All the palace people were obsequious, and no one dared to say no. Even if some of them had the intention of assassinating, and some had the intention of causing trouble, seeing Nan Ruohuai's ruthless iron-blooded methods and Qianye's overwhelming force, everyone knew that acting rashly would only cost a few more lives.
Those who are knowledgeable think a little deeper, Qianye is the mastermind of everything, what's the use of killing Nan Ruohuai? As soon as Qianye turned around and randomly pulled out a prince or princess, he could occupy a big position again. If he gets annoyed, kills all the royal family, and then picks up someone casually, saying that he is the illegitimate son of King Zheng, who would dare to say no
What's more, internal turmoil and power struggles are common in Zheng. Everyone in the palace has seen countless things.
At that moment, someone wanted to clean up the corpse, but Nan Ruohuai stretched out his hand to stop him, "Just don't move! This king wants everyone to see what will happen if you go against this king!"
Half of the servant's body was smashed into the hard bluestone ground, but the upper body was intact, which shows the mastery of the attacker. What's more, he is still the number one master in the palace, and those who want to come to those who have different intentions will never dare to move.
After finishing the order, Nan Ruohuai paid Qianye a respectful salute and said, "Master Uncle, please follow me!"
Qianye nodded dispensably, and following Nan Ruohuai around the screen wall, first came the king's bedroom, and next to it was the queen's residence. Empress Dowager Shu lives here now.
This pattern gave Qianye a strange feeling, he thought for a while, did Nan Ruohuai have a regular wife? But he found that there was no such information in the report Song Lun gave him, so he put it aside. The two palaces are not too big, but they still have courtyard gardens, and the luxury is rough.
After taking a quick look at the two palaces, Nan Ruohuai led Qianye to a small courtyard. The three characters "Yixiang Palace" are written on the plaque in the small courtyard. The plaque is made of expensive materials and exquisitely crafted, but the handwriting is only so-so. It is unknown which generation of King Zheng wrote the inscription.
The gate of the small courtyard was closed tightly, and when Nan Ruohuai saw it, his face was green, and he rushed up and kicked the two wooden doors to pieces. Amidst the debris flying, there was a scream of pain in the courtyard.
Nan Ruohuai walked in with big strides, and saw a court lady fell down in the courtyard, her face was covered with blood, she was seriously injured. Nan Ruohuai was already a melee general, and the fragments kicked out with all his strength were not something ordinary people could afford.
Nan Ruohuai glared at the court lady, and said bitterly: "Things that don't have eyes, this king dares to lock the door when he returns to the palace! Someone, pull this bitch out and put him in a dungeon!"
Two servants came up and dragged the maid away, crying and screaming all the way away.
At this time, a woman walked out of the main room of the courtyard, with a cold appearance, a typical iceberg beauty. It's just that if you look closely, you can see some traces of wind and frost between the eyebrows, probably in his early thirties.
There was clearly anger in her eyes, but she had to force a smile, and said, "It's His Royal Highness Thirty-one, why are you so angry today, and want to vent your anger on that ignorant girl of mine?"
"Your Highness?"
"No, I'm not used to changing my words, so I should call you Your Majesty now."
Nan Ruohuai nodded and said: "You are such a smart person, how can you not get used to changing your mouth? Since you are so reluctant, then you can still call me from now on, it's just a title."
The woman bit her lower lip lightly, and said, "I know I was wrong, and I hope Your Majesty will not take it to heart."
Nan Ruohuai's face darkened, and he said, "Since you know your mistake, what should you call yourself?"
"...a concubine."
"That's right, how should you salute when you see me?"
The woman's eyes were already a little moist, her knees slowly bent down, and finally she knelt gently on the ground. Her head was bowed, and a few tears fell into the dust.
Nan Ruohuai was satisfied with this, and said to the servant beside her, "Just now, that maid was thrown to the cold palace first, so she doesn't need to go into the dungeon."
The woman suppressed her sobs and reluctantly said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Nan Ruohuai turned around and said to Qianye: "This is the imperial concubine named Xue. She was my father's favorite concubine when he was in power. We usually call her Aunt Xue, but Aunt Xue doesn't like us very much. If it wasn't for now , she probably can't even remember who His Royal Highness Thirty One is."
Nan Ruohuai said to Noble Concubine Xue: "Get up." Then he led Qianye into the bedroom. Concubine Xuetai looked at their backs as they drove straight in, her face turned pale, and she could only hold back her tears.
Nan Ruohuai didn't stay in the flower hall, went directly into the bedroom on the right and walked around, picked up some small decorations to play with, and then opened the side cabinet. I don't know if he did it on purpose or by coincidence, the opened cabinet door was full of women's underwear, Nan Ruohuai's expression didn't change at all, and she even picked up one to have a look.
Concubine Xue Taigui who followed in turned blue and red, her whole body was trembling, and she was at a loss.
Nan Ruohuai threw down the underwear in his hands, and said to Qianye: "How do you feel here? Do you want to rest here tonight?"
Qianye was standing at the door of the bedroom, with his hands behind his back, his expression was as usual, without any superfluous expression, and he shook his head upon hearing this.
"Well, let's go to the next place to have a look. There are four grand concubines in the palace."
Concubine Xuetai breathed a sigh of relief after seeing off the bad guest, but Nan Ruohuai suddenly turned her head before stepping out of the threshold, and stared at her, making her face turn pale immediately.
