Xiao Weixin was very stubborn and wanted You Shu to be the queen no matter what. Although You Shu knew that he wanted to give himself a legitimate status so that he would not have to be just a personal guard by his side forever, he also knew that this matter was not as simple as just his wish. He had to fight against the pressure of the whole world and the secular world, which was not that easy at all.
He was worried whether Xiao Weixin would be hurt because of this, but when he looked into the other's determined eyes, all his worries and hesitations disappeared.
No matter what, he couldn't let Xiao Weixin face those things alone. No matter what the future held, as long as he was determined enough, You Shu would face it with him.
The queen is the queen.
The issue of establishing a male queen has been going on for several days, but in fact it was mainly the civil officials who were making the fuss. Not all of them were as open-minded as Shen Qingyu. Most of them were old-fashioned and feudal when they were young. They thought this matter was ridiculous and absurd. They would never agree that Daliang would establish a man as queen.
In comparison, the military generals were much more casual, most of them had fought their way through the battlefield and had seen all kinds of scenes before. Although the matter of establishing a male queen sounded a little unbelievable, it did not bother them at all, and they did not care much about it. They were just happy to watch those civil officials crying, making a fuss, and even hanging themselves, which was more exciting than watching a monkey show.
This morning at the court session, the civil officials below began their routine performance. Xiao Weixin was bored, propped up his chin, and followed them impatiently.
Those old men even brought up the beauties from the previous dynasties for comparison, such as Daji, Mei Xi, Xia Ji, and Bao Si. They were all filled with righteous indignation, as if the man who was to be made queen in the future was already a vixen, and their emperor had been bewitched.
You Shu sat on the beam of the main hall and listened to the criticisms from the civil officials below. He felt hesitant to laugh or cry. These people were too good at talking nonsense. How could a big and strong man like him be related to a seductive vixen? It was really...
Seeing that the old men below were getting more and more outrageous, as if they no longer regarded Xiao Shu as a human being, Xiao Weixin frowned, but before he could open his mouth to scold them, someone spoke before him.
Liu Tiezhu has now been promoted to the rank of Left General, a fourth-rank general in the imperial court, and is Yang Qixian's right-hand man. He is a member of the imperial court system and comes to court on time every day, following the rules and regulations of others. However, he can't change his rough temperament. He has long been fed up with those stubborn old men. He has been holding back his temper and listening to them scolding his benefactor for several days. He endured it and tried hard not to embarrass his benefactor and try not to cause trouble. But if he doesn't speak up, he doesn't know what more unpleasant words those stubborn old men will say.
"What are you yelling about? What are you arguing about?" He glared at those people with a fierce and aggressive look, and began to spit fire: "I've heard you guys arguing here for a long time, and you're even more nonsense than those gossipy old women in our village. All you know how to do is talk bullshit!"
"My son You is a handsome man, a rare talent, not only good-natured, but also loyal to our emperor. I have never seen anyone more noble than him. Tell me why he is not worthy of being the queen?"
"You old men are so stubborn and stubborn, aren't you ashamed? Don't they say you scholars have no integrity? I think you are not as happy as the farmers in my village. They work in the fields with hoes every day and don't say a few words all day. You are not like meddling in other people's business all day long."
"The world belongs to the emperor. He can make whoever he wants the empress. Why do you have the right to point fingers here? Is this world yours?"
Liu Tiezhu came from the countryside and spoke in a rustic manner. Even though he was learning to be polite now, he could not get rid of his usual idioms. He took advantage of his height to scold those weak scholars until they turned pale. However, he still felt that it was not enough and continued to scold them, "I have long been fed up with you. When there were wars and civil strife, I never saw any of you stand up to stop us. Now that peace has come, you jump out to say this is not allowed and that is not allowed. It makes me want to spit at you!"
"I support the emperor in making Young Master You the queen! If any of you disagree, come and fight me!"
He had a loud voice, as resounding as a bell, and the whole hall was filled with the sound of his cursing. Not only was You Shu on the beam surprised, but even Xiao Weixin, who was sitting in the upper seat, was startled. They never expected that Liu Tiezhu, whom they had never paid much attention to, would stand up and protect Xiao Shu like this. They could not help but look at him a few more times.
Xiao Shu has good vision. No wonder he wanted to take him back to Beijing at the beginning. Now it seems that he is indeed a grateful person.
Those civil officials were caught off guard and scolded to death. They stood there in a daze for a long time, unable to recover. Most of them were of the upright school and usually considered themselves to have the integrity of scholars who would not associate with the vulgar people. However, when someone pointed at their noses and scolded them with such vulgar words, they were so angry that their faces turned red and they pointed at Liu Tiezhu, unable to speak.
Yang Qixian symbolically rebuked: "General Liu, how can you be so rude in front of the emperor?"
