"Many people want me to die. I can understand. After all, I have offended so many people." The Empress Dowager Shangguan leaned on the soft couch. She was not young anymore. There is an indescribable charm.
Han Ruzi remembered what the imperial concubine had said, that the elder sister would rather leave the child to her younger sister to raise, but also maintain her appearance and figure, and concentrate on pleasing Emperor Huan. Some things may be learned and will never be forgotten.
Han Ruzi turned slightly to the side, avoiding the Empress Dowager Shangguan.
This is his palace, but he can't come here openly. Except for the regular greetings every day, he has never entered the Cishun Palace. For many people, this is the rule. Once it is broken, it will inevitably require a lot of explanations.
Empress Dowager Shangguan "just happened" to be ill. On the first day, Empress Dowager Cining came to visit, on the second day the queen waited for her concubines to visit, and on the third day, the emperor came in person.
The only outsiders present were Meng E, who was both the emperor's personal maid and the old lady of the Empress Dowager Shangguan, so she would not be suspected.
"The queen mother thinks someone is falsely accusing you?"
The Empress Dowager Shangguan smiled slightly, "I thought Your Majesty would be sympathetic to me."
Han Ruzi was stunned for a moment, and then realized that the Empress Dowager Shangguan was talking about his experience as a tired marquis. He didn't offend anyone, but after he abdicated, someone still wanted to kill him, or to eradicate the roots, or to please the new emperor.
"My biggest sin is losing power." The Empress Dowager Shangguan continued, her voice weak, and her health was not very good recently. "Or handed over power."
Han Ruzi couldn't help but sneer softly, the empress dowager Shangguan didn't have much choice at that time.
The Empress Dowager Shangguan also smiled, "Your Majesty is here to hear the truth?"
"certainly."
"Then let me tell you the first truth: Without my tolerance, His Majesty would have long since turned into a rotten bone, and there is no chance for him to become emperor again."
For a long time, the Empress Dowager Shangguan did have the power to put Marquis Juan to death. She didn't even have to do it herself. She only needed to give a hint and someone would act on her behalf. Yang Feng was able to keep Marquis Tired at that time, the most fundamental reason. It was he who was convinced that the Queen Mother had no intention of killing.
"I know." Han Ruzi did not deny it, and when he became emperor again, he would also be open to the empress dowager Shangguan.
"But do you know why?"
Han Ruzi did not answer. He only knew that the tolerance of the empress dowager Shangguan must be related to his mother and Yang Feng, but he never asked for details.
"Yang Feng said some good things for His Majesty, but that was not the main reason, it was His Majesty's mother, Wang Meiren—sorry, Empress Dowager Cining—said to me, 'The Empress Dowager has a great plan, if it succeeds, my son is not a threat, if it fails, maybe Only my son can protect the queen mother.' She was right, of course, she still begged me, and those words don't need to be said."
Han Ruzi refused to involve his mother and asked, "What was the empress dowager's plan at that time?"
The Empress Dowager Shangguan adjusted her posture slightly, "Raise the little emperor, and then make a woman from the Shangguan family the queen. Who knows what will happen next? Anyway, the Shangguan family will always hold the power, and as for how big it is, it can only be Time to talk. Unfortunately, I failed at the first step, and someone killed the little emperor."
The chubby child appeared in Han Ruzi's mind again. He did not admit that he was the emperor, nor did the Great Chu court admit it. According to the historian's pen, after Emperor Si is the current emperor.
"Three emperors died in a row. This is the bad luck of Da Chu, and it is also my bad luck, but I can't complain, because it all started with me."
Han Ruzi turned his head and glanced at the Empress Dowager Shangguan, but did not speak. He came to hear the truth, but he did not expect that the Empress Dowager Shangguan would really admit it.
"Huandi was poisoned to death by me." The Empress Dowager Shangguan's voice was still weak and weak, but it was more cold and proud, and she obviously did not regret what she had done. "Huandi wants to make Cui's empress and Donghai. The king is the prince, and his plan is to win the trust of Cui Hong and let Cui Hong hand over the military power. For this, we must sacrifice our mother and son."
Emperor Huan's plan is exactly what Han Ruzi is doing at the moment, with only one difference, he really likes Cui Xiaojun, not for a moment.
"Perhaps Emperor Huan will regain his status as Empress Dowager." Han Ruzi really has no feelings for his father, and his impression is very vague. He has only one relationship with his grandfather Emperor Wu, but his impression is even more profound.
The Empress Dowager Shangguan smiled softly, "That's impossible. When Emperor Huan holds the power, he will attract more beautiful women, and there will be more sons. The position of Empress Cui is still difficult to guarantee, how could Emperor Huan think of us? Mother and son? The so-called newcomer beats the old one. Once left out, there is no chance. I will never let this happen."
No one spoke in the room, the Empress Dowager Shangguan was immersed in her memories, Han Ruzi didn't know how to ask, and Meng E stayed out of the matter and said nothing.
After a while, the Empress Dowager Shangguan spoke again, "The poison provided by Yang Feng, he is very capable, he can get anything, and he also got the medicine that the imperial concubine used to treat pregnant women in the palace. I was very worried about letting him go out of the palace. I kept sending people to watch him. As long as he had something out of the ordinary, he could not stay. Fortunately, he was very aware of current affairs, and no matter how critical the moment was, he never touched poison again. ."
