Entering the palace gate with a familiar car, Fang Qiuyan walked slowly on the way to the main hall, unhurried.

He didn't give advance notice, but everyone knew in their hearts that he would definitely come to the court today.

The dignified regent walked silently in the huge palace alone, and the scene of leading the army into the palace to quell the chaos unconsciously appeared in his mind. At that time, many soldiers were there, and he was surrounded by a number of familiar faces, and the brothers continued to follow him after he ascended the throne, accompanying him everywhere to clear the internal enemy, until this time he fought against the Dongsheng Kingdom......

They followed him without complaint, even if they died in battle, they did not complain. But such a group of iron-blooded men with affection and righteousness were calculated and died on the battlefield for no apparent reason, how could he not take revenge?

Deliberately slowed down, and when he came to the front of the main hall, it was already early inside.

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

A five-year-old child wearing a dragon robe sits on a high seat, and the queen mother of the current dynasty sits at the bottom right.

"Flat."

The child's crisp voice was immature, he didn't understand why he got up so early to go to court, and he didn't understand what the old men below were saying, the little eyes only knew to stare at his mother, and then said a few words according to the process, and his task was completed.

Everyone got up one after another, and the Queen Mother said in a deep voice: "The regent just returned to Beijing yesterday, and he still doesn't forget the state affairs after a long journey, and now he should be on the way to the palace. ”

The ministers looked at each other, there has been nothing major except for the southeast locust plague recently, they are mainly here today to impeach the regent and the defeat in the battle with the Dongsheng Kingdom, but they themselves are not present, where should they start with the condemnation they are ready to?

"Queen Mother, three months ago, there was news of the annihilation of our army, the life and death of the regent is unknown, and now the prince is still alive and has returned to the dynasty, I still hope that the prince will give an explanation for this defeat. What is the reason for the defeat, who will bear the responsibility, and who can afford it? ”

The first to stand up was Lord Zhao of the Criminal Department, and the Queen Mother glanced at it, knowing that this person was one of the backbones of Shi Tianming's faction.

After the old man finished speaking, before the Queen Mother could speak, a military attache stood up and said indignantly: "Queen Mother, the minister thinks that victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, and the prince is not born with a god of war, and accidental defeats cannot represent his true strength, but more about luck and timing." Besides, Lord Zhao may not know that there are only 50,000 soldiers in the battle between the two armies against our side, but Dongsheng Kingdom has sent 70,000 elite soldiers, and the commanders of both sides are famous generals of their own countries. Do you think that the prince should be responsible for not being able to command, so dare to ask who has the courage to command in this kind of battle situation except for the prince? Could it be you, Lord Zhao? ”

"Nonsense! General Zhang, you are secretly changing the concept and using strong words! Lord Zhao's angry beard was trembling, pointing at the other party and scolding, "A defeat on the battlefield is a defeat, since it fails, someone must stand up and take responsibility, even if he is the regent, he can't be exempted from responsibility, otherwise how can the souls of my 50,000 soldiers rest in peace?" ”

General Zhang is also furious, civilian officials can only play lip service, they have never seen real swords and guns, only those who have been on the battlefield know that fighting a war is not lip service at all, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, how many people dare to pat their chests and guarantee a big victory when the real fight starts?

"Lord Zhao, you have already exposed your ignorance by saying this. You don't know how the prince behaved in the barracks, and how the soldiers of the whole army loved and revered him! Being able to fight with the prince, defend the country, and even die on the battlefield is the glory of our soldiers, how much do you know? ”

The two of them quarreled at the beginning of the early dynasty. The little emperor blinked and watched the two red-faced adults quarrel, but the queen mother had a big head for a while, and her head was buzzing with their voices.

The courtiers were already surprised by this, because the two had been arguing for two or three months! Every time someone from the Tianming faction of the court master would jump out and say bad things about the regent, and several generals in the court would jump out and argue with reason, and the two sides were completely in a state of bickering.

"Enough, if you want to quarrel, go out and quarrel, the mourning family has a headache when you hear it."

