In the first month of this year, there were two funerals for nobles in the imperial capital, which greatly reduced the festive atmosphere.
Wei Shengyi lost his wife in middle age, so it was fine. After all, he was just a minister, so he just had to follow the rules. However, the death of Queen Mother Ji plunged the entire imperial capital into an undercurrent.
After returning from the Prince Ji's Mansion to offer condolences, Mrs. Su entered the upper room and waved away, leaving only Aunt Tao at her service. As soon as the door was closed, Mrs. Su was so angry that she struck the case hard and said with gritted teeth: "Deng's bitch! An How dare you bully me, Shen!"
Aunt Tao comforted her and said: "Madam, please calm down for a moment. Your Highness, Prince Ji, is pure and filial by nature, and now he has been kept in the dark. If His Highness knew the inside story, how could he be taken advantage of by Deng?"
Mrs. Su sneered and said: "What do you know? King Ji has always obeyed the Queen Mother's advice. The two beauties sent by his subordinates at the beginning coaxed King Ji to ignore Xiu'er and even listened to two unworthy servants. The concubine suspected that Xiu'er was unworthy! But the Queen Mother only gave the two concubines a thoughtful admonishment! Although I was grateful to the Queen Mother in this matter, Xiu'er later asked her to marry him. I also warned her specifically - the Queen Mother has a great influence on her husband! "
"You think now that the Queen Mother 'died' of an illness, and her death happened so suddenly, what else could it be other than that she was so moved by Deng's words that she planned to use her own death to give her son a chance to stay in Beijing and replace the crown prince? !" Mrs. Su bit her lip and said, "Since the Queen Mother has made such a decision, even if she was worried about King Ji's disapproval and did not tell him, would she not leave a letter or message to let King Ji not let her down? Some thoughts?"
"The Holy Emperor has many heirs. The Crown Prince's mother is the Queen, and he also has a very popular sister, Princess Qingxin." Madam Su sneered, "Where is Prince Ji? He has been with his mother to the fiefdom since he was sixteen years old. There’s no chance of coming back once a year! Just based on Deng’s extravagant descriptions, these two mother and son are so stupid!”
Aunt Tao didn't know what Shen Zangfeng had previously reported to Shen Xuan. She also said that Mrs. Su was simply worried that her son-in-law would get involved in the whirlpool of seizing the reserve, which would drag down the second lady Shen Zangxiu, and maybe even the Shen family. He couldn't figure it out, so he suggested: "Maybe Madam can find an opportunity to talk to the second young lady and let the second young lady give advice to His Highness Prince Ji?"
"Who doesn't want that position? Even if Queen Ji talks to King Ji, I'm afraid King Ji may not listen." At the same time, in the study room in the front yard, Shen Xuan squinted, slowly stroking his beard, listening to his staff discussion.
The person who said this was only in his twenties, handsome and tall, with a cynical look on his eyes and brows. He was none other than the staff member Shen Zangfeng had personally recruited, Nian Shenyou. He casually took the tea lid and stirred the tea foam, and said, "Besides, when a man acts like a man, how can he allow a woman in the backyard to gossip? Especially for such a big matter! So I think it will not help even if I inform Queen Ji about this matter, and it may be easy for the news to leak out. , it’s better not to say anything!”
"Lemu's words are wrong." An older staff member shook his head and objected to his opinion, "Isn't Concubine Deng a woman? But this matter happened because of the concubine! How can Mr. Lemu despise the abilities of women? I suggest that you first ask Queen Ji to persuade King Ji to get out of it, and if King Ji persists, then we can argue!"
The two had different opinions, but Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou remained silent while listening. The other staff members discussed it. Some supported Nian Shengxie, while others supported the senior staff member. At this time, one of the people who supported the senior staff member came out and said: "Queen Ji is the lord's beloved daughter, and King Ji is also the lord's son-in-law. King Ji has always respected the lord, even though he was temporarily ignored by Concubine Deng. Confused, yet…”
"However, the Queen Mother Ji is dead." Nian Shengxu said in a mocking tone, "If she didn't have deep faith in Concubine Deng, why would the Queen Mother Ji leave the good Queen Mother alone and die in the excitement on a festive day like the first lunar month? In the imperial capital?”
The man before was dissatisfied and retorted: "Prince Ji is not favored by the Holy One. No matter how much the concubine talks, when Prince Ji calms down, he will definitely hate the concubine! When the time comes, he will remember his mother's hatred and he will only hate the concubine for confusing the Queen Mother with her evil words."
Nian Yuan said: "Since ancient times, have all the supreme beings been succeeded by the beloved son of the late emperor? Not to mention the so-called riding a tiger with difficulty... In the eyes of King Ji, the Queen Mother Ji gave up her life to pave the way for him! If you are the son of a man, How could you let down your biological mother when she made such a sacrifice for you? Will you be able to listen to the Yue family’s advice in this situation?”
The man was speechless, and his companion came out again and said: "Lemu's intention is not to tell Prince Ji and his wife? Then what should we do?"
"The Valve Master should report his illness immediately." Nian Yuan said calmly.
This statement made everyone stunned. Shen Xuan also stopped stroking his beard and said, "May I ask Mr. Nian what he meant by this?"
"Concubine Deng will definitely not be able to convince Prince Ji and her son on her own," Nian Changchun said with a half-smile. "She must have borrowed the reputation of the Valve Master. The Valve Master is not claiming to be ill at the moment. What if His Highness Prince Ji comes to ask for the Valve Master's help?" ...After all, King Ji is the husband of the lord's beloved daughter. If the lord agrees, it would be unbecoming of a courtier; if he refuses, it may hurt the relationship between his father-in-law and his son-in-law, and also put Queen Ji in a dilemma between her husband's family and her natal family. Therefore, there is no other choice. Pretending to be sick before King Ji comes to visit!”
