"Queen Mother?!"

Shen Zhan looked at the Queen Mother with a shocked expression, and his tone was full of disbelief.

The Queen Mother didn't answer, but closed her eyes and turned the ivory Buddha bead bracelet in her hand at some point.

The burning incense sticks in the incense burner were filled with a faint white smoke, lingering between Shen Zhan and the Queen Mother's mother and son, shrouding the Queen Mother in front of the Queen Mother, making the Queen Mother's appearance very ethereal.

The mother and son sat silently for a long time, and then Shen Zhan shouted in a low voice, "Queen Mother", there was a sense of powerlessness in the words.

"That's it," there was silence for another moment, and the Queen Mother raised her eyelids and glanced at Shen Zhan before she said, "Your Majesty has already done the gift of a weak crown, and if you have made your own decision, the mourning family will not be able to help you decide anything for a long time." You don't blame the queen mother for being cruel to her mother's family, if the eldest brother of the mourning family is content with the status quo, what do you do to Liu Shuxing, the mourning family will not stop you. You really want to spoil her now, and the mourning family has nothing to say, only one sentence, power can confuse people's minds, and people's greed can never be satisfied! ”

Because of the Queen Mother's deliberate alienation, Shen Zhan has not been very close to the Liu family since he was a child, in fact, the Queen Mother proposed that Liu Shuxing must not be allowed to have his own heirs, Shen Zhan did not have much resistance, originally, he did not think about establishing any kind of relationship with Liu Shuxing, he was shocked because the Queen Mother was able to give up her ambitious family for him and for the calendar. However, he was misunderstood by the queen mother because he was reluctant to Liu Shuxing, and Shen Zhan didn't explain too much, and after hearing the queen mother's advice, he responded in a deep voice, "Erchen understands!" ”

The Queen Mother nodded slightly, gently rubbed the Buddha beads in her hand, obviously not wanting to continue the topic, and asked again, "You said, this Mid-Autumn Festival Palace banquet was deliberately aimed at Mi'er, do you have any clues?" Does the person who did it know who it is? ”

Speaking of this, Shen Zhan's face was even more unnatural than Fang Cai, he lowered his head, glanced to the side and said, "I didn't find any clues." There were many people on that day, there were not enough palace people on Penglai Island, and the Internal Affairs Office drew many people from the side to transfer them, and it is not easy to say whether there were any ill intentions among these people. From the beginning to the end of the palace banquet, there were countless people going back and forth, and Mi'er only prevented whether anyone was obstructing the meals, utensils and programs, but she didn't expect that someone would be so bold and dare to directly let dozens of palace concubines be infected with allergies! ”

"According to your majesty, is that really an allergy?"

"Yes, Meng Xun has carefully examined it, it is indeed a symptom of allergies, this allergy symptom is just a rash on the hands and feet of people's faces, the palace concubine who died suddenly has always been prone to allergies, I turned over the pulse case she used to consult with the imperial doctor, the palace concubine has always been irregular, and it is very easy to be allergic, this time it is also because of allergies and the throat is swollen and caused by suffocation, plus the heart is not even, under the panic, it is even worse breathing, and suddenly she died, which I am afraid that the murderer did not expect.

"I guessed that the murderer just wanted to use the palace concubine's allergies to hit Mi'er, and I was also afraid that there would be a back-up, so I hurriedly grounded Mi'er."

"Hmm. It's rare that you can still think about protecting Mi'er's safety at such a moment," the Queen Mother nodded slightly, "It is said that it is because of the allergy caused by spices?" ”

"Yes, but that's speculation on the surface."

"Although it is a guess, but that person can find out what your palace concubines will be allergic to in such a short period of time, and arrange a qiē under the strict precautions of the palace people, if there is no internal response, the mourning family does not believe it, if it is just a spice allergy, the mourning family is also a little suspicious, is it possible, all the concubines are allergic to the same spice?"

