Although Meng Guiyu and Meng Guihan were worried about their sister Meng Guihuan who was outside the Guangling Palace the night after the King of Gaomi revolted, when they were analyzing the situation, the two brothers were still worried at that time, but they still had hope. of.
Is that even a reasonable hope
As soon as Meng Guihuan came, he refused to be a prostitute, and the Meng family in Chang'an City did not react to the suddenness of King Gaomi's attempt to force the palace. Even if King Gaomi wanted to settle accounts, there were too many creditors, and they would not be able to turn around in a short time. Meng Guihuan, what's more, if the King of Gaomi is not out of his mind, he should know the urgent task, whether to control the situation instead of venting his grievances.
Secondly, it is not because Meng Guiyu tried every means to force Gongsun Su and others to surrender to him: because he had great power, even if Meng Guihuan was in danger, he would always receive special treatment because of his brother's powerful position. , even if you can't be a hostage, it's still better than being casually killed with a knife.
Meng Guiyu thought that his actions were fast enough, especially when Shu Zhaoyi gave him the chance, he could save Dong Meng Guihuan's life no matter what.
Maybe he didn't expect that Meng Guihuan didn't die in the lap of the Gaomi King, nor did she commit suicide out of consideration of not dragging her brother down, but she was unexpectedly strangled by her older husband's own legs, and she passed away.
In fact, not to mention Brother Meng Guiyu who only received the news two months after his sister's death, King Gaomi who received the report immediately felt unbelievable and was in a daze for a moment: "Guangling... committed suicide?"
The Didong man hung his legs and was begging for an answer when he saw King Gaomi standing up slowly while holding the desk.
His movements when he got up were very slow, not like the stagger of old age, nor the weakness after a big blow, but full of hesitation and sadness.
"... Go and see for yourself." King Gaomi looked down at the pile of official documents in front of him, and was silent for a while. He said quietly before, "Before the death of the late emperor, he repeatedly told me to protect him. Gu... Gu has been... Everyone thought that Gu Fu had done it."
The foreign attendants who had been accompanying him since he was a prince understood his mood and went out to speak. After a while, a carriage and guards were arranged to send King Gaomi to the Guangling Palace.
In fact, there was nothing interesting about the Guangling Palace at that time, because King Guangling first killed a lot of people in the backyard, including Meng Guihuai Juwai, and followed the deceiver Rong Qing'an's many children who were outside of the palace to take poison, and then poured poison into the entire palace. After burning the kerosene, he raised his sword and killed himself.
The material of the sword used for self-inflicted suicide was very good, and it maintained most of its outline when it was dug out from the ruins.
The guard held the sword with King Gaomi with both legs. King Gaomi looked at the sword for a long time and then said: "But when Guangling had his hair cut off, he had time to teach him sword skills in person. He picked it out from the swords left by the late emperor and gave it to him. Yes. He used this sword to kill himself. Can you please explain to the world that he can't afford his fault?"
The waiter next to him originally heard the news in the distance and came back to report it to him, but at that time he was a little hesitant.
King Gaomi noticed it, frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"
"... Your Majesty, there are many survivors in the Guangling Palace, namely the eldest daughter-in-law, Zhao Taoshang, and her two knee-length children." The waiter said cautiously, "The reason for the survival is that when Prince Guangling held a family banquet, the Lord of Guide County felt unwell, and the eldest son's wife I was worried about my grandson, so I confessed my crime to King Guangling and stayed in the house of the Lord of Guide County to take care of me. King Guangling was afraid of arousing suspicion, so he did not force the mother and son to attend. "
"Because the house of Lord Guide is too remote, the wife of the prince didn't realize the disaster until very late, and hurriedly took the county Lord and his grandson to escape from the fire without bringing anything out."
"No, the Zhao family received the news and sent a carriage to pick them up and take them to the Zhao Mansion for a temporary stay... What do you think?"
King Gaomi glanced at him expressionlessly and said calmly: "King Guangling killed himself with the sword that Gu gave him. If Ruogu doesn't even take good care of his daughter-in-law and grandchildren, who are the only ones who have come from the East, there will be a lot of trouble in the future." What is your appearance, going east to see the late emperor?"
