Queen Xiaojing, although confused, had no time to care about this at this time.
Inside Liyang Palace
Xia Jiuyuan, Xia Nihuang, and Concubine Li's mother and daughter sat at the same table and had dinner together.
"Brother Emperor, Sister Yuli made this for you personally. You must try it."
When Xia Jiuyuan heard what Xia Nihuang said, he took a cup of soup and drank it with a smile, and said with enjoyment, "Concubine Li, it's good that your cooking skills have improved."
"As long as your Majesty likes it."
"By the way! Concubine Li, you wanted to let Ruiqi be adopted into your palace yesterday, have you made up your mind?" Xia Jiuyuan asked Concubine Li while eating.
"Think about it, I saw Ruiqi in the palace last time, and I felt that I had a special affinity. Back then, Sister Qi Concubine and I had a very good relationship. If I take care of Ruiqi, Concubine Qi's spirit in heaven must be able to rest in peace." Li The concubine said with sincerity written all over her face.
"Okay, then let Ruiqi come over and be your son." Xia Jiuyuan said with a smile. "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Concubine Li quickly stood up and bowed to express her thanks.
"Fei Fei, how many times have I told you that you are too polite. You don't need to be so cautious. I was mean to you before just because you were too arrogant and I just wanted to rub you off. His temper." Xia Jiuyuan stood up with a smile and helped Concubine Li up with a look of pity on her face.
Concubine Li said with tears in her eyes, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for taking pity on me again..."
"My dear, if you had been like this a long time ago, how could I be willing to let you suffer these grievances?" Xia Jiuyuan hugged Concubine Li and said with a loving expression on his face.
Before Concubine Li could answer, Xiaodie walked into the room and said to Xia Jiuyuan.
"Your Majesty, Queen Xiaojing is outside asking for an audience."
"Queen Xiaojing? What is she doing here?" Xia Jiuyuan said with a hint of doubt on his face. "Let her in."
After Queen Xiaojing entered the room, she bowed and said, "I have met your Majesty and the eldest princess."
Xia Nihuang snorted coldly and ignored him.
If he hadn't seen his son dead, Xia Nihuang would definitely have said something bad to him.
Concubine Li also bowed and said, "I have met the Queen."
After saluting, Xia Jiuyuan asked, "Queen, aren't you feeling ill? Is there something wrong at this late hour?"
Empress Xiaojing nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know if I can take a step to speak."
Xia Jiuyuan looked at Queen Xiaojing, as if something was really going on.
He nodded and went to the study on the side.
Queen Xiaojing didn't waste any time and handed Xia Wenzhi's letter to him.
After Xia Jiuyuan opened it, his expression changed one after another and he said, "So, Wenzhi is still alive?"
Queen Xiaojing nodded.
"You knew this a long time ago?" Xia Jiuyuan asked coldly.
"My concubine also found out just now..." Queen Xiaojing said.
"Who else knows about this?" Xia Jiuyuan said, putting the letter into the charcoal basin and asked calmly.
"It was Xi Fei who told me that before Wenzhi was on an envoy, he asked Duke Cheng to send his shadow escort to escort him, and he escaped from the disaster." Empress Xiaojing answered truthfully according to Xi Fei's words.
"Oh? That boy, I really underestimated him... He can even handle that weird old man Cheng Guogong." Xia Jiuyuan showed a satisfied smile.
Queen Xiaojing nodded without saying anything.
"Doesn't he have anything else to say? For example... the difficulties he encountered." Xia Jiuyuan asked tentatively.
Queen Xiaojing shook her head and said, "Wenzhi just reassures Your Majesty that he is fine, and I don't want to upset Your Majesty."
Seeing this, Xia Jiuyuan nodded and said, "It seems that I really underestimated my eldest son. Okay, you should go back and rest early."
...
next day
Above the main hall
"Reporting to my father, this time I went to Tongcheng and negotiated with the envoys of the Great Zhou Dynasty for many days. Finally, an agreement was reached, and the Great Zhou Dynasty gave up the eight cities of Yanyun!" Xia Xingbang said loudly.
"Okay! As expected of my good son, I didn't expect
, without spending a single soldier, he actually wanted to return to the eight cities of Yanyun! Xia Jiuyuan laughed heartily.
"It is the duty of a minister to share your Majesty's worries," Xia Xingbang said.
"Good boy! This time the Sixth Prince Xia Xingbang has made merit in the negotiation. I will definitely reward you heavily!" Xia Jiuyuan said loudly.
After speaking, he glanced around the entire hall. A group of civil servants headed by Li Xiaozheng all had very ugly expressions.
And a group of ministers with military general background, headed by Huo Yingluan, bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"
Xia Xingbang's face was full of excitement. It was obvious that he would definitely not be able to escape the throne this time.
Xia Jiuyuan said loudly, "In view of the fact that the Sixth Prince first made great achievements in quelling the rebel horse bandits, and then was ordered to go on an envoy when faced with danger, he negotiated with the Great Zhou Dynasty and captured the eight cities of Yanyun without spending a single soldier! Reward for both merits!" Reward tens of thousands of gold! Make him King of Yan and give Yanyun eight cities as his territory!" Xia Jiuyuan said loudly.
There was an uproar at the scene...
All the ministers who were military generals had incredible expressions on their faces!
Li Xiaozheng couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.
Before going to court, Queen Xiaojing asked someone to tell him the news.
Li Xiaozheng didn't understand what Lu Qian wanted to do at first.
But after seeing Xia Jiuyuan's current decision.
He suddenly became enlightened and began to admire Lu Qian's methods even more.
Lu Qian asked Queen Xiaojing to give the letter and reconciliation to the emperor.
The emperor's palace naturally guessed what happened.
The clever thing is.
Lu Qian asked Queen Xiaojing not to complain or ask for anything.
This move was to tell the emperor that Xia Wenzhi did not ask for anything, let alone embarrass the emperor.
After all, if the settlement document was presented in the hall today, I'm afraid this matter would not end well.
On the contrary, Xia Xingbang's actions today, as well as the actions of a group of military generals, made the emperor clearly feel that they were forcing the palace.
The emperor naturally knew that the Huo family was already very powerful, so if he gave them a prince.
If they want to rebel, it is justifiable!
This emperor may have reached his end.
So once there is a comparison, the emperor will naturally have a choice.
...
Xia Xingbang knelt on the ground, as if he had been struck by five thunders!
I never expected that the reward would be this!
You know, for ordinary princes and princesses, it would be a great gift to be enfeoffed.
But it is only limited to ordinary princes.
Because once the prince is crowned king, the prince must stay away from Kyoto and go to the fiefdom.
And without the emperor's edict, you cannot leave the fief without authorization!
This means that I basically have no chance with the prince in this life.
Xia Xingbang looked extremely ugly and said, "Father... I don't want rewards for my son! These are the duties of a son! This reward is too heavy! I... I can't bear it..."
Huo Yingluan and the others were also anxious for a moment, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please take back your order."
A group of ministers with military backgrounds also knelt down and said, "Please take back your life, Your Majesty."
Li Xiaozheng almost laughed when he saw this scene and said to himself, "They are indeed a bunch of common people!"
Then he glanced at Xia Jiuyuan.
Sure enough, Xia Jiuyuan's face was uglier than if he had eaten shit!
The best emperor master
