Xiao Yu read the memorial presented by the Ministry of Punishment, re-examined Su Jingbei's concubine's room, and then went to the secret passage of the Zhenguo Gong's mansion.
He sat there alone for a whole hour.
Despite its complexity, at least two of the news are unequivocal.
First, Da Zhou killed 60,000 soldiers.
Second, the government of Zhenguo hides a secret passage.
A secret passage that has been hidden for ten years and cannot be explained at all.
In the evening of the same day, Xiao Yu went to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment to meet Su Huaian.
There was a chilling smell of blood in the cramped prison, and the silver lamp on the wall flickered on and off, shining on Su Huaian's pale face.
In the past, the splendid and shocking Langjun, dressed in prison uniform, with faint blood oozing from his shoulders, knelt straight on the ground.
Although the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion had been raided and the title was seized, Xue Xiangyang thought that the queen had not been abolished, and there was still an imperial heir in his womb, so he only wore a handcuff to Su Huaian, and he did not fall off the shackles. Decent.
Xiao Yu's brows were cold and solemn, and he looked at him and said, "Where is Su Jingbei?"
Su Huai'an did not answer, but presented a letter at hand to Xiao Yu.
This letter was handed over to him by the old butler of the Duke's Mansion a day before the news of the military newspaper, and it was also the last thing Su Jingbei left him.
There is only one sentence above.
- Jing Ming, leave the capital quickly, the boat is in Zhuo County.
He didn't know what these words meant, but he was vaguely uneasy. He was thinking about having a discussion with the emperor after the dynasty was over, when he saw Fang Shu, the governor of Langzhou, holding a military newspaper and entering the hall.
Every word, let him be struck by lightning.
As the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, he has been an official for several years. He has participated in countless tribunals of the three divisions, and he is very familiar with the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but even so, he does not believe a word of Fang Shu's words.
He didn't want to believe it, and he couldn't believe it.
It has been seven days since then.
He was tied to the rack, and Xue Xiangyang held the death certificate of the Su family's treason.
- "Is it named on the Golden List? Good boy, this is the first champion from my Su family. Dad is proud of you." No one in Beijing knew that he originally wanted to join martial arts, but his father said that he was talented and should be a civil official. He just took the imperial examination this way.
- "You and Ah Ling don't want to enter my study in the future, and don't touch your mother's paintings." He thought that his parents were deeply in love, but in the end, he was not looking at his mother's portrait, but to hide people's eyes and ears.
- "Let's go, go to Fengyuanlou for a couple of drinks with your father." Fengyuanlou made countless details, but his father kept this place for ten years in the name of Duke Zhenguo.
- "What's wrong with Ah Ling marrying the King of Jin? This is a marriage granted by His Majesty. There is no need to discuss it again, and you should not be too used to her." , until the King of Jin asked for the marriage, he did not agree.
- "Jingming, in this battle for the prince, no one in the capital can stand alone. We are for Ah Ling, and we have to stand behind the Jin Wangfu. The embankment of a thousand miles collapses in the ant's nest. Be careful when traveling to Mount Li. Hey, but May this infighting cholera subside as soon as possible."
It turned out that he had known that something would happen to Lishan.
It turned out that he didn't want to quell cholera, he wanted to stir up strife.
- "I don't know when I will return from this expedition, so please take care." Take care, why take care
When his thoughts were flying, Xue Xiangyang asked in a loud voice, "Su Huaian, do you admit your guilt!"
He was sobered up, and the emperor was naturally able to wake up completely.
Seeing Xiao Yu's hands getting tighter, Su Huai'an said in a low voice, "The Su family's crime of treason, the evidence is conclusive, and the culprit can't justify it."
No argument.
Xiao Yu suddenly smiled.
Su Huai'an said word by word: "The sinner thought that some complicated clues were exposed too easily. It is difficult to guarantee that he did not deliberately stay to provoke disputes at the court. The most important thing at the moment is to send troops to fight as soon as possible..."
