Outside the main hall of Kunning Palace, the chamberlains and maids were kneeling side by side. After the Queen came back from the Tai Chi Palace, she started an unprecedented fire. After smashing them, she drove everyone out of the palace and made them kneel down.
The slave is the master's vent, and he will do whatever the master tells him to do. No one cares whether you are innocent or not, unless you can reach the level of the great eunuch Wang Lu.
Wang Lu actually had a hard time. Although he didn't have to kneel as a punishment, he was always in the center of danger. The queen had tea poured all over his face. He didn't even dare to wipe it. His waist was as bowed as a shrimp, and he kept urging the queen to The empress calmed down.
"Calm down your anger. How can I calm down your anger?" Queen Meng roared loudly with hatred, "The emperor is obviously playing tricks. Qin Tianjian and Hu Qianshan are both taking orders from him. The prince is not worthy of Feng Mingzhi." Girl, they can say it out loud!"
Wang Lu did not dare to speak ill of his Majesty and listened silently without expressing his opinion.
Empress Meng grabbed the tea cup she had just put on and threw it at her: "Speak, you are mute!"
Wang Lu shivered from being burned, and hurriedly bowed and said: "Replying to your Majesty, it is understandable that Qin Tian monitors and obeys the emperor's order, but Hu Qianshan has always relied on his talents and arrogance, and he should not be manipulated by the Holy One. The Queen has forgotten that the Holy One originally asked him to be the Crown Prince and Tutor. He refused."
"Are you a fool? You still can't see it now. He refused to teach the prince, but turned around and became Zhao Jingyu's teacher. Isn't this deliberately arranged by the emperor?" Queen Meng said angrily.
Wang Lu was stunned, and after careful consideration, he felt that what the Empress said was quite reasonable. Maybe Hu Qianshan was acting in conjunction with the Emperor, and all his arrogance and unbridled behavior were just for outsiders to see.
But why did the emperor do this? Even if the second young master Zhao is really his illegitimate son, the prince is his legitimate eldest son!
The prince is of noble birth, educated and knowledgeable, and has the support of his powerful maternal family. He is a well-deserved choice for the crown prince. Have these emperors not considered it
If he wants to favor his youngest son, he can tell the world, grant the second son a title of king and land, and let the second son be an idle prince with no worries about food and clothing for the rest of his life. Why should he be raised in the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion and secretly cultivated? How can he expect an illegitimate son to inherit the throne? Unification is not possible
Thinking of this, Wang Lu suddenly became excited and looked at Queen Meng gloomily.
It happened that Queen Meng also looked at him suddenly, and they both said at the same time: "Could that horoscope belong to Zhao Jingyu?"
The daughter of Feng Ming, who is not even worthy of the prince, actually has the same horoscope as Zhao Jingyu. What does this mean
Wang Lu's eyes widened in horror. Could it be that Zhao Jingyu was the destined successor to the throne
Could it be that Hu Qianshan had already gotten a glimpse of the secret, and the emperor had already learned it from him, so he was ordered to teach Zhao Jingyu secretly
If you put it this way, could it be that the emperor's high regard for the prince over the years was all fake and that he had no intention of letting the prince succeed to the throne
Queen Meng had obviously thought of this, and her expression suddenly turned cold and stern.
"Get out!" She said to Wang Lu, "Close the palace door. No one is allowed to enter without my order. Even if the emperor comes, he must guard it for me!"
Wang Lu paused for a moment, "The prince was left by the emperor to talk. He will surely come here soon."
"If he comes, tell him to go back to the East Palace and wait for me, and you won't let him in even if you die!" Queen Meng said.
"..." Wang Lu wanted to say something but didn't, and bowed out of the hall.
The door creaked shut and the light in the hall dimmed. Queen Meng sat and thought for a moment, then got up and went to the inner room.
She took off her luxurious and complicated robe and crown, put on a light shirt and regular clothes, and after dressing up in front of the rhombus mirror, she walked to the bed, held a bedpost and turned it hard. With a squeaking sound, the bed board moved. , revealing a dark hole underneath.
The secret passage connected to the entrance of the cave can lead to the outside of the palace, and someone has been waiting for her there for a long time.
Wang Lu didn't know what the queen was going to do, so he stood outside the palace in fear. If the emperor or the prince really came, how could he, a servant, stop him.
But he didn't expect that before the emperor and the prince came, Prime Minister Meng came first.
