Cheng Wen put down her wine glass, as if nothing had happened, and tilted her head to look at Li Jiangyao: "Dadu Hu, what are you thinking?" ”

Li Jiangyao came back to his senses, his mind moved, and he smiled: "Oh, I suddenly remembered something just now. The day before yesterday, I heard Princess Fenyang mention that the emperor is going to be crowned queen recently, and it seems that you are also among the candidates, right? ”

This move turned defense into offense, which suddenly made the Cheng family feel a little embarrassed again.

A lady who is about to become a queen comes to accompany the foreign man to drink, if this spreads, let alone entering the harem, just the shameful laughter in the market is enough to make the Zhenguo Mansion unable to raise its head.

Cheng Dong was choked by the wine in his mouth and coughed repeatedly, blushing and said: "What Dadu Hu said is right, Zuo Xiang recommended her sister...... Ahem...... She...... Ahem......"

Cheng Wen looked far calmer than her brothers, and said with a smile: "What? Could it be that most of the guards also have candidates to recommend? ”

Li Jiangyao waved his hand: "I don't." ”

"Liar." Cheng Wen smiled and glanced at him: "Concubine Hui is the sister of your sworn brother, can you recommend her?" ”

"I really didn't lie to you." Li Jiangyao shrugged: "My grade is not qualified, and I can't recommend it if I want to." ”

Hearing this, Cheng Wen showed a sudden expression of realization: "Oh, I see, I forgot about it." However, tomorrow is the court meeting, and the opinions of the majority of the protectors will definitely be very important. ”

Li Jiangyao was slightly stunned: "Imperial discussion? Are you saying that tomorrow morning the court will discuss the matter of canonizing the queen? ”

Cheng Dong said: "Most of the protectors don't know, and the discussion of canonizing the queen should be after the end of the early dynasty." When the emperor returned to the palace to rest, the Ministry of Rites convened the officials attending the court meeting to discuss all the recommended candidates, and finally formed a list of three to five people, which was presented to the emperor and selected by the emperor himself. When the time comes, I will ask most of the protectors to say a few good words for Wen'er. ”

Li Jiangyao blinked, looked at Cheng Wen, who was sitting next to him with an innocent face, and seemed to understand something.

In the eyes of the Zhenguo Mansion, no matter what position the ministers of the DPRK and China are discussing the choice of the empress, it is impossible for Li Jiangyao to support Cheng Wen. Perhaps, he will deliberately make things difficult because of Lianji's problem, so that Cheng Fu's daughter will lose the election in the first round.

At present, Li Jiangyao is the capital protector of the Zhenjiang Army and the governor of the naval army, with heavy troops and a prominent reputation, and his weight in the court is self-evident. Many people have to carefully weigh his words, and there are almost no people who dare to stand up and speak out against them.

Even if it is Wei Zixuan, who is the left servant of Shangshu, it can't be done.

Therefore, the Cheng family must solve this potential hidden danger before the official start of the court meeting.

So how do you fix it?

For the Zhenguo Mansion, which now has no soldiers and no power, all they can do is to cooperate with each other with red faces and white faces and sing a play.

So, it was logical to have today's banquet, and at the same time, Cheng Wen unexpectedly appeared as a companion, and was just right to be stopped by Cheng Dong, the young prince, in the matter of killing the assassin of the old prince.

In this way, a subtle and ingenious signal was transmitted to Li Jiangyao without a trace: We know that the enemy Lianji is harbored by you. However, there are two opinions within the Cheng family, one is to chase it, and the other is to let it pass, hoping that most of the capital will be able to raise your hand tomorrow, and we will be well with each other.

Thinking of this, Li Jiangyao first looked at Cheng Dong and Cheng Wen meaningfully, then shook his head helplessly, and said with a wry smile: "I am a big boss who only knows how to fight, and I really can't choose a daughter-in-law for the emperor." I may not be able to say beautiful words, but I can promise not to make trouble, okay? ”

Cheng Wen smiled and looked at her brother, while Cheng Dong got up and said, "Thank you for the kindness of Dadu Protector." ”

-

The next morning, hundreds of officials gathered.

Emperor Li Bing slightly dealt with several important government affairs, then ended the court meeting and drove back to the palace.

After he left, the Ministry of Rites Shangshu walked out of the court, first saluted Wei Zixuan and several other important ministers, and then announced aloud that the meeting to discuss the queen's candidate had officially begun.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites held the scroll in their hands and introduced the backgrounds, family backgrounds, and ancestral achievements of the 48 candidates recommended by the royal family and important ministers to the public.

Heavy material, about half an hour of reading before it ended. After the event, the Ministry of Rites explained the basic rules of deliberation to the courtiers:

Among the immediate family members below the great-grandfather of the candidates, those who have committed adultery will be retired.

Among the immediate family members below the great-grandfather of the candidates, those who have inherited the vicious disease will be retired.

Parents and relatives who have betrayed the country and rebelled will retreat.

Brothers and sisters who have misbehaved shall be retired.

If the lady herself is not familiar with literature and science, neglects female workers or has a bad reputation, she will retire.

Hundreds of officials participated in the public discussion of the court, and there was no responsibility to list evidence, and there was no crime for words. Anyone who doubts it can speak out in public, and others can also refute the dialectic.

The candidates are finally ranked according to their family background and the number of doubters, and the top five are recorded in the gold leaf selection book and presented to the royal review.

While listening to the rules explained by the Ministry of Rites, Li Jiangyao secretly paid attention to the reactions of the courtiers, especially the officials and henchmen of Wei Zixuan's family, who were all carefully watched by him.

Those people obviously came prepared, and they were eager to try it one by one, eager to immediately pounce on the candidates and dismantle them.

