"Well played, well played, really well played." Kangxi clapped his hands and laughed, laughing so happily, leaning forward and backwards, so that he dropped the golden silk embroidered Longming yellow fox fur on his body on the cyan terrazzo floor of the Heart Cultivation Palace, and the personal palace maid Su Malagu hurriedly came over to pick it up and put it on Kangxi again, and said with disgust like a gentle big sister to her naughty younger brother: "Your Majesty, look at you, you are almost sixteen people, why are you still so undignified?" What else does the Ninety-Five Supreme look like? ”

Su Malagu is the one who brought Kangxi up with her own hands, she is both Kangxi's sister and Kangxi's mother, and she blames Kangxi in her words and is not afraid that Kangxi will be angry, but Wei Dongting, Mu Zixu, Qiang Donkey and Hao Laosi, who are kneeling in the middle of the hall, are different, because Kangxi's words did not explain that he praised the four of them for beating Wu Yingxiong well? Or do you beat Wu Yingxiong and Princess Jianning well? So the four teenagers knelt there without moving, not daring to answer Kangxi's words at all.

"Get up, you guys beat that Wu Yingxiong well! There is a reward, and each person will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver! Kangxi's words made Wei Dongting and the others breathe a sigh of relief, and the four young guards hurriedly kowtowed to Kangxi and thanked him: "Slaves wait for the master's reward." Knock knock knock three times, Wei Dongting and the other four got up from the ground with a dazzled smile, and Kangxi, who was on the rise, took off a jade pendant from his waist, smiled and threw it to the donkey and said: "Dog minion, this is a special reward for you knocking that Wu Yingxiong unconscious." ”

"Slave donkey, thank you, lord Longen." In front of Kangxi, the donkey completely lost his majesty when he was in Wu Yingxiong's mansion, and he was as docile as a dog, Kangxi threw a bone and wagged his tail, and the donkey smiled: "If I had known that the master hated the Wu dog bear so much, the slave would not have been so light, and the Wu dog and bear limbs must be discounted, so that the master can breathe well." ”

"Look at you minion." Su Malagu smiled and kicked away the donkey, turned to Kangxi again, put away her smile and asked seriously: "Your Majesty, they beat Wu Sangui's son in Dongting, although it is said that you have a bad breath, but once Wu Sangui knows that there will be trouble, I am afraid that it will be another disaster." ”

"Am I afraid of that Wu Sangui?" Kangxi also put away his smile, gritted his teeth and said: "I earned 14 million taels last year, and he Wu Sangui alone took 2 million taels!" He also boiled salt in Yunnan to mint money, and opened a tea and horse market privately, especially because he was not greedy enough, he dared to say that because of the insufficient salary of the Yunnan Green Battalion, the soldiers had shown signs of mutiny, so as to threaten Yu Zhen and build momentum for his salary urging team to enter Beijing! Such a chaotic minister and thief, if it weren't for the fact that the rear is unstable now, I would have personally raised a million elite soldiers and wiped out his Wu family. ”

"It is precisely because the worship has not been eliminated that the emperor still has to stabilize Wu Sangui." Su Malagu blinked her big shrewd eyes and said slowly: "So, the emperor can't hold him too accountable for Wu Yingxiong's beating of Princess Heshuo now, let alone use this excuse to push him out of the noon gate and behead him." But it's okay to use this incident to give Wu Sangui a warning, but you must grasp this balance, and don't force the neutral Wu Sangui to Aobai's side. ”

"I have my own measure in this." Kangxi said confidently: "I have already received a secret report from Yunnan, and the old thief Wu Sangui has adopted the plan of Wang Shirong, the dog-headed military advisor, and has decided to adopt a neutral attitude between me and Aobai, so for me and Aobai, then Wu Sangui and we are both friends and enemies. And although the thief is greedy for power, he is still wary of Wu Sangui, so this time I plan to unite with Aobai and use Wu Yingxiong to rectify Wu Sangui. ”

