As he spoke, Qiu Yizhi handed the documents to Qin Guangyuan and said, "Mr. Qin is a leader in the literary world. Please take a look at these documents. Are they written to your liking?"
Qin Guangyuan saw that the writing on the paper was neat and beautiful, and there was a certain elegance in every stroke. He immediately liked it and was about to pick it up to read it carefully, but unexpectedly Qiu Yizi had taken the document back and asked, "Mr. Qin, this is what I discussed and drafted with Mr. Lin Shuhan, the 'Ban Song Layman'. Is it acceptable?"
Qin Guangyuan has lived to such an old age, of course he knows the current situation, and nodded without thinking: "The moral article is indeed extraordinary in literary talent, indeed extraordinary in literary talent."
Qiu Yizi smiled half teasingly and half satisfied, placed a few documents on the table next to the Queen, and said, "Since Mr. Qin Guangyuan has no objection, please use the seal, Your Majesty." As she spoke, Qiu Yizi took out the "Regent Seal" from her arms, smeared it with ink, and then stamped the documents one by one.
The queen also knew that she had no room for objection now, and the result she faced was not completely unacceptable, so she had no choice but to stand up and take out a box from the cabinet. After opening it, she took out a seal made of jasper and placed it in front of Qiu Yizi: "Yizi, please put it wherever you want."
Qiu Yizi was not polite either. He took the queen's seal, applied the ink himself, and stamped the document that was already stamped with the regent's seal.
So Qiu Yizi looked through the documents he had prepared with a satisfied look, and then called Lin Shuhan, who was outside the door, with a proud tone, asking him to carefully frame these pages of documents that were as light as a cicada's wing and as heavy as a mountain, and distribute them throughout the country.
After finishing the job, Qiu Yizi casually wrapped up the queen's seal and put it in her arms.
When the queen saw him doing this, she immediately stopped him and said, "Yizhi, this seems to be against etiquette, right? How could you take my seal away?"
Qiu Yizi smiled and said, "This is not your seal, but the seal of the Queen. Don't forget, you are now the 'Grand Empress Dowager'. This seal will be awarded to the new Queen after the Emperor's wedding. In the meantime, I'd better keep it for you."
The former "Queen", who had been promoted to "Grand Empress Dowager", finally realized the change in her status. She no longer had any reason to stop Qiu Yizi's actions, so she could only slump in the chair, lowering her head and shedding tears.
Qiu Yizi hadn't slept for several days and nights since the great battle in Tongguan. Now that things were almost certain, he suddenly felt sleepy, his head felt dizzy, and his eyelids drooped slowly without his control.
It was this moment of deep sleep that made his mind clear again, and he ordered: "The Empress Dowager is in grief, and she must be taken care of. Your Majesty, you are now a role model of morality in the world, and you must observe filial piety. Stay in this 'Lizheng Palace' with the Empress Dowager to guard the spirit of the late emperor. Your status as Madam Qin has not been abolished yet, so please stay here to take care of her. The same goes for Mr. Qin."
Qiu Yizi cleared her throat and continued, "As for Madam Qin, you are already the Queen Mother, but the current situation is unclear and it is inconvenient to move to another palace. I will temporarily inconvenience you to rest in the palace next to the 'Lizheng Palace'. The attendants will be assigned according to the Queen Mother's regulations. If you think the eunuchs and maids in the palace are clumsy, tell me and I will call the servants in the Third Brother's palace to serve you. It will be very convenient. But the Queen is a princess, so you can't be too sad. It will be bad for your health if you worry too much."
Mrs. Xiao Qin was indecisive. After hearing Qiu Yizhi's arrangement, she could only nod and say, "It's all up to uncle..."
Seeing that the status of the two sisters, Madam Qin and Madam Qin, had changed drastically, and their treatment was one world away from each other, the people in the palace had vaguely felt that the world situation was now sliding rapidly in a direction that they could not predict or control. They asked themselves, perhaps they really thought that it would be better for Zheng Xin, who had committed an unforgivable crime, to lead the political situation rather than an outsider like Qiu Yizi!
But now these people in the palace, although they are the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and the King's father-in-law, are trapped in a corner of the "Li Zheng Palace" by Qiu Yizi, cut off from the outside world, and can only do what Qiu Yizi wants.
In fact, the current situation is such that even the Forbidden City, the capital of Qiuyi, may not be completely under control, let alone the entire Han Dynasty. As long as these nobles who are almost "under house arrest" in the "Lizheng Palace" can send one or two confidants to pass on the news, they may have a chance to turn the tide. But among these people, either they are women who are raised in the deep palace and don't care about worldly affairs, or they are literati who only know how to talk nonsense. They have neither the courage nor the energy to do such a risky thing.
However, Qiu Yizi did not dare to take it lightly. After he went out, he ordered his men to guard the "Li Zheng Palace" strictly. He personally sent Madam Xiao Qin, who was now the "Empress Dowager", to the bedroom to rest in peace. He also sent loyal guards from Zheng Miao's palace to protect Madam Xiao Qin.
After making all the arrangements, Qiu Yizi personally led people to the "Shangbaosi" in the palace, which was responsible for keeping seals, and took out all the spare seals of the Empress Dowager, the Grand Empress Dowager, and the Emperor that were temporarily sealed and kept them personally.
