The news that King Jin was infected with smallpox reached the previous court. Chunjia, who was originally calm but not relaxed, turned gloomy for a moment. Before he could ask about the whole story, the waiter continued to report that the imperial concubine had learned that King Jin was infected with the disease. After that, he first insisted on taking care of his son in person, but luckily everyone tried to stop him. At this time, someone sent a message to Sui'an's consort and Xie Shiba outside the palace, asking them to spread money and silk widely, and do good deeds everywhere to pray for the King of Jin.
It had only been a few years since the imperial concubine entered the palace that she had the flesh and blood of the fifteenth prince. No matter how much attention was paid to it, Chunjia didn't think much about it at all. She just said that the imperial concubine was suffering from a sudden illness and sought medical treatment indiscriminately. She sighed and asked others to take care of her privately. He took a sum of money from the treasury and sent it to Princess Sui'an's house: "Fifteen is also my son."
The servants did not dare to remind him that the third and tenth princes were also sick and the emperor did not say that he would do good deeds for these two sons.
He only continued to say cautiously: "Your Majesty, the imperial concubine is currently conducting a thorough investigation of Hegong, and... and... seems to be suspicious of Zhonggong!"
Chunjia frowned and said, "What's going on?"
"It is said that the reason for the smallpox incident was because the imperial concubine felt that there was something wrong with the handkerchief she had specially embroidered for her loving mother, the Empress Dowager. But in fact, it was the third prince and the three princes in front of the middle palace who got sick first. The tenth prince. These days have passed, and something happened to His Highness King Jin. I suspect that the source of His Highness’s illness is not the acne marks on the veil at all..." The servant said this with a bit of trepidation. After all, although the imperial concubine did not say it explicitly, there was something in her words. The implication behind the words is that he doubts the queen.
"The noble concubine may be in trouble if she cares about her." Chunjia's heart sank. It wasn't that she really doubted the palace, but she felt that things were a little out of control.
Because although Yun Fenghuang's ambitions were well known before, at least she was just coveting the lower position and Qingci Palace unilaterally, but the middle palace had nothing wrong with it. There is no real conflict between the two parties, so even if they don't like each other, they can still be polite when they meet. Even many things can be discussed and discussed.
In this case, as long as the emperor restrains the imperial concubine and controls the imperial concubine's power and right and wrong within a certain level, he can achieve the goal of not only allowing the future East Palace to have a hard time, but also preventing the conflicts between the empress and concubine from being irreconcilable. Once he is gone, Suppression will inevitably lead to one party's reputation being ruined.
But if King Jin’s smallpox is related to the Zhonggong, or in other words, as long as Yun Fenghuang determines that there is a relationship, can the two parties still coexist in the future
The emperor's thoughts turned and he said slowly, "Since the pox marks on the veil were discovered, the Sixth Palace was quickly closed. How could the disease be transmitted? It is probably the culprit who did it deliberately to sow discord between the palaces."
When these words were conveyed to Yun Fenghuang, she sneered a few times and said to the visitor: "I understand what your Majesty means. But I only have so much flesh and blood as Prince Jin, and he is only so old, so he has suffered In such a difficult situation... Even if I am not good, if anything happens, just come to me, why bother an innocent child? And this is not the first thing. At the beginning, it was not me who was favored by His Majesty. At that time, Concubine An was pregnant twice, but now she is still empty? I originally thought that after being childless for many years, God would finally give me a prince, but who knew that in just a few days... It seems that there is no room for pampering in this palace. The same as the emperor’s heir from the concubine!”
The palace servant who was responsible for delivering the message did not dare to say anything. After waiting for a while and seeing that the imperial concubine had nothing else to say, he left while wiping a cold sweat.
Chunjia did not hear the imperial concubine's reply until half a day later. She knew that Yun Fenghuang was really angry and was not going to follow his hint and compromise.
This is what he expected. After all, Yun Fenghuang has never been the one to swallow her anger. When has she not asked others to swallow their anger? Those were normal times, let alone her own flesh and blood who were suffering now.
The emperor's love for Prince Jin is not very deep yet. To be honest, if the child is really gone, he will not feel any sadness. He is just afraid that the imperial concubine will not be able to bear it and will do something out of control.
