King Qi can no longer enter and leave the palace at will like before.
And Concubine Gao Gui couldn't just deliver the news as she had in the past, so when King Qi got the news, the Supreme Emperor was already very bad.
Zong Cong didn't see him and ignored him, so he could only let go of his grievances, even his self-righteous airs, and wrote a note respectfully, saying that he wanted to enter the palace to visit the Supreme Emperor.
He didn't believe it for one day, and still didn't believe it for two days. It wasn't until the third day that someone came from the palace and told him that His Majesty agreed.
Yes
King Qi was upset, but this anger was too weak, and he didn't have time to think about it. He could foresee that after the death of the Supreme Emperor, his situation would be even worse.
But now that it was like this, even if he entered the palace in a hurry, it seemed like he couldn't change anything, maybe he still had some unwillingness to make trouble secretly.
The new emperor has only been on the throne for two years, and King Qi's temples are already grayer, and he is much older than before.
The death of the Supreme Emperor was not beyond the expectations of everyone in the palace. It may even be said that everyone had prepared for it long ago, but the Supreme Emperor has been holding on for more than two years, but in the end he still did not survive.
Except for some people who can't accept it, others are quite calm.
In more than three months, the Forbidden City has experienced two major funerals, not to mention the people in the palace, those ministers and relatives of the emperor were also tossed hard.
So when waiting for the ministers and wives to come into the palace to cry, compared to the time when the empress dowager passed away, she always seemed a little weaker.
On the contrary, King Qi's noble concubine cried very sadly, everyone could see the sadness with their naked eyes, maybe they were not crying for the emperor, but themselves.
Zong Cong continued to follow the steps meticulously, without any slack. After one incident, he lost weight again, but everyone said that His Majesty is the most filial piety.
Another incident happened during this time. The eldest prince fell ill when he was crying. Before the empress dowager's funeral, the eldest prince fell ill once. This time he was sick and it was such a cold day , No wonder he fell ill again.
This seems to have further confirmed the First Prince's theory of being weak, and it seems that this theory has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people unconsciously.
The weather is getting colder and colder, seeing that it has entered the end of the year.
It is said that because of the severe cold for two consecutive years, the cattle and sheep of the Tatars and Jin people outside the border died in large numbers due to the cold, so that they were forced to attack the border. Especially when autumn just entered today, the offensive was very fierce.
There was another war at the border. Except for the court's repeated court discussions on this matter, this incident did not affect the lives of the palace or even ordinary people. At that time, the people in Beijing and China were more concerned about the death of the Supreme Emperor.
Zong Cong is busy every day, and seems to have forgotten what Pan Er told him. Now he doesn't even have time to come to Jingren Palace, and he stays in Qianqing Palace all day to handle government affairs.
Suddenly one day, when he came over, he found that Pan'er's belly was already very big.
A little bigger than he expected.
"Doctor Wang said it might be twins."
It's not possible, the general doctor Wang is very conservative in what he says, if he says it might be, then it is.
Zong Cong was surprised.
Think about the fact that the Chen family didn't have twins, only the Zong family had it before. Could it be that it was passed down from generation to generation, and it was all passed down to Yuanyuan's stomach
"Thanks a lot."
"It's not hard." Pan'er said.
She wasn't lying, this pregnancy didn't bother her at all, so far she ate and drank well, didn't feel anything, and her stomach got bigger day by day. But Zong Yue and the others suddenly had younger brothers or younger sisters who were very considerate of their mother and would come to Jingren Palace to see their mother every day.
Especially Wanrong, who had to move back to live in Jingren Palace.
She especially wanted a younger sister, as for her younger brother, Zong Qian was enough to annoy her.
So surrounded by this kind of environment, apart from the fact that she had to work hard for two days due to the funeral ceremony of the Supreme Emperor, it was actually halved because of her body, so she really didn't suffer much.
"After this baby is born, don't give birth, the child is enough."
In fact, in Zong Cong's thinking, he really doesn't care about what it means to have more children and more blessings. Just... Zong Duo alone is enough to give him a headache, and several sons are enough.
Pan'er said yes, but she didn't think so at all, she hadn't given birth to Xiaoliu yet. It's not that she wants to give Zong Cong many children, she always feels that Xiao Shiliu must be waiting for her to give birth to him in this life.