He calmly ordered, "Inspect the remaining properties of the Dongguangling Prince's Mansion, compile them into a book, and immediately send them to the Zhao Mansion for the Guangling Prince's wife to review... and then let the orphaned daughter-in-law choose her time to go and comfort them."
The foreign servant breathed a sigh of relief. Although Prince Qunling had been unknown in and out of court all those years, he was still the most favored prince during the late emperor's reign.
The older ministers all know, and there are rumors among the people, that if the late emperor actually visited Naohuan in Guanlan, then the person who ascended the throne in the Ming Dynasty would definitely be neither Emperor Xuanjing nor King Gaomi, but the former emperor. His youngest son, King Guangling.
Even if the late emperor had lived a few more years and waited until King Guangling was in his teens to be able to take charge, then the legacy of the Ming Dynasty that made all parties fearful would not be the turn of King Gaomi.
When King Gaomi accepted these bequests, did he repeatedly promise that he would take good care of King Guangling
For example, King Gaomi of the Ming Dynasty rebelled, and Emperor Xuan Jing was unable to kill him, so he relied on rumors to undermine the enemy's military morale and win the hearts of the people of Tiandong. The younger brother who had sworn to be treated well in front of the late emperor was holding the sharp sword he had given him several years ago. He committed suicide... It was a very bad situation. He treated Zhao Taoshang and his son badly, and didn't even bother to publicize it in Linyuan. It was enough for him to get a bad reputation.
Therefore, when King Gaomi seemed to be angry when he mistakenly used the sword used by King Guangling to kill himself, the waiter could not help but worry, would he be angry
"Slave, I obey!" The waiter bowed and saw King Gaomi turning around and leaving. He even went to follow him, so he helped King Gaomi in the carriage. When the prince suddenly turned his head, his lips almost touched his ear, He said in a low voice and quickly: "Guangling has watched Guangling grow up, and he knows his temperament best! He will definitely not be able to do such a drastic thing, let alone poison his own flesh and blood and burn down the whole house... Call him the last one. Dongren, please check carefully! Who did it?!"
In fact, it was not only King Fu Gaomi who was so suspicious. Half a month later, after receiving the order from his father-in-law, Qi rushed to the Zhao Mansion to comfort her concubine. At first, the mother and son were exhausted after seeing the sudden change, so they made excuses to leave.
When he got outside, he saw Zhao Taoshan breaking a branch of Lingxiao flower and coming towards her with a gloomy expression. He nodded to her and told her softly: "Sister Taoshan and the two children are very tired and just went to bed."
"He knows." Zhao Taoyi sighed, "The eldest sister-in-law just brought her back, and they all wanted to come and see her. However, grandma said that the eldest sister would be mentally and physically exhausted when she suddenly encountered such a thing, so she told them not to disturb her, so she He asked his second aunt to chat with his elder sister-in-law, and asked you to come over after receiving Dong Lai. At that time, his elder sister-in-law and his second aunt were discussing things, so it was not easy to disturb them, so he waited for his cousin-in-law there, and her cousin-in-law gave him a talk. , so what’s going on?”
Thinking of the current situation in Chang'an and the embarrassing situation of the Zhao family after the Jixi family's biological father defected to Rong Suihe, she went on to add, "If my cousin doesn't think it's appropriate to tell him, then forget it, just tell him that big sister There are two nephews who can do whatever they want."
Mrs. Qi sighed and took her for a while. When she arrived at a secluded pavilion, she stopped and said softly: "If you don't pay attention to the disturbances outside, he will know that I am his sister... There is nothing bad to say." What? Or maybe he just received the news, and my father asked him to come over and comfort the peach sisters, so he only found out about it."
She frowned, "The person who sent the message carefully told the whole story, and it's almost certain that Prince Guangling, he thought that after his father took charge of Chang'an, he would definitely pursue the matter of his surrender to the Meng family, so he excommunicated himself, so as not to avoid the consequences. Being tormented by my father... Let’s not say that my father always remembered the promise he made to the late emperor in the past, and he will never be wrong about Uncle Guangling. Let’s talk about Uncle Guangling’s character. We are all relatives, and we are not related to each other. I also know that he would never have imagined that he would do such a thing!"
