Lu Zhao was stunned by her slap, then he smiled bitterly and immediately grabbed her hand.
"Even the dead old man couldn't slap me twice, but the queen is very brave."
"If I didn't have the courage, I wouldn't be able to marry you." Chen Xueying replied calmly.
Lu Zhao narrowed his eyes, as if recalling the scene at that time, and immediately said: "Yes, after all, you were the kind of person who ran away with the pretty boy on the way to get married."
Chen Xueying clicked her tongue and couldn't help but glare at him: "I told you, he kidnapped me. How could I escape? Are my eyesight that bad?"
She would definitely not admit this.
Lu Zhao shrugged and did not continue the topic, but pointed to the list on the table opposite.
"The Shadow Guards are reliable in their work. What are you going to do with those people? Do you need their continued help?"
"I have no foundation in Northern Qi. I can only punish those in the harem. As for the adults in the previous dynasty, you will definitely have to fight back if you see how many of them come out later." Chen Xueying nodded.
She is not good at court fighting. After all, she has only received modern education and is completely blind to court affairs. This does not mean that she will let others take advantage of her.
On the contrary, due to the nature of her modern profession, she is very good at tormenting people and must avenge her enemies.
The battle between the Queen and the literati continues, and Jicheng has become the Queen's base camp. Because she spent a lot of money twice throughout the whole process, and the sincerity of her confessions, some people have a good impression of her.
And there are some people who are actually scoundrels and are just looking for money.
They go on patrol from time to time. If no one says bad things about the queen, that's it. If someone does, they gather a small group of people to ask for money. Otherwise, they will cheat and seriously affect the business.
The shopkeepers of various shops went to report to the officials one after another, or to find a backer, but the backers all indicated that it was a special period, and asked the literati to charge forward first, and not to act rashly for the time being, and reporting to the official was even more useless, because the officials could not control it at all.
These troublemakers have obviously been specially taught.
As soon as the official arrived, they stopped, but when the official left, they started making trouble again.
Even though there were many literati in Jicheng, and many people with outstanding talents came out to stand, they still could not stand up to the public opinion. The scholar who everyone admired in the past would not be able to speak well if he insulted the Queen.
The remaining cities became the focus of literati propaganda.
It was indeed very effective at first. Everyone felt that the Empress was partial and only gave money to the people of Jicheng. However, the evil wind in Jicheng still blew over. The Empress could not give them money, but they could pay money to the literati who insulted them. We want money.
For this reason, the painting style of the entire Northern Qi Dynasty has been led astray. The literati's articles satirizing the current queen, no matter how gorgeous the rhetoric, are unattractive. Everyone only thinks about money.
Even when the literati finished reciting impassionedly, shaking his head and shaking his head, and wrote the article all night long, no one applauded or cheered up the atmosphere. On the contrary, the surrounding audience began to ask: "If you write well, when will you be paid?"
This evil trend swept across the entire Northern Qi Dynasty in an instant, and no matter how powerful the rumors were, they could not spread.
No matter how neatly the civil servants shout slogans, how many students they ask to write articles, or even sign their names, it has no effect.
, because public opinion doesn't care at all, and people's attention is all on money.
The morning court time is approaching, and the ministers in the Guangming Palace have already arrived and are standing in their positions.
Usually before the emperor came, everyone would discuss the recent court affairs, and even compliment the adults in the same party, and praise their articles or political achievements. In short, it seemed very lively.
But today, it seemed extremely cold, and the civil servants fell into a dead silence. Many adults had dark circles under their eyes and looked depressed.
On the other hand, the generals are still somewhat popular in their circles, and they are discussing it with their colleagues around them.
"What's going on over there? Everyone's face is pale and they're walking unsteadily. Did they get together again and come up with bad ideas? They stayed up all night, just waiting to find trouble today?"
"How many of our brothers have made no mistakes, right? Don't let these gossips catch you. They are as hard to shake off as snot."
"No, no, they want to punish us. Why go to all this trouble? Don't curse people!" A second fool answered quickly.
