Return to Beijing (IX) (M)

In the East Palace of the Prince, Yiyi looked at his cousin Lan Qingzhou indifferently. The most embarrassing thing about today's palace banquet is him. He has just returned from the imperial tomb, according to the rules of the ancestors, after the beginning of spring, he needs to go to the imperial tomb to incense, and ask the ancestors to bless this year's Great Zhou with smooth wind and rain, abundant grains, and peace and security. In previous years, the emperor ordered a prince or a member of the royal family to go. Great Zhou to filial piety to govern the country, this year due to the emperor's dragon body is not safe, he, as a filial son, to take this not only the imperial mausoleum incense, but also to go to the Baoguo Temple on the return trip to incense, pray for the father and the emperor, do a full set. He even calculated the time to hurry back today, flew through the capital market, rushed back to the palace to participate in the sacrifice and prayer in the palace, and put on a busy and worried image for the country and the people in front of the people of the capital and the civil and military officials.

Who knows, he arranged everything so hard, but what he saw was that Concubine Chen suddenly made trouble at the palace banquet, and all his words alluded to the conspiracy instigated by the prince and the queen. Two days ago, Xinjie sent someone to report to him, saying that someone sneaked into his house and tried to kidnap his fiancée, and the person who came received the order in the Leopard Tower, according to the records of the Leopard Tower, it was the order placed by the grandmother next to Concubine Chen in the palace. At that time, the letter sent by Xinjie stated that he felt that this matter was strange and needed to be further investigated. At the same time, Xinjie also noted that he personally felt that this matter was aimed at him personally, not at the crown prince, and had nothing to do with the East Palace.

This is good, so that the people of the Manchu Dynasty are guessing, is the Lan family trying to attack the Tang family? Or is he, the prince, who wants to attack his staff. After the palace banquet was dispersed, he originally wanted to find Xinjie to eliminate the suspicions between the two sides, but the person who went to invite Xinjie had not yet returned, and Xinjie had not yet set foot in the East Palace. He was speculating whether the imperial grandmother would do something peaceful to appease Xinjie, and whether it would be appropriate for him to go to the Empress Dowager's palace at this time to clarify the facts, but Lan Qingzhou came to ask him to relieve the queen mother.

"Let's start with that, whose idea was this? Attack Xinjie? So far, he doesn't know that the queen mother and uncle have made a bigger move to annex the Leopard Tower, and the focus is still on the kidnapping.

"The prince can't listen to Concubine Chen's words, isn't her grandmother who placed the order already dead? Although she had dealings with people in her aunt's palace before she died, who didn't have a friend in the palace, but the people she got close to happened to be in her aunt's palace. ”

"If that's all there is to it, why did you kill her?" In the early morning of the second day of the accident, this grandmother fell in her yard, broke her head and no one knew about it, bled too much, and died. A healthy mother in the prime of life is making it clear that she is not a natural death, this kind of murderous method can be seen by anyone with brains, isn't this her more and more black?

"Cousin, Zhou'er really doesn't know what's going on. However, Zhaozhou'er thought about it, her aunt had been in the palace for so many years, and she should not use such a rough technique. ”

"It's not rough, it's because this kind of thing is common in the palace, and if the thread is broken, there will be no follow-up. It was decided that Concubine Chen didn't dare to do anything under the premise that there was no physical evidence. ”

"Anyway, now that it's happened, we can only fix it, right? Aunt isn't it for my cousin, although this time I missed, but it's also for our future plans? ”

"Not our future, it's yours. Not including me. You know that Xinjie is my person, and you still do it. ”

"Cousin, what I said is not for you, you should believe that everything we do is for you. But the Tang family is not necessarily. This time, it is clear that Tang Xinjie knows that we did the matter of the Leopard Tower, if we take control of the Leopard Tower, what a great help for your big event, but he also sent someone to rescue Qian Mingxiang's old immortal, isn't this deliberately doing the right thing with us? ”

"You want to take control of the Leopard Tower?" Yiyi squinted. He was a little surprised, Xinjie reported to him in the news, it only mentioned that someone placed an order through the Leopard Tower, and let people kidnap his fiancée, and when he sent someone to the Leopard Tower, he found that the old owner of the Leopard Tower was imprisoned by his daughter and son-in-law, and Xinjie's people rescued him easily, and did not mention that the Lan family was involved in the Leopard Leakage.

Yiyi's expression made Lan Qingzhou stunned, and he was nervous for a while, maybe he accidentally said something. Maybe my aunt didn't mention the matter of the Leopard Tower, and Tang Xinjie didn't sue them in front of Yiyi for this matter.

