Chapter 8: Exhortation

Dou Xian gathered at the gate of Zhanghua with Taiwei Song You, Taifu Deng Biao, and Huangmen Shilang Dou Du in front of the court. There are no clouds in the sky, and under the clear sky, the tall Chongde Hall looks solemn and magnificent, magnificent.

Although Dou Xian still did not change his empty appearance, he was slightly irritable. He was above the steps at the entrance of Zhang Hua, watching the wild geese flying in the sky, but the strings in his heart collapsed very tightly. Dou Du, the squire of the Yellow Gate, is his younger brother, although this person is as arrogant as Dou Xian, he is a complete straw bag.

He has a fat body and a huge belly, and every time he walks, he has his body backward and his stomach forward. He saw that Dou Xian had come to the court early, so he came over to say hello.

"Big brother, why did you come so early today?" Dou Xian looked at his stomach and scolded, "You can still move your belly?" Do you want to do anything else besides eating? ”

Dou Du was scolded in front of him, and he felt unhappy in his heart, and he didn't dare to offend Dou Xian, so he had to bow his head and remain silent. But he muttered to himself, "You're not drunk all day!" ”

Watching other officials pass by, Deng Biao greeted them one by one, this person is exquisite, and welcomes him everywhere, although he has been doing nothing in administration, he is very open in the officialdom.

He saw Dou Xian frowning and sighing, although he didn't want to touch his head, but where the responsibility was, he had to go up to say hello. "General Dou, it seems that he is in a bad mood today, I don't know what annoys the general?"

Dou Xian glanced at the ministers who were not far from him, gathered in a pile, and discussed in a whisper, and intuitively felt that he had done a big stupid thing. Situ Yuan An and Sikong Ren Kui were looking ghostly, and they were mysteriously pointing at the palace with the ministers, and he was even more angry when he looked at it.

shouted, "Song You, come here!" ”

Taiwei Song You is Dou Xian's person, and he is talking to Shangshu Han Ling at this time. Hearing Dou Xian call himself, he trotted over, but when he saw the anger on Dou Xian's face, he was stunned on the spot for a while, not knowing how to deal with it.

Dou Xian called the three of them to a corner and asked, "Today, the court will have something to say about the Queen Mother and the Duxiang Hou, what are your plans in mind?" ”

Song Youdao, "Although the ministers have criticized this matter, I don't think it will be impeached in front of the Queen Mother." ”

Deng Biao also said, "Lao Chen also means this, I saw Situ Yuan'an this morning, but he didn't mention it to me. ”

Dou Du rubbed his nose and said in a deep voice, "Big brother, I heard that Du Xianghou was recommended by the eldest brother to the Queen Mother, which is really inappropriate. ”

Dou Xian snorted from his nose, "Although there is something wrong with this matter, the raw rice has been ripened, and now the court is up and down, and the discussion is raging, but I don't know how to end it for the Queen Mother." ”

"So what is the general's plan?" Deng Biao knew that he had a plan in his heart, so he didn't say anything, and deliberately asked him what he meant. He is a fellow of Deng Yu, and his father is also the minister of Zhongxing, and he was named a marquis. Although he has a clear reputation and is highly appreciated by moralists in society, he only wants to have a clean reputation, never offends anyone, and is a political philistine.

Empress Dowager Dou's ugly thing, he didn't want to participate in it, and waited to see what it turned out to be good. But Dou Xian came to him to discuss, so he had to put it off and refused to reveal any of his thoughts.

"I wanted to open one eye and close one eye, but the Queen Mother went too far and more, and she summoned her every day. Nowadays, there are a lot of people who have heard about things, so I think we should also advise the Queen Mother, be more restrained, and not be so excessive. ”

Dou Xian's words made the three of them taken aback, and after glancing at each other, Song You coughed and replied, "The general said so, I will wait for a while above the court, and I can also advise one or two, but I am afraid that as soon as we open our mouths, those who claim to be loyal will make a big fuss, and then the scene will be out of control, won't the Queen Mother not be able to come to the stage?" ”

Dou Du sneered, "Even if the Queen Mother has one or two male favorites, it is not unreasonable, the so-called humanity, is it to let a woman under thirty live alone?" These so-called righteous men and gentlemen are no better, just a bunch of false Taoists. ”

Dou Xian groaned, "Song You has some truth in what he said, okay, after the early dynasty, I will go to ** to admonish the Queen Mother, hoping that she will listen to me." ”

At this time, the thirty-five "palms and guests" began to call on the people to treat the courtesy, and to guide them. Hearing this, the four of them hurriedly stepped forward and entered the Chongde Hall to see the driver.

Under the palace, Lang Zhong, who was in charge of the palace gate, stood on both sides of the steps, and there were hundreds of people on each step. The civil officials and prime ministers are displayed in the east and stand in the west. The generals and military officials, meritorious heroes, and candidates are listed in the west in turn, standing in the east, and standing in the east and west. In the court, Chen trains, soldiers, and guard officers, and placed weapons and Zhang Jian's banner.

The great line of guest ceremonies, set up the ceremony of nine guests, in order to order the kings and the righteous barbarians, and is responsible for uploading the words to tell the next and the next thing to report. I heard him sing a warning, "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother has arrived." ”

Everyone then congratulated, "Long live the emperor, long live, the queen mother is in good health." ”

Daxing sang again, "If there is something to play early, there is nothing to retreat." ”

Liu Zhao said, "The Zhongqing family has something to play. He had already discussed with Huang Jun, and expected that someone in the court would mention the Queen Mother today, and if the plan to kill people with a knife was ineffective, he could also use the power of the ministers to get rid of Liu Chang and then quickly.

