In 1067, Northern Song Dynasty, Bianliang, Qingshou Palace

☆☆☆

Early in the morning, Cao Tong (1) received the order to enter the palace. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info along the way, he guessed what was going on, why his sister sent the maid to recruit him into the palace. He hurried into the inner sanctum, and his heart became even more uneasy.

In the main hall, a woman of about fifty years of age, dressed modestly, sat in the inner hall of the throne, threading needles and threads on a silk handkerchief stretched out by a bamboo brace, and talking to the eunuch beside her. The eunuch's face was full of smiles, and his mouth was full of praise.

Cao Tong watched the two of them discussing female celebrities back and forth, and didn't seem to notice herself, and she didn't dare to say anything.

The eunuch had a mediocre appearance, a square face and a wide forehead, a large nose and thick lips, and a little enveloping, and the most impressive thing was his round eyes, the eyeballs were medium in size, and the color of the pupils was dark and bright. He has a short neck and broad shoulders, a short and fat body but a strong body, and a green brocade robe. Don't look at him as simple and loyal, he serves his sister on the surface, but in fact he is Gao's "dogleg", in private, Cao Tong called him so.

The Empress Dowager finally handed the needle and thread to Zhang Maoze, and then Zhang Maoze put it on the table next to her. The Empress Dowager has a thin face, a long face and thin lips, this face seems to be born very serious, there is no smile at all, the appearance is not particularly outstanding, but there are a pair of sharp eyes, she said slowly: "Are you here?"

Cao Tong was a little puzzled, her sister didn't show the slightest anxiety. He knew that his sister had always paid attention to etiquette, and although it was a day off, he also came to meet him in a formal scarlet court dress, walked up a few steps, raised his hands high, his big sleeves hung down to his knees, bowed and said: "Weichen Cao Tong see the Empress Dowager, Chitose Chitose Chitose." ”

"Okay, just our sister and brother, don't be detained......" The Empress Dowager interrupted him, pointing to the chair next to him and asking him to sit down as soon as possible.

"I've seen Uncle Guo. Zhang Mao bowed his head and saluted, and then made a gesture of please.

After taking a seat, Cao Tong asked, "I don't know what the Empress Dowager has to do with Weichen?"

The corners of the Empress Dowager's mouth raised slightly, and her smile seemed to imply something, and she said softly: "What's the big deal, it's just that a few days ago, the official family rewarded some tribute, and the mourning family saw that the Zhangzhou mountain ginger flower was excellent, maybe you always drink and socialize outside, and it is best to use it to kill alcohol and poison." ”

"Brother Empress Xie is very loving. Cao Tong explored his sister's unusual closeness and replied, "A while ago, I invited Master Zhiyuan of Daxiangguo Temple to check the pulse of my brother and prescribed a few medicines, and my brother is already much better." ”

"But the wisdom that is good at 'Taisu Pulse'?"

"Exactly!"

"In the early years, he was famous in Jianghuai for his excellent medical skills, and the emperor recruited him to the capital for diagnosis, and also gave him the title of 'Master Miaoying'. The mourning family knows that it is extremely difficult for him to be invited, and many civil and military officials go to seek medical treatment, but he rarely diagnoses people's pulses, how are you?"

"That's true, the younger brother also asked for a few times, but he couldn't move. Cao Tong replied, "Two months ago, Wang Jiefu sent out Zhijiangning, and his brother went to see him off, and I heard him mention that he was actually a friend of Master Zhiyuan, and then asked him to intercede, and the younger brother invited the master. ”

"An Shi has a reputation for filial piety, but I didn't expect that there would be such a fateful meeting, very good, very good!" The Empress Dowager smiled and said, "It's best to drink less wine, your stomach is not good." ”

Cao Tong nodded hurriedly: "The subordinate brother can save it, the subordinate brother can save it!"

The Empress Dowager turned her head to Zhang Mao and said, "Go and pack some ginger flowers for Uncle Guo, pick the best!"

"No!" Zhang Mao had a thin smile on his face, and retreated to the door, walking out and closing the door behind him.

