In the Penglai Palace, the Queen Mother was really a little anxious, after all, the Qibi made many words and deeds very tough, and the new Turk was not as far away from the ocean as the small country of Dongying, and the Ashina clan had further expanded the western and northern regions since the unification of the barbarians, and its territory was at the junction of Longyou, Guannei, Hedong, and Hebei, which was an imminent threat. At this time, the Pan and Liao coalition forces had captured Youyan and forced Jinshuo, and the Queen Mother finally stopped being blindly optimistic, thinking that the new Turks were not to worry, and at this juncture, they must stabilize the new Turks, but they could not agree to pay the currency...... Da Zhou really can't afford to lose such a large amount of money and food!

Although there are two auxiliary kings of Nanyang and Yichuan in the Zongzheng Hall, as long as the Queen Mother compromises and agrees to pay the currency, He Qi will definitely stand up and question her improper governance, and the family will not approve of agreeing to such humiliating conditions.

Among several major cronies, Xie Raoping did not return to Kyoto, Mao Wei and Yuan Dezhi simply advocated asking the guilty to make peace, don't expect the two of them to come forward for peace talks, Yoshikawa is willing to try to deal with Che Birang, but the Queen Mother is not at ease to let him take on the heavy responsibility - if it is done badly, it will naturally be no good, if it is done, the Queen Mother is very worried that Yoshikawa's international influence will overshadow her limelight.

can only rely on He Zhan and other rising stars, among which Xue Luli's talent is a leader, but Xue Luli has never even had experience in the end, and the Queen Mother is actually not sure whether he can successfully solve this problem.

Fortunately, Lu Li didn't let the Queen Mother suffer for too long, and the scale leak in the Penglai Hall had just been calculated, and Lu Li returned to the palace with Eleven Niang to resume his life.

As a result, the Queen Mother breathed a long sigh of relief, and her face couldn't help showing a look of surprise, but after asking about the conversation between Lu Li and Qi Birang, the surprise turned into surprise: "Xuanzhi actually showed his strength first, didn't he worry about it and angered the other party?" But I've heard from Honglu Siqing that since yesterday's assassination, Qi Birang has been extremely irritable, and even almost clashed with the guards, which shows his anger. ”

"Before the minister met with the king, he also carefully inquired about the head of the team who was transferred to the academy yesterday to be responsible for the defense, it is said that although the minister was irritable, there were seven or eight accidents in just one day, but he could only conflict with the guards, but when the minister entered the meeting, it happened that the king of the contract was thundering, intending to scold the minister orchid, but when he heard the minister's words, he was very calm and looked at the minister's official uniform, and unconsciously, he had already revealed his true nature, and he was not a foolish and arrogant person."

Lu Li elaborated very calmly, only calling it an on-the-spot judgment, and did not mention the analysis in advance: "The minister is suspicious, this person obviously cherishes the city government, why does he deliberately behave recklessly?" Therefore, he first showed his strength, blamed him for the fallacy in his words, and used appropriate coercion, as expected, the king did not speak out again, especially when he heard about the identity of the assassin, although he also had doubts, but after a brief explanation by the minister, he accepted the judgment result. ”

The Queen Mother frowned slightly, clearly unable to figure out what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd for a while, but she did not show the suspicion in her heart, and motioned to Lu Li to continue.

"This shows that the king of Qi Bi actually has a guess in his heart, and tends to be the real murderer of Pan and Liao, but if the new king really orders the subordinate officials to achieve the responsibility of asking for money, of course, he will think that the court will investigate the crime of not being a minister, and often those who have malicious intentions, most of them will suspect that the other party has malicious intentions first, in other words, if the new emperor really intends to be an enemy of the imperial court, he will not easily accept the result that the criminal is a third party, and will take advantage of this case not to be spared."

The Queen Mother came to her senses at this time, Xue Xuanzhi seemed to be blindly strong, but in fact, she was gradually and step by step, understanding Qi Birang's mind inch by inch.

"In this way, the new monarch actually doesn't expect the court to agree to his request?" The Queen Mother asked.

