Qiu Yizhi bit her lower lip painfully and said, "It's because Third Brother is too kind... If Zheng Xin wants to be the emperor, of course he has to get rid of Third Brother, his beloved brother. What's more, although the Emperor has not issued an imperial decree, But I have long planned to pass the throne to the third brother. This time, won’t the imperial commander also arrange for the third brother to supervise the country in the court? Isn’t the person who supervises the country the acting emperor? "
The queen still didn't want to believe it and said: "You are just inferring this. There is no real evidence and it is difficult to believe..."
Qiu Yizhi replied: "This Zhao Maiji is the proof. He is Zheng Xin's confidant and has helped Zheng Xin do many harmful things. If the queen doesn't believe it, just listen to what he has to say!"
After that, Qiu Yizhi kicked Zhao Maiji again and cursed: "Evil thief, how did you listen to Zheng Xin's order and intercept and kill the Third Highness? Hurry up and tell the Queen!"
Zhao Maiji was in pain all over from Qiu Yizhi's kicks, but he gritted his teeth and refused to speak.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi said fiercely: "You have the nerve to do it, but you don't have the nerve to say it? A man dares to do something. If you can tell your sins, I will recognize you as a man. Otherwise, watch how I torture you You, make you regret being born in this world!”
Zhao Maiji was not afraid of death, but what he was afraid of was endless torture. Qiu Yizhi's words really frightened him. But Zhao Maiji had long been trained properly by Zheng Xin's kindness and power, and for a while he was unwilling to tell Zheng Xin's viciousness to his face.
But Qiu Yizhi said again: "If you tell everything about what Zheng Xin did, I will give you a complete body. If you continue to cover up for Zheng Xin, not only will you suffer torture during your lifetime, but you will also have to have your tongue pulled out after death." Hell, isn't it painful? Zhao Maiji, you still have some sense of humor, but in fact there is no difference between you and the dead. Please think carefully about what I said. "
These few words finally completely defeated Zhao Maiji's psychological defense. He heard a very dull and unpleasant sigh from his throat. After a long while, he finally said: "Okay, I will say it, I will say it all!"
Zhao Maiji did not participate in Zheng Xin's murder of the emperor and prime minister in Jinling. He was ordered to intercept and kill the third son of the emperor Zheng Miao. However, he was the person in charge and told the queen and Qiu Yi about the process in detail. That's what he said.
The queen didn't believe it at first, but what Zhao Maiji said was indeed well-founded, and she couldn't believe it. These irrefutable facts gave the queen a psychological blow that was hundreds of times stronger than the one caused by Qiu Yi's previous invasion of the palace. She was completely knocked down and her body was buried in the soft cushion, unable to move at all.
Seeing that the queen looked like this, Qiu Yizhi obviously believed her words, so she raised her hand and ordered her left and right: "Bring Zhao Maiji this piece of meat down to me! I will deal with him later."
Zhao Maiji, who was lying on the ground, was stunned for a moment and said, "No, don't you want to give me a happy death? Why don't you do it?"
Qiu Yizhi laughed ferociously: "I can let you die simply for your crime of murdering His Highness the Third Prince of the Jian Kingdom. But for your crime of killing my brother Yuchi Lianghong, I haven't spared you yet!"
Zhao Maiji's face showed an expression of extreme pain, and the slightly healed scar on his face burst open again. Blood and pus emerged from the wound and covered the ground, giving off a foul smell.
Qiu Yizhi felt even more disgusted when she smelled the smell. She waved her hands and said: "Carry it down, carry it down! What are you doing here!"
Zhao Maiji was dragged down by the soldiers on both sides like a pile of rotten meat, but he said: "You are unfaithful, you... you are a treacherous villain!"
Qiu Yizhi was an unforgiving person and sneered: "Hmph! It's true that I am a treacherous villain. But you, and Zheng Xin above you, how should you comment on killing your father, brother, and master? You know some sense of right and wrong, but when you see Zheng Xin doing evil, you don’t persuade him, don’t stop him, or even try to avoid him. How should you evaluate someone like you?”
Qiu Yizhi's few words immediately rendered Zhao Maiji speechless and unable to speak anymore.
The queen over there finally figured out the cause and effect of the incident, and asked with choked sobs: "Yizhi, are the emperor, Zheng Miao, and Mr. Zhongli... all dead?"
Qiu Yizhi was reminded of the sad thing again, wiped away her tears and said: "I have seen this with my own eyes...Master Zhongli is unwilling to draft the abdication edict for Zheng Miao, and is willing to take poison and commit suicide...The emperor is Zheng Xin who colluded with Tianzun. The leader Wen Honghui stabbed him to death... The third brother was killed by the dead ghost Zhao Maiji just now, and his body is still in Tongguan... None of them have been laid to rest yet... "
These few words actually caused the queen's husband and son to die, and the culprit was his other son. The current empress is not a silly lady who has been raised in a deep palace since she was a child and has never seen much of the world. She also started as Princess Youyan and followed her husband Zheng Rong step by step to this "Li Zheng Palace" Comes from inside.
However, she was still a female child after all. Hearing such news was like pulling out the backbone of her chest. The aura of motherly respect for the world she had just now was gone. She was like an ordinary peasant woman who was at a loss, repeating over and over again. : "What can we do...what can we do..."
Qiu Yizhi already had a plan on how to deal with the current situation. He shrank his nose and said extremely calmly: "There is only one purpose now, which is not to let the traitor Zheng Xin succeed and restore the orthodox appearance of the Han Dynasty! But since the emperor Now that he has passed away, as the saying goes, "A country cannot live without a king for a day," it is better to establish an emperor as early as possible. "
When the topic came to this point, the queen suddenly woke up and said weakly: "The emperor passed away, Zheng Miao is gone, Zheng Xin is a traitor, naturally he cannot be the emperor... Could it be... Could it be that the throne belongs to Zheng Sen?" There was anxiety, hesitation, and a bit of despair in his tone.