Xiao Yu folded the veins on the back of his hand, pulled Su Huai'an up, dragged him towards him, raised his arm, and punched the pale face. Su Huai'an staggered back, and blood flowed down the corner of his mouth.
Su Huaian lowered his head and gestured to kneel down again.
Xiao Yu clenched Su Huai'an's clothes and pushed the person against the wall with a "bang". He said sharply, "Su Jingming! How do I treat the Su family!"
His Adam's apple trembled slightly, and he repeated again: "How do I treat the Su family!"
There was silence all around, silver lights flickering.
The long silence, like a sharp sword, pierced through the two who were once back-to-back.
Su Huai'an nodded and said, "This minister is ashamed of the grace of the saints, the crime cannot be punished, and the death cannot be excused."
Xiao Yu pushed Su Huai'an away, looking at the large blood stains on his shoulders, and said coldly: "The secret passage of the town's palace can reach outside Beijing, and Su Jingbei has left a boat for you, why don't you leave? Do you want to apologize with death, and you are afraid that I will kill the queen?"
Su Huai'an knelt straight and said hoarsely, "Your Majesty, the Empress does not know anything about this."
queen.
Guilty without knowing
I don't know how long it took, Xiao Yu suddenly laughed again, and said in a hoarse voice, "Prince Zhen Guo has a good strategy..."
—
The sky turned dark, and the storm was about to come.
Xiao Yu rode his horse back to the palace, Eunuch Sheng looked at the emperor's cold and solemn brows, considered for a while, but still said, "The Kunning Palace..."
Xiao Yu paused and looked back, his eyes were full of violence.
He couldn't hear the three words Kunning Palace at all now.
He put the three volumes of the official documents of the Ministry of Punishment in the hands of Eunuch Sheng, and said word by word: "Exactly, you can send these to Kunning Palace, and let the queen take a good look and see clearly."
The weather is getting hotter and hotter, but Su Ling's body is getting weaker and weaker.
She sat upright on the couch, staring at these crimes motionlessly, her eyes gradually becoming slack.
Su Ling, like Su Huai'an, faced these dead ends, and those dusty and fragmented memories came one after another.
For example, in her marriage, the He family and the Su family are well-matched. When the eldest lady of the He family came to the Zhenguo Gongfu to propose marriage, she also expressed her willingness, but his father always said that he would not bear her to marry, no hurry, just wait, She waited from sixteen to seventeen, waiting for the imperial edict of marriage.
Another example is that before she married Xiao Yu, she had sneaked into the study of the Duke of Zhenguo once. She clearly remembered that there was no one in the room, but the next morning, his father came out of the study.
If there is a secret passage, it all makes sense.
Su Ling held these evidences, her heart and hands were shaking together.
This hindsight made her sweat.
She is the daughter of a general, so she naturally knows what the words "cooperating with the enemy and treason" mean. Looking at the official document of the Ministry of Punishment, her heart is like being pierced.
All the males, females and relatives of the government of Zhenguo were exiled.
Su Huai'an, the eldest son of Su Jingbei, chose a day for Ling Chi's trip.
Ling late.
Is that to slash thousands of knives on him
Su Ling clutched her lower abdomen and kept panting.
"There is still an imperial heir in the mother's belly, you must protect your body..." Fuying looked at her red eyes and said quickly: "Otherwise, the mother-in-law should cry."
Su Ling shook his head.
Everyone in the world has the right to cry, but she doesn't.
Thinking of this, Su Ling suddenly felt pain in her lower abdomen. She clenched her fists tightly and couldn't help gasping.
Seeing this, Fuying couldn't sit still, she got up in a panic and said, "This servant will go to Xuan Imperial Doctor."
"Don't go!" Su Ling took her hand and said, "I know my body, it's fine, no need to declare imperial doctor."
Fuying cried, "How can this work? How can this work?"
Su Ling lowered her head, touched her lower abdomen and said, "Fuying, today is not the same as in the past. Kunning Palace is called an imperial physician at this time, which is like acting in front of the emperor. I can't use this child to win sympathy."
