On the seventh day of the seventh month, Luoyang, the Imperial Palace.

"Today is the day of ten thousand years and the end of the year, I wonder what gift Your Majesty has prepared for her?" In the evening, Liu Hong accompanied the Empress Dowager Dong in the garden, and the Empress Dowager Dong asked with a smile.

"What did the Queen Mother say about this? Could it be that he has begged for his mother for 10,000 years? When Liu Hong heard this, he couldn't help laughing: "What does she want?" As long as there is something in the treasury, I will not be stingy. ”

"The mourning family knows that His Majesty loves him for ten thousand years, but this time, His Majesty is thinking badly." Empress Dowager Dong shook her head and smiled.

"Oh? What did I think was wrong? Liu Hong said with a smile.

"These days, the girl is chattering, and the mourning family asked her, and she only said that someone would give her a big gift, but as for what kind of gift, she refused to say." Empress Dowager Dong said with a smile.

"In the past ten thousand years, I didn't pretend to be a handsome man in Luoyang, but this time I was so happy because of the other party's gift, can the queen mother know who the other party is?" Liu Hong said curiously.

"The mourning family only knows that the person's surname is Ye, but the others don't know." Empress Dowager Dong shook her head with a smile.

"Ye Zhao?" Liu Hong raised his eyebrows and said.

"The mourning family only said that the surname was Ye, how could Your Majesty confirm it?" Empress Dowager Dong said curiously.

"The queen mother doesn't know, in this Luoyang officialdom, there are not many people with the surname Ye, and people of the same age can make people interested in ten thousand years, except for Ye Zhao, I can't think of anyone else." Liu Hong said with a smile.

"How's this guy?" Empress Dowager Dong asked: "Then the Yuan family's sister-in-law Mourning family looks not bad, but he was bullied like Wan Nian, and I haven't seen Yuan Jiazi come to the palace recently, it seems that he was frightened by Wan Nian, and the Mourning family wants to see, who is this Ye Zhao?" can make Wannian so concerned. ”

"This person ......" Liu Hong thought for a while and said: "Talented, both civil and military, once served as the mayor of Macheng, in two years to order Macheng Dazhi, Liu He, the son of the emperor Liu Yan, moved to Macheng Ling, killed by Xianbei Shan Yu, this person led the crowd to outnumber, defeated the Xianbei army, killed Shan Yu, and then moved to Suiyang Order, so that Suiyang prosperous, the people have the reputation of judging cases like gods, and then later, the Yellow Turban Rebellion, this son first leveled the Liang State, and then relieved the siege of Changshe, led the crowd to break the 200,000 thief army in Runan, the battle of Nanyang, this son also made great contributions, and now he was promoted to Luoyang Order. ”

"With such a feat, how can it be just a Luoyang order?" Empress Dowager Dong said curiously, even if she didn't understand military politics, she could hear the great merits of Ye Zhao, and the Luoyang Order was not small, but it sounded like she was not worthy of the other party's merits.

"First, this person is still young, and he has passed the crown, and this year he is only one in twenty." Liu Hong sighed.

"So what? In ancient times, Ganluo was twelve years old to worship the prime minister, and my dynasty also had the champion Hou eighteen marquis, Ye Zhao made such a contribution to my Han family, how could Your Majesty treat the heroes harshly on the grounds of being young? Empress Dowager Dong frowned.

"In addition, this son was born ......" Liu Hong thought for a while and said: "He is from a good family, the door is not obvious, although the ancestor is an official, but he is not as high as the Hun Zhonglang general, this son is now Luoyang Ling, and it can be regarded as a glorious ancestor." ”

"Ridiculous." Empress Dowager Dong frowned and said: "Then He is not a butcher, in terms of background, he is far away from Ye Zhao, why can he steal a high position?" ”

Although He Jin relied on nepotism to ascend to the throne, there was more than one concubine in the palace, and there were more people with higher backgrounds, but it was He Hou who finally sat in the position of queen, which is enough to show that these two brothers and sisters still have some ability.

Liu Hong couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this, the situation of the government at that time was different from today, He Jin had a luck component in it, it was Liu Hong who started the party ban, the family was silent, and He Jin successfully took the opportunity to take the position, but at this time, the situation of tripartite checks and balances between the party members in the DPRK and China, He Jin, and the eunuchs has become a situation, especially after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the party's power has swelled a lot, and Liu Hong now has to consider the attitude of the family.

Even if Ye Zhao is a disciple of Cai Yong, and he has a certain reputation, but in this court, it is not that you can get a high position if you have meritorious service, it depends on chance, Liu Hong has seen Ye Zhao, and he is not ready to let him be a Luoyang commander all the time, but if you want to be promoted, you also need time.

Seeing that Liu Hong stopped talking, Empress Dowager Dong sighed and said: "A woman in the mourning family doesn't understand those big truths, Your Majesty has your own considerations, and it is inconvenient for the mourning family to ask more about this government, but there is a point, I hope Your Majesty can listen to it." ”

"Mother, please speak." Liu Hong said with a smile.

"This peaceful thing, although the mourning family has lived in the palace for a long time, but also heard of some, when the world is in turmoil, those families only know to seek personal gain, and are really willing to be loyal to the country, but those who are in the poor family, the difference between the door, that is the view of the family, Your Majesty as the Son of Heaven, if you say the door, who can match the royal family in this world? Judging from the mourning family, Your Majesty doesn't have to care too much about the origin of this door. Empress Dowager Dong said slowly.

