Such a big thing happened in the capital, and everyone from the Empress Dowager to the traders and foot soldiers was talking about it. Su Ren, who had just come from Shu, had successfully made a name for himself before even entering the city.
Prime Minister Xuchang stood tremblingly in front of the Empress Dowager with sweat dripping from his head. Zhuang Qingzhai, who accompanied him, was also having a hard time. Although Mr. Dou could not see, he was still concerned about the big things inside and outside. That day
He was listening to music in the Changle Palace when a sudden earthquake shook the old lady, which really frightened the old lady. She quickly sent someone to inquire and found out that the Hengmen in the north of the city had collapsed.
Hengmen is the northern gate of Chang'an. It has been there since Chang'an City was built. Among the twelve city gates of Chang'an City, it is the second gate in the north after Luo City Gate. Every summer and autumn, the royal family will go there.
To escape the summer heat in Xianyang by the Wei River, Hengmen was a must-go. Dou followed the Huang-Lao theory and naturally believed in the gods, demons and monsters mentioned by Laozi. The Hengmen collapsed suddenly, and Dou thought it was not a good sign.
Staring at a pair of cloudy eyes, he asked in a cold voice: "Tell me? What is going on?"
Zhuang Qingzhai glanced at Xuchang. Xuchang was over sixty years old, with white beard and hair. His ocher clothes were very ill-fitting. If he hadn't been standing in a different place, he would have looked like one of those businessmen from Shujun. Xuchang didn't say anything.
Qing Zhai was even less vocal. Zhuang Qing Zhai was a few years younger than Xuchang, with gray hair and three long strands of beard hanging down to his chest. He was calmer than Xuchang, standing motionless and orderly.
"What? The perfectly good horizontal door collapsed all of a sudden? No one knows the reason?" Madam Dou was furious and slapped the couch with his palm.
Xuchang hesitated for a long time and then said: "To the Empress Dowager, it is said that a merchant from Shu County used some unknown means to cause the Hengmen to collapse. We have sent people to arrest him, and there will be results soon."
"A merchant? Is he a monster? Just point at my big man's north city gate and it collapses?" Mr. Dou was really angry and couldn't bear Xuchang's confusion. If it weren't for Xuchang's loyalty to him, he would have been killed long ago.
He was driven out of the court.
Zhuang Qingzhai said quickly: "The Empress Dowager, please calm down. In fact, there is another explanation for this matter in the city."
"Say! What do you mean?"
"Curse!"
"Absurd!" Xuchang said immediately: "Why should our Han Dynasty's great fortune be punished by heaven? A businessman said that there would be no punishment from heaven? What a joke!"
Zhuang Qingzhai handed over his hand again: "People in Chang'an City have rumored that due to some grievances between this merchant and Princess Guantao, Chen Xu, the eldest son of Tangyi Marquis, was kidnapped by the merchant a few days ago. The Queen Mother sent troops to rescue him."
"Yeah! I know about this! Why are you involved in this matter again?"
"People rumored that the palace of Princess Guantao and the palace of Tangyi Hou, relying on the favor of the Empress Dowager and His Majesty's favor, were causing trouble in Guantao. Everyone in the court dared not speak out, and they even gathered powerful men and ruffians, and the bandits were doing whatever they wanted.
Even the people of Chang'an City are very afraid of them. This time, in order to save Chen Xu, they even used naval vessels to knock over many civilian ships in the Wei River."
"Tell the important point!"
Zhuang Qingzhai hurriedly bowed: "It is rumored by the people that this punishment is a warning from God to Princess Guantao!"
"Nonsense talk, a bunch of idiots!"
It was the merchant from Shu County who used some trick to cause the Hengmen to collapse. I ask the Queen Mother to leave this matter to me!"
"Mother..." A heartbreaking cry, accompanied by heavy footsteps, hurriedly came up to the palace: "Mother, you have to make the decision for your son!"
A bloated woman fell to the ground with tears on her face. The woman was in her forties and had a middle-to-upper-mature appearance. However, because of her age, the heavy makeup she wore was weird. Especially her eyes.
With ferocity and viciousness, Xuchang and Zhuang Qingzhai saluted quickly, but the woman didn't even look at her, she just lay on the ground and cried loudly.
Mrs. Dou frowned: "What's wrong? Get up and talk!"
"Mother, my Xu'er is about to die!" Liu Piao crawled forward two steps and hugged Dou's legs: "Mother, that Su Ren is so vicious that he cut off Xu'er's arm. This is treason.
, Lingchi should be arrested!"
Just as Mrs. Dou was about to open her mouth, Zhuang Qingzhai hurriedly said: "Empress Dowager, how should we deal with the punishment that day?"
Dou's words reached his lips and he swallowed them hard. Things in the world are all kinds of strange, and sometimes myths may happen to people. For example, Liu Bang killed a little snake with leukemia in Mangdang Mountain, and it was immediately passed down as
The son of the Red Emperor beheaded the son of the White Emperor. Another example is that Qin Shihuang Yingzheng saw a few words carved on a stone in Shangjun, and he died in depression on the way back to the capital. The Qin Kingdom was really dead in two generations.
Mr. Dou does not believe in ghosts and gods, but the collapse of Hengmen is obviously not something that one person or even an army can accomplish. Since he cannot figure it out, it must be gods or monsters. No matter which one it is, it is best not to provoke it as a human being.
Seeing Dou's silence, Liu Xuan immediately cried: "Mother, these monsters have harmed my son and destroyed the city of Chang'an. We cannot keep him. If we don't kill him, if he succeeds in the future, it will be very detrimental to us men!"
