Gao Pragmatic got two notifications in a row, both of which came to inform him of the accident in the palace. One way was sent by Chen Ju, and all the way was sent by Huang Mengyu. Among them, Chen Ju learned the news earlier, so the people he sent arrived one step earlier, and Huang Mengyu learned the news late, and the people sent were also a little late, but they gave him more news.

For example, he personally rushed to Ciqing Palace from Neidongchang to move the rescue troops, and at the same time, according to the explanation given by Gao Shishi when he left Beijing in the sixth year of Wanli, he used another dark chess that had never been used.

In the fourth year of Wanli, a year before Zhu Yijun's wedding, Gao Pragmatic relied on the advantage of knowing history to quietly win over Wang Wei, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, a year in advance, and gave various gold and silver ornaments and jewelry to his queen sister Xi many times through other channels.

At the same time, he used the two allies of the inner court to find ways to create conditions to ensure that post-election matters would not go astray.

At that time, the Ministry of Rites was responsible for the preliminary selection, and the Ministry of Rites Shangshu was Gao Gong's ally Ma Ziqiang, under the influence of Gao Pragmatic, Wang Xijie was not only successfully selected, but also took care of the Ministry of Rites in various matters such as rosters and records.

Coupled with the support of the Empress Dowager Rensheng, and the Empress Dowager Li herself agreed after meeting Sister Wang Xi, so the Empress Dowager of the two palaces sent a decree to the Ministry of Rites and selected Sister Wang Xi as the queen.

Although the status of the queen of the Ming Dynasty is lofty, in ordinary terms, it has nothing to do with Gao Pragmatic, and she does not have any ability to affect the political situation, but Gao Pragmatic knows that the relationship between this queen and Wanli in history is actually quite good, but because she has not been able to give birth to a dragon son, she finally let Zheng Guifei take the lead.

But even so, the status of the queen has never been shaken, in the twenty-first year of Wanli "fighting for the country" incident, Zhu Yijun once said that the reason why the eldest son of the emperor was not established as the crown prince was because Wang Xijie was in her prime, and she had the opportunity to give birth to her son-in-law, which was the prince candidate in Zhu Yijun's mind.

In the twenty-eighth year of Wanli, the engineering department wrote to Wang Dewan to falsely accuse the emperor of snubbing Sister Wang Xi, and also said nonsense that there were only a few people left around Sister Wang Xi to serve, and she was seriously ill. Zhu Yijun was furious, and directly sent Wang Dewan to prison. At that time, Fu Shen always said that this rumor had existed in Beijing a month ago, so the emperor immediately issued an edict to defend himself, and his words were very aggressive.

This "very aggressive speech" is very critical, which proves that Zhu Yijun is extremely sensitive to anything that dares to doubt that he and the queen have a bad relationship.

In other words, he would not allow his good relationship with the Empress to be questioned by anyone. Otherwise, Zhu Yijun was already in a cold war with the courtiers in the "national capital dispute" at that time, if he didn't care, he wouldn't pay attention to it at all, where would he issue an edict to justify, and even "speak very aggressively"

In addition, whether it is according to the emperor's own edict or the records of the Ming Shilu, before the death of Empress Wang in the 48th year of Wanli, she had always been "eating and living together" with Zhu Yijun, that is to say, eating and living together does not explain the problem

What is even more telling is that after the death of Queen Wang, Zhu Yijun issued a holy decree, saying that "I remember the diligent and virtuous lady, and mourn endlessly", "I am deeply saddened", and then only three months later, Zhu Yijun, who was still healthy, died suddenly.

If it weren't really painful, why wouldn't it be like this?

Therefore, Gao pragmatically concluded that Queen Wang definitely has a significant influence on Zhu Yijun, and it is completely a high-performance stock that is worth investing in.

And there is another very important reason for investing in Queen Wang in the early Wanli period, that is, Queen Wang attaches great importance to filial piety, and the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces is extremely filial, and the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces almost regards her as her own, and she is extremely caring, and even Zhu Yijun is not allowed to visit her during her illness.

