Just when the dust had settled and Zhao Guochaotang decided to rest and recuperate, the arrival of two pieces of news made Zhao Guochaotang fall into chaos again.

On this day, the Empress Dowager was discussing matters related to the reconstruction of the northern border, and Shangshutai Shangshu ran in with a copy of the report.

"The Empress Dowager of Qiyu, the King of Jixi, the King of Jiaodong, the Dongjun County Shouyu, and the Dongyi rebellion, the number has reached 200,000.

At present, the rebels have conquered the entire territory of Jeju and part of Pyongan Prefecture in Xuzhou, and the 20,000 garrisoned in Dongjun have been completely wiped out, and only 30,000 of the 150,000 Xiang troops in Dongjun remain, and Dongjun is in a precarious situation. The county guard of Dongjun prayed for the imperial court to send troops to rescue. ”

After hearing the news, Chu Haowen was really shocked, the regular army of a dignified county was beaten like this by a group of barbarians, it was really embarrassing.

The Empress Dowager sighed deeply, raised her eyes to look at the courtiers below, and asked tentatively, "Can the Aiqing have a good plan?" ”

Everyone, you look at me, I see that you don't know how to speak, and in the end, Prime Minister Xiao Yunzhou stood up.

"Empress Dowager Qiqi, at present, the imperial court has just lost hundreds of thousands of troops, and the defense of various places is improvised, and even the Beijing camp guarding the capital has only 5,000 people left, and there is no army to be transferred at present, and after dealing with the pension problem of the soldiers killed in the war, the imperial court now has no money."

After Xiao Yunzhou finished speaking, Chen Run'an, the head of the household, stood up and reported, "Qi the Empress Dowager, as of yesterday, there are 650,000 taels of silver left in the imperial court, which can only maintain the expenses of the imperial court for half a month, in addition, there was an earthquake in Fengzhou, Beijun, and two or one million disaster relief silver is needed, and this matter is ......."

Before Chen Run'an finished speaking, the Empress Dowager, who couldn't bear it, fainted on the table, and suddenly there was chaos in the hall.

Soon, the Empress Dowager was sent back to the Longevity Palace by everyone, and Chu Haowen also stood aside and watched anxiously as the imperial doctor took the pulse of the Empress Dowager.

At this moment, Chu Haowen had a lot of thoughts in his heart, if the Empress Dowager was ill at this moment, it would make this already stormy court face the crisis of capsizing.

The Empress Dowager is the only one she can rely on in this palace, and if she falls, she will not be able to move an inch in this palace in the future, and she will even be in danger of losing her life.

Looking at the minister next to him, Murong Xueyuan, Chu Haowen's eyes were cold, and he was ready to fight to the death in his heart.

If the Empress Dowager really couldn't afford to fall ill, she immediately took the dead and ordered the forbidden army to kill these people in the palace as the emperor, he didn't believe it, and his father didn't leave him any strength.

Thinking of this, Chu Haowen silently took a small step back, and then looked at the Queen Mother standing next to him, Chu Haowen stared at the imperial doctor on the side, his eyes were fierce.

"I tell you! If something happens to the Empress Dowager, all of you, including your nine clans, will have to die. ”

At this time, Chu Haowen was domineering and exposed, and his words were full of killing intent, which frightened several imperial doctors to ensure that the empress dowager would be fine.

The Queen Mother Murong Xueyuan, who was standing on the side, looked at Chu Haowen who was domineering and exposed, and seemed to see Chu Pingzhe's figure, which made her feel a hint of threat, but when she turned her head, she felt that her thoughts were ridiculous, Chu Haowen's current appearance was just a normal reaction of a child who was afraid of losing her relatives.

After several hours of waiting, the Empress Dowager finally opened her eyes, "Grandma! You're finally awake! Seeing the Empress Dowager wake up, Chu Haowen excitedly went up and hugged her and refused to let go.

"Okay, the mourning family is fine." Looking at Chu Haowen who was holding him, the Empress Dowager touched his head dotingly.

