There are drum towers at the east and west corners of the palace, and the people on the drum towers are lit up to transmit messages every hour. There is also a copper kettle night leakage on the drum tower, and the sound of dripping continues for a hundred years without extinguishing. But where the people on the drum tower shine on the shadow of the lamp, the left and right are more, and the top and bottom are engraved, such as "four more and two moments" to shake left and right four times and then up and down twice. Pause for a moment and repeat. When the watchmen of the whole city saw this, they passed the hour according to the time.

The emperor said to the general manager: "Tomorrow morning, during the election period of Qintian, the ninth princess should also marry into the Pingxi Houfu." ”

Looking at it like this, the Murong family is busy, and they do three happy events in a few months, but there are no families, let alone the marriage of the three children in the same year.

So Yeon bowed and left.

The chief manager passed Gong E and sent her to Zhaoyang Palace.

Zhaoyang Palace used to be the place where the first queen lived, the queen had her own Fengyi Palace, and built this Zhaoyang Palace as the second sleeping palace, which is the only queen with two bedrooms since the Northern Qi Dynasty. The former queen lived in Zhaoyang Palace in order to serve and take care of the emperor's daily life and food nearby. Xu is too prosperous, the first queen only been the queen for more than a year and died of illness, the imperial doctor said that it was a disease caused by hard work.

Today, I heard Su Yan say that Prince Qianming was killed by someone, and the emperor even suspected the cause of the queen's death at first.

The first queen and Prince Qianming both abandoned him at a young age.

The greatest pain in the world is to watch the people you love the most leave one after another, and those who stay by your side all day long are those who calculate themselves and are hypocritical.

The emperor said to King Wu: "Tell your mother concubine and let her enter the palace tomorrow." ”

King Wu responded.

Usually it is Concubine Shu who enters the palace to ask for peace, and only once or twice a month. In the past 20 years, the emperor has seen Concubine Shu only a handful of times.

One is Weng Dad. A young widowed daughter-in-law rarely meets in the people, and there are even fewer opportunities to meet in the royal family.

*

On February 24, at the main hall of the council, the ministers found out. Today's emperor's spirit is much better than in the past, sitting on the dragon chair, a pair of eyes flowing on the princes' bodies.

In the court, well-informed courtiers had heard that 150,000 male soldiers had been found in Jindi and that they had built a large number of weapons. At this time, anyone who is smart does not dare to mention the matter of Lichu, for fear of touching the emperor's scales.

This morning, I heard news from the palace that several imperial doctors who had diagnosed the emperor's pulse last night were missing, and a physician who had administered medicinal moxibustion to the emperor earlier had been killed. It was late at night at the third watch. It was Yan Shizi who went out of the palace and invited the county lord of Anxi to enter the palace to give moxibustion to the emperor.

The method of the county lord of Anxi is very effective, at least everyone can see it, the emperor this morning is very energetic, except that he is much thinner than a few months ago, and he can't see that he is a patient.

The Emperor sighed lightly, "My Ninth Princess has reached the age of marriage. "My daughter is going to get married when she grows up, the emperor's body is not as good as day by day, and the children next to him are not worried, but they are worried about the youngest ninth princess," Yuan Aiqing. What are the auspicious days of the zodiac for marriage recently? ”

A beautiful bearded Taoist priest walked out of the courtiers' queue and replied with a fist: "Your Majesty, the auspicious days of March are the second day of March, the tenth day of March, and the twentieth day of March. ”

The emperor thought that the county lord of Renhe was March 20, and it would be good if one marriage and one marriage were on the same day, at least Pingxi Houfu could be more lively. "On March 20th, the ninth princess and Jiang passed on their marriage, and the Ministry of Rites prepared for the wedding."

Someone searched in the court and saw Jiang Shuhong, but did not see Jiang Shukun's shadow. I heard that Jiang Shukun was infected with a cold and recuperated at home.

The courtiers did not dare to touch the prince's party struggle. After carefully playing a few important things, the emperor said loudly: "The matter of allocating seeds to the people in the northwest will be handled by King Wu and the household department through consultation. ”

Someone's heart sank. What is the situation.

The emperor asked King Wu to come forward to take care of it, he covered his mouth and coughed lightly, only to see the chief steward take a beautiful bottle from the hand of a palace lady in front of the palace. He said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the hospital has done a good job of expectorant dispersion." Please take a look at the county lord of Anzai, and the county lord of Anzai said that he did a good job. The emperor tastes it first. ”

It's as if it's not medicine, it's just delicious food.

There was also a small silver spoon in the bottle.

The emperor took it, took a small spoon and put it in his mouth, it was as cool as mint, with a little numbness, slightly astringent, only a little medicinal taste, but it was also fragrant, after entering the throat, the throat was refreshing and cool, very comfortable, and he ate another spoonful.

"The county lord of Anxi said, you can't eat too much of this, you can only eat two spoonfuls at a time."

Such a small spoon, as much as the size of a mung bean.

The Ministry of Etiquette stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, what is the case for the marriage of the ninth princess?" ”

The emperor gave the small porcelain vase to the chief administrator, "The Ministry of Rites sent someone to consult with Concubine De." ”

The ninth princess was raised under the name of Concubine De, her biological mother died early, and Concubine De was also her mother.

He really worries too much about King Wu, just like Su Yan said, and give him a chance, if he really doesn't do well, he can also point out one or two. After making up his mind, the emperor said loudly: "From now on, King Wu and the eleventh prince will jointly assist in the administration of the court." King Wu was in charge of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Officials; The 11th prince is in charge of the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Households. ”

It seems that the emperor is biased towards these two young princes and grandsons.

