Heaven and earth, sun and moon never care about the turmoil in the world, and still indifferently rotate day and night as usual.

Time passed day by day, and the funeral of the Emperor Taishang proceeded steadily, stopping the spirit, crying the spirit, and crying again.

In the blink of an eye, it was the sixth day after the death of the Emperor Taishang, and the palace was ready for the first seven sacrifices of the next day. According to the emperor's will, after seven days of resting, the Taishang Emperor Zi Palace should be invited out of the Qianyuan Palace, moved to the Wansui Mountain Funeral Palace in the north of Zhiyang Palace to park, and then buried after the 7749 days of the rest.

The first seven days are an important day, and legend has it that the souls of the deceased will return to visit on this day, but the date of the Emperor's "return visit" is especially important. Just because the emperor already knew that the other party had chosen this day as the period of the decisive battle, he would attack him.

Even more deeply exposed, there were only less than half of the usual lamps and candles burning in the imperial study of Longxi Pavilion, and the light was dim.

Fang Kui knelt upright on the gold brick floor, his usually plain face full of complicated and indescribable looks.

The emperor paced in front of the dragon book case with his hands behind his back, and said indifferently: "I already know about your family, it is rare that you have been in the palace for many years, and you still miss your family so much. It can be seen that you are also a person who values love and righteousness. ”

Fang Kui's voice was a little hoarse, and he said astringently: "The slave and maid have committed a serious crime that will never be recovered, and they dare not beg the saint for mercy and forgiveness, but only ask the saint to let the slave and maid bear it alone for the sake of the slave and maid's slight merit in the past, and not to implicate the slave and maid's family." ”

The emperor stopped and looked at him, his heart full of emotion. Among the three eunuchs in front of him, he and Fang Kui may have said the least, but Cheng Dù, who has a heart-to-heart relationship, is afraid that it is the deepest. Among the few henchmen, Fang Kui, who used to be the coldest in this temperament, was the most intimate with him, and they both had the most tacit understanding with each other.

Maybe that's why he was so keenly aware of Fang Kui's betrayal.

Betrayed by a family member who was coerced by the other party, it is not much of a bad character, and in fact it did not cause much fault, if it is said that a write-off forgives him, it is not impossible.

It's just that now he is no longer an idle vassal king, but a son of heaven, and he can't act entirely on his own likes and dislikes, and some things still need to be implemented in accordance with the established framework, and he can't be too deviant.

"As soon as the matter here is over, you will go to Nanjing to serve as a eunuch with a pen, so as to support the elderly."

Fang Kui suddenly raised his head, his face full of disbelief......

In the corner of the Caiwei Hall of the Tan Wang's Mansion, after listening to the report of his subordinates, the Tan King nodded slightly, and the expression on his face did not change in the slightest.

What did it mean to summon Fang Kui? Even if the second brother pulls Fang Kui back again? Fang Kui didn't know his strategy. Or even say, even if you know?

In the current situation, the whole plan is not afraid of being heard by the second brother, anyway, he is about to turn his face.

It really came to the last moment, but all doubts became lighter. There was a sarcastic smile on the corner of King Tan's lips, and he withdrew his subordinates and went to bed peacefully.

Tomorrow is the time of the decisive battle.

After the first three days of weeping, the government and the opposition will continue to deal with official business. While handling his father's funeral, the emperor also had to deal with official business. On the first seven days, he only showed up at the morning memorial ceremony and burned a stick of incense, and then went to the Wenhua Hall to review the draft, and after a short time, there was a sound of small and rapid footsteps outside the door, and Wang Zhi sent the news that he had been waiting for.

"Tell me, who is it?" The emperor lightly threw down the fold in his hand, stood up and asked.

Wang Zhi was a little nervous, bowed down and replied, "Yes...... Liu Zhengming, the imperial envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, as well as the Like to the Chinese side of the matter for Jiuyue, and the clerk to the matter of Cong Zhen. ”

The Emperor nodded slightly, a slight smile on his lips. What a good candidate! If it weren't for this revelation, I really couldn't imagine it.

Liu Zhengming, the imperial envoy of the Imperial Procuratorate, Zhong Jiuyue, and Cong Zhen, the official department, these three old men are not high in official rank, not because they are not deep in qualifications or too poor in qualifications, but because they are upright and even a little pedantic and stubborn.

Two years earlier, these three adults had performed the feat of resigning from their positions as scholars and cabinet scholars, and remaining in low-ranking positions to settle for the status quo as a sign of their uncooperation with those in power.

At that time, the ostensible ruler was Qiao Anguo.

In other words, these three people are all elders who are not high in official positions now, but they used to have very high official positions, very old qualifications, and can be regarded as highly respected in the court. For more than a year, they have not stood in line.