"United Worship?" Su Malagu almost suspected that her ears had heard it wrong, and Kangxi smiled cruelly: "Yes, there are eleven days left to be the day when Wu Sangui's people go to Beijing to ask for tribute, and I plan to explain to that Ao Bai well, send Wu Yingxiong to prison, and join forces to coerce Wu Sangui to disarm in order to reduce military expenses." Kangxi thought about it and added: "Even if you can't reduce Wu Sangui's military salary, you can't let him go up." ”

"Yes, it should be possible." Su Malagu nodded and said: "After all, the money saved for the imperial court is not the emperor's alone, he worships as an auxiliary minister, and it is his duty to open up sources and reduce expenditure for the imperial court." Besides, the court has more money in his hands, and it is convenient for him to worship corruption, and instead of letting the Han barbarian Wu Sangui take the silver, it is better for us to take it. ”

At this time, a little eunuch trotted into the Yangxin Palace, knelt down and reported: "Long live Lord Qiyu, Ao Bai Ao Zhongtang and Ji Bi Long Ji Zhong Tang handed over a sign at the noon gate to ask for a meeting." Kangxi, who was in a good mood, laughed and said: "The ground in Beijing is evil, just say Cao Cao, Cao Cao will arrive." They were sent to the upper study for a while, and I went to see them after I went to see the Empress Dowager and Aunt Jianning. ”

"Pierce." The little eunuch kowtowed and was about to get up, but the voice of the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang came from the apse of the Yangxin Palace, "Wait, call Ao Bai and Ji Bilong to come here." Kangxi and the others looked back, and saw that the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was held by two little palace maids, and she didn't know when she had already walked into the Palace of Nourishing Hearts, followed by Princess Jianning, whose eyes were red from crying, Xiaozhuang smiled at Kangxi and said: "Grandson, you will meet Ao Bai in this Heart Cultivation Palace, and grandmother will listen to your conversation in the apse." Under the pretext of being ill for many days, he had not been to court, and now he suddenly came to see him, and his grandmother wanted to hear what he was going to do. ”

"The grandson obeys." Kangxi had great respect for the Empress Dowager of Xiaozhuang, immediately changed her will, and asked the eunuch to set up a chair for Xiaozhuang in the apse, and personally helped Xiaozhuang into the apse, and then returned to the main hall with Su Malagu and Wei Dongting and other young guards to wait for Ao.

In a moment, the tall and tall Ao Bai and the thin and old Kubilong came in together, and bowed respectfully to Kangxi together: "Slave Ao Bai (Kubilong) knocks to see the emperor, long live my emperor, long live, long live." Although Ao Bai and Kangxi have been secretly hostile to the point of hating each other's eyes and biting each other's throats, when it comes to etiquette, Ao Bai is a little more respectful than Ji Bilong, who is also an auxiliary minister.

"Flat, give a seat to Ao Shaobao and Lord Ji." Kangxi was also polite and polite, quite a bit of a gentleman's style, after the two old ministers sat down, Kangxi opened his mouth and asked: "The two old Zhongtang suddenly asked to see, why did they come?" ”

"Back to the emperor, Lord Curbing was brought in by a slave to help, and I want to ask the emperor to come forward to resolve a family dispute." Ao Bai smiled and first pulled the position of the wall grass curb to his side, but curb pillon just nodded and didn't say a word. Kangxi Qi said: "Ao Shaobao has been sick at home for many days, and he doesn't even have the energy to take care of national affairs. Do you even want me to come forward to resolve it? ”

"Alas, this matter is also a family unfortunate, shameful, that person is a nephew of the old slave." Ao Bai sighed and said: "The nephew of the old slave is afraid of his wife like a tiger on weekdays, and recently I don't know what kind of bear-hearted leopard gall he ate, but he actually beat his wife, and the attack was a little heavier, and it was also a big crime to investigate." Originally, the old slave was an important minister of the state, and he should not be partial to his son and nephew, but the old slave and his father were old friends, and he had always treated him as his own son, and the old slave himself was also a person who was afraid of his wife, so he understood his suffering. Therefore, the old slave dared to bow to Tianyan and begged the emperor to open his golden mouth and forgive his sins. ”

