The shy yet coquettish look of the madam is even more heart-warming, but Qining knows that there are still important matters, and tonight is not the time to be intimate with the madam.
He found a servant from the mansion and asked him to go to the Hou Mansion to ask Li Tang to bring two people over. He also asked his wife to find a large sack, and he went back to the piano room to put the unconscious Zhebdanba into it. Among the sacks, Jebdanba was tall, and it took Qining a little effort to curl up and fit into the sack.
Qining was worried that this matter would cast a shadow on his wife, so when he took action, he did not let his wife get involved from beginning to end.
Li Tang came very quickly and brought two people with him. When they saw the sack in the piano room, they could tell at a glance that a person had been stuffed inside. Qining did not hide anything from him and briefly told what happened that night. Looking aside, Li Tang had accompanied Qi Ning to Dong Qi, and he knew about the Qinghai-Tibet Lama. When he learned that the Qinghai-Tibet Lama had targeted Qining and even set a trap, he was quite angry and whispered. : "Master Hou, the people of the Guxiang Kingdom are so bold that they dare to set a trap to harm Master Hou. Do you want to report this to the court?"
Qining shook his head and said: "This matter should not be a big deal. Let's control Jebdanba first, and then we will see what the ancient elephant people will do next. Jebdanba only dared to act secretly this time, which shows that they I don’t dare to blatantly make this matter a big deal. After all, I am a Marquis of Chu State, and the matter involves two countries, so they should be cautious." He then ordered: "Take someone to take Jebdanba away first, and find Keep him in a secret place and never let anyone know about it."
Li Tang said: "Don't worry, Lord Marquis, leave this matter to me, there will be no mistakes in keeping it." Without any nonsense, he took two people with him to take away Zhebdanba who had put it in a sack, and left through the back door of Tian's house.
After finishing the matter, Qining went to comfort his wife again, thinking that the woman would be frightened tonight, so he asked her to rest early. It was already midnight when she left Tian's house.
The Hou Mansion was not far from the Tian family. Qining rode back to the house. There were two lanterns hanging outside the door of the Hou Mansion, which was quite bright. However, the door of the Hou Mansion had been closed. Qining got off his horse and was about to go up and call for the door to be opened. However, he found a lion in front of the door. There was something behind his butt. When he took two steps closer, he saw that it was a package.
The package was not big, and it was stuffed behind the lion's butt, leaving a large section exposed. If you weren't paying attention, you might not be able to spot it.
Qi Ning was a little strange. He reached out and took the package. The package was neither heavy nor light. He was suspicious and opened the door. The door of the house was wide open. Qi Ning had already asked: "Who left this package outside? "
The guard who opened the door looked confused, shook his head and said, "Master Marquis, we just closed the door, and we didn't see any packages left outside."
Qi Ning frowned slightly and glanced back. The long street was deserted. All the mansions had already closed their doors, and not a single person could be seen.
He knew that someone must have secretly put this package over after the Hou Mansion was closed. Now it was extremely difficult to track down who sent the package.
After returning to the house, he went back inside, put the package on the table, tidied it up, and then walked to the table and opened the package by the light of an oil lamp. Only then did he realize that there were some books and documents in the package. Qi Ning was even more curious about the ultimatum. He picked up an ultimatum, opened it and glanced at it a few times. Under the solitary lamp, the young marquis showed a look of surprise on his face at first. When he picked up several books in succession and looked through them, his eyebrows But he slowly relaxed, and a sneer appeared on his lips.
Three days after Longtai's wedding, the Dong Qi delegation finally returned to Qi, and Su Zixuan, the daughter of Wuxiang Marquis Su Zhen, would naturally follow the delegation to marry Dong Qi.
Qi Ning didn't care about these two things. It wasn't until the day when the Qi delegation set off that he accompanied the officials of Chu to see off the Qi delegation.
Naturally, the emperor did not have to leave the palace to see them off in person, so the task of sending the envoys out of the city naturally fell on Ma Lan of the Zhenguo Company.
On the day of seeing off, Qining knew that Su Zhen had finally escorted Su Zixuan to Qi State in person. Perhaps he had requested the emperor's order. Su Zhen was leading the delegation to Qi State this time as the envoy of the farewell mission, and in the territory of Chu State The responsibility of escort fell on Sima Changshen.
Although Sima Changshen was deprived of his title of Marquis of Zhongyi, he was immediately granted the title of former general of the Qinhuai Army by the emperor.
The chief general of the Qinhuai Army, Yue Huanshan, is General Wuwei. His four generals are the front, rear, left, and right generals. In terms of position, the former general is second only to General Wuwei, who commands 100,000 soldiers. So from a certain point of view, Sima Changshen lost the title of Marquis of Loyalty but gained the position of former general, which is not a disadvantage.
The daughter of the Marquis of Wuxiang was to be married to the Eastern Qi Dynasty. This matter had already been decreed on the day when Ximen Zhanying competed with Wu to determine her son-in-law. Although the main task of the Ministry of Rites recently was to prepare for the emperor's wedding, a small number of people were also assigned to it. Prepare for Su Zixuan to marry Dong Qi.
The Marquis of Wuxiang, Su Zhen, was naturally extremely satisfied with this marriage. The Su family was declining day by day. If this marriage could be used to enhance and stabilize the status of the Su family, this would of course be a dream. Moreover, although the Su family had little say in the court, , but the family has a big business and rich wealth. This time Su Zhen married his daughter with great courage and purchased a very generous dowry. The court also rewarded a lot of money and treasures as a dowry.
