Ma Cheng raised his head, glanced at Emperor Yongping cautiously, then quickly lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, what do you mean..."
Although the Northern Qi Dynasty inherited the Chen system, some subtle points were still different from that of the Da Chen. For example, when the Da Chen addressed the emperor, he preferred to call him Your Majesty or His Majesty.
In the Northern Qi Dynasty, although he is also called Your Majesty, many people also call him Emperor.
"Peace with the Tartars."
Emperor Yongping exhaled a breath of thick air and coughed twice: "Can't you understand this?"
Ma Cheng is the real person of Zhu Lizhen, and the surname Ma is also the Chinese version of Zhu Lizhen's surname. Compared with Yan Li, his relationship with the emperor is naturally closer.
Hearing this, Prime Minister Ma immediately lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, may I ask how to negotiate a peace..."
"A truce."
Emperor Yongping's face turned red after coughing, and then he became slightly weak. He said, "I will choose a princess from the clan to marry the Tatar Khan."
"The two sides have stopped fighting and made peace, so that our northern Xinjiang will be peaceful."
The conflict between the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Tatars has lasted for thirty or forty years.
In the long period of time before, although the Tatars had strong fighting power, after all, the overall national strength was very different. In addition, the Qi people were also good at riding and shooting, so the Tatars did not gain much benefit.
But in recent years, the Tatar Khan has unified all the tribes and has become more and more powerful, which has put a lot of pressure on the northern frontier of the Northern Qi Dynasty.
Now, Shen Yi of the Southern Dynasty was attacking the Huaihe River. At this time, Emperor Yongping had to sue for peace from the north to cope with the pressure brought by Shen Yi.
Of course, this was not because of the current situation. After all, Shen Yi was just harassing the Southern Conquest Army on the north bank of the Huaihe River, and there was no real fight.
Emperor Yongping did this mainly for the sake of the future.
Ma Cheng was silent for a moment, and after some hesitation, he gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, this matter..."
"Should we discuss it?"
"There's nothing to discuss."
Emperor Yongping covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed in a restrained voice. Then he looked at Ma Cheng and said slowly: "I know what you want to say. I just want to say that doing this will lose face and make the people on the north side lose face."
Embarrassing the military will destabilize the hearts of both the government and the public, right?"
Ma Cheng lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, I am a great scholar. When it is time to speak, I still have to speak."
"I think that the matter has not reached this point yet. Our northern frontier army of Da Qi has no pressure to deal with the Tatars. As for the Southern Dynasty, it is even less likely to pose any threat to our Da Qi."
"At this time, there is really no need to make peace with the Tatars."
Emperor Yongping did not speak, but looked at Ma Cheng quietly, and then asked: "Then what if I..."
He closed his eyes and exhaled a breath: "When will you be gone?"
"emperor…"
Ma Cheng was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "The emperor is in his prime, how can he say such unlucky words..."
Emperor Yongping looked at Ma Cheng, smiled suddenly, and said, "Okay, don't pretend. The imperial doctor from the imperial hospital has been here several times. I'm afraid you remember it better than I do."
Having said this, Emperor Yongping sat up straight, shook his head slightly and said, "You all know in your heart that I don't have many days left."
"Now in front of me, if you talk about the prosperity of the Spring and Autumn Period, you may have made a bet on a certain prince in private, right?"
Ma Cheng knelt on the ground, trembling and afraid to speak.
Emperor Yongping supported his body with both hands and stood up slowly. He looked at Ma Cheng who was kneeling in front of him and said in a deep voice: "Ma Cheng, there is one thing you have to remember. Those people in the court who are drunk and dreaming every day are even more
must remember."
His voice was a little hoarse: "We are Zhenren Zhu Li."
"We, Master Zhu Li, have a blood feud with the Southern Dynasty."
Emperor Yongping squinted his eyes and said: "You are about the same age as me. You should have heard your fathers tell you what happened back then. How many people did you kill when your fathers entered the pass and broke into Yandu City?"
"The Li family clan in Yandu City alone killed more than 3,000 people."
The emperor said expressionlessly: "The wives and concubines of the Li family are countless."
"Are you afraid? Are you afraid that the southerners will come back?"
Ma Cheng knelt on the ground and dared not speak.
The emperor took a deep breath and continued: "In the past one or two years, I have been thinking about this matter, and I am somewhat afraid."
"I'm afraid that the Southern Dynasty troops will come to the city."
The emperor closed his eyes: "Emperor Sejong of the Southern Dynasties, his coffin is still hanging in the mausoleum and has never been buried."
"One day, if they come over, what will happen to us, Master Zhu Li?"
The emperor's tone was serious: "I'm afraid that by then, escaping back outside the customs will become a delusion!"
"How can you not take Nan Chao to heart with this kind of blood feud?"
When Emperor Yongping said this, he coughed twice more, and then said in a deep voice: "All Zhu Li Zhenren should regard the Southern Dynasty as a serious concern!"
"therefore…"
"We can make peace with the Tatars, we can put the war in the north on hold temporarily, and it doesn't matter if we lose face. But when it comes to the Southern Dynasties, we must be careful at all times."
Emperor Yongping was short of breath. After saying this, he took a long breath, sat back to his original position, and looked at Ma Cheng.