As soon as he walked out of the room, the smile on his face had disappeared without a trace.

A eunuch had been waiting outside the hall, and Zhang Mao beckoned, and he trotted forward. Zhang Mao whispered a few words in his ear, the man nodded and made a clear statement, and Zhang Mao immediately turned around and walked towards the side hall.

"After following my sister for many years, we have exhausted all our methods, and this dog's heart can't be warmed!"

"Be careful that the wall has ears!" the Empress Dowager lowered her voice, "He is a dog of power, and he can smell who is the master of this harem." He is her eyeliner, and this palace is full of her people. ”

There was silence for a while, and both of them knew it.

Looking at the closed door of the main hall, the Empress Dowager slowly stood up and said, "There is still some time for him to come back, you accompany the mourning family to the flower hall for a walk." ”

Cao Tong nodded, helped his sister to go around to the backyard, and walked towards the flower hall.

In the flower hall, the willows hang low, the flowers are gorgeous, and a few butterflies fly up and down among the flowers. There is a bamboo room in the flower hall, there is no door, but there are two bamboo grid porches painted with crimson lacquer, one side is round, the other side is square, it is called a square circle. There is a bamboo window on each of the other two walls, and the bamboo room is transparent, so that when you sit inside, you can see at a glance when someone is approaching, and you don't have to worry about being overheard.

There is a square low table on the bamboo couch, with two purple cushions in front of the table, and two people sit on the floor. The bamboo room is well-lit and warmly illuminated. Although the early summer is not very hot, the women's palace clothes are heavy, and the current temperature is somewhat hot for the Queen Mother, but Cao Tong did not see anything from her sister's appearance, she sat upright, with a noble temperament and a solemn demeanor.

The Empress Dowager Cao was born illustriously, was the granddaughter of Cao Bin, the founding general of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the younger sister of Gao Taotao's mother. At the age of eighteen, she was ordered to enter the palace and married Renzong. Empress Cao was familiar with the scriptures and history and had a loving temperament, but Song Renzong did not appreciate her virtue, did not favor her, and favored the concubine Zhang. Empress Cao never had children, and the first queen of Renzong, Guo, was deposed because she had no children and lived in Changning Palace.

She was originally an easy-going and intelligent famous woman, but because of the first month of the eighth year of Qingli (1048), the "Qingli Suwei Change" that occurred changed her life. That night, the guards in the palace who protected the emperor's safety rebelled, and Empress Cao responded calmly, she saved many people, and even saved the emperor. But afterwards, Renzong insisted that this rebellion was deliberately arranged by Empress Cao in order to show her ability and invite merit in front of her, not only did she not appreciate her, but wanted to abolish her and set up her favorite concubine Zhang Meimei as the queen. The ministers tried their best to persuade and oppose, but Renzong himself could not come up with evidence to prove the queen's guilt, so he gave up. Although she kept the phoenix crown, Song Renzong planted all the credit on his favorite concubine Zhang Meiren, and took the opportunity to promote her to a noble concubine in October of that year. Renzong favored Zhang Guifei so much that he was named Empress Wencheng after his death. The living Empress Cao and the dead Empress Wen Cheng, the "two queens of life and death" became the biggest farce in the harem of the Song Dynasty, and she became the laughing stock of everyone in the harem.

She is by no means a delicate ordinary woman, and it is impossible for people to take care of her at will. After decades of tempering, she became a harem heroine with strong connections and means. Renzong died, and she supported Gao Tao's husband, appointed him as the new king, and listened to the government.

Cao Tong saw that his sister was distracted, and hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

"Talk about her......" The Empress Dowager spoke in a very small voice, as if a gust of wind could blow it away.

"Xuanji?" Cao Tong never dared to directly call his niece's maiden name.

The Empress Dowager sat up slowly, bent forward and said to her younger brother, "The mourning family feels that she has begun to wonder how Zhao Zongshi died. ”

"What?" Cao Tong looked at his sister in shock, as if it was the most dangerous sentence he had ever heard in his life, "How could she know...... The Death of the Emperor ......"

