Qi Ning said with a half-smile but not a smile: "Master Chen, didn't you sleep last night? Why is your brain so hard to use? To clear the road, of course, we must remove all the obstacles in front of us."
Chen Lanting glanced at Sima Wanqiong's huge jade chariot and said with a smile: "In that case, Jin Yihou might as well help the queen clear the road."
"Asshole." Qi Ning scolded in a cold voice: "Chen Lanting, who are you? How dare you tell me what to do here?" He wrote to Yuan Laoshang: "Old Shangshu, Chen Lanting is so rude, is it the following offense? "
Yesterday, Qi Ning beat up Da Xi, the minister of the Ministry of Justice, in the street. Many officials knew about this. When Chen Lanting saw Qi Ning's unkind look, he couldn't help but took a few steps back. This lawless young prince actually dared to beat the Ministry of Justice in the street. Minister, then naturally he has the courage to attack the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Yuan Lao Shangshu reconciled and said: "Master Hou, although Mr. Chen's words are inappropriate, today is the emperor's wedding day, and everyone is here to arrange the wedding, so don't hurt the harmony."
"What the old minister said is absolutely true." Sima Changshen said loudly: "Today is a festive day. Jin Yihou is here showing off his power and shouting. I don't know what he wants?"
Qi Ning turned back to look at Sima Changshen and saw Sima Changshen staring at him coldly. Sima Lan had also stood up and stood aside with his hands hanging down. Sima Lan was the envoy of the wedding, so he should come up with an idea immediately. But he remained calm and silent.
Qining had actually come to his senses about today's situation and understood the deep meaning of the Sima family.
Logically speaking, with Sima Lan's temperament, today's wedding will never be publicized. Keeping a low profile is the way this person handles things. However, today's Sima family is uncharacteristically public and has seriously violated the court's etiquette in many places. In terms of ostentation, she is not inferior to Princess Tianxiang.
His behavior was so unusual that Qi Ning naturally found it strange. He thought about the explanation along the way, but suddenly remembered an allusion.
Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty wanted to seize power. He was afraid that the ministers would not obey his orders, so he set a trap as a test first, so he brought a deer to Qin II, claiming that it was a horse. Qin II laughed and said: "Prime Minister, are you wrong? You called the deer a horse." He asked the ministers around him. Some ministers remained silent, while others agreed and said it was a horse. Zhao Gao then tested the ministers. Their stance and thoughts.
Call a deer a horse!
Qining thought of this allusion and understood the mystery behind Sima Lan's publicity. In the final analysis, this was a test of the ministers of the DPRK.
The King of Huainan, the biggest rival, suddenly collapsed. Looking at the court, there were few who could compete with the Sima family. Sima Lan took this opportunity and lost no time to further test. Today is the emperor's wedding. Sima Lan deliberately violated the etiquette in many places. If no one dares to accuse, then the power of the Sima family in Chu will be confirmed, and the ministers in the court will not dare to fight against the Sima family in order to protect themselves.
Qi Ning saw something fishy, so naturally he couldn't just watch the Sima family establish their authority on the wedding day.
He took the initiative to stand up today, which seemed reckless and seemed to be intended to target the Sima family, but it was a decision he made after careful consideration along the way.
He knew that when the Sima family made a test, if no one dared to object, the officials would naturally feel that no one could resist the Sima family, and they would fear and even surrender to the Sima family. But as long as someone dared to stand up, That means that the Sima family does not cover the sky with only one hand in the court. At least there are forces that dare to fight against the Sima family. And there must be many people among the courtiers who are dissatisfied or even disgusted with the Sima family. As long as these people are found The backbone of the family will not give in easily to the Sima family.
Qi Ning felt like a mirror in his heart. When he was in the imperial mausoleum, he stood up to prevent the Sima family from causing a major case. At that time, he had already forged a deep hatred with the Sima family. Regardless of whether he came out today or not, the Jinyi Qi family had already been The Sima family was listed as the enemy. Since the enemy and ourselves were clearly distinguished, instead of remaining silent and allowing the ministers to surrender to the power of the Sima family, it was better to simply stand up and serve as a banner against the Sima family.
Silence will only make him more isolated and helpless in the court in the future, and standing up will inevitably attract a group of ministers who are dissatisfied with the Sima family. The two will gain power from each other. Qining naturally knows exactly what to choose.
"Yelling?" Since Qi Ning knew that there was something fishy about today, he naturally would not make any compromise with the Sima family. He smiled faintly and said: "Zhongyihou, where did you start with all this yelling? The Queen's The jade chariot was blocked, and I said that I wanted to clear the road to make way for the queen's jade chariot. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Prince Dong Qi put his hands on his belly and stood not far behind Qi Ning. He did not say a word from beginning to end. When he heard Qi Ning's words, there was a trace of appreciation between his eyebrows.
Duan Shao is the prince of Qi State. When he came to Chu State this time, although he did not dare to offend the Sima family, the powerful official of Chu State, and endured his temper to let Princess Tianxiang's jade chariot come to Sima's house, he was still somewhat unhappy in his heart. , now that he saw that his sister's jade chariot might be walking behind, he felt very dissatisfied.
However, Sima Changshen also knew that if he could not suppress Qi Ning in front of the ministers, the power of the Sima family would be damaged. He sneered, pointed at Sima Wan's jade chariot and said: "Jin Yihou, the one standing in front of the queen is nothing more than the little girl." The jade chariot, according to what you said, should you lift the jade chariot aside and let the queen pass first?"
