It was already summer, but the entire Cining Palace was feeling chilly.
The Queen Mother's hands and feet were cold, and there was a buzzing sound in her ears. It took her a while to recover.
"You already have high positions, great salaries, glory and wealth," the Queen Mother's voice trembled, "What else do you want? Having been famous for so many years is enough.
I suppressed you because I didn’t want you to be too arrogant, which would not be a good thing for the Zhang family, but you refused to listen. Each one of you disappointed me. In the end, both Zhang Yuci and Zhang Yucong lost their lives. I thought you would learn from this.
I didn’t expect you…”
The Queen Mother looked very old: "One day I won't be able to protect you. At this point, there is nothing I can do."
Zhang Yuchi's face changed slightly. He had already guessed the Queen Mother's attitude, but in the end the Queen Mother still had to bow her head.
"The child is not the emperor's, right?" The Queen Mother looked at the baby in the palace attendant's arms, "How could a child be born by such a coincidence?"
Zhang Yuchi's expression did not change: "The children born in the palace are all the emperor's, and the Chief of Ceremonies also has records that the emperor favored that palace man."
The Queen Mother tightened her fingers: "You learned King Jian's tricks very quickly. If you really have King Jian's ability, I will try my best to help you. Unfortunately...it's already very difficult for the Zhang family to be a relative, so how can they have the energy to do more?"
Ask for something else.”
When Zhang Yuchi heard this, disgust flashed on his face, and he stood up: "The Queen Mother is also a member of the Zhang family. Is it possible that the Queen Mother wants to watch the emperor punish the entire Zhang family?"
The Queen Mother couldn't help but laugh when she heard this. The laughter echoed throughout the Cining Palace, and it sounded so frightening that people felt scared: "The emperor can't punish Zhang anymore. I'm afraid that when the time comes, Zhang falls into the hands of others, and what will happen to her."
Even more miserable."
"Who?" Zhang Yuchi asked, "Is it Song Chengxuan? He is also unable to protect himself. How can he come out from the southeast when facing the entire king's division? By the time he recovers, the world will be in peace."
The Queen Mother made a serious face and glanced at the faces of Zhang Yuchi and Zhang Jingshu: "Both of them are idiots. If you fully assist the emperor and let the emperor get rid of the Wei Wang Party, maybe the emperor will appreciate your great service and let you
Have a good death..."
Before the Queen Mother finished speaking, Zhang Yuchi had no patience to listen anymore. He stood up and said coldly: "I hope the Queen Mother will take care of herself. In a few days, the new emperor will ascend the throne and the Queen Mother will need to take charge of the overall situation."
Zhang Yuchi walked out, and Zhang Jingshu also stood up and saluted the Queen Mother, turned around and stepped out of the palace door.
The hall door was slowly closed.
The sunlight retreated from the temple inch by inch.
The Queen Mother seemed to be plunged into darkness. She looked at all this in a daze, feeling only deep despair. She did not feel such fear when the late emperor passed away.
The sky above her head really collapsed this time.
…
Zhang Yuchi told Zhang Jingshu: "You will take care of the prince personally. As long as the prince is with you, you will be safe and sound."
Zhang Yuchi led the people away with satisfaction. When passing by the Yangxin Hall, he turned his head and glanced at the main hall. He really wanted to push open the door of the hall and sit on the dragon chair right now.
Zhang Yuchi finally looked away, having endured it for so long, not less than a moment and a half.
Although most of the people in the palace have been replaced by his own people, before the emperor died, he still could not do anything too conspicuous, so as not to make a small loss.
Zhang Yuchi walked to the palace gate, and the deputy general immediately came forward to report: "Sir, a secret message from Northern Xinjiang has arrived, and there is something strange about the Tatar troops."
Zhang Yuchi frowned: "General, all the cannons have been brought up to the city. If they dare to approach, they will fire immediately to scare them." There can be no chaos in northern Xinjiang. Even if there is a war, it must be resolved quickly.
What is going on with the Tatars? They have clearly agreed that he will open the horse market after a while. What good can the Tatars do by rebelling now? He has captured several cities. Haven't the Tatars learned a lesson from this?
If there were no generals and artillery, he might panic, but now he is not in a hurry. It will take some time to re-stabilize the situation, but it will not affect the overall situation.
The deputy general whispered: "Sir, do you want to send someone back to take a look?"
"No need." Zhang Yuchi was very confident in his arrangement. "Those Tatars can't make waves. No one in the Zhou Dynasty knows Tatars better than me."
As soon as the deputy general was sent away, Zhang Yuchi was about to ride back home when another person came in a hurry: "Sir, a battle report has been sent from Northern Xinjiang. Tatar soldiers and horses have been discovered in Dushi Fort and Sihai Forge. Dushi Fort has already contacted
The Tatars are at war, and the Tatar soldiers and horses are attacking the city day and night, fearing that something will happen."