"Only the food of the palace concubines is arranged according to their different tastes, and if they are allergic, they can only work food, and they must work food, so it is impossible to do without a few people who are responsible for food・・・・・・"

"And you have internal responses, and you know what your palace concubines like to eat, what allergies, or spices, food, or something else・・・・・・ with such ability, will they just want to bring down a queen? Zhan'er, this person, is not small! ”

The Queen Mother's words made Shen Zhan startled, and immediately thought of the murder of the palace maid Ah Ran, and immediately smiled bitterly, "Queen Mother, now that the court and the middle are in turmoil, people of all factions have this motive, and now, the sons and daughters have to come step by step!" ”

The Queen Mother also sighed, "The mess left by your father!" ”

Shen Zhan's father, Shen Fu, ascended the throne as a young man, and in the first 30 years, his son inherited his father's business and worked hard, expanding his territory, opening up commerce and trade, and developing farming. Shen Fu changed his temperament suddenly, he sang all day long, enjoyed himself night and night, and spoiled the concubine, and it was a trivial matter not to go to court for a few days, but fortunately, the courtiers who followed Shen Fu were all brought out by Shen Fu when he was still in the prince's palace, most of them were loyal and ambitious, although Shen Fu began to ignore political affairs, but there were many people in the court who shared his worries, so the new scenery of the Great Calendar created by Shen Fu still continued, until Shen Fu suddenly died at the age of sixty-seven, the Great Calendar Dynasty was still running in an orderly manner, prosperous and stable. It stands to reason that this is a good thing, but it is precisely because Shen Fu does not go to the court, and everything in the court is controlled by the prime minister, Da Sima and other important ministers in the court, and when Shen Zhan ascends the throne with a weak crown, those courtiers who have held power for too long are naturally unwilling to hand over the power in their hands. Moreover, everyone knows that when the new emperor ascends the throne, he will inevitably have a big change of blood in the court, and fill in the important positions of people he trusts, so that those elders will not be willing.

Therefore, now there has been a tug-of-war between the DPRK and China, on one side is Shen Zhan, who has just ascended the throne, and the emperor's power is limited and he cannot show his strength; On the other side are the important ministers and elders left by Shen Zhan's father, Shen Fu, they are unwilling to hand over the power and interests in their hands, and they are even more unwilling to give up their positions to other stinking little hairy children, Shen Zhan made ten decisions, at least half of them were blocked back, and these old ministers are still playing under the banner of "Your Majesty is too young, acting too extremely, we have to think about Your Majesty", so it is difficult for Shen Zhan to do anything, and the road to the middle of the court is impassable, so it is no wonder that he has to start from the harem. Accepting the daughters of courtiers into the palace, on the one hand, they relaxed their vigilance, on the other hand, "if you want to take it, you must give it first", and moreover, pampering the daughters and granddaughters of important ministers and giving them high positions also symbolizes Shen Zhan's concession on the other hand, so that some courtiers also have to make concessions in other aspects.

More importantly, these courtiers are not twisted into a rope and work together against Shen Zhan, they are their own camps, they have their own factions and camps, and they also have their own political interests, in order to get more benefits from Shen Zhan, they may temporarily unite together, but when it comes to the interests of their respective camps and factions, they will be hostile to each other. Shen Zhan also valued this point, so he would treat the daughters and granddaughters of courtiers of different factions in the harem differently, and even the same faction treated them differently.

Don't underestimate this harem matter, and don't think that Shen Zhan is very disdainful of starting from the harem, since ancient times, the harem and the previous dynasty have been inextricably linked, a woman is favored in the harem, her family can be a person outside to ascend to heaven, just like the Liu family of the current Queen Mother, when the Queen Mother was sealed, the Liu family immediately changed from an ordinary powerful family to a top royal family, not to mention anything else, just to provide the Liu family with a source of life and production and money, on the bright side, it changed from thousands of acres to tens of thousands of acres, Not to mention other benefits and rights, there is no difference in scenery for a while, and no one inside and outside the DPRK and China dares to take it lightly. And when Shen Fu ignored political affairs and favored the concubine, the status of the Liu family plummeted, and there was also a lot of shock and change. This is why, knowing that their daughter may lose her life if she is sent to the palace, there are still many people who have sharpened their heads and want to send their daughters and granddaughters to the palace to fight for the slim glory and future of the one in a thousand chance, which is why Shen Zhan's road to the middle of the court is not passable, and he has to start from the harem. Who wants to give up the low-hanging fruit? Using the benefits brought by the harem to make those courtiers divide, break up, and be hostile to each other, Shen Zhan will have an opportunity to take advantage of it, this is Shen Zhan's purpose.

Take the recent example, that is, the matter of Qian Guiji, Shen Zhan immediately demoted Qian Guiji's father from a military general to a thousand presidents, and immediately installed his own person to be the position of that military general, the action was too fast, and by the time the military attaché camp reacted, it was already a foregone conclusion, which was helpless.