Someone on the side immediately said: "Zhongyi Hou, that can't be done. The jade chariot that goes out only takes the main road. If the jade chariot is moved to the side road, then... that is a bad sign." As soon as the man finished speaking, he immediately Many officials agreed.
Sima Changshen even said proudly: "Jin Yihou, you heard it too. My daughter has already boarded the jade chariot, but she can't move to the side road. If you have any good ideas, just say it."
Qi Ning sighed and wrote to Mr. Yuan: "Old Minister, you are a veteran of the Ministry of Rites. The etiquette system of our Chu country is all in your heart. I am young and have little knowledge. I have something to tell you today. I ask for advice, and I hope that the old minister will not hesitate to give me some advice."
Mr. Yuan Lao Shangshu hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said: "Excuse me, Lord Marquis."
"When the current Queen Mother entered the palace, I wonder if the old minister was working in the Ministry of Rites?"
Mr. Yuan Lao Shangshu was startled, not knowing what Qi Ning meant. He thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Yes, the old minister was already in the Ministry of Rites at that time."
"Then the old minister should still remember the scene when the queen mother entered the palace." Qi Ning put his hands on his back: "Can the old minister tell me how the queen mother entered the palace?"
"This...!" Yuan Laoshangshu hesitated for a moment and finally said: "When the Queen Mother entered the palace, the late emperor issued an edict and sent people from the palace to carry her into the palace with twelve sedans. After entering the palace, , the late emperor canonized the Queen Mother as the imperial concubine."
Qi Ningzhi, the current queen mother, comes from the Sima family. When she entered the palace, she was only canonized as the imperial concubine. Later, Longtai's mother, the empress of the palace, passed away, and Sima noble concubine took charge of the East Palace and became the queen.
Qi Ning smiled and said: "Is it in line with etiquette for twelve people to carry a large sedan chair?"
Yuan Laoshang wrote: "If it were ordinary people, eight-carrying sedan chairs would be the highest etiquette, and most of the ladies who came into the palace were ten-carrying sedan chairs. Being able to carry twelve-carrying sedan chairs is also a sign of the emperor's grace* *."
"So, without the emperor's special decree, the ladies entering the palace can only carry a large sedan chair." Qi Ning sighed, looked at Sima Changshen, and asked: "Zhongyihou, let the ladies enter the palace today. , according to the etiquette, it can only be a large sedan chair with ten carriages. Even if the emperor has a special decree, at most two sedan bearers will be added. Now your Sima Mansion has prepared such a huge jade carriage, but you don’t know what it is for? Could it be that your concubine is Do you want to violate the court etiquette and enter the palace in a jade chariot?"
In fact, when all the ministers came to Sima Mansion today and saw the luxurious jade chariot, they all murmured in their hearts. Everyone knew that to welcome the queen, one had to carry out the jade chariot from the palace, but except for the queen, there was no one else in the world. Qualified to ride on jade chariot.
It is stipulated by the etiquette system to welcome the bride out of the palace. I have never heard that other empresses need an honor guard to greet their bride. They just have people escort them directly into the palace. Today, the honor guard took a detour to come to Sima Mansion to greet Sima Wanqiong. It is already overstepping the bounds. Etiquette, but the Sima family actually prepared a jade chariot, which was a bit excessive.
Although the ministers murmured in their hearts, no one dared to say one more word due to the power of the Sima family. They thought that if no one dared to say it, everyone would just pretend to be deaf and dumb and let the matter end as soon as possible.
Now that the queen's path was blocked, Jin Yihou suddenly asked about this power directly, and some of the courtiers felt very happy.
Sima Changshen opened his mouth, but his confidence was obviously weaker: "My little girl will be the imperial concubine soon, shouldn't... shouldn't she enter the palace in a jade chariot?"
"No!" Qi Ning said resolutely: "Don't say that my concubine has not been canonized as a noble concubine yet. Even if the emperor really decreed that she be the imperial concubine, I am afraid she would not be qualified to ride in the jade chariot. Could it be that the loyal and righteous queen is above the imperial palace? No one understands this truth?" He looked at Sima Lan, who had been silent, and said, "Old Duke, I have been working extremely hard these days for the emperor's wedding. He may not have time to interfere with the preparations here, but the loyal and loyal Marquis should not be like this. Negligence, when the wedding procession comes to the street, will the common people misunderstand when they see two jade chariots? There are no two days in the sky, no two masters, dragons and phoenixes are auspicious, there is only one true dragon and emperor, and the phoenix is everywhere There can only be one Phoenix."
"Well said!" A shout came from behind: "What Jin Yihou said is in line with the etiquette of our country. There is nothing wrong. Who can ride the jade chariot except the queen?"
Everyone followed the sound and saw that the speaker was none other than Dou Kui, the Minister of Household Affairs.
As soon as Dou Kui spoke, many ministers immediately said: "Yes, yes, the queen rides in the jade chariot, which is naturally in line with etiquette. As for other people, hehe...!"
"What Jin Yihou said is very true. How can it be unbecoming for two jade chariots to be seen by the people while they are walking on the street?"
Qi Ning saw this in his eyes and felt slightly relieved, thinking to himself that his decision today was not wrong. It can be seen from the reactions of these ministers. Because he stood up, these ministers were not afraid of the Sima family, at least they were already Many people dared to speak out, and this was exactly the result Qining wanted to see.