After Shen Zangji and his wife Shen Shuming left the Imperial Capital, something happened in the Imperial Capital.
The matter is not trivial—the palace is in trouble.
Although the place where the water flows is not the main hall where the emperor and empress lived, it is the Fengci Water Hall where the Holy Emperor has lived during the past two summers. Fengci Water Palace was built during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Wei Dynasty. Emperor Xiaozong was given the posthumous title of Xiao, and he was extremely filial. His biological mother died young and he was raised by his aunt, Queen Mother Xian'an. He served Queen Mother Xian'an as his own son since he was a child. After ascending the throne, he continued to personally serve the Queen Mother Xian'an from time to time.
The royal family of this dynasty would move to a mountain palace outside the city every summer to escape the summer heat. However, Queen Mother Xian'an was not suitable for traveling when she was old and she was afraid of summer. Emperor Xiaozong gathered skilled craftsmen and built this water palace in the palace for Empress Dowager Xian'an to live in during the summer. It was named "Fengci".
The Fengci Water Palace was built on the largest lake in Shanglin Garden, with cornices and squares and wide palaces. It is the same size as an ordinary palace, more exquisite and superior, occupying less than half of the lake. There are mezzanines on the upper and lower walls of this hall. In summer, ice is put in, and a water wheel is set up at the door of the hall to blow the air. Therefore, even in the hot summer, the hall is still very cool, as cold as autumn and winter.
After Xiaozong, occasionally members of the royal family would live here because they were inconvenient or unwilling to go to the palace to escape the heat in summer.
In the past two years, the Holy One has grown old and does not like to move. After summer, he and his beloved concubine lived here forever.
In early summer, Miao Jieyu competed with Zhong Xiaoyi for favor, and ordered the palace officials to take a boat on the lake in front of the Fengci Water Palace, where they danced on the lake, with human faces and lotus flowers reflecting each other. It was a charming scene that the Holy Emperor liked very much. Therefore, the Limbo dance has not stopped all summer this year. Now that it is autumn, the Holy Master still does not want to leave the Fengci Water Palace. He only asked people to remove the ice in the mezzanine and the water wheel that blows the wind, and he still lives here.
... Of course, the Holy Emperor does not want to go back to Xuanming Palace. A big reason is probably because at night, looking out from the Xuanming Palace, it is not difficult to see the busy lights in the six yamen all night long, reminding the old Holy Emperor that his world is How precarious.
All in all, the emperor's residence had no access to water. Although it was easy to get water to put out fires because the water palace was built on the lake, it was inevitable that the palace residents would be burned and the emperor would be frightened.
Not only was he frightened, the emperor also suspected that this was a murder against him.
This sudden change caught the nobles a little off guard - fortunately, the Holy Emperor still had a few trusted confidants. These palace people found out that the reason for the escape had nothing to do with rebellion. It was a complete accident: a palace official from the Water Palace The man fell asleep while guarding the candle at night, and the wind from the lake blew a few sparks onto the curtains. After the fire burned the curtains and other items, although the palace man woke up, he was afraid of the third watch because the place was close to the holy palace. The interruption in the middle of the night caused the Holy Emperor to be punished - His Majesty had been in a bad mood during this period of time. There were quite a few of the servants who were beaten to death or exiled for trivial matters. The fear of the palace people was also reasonable.
But he underestimated the intensity of the fire. After fighting for a long time, he not only failed to put out the fire, but he accidentally choked on too many fireworks and died of suffocation in the fire. Then the fire spread throughout the palace... You must know that Fengci Water Palace was built purely with wood.
As a result, the fire burned nearly two-thirds of the entire Fengci Water Palace. The flames soared into the sky and shocked the whole city. Due to the current situation, it didn't take long for rumors to spread all over the city. If Gu Xiaode, the commander of the Imperial Guards, had not made a decisive decision, he sent his trusted Imperial Guards into the palace to help put out the fire, and at the same time sealed off the entire city with a tiger talisman. He ordered everyone from the royal palace to the common people not to step out of the house. Anyone who violated the rules would be killed immediately, and he was barely restrained. The situation has changed - I am afraid that the imperial capital will be in chaos because of this incident.
