The night fell, and the Qianqing Palace, which represented the center of Ming imperial power, was also shrouded in night. However, outside the Xinuan Pavilion, there were many eunuchs of all levels standing, but they all stood far away. No one dared to approach Xinuan Pavilion for fifty steps. within.
This was an edict issued by the Queen herself. No one in the palace dared to disobey it. When the Imperial Concubine arrived later, she did not express any dissent.
There are currently only five people in Xinuan Pavilion, namely Empress Chen, Concubine Li, the young emperor, Huang Mengyu and Zhu Xixiao.
The first four are easy to talk about, but the last one deserves special mention.
In fact, since the death of Emperor Longqing, Zhu Xixiao rarely enters the palace. After all, the emperor is still young and cannot govern personally. Naturally, he, the commander of the royal guards, has nothing to report directly to the emperor. But the two palaces are also the widow of the late emperor, and now even Even the filial piety has not been removed, so how can he, a foreign minister, visit him from time to time?
But today, he had to come, and even used the privilege of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard to enter the palace at night - this was the first time he had done this in more than ten years of being in charge of the Imperial Guard.
As we all know, the two brothers Cheng Guogong are famously loyal ministers and are the best officials. If there is no important event of sufficient weight, Zhu Xixiao would not be able to do this. What's more, he came hand in hand with Huang Mengyu, the admiral of Dongchang, which is even more ominous. This matter is not only big, but also urgent.
Therefore, not only was the little emperor alarmed, but the empress and the imperial concubine were also immediately invited over.
Everyone in Xinuang Pavilion now looks ugly.
Naturally, the two palaces sat on the left and right in the north. The little emperor stood aside with an angry look on his face, while Huang Mengyu and Zhu Xixiao lowered their bodies and knelt in front of the emperor, not even daring to raise their heads.
Empress Chen and Concubine Li were each holding a book and flipping through it, their faces so gloomy that they were almost dripping with tears. In the entire Xinuan Pavilion, apart from the sound of the two of them turning the pages of books, only the little emperor Zhu Yijun was a little rough. 's breath.
"Pa!" With a sound, Concubine Li slapped the book in her hand on the coffee table between her and Queen Chen. Her hands were shaking a little, and her voice was much sharper than usual: "This was really found at Feng Bao's house. ?”
Huang Mengyu and Zhu Xixiao neither dared to raise their heads, and even put their heads closer to the ground, but they spoke in unison: "Back to the imperial concubine, yes."
"Ha, ha, ha, good, good, very good!" Li Guifei gritted her jade teeth, her beautiful face glowed abnormally red, suddenly turned her head and said to Zhu Yijun: "Has the emperor seen it?"
Zhu Yijun didn't seem to know whether to show anger or fear. When asked by his mother and concubine, he quickly lowered his head and replied, "I have seen it."
After hearing this, Concubine Li became even more annoyed. The words in the book seemed to have turned into human faces, taking the appearance of Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng, smiling disdainfully at her, as if to say: " Ignorant women".
His own mother, a majestic emperor, was ridiculed by her own servants and ministers!
Especially Feng Bao's words, "It's just a daughter of a noble concubine. If Feng says east, she will not go west." It was like a sharp knife that pierced her heart and caused severe pain in her heart!
She could even imagine how complacent Feng Bao would look when he said these words!
These words were even seen by the emperor and his own son!
Damn it!
Feng Bao deserves to die! Zhang Juzheng deserves to die too! Everyone deserves to die!
At this moment, Concubine Li was so embarrassed that she even felt like stars were popping up in front of her eyes. She didn't know how much endurance she had to use to avoid shouting out the words "kill them" angrily.
"Sister." A gentle call sounded.
It turned out that Empress Chen spoke with a worried look on her face and comforted her: "Don't worry about it first. Although the things in these two brochures are extremely hateful, they are of great importance. We must first find out the authenticity.
decision."
The queen's words were very calm and reasonable, but Concubine Li, who felt that her face had been greatly damaged, did not listen to the advice at the moment. It was just because of her status as the queen that she had to give face, but the anger in her tone, but
Everyone can hear it.
"It makes me laugh, sister. If you still have any questions, just ask them two."
Hey, why do you say this as if Empress Chen insists on rubbing salt into her wounds?
However, Queen Chen didn't seem to hear it, and actually started asking Huang Mengyu and Zhu Xixiao.
"Both these two books were found in Feng Bao's house today?"
Huang Mengyu replied: "Reporting to the Queen, yes. One of these two books was found in Feng Bao's northern study and hidden in a jade box; the other was found in Xu Jue's room.
This book is not hidden very much, it is just placed on the small bookcase beside his bed."
Empress Chen frowned, as if she still had doubts. She pondered for a moment and then asked: "Where's the handwriting? Is it correct?"
Huang Mengyu did not reply this time, but looked towards Zhu Xixiao.
When Zhu Xixiao saw this, he immediately bowed his head and said respectfully: "Reporting to the Queen, the Fu Division of Jinyiwei North Town has a special person to examine handwriting. This skill is passed down from generation to generation, and he has been on duty for many years. Because the matter is so important, I and Huang
The factory supervisor also specially divided these people into three groups, checked and compared them separately, and finally confirmed that... they were indeed written by the two of them. In particular, Feng Zhangyin's calligraphy is unique and well-known in the capital, and cannot be copied by ordinary people.
.”
After hearing this, Empress Chen sighed, and turned to look at Concubine Li with some worry. She was so angry when she saw that her "sister" had bulging veins on her fair cheeks, and a jade hand grabbing the armrest of the Grand Master's chair.
It started to shake.
The young emperor Zhu Yijun looked at his mother-in-law, then at his nominal mother Queen Chen, and opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but he did not dare to say it, and his face turned red from holding back.
Empress Chen looked at Concubine Li, whose face was beginning to distort with tolerance, and asked tentatively: "Sister, this seems to be true, look at us..."
"Kill! They should be killed!" Concubine Li finally couldn't bear it anymore and screamed loudly, murderous intent bursting out.
How dare you look down upon me like this, "orphans and widowers", "just a female child"? Well, okay, I will let you see that orphans and widowers are also from the heavenly family!
"My dear, no!"
This time, Zhu Xixiao, who had been cautious for fear of offending these three "Heavenly Family" people, hurriedly spoke to stop him.
Concubine Li was now completely a firecracker, igniting at once. After hearing the words "Absolutely not allowed", she suddenly stood up and asked sternly: "Why not! Such an ungrateful person, bullying the new king and the Holy Mother, why should I kill him?"
Cherish!"
Although Zhu Xixiao is the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard, he has a kind-hearted appearance and is always kind and gentle to everyone he meets. He has always been a good gentleman in the minds of the two palaces and the little emperor, but this time he didn't know
She had taken the wrong medicine, and when faced with the furious Concubine Li, she actually looked like she was trying her best to remonstrate, kowtowing repeatedly, and still speaking.
"Your Majesty, please calm down! Your Majesty, please calm down! Feng Bao is a servant of the Tian family. I don't dare to say a word about how your Majesty wants to deal with it, but Zhang Juzheng cannot be killed! He is a civil servant, and he is the third person entrusted by Emperor Daxing to take care of his life."
One of the ministers, although the evidence of his crime this time is conclusive, it is not a serious crime of treason after all. According to the previous rules, even if it is disrespectful, it is just a matter of dismissing his official position and returning home to live leisurely. He cannot be beheaded casually!
"
Zhu Xixiao kowtowed his head loudly: "Your Majesty, the Emperor Daxing's body is still cold, if he kills Minister Gu Ming... This will cause an uproar in the world! My Majesty, please think again for your courage!"