They disdained to be in the same league as Qiao Anguo, Du Rong and others, but they did not have enough trust in the emperor, so they kept on the sidelines. Unexpectedly, this time it became Yuan Ying's gun and was pushed out to summon.

The emperor was accompanied by Wang Zhi and several other eunuchs, and when he ascended the platform in front of the Imperial Palace, he clearly heard the sonorous cry of Liu Zhengming, the imperial envoy of the capital, from the main hall: "...... The son of man should do his best, regardless of the son of heaven and the people, he should do his best. Today, the emperor has to be treated so unfilially, and our ministers are also responsible for negligence, and they are really ashamed of the ancestors of Dayan. When the big event is here, the old minister will definitely follow the first emperor and live alone in the world without face! ”

This is obviously what he deliberately told him when he got the news that he was coming to him at this moment.

The emperor's steps were not affected at all, and he directly crossed the ebony threshold and entered the main hall of the Imperial Palace.

Wang Zhi sang solemnly, and the hall was originally facing everyone inside and bowed to the crowd. On the seventh day of the funeral, everyone was dressed exactly the same as filial piety, but the emperor still distinguished it clearly at a glance: the three in front of the spirit card were the three old ministers, and more than 30 courtiers, including Su Qianying, almost occupied the open space under the hall, but Yuan Ying was in the inconspicuous southeast corner.

The three old ministers are all old tears, their expressions are sad and angry, some of the courtiers are in tears, most of them are panicked and uneasy that they can't hide, and the silent and low-key Yuan Ying in the corner is pale, radiant, his eyes are red and swollen, and tears are faint, compared to him, who is an elder brother, he is indeed more like a filial son who is too sad.

The emperor's face was as cold and calm as ever, and after dispensing with everyone's salutes, he walked to the main hall spirit card, turned around and said: "I heard that the three old Qing family have something to say to me, I have come, so please speak freely." ”

The three old ministers took Liu Zhengming in the center, and at this moment Fang Jiuyue and Cong Zhen both looked at him, Liu Zhengming tightened his face, stepped forward and arched his hand: "Please allow the old minister to be presumptuous, there is indeed one thing that must be rushed when the soul of the first emperor returns to his hometown today, and explain it to the saint!" ”

The emperor looked at him quietly, and did not say anything more, he had always been too lazy to say more clichés, this was what he meant by waiting for him to continue.

Liu Zhengming's long white beard on his jaw trembled slightly, and he didn't know if it was because of excitement or mixed with fear, he raised his voice slightly and said: "Dare to ask the saint, the old minister heard that the saint was lucky with a woman on the eve of the death of the first emperor, I don't know if this matter is true?" ”

On the eve of his father's death, no one could have expected him to die, and it was understandable that his son was fortunate to be a woman, but his rudeness was obvious when he asked the emperor in public. All the ministers in the hall were uneasy.

The emperor replied blandly: "It is true." ”

Liu Zhengming continued: "Dare to ask the saint, is that woman the daughter of Zhao Shunde, the guard general who lost the important town of Liaodong because of dereliction of duty?" ”

Upon hearing this, many courtiers in the hall showed surprise and surprise.

Before the emperor came, although the three old ministers had already begun to speak out in the name of unfilial piety, most of the courtiers still did not know the reason, and they only had eyebrows when they heard this. However, on the eve of his father's death, the son was fooling around with a woman of bad origin, and no matter how unpleasant it sounded, it didn't seem to be much of a sin, so as not to attract the accusations of the subordinates to his face. The crowd watched silently and waited for what was to come.

"Exactly." The Emperor replied indifferently.

Liu Zhengming's face was full of grief and indignation, and he said in a heavy tone: "The Holy Lord is the Ninety-Five, and he should be an example in the world, but now he has snubbed the queen, ignored the Six Palaces, and greatly favored the daughter of a criminal minister who should be punished into the sect department, which is already a big violation of the law of etiquette." That's not all, the saint knew that the first emperor's condition was critical, and the illness might worsen at any time, but he also told the palace maid not to disturb, so that when the palace people reported the repeated illness of the first emperor to Longxi Pavilion at night, they were actually blocked. As a result, no one presided over the major medical affairs, delaying the illness, and the first emperor collapsed. This move by the saint is not a violation of filial piety, but also a great rebellion! ”

The hearts of all the courtiers were abruptly beaten by his accusation. Su Qianying and the other royalists' faces turned grim.

There is no trivial matter in royal affairs, and the emperor's every move is watched by the people of the world, and the slightest inconsistency in etiquette will attract the accusation of the imperial historian. The emperor's unfortunate wife, which is nothing at all in ordinary people, is also a crime in the royal family. After snubbing the palace, he did not give birth to a son-in-law, but he pampered the daughter of a criminal minister, which was extremely ruined.

And the stain on these comments is far from fatal, in order to sleep with the daughter of the criminal minister without letting the subordinates disturb him, so as to delay the father's illness, it is really a great rebellion.

