Qi Ning thought that it was already late at night, and why did King Huainan come suddenly? But since he came here, something always happened, so he did not directly quarrel with King Huainan in terms of face. He went over and opened the big tent, only to see King Huainan With his hands behind his back, he was standing outside the tent. When he saw Qining lifting the tent, the King of Huainan said with a smile: "Master Hou, haven't you slept yet?"
Qi Ning said: "Maybe I just drank a few more drinks and couldn't fall asleep for a while. My lord, do you have any orders?"
When he saw that there was no one else around King Huainan and he came alone, he knew that it would not be as simple as just sitting here.
"I can't sleep either, so I came here to sit with the Marquis." King Huainan smiled slightly and asked, "I wonder if it's convenient for the Marquis?"
Qi Ning opened the big tent and said with a smile: "Your Highness, please come in."
King Huainan entered the tent, glanced around, and then sat down with Qining. He said with a smile: "Little Marquis, you have made an unparalleled contribution this time. When the emperor knew that the marriage was successful, he was overjoyed. The whole court Wen and Wu were also full of praise for the Marquis."
"It can be considered a fluke." Qi Ning poured a cup of tea for King Huainan and then said: "The prince came to greet him in person, which can be regarded as a great honor to the people of Eastern Qi."
King Huainan picked up the tea cup, smiled lightly, and said: "If someone refuses to come, naturally I have to come, hehe...!" He glanced at Qining and said with a smile: "The young Marquis has made outstanding achievements this time. If Princess Qi marries back and wins a great battle, I will remonstrate in front of the emperor and implore the emperor to make the young marquis a duke...!"
Qi Ning was slightly frightened and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, this is all the Emperor's planning. I really don't have much power."
"It is a great achievement. If you say that the young marquis has not exerted his strength, I will be the first to be unconvinced." King Huainan said seriously, and then sighed and said: "However, Duke Zhenguo has some objections to this matter. Your Majesty is not convinced." He still has some scruples, so...!" He just shook his head with a look of regret.
Qi Ning felt slightly amused.
He knew very well that it was not easy for Sima Lan to be promoted from a marquis to a duke. To be fair, Sima Lan had outstanding talents and had assisted in the government affairs for decades and had made outstanding contributions. After the death of the late emperor, Sima Lan had the merit of supporting him and even went to the inner palace. The pressure behind the Queen Mother made the young emperor reluctantly confer Sima Lan as the Duke of Zhenguo.
His qualifications are still relatively young. Jin Yi Hou Qi Jing has made countless military exploits and commanded an army of 100,000, but he has never been conferred the title of Duke. After his mission to Eastern Qi was successful, he would be conferred the title of Duke. Even Qi Ning himself felt that this was a bit of a joke.
He knew in his heart that King Huainan might not be lying, but he still wanted to remonstrate even though he knew it was impossible, and then pulled out the Duke of Zhen, just to make the Jinyi Qi family also become hostile to the Sima family.
Qi Ning was amused in his heart, but with a frown on his face, he said, "Mr. Zhen Guo may have his reasons for doing this."
"What's the point?" King Huainan sneered, put down the teacup, and said calmly: "Of those people who have taken refuge in his sect and been promoted to nobility, how many of them have such qualifications and merits? It's just because they followed his Sima family. The chickens and dogs have ascended to heaven." He leaned forward slightly and whispered: "In the short period of time when you were on your mission to Qi State, many lackeys of the Sima family were assigned to many important positions. Little Marquis, you see What on earth do the Sima family want to do? The late emperor asked him to assist the government, did he really think that Da Chu’s surname was Sima? "
Qi Ning looked solemn and sighed: "Your Majesty, the Sima family has the merit of supporting the establishment, and the emperor is still young. All major affairs in the court are in the hands of the Sima family, so it is inevitable that he will become more domineering. In a few years, when the emperor matures , the situation may change.”
