Haijiao can't remember much about what happened five or six years ago. After he was reborn, he remembered what happened at that time through the daily conversations of his family members, but he only had a general impression and the details were very vague.
Five or six years ago, the border town was relatively peaceful. At that time, the Hu people's old Khan Wang just fell seriously ill. For almost two years, he did not bother to send troops to invade the Dachu border. Instead, he was busy scheming with the Hu people's nobles who were ready to take action during his illness. Uncle Wang on his side was also on guard, and he even killed a big nobleman in the process.
The Hu people were not peaceful within themselves, but the border areas between Chu and Hu were much more peaceful. When there is no war, caravans come and go more frequently. The Dachu border troops could also free up their hands to wipe out the surrounding sand and horse bandits, providing a safe environment for passing caravans and people. The safe environment attracted more caravans to travel between the two countries. The Hai family were in Guazhou at the time and were on the business road. Thanks to the east wind, they made a lot of money.
Hai Jiao vaguely remembered that he was only seven or eight years old at that time. Every day on the roadside in front of his home, he could see familiar or unfamiliar caravans carrying goods on the road. The big car shops, pubs, and bathhouses in the city are doing very well, and new gadgets often appear in the shops and stalls on the streets. When the weather was nice, he would hold his sister's hand and go shopping, and he could often find very interesting things with very little money. Those days were always relaxed, happy and bright in his memory.
In contrast, the situation in the capital is more murky and complicated.
At that time, Concubine Sun's son had just died, the fourth prince had already succeeded, Concubine Xu Xian was just a maid beside Queen Mother Zhou, and the eighth prince was not even a shadow. The emperor had no children, but he himself fell seriously ill, and the entire court was there. Worried that the emperor might die at any time and there would be no heir to inherit the country.
Prince Ji and Prince An, who had once competed with the emperor for the throne, both took action. The successor prince, Prince Ji, even jumped up and down to seek to return to the clan. The clan had different opinions on the selection of the royal heir, and there was a quarrel. In a ball. The Queen Mother kept the sick emperor in Cining Palace to recuperate, and refused to allow Concubine Sun to enter the palace to attend to his illness. For this reason, Concubine Sun also accused the Queen Mother of plotting to murder the Emperor and requested the cabinet to order the imperial army to besiege Cining Palace...
In this chaos, Mr. Sun Ge stood up to stabilize the overall situation, advocating that Prince Yingji return to the clan and inherit the throne. Although neither the Queen Mother nor the Emperor nodded in agreement, the courtiers felt that they had a backbone and stability, and there was no trouble in the capital. Mr. Sun Ge seemed to have made a contribution.
It is said that at that time, the Ministry of Rites had even prepared the materials for the dragon robe when the new king ascended the throne. As long as the queen mother or the emperor nodded, the production could start immediately, but the palace never gave an order.
It didn't take long for the emperor's condition to recover, and he didn't have any major sequelae. He could handle government affairs normally, and even got a new concubine, and a year later he added an heir. I don’t know how many people were surprised by this incident.
After the news reached the northwest border town, Xie Wenzai and other former members of the Wu clan who had been exiled for many years discussed the matter, but they did not feel that Mr. Sun Ge had made much contribution. Instead, they felt frightened.
How dangerous! Once the emperor fails to survive this serious illness, even if the queen mother refuses to accept the cabinet's proposal, will Elder Sun Ge forcefully send Prince Ji to the throne of the new king? Of course he is sure that he can stabilize the overall situation in the DPRK, because in the past twenty years, he has almost eradicated or expelled the courtiers who disagree with him in the DPRK. The remaining ones are either his party members or sitting on the fence. No one can oppose him. Once he launches a puppet emperor, the world of Dachu will become his one-man show from now on!
Less than two years after that, the emperor issued an order to punish Wu Wenzheng, pardoned many exiled officials, and recalled old ministers who had been criticized. As a result, there were more and more different voices in the court. The cabinet once strongly opposed this, but in the end they still could not overcome the holy will.
It's just that in the northwest, the frontier troops are under greater pressure. The Zhou family felt as never before that the Sun family began to accelerate the pace of seizing power. If Sun Yonglu, the military general candidate promoted by the Sun family, was not too weak, they might have succeeded long ago.