In an instant, the generals glared and retorted: "It's easy to punish you. We are not as stupid as you, so we still have to put in some effort!"
The idiot was attacked by the group, and only after being beaten did he become honest, and the topic returned to the subject.
"Then what's going on? It's like everyone is coming back from a funeral."
"Hehe, could it be that we stayed in a brothel last night and were seduced by the vixen, and the essence was sucked dry? Otherwise, why would we be so haggard and droopy all the time!"
"No, no, no. Look, the Minister of Rites is already in his fifties. If he encounters a vixen, he must give his life directly."
"Let's talk about business!"
"I know that these gossips joined forces to attack the Empress, hoping that all the literati in the world would criticize her verbally and call the Empress a demon queen who has brought harm to the country. Unfortunately, they did not succeed."
"Hahaha, I've heard about this too. These people think they've read books and are very lofty. They don't like anyone. But now what they say and what they write are closely linked to money and full of copper. Stinky.”
Most of these military generals are rough men. Once they start a fight with a scholar in the court, they are clearly no match for them. They will be confused by the scholar's quotations. They look like they are going to lose. They can only rely on loud voices and vulgar words. Occasionally, he would threaten with fists when he was in a hurry.
All in all, it was all a disgrace in front of the palace. After doing this, he was caught with a new excuse, and he had no power to fight back.
Unexpectedly, the Empress recently used "vulgar things" to defeat these arrogant civil servants, leaving them helpless.
"Hey, Mr. Liu, when you joined me last time, didn't you treat one as ten? Why have you become a coward now?"
"Ouch, Mr. Qin, you hid aside, do you think I'm not looking for you? In the previous battle in Chongqing, the supplies of food and grass were delayed, which led to the unfavorable situation at the beginning of the battle. You scolded me and pointed at your nose. He is a concubine. He suspects that there were spies in the eighteenth generation of our ancestors. He bluntly said that he wants the late emperor to sentence me to be executed! Now you have lost this battle. Your ancestors are actually all demented, right? Otherwise, how could you give birth to a child? Are you such a useless thing?"
…
When the generals passed their Qi, they instantly became narrow-minded and began to find trouble. Suddenly the court became lively again, and the situation reversed, and the generals chased each other.
The civil servants are talking nonsense.
The civil servants gnashed their teeth (), and some people couldn't help but retorted: The Queen is a woman ℡()℡[() and the head of the Sixth Palace. Even if we are dissatisfied, we will respect her and will not Seriously use dirty words to slander her. "
"Oh, you have so much respect? Who said before that only women and villains are difficult to raise? It's called respect when you say that the Queen is difficult to raise. Even a bigot like me knows you're farting. You, a person with an imperial examination background, won't be disrespectful. Do you understand?"
"Oh, this sounds really bitter. You won't admit defeat in a fight, and you even say you're giving in to others. How can you be so shameless? But that's right. After all, you civil servants, everyone will stick it in their own faces. gold."
The two sides started to quarrel again, and the quarrel became more and more fierce.
"The Emperor has arrived, the Queen has arrived -"
At this moment, the sound of chanting was heard outside, and there was a moment of silence in the hall. The ministers looked at each other with different expressions.
This is the second time the Queen has come to court. The last time she came to the Guangming Palace, she had a falling out with the civil servants and even directly attacked Prime Minister Zuo. What are you doing this time?
"If you have something to do, leave the court if nothing happens!" Li De raised his fly whisk.
Usually at this time, the courtiers below began to speak freely, but today no one said a word. Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, but no one took a step.
"Before I came, I heard you all chatting animatedly. Why is it so silent now?" Lu Zhao raised his eyebrows and asked proactively.
The left and right prime ministers looked at each other. When the emperor asked, he must answer. Finally, the left prime minister took a step forward and was ready to explain.
But before he could speak, he was cut off by Chen Xueying.
"My lords, we were having a lively chat just now, but it was probably not about serious business. I guess I didn't have anything to attend to today, so we were just chatting casually." She said casually.
The first thing he said today was that he was in a strange and extremely aggressive mood.
