It has only been a few years, but Gao Ying seems to have aged more than ten years, with a few strands of white hair faintly exposed on his temples.
And if you look carefully, she is only twenty-six years old now.
Emperor Yuan Dan was already ten years old. He was very similar to his father Yuan Yi. He was very handsome. Sitting in the hall, he looked quite majestic.
It is already the end of the year, and it will be the beginning of the year in another half month. If it were in previous years, Taichang would have already started preparing for the grand ceremony, Changqiu Temple and the Shaofu had already started organizing the New Year's Day banquet, and the Taifu was also preparing for the banquet hosted by the Queen Mother and Her Majesty.
The minister’s reward.
It was supposed to be a happy time, but now it's sad and gloomy.
At the Mao hour, when the officials of the fifth rank and above were about to stand up and go to court, they suddenly heard the bell ringing six times. The officials knew that if they were not invaded by foreign enemies, the state and county would be in trouble.
Just like three months ago, Wuchuan and Fertile lands fell one after another, and the Duan bell rang twice in a row within ten days.
Going forward further, in mid-spring, Changsun Dao, the general of Rouxuan Town, rebelled, and the three towns in the East rebelled one after another. The Duan bell also rang every ten days.
Further forward, states such as Gaozhao Rebellion, Beidi Xia, Si, Heng, Shuo, Ding and other states successively fell into the hands of the enemy. The bells were ringing non-stop. Within ten days, the bells could be heard like
thunder.
In the past, hearing the bell ringing would have made Beijing officials and citizens feel terrified and horrified. But now, are they somewhat used to it?
Fortunately, Yuan Cheng was very skillful and made Jin Ming's victory so strange and powerful that it seemed that within March or May, all the rebels of the Gao family would be handed over to Xi Kangsheng's hands, so the situation of the court was
Regardless, the people's livelihood is considered stable.
Idiot people only think that it is a scabies disease, which is not enough. But in their quick thinking, most of them have a hint of intuition: Could it be that the building is about to collapse?
But no matter what, as soon as the bell rings, the court officials will also enter the palace to discuss matters at midnight. Fortunately, it is a coincidence that it is ringing today, and it is already close to dawn, so at least I feel less anxious to get up.
When all the ministers rushed to the Taiji Hall without stopping, the Queen Mother, Your Majesty, Yuan Cheng and other auxiliary ministers in Beijing had gathered in the hall.
Looking at everyone's faces, they may be gloomy, hesitant, disappointed, or lost.
Seeing that Yuan Cheng looked like he had lost his soul, all the ministers knew that today's news of Duan Zhong would not only cause the loss of one state or one place.
The Queen Mother's beauty was even more pale, and there was a hint of greenness on her powdered face, which looked a little ferocious when reflected in the candlelight.
Only the little emperor was ignorant. He pretended to be calm on his face, but there was curiosity in his eyes. However, he was intimidated by Gao Ying's power and did not dare to look around. He just looked closely at the ministers who entered the palace.
For fear of getting into trouble, everyone moved lightly and tried not to make any noise, even standing on tiptoes when they stepped down.
About two quarters later, when it was Chen time, when the court bell rang, Qin Song ordered Huangmen to close the palace door.
Through the crack of the door that was about to close, I saw several colleagues kneeling at the foot of the steps. They did not dare to cry or make a fuss. They just knelt on the ground and kowtowed. Most of the ministers in the palace felt a sense of sadness.
Normally, if someone goes overtime, he or she will be reprimanded at most. But looking at today's situation, someone may be in trouble...
"If you have something to report, please tell me!"
General Lux gave a clear shout, his words were clear and full of energy, and they actually echoed several times in the huge hall.
Normally, the performance would have been normal, but today it was like seeing a ghost. All the ministers were stunned and stared blankly at Gao Ying and the young emperor sitting in the hall.
Is that bell ringing in vain?
Xiao Wen left an edict that if the rebel ministers cause chaos, the territory or state suffers losses, or foreign enemies invade, the ministers must be informed and discuss countermeasures together. This is why the old practice of "ringing the six bells at the end of the day" came into being.
