreign ministers, I am afraid that there will be rumors inside and outside the palace that I am seducing Your Majesty, causing Your Majesty to indulge in beauty and ignore state affairs."
As she spoke, Mrs. Pan was about to cry, and her appearance was even more charming.
Sun Quan couldn't help but feel pity, and at the same time he became angry:
"I am the emperor, the son of heaven! Do you need to look at other people's faces when you want to favor whom or what you want to do?"
As he spoke, he let go of Mrs. Pan in his arms and tried to stand up.
Unexpectedly, there was a soreness and numbness in his waist, which made Sun Quan almost miss his waist.
Mrs. Pan quickly supported Sun Quan:
"Your Majesty, are you okay?"
Sun Quan, who just now showed off his might and smiled in front of Mrs. Pan, showing that his sword was immortal, would naturally not admit that he had a problem with his old waist.
If not, wouldn't it be showing cowardice and slapping yourself in the face?
But I saw that he quickly used his arms to support his body, forming a sideways and semi-lying position:
"Someone's coming!"
The palace servant who had been guarding the door quickly walked in quietly:
"His Majesty?"
"Go, send someone to tell the Governor outside that I am tired today and want to rest early, so that he can come back another day."
"Here."
After giving the instructions, Sun Quan lay back down and hugged Mrs. Pan again:
"Okay, it's okay. Tell me, who in the harem is talking nonsense again?"
Mrs. Pan took the initiative to fall into Sun Quan's arms again and whispered:
"It's Sister Yuan. Sister Yuan said that in the harem, harmony should be the top priority and not to be preoccupied with rain and dew..."
After hearing Mrs. Pan's words, Sun Quan relaxed and said nonchalantly:
"It turns out it's her. It doesn't matter. Just don't take it to heart. She is the most boring."
After a pause, his tone couldn't help but contain a hint of alienation and disgust:
"She considers herself to be an ominous person. I thought she was being modest before, but who would have expected that the prince..."
Having said this, Sun Quan groaned and said nothing.
Mrs. Pan quickly said in a panic:
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have mentioned her in front of His Majesty. It ruined His Majesty's mood."
Sun Quan sighed and shook his head slightly:
"It's not your fault. In fact, Yuan's character is good, but it's a pity..."
He didn't say anything pity.
Mrs. Pan, who was hiding in Sun Quan's arms, knew what Sun Quan meant by "a pity".
Where Sun Quan couldn't see her, her eyes flickered and she finally stopped talking.
Among the wives and concubines in Sun Quan's harem, Mrs. Pan was the youngest.
But her ambition is not small.
It has been decades since the founding of the Wu Kingdom, but there has never been a real queen - Mrs. Bu was posthumously named, and strictly speaking, she was not a real queen.
Seeing that His Majesty is already over 60 years old, Wu can't continue to have a queen, right?
In other words, Your Majesty can't live without establishing a queen, right?
Over the past few days, Mrs. Pan, who has been practicing dual cultivation with His Majesty and is known as the Immortal Couple by His Majesty in private, has been growing in ambition. She also wants to become the Queen.
But she knew that it was not easy to achieve her goal.
In her eyes, there were at least two people standing in front of her.
One is the Yuan family and the other is the Wang family.
When Mrs. Bu, who was most favored by Sun Quan at that time, was still alive, Sun Quan wanted to make her his queen.
However, the crown prince Sun Deng and the ministers in the court insisted on following the etiquette rules and believed that the position of queen should belong to the Xu family.
The two sides were in a stalemate and refused to give in. As a result, Wu State has never had a harem master.
Until Xu died of illness, it was thought that Bu would finally take over.
Who would have expected that Bu died of illness immediately after Xu.
The battle for the Queen of Wu ended with neither of them getting what they wanted.
After both the Xu family and the Bu family died of illness, the huge differences between the monarchs and ministers of the Wu Kingdom, especially Sun Quan and the crown prince Sun Deng, over the choice of queen naturally disappeared.
The matter of establishing a queen was therefore put on the agenda.
The Yuan family, who was famous for his integrity, was the candidate recognized by the kings and ministers of the Wu Kingdom.
Prince Sun Deng even went to Mrs. Yuan's palace in person to ask her to agree to be his queen, and even called her his mother.