"Ever since you were sick, Your Majesty has been at your bedside and refuses to leave." Murong Xueyuan on the side brought the decocted medicine to the Queen Mother, with a smile on her face.

"The queen mother has a good reputation, and the queen mother has been with her grandmother here for a long time." After taking Murong Xueqi's medicine, Chu Haowen also smiled.

Oops, it's really a scene of filial piety and happiness between mother and son,

After taking the medicine, the Empress Dowager put it on the table beside her, and said to Murong Xueyuan: "The minister at the door should have been waiting for a long time, Empress Dowager, you go and call them in." ”

After a while, several auxiliary ministers and six scholars entered the inner sanctum.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, the Empress Dowager told everyone her thoughts: "Ladies and gentlemen, the mourning family has thought about it for a long time, and feels that the mourning family is old and decrepit, and can no longer help the emperor deal with the government affairs, so the mourning family decided to go to the Nanshan Buddha Temple to cultivate from now on, and all the affairs of the court will be taken care of by the queen mother." ”

At this time, the expressions of everyone who heard this were like those dumb looking at beautiful women, and everyone was stunned and couldn't say a word.

"The Empress Dowager, this is not a joke."

"The Empress Dowager, don't scare us."

"Yes, you are not here, how can this complicated court concubine be dealt with."

In Cining Palace, everyone was gossiping to advise the Empress Dowager, whether from the perspective of the court or from the perspective of personal interests, they did not want the Empress Dowager to stay away from the court.

"Okay, okay, don't persuade anymore, the mourning family is already old, these days of complicated government and politics have made the mourning family feel tired, the mourning family wants to live a few more years, do you want the old woman and me to go to see Huaizong early?"

The Empress Dowager clapped her hands, looked at everyone with no annoyance, and kept panting as she spoke, so frightened that everyone didn't dare to persuade them anymore, for fear of making people angry and leaving.

"The ministers will obey the orders of the Empress Dowager." Helpless, everyone could only agree.

Seeing that everyone was not persuading, the Empress Dowager had a smile on her face, and immediately drove everyone away, "Okay, let's all retreat." Wen'er, pay attention. ”

Murong Xueyuan, who returned to Funing Palace, hurriedly called his cronies into the palace.

Looking at the people who had arrived, Murong Xueyuan opened the meeting, "Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think about the Empress Dowager's delegation of power. ”

"The Queen Mother, the minister thinks, whether it is true or false or the Queen Mother wants to test us, this is an excellent opportunity for us." Wu Qinghai, the waiter of the Criminal Department, said that he stood up first.

"Tell me." Murong Xue Kite raised his hand and asked him to continue.

"The minister believes that the Empress Dowager's visit to Nanshan to recuperate this time is a great opportunity for us to control power.

As soon as the Empress Dowager leaves, the people in the neutral forces within the court will inevitably be in a period of chaos, and at this time, if we can seize the opportunity to pull them over, this can expand our power, and we can also eliminate some people on this basis, and install our people, even if the Empress Dowager finds out in time and returns to the court, then the court at this time is not under her control. ”

"And what if you can't get rid of it?" Just when Wu Qinghai was fantasizing about the future, a sudden sentence broke his illusion, and when he turned his head, the person who spoke was Ning Qian, the official of the ministry.

Wu Qinghai arched his hand and asked, "Lord Ning, why do you think that the empress dowager, who is in power, can't get rid of a few courtiers." ”

Ning Qian glanced at Wu Qinghai, and then saluted Murong Xue Kite and said: "Queen Mother, the minister thinks that there may be fraud in this matter, a few days ago, the Empress Dowager was still full of spring breeze when she contacted the envoys of the Liao State, and even yesterday the ministers saw that the Empress Dowager was full of energy, how could she suddenly fall ill and go to Nanshan to recuperate." ”

Hearing Ning Qian's words, Wu Qinghai suddenly smiled and said: "Lord Ning, you must know that the Empress Dowager is already old and frail, and the spirit of the previous days may be just holding on, and the Empress Dowager also said that the Empress Dowager's body has been seriously overdrawn, and if you don't cultivate again, I'm afraid there won't be long left." ”

"That's right, as long as the Empress Dowager lives, some people will not rebel, and there will be no disruption within the court, even if there is a change of internal power, as long as she is alive, her coercion will be there, and the court will not be in chaos, maybe the Empress Dowager will also take this into account before she will propose the matter of cultivating in Nanshan."

