Zhao Fujin and Concubine Wei were chatting when Mulan came to report: "His Royal Highness Jiade has arrived!"
Jiade Emperor Zhao Yupan was the eldest daughter of the emperor and was born to the late Empress Zheng. She had always had a close relationship with Zhao Fujin. When she heard that Jiade was coming, Zhao Fujin happily went out to welcome her.
But Zhao Yupan's face was a little gloomy.
Seeing Zhao Yupan coming, Concubine Wei found an excuse and returned to her palace.
After Concubine Wei left, Zhao Yupan grabbed Zhao Fujin's slightly cold hand and hurried to the palace. He also ordered Yancui and Mu Lan to guard outside the palace and not allow anyone to enter.
Zhao Fujin wondered: "Sister, you are so mysterious, what do you want to say to me..."
Zhao Yupan sighed softly: "Sister, your trouble is coming."
Zhao Fujin was stunned: "Me? What trouble can I cause?"
"I heard outside the palace that my father wanted to marry you to Wang Lin at the court meeting yesterday? Is this possible?"
Zhao Fujin nodded: "Yes, but because of the objections of the ministers, my father said that we should put it aside for now and talk about it later. He asked me to wait for another two years."
Zhao Yupan held Zhao Fujin's hand tightly: "Sister, tell me the truth, was Wang Lin with you in the palace a few days ago..."
Zhao Fujin's face turned red: "Sister, we... don't have it!"
Zhao Yupan obviously didn't believe it. She looked Zhao Fujin up and down, looked at her eyebrows carefully, and saw no sign of openness. Then she was relieved and said: "Your brother-in-law came home and told me that someone in Beijing is spreading gossip about you and Wang Lin."
, to say you... Anyway, those words are very unpleasant to hear!"
Zhao Fujin curled his lips and said, "These kinds of rumors are made out of nothing. What do you care about them?"
Zhao Yupan was very anxious: "The reputation of my daughter's family is as great as the sky, not to mention that you are still a royal daughter, and it is related to the dignity of the royal family. Once it spreads too much, I am afraid that even my father will not be able to sit idly by."
Zhao Fujin smiled disapprovingly: "Sister, I know that someone must be spreading rumors behind his back to cause trouble, and it's just for Wang Lin. After all, he has offended many civil servants... But I'm not afraid, anyway, I won't in this life.
You may be married to someone else, why do you care?"
"You girl, how come you don't know what's important? Your brother-in-law told me that there are now more than a dozen court officials admonishing the official Zhou Ji, Kaifeng governor Jiao He, etc., who have impeached you, saying that you are not a good woman and have given and received privately with your ministers.
, the filthy and chaotic harem..."
Zhao Fujin was furious, stood up and angrily shouted: "How dare these dogs slander me!"
Zhao Yupan sighed: "Zhou Ji and Jiao He are Lu Yihao's disciples. Most of the impeachers are Lu Yihao's old relatives. On the surface, they are impeaching you, but in fact they are here to impeach Wang Lin..."
"So, sister, you can't hide it from me. Are you still innocent?"
Zhao Fujin's pretty face turned bright red, "Sister, Lin Lang and I are in love but only polite, and there is nothing overly polite. Don't you believe me?"
She really wanted to. She almost fell into trouble several times during the obsession, but Wang Lin was worried that her body was too weak and he was afraid that she wouldn't be able to bear it, so he stopped at the cliff.
Zhao Yupan stood up decisively: "If this is the case, let's go to Emperor Father to make the decision for you! It is unreasonable for a noble lady of the Song Dynasty and the concubine of the current dynasty to be framed by these evil thieves!"
Zhao Fujin shook his head: "No need, sister, I have a clear conscience, why should I go to prove my innocence. I want to go find my father, but after all this going back and forth, I don't know what rumors are going to spread, and I have been fooled by them..."
Zhao Fujin's expression suddenly changed as he spoke.
She suddenly said loudly: "Yancui, Mulan, change your clothes, prepare your carriage and horses, I want to go!"
…
The red sun sets in the west.
The autumn wind is blowing.