Yiyi's finger tapped on the table, why didn't Xinjie tell him? He hurried back from the imperial tomb to attend the sacrificial flower feast, and had not yet met him privately. The mother sent someone to kidnap his fiancée, and he sent someone to deliver a letter, which did not clearly point to the queen mother. The Lan family used the brains of the leopard building, with his experience in the rivers and lakes, how could he not see it, but there was no mention in the letter to him. Yiyi felt irritable in his heart, among the many so-called staff members and followers, only Xinjie was staying by his side for pure help. So he also sees him as a confidant. According to the private agreement between the two of them, after he ascends to the throne and everything transitions smoothly, Xinjie will return to the rivers and lakes and continue to be his third son. But at this time, the queen mother did something to him, and the queen mother didn't know about this agreement, but the queen mother knew very well that Xinjie was not a staff member on the surface, he was the general Yutai who was in charge of Pingluan Pavilion. When he was a child, he was often hurt by the loving behavior of his mother and queen. When he grows up, although he can understand the anxiety caused to her by her embarrassing position, the diaphragm in his heart should not disappear with understanding. At this time, before she ascended to the throne, she was so eager to attack the people around her...

Lan Qingzhou saw that Yiyi didn't speak, thinking that his words had played a role, so he boldly continued: "Aunt has been worried about your affairs all these years, that is, I am afraid that something will go wrong and affect you, so I will think of subduing the Leopard Tower, so that we can have more eyeliner and be well-informed, in case there is any trouble, we can be prepared." Although the Leopard Tower is a group of Jianghu people, they often help the big families in the capital to do some of the following things, if someone wants to plot against them, maybe they will also find them. ”

Speaking of this, Lan Qingzhou glanced up at Yiyi again, and saw that his expression had not changed, so he boldly continued: "Now Tang Xinjie must also understand this." If we take over the Leopard Tower, maybe even a lot of rumors from the Tang family and the Chen family can be received, this must be something that the people of the Tang family don't want to see, and Tang Xinjie definitely doesn't want Your Majesty to have anything else to rely on, so that his position next to you will be more stable, right? It is not wrong for His Majesty to reuse capable people, but he is a member of the Tang family and the grandnephew of the Queen Mother, and he must help the Queen Mother. Is it hard to guarantee that he was not sent by the Queen Mother to spy on you? ”

Yiyi still didn't speak, and he didn't have any expression. Lan Qingzhou was a little confused about what this prince's cousin was thinking, and he hesitated to say something that wanted to continue to smear Tang Xinjie.

"Finished?" Yiyi said flatly.

"Huh?! That's what I mean. ”

"Let's go back when we're done."

Without any reaction or comment, Lan Qingzhou was a little depressed: "Cousin, you better think about it." Tang Xinjie and the Tang family, you must guard against it. ”

Yiyi didn't even look at him, just reached out to get the pen on the table, Lan Qingzhou stood there and walked It is not a matter of not leaving. The eunuch on duty next to him came over: "Master Lan, the old slave will send you out." ”

Lan Qingzhou glanced at him fiercely, and was just about to turn around and leave, but remembered again, the purpose of his arrival today, he had to turn around again: "Cousin, you better hurry up to the Queen Mother and say a few words for the mother." If something bad happens, it will be extremely bad for you. ”

"How does this prince need you to teach him how to do things?" Yiyi's tone was very flat. But Lan Qingzhou was shocked in his heart, although he was the prince in the past, but he was very easy-going, especially the people who treated the Lan family, Now he looked up at him, and suddenly felt that the demeanor of this superior person put a lot of pressure on him, Maybe their Lan family was too naïve, forgetting that Yiyi was the prince first and was his cousin. Realizing this, Lan Qingzhou hurriedly knelt down: "The minister doesn't dare." Just begged the prince to think twice. ”

"You didn't say hello to me when you first started, and now that you remember, I cleaned up the mess for you?"

"It's because we didn't do things well, and I hope that the prince will look at the queen's face and help."

Qi Feng, the head of the cabinet, hurriedly walked into the cabinet office of the south study, and before he had time to take a breath, he began to habitually flip through the documents that needed to be reviewed on the table. Over the years he has become accustomed to a busy life. Many people in the court and many literati in the capital admired him very much. Coming from the Jiangnan clan, they haven't seen Lord Qi slack off for a day for many years, and they are conscientious and conscientious for Da Zhou. Today is no different from Qi Feng in the past, although there are sacrifices and palace banquets, for him they are all some passing scenes, the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty will not stop because of palace banquets or other affairs every day. The accumulated official affairs need to be dealt with on time, and the most important thing is that some specific affairs are implemented and executed.

Several auxiliary ministers in the cabinet have just returned from the palace banquet, and some people still have the heart to gossip about the farce at the palace banquet, but seeing that Lord Qi has begun to be busy with official business, he can only calm down his restless heart to work.

Yi Heng and several other royal children and companions walked past the door, and glanced inside, Although he was cynical on the surface, he was still very convinced by this group of dedicated cabinets headed by Lord Qi. Especially Qi Feng, he is not shocked by honor and disgrace, three hundred and sixty days a year, and he is never busy. He was single, neither for the benefit of his family, nor even for his own pleasure and pastime.