The capital, the imperial palace and the imperial study.

Mu Liancheng was sitting in front of the bookcase, burying the first batch of reading folds.

Today, it is the fourteenth day after he ascended the throne, because before the death of the first emperor, he had already cleaned up those restless people, so today, the situation has long been stabilized, and he, the new emperor, does not need to worry about someone coming to snatch his throne day and night, so far, he has lived a relatively worry-free life.

Of course, troubles happen every day.

Less than five days after his accession to the throne, a minister in the court mentioned the matter of canonizing the empress.

The last thing Mu Liancheng wanted to mention was things like choosing a concubine and establishing a queen, so whenever he mentioned it, he was very impatient, but he didn't show it, he just talked about him left and right, and then he was really annoyed by the chatter, so he made it clear that he would talk about it after a while.

In the past few days, the ministers have not bothered him about this matter.

However, a new disturbance has arisen.

After each new monarch ascended the throne, according to the rules, the other sons of the first emperor would leave the capital and go to the local domain, and they were not allowed to stay in the capital for more than half a month, and now it is no exception.

In accordance with the last words of the first emperor, Mu Liancheng set the fiefs of several brothers in a place not too far from Kyoto, and the people were outstanding, no one raised objections, of course, no one dared to object, in the past half a month, among the remaining eight brothers who are still alive, seven have gone to the fiefdom one after another, and only one person has refused to leave.

The former Seventh Prince, the current Prince of Jin, Mu Fengyan.

Mu Liancheng didn't want to use strong means to drive him away, making the scene too ugly, and letting the civil and military officials and the people of the world see the jokes, so he just sent people to politely urge him every day.

Maybe it was because he was too polite that Mu Fengyan had the illusion that he didn't dare to bombard him if he took care of the royal face, so he was cheeky and stayed in the capital until today.

Tomorrow will be half a month, Mu Liancheng does not intend to tolerate it anymore, and will call Dayou over after a while, let him go to the palace in person, and convey the last reminder to Mu Fengyan.

Just as he was thinking, there was the sound of footsteps outside.

What walked in was not a big tour, but a second tour.

"Your Majesty."

Mu Liancheng glanced up at him, closed the piece in his hand, and immediately changed to another one, and asked while reading: "Is there anything unusual outside?" ”

Eryou said: "It's Prince Jin, and his subordinates have found out that he has been in contact with the old party in private in the past few days, and they are very secretive, and they almost hide from our eyes." ”

Hearing this, Mu Liancheng's movements on his hand paused slightly, and his face suddenly became gloomy.

"Looks like he's not dead yet."

No wonder he refused to go to the domain, it turned out that he wanted to regain power in the capital, trying to make a comeback and seize the throne.

Although now Mu Fengyan's former biggest backer, the Liu family, is gone, and it is not possible to make a comeback for three or five years, and now that the overall situation has been decided, there may not be many people willing to follow, but this person has treacherous thoughts, brains and means, and must not be underestimated, it is better to be careful, it is best to strangle his ambition in the cradle.

"Your Majesty, do you want to ......" The meaning of the second tour is to secretly give some warnings to those ministers who have private dealings with Mu Fengyan.

But Mu Liancheng waved his hand and said, "There is nothing to do at the moment, just observe closely in the dark." ”

He wanted to see who still had a grudge against him, the new king!

Eryou nodded, and then took the order to retreat.

Mu Liancheng stopped his pen and looked out the window, his eyes showed a hint of resentment, he didn't want to do things desperately, but if they had to force him, then it would be no wonder to him.

Near dusk, Mu Liancheng, who had been lying at the desk for a long time, felt a little tired, supported the table with his hands, and rubbed his temples.

Just as he was about to drink a cup of tea to wake up and rest, Li Cocoon walked in with a hunched body.

"Your Majesty, several adults such as the Ministry of Rites, Honglu Temple, and Zongzheng Temple, ask to see you."

If you should come, you still have to come...... Mu Liancheng sighed secretly and frowned, "Let them come in." ”

Li Cocoon didn't dare to slack off, and immediately turned around to convey the order.

Not long after, he led a few more people back.

"The old minister sees the emperor!"

"Flat, a few adults, please sit down first."

Mu Liancheng instructed the palace people to bring three seats at the bottom, and asked people to put tea on the table, as if they were going to chat with them.

These are all old ministers in the court, who have gone through two dynasties and three dynasties, all of them are old, their temples are gray, and they are trembling when they salute.

Although Mu Liancheng is an emperor, and he doesn't want to see them, let alone listen to their nagging, he can't embarrass them, after all, people have been officials in the court for decades, and they have no merit and hard work, so they still have to be respected.

At the same time, this is also his first salute and then his soldiers.

"I don't know how many adults will enter the palace to see me at this time, what's the matter?"

