Except for Nie Qingwan meeting a 'strange boy' on the day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, this year was very smooth, but the happy days were not long, on the ninth day of the new year, the uninvited small monarchs personally arrived outside the gate of the imperial capital Huaicheng with a new batch of tribute, and were stopped by the Gyeonggi guards led by Nie Rucheng and the city gate guards led by Nie Hao and shouted outside the city gate.

As Yin Xuan expected, as Nie Qingwan guessed, there were monarchs who were not afraid of death or deliberately provoked trouble, regardless of the interception of the Great Yin Guards, who intended to break through, and were finally beheaded by the knife.

It was only after three people were killed that they stopped.

They didn't know what kind of gloomy emotion they were standing there with in their eyes, looking at the blood in front of them, looking at the corpses in front of them, there were no less than ten monarchs of small countries, there should be thirteen of them all, and there were ten more after three were beheaded, among these ten people, there was one person who was the leader, he was Nan Linfeng, the lord of Nanfeng Country.

Nan Linfeng saw the forbearance of the law of the people in power from the deaths of these three people, or in other words, the attitude of the people in power, and now, the person in power of the Great Yin Empire should be the empress dowager who is only ten years old.

Of course, Nan Linfeng also knew that now there was no emperor in the Great Yin Empire, except for the Queen Mother, the person with real power was Nie Gongshu, and whether this order to kill the monarchs came from the Queen Mother or from Nie Gongshu, he had to figure it out, because it was very important.

If it is just from Nie Gongshu, it means that the current royal family is not to be worried.

But if it came from the ten-year-old Queen Mother, or rather, it was from Nie Gongshu's order with the participation of the Yin royal family, they couldn't act rashly.

At least, for the time being, we have to press down on that heart that is about to move, and plan something else.

Nan Linfeng squinted his eyes and said to Nie Rucheng: "I am here to apologize to the Queen Mother, I am afraid that it is not sincere enough to send a messenger over casually, so we monarchs came in person, for the New Year, we have traveled a long way, and we dare not even spend the New Year, we just want to come over and make up for the tribute, so sincerely, it is in your hands, but you are mercilessly killed, can you allow me to ask, you kill the monarchs like this, do you have the permission of the Queen Mother?" If not, how will you explain it to us, the envoys, and how will you explain it to the citizens of the three kingdoms who have died? Isn't it that the first emperor just died, and you Da Yin wanted to break the agreement, wanted to occupy our territory, and take it for yourself, so you deliberately returned those tributes, made us panic, and then came over in person and caught them all? ”

Nie Rucheng listened, sneered, thinking that you would be beaten up, if you didn't have a rebellious heart, how could the Queen Mother give such a holy order?

If you want to ask who gave the order, I'll tell you.

Let you know that although the Queen Mother is small, she is not easy to bully, and your unscrupulous hearts are honestly pressed by me, don't come out again.

Nie Rucheng said: "This order is given by the Queen Mother, we are all ordered to do things, if it is not for the Queen Mother's order, how dare we do it to you, if the Lord of the South has any dissatisfaction, you can wait for the Queen Mother to meet with the Queen Mother in person, but now, without the Queen Mother's speech, you will not be able to enter the imperial capital Huaicheng." ”

Nan Linfeng asked, "Then when can we enter?" ”

Nie Rucheng said: "As soon as the Queen Mother's holy order arrives, you will be able to enter." ”

Nan Linfeng sneered and asked, "When will the Queen Mother's holy order arrive?" ”

Nie Rucheng said: "I don't know. ”

Nan Linfeng said: "You mean, the Queen Mother's holy order is not there, and we have been staying outside like this, blown by the north wind, cold, hungry and frozen?" ”

Nie Rucheng glanced at him, didn't answer, just waved his hand and called Nie Hao over, asking him to take these monarchs and those tributes to the post house outside the city, although the monarchs were resentful, they didn't dare to show it, and they didn't dare to break through the city gate again, so they had to follow Nie Hao to the post house first.

After these people were settled, Nie Hao came back to restore his life, Nie Rucheng strictly guarded the city gate, and asked Nie Hao to report this matter to Nie Qingwan again, Nie Hao did not delay, turned around and rode a horse, returned to Nie Mansion, found Nie Qingwan, and told her about it.

