When they entered the capital and saw Wu Ya'er appearing, they speculated that something had happened to Mrs. Chu.
After they arrived, they had not seen Mrs. Chu. After inquiring in the past few days, they found that not only they had not seen her, but also many people in the capital had not seen her.
Almost none of the officials in the yamen have ever been seen, and a dozen chief officials from Huainan Road are in charge of running it.
The rich and powerful have all asked to visit, but the only one they have met is Jiang Liang, who claims to be a disciple of Mrs. Chu.
There are porridge shacks set up by Mrs. Chu at the four gates of the capital and along the roads, but the people have never seen Mrs. Chu going on a parade.
At first, the two of them suspected that Mrs. Chu had not come to Beijing at all. When they asked Liu Fan, Liu Fan categorically said that of course she had come to Beijing.
"As soon as I entered the capital, Madam will personally supervise the construction of the palace." Liu Fan said calmly, "I will investigate the spies in the palace and ensure that Your Majesty will have no worries when he returns to the capital. Going to Linzhou is what Madam personally told me."
The two of them asked to see Mrs. Chu.
Liu Fan then said calmly: "My wife is not feeling well and cannot see guests. She cannot move in the palace. The place where she lives is covered with curtains. I only said a few words outside."
So what kind of disease is this? Have the imperial doctors seen it? When asked, Liu Fan couldn't tell. He only said that his wife said that he would be cured after a while.
"There is nothing to worry about." Liu Fanda said, "The governor is here, and you two adults are here too. Besides, His Majesty will be back soon."
This is what you are most worried about, okay! The more the two adults think about it, the more wrong they become. They don’t believe the officials of Huainan Road, and the old officials don’t believe it either. These people can survive in the capital and rely on Ankang Mountain for their lives, so they are naturally exposed to Chu.
Mrs. Guo's bribery... Not to mention Wu Ya'er, he was a person who could even deceive Emperor Cui Zheng without taking it seriously.
He said time and time again that Bei Di was too important to leave, but he showed up in the capital.
The war in the North is so important, yet he showed up in the capital and stayed there for so many days. This shows that something must have happened in the capital.
"No need to guess, Mrs. Chu must have been injured." Master Wu said, "I have heard from those traveling merchants that Mrs. Chu did indeed leave Huainan Road to personally lead troops to attack the capital. This is not her first time.
After doing this once, she went out in person for many battles, and she was blind on the battlefield. It seems that she was injured here in the capital."
The injury was not serious, and he might not die soon. Mr. Zheng nodded, so Wu Ya'er had to come and sit in charge, and was so eager for His Majesty to come back.
Look at how chaotic the management of the capital is. Soldiers and horses have set up checkpoints outside the city. Officials patrol the streets every day, and people are constantly being taken away for forced labor.
"It's exactly what Li Mingyu guessed." Mr. Wu whispered, "The capital here is not stable at all, so your Majesty is asked to come back in order to have hundreds of thousands of troops to fight against Ankang Mountain."
Mr. Zheng stretched out his hand and pointed his fingers on the map, lowering his hoarse voice: "The capital and Taiyuan Prefecture are so close. It is very dangerous for Your Majesty to come here. Will we have to trek to escape from the capital again?"
He flicked his sleeves and walked around the room.
"You can't come to this capital! At least you can't come now!"
Lord Wu looked at his arms, angry and sad: "Wu Ya'er and his wife are so brave, they actually deceived His Majesty into taking risks."
As a result, he lost an arm.
So what to do now?
When the officials met, they all asked them when His Majesty would come and what other public congratulations would be held during the Chinese New Year. Governor Wu even came several times to invite them to attend and talk to the civil and military officials and the people about His Majesty in Linzhou.
What does this mean? This is to let them tell everyone that His Majesty is coming back, so that the people can feel at ease!
Can they do this?
Can His Majesty be allowed to come back at this time?
Can we still ask Mrs. Chu to garrison Linzhou at this time?
"Absolutely not. If you come back now, you will harm Daxia." Mr. Zheng said flatly, pointing at Mr. Wu's arm, "You can't lose your arm in vain!"
Mr. Wu held his broken arm and nodded decisively: "What should we do?"
Mr. Zheng looked outside: "Hold!"
Your Majesty is now in Linzhou and is very safe. It would be a pity to lose the capital again, but it won't be a big loss.
But Wu Yaer and his wife are different. If they lose the capital, their great achievements will become a joke.
If His Majesty doesn't come, they will have to think of ways to defend the capital.
To accomplish this, they need a helper.
"Mr. Liu, you have personally been to Linzhou. Do you know what it is like and how many people are there? Can Your Majesty just leave at your request?"
"Linzhou is very prosperous. If it is not properly arranged, the prosperity will disappear."
"Your Majesty has to settle Linzhou well, and we have to settle how the capital city can receive such a large population and businesses in Linzhou. Only in this way can stability be guaranteed."
"As important as the capital is, it is also dangerous, so we must think carefully to ensure nothing goes wrong."
"Mr. Liu, do you think so?"
