After yesterday's heavy rain, the entire Xiyuan was wet and exuded a fresh and cool atmosphere.
On the corridor, the court ladies and eunuchs coming and going could not be seen, replaced by soldiers with cold demeanor. The cleansing started last night, and the guards of the imperial guards who used to guard Xiyuan are now under strict surveillance. At the same time, many court ladies and eunuchs were also locked up for questioning.
Different from yesterday, today's Baoyue Tower is full of tranquility and serenity. Birds are chirping on the treetops. Feng Sheng opened his eyes and found that King Wei had already woken up.
But she didn't want to get up, feeling the light coming in from the outside, and felt that it was still early, so she lay quietly, thinking about yesterday and the recent things that happened.
The child in her belly kicked her, and she touched that spot, and after a while, she kicked to the same spot again.
Inexplicably, she felt at ease, as if she didn't have to think about anything when he came back.
"Princess, are you going to get up?" After an unknown amount of time, Tao Zhi's voice interrupted Feng Sheng's fugue.
"What time is it, Your Highness?"
Tao Zhi replied respectfully: "As for the princess, the prince went to Yingtai just after Chen."
"Brother Yu, are they up?"
"The two young masters got up early, and went to Yingtai together with the prince." Tao Zhi said while helping Feng Sheng up, then squatted down to put on her shoes.
"These two children, as soon as dad comes back, they will stick to dad." Feng Sheng laughed, put on his coat and went to the bathroom.
After washing and changing clothes and dressing up, when Feng Sheng went outside, smelling the fresh air after the heavy rain, he felt particularly refreshed, and suddenly felt hungry.
She passed the meal on peach branches.
After finishing her meal, she thought about it, and decided to go to Yingtai to visit the imperial concubine, and by the way, see if the two children made trouble there.
Brother Sui and Brother Xuan naturally did not make trouble, and Emperor Jianping acted resolutely, calling many officials early in the morning.
As for Ji Zhongnian, the old ministers who were invited to Xiyuan yesterday, except for Jiang Boxue who would tremble if he didn't touch him, the others more or less suffered. And as the officials gradually gathered outside Yingtai, almost everyone knew what happened yesterday.
Although the details are not clear, they all know that King Hui conspired with Queen Chen to rebel, not only trying to harm His Majesty, but also detaining a group of important cabinet ministers in an attempt to draw up a false edict to usurp the throne. Among them, there are countless vassals, and even Chen Qinghua, Minister of the Ministry of War, Zhao Shujie, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, has been involved in it. The wide range involved is simply appalling.
For a while, there were countless curses.
Especially when they heard that Zhao Shujie and Chen Qinghua had colluded with King Hui to persecute their colleagues, they were even more scolded.
Mostly King Hui himself received less scolding than these two.
In fact, thinking about it, King Hui is the prince, and it seems natural for the prince to compete for the heir. However, both Zhao Shujie and Chen Qinghua were from scholar-bureaucrat backgrounds, and both were literati. They were the same kind in the hearts of those courtiers. It is light to scold a running dog and a traitor.
Emperor Jianping acted resolutely. While clearing Xiyuan and the Forbidden City, he did not forget to hand over the matter of King Hui's treason to the Metropolitan Procuratorate of the Criminal Department of Dali Temple for a joint trial, clearly intending to deal with it severely.
The Zhonggong family and the Chen family tree collapsed and scattered, and committed such a heinous crime. It is good for others not to make trouble, let alone intercede for them.
On the other hand, Concubine Hui Sun, on the second day after Hui Wang was imprisoned, brought all the emperors and granddaughters of Hui Wang's mansion to Xiyuan, and knelt outside Yingtai, begging Emperor Jianping to forgive him.
However, when things developed to the current situation, even if Emperor Jianping wanted to spare King Hui, he still had to worry about the minds of those humiliated ministers. These old ministers are placed in the court hall, and they are all people who will shake their feet three times when they stomp their feet. They are either cabinet ministers or ministers. Even the king of a country has to consider whether it is worth offending for a worthless son. All courtiers.
At the same time, some of King Hui's vassals were not so good. Those who were involved were imprisoned, and those whose homes were ransacked.
All of a sudden, the capital city fell into turmoil, and even the ruffians on the street knew that the recent limelight was not right, so they dared not make trouble at will.
As for King Wei, he was called back to Beijing by Emperor Jianping, and there was a lot of commotion outside, but he seemed very relaxed.
He stayed in Xiyuan all day long, accompanying Feng Sheng and the two children, but he didn't care about the important affairs of the court. However, according to the current momentum, King Wei is obviously His Majesty's favorite candidate for the heir apparent, and no one dares to ignore him. On the contrary, the court is much more lively than before.
It's just that this Xiyuan is not where outsiders can come in if they want, and Wei Wang's family can steal half a day's leisure in Xiyuan.
On the first day of autumn, the ruling on Empress Chen and King Hui finally came down.
Empress Chen was deposed as a commoner and imprisoned in the cold palace. King Hui was also deposed as a commoner and confined to Prince Hui's mansion for life.
In fact, this result was not beyond everyone's expectations. After all, it was the Empress Yuan and the eldest son, Emperor Jianping always wanted to miss some old love. However, because King Hui put his concubines under house arrest first, although he mobilized 3,000 battalions of troops without authorization, in the name of escort, Emperor Jianping did not punish him on the face of it.