Sister Wang Xi is actually only sixteen years old this year, and she usually lives in Kunning Palace, except for asking for peace in the two palaces every day, she almost never walks around in the palace, but manages the harem in a regular manner, which can be called a perfect fit for the harem system set by Zhu Yuanzhang, and is a model of the perfect queen.

However, today she must make a slight exception, because just now, an attendant quietly reported to her, saying that the emperor was punished by the Empress Dowager Cisheng, and the chief could not kneel outside the main hall of Cining Palace.

In public and private, Queen Wang did not dare to slack off after learning the news, and immediately drove to Cining Palace.

When she arrived at Cining Palace, there were many fewer eunuchs and palace maids in Cining Palace than before, which was persuaded by Guo Pu to withdraw after Guo Pu arrived, and gave a gag order.

The queen didn't care much at this time, hurried to the outside of the palace, and sure enough, she saw the emperor and the two princesses kneeling straight outside the main hall.

The emperor was already on his knees, and the two princesses were in even worse condition, not only with painful faces, but also crumbling.

Empress Wang did not go in to plead with Empress Dowager Li, but walked to the emperor's side with a heavy face, and in the position slightly behind the emperor's side, she also knelt down and was punished like the emperor, but did not say a word.

Empress Dowager Chen also arrived at this time, and saw the emperor, empress and two princesses kneeling in front of the palace together, and stepped forward and asked softly, "Why is the queen also kneeling?"

The queen leaned over and replied, "Hui Ren Sheng Empress Dowager, if the husband is guilty, will the wife be guilty?"

Empress Dowager Chen's body was shocked, she was shocked, stared at the resolute Queen Wang for a while, her eyes were full of kindness, she nodded slowly, and said in a deep voice, "Good boy, the mourning family knows your heart." ”

With that, Empress Dowager Chen turned around solemnly and walked towards the main hall of Cining Palace.

Zhu Yijun turned his head, glanced at the queen, and said with guilt on his face, "Xi'er, I'm tired of you, you've been punished." ”

Queen Wang shook her head slightly, and said softly, "What the concubine said is from her heart. ”

Zhu Yijun's nose was sour, he turned his head away, and stopped talking, not knowing what it was like in his heart.

The two princesses looked at each other from behind, their faces were ashamed, and they whispered in unison, "Imperial sister-in-law, I'm sorry"

The queen turned her head, shook her head at them slightly, gave them another comforting look, and knelt down honestly again.

When Empress Dowager Chen approached Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Li was sitting in the hall, and Guo Pu was sitting on a brocade stool, which seemed to be a special gift, and the two were discussing something. There were only three or four eunuchs around, and one of them was Chen Hong, the eunuch who held the seal of the celebrant and the eunuch.

As soon as Empress Dowager Chen entered the door, Empress Dowager Li and Guo Pu both stood up to greet each other.

Empress Dowager Li bowed to Empress Dowager Chen with a sad face, and said, "I'm tired of my sister going for a trip, but my little sister really can't go." ”

"I'm fine, just walk around." Empress Dowager Chen shook her head slightly and said, "Yuanfu, please take a seat." ”

But of course Guo Pu didn't dare to sit at this time, and waited until the queen mother of the two palaces sat on the east and west sides before sitting down half of his butt on the brocade bench.

Unexpectedly, Empress Dowager Chen, who has always rarely taken the initiative to speak, actually grabbed the conversation today, she just sat down, and said to Empress Dowager Li, "Sister, Xi'er is also kneeling beside the emperor, do you know?"

Empress Dowager Li was a little surprised and asked, "When did I not alarm her?" ”

"Although Xi'er is the queen after all, the emperor can't afford to kneel when he is punished, how can he hide Xi'er in the palace" Empress Dowager Chen sighed, "I just asked her, why she was also punished on her knees, and my sister knows what she said"

Empress Dowager Li shook her head.

Empress Dowager Chen's eyes showed a trace of remembrance, and her voice was a little distant, "She said, if the husband is guilty, the wife is not guilty."