Nowadays, the DPRK and China are generally divided into six major factions, one is a century-old family and occupies a certain position in the DPRK, such as the Song family of Song Mier, one is the civil official faction, one is the military attache faction, one is the Qing faction, one is the meritorious faction that has meritorious deeds passed down from generation to generation, and the other faction is the noble clan faction, they may not seem to have anything to do with the DPRK on the surface, but in fact, many backbone forces in the DPRK are recommended by them, and they are naturally counted as people in their camp, and they spare no effort to safeguard the interests of the clan and nobles in the DPRK.

Let's go back to Shen Zhan and the Queen Mother.

Shen Zhan looked at the Queen Mother and sighed, and his heart was also uncomfortable, not only because the court was blocked everywhere, but also because his mother had really paid too much, if there was no queen mother's efforts behind his back, he would still say today that he might not be able to ascend to the throne, his uncles and brothers, which one is good to get along with, I can't say that he is also looking at his jokes now, waiting for the opportunity to pull himself off.

It is precisely because of this that Shen Zhan urgently needs a worthy queen to help him balance this harem, but now it seems that Song Mier is not the best candidate, at least not as big as Liu Shuxing's current role in the harem, and not as capable as her.

When I asked Song Mier to be the queen, one was because I thought that she was smart when she was a child, and she must be smart and clever when she grows up, and the harem affairs are enough to deal with it easily; The second is that although the Song family is a century-old family, it is the least willing to fight for power and profit among the families, and Prime Minister Song is also one of the people he can trust temporarily, and it is better to let his daughter be the queen than to let someone else do it; The third is also out of Shen Zhan's own selfishness, after all, Song Mier and himself can be regarded as childhood sweethearts, if she is not in a high position, she will never be able to prevent others from bullying her and insulting her with her position, but she never expected that even if Song Mier is in a high position, she still lets others bully the door, where did her wit go when she was a child?

Thinking of this, Shen Zhan couldn't help but shake his head, looked at the Queen Mother and said with a wry smile, "Queen Mother, the mess left by my father, I can deal with it alone in the court, but in the harem, I also need a helper!" But you look at Mi'er, since she entered the palace for a while, she has been plotted several times, you say she is stupid, I see that sometimes she doesn't know the checks and balances and suppression, it's not that she doesn't know the differentiation and provocation, just take the first time in the morning to Liu Shuxing's suppression of Ma Wei and Qingwan, and also divide Liu Shuxing and Wen Qingwan, I think she did a good job, and she understands my hints, and she can accept them. But you say she's smart, and in a blink of an eye, she was framed for changing the dressing, okay, I blocked it for her, but before she could recover herself, her palace maid died in her own palace, and there was a note in her hand to testify against herself, this matter is not over, this palace banquet has caused trouble again! How can you be shrewd in small things and so confused in big things! I don't think her maids are reliable, and they don't help their masters at all! Mother, tell me, what is this called! This Mi'er, she is so overwhelmed? ”

The Queen Mother was silent, as if she was surprised that her son had looked at her friend's daughter in this way, and said after a while: "Mi'er, this child, the mourning family has observed for more than ten years, and it can be regarded as the mourning family's teaching and growing up, and it is definitely not that stupid and ignorant, not to mention the teachings of the mourning family and the heritage of the Song family, just look at her brothers and sisters, which one is not well-read and knowledgeable, unparalleled in the sea?" Mi'er inherited her father's intelligence, and grew up in such an environment, how could she be stupid! ”

"Then why ・・・・・・?"

"If you really want to talk about the reason why Mi'er is ignorant and overwhelmed by others, I can only say one word, lazy! To add a few words, lazy temperament! The Queen Mother was a little crying and laughing.

"This, that's okay?" Shen Zhan was a little stunned.

"Why not?" The Queen Mother smiled, "That child has said more than once in private, I want to be a rice worm who is only good at eating and being lazy, and I don't care about anything other than eating, drinking, and having fun, your Aunt Shujie said that she had comforted Mi'er because of your affairs a while ago, and Mi'er only cried for a while, and returned to normal that night, you, want Mi'er to help you manage the harem with your heart, just murder her, stimulate her with words, snub her, and take away her right to govern the palace, but no, you are used to dealing with other women in the harem, in her place." , but it doesn't work, what the harem woman cares about, she doesn't necessarily care, what the harem woman is willing to sacrifice and give up may be something more important than life for her. ”