However, after King Hui was imprisoned, King Wu was also condemned to leave the capital and go to the fiefdom, and since then he has lost the qualification to be enshrined.
With this big cleansing, the court will inevitably fall into a dilemma where no one can be used. However, because Emperor Jianping promoted a group of young and practical young officials, they showed a new attitude with each passing day, and gradually glowed with vitality.
On the day Empress Chen was imprisoned in the cold palace, the imperial concubine thought over and over again, and decided to send her off.
It was not for demonstration or anything, but the imperial concubine lamented that this woman changed her destiny. It was because of her that she was able to enter the palace, and it was because of her that she was tortured repeatedly. What is even more amazing is that the two are still the same father. half-sister.
When Emperor Jianping was dealing with the Chen family before, he asked her if she wanted to recognize relatives, but the imperial concubine's answer was silent.
When she was at her most desolate and miserable, the Chen family didn't give her any help, and when she was at her happiest and proudest, she never thought of recognizing that family. That being the case, why bother yourself at this time.
However, Emperor Jianping didn't do anything to the Chen family, he just cut off the officials and gave them their origins.
She and Empress Chen have been entangled for almost a lifetime. They regard each other as sworn enemies. Now that everything is settled, it is a farewell. The queen didn't think so, she was really taken aback when she saw the imperial concubine, but then she sneered again and again.
After taking off the phoenix robe, Empress Chen is actually no different from ordinary women and children, and she even looks older because of her painstaking efforts over the years.
The dense wrinkles crept up the corners of her eyes and brows at some point, and the imperial concubine was a little surprised when she saw her face.
"Scared you? Someday you will be the same as Ben Gong, and you will not be any better than Ben Gong!"
The eunuch guarding Empress Chen saw that she was so helpless, and immediately reprimanded her loudly: "Why did you talk to the imperial concubine? You think you are still a queen now, and you are a commoner!"
The imperial concubine raised her hand and stopped the eunuch's reprimand.
She stroked her temples and smiled at Empress Chen: "It's just a sigh. I didn't expect you to come to this kind of place one day, and I didn't expect that I would be the one who saw you off in the end."
"Don't be complacent about Su Pan'er! Even if my palace is abolished, you're just picking up scraps. Even if you become a queen, you're just a successor, and you still have to condescend to be inferior to my queen."
The imperial concubine still smiled and spoke slowly, "Don't worry, I won't be a queen. Your Majesty mentioned this to me, but I don't want to be this queen."
"You don't want to be queen?"
Empress Chen was stunned, her mocking face full of disbelief.
"You don't even want to be a queen!" She thought that what the imperial concubine wanted most was her position as queen, so she persevered and persisted. For her, now the imperial concubine actually tells her that she doesn't want to be a queen
"Is it important to be a queen or not? You have been a queen all your life, what happened in the end? The position of a queen is too heavy, and I have a small head and narrow shoulders, so I can't bear this position. Don't worry, you are still a queen, his only one." The queen, as for me, will stay by his side until we both die of old age."
The last sentence, after all, exposed the mood of the imperial concubine.
That's right, how could she not complain, her life's entanglement of fate fell on this woman in front of her, and all her suffering and forbearance were also because of her. She has endured it for so many years, keeping low and low everywhere, and now the other party has finally completely defeated her.
So she put on the most splendid clothes and the most exquisite jewelry, and came to give her.
She even disdains the position of empress that she regards as a treasure, presumably she must hate and be extremely angry.
Not contrary to the expectations of the imperial concubine, Empress Chen really became excited.
"Do you think he really loves you? You are wrong. He only cares about his country and society. He is helping you to be the imperial concubine to clean up the Chen family, me, and the prince's henchmen. Do you think Does he really love you? You are just a pawn in his hand, but you can raise and raise a good son who is favored by him, so you can stand here in front of me today. You said what I said Isn’t that right, Zong Cong?”
The imperial concubine turned around, only to find that Emperor Jianping was standing not far away with his hands behind his back.
Emperor Jianping didn't look at Empress Chen, nor did he answer her words, but raised his hands.
Fu Lu hurriedly winked at the eunuchs guarding Empress Chen, and those eunuchs rushed up like wolves and dragged Empress Chen to the cold palace.
But Empress Chen hadn't gotten the answer she wanted to hear, so how could she want to? She struggled and screamed, "Am I not right? Do you dare to deny it?"
No one paid any attention to her. Emperor Jianping looked at the imperial concubine and said, "Why did you come to such a place? Go back."
The imperial concubine walked towards him slowly.
She didn't look back, nor did she go to see Empress Chen again.
Empress Chen still screamed from behind, but the voice got farther and farther away: "...do you think this bitch really loves you? No, she doesn't love you, only I love you the most... It's a pity that you are blind Eye… "
The imperial concubine stopped.
A big palm touched her slightly stiff shoulder.
I don't know when Emperor Jianping came over, he clenched his hands into fists and coughed a few times: "What's wrong?"
"I suddenly felt that I shouldn't have come. Originally, I just wanted to see her off, but who knew it was self-defeating instead." The imperial concubine said a little tiredly.
"Since you know you shouldn't come, don't come in the future."
She hummed, remembering that he coughed again just now, and said: "You should also let Fu Lu watch you take the medicine prescribed by the imperial doctor. Don't stop taking it all the time. It's not good to cough for a long time."
"I know."