Although it was said that everything inside and outside the palace was a false alarm, after the Holy Spirit learned about this incident, he actually thought about it!
The day after the palace officials found out that the leak was an accident, the Holy Father summoned the princes who were in charge of government affairs to come to the throne.
Of course, each family was a little panicked about this summons - they were not ready yet, but they started to prepare... But to everyone's surprise, the Holy One did not even mention the civil uprising, Yanzhou, crusade, defeat, etc. The things that made them worried and restless actually comforted them for a while; they also looked back on their own lives, recounting the ambitions and ambitions of Qia when he first came to the throne when he was young, and lamented the helplessness of his gray hair, his ambition but not his strength...
The Holy Emperor shed tears on his throne and said: "When I ascended the throne, all my dear friends were still in their prime. I remember that at that time, the monarchs and ministers were united in their ambition to revitalize the Wei Dynasty! Now, decades have passed by in a hurry, and I and all my dear ladies are already old. I, the Wei Dynasty, are tired but still don’t say it. In the past two years, wars have been raging and everything is devastated! I have also seen the hard work of Zhu Aiqing in government over the years. It is not the fault of the Wei Dynasty that it has fallen into the current situation. My dear friends!"
Speaking of this, the confused ministers all thought they had heard the clue. Just when the ministers were lamenting that the ancestors of the Wei Dynasty had shown some wisdom, the conscience of the Holy Emperor discovered that he planned to abdicate in the throne. Prince, no matter how bad things are, you should issue an imperial edict to soften the raging public anger in the world. Several loyal veterans such as Wei Yu have been moved to tears. They kowtow to the ground and apologize, saying that they are incompetent and cannot do anything for them. When your Majesty shares your worries -
A big turning point has come that breaks the harmony between the king and his ministers and makes them work together to clean up the atmosphere!
The Holy Spirit said: "...Of course I am not guilty!"
“………………!!!”
The ministers, who were ready to comfort the old emperor and willingly absolve him of his sins, looked at each other...
Then, the Holy Spirit said confidently: "The fault lies with those unruly people in Wei who don't care about the emperor's kindness!"
All the ministers secretly vomited blood!
In fact, after the civil uprising, there were some people in the gentry who took advantage of long cases and cursed the unruly people...
Even before the rebels attacked the nobles' mansions and fields, many nobles believed from the bottom of their hearts that the uprising was all because the common people were too arrogant or had not been trained enough, or someone was fanning the flames. In short, it had nothing to do with the exploitation of the nobles and the royal family - weird? , The world is so big, it’s not surprising that there are just a few.
But now those who have been summoned to the Golden Palace are all the mainstays of the Wei Dynasty. Even if they are not from a noble family, they have been tempered by the officialdom so far. They are not so confused that they really don’t know the root cause of this tragedy in the world. !
The gentry have been scolding the leaders of the uprising for having ulterior motives and encouraging ignorant people to commit suicide, although to a certain extent they are telling the truth. But if it weren't for the indolence of the emperor, the exploitation of corrupt officials by the nobles, and the constant foreign troubles all over the country, even if a small number of people would be incited, how could the majority of the people pay attention? How many of the ordinary people are willing to let go of their daily lives of food and clothing, and go out to rebel if they have nothing to do
All in all, the words of the Holy Spirit made everyone choke for a long time and they could not recover. If the Holy Spirit had said this from the beginning, everyone would have thought that the Holy Spirit was going to deal with the civil unrest everywhere. But the Holy One first confided in his memories... The beginning of "The Prodigal Son Turns Back" ends with a faint king. For example, Wei Yu, some of the veterans who were moved to tears just now, haven't wiped away their tears yet. This happened all of a sudden, and it was almost unbearable. Do you know how to pick it up
There was silence in the palace for a moment, and then came another sentence that made the officials vomit blood even more: "This time, the Fengci Water Palace was almost burned to the ground. I am very heartbroken."