The King of Huainan smiled and said: "How many more years will it take? Young Master, do you think if this situation continues, we will still see changes in the situation of the court?"
Qi Ning was startled and asked, "What does the prince mean by this?"
King Huainan raised his hand to stroke his beard and said softly: "I came here and saw a person, and then I learned what happened before." He sighed and said: "It is not easy for the Marquis to return smoothly this time. Not only do we have to deal with the Northern Han people, but we also have to be wary of the masterminds behind them.”
Qi Ning looked into the eyes of King Huainan. King Huainan had already said: "Master Hou, Hu Bowen, the Minister of Rites, wanted to destroy the marriage and set a trap, which almost killed the Duke. I already know this."
Qining immediately thought of Hu Bowen, who was detained in the military camp by him.
On this mission to the Eastern Qi Dynasty, Qi Ning was the chief envoy, and Hu Bowen, the Minister of Rites, was the deputy envoy. However, on the way to the Eastern Qi Dynasty, Hu Bowen, as an internal agent, tried to sabotage the mission, but Qi Ning discovered the conspiracy and all the people were killed. To annihilate the invading enemies, Hu Bowen was even imprisoned in the military camp.
Escorting the wedding team back, there were so many things to do. Qining almost forgot that he had imprisoned such a person. He remembered that when he left, he left a few guards to guard Hu Bowen in the camp. It seemed that the King of Huainan had already learned about this after he arrived. thing.
At this time, when the King of Huainan mentioned this matter, Qin Ning felt that there must be something fishy about this old guy, but he deliberately sighed and said: "I wanted to report this matter to the Ming Emperor after I returned to Beijing. This Hu Bowen is really audacious. I will report it myself." Your Majesty, please punish me severely."
"Young Master, how can a mere Minister of Rites have such courage?" King Huainan snorted coldly: "Without anyone backing him up, Hu Bowen would not dare to do this even if he had the guts of a bear's heart and a leopard's courage."
Qi Ning lowered his voice and said, "My lord, do you think there is a black hand behind this?"
The King of Huainan nodded slightly and said softly: "When I learned about this, I interrogated Hu Bowen before you arrived. He was hesitant and refused to explain honestly, but I already understood something in my heart."
Qi Ning smiled bitterly and said: "To be honest with you, the prince, if Hu Bowen succeeded last time and the gifts were burned, not only would the envoy to Dong Qi not be able to make the trip, but our Jinyi Qi family would also be affected. It would be good if I could save my life."
The King of Huainan sighed: "This vicious and sinister hand can be said to kill two birds with one stone."
"Kill two birds with one stone?"
"Little Marquis, think about it for yourself. If the mission cannot make the trip, the marriage with Dong Qi will naturally be abandoned." King Huainan looked deeply and whispered: "And little Marquis, you must be guilty of this matter, since Destroying the in-law relationship between Qi and Chu, and suppressing Jin Yihou, what is this if not killing two birds with one stone?"
Qi Ning frowned, clenched his fist and said, "Who is so vicious?"
The King of Huainan gave an unpredictable smile and said: "The young Marquis is smart and wise. In fact, you already know it in your heart, but you just don't want to say it out."
The corners of Qi Ning's eyes twitched slightly, and King Huainan had already said softly: "Think about it for yourself, among all the civil and military officials in the dynasty, who least wants Qi Chu to get married this time?" He snorted coldly and said, "Except for our Duke Zhenguo, Who else would interfere with this?"
Qi Ning said: "The Sima family has always wanted their eldest daughter to enter the harem. So...!" He did not continue, but his expression became solemn.
The King of Huainan looked at his words and thought that Qining was angry, so he said with a smile: "Actually, the young prince does not need to be upset. I am the four hereditary princes of Chu. Now that the Sima family is in power, I naturally cannot tolerate other nails in my eyes." He sighed: "The Sima family refused to let go of Feng Ruohai's previous incident. They insisted on forcing an order from the emperor to thoroughly investigate Feng Ruohai's case. Feng Ruohai was so frightened that he committed suicide in the prison of the Criminal Department."