Speaking of this, Ao Bai got up and left his seat, knelt down in front of Kangxi and kowtowed to wipe his tears: "Your Majesty, whether the old slave's hard-working nephew is dead or alive depends on your words, please forgive my nephew's sins for the sake of the old slave's decades of loyalty and assistance to the three emperors." Otherwise, when the old slave is brought to the Nine Springs, what face will he have to see his father? ”

"Could it be that Aobai's nephew beat his wife to death? According to the law, why did you come to me? Kangxi thought secretly. The heart said that it was really a coincidence that there was no book, and he just wanted to use Wu Yingxiong to beat Princess Jianning to make a big fuss about Wu Sangui, and Aobai's nephew who was afraid of his wife also beat his wife to death, but it is not surprising that Aobai was afraid of his wife and his wife in Beijing City is also quite famous - last time in front of the gate of Aofu, Aobai was shaved by his wife Mrs. Rong in public and did not dare to speak, and he also boasted of learning from the ancient famous general Qi Jiguang (Note 1), and it is not surprising that he wants to come to the door like this.

"Ao Shaobao, who is your nephew?" Kangxi just wanted to ask who Aobai's nephew was, and the auxiliary minister Ji Bilong also knelt in front of Kangxi, kowtowed: "Your Majesty, Ao Shaobao's nephew is indeed an unintentional mistake, and the old slave is willing to intercede with Ao Shaobao and ask the emperor for extrajudicial mercy." ”

"Ao Shaobao is really resistant to his nephew, he is afraid that his face will not be enough, and he also dragged Ji Zhongtang into the water." Kangxi would take Aobai's nephew to death a woman in his heart, and he was eager to pull Aobai into the gang to clean up Wu Sangui, so he replied very happily: "That's it, Ao Shaobao and Ji Zhongtang, please get up, Ao Shaobao's nephew's sins, I am pardoned." ”

"Old slave thank lord Longen." Ao Bai and Ji Bi Long kowtowed together to thank him, Ao Bai raised his head again and said with a smile: "The old slave is the nephew Wu Yingxiong thank the lord Longen." ”

"What?" Before Kangxi could react, Ji Bilong, who had always played the role of the grass on the muddy wall, had already screamed, and asked Ao Bai with a trembling voice: "Ao Shaobao, your nephew who beat his wife is Wu Yingxiong?" But Wu Yingxiong, the son of Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi? ”

"yes." Ao Bai, who was laughing in his stomach, pretended to be even more surprised than Ji Bilong, "Benxiang and Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, have always been friends, isn't Wu Sangui's son Wu Yingxiong the nephew of Benxiang?" Wu Yingxiong beat the princess, although it was a big rebellion, it was also a family dispute, and he looked at his father's face, of course he had to come forward to ask for forgiveness for him. ”

"Damn, it's a big deal." Ji Bilong's head exploded with a bang, and after his heart was finished, he was miserable. It turned out that when Ao Bai went to pull Curb Pilon into the water to intercede with Kangxi, he didn't explain who Ao Bai's nephew was, and Curb Pilon has always been with the mud Mingzhe to protect his life, so he naturally didn't dare to refuse the arrogant and domineering Ao Bai, but what Curb Pilon never dreamed of was that the nephew Ao Bai said turned out to be Wu Yingxiong, the son of Wu Sangui! Originally, whether Wu Yingxiong would be punished for beating Princess Jianning was not a matter of curbing Bilong's, but now that things have come to this point, Kangxi does not suspect that Bilong and Aobai or Wu Sangui are one party, so it's weird!

"It seems that Wu Yingxiong's kid must have been pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger before, and he was able to come up with such a clever plan to steal the day, which not only forced Kang Xiaosan to have nothing to say, but also made the neutral Ji Bilong suspicious by Kang Xiaosan, forcing him to get closer to the old man, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone. Such a poisonous plan, I'm afraid that Bamburshan may not be able to come up with it, and it seems that he will need to find more staff officers in the future. Ao Bai secretly enjoyed in his heart, and secretly determined to promote Wu Yuanming to his own think tank.

