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The desperate Queen Mother didn't say the answer Fan Xian wanted to know, her lips trembled, and she closed her eyes with difficulty. Fan Xian looked at the wrinkles on her face, and didn't have any strange emotions in his heart. He had already guessed this result, but in such a late night, being able to be with this kind-hearted old lady, who was actually ruthless, To have such a conversation is a kind of spiritual comfort for him—especially when His Majesty is about to return to Beijing.
In fact, the Empress Dowager Qing is not really a snake-hearted person. In the past few decades, she has not used the emperor's filial piety and the power in her hands to hurt too many people and do too many unreasonable things... except for Ye Qingmei's case. matter. However, for some reason, for Fan Xian, the connection between this old woman and the incident twenty years ago was even more intolerable than trying to kill himself.
What's more, this old woman had always hated him. It wasn't until after the incident in the Hanging Temple that the emperor recognized Fan Xian's identity. She pretended to praise some gods in the memorial hall, and sent a string of rosary beads to show her attitude.
Fan Xian can show his magnanimity and demeanor to those he admires and those who are difficult to threaten him, but he absolutely does not appreciate the Queen Mother who has the ability to threaten him, and of course he will not show the filial piety of a grandson and gentle.
After His Majesty returned to Beijing, he knew everything that happened in the capital. No matter whether he could understand Fan Xianye's helplessness in rushing into the palace, pointing his sword at the empress dowager's helplessness, Fan Xian would not leave too many fatal gaps for himself. Pushing and holding it on the Empress Dowager's arm, the true qi was sent into her body, and the slow-release medicinal properties of the pill in her body gradually accelerated, allowing her to gradually emit a little bit of anger.
After doing all this very carefully, the queen mother became a person who could not speak or move again. At this time, even her eyes became dim and dazed, just like the dementia of an old man before death.
From a neat and safe point of view, Fan Xian should have let the empress dowager die naturally before the emperor returned to Beijing, but he didn't dare to take the risk and gamble on the emperor's heart. If the empress dowager survived until the emperor returned to Beijing, Fan Xian would not be responsible for her death, and if the empress dowager died while Fan Xian was overseeing the country for a few days, he might meet the emperor's unreasonable wrath.
Deliberately amplifying his voice for a few words of comfort, expressing his filial piety and a little apology, and after waiting for a while, Fan Xian walked out of the Hanguang Hall, and nodded slightly to the maids and nuns in the front hall. Under the awe-inspiring eyes of everyone, he walked up to the stone steps in front of the hall and glanced at the Eastern Palace in the distance. He didn't see the fire, and he didn't do anything else.
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At the entrance of the brightly lit palace, Fan Xian saw Prince Jing rushing over. This prince finally no longer dressed as a flower farmer today, but was wearing the prince's clothes in a serious manner. Prince Jing's mansion and Fan's mansion have always been on good terms. When the capital was in turmoil, he relied on his identity as Prince Jing to successfully hide his father in the mansion. Fan Xian was grateful for the prince, so he hurried up to greet him and bowed deeply. .
He knew the reason why this prince, who had been refusing to enter the palace, came here in a hurry tonight. The news from the palace has been released, and all the officials and common people in the capital know that the Empress Dowager was in a hurry because of the rebellion of the Crown Prince and the Princess. In addition, the imperial city was besieged, she was frightened, and she had a cold, lying on the bed. I'm afraid I don't have a few days to live well.
Although Prince Jing pretended to be a flower farmer all the year round and was unwilling to get close to his mother and empress, he was the empress dowager's biological son after all, so when he heard the news, he had to enter the palace in a hurry. Looking at the handsome junior in front of him, he couldn't help but sighed. He glanced at Fan Xian, but didn't say anything.