Whenever the bell rings, no matter when the bell rings, the courtiers must come to the palace, and then the chief secretary or the bizhanglang will read the palace newspaper and explain to the officials why the bell rings suddenly.
But today, this step was simply omitted?
Either the Queen Mother heard too much and was not tired of it. She was even more afraid that the bad news would keep coming one after another and disrupt the court situation and the people's hearts, so she decided to change this ancestral system.
Or it could be that this time it was a serious disaster, so serious that the Queen Mother did not dare to let the courtiers know about it.
However, five states and six towns in the North have rebelled one after another, and the information attached to the Gao family has not been concealed. Now, no matter how great the disaster is, how big can it be?
All the ministers had different thoughts and secretly guessed, and then heard the scholar shout: "If you have something to do, you will report to me, if you have nothing to do, you will retreat from the court!"
really?
If the Queen Mother wanted to change the ancestral system, she would not decide it in one word. She should at least say a word or two today and not give up in such a hurry.
This person is clearly impatient and anxious to discuss countermeasures with Yuan Cheng and others...
At this time, no one dared to be ignorant. Even if there was something important and important, they just handed the memorial to Qin Song and asked him to present it on his behalf.
In this way, in a short time, nearly a hundred court officials were gone. Only four assistant ministers were left in the palace, namely Yuan Cheng, Yuan Quan, Liu Fang, and You Zhao.
The other four, Xi Kangsheng and Xing Luan, both led the army in the north, Yuan Yi was captured by Gao Zhao, and Cui Guang was captured by Li Chengzhi.
In addition, Liu Fang and You Zhao had no experience in leading an army, so they were only responsible for civil affairs, and the military was mostly controlled by Yuan Cheng and Yuan Quan.
But today's incident was only because the relationship was too big and they were afraid of being exposed, so they were kept here.
Gao Ying's face was still livid, and he didn't know whether it was fear or hatred. He was still two or three feet away, and Yuan Cheng actually heard the faint sound of gritting his teeth.
A few breaths later, she heard her sigh again and asked in a hissing voice: "Now that the matter has come to this, do you have any good ideas?"
Yuan Cheng and Yuan Quan remained silent and looked at the urgent report on the table in front of the Queen Mother.
In fact, this report came to the palace at midnight last night. Gao Ying was shocked and confused after reading it, so he delayed it until the fifth watch on the grounds that it was late at night and he could not disturb the people, and then called the Fourth Assistant.
After learning the inside story, the fourth assistant was shocked. Without discussing countermeasures, he first persuaded Gao Ying to ring the bell.
Paper cannot contain the fire, and it will be exposed sooner or later. Instead of suddenly leaking it one day, causing the officials to lose their dignity, and then leading to instability in the government, it is better to reveal it step by step and slowly.
That's why we had this scene where we just rang the bell but didn't announce what was going on...
Is there any other good idea?
You Zhao and Liu Fang looked at each other and sighed sadly.
The cause of tomorrow is the result of today. If we had known this before, why did we do it in the first place?
In the past year since he returned to Beijing after the great victory in Chencang, Li Chengzhi had been wronged a lot. Even Liu Fang, who had always kept a low profile and bided his time, couldn't stand it anymore and secretly admonished the Queen Mother many times.
Cui Guang and You Zhao even argued with each other and argued with Yuan Ying from time to time until their faces turned red.
However, after all, Gao Ying is just a woman, living in a deep palace, how much ability does she have to distinguish right from wrong?
In the past, there were Yuan Ying, several elders of the Yuan Cheng dynasty, and the Prince of the Yuan clan oppressed the people in the name of balancing. Later, there was Gao Zhao who secretly made slanderous remarks, and finally forced a generation of capable ministers to fake their own deaths and follow suit.
As for Li Chengzhi's long-standing disobedience, it is simply a joke.
If he had had second thoughts, how could he risk being exposed and send the Li family to misinterpret the power of the fertile field?