Of course the Queen was anxious, hesitant, and desperate about this matter.
The eldest son Zheng Xin and the third son Zheng Miao are the biological legitimate sons of the empress. No matter who among the two succeeds to the throne, the empress' title of "Empress Dowager" will be guaranteed. The second son, Zheng Sen, was born to a princess from Zheng Rong's family. If he succeeds to the throne, he may not be the empress dowager to the current queen...
Such a major issue temporarily brought the queen back to reality from her grief, and she stared at Qiu Yizhi with wide eyes.
Of course Qiu Yizhi took the queen's mentality into consideration and said quietly: "Zheng Sen cannot be the emperor. Firstly, he has Hu ancestry, and his entry into the Central Plains will inevitably violate the sage's distinction between Huayi and Huayi. Secondly, he is still in Jiangnan, If you don’t know your position, you may rebel, so you can’t take the risk. Thirdly, he is a concubine, and it is not in line with etiquette for him to succeed. Queen, do you think this is true?”
Qiu Yizhi's last words struck a chord in the Queen's heart, causing her to say: "Yes, yes, for the sake of long-term peace and stability, it is indeed not appropriate to make Zheng Sen the emperor. The emperor also said before that Zheng Sen is a warrior and can only lead Just lead the army. But besides him, who else can we support now?"
Qiu Yizhi then said: "It stands to reason that the third brother's son should be made emperor. Unfortunately, the third brother only has two princesses under his knees, so there is no choice but to support Zheng Xin's son... "
There is no precedent for directly skipping the prince and making the emperor's grandson the emperor since the founding of the Han Dynasty. There are still some points worthy of scrutiny in terms of etiquette. However, Zheng Xin's two sons - Zheng Chao and Zheng Qi - are both the legitimate sons of Mrs. Da Qin, and they are the legitimate descendants of the same sect. If any one of them is given the title of "Queen Mother" or "Empress Dowager", The points cannot be escaped, and the status is still extremely respected.
This was the only good news the Queen had received since she was woken up by Qiu Yizhi late at night. After sitting motionless in her seat for a long time, she finally moved and said, "It seems that this is the only way..."
"No." Qiu Yizhi said again, "Zheng Xin is a traitor and his son cannot be allowed to become emperor."
The queen didn't understand. The only option left was to establish Zheng Xin's two sons. Why did Qiu Yizhi in front of her want to veto it? She asked doubtfully: "Yizhi, what do you mean?"
Qiu Yi's way: "If you want to be the emperor, you cannot be Zheng Xin's son. Zheng Chao is too old. As for Zheng Qi, I want him to be adopted by the third brother and let him be the son of the third brother and Mrs. Xiao Qin." "
The queen was stunned after hearing this, and finally figured out the logical relationship. She immediately praised: "This is a very good idea, and it couldn't be more appropriate."
When Qiu Yizhi saw that the queen had agreed, and saw that the paper on the windows outside was gradually turning white, she said: "I have sent people to control Zheng Xin's palace. Since the empress is willing to take charge, I will send Zheng Chao, The two brothers Zheng Qi escorted me here. Please send me your message to Mrs. Xiao Qin, Mrs. Da Qin, and Mr. Qin Guangyuan."
The queen did not expect Qiu Yizhi to act so quickly and control Zheng Xin's two sons before breaking into the palace. Suddenly, she thought that her husband and biological son were no longer with her. Although she was the queen, she He could only be at the mercy of an outsider - although Qiu Yizhi was the emperor's adopted son, he did not have this blood-thicker-water relationship after all.
Thinking of this, the queen couldn't help but feel a little chilled. She waved her hand and said: "I am a prostitute. It is up to you to deal with external matters. After you are ready, you can invite Yizhi to come in. I have a splitting headache now and need to take a good rest. …”
Qiu Yizhi really had nothing else to say to the queen, so he bowed to the queen and slowly withdrew.
After going out, Qiu Yizhi was afraid of another accident, so he did not stay away from the "Lizheng Palace". Instead, he found a pavilion outside the palace, found the four treasures of the study, and wrote two warrants with Lin Shuhan after consideration, and then found a few The reliable subordinates left the palace separately to summon the relevant people. He himself continued to stay in the pavilion, sometimes discussing a few words with Lin Shuhan, sometimes burying his head in writing a few words, and sometimes falling into deep silence...
After half an hour like this, Mrs. Da Qin and his two sons, who had already been controlled, were escorted over first. Zheng Xin's eldest son Zheng Chao seemed to have resisted and struggled, and his face was bruised and bruised; his younger son Zheng Chao was trembling with fear and could not even walk.
Seeing their embarrassed appearance, Qiu Yizhi burst into laughter in her heart, but saw Mrs. Da Qin being pushed and rushed towards her. She suddenly thought that she was Mrs. Xiao Qin's biological sister after all, so she couldn't offend her too much, so she He scolded a few of his subordinates and said, "Hey, you guys don't understand etiquette so much. How can you be so violent to the princess?"
The sergeants were stunned for a moment after hearing this, and were at a loss for what to do.
Mrs. Da Qin was moved by these words. She wiped her tears and bowed to Qiu Yizhi: "Thank you for taking care of me, uncle."
Qiu Yizhi's face suddenly turned red, she immediately waved her hand, turned away, and started talking to Lin Shuhan again.