"Emperor Xian, Zhao Zongshi is also worthy of being called, what is he better than your brother-in-law?" her voice suddenly became sharp, "If he hadn't married Tao, if it hadn't been for the mourning family to help him repeatedly, would it be his turn to be the Son of Heaven?" ”

As soon as the "first emperor" was called, Cao Tong immediately regretted it. He knew that when Yingzong was mentioned, his sister's emotions would be out of control, if it weren't for his sister's support, Yingzong would indeed not be the emperor, but he didn't expect that as soon as he ascended the throne, he pretended to be crazy and made trouble in Renzong's Lingtang, and then pretended to be sick, causing disharmony between the two palaces, which made his sister very disappointed. What's even more odious is that he conspired with Han Qi and other ministers to forcibly pull the curtain and force his sister to return to power. When he was in power, there was another "Pu Yi Dispute", he was obviously Renzong's adopted son, but he wanted to add a yellow robe for his biological father, which was really ridiculous. These immoral and unrighteous actions completely made my sister hate him so much.

The Empress Dowager's hand on the low table was clenched tightly, her nails were white, and her eyes were red with anger.

Cao Tong hurriedly changed the topic and said: "The queen mother is not seriously ill because of the pain of losing her husband, although her illness has improved slightly, but she doesn't ask about the world, and she doesn't step out of the door, I heard that she has been particularly fond of a eunuch around her recently?"

The Empress Dowager fell silent, when she learned that her niece was bedridden, not only did she not feel sad, but secretly rejoiced, glad that the most terrible person in the world was about to die. If I could fight her, I wouldn't be what I am now, and I was firmly in her hands twenty years ago.

"Ever since she woke up, she seemed to have paid no attention to anything! The palace door was locked, and even the people sent by the mourning family to visit her were rushed out, not to mention that she couldn't cover her face, and she didn't have the slightest news. She sighed heavily, "No matter how bad Zhao Zongshi is, he is also the meat of her heart, and now she sits idly by, which makes the mourning family feel even more restless." It must be that she knows something, it must be ......"

Cao Tong always knew that his sister was calm, and even if she had something in her heart, she would not show it, but now he could see that her sister was very scared.

Cao Tong reminded, "The official family ...... And the official family. ”

The Empress Dowager raised her eyebrows and said, "Do you think that hairy boy is his mother's opponent?"

"After the official family took power, Enshi was all over the world, and the Taoist heir was Renzong, which was quite prestigious. ”

"It's really better than his father, I don't know how much. ”

"If the Queen Mother hadn't fallen ill, I'm afraid she would have already listened to the government. Unfortunately, at the critical time, she fell ill. Now that the imperial power has changed, if you want to really investigate it, it should be up to the son of the day to decide. ”

The Empress Dowager said: "She did fall ill very suddenly...... The palace maid who looks very similar to her, the mourning family felt that things were not so simple at the beginning, who she had seen in the palace and what she had done, the mourning family sent someone to investigate, and she could get close to Zhao Zongshi with the acquiescence of the mourning family. Now that she is dead, the body was disposed of by Lan Yuanzhen. If you dig deeper......"

The Empress Dowager fell silent again, and thought in her heart: If she was sick in bed a while ago, she pretended to do it all? Everything is a test to see what we will do, and then wait and see what happens?

The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, and her voice couldn't help but become hoarse: "The mourning family is just guessing that she is planning a conspiracy." ”

"What conspiracy?"

"The mourner doesn't know, but she'll count us all into it. ”

"Since the official family has appointed his subordinate brother as the envoy of the Zhaoqing Army Festival and the master of the school, it means that he also wants to use our strength to join forces to fight against it. ”

"No, you don't know what is going on in the palace, the situation has changed now, and you must take advantage of it. ”

"So what now?"

"Do you remember Shi Quanbin?"

Cao Yan bit his lower lip and nodded.

