Zhu Qiyu looked through other memorials and found that no ministers had written to cause trouble today, but Zhao Xin, the right minister of the Ministry of Personnel, requested to be appointed to the official position.
Shaking his head helplessly, Zhu Qiyu made another official adjustment: Zhao Xin, the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, was transferred to Nanjing to take over the Nanjing minister of the Ministry of civil affairs vacated by Wei Ji; Yao Kuichao promoted the right minister of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs of Nanjing.
Xu Heng, Duke of Anguo, was ordered to lead the Xiaoqi battalion to conduct a comprehensive and thorough cleanup of the Tumubao battlefield to collect all the remains of the dead soldiers.
Xu Youzhen, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, was appointed as the governor of Huailai and the military counselor of the Xiaoqi Camp. He was responsible for presiding over the repair of the two defense lines of the Huailai Great Wall and the Juyongguan Great Wall, striving to avoid the recurrence of the civil fortress incident once and for all.
Huang Pu, a bachelor of Zuo Chunfang, was appointed governor of Baoding and was responsible for building the defense line at Zijingguan.
Zhu Qiyu began to send his cronies outside to avoid being affected by the turmoil in the capital.
Judging from the current development of the situation, the conflict will escalate in a few days.
After finishing the deployment every morning, Zhu Qiyu's work for the day is completed, and then he can be at ease with his beloved concubines.
But poor eldest brother Gongrang Emperor was not so lucky.
As soon as Zhu Qizhen opened his eyes in the morning, Chen Xiang was waiting beside him with an anxious face.
Zhu Qizhen asked helplessly: "What happened so early in the morning?"
Chen Xiang knelt on the ground and replied: "Your Majesty, please calm down. Yesterday's news has spread in the inner court. The two ladies who attended the bed could not bear the rumors and hanged themselves."
Zhu Qizhen suddenly sat up: "That's nonsense. How could the news spread so quickly? In addition to the Queen Mother and the Empress, those who came yesterday were also the most intimate maids and eunuchs. They were all old people who had been working in the palace for many years. , how could you be so ignorant?
Also, what were the backgrounds of the two concubines, where did they get such a temper, and how could they hang themselves casually. Humph, do you think they are the Wang family of Princess Xi? "
Chen Xiang replied innocently: "But the two empresses did hang themselves."
"Hmph, who was responsible for cleaning Nangong yesterday?"
"Xing'an is in charge. The slave girl and Ruan Lang are on duty at the Ceremony Supervisor. Cao Jixiang is in charge of guarding the palace gate, and they are not in Nangong."
When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he frowned. How could he be his most trusted companion? This Xing'an, I asked him to clean up the spies and eyeliners in Nangong. It's good for him. I don't know if the eyeliners have been cleaned out. Anyway, two of my concubines are gone.
Feeling a little bad, Zhu Qizhen continued to ask: "Yesterday before the Queen Mother, when I turned over the cards to look after my two concubines, what was Xing'an doing?"
Chen Xiang replied: "My servant vaguely heard that after Xing'an learned that the Sun family arrived at the Queen Mother's Palace, he brought some fresh toys to Sun Ming, the young master of the Sun family, saying that he wanted to show his respect to his relatives on behalf of the emperor. of care.”
Zhu Qizhen nodded, this seemed to make sense. According to seniority, Sun Ming is his nephew. There is really no need to report this kind of trivial matter. Xing'an took it upon himself to give a few toys to the young master to relieve his boredom, and to fulfill his kinship for himself, there was no problem.
According to the time analysis, when Xing'an went to the Queen Mother's Palace, he had not yet asked to turn over the cards, so it was certain that Xing'an was not going to inform.
Seeing that Zhu Qizhen's suspicion was about to dissipate, Chen Xiang replied with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Majesty, there is a rumor among the people. Do you know whether I should tell it or not?"
"What rumors? Tell me."
"Yes, Your Majesty, a pamphlet appeared in the market the day before yesterday, it seems to be called "The Secret Record of the Demonic Concubine", and it suddenly became popular.
The slave thinks that this may be an insinuation against the emperor, so you must be on your guard. "
Zhu Qizhen smiled and said: "Humph, I knew it yesterday. What are you afraid of? It was an allusion to my good brother. His beloved concubines are really strange women. In order to please their brother, they are willing to put on such shameful postures. No matter how unbearable words he is willing to say.
I really envy my brother..."
Chen Xiang raised his head curiously, why did his prince suddenly stop talking?
Zhu Qizhen's mouth was half open and he was stunned.