Feng Ruohai was the Minister of Household Affairs. He impeached Sima Changshen in court, but was killed by the Sima family. A large amount of evidence was produced and he was thrown into a prison near the Ministry of Punishment.
Qi Ning witnessed the fight between the two factions at court that time, but he was busy with the mission and did not pay much attention to what happened next. Only then did he realize that Feng Ruohai had committed suicide in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.
He was slightly frightened, but immediately knew that the matter was not as simple as King Huainan said.
Among the six ministries, the Hubu was very close to the King of Huainan. Feng Ruohai served as the King of Huainan's pawn in the court and impeached Sima Changshen. However, the Sima family was already prepared. Not only did Feng Ruohai's impeachment be easily solved, but the reverse was also true. With one knife, Feng Ruohai was pulled down. Feng Ruohai was convicted and was immediately imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.
Qi Ning guessed at that time that since the Sima family had found Feng Ruohai, they would not let it go easily. They would definitely use this matter to make a big fuss and weaken the power of King Huainan. However, the Ministry of Punishment also belonged to King Huainan's power. In terms of scope, Feng Ruohai is in the hands of the Ministry of Punishment. If the Sima family wants to make a fuss, the first step is to get Feng Ruohai out of the hands of the Ministry of Punishment.
But the King of Huainan was obviously not a vegetarian. Feng Ruohai committed suicide in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment at the right time. Qining knew that something was fishy as soon as he heard it. He knew even better that although the King of Huainan only said a few words, there were many people surrounding Feng Ruohai's case. The two factions of Huainan King and Zhen Guo Gong must have gone through a thrilling life and death struggle.
He knew that after the last Feng Ruohai case, the struggle between the two sides became more and more intense. Since Feng Ruohai committed suicide in time, the Sima family would naturally be unable to use Feng Ruohai to involve more people.
This time the King of Huainan suddenly became interested in Hu Bowen, and Qining immediately sensed that the King of Huainan was probably going to make a fuss out of Hu Bowen.
The strategy he discussed with the young emperor at the beginning was to make the two parties, King Huainan and Duke Zhenguo, confront each other tit for tat in order to balance the situation in the court.
Now that King Huainan is clearly at a disadvantage, Qi Ning secretly thought that if King Huainan could really use Hu Bowen as a pawn to launch an offensive against the Sima family to weaken the power of the Sima family, it would not be a bad thing, but he Understand that, unless absolutely necessary, you cannot get involved in the fight between the two factions. Even if you are affected to some extent, you must avoid it as much as possible.
"Your Majesty, I have also interrogated Hu Bowen, but he has a very strict reputation and cannot ask for any confession." Qining sighed and said: "And even if we know that the Sima family is behind it, we don't have any conclusive evidence. The evidence simply cannot prove that they instigated Hu Bowen."
The King of Huainan said with a smile: "As long as we are human, there will always be weaknesses. Young Lord, if you agree, I will personally escort Hu Bowen back to the capital and hand him over to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation. We can always find out some truth." The meaning of his smile Shen Chang, how could Qining not understand his thoughts, immediately said: "Hu Bowen's attempt to sabotage the mission was originally meant to be escorted back to Beijing and handed over to the Ministry of Justice for conviction. It would be great if the prince personally escorted him."
King Huainan smiled and said: "Don't worry, I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly with the Ministry of Punishment, and I will definitely give an explanation to the young marquis." Then he smiled and said: "Yes, I almost forgot, there is another matter, I can It’s time to say congratulations to Mr. Marquis.”
Qi Ning was really startled and asked curiously: "Your Majesty, where does the joy come from?"
The King of Huainan said with a smile: "The young Marquis is on an envoy, and I don't know anything. The emperor has already intended to grant a marriage to the Marquis. This can be regarded as a well-matched match."