If Yuan Ying and Yuan Cheng were at that time, they should not be suspicious of him, and the court should be more generous and grant him a real title. Nine times out of ten, he would be able to completely return to his heart.
Unfortunately, things backfired...
Liu Fang and You Zhao were one in charge of Tai Chang and the other in charge of Tai Fu. They knew very little about military affairs and rarely intervened, so they simply kept silent.
Yuan Cheng and Yuan Quan were secretly frightened and in a dilemma.
What's shocking is that in just one year, how could Li Chengzhi grow into such a huge creature that he could defeat Luo Jian and Yuan Zhi's army of more than 100,000 men in less than a month?
Nowadays, one thing is declining and the other is growing, and its harm is even greater than that of Gao Zhao. If it is not killed when it is weak and is allowed to grow, it will inevitably lead to disaster.
But it happened that the imperial court was just at the point when its front-end strength was insufficient and its rear-end strength could no longer be sustained?
It’s not that there is no way, it’s just to drive the tiger away and devour the wolf.
Just like Gao Zhao, since he was able to conspire with Luo Jian, he must have known that Li Chengzhi would be a big trouble, even more so for the imperial court. Now that he heard this bad news, how could he not know that if he continued to fight with the imperial court, no matter who wins or loses,
Will it only benefit Li Chengzhi in the end?
Therefore, the messenger was given the convenience to send the urgent report from Luo Jian and Yuan Zhi to Xi Kangsheng as soon as possible and carried it to the center of the capital.
In fact, it goes without saying.
This is easy to do: even if we can't recruit him to surrender, we can at least use a delaying strategy. Then he will order Xi Kangsheng to march westward and conquer the West Sea.
But the problem is, based on the lessons learned by Luo Jian and Yuan Zhi, Xi Kangsheng's 150,000 troops are not necessarily Li Chengzhi's opponents.
Therefore, Yuan Cheng and Yuan Quan are in a dilemma: if they want to slander them once and for all, they can only use the strategy of "driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf".
This tiger was either Nanliang, or Tuyuhun, or even Rouran. Naturally, the wolf it swallowed was Li Chengzhi.
But what should we do if the tiger does not escape after swallowing the wolf?
What's more, making peace with the world's enemies must only be done by those with a strong heart and determination. Regardless of the rest, it is just the contempt of the world and the curse behind you, which is not something ordinary people can bear.
Whether it was advising the Queen Mother or sending troops to an enemy country to borrow troops, it was only Yuan Cheng and Yuan Quan who could do it.
Not to mention whether others have the qualifications and whether they are worthy enough to bear this huge blame, it is the two of them who control the military power and prevent Cui Guang, Liu Fang, You Zhao and others from getting involved in the past. Unless those two are better than pigs.
You are stupid enough to share your worries for them.
Yuan Cheng was acceptable, because he and Gao Ying had discussed this matter more than once, so he had already made a decision. But Yuan Quan was so upset that he felt regretful.
If I had known that I would have to shoulder such a huge responsibility, even if I tried to get the Queen Mother to convict me, I would have refused to give him the post of Assistant Minister and Grand Lieutenant...
Several people had different thoughts, and they were all silent. Gao Ying's face became more and more gloomy, and he felt regret and hatred in his heart.
How long had she thought that she would fight to the death with Li Chengzhi?
Time, fate...
Gao Ying gritted his teeth and snorted coldly. Yuan Cheng and others were all shocked as if they were waking up from a dream.
"Liu Qing, write an edict on behalf of Gu!"
Liu Fang hurriedly bowed and said, "I obey your order!"
Qin Song was very eye-catching and quickly handed over pen, ink, paper and inkstone.
"Let the king of Rencheng be the historian, and the imperial censor Lieutenant Li Daoyuan be the deputy, and send an envoy to Xiazhou to appease the Gao family: If he can put an end to the chaos, abandon the dark side and surrender to the bright side, ignore the admonishment, and let the past go, Gao Zhao can be given the title of Duke of Xia, and he will be hereditary.
For...the following rebellious ministers will all be reinstated to their posts, and they will be given additional appointments. I will not wait..."