It's a pity that everything is good for Mr. Yuan, but his life is not so good.
She was originally the daughter of Yuan Shu, and when Yuan Shu became emperor, she became the princess.
Who would have expected that Yuan Shu was attacked by all the princes, and was defeated and died of vomiting blood.
Yuan was also captured by Sun Ce and became a prisoner.
It was not until Sun Quan became King of Wei and Wu that Yuan was admitted to the palace and granted the title of Madam.
Although he was called virtuous, he never had children.
Sun Quan repeatedly gave her the sons born to Zhu Ji to raise, but he was unable to raise any of them, and one of them died after being raised.
Sun Deng even promised to call her his mother, but he fell seriously ill and died soon after. This is a story later.
It is precisely because of this that Yuan felt that she was an ominous person, so she refused to agree to be the queen.
But no matter what, the Yuan family was someone Sun Quan wanted to make his queen.
For Mrs. Pan who wanted to ascend to the throne, Yuan was naturally a potential threat.
So the purpose of her speaking these words to Sun Quan at this time was to test Sun Quan's attitude.
Now that she had received the answer from Sun Quan in person, a satisfied smile appeared on her lips.
In other words, there is only one main opponent left for her right now.
That is Mrs. Wang.
Mrs. Wang is much more difficult to deal with than Mrs. Yuan.
In other words, Mrs. Wang's status cannot be easily shaken by Mrs. Pan.
Firstly, Mrs. Wang was also quite favored before she entered the palace.
Second, she is now the mother of the crown prince Sun He, so she has natural legal rationality for ascending to the throne.
With other thoughts in mind, Mrs. Pan closed her eyes slightly and accompanied Sun Quan to sleep.
Just when Sun Quan hugged Wenxiang Runyu and fell asleep soundly from exhaustion, Quan Cong, who was under the palace gate, finally saw the little yellow gate sent by the palace.
"Grand Governor, Your Majesty said that we are tired today, so please come back another day."
When Quan Cong heard this, he immediately looked disappointed.
He waited from noon until the sun turned west, although he had already expected that His Majesty would not summon him today.
But when he heard the words coming from the palace, he was still a little unwilling.
Just looking at the majestic palace wall, Quan Cong could only let out a long sigh and turned around to leave.
The sun, which had turned westward, shone on his body, casting a long shadow, making him look extremely lonely.
When I returned to my house, the sun had already set on the top of the mountain.
The dim sunlight fell deep in the courtyard of the mansion, illuminating a patchwork of golden colors and shadows.
"Alang is back?"
Princess Quan personally greeted Quan Cong in the vestibule and reached out to take off his robe.
The strong smell of sweat and sourness emanating from the robe made Princess Quan frown slightly.
"Alang stood outside the palace all day today?"
"Um."
Quan Cong answered somewhat sadly and walked towards the side hall.
Princess Quan handed the robe to the servant, followed him up, and continued to ask in a low voice:
"Alang didn't see His Majesty?"
"No."
There was a chair from the Han Dynasty in the side hall. Quan Cong sat down, leaned on the back of the chair, closed his eyes tiredly, and slowly shook his head.
Princess Quan poured a cup of tea, handed it to Quan Cong, and sat down next to him:
"Your Majesty has always liked to hear rumors from overseas, and has always had the habit of sending troops overseas. It's not like Alang doesn't know about it."
"This time Your Majesty wants to send General Nie You and Colonel Lu Kai to sea again. I'm afraid it's not impulsive, but it has been for a long time. I'm afraid it will be difficult for Alang to dissuade Your Majesty."
After hearing this, Quan Cong opened his eyes and slapped his thigh hard:
"More than ten years ago, His Majesty sent generals to defend Wen on the pretext of plundering overseas populations, and Zhuge Zhi sent tens of thousands of soldiers to the sea to plunder overseas continents."
"Although they later saw Yizhou, the number of soldiers who returned to Wu was only a few thousand, and the number of people they plundered was not enough to make up for the loss of all the soldiers."
"Now that the general has captured Xiangyang, it is time to attack Hefei with all his strength. I really don't know why your majesty would send 30,000 people to sea at such a critical moment!"
"This, this... this is not, alas!"
After Quan Cong said this, he could say no more.
How many troops did the whole country have in the Wu Dynasty?