The Queen Mother finally couldn't help it, and waved her hand to interrupt: "The regent has returned to the capital, you are so quarrelsome that you might as well go to him himself for evaluation." Let's wait for him to come back and talk about this war! ”

"What the Queen Mother said is, but since the prince has returned, why didn't he see the early dynasty?"

"Yes, Queen Mother, the prince disappeared for a few months after the war, and we don't know where he was during this time, could it be that he was seriously injured on the battlefield?"

At the mention of injury, the crowd once again fell into discussion. If the regent is seriously injured and unable to serve the council, there will inevitably be some people who will come out to make trouble, but the person sent to monitor it means that the prince is obsessed with beauty and has no intention of government affairs, and everyone is a little uncertain about what the situation is.

The discussion in the hall was even louder than before, and the Queen Mother frowned, holding her forehead with one hand, and once again felt a deep sense of powerlessness in her heart.

"I haven't seen you for a long time, but all my colleagues are still in good spirits, and this king is very pleased."

The main entrance of the main hall slowly opened, and a man dressed in a black dragon court uniform appeared at the door. Under the small golden mask, a pair of eyes were like deep pools, and he still had a familiar smile on his face, and the morning light shone in from behind, gilding his whole person with a faint light.

Fang Qiuyan glanced at everyone, and only the sound of his footsteps echoing in the silent hall.

Passing through the courtiers, the powerful aura made all the people who passed him subconsciously take two steps back, not daring to get too close to him.

Walking to the front of the steps, Fang Qiuyan bowed and saluted: "See the emperor and the queen mother, the minister is late." ”

There is only one person in the dynasty who does not have to kneel and bow, and only one person can enter and leave the palace freely with weapons, and that person is Fang Qiuyan. His court dress has a dragon and phoenix picture outlined by gold thread, which is extremely high-profile to show his status as regent.

"Brother!"

The little emperor was particularly surprised when he saw him suddenly, and he jumped directly from the dragon chair and pounced on him with his calves.

This scene made everyone present exclaim, and even the Queen Mother got up from her chair.

The little guy was very nimble enough to dodge the siege of several eunuchs and jump down the steps!

Qiu Yan took a few steps forward and took the little emperor into his arms, but he was hugged by the little guy and rubbed around affectionately, refusing to come down, "brother" and "brother" kept calling.

No one expected such a shocking change, several eunuchs gathered around Fang Qiuyan and did not dare to reach out to take the child back, for fear that the little emperor would suddenly burst into tears, and the royal face would be swept away.

Fang Qiuyan raised her head and gave the Queen Mother a look to indicate that it was okay for her, in front of everyone's eyes, the regent was holding the child in both hands, his face did not change at all, and he smiled and coaxed the little emperor and said: "I haven't seen you for half a year, the emperor has grown tall and fat again, is he trying to eat recently?" ”

"How does my brother know that I have eaten too much! The queen mother said that I should eat less, and I won't be able to hold it when my brother comes back. ”

The child had a faint smell of milk, and Qiu Yan walked on the steps step by step with him in her arms, coaxing him quietly while putting him on the dragon chair, half-squatting in front of him to eye level.

"Your Majesty, the early dynasty is not over yet, the minister wants to say something to everyone, will you wait for me obediently?"

"Don't! I just want my brother to hug me! ”

The Queen Mother on the side looked at Qiu Yan helplessly, hoping that he could make a move to restrain this leather child, and no matter what, he would persist until he retreated from the dynasty, even if he returned to the harem and made trouble.

Qiu Yan saw that the child was holding his clothes and refused to let go, so he took out a wooden carved figure from his waist. It was made by him when he coaxed Wen Tiantian, the two were a pair, the girl was buried in the sea of fire after giving Wen Tiantian, and his own was carried with him.

"Your Majesty, this villain is given to you, the minister will go and get busy first, let him play with you for a while, okay?"

