Han Chouren had quietly left the city, and a piece of news dragged him back. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The emperor woke up, but instead of returning to normal, he became demented and could only say the word "Cui Teng".

Han Chou didn't believe it at first, until the news came one after another, and he decided to venture back to the city, and as for the time when he was not in between, he claimed that he was sick and had just recovered.

The Empress Dowager Cining's edict has been at home for a whole day, and Han Chou didn't dare to enter the palace immediately, so he sent someone into the palace to tell him about his illness again, saying that as long as he could get up, he would go to see the Queen Mother early tomorrow morning.

Next, he sent people to contact more sources, almost all of which were conclusive, claiming that the emperor was indeed confused.

In the end, what made Han Chou completely relieved was the visit of Prime Minister Shen Mingzhi.

Shen Mingzhi, who was "on bed rest" early last night, took the initiative to come to the door after dark today, and Han Chou understood that the wind direction had changed again.

The two talked secretly in the middle of the night, and when Shen Mingzhi said goodbye, Han Chou sent it outside the gate, personally opened the sedan curtain, and asked the prime minister to get on the sedan chair, humbly and flattering, indicating that the two were as good as ever, and the relationship was further.

Early the next morning, the prime minister and Zong Zhengqing came to Guanghua Pavilion one after another, and they didn't wait too long, and the Empress Dowager Cining also arrived.

Even though it was semi-public news, the Empress Dowager Cining still didn't say a word about the emperor's illness, and summoned the two ministers just to "just in case", "The two lords once recommended three candidates for the prince, saying that they would go back and do a detailed investigation, but now there are results?" ”

Shen Mingzhi adheres to neutrality, and rarely speaks about the matter of the prince, Han Chou stepped forward to reply, with a nasal voice, as if the illness has not subsided, "The minister has carefully investigated, among the three, the king of Linzi was temporarily established as the crown prince, and was later canceled, it is said that his mother seems to have complained about this, and after drinking, he said, 'How can the major affairs of the court be so child's, according to the minister's shallow opinion, the king of Linzi should not be established again." ”

The Empress Dowager Cining nodded, the minister would not like the resentful "Prospective Empress Dowager", she didn't like it even more.

"The second king of Huainan, the age and character are suitable, but he is weak and sickly, it is reported that since the beginning of winter, the king of Huainan has summoned the imperial doctor twice, and the imperial doctor said that it is like this every winter, and the illness is not serious, but it cannot be eradicated."

Empress Dowager Cining shook her head.

"The third is the acting king. The previous king was unfortunately martyred in Jincheng, leaving a number of descendants, the eldest son died early, so it was passed on to the grandson, not long after being entitled, the person was still in the capital, four years old this year, in good health, just started school, Mr. praised it. ”

"Han Zongzheng, is this recommending the acting king?"

Han Chou hurriedly bowed down and said, "Everything has to be decided by the Queen Mother." ”

Empress Dowager Cining sighed, "If it is according to my meaning, as long as Your Majesty is still there, there should be no prince to appoint, and now there are four concubines who are pregnant at the same time, and there will always be a prince born in the future, let alone rush to establish a prince." ”

"What the Queen Mother said is very true, and the minister also thinks that there is no need to be anxious, and the so-called establishment of the prince is a policy of the next order and a last resort."

"But I can't just think about myself, but also for the sake of the clan, for the court, and for the sake of Dachu, it's really a last resort......" Empress Dowager Cining choked up.

Han Chou knelt down and kowtowed, and Prime Minister Shen Mingzhi also stood up, standing with his hands down, and the atmosphere was solemn for a while.