Today is the ninth day of the new year, tomorrow will be the tenth day of the new year, Nie Qingwan plans to spend the fifteenth Lantern Festival at home and then return to the palace, anyway, there is no one in the palace, it is deserted everywhere, even if there are many palace maids and eunuchs, but she can't play with them, there is no emotion, who will get together with them for the New Year, and this time into the palace, if you want to come out, I am afraid it will be difficult.

Nie Qingwan knew very well that from the moment she gave the killing order in the palace, her future road would not be peaceful anymore, and it would be difficult to have such a happy day with her family, so she cherished this year's New Year's Festival very much, and she also wanted to finish this year smoothly, so after listening to Nie Rucheng's words, Nie Qingwan pursed her pink lips lightly and said: "Just let them stay like that, send someone to send the bodies of the three lords back, and explain to their citizens why their lords died in Dayin, to tell the truth, Tribute accepted, to show my great attitude, if they do not have the heart of rebellion, there is no need to panic, if they really have a heart of rebellion, this tribute is their future home, find a man who can speak well and can win people's hearts in the past, this matter must be done well, no matter what they will face after the year, at least this year, so that everyone can live well. ”

Nie Hao listened, didn't say a word, answered the word and left.

But when he walked to the door, Nie Qingwan called out to him again and said, "Go find the fifth brother and let the fifth brother follow." ”

When Nie Hao heard that Nie Qingwan was going to let Nie Xifeng follow, he raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, and Nie Qingwan said, "My subjects of Da Yin can't be bullied by a small country. ”

When Nie Hao heard this, he immediately understood, he nodded, and then went out.

In today's court, almost all important official positions are occupied by the Nie family, Prime Minister Wen is Nie Zhuyou, Nie Hao wants to find Wenchen, he has to ask Nie Zhuyou first, to see who is suitable, Nie Zhuyou will definitely not go, he is highly respected, how could he personally send such a mission, it is too much to give face to those small countries, so Nie Jianyou recommended Zhang Jintao, a bachelor of Hanlin Academy.

Nie Hao went to Zhang's mansion, looking for Zhang Jintao, to convey the will of the Queen Mother, now Zhang's Mansion is still located at No. 20 Wuhua Street, Nie's Mansion is located at No. 18 Range Rover Street, Nie Hao rode over, less than half a cup of tea arrived, entered the house, saw Zhang Jintao, and after conveying the will of the Queen Mother, Zhang Jintao hurriedly asked the attendants to go to the Xia Mansion on the bank of the Tongxiang River to call Xia Qian to the three lanes.

At that time, Xia Qian was already in his forties, and he had a strong ambition to serve the country, but he was nowhere to go, he was a villain and a small man, even if he was talented, he was not reused, and he was often depressed, but fortunately, his mentality was positive, and he did not procrastinate, no matter when and where, as long as the boss called him, he must be with the rumor.

It's the same today, although he is celebrating the New Year, as soon as his boss calls someone to spread the word about him, he goes.

After I went, I knew that something earth-shattering had happened outside the joyful imperial capital Huaicheng, not to mention that he was shocked, but Zhang Jintao couldn't spit out a word after hearing Nie Hao say something like that.

Xia Qian quickly came back to his senses after being shocked, and said to Zhang Jintao: "This is not a good errand. ”

Zhang Jintao is young, much younger than Xia Qian, only twenty-seven this year, if you want to say talent, it is definitely not as strong as Xia Qian, but people have a backstage, so they can be in a high position and be Xia Qian's boss.

Although Zhang Jintao's talent is insufficient, he can be mixed in the officialdom and in the Hanlin Academy, and he must have that look.

Zhang Jintao didn't know why Prime Minister Nie Cheng nominated him to do this errand, the only thing Zhang Jintao thought of was that he had recently gotten close to the Chen Mansion, and he also intended to let his sister marry the third son of the Chen family and completely climb the Chen family.

Of course, Zhang Jintao also wanted to climb Nie Mansion and let his sister marry into Nie Mansion before, but he didn't succeed and almost lost his hat, so he dispelled that wishful thinking.

Zhang Jintao is very prescient, in today's court, the Nie family is dominant, followed by the Yin royal family, and further down, there are military generals from each side.

Among the generals, only Fengchang has the highest status.