But this is also a matter for the future, and we will talk about the future.
"By the way, how is the eldest prince's body recently?" Pan'er asked.
When this matter was mentioned, Zong Cong frowned.
That day in Xiyuan, although Wang Taiyi's words were vague, Zong Cong didn't take them seriously. These days, he has been busy with the funeral of the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager, so he also took the time to call Doctor Wang over to ask.
According to Imperial Physician Wang, Zong Duo is actually not in poor health, but congenitally deficient, and can be recuperated after recuperation the day after tomorrow, but now the First Prince's health is getting worse day by day, may it have something to do with his mentality.
Regarding the argument of psychology and pathology, in fact, imperial physicians have also studied it, and there are different opinions. But mentality can indeed help patients improve their symptoms, and it is obvious that they get better faster when they get sick.
Of course, Imperial Physician Wang had a lot of scruples, so he said it very reservedly, but he still clearly revealed to Zong Cong that a large part of the reason for the eldest prince's illness may be because he was too nervous to watch.
In fact, the children in the palace more or less have similar problems. It seems that Pan'er once talked with Aunt Qing in private, saying that there are very few children in the folk who can't support them. There are very few children who cannot be raised.
You can see them running and playing in the streets and alleys every day, some of them are as dirty as clay figurines, but they are all extremely healthy. It is precisely in the palace, the more detailed the observation, the easier it is to go wrong.
Obviously this kind of statement does not match the environment in the palace, and no one in Pan'er talks about it, but she treats Zong Yue and the others, except for daily clothing and food, everything else goes with the flow.
Take medicine when you are sick, and you can ignore it when you are almost well, and you don’t worry about whether your child will get sick or not all day long.
Zong Cong knew how Pan'er raised children, so he could feel the difference, and he also felt that what Wang Taiyi said was very possible.
It was Empress Chen who took Zong Duo too seriously, so that Zong Duo's health not only failed to improve, but got worse and worse.
It's just how he told the queen, and he wasn't sure whether it was Zong Duo's poor foundation or whether the adult's attitude affected the child. After finally trying to mention it to Empress Chen, but just started, Empress Chen had an expression of refusing to talk to him about this issue.
It seems that Zong Cong was blamed for Zong Duo's illness in Xiyuan.
He felt that he didn't care about Zong Duo, and Zong Duo had to be like Zong Yue and the others to make Zong Duo fall ill.
Zong Cong was so angry that he couldn't continue speaking.
"You are pregnant, don't worry about Zong Duo, Zong Duo is under the care of the queen."
Hearing these words sounded angry, Pan'er was not worried about Zong Duo's head, but worried that he was still angry about it.
If he keeps being angry and destroys the dragon's body, she will be the one who loses.
"Since you have said so, then don't be angry, anyway, the queen is watching, how can the empress treat her own son badly?"
Zong Cong stopped talking immediately.
The voice changed: "Now you have learned how to stab me with words."
Pan'er smiled, "I'm afraid you'll be angry all the time, and you'll have no choice but to worry about your health. Look at how much weight you've lost recently. I've gained weight, but you've lost weight."
As she spoke, she touched his chest. At the end of her speech, there was a hint of complaint, but inside she was full of concern.
Zong Cong grabbed her hand and sighed: "Don't worry, after I've been busy for a while, I'll be able to make up for it, and then you can watch me make it up." Think about government affairs.
Pan'er has seen him like this too many times, every time there is something difficult, even if he is talking to her, he can still devote half of his mind to thinking about government affairs, so he didn't bother him, just kept quiet with him like this Sitting quietly, I feel that the years are quiet.
"By the way, this time Su Hai is quite competitive. I don't think he can stand alone... So this time when he returned to the border, although he was sent to Datong, he was only given the position of general. This time Hong Congliang led The army is not good, if he hadn't turned the tide from the sidelines, Datong might have fallen."
Although even if Datong falls, it will not endanger anything. After all, Datong is a fortress, and it is not an easy place to defend, so there is Taiyuan in Datong. But if Datong really falls, the people at the border will suffer, and the imperial court will lose face.
Of course, things are not as simple as what Zong Cong said. Hong Congliang is the newly appointed chief soldier. Datong has been a frontier fortress for many years, and the situation is complicated. It is conceivable that there is no way to fight the enemy with one heart.