When Wang Lu saw him coming, he breathed a sigh of relief. Prime Minister Meng was the Queen's biological father. If there was anyone else in the world who would show his respect to Queen Meng without any reservation, it was probably him.
"My servant has met the Prime Minister." Wang Lu took the initiative to greet him.
Prime Minister Meng was wearing court attire, his face was solemn, and he spoke in a calm and authoritative manner: "I'd like to trouble you to tell you that I have something important to see my empress."
Having held a high position for many years, he has become accustomed to aloof posture. What he says is clearly a request, but what comes out of his mouth is more like a military order.
Wang Lu looked confused: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, it is an unlucky time for you to come. The Queen is in a bad mood and has gone to bed. No one is allowed to disturb her."
Prime Minister Meng's face sank: "Does anyone she mentioned include me, my biological father?"
Wang Lu hurriedly bowed and said with a smile: "My queen didn't tell you specifically, but she said she wouldn't see the emperor even if he comes."
The implication is, are you more prestigious than the emperor
"..." Prime Minister Meng choked for a moment and said displeasedly, "Stop talking nonsense, I'm here just now about the matter of Tai Chi Hall, go and pass the news!"
"I don't dare, this slave. If I alarm the empress, I will lose my head." Wang Lu said.
Prime Minister Meng was impatient to listen to his ramblings, so he brushed him away, pushed open the palace door himself, and walked inside.
"Prime Minister, no!" Wang Lu rushed to stop him, but was kicked away by Prime Minister Meng. When he got up with a grin on his face, Prime Minister Meng had already entered.
Wang Lu had no choice but to follow in and bolt the door from the inside to prevent anyone from entering again.
The entire palace was deserted. Prime Minister Meng searched all over the place but could not find the queen. He grabbed Wang Lu by the collar and asked, "Where is the queen?"
Wang Lu blinked his eyes and said blankly: "The empress is clearly in the palace, she has never been anywhere..."
Prime Minister Meng thought for a moment, his face suddenly darkened, he turned around and entered the inner room again. After a while, he walked out quickly and ordered Wang Lu: "Keep the door secure, no one is allowed in, otherwise be careful with your head!"
After saying that, he opened the door and walked away proudly.
"..." Wang Lu sighed helplessly, closed the door again and stood outside. He thought to himself, "I can't even stop you, so who else can I stop?"
Prime Minister Meng left the palace and ordered the bearers to go straight to Prince Wei's Mansion.
King Wei was the youngest son of the late emperor and the most favored by the late emperor and the queen mother. His residence was the closest to the imperial city so that the late emperor and the queen mother could see him at any time.
After going to the fiefdom, the huge palace became empty. It was only lively for a few days every year during the New Year and family visits.
When he returned to Beijing this time, it happened that Princess Wei fell seriously ill, so he left his children in the fiefdom to wait for the decoction and came back alone.
Therefore, even though the master returned, the entire mansion still seemed deserted and unpopular.
Prime Minister Meng got off the sedan in front of the door. In order to save time, he directly said to the guard at the door: "I have come to see the prince on the order of the emperor. Please lead the way quickly."
The guard hesitated and did not move, saying that the prince had ordered not to see guests.
Prime Minister Meng was furious: "Didn't you hear that I came to see the prince according to the emperor's instructions? Can you afford to suffer if you make a mistake?"
The guards were frightened by him, and one of them took him into the house.
Along the winding corridor, we arrived at King Wei's study. Just as the guard was about to report, a woman's scream came from the study.
The guard swallowed his words in time, looked at Prime Minister Meng awkwardly, and whispered: "Prime Minister, why don't you go to the flower hall and wait for a while?"
Prime Minister Meng's face had turned black to ashes. He ignored the guard's words and kicked open the door.
The guard was frightened and before he could react, the door was closed immediately.
The study is divided into two rooms, the inner and the outer. A man and a woman were embracing each other passionately in the inner room. They were startled by the sound of the door being kicked. They hurriedly let go of each other and stepped back to distance themselves. The woman turned her back to the door and straightened her clothes.
"Bold slave!" the man yelled angrily. Before he finished speaking, Prime Minister Meng walked in with a dark face.
"Why is the Prime Minister here?" the man asked in surprise.
The woman was startled, turned around and called her father.
Prime Minister Meng strode up to her, raised his hand and slapped her.