Feng Chang married a wife in his early years, and he married him when he was a strong man, but because he later fought abroad for many years, the little wife couldn't stand the loneliness and ran away with someone, and Feng Chang never mentioned marrying a wife again.

Now Feng Chang is single, but Zhang Jintao is willing to let his sister marry him, although it seems to be too peaceful now, and there will be no war for many years, but who can say that there will be no war in the future, this married Feng Fu, maybe he really has to stay alive and widowed for the rest of his life, maybe Feng Chang himself knows that he can't give his wife everything that a man should give, so he simply won't marry.

And if he can't marry his sister, with Feng Chang's current identity and status, Zhang Jintao can't climb it, so he retreats and finds Chen's mansion.

Recently, he has indeed been moving around with Chen's Mansion very frequently, no, yesterday he also took his sister to Chen's Mansion and had a meal with Chen Sangongzi, and in a blink of an eye, Prime Minister Nie Cheng handed him such a hot potato.

If you want to say that it is not for him to wear small shoes, Zhang Jintao doesn't believe it.

But the little shoes were thrown to him, and he wore them, so he had to wear them well, and he must not fall, this fall will be really terrible.

Zhang Jintao sighed: "It's really not a good errand, but no matter how bad it is, we have to do it well." ”

Xia Qian said, "I know. ”

Zhang Jintao said: "You know the whole story, what do you mean by the Queen Mother?" ”

Xia Qian's eyes turned, and he thought about the details of the front and back, and said in a deep voice: "I guess that the Queen Mother is the first soldier and then the salute, so that those small countries can understand the attitude of Da Yin towards those who disagree, that is, to kill without forgiveness, first to deter, and then to appease, through appeasement, and then to distinguish the attitude of those small countries, so, this errand seems to be just to appease, but it is not at all, and besides, the kings of the three small countries were all killed in Emperor Dayin for no reason, we went, we must face the angry condemnation of the local people, One can't get it right. He paused for a moment before he struggled to utter the words: "I may not be able to come back." ”

Zhang Jintao was dumbfounded, he originally only thought that this task was difficult to do, because the work that has always been pacified is said to be simple, it sounds simple, but it is the most difficult to do, but he really didn't expect them to worry about their lives.

Zhang Jintao had a bitter face.

Xia Qian asked, "Shall I go with the adults?" Anyone else? ”

Zhang Jintao said: "There is another person. ”

Xia Qian asked, "Who?" ”

Zhang Jintao said: "Nie Xifeng." ”

When Nie Qian heard this, he was stunned, Nie Xifeng had no official position, and no matter how outstanding the junior of the Nie Mansion was, Nie Gongshu did not let them enter the court as officials.

Xia Qian can probably guess a little bit of Nie Gongshu's thoughts, that is, the Nie family is now too powerful, and Mu Xiu will be destroyed by the forest wind, and people must not be in the high-ranking public, in order to avoid being too rigid and easy to break, Nie Gongshu has restricted the juniors of the Nie family from entering the court as officials, this is a very smart way to deal with the world, with Nie Gongshu's city government and experience, since he has made such a plan, he will not make an exception.

However, this time, Nie Xifeng was dispatched.

The use of juniors is not what Nie Gong said, then it must be the queen mother's behavior.

And the Queen Mother has such a move, which can't help but make people think deeply.

Basically, like everyone, Xia Qian has a questioning attitude towards a ten-year-old female doll becoming the queen mother, especially the death of the first emperor and the absence of an heir, resulting in the current vacancy of the emperor's throne, and the little queen mother holds the decree of the first emperor, and the Yin royal family does not dare to commit crimes and compete for the throne, so the situation is paralyzed.

Although the Yin royal family leads the orthodox bloodline of the royal family, extends the dragon power of the royal family, and has the power to compete for the throne, but before they grab the throne, they can't ask about the major affairs of the country, which is the family rule.

Of course, such a family rule sounds a little unreasonable, and even a little excessive, but the descendants of the Yin royal family all understand that this is the family rule set by the ancestors in order to preserve the strongest bloodline and the strongest race of the Yin family, in order to prevent the Yin royal family from decreasing or even declining in the change of rivers and mountains and the struggle for the throne from generation to generation, such family rules have been passed down from generation to generation, and now, it has become an irreversible decree.