Fan Xian's expression was calm. He had clearly told Prince Jing that the queen mother had been gone for two days. Although everyone knew that the queen mother's urgency had nothing to do with the prince, he was not worried that Prince Jing would see that he was in the queen mother's house. Hands and feet made on the body. Some side news confirmed that Prince Jing also knows martial arts, but if even Prince Jing can't hide it tonight, let alone the emperor who is going back to Beijing soon
"Brother Huang...is he still alive?" Prince Jing asked after sighing.
Fan Xian nodded: "At the Taiping Courtyard, I saw the handwriting written by His Majesty to His Royal Highness the Eldest Princess."
The expression on Prince Jing's face was very complicated. This second-generation son of the royal family had never participated in any political affairs, but he also knew how far-reaching the rebellion in the capital involved. The news that His Majesty was still alive made him very nervous. Clearly guessed part of the truth. He said with a slight sarcasm: "Brother Huang has such a big heart and such powerful means."
Prince Jing immediately thought of someone, frowned slightly and asked, "How is she?"
Fan Xian knew who he was asking, and replied solemnly: "I have passed away, and now I am in the mansion, I don't know how to deal with it, my lord..."
Prince Jing's face was slightly distressed, he stopped his words, and said a little weakly: "You are the supervisor of the country now, let you deal with it."
Worried about his mother's condition, he didn't say anything to Fan Xian, but only explained Fan Shangshu's situation, and then, led by several eunuchs, hurried towards Hanguang Palace. Fan Xian learned from the lord that his father had returned to the mansion safely, and he made up his mind a bit. Then he thought that there was still a lot of troublesome things to deal with in the mansion, and he couldn't help frowning.
Too many officials have died, His Majesty has not returned yet, the whole capital is in chaos, there are no officials from various ministries and offices, and there is no trace of people in the Taichang Temple. The follow-up issue of the eldest princess has to be resolved later.
After Ye Zhong solved the problem of the prince, he personally led the troops out of Beijing, joined the follow-up troops from Dingzhou in the wilderness, and started chasing the remnants of the defeated rebels. Leave. The two academicians, Shu and Hu, were processing some urgent official documents in the Imperial Study Room. Fan Xian looked around and saw that although he was a temporary supervisor, he became a lonely family with no one on hand and could do nothing.
Fortunately, after surrendering, Sun Jingxiu of the Kyoto Prefecture resolutely carried out his duties. With the assistance of the Overwatch Council, he is working hard to maintain the public security and order in Kyoto.
During the day, the fleeing people had already left the city through the Zhengyang Gate controlled by the palace code, and the rest of the people who stayed in the capital began to wait for the pacification according to the destiny. The capital returned to quiet in the middle of the night, and they were everywhere during the day. The fire that was lit by the chaos gradually extinguished, but there were still a few places where the fire was still shining.
Fan Xian stood on the square in front of the palace gate, looking at the traces of broken stones on the bluestone slab and the traces of blood that had not yet been washed away, he was slightly startled. The spy agents of the Overwatch Council suffered heavy casualties, and those who survived by chance had already been sent to the Fangzheng Building of the Overwatch Council for treatment.
He believed in the medical level of his brothers from the three divisions. The Imperial Hospital also bandaged the wounded of the Imperial Army and the Dingzhou Army in the temporarily recruited houses, but many people still died.
In the northeast corner in the distance, there were soldiers silently carrying corpses. They piled up into a hill in the darkness, which looked extremely gloomy. At this time tonight, there was no time to transport these corpses out of the city for burial.
Watching this scene, Fan Xian took out a pill from his bosom and put it into his lips. He chewed a few mouthfuls before swallowing without drinking any water. It wasn't an ephedra pill, but a normal healing medicine. He coughed twice, wiped the blood from his lips with his cuff, and couldn't help shaking his head.
This was the first time he had experienced a real war. Seeing the heroic and bleak scenes happening before his eyes, he finally understood that digging graves and appreciating corpses when he was a child could not train his nerves to the point of being too ruthless.
He said to himself once again in his heart: In this world, there is no good war and no bad peace. He must carry on with the agreement with Haitang in the fifth year of Qingli, even if he faces a situation he has never encountered before. powerful enemy.
