Chapter 305 Where is the emperor of the Ai family?
Empress Dowager Zhang pointed at Gu Dayong, and the commander of the imperial army, Hu Yi, and others trembled with anger and shouted: "Where is the emperor? Tell Aijia, where is the emperor? Where is the prince of Aijia?"
Gu Dayong and others knelt on the ground and trembled, saying in a trembling voice: "Go back to the Queen Mother, Your Majesty... Your Majesty, he is missing!"
Empress Dowager Zhang hit Gu Dayong and others with the crutch in her hand, and said angrily: "You bastard, you are missing? The emperor is a living person. There are so many of you who can't even see a living person. What's the use of you!"
Even though Queen Mother Zhang hit her with a cane, Gu Dayong and others did not dare to move.
The emperor disappeared or even died in a fire, which was a capital crime for them.
If you find the emperor, you may still have hope of survival. If you cannot find the emperor, then you will have to wait for your family to be confiscated and your family to be exterminated.
"The prince of the Ai family is only in his twenties and has just given birth to an heir. He didn't even take a look at his own child. How could he just leave as soon as he said so? The Ai family doesn't believe it... The Ai family doesn't believe it..."
Empress Dowager Zhang, who had just turned forty, looked like she was thirty because she was pampered and well-maintained. However, at this moment, her face was filled with tears, and she looked at the Qianqing Palace that was burned to ashes.
Historically, Xiaozong Zhu Youtang's life was not only a benevolent and kind-hearted emperor, but also a good emperor who worked hard to rule the world and make the world clear. He was also an almost unparalleled good husband and father among the emperors of the past; he even went so far as to seek revenge.
He loves his wife and makes her happy, but he does not hesitate to knowingly commit some mistakes that a wise king should not do.
In the first half of her life, Empress Dowager Zhang was loved by thousands of people. From the time she was chosen as Emperor Xiaozong's queen, Emperor Xiaozong only had one queen like her, not even a concubine. She was truly like most couples in the world.
Help each other.
However, it is thought that the empress dowager who spent the first half of her life as an emperor's favorite, lost all her glory in the palace after the death of the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao. Although she was the empress dowager, she was liquidated and killed by Emperor Jiajing because of a dispute over great etiquette.
His younger brother, Empress Dowager Zhang, died miserably, and the funeral arrangements were severely reduced after her death.
"Empress, Empress, what's wrong with you?"
Just as Empress Dowager Zhang was crying bitterly, the empress next to her softened and fainted.
After hearing this, Queen Mother Zhang stepped forward without caring about her sadness and said: "Imperial Physician, tell the Imperial Physician quickly!"
Someone was sent to escort the queen back to Kunning Palace. Empress Dowager Zhang also entered a nearby palace surrounded by a group of internal servants and maids.
In the main hall, Queen Mother Zhang was sitting there with thousands of phoenixes, staring coldly at Gu Dayong who was kneeling on the ground. Hu Yi and others said in a deep voice: "What is going on? Tell me what you know."
, If you don’t know, tell the Ai family one by one. If you tell any lies, the Ai family will take your heads!"
The emperor is missing. It can be said that in this palace, the queen mother can definitely be said to be the one who keeps her word. If she really wants to kill any of them, it will only be one word.
Gu Dayong cried and said: "Queen Mother, it's all the fault of the old slave. If the old slave had been serving Your Majesty, maybe this wouldn't have happened."
Empress Dowager Zhang snorted coldly and frowned: "Speak to the Ai family about business!"
Gu Dayong shivered and said: "I have been investigating the case of the Queen's attack a few days ago according to His Majesty's order. So I have been busy investigating the case in recent days, so I did not serve His Majesty last night. In the past few days, I have not been around His Majesty.
They are all accompanied by Master Shao Yuanjie, Superintendent Chen Du and others."
Empress Dowager Zhang frowned and said with a focused gaze: "Where is Shao Yuanjie?"
Gu Da said in a trembling voice: "Zhenren Shao and Your Majesty were unable to come out of Qianqing Palace..."