Of course, among the people they want to kill, there is definitely no Cheng Wen, the daughter of the Zhenguo Mansion.

Things were exactly as Li Jiangyao expected. As soon as the Ministry of Rites Shangshu announced that the hundred officials had begun to discuss publicly, seven or eight ministers immediately jumped out, pointing the spearhead directly at Li Xiangning, the sister of Li Mu, the great Confucian of Youzhou, and Yan Yijun, the daughter of the Marquis of Kaiyun.

Those guys don't know where to find the black material, counting from the grandparents of the two candidates, they are either arrogantly discussing national politics, or satirizing the court, or embezzling military salaries, or bullying men and women. In short, the Li family and the Yan family were degraded to the point that they were incomplete, and they were simply two heinous bandits.

Of course, there are also some ministers who have a good relationship with the Li Jiayan family and are willing to stand up and help say something fair. However, this can only refute some of the accusations, and some crimes that they have never heard of are not easy to forcefully break.

This is often the case with public opinion.

The three of them are like tigers, and there are many people who talk about one thing, and they all say it conclusively, which can easily affect the onlookers. More and more courtiers gradually believed those accusations, and said that Li Xiangning and Yan Yijun were not suitable to enter the gold leaf selection.

In this way, Cheng Wen's two strong opponents fell off the list ahead of schedule without surprise.

For a long time afterward, the public discussion entered a relatively boring stage: except for Ma Yunfang, Murong Ling, Li Qin and Cheng Wen, the remaining forty-two candidates all had some problems, and the civil and military officials expressed their opinions, and thirty-seven people were eliminated one after another.

According to the rules of public discussion, the remaining nine people only need to be sorted, and the top five will be automatically promoted and handed over to the emperor to personally select.

However, in this way, among the top five people with the most noble status, there are still three candidates who can directly threaten Cheng Wen, namely Concubine Ma Yunfang, Concubine Hui Murong Ling, and Linzhou County Lord Li Qin.

This is not safe enough for Shangshu's left servant to shoot Wei Zixuan.

He coughed lightly, and at the same time gave Yushi Wang Hong a look. Wang Hong received the signal, strode out of the court, and said loudly: "I have something to say!" ”

The Ministry of Rites Shangshu first looked at Wei Zixuan, and then said to Wang Hong: "Lord Wang, please speak up." ”

Wang Hong took out a folding book from his sleeve, shook it in public, and said: "Li Chenglu, the king of Guangxing County, has been very close to the thief Qiao Yin for many years, and in the name of the palace, he has compiled Qiao Yin's poetry collection, which is a reverse move!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the entire court hall suddenly resounded with a buzzing discussion.

The king of Guangxing County has no prominent reputation among the royal family, but that Qiao Yin Qiao Chucheng is a well-known figure. Back then, he drank too much, splashed ink, and wrote one hundred and eight poems mocking the former emperor Li Chengwu in one go, shocking the world!

Shen Lie led the Beiya Reverse Scale Division to arrest the Qiao family overnight, and Qiao Yin himself disappeared completely since then, I don't know if he was secretly disposed of by Shen Changshi.

Now Wang Hong broke the news, saying that Li Chenglu actually collected Qiao Chucheng's poetry collection, is this worth it?!

Duke Lieutenant Chi Xiao, Duke of Anguo, was the promoter of Li Qin, the county lord of Linzhou, as soon as he heard this, he was immediately not calm, and hurriedly asked: "Wang Hong, you can't talk nonsense, you expose the king of Guangxing County, is there any evidence?" ”

Wang Hong smiled: "An Guogong, without evidence, does the lower official dare to accuse the royal family?" This is the "Chucheng Poetry Collection" printed by the prince of Guangxing County, and there is also the seal of the old prince and the handwriting of the old prince, have you seen it? ”

Wei Chixiao stepped forward quickly, took the folded book from Wang Hong's hand, hurriedly rolled his eyes a few times, and said to the ministers with an embarrassed face: "I...... I...... I didn't know anything else. Alas! ”

Wei Zixuan sneered and snorted, "Since that's the case, then what else is there to say?" Lord Linzhou, retreat! ”

The Ministry of Rites Shangshu agreed, and shouted loudly: "Remember, the king of Guangxing County privately printed a collection of anti-thief Qiao Yin's poems, which is a backcountry rebellion." Li Qin, retreat—"

With his words, the officials of the Ministry of Rites put pen to paper on the roster, and at the same time, the attendants removed the sign with Li Qin's name written on the shelf.

Li Jiangyao looked at the remaining eight-sided name tags on the wooden shelf with interest, and said to a military attache next to him with a smile: "It's so fast, there are only eight people left." Guess whose hope is greater? ”

"Of course, the last general hopes that Concubine Shu can succeed," the military attache said with a smile: "Dadu Hu, I am from the Southern Army, and I have been serving under the command of Ma Da. ”

"Oh, no wonder." Li Jiangyao smiled and nodded: "If you support Concubine Shu, then there must be someone who supports Concubine Hui." ”

The military attache replied, "You are absolutely right. Our military is basically the supporters of these two mothers. Whether it is Commander Ma Da or Commander Murong, they are deeply loved by the soldiers. ”

Li Jiangyao bowed slightly, and said in his heart: For the Shengtang military, being able to be the queen by his own people will naturally have a lot of benefits in the future. Although Ma Yunfang and Murong Ling's background and family background cannot be compared with Cheng Wen, they have already given birth to Li Bing, and I heard that the relationship between husband and wife is not bad, and the chance of winning is also very good.

Who knows, when he was thinking about himself, the Ministry of Rites Shangshu suddenly shouted: "Concubine Shuhui, retreat-"