Zu An was shocked because he never expected that he would be related to the previous dynasty.
Zhang Zitong on the side also had her eyes widened. She didn't know the whole story about the murder of her parents and the extermination of the Zhang family before, but this was the first time she heard about it.
"Since you are a gold medal embroiderer, you should have heard of Dongfang Bai, the servant, right?" Zhang Jie asked.
Zu An nodded. There were four ministers in the court, headed by Dongfang Bai. His son Dongfang Han was the minister of Huangmen and had dealt with them in the palace before.
But there is no sense of existence. On the contrary, the more famous and powerful servant is Linhai Gong Pei Zheng, who is Da Manman's grandfather. However, Da Manman is not the legitimate daughter, and her father is only Pei Zheng's fifth son.
, so his status in the family is not high.
Zhang Jie seemed to understand what he was thinking: "Have you ever wondered why Dongfang Bai is named the first of the four great servants, but has such a low sense of presence?"
"Why?" Zu An didn't care about this before. After all, the two sides had little intersection, but now it seemed to involve the death of Zhang Zitong's parents and the previous dynasty, so he couldn't help but be interested.
"Dongfang Bai's wife is the princess of Qi Kingdom of the previous dynasty, and the princess of Qi Kingdom is the daughter of Emperor Zhao of the previous dynasty." Zhang answered.
Zu An did know Emperor Meng Zhao, who could be regarded as the last emperor with real power in the Meng Dynasty. The subsequent emperors who succeeded him were all young, and the government was controlled by powerful ministers. In the end, the Meng Dynasty was replaced by the Zhou Dynasty.
"It's just that Dongfang Bai is not Princess Qi's first husband." Zhang Jie said with a somewhat sympathetic expression.
"Oh, who was her first husband?" Zu An didn't know the details when it came to the previous dynasty, but he didn't care about her remarriage.
It’s not surprising, after all, as a princess, you can’t remain a widow forever.
"The son of Qian Xuan, who was the Zhongshu Ling of the Meng Dynasty at that time, Qian Xuan opposed the Taizong of this dynasty and wanted to join forces with his relatives to launch a rebellion. As a result, he was executed after leaking the secret. The Qian family also belonged to the Yi tribe. Of course, the princess of Qi State had a noble status, so she would not be punished.
She was punished by her clan, and later she was arranged to marry Dongfang Bai." Zhang Jie spoke of this past event with a lot of sadness.
Zu An knew that the Taizong he spoke of should still be a minister of the Meng Dynasty at that time. In fact, whether it was Taizu or Taizong, although he was actually the person in power of the country, the official founder of the Zhou Dynasty was still Zhao Hao today.
The names of Taizu and Taizong were both posthumously granted by Zhao Hao.
"Just because he married the princess of the Qi Kingdom of the previous dynasty, Dongfang Bai is not valued by this dynasty?" Zu An was a little curious and didn't understand what he said had to do with this matter.
"Of course it's not just because of this, you know Zong Zhengzhen Xueyi of this dynasty, right?" Zhang Jie continued.
Zu An nodded, Zongzheng managed various matters of the royal family, and mentioned that he had dealt with him in the past.
At that time, because of some rumors about himself and the Crown Princess, in order to verify his innocence, people like Zong Zheng and Ji Jiu came forward to interrogate him.
It's just that he didn't have a deep impression of Zhen Xueyi. He only remembered that he was an old fox who was very good at blaming others.
"His surname is not actually Zhen, but a descendant of Emperor Meng Zhao and Empress Huang. Because the Zhen family had no descendants, he was adopted to the Zhen family. However, his bloodline from the Huang family cannot be changed. His relationship with the previous dynasty is no better than that of Dongfang.
Although he is alienated, he is quite important. What do you think is the reason?" Zhang Jie looked at him with a sneer.
he.
Zu An shook his head. Many things from the previous dynasty were banned, and he couldn't find out even if he wanted to.
Fortunately, some old people from the former dynasty are still alive today, and some things can be passed down by word of mouth.
"Why do you think the great foundation of the Meng Dynasty was acquired by the Zhao family of this dynasty?" Zhang Jie did not answer, but asked another question.
Zu An thought for a while and replied: "It should be that the emperors of the Meng Dynasty did not live long, and the fight for the throne that year made the Meng Dynasty extremely careful to suppress the children of the royal family, so they gave Taizong the title of Taizu of this dynasty.
