Mrs. Dou touched Liu Che's face and had something to worry about. Her grandson had really grown up, and the corners of his mouth were covered with fuzz. He was no longer the naughty child before. Mrs. Dou couldn't tell whether he was happy or unhappy, she just felt
I feel weird.
The chamberlain interrupted Dou's contemplation: "The Empress Dowager, Zhuang Qingzhai and Su Ren are outside asking for an audience!"
Mrs. Dou smiled: "This Zhuang Qingzhai is really determined to make them wait!"
"No!" the waiter agreed and slowly withdrew.
Liu Piao knelt down in front of Mrs. Dou with a look of grievance, her eyes were red and swollen, and she was still sobbing. Her heavy makeup was gone, and she looked more like those shrews on the street who scolded their men with their hands on their hips.
"Mother! The child is really wronged!" As he spoke, he kept wiping his tears with a handkerchief: "No matter how brave the child is, he would not dare to do that kind of thing. He falsely conveyed the imperial edict, abducted the guards of Jianzhang Palace, and almost killed someone. These are all
It's a capital crime! Someone must have framed the child, and the mother has to make the decision for the child, wuwuwu..."
Mrs. Dou knew her daughter very well. Back then, her youngest son, Prince Liang, died inexplicably on the way back to his fiefdom, and there was a shadow of her eldest daughter in it. Mrs. Dou sighed with a cold voice: "Don't cry,
You know better than me whether you have done it or not. Regardless of whether you have done it or not, I advise you, now that Mrs. Wei is pregnant with the emperor's child, she and the people around her cannot have any accidents, do you understand?"
"Mother!" Liu Piao wanted to speak, but Mrs. Dou had no intention of listening anymore and waved her hand to indicate that Liu Piao could leave.
Listening to her daughter's footsteps, Mrs. Dou shook his head and sighed. His three children, the eldest son and the third son, are dead. Now this daughter is the only one left, but his daughter is too domineering and too public, which is not a good thing for the palace people.
He made a gesture, and soon there were footsteps at the palace door, and the chamberlain led Zhuang Qingzhai and Su Ren in.
The two were about to salute, but Dou stopped them. For the first time, he asked Su Ren to sit down, but ignored Zhuang Qingzhai. What is even more strange is that Zhuang Qingzhai did not show any dissatisfaction with this arrangement, but instead
Standing next to Su Ren respectfully.
"You two came here together, what do you want to do with the Ai family?"
Zhuang Qingzhai hurriedly saluted: "To the Empress Dowager, Su Yilang has a way to eliminate the chaos in Chang'an, so I have the courage to bring Su Yilang to meet the Empress Dowager."
Su Renzao didn't know how many times he had greeted Zhuang Qingzhai's ancestors. When he heard him say such words, he was still rolling his eyes at Zhuang Qingzhai. Zhuang Qingzhai turned a blind eye, and the Empress Dowager Dou could not see him in the first place.
, as for other palace people, if they saw it, they just pretended not to see it.
Mrs. Dou said: "Then tell me, let the Ai family listen. They all say that Su Ren is talented. The Ai family should also see how you plan to deal with things that even the emperor and court officials can't do anything about."
When Mr. Dou asked, Su Ren had no choice but to answer, but he was still angry: "It's not difficult to say it. Since the powerful are making trouble, just one word, arrest!"
"Well, that's the truth, what else is there?"
"Gone!"
Zhuang Qingzhai said quickly: "What Su Yilang means is to mobilize troops into Chang'an and arrest all the powerful people who are causing trouble. This coincides with my idea."
"Really?" Dou asked.
Su Ren understood. It seemed that the affairs in Chang'an had touched Zhuang Qingzhai's interests. Zhuang Qingzhai advocated sending troops into the city. Of course, the emperor certainly did not mean this, so he did not actually implement it. From the current point of view, the Dou family did not support Zhuang.
Because of Qing Zhai's actions, Zhuang Qingzhai wanted to rope in Su Ren to help him. However, Su Ren didn't understand why Zhuang Qing Zhai wanted to rope in him?
Su Renlue thought about it, no matter why, Zhuang Qingzhai must not be allowed to succeed, and said: "That's not what I mean. It depends on how you think about and how you do it when deploying troops? From a long-term perspective, there must be a more secure way.
"
"Then what is the best solution in the long run?"
"Drive all the powerful men out of Chang'an!" Su Ren said without thinking.
Although Mrs. Dou does not have much political vision, she has been in the palace for decades and is still familiar with the trivial affairs of the royal family. As soon as Su Ren's words came out, Mrs. Dou immediately understood how difficult this matter was.
And why the emperor did this despite the chaos in Chang'an.
Dou didn't say anything, and Zhuang Qingzhai also reacted, turning around and looking at Su Ren warily. Su Ren pretended to be confused: "What? What I said is wrong? Wei Chen doesn't have much knowledge, and he doesn't understand any big principles. Wei Chen
When I was in Shu County, I saw monkeys in the mountains. As the Monkey King, any monkey that threatens his status as the Monkey King will be driven out. Although the power of the powerful is not so great, they have harmed Chang'an and harmed the country.
Since the people of Chang'an are a black sheep, expelling them might be a good idea."
"The powerful think they are knights, but in fact they are all parasites. They do not work, bully the weak, and rob the weak. Recently, they have made people angry. Among other things, the Imperial College that Wei Chen was responsible for building was also attacked by the powerful.
, the work has been stopped, and my friend Sima Junshi has been beaten. This is a project ordered by His Majesty himself, and it is the same. How about the ordinary people in Chang'an, it is self-evident!"
"Do you know how much strength it takes to drive away powerful people?" Zhuang Qingzhai was already breathing heavily.