No, it should be said that based on his understanding of Yun Fenghuang, Yun Fenghuang would definitely make a big fuss in the palace.
When this concubine entered the palace in her early years, she showed that she was not afraid of death. If she suffered the pain of losing her son, what would she not be able to do
Chunjia was a little silent for a while.
If you don't like this person that much, just change it with all your heart. In that case, no matter how ruthless Yun Fenghuang was, he would still be sure that she would not cause any trouble.
But he also really likes the imperial concubine. If the imperial concubine loses her child due to this disaster, can't he still stab her wound? Although she is unreasonable, but... he is the emperor. If he didn't even have the ability to pamper his beloved concubine for once, what else was he doing
"... Someone will sort out the situation of the princes and their disciples in the temple and submit them." The emperor thought for a long time and then gave the order slowly.
There was no way, he couldn't let go of the imperial concubine after all.
It is impossible to abandon her because of such a thing, so now we can only prepare for the worst. After the death of King Jin, Yun Fenghuang insisted on settling accounts with the middle palace, and he had to consider changing to a queen...
Not only may the queen be replaced by then, but the current three legitimate sons may not be appropriate either.
After all, not to mention the King of Chu, the 10th and 12th princes were raised by the queen, and they are still very attached to and trusting Gu Zhen.
Gu Zhen has been replaced. They are too young to do anything now. How can they not resent the imperial concubine when they grow up
Chunjia attaches great importance to the tenth and twelfth princes because they are legitimate sons and their backgrounds are suitable for being established as princes. In fact, he had no particular fondness for the two princes themselves. Even if he abandons everything and only talks about the children themselves, what he loves most is King Qin and Zhao Qing, the two children he pays the most attention to and gets along with the most.
Therefore, once the ten and twelve princes were no longer suitable, the emperor would not be reluctant to replace them.
"There haven't been any new people in the palace for some years, so it's time to add some beautiful girls." The emperor thought to himself that although he had many heirs, there were not many princes suitable to be heirs.
Those whose biological mothers are daughters of noble families must be eliminated, so that the second, third, seventh, eleventh, and thirteenth princes will be eliminated first; the birth mother's palace is too deep, and it will be difficult for her to resist as an heir if she uses her filial piety to show her self-respect. The prince will not be considered, and it is not appropriate to do this to the ninth prince or the fifteenth prince.
Only the sixth prince and the fourteenth prince were left.
However, the sixth prince was once the heir of Concubine An, and is even recorded in Concubine An's name. Later, he was raised by his loving mother, the Empress Dowager. Recently, even if he came to Concubine Xian, the so-called eighth prince born by Yuan Zhiniang was dealt with. After that, this was the prince who had the closest relationship with the Yuan family, and Chunjia would not consider it.
The biological mother of the Fourteenth Prince, Qu Hongzhuan, was a legitimate daughter of a poor family. The problem was that she was a direct descendant of Yun Fenghuang.
Not to mention that establishing the fourteenth prince would only encourage Yun Fenghuang's arrogance, simply considering that Qu has been serving the imperial concubine since she entered the palace. In the future, if a mother values her son, she would ask the imperial concubine to be a lowly little girl with her... Chun Jia slightly wanted to give Qu a red seal script to his death.
In short, if the tenth prince and the twelve princes are not suitable to be kings, the other princes are not suitable either.
The emperor was busy with the government affairs of the previous dynasty and did not notice it. Now he was making some secret calculations. He frowned and asked his left and right officials to remember it. When the epidemic passed, he would add some new people to the palace in the name of the empress dowager.
There are too few candidates for the crown prince, which is ultimately detrimental to the country.
Yun Fenghuang didn't know at all that because of what she said, the emperor was considering Yi Chu Yi Chun. She only said that Chunjia was determined, not to mention that she just suspected that Zhonggong was plotting to murder the King of Jin, even if Zhonggong really did it. , maybe Chunjia will help with the aftermath.
After all, apart from not being liked by the emperor, Gu Zhen was in line with everything the emperor wanted from a queen.
She knew that it was impossible to kill the queen at the moment, but it didn't matter. She could keep the account first and then take it out when it was almost done in the future to give the middle palace a fatal blow.