"Your Majesty has a deep relationship with Niangniang, how can you think like this?" Fuying grabbed her hand and said incoherently, "If such a big thing happened, the previous dynasty will definitely be in turmoil. You can see that after so many days, the Sixth Bureau and the First Division did not dare to deduct Kunning Palace's classification, this must have been instructed by His Majesty."
In a word from the emperor, Kunning Palace can also be a cold palace.
Su Ling bowed her head in silence for a long time, but did not answer Fuying's words, but said, "It's time for me to eat, let's prepare."
Seeing that Su Ling was still willing to eat well, Fuying nodded and said, "Hey, hey, this servant will go..."
After lunch, Su Ling clutched her stomach and watched the banana leaves pacing outside the window.
No matter what, no matter what, she has to give birth to this child well.
When the stomach pain stopped, Su Ling sat in front of the makeup, took off the last hairpin on her bun, and walked towards the door.
Fuying dragged her and said, "What is your mother trying to do?"
Su Ling said softly, "Please forgive me."
It is not a trivial matter for the queen to take off her hairpin and plead guilty. Although the three concubines heard the wind, no one dared to watch the joke.
Without Feng Yu and no entourage, Su Ling, dressed in white, knelt outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Eunuch Sheng looked at this scene, and felt that his chest was blocked for no reason. How could he be the queen
He stroked his chest before turning around and entering the inner hall.
Su Ling clenched her fist lightly, her voice trembling faintly and said, "My concubine asks to see Your Majesty."
She came today, not for anything else, but to ask him to give Su Huaian a happy death.
After a long silence, a deep voice came from inside, "Let the Queen go back, I won't see her, and I don't want to see her."
Sheng Gonggong stood at the entrance of the hall, looked up at the dark clouded sky, and walked towards Su Ling.
"The madam is pregnant with a dragon heir, what are you doing?" Eunuch Sheng sighed and went to support Su Ling's arm, "How the madam treats the old slave on weekdays, the old servant will keep it in mind. Today, I will dare to persuade the madam."
Sheng Gong said: "The niece is the emperor's first wife, and her affection is naturally deep, but no matter how deep the friendship is, it can't stand the toss. If the niece is here for the Su family, then you might as well think about the crime of treason. Whose country is it? Do you really want this love?"
"Your Majesty is also getting angry."
Su Ling looked at Eunuch Sheng.
Eunuch Sheng looked down at Su Ling's bulging belly, and said, "Isn't the niangniang thinking about herself or the child in her belly?"
Su Ling raised her head and raised her voice to the gap between the windows of the Hall of Mental Cultivation: "My concubine's sins are unforgivable, and I have no right to govern the harem any longer when facing Your Majesty. I hope Your Majesty will approve."
He never spoke, and she didn't know how long she knelt.
Gradually, the blue-gray sky seemed to be drizzling, and she suddenly listened to him: "Sheng Kanghai."
Eunuch Sheng hurriedly entered the hall again, and when he came out, he had an oil-paper umbrella in his hand. It's the one he always takes.
She looked at the umbrella handle with a startled expression.
Suddenly I remembered a spring night in the past, when she was just pregnant, he walked with her in the imperial garden, the spring was cold, the rain was cold, the first coldness fell on the tip of her nose, and she was taken into his arms by him. , soaked in his heat, and this is what Eunuch Sheng sent in a panic.
"Niangniang, this servant will send you back." Sheng Gong said in a fair way.
Su Ling knew that her body would not get wet, so she lowered her eyes and said in a low voice, "Thank you father-in-law."
Eunuch Sheng sent Su Ling back to Kunning Palace, and as soon as he entered the door, he heard Eunuch Sheng whisper: "Niangniang, Your Majesty has spoken."
Su Ling was lost in thought, clutching her stomach, and slowly knelt on the ground.
Sheng Gong said: "Your Majesty has spoken, from today onwards, if there is no edict, Niangniang is not allowed to take half a step out of Kunning Palace."
Su Ling respectfully said: "The minister and concubine follow the order."
