(a)

On the 42nd day after Liu Shen met Yang Biao alone in the study, the largest military parade in the history of the Han army was held in the suburbs of Beijing. This is a grand event in military history since the Jinfeng Zhai Alliance.

For military parades and autumn hunts, the emperor generally did not bring the ladies of the palace to the court, and although I, as the mother of the empress and the crown prince, could go with them, I was in very poor health at that time. I am pregnant with Liu Shen's youngest daughter, who is already 7 and a half months pregnant. Because of my age, my energy and physical strength are not as good as before, this pregnancy I feel very hard, even more painful and tired than the time I was pregnant with the crown prince, every day I have back pain, dizziness, a little bit of dealing with things, I am tired and pale, my breath is uneven, and I don't want to move while lying on the bed. This situation is obviously not suitable for following Liu Shen to the suburbs to saddle horses and fatigue, so Liu Shen let me stay in the palace to raise the fetus with peace of mind.

Before leaving, Liu Shen came to visit me in Zhaoyang Palace and bid me farewell. I leaned on the soft pillow, Liu Shen reached out and touched my round belly, feeling the strong fetal movement, on the one hand, I was overjoyed, and on the other hand, I was also reluctant.

"I hope this baby is a daughter," he said. When the sons grow up, they either enter the court and engage in politics, or they practice martial arts, and they can't be filial piety by your side all the year round, or the daughters are considerate, they can surround you, be your companion, take care of your diet and daily life, even if they get married, as long as they are not far away, it is not difficult to enter the palace every day. If this child is a daughter, I will not marry her far away, recruit her a son-in-law, let her live in the palace, take care of you for me, and make you comfortable and happy every day. ”

I smiled and said, "King Han thinks so long-term, I don't know whether it is a man or a woman, where can I say what will happen in the future." Even if she is a daughter, who knows whether she wants to marry far away or stay in Beijing in the future? ”

Liu Shen said seriously: "I have an intuition that this child must be a daughter, and it is our most beautiful daughter and the most filial daughter, just like you." ”

I sighed and said, "I'm not a good daughter of my parents. ”

Liu Shen said: "Of course you are. ”

Liu Shen said that he went to the suburbs of Beijing for military parades and hunting, and on the way back, he will also go to the imperial mausoleum to pay tribute to the former emperor and his wife, and it will take about 20 days, during which the crown prince will stay in Yunjing and serve as the superintendent of the country, and the sons of the concubines of Rongxian and Tubo will also stay as assistants, and he will take three young princes in their 10s to accompany them for training. He said that he had repeatedly instructed his sons who had stayed behind to come into the palace every day to greet me and make sure that I and the fetus were safe and sound. When he returns to Yunjing after these things, he will accompany me to welcome the birth of my daughter. He comforted me and said that although this pregnancy is older and feels more hard and hard, my body has been well adjusted over the years, and my foundation is still very good, and I should be able to give birth to a full term, so I don't need to be nervous, but relax and wait for him to come back.

I thanked him for his concern and said that I would take the baby to recuperate with peace of mind and wait for him to return to Beijing safely.

Liu Shen repeatedly instructed that he didn't have to bother to see him off when he set off, just send the concubines of the two palaces to see him off. Liu Shensu was in my palace that night. The two difficult births of the crown prince and the growing princess left a heavy psychological shadow on me, making me a little nervous about whether I could have a smooth birth this time, and Liu Shen's departure made me feel a little helpless in my heart. Liu Shen whispered softly in my ear, and a lot of relief and comfort calmed my mood and made me feel a lot more stable.

(b)

After Liu Shen left, the usually lively court became much deserted in an instant. All the rooms were also empty and cold.

However, there are disadvantages and advantages to everything. After Liu Shen left, the trivial affairs in the palace also decreased. With the two palace concubines helping to take care of the affairs of the palace, I was idle and recuperated in the Zhaoyang Palace every day.

On this day, not long after I got up, I was lying on the beauty couch listening to the Buddha's number of prayer beads, and the chief attendant hurriedly came to report, saying that Fu Tianliang had something particularly important and asked me to meet immediately. I propped myself up from the beauty couch and ordered him to come in.

Fu Tianliang's expression was very nervous, and he brought a very important news.

An adjutant named Ma Zhichu in Fu Tianliang's guard and the housekeeper in Yang Biao's mansion are sons and daughters. Last night, the housekeeper of Yang Biao's mansion secretly came to the general's house and reported to him a shocking conspiracy: Yang Biao and some of his henchmen and generals planned to suddenly launch an attack on the emperor's imperial guards at the end of the parade and the beginning of the hunt, and detain Liu Shen and his entourage intensively with superior forces, kidnap Liu Shen, threaten his life, and force him to write an edict of abdication, announcing the deposition of the current crown prince and the appointment of the young ninth son as the new king. After getting Liu Shen's edict, Yang Biao and his gang pretended to use the holy decree to accuse the crown prince of rebellion, causing Liu Shen to abdicate sadly, and in the name of Liu Shen's personal conquest, he played the banner of the emperor, and ordered the three armies to besiege Yunjing, and the troops came to the city, and if necessary, they stormed the city, occupied the palace, supported the nine sons of the emperor to ascend the throne, and realized the change of monarch without changing the dynasty.

After the success of the plan, the new monarch ascended the throne, that is, Liu Shen should be honored as the emperor, and the hot spring palace should be moved to live in the palace to recuperate, while the empress dowager continued to stay in the palace to raise the new monarch to adulthood, and also served as a hostage to prevent Liu Shen's restoration. At the same time, it was announced that because of the Han army's meritorious assistance in the change of monarchy, Yang Biao was honored as the regent, a number of generals under Yang Biao were authorized to participate in the auxiliary government, a cabinet similar to the military government was established, and the army was allowed to participate in central and local internal affairs, giving the army greater powers.

The housekeeper of Yang Biao's mansion said that he felt that Liu Shen was a good emperor, and the crown prince was also a rare good prince. He felt that the army should not have interests that were inconsistent with the state, otherwise the army would no longer be a security barrier for all people, but would become a flood of beasts that threatened the country, which had seriously deviated from the original ideal of the late general. He is unwilling to follow Yang Biao to rebel and leave behind infamy, let alone think that Yang Biao's rebellion against the sky can be supported by the whole army and the whole people. So, he thought about it and decided to risk his life to report to his in-laws, leaving a way back for his family and giving the emperor a chance to turn defeat into victory.

When Fu Tianliang's adjutant Ma Zhichu heard the news, he was so shocked that his whole body was hot and sweaty, and he dared to slack off, so he went to Fu Tianliang's house overnight to secretly report the news. Fu Tianliang estimated Liu Shen's schedule, Liu Shen should have finished the military parade at this time, and went to the hunting ground with the accompanying officials, accompanied by Yang Biao and other large troops. According to Yang Biao's plan, they should have attacked the Imperial Forest Guards and detained Liu Shen at this time. If they fail, Liu Shen must order the surrounding armed forces to destroy the thieves, and an urgent edict should be sent to Yunjing. At this time, there was no news from there, which meant that they had succeeded, and Liu Shen had been detained by them!

Things are urgent! Fu Tianliang sent someone to secretly report to the crown prince and old prime minister Wei Guoqing, and at the same time personally entered the palace to meet me and asked for instructions on how to deal with it. (To be continued.) )