An opportunity to take advantage of.”
Hearing his answer, Zhang Jie was a little surprised: "You actually said it so straightforwardly, instead of whitewashing it for this dynasty like other embroidered messengers. I don't know how you passed the relevant political review."
Zu An was stunned. As a time traveler, he could naturally view all this from a detached perspective, but he didn't expect that he would be seen as a bit alien in the eyes of others.
"Okay, okay, you kid is rebellious. It seems that I am not doing you any harm by saying this to you." Zhang Jie suddenly became happy.
Zu An frowned when he heard this: "You are rambling so much without saying anything valuable. Are you deliberately delaying time? My patience is limited."
Zhang Jie laughed: "Don't be impatient. The reasons you just mentioned are indeed very important, but another more important one is that all of Emperor Meng Zhao's sons died young. As a result, he later had no adult son to take over the throne.
We have to find some younger sons of the clan to succeed us."
"It is not uncommon for a prince to die young, not to mention that Emperor Meng Zhao himself did not live very long, which proves that there was something wrong with his genes." Zu An replied.
"Gene?" Zhang
Jie was stunned for a moment, obviously he had never heard of this word before, "Death at an early age is indeed not uncommon, but what if it is not an accident, but man-made?"
"Human?" Zu An was surprised, "Who dares to do such a thing?"
"According to what you just said, whoever benefits will be the most suspect." Zhang Jie sneered.
"Are you talking about the Taizu of this dynasty, Emperor Taizong?" Zhang Zitong, who had been listening on the sidelines, couldn't help it. After all, it was related to the case of the Zhang family's extermination.
"That's right." Zhang Jie was straightforward, "Strictly speaking, he is Emperor Taizu. He was the only one with such ability at that time."
"That's not right. Although the information is limited, Emperor Meng Zhao's reputation is very good and he can be regarded as a wise emperor. How could Taizu dare to do such a thing at that time?" Zu An was a little confused. According to the data, when Emperor Meng Zhao was alive, Taizu was still a wise man.
He acted like a deputy loyal minister, and it was not until the next few junior emperors came to power that his power completely lost control.
"It was impossible for Taizu alone to do it at that time, but what if Emperor Zhao's Queen Huang cooperated?" Zhang Jie sneered.
"Queen Huang?" Zu An was a little confused. She was already a queen, so how could she cheat her husband with foreign ministers?
But when he thought about the relationship between the queen in the palace and himself, his expression suddenly became strange.
"Empress Huang herself was childless and jealous, and did not want other concubines to have children. She and Taizu had a very good relationship at the time, so they hit it off." Zhang Jie said slowly, "In a few years, several of Emperor Zhao's princes were
They all died young, and he thought it was because of his poor fortune, but he didn't doubt anything else."
"However, when dealing with the fourth prince, the imperial doctors and eunuchs who handled it at that time were worried that the matter would be exposed, and their consciences were uneasy.
So he quietly sent the fourth prince out of the palace, and announced to the public that the prince had died young. The imperial doctor contacted a friend outside the palace, namely Zitong's father, Zhang Zhiquan. He had always been an upright person, so he generously helped and helped the fourth prince to be brought to the palace.
Besides, although the fourth prince has been living among the people since then, he has survived at least."
"At that time, everyone thought that one day the truth would be revealed, and the four princes could be returned to the palace to become emperors. Not only were they a failure, but they also made great achievements. However, later Taizu Taizong became strong and successfully usurped the Meng Dynasty, and the matter naturally ended without any problems.
.”
"I don't know if the fourth prince died young because of this reason, but he did leave a bloodline among the people, which is the imperial grandson I just mentioned."
Speaking of this past incident, Zhang Jie lamented: "But later, the fire could not be suppressed, and the Zhao family finally found out about this matter. Because the relationship was so important that it was not convenient for a public trial, so the seventh leader with the gold medal was asked to bring the relevant persons to the police.
Wait until the family is wiped out, and at the same time press for the whereabouts of the emperor's grandson."
Zhang Zitong burst into tears, finally knowing the truth about the death of his parents after all these years.
Zu An was also a little emotional. He had previously doubted that Jin Jinxiu Yi would execute a royal censor like this, but if it involves a struggle for the throne, it makes sense.
After thinking for a while, he asked: "What about the whereabouts of the emperor's grandson?"