The child's eyes were attracted by the exquisitely carved wooden figure, two little hands held it, his eyes stared at the wooden figure brightly, and he paused for a moment before he happily responded: "My brother has become smaller, let my little brother play with me, and the big brother will be busy!" ”

The five-year-old child was so sensible, Qiu Yan touched his head dotingly, got up and looked at the Queen Mother.

The son was appeased, and the Queen Mother also breathed a sigh of relief, nodded at him and sat back in her place.

The way the emperor and the regent got along deeply shocked all the ministers present, and it was really incomprehensible that the little emperor, who even the queen mother and the personal eunuchs couldn't coax, could become so well-behaved under the regent, and he didn't make a noise to play with a gadget casually.

After tidying up the wrinkled clothes of the child a little, Qiu Yan turned around and sat on the left-hand chair closest to the throne, with a deep gaze with a bit of sharpness.

"The king knows what his colleagues just discussed, and he just wants the king to explain the previous defeat, right?"

His eyes fell on Lord Zhao, who was as quiet as a chicken at this time, and Lord Zhao, who couldn't wait to be invisible, suddenly felt like he was on pins and needles, and had to stand up and say respectfully: "Lord Wang, you have led the troops to fight very hard, and this accidental battlefield defeat naturally doesn't mean anything." Chen just thinks that you can tell the real battlefield situation, and everyone may be able to help you analyze the reasons for the defeat and avoid such a situation next time. ”

Lord Zhao's attitude was very different from before, and he never mentioned the word "responsible", and he instantly understood the hard work of the regent leading his troops to fight.

After he finished speaking, Qiu Yan said: "Lord Zhao's words are wrong, and the defeat of the Dongsheng Kingdom in the first battle, this king does have an unshirkable responsibility. ”

Admit it?

All the ministers thought it was incredible, and the argument dragged to this point, as long as he himself came out and said, "The responsibility is not on me", his perfect image of the regent of the god of war was preserved. Come up and admit your mistake directly, which one is it playing?

"However, this king wants to say that the defeat in this battle is by no means an accident in the mouth of Zhao Da, but someone has made an obstacle from it, intending to make the two countries suffer heavy losses in order to make profits here."

This sentence is very long, and in fact, it can be summed up in four words: "collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country."

Qiu Yan didn't seem to care at all that directly pointing out that there were traitors in the court would make the courtiers suspicious of each other, and each of them stood in line, saying it so bluntly would only make the royalist faction led by Shi Tianming and the foreign relatives faction led by Beiguancheng fall against each other, making his own side look on the wall.

"Everyone, 50,000 heroic souls are buried in the frontier, and our Qiu Yan will inevitably be unable to escape its responsibility. As you can see, my eye has been buried for 50,000 brothers, and in addition to the pension for the families according to the law, the king will also hand over the money for the next three years to the families of all the soldiers as a token of consolation. ”

The regent's annual allowance is distributed according to ordinary royal relatives, which is not much for people like them, but the reason why Fang Qiuyan did this is on the one hand to do his part to help the families of the soldiers, and on the other hand, he is also to make his position clear, so that everyone understands that his determination to catch the traitor is unshakable.

After saying this, the courtiers did not dare to speak. Several military attachés standing above the court looked at him with complicated expressions, looking at half of his masked face.

There has been a discussion about why the Lord Regent always wears a mask when he returns, and presumably no one will ever disagree with it after today.

Fang Qiuyan put one hand on the arm of the chair, looked at Shi Tianming, who had never made a sound, the corners of his mouth were hooked, and he said curiously: "Master Shi, do you think this king's self-punishment is still reasonable?" ”

Shi Tianming took a step forward and replied in a proper manner: "The prince values love and righteousness, has the courage to take responsibility, and is an example for us to learn. ”

"By saying this, you should be deemed to agree with the king's approach?" Qiu Yan's face suddenly sank, and he continued to ask in a cold voice, "Since Master Shi thinks that it is reasonable for this king to pay three years of compensation and one eye, then what price should the traitor who collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country pay to appease the heroic souls of 50,000 soldiers?" ”