Empress Dowager Cining took a deep breath, regained her composure, and asked, "How is the Acting Wang's family?" It's Deng, right? ”

Shen Mingzhi sat down, Han Chou got up, and replied: "The Deng family is the concubine of the previous king's continued marriage, and the current king's mother's surname is Zhang, and the surname of the country is small, and there is only one aunt left, who is far away from marrying other parties." ”

The new emperor's uncle is always as weak as possible, the Empress Dowager Cining thought for a while, "No matter what, the Deng family is always acting for the king and the queen mother, and there is already a concubine in the palace, and it seems inappropriate to appoint her nephew as the prince." ”

Han Chou said: "The so-called establishment of the reserve is just in case, if Your Majesty recovers, or if the concubine has a child, everything is peaceful, if there is a ...... It seems that none of His Majesty's concubines should stay in the palace anymore. After the acting king and the crown prince, he will inherit the orthodoxy of the Han family, and set up a new king on behalf of the country, and the concubine and the Deng family will both return to the acting country, which has nothing to do with orthodoxy. ”

Such an arrangement was the most beneficial to the Empress Dowager Cining, but she did not show joy, thought for a moment, and asked, "Is it Yu Lihe?" ”

"This is a secret matter, the Queen Mother has not made a decision, and the minister does not dare to ask the Ministry of Rites."

"Okay." The Empress Dowager Cining still refused to make a decision, but she seemed to be quite satisfied.

Han Chou retired, and Shen Mingzhi stayed and said some more things, and then retired.

In the palace, the Empress Dowager Cining stayed in Guanghua Pavilion, retired all the attendants, and stayed alone for a while, the Empress Dowager Shangguan had been in power here, forming the "Guanghua Group of Tigers", and now the Tigers have dispersed, but at that time the prestige was prominent, so that many people talked about the color change.

The Empress Dowager Cining sat on the soft couch, unable to find the feeling of drinking Ling Qunchen, but felt tired and nervous, looked around, could not find a few credible people, and suddenly understood why the Empress Dowager Shangguan reused the torturers, and why her son left people like the King of the East China Sea and Cui Teng by her side.

The more power you have, the more lies you have, and the more you value what you can trust.

The Empress Dowager Cining sighed, and had to admit that she couldn't imitate another Empress Dowager after all.

She got up and walked out of Guanghua Pavilion, surrounded by eunuchs and palace maids, and returned to Cishun Palace, where all her hopes were.

The five master guards were still helping the emperor to dredge up his internal breath, but through the imperial doctor's reminder to the queen mother, they could only restore His Majesty's body and could not do anything about his sanity.

While the five of them were resting, the Empress Dowager Cining sent everyone back and left them alone. Everyone understood a mother's mood and quietly retreated, and at the same time they were all relieved, if the queen mother could accept the emperor's current situation, their suffering would be almost over.

Empress Dowager Cining sat on the edge of the bed, stared at the emperor for a while, and said, "Han Chou recommended the acting king, and said a lot of good things. ”

The emperor's sloppy gaze was focused, and he smiled at his mother, still weak when he spoke, but he was by no means confused, "Is it related to the Deng family?" ”

Empress Dowager Cining shook her head, "Han Chou wants to exclude the Deng family." ”

"That's good news." Han Ruzi really didn't want the Deng family to get involved in this kind of thing, what he cared about was not Concubine Deng Yun, but Deng Cui who was far away in the Western Regions.

"What's next? Your Majesty can't keep pretending to be confused, and when people's hearts are scattered, it will be difficult to gather again. ”

"What did Shen Mingzhi say?"

"In these few summonses, he rarely spoke, but only introduced Han Chou to me."

"I have to wait another day or two, since we want to clean up the dynasty, we can't come one by one, it's better to uproot them."

"And those who passed the news to Han Chou, I really don't understand, who did our mother and son treat badly? So much so that there is not even a secret in the palace. ”

"We haven't treated anyone badly, it's just that some people are more willing to pay for them."

