There is also continuous autumn rain in Jiangning City. Standing under the eaves of the palace and looking out through the pitter-pattering rain curtain, there is no sign of clearing up in the hazy sky.
Yuan Yan was wearing a chest-high underskirt, exposing her snowy neck. It was already cool in autumn outside the palace, so she put on a lotus green short open coat. She looked at the maid holding an umbrella and walked over slowly, and asked: "Send me from Huaixi."
Are those who came to Dongning really escaped from Nanyang?"
The two maids' eyes were stained with tears and were red and swollen. They cried and said: "Nanyang is really miserable. Not one person in a hundred can escape. The slaves... the slaves can't bear to say it.
"
"Why don't you have the heart to say it? Say it!"
A hoarse voice came from behind. Yuan Yan looked back and saw the Queen Mother standing on the threshold. Although she was supported by two palace attendants, her hand on the crutch was still trembling, as if all her strength was supported by the right hand.
The birthday boy turns up.
"Old Ancestor, it's cold outside, how can your body withstand the wind?" Yuan Yan hurriedly walked into the threshold to help the Queen Mother into the bedroom.
"When I die, the sky will not fall, just as those people wanted!" Although Liang's eyes could not see clearly, when he raised his head, it was like a knife cutting through the two people standing in front of Yun Qi.
The palace maid's face was followed by a violent cough, which seemed to have exhausted all her strength. Yuan Yanma took out a snow-like white silk handkerchief to catch her phlegm, and hurriedly asked the palace attendant to carry the Queen Mother in, and looked at the handkerchief
There was blood coughed up on her face, and her brows knitted together with worry. Thinking about the Queen Mother's words, Yuan Yan thought to herself with a knotted heart: Do you hope that the Queen Mother will die?
At this time, Zhang Yan and Shen Rong came over and saluted Yuan Yan: "Princess Yuan Yan..."
Yuan Yan didn't know whether to stop outsiders from seeing the Queen Mother. She thought about it but gave up and said: "My ancestor coughed up blood again and his health got worse. The imperial doctor couldn't give any good advice. He only asked our ancestors to calm down and take care of themselves."
"How can I calm down and take care of myself when all these messy things are happening?"
"Yes, yes..." Zhang Yan responded casually, unwilling to say anything more to Yuan Yan, and walked into the bedroom. Although Zhang Yan knew in his heart that the Queen Mother's body could not withstand the struggle or stimulation, Nanyang
The situation is already like this. Except for Lin Fu who immediately replaced Yuan Shi, there is no other news that can irritate the Queen Mother anymore.
"Is it Zhang Yan?" Mrs. Liang struggled to push herself up from the soft couch. The light in the bedroom was not good, and her eyes could only see a blurry shadow.
"It's the veteran Zhang Yan, Shen Rong," Zhang Yan responded, and told him all the information he had gathered. "The Marquis of Yuan has arrived in Shouzhou. Dong Yuan's intention is to ask the Marquis of Yuan to gather in Xinyang and escape from Nanyang."
The broken troops that came out - although the effect will not be too great, they can be gathered in some. Fortunately, the Marquis Yuan did not return to Jiangning and only asked Yuan Jinsheng to come back. Yuan Jinsheng is now detained in the Privy Council, and Prime Minister Cheng
I went to see him, but there is something unclear about the fall of Biyang. At this time, the Privy Council wants to detain the person first, and the emperor has no way to excuse him..."
"The swineherd is not afraid of being stained with blood and being infamy for eternity. Just ask him to be killed..." Mrs. Liang was so angry that she coughed up blood. She didn't care that the palace attendant next to her was probably Lin Fu's spy who arranged to come in.
Poke Lin Fu's old scars.
Zhang Yan couldn't care less that the Empress Dowager was so angry that he continued to say: "The Privy Council is planning to break up and fight with the barbarians and the captives. Here in Qichun, Zuo Chengmu will be appointed, with Yue Lengqiu as deputy, and we will go to Jiangning.