Those are naval officers who can sail overseas!
Why would Your Majesty send so many soldiers to sea at such a time?
Princess Quan can vaguely guess some of it.
But she couldn't say.
Wei Wen and others were ordered to go to sea to search for Yizhou and Danzhou, and finally found Yizhou, which can be said to be a meritorious service.
But why was he still killed on the charge of "disobeying the edict and failing to achieve merit" in the end?
Because the Yizhou they found was not what His Majesty wanted at all.
Not to mention that over the years, His Majesty has become more and more obsessed with cultivating immortals.
Sun Quan took Mrs. Pan, known as the "Goddess of Jiangdong", as his immortal companion and practiced double cultivation with her in the palace.
This matter has been circulated among the top leaders of Wu State.
As Mrs. Bu's eldest daughter, Princess Quan naturally knew the news.
"Your Majesty naturally has reasons for doing so. Alang wants to dissuade him, but if your Majesty is unwilling to listen, just forcibly admonishing him will not work."
Quan Cong sighed:
"I am doing this for the sake of the country, but Your Majesty doesn't want to see me. What should I do?"
Seeing her Alang looking worried about the country and the people, Princess Quan sneered:
"Is Alang the only one left in our Great Wu Chaotang? Or is it because Alang is the only one who dares to speak out and give advice?"
When Quan Cong heard what Princess Quan said, he was immediately startled:
"Princess, what do you mean?"
Princess Quan said slowly:
"The Prime Minister (i.e. Gu Yong) is old and frail. He has been ill recently and is often unable to manage affairs. Therefore, Your Majesty recalled the general from Xiangyang to take over the duties of the Prime Minister."
At this point, Princess Quan stared at Quan Cong and emphasized her tone:
"This generation of prime ministers are not in a hurry. Why are you in a hurry, Alang? Are you afraid that others will not know your loyalty when you go to knock on the temple alone like this?"
Princess Quan's words didn't sound pleasant, but Quan Cong reacted quickly:
"On behalf of the Prime Minister? On behalf of the General?"
Then he immediately shook his head subconsciously:
"Although what the princess said makes sense, if you want me to take the initiative to bow to Lu Boyan, don't even think about it!"
For Shouchun's military exploits, the whole family's contribution was lower than others, and Lu Boyan's contribution was among them.
At that time, Quan Cong was the commander-in-chief of the army in the Shouchun battle, but after the war, in terms of merit, he was overshadowed by others.
It was even the heads of the whole family who were pressed.
This incident was a great shame and humiliation for Quan Cong, who was already the governor.
This matter has always been firmly kept in Quan Cong's mind.
Now Princess Quan wants him to go find Lu Xun, how is that possible?!
After saying this, he suddenly remembered it again and looked at Princess Quan with some confusion:
"The princess was quite indignant about Shouchun's military exploits at the beginning. Why is she so uncharacteristic of herself today?"
A meaningful smile appeared on Princess Quan's face:
"As far as I know, His Majesty is very resolute in sending troops to sea this time. If anyone insists on admonishing, I'm afraid they will make His Majesty unhappy."
She stared at Quan Cong seriously:
"For the sake of the country, Alang must persuade His Majesty. I will not stop him, but Alang alone cannot persuade him. He must unite with all the ministers in the court to persuade him."
"Besides, what's the point of Ah Lang taking the lead on such a big matter? It's better to let the general take the lead. After all, this is his duty. Who asked him to be the acting prime minister now?"
"But, this..."
Quan Cong subconsciously felt that something was wrong with what Princess Quan said, but for a while, he couldn't think of what was wrong.
Seeing Quan Cong's appearance, Princess Quan emphasized her tone:
"Alang, let me ask you, how does your reputation compare with Lu Boyan's in the court?"
"It's not as good as that."
"Then let me ask you again, how do you compare with Lu Boyan in the military?"
"It's not as good as that."
"Then, with Your Majesty, who's words carry more weight, you or Lu Boyan?"
"Well, it's probably Lu Boyan..."
Princess Quan looked straight at Quan Cong:
"Then why did Alang hesitate?"
Quan Cong was silent for a while, then nodded heavily:
"In that case, I will go to Lu Boyan first and let him take the lead no matter what, to dissuade His Majesty from sending troops to sea."