Central Beijing, Yongshunbo Mansion.
Yao Jinzhi sat on the chair angrily, cursing, "Isn't this nonsense, how could my son fall for those people!"
"Mother, it's a Tatar." Su Hai said beside him.
"I don't care whether he is a big man or a small man. In short, my son Su Hai will not betray the country."
If you say you are sad, you are naturally sad. When the news of Su Hai's disappearance came back, Yao Jinzhi passed out on the spot.
I cried for two whole days, and cried when I mentioned this matter, but before I could get over my grief, there were rumors outside that President Su had treasoned, and that was why Zhang Jiachong and Ge Ling fell.
This time, Yao Jinzhi was blown away, and he stopped crying, let alone being sad. These days, he often quarreled with outsiders because of this matter.
As a result, some people in Beijing are afraid to invite Uncle Yongshun's house to do business at home, for fear that Mrs. Yongshun will go to the court again. But it just became so noisy, the rumors not only did not stop, but intensified, Yao Jinzhi's fuss was never without bluff.
So the Su family has been battered recently, and their heads are drooping, and they can't cheer up.
Not only Yao Jinzhi, but the Su family and even Su Datian also suffered cold reception outside. The women are not as good at understanding and reacting to the current situation as men. In the past, men from the Su family were sought after by everyone when they walked outside. Now It has become an object that everyone can't avoid.
Even if he couldn't avoid it, he didn't dare to talk too much with him, it was all perfunctory haha, and he left quickly.
So no matter how slow the Su family was, they realized that the situation was getting worse.
"Uncle, madam, it's not good, it's not good."
"What's wrong? Can you talk?" Yao Jinzhi asked angrily.
The servant who came to report the letter hurriedly slapped himself, and said, "It's because I was too impatient, so I said the wrong thing. It's the Mao family from Cuihua Hutong. It seems to be, it seems to be..."
"What is it like? Why are you stammering?"
"The Mao family seems to be here to retire. I saw that they carried a lot of boxes, which seemed to be the dowry gifts that the mansion carried to the Mao family."
"What?!"
Yao Jinzhi looked at Mrs. Mao with a sullen face.
Miao Cuixiang was still lingering with Mrs. Mao there, asking her why she wanted to divorce her marriage properly. The weddings of the two children were almost done. If it wasn't for the war at the border, the situation was not very good. Think about it, everyone is concerned about the border During the war, the two of you beat drums and gongs to hold weddings, isn't this a sign of trouble
Even if it was for the reputation of the imperial concubine, the two families postponed the marriage. They never expected that it would become like this now.
Mrs. Mao has been hesitating and not answering directly, but Miao Cuixiang has this kind of personality. She broke the casserole and asked the bottom line. She saw Miao Cuixiang tell the servants of the Mao family to let them carry the things back. Something went wrong. Not thinking of retiring, Mrs. Mao finally couldn't help it.
"The Su family's family status is higher than ours. When we got married, our family felt a little uneasy. After so many things happened, our family thought about it, and we should not cling to such a high family status. Our girl can't bear this blessing. My master just said it, why don't you call off the marriage, your family is the man, and you won't suffer. I also brought the dowry. It's a lot of money. You send someone Check it out, and we'll be back."
"What's the matter of high family background and low family background? Our family doesn't dislike the Mao family's low family background." Miao Cuixiang said hastily.
Or if Yao Jinzhi said that Miao Cuixiang didn't know how to wink, Mrs. Mao obviously said that in order to withdraw from the marriage, but she didn't want to offend the Su family severely.
Yao Jinzhi watched coldly from the side, watching Miao Cuixiang lingering on Mrs. Mao Mao.
Mrs. Mao was finally tortured to the point of collapse, and said, "Now everyone outside is saying that Su Hai is a traitor to the country. We are a small family, and we don't want to cause trouble to our family just to get married. Your family is in trouble."
After finishing speaking, she covered her face with a veil and said to the servants, "Let's go, what are you doing here!"
A group of people hurried away as if there was a ghost chasing behind them.
There was silence in the hall, and none of the servants dared to make a sound.
Miao Cuixiang looked at her mother-in-law and then at her father-in-law.
Su Datian sighed, and Yao Jinzhi said with a sullen face, "If you retire, let's retire. Good girls don't worry about marrying, and good sons don't worry about marrying. They are all separated, and do your work well." The following sentence is Said to the servants.
