The farther north you go, the colder it gets.

At that time, it was still autumn, but Xingqing Mansion, the capital of Western Xia, was already in the environment of a cold north wind.

The firewood in Chengtian Temple is piled high and burning. The Empress Dowager, who is less than thirty years old and upright and graceful, doesn't feel much heat, just watches the firewood burn. A while ago, she heard that there was a prodigy named Wang Yan in the Song Dynasty who invented coke, which was much better than firewood.

Although the Western Xia has been sinicized to a certain extent earlier, but then Yuan Hao came to power, and the important ministers of the wild calendar department jointly reversed the operation to de-sinicization, so now the courtyard of this temple has a large tent made of cowhide next to it.

When twisting and looking at the big tent, the gorgeous and incomparable Queen Mother can always show a kind and maternal gaze. Now her nine-year-old son, Li Liangzuo, is asleep in the tent. Li Liangzuo is the current emperor of Western Xia.

Li Shougui, the minister under the skirt of the Empress Dowager, is male, young and handsome, and there seems to be two points of imperceptible viciousness hidden under the appearance of the quiet little fresh meat. Li Shougui is looking at this beautiful queen mother who often sleeps next to him with the usual demeanor of a soft-footed shrimp.

The roar of rubbing the regent queen mother of a country is definitely the glory and dream of any man, so Li Shougui is very proud, and he looks at the current host of Chengtian Temple, the national teacher of Xixia, and the king of Dazang Ming.

Mo Pa, who had always closed his eyes and was contemplative, suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Li Shougui, his gaze was like cold electricity, which made Li Shougui suddenly feel cold in this damn weather, so he hurriedly diverted his gaze and looked at the burning firewood.

Speaking of which, the Empress Dowager has always believed in Buddhism, and she once became a nun, but she has never been fated again. Because the man Li Yuanhao was killed by his brother Wuqian Pang, the Queen Mother was once disheartened, but her son was young, she believed in Buddhism and wanted to pray for the peace of the country and the people and the healthy growth of her son, so she entered Buddhism again.

Empress Dowager Wuzang is also the "Master Wuzang" in the hearts of the Xixia people who believe in Buddhism.

There was a year, she built a large number of buildings, built the current Chengtian Temple with the royal reputation of Western Xia, and invited the "Tripitaka Sutra" from the Song Kingdom of the Southern Dynasty into the temple, and also invited the high monk Mapa to preside over the Chengtian Temple, canonized the Ming Kingdom Division.

This is the origin of the first King of the Great Tibetan Dynasty.

"The weather is ...... It looks like it's going to be colder this year, and it's going to last until you can freeze when you pee. But at this time of year, there are people who want to fight? ”

The dissatisfaction in the graceful and gorgeous Empress Dowager's tone was already very obvious.

Li Shougui's heart sank, and he hurriedly put away his thoughts of complaining that he hadn't chatted with her for a long time, and took out a letter from his arms and said: "Niangniang Rongyu, this is a letter sent by Pang Ji, the former prime minister of the Song Kingdom. ”

This is an old acquaintance, the earliest time was his Pang Taishi, no, he was not a Taishi at that time, he was just a solicitor of Shaanxi in the Song Kingdom. The old guy was a man of diplomacy rather than military affairs, so they had a lot of communication with each other ever since.

The astonishing academic achievements of the old man Pang and the scholarly attitude of the ancient and modern generations once made the girlish Wu Qiang a little confused.

Well, YY is over, the Queen Mother took Lao Pang's letter and read it, and it was still burning in the firewood.

The situation of Pang Ji is not good, politically speaking, he will never turn over, but as a former commander in the northwest of the Song State, the old guy is now far away in the border of Hebei Zhijunzhou, but he is still paying attention to the increasingly tense situation on the Song-Xia border. This letter is to complain to the Empress Dowager about the aggressiveness of Western Xia and the continuous subversion of the rules of the Golden Triangle buffer zone.

"It's very strange after this, why is the rhetoric on Lao Pang's letter different from the reports from all parties that he heard in the court, what is the problem?" The Empress Dowager said softly.

Li Shougui lowered his head and did not dare to answer. It is obvious that this is because her brother has no need to slander Pang, so he has been acquiescing to the arrogance and provocation of the border army.

Now their brothers and sisters are not compatible, and they have a big heart disease with each other, on the one hand, they are strengthening their influence and power, and on the other hand, the little emperor is growing up day by day, as a mother, the Empress Dowager has slowly entered the plan to fight for complete imperial power for her own flesh and blood, and she doesn't want to be controlled by others anymore.

These are obvious political situations, but no one dares to mention them, and no one wants to pierce them.

"As a favorite minister of the queen, Li Shougui, have you taken the initiative to investigate these things?" The Empress Dowager asked lightly.

After hesitating for a long time, Li Shougui looked embarrassed and whispered, "Minister...... I don't know. ”

"What is the actual situation? Song-Xia border, is it friction, or is someone deliberately provoking to bring tension? "No, the Empress Dowager said again.