Sheng Gong said: "If there is something going on in the Kunning Palace in the future, the niangniang will ask Fuying to instruct the servants."
Su Ling took out a note from her sleeve and stuffed it into Gong Gong Gong: "I beg your father in law to present it to Your Majesty on my behalf."
Sheng Gonggong pushed his horse and refused: "Your Majesty has an order, the Kunning Palace can only be entered, and I forgive the old slave not to accept it."
The next morning, in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The chief assistant Liu Wenshi led the cabinet and knelt down.
Liu Wenshi said: "Now that the people's hearts are in chaos, Empress Su has long been unbearable to be the head of the harem. The minister is willing to ask Your Majesty to abolish the Empress in order to reassure the people."
The important ministers said in unison, "I beg your majesty to abolish the queen so as to reassure the people."
Xiao Yu turned around with his hands behind his back, and said solemnly, "The country is in danger right now, and the road ahead is bleak. You can't make a plan to save the country, but you are here to talk to me about the abolition?"
"I know that Your Majesty and the Queen are deeply in love." Liu Wenshi took a deep breath and said, "Even if Your Majesty goes his own way and doesn't care about the records of the historians or the comments of future generations, the battle of Mihe killed me a whole 60,000 Dazhou. Erlang! As the Son of Heaven, Your Majesty cannot help but care about these 60,000 lives! The soldiers are not afraid of death in battle, but they are afraid of wrongful death!"
Cabinet minister Guo Ziliang said, "Mencius said, "The ruler is less important, the society is second, and the people are the most important. Why can't your majesty put the country and society as the most important!"
After all, Guo Ziliang hit the ground with his forehead, and the impact was heavier than the next, with a posture of risking his death and admonishing him.
Xiao Yu raised his hand and swept all the teapots and cups on the table to the ground with a "crashing" sound.
Guo Ziliang was startled.
"You dare to talk to me about the society, good." Xiao Yu threw Zhezi on Guo Ziliang's head, "Since you have the world in your heart, then tell me that the granary in Langzhou was burned, and where did the grain come from! Where did the army come from!"
"This time the army is defeated and the country is destroyed, what should I do?"
Guo Ziliang was speechless.
"There are 60,000 unjust souls in the mouth. I ask you, how do you give the pensions to those 60,000 people! The internal funds are so empty, I might as well follow the example of Gaozu and check your accounts!"
Longyan was furious, and all four were shocked.
Even if they knew in their hearts that His Majesty just wanted to protect Empress Su, they would not dare to speak out.
After all, it turns out that no one is clean.
After a while, Xiao Yu said: "Last night, I talked with Governor Fang and Chunnan Hou Bingzhu at night, and I have decided to go in person."
Liu Wenshi was startled, kowtowed and replied, "Your Majesty must not, now that the Crown Prince has not been established and the country's foundation has not yet been established, how can Your Majesty and His Majesty go to war in person!"
Holding the military talisman, Xiao Yu looked at Liu Wenshi and said, "That old man told me, who should I give this military talisman to?"
As soon as these words came out, the hall was silent.
Duke Zhenguo can rebel, who can you trust now
Right now, the emperor trusts the Marquis Chunnan the most, but with Marquis Chunnan's qualifications, he may not be able to fight this tough battle that is about the survival of the country.
The cabinet ministers whispered: "This... Your Majesty's only son is still in the queen's womb, and there is no suitable candidate for the clan..."
"Yeah, how should this be?"
Xiao Yu looked at the ministers in the hall, tapped the table with his fingertips, and sneered: "If something really happens to me, the patriarch will invite King Cheng back from the fief."
The important ministers in the cabinet recited: "Your Majesty's blessings are profound, and he will be able to triumph as soon as possible."
—
It was a foregone conclusion that the emperor would go to the Cining Palace in person. That night, Xiao Yu went to the Cining Palace to greet him.
The Empress Dowager Chu held the Buddha beads in her hands, frowned and said: "The emperor is driving a personal expedition, and it is the heart of the people and the military. You must never go to the battlefield in person and risk yourself."