Along the way, in addition to the four concubines, there are more than a dozen concubines of various names in the palace. The palace itself is not big, the harem is even smaller, and there is also a back garden, so the so-called palaces of the four concubines, each with a very grand name, is actually a small courtyard with a row of three-bay main rooms, plus two sides. In the wing room for the palace people to rest, there is a small flower bed in the courtyard, and some tables and chairs are set up, and it is full of people.
The palaces of the four concubines are all like this, not to mention the other concubines. The two with high status live in the same courtyard, and the four with low status simply live in the same courtyard.
With the lessons learned from Concubine Xuetai, there has never been the embarrassment of concubines thanking guests behind closed doors. Most of the concubines in various courtyards greeted each other with smiles, and their enthusiasm was not like a noble lady of the royal family, but a bit like welcoming guests sister.
Looking around, the four concubines are indeed better than the Empress Dowager Shu in appearance, and the other concubines are just waiting. It seems that in addition to the status of Old Zheng Wang's harem being linked to his birth, Wang Chong is also very important. It's just that these women nest in such a big place every day, like chickens and ducks in a cage. Apart from fighting for favor, they are still fighting for favor.
Zheng Gong's harem is really not big, even if you look at it carefully, you can walk around in a blink of an eye. Qianye said to Nan Ruohuai, "Let's talk in the study in the front hall."
Since Qianye had no intention of staying in the harem, Nan Ruohuai couldn't force it and led Qianye to the study. Qianye was not too polite, and sat down in the big chair in the study, while Nan Ruohuai stood beside him respectfully.
Qianye said playfully: "Aren't you afraid of being famous in history if you openly enshrine the harem like this?"
Nan Ruohuai said: "You gave me everything now, so as long as you want anything in Zheng Guo, it is yours. If it weren't for you, who would know what a thirty-one prince is? Why am I standing here today? Your great kindness to me, what is a mere harem?"
Qianye was noncommittal and asked, "How is your father doing now?"
"I haven't found anyone yet. The second elder brother has united with several elder brothers and secretly moved his father outside the palace and hid him somewhere. Such a secret and important matter, if it doesn't go to their leaders, it will only be feared from the mouth of the followers." It’s impossible to ask. It’s just my judgment, it should still be in the capital.”
Qianye was slightly surprised, and said: "They protected King Zheng in advance because I challenged the national teacher?"
Nan Ruohuai sneered, "You think too highly of them! How can my brothers have such kindness? I asked my father's servants, and my father was no longer in the palace as early as a month ago. The father is seriously ill and delirious, and the second brother has won the support of the national teacher, and his momentum has risen sharply, as if he is a regency. They are afraid that their father will wake up and re-regulate the government! What if another brother is appointed as the prince? Do it, can you really rebel? They are different from me, they still care about what the history books say."
Qianye was really surprised, "You mean, they put your father under house arrest before he died?"
Now that he has been placed under house arrest, it goes without saying what will happen to Old Zheng Wang. If he can't recover, maybe he can still die naturally, if he recovers, maybe he will still "die without a disease".
At this point, Qianye had a new understanding of Zheng Guo. In such a comparison, Nan Hua's personality back then was considered good.
"How are you going to handle this?"
Nan Ruohuai thought for a while, and said: "First of all, I have to find my father, and then I need to control the capital, behind closed doors. I guess the second brother and the rest of his party will jump over the wall in a hurry, harm my father, and then plant it on me. But the father's body cannot fall into their hands."
"Well, that's right. And then? Now that several important towns in the country are still in the hands of your brothers, what are you going to do?"
Nan Ruohuai seemed confident, and said: "I have mastered most of the forbidden army now, and the city defense army has also sworn allegiance. My Dazheng forbidden army has always been the most elite army. With the forbidden army in hand, it is easy to destroy the power of a few brothers. You can leave this matter to me, and you don’t need to worry about it anymore.”
Qianye smiled faintly, and said, "That is to say, you plan to pacify Zheng Guo by yourself?"
Nan Ruohuai felt a sudden in his heart, put away his high-spirited posture, and said, "Aren't you going to let me do something in the position of King Zheng?"
Qianye's expression remained unchanged, and said: "If you think so, it's naturally very good. It's late today, let's talk about it tomorrow."
Nan Ruohuai said: "Shall I find a place for you to rest in the harem?"
Qianye shook his head, "No need, I'll go back to the battleship. I just want to discuss something with Song Lun and the others."
Disappointment flashed across Nan Ruohuai's eyes, and he still respectfully sent Qianye to the palace gate, watching the convoy drive away before turning around.
When he returned to the study, he instinctively wanted to sit down on the side chair by the wall, but his buttocks dropped halfway before he realized something was wrong, strode to the desk, and sat down heavily in the big chair that Qianye had just sat on. The movement was so big that it seemed like he fell into it.
An old servant serving in the room came over, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously: "Your Majesty, it is a pity that that man refuses to live in the palace."
Nan Ruohuai was in a daze, and said, "Yes."
The old servant lowered his voice, and said: "There is a prescription handed down from the ancestors in the palace. The medicine formulated is colorless and tasteless. It's fine after taking it, but it will attack after an hour, and it's extremely violent. Even if your cultivation is as high as the sky, you will not survive for half a minute!"
Nan Ruohuai's heartbeat accelerated, her mouth was dry, and she said, "This, this medicine..."
"There is something special about this medicine, that is, the longer it is stored, the more effective it will be. There is a bottle in the palace, but it has been stored for fifty years!"
"You mean..."
"Your Majesty already has great power in his hands, and the imperial army is loyal to him. The general situation is set. Those brothers of yours can't make a fuss about it. Even if that's the case, why do you have to be controlled by others?"