Emperor Longqing gently asked him to stand up, sighed and said sincerely: "Among all my brothers, you are the one I trust the most."
He paused, then helped King Zheng, who was still kneeling on the ground, up. A rare smile finally appeared on the corner of his mouth: "You don't have to worry. I won't put you in danger."
King Zheng followed his hand and stood up, nodding repeatedly: "I know that my brother trusts me, and it is my honor."
Emperor Longqing was satisfied. He handed a memorial to Prince Zheng across the desk and raised his eyebrows, saying, "In this case, how about you and Wei Yangqing, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, go to Xunyang together this time?"
This was something that Emperor Longqing had mentioned before, and Prince Zheng did not find it unexpected, but he was still inevitably nervous. He glanced at Emperor Longqing and asked, "Do you want me to go with my fifth brother..."
"That's right." Emperor Longqing responded, saying without hiding anything: "The Prince of Jin is pressing forward step by step, trying to win people's hearts. He also knows that he cannot offend the Fifth Prince, so he does not fight with him head-on, but instead negotiates with him after occupying Hongdu."
King Zheng actually knew all this.
Shen Chen has always had a secret connection with Prince Linjiang.
He hummed and frowned, "His move is insidious enough, but Brother Wu is not that stupid. After all, if Hongdu is captured, Xunyang will be completely exposed to the attack of King Jin. If King Jin turns hostile at that time, even if Brother Wu can win, both sides will suffer heavy losses and pay a heavy price."
Emperor Longqing patted him on the shoulder and said, "Everyone can talk about these principles, but not everyone can act according to them. Think about it, what if the King of Jin uses a strategy of sowing discord at this time?"
King Zheng's expression slowly changed.
"Look, you've thought of it, too." Emperor Longqing's face was gloomy, with a huge storm hidden in his eyes: "Chu Jingxing's mistake this time is too serious. In order not to chill the hearts of court officials and the people, I must punish him and give him an explanation. But if Prince Jin is stirring up trouble at this time, things may not be so simple. Once the fifth brother is bewitched and really has a grudge against me, it is hard to say whether he will turn his gun against me."
King Zheng was startled, hesitantly shook his head and said: "Probably not? This... Awu is still in the capital, he respects you very much..."
Speaking of this, Emperor Longqing was slightly comforted: "Awu is a good child. He said he wanted to go to Fujian to play and see the world with Achen. I didn't allow him to go at first, but now it seems that I should let him go."
What he said was very meaningful, and King Zheng did not dare to interrupt.
Emperor Longqing withdrew his thoughts and told him: "Okay, it's settled. I trust you, tell Lao Wu to not let me down."
However, King Zheng knew that there was no way Chu Jingwu would be able to successfully leave the capital.
He calmed himself down and responded with a yes, and Emperor Longqing sent him out. He met with Qian Shiyun and others who were waiting outside to discuss the affairs of Fujian.
Prince Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, and when he went out, he saw Young Master Lin waiting at the door. His eyebrows couldn't help but twitch. He made an almost invisible eye contact with Young Master Lin, then looked away and walked towards Fengyi Palace without stopping.
When he arrived, Queen Fang was making things difficult for Chu Jingxing, and the words she said were not so nice.
The ladies trapped in the deep palace had not heard the news yet. Now when they heard about Chu Jingxing, they couldn't help but talk about it in whispers.
The Fairy Princess, who had already washed and combed her hair and was kneeling on the ground, blushed again, feeling somewhat embarrassed for her husband. She had always known her husband's character, that he was always very proud and especially concerned about his reputation.
Now that Queen Fang was scolding her as worse than a beast in front of so many people, she looked at him with some worry.
Although Chu Jingxing's expression remained unchanged, she saw that the veins on his hands hanging by his side were bulging. Her heart skipped a beat and she felt even more disgusted with Wei An.
Fortunately, such an embarrassing scene did not last too long. Queen Fang soon lost her patience again. After scolding enough, she sneered and asked Chu Jingxing to kneel outside while she talked to Prince Zheng who arrived later.
Prince Zheng was as respectful as ever. He greeted Queen Fang and said, "I just came from my brother's place. He asked me to persuade you not to be sad, so as not to harm your health."
Queen Fang's anger lessened a bit as she hummed calmly, then laughed sarcastically, "What do you mean by phoenix body or not? They still call my son a thousand years old, but isn't my son dead?"
As soon as she said this, the whispers around her disappeared instantly and the whole place became silent.
Concubine Peng De even lowered her head and dared not say a word.
She knew very well that Queen Fang was just taking advantage of the situation to speak in her ears in an indirect way.
But she felt very aggrieved. It was clearly not her who did these things, but Queen Fang embarrassed her time and time again, making her lose face in front of everyone. It was really too much.
Empress Fang, however, no longer paid any attention to her. She had now completely broken off relations with Concubine Peng De and was just waiting for the Imperial Guards to find out something so that she could settle the score with Concubine Peng De later.
This is also one of the reasons why she can still hold on until now.
She thought of Princess Zheng because of Prince Zheng. She looked at Princess Zheng with complicated eyes for a long time before saying, "Yes, I just remembered that Princess Zheng is pregnant and her body is heavy and inconvenient. It is really difficult for her to kneel all the time. It is better to let her go to Yonghe Palace to rest."
King Zheng quickly expressed his gratitude.
Queen Fang waved her hands, pondered for a while, and then suddenly said, "I heard that the old lady of Ping An Marquis couldn't bear it and fainted?"
Xiao Gu quickly responded.
Empress Fang then said, "Then the old officials over the age of 65 will not have to kneel. They only need to obey the imperial edict and offer sacrifices when they enter the underground palace."
This is an attempt to win people's hearts. Originally, when Queen Fang's son died, everyone thought it was her fault and pointed the finger at her. Now Queen Fang is deliberately making indirect accusations and then showing kindness to win people's hearts. People in the world will regard her as a witch concubine even more.
Concubine Peng bit her lip.
Others did not care about her mood at the moment and immediately knelt down to express their gratitude to Queen Fang.
Empress Fang laughed coldly, glanced at everyone, and told Princess Chang'an: "I am also tired, so I will let you watch the evening ceremony."
According to etiquette, the imperial eunuchs did not kneel all the time. They cried three times, morning, noon and evening, and each time lasted for two hours.
However, Queen Fang had always attended the sacrifices in person before, but this time she asked Princess Chang'an to watch.