"Yang Feng understands the Queen Mother's plan?" Han Ruzi asked, with a little regret in his heart. It was he who insisted on finding out the truth, and as a result, Yang Feng's image changed greatly.
"I never said it explicitly, but if he didn't guess it, would your Majesty believe it?"
With Yang Feng's cleverness, of course, he can understand the Queen Mother's intentions at a glance. He provided poison, probably to make Si Di enthroned.
"That's how bad luck started. I thought that poisoning started and ended in my hands, but I was wrong. The next person to be poisoned is my own son. The concubine thought it was my hand, but it was actually Concubine Cui's conspiracy. When Emperor Huan was seriously ill, Concubine Cui once visited the palace, and she must have seen something. She is very smart and used the same method to deal with me. "
"It is said that Concubine Cui denied this."
"Who else would it be?" The Empress Dowager Shangguan's tone suddenly became stern, "She has found an expert who uses poison, and she has also bribed many people in the palace. Everything is ready, she will retreat?"
The Empress Dowager Shangguan has already avenged and will never admit that she made a mistake.
Han Ruzi did not refute, but he still had doubts in his heart. He only knew one truth: his father, Emperor Huan, had indeed died at the hands of the Empress Dowager Shangguan.
"The poison suddenly increased, and it seemed that everyone could use it, and everyone could use it. The third victim was the little emperor. The person who killed him hoped that the world would be in chaos." The Empress Dowager Shangguan looked at Meng E.
Meng E was stunned for a moment, but did not expect that she would also be the target of the conversation, "It's not me." After a pause, "It's not my brother either."
"It's not your brothers and sisters, but it has something to do with you. A man from Yishi Island defected to Meng Che, and your brother took him in. It was this man who poisoned the little emperor and created a predictable chaos. Your brother was also kept in the dark at the time. ."
Meng E was speechless and finally understood why her brother suddenly left the capital to join the rebellion. He had no other choice at that time.
Meng Che never said these things to his sister.
"The world is really in chaos, but it's not the righteous island that benefits." The Empress Dowager Shangguan seemed to find it very interesting, and she smiled again, "After the little emperor showed signs of poisoning, I planned the prince to compete for the throne, and I didn't know what to do. Who is the poisoner? I thought it was the Cui family's conspiracy again, so I used this method to recall the promising descendants of the clan to the capital. To be honest, the person I was optimistic about at the time was the champion. But that's all in the past, and the winner was Your Majesty. Righteous Island defeated me and the little emperor, but failed to defeat Da Chu. They believed too much in crooked ways, and when it came time for real swords and real guns, they were completely defeated."
"What did my brother say to the queen mother?" Meng E asked.
"Well, when he returned to Beijing again and wanted to take you away, he told me the whole truth."
Han Ruzi was startled, he didn't know about this, and couldn't help but wonder how many secrets Meng E was hiding.
"I forgave your brother, because there is no point. I have already avenged and lost everything. Killing Meng Che can't restore anything."
"What's the meaning of 'please stop your hand'?" Han Ruzi asked, he was more concerned about Yang Feng than the truth.
"Is Your Majesty convinced that these four words were left by Yang Feng?"
Han Ruzi shook his head.
"On the surface, these four words have two meanings: 'please stop the hand owl', the word owl is the signature, so this is Chunyu Xiao's warning to Yang Feng or His Majesty, asking you not to track down those who are looking for gas; if it is 'Xiao please stop', the word 'Xiao' is an appellation, which means that Chunyu Xiao is in the palace and has a chance to see the piece of paper."
"Which does the queen mother believe?"
The Empress Dowager Shangguan sat up, the weak voice in her voice disappeared, "The meaning is not important, the key is who stayed, if it was someone else, Yang Feng was killed, Your Majesty should be more careful, if it is Yang Feng, that is Therefore, your Majesty must be careful, and outsiders will never be able to guess what Yang Feng is planning."
Han Ruzi came for this reason. It has been half a year, and the dead Yang Feng is more difficult for him to get rid of than the living Yang Feng.
"Yang Feng has a wife, does the queen mother know?"
"I know, maybe I'm the only insider. Yang Feng told me about his wife and children. One is that I hope I can help them when necessary, and the other is to win my trust. From the first time he asked me I've been on his guard since delivering those damn poisons until he tells me the most secret things."
"Where are they?"
"I swore a poisonous oath to Yang Feng that I would never divulge secrets."
"I have no malice, I just want to know what kind of person Yang Feng is."
"Please forgive me, an oath is an oath. Although I have nothing left, I can't break it, at least not now. Please wait a while longer. If Yang Feng planned his own death, he must have left clues, but It won't be his family, your Majesty may not have noticed."
Han Ruzi wanted to threaten a few words, and then changed his mind after thinking about it, "These are the so-called truths of the Queen Mother? It seems that there is nothing new."
What the Empress Dowager Shangguan said, even if Han Ruzi didn't know the details, he could guess.
"The truth hasn't been told yet." The Empress Dowager Shangguan became serious, "Is someone accusing Your Majesty of me? I can guess who it is, and even who is behind it. Please Your Majesty understand one thing: around Everything that happened to Your Majesty is not simple, all of which are power struggles. Does Your Majesty think everything goes well this year? That is an illusion, Your Majesty is losing the most important power, this is the truth."
The Empress Dowager Shangguan wanted to launch a counterattack, and the method was the same as Jing Yao's, but also to win the emperor's trust first.