Qianqing Palace.

The windows in the Dongnuan Pavilion are bright and clean. The orthodox emperor is wearing a bright yellow dragon robe and sitting next to the imperial desk. Two young eunuchs are kneeling on the ground to rub his legs. In the corner of the hall, in the special incense burner offered by Goryeo, the soothing incense turns into curls. Smoke slowly rose.

The orthodox emperor was getting older and less energetic, not to mention he was not a diligent emperor to begin with. Memorials relied more on cabinet votes. After Yang Peishi retired and returned to his hometown, the cabinet became increasingly empty and many affairs could not be handled. In the end, he still had to This emperor did everything himself.

Zhengtong is quite dissatisfied with the cabinet, but there is nothing they can do about it. Government affairs masters like Yang Peishi are hard to find. Although the old men in the cabinet are not capable, they are still diligent. If they are also vacant, it will be really bad. There will be no one to work for him.

Not to mention that he couldn't manage such a large empire by himself, even Taizu Taizong couldn't do it.

Chen Jia knelt three feet away from the emperor, holding a memorial with a yellow damask cover in his hand and reciting the memorial in a cadence. Zheng Zheng squinted his eyes and listened, nodding from time to time. After Chen Jia finished reading, he asked: "The draft of the cabinet vote" What is it?"

Chen Jia then read through the handling opinions drawn up by the cabinet elders. If Zhengtong felt it was right, he said: "Approval!" Chen Jia picked up the ink pen and copied the proposed handling opinions written on the note by the cabinet elders on the memorial. , Meng Chong, the eunuch who holds the seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, is kneeling further to the side. Every time Chen Jia finishes batching a book, a young eunuch will take it over respectfully and give it to Meng Chong to stamp with his jade seal.

The approved memorials were finally handed over to the General Affairs Department, which distributed them to various yamen for execution according to the emperor's approval.

Chen Jia was responsible for writing for the emperor, so he was called the pen eunuch, and Meng Chong was responsible for stamping, so he was called the palm eunuch. Sometimes the emperor was lazy or wanted to have fun and did not do his job, but he had to do the work, so he would hand over all the work of reviewing memorials. Let Eunuch Bingbi and Eunuch Zhangyin do it.

The eunuchs such as the Si Li Jian actually shared part of the imperial power, and their power could sometimes even exceed that of the cabinet. It is no wonder that these eunuchs are called "internal ministers"!

When encountering a mediocre emperor, the eunuch can even cover the sky with one hand and control the fate of the entire empire. Representative figure: Wei Zhongxian!

Of course, to be like Wei Zhongxian, you also need the right time, the right place, the right people, and everything. Although the orthodox emperor is stupid, he is not completely stupid. Chen Jia wants to be Wei Zhongxian, at least not now.

Chen Jia's hands felt a little sore after reviewing a few books. He stretched his wrists, picked up a memorial and just read a sentence: "Chen Huke memorialized Zuo Zhong in tears..." After reading this, there was suddenly no sound.

The orthodox emperor was a little tired after listening to the memorial for a long time, so he opened his eyes and asked, "Why don't you read it anymore?"

Chen Jia was really a little distracted while holding this booklet. How did this thing get to the imperial court?

According to the regulations of Da Chu, all internal and external memorials and sealed complaints from subjects must be reported to the emperor through the General Affairs Department. The top leader of the General Affairs Department, the third-rank Tongzheng envoy Huang Zhengjian, is the disciple of Xiao Zongchang and is also a member of the Xiao party. confidant and beloved general.

This memorial is obviously not good for the Xiao family and King Zhao, but why can it reach the imperial court? It is expected that Huang Zhengjian would not dare to hide the memorial privately, but he can suppress this memorial for a day or two and reveal the news at the same time To the Xiao family, with the power of the Xiao family, it is natural that a low-ranking official from the seventh rank can be silenced.

And now that this memorial has appeared here, it means that someone must have tampered with it!

Chen Jia is an extremely smart person. As soon as he thought about it, he knew that the only people with this ability who could do this were the big shots in the court! It was obvious that someone did not want King Zhao to ascend the throne too early. This person's purpose was actually the same.

If he agrees with it, he will naturally help to push the flames.

Chen Jia said respectfully: "This memorial involves... please ask your Majesty to read it in person!" As the saying goes, family scandals should not be made public, so it is better not to read this memorial out!

The emperor opened his eyes slightly, glanced at Chen Jia, showed a puzzled look, and said: "Send it to me for a look!"

The young eunuch respectfully presented the memorial to the emperor. Zhengzheng frowned and looked at it: "This, this is really nonsense!" After he finished reading, he threw the memorial to the ground angrily: "A good daughter raised by the Xiao family.

!I didn’t want you in the first place

My son married the daughter of his family, but the Xiao family and the imperial concubine repeatedly persuaded me, so I agreed to their wishes. I didn’t expect that Mrs. Xiao would be so bold as to poison the wife of an official of the imperial court at will. She still had national laws in her eyes, and she still

Is there an imperial constitution?"