Dayan rules the world with filial piety, and the foundation and strength of the present are still difficult to cover the three princes, and the one who occupies it is a justifiable one, in other words, the wind evaluation is extremely important to today, if the great crime of unfilial piety is realized, it is equivalent to self-destruction of the foundation, and it is a reasonable reason to give the three princes a reason to provoke the rebellion, so how can it be obtained?

Qiao Anguo's affairs, as well as the foreshadowing of the concubines in Qianyuan Palace a few days ago, should really be today. It's just that these three neutral and upright old guys have been instigated to make trouble, and their own side has the intention to defend Jinshang and is passive, not to mention, they are unprepared.

Su Qianying and the others all lifted their hearts tightly.

The emperor was still calm, and sighed in his heart that it was so. Although he knew that Yuan Ying would use Qiwen as a raft, he didn't wait for the secret to be revealed, and he still didn't know what he would say.

arranged for Qiwen to sleep that night, and he did tell his subordinates not to disturb him. But Wang Zhi was on duty at night in person, if Ciqing Palace really sent the news that Emperor Taishang was critically ill in the middle of the night, Wang Zhi would never ignore it.

Ciqing Palace and Longxi Pavilion have many chamberlains loyal to Qiao Anguo and Yuan Ying, and it is easy to prove that they delayed the report on the emperor's orders, and it is easy to tell this right and wrong. As soon as Qiao Anguo fell, these people knew that they would inevitably be implicated, so they simply followed Yuan Ying's arrangement to bite back and fight for a chance to live.

At this time, he had to call the person involved to interrogate and confront him, so naturally he couldn't ask for any more testimony that was favorable to him. This crime of delaying his father's illness in order to favor the daughter of the criminal minister, he can't shirk it.

I see!

The emperor was silent for a moment and asked, "Then according to the meaning of Liu Qing's family, how should this matter be handled?" ”

It sounds like Imagami is unprepared and has no countermeasures, just pretending to be calm and delaying the time. Su Qianying's faction was even more anxious when he heard it.

Liu Zhengming knew that as soon as the following words came out, it was equivalent to stepping into the quagmire of the battle for storage positions, and there was no longer a step back, after a little silence, he secretly turned his heart sideways, straightened his back, and said loudly: "Throughout the ages, there are countless precedents for demon girls to plague the country. Zhao Shunde was not upright and committed an unforgivable crime, and it was difficult for his daughter to have a decent character. This kind of daughter of the sovereign and the lord of calamity, staying for a moment longer is an endless disaster. The minister asked the Holy Lord to immediately order that the woman be sent out of the palace, according to the law of the Great Yan Dynasty, or enter the sect division, or be enslaved in the army, and no longer bend the law for personal gain, so as to comfort the spirit of the emperor in the sky! ”

This demand is reasonable on the surface, and there is nothing excessive, but it is well known that he is not close to women, and now he is asked to send this only favored woman to be a slave and prostitute, how can he obey? It turned out that the third prince not only wanted to ruin Jinshang's reputation, but also wanted to force Jinshang to take the lead in turning his face, so that he could sit firmly on the side of reason.

The neutral ministers were nervously waiting to see what was going on, and Su Qianying and the others had the heart to intervene to defend themselves, but they couldn't think of a countermeasure for a while.

King Tan watched the emperor and wondered what tricks he would use. The second brother still seems to be as calm as ever, is he fearless, or is he pretending to be calm? If there is no fear, what will be my own negligence...... After thinking about it, it was still fruitless. The second brother now has no way out except to turn his face and fight hard.

And with these three neutral ministers standing up to "uphold justice", if the emperor really goes to fight hard for the daughter of the guilty minister, there must be few supporters. There is no doubt about the direction of the situation at that time.

"Oh, but I don't know...... If I don't comply, what will I do? The emperor did not show any anger as everyone imagined, nor did he show the slightest hint of aggressiveness in his tone, but still spoke plainly. The crowd was more or less bewildered.

The emperor smiled slightly on his lips, and paced: "If I don't obey, presumably the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp stationed outside the Xuanwu Gate and assembled in full gear will enter the siege of Beijing to force the palace against me, the unscrupulous monarch, right?" ”

All the courtiers were pale, and the commander of the soldiers and horses in the Beijing camp was particularly frightened, and couldn't help but look at the king of Tan. When the emperor said this, he put on the surface that today's event was planned by King Tan, intending to force him to abdicate and seize the throne.

The situation was finally on the verge of tearing their faces, and although the Tan party and the faction were all ready, they were still inevitably terrified when they heard the emperor's words and were intimidated by his former prestige.