The three of them glanced at each other, and the Ministry of Rites Shangshu took the lead in speaking: "Back to the emperor, a few old ministers entered the palace, or for the purpose of canonizing the queen, now it has been almost half a month since the emperor ascended the throne, but the queen's candidate has not been decided, this is really not in line with the rules, the old minister and others are afraid that if it drags on any longer, it will cause criticism, I don't know how the emperor thinks about it?" ”

There are many rules in the Dayan royal family, and generally after the emperor ascends the throne, he must draw up the queen as soon as possible, and it must be decided within a month at most, and then the manual seal will be written.

If the new monarch has a wife before ascending the throne, then of course there is no need to bother, and an auspicious day can be held a few days after the new monarch ascends the throne.

And if the queen dies later, the throne cannot be left vacant for too long, and a new queen must be elected as soon as possible, otherwise someone will chew the root of the tongue.

The reason why the first emperor Muzun did not set up a new queen after the death of the first queen was because he was sick almost every day later, and whenever a minister mentioned it, he could use recuperation as an excuse to shirk it, and he was already running out of time, and it made no difference whether he stood up or not, and the ministers were not obsessed with this problem.

But Mu Liancheng's situation at this time was different, he had no reason to refuse to establish the queen, and the rules of the past hundred years could not allow him not to abide by them.

The only way is to put it off again and again.

"I've been busy dealing with state affairs lately, and I don't have time to think about the future, so I'd better wait."

Zongzheng Siqing said: "This emperor doesn't have to worry much, as long as you select a person on the roster, the marriage and the post-sealing ceremony are handled by the Ministry of Rites, etc., you don't need to worry." ”

Roster?

Mu Liancheng raised his sword eyebrows, glanced at the blue booklet in the other party's hand, not to mention how annoyed he was, these old guys actually picked a candidate for the queen for him?

He is the emperor, and he is not a puppet, so can his marriage be arranged by his courtiers?

It's ridiculous!

Mu Liancheng took the roster, but did not open it, but said directly: "I won't read the booklet yet, I want to ask a few adults, which one do you think is the most suitable for me to be the queen among those famous ladies in Beijing at present?" ”

Honglu Siqing replied: "According to the ministers, the most suitable for the world of mothers naturally belongs to the only daughter of General Yang, Miss Fuyi." ”

"Yes, Miss Fuyi is the emperor's cousin, the daughter of a general, and no one is more suitable than her in terms of family background and background."

The other two echoed one after another.

Mu Liancheng glanced at them a few times, pulled the corners of his mouth and said, "But Miss Fuyi is only twenty-seven years old now, and she is not yet in time, she is still a child, how can she take on the responsibility of being in charge of the harem?" Aren't the adults joking with me? ”

"Miss Fuyi is indeed still young, but she will be in a few months, and besides, she is smart and talented, I believe that it will not be a problem to be in charge of the harem." The Ministry of Rites said affirmatively.

Zongzheng Siqing continued: "Miss Fu and Yi are polite and polite, both talented and beautiful, there is no better woman in the capital than her, since she is the queen, she should naturally be chosen." ”

The three of them talked about Miss Fuyi, and they said that she was better than anyone else, and if they didn't know, they thought they were praising her as their daughter.

Mu Liancheng was like a mirror in his heart, the reason why they strongly recommended Yang Fuyi as the queen was to curry favor with General Yang, but they didn't really want to choose a good queen for him.

"According to what you say, the queen candidate is Miss Fuyi?"

"This ...... Lao Chen and others just made some suggestions to the emperor, and in the end, it still depends on the emperor's own wishes. The Ministry of Rites replied with a bowed head.

The other two were also silent, agreeing with this.

Mu Liancheng curled the corners of his lips and smiled, and said faintly: "A few adults still know that the final decision is made by me, you have drawn up the list without me, and I still think that you want to treat my harem as your backhouse, and you can arrange it as you want." ”

Hearing this, several old ministers were so frightened that their faces changed greatly, and they hurriedly got up to apologize.

"Don't dare!"

"Don't be nervous, adults, I'm just joking, let's sit back."

Mu Liancheng deliberately put on a smile, but there was obviously coldness hidden in the smile, which made people dare not look directly, at this time the three old ministers really understood that this new emperor was not easy to control at all, and the depth of his city was not inferior to that of the first emperor at all.

Even, because they had been in contact with him for too short a time, they couldn't understand his temper, and they felt that he was treacherous and changeable, and it was more difficult to serve than the first emperor.

After several people sat down again, they all involuntarily sweated.

Mu Liancheng glanced at them again, picked up the teacup and pretended to take a sip, and then spoke again: "It's not that I don't want to abide by the rules and make the queen as soon as possible, it's just that the queen is the master of the harem and my wife, I don't want to choose hastily, it's better to take my time." ”

The Ministry of Rites Shangshu said: "The emperor's meaning is understood, but it has been almost half a month since you ascended the throne, if you don't decide on a good candidate and hold a ceremony after the sealing, I am afraid that the royal family will have criticism, and the ministers will have a lot of speculation. What will the people of the world think? ”