Mrs. Dou closed her eyes, he had a headache. Empress Dowager Dou, formerly known as Dou Yifang, was a son of an ordinary family who was selected into the palace during the reign of Emperor Hui. She was rewarded by Empress Lu to Liu Heng, the acting king.
.Because the Dou family came from a humble background and had no influence in the court, he was regarded as a confidant by Liu Heng, who had always pretended to be crazy and acted foolishly. He was favored by his husband Liu who prostituted himself and his son Liu Qi.
Later, Liu Heng became the emperor. Several children of Liu Heng's original wife, Mrs. Wang, passed away one after another, so he made Dou Yifang's son Liu Qi the crown prince. His mother, Dou Yifang, became the queen because of her son's honor. After her husband Liu Heng died, she became the empress dowager.
After the death of her son Liu Qi, she became the Empress Dowager. Dou has been in the palace all her life and does not care much about politics. She has been poor since she was a child, and patience has become her rule of life. As long as it does not touch her bottom line, she rarely makes any comments.
Precisely because Mrs. Dou has little knowledge, she is very sensitive to things involving gods and ghosts. In her opinion, the collapse of Hengmen must be a punishment from heaven. She knows her daughter best. Liu Piao has been domineering over the years, and Mrs. Dou has long since
I have heard about it, but I just kept tolerating the favor. It would not be surprising if it was really a punishment from heaven, otherwise it would be impossible to explain it at all.
"Stop crying!" Mrs. Dou shouted, and Liu Piao immediately stopped crying.
"Royal Grandmother..." There was another cry. A little girl of fifteen or sixteen years old, with tears on her face, disheveled clothes and disheveled hair, rushed in. The maids and servants behind her hurriedly knelt down in large numbers.
Xuchang and Zhuang Qingzhai hurriedly saluted: "Your Majesty the Queen, I am polite to you!"
The person who came was none other than Chen Ajiao, the daughter of Liu Piao. She was also the protagonist of Cangjiao in the Golden House. At that time, Liu Piao wanted to marry his daughter to Liu Rong, the son of Li Ji, who was favored by Emperor Jing. But Li Ji was favored, and Liu
Rong was the prince, so he didn't take Liu Piao seriously at all. In anger, Liu Piao teamed up with Mrs. Wang (now the Queen Mother) to force Li Ji to death, and asked Emperor Jing to depose Liu Rong and make Liu Che, King of Jiaodong, the crown prince.
At that time, Liu Piao was Liu Che's aunt. During the chat, she asked Liu Che: "Will Che'er want a wife when he grows up?" Liu Che nodded. Liu Piao pointed to the maids on the left and right and asked Liu Che which one he wanted. Liu Che said no.
.
Liu Piao then pointed at his daughter Chen Ajiao and asked: "Is Ajiao good?"
Liu Che smiled and replied: "Okay! If I can marry Gillian as my wife, Cheer will definitely build a golden house for her to live in!" Liu Cheer laughed, and then he was completely relieved to cooperate with Wang Meiren.
This is the story of the hidden beauty in the golden house. Liu won the prostitution bet, and his daughter was now indeed the queen, and he also served as the emperor's mother-in-law from the emperor's aunt, which can be said to be a new level of influence in the court.
Chen Ajiao threw herself into Mrs. Dou's arms and cried very sadly. Mrs. Dou comforted her for a long time before she stopped crying. There was a daughter, a granddaughter and a granddaughter-in-law beside her. Any anger that Mrs. Dou had had had disappeared, and she said to Zhuang Qingzhai:
"You are the imperial censor, and I will leave this matter to you. I kidnapped the young master in charge of Tangyi and hurt others. This must be severely punished!"
"Then Hengmen..."
Mrs. Dou did not speak, but waved to Zhuang Qingzhai and Xuchang to leave. The two saluted quickly and slowly exited the door. The palace was not a place for talking, so the two of them remained silent and followed the leader who led the way with their heads down.
At the corner of Qiu Palace, two young palace servants came face to face. Perhaps because they didn't see him, or because it was raining and the road was slippery, one of the palace servants bumped into Zhuang Qingzhai.
The leading palace attendant immediately cursed, and Zhuang Qingzhai waved his hand: "Forget it, it's nothing!" He shrunk his sleeves and continued to walk out.
After leaving the palace gate, Xuchang and Zhuang Qingzhai said goodbye. As soon as they got into the carriage, Zhuang Qingzhai couldn't wait to unfold the silk cloth in his palm. The handwriting was very sloppy, which must have been done in a hurry. The silk cloth was not big, and the characters were
Not much, just one word, save! No signature, no year. Zhuang Qingzhai slowly put away the silk cloth, kneaded it into a small ball, stuffed it into his mouth, and swallowed it with all his strength.
Walking along the road in front of the palace, there are more and more people on the street. No matter what happens, the people still have to live. As long as they are not going to die soon, they have to eat. There are also those idle guys sitting in the wine shop talking loudly.
One or two sentences drifted down, and you could tell that they were talking about the collapse of Hengmen.
"This is heaven's punishment. That Shu man is right. If it's not heaven's punishment, why are all the people who died from Princess Guantao's mansion? None of his people are doing well!"
"I don't think so. If it's a punishment from heaven, we shouldn't bomb Hengmen and Dongwei Bridge. If we want to bomb, just bomb the Guantao Princess's Mansion...!" Someone covered the guy's mouth, and the words behind it couldn't be heard clearly.
Zhuang Qingzhai shook his head and smiled bitterly, opened the curtain of the carriage, and said to the driver: "Don't go back yet, go to the Daxingling Mansion!"
"Here!" the coachman agreed, and the carriage turned a corner in front and entered the alley heading east. Just as the carriage passed, two figures emerged from the street. One of them followed again, and the other turned towards the way they came.