Lin Xuwen and Cheng Xiangye both countersigned and presented it to the emperor. There is a secret rumor that the emperor did not express his position in the palace, but Liu Zhi, the traitor, secretly used the seal to issue the edict. Once the edict was issued, all military and political affairs in the world would be handled by the Privy Council.
The emperor is in control. He is very angry when he comes to court today! However, all the civil and military officials are in the Chongwen Hall, asking for a fight."
"The pigherders have captured Jiangxi. No matter how bad the war in the north is, they will no longer threaten Jiangning. Those civil and military officials who are as stupid as pigs and as timid as mice see that they are not threatened, so there is no need for them to go
When we go to the battlefield to fight, how can we not show some courage at this time?" Liang hated iron and steel and scolded all the civil and military officials in the court.
Zhang Yan was silent in his heart.
In July, Huaidong faced two choices: rescuing Nanyang or pacifying Yuanzhou first.
For Jiangning's civil and military officials, Yuanzhou is related to the stability of Jiangxi and the security of Jiangning's flanks. Especially when Jiangning was captured by the She family the year before last, they would rather beat the north bank of the Yangtze River to pieces than want Jiangning to be threatened again.
.
Therefore, the accusation that "Nanyang fell because Huaidong did not send reinforcements" has no market in Jiangning. Anyone who dares to mention it will be criticized by thousands of people.
The human heart, the human heart!
With the assistance of Gao Zongting, Song Fu and others, Lin Fu not only fought brilliantly, but also had a strong grasp of Jiangning's people. Emperor Yongxing abandoned Jiangning and fled north, losing most of the Yuan family's little prestige.
At this time, he was suddenly holding on to the reputation of the imperial family, but he could no longer capture the hearts of the people.
In the past two years, countless imperial officials have moved closer to Huaidong after being disappointed with the imperial family. The attitudes shown by Yue Lengqiu and Zuo Chengmu this time are even more despairing. If these two people are
If Huaidong is asked to win over him, can we still expect Cheng Yuqian and others to support the imperial family from collapse?
Now that Yuan returned to power and stayed in Shouzhou, he sent Yuan Jinsheng back to Jiangning to report the details of Nanyang's defeat. The Privy Council detained Yuan Jinsheng first because of the loss of Biyang. No one in the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty said it was wrong.
Lin Fu established the Privy Council outside the Ministry of War, and he personally served as the Privy Council envoy to control the military and political affairs of the court.
However, in name, the Privy Council and the Six Ministries stand side by side, and there is no difference in status. They are subordinate to the Political Hall.
The message Lin Fu presented in Qichun at this time apparently asked Jiangning's monarchs and ministers to make up their minds to use all their manpower and material resources to fight the Yanlu in the Jingxiang area, but in fact they required the Privy Council to control the six ministries during the war.
In terms of power, the six ministers will be responsible to the Privy Council during wartime, which is almost to centralize all power under the Privy Council system.
Although Lin Fu's request was limited to wartime, it seemed to be necessary at this time, so the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty rarely did not support it. But how could the Liang family and Emperor Yongxing be willing to see the world's power further concentrated on Lin Fu?
So what if you don’t want to?
Liang scolded as if to vent his anger, and after feeling a little calmer, he asked Zhang Yan: "Dong Yuan really didn't say a word in Shouzhou?"
"The Privy Council wants to fight the battle of Jingzhou with all the strength of the government and the public. How could Dong Yuan refuse?" Shen Rong said next to him, "If the Privy Council abandons Jingzhou, Huaixi will face a flood of 300,000 enemy troops.
The flood invaded; for the Privy Council, the worst possible outcome was to abandon Xu Si and retreat to Huainan, turning the Jianghuai area into a war zone, but at least half of the mountains and rivers south of the Yangtze River could be preserved..."
"No one in the world can compare with this swineherd's calculations! I don't know how Chen Xiyan, an old fool, looks at the current situation under Jiuquan!" Mrs. Liang laughed angrily.
Yuan Yan stood in the dormitory and couldn't listen anymore, so she found an excuse to leave. However, it was raining like a curtain outside the palace, so she had no choice but to escape from this world.