Because of such family rules, the Yin family has gone through so many years of changes, and to this day, it is still the most luxuriant family in the Great Yin Empire, and the population of any clan is not as large as the population of the Yin royal family, which is also the reason why all the ministers and even the people respect and fear the Yin royal family.

A strong and prosperous family, even if it is not a royal family, is not to be underestimated, not to mention that they are still royalty.

Originally, in Xia Qian's opinion, even if the Queen Mother held the decree of the first emperor, with such a powerful orthodox bloodline of the imperial family, the Yin royal family should not care about the Queen Mother and the Nie family, and do what they should do, that is, to compete for the throne and reshuffle the entire pattern.

But bizarrely, they didn't.

Xia Qian thought that they should be afraid of Nie Gongshu and the emperor's deathbed decree, but in fact, they should be afraid of this ten-year-old little queen mother.

And now it seems that the thunderous decree that ordered the killing of the monarchs of the small country came from the hands of the little queen mother.

Nie Gongshu will not do this, even if he does, he will not do it so high-profile and bloody, only the little queen mother is young and vigorous, fearless, and will do it so arrogantly and without scruples.

And the lack of scruples also illustrates a crucial issue, that is, today's Da Yin is the final say of the little empress dowager, and has nothing to do with Nie Gongshu, nor does it have anything to do with the entire Yin royal family.

Then, the appearance of Nie Xifeng is a demarcation point for Nie Gongshu to retire and the era of the little queen mother.

If you can't see these doorways clearly, it will be difficult to mix in officialdom in the future.

Xia Qian's eyes turned again, and said to Zhang Jintao: "With Nie Xifeng with us, there will be no problem with our safety, now what adults want to think about is, what kind of emotions we will face when we go to those small countries, and then what kind of peaceful way to appease those emotions, in addition, we must think about how to win their hearts, so that they have no complaints about Da Yin and no complaints about the Queen Mother, and let them realize that the reason why their monarch will die is completely self-inflicted." ”

Zhang Jintao frowned and said: "Think about these problems on the road, we have to leave today, and we have to leave the city tomorrow at the latest, so there is no time to delay at home, you go back and pack up, let's go early and return early." ”

Xia Qian said yes and went back to pack his things.

After listening to Nie Qingwan's words from Nie Hao, Nie Xifeng thought about it and went to find Nie Gongshu, but as soon as he arrived at Nie Gongshu's door, he was stopped by Nie Qingwan, who came to visit Nie Gongshu, Nie Qingwan said: "Fifth brother, Ah Zu Gong is not in good health, and he can't be worried about things that shouldn't be let him worry about anymore, you know?" ”

At that time, Nie Xifeng was also young, twenty-three years old in his prime, handsome and tall, because of his love of martial arts and the reason why he studied martial arts day and night, his eyebrows and eyes were not very soft, and there was a sharp sword aura everywhere, he was still young, and his martial arts were advancing quickly, even if he restrained the sword qi all over his body, the powerful internal force was still looming around his body, which was why everyone did not dare to get too close to him, and it was also the reason why all the people of the Nie family called him a rare martial arts genius in the Nie family in a hundred years.

Nie Xifeng listened to Nie Qingwan's words, his eyes were raised, he glanced at the door, and then stretched out his hand and pulled Nie Qingwan away.

Nie Qingwan was dragged forward by him, and when she came to a warm pavilion where no one was around, he let go of her and asked, "Is it what you mean, or is it what Ah Zugong means?" ”

He didn't have a head to ask, but Nie Qingwan understood, and Nie Qingwan said, "It's what I meant." ”

Nie Xifeng gently hugged his arms and looked at her with a pair of silent eyes, Nie Qingwan laughed out loud, she said: "Don't look at me like this, I'm still young, I'll be frightened by you." ”

Nie Xifeng stretched out his hand to pull her braids, when she was in the palace, she never wore such children's braids, only when she returned to Nie's mansion, Su Anxian would comb her such naughty braids.

Nie Xifeng tugged at her hair and pulled it, quipping, "Are you still frightened?" It's good that you didn't freak out the kings of those small countries. ”

He loosened her braids again, and saw her wrinkled little face rubbing the roots of her hair, which probably hurt her, and she was pouting in dissatisfaction.

