In the early summer, the palace was filled with red flowers, willows and green waves rippling in the morning mist. It was no longer noisy and chaotic during the renovation, and it was no longer empty and silent as before.
The concubines, princes and princesses from Linzhou lived in separate palaces, filled with eunuchs and maidens, with laughter during the day and bright lights at night.
The sound of the machine is still there.
The maids on night duty in the Queen Mother's palace retreated, while other maids and eunuchs came through the morning mist carrying washing utensils and food boxes.
There is a loom behind the gauze curtain on one side of the hall, and a woman in summer palace clothes is focused on weaving.
The maids and eunuchs stood outside the curtain and waited quietly. When the sound of clattering stopped, everyone started to move, the curtain was pulled up, and the maids helped the queen mother out, washed her face, and sat in front of the table.
"Today's meal is rich." The Queen Mother said, looking at the two extra plates of porridge and side dishes.
"Your Majesty, this is the early summer health preparation made in the imperial kitchen. It is the custom in the palace..." a palace maid said.
Obviously, this so-called practice does not belong to the Lu Palace.
She was married directly to Prince Lu's Mansion in Linzhou and had never lived in a palace like a palace in the sky.
The empress said that the emperor should return to Beijing to restore the prosperity of the country, and the palace was obviously operating as it was in the prosperity of the country.
The four-season diet is carefully configured to follow the changes in solar terms.
The Queen Mother looked at the table and said nothing.
The palace maid thought of the frugal life she had lived in the past few years, and looked uneasy: "Let them withdraw?"
The Queen Mother said: "I will reduce the number of cases here by two. I can't use so many. There is no need to change the number for others."
She smiled.
"It's time for everyone to live a better life."
The palace maids regained their composure, serving dishes and rice and chatting, "Every palace has changed into summer clothes, and the window screens and bed covers are all new." "Your Majesty has also grown taller." "Now you don't have to wake up to go to court."
Diligent?"
The Queen Mother paused her chopsticks: "He is still young. He has taken good care of himself and is diligent and not in a hurry. Let him come to see me in the next court."
The maids responded: "But the court should be late today."
Another palace maid looked excited: "Today the Queen is going to court."
The Queen Mother never asked about court affairs, and she didn't know as much as the palace maids and eunuchs. She felt a little uneasy when she heard this: "Is there something important?"
Although the queen was the regent and overseer of the country, she almost never went to court, saying that the rebels in the world were not yet pacified, and all she should do was to fight, while the prime minister made the final decision on court affairs.
The maids and eunuchs can know who is coming to court, but they don't know what is going to be said in court... It is different now than when Quan Hai was here.
There was a wave of greetings "Eunuch Yu" and "Eunuch Yu" coming from outside the door.
The eunuchs and maids surrounding the Queen Mother immediately dispersed and stood in wait.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, watching a pair of shoes crossing the threshold, and then raising his head, a eunuch with gentle features and a jade-like complexion came into view.
"Eunuch Yu"
Everyone in the room salutes.
He nodded briefly, walked to the Queen Mother, and saluted with a smile: "How are you today, Your Majesty?"
The Queen Mother smiled at him: "It's okay. I'll go back to sleep after dinner. Have you eaten yet?"
"I have eaten it," he said, and then asked, "Does this food taste good to you? I asked the imperial kitchen to prepare more Linzhou flavors and find a Linzhou cook."
The Queen Mother flatly refused: "Don't waste people and money. It's good now. Don't start picking and choosing when you've just eaten."
Before he finished, he responded quickly: "I'm wrong, old slave."
The Queen Mother hummed and picked up the chopsticks without comforting or asking questions.
Afterwards, he served her a meal and said, "Is your Majesty still unable to sleep at night weaving?"
The Queen Mother said: "Don't worry, I'm not frugal, nor am I nervous or anxious."
She smiled, took the unfinished meal and ate it.
"I think this is a pastime, just like everyone goes to the park to see the scenery and watch singing and dancing."
"I don't have any hobbies originally, but this is pretty good."
"I finish knitting every day, eat, and then go to sleep. I feel refreshed."
"Look, do I look very good?"
Afterwards, he looked at the Queen Mother and said with a smile: "It's much better, the Queen Mother has less white hair."
The Queen Mother smiled and ate.
"Today the Queen is going to court." Wei Wei took the initiative and said, "Something happened on Yanhai Road."
The Queen Mother was startled: "Rebellion?"
"No, no." Wei Wei said hurriedly, "It was because Governor Chang passed away and was kicked out by the imperial court to express condolences. The Chang family still wants the third son to succeed him as military envoy."
The Queen Mother held the bowl and chopsticks: "This is too... unruly."
He nodded: "Today we are discussing this matter, and the Queen wants to punish him."
The Queen Mother thought for a moment: "I don't understand this either. Madam is not afraid, and I am not afraid either."
