She seemed calm, but her serious expression and clenched fists still betrayed her anxious heart.
In fact, when the mysterious man proposed the plan, he immediately agreed as soon as his mind was full of enthusiasm.
When he calmed down afterwards, He already had some regrets.
An unknown person instigated him to murder Empress Dowager Dong. It looked like he was using himself.
But at the time she was very emotional, and secondly she hated Empress Dowager Dong so much that after hearing the mysterious man's instigation, she agreed without even thinking.
Looking back now, I was really stupid. Firstly, I didn't understand the forces behind the other party, and secondly, I didn't grasp the other party's leverage, so I just agreed rashly. What if the other party turned around and refused to admit it later?
But now the arrow is on the string, and he has to take action. This is the only chance for him to stand up. Even if it is not for himself, but for the sake of his son's throne, He has to take the risk!
In the final analysis, the He family has risked everything. Because Emperor Kangdi, He Jin and Miao are all dead, no one can support her anymore, and she has no power, with only one son left.
If he succeeds, his son will still have hope of becoming emperor, and he will have the possibility of returning to the palace to take charge of power.
If you fail, the worst you can do is lose your life.
Anyway, all this was done by herself and had nothing to do with her child, and the old witch would not be angry at her poor child.
I already have nothing I can't lose.
He's eyes gradually became calmer.
After taking a few deep breaths, my originally restless mood calmed down.
"The Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager have ordered that the He family be summoned to the palace."
A call came from outside the door.
He stood up calmly, left Yong'an Palace, got on the carriage, and slowly entered the palace.
He knew very well that there was a high possibility that he would die if he left.
And before you die, you will most likely be ridiculed, ridiculed, fooled, and humiliated by your hated enemies.
But so what?
She was already ready to die in her heart.
For her son, she was willing to sacrifice everything, including her own life.
After about ten minutes, the carriage slowly stopped.
He stepped out of the carriage and was stunned for a moment.
Because what she didn't expect was that the carriage did not take her to Yongle Palace, but took her to Zhangde Palace.
What did you do to send yourself here?
He was confused.
Xiao Huangmen on the side said in a low voice: "The Empress Dowager took pity on King Hongnong and took the Queen Mother into the palace to reunite with King Hongnong's mother and son."
He was in a daze, and he didn't expect that the plan could not keep up with the changes.
Could it be that he really wanted to instigate Bian'er to do what the mysterious man said?
Stepping into Zhangde Hall, He's heart fluctuated and became uneasy.
...
...
After the birthday banquet of Empress Dowager Dong, Dong Zhuo returned to the mansion.
It is not that Yan Zhong and Li Ru currently hold official positions in the court, but the banquet of that size is only attended by the three ministers, nine ministers and important officials of higher rank, so they are not qualified to participate.
So they didn't know about the banquet.
But Dong Zhuo's expression when he came back was neither happy nor angry, as if nothing had happened, which was strange.
Li Ru went up to greet him and asked, "Ming Gong, how was today's banquet?"
Dong Zhuo shook his head: "The Empress Dowager hated the He family very much. When she heard that the He family wanted to enter the palace to toast her birthday, she flatly refused."
Li Ru said disappointedly: "It seems that this strategy has failed. In this case, we can only hope that Empress Dowager Dong will use those spices earlier, otherwise it can only be used as a last resort."
Yan Zhong consoled him: "As the saying goes, people make plans and God makes things happen. No matter how careful the plan is, there will be problems sometimes. Ming Gong and Wen You don't need to be too disappointed and just think of other ways."
Dong Zhuo smiled and said: "There is no good news. Although the Empress Dowager did not summon He, she did let her enter the palace to meet King Hongnong. The second step of the plan was half successful."
"That's not bad."
Li Ru also laughed: "King Hongnong lives in Yongle Palace now and is with the Empress Dowager every day. If He instigates him to burn incense for Empress Dowager Dong, it will definitely succeed."
The popularity of burning incense in the Han Dynasty was far lower than that in the Tang Dynasty. Ordinary people rarely lit spices to fill their clothes, bedrooms and other places with fragrance.
It’s not that they didn’t want to burn incense, but that spices during the Han Dynasty were extremely expensive and only wealthy people could afford them.
As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, burning incense was something that nobles often did to keep their bodies fragrant.
Especially Chu State, because Chu State is rich in herbs, such as orchid, rhizome, pepper, cinnamon, Xiao, Yu, Zhi, Mao, etc.
But it really became popular after the Silk Road was opened in the Western Han Dynasty and spices from the Western Regions spread to the Central Plains.
Because domestic spices are far inferior to Western spices in terms of the richness of the fragrance, the refreshing effect on people, and even the length of time the scent remains after incense is smoked.
It goes without saying that Xun Yu, the coquettish guy, left behind the idiom "Xun Ling leaves the fragrance".
Fan Ye, the author of "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", once wrote my country's first aromatic monograph "Hexiang Fang", which describes "Nard, Suhe, Anxi, Yujin, Duo, Heluo and so on. What is precious is found in foreign countries and cannot be obtained from China.”
This means that these precious and top-quality spices are produced outside the Western Regions, not in the Central Plains.
But even after the Silk Road was opened, spices were still a luxury product in the Han Dynasty.
In other words, not only in the Han Dynasty, but also in the Tang Dynasty, when all nations came to the dynasty and accommodated hundreds of rivers, spices were not popular among the people, and were limited to high-ranking officials, nobles and the royal family.
It was not until after the Song Dynasty that with the developed overseas trade, a steady stream of spices was shipped from all over the world.
From that time on, spices from the Western Regions officially became popular among the people and became something that even wealthy people could afford.
Therefore, the spices from the Western Regions that Dong Zhuo paid tribute were almost astronomically expensive. Just three dendrobiums, or almost 100 kilograms of spices, were worth millions.
Calculated according to the price of grain at that time, that was nearly 10,000 shi of millet. According to the "Book of Han·Zhao Chongguo Biography", soldiers had to eat 2 shi and 7 buckets of grain for a month, and 10,000 shi was enough to feed an army of 10,000 people for ten days.
.
So such valuable spices were given as tribute to Empress Dowager Dong. Even if Empress Dowager Dong herself did not use them, she would not be able to give them to ordinary people for use. This was probably between the three of them, Liu Xie, Liu Bian, Empress Dowager Dong.
Dong Zhuo was also afraid that the spices would be paid as tribute, so Empress Dowager Dong gave them to Liu Xie and Liu Bian. As a result, Empress Dowager Dong was not poisoned to death, but instead poisoned the emperor and King Hongnong to death.
Although it's not a big deal, there is still one last way to go.
But in the end, the plan went wrong and I had to make the last move.
So it would be great if there was someone around Empress Dowager Dong who could guide Empress Dowager Dong in using these spices.
And who could be better than King Hongnong, who was always by Empress Dowager Dong's side?
Thinking of this, Dong Zhuo was satisfied.
The plan to use He to poison Empress Dowager Dong on her birthday was already full of variables and uncertainties, so it didn't matter if it failed.
At least for the second move, if there is someone around you to take charge of it, the chance of success will be infinitely increased.
At that time...if the He family and King Hongnong are obedient, it is not impossible to support them in power and serve as puppets.
Dong Zhuo stroked his beard on his chin, his fat body standing in the hall, a proud smile on his face.