Afterwards, he used these seals and letters to issue decrees in the name of the emperor, regent, empress dowager and grand empress dowager, and carried out a major mobilization of the guard troops in the imperial palace and the capital. All officers who were slightly suspicious were discarded without hesitation, and reliable people were selected from his own personal guards to fill the vacancies. In a blink of an eye, he had the security and defense of the capital Luoyang firmly in his hands.
He also used the name of the regent to send the people who stayed on the north bank of the Yangtze River to
Afterwards, he took control of all foreign envoys stationed in the capital city of Luoyang, strictly forbidding them to go out without permission. However, he was extremely respectful to Prince Uldun, who was sent by the Bohai Kingdom to Luoyang, and asked him about the domestic situation in the Bohai Kingdom from time to time, and also inquired about the situation of the son born to him by Princess Yiran.
After about three or four days, Wang Laowu, who was sent to contact Li Shengjie, arrived in the capital. He also brought a person in charge of liaison under Li Shengjie to Beijing to meet Qiu Yizi.
In order to facilitate work, Qiu Yizi requisitioned a military camp next to the imperial city as a temporary official residence. When he saw Wang Laowu bringing Li Shengjie's liaison officer over, he did not greet him, but asked the two of them to take his handwritten letter and go back to give it to Li Shengjie, asking Li Shengjie to act according to his strategy.
Not long after, Liu Qing, the governor of Jiangnan Road, who was sent by Qiu Yizi to the side of Wei Hu, the left general of Huguang Road, also sent someone to deliver a letter.
The letter said: "Qing followed Qiu Yizhi's instructions and told General Wei Hu stationed in Huguang about Zheng Xin's rebellion. As expected, General Wei Hu did not completely believe what Liu Qing said, but he did not say it completely. Instead, he locked himself in the room and cursed himself for a whole day. No one dared to disturb him. At this time, the imperial edict came from Jinling City, asking Wei Hu to report to Jinling immediately. After Liu Qing learned about it, he naturally wanted to persuade Wei Hu not to go there to die. But Wei Hu considered that the imperial edict could not be easily disobeyed, and secondly, he also wanted to see with his own eyes what happened in Jinling City, so he only led a dozen personal soldiers to rush to Jinling overnight...
Liu Qing felt that things might have reached a point where they were irreversible, so he quickly wrote this letter and found a junior officer in the army who had once shown him kindness, and asked him to deliver it to Qiu Yizi immediately.
Qiu Yizhi estimated the time it took Wei Hu to go back and forth, and it would take at least four or five days. With Wei Hu's intelligence and alertness, it would not be difficult for him to discover the fact that Zheng Xin was rebelling and killing the king, and with his character, he would definitely not join the rebellion and do evil. In this case, Zheng Xin would arrest Wei Hu and put him under house arrest at best, or even kill him at worst.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizhi knew that something was wrong, so he asked the officer who reported the news to have a meal and rest in his mansion, and he wrote a reply letter. In the letter, he asked Liu Qing to pay close attention to Wei Hu's movements and inform him immediately of any changes in the situation; if Wei Hu was really killed by Zheng Xin, he must use his identity as the General of Zhendong to stabilize the Xiangyang camp in Huguang. Even if he could not participate in the battle, he must not be disrupted or incorporated by Zheng Xin.
After Qiu Yizi hurriedly wrote the letter, he gave the officer dozens of taels of gold and a promotion to a higher rank as a reward, and asked him to return to Liu Qing without delay.
Just half a day after Liu Qing's envoy left, another letter came. The originator of this letter shocked Qiu Yi. It was none other than Xu Rong, who was recommended by Qiu Yi as the governor of Yuezhou. Although Xu Rong was subdued by Qiu Yi's kindness and power, he was still an old man in Zheng Xin's mansion after all. It was unknown how much of the content in his letter could be believed and how much was a lie.
So Qiu Yizi sent someone to settle Xu Rong's messenger, and without opening his letter, he went to find Lin Shuhan to open and examine it together.
Lin Shuhan has been helping Qiu Yizhi these days with his duties as regent and handling military and political affairs. He has been very busy. When he saw Qiu Yizhi coming in, he immediately complained, "At the beginning, the late emperor wanted me to come out of retirement to serve as an official and promised me to be the next prime minister. I just wanted to be an idle person, so please find a way to decline. But I didn't expect that after so many twists and turns, I still can't be an 'idle person'. Look at how busy I am now. What's the difference between me and the prime minister?"
Qiu Yizhi knew that Lin Shuhan's words were half a complaint and half a joke, and he also sighed: "Mr. Lin's situation, I can empathize with him. I also wanted to retire to the mountains, but I didn't expect that the official position would become higher and higher, and the responsibilities on me would become heavier and heavier. But I think that being able to roam freely among the mountains and rivers is ultimately just a personal desire. Compared with the natural law of maintaining the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty and allowing the people to live and work in peace, these selfish desires can only be put aside for the time being. Mr. Lin, don't you think this is the truth?"
Qiu Yizi's words were very powerful and very righteous, leaving Lin Shuhan no room for rebuttal. However, he was unwilling to nod and agree, but said: "Okay, okay, Lin can't argue with you. Did you come here today just to tell me this big truth?"
Qiu Yizhi then remembered that he had something important to do, so he said, "How dare I? I have a letter here that may be of great importance. I would like to ask you to open it with me."