The Empress Dowager Cining was exhausted, but for the sake of her son, she had to persevere, "I have a way, Han Chou recommends the acting king, but there may be some problems in etiquette, I will summon the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Yuan Jiuding tomorrow, he seems to be dissatisfied with Han Chou, and is likely to oppose this recommendation, the two have a dispute, and the prime minister should come forward." ”

Han Ruzi was silent for a while, "Summoning Feng Ju, the secretary of the ministry, also came." I hope that Shen Mingzhi is just deceived by Han Chou, and it is not a good thing to change the prime minister so soon. ”

But Han Ruzi can't leave a prime minister who opposes him, Han Chou is sure that he is undoubtedly involved in the assassination, whether Shen Mingzhi is involved and how deeply involved is still a question, Han Ruzi decided to pretend to be confused after sobering up, all for him.

The Empress Dowager Cining went back to her room, and was just about to call the female official to come in and draft a decree, announcing that the four ministers Shen Mingzhi, Han Chou, Yuan Jiuding, and Feng Ju would enter the palace tomorrow to discuss matters.

When the Empress Dowager Cining was still serving the Empress Dowager Shangguan in Cishun Palace, Rong Huamin was very respectful to her, every time she met, no matter whether there were others around or not, she would give the courtesy of a servant.

Ronghua people enter the house, kowtow and say goodbye, as always respectful.

"What's the matter?" If it weren't for the emperor's special instructions, the Empress Dowager Cining would have asked Rong Huamin to help collect information, but now she can only hide the truth from him.

Rong Huamin consciously served the Queen Mother, and there was no need to specifically instruct, "I heard about something, and I think the Queen Mother should know." ”

"Hmm."

"According to the instructions of the Queen Mother, I sent five eunuchs to take care of the Wang family, and they all said that the Wang family was grateful to the Queen Mother, cautious and careful.

The Empress Dowager Cining nodded, she cared about her family's reputation very much, and she didn't want to see her relatives proud of their wealth.

"There is one thing, I heard that the Wang family is going to marry the ministers of the court."

Empress Dowager Cining was immediately vigilant, "Why haven't I heard of such a big thing?" Which minister? ”

"I heard that it was Yuan Jiuding of the Ministry of Rites, when he escorted the Wang family into Beijing, he made a private appointment and had not yet been hired, so he didn't tell the Queen Mother."

"Yuan Jiuding?" Empress Dowager Ci Ning showed an angry face, "Hey, is the Yuan family going to marry the daughter of the Wang family, or is it going to marry their daughter?" ”

"It hasn't been finalized yet, it is said that it is a nephew of Yuan Jiuding, who wants to marry his uncle's daughter Enrong."

The original names of the Wang family were all relatively cheesy, and they were restarted on the way to Beijing, and the Empress Dowager Cining frowned, "Enrong is only ten years old, right?" ”

"The Yuan family wants to get married first and get married in a few years."

The more Empress Dowager Cining thought about it, the more angry she became, "Your Majesty asked Yuan Jiuding to go to the East China Sea Kingdom, to let him find out the facts, not to let him make friends, the Wang family is honest and ignorant, he is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, how can he do such a thing?" ”

"Maybe Lord Yuan is also kind, although Miss Enrong is young......"

"Shut up." Empress Dowager Cining shouted, "Did you receive the benefits or what, do you say good things for the Yuan family?" ”

Rong Huamin hurriedly knelt down, "The Queen Mother forgives her sins." ”

Empress Dowager Cining waved her hand and held Rong Huamin back, even more angry in her heart, not only Yuan Jiuding, but also Rong Huamin, it turned out that the person who leaked the news outside the palace was by her side.

As soon as he mentioned in the morning that there would be a dispute over etiquette on behalf of the crown prince, Rong Huamin came to sue Yuan Jiuding, which can only prove one thing, Rong Huamin was instructed by Han Chou.

If the emperor hadn't reminded him earlier, the Empress Dowager Cining would have been fooled and kicked Yuan Jiuding aside.

But this still can't prove that Shen Mingzhi was involved, the Empress Dowager Cining didn't want to trouble the emperor anymore, thought for a while, called the female official, wrote down the edict, and summoned the prime minister Shen Mingzhi and the official Shangshu Feng Ju to enter the palace immediately.

She has to find out the truth on her own. (To be continued.) )