All the servants were busy and dispersed.
"Mother." Miao Cuixiang stomped her feet, covered her face and cried, "I'm so ashamed!"
"Do you still know that you are ashamed? Without Zhang Butcher, how can he still eat pigs with hair?!" Yao Jinzhi scolded, his waist straightened.
But after that, the situation was still not good. The fall of Yongning Town completely pushed the missing Su Hai to the top of the limelight again.
Without him, Yongning Town was regained by Su Hai after he came to Xuanhua.
After being recaptured, the entire defense layout was rectified and changed. If the enemy was not familiar with the specific situation, it would be impossible for the enemy to capture Yongning overnight, so there was only one possible traitor.
And that traitor is Su Hai who has disappeared.
This raid in Yongning caused heavy casualties in Dazhou. Dazhou’s army mostly relied on military projects such as cities, fortresses, side trenches, and fortresses to fight against the enemy. Occasionally, encounters were also resolved quickly. After all, they have operated border gates for many years. , Numerous defensive measures that can resist have been built here.
There is a trench for five miles, a fort for ten miles, and a camp for fifty miles. They can retreat to the next line of defense at any time to harvest the enemy without causing too many casualties to their own side.
This is also a common problem in several important border towns that have guarded the border for a long time.
They are seldom willing to cross the border to attack the enemy outside the border. The climate and environment are a problem, as is the vast and endless field. These nomads are like weeds outside the border.
After being beaten hard, they retreated to the depths of the grassland. They couldn't keep chasing, but when they recovered, they came again.
Throughout the ages, there have been many frontier guards who were dissatisfied with the fighting style of these people, and they have also gone deep into it.
But it turns out that sawing a supply line that is too long is enough to make anyone's head big. Unfamiliarity with the terrain and the bad weather outside the pass are likely to be the end of the entire fall.
Who can stand such a large casualty? If the news is sent back to the court, no matter how it is explained, it will be a conclusion of defeat. Civil officials have the rule that a hundred words are worse than a silence, and military commanders also have the convention that no fault is equal to merit.
So over time, all the generals at the border have developed this style of combat, probably with Su Hai being an exception, which led to the illusion that his combat achievements have been constantly improving over the years.
Of course, this is all off-topic. In fact, it was a pot of hot oil, and suddenly a fire was added to it, which caused the pot of oil to boil.
The Su family was the first to bear the brunt, so after the Mao family came to withdraw their engagement, the family that had been assigned to Su Zhaoming also came to withdraw their engagement.
It was originally said that Su Zhaojia got married this year, and Su Zhaoming next year, so there is no need to get married now.
The Su family was hit hard. Even Yao Jinzhi, who was always so strong, couldn't stand the two incidents after hearing so many rumors outside.
With so many things happening, Yao Jinzhi is not surprised even if the Zheng family also came to withdraw at this time.
But the Zheng family came to the door, but they didn't come to withdraw the marriage.
The person who came was Miss Zheng, Zheng Xiuying.
After Zheng Xiuying left, Yao Jinzhi wiped away tears and looked at Miao Cuixiang.
"Such a good girl, you didn't want it for you back then. As long as the second child is still alive, she will be the daughter-in-law of my Su family!"
Yao Jinzhi didn't know, but there was something else wrong with it.
Zheng Yushi is upright and upright, and he dares to speak out, but only when there is no problem with right and wrong. But this time Su Hai has something to do with treason, so he can't let him not murmur.
But generally upright people have a good face, Zheng Yushi sees that his daughter has not said anything, so it is not good to directly tell Zheng Xiuying that he wants to divorce.
Just like the Huang family stared at the movement of the Mao family, Zheng Yushi also stared at the Mao and Huang families. Seeing that the two families had come to the door to withdraw their marriage, his heart was like a cat scratching, burning like fire.
But the situation of the Zheng family is different from that of ordinary families. When the Zheng family came to poverty, there was an old servant at the door, a woman in the kitchen, and a girl who said she was serving Zheng Xiuying. Everything has to be done.
Zheng's mother left early, and Zheng Yushi was a man, so he couldn't help but be careless, so Zheng Xiuying was in charge of the house at the age of ten.
Zheng Yushi's basic necessities of life were arranged by Zheng Xiuying, and the first thing Zheng Yushi did after taking the salary was to go home and put it away for his daughter.