Most of these military generals couldn't stand the civil officials, and the civil officials also looked down on the military generals. There was a clear gap between the two sides and they had no dealings with each other. Yang Qixian had been scolded by those stinky old guys many times before, and now that Liu Tiezhu had stood up, every word of his scolding was to his liking, so he just gave a perfunctory reprimand and didn't really stop them.
He looked down upon all these useless literati except Shen Qingyu.
Shen Qingyu tried hard not to laugh out loud and could only cover the corners of his mouth quietly, for fear that those old stubborn people would discover that he was laughing and cause trouble for him.
With Liu Tiezhu's start, the scene became completely chaotic. In the beginning, they just discussed the matter at hand, arguing about the issue of establishing a male queen. But as the argument went on, it changed to something else, especially when the civil officials couldn't win the argument and started to make personal attacks, causing the other military generals who were already unhappy to leave the scene. The two sides stood on either side, pointing at each other and greeting their ancestors, and the argument was so heated that it was like a vegetable market.
You Shu covered his face and couldn't bear to watch. If this scene was broadcast live, people all over the country would probably laugh their teeth off.
Xiao Weixin did not say anything to stop them. Instead, he watched the show. He even stood up and quietly left when they started fighting, letting them do what they wanted.
Seeing him leave, You Shu lowered his head to glance at the ministers below whose battlefield had entered a white-hot stage. Simple verbal battles could no longer satisfy them. The resentment between the civil and military factions had been accumulated for a long time, and they took this incident to settle all the new and old grudges. They completely forgot that they were now in the court. The verbal dispute evolved into a group fight, and they rolled up their sleeves to start fighting. The scene was chaotic and the eunuchs were so scared that they rolled on the ground, not knowing who to persuade.
Only Xiao Weijing calmly hid behind a pillar and watched the fun. Even Yang Qixian, the steady and mature young general, couldn't help but come down and pull the beard of an old man.
Tsk.
You Shu watched the excitement for a while and then quietly left the hall. He didn't want to admit that it was really fun to see those old men who scolded him getting beaten.
It’s a pity that he couldn’t take advantage of the chaos for fear of being recognized.
Xiao Weixin was already waiting for him outside the hall. He turned around after hearing the noise and asked softly, "Have you finished reading?"
"Yeah." You Shu walked down the steps, looked behind him and frowned: "Why did you send him away again? What if he gets assassinated?"
Xiao Weixin took it all seriously, "If we really get assassinated, what can those little eunuchs and palace maids do to us?"
"That won't work either." You Shu looked at him seriously and warned him, "You are now the emperor, you must take your safety seriously and you can't travel alone."
Xiao Weixin listened with one ear and let it out with the other, and simply pulled his hand and walked forward, "I understand, Queen, please stop talking."
His word "empress" made You Shu stop talking abruptly. He was stunned for a moment, and then his ears turned red and he stuttered: "Don't, don't talk nonsense, what queen or not, there is no word on it."
Xiao Weixin held his hand and strolled outside the palace, slowly bathing in the morning sunshine, but said firmly: "Xiao Shu, just wait and see."
"I can do it."
You Shu fell silent and gently held his hand as a sign of agreement.
The issue of establishing the queen was exposed. Xiao Weixin's attitude was very firm and he did not allow any room for interference. Those opposing ministers could not really shake him in the slightest. Even if they threatened to die or threatened to hit the wall on the spot in the hall, they could only get a cold look from Xiao Weixin.
The dragon pillars in the main hall were wrapped with soft cloth in advance. Xiao Weixin knew that these literati loved to bang their heads against the wall for no reason, so he had the pillars wrapped in advance so that they could bang their heads as much as they wanted.
There had been a fight during the court session the day before, and today the faces of the courtiers were covered with all kinds of scars. Some had bruised eyes, some had red and swollen corners of their mouths, some had gauze wrapped around their heads, and some were using crutches. It was obvious that the fight was fierce yesterday.
Xiao Weixin pretended not to notice their embarrassment, and continued to sit on the dragon throne calmly, still not saying a word, letting them do whatever they wanted. This was the benefit of having power, he could ignore anyone's protests and dissatisfaction, and he didn't have to be restrained by others. If he couldn't even protect the one he loved, then there was no point in sitting on this seat.
He has plenty of time, and what he has the most is patience. He is very willing to fight a protracted war with those old stubborn people to see who can hold out the longest.
Anyway, he is the newly enthroned emperor. In addition to the issue of establishing a queen, he has many important matters to deal with. These old men can't last more than a few days.
Xiao Weixin supported his chin with one hand and met the gaze of Shen Qingyu who just looked up.
Shen Qingyu nodded to him silently.
He knew that it was finally time for him to take the stage.