While Zhang Qingmeng, Lou Ning and others were struggling to defeat the anti-Zheng alliance, the entire world was not stable. There are many contradictions within the alliance and they are incompatible with each other.
Coming from the same family as Zhang Qingmeng, Xiao Lu was originally Zhou Cheng's military advisor. During the Battle of Xincheng, he abandoned all the defenders and fled to Jingzhao Mansion. Because he served as an official in the court in his early years, he won the trust of the current emperor Taili and became Empress Yang. His confidant gave him the right to provoke Chao Gang without permission.
However, everyone in the court hated Xiao Lu's powerful power. Undercurrents surged inside the seemingly prosperous capital, and the court also split into two major factions:
One faction is the "Queen's Faction" headed by Empress Yang. The representatives are Empress Yang and Xiao Lu. They represent the influence of foreign relatives and once held great power in the DPRK.
The other faction is the "Prince Faction" headed by Zhao Daming, represented by Zhao Daming, Yin Ji, and Gongsun Lan. They were dissatisfied with the dictatorship of their relatives and once wanted to abolish the current emperor and support the cowardly third son Tai Buran to succeed him. , thanks to their unremitting efforts. The two sons born to Empress Yang were both deposed as commoners, while the emperor's third son was promoted to prince and took charge of the East Palace.
The purpose of the prince faction was to get rid of the relatives, and then they used Zhang Qingmeng as their backer to support the prince on the throne. However, what they did not expect was that Zhang Qingmeng was trapped in the quagmire of the anti-Zheng alliance and could not extricate himself for a while, which gave the Queen's faction a good opportunity to rise.
Jingzhao Mansion Kunning Palace
But Queen Yang was sitting on the bed, and all she could see was his rosy face, a pair of bright almond eyes, long black braids, and gold-woven sapphire earrings hanging from his ears. Looking at such a graceful and noble queen, one can't help but sigh.
"I'm talking about Xiao Aiqing..." Queen Yang straightened her ring finger and little finger, and her long tortoiseshell beaded nails looked extremely bright under the light of the oil lamp. The other fingers gently lifted the tea cup, and a small sip of it was elegant: "The Yin Fei is also good. With the pillow wind, the two biological sons of my biological son are blown into a puppet."
Xiao Lu's thief-like eyes rolled around and he said with a smile: "Even though Concubine Yin has three heads and six arms, she definitely doesn't dare to go against the queen. Behind her, it must be Zhao Daming and Yin Ji who are causing trouble, saying that the prince has no virtue. But secretly it’s all a trick they did.”
"It's not that simple," the queen stood up and shook her red fox fur robe: "Those officials rely on Zhang Qingmeng's power to target us everywhere. Why does Xiao Aiqing think this is?"
Xiao Lu chuckled: "That goes without saying. As their backer, Zhang Qingmeng has talents and troops under his command. He occupies the three states of Ji, Chong and Qing. His strength cannot be underestimated."
Queen Yang frowned and asked, "Who is Zhang Qingmeng?"
"This person is my junior fellow student, and he is a member of the famous Donghai Zhang family. His ancestor is Zhang Hanxi, and Zhang Qingmeng is his descendant. He was eager to learn when he was young, and had a tenacious temperament. At the age of nineteen, he rebelled in Haibo. After several years, he Sitting on a large territory in the Central Plains." Xiao Lu paced and continued:
"What the queen lacks is an army, an army that can compete with Zhang Qingmeng," Xiao Lu said with a grin.
Queen Yang suddenly realized: "This is the case, it should be quickly called up to enter Beijing to keep the safety of me."
The night was deep, and Queen Yang talked without any fear, and suddenly heard a broken crack, scared her heart, and couldn't help but embarrassed: "Who is outside the door!"
Xiao Lu kicked the door open and saw the two palace maids kneeling on the ground hurriedly picking up the pieces. He sneered for a while and then said: "Queen Yang was very frightened~"
"I know my crime, please beg Queen Yang to spare my life..." The two women knelt on the ground like dying mice, so frightened that they did not dare to breathe.
Queen Yang came out slowly, pulled the hair of the palace girl, and looked at his face: "Which palace are you from and who is your master?"
"The slave is the Palace of Xingxiang, and the master is Mrs. Yin ..." The palace girl looked at Queen Yang's horrible eyes and replied tremblingly.
"It's that Concubine Yin again! That bitch!" Queen Yang scratched the palace maid's face with her long and strong nails like crazy, and yelled from time to time: "You bitch!" The pained palace lady kept wailing and kept moaning. Crying and begging for mercy.
Xiao Lu hurriedly stepped forward: "The queen must not be out of mind, which is easy to let Zhao Daming seize the handle."
After hearing this, Queen Yang stopped his crazy attack and kicked the palace maid to the ground. Xiao Lu glared at the palace maid and said coldly: "Come on! Kill these two ignorant bitches." Drag him out of the palace and beat him to death with sticks!"
"Yes!" Several guards came over, raised the two women brutally, and pulled away stiffly, and the marble floor tiles were flowing red blood.
When the two returned to the palace, Xiao Lu quickly brought up the topic: "Is the queen talking about your younger brother, the Korean Duke Yang Min?"
Empress Yang gasped and replied: "Exactly, although my brother is called Duke of Korea, he is stationed in Qin, with a hundred thousand troops, and he is stationed in Xianyang. If he rushes to the capital at night, he will not be able to control our destiny. ?”
Xiao Lu's face was quite concerned: "Whoever in the world does not know that South Korea is a loyal minister. If he let him lead his troops into Beijing without authorization, it will not agree, because this is equivalent to rebellion, so that people in the world are scolded."
"Since Xiao Aiqing is like this, we can only passively accept attacks from Zhao Daming and others?"
"It's not true," Xiao Lu smiled and replied calmly: "There is a strategy, but it is extremely risky.
When Queen Yang heard a strategy, he immediately raised his head and asked: "Xiao Aiqing tried to say it."
Xiao Lu replied: "Then Yin Ji has always wanted to rebel, but he has no military power. Why don't the queen help him and put the imperial city guard troops under his control, and then I can think of ways to induce the warrior to rebel."
Queen Yang was still frightened, frowned and said, "Why is this?"
"South Korea is loyal to His Majesty. As long as we know the time of the rebellion and inform General Yang Min a few days in advance, General Yang will rush to the capital at night and kill Zhao Daming and his gang, and General Yang will not have any psychological burden. And he can also compete with Zhang Qingmeng, so he can kill two birds with one stone."
Queen Yang nodded slightly, and whispered to Xiao Lu: "This matter is all done by you. If this is done, the reward will not be missing."
Xiao Lu led, patted his body, bent over to salute, and he had to walk out of the palace door. When he was about to take the threshold, he suddenly turned his head and laughed insidiously: "Queen, don't forget that we are the same As a grasshopper on a rope, if I cross the river and burn the bridge after everything is done, I will definitely not be a vegetarian..."
At this time, she suddenly felt a gust of cold wind blowing in, and she trembled all over, but she had to pretend to be majestic: "I know, get down quickly." Xiao Lu then left Kunning Palace in a swaggering manner.
Queen Yang was scared. This Xiao Lu's insidious and cunning face was deeply imprinted in his heart. He had to find the bright moon outside the window, threw off the blood -stained nail sleeve, and threw it on a smooth marble face.
To be continued…