Hai Jiao recalled the past and sighed to Haitang: "Perhaps Zhou Shuyi became attached to her because she saw that Mr. Sun Ge was prosperous in the court at that time, but the Zhou family was in a difficult situation. The third-bedroom elder of the Zhou family has passed away, and Mrs. Ma and Mrs. The Duke of Zhenguo had little contact with the government and was not familiar with the border troops. He was partial to his daughter and helped her to curry favor with the Sun family and find a way out for his descendants. It was just that... Later, Mr. Sun Ge gained great prestige in the court. After the decline of the Sun family and the number of officials who dared to oppose him, the decline of the Sun family became more and more obvious. Zhou Shuyi was in the capital, it was impossible not to know this, and she continued to go all the way to the dark side, with no intention of restraining herself. Mrs. Ma They also became confused, and I didn’t understand what they were thinking.”
Haitang said: "No matter what they think in their hearts, since they have taken this step and completely ignored the overall situation, no wonder the Zhou family does not care about their interests. In fact, Zhou Shuyi is really not very smart. Does she want to find a way out for herself? Wrong, but why did she focus on the Sun family? Not only did the Sun family have plans for the Zhou family, but their style was not upright. She had wealth but did not rely on it. At the same time, she was against her husband's family. How could she dare to do so? I believe that the Sun family will not harm her, why are you rushing to give money to others?"
Hai Jiao smiled: "So she is obsessed!"
Zhou Shuyi was obsessed with things, and the Sun family took advantage of her delusions, and in turn used her to deceive the Zhou and Zeng families.
Yes, not only the Zhou family, but also the Sun family and the Zeng family of the Yingchuan Marquis Mansion were spared.
According to Zhang Pinggui's account, Sun Yongbai had deliberately created an opportunity for him to show off his skills in front of Zhou Shuyi, and then he was re-acquired by Zhou Shuyi with his superb Qinggong skills similar to those of his late father. Unfortunately, the Marquis of Yingchuan already had two sons at that time, and there was no point in prescribing medicine. Therefore, Zhou Shuyi did not send Zhang Pinggui to do the tasks that his late father failed to complete. He just sent him to do things like stealing account books and hiding things. The purpose was just to think. It is just to attack the sister-in-law of the Marquis of Yingchuan in the inner house, or to frame the family members of officials who are at odds with him in social situations.
But what the Sun family told Zhang Pinggui to do "by the way" was not so childish.
Zhang Pinggui had secretly read many letters between Marquis Yingchuan and others. The Sun family seemed to want to find out what happened to Marquis Yingchuan and seize the power of the imperial army from him. However, Marquis Yingchuan was loyal to the emperor and never had any dirty information. Those letters also revealed that the emperor had higher trust in Marquis Yingchuan than Mr. Sun Ge thought, and even privately ordered him to do things that neither the people next to him nor the cabinet knew.
Elder Sun Ge was more vigilant in his heart, but on the surface he changed his attitude towards Marquis Yingchuan and began to consider marrying him.
However, the eldest daughter of the Sun family, as the eldest concubine of Prince Ji, had an unexpected childbirth, resulting in one body and two lives, which was unexpected by the entire Sun family. In order to maintain the alliance between the Sun family and Prince Ji's Crown Prince, they must find someone to take over the position of Prince Ji's Crown Princess.
Compared with Prince Ji, who could continue the glory of the Sun family, the weight of Marquis Yingchuan was not that important. The Sun family didn't want to offend him, but they would not give up Prince Ji for him.
When the Sun family became interested in murdering the prince of Yingchuan, they first used Sun Yongbai's wife to encourage Zhou Shuyi to have the idea of seizing the prince's throne again, and then created an opportunity for Zhang Pinggui to send him to the northwest to carry out an assassination mission. Several more people were sent to escort Zhang Pinggui to ensure that he could successfully complete the mission.
Zhou Shuyi thought that everything was planned by herself. In fact, from beginning to end, she was just a puppet in the hands of the Sun family. All her thoughts and actions were under the control of the Sun family.
(End of chapter)