"We want to ensure that there will be no problems when it comes to passing on the throne of Da Qi."
He closed his eyes and said: "If you go to peace talks now, losing face is also losing my face. It has nothing to do with the future new emperor."
He seemed to have no strength, so he waved his hand slightly and said, "Go ahead."
Ma Cheng kowtowed respectfully, touched his head to the ground, kowtowed loudly, and said with tears: "Your Majesty has worked so hard, I am very grateful to you!"
Emperor Yongping waved his hand at him and laughed dumbly: "Don't cry and cry. Do the errands I entrust you with."
Mr. Ma then got up, wiped his tears with his hands, and retreated.
After Ma Cheng left, His Majesty the Emperor, who had been in power for more than thirty years, lay weakly on the soft couch, wrapped tightly in a blanket because he was afraid of the cold.
He muttered to himself.
"New Emperor, New Emperor..."
………………
In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed, and the time came to the end of March in Hongde's thirteenth year, approaching April.
In Jiankang City, most of the flowers have withered, but although spring is no longer around, the arrival of early summer has made Jiankang City full of green and vibrant.
That afternoon, after His Majesty the Emperor received the courtiers, he was reviewing documents in the Manlu Hall as usual. After turning over a list of vacancies for new Jinshi scholars sent by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, His Majesty the Emperor read it carefully, then turned around and squinted his eyes to look behind him.
Gao Ming, who was standing, asked, "Have you gone to the official department to say hello?"
Eunuch Gao was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly shook his head: "Your Majesty, this servant doesn't know what's going on, how can I say hello..."
The emperor said "Huh" and said: "There is a vacancy in the staff."
He closed the memorial, stood up and stretched his muscles, and said with a smile: "Shen Heng has made a great addition to the Zhongshu Keshe."
The Zhongshu Scholars in Dachen are not affiliated with the Zhongshu Province. They are relatively independent institutions. Among them are the Zhongshu Scholars, Deqing Palace Scholars, Wuying Palace Scholars, etc. There are six subjects in total.
people.
The people who study in the Sixth Section are all from the seventh-grade official position.
Among them, the people in Zhongshu Keshe were in charge of writing imperial edicts, making imperial edicts, silver books, iron certificates and other matters.
The position is not high and the power is not important, but the advantage is that he can know many secrets and important things, and sometimes he can meet with the emperor.
Half of the secretariat belonging to the emperor.
Only then did Eunuch Gao understand what Emperor Hongde was saying just now. He lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have never been to the Ministry of Personnel. I guess it is the Minister of Heaven who is trying to figure out the Holy Will..."
The emperor picked up the red pen and wrote the word "ke" on this memorial to the Ministry of Personnel. Then he put it aside and said with a smile: "Shen Yi is busy on the front line. It is right for me to treat his brother kindly. The Ministry of Personnel
I'm running an errand and I finally feel a little more alert."
Standing behind the emperor, Eunuch Gao suddenly remembered something and said, "Your Majesty, the internal guards at Yandu reported that..."
"The emperor of Northern Qi wants to marry the princess to the Tatar Khan in the north."
When the emperor heard this, his hand movements paused for a moment, then he looked back at Gao Ming and asked, "Are you marrying a princess or a princess?"
Gao Ming lowered his head and said, "It is said that she is a princess."
Emperor Hongde snorted at first, and then a smile appeared on his face: "Well, if you don't get angry with that old man, he is probably so out of his depth that he even used it to get married."
At that time, the Princess Izumo promised to him by the Northern Qi Emperor was only a princess. Now that she was married to a princess of the Tatar Khan, Emperor Hongde was naturally a little embarrassed.
But now that he is in a good mood, he doesn't care about Emperor Yongping anymore.
His Majesty the Emperor said with a smile: "It seems that Shen Yi really scared the people of Qi."
While the master and servant were talking, the eunuch Sun Jin walked in cautiously, knelt down directly in front of the emperor, and said happily: "Your Majesty, I am very happy, very happy!"
The emperor stopped his brush.
"explain."
A smile appeared on Sun Jin's face, and he kowtowed: "The Imperial Medical Office reports that the Queen..."
He smiled happily and said: "I'm so happy!"
The emperor was a little surprised and asked: "Are you serious?"
"How dare you talk nonsense..."
Sun Jin quickly said: "The imperial doctor just went to take a pulse and has confirmed that the Queen is pregnant."
His Majesty the Emperor put down his brush and walked out of the palace.
"Let's go to the Queen."
The two eunuchs quickly agreed and followed the emperor towards the harem.
Eunuch Gao and Eunuch Sun were almost side by side, but slightly ahead of each other. He smiled and said, "Eunuch Sun is really well-informed."
Sun Jin shrank his neck with fear on his face.
"Eunuch Gao, I was too happy just now and forgot the rules. I should tell you to tell the old man the good news..."
He looked terrified.
Gao Ming took a look at Sun Jin, then shook his head slightly and said with a smile: "We are all doing things in the palace and for His Majesty. Whoever announces good news is not a good news? It doesn't matter."
Eunuch Gao had a warm smile on his face.
Sun Jin's fear was only true, and he bowed his head and thanked her repeatedly.
"Thank you, Eunuch Gao, for your generosity. Thank you, Eunuch Gao, for your generosity..."