"Qingyu Hall should have been burnt to ruins." Fan Xian thought to himself, in order not to arouse suspicion afterwards, the surrounding houses would naturally suffer as well, and after the war broke out, I don't know how many houses in the capital would be burned down and looted. , presumably will not attract too many people's attention.
At this time, a horse galloped from the northwest direction, disturbing the quiet night just now, and everyone in the imperial city became vigilant. The exhausted guards tried their best to raise their weapons until they noticed The person who arrived was wearing the official uniform of the Overwatch Council.
Fan Xian's eyes narrowed, and he looked at the subordinate who was walking in front of him. He didn't say a word, but there was already a strong sense of questioning in his eyes - the person who came was a member of the Qi Nian team, who was handpicked by Wang Qinian. There was no doubt about his loyalty, so he arranged for this person to secretly watch Fujiko Jing's movements, in case the old shopkeepers of Qingyutang encountered any danger when they left Beijing.
At this time, this subordinate rushed over, and it was obvious that something went wrong.
The Overwatch Council official looked into Fan Xian's eyes and said in a low voice, "Something happened."
There were no idlers waiting around, so Fan Xian said directly, "Speak!"
The official looked around and said cautiously: "The ignition went smoothly, and there was no problem getting in with the fleeing crowd and leaving the city, but the brothers who stayed at the place discovered that they had alarmed the eyeliners at the same place, but they didn't know who these eyeliners belonged to." .”
Whose? Of course, Fan Xian knew that it must be the eyeliner left by His Majesty the Emperor. The things in the minds of these old shopkeepers were too precious. There must be a group of special personnel in the palace to monitor them. Even if there was a rebellion in the capital, these people would definitely be lurking.
"I don't have many people on hand." Fan Xian stared at him and said coldly, "I gave you twenty... You still can't solve these problems!"
The official lowered his head, not daring to make the slightest excuse, and said: "The other party has a tough hand, and they ran away three times."
Fan Xian no longer blamed this official, because he didn't dare to let too many people know about this matter, so he did it very secretly. To be precise, he was taking a big risk, and his own plan had many loopholes. Not smooth.
The official looked up at him, and said with a very complicated emotion: "Three ran away, we caught up later and found more than a dozen dead bodies... There is one person who left a word for you, my lord."
This sentence is a bit difficult to understand, and it is completely illogical. After running through three palace eyeliners, why did they find more than a dozen dead bodies? Fan Xian thumped in his heart, and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"The man said... someone is waiting at home."
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Someone was waiting for him at home, Fan Xian of course rushed home immediately, stepped into the gate of the mansion for the second time today, he ran directly to his father's study in the back garden, the unlooted Fan Mansion was still so beautiful, The light in the study shines through the glass, shining on the rockery and clear water.
As Prince Jing said, his father had returned home safely, and Fan Xian heaved a sigh of relief. Without reporting, he pushed the door in and saw Mrs. Liu packing something.
With a glance, he knew that his father's physalis had been drunk. In such a situation, his father still had the leisure to drink Physalis, and Fan Xian couldn't help admiring his concentration.
"Is mother alright?" He bowed respectfully to Mrs. Liu. Now Mrs. Liu is a serious housewife of the Fan Mansion. Of course, this was all because of his efforts when he got married.
Mrs. Liu smiled, said something to comfort her daughter-in-law, and left the study.
Sitting on the Taishi chair, Hubu Shangshu Fan Jian raised his head and glanced at his son, with relief and a trace of reproach in his eyes. This old-generation figure who had been hiding in the capital since the incident in Kyoto was finally at this moment. Stop hiding your thoughts.
"The eyeliner outside Qingyu Hall was killed by someone sent by my father." Fan Jian tapped on the desk lightly, thoughtfully, and said in a harmonious voice, "I don't know why you became so radical, and you are so full of mistakes. Dare to carry out a plan... Do you really think His Majesty can't see it?"