"Look at what you look like now. Do you still know who you are? You are the queen, the mother of the country, and the queen mother of Jing Xing. You promised me that for Jing Xing, you would never meet this man again. You Why break your promise?"
Queen Meng's ears were ringing from the beating, half of her face was in burning pain, and tears of humiliation were streaming down her face.
"I am a prince after all, am I just "this man" in the eyes of the prime minister?" King Wei stepped forward with an unhappy look on his face and pulled the queen behind him, "Since the prime minister knows that she is the mother of the country, he should know that he is not qualified. Teach her a lesson."
Prime Minister Meng swayed, looked at his hands, and then at the Queen's red and swollen cheeks. The anger in his heart turned into a sigh: "What evil have I done!"
"You yourself know the sin you have committed!" King Wei said in a deep voice, with a handsome face that was 70% similar to the emperor's with a sullen look on his face. "If you hadn't insisted on sending her to the palace to fight for a future for yourself, she would be the same person now. The king’s concubine, Jing Xing is…”
"Your Majesty, please be careful what you say!" Prime Minister Meng stopped him with a trembling voice, "Why does Your Majesty bring up the old things from twenty years ago? What should have been done between you has long been done. Now she is just your sister-in-law, and you are just her. My brother-in-law, you two have no other connection.”
"Ha!" King Wei sneered with unknown meaning, "Who said there is no other connection, isn't Jing Xing?"
Prime Minister Meng wanted to die, and urged him hard: "If the prince wants their mother and son to be well, he should keep these words in his stomach. If he is not careful, he will be killed. When the emperor is angry, he will lay down millions of corpses." , then not only you and me, but also the descendants of the prince, princess, and my nine Meng clan will all be killed."
"At that time, at what time?" King Wei sneered, "Through today's divination in Taiji Hall, hasn't the Prime Minister realized that the time has come? Do you really think that my brother is stupid? Do you really think that his throne is... Didn't he pick it up for free? Haven't you seen that he has no intention of letting Jing Xing succeed him? No matter how powerful you, Prime Minister Meng, develop, and how powerful you are, you can't protect your grandson from sitting on the throne. You Don’t you understand yet?”
Prime Minister Meng fell silent under his repeated questioning, and he had to admit that the Holy Emperor was deeply scheming and strategizing.
If Abbot Wuchen hadn't accidentally detected the daughter of Feng Ming, and happened to be overheard by the queen's spy stationed in the Qiande Hall, they might not have noticed anything unusual until the disaster came and the crown prince changed hands.
"Father!" Seeing that he was no longer angry, Queen Meng said, "With Jing Xing here, the relationship between me and King Wei cannot be broken. From the time you cruelly sent me to the palace, you should have thought of today , you helped me choose this path. You have no choice but to continue to help me. This matter is not only related to Jing Xing’s future, but also to the wealth and life of the Meng family. We have been forced into this unknowingly. It’s a desperate situation. If you don’t give it a try, it will be over.”
"You..." Prime Minister Meng pointed at her. He wanted to get angry but felt that it was useless. He took back his hand and said in frustration, "Okay, tell me what to do?"
"There are only two ways, force the palace or kill the illegitimate child." King Wei said.
"..." Prime Minister Meng took a breath and looked at his daughter in horror, "Do you think so too?"
"Yes, father, I think so too." Queen Meng said solemnly.
Prime Minister Meng smiled bitterly: "Do you think that forcing the palace is just playing house? Most of the people I have won over over the years are civil servants. Although there are military officers, they are all below the fourth or fifth rank. Those who really have the power to lead troops are firmly in the hands of Wu'an University. In the hands of the general and Dingyuan Marquis, the court has been strictly controlled in recent years and no private soldiers are allowed. We have only a few thousand soldiers to use. In order to cover up others' eyes and ears, they are scattered hundreds of miles away. If we really want to force the palace, do you think these thousands of soldiers are available? Can people do it?"
"I have 20,000 soldiers and horses. As long as we plan well, we still have a chance of winning." King Wei said.
"Twenty thousand?" The Prime Minister sneered, "Do you think 20,000 troops can reach the capital? By the time we come up with a comprehensive plan, I'm afraid the crown prince's position will have changed hands long ago."