This memorial was naturally written by Hu Ke, who had poisoned his wife to death, from the seventh rank, and Shangzhezi cried out for the injustice of his wife who died unjustly, and demanded severe punishment for the murderer.

The emperor was so angry that he walked quickly in the hall. The memorial was thrown to the ground, and no one dared to pick it up. For a while, the hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

The emperor lost his temper and gradually calmed down. Ever since the emperor confined the prince to Yuqing Palace, rumors that the emperor wanted to depose the prince quietly spread in the court. At that time, ministers in the court wrote letters one after another, exposing the situation.

Although the prince's evil deeds cannot be fully believed, it is evident that the prince is unpopular.

The emperor originally had no determination to abandon the prince, but he was somewhat shaken by the quarrel among these ministers.

Judging from the fact that there are so many people opposed to it, even if we really hand over the kingdom to the prince, he will not be able to sit firmly as the emperor in the future!

At this moment, Xiao Yunqian came up with such a thing!

If you can't even bring your family together, how can you rule the country and bring peace to the world? If Xiao Yunqian can do such a thing, why should King Zhao be charged with lax governance? The damage to his reputation will be minor. Those who want to

People who seek refuge with King Zhao will inevitably think about it: Xiao Yunqian is not yet the queen, yet she dares to act so boldly. If she becomes the queen in the future, who can feel safe?

King Zhao is young and has little knowledge, and he does not have the illustrious military exploits of Ye Yichen. When he wants to be the crown prince and then the emperor, he is the most unpopular. Xiao Yunqian is like stabbing King Zhao in the weak side!

The emperor walked around the hall twice and gradually calmed down. Rather than saying that he disliked Xiao Yunqian, it was better to say that he had begun to dislike the Xiao family.

In the eyes of parents, their children are all good. Even if the prince is ineffective and Zhengtong wants to depose him and establish a new king of Zhao, he is more concerned about the fact that the prince cannot maintain the inheritance of his ancestors, even if he wants to depose him

, and we must not let the new king take his life after he ascends the throne.

He didn't have many sons, but he still had a loving father's heart that was protective of him.

He also had a slight fear of King Zhao, but fear was due to fear. At this time, he wanted to keep King Zhao's reputation even more, so he told Chen Jiadao: "You draw up a rule for me and ask Yin Zhang Quan of Shuntian Prefecture to investigate the case thoroughly. You cannot tolerate the evildoers.

You can’t wrongly accuse a good person!”

Zhang Quan, Yin of Shuntian Prefecture, is an in-law of the Xiao family. Zhang Quan's cousin is Xiao Fei's sister-in-law and Xiao Yunqian's biological mother. When Zhang Quan was asked to preside over this case, it was clear that the emperor wanted to suppress the matter.

After the emperor's order was given, Chen Jia said: "Long live, no!"

The emperor was slightly startled. This was the first time Chen Jia refuted his words. He trusted Chen Jia very much, but he was not angry at all. He just asked: "What? What do you have to say?"

Meng Chong was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat.

Chen Jia kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, you don't know. The story of Princess Zhao poisoning the wife of the court official has been widely spread and everyone knows it." His West Factory is responsible for detecting intelligence, so of course he knows a lot about this matter. clear.

Zhengtong frowned: "Since you already knew it, why didn't you come and tell me?"

Chen Jia said calmly: "It's true that I have always thought this matter is unbelievable, so I want to verify it before reporting it to the Holy One!" What Xiao Yunqian did was indeed a bit unbelievable, and Chen Jia could explain it if he wrote it carefully. .

The emperor nodded, approving his explanation, and said, "Go on!"

Chen Jiadao: "Now that this memorial has been approved by the cabinet, it will not be long before everyone knows it. This case was originally supposed to be tried by the Ministry of Punishment, but now the emperor has handed it over to Shuntian Mansion. What kind of relationship is between the Xiao family and the Zhang family? , this kind of treatment will probably chill the hearts of all the ministers! This matter can be seen from the cabinet vote."

Zhengtong was so angry just now that he didn't look carefully at what was written on the cabinet vote. Zhengtong was silent for a while, then nodded and said: "Show it to me!"

Chen Jia stood up and stepped forward, picked up the memorial, and handed it to Zheng Zheng respectfully. Zheng Zheng opened the memorial and saw the cabinet's draft votes sandwiched inside.

Since Yang Peishi resigned, the former second-in-command Jiang Shixing has been appointed as the chief minister of the cabinet. Mr. Ding Ge, who betrayed Yang's chief minister, wanted to be the chief minister. However, the cabinet is a pivotal place in the world, where seniority is the most important thing. Even the emperor cannot accept his fate easily. Chief Assistant to the Cabinet.

Therefore, although Mr. Ding Ge got his wish and joined the cabinet, he still had to wait until Jiang Shixing retired or simply moved Jiang Shixing to be the first assistant.

