Qiu Yizhi had visited the Queen once before when he sent the captured Lingnan King Zheng Gui to the palace, so he was very familiar with the location of the "Li Zheng Palace". He led the army on the winding roads of the Forbidden City for a long time. After sending away countless guards and eunuchs who were patrolling along the way, we arrived at the entrance of the "Li Zheng Palace".
The empress is the mother of the world, and she is the first wife of the Daxing Emperor Zheng Rong. Qiu Yizhi did not dare to neglect, and after saluting towards the palace gate, he said loudly: "Yi Zhi is rude, I have something important to do to visit the empress, please meet the empress!" "
He said this several times, and finally the lights came on in the "Li Zheng Palace". The palace door slowly opened a crack, and a palace maid stepped out. She knelt down towards Qiu Yizhi and said, "This is His Highness Yi, right?" ? According to the Queen's decree, it is already late. If you have anything to do, please discuss it later. Also, the palace restrictions here are strict. It is not convenient for Your Highness to stay here for a long time. Please leave the palace and wait. "
Qiu Yizhi said, "Today's matters will be finished today. The matters at hand of Yi are very urgent. The queen does not want to see me, but she has to do so. This is a humble minister. Please forgive me." After that, Qiu Yizhi simply knelt down and said, "Yizhi will kneel and wait here. Please ask the Queen to receive you immediately."
The maid saw that Qiu Yizhi refused to leave, but due to his status, she could not ask anyone to drive him away, so she had to go back to the "Li Zheng Palace". After a long time, she came back and said: "The Queen's decree, after all, men and women have rights." Farewell, and according to the ancestral system, the harem is not allowed to interfere with government affairs. Please go back first and meet again tomorrow. If Your Highness insists on kneeling down and waiting, then the Queen will order me to take out the quilt from the palace and cover it with His Highness, so that His Highness Yi will not catch a cold. "
These words were equivalent to pushing Qiu Yizhi on the head of the pole, but Qiu Yizhi suddenly became angry, stood up from the ground and said: "I must see the queen's face today! I have to see you!" Come into the palace now." Although he spoke loudly, his steps were not very fast, in order to leave enough time for the queen to prepare, so as not to damage the royal dignity by being disheveled.
When the palace maid saw Qiu Yizhi approaching the palace gate step by step, she was so frightened that she subconsciously took a step back and said: "You... you... you are so presumptuous! What kind of person is the queen? If you want to force your way into the palace, you are blaspheming the royal authority. He’s going to be executed in Lingchi!”
This palace maid was only in her teens, and she was just a little girl. Although she spoke in a serious and by-the-book manner, in Qiu Yi's eyes she seemed like a joke. Therefore, Qiu Yizhi was rude to the palace maid, stretched out his hand and pushed her hard, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground.
This maid is the Queen's personal confidant. It's too late for others in the palace to fawn over her, so how can anyone do anything to her? After suffering such a big loss today, he didn't react for a moment. He sat on the ground and watched Qiu Yizhi push open the door and enter the palace.
Although Qiu Yizhi forced his way into the queen's palace, he did not dare to be presumptuous. He stood at the door and said loudly: "I, Qiu Yizhi, want to see the queen!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw countless candles being lit up in the interior of the "Rising Palace", lighting up the entire palace as if it were daytime. The queen was fully dressed, sitting in the main hall, and ordered people to pull the curtains in front of her. He raised a bead curtain and said, "Yizhi is so rude, is there anything urgent?"
Qiu Yizhi was frightened by the empress's noble temperament, and quickly kowtowed again and said: "It is indeed an urgent matter, and this matter must be handled by the empress."
Qiu Yizhi was wild and untamed since he was a child, and his personality was lively. He was different from the eldest son Zheng Xin, who was mature and prudent, and also different from the third son Zheng Miao, who followed the rules. Therefore, although the queen watched him grow up, she did not like her husband's inexplicable behavior. This adopted son.
Despite this, she did know that the emperor loved Qiu Yizhi no less than his own sons, and Qiu Yizhi never failed to do things for her husband. Therefore, she also believed that Qiu Yi's son who broke into the palace at night must be There are extremely important things to deal with.
So the queen tried her best to look magnanimous and gentle, and said slowly: "If you have anything to do, let's talk about it now."
Just as Qiu Yizhi was about to speak, he saw that in addition to the queen, there were several palace maids and eunuchs peeking out behind the beaded curtain, fearing that among these people there were people arranged by Zheng Xin who might hear the conversation between him and the queen. It was hard to guarantee that the matter would be leaked, so he said: "Please ask the Queen to rebuke the people around you, so that I can dare to report the important matter."
After hearing this, the queen could no longer maintain her restraint. She stood up angrily, pointed a finger at Qiu Yizhi's face and said: "You are brave! These people are my close confidants, why should I ask them?" Leave? If you have something to say, please say it. If you don't want to say it, please leave. I still need to rest."
Qiu Yizhi said categorically: "No, we can't leave outsiders here. To be honest with the Queen, I have led troops to surround the palace here. Please order the Queen to repel the left and right, just to save the royal family a little dignity. If the Queen If you don't agree, I will have no choice but to use violence..."
"What... what..." the queen said in shock, "You actually dare to lead the army into the palace, do you want to rebel?"
When Qiu Yi saw the Queen's panicked look, she suddenly realized that "mother's respect for the world" and "royal dignity" were nothing but penniless showpieces and paper tigers in the face of real strength.
Then he seemed to be filled with courage, stood up with a smile, and shouted outside the door: "Come here! Clean this place up for me!"
The soldiers outside the door were all recruited and promoted by Qiu Yi, and he only recognized Qiu Yi in his heart. After hearing his call, he immediately opened the door and came in, filling the not-so-narrow main hall of the "Lizheng Palace".