Liu Hong nodded and said with a smile: "Don't worry, the queen mother, in her heart, she has her own measure." ”

Seeing this, Empress Dowager Dong didn't say anything more, and said, "I heard that Wen Wei has always been out of the palace recently, does Your Majesty know what he is doing?" ”

"I've heard of this." Liu Hong said with a smile: "I have been at Ye Zhao's place recently, and I heard that I am quite interested in the criminal investigation and prison breaking. ”

"After all, the debate is a child of the royal family, what's the use of learning this?" Empress Dowager Dong said dissatisfied.

"It's rare that he is studious, and he is still young now, and when I say something for him in the future, I will worship under Cai Gong, and Cai Gong will teach him the right way." Liu Hong smiled indifferently, Liu Wei's matter was naturally not good for him, and after paying attention to it a few times, he felt that there was nothing wrong with this matter, so he didn't pay attention to it.

When Empress Dowager Dong heard this, she didn't pay attention to it, she didn't like debate, firstly, Liu Bian's character was too cowardly, and she didn't have any majesty that a royal child should have, and secondly, it was also because of the reason why.

"Debate?" The two were talking, but they saw Liu Wei running in front in a hurry, but they didn't see the two of them, Liu Hong couldn't help frowning, he always felt that Liu Wei was a lot more cheerful than before, but he was more impetuous, and couldn't help but stop Liu Wei.

"Father!?" Liu Wei turned around and saw Liu Hong and the Empress Dowager Dong, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute: "The sons and daughters see their father, see the queen mother." ”

"Where are you going, you in a hurry?" Looking at Liu Wei's sweaty appearance, Liu Hong frowned and asked.

"Back to my father, my son is going to pick up the imperial sister." Liu Wei bowed and replied.

"Ten thousand years? It's so late, what's the matter with her? Liu Hong wondered.

"Luoyang Ling has prepared a gift for the imperial sister, and it has been sent to the outside of the palace, but it was stopped by the guards, hoping that the retainer could invite the imperial sister out of the palace." At the end, Liu Wei added: "It's at the gate of the palace." ”

"Oh?" When Liu Hong heard this, he couldn't help but be curious about Ye Zhao's gift: "It's okay, I also want to see what kind of gift Ye Qing will come up with, and he coaxed Wannian so anxiously, don't go to find Wannian, you take my warrant and directly let Ye Qing take the gift to the Wannian Palace." ”

"Whoa!" Liu Wei hurriedly bowed, turned around and hurried away.

"Queen Mother, there is nothing to do, you and I will go to Wei'er Palace to see what it is?" Liu Hong turned his head, looked at Empress Dowager Dong and said with a smile.

"It's fine." Empress Dowager Dong nodded and said with a smile: "The mourning family also happened to meet this young talent. ”

"When you don't let the queen mother down."

When the two arrived at Liu Wei's palace, Liu Wei was leaning on the bed, dragging her cheeks in a daze, until the personal maid nudged her back to her senses.

"Wei'er, what are you thinking about being so distracted?" Liu Hong looked at Liu Wei with a smile.

"Erchen didn't think about anything." Liu Wei hurriedly got up, bowed to the two and said, "Wei'er see her father, see the queen mother." ”

"Get up." Empress Dowager Dong was held by Liu Hong and sat on the main seat, turned her head to look at Liu Wei and said, "Tell me, what is Ye Zhao's ability?" Why do you make my son so concerned? ”

"Erchen has no concern, but he has been mysteriously refusing to reveal what the gift is, which makes Erchen so anxious." Liu Wei's heart jumped, and she quickly denied it, but her face was a little hot.

"When you say this, the mourning family is also a little curious." Empress Dowager Dong smiled: "Since this is the case, let's take a look together." ”

Liu Wei naturally couldn't say no, so she could only sit next to Empress Dong, looking out a little restlessly and said, "How did the Queen Mother know that Ye Zhao would come?" ”

"Fang Cai passed by here, saying that Ye Zhao went outside the palace gate and wanted you to go out of the palace to get a gift, but His Majesty felt that there was no need to be so troublesome, so he asked Fang to receive the token and go outside the palace to recruit Ye Zhao into the palace."

"It's useless!" When Liu Wei heard this, she secretly scolded her younger brother.

Empress Dowager Dong took Liu Wei's hand and said, "My son will talk to the mourning family, how is this Ye Zhao?" ”

"How?" Liu Wei thought about it, the two actually didn't meet a few times, and the first time they met, it was not very pleasant, Ye Zhao made her feel so close to death for the first time, speaking of which, Ye Zhao was already disrespectful, but she couldn't get up, but after that, she often thought about Ye Zhao, until the other party entered Luoyang, and her heart would be inexplicably happy.

The youngest daughter's thoughts are naturally difficult to say, but after thinking for a while, she said: "This person is quite bold, not as gentle and elegant as ordinary Luoyang Junjie, acting eclectic, but very sensible, sometimes very rigid, but sometimes quite slippery, can make people laugh." ”

Empress Dowager Dong and Liu Hong shook their heads when they heard this, they were both from the past, and they could probably understand Liu Wei's thoughts, and glanced at each other, Empress Dowager Dong smiled and said nothing, but Liu Hong frowned slightly, and he could see his daughter's thoughts, but for Liu Hong, Liu Wei's best destination was actually the Yuan family and the Yang family, which could be regarded as a good match.

"Your Majesty, Queen Mother, Ye Zhao has arrived outside the palace, please ask the slave maid to ask Your Majesty if you have received it?" Qian Man walked in from outside the door and bowed to a few people.

"Let him in." Liu Hong put away his thoughts and nodded at Qian Man.

"Whoa!" Qian Man bowed and withdrew, and after a while, he heard the sound of wheels crushing the ground, Ye Zhao entered through the main entrance, and behind him, there were four strong men pushing a cart, on which was placed a huge object, covered with a cloth.

"Minister Ye Zhao, see Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, and the Princess!"