The ministers are still discussing this issue, but each side can say a reason, and at the same time has its own shortcomings, which makes the Son of Heaven sitting on it even more troubled, and he doesn't know who to listen to.

In the end, this court discussion was still not resolved, and it failed to solve any problems, only to set a strategy to talk slowly with the Mongolian envoys for the time being, as for which step to discuss, it is far from a definite number.

It was not until this time that Zhu Qiyu knew that there were still so many troubles in being the emperor, and what made him even more dissatisfied was that at today's court meeting, Lu Zhen and Yu Qian, two cronies and important ministers who had high hopes and wanted to listen to their opinions, did not say a word.

Although this matter really has little to do with the military department, how can they, as ministers, share their worries, but they didn't mention anything, as if everything had nothing to do with them, which really made him feel a little chilled.

This mood made Zhu Qiyu unable to lift much energy all day, and he only looked through the notes submitted by the celebrant and the cabinet, and did not give much instructions, so he returned to the harem to rest before dusk.

But to his surprise, even when he arrived in the harem, it was rare to be quiet, and after a while, an attendant came to report: "Your Majesty, Empress Qian is asking to see you outside." ”

"Huh?" Zhu Qiyu, who was looking through the scroll with some restlessness, frowned when he heard this, but it was his imperial sister-in-law who came, and it was difficult to refuse to see her, so he nodded and said, "Let her come in and talk." ”

After a while, the simple and sad Empress Qian of Zhu Qizhen walked in. At this time, she has long lost her previous grace and luxury, and she looks no different from ordinary women, and even more pitiful. After giving Zhu Qiyu a courtesy, she cried and begged in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the concubine has heard that a Mongolian person has come to the capital to ask the court to pay to ransom your imperial brother back, and please save him for the sake of brotherhood." So saying, he knelt down again and kowtowed.

Zhu Qiyu, who was originally a little unhappy, saw this posture, and quickly got up to avoid the side, and at the same time gave the eunuch beside him a look, and asked the Qian family to help him up: "Don't be like this, sister-in-law, you are a person I respect very much, how can I receive such a great gift from you." While speaking, he was guessing in his heart that who had such a long tongue actually passed such important matters to the harem, and he must find out as soon as possible and severely punish them!

Under the persuasion and half-persuasion of several eunuchs, Qian finally got up from the ground, but his face was still full of pleading, and he also said: "Your Majesty, although your imperial brother is at fault, he is only confused for a while, and the concubine really can't bear to bear that he has been suffering at the hands of the Mongolian people in the north." I hope that His Majesty will think of saving him back as soon as possible. ”

Zhu Qiyu sighed unconsciously. He really respects this virtuous and well-taken care of his imperial sister-in-law in the past, otherwise he would not have kept her in the palace to support her. But the request she made now is not something that she can agree to casually - it would be easy to fool if he was not the emperor instead, but he is the king of a country, and the king has no jokes - so she can only comfort: "Imperial sister-in-law, I have always been brothers and sisters with the imperial brother, and I can't bear to see him suffer in the north." In fact, I and the courtiers have been thinking about saving him back, and you can relax and wait a few days, and you will bring him back. ”

Qian is also a smart person, and he immediately heard the meaning of the emperor's words. This made her heart even more sad: "Your Majesty naturally knows about the emperor's brotherly affection and concubines. But his health has always been bad, and if he stays there for a long time, he is afraid that he will get some kind of disease. Now that the Mongolian people have sent a decent envoy to come, I ask Your Majesty to facilitate this matter as soon as possible. ”

When it came to this, Zhu Qiyu really couldn't dodge, so he had to tell the truth: "Imperial sister-in-law, it's not that I don't want to save the imperial brother back, it's really those Tartars who deceive people too much." Unexpectedly, he asked the court for three million taels of silver before he was willing to let the imperial brother come back. Not to mention that this amount of silver has just been calmed down and the treasury is empty, even when the imperial brother is there, he can't get such a large amount of money for a while. ”

As soon as he heard this, Qian's face turned a little pale, and his whole body trembled, as if he might fall down at any time. Seeing this, several eunuchs on the side hurriedly took two steps forward and were ready to help.

Unexpectedly, after trembling for a while, she stabilized again, just lowered her head, and said softly: "The concubine must be very embarrassed if she knows this. Although I am a woman and don't know anything about national affairs, I still hope that Your Majesty can save your royal brother back. If Your Majesty is short of money, and the concubines still have some there, I will go back and take out all the silk jewelry that the emperor gave me at the beginning, and hope that Your Majesty will save him. ”

After dropping this sentence, Qian gave Zhu Qiyu another salute, and then stumbled away. Our Son of Heaven was a little stunned to see his imperial sister-in-law leave like this, and his face was also cloudy and uncertain.