Obviously, the conflict with Prime Minister Zuo last time was not accidental, nor was it an impulsive decision on her part, but it was her nature.
Even though the civil servants and the literati in the world have become enemies of the queen, and even want to make the people of the world hate her and label her as the demon queen who brings disaster to the country, she still goes her own way and is strong-willed.
Prime Minister Zuo was not happy when she cut off his words, but when he heard these provocative words again, he became even more angry.
"Empress, the adults in the court today, whether they are civil servants or military generals, are working from dawn to dusk, dedicated to the prosperity of the Northern Qi Dynasty. You are in the deep palace, I am afraid you don't know that the lights of Shangshu Pavilion are always on all night, so don't do anything This kind of speculation will not chill people's hearts." Zuo Cheng immediately spoke back, with a firm tone.
Moreover, he was also very cunning. He knew that the current situation was that the queen and the civil servants were facing each other, but instead let the generals watch the fun. In order not to let these old and rough fishermen benefit, he dragged everyone into the water.
Whenever the queen came back with a quarrel, she would be scolded along with all the civil and military officials. Those generals were impatient, and he didn't believe that these vulgar people were not impatient.
"Really? In that case, please tell me, Prime Minister Zuo, when will the iron hooves of Northern Qi set foot on the territory of Dayan? Where are you going to attack first? Which generals are you going to send as generals, and who are you going to be the vanguard? Who will be responsible for the officials responsible for transporting food and supplies, and how can we prevent corruption?"
Facing Prime Minister Zuo
() made things difficult for her, she didn't take it to heart, but directly asked a long list of questions, completely standing in a high position.
But just after asking this question, before Prime Minister Zuo could answer, she spoke again: "Oh, by the way, I shouldn't ask these questions, after all, Prime Minister Zuo won't tell, and he suspected that I was the biggest spy before. Although Prime Minister Zuo is completely judging a gentleman's heart with a villain's heart, in order to avoid trouble, I still won't ask more about the process. But when can I see the result? "
She provoked him for the second time, every word piercing his heart, as sharp as a knife.
Prime Minister Zuo's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot, and he sneered coldly: "Empress, you neither understand war nor court, but you only want to wait for the results, and you directly vetoed our efforts, and you just said it." In my humble opinion, you should go back to Fengzao Palace and take care of the affairs of the harem. There is no need to come to the court, lest you do bad things with good intentions."
Obviously, after hesitating the Queen several times to attack, Prime Minister Zuo stopped pretending and started to fight back directly. Perhaps he was forced to do so. Even though Prime Minister Zuo was the most knowledgeable and talented number one scholar back then, he was quite right when facing the Queen now. Frankly speaking, no longer talking about words at all, obviously being pushed into a hurry.
"It is normal for me not to know how to fight and court, but this is not an excuse for some people to fool around. Prime Minister Zuo has just been talking about being conscientious and diligent, then it is always Let people see the results. The emperor previously proposed to capture Dayan, and several days have passed. I wonder what feasible method Prime Minister Zuo has come up with? "
Chen Xueying said slowly and calmly, retorting one by one. She was not annoyed at all by Prime Minister Zuo's attack, and even managed it with ease.
"Of course, you don't need to tell me, just write a memorial and submit it to the emperor. I'm just curious, how many memorials did you write?"
"Since the Queen last came to court, I have submitted memorials every day." Prime Minister Zuo said calmly and authentically, with a clear conscience. He was conscientious in his work, otherwise he would not have been able to climb to this position of being below one person and above ten thousand people. Come up.
"Oh, how many letters are related to the attack on Dayan?" Chen Xueying continued to ask.
"This is an important court matter. I cannot discuss it in detail with the empress, and the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics." He refused directly.
Chen Xueying chuckled softly and said with a bit of sarcasm: "Prime Minister Zuo is so interesting when he talks. You answer the questions that are beneficial to you. If there are any negative ones, you avoid talking about them, and you even say some If it is specious, you will blame me instead."
"You send memorials every day. I guess most of them are involved in this palace, right? You don't care about regaining Dayan, but you focus on this palace. Is this not doing your job properly?"!