"The Emperor's ——!" Ji Bilong trembled and hissed, but when he saw Kangxi's angry white expression, Ji Bilong was so frightened that he had nothing to say, and he knelt in front of Kangxi and didn't even dare to raise his head. And Ao Bai bowed his hand to Kangxi in a big way, "Thank you for your forgiveness, if Banzai has no other instructions, then the old slave will return home to recuperate." ”

"There you go." After a long time, Kangxi, who had numbness in his hands and feet and increased blood pressure, barely squeezed out three words from between his teeth, and the voice was exactly the same as that of a patient with typhoid fever. Ao Bai kowtowed: "The old slave retired." With that, Ao Bai turned around and walked away with his head held high.

"Your Majesty, what about the old slave?" After Ao Bai left, Ji Bilong saw that Kangxi had not spoken for a long time, and asked tremblingly. At this time, Kangxi had barely recovered a trace of vitality, pointed to the palace door and shouted: "Get out!" Get out! Get out of here! ”

"Pierce." Kubilon kowtowed, and crawled out of the temple to find Ao Bai to complain. As soon as the front foot of Ji Bilong came out of the gate of the Heart Cultivation Palace, Kangxi jumped up from the throne, grabbed the treasure knife from Wei Dongting's waist and slashed it to the ground with all his might, only to hear a choking sound, and the treasure knife broke in response. But Kangxi was not relieved, and smashed the broken knife in the direction where Ao Bai and Ji Bi Long left, and roared wildly: "Ao Bai, Wu Sangui, Ji Bilong, Wu Yingxiong, I won't break your corpses into ten thousand pieces!" I swear not to be a man! ”

"Your Majesty, let the minions catch up and kill Aobai." The donkey jumped out and shouted, but his servant loyalty was only exchanged for a heavy slap from Kangxi, Kangxi roared angrily: "Catch up and kill Aobai, it's easy for you to say, Namo, the head of the internal guard, is the godson of the old thief of Aobai, you went out with your front foot, and your back foot was divided by a knife!" ”

"Okay, you bow down, on the surface, you are pleading for Wu Yingxiong, and you will use my words to block Wu Yingxiong's hand, but what about the reality?" The more Kangxi spoke, the more angry he became, waving his fists and shouting: "It's actually a demonstration to me!" Tell me that you have formed an alliance with Wu Sangui! There is also that Suppilon, who has always been ill-intentioned, and now he finally stands with Aobai. ”

"Suppilon may not be a group of worshippers." At this time, Xiaozhuang came out of the apse with a cane and trembling, Xiaozhuang smiled and said: "Grandson, you are still a little tender, my grandmother has heard it in the apse just now, and the curb is supposed to be on the Aobai and dragged into the water by Aobai." In fact, not only Na Kupilon, but also Wu Sangui, may not be Aobai's sworn friend. ”

"Grandmother, even if Suppilon is in the hands of worship." Kangxi is a little younger after all, and he is a little choked up when he speaks at this moment, "But Na Ao Bai has always been with Wu Sangui's eyebrows, hooking up, although Sun Er did not have conclusive evidence of their collusion, but now Ao Bai exonerated Wu Yingxiong, which proves that they are indeed embarrassed and united against Sun Er." ”

"Grandson, think about it." Xiaozhuang said unhurriedly: "From Yunnan to Beijing thousands of miles, even eight hundred miles of expedited travel will take nearly a month, if Wu Sangui really colluded with Aobai, then how could we not know anything in advance?" Even if he, Wu Sangui, really wanted to participate in the Aobai, why didn't he take action when the Aobai took the lead? Why wait until our Aixin Jueluo family has the upper hand to join forces with Aobai, isn't this self-defeating? ”

"Grandmother's lesson is very good, and grandchildren are reckless." was reminded by Xiaozhuang, Kangxi immediately remembered that at present, Wu Liuyi, the commander of the Nine Gates, has secretly stood on his side, and most of the Shanpu battalion has been replaced by his own people, and there are countless princes and ministers and generals who are secretly loyal to him, and even the capable people on the rivers and lakes are countless, and even in the Aobai Mansion, which was not in the oil and salt before, two nails were planted by himself, and he had completely gained the upper hand in the chess game of playing against Aobai. Wu Sangui chose to take refuge in Aobai at this time, isn't that asking for bad luck?