"Don't worry, the mother, the son will not act rashly." Xiao Yu said slowly: "It is the power of the six palaces, and the son has to be handed over to you."
The Empress Dowager Chu looked at Xiao Yu, and slapped the Buddhist beads in her hand on the table, "When the army is marching to fight, the Aijia can't control it, but since you handed over the power of the six palaces to the Aijia today, the Aijia will I want to talk to you."
"It's not that the Su family suffered a defeat, it was cooperating with the enemy and treason! How could the emperor not punish Empress Su?" Empress Dowager Chu looked at Xiao Yu and said, "The Su family has been plotting against His Majesty from the very beginning!"
"But if I hadn't been trying to win over the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, the Su family might have been married to some housewife. Even if the Su family needs to punish the three clans today, it shouldn't hurt the married daughter." Xiao Yu looked at the Empress Dowager Chu and pondered. : "What's more, she is still pregnant with my child in her belly. She needs to be punished and wait for her to give birth to a child."
The Empress Dowager Chu said: "The truth that punishment is prestige when it is a crime, and insult when it is not a crime. Your Majesty should always understand. Your Majesty treats the Su family so lightly, and you are not afraid of losing your majesty in the harem and in the previous court?"
Speaking of this, the Empress Dowager Chu was horrified.
The emperor drives the expedition personally and guards the gate of the country. Once he wins and returns to the dynasty, who would dare to say no to the emperor
Will he still punish Su Shi
Xiao Yu said, "What did the queen mother think?"
The Empress Dowager Chu narrowed her eyes and followed the emperor's words: "After all, the Su family has entered the imperial jade, and there are children of His Majesty in the belly, so it is indeed not appropriate to punish him, but Su Huai'an cannot escape the heavy responsibility, and should obey the opinion of the Ministry of Punishment and be sentenced to Ling Chi. A trip to appease the anger of the people."
"This matter has been confirmed." Xiao Yu whispered: "It's just that the Su family has a vault with a lot of property, and the whereabouts are still unknown. When the torture department finds out the location, the execution will be executed immediately."
The Empress Dowager Chu nodded, "The emperor personally marched, and Aijia will lead the concubine to pray for the emperor every day."
"The queen mother will manage the harem, and I will rest assured." Xiao Yu looked at the queen mother Chu and said meaningfully: "The first child in Su's womb is my first child, and the son will be handed over to the queen mother."
Only then did the Empress Dowager realize the emperor's intention.
He left the Su family to his own care, clearly entrusting him, and secretly beating.
—
The sun is shining brightly, when today Ziyu is driving in person.
Xiao Yu wore a golden crow crown with a tangle of hair on the inside, black gold soft armor on the outside, and a long sword hanging from his waist. Under the watchful eyes of the people of the capital, he rode ten thousand horses away from the capital with the respect of ten thousand vehicles.
As soon as he left the city gate, Xiao Yu turned around and shouted, "Marquis Chunnan!"
Lu Ze clamped the horse's belly, shouted "drive", and staggered the position of half a horse from the emperor, saying: "The minister is here."
Xiao Yu frowned and said, "What are you doing so far away, come here!"
Lu Ze leaned over and Xiao Yu said, "Today's night trip, when you arrive in Zhuzhou, you will turn back, avoid all eyes and ears, and save someone for me."
Guarantor, who can you insure
Lu Ze groaned in his heart, "Your Majesty! But the Su family has rebelled..."
Xiao Yu and Lu looked at each other.
The man's outline is as sharp as a knife, and his eyes are full of mountains and rivers.
He looked sideways at the mountain peaks, and said in a very soft voice, "Send him away from Beijing."
The drum beat sounded, Xiao Yu drove his horse and whipped his whip, galloping through the night and thunder, and galloping through the wind and frost for thousands of miles.
Before the leaves fall, he wants to guard my land and my people, guard the mountains and rivers of thousands of miles, and go home.
Qin Jie suddenly woke up from her dream—