Under such circumstances, Zheng Yushi didn't dare to offend his daughter, especially after he tried to say it twice, but was interrupted by his daughter and beat him up.
Zheng Yushi became anxious, and turned his head to say good things to his younger son and daughter, hoping that they would help to mention it. The younger brothers and younger sisters of the Zheng family were also clever, so they just said they dare not.
Zheng Yushi was even more anxious, especially in the middle of the court, someone had started to impeach Su Hai and demanded that Yongshunbo's mansion be investigated, and the storm was getting bigger and bigger, which was obviously not something he, a little Yushi, could bear.
Zheng Yushi was so worried that his hair fell out in handfuls.
Zheng Yushi was also afraid, so scared that he lost his beard and was pulled.
Just at this time, when he went down to court, he was left to speak by His Majesty.
You must know that a censor like him is a standing pillar in the court hall. He usually keeps silent, but when he speaks, everyone is annoying, and His Majesty also annoys them.
Can His Majesty let them talk
He just stayed and said something meaningful.
His Majesty asked him if he was married to the Su family
What is His Majesty trying to do, to deal with the Su family, to calm the anger of everyone, and also want to deal with the in-laws of the Su family
But Zheng Yushi thought about it for a while, and always felt that it was not.
After dealing with the Su family, isn't it meant to deal with the imperial concubine
So far, no one in the court dared to bring this matter up to the imperial concubine. Once someone raised it, someone would immediately speak up.
Not to mention that Su Hai himself's whereabouts are unknown, and the matter is still undecided, it's just spreading rumors, and it's never been heard that the foreign officials were guilty, and the concubine was even implicated. What's more, the imperial concubine has made great contributions to the Great Zhou Dynasty and has given birth to three princes and high-ranking concubines of two princesses. Does that mean that the princes and princesses must also be implicated
The weight of these words is too heavy, not to mention that there is an emperor who has spoiled this concubine for more than ten years sitting on it. Whoever dares to take his own life will throw stones at the dragon's face. Naturally, he bowed his head and remained silent. .
After coming down several times, naturally no one dared to mention it again.
Such a situation, no matter what, reveals a bit of weirdness, it seems that someone does not want to drag the imperial concubine into this turmoil. In this case, if it can be guessed that His Majesty ordered someone to do it, then the meaning of what His Majesty asked is obvious.
I already know about the resignation of the Maohuang family and the Su family. Obviously it is wrong to do so. If the Zheng family is smart, they should be more sensible.
Due to the reasons of both parties, Zheng Yushi finally had a conversation with his daughter.
The general idea is that father still knows that being a person requires benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness. The Su family is facing a catastrophe. If the Zheng family comes to withdraw from the marriage, it will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire, so your father will never do such a thing . And father also believes that His Majesty will definitely see clearly, if Su Hai really commits treason, it will definitely not implicate the Zheng family.
In fact, the latter sentence is what he wanted to say, right
Pressing not to mention, this is why Zheng Xiuying's door-to-door visit happened this time.
In fact, how could Zheng Xiuying not know what her father was thinking? Maybe it was because she was a woman and didn't have so much perspective on the big picture. She just thought Mrs. Yongshun was very nice, very much like the mother in her memory. That's why Zheng Xiuying agreed. Another reason for marriage.
Moreover, according to Mrs. Yongshun's description, Su Hai is a mischievous and mischievous man who often causes troubles, but he is an upright man. From the fact that he was able to go to the border alone and come back after a few years of transformation, he broke through a world by himself, it can be seen that his character must not be too bad.
A person who is over 30 years old and still has no wife and children in order to guard the border, will treason
Zheng Xiuying didn't believe it.
Zheng Xiuying didn't believe it, but many people did.
After all, there are few people who have the ability to distinguish by themselves, and many people are copying what others say, spreading falsehoods.
And the people in the Forbidden City are no exception.
The wind from outside would more or less spread into the palace, so Pan'er was in an embarrassing situation.
Of course, this embarrassment may be due to my own mentality, or it may be the gaze of outsiders. The gazes of the servants below are mostly flickering, Empress Chen's gaze is calm with a bit of gloating, and Concubine Hu Shu's eyes are sympathetic.
The servants in Jingren Palace seem to have become cautious all of a sudden, and they speak and act lightly. In fact, Pan'er knew that they were afraid that she would be in a bad mood and make her angry, but the reason for her bad mood was also because of these.