At this time, a group of armored soldiers came over in a brocade chariot, and Yuan Yan stood under the eaves of the palace.
At this time, only the Lord of Gu County, Gu Junxun, could take the brocade chariot directly into the palace and stop in front of the Wanshou Hall, escorted by armored soldiers.
"Gu Xianjun!" Yuan Yan greeted. As for the mature and plump woman next to Gu Junxun, Yuan Yan naturally recognized her. She was Gu Junxun's cousin Gu Yingxiu.
"Princess Yuan Yan is standing here!" Gu Junxun bowed and said. She was not good at intrigues in the temple, but as Lin Fu's wife, the Queen Mother was in poor health, and the Chongguo Palace needed someone to visit her every day.
Queen Mother, this is a responsibility that she cannot escape. Seeing Yuan Yan's tired face and haggardness that a girl of her age should not have, Gu Junxun felt guilty in her heart. But in front of the world's hegemony, women are just appendages and decorations.
.
Gu Junxun has a weak temperament, but it does not mean that she has no knowledge - she has been smart since she was a child, and coupled with the ups and downs of the Gu family over the years, and the bloody battles for power she has experienced, her knowledge and will are far beyond those of ordinary women in the world. Although
Her knowledge, strategy and strength are not as good as Song Jia, not as good as Su Mei, and not as good as her cousin Gu Yingxiu, but the turbulent world has pushed Lin Fu to the peak of this era. Standing behind Lin Fu, how could Gu Junxun not feel it?
How could he not know how bloody it would be once Lin Fu fell from this peak?
Gu Junxun was accompanied by four armed and strong women into the bedchamber to pay their respects to the Queen Mother. Gu Yingxiu was guarding the bedchamber. Yuan Yan was too lazy to go in. Finally, she couldn't help but ask Gu Yingxiu: "Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Nanyang were massacred...
"
"Princess Yuan Yan is really kind-hearted," Gu Yingxiu smiled. The storms she had experienced in her life were much more dangerous than Yuan Yan's. She intercepted some words before Yuan Yan had the chance to express her doubts.
, said, "Dong Chongguo was also angry about this incident in Qichun. He sent a letter back to Jiangning the day before yesterday. In the letter, he said that he hated the Yan captives for their cruelty, the betrayal and surrender, and the lack of courage of the generals.
The enemy is cruel, and Princess Yuan Yan also knows it. In my heart, I hate the Vietnamese men even more for not having the courage and courage to make Nanyang become Yangxin..."
"Ah!" As if Gu Yingxiu cleared away the fog in her heart with one word, Yuan Yan's eyes suddenly brightened: Yes, after Jinan City was captured, the entire city's soldiers and civilians were massacred. Her father,
The mother-in-law and almost everyone she knew died in Jinan City. She fled to Yangxin with her uncle and the king under the protection of Lu Jingyan and other generals, but Yangxin was subsequently surrounded by tens of thousands of captive soldiers.
Who could defend a small city like Yangxin without reinforcements?
No one person should bear all the responsibilities in the world.
Seeing the change in Yuan Yan's expression, Gu Yingxiu said, "I heard that the Queen Mother has been extremely dissatisfied with Duke Chong in the past two days, but I don't know whether the Queen Mother is resentful of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who were massacred in Nanyang, or something else.
reason?"
"Yuan Yan doesn't know either..." Of course Yuan Yan knew in her heart, but she wouldn't say anything against the Queen Mother behind her back.
The Queen Mother was angry, but she was angry that the last bit of Liang's force had disappeared in the Nanyang defeat. She was just angry at Jiangning's official history. The army and the people had lost confidence in the imperial family. She was just angry that even Yue Lengqiu, Zuo Chengmu and others had turned to them.
Huaidong's tendency is just to resent Huaidong Daiyuan. It seems difficult to stop it...
Before the chaos in the world, Yuan Yan felt that she was just a powerless duckweed, and thought to herself: As long as you know where your heart is, you can't care about other things.