Qiu Yizhi smiled confidently: "There are too many people waiting here, drive them all out!"
The sergeant agreed and immediately stepped forward. Amidst the screams, he drove out a dozen eunuchs and maids who were personally serving the queen.
Such a big movement finally alerted the imperial guards in the palace. Zhonglang, who was in charge of the palace guards, gathered more than 200 people as quickly as possible, rushed to the "Risema Palace", and shouted: "Who dares to trespass the palace?"
Upon hearing this, Qiu Yizhi asked someone to keep an eye on the queen temporarily, then went out and said, "It's me, Qiu Yizhi. Someone in the palace is trying to murder the queen. I followed the order of the third prince of the prison country and entered the palace to protect the queen." He Then he pointed at the eunuchs and maids who were driven out by his order and said, "These people are all suspected. I will lock them up for the time being. They must be interrogated one by one to pass the test."
The Royal Forest Commander's name was Yang Xiwen. He was originally a guard of Prince Youyan. Of course he recognized Qiu Yizhi, "His Royal Highness". He hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "It turns out to be His Highness Yi. Does the Third Highness still have such an intention?" I do not know how?"
Zheng Miao left the capital city of Luoyang two days ago in a hurry and did not notify anyone. Naturally, no one knew that he had been killed, so Yang Xiwen asked this question.
Qiu Yizhi's mind was sharp and she opened her mouth and said: "According to the intelligence report, the person who murdered the queen is someone from the palace. Therefore, the third brother sent me to come in to inspect the palace. You are also a guard in the palace, so you'd better retreat first." , so as not to arouse suspicion." With that said, Qiu Yizhi took out the newly written document and waved it in front of Yang Xiwen.
Yang Xiwen didn't see clearly what was written on the document. He only saw that the handwriting on it was very scrawled, and seemed to have been written in a hurry - which is consistent with the situation of immediately ordering people to enter the palace upon learning that someone was causing trouble - see above again It was clearly stamped with the "Great Seal of the Supervisor of the State", so there was nothing to be suspicious about, so he raised his hand and said: "Since I have obeyed the order of His Highness the Supervisor of the State, please be careful with His Highness Yi, so I will be stationed nearby. If your Highness has anything to do, just ask him."
Qiu Yizhi waved her hand noncommittally and asked Yang Xiwen to lead the troops to retreat. She returned to the "Li Zheng Palace" and no longer saluted the queen. She said: "Okay, now there are no others. The queen can Have you listened quietly to what Wei Chen said? "
The Queen was so frightened by what Qiu Yizhi had done that her face turned pale: "Aren't you afraid of the Emperor punishing you if you do this... Do this? Don't forget that Zheng Miao is still in charge of supervising the country in the capital. He... Although he has a good relationship with you, he will not let you off lightly. "
The Queen's words touched Qiu Yizhi's heart, causing two lines of hot tears in his eyes to remain in vain. He choked up and said: "Your Majesty... and Third Brother... and Master Zhongli... are all... all dead... because of... Zheng Xin... was killed by the traitor Zheng Xin!"
The Queen was startled after hearing this, thinking that she was hearing hallucinations, so she quickly asked: "Qiu Yizhi, please tell me clearly, what exactly did you say just now?"
General Qiu Yi repeated what he had just said. He was afraid that the queen would not believe it. He wiped away his tears and ordered outside the door: "Bring Zhao Maiji in."
Zhao Maiji had a bloody battle with Qiu Yi under Tongguan, causing Yuchi Lianghong to be seriously injured and died by a group of bandits he had gathered. Therefore, although he was also chopped down to only half his life. , but could not get the slightest sympathy and mercy from Qiu Yi's men. If Qiu Yizhi hadn't strictly ordered him to spare his life because he knew a lot of Zheng Xin's secrets, otherwise even a thousand or ten thousand lives would have been ruined.
On the way from Tongguan to Luoyang, Zhao Maiji thought about committing suicide several times by going on a hunger strike, but every day his mouth was pried open with a steel ruler and rice porridge was poured into him to sustain his life. During this process, Qiu Yizhi's men did not forget Slap him hard on the face, rub salt into his wounds, and make him suffer so much that life would be worse than death.
After this torture, Zhao Maiji, who was carried to the Queen in front of the Queen, was no longer human - especially the wound that ran from top to bottom on his face. Some parts were scabbed, and some were still scratched. The bright red muscles were exposed, rising and falling up and down with Zhao Maiji's breathing - like an evil ghost crawling out of hell.
The queen was used to pampering herself. When had she ever seen such a terrifying scene? She was so frightened that her body seemed to be pressed to the seat by an invisible hand. She asked: "Yi Zhi? Who is this person? Why do you want to do this?" Bring it to the palace for me to see?"
Qiu Yizhi kicked Zhao Maiji in the stomach and said: "This person is Zheng Xin's most powerful confidant, and his name is Zhao Maiji. It was him who gathered a group of desperadoes and ambushed him in Tongguan Your Highness, the third brother was killed by the sword..." At this point, Qiu Yizhi felt angry in her heart, and couldn't help but stepped on Zhao Maiji hard.
Zheng Miao was extremely filial and would go to the palace to pay her respects to the Queen almost every day.
The queen had not seen Zheng Miao for several days, and she felt a little strange. She thought he was just a supervisor who was busy with government affairs and therefore forgot to come over to say hello. When she suddenly heard such bad news, of course she did not want to believe it and said: " Are you being alarmist? Zheng Miao is very kind and kind, and he is well-supported by the people and ministers. How could he be killed by his eldest brother Zheng Xin? "