Visible pressure and invisible pressure seemed to come to her from every corner, but she still had to pretend nothing had happened.
After all, there are still a few children below. If she panics, what will the children do
Pan'er could also see that Zong Cong was trying his best to appease her. He would come to Jingren Palace to accompany her as soon as the government affairs were finished. Even when there were only two people on the bed, he promised her that even if Su Haizhen did something He wouldn't let anything get her involved.
But Pan'er's mood couldn't get better. If she was an ordinary woman, she would naturally believe his words. But she is not, so she knows that if Su Hai's treason is really implemented, no matter whether it is internal or external attacks, they will come to her. Even if he can bear it for a while, can he bear it for a lifetime
If he still wanted to be a wise king, he couldn't protect a noble concubine whose brother was accused of treason.
Public outrage can't be appeased!
But Pan'er can only try her best to think of the best in everything. She had a lot of bad luck in her previous life. What kind of storms and waves haven't she experienced? This life has been smooth and smooth until now, and I have encountered two major catastrophes in my life.
The death of the king of Chu was one, and this is probably the second.
Nothing is impossible.
Naturally, it was not only Pan'er who was affected, but also Zong Yue Wanrong and others.
As soon as Zong Yue walked out of the gate of Nansan School, he saw Zong Duo standing not far away.
The fifteen-year-old Zong Duo has become a handsome young man, but his figure is a little thinner, and his complexion is much fairer than ordinary people, making him look a little thin and fragile.
Like the finest suet white jade, beautiful but fragile.
But Zong Yue, who was only one year younger than him, was much stronger than him, with a slender figure, broad and powerful shoulders, obviously not very old next year, but he already had the calmness of an adult man.
"Second brother."
"Brother."
Zong Duo smiled, "I have nothing to do, I just want to tell you, don't think too much about it."
Zong Yue nodded slightly and said, "Don't worry, brother."
Zong Duo nodded and left.
The brotherhood of Xiyuan used to be like a mirror, but after returning to the Forbidden City, especially with Empress Chen in the middle, even if they greeted each other occasionally, they revealed an indescribable embarrassment.
Zong Duo is also not very willing to communicate with Zong Yue, after all, so many things have happened in these years, good and bad, embarrassing and happy, after all, it is not without influence.
Zong Yue walked back silently, as if he was thinking about something.
Dequan followed behind, looked at the young master's expression, but did not dare to say a word.
Unexpectedly, after returning, Wanrong was waiting for him.
Wan Rong frowned, with obvious boredom between her brows, she probably ran to Zong Yue because she had no place to stay and didn't want to go to Jingren Palace.
"Sister, why are you here?"
"Why did you come back so late?"
Zong Yue sat down on the chair.
Someone served tea, he picked up the cup and took a sip.
Wanrong sat across from him and watched, feeling like seeing her father in a trance. This younger brother of hers is really becoming more and more like her father.
After drinking a few sips of tea, Zong Yue said, "I just ran into elder brother at the door and said a few words."
"What did you say, can you still have something to say?"
Therefore, no matter whether Wanrong is quiet or not on the outside, the inside has not changed, but there is an extra layer of appearance, an appearance for outsiders to see.
Zong Yue laughed, and said, "Actually, I didn't say anything, but my elder brother told me not to think too much."
Wanrong didn't speak, fell into silence, and didn't know what she was thinking.
Zong Yue didn't speak either.
After a while of silence, Zong Yue smiled wryly and said, "I just realized now that the people standing above always feel that their attitude is very peaceful and approachable when they talk to the people below, but if they let the people below see them, they are still superior or not With a condescension that looks down."
Apparently Wanrong didn't understand what she said, she stared at her younger brother with big eyes that were very similar to her mother's.
Wanrong's eyes are like pans, Zong Cong's original words.
"What do you mean?" Seeing that Zong Yue didn't explain, she asked.
"It's big brother," Zong Yue explained patiently, "I used to tell big brother not to think too much and not to pay too much attention to his body, but now I feel that even if I thought it was comforting words, it might be in big brother's ears It’s not like that. It’s like just—”
He paused for a while, "I clearly know that my eldest brother actually has good intentions and wants to comfort me behind my mother's back, but I know it in my heart, but I wonder if he is waiting to see my joke. You see, this is human nature. Inferiority, so I push myself and others, I think what I said before may not be so pleasant to the ears of the big brother, maybe the more and more embarrassment between us is related to this."