"If the new monarch really wants the coin, the king of Qi Bi will not be happy and convinced because of those gifts, because if he fails the order, he will not be able to return to the business." Lu Li said conclusively: "The last time I saw it, it should be deliberately disrespectful, intended to test whether the imperial court will show weakness and compromise because of the crisis of Jinshuo, although the new Turkic monarch has the intention of breaking the contract, he is not willing to completely turn against the imperial court for the time being, and he should also weigh whether the imperial court can quickly alleviate the danger in Hedong, if the Pan and Liao troops are defeated, the new Turkic tribes will not dare to fight." ”

These words made the Queen Mother a little dissatisfied - obviously, Lu Li's meaning was to say that she had seen Qi Bi Rang at the last banquet, her attitude was too ambiguous and weak, if she scolded the new Turk monarch on the spot, Qi Bi Rang did not dare to be reckless, but Lu Li did successfully solve this problem that annoyed the political affairs hall, and solved it so decently, the Queen Mother could not blame, and only secretly slandered, although Xue Xuanzhi was quite talented, he was far less than He Zhan in eight sides, and sometimes it would make people feel depressed when placed on the left and right.

This slightest bit of unhappiness only dwelled from her heart slightly, the Queen Mother quickly restrained her emotions and praised Lu Li, but in her mind she was thinking about Ashina's true intentions, since she was not in the New Year's coin, then why was she tempted? Is it just to weigh the current national strength of the Great Zhou, can it still calm down the civil strife?

The Queen Mother couldn't decide, but she didn't want to show her ignorance of military relations, so she even brought out Eleven Niang to pretend to compare: "Yi Yi thinks, what is Ashina's intentions?" ”

Eleven Niang couldn't speak directly about the judgment in her heart, pretending to frown and think about it, and said in an uncertain tone: "Perhaps, just for opportunism, if the court allows to ask for advice, the new Turk monarch has won a sum of money in vain, which can be described as an unexpected joy, if it is rejected, it is not harmless in terms of it, and the new monarch should be convinced that even if the court refutes it, it will not really investigate and ask the guilty at this critical time." ”

Of course, the Queen Mother also thought of this, but she didn't think it would be so simple, so she smiled and said: "As far as military defense and border affairs are concerned, you haven't really understood it yet, and you need to ask Xuanzhi for advice." ”

Of course, Lu Li knew that it was time to solve the doubts for the Queen Mother at this time, and he did not shy away from saying: "The Queen Mother has already detected the bad intentions of the new Turk Monarch, and she should be able to determine her true intentions, although she is still weighing the pros and cons, but because she does not have the strength to start a war with my Great Zhou at this time, if the Marquis of Wuwei can alleviate the crisis in Hedong, the New Turk Monarch will not provoke more for at least three years, but ...... The Empress Dowager said bluntly that sooner or later a war between the Great Zhou and the New Turks would inevitably be, so the ministers advised that although the current focus should be on pacifying the civil strife, they should also explore the trends of the New Turks. ”

Lu Li understood very well that at this time, the Empress Dowager's reinforcement of the Yunzhou garrison would inevitably be vetoed, and this matter could only be done gradually.

Since the Ashina clan has no intention of being hostile to the Great Zhou at this time, then they will definitely concentrate their strength and expand their subordinates and enhance their national strength and armaments.

Ashina's reversal was like a resounding slap in the face to the Queen Mother, but at this time she was helpless, so she had to pretend to be generous and adopt Lu Li's not too much advice, and asked Dou Fu'an to arrange secret agents, fortunately, Lu Li was so mediated, Qi Birang really did not pick on the right and wrong again, until the New Year's Day to congratulate, they were extremely obedient, naturally the request of the Na Yuan was never mentioned again, although Wei Zeguan still did not have good news back, Chengde's three years of New Year still passed in a festive and lively atmosphere.