"How are the third and tenth princes doing now?" Yun Fenghuang thought for a moment and summoned Chen Jing to ask. He learned that the two princes under the Central Palace had become very ill yesterday and were very serious. The queen would not Without eating or drinking, he knelt in the direction of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, praying day and night for the blessings of Gongxiang's ancestors.
If the ancestors of the Gongxiang family were really that capable, could Xiaozong have died in depression
The imperial concubine sneered a few times in her heart, sincerely hoping that the tenth prince would just die.
After calming down, she said slowly: "The third prince and the tenth prince were the first to get sick. At that time, the sixth palace had already sent the waiters who had been in contact with the middle palace in those days to remote palaces. As a result, the thirteenth prince and the fifteenth prince are now the same. Still infected... The middle palace has to give me an explanation for this matter! You asked someone to go to Yanfu Palace to spread the word. The queens on the left and right are not accompanying the two princes in person. They are idle, so why don't you let her Please help me solve my doubts!"
Because of the Third Prince and the Tenth Prince, Yanfu Palace has now become a place that everyone avoids, but after the imperial concubine gave her orders, she still arranged for people to go there.
The queen was worried about herself. When she heard that the imperial concubine had sent someone to fix her bones, she was in a daze for a while before she realized what was going on. She asked the reason in a hoarse voice.
When he learned that it was for the purpose of raising an army to investigate the crime, he almost fainted with anger: "I wish I could risk my own life in exchange for Bing'er and Xiao Shi being safe and sound. How can I care about other things?! How did King Jin get the disease? The imperial concubine doesn't ask. Ask yourself about the care of Xuanqing Palace. You don’t ask the people who serve King Jin, but you come to ask this palace?! You must know that the scarf on which the acne marks were discovered was the one made by the imperial concubine herself!!!"
But after scolding the person who came, Gu Zhen calmed down a little and felt a little sad, "Although the imperial concubine is not a thing, Prince Jin is really young... and the thirteenth prince, they are all innocent children... I don't know who is like this. frenzied?!"
She didn't dare to say it because she actually suspected that it was the handiwork of the empress dowager.
After all, not everyone can do such tricks in palace confinement without leaving any clues.
Of course, remnants of the Ji family are also possible. Although the third prince is also among the victims, the third prince is also of Chunjia's bloodline.
Those who survived the Ji family must be full of hatred for Chunjia. It is hard to say whether they feel sorry for the third prince.
"If it's just what the remnants of the Ji family did, it's okay. They and Your Majesty, no, I should say, they have a deep hatred with the entire royal family now..." Gu Zhen sighed deeply and thought to himself, "If it was what the loving mother, the Empress Dowager, did. Because, this matter is very clear. She not only wants to murder the emperor's heirs, but also sows the relationship between me and the imperial concubine... Before, the reason why she left the palace was that I and the imperial concubine had secretly contributed... This Now, she’s here to take revenge.”
As for Queen Mother Yuan and Chun Jia, although they are not biological mother and son, they share the same affection as mother and son. How can I bear it...
Gu Zhen is no longer as naive as he was when he first entered the palace. Of course he understands how changeable people's hearts are in the face of supreme status and power.
She had always thought that she was a good person, but after hearing that Gu Liman, the biological mother of the twelfth prince, had passed away, wasn't she secretly relieved
For Empress Dowager Yuan, as long as Chunjia is in peace, it is probably not unacceptable for all the emperor's heirs to die. Because Chunjia is not old yet, he can have more heirs.
Of course, this is just the queen's suspicion. After all, the epidemic does not distinguish between high and low. Yanfu Palace is only separated from Taichu Palace by a Taiye Pond. Isn't Queen Mother Yuan afraid that Chunjia will also suffer the same
"No matter what, your concubine... I can't let your concubine really hate me." Gu Zhen pondered for a moment and asked someone to go to Xuanqing Palace to tell the concubine her suspicions.
Anyway, it doesn't matter whether Empress Dowager Yuan did this. The key is that she cannot be regarded as the enemy of her son by the imperial concubine.
Chunjia felt a headache imagining Yun Fenghuang's reaction after the death of the King of Jin, let alone the Queen.
She is not deep-minded and scheming, but she is not stupid either, okay.
As long as the imperial concubine did not point the finger at her, she would not bother to care whether the Queen Mother Yuan was wronged or not.