With a snap, Empress Dowager Zhang slapped the table and shouted: "The prince of the Ai family is just missing..."
"Yes, yes, His Majesty and Master Shao are missing!"
Gu Dayong kept kowtowing.
Empress Dowager Zhang's eyes fell on Chen Du who was kneeling on the ground and said: "Chen Du, you are also an old man in the palace. His Majesty trusts you more and specially transferred you from Huang Shicheng to escort you. This is how you protect His Majesty. What were you doing when the explosion happened?"
Chen Du kowtowed to Empress Dowager Zhang and said slowly: "The old slave is guilty of death. Last night, the old slave was on duty in the outer hall of Qianqing Palace. When he noticed something moving outside the palace, he chased him out. Unexpectedly, he accidentally fell into the opponent's plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Wait until the old slave When I noticed it, the Qianqing Palace was already on fire."
Empress Dowager Zhang looked at Hu Yi, the commander of the Forbidden Army on the ground, and said: "Hu Yi, as the commander of the Forbidden Army, you have nothing to say about the fire in Qianqing Palace?"
Hu Yi kowtowed to the ground, and the iron-tower-like man's eyes turned red and said: "I came upon hearing the news and immediately rushed into the sea of fire to look for His Majesty's traces. However, nothing was found. It seemed that His Majesty and Master Shao disappeared out of thin air. Generally speaking, the minister is incompetent and has caused His Majesty to disappear. I beg the Queen Mother to grant the death penalty to the guilty minister!"
With a flick of her sleeves, Empress Dowager Zhang stared at Hu Yi with a cold light in her eyes and said: "Hu Yi, you said you rushed into the Qianqing Palace and didn't find His Majesty or Master Shao? Could it be that His Majesty didn't stay there that night? Qianqing Palace?"
Chen Du on the side shook his head and said: "Reporting to the Queen Mother, Your Majesty did stay overnight in the palace of Qianqing Palace. This old slave dares to guarantee it with the head on his neck."
Patting the table, Empress Dowager Zhang said: "Tell me, where has the emperor gone?"
Everyone immediately kowtowed and said: "I await the death penalty, I await the death penalty..."
Empress Dowager Zhang said angrily: "Death penalty, capital crime, if we can't find the emperor, none of you will survive!"
While speaking, Queen Mother Zhang suddenly stood up, looked down at the crowd and said, "Get the Ai family to find the emperor. Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we have to find the emperor for the Ai family!"
Gu Dayong, Chen Du, Hu Yi and others exited the hall.
At this moment, a young eunuch cautiously walked into the main hall, looked at the angry Queen Mother Zhang and whispered: "Queen Mother, all the civil and military officials outside the palace want to see Your Majesty!"
Queen Mother Zhang said almost instinctively: "No, no one!"
However, Queen Mother Zhang soon realized that she had accompanied Emperor Xiaozong all his life. Even though the harem was not allowed to interfere in politics, she was in the palace and was influenced by her ears and eyes. She was more or less aware that the king of a country was missing from the country. How big of an impact does it have?
After taking a deep breath and calming down, Empress Dowager Zhang pondered for a moment and said: "In passing the decree of the Ai family, the chief minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang, the elders Jiang Mian, Fei Hong, Liu Zhong and others are summoned to the palace for an audience!"
The little eunuch took the order and left.
Outside the palace gate, civil and military officials gathered outside the palace early in the morning. After all, the palace was so bright last night that even a fool knew that something unexpected must have happened in the palace.
Of course, although there was a fire in the palace, few of the people present dared to imagine that the fire was in the Qianqing Palace, the emperor's residence, and even the emperor did not know whether he was alive or dead.
Now they gathered here simply because they wanted to meet the emperor and find out why the palace was in flames.
You must know that the fire in the palace can be a big or small matter. If it is a serious matter, it may even be involved in the crime of conspiracy. If it is a small matter, it is just an ordinary fire.