Sima Changshen was about to rush to the Qinhuai Army to take up his post, and he happened to be traveling with the envoy. Naturally, the task of guarding the envoy was given to Sima Changshen.
The Qi delegation led by Prince Dong Qi and the Chu delegation led by Su Zhen totaled two to three hundred people. In addition, Sima Changshen brought another group of people, including more than a dozen large vehicles. The car and the team were quite large. Under the leadership of Sima Lan, the ministers of the Chu State were sent directly out of the city twenty miles away.
On the way to Qi Ning, he was thinking about the purpose of Prince Dong Qi's coming to Chu State. Although it was obviously to send Princess Tianxiang to Chu State to get married, there was another important thing, which was to form an alliance with Chu State. The two countries joined forces to attack the Northern Han Dynasty. Such a major military and national event, I don't know what the final result will be.
Qi Ning believes that Chu State should have reached some kind of agreement with Prince Dong Qi regarding the joint military force between the two countries. Otherwise, if there is no result, Prince Dong Qi's face will not look too good if he leaves today. But Duan Shao saw today He looked good and was in a good mood. At least he got a decent answer from Chu State.
After the Prince of Dong Qi came to Chu State, Qi Ning did not have much contact with him. Qi Ning really didn't know what kind of reply the imperial court gave Duan Shao.
Only after the team left did the officials return to the city.
Qi Ning was about to mount his horse, but a man came over in a hurry and said respectfully: "Master Marquis, I have invited you!" After saying that, he looked back. Qi Ning followed his gaze and saw Sima Lan standing next to a carriage. He looked very old, but nodded in his direction.
Qi Ning didn't say much, threw the horse's reins to the man, walked over quickly, and said with a smile, "What are your orders, old Duke?"
"Jin Yihou, I want to talk to you. I wonder if you can ride with me in the car?" Sima Lan was calm and composed, with a smile on his face.
Qi Ning thought for a moment and said, "How dare you disobey me!"
The carriage Sima Lan rode in was not luxurious, but it was spacious enough. The two of them sat face to face in the carriage, with a large space in the middle.
"Early this morning, news came from the Northern Han Dynasty." Sima Lan stroked his beard: "The fifth prince of the Northern Han Dynasty, Beitang Zhao, commanded 30,000 frontier troops in the northern frontier of the Han Kingdom to go south, and his sword pointed directly at Luoyang, the capital of the Han Kingdom. , and the Sixth Prince Beitang Hao and his followers have controlled the situation in Luoyang and heavily defended the city. A battle between the two sides is about to break out."
Qi Ning said "Oh". In fact, he had always been interested in the situation in the Northern Han Dynasty. Beitang Feng detoured from Chu State to Hanzhong to go to Xianyang. Qin Ning had been waiting for Beitang Feng to show up to his uncle Qu Yuangu. With the support of the army, he left Tongguan and attacked Luoyang. Once this happened, the Northern Han Dynasty would be in chaos.
But there was no news from Beitangfeng. Only then did he learn from Sima Lan that the other two princes of the Northern Han Dynasty were already at war.
He pondered for a moment before asking: "My lord, in your opinion, how will the Han Kingdom develop next?"
"The dead Beitang Huan was quite a powerful figure." Sima Lan said: "When he was alive, the Northern Han Dynasty and the public were under his subjugation, and no one dared to act rashly. But this man made a fatal mistake. It means that he was not able to establish the crown prince during his lifetime. Bei Tanghuan gave birth to a total of eight sons. The first two sons died early, and the seventh son died more than a month after he was born, so there are still five sons left."
Qi Ning knew a little bit about the affairs of the Northern Han Dynasty. He nodded slightly and Sima Lan continued: "Among these five sons, the one who is qualified to inherit the throne based on his birth is naturally the fourth prince Beitangfeng. Tangfeng was born to the Empress of the Northern Han Dynasty, and he was the legitimate son. And as far as I know, Beitangfeng's appearance resembles that of Beitanghuan when he was young, so he was very favored by Beitanghuan. There are rumors that Beitanghuan is indeed interested. Beitangfeng inherits the throne."
Qi Ning said: "I know a little bit about this matter. I heard that Beitang Huan gave birth to two princes before. After giving birth, he was immediately appointed as the crown prince, but he died early because of this, so Beitang Huan has been He has never appointed a crown prince again, perhaps because he is worried that establishing a crown prince too early will bring misfortune to his children."
Sima Lan stroked his beard and smiled and said: "That's true. Although Beitang Huan fell in love with Beitang Feng, he never made him the prince, which made other princes covet him. The fifth prince Beitang Zhao and the sixth prince Beitang Hao, these two people are quite talented among the sons of Beitang Huan, and their mothers are also important ministers of the Northern Han Dynasty. Why don't those people want to have something to do with them? A prince related by blood succeeds to the throne?"
"So Beitang Huan passed away suddenly, and the princes and ministers of the Northern Han Dynasty began to fight among themselves." Qi Ning smiled lightly: "My lord, I heard that Beitang Huanye, Mu Yunhou of the Northern Han Dynasty, had a very high status in the Northern Han Dynasty, and his qualifications were also high. He is extremely high, and he is also a great master. Why did he not intervene in the civil strife in the Northern Han Dynasty? Could it be that he wanted to watch the Han Kingdom fall into civil strife?"
"Beitang Huanye...!" Sima Lan muttered a sentence, and then said slowly: "It is impossible to know whether this person is alive or dead. At least in recent years, there has been no news about this person at all. According to rumors, Beitang Huanye Already dead."