The two assistant ministers of the government, each in charge of three departments, are very fair, but anyone who has some brains can understand what the military department and the official department mean, and even the criminal department is not to be underestimated, and it can play a role at a critical time.

The eleventh prince didn't think so, in his opinion, although he was a little powerful, he was far inferior to King Jing and King Ning. Recently, King Wu has been favored, and many courtiers have fallen to King Wu. He should resign, that's what should be done.

The emperor asked him to assist, and he took over, what if the emperor was unhappy?

Perhaps, this is simply the emperor's temptation.

The eleventh prince held the elephant wat in his hand and said: "Enlighten the father, the son is learning from the father and the subordinate brothers, and he can't help the three affairs. ”

The emperor's words immediately stunned all the courtiers. "That being the case, King Wu is in charge of the affairs of the six ministries, and the ten princes assist King Wu. Nothing to retreat from! ”

The eleventh prince said that he was too young to be young, and the emperor actually came to push the boat and handed over the six affairs to King Wu to take care of. The age of King Wu and the Eleventh Prince was originally not much different. Obviously, the emperor did not have the intention of the eleventh prince, and gave birth to the intention of handing over all the state affairs and court affairs to King Wu.

He did not allow the ministers to object, and walked away, leaving only a trace of absolute back.

The eleventh prince said that he was young and still needed to learn, and the power of this assistant was gone, and he was directly handed over to the weak and incompetent tenth prince to assist King Wu.

The recent emperor is unpredictable, and no one can guess what he will do next.

Not only did the eleventh prince look stunned and couldn't react for a long time, but so did the other courtiers.

Someone hugged his fist at King Wu, "Congratulations to His Royal Highness King Wu!" ”

King Wu humbly returned the favor.

How could the emperor suddenly let him assist in the affairs of the six ministries, this is also too fast. After he left yesterday, the emperor left Su Yan to speak, and the two of them chatted for a long time, and even the chief manager was separated.

But yesterday, when he was about to rest, the chief manager said "Congratulations to King Wu".

It's hard to be true, it's really the reason for Su Yeon.

King Ning looked indifferent, let King Wu and the Ten Princes jointly assist in the affairs of the six ministries, what is going on, recently the officials of the various ministries have risen and fallen frequently, especially after the New Year's Festival, many local officials who entered the imperial city in the autumn of last year have successively found official positions in the six ministries of the imperial city, and the original officials of the six ministries were actually sent to the local office, and there are many people from the Jingwang Party and the Ningwang Party. In this way, King Ning and King Jing were dealt a big blow.

King Wu was polite and spoke to a group of congratulatory officials.

Gu Lixing of the Criminal Department also hugged his fists to congratulate.

King Wu said: "This hall got the "Strange Case Record of the Criminal Department" a few days ago, I took it with you, took it home and asked Gu Lingshi to copy two copies, one for him and one for me. Wait for the transcription to be completed, and then return the original. ”

Gu Lixing couldn't react: The emperor is weird today, and even King Wu is confused, so he asked his eldest son to copy the book.

King Wu moved out of the main hall, and officials congratulated him and the ten princes one after another.

The Ten Princes followed behind King Wu, with an inexplicable expression, "King Wu, I don't know much about the affairs of the six ministries, you have to take me." ”

The Ten Princes didn't understand, so they only let King Wu take it, in fact, the Ten Princes were a few years older than King Wu, and they were elders, which made people feel that his words seemed strange.

King Wu said: "This is the emperor's grace, we do it with our hearts." ”

The little eunuch of King Wu's Mansion came with the book, and the ten princes were curious and quickly reacted, "I heard that the county lord of Anxi has collected the "Eight Complete Books", which is the "Criminal Department Volume" of the previous dynasty. ”

King Wu replied, "Exactly", and handed the book to Gu Shilang, "Read it well, you have to be a good hoe." ”

Hoe?

Gu Lixing was confused.

What does he, the future son-in-law, mean, let him do a good hoe, what does he do as a hoe?

Dig the ground with a hoe and beat the bad guys with a hoe?

What does that mean exactly?

King Wu was followed by the Ten Princes, and it was inconvenient for him to ask in detail.

Gu Lixing only felt more and more weird, the emperor let King Wu take charge of the affairs of the six departments, and the ten princes assisted King Wu, this errand originally fell on the eleventh prince, the eleventh prince said that he was young, and the emperor simply came to recruit Shunshui and pushed the boat, and ordered the ten princes to do it.

King Wu's holy favor is in full swing, and recently there have been many remarks praising King Wu's filial piety. King Wu is the son of Langya. Langya is said to be the small character given to him by Prince Qianming, because he is a student of Zhu Wu, and he is appreciated and supported by the Qingliu faction.

Gu Lixing held the book and flipped through a few pages, King Wu even knew that his son Gu Lingshi liked unsolved cases and doubtful cases, this was simply a book that taught people how to solve cases.

A eunuch approached and said, "Lord Gu, the emperor invites you to go to the imperial study to discuss matters." ”

When Gu Lixing arrived at the imperial study, he saw a woman in a brocade robe kneeling in the center, dressed very elegantly, looking at the pearl hairpin on her head, she looked like an imperial concubine, and she couldn't guess her identity for a while. "Wechen meet the emperor, long live, long live!"

The emperor sat in front of the dragon case, holding the piece in his hand, "Concubine Shu." ”

"The daughter-in-law is here." Concubine Shu lowered her head, not daring to look at the emperor.

"Tell me, how did Prince Qianming die back then?"