Wanrong listened carefully and thought for a while, but still didn't understand.
She always speaks directly, so she asked, "You think uncle is really treason?"
It seemed that he was not the only one affected, Zong Yue smiled wryly in his heart.
"Of course not, uncle is not that kind of person."
"Zong Qian said the same thing. I asked him before I came here, and he was very angry. As soon as this stinky boy got angry, he went to the martial arts arena. You said that he has trained a hard body. What's the use? He doesn't know how to comfort me. This sister knows how to use all her strength against those knives, guns and sticks."
"So, does the elder sister want me to comfort you?"
Wanwei twitched the corners of her lips and leaned back on the pillow, "No, I'm just really annoyed and panicked, and no one talks, Ban Xia and the others seem to be afraid that I will be broken, and they want to choke their throats and say, I'm really It's annoying, and I don't want to disturb the concubine mother..."
When Pan'er was mentioned, Wan Rong stopped talking immediately, and Zong Yue also looked solemn.
"No matter what this matter is, don't wear it on your face when you come out here. The concubine mother is afraid that we will worry, so she has been holding on for a while, even in front of the father. I am afraid that she will not be able to hold on."
After a pause, Zong Yue said again, "You've been watching Zong Ju and Wan Yao for a while, don't let them bother your mother and concubine, and Zong Qian. Zong Qian is not worried about his nonsense. After all, we are elder brothers and elder sisters. At a time like this, it's time to help the concubine mother up."
"I know, you don't need to say more."
Having said that, the situation is getting worse.
Even with Zong Cong's pressure, the voices in the court about how to deal with Uncle Yongshun's mansion are getting louder and louder. Some ministers thought that the search of Uncle Yongshun's mansion might find evidence of Su Hai's treason, and some people even mentioned that Emperor Yongshun's mansion should be dealt with. Concubine.
And this time, they quarreled in the courtroom about whether Su Hai should deal with the imperial concubine's treason.
It's as absurd as someone sitting at home thinking, if ten taels of gold fell from the sky, what should I spend after picking it up, after all, it hasn't happened yet.
But it happened that such absurd thing happened, and it also showed a problem that the situation was so serious that even the emperor Zong Cong couldn't hold it back.
Zong Cong lost his temper and withdrew from the court.
The matter spread to the harem.
The next day all the concubines went to Ningshou Palace to pay their respects, and the queen mother spoke.
"Recently there have been a lot of gossip and rumors outside. I don't care about anything else. I just care about the messy things in this palace and don't spread them. I spend most of my time burning incense and worshiping Buddha in the Buddhist hall. Chanting scriptures and praying for blessings is better than chewing the tongue. Nianqiu, pass on the order, if the Ai family hears those rumors in this palace again, whoever says it will pull out his tongue."
"Yes." Nian Qiu took the order and went down.
The hearts of all the concubines were dark.
Is this the queen mother speaking for the imperial concubine? I don't know what kind of virtue she has accumulated in her previous life. Her Majesty protected her, and so did the Queen Mother.
Press it and don't mention it, and when the concubines retreated, the queen mother left the pan.
"Don't think too much about it, live your own life well. Things on the battlefield are changing rapidly, and fortune and fortune are uncertain. Who dares to say things to death before the end? The Ai family also encountered such a thing back then. The emperor was only three years old at the moment, and he hadn't been appointed as the crown prince yet. The criticisms from the ministers and the spittle stars in the palace almost drowned the Ai family, but the Ai family survived. The body is his own, The mouth grows on others, and for others to say, to make oneself suffer, no matter how you calculate it, it will be a loss."
Pan'er lowered her head and wiped the corners of her eyes, "Thank you, Empress Dowager, this concubine knows."
But the situation is not optimistic, especially after Xuanhua lost another town, the storm swept the entire court.
Under pressure, Zong Cong could only order people to search Yongshunbo's mansion, but he confessed that he could only search for things instead of moving people.
Uncle Yongshun's mansion was searched upside down, and a stack of letters was found in a hidden compartment of Su Datian's study.
The letter is a letter between Su Hai and a certain Jinren general, and it is also evidence that he communicated with foreign enemies.
Once the incident broke out, there was an uproar all over the court.