Shi Quanbin is Song Renzong's personal attendant and is deeply trusted. At the beginning of Renzong's accession to the throne, Empress Dowager Liu listened to the government, he always wanted to regain the right to pro-government, at that time, there was a stinky Taoist priest named Shi Beiwu who did what he liked, and spread rumors that "I am afraid that there is a heroine in the world to disrupt the country", which is a woman who is called the emperor after Tang Wu. Renzong also allowed him to make a big fuss about this, and wanted to use this to attack the Empress Dowager Liu, but who knew that the Empress Dowager Liu took the initiative to return to power one step ahead. Time has passed, Renzong has always wanted to abolish his sister's position as queen, and he remembered this again. In the first month of the first year of Jiayou, Renzong suddenly shouted in the harem and shouted: "Empress Cao and Zhang Mao are plotting against each other. Zhang Mao immediately hanged himself when he heard this, but fortunately, he was rescued in time and did not die. If it weren't for Zhang Mao's death, I'm afraid my sister would have died and had no place to be buried, and the crime of rebellion would be to connect the nine clans. Now that I think about it, Cao Tong is in a cold sweat.

"Before the emperor died, the most reassuring thing was that he was afraid of "the heroine messing with the country". He asked Shi Quanbin to keep an eye on the mourning family, and he suspected that the mourning family was the "heroine", and the emperor must have left a testament. For so many years, the mourning family has been overwhelmed, and they have always done their duty, and they have never dared to go beyond the slightest. ”

Thinking of this, she slapped the low table hard.

"The heroine is in trouble, the heroine is in trouble, since Shi Quanbin is convinced of this, the mourning family will follow his wishes!"

"What do you mean, sister?"

Over the years, Shi Quanbin has been staring at the mourning family, and the mourning family is naturally staring at him. The Empress Dowager said, "He has taken action recently, but he is not coming at the mourning family, but at the Empress Dowager!"

Cao Yan waited in silence for the following words.

"For so many years, Shi Quanbin wouldn't know why he didn't suspect her, just because everything she did was for Zhao Zongshi. But now that Zhao Zongshi is dead, Shi Quanbin feels that something is wrong. And as long as the mourning family deepens Shi Quanbin's impression that she wants to be the second "Wu Zetian" at the right time, they can let the two of them fight to the death and lose both, wouldn't it be a beautiful thing to kill two birds with one stone?"

When Cao Tong heard this, he came to his senses and thought to himself, my sister is really smart. He agreed: "The younger brother also thinks so, it is indeed a great good thing. ”

Zhao Zongshi, Zhao Zongshi, your death is really a godsend, it seems that the mourning family is grateful to you.

Thinking of this, the Empress Dowager laughed uncontrollably, sincerely happy.

"By the way, the mourning family has something for you to do, you go and tell Master Sima that he will recently impeach the ministers Gao Jujian, Wang Zhongzheng and others. ”

"Aren't these two both ministers of the official family?"

"This is a delaying tactic, since Tao Tao has doubts, let's show weakness and make her think that the mourning family is afraid of her. ”

Cao Tong nodded, my sister has always been thoughtful.

"That Zhang Maoze, the meaning of relying on the minister's brother, should also be ......" Cao Tong said as he spread his left hand evenly and used his right hand to cut off his head on it.

The Empress Dowager shook her head and said, "He has saved the mourning family and served for so many years...... Forget it!"

"If he detects the clues, bad things will happen in the future. ”

"The mourning family has its own plans, don't say more!" The Empress Dowager said this in a tone like a closed palace door, preventing the possibility of continuing to discuss.

She stood up from the cushion, presumably to stabilize herself.

After a while, he said, "After Bodi died, only you were more reliable." Kai'er only likes to travel in the mountains and rivers, and cultivate immortals, and can't count on it at all!" sighed deeply, "From now on, we must be careful. ”

"Sister rest assured, brother understands. ”

Uncle Guo received the order and went straight to Sima Guang's mansion.

The Empress Dowager sat alone in the empty bamboo room for a while. Only when she is alone can she look so weak.