It's always a little dark indoors in early winter mornings.
The heavy curtain was lifted by two palace maids, and the emperor walked out.
"Your Majesty." Several eunuchs hurriedly stepped forward.
The emperor raised his hand to cover his mouth and coughed twice.
"Your Majesty, please take the medicine before leaving." A delicate voice shouted from behind.
The emperor waved his hand.
"It doesn't matter, it won't be too late to eat after the court." He said, and walked straight out without looking back.
The eunuchs looked at each other, terrified and uneasy.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is in critical condition."
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother heard that Your Majesty was late for court. It was because she was worried about what happened to His Majesty that she asked us to come and take a look."
They said hurriedly.
The emperor smiled kindly.
"It's my fault too. I didn't want the Queen Mother to worry, so I didn't say anything." He said, "If you go back to the Queen Mother later, don't say anything. Just say that it's my fault that I got up late. I won't be lazy next time."
Already."
The eunuchs looked excited.
"Your Majesty, I really have wronged myself so much." They said with emotion, bowed respectfully and stepped away.
Of course they would not really not tell the Queen Mother that the emperor was ill. This kind of violation of the holy will was not a fault but a great merit.
Seeing these eunuchs leaving, the emperor's face immediately sank, and he turned to the side and sighed.
The servants on both sides lowered their heads and pretended not to notice.
After King Qi succeeded to the throne, the maids and maids in the palace have not been replaced, so they are basically the Queen Mother's staff, but things will always change.
After all, the Queen Mother was getting older and the Emperor had already secured his position. Especially after the Emperor established a new Department of Justice, more and more internal servants no longer took orders from the Queen Mother.
The emperor walked into the Qinzheng Hall, and the officials who had been waiting for a long time filed in. The emperor saw Ning Yunzhao at the first sight. Among the older officials, the young man brought different vitality, especially him
There was undisguised respect for the emperor on his face.
Of course the emperor had never seen flattering officials, but he did not think that Ning Yunzhao was the same as those people.
Those flatteries were just for his status as emperor, but Ning Yunzhao's respect was for him as a person. Since he let him temporarily live in the house, he has had more contact with him, especially in political affairs.
It stands to reason that Ning Yunzhao should avoid it, or keep silent in fear, but he did not do this. When the emperor asked, he would think carefully and answer calmly.
"I think your Majesty is right," he said.
If you just answer like this, it will be no different from other flattering officials, but Ning Yunzhao will seriously explain why he thinks it is right.
"If I were a minister, I would do the same thing." He would say at the end.
Such words always feel more like praising myself than praising the emperor.
But the emperor didn't think there was anything wrong, because Ning Yunzhao was a talented person of the Ning family and a prodigy since childhood. Such a young man must be proud.
It is this arrogance that makes him different from those flattering officials, and his approval of the emperor is more like a hero's sympathy.
Praise others as much as you praise yourself. This is true and unquestionable praise and recognition.
This recognition made the emperor sigh. Even though no one said anything about him sitting in this position, the emperor could see the contempt in the eyes of these officials.
Compared with the prince who was brought up to the late emperor since childhood and taught by the best Confucian scholars, he must be a waste in the eyes of these officials.
However, he is not really stupid, he has just pretended to be stupid for decades.
Those who look down on him are stupid.
So it is really good to see a young man who is not stupid among this group of stupid people. The emperor swept his eyes across the court and sat down, watching the civil and military officials bend over to salute and say long live. Then he saw this standing official.
With one less person, I feel better.
Duke Cheng Guo is indeed very capable, but this capable and well-reputed man with a large number of troops is the confidant of the first prince. The first prince is dead, but he still has a son, and Duke Cheng is still very friendly to this son.
.
Ever since that day when he heard that Duke Cheng had entered Prince Huai's Mansion and visited Queen Huai in person, he had dreamed several times that Duke Cheng had come with Prince Huai to force him to give up the throne and he woke up.
Letting King Huai die would have settled the matter, but now that King Huai still cannot die, Duke Cheng Guo must be made a non-threatening person.
A tiger with its teeth pulled out becomes a mouse, there is nothing to be afraid of.
Although going to court was too hard, life always got better and better. The emperor coughed twice.