Many of the staff looked at each other, their expressions a bit dejected.
Brother Shen Xuan was not surprised by this scene. It turned out that Nian Shen was recruited by Shen Zangfeng and was well received by Shen Zangfeng. This time, because of the planning of a major event - the major event was brought up by Shen Zangfeng. In addition, Shen Zangfeng left the imperial capital and deliberately left Nian Shengyuan with his father as a helper.
At the beginning, neither Shen Xuan, Shen Zhou nor their staff thought highly of the young Nian Shen. As a result, over the past few days, this man had come up with many clever ideas, which made the staff dare not look down upon him. Even Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou respected him more and more.
In fact, in today's discussion, the two aides suggested that Shen Zangxiu persuade King Ji, but they did not really agree with it. The main reason was that they heard that Shen Xuan doted on his daughter and tried to do what he wanted.
As a result, Nian Chuanxi insisted on not telling... Everyone thought that he was not afraid of offending Shen Zangxiu, nor was he afraid that Shen Xuan would regret it for his daughter and be angry with him in the future. Unexpectedly, he changed the subject. Not only was he thoughtful, but he also considered Shen Zangxiu.
The staff of Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou were repeatedly outed by him, and they could not help but feel a little embarrassed in front of their benefactor. Although Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou were pleased that Shen Zangfeng had recruited a talented person, it was impossible for Nian Chuan to take over all the positions of other staff members. After all, he was Shen Zangfeng's person. Therefore, after praising Nian Chuanjiu, I had to comfort others...
Of course, Shen Xuan would also write down Nian Yu's performance in detail in his letters home, and order people to fly to Xiliang on Pegasus to report to Shen Zangfeng.
At this time, it was still snowing heavily in the Imperial Capital, and it was already snowing three feet in Xiliang.
Shen Zangfeng was wearing a large fur coat, holding the reins in his left hand and holding a knife in his right hand, leading his mount through the arduous trek through the knee-deep snow. The horse carried his horse on its back, so even though no one was riding it, the tips of its hair were now covered in sweat. The cold wind blew it and froze it into clumps of ice, adding to the burden.
So every once in a while, Shen Zangfeng would let go of the reins and walk to his mount to brush off the frost. However, although the thick hood almost covered his entire face, only a pair of sharp eagle-like eyes were exposed, but he was always vigilantly scanning the left and right.
In fact, looking around, on the vast white snow, apart from the occasional withered grass stems emerging from the snow layer, and the scattered small beasts that were so hungry that they had to risk their lives to come out of the snow to look for food, there were only dozens of riders in their group. People, horses with rings in their mouths, hoofs wrapped in cloth, walked silently.
"How long does it take to reach Donghe Town?" He realized that he and his subordinates had lost a lot of physical strength. Walking at the front of the team, they could also hear the constant breathing coming from the team; here again, Wei and Qiu were already there. The boundary line of Di is where people from Wei and Di often wander around even on a snowy day, making it unsafe. Shen Zangfeng pondered for a moment, then raised his hand to stop the march of the team, and ordered everyone to divide into two teams, one team to rest on the spot, and the other team to be on guard.
Panting, Shen Zhe ran from the middle of the team and spread a dark-colored thick felt on the snow for Shen Zangfeng to sit and rest. However, Shen Zangfeng did not sit on it. Instead, he took out the map from his horse, spread it on the felt, and called the guide not far away to ask.
The guide glanced at the large and small town, village, county and city marks circled with a red pen on the map, then looked away and said respectfully: "If you return to the school captain, I think it's not far away. According to our current situation, Speed, we will definitely arrive before dark!”
Shen Zangfeng seemed to be relieved. He put away the map and said with satisfaction: "The military order is like a mountain! The captain ordered me to rush to Donghe Town before tomorrow to obey the order. Unexpectedly, the heavy snow in the past few days delayed the trip. Fortunately, you are familiar with the route and know this. A small road! Now I am relieved!”
The guide smiled meaningfully and said: "Why should the captain worry about such a trivial matter? With me here, even if the captain wants you to arrive in Donghe Town right now, I can make it happen!"
"..." Shen Zangfeng didn't expect that the guide who was born as a commoner would suddenly say such impudent words. He looked at him in surprise and turned to his former servant, Shen Die, who now serves as his personal bodyguard. He was about to speak when he heard the guide laugh ferociously. He raised his voice and said: "Warriors of Musiur Chanyu, I have brought the most cherished son of the Xiliang Shen family here for you, why don't you do it?"
Before he could laugh, he saw a large amount of snow foam flying on the snow not far away!
A group of Qiudi people wearing white hats, white robes, white boots, and covering their bodies with snow shook off the snow with a loud laugh, showed their bows and arrows that had been prepared for a long time, and headed towards the place less than twenty steps away. Shen Zangfeng and his entourage inside fired arrows one after another. As soon as the arrows left the strings, they immediately abandoned their bows. They each pulled out the broad-backed machetes from their waists and backs, and charged forward with shouts!
This change happened suddenly. According to the calculation of the guide, Shen Zangfeng and his party were close to running out of gas after a long journey in the snow. Even with Shen Zangfeng's identity, dozens of riders around him were all elites. Elite, but now there is not much resistance left; what's more, with the help of the snow and the snow and sand blowing up from time to time, the Di people ambush so close, giving Shen Zangfeng and his party little chance to react... What do you think, this time? Ambushes are always a sure thing.
Seeing the Di people's arrows falling like rain, the guide who had dodged aside early could almost see that the battle would end soon, and he followed the Di people to the king's tent of Mu Xiuer Chanyu to receive the reward, in this life. They all enjoy endless wealth and a bright future! (To be continued)