Set up on the east side of the imperial city, outside the Zhaoyang Gate, no one has come to the Dengwen Drum Courtyard for an unknown period of time. The dust and fallen leaves outside the courtyard gate have accumulated, making it almost difficult to get out.
A carriage and horses arrived in a hurry.
Yan Cui and Mu Lan helped Zhao Fujin, who was dressed in the princess's royal robe and a gold hairpin and jade crown, out of the car, their faces a little anxious.
"Your Highness, this..."
Zhao Fujin's pretty face was covered with frost. She stood outside the Denwen Drum Courtyard and pondered for a moment, then shook off the hands of Yan Cui and Mu Lan, and walked up the stairs slowly.
The rays of light spread all over the sky, coating her whole body with a faint red light.
The autumn wind picked up the yellow leaves flying all over the ground, flew around her body in the air, and fluttered down again.
Zhao Fujin walked up slowly, stretched out his slender hands and pushed open the heavy courtyard door.
The high-hanging Dengwen Drum in the courtyard is old and worn out and covered with dust. There are no guards or guards in the courtyard, so most of them are probably hiding behind the Dengwen Drum Courtyard Yamen because they are lazy.
Zhao Fujin hurried away, grabbed the drumstick, and took a deep breath.
Yan Cui stopped him in panic: "Your Highness, once you go up and hear the sound of the drum, the sound will be heard in the palace, reaching directly to heaven, and at the same time it will shake the capital... This matter will cause a big mess, and it will be very detrimental to Your Highness' reputation..."
Mulan also said anxiously: "Those people are slandering His Highness, and the officials will not believe it. Everything depends on the officials, so why should Your Highness be like this!"
Zhao Fujin sighed, her watery eyes looked through the eaves of the pavilion of Denwen Drum Courtyard, towards the thousands of deep palaces, and said lightly: "You don't understand. Although this matter is coming to me, I don't want to pay attention to it. But,
If Lin Lang knew about this, he would turn the Song Emperor upside down. He would never tolerate anyone slandering me or hurting me. I'm worried that in his rage, he would use his sword to impeach me.
Kill them all..."
"Lin Lang has just been awarded the title of king. It is not appropriate to be enemies with civil servants at this time. I will not allow anyone to use me to tarnish Lin Lang's reputation and ruin his future! Therefore, I will make more trouble this time.
, Linlang will be safer."
"Yancui, Mr. Lin may have entered the palace for the banquet now. Go and tell me something. Today I will prove my innocence. I will beat the drum and go to court with the person who impeached me! Everything has nothing to do with him.
He should not interfere. I want to see what these bunch of ungrateful, male-stealing and female-prostitutes can do to me?!"
Yancui couldn't stop crying, but she had no choice but to accept the order.
Zhao Fujin picked up the drumstick and beat the Dengwen drum with all his strength.
…
Yanfu Palace.
The official Zhao Ji held a banquet in the side hall of Yanfu Palace this afternoon to see off the newly promoted Bohai County Prince Wang Lin. He invited civil servants and military honors of the third rank or above in the court, as well as some members of the clan.
Before the banquet started, Zhao Ji got furious in the imperial study room, frightening a group of small Huangmen.
Zhao Ji threw the impeachment forms that had admonished Dr. Zhou Ji, Kaifeng Prefect Jiao He and others on the ground, shaking with anger.
"A bunch of bitches dare to slander and impeach the current emperor... These bastard words, such vicious words, are actually directed at my princess..."
Zhao Ji roared: "What do they want to do? Is it possible to rebel?"
Huang Kun, the chief regent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was as silent as a cicada. He hid in a corner of the royal study and did not dare to say a word.
Zhao Ji was furious for a long time, and suddenly sneered: "It seems that I have killed too few people in these years, and no one is afraid of me anymore. Come, tell Li Gang to see you!"
When Li Gang walked in and glanced at the watch on the ground, he knew why Zhao Ji was angry.
How could these people impeach Emperor Maode and get past Li Gang, the prime minister? However, among these people, Zhou Ji Jiaohe was a third-rank official and had the power to directly report, and many of them were Hanlin officials. Li Gang could not do these petitions.