Zhang Yuchi's eyes darkened: "Order other guards to go to the rescue and tell the soldiers guarding the city not to panic. The Tatars heard the news of the Wei royal party's rebellion and wanted to take advantage of the chaos. They will leave as long as they lose a few troops.
If you hold on for a few days, things will turn around soon."
I didn't expect that things would go so wrong. If the emperor hadn't been allowed to escape in the first place, there wouldn't have been so many twists and turns. Feng Shun didn't know what he was doing, so he didn't take action against the emperor.
Zhang Yuchi's originally calm heart became a little more anxious.
What is the situation in northern Xinjiang? He is entangled in affairs in Beijing and cannot go to check immediately. He hopes that the war can be stabilized in the next two days.
…
Quanzhou's big ship moved forward with all its strength, and after breaking through the imperial court's interception, the ship headed north and soon arrived at Jinzhou Guard.
Xu Qing'an felt dizzy when he got off the boat, but he didn't dare to delay and continued on his way forward.
Finally, when it got dark, we dismounted and rested.
Zhang Feng stepped forward to help Xu Qing'an: "I haven't seen you for several years, but the prince has become even more powerful. He is not tired even after a long journey. He is truly a hero."
Most of Xu Qing'an's fatigue disappeared immediately. In the days without Zhang Feng, he always felt that something was missing. He didn't feel good about eating or sleeping well. Now he was finally satisfied.
Xu Qingan turned his attention to Qi Defang, who was not far away.
Xiaofang is also here, now the only thing missing is Zhang Zhenren's miscellaneous hair.
It was probably because he and Xiaofang were already married and started a business, so Zhang Zhenren was afraid that the situation would hurt him, so he would always dodge in front of him, which made him feel kindhearted and try to comfort Zhang Zhenren but he had no chance.
Xu Qing'an was thinking about it when he saw Master Zhang walking over quickly: "The food and grass are ready, Commander Ma's soldiers and horses will come to join us soon."
Xu Qing'an followed Zhang Zhenren to see the grain and grass. Carts of grain, grass and baggage were placed in front of him. He couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction, stretched out his hand and patted Zhang Zhenren: "You have done well in the past two years."
Zhang Zhenren and Taoist Priest Qingling have been preparing food and grass in northern Xinjiang for use when the war begins.
If Zhang Zhenren would usually roll his eyes and argue with him, Xu Qing'an was already prepared. Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhenren smiled "haha", as if he had something in his hands, and he did not dare to argue with him.
He argued.
"Senior brother."
Saying this, another person came over.
Zhang Zhenren was trembling all over and just wanted to shrink his head and run away.
Xu Qing'an looked over and saw that the person was wearing Taoist robes and was tall. His eyebrows were very similar to Taoist Priest Qingling's. The difference was that Taoist Priest Qingling had a sullen face all day long, while his eyebrows were stretched and his face was gentle.
This was not Taoist Priest Qingling, but his name was Senior Brother Zhang Zhenren. Xu Qingan seemed to understand something. He looked at Zhang Zhenren: "This Taoist Priest, he is..."
The look on Zhenren Zhang's face became increasingly ugly. He was sneaking around and hiding because he was afraid that this would happen. Unexpectedly... he was still seen by the Crown Prince.
All his fame was in vain, and he could almost feel his face falling to the ground with a cracking sound.
Xu Qingan saluted the Taoist and then pulled Master Zhang aside.
Zhang Zhenren's face was ashen.
Xu Qingan finally asked: "Zhenzhen Zhang, is this your junior sister?"
Zhang Zhenzhen swallowed, squeezing his neck and not wanting to admit it, but how could he quibble when a living person was placed here.
Xu Qing'an had already seen the answer from Zhang Zhenren's face. He immediately let go of Zhang Zhenren and looked like he had seen a ghost: "Zhang Zhenren... I didn't expect... you actually..."
Zhang Zhenren hurriedly wanted to explain that when they were children, their brother and sister were very similar, but later... he was probably blinded by an eagle peck.
After a long while, Xu Qingan came to Zhang Zhenren's side again: "There is something I don't know whether to say or not."
Zhang Zhenren closed his eyes, waiting to accept Xu Qingan's ridicule. Who told him that he didn't have eyes, so he deserved this result.
"You junior sister is really too tall. Fortunately, you have taken a liking to her. Otherwise, she would have been alone all her life," Xu Qing'an said. "It is not easy for a woman to grow up like this. Now that the beauty is by your side, I will help you."
Think of a way...maybe soon..."
After Xu Qing'an said this, for some reason, he felt that Master Zhang's eyes suddenly changed, as if he was looking at a fool?
What? Did he say something wrong?
Zhang Zhenren straightened his chest and let out a long sigh of relief. If he had known this was the result, why would he have been hiding?