Everyone has received the news. Emperor Zhu Houzhao has sent an edict to Chu Yi, ordering Chu Yi to return to the capital as soon as possible. According to Chu Yi's footsteps, Chu Yi, the killer, may be dead in a few days at most.
I'm going back to Beijing.
If Chu Yi was asked to deal with the fire in the palace at that time, based on their impression of Chu Yi, it was difficult for them to doubt whether Chu Yi would take this opportunity to purge a group of them.
Therefore, the reason why everyone came to see the emperor was largely because they wanted the emperor to determine the nature of the fire in the palace before Chu Yi returned to the capital.
As long as the emperor identifies the fire in the palace, no one will have to worry about Chu Yi making use of the situation even when Chu Yi returns. If they know that the emperor is missing in the fire, they will have to blow up the fire.
While all the officials were discussing, they saw a chamberlain at the palace gate saying to all the officials: "The Queen Mother has issued a decree to summon the chief minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang, and the elders of the cabinet, Jiang Mian, Fei Hong, Liu Zhong, etc. to the palace for an audience.
!”
The officials couldn't help but be startled when they heard this. Shouldn't it be summoned by the emperor? Why is it that the eunuch conveyed the edict of the queen mother? Could it be...
No one who can be an official in the capital is a fool. It can be said that his reaction ability is not bad. He can think of many things just from being summoned by a chamberlain.
"I respectfully obey the decree!"
Seeing Jiao Fang, Jiang Mian, Fei Hong and others entering the palace together with the chamberlain, the palace door slowly closed. All the officials looked at me and I looked at you.
Suddenly an official whispered: "The Queen Mother has ordered to summon several cabinet ministers. It can't be that something unexpected happened to Your Majesty."
"Be careful what you say!"
"The fire last night couldn't have been..."
"Oh my god, if this is really the case, my Ming Dynasty will change into a god..."
No matter how frightened and guessed these officials were, Jiao Fang and the other cabinet elders followed the chamberlain in silence.
From a distance, I could see that there was only a ruin where the Qianqing Palace was located, and there were still green smoke rising up from time to time. Seeing the Qianqing Palace burned into ruins, it can be said that the several pavilion elders felt a thump in their hearts.
If the Emperor summoned him and the Qianqing Palace was burned like this, then that would be fine. At least the Emperor would be fine.
But now the one who summoned them was the Queen Mother, who had never been very involved in the affairs of state. If the emperor had not been able to intervene, how could the Queen Mother have gone above and beyond to summon them?
The hearts of several cabinet ministers were aroused, and then the voice of the chamberlain came from the main hall: "In accordance with the order of the Queen Mother, Jiao Fang, Jiang Mian and others are summoned to see you."
Jiao Fang and others slowly walked into the main hall and saw Queen Mother Zhang Feng Yitianxia sitting there. It could be seen that Queen Mother Zhang looked a little tired.
"I bow to the Queen Mother, Queen Mother Jin'an, a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old!"
The Empress Dowager nodded slightly and said, "Young ladies, there is no need to be polite! Please stand up and talk!"
As she spoke, the Queen Mother said to the few chamberlains beside her: "Come here, give some seats to the elders!"
After Jiao Fang and others thanked the Queen Mother, they sat down one by one and their eyes fell on the Queen Mother.
As the chief minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang took a deep breath, looked at the Queen Mother and said: "There was a fire in the palace. Just now, I saw that the Qianqing Palace was burned into ruins. I wonder if your Majesty..."
Several other pavilion elders are also staring at Queen Mother Zhang one by one. After all, they are also concerned about the safety of the emperor. If the emperor is safe, the court will be stable and the world will be peaceful. Once something happens to the emperor, especially if the emperor has no heirs.
, no one can predict what unexpected changes will occur at that time.
Empress Dowager Zhang's eyes fell on Jiao Fang and others, and she scanned them one by one, as if she wanted to see through them.
[This is the third update. I haven’t broken my promise. If you have a monthly pass, why don’t you give it to me?]
