The Dengwen drum outside the palace was beating, which was not surprising.
Because the function of the Dengwen drum outside the court hall is slightly different from that of the Dengwen drum outside Dali Temple, Zongren Mansion, and local government offices.
The significance of the existence of the Denwen drum outside the imperial palace is more to warn the emperor to be diligent, love the people, be open-minded and tolerant of suggestions.
In other words, the Dengwen drums here are prepared for officials who are qualified to go to court.
They were usually used either to protest against the emperor's unwillingness to take back his decree, or to oppose an idea that the emperor insisted on pursuing.
Judging from past records, most of the users were censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
That's why everyone was so shocked when the door of the Chao Palace opened, the sun shone into the palace, and Concubine Cen appeared in front of everyone dressed up.
"Ms. Cen pays homage to the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager will be blessed forever." Concubine Cen turned a blind eye to everyone's gazes and emotions, and bowed to the Empress Dowager Qin in a polite manner.
"Concubine Cen, why do you and I need to be so polite? Get up quickly!" Empress Dowager Qin calmed down her emotions, smiled gently and waved her hand, inviting her to take a seat.
"Queen Mother!" Concubine Cen stood up and did not follow Empress Dowager Qin's arrangement. Instead, she saluted again, "Cen has taken the liberty to come here today to plead guilty on behalf of her son. At the same time, she is suing the unscrupulous King Zijing Jiang Huaiyu and suing him during the feudal period. Demoting your wife without an edict, abandoning your wife and children is an unforgivable crime!"
After saying this, she raised the written memorial to her head and spoke loudly: "I ask the Queen Mother to punish King Jing severely! Demoting him to a commoner as a warning to others!"
After beating the Dengwen drum, Concubine Cen once again sent thunder to the courtiers in the palace!
Good guy, my mother didn’t tell her parents, but she actually requested that her deceased son’s royal status be revoked!
If it were said that the Empress Dowager Qin had not done this, the ministers would not believe it.
But the problem is that Queen Mother Qin was also stunned.
She never imagined that Concubine Cen, who had always lived in a reclusive world, would actually come to the court in person and stage a show of annihilating relatives for righteousness!
"Concubine Cen's words are serious. Prince Jing is young and full of energy, and he may act randomly for a while. Now that he is gone, all previous debts should be wiped off. It would be too much to punish him as a commoner."
Concubine Cen seemed not to understand the deep meaning of Empress Dowager Qin, and shook her head sadly:
"Prince Jing left Kyoto to join the feudal vassal upon receiving the emperor's favor. He should have devoted himself to the development of the vassal territory, keeping the people fed and clothed, and making the vassal territory manageable and harmonious.
However, he did not want to make progress, acted arbitrarily, and was unworthy of the grace of God!
He disobeyed his parents' orders and married a daughter from a noble family in the vassal land. It was unfilial to behead him first and then report him.
The late emperor loved him and gave him a supplementary marriage edict, making Lang his concubine. However, he didn't know how to cherish it and acted on his own authority again. He even demoted his wife who gave birth to two sons to the position of concubine. This was unkind.
The two legitimate sons of the Lang family fled with the Lang family and lived in exile for more than ten years. This was all due to his ruthlessness and unrighteousness. This was unkind!
There was no trace of his legitimate wife and legitimate son. Instead of looking for it, King Jing covered it up and lied about his sudden death. This is dishonest!
What he did has brought shame to the royal family, disturbed the reputation of the late emperor, and brought the royal family into disrepute. This is unjust!
Such unfilial, unkind, unkind, sincere and unjust people can only be worthy of the ancestors of the Jiang family by deposing them from the title of prince and demoting them to common people! "
Concubine Cen loudly pointed out whether her son, Prince Jing, was wrong, and did not notice the sudden change in the expressions of some officials nearby.
"..." Queen Mother Qin noticed the movement in the palace and wanted to smile bitterly.
She really didn't expect that Concubine Cen would help her today!
"Prince Jing was young at the time and had no elders to teach him, so he did something stupid just now. Now he just needs to make up for it. Concubine Cen, please don't talk about deposing the status of the royal prince again in the future!"
As soon as the Empress Dowager Qin finished speaking, Concubine Cen knelt down and cried: "The Empress Dowager is kind, but King Jing has gone. I am afraid that he will not dare to see the late emperor alone, and I am afraid that my ancestors will hate him for his incompetence, so I still ask the Empress Dowager to punish him severely." Only he can wash away those sins! Concubine! Please ask the Queen Mother to do it!"
Sheng Yuan's original position was neither too far back nor too far forward. However, while everyone was eating melon, the formation changed slightly, and she also squeezed into the second row.
