Return to the Capital (VI) (Part I)

Since the emperor fell that day, he has not left the Wenhua Palace. The former dynasty was still the crown prince's prison, and the harem was still under the care of the queen. And the big policy, naturally, is to consult the Queen Mother.

Seven days later, there seemed to be no sign of recovery. The fighting between the concubines in the harem has long stopped, and the yellow beauty who was favored before the emperor fell that day was originally spurned in the harem, but since the emperor woke up briefly and let people dispose of her, no one dared to mention a word, and this person has disappeared from the harem and the capital since then. The princes also seem to be quite low-key, and they are at peace. The capital is unusually calm. Ten days later, it's still the same. Just when the people of the capital were privately speculating whether the emperor had passed slowly, the crown prince ascended the throne, and the Great Zhou could finally make a smooth transition, a group of ancient Fanguo people's convoy slowly approached the capital.

The restaurant and tea shop in the capital suddenly spread about the prince and his close staff Tang Sangongzi, when he went to the ancient country, because he was far away from the capital, so he was unscrupulous and revealed his true nature. There is arrogance and lasciviousness, singing and dancing every night, and there are several royal maidens, which is extremely shameless. The people who originally supported the prince felt that the prince was kind and upright, and they didn't believe that he would be like this. But some people say that the prince was not bad, but he was damaged by the wandering Tang San Prince along the way. As a result, everyone gradually accepted this statement.

Soon, there was another rumor in the market, saying that the Queen Mother was very disgusted with lewd people. There are also many people insinuating that this reason comes from the extreme disgust of the former emperor for his excessive lewdness, and he is also very disappointed in the lustful emperor, so he chose Yiyi to inherit the unification, if Yiyi also becomes lustful and shameless, he will inevitably be rejected by the queen mother.

Rumors spread rapidly within two or three days, not only in restaurants, tea shops, markets, households, officials, and even the harem. And many people in the prince's family began to waver and be confused, especially the middle-level officials. Some people will also defend the crown prince, but some people say that flies don't hold seamless eggs, and Tang San Gongzi himself is a profligate and promiscuous person, and his defense suddenly becomes gloomy.

The next day, the convoy of the ancient country arrived in the capital, and a group of fierce guards got out of the car around the two pregnant women and stayed in Tianfanglou, one of the luxury inns in the capital. Soon after, the people of the capital heard that the two pregnant women who got off the bus were the sister of King Gufan and the former concubine of King Gufan. During the period when the third prince of Tang accompanied the prince to the ancient fan country, he coveted the beauty of the two and took it from the ancient fan country. Now that both of them are pregnant, it doesn't matter if Gufan has two more children, but King Gufan estimates that this is the blood of the Great Zhou royal family, and in order to reunite their father and son, he specially asked people to send women. At present, the crown prince has no concubine, and the third prince of Tang has not married, so the envoy of the king of Gufan submitted a letter of state to the imperial court, asking the two to marry these two.

This time, it can explode in the capital. There are all kinds of opinions, but in the end, they were all guided, unanimously condemning Tang Sangongzi, his own misconduct, and the bad prince. The simple people became a little agitated.

Soon, some scholars came out to accuse the prince of carelessness in making friends and went astray, and suggested that the prince and the third prince of Tang cut off their robes and break off their righteousness, completely break off their friendship, and ask the queen mother for forgiveness after reforming. This call spread quickly among the students in the capital, and some people even went to the gate of the East Palace and knelt down to beg the prince to abandon his friends, get close to his beloved, and change his ways. What started out was just a few students, and after a few hours, it became dozens or hundreds.

The gate of the East Palace was closed, and neither the prince nor the subordinates of the East Palace came forward to say a word. After kneeling for a long time, it attracted hundreds of people to watch. Many ignorant people, idle and fond of the fun, gradually gathered in the East Palace and surrounded the main gate of the East Palace.

None of the people at the center of this speech appeared, but an unrelated Princess Jingchen came, saying that she was going to visit her brother. Jing Chen was dressed plainly and elegantly, wearing a hat to cover his face, but the female officials and attendants around him were huge. The people of the capital knew that this princess was cunning and domineering, and when they saw her coming, they couldn't help but retreat and give way to her team.

"What is this?" The princess walked up the steps in front of the gate of the East Palace, and asked Lang Sheng.

"Princess, we have come to admonish the prince, begging him not to be misled by traitors and to associate with wicked people." A kneeling scholar said aloud.

"Do you mean that the prince is a person who is not very capable of discernment, and you know how to read people better than the prince?"

"The common people don't dare. But when people always make mistakes, this ancient country has already presented the prince's bad deeds when he was on an envoy in ancient times, and sent a witness. Since the prince is wrong, he should know that he is wrong and correct it. ”

"Oh, this student must be very knowledgeable. This palace wants to ask, in the history of this ancient country and in recent years, is it really good friends with the Great Zhou? Didn't calculate the territory of my Great Zhou, didn't plunder the people around me? ”

"It's, it's not. But this is not the same thing as the prince's obscenity. ”

"Really? Who came out to say that the prince was lewd, and who came to the capital of my Great Zhou Dynasty to slap the face of the Great Zhou Dynasty and say that the prince and his subordinates of the Great Zhou Dynasty were prostituted in the ancient country? ”

"The envoys of the ancient country have all the certificates."

