King Qi vomited out the green salt water in his mouth. He had been drinking with the guests all day yesterday. When he came back, he was alone and drunk. It was almost dawn before he reluctantly woke up.
Princess Qi was busy waiting for King Qi to wash up, and when breakfast was served, King Qi just barely ate some, but asked: "Has today's gift been completed?"
Princess Qi smiled: "The etiquette was prepared the day before yesterday. Although filial piety and disobedience are not these false etiquette, we must not be careless."
"That's right." King Qi nodded.
Today is the time for the New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve may not actually be on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month. During these days, the Ministry of Rites and the Qin Tianjian work together to calculate the days and notify the officials and dignitaries.
Anyone with a fourth rank or above, even princes who do not usually have to go to court, must participate.
This is a rule that existed in the early Wei Dynasty, and there were also palace banquets. Because the Wei Dynasty had 484 years of reign, the rules gradually changed from simple to complicated in the middle and later periods.
In the last years of the Wei Dynasty, there were several annual banquets at the Guang Palace, and after the new year, there were several big banquets and small banquets every day.
During the reign of Zheng Jian, Taizu reduced the complexity to simplicity and returned to the simplicity of Wei Shizu with a few changes.
At first, it was for the purpose of gathering together with the heroes who conquered the country together to share the joy of the festival. Now that the country has been established, it has become an occasion for officials to receive rewards and for nobles to pay tribute to the emperor to express their loyalty.
New year's greetings and New Year's greetings, greetings once a year are naturally very important.
For King Qi, he needs to present the gift that he had prepared long ago today. He will be the popular candidate to win the throne. If he is compared with the two brothers, it will be a big loss. The preparation of this gift has indeed cost a lot of money.
Big thoughts.
At this moment, Sun Bolan came in a hurry, accompanied by several staff members. King Qi laughed and scolded: "Why, you look like this today, who are you showing it to?"
"Your Majesty, something is wrong."
Princess Qi smiled and said: "Not only for the Emperor's New Year's greetings, but also for the Queen's birthday gift. I just need a picture of Yingzhou's immortality. I'd better check if there are any mistakes on the silver silk Su silk."
With that said, he got up and went.
"What, the slave Chen Zhong was captured by the Imperial City Division?" After hearing the report, King Qi suddenly felt uneasy. With a sullen face, he waved his sleeves and strode out.
It snowed again last night, and the courtyard had just been cleaned yesterday. At this time, under the faint morning light, there was also a cold and solemn atmosphere. King Qi walked down the steps, and the snow crunched under his feet.
He made a noise and his face darkened: "This happened yesterday. Why didn't you report it to me yesterday?"
Because you didn't come home for a long time last night and were drinking with the prince. Who dares to disturb you in such a situation?
These aides knew King Qi's temper. If it broke out at the time and felt that he had lost face afterwards, would the person who reported it be better off?
You will be angered!
It was just getting light now, and as soon as I learned that the prince was awake, I hurried over.
"Come in!" Not wanting to discuss the matter with them here, King Qi directly asked them to follow him to the study.
Entering the study, everyone here is his own people, and one of the staff carefully reported another thing: "Your Majesty, I heard that they were taken away together yesterday, and Duan Qin, the butler of the Duan Mansion..."
"What?" As soon as these words came out, King Qi, who had just sat down, stood up immediately.
A steward in his house was taken away by the Imperial City Secretary. Even if this matter made him feel something was wrong, it would not cause him to panic. However, once it got involved with Duan Yanxing, the nature of the matter changed.
Seeing King Qi's ugly face, Sun Bolan rolled his eyes and stepped forward to persuade him: "I think that even if Manager Chen is taken away by people from the Imperial City Department, it won't be a big deal."
"Think about it, the two of them have only met a few times in the teahouse. Even if one is the steward of Duan's Mansion and the other is the steward of Prince Qi's Mansion, they are still slaves, and it is not you who are dating Mr. Duan, so how can they be considered as such?
Is it a big deal?"
"Besides, they are just talking to each other. Mr. Duan has not promised anything, and you have never given him a word. There is no exchange of letters or other contacts. Even if he comes to the emperor, he can't do anything to you, Prince Na.
."
Several staff members saw that Sun Bolan, who was following him, only wanted to say good things, and they suddenly felt a little suffocated. However, the prince's mood obviously improved after hearing Sun Bolan's words, and Sun Bolan's words did make sense. Several staff members looked at each other, and finally sighed,
Shut up and say no more.
Duan Mansion
Unlike King Qi, Duan Yanxing knew that something happened to Duan Qin last night. Because it was the Imperial City Division who captured Duan Qin, Duan Yanxing tossed and turned and didn't sleep all night. When he closed his eyes, he seemed to be able to see the person glaring at him.
The sitting emperor felt that he was about to be in disaster.
Compared with King Qi who could comfort himself, Duan Yanxing, who had relied on the emperor's trust to reach this point, was even more frightened.
When I got up in the morning, I realized that I looked haggard after not sleeping all night. This was not possible. Today was the day of New Year's Eve. All the officials and dignitaries would be present. The emperor had to receive New Year's greetings from all the officials and dignitaries. At this time, I looked lackluster.
Wouldn't it make the emperor even more dissatisfied?
So, he splashed cold water on his face to wake up, changed into his official uniform, and then rode to the imperial city for inspection.
Inside the Imperial City, the roofs are almost covered with white snow, but the middle of the road has been cleared.
Duan Yanxing, who had dismounted in front of the palace gate, walked all the way and took the guards around the imperial city. He found that everything in the imperial city was as usual, with the guards and soldiers greeting him as usual.
Even when he met several eunuchs serving in front of the emperor, they greeted him normally, so he felt at ease and walked to the entrance of the main hall to maintain order and greet the officials who were arriving one after another.
"Hey, morning, Mr. Duan!"
"Good morning, Mr. Li!"
"Mr. Duan, I haven't seen you for a long time. Do you have a chance to have a few drinks later?"
“I’ll treat you to a drink when you have time!”
When the officials saw Duan Yanxing standing here in official uniform and greeting him, they all responded that this man was a general of the emperor. Although he was different in civil and military skills, he could not be offended easily.
At this time, the sunlight has become transparent, and the sky street is swept clean.
The front of the palace was solemn and solemn. The eunuch was carrying a charcoal box and carefully adding charcoal to the copper tripod, which made a crisp sound. Hundreds of guards in brightly colored uniforms stood motionless on both sides like nails, giving people an open and slightly solemn atmosphere.
Duan Yanxing finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw hundreds of officials gradually gathering, but what he was worried about did not happen.
"The Emperor really believes that I have colluded with the King of Qi, and will not let me continue to lead troops to patrol the imperial city. It seems that Duan Qin is not stupid after all, and he did not confess blindly!"
If you don't fall, you can still live. If you fall, you will really die.
"But even so, we have to find a way to silence him."
"Is that the Daihou?" He just thought about it. Because he had something on his mind, after meeting a group of first- and second-grade officials, Duan Yanxing's attitude toward a few fourth-grade Beijing officials was much more perfunctory. He was a little distracted when his eyes suddenly fell on the subordinates.
He was suddenly startled by a person coming from a distance.