But because this year is an eventful year, until Chinese New Year's Eve, Eleven Niang has not been allowed leave, Liu Jiuniang's purdah ceremony is set for March of the next year, thinking that she will soon marry a wife, I am afraid that there will be less time to spend with Eleven Sister in the future, Chinese New Year's Eve This night of the family banquet, she couldn't help but whisper to Liu Jin's little sister: "This year, Eleven Sister has less vacation, or see her at the Chongyang Palace banquet, and don't have a long talk, I thought that today Chinese New Year's Eve, the Queen Mother should always allow leave, who knows that Eleven Sister is still left in the palace, I won't enter the palace tomorrow to congratulate, I really don't know when I will be able to see the eleventh sister. ”

Her voice was obviously not high, but it caused Mrs. Tai to pay attention, and she did not blame Jiuniang, but she said lukewarmly: "Eleven Niang has the importance of the Queen Mother, and she is not the same as your sisters. ”

This was said quite unpleasantly, Xiao Shi glared at Jiuniang and motioned for her to be silent, but Qi Niang felt that she was in a state of schadenfreude, and hurriedly poured a glass of wine, and went to Mrs. Tai's side to fall into the well: "Eldest mother, don't complain about the eleventh sister, it's not that the eleventh sister doesn't want to be on the knees of Chenghuan, who makes the queen mother always unable to leave her?" It's our granddaughters, although they were born stupid, but they are fortunate to be able to accompany their eldest mother to laugh. ”

Mrs. Tai smiled at Qi Niang: "This is very good, and I am indeed not bad for this half-granddaughter to be filial." ”

Jiuniang and Liu Jin looked at each other, both of them looked sad, but it was not good to say anything at the banquet, it was easy to hope that the main banquet was removed and they could move freely, and the two sisters avoided a quiet place, and Liu Jin's little sister couldn't help but be surprised: "The eldest mother has always cherished the eleventh sister, why does it sound like a little complaining today?" ”

In fact, Jiuniang has long noticed that Mrs. Tai's attitude towards Eleven Niang has changed greatly in the past few years, but Liu Jin has been obsessed with qin, chess, poetry and painting since she returned from Jiannan Road, especially after Yao Ji asked her to leave, she was even more distracted, but today Mrs. Tai's words were still noticed.

Jiuniang let out a long sigh and stretched out her finger to poke Xiaomei's forehead: "You idiot." ”

Jin Xiaomei was poked, not only was she not annoyed, but she twisted Jiu Niang's arm and smiled sweetly, and she didn't ask about the rights and wrongs of the family again, but Jiu Niang has always been worried, and it is not good to discuss with Xiaomei, a child who is completely unenlightened, and has the heart to dismiss with the seventh sister, and knows that she has always had prejudices against the eleventh sister, so she sifted through the family and finally chose Tinger.

"Sister Ting, my mother doesn't know why, she seems to have a misunderstanding about the eleventh sister, if I am at home, I can still turn around for the eleventh sister, but I also want to ...... I had to ask Sister Ting to explain her mother more in the future, the eleventh sister saw that it was also the age of the family, Xiao Jiu was a good person, and he swore in the past, but this son left, not even a little news, he couldn't count on it, but he was afraid that the eleventh sister would be depressed because of him, and he really delayed the marriage, Sister Ting has always been good friends with the eleventh sister, if there is a chance, she should also be untied to relieve her. ”

Last time, because Eleven Niang saw Ting and went to the sewing room to get a job, knowing that she was uneasy because she was being fed and clothed under the fence, she simply suggested that Mrs. Tai let Ting help Xiao take care of the housework, Mrs. Tai is also willing to raise Ting as her own granddaughter, thinking that in this way, even if Ting is unwilling to marry because of the knot in her heart, she will not lose her protection in the boudoir for a long time, even if Liu Yan and Xue Hui will take charge of the house in the future, with the hearts of these two people, they will not ignore Ting, Ting can help manage the family, she herself will not be upset, the best of both worlds, I said yes in one bite.

Ting is a witty person, since she helped take care of the housework, she has noticed a lot of hidden secrets, and she judged that Jiuniang was worrying in vain, but Mrs. Tai and Xiao Shi did not tell it, and she had to hide it, but she really didn't want to look at Jiuniang's sad face during the New Year's Festival, so she explained: "Don't worry, at most the third year of junior high school, the eleventh sister will return home, and then you can talk to her." ”