Why did the Holy Spirit suddenly mention this? Didn't we find out that it was caused by the palace attendant's carelessness? Could it be said that the Holy Spirit made the people everywhere angry because of this? The ministers looked at each other, and they all agreed that the Holy Spirit was too confused now, and it was better not to speak rashly before knowing what he was going to say - but hopefully it wouldn't be the most terrifying sentence...
But it happens to be!
The Holy Master said: "This palace was left behind by Emperor Xiaozong. Since Emperor Xiaozong, all the kings of the Wei Dynasty have always stayed here to recall the pure filial piety of their ancestors. How can we let such a place burn down? It must be rebuilt." "
After Shen Xuan realized that the Wei Dynasty was declining, the powerful ministers who had long been planning their retreat remained silent. Wei Yu, an old minister who was truly loyal to the Wei family, almost died at the words! He was so moved by His Majesty's recollection that he knelt down and howled to apologize. He didn't get up until now. He just continued to kowtow. Then he said with tears: "Your Majesty, you can't, you can't! The treasury is empty now, let alone There are civil unrest in the world. If the Holy One rebuilds the Fengci Water Palace at this moment, it will definitely be used by those who provoked the civil unrest. Compared with the time when Shang Zhou built Lutai regardless of people's livelihood! I’m just afraid that the people’s hearts will be lost and the country will be shaken!”
The treasury of the Wei family is now said to be empty, but in fact it is not to the point where it cannot afford to build a Fengci Water Palace. The problem is that there are many places for Wei to spend money these days! And as Wei Yu said - the biggest concern when it comes to repairing the Fengci Water Palace at this time is not whether it can be repaired, but whether it can be repaired!
In a situation where the whole nation is suffering from internal and external troubles, the emperor is still living in drunken dreams in the harem, which has made the people of Li, including the nobles, very resentful. At this time, let alone repairing a palace that was two-thirds burned, even a small repair somewhere in the palace city would be exaggerated by those rebels, who would do everything possible to go to Shang Zhou's side...
So how can officials like Wei Yu, who still want to help the Wei family, not be anxious
Just now I thought that Your Majesty had changed his nature and that you had become wiser, but now I realize that it was a good idea. Your Majesty clearly felt that the Wei family was not defeated quickly enough!
However, the Holy One had already made up his mind. The gray-bearded Wei Yu kowtowed his head at the foot of Danqi, which made a loud noise, but it only aroused his anger: "This dynasty governs the country with benevolence and filial piety, but the palace people accidentally burned down the water palace left by our ancestors to support the Queen Mother." , I am ashamed of my ancestors! Why does Situ want me to be an unfilial king?"
Wei Yu said with tears: "Benevolence and filial piety, benevolence and filial piety, benevolence comes before filial piety. Now the people are miserable, and they are easily incited by people with evil intentions, causing civil unrest everywhere. Now is the time to implement benevolent policies and appease the people. Wait until the world is settled." , Even if the Holy One doesn’t say anything, I think some ministers will be considerate of His Majesty’s wishes and take the initiative to ask for the Cishui Palace to be built!”
"The common people are unjust, how dare they ask for my kindness?! Do I, as the emperor, have to bow my head to a group of untouchables?! If so, where is the dignity of the emperor? Where is the dignity of the royal family of the Wei Dynasty!" The Holy Lord has been because of his long years. Indulging in wine and sex, his old eyes, which had been cloudy and dim for a long time, suddenly became sober and serious - he looked sharply at the prostrate old minister of His Highness, what Jinkou Yuyan said made Wei Yu feel cold in his heart, "Wei Yu, you are old and confused. ! I miss you in handling state affairs over the years, so I won’t argue with you this time, just get out of here!”
When Wei Yu heard this, his heart was cold but he was also very anxious. He was still waiting to beg, but he felt the wind blowing beside him. It was Taiwei Liu Sihuai and Taifu Shen Xuan who came out to plead for him at the same time. Fortunately, the Holy See seemed to have been killed because of the water leak last night. Wei Yu, who was not in good spirits at the moment, scolded Wei Yu for Liu Sihuai and Shen Xuan's attempt to smooth things over, and then stood up and ordered Wei Yu to go back to the harem. (To be continued)