In the evening, sure enough, a palace maid sent a lot of silk belongings, as well as a box of gold, silver, jewelry, and jewelry. As the queen, Qian's jewelry is all high-grade things, and they are all worth a lot of money, but for the sky-high extortion of three million taels, this jewelry is a drop in the bucket.

Moreover, it was impossible for Zhu Qiyu to really take these things and hand them over to the Mongolian people, so they would not be laughed at by them, so in the end, he could only order someone to return the things, and at the same time tell the Qian family that he would definitely save the imperial brother.

Queen Qian's affairs haven't settled down yet, and Empress Dowager Sun didn't know where to get the news. Then she also came to see Zhu Qiyu one afternoon and said something similar to him.

In the end, Zhu Qiyu had to appease the Queen Mother again, and repeatedly promised that he would definitely think of saving the imperial brother back, so that he could be considered to have a temporary peace.

But in this way, Zhu Qiyu felt that he couldn't even stay in the harem, and the whole person felt a burst of trouble, and he didn't know what to do.

In the past, when he was a vassal king, he saw that his imperial brother was quite easy to worry about when he was the emperor, and he had the help of the celebrant and the officials of the court and the central government to take care of all the affairs, and he even had time to talk to himself about the so-called ideal of sweeping the north and reproducing the glory of Taizu Taizong.

But how could it be so different to be the emperor himself? When he first ascended the throne, he was beaten to the capital by the Mongols, and he almost didn't even save his life, after all, it was not his turn to be the emperor. But in the following months, I was also very busy, and I didn't have much time to rest in a day, and now I encountered such a problem...... Could it be that his talent is really far inferior to that of the imperial brother, so he can't be as comfortable as him?

What made Zhu Qiyu feel even more depressed was that he didn't have a person to talk to about his troubles, whether it was those officials in the court or the eunuchs in the harem, they were obviously not suitable to talk to. If only I had a friend to confide in.

Thinking of this, his heart jerked. The young figure who was willing to fight against the eunuch in power for his own sake rose from his heart again: "Maybe he is the only one who can still talk to me." ”

After some hesitation, Zhu Qiyu finally made a bold decision!

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With the complete end of the war, the Yamen of the Ministry of War was idle.

Lu Jin, because he had to behave well in front of his two wives, got off work every day, and before it was dark, his carriage had stopped at the gate of his house.

Before Lu Zhen could get out of the car, Uncle Xiang, the housekeeper who had been guarding the door and looking out, hurried over: "Master, a young man suddenly came not long ago, saying that he was your old friend, and now he is waiting in the front hall." ”

"Oh? Didn't you tell him I hadn't seen any strangers lately? Lu Zhen frowned and said. Recently, those officials always like to find trouble when they have nothing to do, and some time ago, someone impeached him for forming a party for personal gain, so Lu Zhen refused all entertainment in order to avoid suspicion, and he did not see outsiders. In this regard, Uncle Xiang, as the housekeeper of the house, should know how to deal with it, why did he let a stranger enter the door today?

"Uh...... The old man forgives the sins, and the little ones really dare not stop them. Because the companion beside the boy took out the waist card of the brocade guard......" Uncle Xiang bowed his head and explained. He is also an old man in the capital, of course he knows how terrible Jinyiwei is.

Lu Zhen realized at this time, but at the same time, the doubts in his heart were even worse: "Someone actually opened the way with Jinyiwei?" Who the hell is he? Could it be ......" In his mind, the only person in the world who dares to act so unscrupulously and has some friendship with him seems to be the only one in Nanjing.

It's just that why did he come to the capital again at this time? muttering in his heart, Lu Zhen still sorted out his mood a little, and after getting out of the car, he walked towards the front hall. He even thought about how to get close to Xu Chengzong in his heart, and at the same time tried to ask what he meant.

But when he came to the front hall and saw the five tall men guarding there, the whole person was stunned, and his original idea was immediately completely overturned! Because he recognized these people at a glance, they were all masters of the forbidden army who were in the palace and often accompanied by the Son of Heaven.

Since it was a few of them guarding in front of the hall, the identity of the young man mentioned by Uncle Xiang was about to come out, which made Lu Zhen a little unbelievable.

After taking a look at several palace guards and nodding to each other, Lu Zhen took a deep breath, and then walked to the front hall door, looked in, and saw the young face of Zhu Qiyu who was full of worry today.

Sure enough, it was him! Lu Zhen sighed in his heart, but he still strode forward and bowed to the Son of Heaven who had already seen it: "The minister greets Your Majesty." His Majesty's sudden arrival really frightened the ministers......"

It's just that he couldn't finish his kneeling posture, because he had been supported by Zhu Qiyu, who had rushed over.