Nie Xifeng stretched out his hand and pulled her little head over, pressed it in his arms and rubbed it, and said while rubbing it: "Although Azu Gong didn't say it explicitly, you should also know his thoughts, he doesn't want us juniors to enter the court as officials, and he doesn't want us to meddle in those affairs of the court, you are now letting me go with me to those small countries, are you planning to come back and make me an official, right?" ”

Nie Qingwan rubbed his face against his shirt and said, "Hmm." ”

Nie Xifeng said: "Does Azu Gong know? ”

Nie Qingwan said: "He doesn't know, you don't have to tell him." ”

Nie Xifeng slowly pushed the girl in his arms away, looking down at her.

Nie Qingwan looked up at him with a small face, and also looked at him: "Fifth brother, what I want to do is what the Queen Mother should do, Azu Gong has Azu's concerns, and I have my considerations, you just listen to me." ”

Nie Xifeng still looked at her, and after a while, he reached out and rubbed her forehead, didn't say anything, and left.

He still went to see Nie Gongshu, but he no longer mentioned the matter of accompanying him to the small country.

After Zhang Jintao and Xia Qian packed up and sent someone to call him, Nie Xifeng left.

During the Chinese New Year, he left like this, and the family must have known, but with Nie Qingwan's entrustment, the family did not dare to let Nie Gongshu know, but they were a little worried, especially Su Anxian, who felt that her daughter's move was too thrilling, and now that everything has been done, it is also used to complain, and Su Anxian knows very well that this daughter is her daughter when she returns home, and when she leaves the house, then she is the queen mother of Dayin, the queen mother does things, even if she is a mother, she has no right to ask, she is just worried about her, so she has been thinking about it for most of the day, Seeing that Nie Qingwan listened to her words with a smile and pestered her again, Su Anxian lost all her temper, and only said to her: "You have a strong maternal family, if you really encounter something that can't be solved, remember to tell your family, don't be bullied." ”

Nie Qingwan smiled and said: "My daughter is the queen mother, who dares to bully me." ”

Su Anxian glanced at her: "When the emperor is still angry with his courtiers, not to mention that you are just a queen mother with no real power, don't think that your mother is a woman, you don't know that those Yin royal families always enter the palace to find you trouble, today's matter is over, if you don't deal with it well, they will still enter the palace to trouble you, and this time they will definitely not give up if they find you trouble, you remember to call your grandfather when the time comes, if your grandfather is not in good health and can't go, you will call your uncle and grandfather." ”

Nie Qingwan laughed playfully, pulled Su Anxian's hand and said, "Mother, can we not talk about those troubles at home?" My daughter finally came back to reunite with her mother, and you can't hug me or kiss me if you say anything else? ”

Su Anxian laughed, pinched her little face, hugged her into her arms, and said to the grandmothers around her: "In my arms, it is a child." Then he kissed her little cheek a few times.

Nie Qingwan giggled.

Happy days are always the shortest, after August 15, Nie Qingwan returned to the palace, when she left from Nie's mansion, she asked Ren Ji to go to Yin Xuan to pass the word, Yin Xuan had to follow Ren Ji away, came to Nie Qingwan's carriage, Nie Qingwan raised the curtain, smiled at him and said, "You come up, sit with your mother for a while." ”

A sentence of 'mother', Yin Xuan, who was in a good mood, made it terrible, Yin Xuan originally wanted to give her a New Year's gift, it was a grasshopper he made when he was bored, woven with straw rope, and the grass in winter was not strong, he finally found a particularly tough tough grass weave by the water, he thought it was very good, so he wanted to give it to her, as a result, as soon as she said 'mother', Yin Xuan, who was choked, was in no good mood, and Yin Xuan was not willing to give the grasshopper to her.

Yin Xuanmu had a wooden face, unwilling to go up, but how could he have the qualifications to refuse?

Ren Ji had already lifted the curtain of the carriage, Nie Yin was not outside, so he must be waiting in the carriage, Yin Xuan pursed his lips, slowly lifted his trouser knee, got into the carriage, and got into the carriage.

After entering, Nie Qingwan beckoned to him, and Nie Yin counted the silver flowers on the side.

Looking at such a scene, Yin Xuan's small forehead twitched fiercely, he thought to himself that this damn little queen mother wouldn't really want him to kneel down for her, call her mother, and wait for her to send the New Year's money, right? Can he not do without!