It's not that she couldn't squeeze into the first row, it was mainly because the first row was too conspicuous and easy for people to spot.
Therefore, she very wisely gave up the position where she could easily attract hatred, and used the ministers in the first row watching the fun as a cover. She hid behind them and stood on tiptoe to watch the fun through the cracks.
But seeing it now, Sheng Yuan understood somewhat. Although it was unclear whether Concubine Cen's move was due to Empress Dowager Qin's suggestion, the conversation between you and me fully demonstrated their tacit understanding, which was not simple. ah!
Sheng Yuan sighed a few words like this, her eyes lingered between the Empress Dowager Qin and Concubine Cen for a few breaths, and then she looked at the cabinet ministers.
As expected, Yan Shoufu had already closed his eyes to recharge his batteries.
As for Gu Cisuke, he carefully looked at the jade tablet in his hand, and he could see the feeling of "deep love" in his eyes.
As for Cen Sanfu, he had lowered his head and remained silent and indifferent since he came out of Concubine Cen, a clan relative who could not be beaten by anyone.
The futures of Lang's two husbands were already decided after Concubine Cen told Prince Jing personally.
The son of a sinner has no chance of being crowned king.
"Well, since you make such a request, the Ai family can't refute it! In this case, let Jiang Huaiyu, a common man, be buried in Zhaoling, with his brothers, facing the late emperor's mausoleum... let him confess to the late emperor in person Bar!"
Upon hearing this, Concubine Cen couldn't help but burst into tears, but she still did not forget to thank her: "I... thank you, Queen Mother, for your kindness!"
At this moment, the huge palace, which accommodated hundreds of courtiers, was actually silent.
Only Concubine Cen's uncontrollable sobs echoed in the palace.
Queen Mother Qin's eyes were red, and her face showed the pain of being hurt by something.
After a long while, she trembled her lips and managed to say: "No, no... no need to thank you."
In this way, the court meeting that was supposed to compromise and target each other became without any suspense because King Jing was dethroned.
"Since the two husbands of the Lang family have retired, Princess Yuanning will temporarily take over as the crown prince, and the government affairs of the court will be jointly controlled by the three chief ministers of the cabinet... Of course, the top priority is to win back the emperor." Even the Queen Mother Qin was heartbroken. It was hard to cut, but still made arrangements in a leisurely manner.
Everyone also knew that Queen Mother Qin was in a bad mood at the moment, and no one dared to say anything in front of her. They watched her walk out of the palace accompanied by the palace maid.
…
"Poof!"
"Bang!"
"Boom!"
After smashing several antiques, Princess Yongping became more and more angry and overturned the antique rack.
In an instant, the sound of broken porcelain pieces flying was intertwined with the exclamations outside.
Princess Hong'an was also startled by the deafening sound at the end, and without caring about anything else, she pushed away the mammy and the maid and ran over.
When I opened the door, I saw my daughter, who was usually well-dressed and dignified, with messy hair sticking to her sweaty face.
Regardless of the fact that the ground was so messy that it was almost impossible to find a place to stay, Princess Hong'an squeezed past, squatted in front of Princess Yongping, and gently stroked her face.
"Mother, I don't accept it! I don't accept it!" Princess Yongping cried out with tears in her eyes.
Princess Hong'an quickly reassured: "Okay, okay, mother knows! Mother knows!"
She said while winking at Mammy.
After a while, grandma was the only one guarding the house.
"This country belongs to my grandfather's family! My father is Prince Huaiyan! Now that the royal family is in decline, Yuanning has no intention of clinging to the throne. The throne in the Lanzheng Palace should be mine! But why would the Queen Mother force Yuanning to take the throne? , and don’t even look at me!”
Princess Yongping cried bitterly and asked: "I already have three daughters and six sons under my knees. After ascending to the throne, even if I am busy with government affairs and cannot have more children, I will not have to worry about heirs! Yuanning, how can she compare with me?"
Seeing how sad she was, Princess Hong'an couldn't help but ask her in a low voice: "Does the family garden matter have anything to do with you?"
Princess Yongping was stunned, and then burst into tears.
Princess Hong'an closed her eyes and finally asked what she had never dared to ask: "Who is the person who gave birth to Sanniang Liulang with you?"
Princess Yongping's crying stopped abruptly.
Princess Hong'an shook her body, and looked at Princess Yongping with a pair of eyes full of sadness and worry: "If you still let me live, you will be alone in this manor with me from now on, otherwise, We will never see each other again!"
After saying this, Princess Hong'an stood up staggeringly, swung her sleeves and walked away, as if she was afraid that if she took one more look at Princess Yongping, she would lose strength.