"My dear friends, you have been waiting for a long time." He said, with a bit of self-blame.
All the officials bowed and saluted.
"Your Majesty, Duke Cheng Guo's second resignation form has been handed in." An official came out and said, holding out a memorial.
The emperor hummed and looked at the memorial with a somewhat hesitant expression.
It stands to reason that if an official resigns, the emperor will not allow it, and then the official will submit a letter again. After doing this three times, the emperor will approve it. This way, the emperor and his ministers will have enough face.
But this time....
The emperor doesn't want to play like this anymore. He has already done enough to show his kindness, and there is no need to wrong himself anymore.
"Yes." He said calmly.
"Your Majesty is Holy Ming."
Just as Huang Cheng was about to speak, someone was one step ahead of him.
He looked at Ning Yunzhao and was too lazy to lose his temper.
Let him go, this kind of flattery is also welcome to see at this time.
It seems that I made a mistake, I thought that this boy and Cheng Guogong were together, but now it seems that people love themselves more after all.
"According to the order." Huang Cheng and other officials bowed and saluted and accepted the order in unison.
.........
...........
"Nothing is left." Chen Qi came back from the street and said while rubbing his hands to dispel the cold, "Except for the title of Duke Cheng, there are no other official positions."
It stands to reason that when the military power is removed, at least a sinecure in the Ministry of War or some other department will be required. However, this time the court did it very simply and avoided it to the end without saving any face.
"This is to let the world know that Cheng Guogong's resignation is not a normal resignation, but a guilt." Shopkeeper Liu frowned and said.
Chen Qi nodded.
"There has been discussion, saying that the Duke is greedy for military success and military power, and intends to provoke war between the two countries again." He said, "Your Majesty had to remove him."
"I'm afraid the people will be dissatisfied with Duke Cheng," Shopkeeper Liu said.
The common people don't understand much. They only know that war is a terrible thing. They just want to live a peaceful life. Those who intend to destroy the peaceful life are bad people.
Chen Qi smiled bitterly.
"I'm just afraid." He spread his hands and said, "I'm really dissatisfied. Nowadays, there are a lot of criticisms against Duke Cheng in the streets and alleys."
He said and glanced at Miss Jun beside him.
"It is said that Duke Cheng is not that powerful. The fight against the Jin is all due to Miss Jun. Deshengchang also contributed money and effort, but he actually didn't do anything."
Things changed so fast. As soon as I resigned, the situation suddenly took a turn for the worse.
Miss Jun stood up.
"I'll go to the Duke's Mansion to have a look," she said, "to see what the Duke's plans are."
When Miss Jun came to Duke Cheng's Mansion, Duke Cheng and his wife were packing up their gifts. They were leaving the capital and returning to Duke Cheng's hometown. Zhu Zan had already told her, but seeing this scene, she still felt very complicated.
Just left like this?
Just forget it?
"Isn't this expected?" Duke Cheng Guo smiled gently at the outside discussion brought by Miss Jun, "I knew this day when I decided to make your achievements public."
Taking away the credit will inevitably lead to questioning the credit.
But he did nothing? Did he just let it go?
"No, you are wrong. It is only me who is being questioned, but the credit is still there." Cheng Guogong said with a smile and pointed at her, "And it will be even more prosperous."
Miss Jun also looked at herself.
"All the credit will go to me," she said.
"Yes, this is still a good thing." Cheng Guogong said
Is this a good thing?
Miss Jun smiled bitterly.
This is to weaken Cheng Guogong's reputation, divert people's attention, and make people believe in Cheng Guogong's fraudulent achievements.
"This is a good thing for you, Miss Jun. You need this reputation." Cheng Guogong said, "The more, the better."
Yes, she needs fame, a reputation that can be answered by a hundred people.
But this reputation waxes and wanes...
"It's better than just the two of us." Cheng Guogong said with a smile.
That's true, Miss Jun smiled bitterly.
"However, Your Majesty will not let me grow up for long," she said.
Duke Cheng Guo smiled.
"It should be enough for what you want to do." He said.
Miss Jun was slightly surprised.
What is she going to do? What does Cheng Guogong know?
Zhu Zan said that he would not tell anyone, including her parents, that she was Chu Jiuling.
So what does Cheng Guogong mean by this? (To be continued)