"I really don't know." Li Shougui continued to keep his head down, sweating profusely in this cold weather, and occasionally he could think of her flawless snow-white figure, just ...... I haven't touched it in a long time.

Judging from Li Shougui's demeanor, the Empress Dowager Wuqiang seems to have found the correct answer. He tilted his head and thought about it, waved his hand, and said, "Stand down." ”

Li Shougui said: "Niangniang ......"

"Stand down, this palace wants to calm down now." The Empress Dowager interrupted the little white face strongly.

In this case, Li Shougui had to leave, but he cautiously turned around one step and two times, staring at King Ming Mopa. The young and more secondary mind made him feel that it was difficult to say that maybe Niangniang would have a fight with the old monk.

"Since the mother wants to be quiet, the poor monk has also retired." The old monk didn't want to cause trouble at this juncture, so he left on his own.

A little boy came out of the tent next to him, looking at his mother unconsciously.

The Empress Dowager squatted down, hugged her son tightly and whispered:

"Child, if it weren't for you, my mother wouldn't want to get involved in these troubles for a moment, only when chanting scriptures in the temple, can I recall the time when your father was still there, my little bird is a carefree girl's happiness, he is a tyrant, but he is also a real man."

"The situation is getting more and more serious, and a bloody war is on the verge of breaking out. You are a child, you don't understand, one day you will sit in the court and listen to them tell you that this is to promote the national prestige of our people. But you trust your mother, only I won't lie to you, and you can't trust anyone else. Can you think of it, child, your uncle is squandering your prestige, he indulges the border army to make trouble and make profits in order to win the hearts of the people and consolidate the rights that belong to him, and the war is to firmly grasp the military power in his hands and use it. ”

"Child, you must firmly remember now that the person who killed your father and emperor was none other than your uncle. Although these conspiracies seem to make you emperor, because of this, even if you trust the people of the Song Kingdom, don't trust your uncle. He killed your father for you, but for himself. Such a person, of course, cannot be trusted. ”

"You have to trust the old lady absolutely and keep these things in mind. But don't say it, and don't let anyone see that you have these thoughts. Otherwise, no matter how smart and resolute you are, you will not live to adulthood. ”

"Now my mother is very difficult, and it has not been possible to decide whether to publicly investigate your uncle's inappropriate behavior at the border. Niang is not afraid of the truth, but afraid of the sequelae of knowing the truth. If you don't investigate, there will be a national war almost at some point, the Song people are cowardly and will not fight, if your uncle takes advantage of the situation to win the war, he can no longer be denied in Western Xia, and he will officially tilt the power to the government and the opposition. ”

"Now, although he has not yet reached the point of leaning towards the government and the opposition, if his mother stops him and breaks with him, it will be even more what happened to your father, according to his heart, my mother doesn't know what will happen!"

"In short, my mother's heart is already in turmoil, and she can't make effective decisions. My mother is not afraid of him, my mother is just worried that you will not be able to grow up smoothly. Mother just wants to watch you continue to mature and grow up until the day comes when you have complete imperial power. I'm afraid that you won't grow up, so even if I am disgusted with the war and that your uncle is approaching the peak of power, I dare not stop it, and I dare not reveal my dissatisfaction. ”

"My mother has many old acquaintances who are also friends and enemies in the Song Kingdom, and they are personable and amazing. At the same time, Niang also has a lot of secret agents at the border, and she keeps telling me what Li Shougui doesn't dare to say. I don't know what to do in the future, but my mother paid attention to the famous saying of a prodigy in the Song Kingdom, who said that there are only two things in life, learn and deal with them. ”

"Mother doesn't know where she can protect you, but no matter what happens in the future, you have to learn silently, see through everything with a pair of cold eyes, and then deal with it. Solve all the problems that belong to you. ”

"Child, you always feel that the palace is empty and deserted, so you like to be in the temple with your mother. So you witnessed that Niang respected and relied on King Ming, but always remember that even he could not be trusted. He spread Buddhism not for peace in the border Golden Triangle, but for his own influence and interests. ”

It seems that he is a mother's person, and he is seeking strength for his mother, but it is only because his mother believes in Buddhism, and his mother still holds the Great Seal of Western Xia and can correct the name of Buddhism. It is also because your uncle has always rejected the Buddhist thinking in order to take power and give full play to the bloodthirsty thinking of the army. Now you understand, why did King Ming get together with his mother? ”

"Child, I don't want to wait like this, but I'm a woman, and I really don't know what to do at this time?"

Speaking of this in one breath, the Empress Dowager felt that it was a little messy, and it seemed that she didn't say anything?

But after looking at it, under the little emperor's unconscious expression, there was a faint hint of alertness, which made the queen mother feel slightly better.

"Well, it's okay, it's worthy of being the son of the old lady. You are a fire in the winter."

……