However, if even a needle falling to the ground in the large Chongde Hall could be heard, all the ministers bowed their heads and did not make a sound. Liu Zhao was anxious, and said, "Is there nothing to do in the Zhongqing family?" ”

At this time, Cai Lun, the regular attendant of the middle school, came out of the class and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has a request, please ask Your Majesty for permission." ”

Liu Zhao was overjoyed when he saw someone playing, and said with a smile, "What can Cai Qing's family do?" ”

"The ministers are always servants, but the queen mother let the ministers manage the affairs of the palace, and the ministers please follow your majesty and fulfill their responsibilities." Cai Lun's face was serious, although he bowed his head and asked to play, his voice was like a bell, and he was awe-inspiring.

Empress Dowager Dou sat in the back, she didn't expect Cai Lun to play this, and she felt angry and funny. Cai Lun Yongping entered the palace as a eunuch in the eighteenth year, when he was only fifteen years old. He was literate and literate, and in the second year he was promoted to the rank of Little Yellow Gate, and then served as a squire of the Yellow Gate, in charge of official and external affairs, conveying and guiding the dynasties to meet and arrange seating.

Later, he helped him frame Song Guiren for coercing evil and flattery, so that she committed suicide. She felt his credit for arranging for him to do this good errand with real power and oil. Who would have thought that this person didn't know how to lift, and he didn't do good errands, but he wanted to dress Liu Zhao, even if he was so fulfilled.

So he said, "Cai Lun, you are so responsible, there is no reason for the mourning family to be unallowed." You will go to the Garter Hall tomorrow and serve the emperor by his side. ”

Cai Lun's face was overjoyed, "Empress Dowager Xie." He then retired to the class.

Liu Zhao was very disappointed, looked around at the ministers again, and saw that no one was playing. Empress Dowager Dou also discovered the abnormality, but she was worried about the date with Liu Chang in the capital for a while, and she had nothing to do with the ministers, but she was secretly happy, so she said loudly, "It seems that there is nothing to do in the court today, let's retreat!" ”

Liu Zhao had no right to speak, so he had to retreat into the palace behind the Queen Mother, and looked back at the ministers, only Situ Yuan An looked at him deeply, and none of the rest of the people noticed his disappointment.

The expectations of others have become their own disappointments; The dependence on the ministers has become his own pain. He let out a long sigh and glanced at Huang Jun who was following behind him, and the hearts of the two of them were like a big stone pressed on them, extremely heavy.

After the early dynasty, Dou Xian came to the palace to ask to see the queen mother.

The Empress Dowager Dou has been living a very nourishing life these days, and she is in a good mood, and she is specially decorated every day, which makes her even more graceful. Seeing Dou Xian coming in, he said with a smile, "Brother, but do you have something to discuss with me?" ”

Dou Xian glanced at her, but didn't sit down, "The Queen Mother is beautiful and moving now!" ”

When Empress Dowager Dou heard what he said, she not only frowned lightly and said, "What does my brother mean by this?" ”

"Does the Queen Mother know what the matter of you and the capital has become inside and outside the palace? They say you're—"

"Say what am I? Is it Zhao Ji? Is it Empress Lu? Hmph, didn't my brother also accuse me! Dou Hou's brows furrowed, her face turned pale, her imminent anger was clear at a glance, her shoulders continued to tremble violently, and her voice gradually changed tone. At last the anger of patience exploded completely, and she lowered her head and neck, clenched her fists, and roared out without thinking with the only madness.

"The mourning family can do whatever they want, and ask these people who don't know the importance of things to make trouble. How did you come to be a ruler? It was my sister who picked you up. At this time, as an elder brother, not only did you not help the mourning family speak, but also helped those people to deceive me a lonely and widowed woman, what use do I want you people to do. ”

She swept the things on the bookcase to the ground, "Get out, if you say something like this again, you will never see me again." ”

"Queen Mother, you did such an ugly thing, and it also brought shame on the Dou family!" Dou Xian has to go on.

"Get out, come on, get this man out of the palace!"

Dou Xian's face turned blue and unsettled, his face twisted and twitched a few times, and he suddenly shouted, "If you are disobedient, sooner or later you will become the target of public criticism!" ”

Empress Dowager Dou snorted coldly, "Am I the target of everyone? I've long been the words of those people. I'm afraid they'll talk about me behind my back?" She gritted her teeth and said fiercely, "If you dare to whisper in front of me, I will behead his entire family." You too! ”

She glared at Dou Xian with a blue face, "You don't need to worry about the affairs of the countryside." Brother, let's go back! ”

Dou Xian was extremely angry and threw away his sleeves.

In the days that followed, Empress Dowager Dou still went her own way, and she didn't take the words of the people in the palace to heart. The meeting with Liu Chang was sneaky and avoided everyone at first, but later it developed to swagger into the palace every day, and he didn't care.

Dou Xian also slowly found that he had entered the palace, and he was not so casual. Empress Dowager Dou refused to see him every time on the grounds that she was unwell. On the contrary, Liu Chang entered the palace as if he was in a no-man's land. He is more and more worried that if the Empress Dowager Dou hates himself and gets close to Liu Chang, and then becomes an official in the name of the Empress Dowager and controls the affairs of the palace, isn't his position in jeopardy?

At this moment, a folk song came out of the market, "The capital comes to the state, the Han family is prosperous, the general is corpsed, and blood and tears are in the line." ”

Dou Xian became more and more anxious, thought about it, and finally made a major decision.