But even if Zong Cong imagined it, he wouldn't care about it, the superiors would only see the result. As for the process, that is something that the courtiers should worry about.
"Don't praise him too much, maybe a blind cat met a dead mouse."
Hearing this was modest words, Zong Cong didn't take it seriously, the two talked for a while, and he returned to Qianqing Palace.
In fact, the border is fine, even if it is chaotic, it will not get out of control for the time being. The biggest problem now is that the treasury has no money to pay the border.
This is what has given Zong Cong a headache recently.
In fact, when Zong Cong came to the throne, he took over a dynasty whose treasury was not very full.
The territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty was vast, and it was dry today and flooded tomorrow, and if something went wrong, the court would have to make up money. As for whether the money issued can go into the pockets of the people, that is another matter.
In his later years, the Taishanghuang carried out large-scale construction projects, and Xiyuan was not only repaired, but also expanded outwards. Good-looking is good-looking, and all that is thrown down is silver.
Now when it was time to get down to business, there was no money, and the military pay at the border had always been a major part of the imperial treasury's expenditure. Anyway, it is not enough every year, every year is to tear down the east wall to make up the west wall, and it is fine in normal times, but when there is a war, it will inevitably be stretched.
"The old minister thought that if he ordered someone to deliver a message to the Jiang family and ask them to collect salt merchants to donate a little, they would not be short of food for the soldiers at the border." Wang Shoufu said.
Before the words were finished, a notebook fell down from above.
"I am the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, rich in the world, and the huge imperial treasury has no silver taels, how many salt merchants have to work to contribute to me?"
"this… "
Wang Shoufu lowered his head. Even if Emperor Jianping thought so, it doesn't mean that Emperor Taishang also thought so.
Every time the imperial court was short of money and reported it, as long as the household department cried poorly, the Supreme Emperor would order someone to find a salt merchant to donate. There are too many times, and the officials are used to it. In fact, Wang Shoufu had a hunch that he would definitely be reprimanded for mentioning this matter. After all, if His Majesty had such an idea, he might have opened his mouth last year, but he has never said it, which shows that he is in his heart. It is against doing so.
It is also a long time to deal with each other, and Wang Shoufu also has a certain understanding of the character of this king.
"Thirty million taels, more than thirty million taels! With such a large sum of money, how can you let me have the face to face those businessmen in the future? How can I have the face to rectify the Lianghuai salt affairs?" Yes, it was the total amount of money donated by those salt merchants in Lianghuai to the imperial court over the years, and this amount was just known by Zong Cong, which made him so angry.
"Regardless of the Cheng'an Dynasty, this opening cannot be opened here. You can call people to discuss it and find a solution from other places. In short, the military salary and rations at the border must not be reduced, and other matters will be discussed later. "
"yes."
As soon as Pan'er walked into the palace gate, she heard the noise from the Xinuang Pavilion.
She stood still, and was about to go to Dongnuange when she met Wang Shoufu coming out of it.
Seeing her, Wang Shoufu bowed his hands and gave a salute, but Pan'er didn't dare to accept it all, and only accepted half of the salute sideways.
Wang Shoufu left, and Pan'er gave Zhang Laishun a glance: "I knew you invited me, it's nothing good."
Zhang Laishun scratched his head and smiled: "It's not that His Majesty didn't eat much today. Manager Fu was really worried, so he invited the empress here."
Not only to invite, but also to carry the tray. The warm sedan chair is comfortably arranged, which is windproof and not airtight.
I'm afraid that this kind of weather invites Concubine Su Gui, who has a big belly, if something happens on the way, beheading all of them will not be enough to compensate.
"Okay, I'll go in and have a look..."
Before the words fell, Zong Cong's voice came from inside: "Did you invite the imperial concubine again?"
As he spoke, he lifted the curtain and walked out.
Sure enough, when he saw Pan'er standing there with a big belly, his expression changed.
Before Zong Cong opened his mouth to reprimand, Pan Er said: "Don't blame them, I heard that you haven't eaten much today, no matter how busy the government is, you always have to eat, what if you are starving? I've told you this a hundred times, but you still can't listen, so I'm here."