Su Ren shook his head: "I don't know, but I only know that I have to do one thing well and don't care about how much effort it takes. When Gaozu wanted to eliminate the Qin Dynasty, he probably didn't care about how much effort it took, right?"
As soon as these words came out, Mrs. Dou couldn't help but nodded.
Zhuang Qingzhai knew that Su Ren was now regarded as the emperor's man. He said that even if it was not the emperor's instruction, he probably knew the emperor's thoughts. However, Zhuang Qingzhai was already riding a tiger and it was too late to change his mind: "It's a trivial matter like being powerful.
How can it be compared with Emperor Gaozu’s victory over the Qin Dynasty?”
"Of course they can't be compared. What I'm talking about is the method. Although I don't know what's involved, I just know that we must not let cancer like the powerful stay in Chang'an and harm the people!"
Su Ren said it with great justice. After saying so much in one breath, Su Ren reached out to grab the water glasses on the table, but found that there was nothing. He started to look around, and the palace servants who looked at him quickly poured Su Ren a glass of water.
Since they can serve as errands here for the Dou family, they will not be short of cleverness. It can be seen from the calm face of the Queen Mother that she admires the young man in front of her.
Mrs. Dou is very different from Empress Lu back then. She does not have such a strong sense of power. In Mrs. Dou's heart, she only wants to protect the Han Dynasty for her husband and son. No matter whether she fights for power with the emperor or ruthlessly executes so many Confucian scholars, she has nothing to do with it.
It was for the sake of the big man, but his vision was a little shallow. As for the matter between King Liang and Princess Guantao, it was purely a mother's doting on her child.
Su Ren took a sip of water: "I don't want to tell you, but the Empress Dowager and the imperial censor also know why these powerful men are so unscrupulous in Chang'an. The talents behind them are the reason for their arrogance. Your Majesty is young and has just ascended the throne. He is better than those who are deeply rooted in the throne.
There is a gap between the two. The rebellion of the Seven Kings back then was not so much the rebellion of the Seven Kings as it was the cooperation between the inside and the outside. If the Empress Dowager wants me, the Han Dynasty, to be peaceful forever, then she must stabilize Chang'an and the capital. Even if the princes have other ideas,
As long as Chang'an is monolithic, what can those people do to me?"
"Okay, that's good!" Dou's unprecedented statement made Zhuang Qingzhai's heart skip a beat. Dou continued: "It seems that you really have some insight. The emperor has his reasons for valuing you, so how can you expel me?"
"
This time Su Ren saluted Mr. Dou sincerely. After the ceremony, he shook his head and said, "I can't help you!"
"Haha!" Zhuang Qingzhai sneered twice: "There is no way, so what you say is so confusing?"
Su Ren rolled his eyes at Zhuang Qingzhai and said, "Perhaps the Yushi doctor's proposal to mobilize troops is a good choice!"
"How to say?"
"Now in Chang'an, whether it is the Southern Army, Jing Zhaoyin, Zuo Fengyi, You Fufeng, the Forbidden Army, the Yulin Army and the powerful people or the people behind the powerful people, they are all inextricably linked. It is obviously not possible to use these people to expel the powerful people.
, so I suggest that we deploy troops and use outsiders to handle things, so that even if something goes wrong, it can be easily controlled!"
Mr. Dou nodded repeatedly: "How about the Northern Army?"
"Yes, but you have to choose a general who is available. He must be loyal to the big man, and he must be a general who leads the army. He must be able to respond in time if something happens."
Dou opened his empty eyes and didn't speak for a long time. It's not that Zhuang Qingzhai had never thought about such a thing, but the troop deployment he proposed was just to calm the chaos in Chang'an, and he would not be stupid enough to disturb the interests of the emperor's relatives. But
Su Ren's words put him in a difficult position. He must have made the proposal to mobilize troops first. If the expulsion really started, Su Ren would not be the first person to be angered.
After a while, Mr. Dou suddenly said loudly: "According to the Ai family's wishes, the Northern Army will be transferred to Chang'an. Li Guang and Cheng Wushi will be ordered to be in command and handed over to the emperor's command!"
The chamberlain quickly agreed, walked to Mrs. Dou, and raised her hands respectfully. Mrs. Dou tremblingly took out a brocade box from under her buttocks, opened it slowly, and fumbled for a small piece of copper from inside.
A cast object. This is the tiger talisman, which looks like a tiger and looks more like a leopard. It has seal characters engraved on it. It's really a bit small. No matter how you look at it, you can't connect it with the seal of troop deployment.
Mrs. Dou handed the tiger talisman to the chamberlain, who hurried out of the palace holding the tiger talisman high. Zhuang Qingzhai looked tired. Now that the end was done, it was too late for him to say anything. Counting this, this was the third time today that he regretted it. The first time
The first time he regretted cheating Xuchang, the second time he regretted raising the issue of troop deployment, and the third time he regretted bringing Su Ren into Changle Palace in such a crazy way.
The Pegasus with wild goose feathers on its head has already gone to the north of the city. Before night, the news of the Empress Dowager dispatching the Northern Army to Chang'an will be spread in Chang'an, and both the powerful and the emperor's relatives will know about it. Su Ren has no idea.
After leaving, I thought about what they would do, and turned to look at Zhuang Qingzhai beside me. Zhuang Qingzhai looked slumped, and his walking was a little unsteady.
"Yushi Zhuang? Can I cooperate well?"
Zhuang Qingzhai glared at Su Ren: "You are trying to kill me!"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty will never kill a censor!"
"Do you think that when the Northern Army enters Chang'an, His Majesty will still take action?" (To be continued)