When Queen Meng heard that the crown prince's position had changed, she immediately became anxious, "Since the risk of forcing the throne is too great, let's kill the illegitimate son. Once the illegitimate son dies, there will be only one prince left in the palace, Jing Xing. The throne will belong to him no matter what. "
Prime Minister Meng was silent for a moment and sighed: "Zhao Jingyu is surrounded by many masters. It is not easy to kill him. For now, we can only continue to pretend that we don't know anything, give up the daughter of Phoenix Life, and let the prince marry Jin as soon as possible. Lord Ping County, please invite all the princes in Beijing to the East Palace for a banquet on the day of the wedding. When Zhao Jingyu relaxes his vigilance, the waiters will take action. "
You cannot bring any followers or weapons to the palace for a banquet. As long as you find the right time, it should be easy to succeed.
"But he is not a fool. If he doesn't come, won't our work be in vain?" Queen Meng asked.
"If you don't come, you will be despising the imperial power, which is a crime of disrespect." Prime Minister Meng said.
Queen Meng couldn't make up her mind for a moment and looked at King Wei cautiously. She didn't dare to ask King Wei directly for fear of offending her father again.
King Wei understood her thoughts and said proactively: "At present, it seems that the prime minister's proposal is the safest. So let's give it a try. If it doesn't work, it's not too late to sink the boat."
Seeing that he agreed, Queen Meng naturally had nothing to say. At her father's urging, she reluctantly returned to Kunning Palace through the secret passage.
After she left, Prime Minister Meng solemnly reminded King Wei: "Your Majesty, please remember that even if Jing Xing ascends the throne, you are still King Wei and his uncle. Don't expect that he will recognize you and respect you as the Supreme Emperor. You and His relationship can never be revealed, otherwise you two will become the laughing stock of the whole world!"
King Wei raised the corners of his lips and smiled with unknown meaning: "I know well that the Prime Minister is leaving slowly and I will not send you far away."
Prime Minister Meng walked away with a belly full of unknown fire.
King Wei watched him go away and murmured to himself: "What does the Emperor mean? I still want to be the emperor for a few days for fun!"
Queen Meng returned to Kunning Palace, took off her plain clothes and put on a brocade robe. After adjusting her mood, she ordered Wang Lu to open the palace door and let the maids come in to clean up the things she had smashed. She also sent people to the East Palace to invite the prince.
With her father and the King of Wei offering advice, she felt much better and was no longer as panicked as she was at first. After the prince came, mother and son had a brief conversation in the inner room. Queen Meng told Prime Minister Meng's advice to When the prince heard this, he was already confused by the divination results. Since it was his grandfather's suggestion, he didn't say anything more and agreed vaguely.
Empress Meng immediately took him to see the emperor, saying that since the horoscope of Phoenix Life's daughter was inconsistent with the prince's, forcing them to marry would be against God's will, so the prince voluntarily gave up.
Song Wanji was still thinking about how to persuade mother and son. He was surprised and confused when he heard that they gave up on their own initiative. He secretly wondered if Prime Minister Meng might have given them another trick.
But the queen could give up on her own initiative, which he couldn't ask for. He said happily: "I actually think that the theory of numerology is illusory. The queen and the prince can look away. It really solves a big problem for me. I finally don't have to worry about fighting for my daughter-in-law with the Marquis of Dingyuan." ”
Empress Meng was disdainful in her heart, but on the surface she showed her full attitude: "It's all my fault that I was impulsive and made the emperor embarrassed in front of his ministers. I deserve death for my crime."
"How can I not understand that the queen loves her son so much? I won't blame you. No matter when the time comes, you will be my good queen and my virtuous wife." Song Wanji chuckled.
After the emperor and empress made some pretense of politeness and agreed that the prince would still marry the Lord of Jinping County and would no longer interfere in the marriage of Zhao Jingyu and Miss Xiuer, the queen took the prince and left.
Returning to Kunning Palace, Queen Meng was in a good mood. She retreated from everyone and discussed with the prince the time of the wedding and the specific details of capturing Zhao Jingyu at the wedding.
Just as he was talking, Wang Lu came in with a panic expression and said: "Madam, there is news from outside that the Lord of Jinping County is a liar. He collaborated with the second wife of the Su family, Mrs. Zheng, to defraud. Now he has been sent to the Kyoto government office." ”
"What did you say?" Queen Meng exclaimed, a smile frozen on her face.
She had already tried so hard for her son, could it be that after all she had calculated, she ended up with nothing
(End of chapter)