"That Wu Yingxiong, we really underestimated him before." At this time, Xiaozhuang suddenly sneered: "According to the mourning family, the alliance between Wu Sangui and Aobai is an illusion made by him. ”

"What does grandmother mean?" Kangxi Hu said suspiciously: "Could it be that he, Wu Yingxiong, was afraid that I would investigate him for beating the princess, so he panicked and said that his father Wu Sangui wanted to form an alliance with Ao Bai to hug Ao Bai's thick thighs and use Ao Bai to exonerate him?" ”

"It's not impossible." Xiaozhuang nodded, but Xiaozhuang's face also showed a look of doubt, and he played with the night pearl dotted on the gold-inlaid cane and said slowly: "But the mourning family can't figure it out a little, since Wu Yingxiong's mind is so good, why didn't he think about Sun Er, after the fall of Aobai, you will find him and Wu Sangui to settle accounts?" Could it be that taking refuge in Ao Bai was just a reckless move when he was cornered? Or is he treacherous? What does this mean? I don't understand, the mourning family is really a little incomprehensible, and the mourning family has to think about it carefully. ”

When Xiaozhuang was thinking, Kangxi and the others were all silent, for fear of disturbing the train of thought of this old fox who ate more salt than they ate. After a long time, Xiaozhuang said: "Forget it, let's do it, grandson, Dongting, you asked the people who are in ambush in the Aobai Mansion to keep an eye on Aobai, if Aobai and Wu Sangui have correspondence, you must find a way to get the content." ”

"Yes." Kangxi and Wei Dongting replied at the same time, because Shi Jianmei had already entered Aobai's back room, and it was not hopeless to get Aobai's letter, so the two agreed very happily.

"And you, Jianning." Xiaozhuang turned to Princess Jianning, whose eyes were red and swollen like a pair of rotten peaches, and sighed: "Jianning, you are a woman who loves the Xinjueluo family, and your emperor's nephew was fooled into agreeing to pardon Wu Yingxiong's crimes, so the fact that you were beaten by Wu Yingxiong can only be counted like this." And you have to let Wu Yingxiong everywhere in the future, don't provoke him again, this task of monitoring Wu Yingxiong's movements is on your shoulders. ”

"He beat me like this, is that all?" Princess Jianning cried, Xiaozhuang sighed and nodded, "Yes, now Ao Bai has openly stood on Wu Yingxiong's side, if we force Wu Yingxiong again, I'm afraid that Wu Sangui will also take action." Jianning, I know you are very aggrieved, but if you think about how much the mourning family has paid for the Qing Kingdom, you will know how happy you are. ”

What Xiaozhuang said about paying for the Qing Dynasty refers to her sacrificing hue to stabilize Dolgon, which Princess Jianning, who was born in the inner courtyard of the palace, of course knows, so she cries and cries, and the grievances are wronged, and Princess Jianning, who is also Aixinjue Luo, finally nodded and said: "Yes, Jianning understands that Jianning must live up to her mother's expectations." ”

"Also, I heard that you have never shared a room with Wu Yingxiong?" Xiaozhuang asked again, Princess Jianning nodded with a red face, and when she opened her mouth to say something, Xiaozhuang had already shook her head and said, "No, it's too stupid for you to do this, if you don't have sex with Wu Yingxiong, then Wu Yingxiong will have an heir?" Wu Yingxiong has no heirs, so the third generation of King Pingxi can only choose among the sons of Wu Sangui's second son, Wu Yingqi, for the long-term peace and stability of our Great Qing Kingdom, we must control Wu Sangui's son-in-law and grandson in their hands! ”

"When you leave, come to the Queen Mother's Qianning Palace, and the Queen Mother will reward you with something." Xiaozhuang knew that Princess Jianning was at a loss in appearance, and if Wu Yingxiong wanted to willingly fall under Princess Jianning's pomegranate skirt, he could only use the things she used to seduce Dolgon back then.

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Note 1: The national hero Qi Jiguang was extremely afraid of his wife, and once after being instigated by his subordinates, he pulled the army to find his wife to settle accounts, but he was so frightened by his wife's eyes that he changed his words and asked his wife to parade.