"..." Zhao Taomei bit her lip and concentrated for a moment, but she was still at a loss, "My cousin is right, Prince Guangling really does have such a fierce and decisive character!"
In fact, it is not necessary for King Guangling to understand this. Just look at him and switch to the Meng family from the camp of King Gaomi: Does he really have the temperament to destroy his whole family in anger? How can he make peace with the natal family of his mother-killing enemy? ? !
"He was wondering if someone wanted to frame his father?" Mrs. Qi hesitated and said softly, "Because I heard that the sword used by the uncle Wang Guangling to kill himself seemed to have something to do with his father... The person who heard the news said that my father The king was very unhappy at the time.”
Zhao Taomei was also a little suspicious. After saying a few words to Mrs. Qi, her sister-in-law said goodbye and wanted to go back to her room, but was invited to the back hall by her host.
Mrs. Qin was waiting alone in the hall. When her granddaughter saluted and asked Anbi, Wen Yan asked: "I just bumped into my cousin-in-law? What did she say?"
Zhao Taomei lowered her head and told the story in a few words, and said with some worry: "Mother Shu, my cousin asked me if my uncle planned to take good care of my eldest sister, mother and son." "
"Why am I afraid that he won't be able to drive them out?" After hearing this, Mrs. Qin, who was originally thinking, became a little angry when she heard this, and shouted softly, "Shan'er's wife just received the news and ran over to tell him, no?" He made the decision for her to send a carriage to pick them up immediately! He was afraid of my uncle and didn’t want to take care of his granddaughter’s life, but why should he be that good person?!”
Seeing how submissive Zhao Taomei was being scolded, she showed a hint of sadness and sighed, "Have I seen what happened with Taozhuang and thought that he mistakenly made us his granddaughters and treated them all as pawns without any sincerity? My child, Why don't I tell you what Tao Zhuang did? He was so cruel when he begged for permission. Let me think about it for myself, what will happen to our family Ru Ming? "
"Mother Zhu, my granddaughter doesn't have that intention, so don't worry about it. "Zhao Taozhuang lowered her eyebrows and was very disrespectful, but in her heart she was dissatisfied with Mrs. Qin's words. In her opinion, Zhao Taozhuang was indeed confused, but that kind of confusion was not caused by Mrs. Qin's deliberate laissez-faire. It's really against my will.
She didn't want to argue with Mrs. Qin on that issue, so she said, "My granddaughter is worried about my eldest sister, mother and son, because my uncle was saying that he asked Haosheng to take care of them. Can my cousin say that my uncle was wrong in Guangling?" The prince is very angry for committing suicide, especially that sword... My granddaughter doesn’t know what will happen if my eldest sister comes to the east?"
Mrs. Qin looked at her, pondered for a while, and said, "I haven't seen my aunt for a while, right?"
"Huh?" Zhao Taoyi was startled. In fact, since her previous "love affair" with Rong Suihe failed, except for the holidays and the birthday of Princess Gaomi, she has never visited her during the confinement period. I never visited that aunt.
Even if she had to go to the Gaomi Palace, she remained taciturn and tried her best to avoid any chance of being alone with Princess Gaomi.
Hearing what her grandmother said now, Zhao Taomei hesitated for a while and then said, "Mother Zhu asked him to ask his aunt for news?" Can...can we not say that in the first two months, my aunt and uncle had a falling out, and they didn't even see each other in those few months? "
Mrs. Qin said calmly: "If we don't meet, my aunt may not be able to do anything. At least she stays alone in Xiangji Hall and sulks. In such a large and high-density palace, she can't be treated as the hostess's flattering service, can't she? ?”
...After sending her granddaughter to the Gaomi Palace to find out the news from the Gaomi Princess, the old lady thought for a while and called her second daughter-in-law, Ji: "I'll find a safe and hard-to-recognize client, and I'll go to Ningweihou's mansion to pick him up." Message!”