Press down.
It is the legitimate power of officials to remonstrate with and discuss matters based on rumors.
Not to mention impeachment of princesses, it is also impeachment of officials. In fact, this was also done in the past few dynasties.
"The officials calm down!" Li Gang bowed down.
Zhao Ji said angrily: "Prime Minister Li, Lu Yihao conspired to rebel. I thought about it repeatedly and couldn't bear to implicate too much, so I opened the door and did not implicate anyone else except Lu Yihao. What's the result? Not only did they not appreciate the emperor's kindness, but they attacked him with ulterior motives and slander.
If you come to my princess and throw dirty water on Maode, you will be punished!"
Li Gang was silent for a moment, then slowly said: "The official family, from a humanistic point of view, they have gone too far. But from a legal perspective, it is also their duty to admonish officials after hearing about the affairs and impeach the emperor. So-called
The speaker is not guilty. I believe that in order to avoid unnecessary complications, I will shelve this matter for the time being. After Wang Lin leaves, I will personally handle this matter!"
Li Gang actually spoke very implicitly.
Zhao Ji was not a fool and he quickly understood.
Wang Lin must not let Wang Lin know about this, otherwise Wang Lin's temperament will not make a big hole in the sky in Tokyo.
Li Gang meant to send Wang Lin away first, and then it would not be too late to calmly prove the innocence of Emperor Maode after Wang Lin left.
If a majestic imperial daughter can really be slandered by a few admonishers, then Zhao Ji, the emperor, will be in vain.
Zhao Ji suppressed his anger and nodded slowly: "I will leave this matter to Prime Minister Li. My princess must not bear such a stigma, not to mention it involves an important official of the imperial court."
"I obey the decree!"
Zhao Ji composed himself and sighed: "Let's go, Prime Minister Li, come with me to meet the ministers!"
Zhao Ji actually walked down and grabbed Li Gang's hand.
Li Gang was shocked: "How dare I dare to be so arrogant?"
Zhao Ji laughed loudly: "You are the head of the court and the head of civil servants. If you weren't here, I don't know what kind of chaos this court would be. Let's go!"
Zhao Ji actually entered the palace hand in hand with Li Gang with a smile on his face, and the courtiers in the palace were shocked.
What kind of grace and trust is this?
Even Wang Lin was a little surprised.
Why did he feel that after King Yun's rebellion, Zhao Ji seemed to have become different from the past, and he actually learned to be polite to the virtuous corporal.
Only then did Zhao Ji shake off Li Gang's trembling hand and walk proudly to his throne.
Li Gang immediately knelt on the ground and said, "I am extremely frightened!"
Zhao Ji chuckled: "The King of Bohai County supports Prime Minister Li on my behalf. Enoch, a minister of Prime Minister Li, is very old. He spares no effort in state affairs, devotes himself to the affairs of the country, and I am very grateful! Come and give Prime Minister Li a royal wine! All the ministers also
Everyone, please return to your seats."
Wang Lin stepped forward to help Li Gang up, chuckled and said: "Li Xiang, get up."
Li Gang's head was trembling. He nodded to Wang Lin, then stood up and walked to his seat. His body was stooped and he looked too old and thin.
Wang Lin sighed in his heart. In fact, Li Gang was not yet fifty years old, but he was already an old man at this age.
In addition, he overworked himself on state affairs and supported the crumbling Song Dynasty, which probably consumed a lot of vitality.
In fact, if the original trajectory of history is followed, Li Gang is still serving in the local area and is far from being favored by the emperor. Even after Song Qinzong ascended the throne, he was resisted and excluded by the capitulation faction, and his official career was also very difficult.
From then on, even in the emperor's era, he was demoted one after another and finally did not die well.
Seeing all the ministers returning to their seats, Zhao Ji smiled and raised his glass. Just as he was about to say a few words for the occasion, he suddenly heard the sound of long drums coming from outside the palace.
Hear the sound of drums?!
Including the emperor, the expressions of the officials in the palace suddenly changed.