This Chief Jiang was the most tactful and well-rounded person. He was unwilling to offend anyone and was very good at making peace with others. The battle for the throne between the Crown Prince and King Zhao was in full swing, but Jiang Chieffu was impartial and did not help either side and would not offend anyone. Anyway, the official position has reached its maximum, and there is no point in political speculation anymore.

Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek always acted in a gentle manner, and the orthodox emperor often looked at the drafts he wrote and was deeply impressed by his regular regular script.

As a result, as soon as I opened the memorial, I saw Jiang Shoufu's cursive handwriting, which was about to fly out of the paper: "How could such a ridiculous thing exist in the world? It is really shocking and sensational! The Zongren Mansion, together with the Ministry of Punishment, will thoroughly investigate the case within a time limit. Punish the murderer severely!"

Jiang Shoufu is also an old man in his sixties. To be able to write such a word shows that he is very angry. To be able to make a smiling old fox who is good at making peace with someone like this so angry shows the attitude of the cabinet.

Orthodoxy can be understood after a little thought.

The official position in the seventh-grade household department is a small one, but he is also a serious two-ranking Jinshi. Since the Sui Dynasty first started the process of selecting Jinshi, after several dynasties, the system has been very perfect. Jinshi because of the three-year competition , only more than 200 people are admitted each time, which attracts much attention, so the sense of identity is relatively strong. People with Jinshi background often rely on the same year (same subject, same ranking), fellow townsmen, and teacher-student network to form a huge political force.

This is the civil service group. It can be said that it is not the emperor who truly rules the world, but this so-called civil service group. They seem loose and do not have a formal and strict organization, but they will attack in groups once their interests are harmed.

Legally speaking, officials must obey the emperor, but after all, they did not sell themselves to the royal family, and they are not slaves of the royal family. They cannot be dealt with by the royal family as they want. Civil servants pay the most attention to integrity, and Xiao Yunqian was so disrespectful of human life that he beat him so hard.

The face of the entire civil service group.

Because all the ministers in the cabinet were Jinshi, they were the core of the entire civil service group. At this moment, no matter how much he wanted to hide from trouble, Jiang Chief Fu had to stand up and speak for this seventh-rank official. Otherwise, he would be

Qingliu Middle School's reputation is ruined, and its future political future is ruined.

The orthodox emperor can imagine that if Chen Jia follows the order he just issued, tomorrow there will be loyal and upright ministers admonishing him in person, and countless officials and censors will write countless bullets and fly like snowflakes.

Ouchi, put it on his censorship. There are many officials and censors with good reputations. For this reason, they even dare to scold the emperor!

Thinking about this scene, the orthodox emperor also shuddered!

Under the control of a pair of invisible hands, the nature of this matter has become more and more serious!

Xiao Yunqian, this time it’s a big deal!

The orthodox emperor sighed and waved his hands: "That's it! The Pope's Office and the Shuntian Office will thoroughly investigate the case!" He did not want to offend the entire civil service group for an unreliable daughter-in-law.

In the end, Shuntian Mansion was also involved, leaving a way for Xiao family and Xiao Yunqian to survive.

…

Snap!

A fine porcelain teacup was thrown heavily to the ground, and the broken porcelain was scattered everywhere. The viscous liquid inside wetted the thin velvet carpet imported from the Folangji entrance. All the eunuchs and maids in the main hall lowered their heads and slumped their shoulders, holding back their voices and holding back their breaths.

I didn't dare to take a breath.

Concubine Xiao stood at the top, her eyes filled with power, and her whole body was shaking with anger.

"This stupid woman!" Concubine Xiao stroked her forehead and said bitterly: "The Xiao family is so smart, how could they raise such a stupid thing! If I had known this, I should have followed the emperor's wishes..." Now

It's too late to say anything!

The eldest aunt is Concubine Xiao's nanny. She has watched Concubine Xiao grow up and knows all about the public case in Xiao Mansion. Xiao Yunqian's biological father is Concubine Xiao's brother and the eldest son of Jinghaihou Mansion. Xiao Yunqian's biological mother is the deceased

The only daughter of the Marquis of Xiangyang, her status is also extremely noble.

However, her biological mother fell seriously ill and passed away when Xiao Yunqian was eight years old. Prince Xiao married another daughter-in-law of Uncle Wu Xiang's Mansion to fill the house. At that time, Concubine Xiao had already been in the palace for many years, and she was given the title of Concubine Xiao because she gave birth to the second son of the emperor.

imperial concubine,

Uncle Wu Xiang's house was declining day by day. Faced with such a noble lady, Xiao Yunqian's stepmother did not dare to beat or scold her, or even educate her. Over time, she developed Xiao Yunqian's arrogant and domineering character.

At this time, only the eldest aunt dared to persuade Concubine Xiao: "My dearest lady, please calm down. There are so many things waiting for you to do inside and outside here. Even the prince relies on you to support him in the palace. If you are angry,

How can you get better after being sick?

After all, the princess is young and vigorous. If there is anything wrong with you, that’s all. It’s wrong to poison the wife of a small official like this! With you and the old man here, we can wipe this matter away.
To be continued...