The emperor looked at Liu Zhengming and Cong Zhen, who were upright in front of him, and the other three people looked over one by one: "The three old Qing families are not stupid people, and they must know what the consequences of today's move will be. Now that the country is full of holes and crumbling, can it still withstand the civil strife of a battle for the storage position, can the three Qing families be sure? There is civil unrest inside, and there are external enemies outside, if this incident provokes the overthrow of the country and the world, do the three think it is worth it? ”

Qiwen has long questioned that if King Tan wants to use the wind evaluation as a breakthrough to make trouble, he can't send those corrupt officials under him, but he must encourage honest ministers with qualifications and who can convince the public to come forward, but will such an old minister know that this is a gun for King Tan, and it may cause turmoil in the government and the opposition, and the country is in crisis?

The emperor explained to her that most of the so-called upright ministers were pedantic and unruly, and the more upright they were, the more they paid attention to the rules of etiquette and religion, and in their opinion, there was nothing stricter in the world than breaking the rules, so even if they had to risk the collapse of the country, they would not let the emperor be unreasonable and swallow his anger.

In short, it is better to break the jade than to destroy the whole tile, even if it is at the cost of causing chaos in the world, they must defend the principles they uphold to the death. This is also the basis for Yuan Ying to grasp and encourage them.

This kind of idea that everyone would rather end up with the rules of etiquette and religion, rather than be a little accommodating and stealing a living, was scorned by Qiwen.

Qiwen said unabashedly: This kind of "upright" person is even more hateful than corrupt officials who use power for personal gain, at least the values of corrupt officials are still within the normal range, and people know that they are doing bad things when they do bad things, and they don't do bad things that harm the country and the people, and at the same time they still advertise themselves as loyal ministers of the ancient times, right?

This argument is unconventional enough. The emperor himself was a flexible person, and he both admired and supported her arguments.

Sure enough, at this time, after listening to the emperor's questioning, Liu Zhengming still insisted: "Please forgive the saint, the old minister came out today, it is definitely not to help others, the purpose is only to maintain the orthodoxy of heaven." If the Holy One can deal with the daughter of the country fairly, we will not embarrass the Holy One, and we will also ask the Holy God for today's rudeness. ”

The emperor said in a slightly aggravated tone: "Liu Qingjia has not yet answered my question, if I don't comply, what should I do?" ”

The three old ministers couldn't help but glance at each other, and the sadness and indignation on Liu Zhengming's face increased a little more, and he choked and said: "The first emperor once hesitated to appoint who was the prince between the saint and the three princes, and I know about it. The saint was loved by the first emperor, and was entrusted by the Dayan Society, if he was still not upright, he had a heavy trust, and the ministers were brave...... I beg the Holy Majesty to give way to the virtuous! ”

"Lord Liu, please be careful!" Su Qianying finally couldn't help but interject and reprimand, throughout the ages, the abolition of ministers and lords has been a matter that shakes the foundation of the society and absolutely does more harm than good, if you want to fight on this basis and suppress the arrogance of these three foolish old men, although you can't recover the disadvantages of the wind review, at least you can ease the situation and strive for a turnaround.

But before he could defend more, he unexpectedly saw the emperor give him a light look, as if to signal him to be restless, Su Qianying was stunned, so she couldn't help but say more. Realizing that there may be a countermeasure in the present, he is also at ease.

The emperor didn't say anything, and glanced at King Tan.

Now that King Tan can no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, he stepped forward and stood up, and said with a sad face: "Although the younger brother enters the palace every day to serve the sick, he still has to rely on the imperial brother to serve his father. Knowing that his father had passed away due to the negligence of the imperial brother, the younger brother was heartbroken. Please listen to Lord Liu's words and dispose of the daughter of the guilty minister, so as to set the record straight. The younger brother did not dare to be disrespectful to the imperial brother. ”

This is to get the right emperor, no matter what, it is impossible for the emperor to give in and hand over Qiwen, so as to take his army.

Indeed, there was no way he would make such a move. The emperor couldn't help but secretly sigh, if he hadn't been prepared, what would he do now?

In this situation, either abandon her to hold the throne, or to protect her and the opponent to the death, the consequence of the former will be that he will be held by the other party from now on, and there is no hope of turning over in the future, and the latter is to fight hard with the opponent with the strength that is not as good as Yuan Ying, and at the same time have to discard his own wind advantage, which can be described as having little chance of winning.

If you want to leave her a way to live, there is little hope.

Suddenly realized that the concern about sacrificing her for the sake of the state was not far away, and the current situation was not that far, wasn't it? Compromise with the opponent and sacrifice her has become the easiest way to keep the throne and plot the future.

I'm very glad that I was still prepared.

"Liu Qing's family keeps saying that filial piety is important, and it should be a sign of respect for the emperor. I am on the throne, it is entrusted by the first emperor himself, but the Qing family said at this time that they want to force me to abdicate the throne, is this the meaning of respecting and respecting the first emperor? The Emperor asked righteously, and thus launched a counterattack.

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