After being invited to talk behind closed doors by the two of them, Liu Fan finally understood.
"What do you mean, don't invite His Majesty to come back to Beijing?" he asked.
Mr. Zheng exclaimed: "No, why do we mean this!"
"I'm just talking about now." Mr. Wu added, looking at his broken arm, sighing, "Let's not talk about the dangers on the road for now, the capital is not stable. We have looked carefully up and down these days, and the capital is still very unorganized.
ah."
"Of course, this is not because of Mrs. Chu." Mr. Zheng explained, "The capital has been poisoned by thieves for too long, so..."
Before he finished speaking, Liu Fan stood up and bowed: "I am willing to help you two adults straighten out the capital and give your majesty and Daxia a stable and solid capital."
As expected, the diners were easy to convince, Master Wu and Master Zheng looked at each other happily.
"Mr. Liu has great talent." Mr. Zheng said solemnly, "When Your Majesty returns to Beijing, I will invite you to serve as an official in the court."
No matter how powerful the Lady of Chu was, her retainers were nothing more than slaves, which could not be compared to being an official and making the final decisions, let alone a scholar who came from a humble background and studied hard, and all his talents and knowledge were sold to the emperor's family.
Selling to a woman is just a matter of no choice. Now that there is a ladder to reach the sky, who can refuse?
Liu Fan saluted again: "I'm not talented, I'm just doing my best to serve Daxia and all the people."
Mr. Zheng held his hands and Mr. Wu supported him with one hand. "Sir, you are humble." The three and five hands held each other tightly. "We must work together."
After the three of them came together, Mr. Zheng and Mr. Wu accepted Wu Ya'er's invitation to attend and host the officials' New Year's banquet. However, the banquet did not celebrate the recapture of the capital. The two adults had a hard time escaping from the capital. Linzhou's
Half of the city's people died in the crisis, and then Linzhou was rebuilt and now prosperous. How difficult it was for Your Majesty. He cried at the banquet from beginning to end.
The overall meaning is that now Ankang Mountain has not yet been conquered, the rebellion has not been put down, and it is not the time to celebrate. What everyone needs to do now is to make the capital more stable, so that after welcoming back His Majesty and the imperial court, the world can truly have peace.
On the second day of the banquet, Liu Fan wrote a letter of advice to Mrs. Chu, suggesting not to invite Your Majesty back to the capital yet. He pointed out the many shortcomings of the capital and the weakness of the guards. Mrs. Chu accepted his letter of advice and committed suicide.
I'm sorry for the lack of careful consideration. Please work together to stabilize the capital.
The officials at the top and bottom listened clearly and confusedly.
"Does this mean that His Majesty will not return to Beijing now?"
"Of course I won't go back. Didn't you listen to Mr. Zheng and Mr. Wu? The current capital is not good and it will be very dangerous for Your Majesty to come back."
"The two of them are just here for inspection."
"And Liu Fan, he also said the same. He has been to Linzhou, so this must be what he meant there."
"Okay, okay, let's do things quickly. Mr. Zheng and Mr. Wu took over the yamen. Many things have to be redone. They say they can't be done well."
The officials quickly gave up on this matter. The officials of Huainan Road were originally there to help and could do whatever they wanted. The officials who were reused in the capital were uneasy and were more willing to spend more time to let His Majesty and the court see it.
their sincerity.
So with the new year, the order in the capital became tighter, and officials became even busier, repairing city walls, digging trenches, smoothing roads, etc. The people suddenly had a lot more rules to check, and the government did not hide it from everyone.
The adults from Linzhou have strict requirements and everything is done to welcome His Majesty back, and the people can understand it, but there are still some special words coming out...
"We have done everything. People in Linzhou are so relaxed. Just come back and enjoy the blessings."
...
...
Li Minglou smiled and told Jiang Liang to stop talking and not to go too far.
"Don't worry, madam, I know." Jiang Liang smiled and said, "I am very relaxed now. I only do small things to fan the flames. Liu Fan did all the other things by himself."
Li Minglou asked: "What's going on? Why did those two adults suddenly change their minds?"
She obviously hasn't done anything yet.
Jiang Liang smiled and said: "It was precisely because Madam did nothing that they became suspicious. It is said that they thought Madam was seriously injured and died, so they asked His Majesty to return to the capital and ask for a large army to guard the capital."
Therefore, they cannot let His Majesty take the risk of returning to Beijing at this time.
They are really suspicious people. They deceived themselves. Li Minglou ignored them and said, "Don't let them do whatever they want and cause trouble for us."
Yuanji came in with a letter in his hand: "Madam, the letter from Shangzhou has arrived."
Jiang Liang took the initiative to say goodbye. He walked out and looked back. Li Minglou had already lowered his head to read the letter. He was a little curious. His wife hadn't asked him to write a letter for a long time. Who sent the letter from Shangzhou? Is it a new love?
As soon as his thoughts flashed through his mind, he saw Mrs. Chu throwing the letter into the charcoal stove, anger appearing on her pretty face.
...
...
"I hope that Mr. Yu can return to the palace, come to His Majesty, and tell His Majesty."