"Gu Fanguo is a friendly neighbor of the Great Zhou, not a thief who peeps into my Great Zhou?"

"This?"

"A thief who peeped into my Great Zhou, a foreigner who often plundered and harassed the borders of my Great Zhou, came to the land of my Great Zhou to smear my Great Zhou prince and his subordinates, not only bullying the prince, but thousands of people up and down my Great Zhou. Such a simple truth, I, a shallow little woman, understand, don't you talented people who read poetry and books understand? Do you really not understand, or are you being deceived? Bought off? ”

"Princess, the prince may have been deliberately smeared by Gu Fanguo, but the prince appointed Tang Xinjie, who was extravagant and lewd, as a staff member by his side, and he didn't know anyone." Another student stood up and said loudly.

"Do you know Tang Xinjie?"

"I don't know."

"I don't know you, why do you say he's extravagant?"

"Everyone knows that he spends his days drinking."

"Cut, there are a lot of playboys in the capital, and the law of the Great Zhou stipulates that men can't find women? And he is said to be an adulterous woman, who is the bitter master? Who did he bully? Say it in a proper name. ”

"Even if he doesn't have a lewd woman, but he seduces women, many women have put their minds to him, causing lovesickness and suicide." Another student stood up and said indignantly.

"Oh, is it? Which women of good families did he seduc? Who did it hurt? Jing Chen asked curiously.

A kneeling student stood up, looked at Jing Chen with contempt, and said disdainfully, "Isn't the princess an example? You've been seduced by him, and that's why you're standing here and speaking for him. ”

"Hahaha, it's really funny," Jing Chen laughed loudly, "I think it's your own wrong mind, so you deliberately distort others." Tang San Gongzi did make women tempted, I am also a woman, and I am also tempted by him, which is true, but he has never seduced me. Everyone in the capital knows that it is me Jing Chen who is willing to be cheap, and he is chasing Tang San Gongzi with a stubborn face. Not only did he not accept it, he didn't even want to see me, so how could he seduce me? It's like a piece of jade, many people will be tempted to take it for themselves when they see it, but they are not moved. With such a simple truth, you can't discern where you are qualified to make irresponsible remarks about major national affairs. I fell for the tricks of the ancient kingdom and was taken advantage of, so I was embarrassed to shout in front of the prince's brother. Or are you all spies who have been bought by the ancient kingdom? Intentionally come here to smear the prince and harm the Great Zhou? Come on, take down all these suspicious people, send them to Shuntianfu, let Lord Yin of the mansion screen them well, and don't let the spies of the foreign feudal clan run rampant in the capital. ”

In the suburbs of Beijing, a ship quietly docked, and a scribe wrapped in a black cloak disembarked with two escorts, and hurriedly stepped into a carriage that had been waiting there for a long time. The two guards sat outside the car, and one of the masters in the car took the cloak handed over by the master, and after settling down, he handed the master a cup of hot tea and reported everything that had happened in the capital in the past few days to the master.

"You said that Yiqing participated in the overthrow of the prince of Gufan Kingdom?" The scribe asked, taking a sip of tea.

"That's a guess on our part. Those rumors came from the Tianfang Inn and the Guiren Teahouse under his control, and those people from the ancient fan country also lived in the Tianfang Inn when they came. He ostensibly went to the Tianfang Inn to inspect the business in the past few days, but the people we planted in the Tianfang Inn said that they saw him enter the courtyard of those Gufan people. He thought he could keep his business a secret, so he didn't pay much attention to it. ”

"Idiot!"

What the subordinates couldn't understand was why Princess Jingchen would stand up and speak for the prince. But the effect of her standing up is really good. One is that everyone in Beijing knows that the prince is vying for the throne, and Jing Chen is the opposite of the prince. Second, she has been chasing Tang Xinjie for many years, everyone thinks that she knows this man very well, and this man never gives her a good face, she should be very objective when she evaluates this man this time. And this time she can gain a good reputation for herself, and they all say that although Princess Jingchen has a bad temper, she is a true lover, and she can admit in front of everyone that she can't chase a man. ”

"How did the palace react to the credentials submitted by Gu Fanguo?"

"The emperor is in a coma and has not woken up, so he naturally stays in the middle and does not have a hair."

"He's very good at timing."

"It's just that when I came, there was news in the palace, saying that the Queen Mother invited the envoys of the ancient fan country to enter the palace in the afternoon."

"Hahaha, it looks like I came back at the right time. The king's illness should also be cured, and he can enter the palace to greet the queen mother. "Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there have been regulations that the prince is not allowed to go out of Beijing without authorization except for orders or errands. Therefore, since he was young, everyone knew that he was not in good health, and often closed his door to recuperate at home, and often did not go out for several months.