At this time, Sheng Jingquan, the Shangshu of the Criminal Department, stood up to support Wu Qinghai, as soon as he spoke, everyone in the hall agreed, and at this time he changed his words and said: "But Lord Ning's worries are not wrong, in case this is the conspiracy of the Empress Dowager, if we do it, she will counter our army, then we will lose more than we gain."

I think it's better to move slowly, not to be too hasty and slow, and if we find a trap, we should immediately retract it, and if it doesn't change, we should move faster. His words were well-founded and made everyone praise them.

Murong Xue Kite asked, "According to your meaning, how long should it be based?" ”

"The minister thinks it can be ......"

In the Prime Minister's Mansion, Xiao Yunzhou had just finished discussing with the people of his faction how to deal with the Queen Mother in the future, and when he thought of this, Xiao Yunzhou's brain was buzzing.

As soon as the Empress Dowager leaves, the Empress Dowager will inevitably attack the former Empress Dowager and her party, and then she will inevitably be her own subordinates, but although she is an auxiliary minister, there are five other people who will disperse their powers, and the Empress Dowager has the support of two auxiliary ministers, and she does not have the absolute strength to confront the Empress Dowager, and she can only take one step at a time for today's plan.

"It seems that the prime minister has a headache!" At this moment, a man stood silently at the door of Xiao Yunzhou, but when he saw someone coming, Xiao Yunzhou's face showed a smile.

Three days later, the Empress Dowager went to Nanshan under the eyes of a crowd.

In a tavern in the capital, four or five men were drinking, and one of them seemed to have drunk too much, and sighed after taking a sip of wine.

"Brother Zhang, what's wrong?" Seeing that the man was in a low mood, the partner next to the man couldn't help but ask with concern.

"Alas, Brother Li, these days I feel like I should transfer my family property to the south." The eldest brother looked up at the man and sighed again.

"What's the situation?" Brother Li on the side asked with an uncertain expression.

And Brother Zhang looked at his front and back, left and right, and then looked at Brother Li beside him, and whispered in his ear: "Brother Li, I got the news that Dongyi rebelled, and the imperial court's army in Dongjun has been wiped out, and Dongyi will soon go to the capital to fight." ”

"Oops!" Hearing the news, Brother Li hurriedly covered Brother Zhang's most, "My eldest brother, where did you get the news, you can't talk nonsense about this kind of thing." ”

"Can I talk nonsense!" Brother Zhang opened Brother Li's hand and looked at him with resentment in his eyes, "Let me tell you, the fourth uncle of my sister-in-law's second cousin's third cousin is on an errand in the palace, this is what he personally told me, and the queen mother was angry." ”

"Hiss~~~" Looking at Brother Zhang's affirmative eyes, Brother Li immediately stood up and arched his hand at Brother Zhang, "Brother Zhang, thank you for your kindness, the younger brother went back." After saying that, he went downstairs to check out without looking back.

And coincidentally, when Brother Li got up to leave, the diners at the table next to him also checked out and left.

Soon, rumors spread in the capital.

"Let me tell you, the Dongyi army has already broken through the county seat of Dongjun."

"I heard that the Dongyi army has reached Henan County."

"It is said that the 200,000 troops of the imperial court have been wiped out."

"What? The Dongyi army has reached Gyeonggi County! ”

"Isn't it, the Empress Dowager is dead?"

"Isn't it, the emperor is running away?"

All of a sudden, people in the capital were panicked, and countless wealthy businessmen frantically sold their property and frantically transferred their property to Jiangnan.