He then said: "Old slave, go tell the lady and let her feel at ease."
The Queen Mother said: "Go ahead, we haven't gone through any hardships."
Failure to respond means resignation.
After he left, the maids and eunuchs in the palace came to life again, and gathered around the Queen Mother again to chat and laugh.
The eunuchs standing outside the palace also spoke in low voices.
"It turns out that this is what happens when a queen goes to court."
"The Marquis is in charge of fighting. Do you want to fight?"
"Eunuch Yu came to ask for instructions from the empress. It can be seen that he is serving the empress as the master."
"Look what you are saying! Eunuch Yu was the one left by the late emperor to the empress!"
This Ayu entered the palace through Hu Ping. Hu Ping was a close confidant of the late emperor. He was assassinated at the banquet that night. He cleverly and bravely saved the little princess. The late emperor entrusted him to take care of the queen before his death.
The Queen Mother paid no attention to the joking around her and just ate quietly and attentively.
When he finally walked out of the Queen Mother's Palace, the smile disappeared from his face. On the way, the eunuchs and maids avoided him and saluted him. They looked fearful and did not dare to raise their heads when he passed by.
After the rebel assassination that night, a large-scale inspection was carried out in the palace. This Ayu presided over the disposal of many people. After entering the palace in the capital, there were even more mistakes in his words and deeds, so he asked the imperial army to drag them out to do hard labor. Cong Lin
The number of people from the state has now decreased by half...
No matter who he wants to deal with, he doesn't even ask the Queen Mother, and only informs the Queen Mother after the treatment is completed.
Although the Queen Mother is the master, he is actually the master of the palace...
"Look at you," the attendant followed, "how scary you are!"
He stretched out his hand to make a smile on his face.
"Be kinder and let everyone love you more!"
She looked at him and smiled, regaining her gentleness.
"No." He shook his head, "It's better for everyone to fear me now than to love me."
The attendant looked back at the palace with regret: "I didn't expect we could come back here."
It's a pity that King Zhao will never come back.
"Don't talk about the past anymore." He finished.
The entourage curled his lips and stopped talking about King Zhao.
"Yizhou has sent the sons and daughters of the eldest son of the Chang family." He said, "Do you think they will come to see you first?"
He said, "As I said, I will leave these matters to the Sixth Master from now on. You don't need to ask me again, let alone see me."
The attendant said: "Okay, then I won't recognize you from now on!"
He waved his sleeves and walked away humming.
He didn't call him, and didn't look sideways.
The attendant himself came back: "I still have a question, tell me, Madam, does she really dare to attack Yan Haidao? That's Wei Dao!"
He then said: "If Madam says, I dare to fight. If you don't, there is a reason not to fight."
He didn't even want to speculate, which meant he didn't say anything. The follower sighed and really kicked off this time. Everyone is very busy outside now!
After watching the entourage leave, he also stopped. Going forward was the front court. He did not get involved and called a young eunuch to give instructions: "Go and pass the Queen Mother's message to the queen."
After listening to what he said, the little eunuch quickly went to the front hall.
There was a lot of noise in the main hall.
"This is the result of indulging those moralists during the Chinese New Year!"
"I disagreed at the time. Tax exemption can be exempted, but an audience must be an audience, but you didn't listen!"
"If the rules are messed up, there will be no rules."
"It's better now, and I'm really starting to push my limits."
"Master Kang, what you said is not correct. If you say that, wouldn't Governor Li be pushing the envelope even further?"
"Master Gu, please stop talking nonsense. Can Governor Li and the Young Master of the Chang family be the same? I think you have taken advantage of the Chang family, right?"
Seeing that the discussion turned into a quarrel, Mr. Zhu shouted loudly to stop it!
"Things have already happened, so don't question the previous decisions! What's more, the previous actions have done more good than harm to people's livelihood and world stability under the current situation."
After hearing what Prime Minister Zhu said, some officials laughed and said, "Since Prime Minister is so insistent, then tell me what to do."
"I'll issue another edict to allow them to be rude to court officials!" an official shouted.
Laughter rang out in the hall, and this laughter made several veterans stamp their feet, "What a shame!"
"Stop arguing." Zhu Xiangye said while holding back his temper, "Tell me what to do now."
These words made the officials even less interested in hearing, "Is it useful to say what we should do?" "Mr. Zhu doesn't listen to us." "Mr. Zhu, please tell me what to do."
Before Mr. Zhu could speak, a female voice said: "I mean to ask for guilt."
Everyone looked at the woman sitting below the emperor.
"Madam, what's the crime?" an official asked, "disrespecting court officials? Or does the Chang family want the sons to inherit the father's legacy?"
"Madam, I'm disrespectful to the court officials. The Chang family has already said that Governor Chang is seriously ill. Hearing the word "condolence" makes it difficult to suppress the grief. The word "filial piety" should be used as the word of guilt." An official said, "As for the son inheriting the father's inheritance, you have to ask,
Then I'm afraid I have to ask Governor Li of Jiannan Road first..."