Fan Xian smiled wryly, his mentality had indeed undergone a great change, but something like courage often meant a loophole.
He sat down and said respectfully: "Thank you, Father." He knew that his father secretly trained the tiger guards for the royal family. Don't let him be surprised, and since the shocking news of His Majesty's survival was told to Ye Chong from his own mouth, of course his father also knew about it.
"Killing people is very simple, but what they say afterwards is complicated." Fan Shangshu thoughtfully, and said slowly: "Even if the capital is in chaos and the chaos is killing... But have you ever thought about it, the old shopkeepers of Qingyutang, could it be such a coincidence? They were all burned to death by the fire? You put more than a dozen corpses in the fire, just to deceive your ears."
Fan Xian listened quietly to the instruction.
"There are also those eyeliners of the inner court. Even if you use the power of the Overwatch Council to kill them all, how can you ensure that your subordinates do not have your majesty's eyeliners?"
"It's split up. Except for the Qi Nian team, the rest of the people don't know the inside story." Fan Xian explained.
"Okay, even if the Overwatch Council is made into a monolith by Chen Pingping, let me ask you, who will explain to His Majesty afterwards that none of the inner court eyeliners who stared at Qingyu Hall are dead?"
Fan Xian was dumbfounded, and then he figured out that even if people kill people to silence them, the death of these inner court eyeliners who shouldn't have died at the hands of the rebels will arouse His Majesty's suspicions.
"And these old shopkeepers still have family members in the capital." Fan Jian looked at his son and said in a harmonious voice, "They really want to leave, dare to leave?"
"I only asked Fujiko Jing to send the four old shopkeepers away. Qingyutang must have people alive, so it is in line with common sense. Do you understand?"
"Understood." A layer of cold sweat broke out on Fan Xian's forehead.
"As for fighting with the inner court's eyeliner, the person who is interested in the old treasurer of Qingyutang is not you, nor me, but the eldest princess." Fan Jian's eyes turned cold, and he said: "The dozen or so corpses are from Xinyang. A slayer in the field."
"Since we want to convince His Majesty, we must convince His Majesty. The person who makes the move has this need. The Eldest Princess knows the importance of the Neiku, so of course she would want to compete for the Qingyu Hall. Only she has this ability and this idea."
Fan Xian was convinced.
At this time, Fan Shangshu suddenly sighed, and said: "Ah, An Zhi... as a father, I don't know what you think and why you do this, but you have to remember that you are from the Qing Kingdom after all, and your father is also from the Qing Kingdom. In any case, don't do anything that hurts the foundation of my country, Daqing."
Fan Xian's heart skipped a beat, knowing that his father had seen through his plan at a glance, and wanted to justify a few words, but he really couldn't bear to lie to his father, so he had no choice but to remain silent.
Fan Jian looked at his son, sighed again, shook his head and said, "I won't talk about you anymore, this internal treasury...is your mother's property after all. Although I, as a minister of the Qing Kingdom, don't want to see some Things happen, but you... do whatever you want."
Fan Xian was shocked. He didn't expect his father to make such a decision. Of course, his father would not deceive and hurt himself, but he knew the importance of the internal treasury to Qing's unification of the country, so why did he help him
"I'm already old, and I don't have much strength anymore." Fan Shangshu didn't know if he knew something, and a little bit of tiredness and aging appeared on his solemn and handsome face before, and he said slowly: "Wait for Your Majesty to return. After Beijing, I will resign, and I will help you as much as I can in Beijing, and I can't just watch you have an accident."
Father wants to resign? Fan Xian's heart was shaken again. In the spring of that year, the emperor blatantly concealed, condoned the attacks of the court's officials, and checked the accounts of the household department, in order to force his father to resign and return to the old age. However, his father was calm and silent. After dragging on for two years abruptly, why did you suddenly resign tonight? (, If you want to know what happens next, please log in, there are more chapters, support the author, support the original!)