After a pause, Gao Ying said again: "Another edict is made, granting Li Chengzhi the title of King of Liang, hereditary and irreplaceable, and also granting an iron deed of immunity from death. If his descendants are not guilty of rebellion, they will be exempted from death for ten years, and they will live with the country..."
Yuan Quan was suddenly startled. The city was as deep as Liu Fang. You Zhao was still shocked and his expression changed.
There are those who rebel and are crowned kings. Isn’t this the first of its kind for a dynasty?
That's all for the former. Once Li Chengzhi issues this edict, there will be an endless stream of imitators like crucian carp crossing the river. I'm afraid it will be difficult for the world to have peace again.
Only Yuan Cheng knew something about it. He didn't panic, but his face was gloomy.
After pausing for a few breaths, Gao Ying laughed nervously again: "When announcing the edict to Gao Zhao, another edict will also be read to him. Let him think about how to choose... If he still doesn't respond,
If Jin doesn't order the rebel army to disarm, he will order Xi Kangsheng to use up all the troops. Even if the country is destroyed, Gao's chickens and dogs will definitely be left behind..."
There were only four ministers in the palace, but they all took a breath of cold air.
There is no grace in Gao Zhao here, he was clearly forced to surrender.
Looking at Gao Ying again, the ferocious look on his face is as real as he wants to eat Gao Zhao's flesh and drink Gao Zhao's blood. Can you see how much he hates him?
But when I thought about it again, I felt it was not surprising.
If Gao Zhao hadn't stirred up trouble and fanned the flames secretly, how could Yuan Cheng and Yuan Ying be so suspicious of Li Chengzhi?
If it hadn't been for repeated slanders, it would be even more impossible for Gao Ying to know that he was a helper, but not only did he not reuse him, but he excluded him in every possible way?
It was even more because Gao Zhao wanted to eliminate the root cause and laid a dragnet to take Li Chengzhi's life, so he faked his death and fled to Hexi.
Otherwise, Li Chengzhi would have gone to Pingzhou to take office...
All of this happened because of Gao Zhao, and Gao Ying wanted to kill him with a thousand knives.
Gao Zhao must have anticipated this, so should he surrender?
Several people secretly thought that they would probably have to surrender.
Although Gao Ying hated him to the core, but after all, his surname was Gao, and the most he could do was to take his life, and he could only take action after pacifying Li Chengzhi, and he couldn't do it blatantly, otherwise he would be breaking his promise.
In this way, at least the descendants of the Gao family will have no worries about their fate and their incense.
But Gao Zhao had offended Li Chengzhi to the core, and he had repeatedly put Li Chengzhi to death. With his vengeful character, once Li Chengzhi gained power, the Gao family would definitely leave no one behind.
From this point of view, Gao Zhao guessed that Gao Ying was planning to kill two men with one peach, and he would definitely be cautious.
What's more, there is another imperial edict given to Li Chengzhi: to be named a king with a different surname and to save his descendants from death. What if Li Chengzhi is moved?
When that time comes, Gao Zhao is willing to surrender, but he is afraid that he will have no chance. Because as long as Li Chengzhi surrenders, the first one he will not let go is the Gao family...
This is a conspiracy. Even if Gao Zhao knew it was a conspiracy, he had no choice but to fall in with it.
Otherwise, why would he secretly make peace with Luo Jian and divert trouble to the west? It would be impossible for him to go against the norm and escort the urgent report from Luo Jian and Yuan Zhi to Li Shao's camp like a treasure...
Thinking about it in his mind, Yuan Quan finally felt that something was wrong, and he bravely asked: "If the humble minister is brave, please ask the Queen Mother to take the blame: If Gao Zhao abandoned the secret and turned to the bright, what should Li Chengzhi do?"
"Li Chengzhi?"
Gao Ying laughed nervously, "Even if I make him a prince, he won't surrender..."
Yuan Quan thought for a moment and suddenly realized: If Li Chengzhi had been recruited by the imperial court, he would never have won this battle so neatly.