There was a buzz in the hall, "Yeah" "It's easy to say that you are guilty, you have to be justified."
Prime Minister Zhu frowned and said, "Don't you think that paying a tax-free audience is condoning? Then if you don't ask questions about Yanhaidao's crimes now, isn't it also condoning?"
The officials immediately didn't like to hear, "As long as Xiaozhi is moved by emotion and reason, how can it be called condonation?" "Let Yanhai Dao predict the mistakes beforehand, and the court can appease them, and there will be rules and stability."
They were talking lively, but the queen didn't say anything anymore. A eunuch and a forbidden soldier came to her side one after another and whispered.
Li Minglou nodded and motioned for them to step back and look at the officials in the palace again.
"Whether Yan Hai knows that he is wrong or not is their business." She said, "The court must ask questions. The first question is about disrespecting court officials and refusing to accept imperial orders. It is difficult to have both loyalty and filial piety, but filial piety is not an excuse for disloyalty. The second question is
It is not a son who inherits his father's legacy, but a private decision. When Governor Li inherited the title of Jiedushi, he first asked the court for permission, and then asked three questions..."
She stood up.
"Three questions about Mr. Chang's crime of killing his flesh and blood brother."
Killing brothers? The last sentence surprised the officials before they asked. Li Minglou had already given the signal.
"The complainants from the Chang family are announced to enter the palace."
The officials turned their heads and looked outside, and saw a forbidden soldier walking in tremblingly with a woman and two children. The three of them knelt down as they entered the palace.
The two children kowtowed and cried loudly without waiting for questioning: "Third uncle killed my father, killed my mother, killed my grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters..."
At the end of the sentence, my voice became blurry and I just cried.
Despite this, the title given in just one sentence also made the officials in the palace tremble with fear, as if they saw corpses...
………
………
The child's crying gradually stopped, and the wet nurse's narration also stopped, and the hall became quiet. Everyone had experienced war and seen many life and death events, but they were still shocked to hear that relatives were killing each other.
I was so shocked that I had no words or morality to discuss this matter anymore.
I wish we hadn't discussed it in the first place.
If a court official is refused entry, then he will be refused. If the Chang family wants his son to inherit his father's legacy, then he will. As long as there is no murder or arson, the court's face will be damaged.
But they didn't say anything, Li Minglou still asked: "Is it a crime to kill someone to pay for life?"
An official thought for a while and asked: "Madam, what if Young Master Chang does not plead guilty?"
Li Minglou said: "There is a witness."
Another official glanced at the nanny's child kneeling in the hall... "They just said it was a frame-up?"
Li Minglou said: "There are traces of murder and arson. You can find out when you go to Yanhai Road and check."
That's the problem. The official asked, "What if Mr. Chang doesn't let the court investigate?"
After all, they had dared to send the imperial court to express condolences before... that is, they turned away the officials who went to check.
If they were to investigate him for murder, they would not let him in.
Li Minglou smiled: "Does he dare?"
………
………
"I see you dare to enter the city!"
At this time, at the gate of Mizhou City on Yanhai Road, Master Chang Ba stood proudly, looking at a group of soldiers and horses outside the city gate.
"Zhou Xian, of course I recognize you, you are a general of the Chu army."
"You are stationed in Yizhou as a Chu army. It is allowed by King Zhao, and we at Yanhai Road will not interfere."
"But! Why do you come to our Mizhou? Why do you want to investigate Chang's family affairs? What qualifications do you have!"
Listening to the roar on the city gate, Zhou Xian frowned: "Didn't I say that I was ordered by the First Marquis?"
He motioned to the lieutenant beside him to raise the document.
"Take it and see."
Young Master Changba sneered: "Why should we, Yanhai Dao, accept the documents from the First Marquis? Just do what the First Marquis says. What happened to the Wei Dao in those days? We were all given Sheng Jie by the emperor..."
Zhou Xian interrupted him: "Stop talking nonsense. Do you want to listen or not? Are you allowed to enter the city?"
Mr. Changba said coldly: "If you don't listen, you won't be allowed in. Just wait..."
Before he finished speaking, he saw the black-faced general under the city gate wave his hand, and a heavy bow was drawn. In the blink of an eye, with a buzz, an arrow came to his eyes, zoomed in...
So fast!
Young Master Changba couldn't even scream in surprise. He only had this thought in his mind. With a pop, the arrow hit him between the eyebrows, penetrated his forehead, and took him backwards.
There was silence on the city wall for a while, and then there was an explosion.
Chengmen Zhouxian threw his bow and arrow on his horse and said impatiently: "If I didn't tell you earlier, there would be so much nonsense and it would be a waste of time!"
After saying that, he spat again.
"Also, I am a member of Governor Wu, can't you see the banner with the word Wu, you idiot!"