"Your Majesty, you..."
When Zhu Qizhen heard Chen Xiang's call, he came to his senses, shook his head and sighed: "That's not right. Xing'an is my great companion, he understands me too well.
Yesterday he presented the book "Secret Records of the Demonic Concubine" and described it in a vivid and vivid way.
My heart was moved, but he went to the Queen Mother's Palace for an excuse.
Then when I was summoning my concubine to sleep with me, the two queens came, and not long after, the queen mother also came.
Based on Xing'an's understanding of me, he could guess that it would not be difficult for me to summon concubines.
Then, yesterday I ordered him to clean up the Nangong spies. As a result, the two concubines hanged themselves in the evening.
What a coincidence, right? "
"Your Majesty, you mean...? How is that possible? Manager Xing is your chief companion."
Zhu Qizhen shook his head: "Xing'an is indeed my first companion, but what about before he became my first companion?"
Chen Xiang stood aside silently, not daring to answer the question.
After lowering his head and thinking for a long time, Zhu Qizhen changed the question: "Which eunuch in the Queen Mother's Palace is now in power?"
Chen Xiang replied: "It's Gao Ping, the general manager of the Yinghua Palace. When there was a fire in the Cining Palace, Gao Ping and several young eunuchs risked their lives to save the Queen Mother. Later, they were promoted along the way and became the eunuch Bingbi, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, and concurrently served as the Yinghua Palace, The manager of Renshou Palace."
"Where does this little eunuch come from, and whose name is he named after?"
"It's in Ruan An's name, but it is said that Ruan An is very ordinary to this godson. Gao Ping has never been able to get ahead, so he later risked his life to rescue the Queen Mother."
Zhu Qizhen asked: "Can you win him over?"
Chen Xiang shook his head: "I'm afraid it won't be easy. The Queen Mother has great trust in him. Moreover, Gao Ping is already the Chief of Ceremonies, and he won't be tempted by ordinary benefits."
"Huh, there are no eunuchs who don't love money. They can't win over her, but they just don't give enough. Go to Queen Qian and ask her to give you the Hotan jade carving that I gave her before.
That is a rare treasure. Queen Qian will know which one I am talking about when you mention it.
Don't be stupid and send it away in the palace. The jade sculpture is very big and it will be too conspicuous to move around the palace.
If you send it to Gao Ping's outer house, you can easily earn two or three hundred thousand taels from this treasure once it changes hands. I don't believe he can still be unmoved. "
"yes."
After agreeing, Chen Xiang still stood still.
Zhu Qizhen scolded: "You don't give me any peace of mind. Can't you hear what I say? What are you doing here?"
Chen Xiang asked in embarrassment: "Would Queen Qian be happy?"
Zhu Qizhen sneered: "Humph, does she need to be willing? Yesterday she said herself that a woman must obey the three obediences and four virtues. If she refuses, she will slap herself in the face.
When the time comes, read to her the contents of the three obediences and the four virtues: obey your father before you are married, obey your husband when you are married, obey your son after your husband has died, a woman's virtue, a woman's words, a woman's appearance, and a woman's merits. "
Chen Xiang understood that this was because his prince An An wanted to give Queen Qian some color, so he had to accept the order and leave, quickly heading to Queen Qian's palace.
After passing the news, as soon as Chen Xiang entered Queen Qian's palace, he heard Queen Qian arranging the funeral affairs of the two concubines: "You don't have to worry about whether the mausoleum is mausoleum, how can they deserve to be buried in the imperial mausoleum.
Take her to the western suburbs, find a temple, give the abbot two ounces of money, and bury her as a sinful woman in a secluded place in the mountains behind the temple. "
Chen Xiang knelt down to express his greetings expressionlessly, and then conveyed the emperor's will.
After hearing this, Queen Qian looked sulky and extremely displeased.
Although Queen Qian was not good at palace fighting, she could still hear that Emperor Gongrang was beating her up.
The situation was stronger than the people. After all, Queen Qian did not force Chen Xiang to recite the three obediences and the four virtues. She ordered the young eunuch to go to the inner official prison to find more than 20 craftsmen, enter the inner room with special tools, carry the jade sculpture outside the palace, and install it. Got the carriage.
Chen Xiang took a deep breath when he saw this jade sculpture with his own eyes.
The jade carving is seven feet long, five feet high and four feet wide. It is made of mountains and waters carved by skilled craftsmen. There are several peaks scattered high and low, and they are dotted with mountains, forests, rivers and lakes, waterfalls, pavilions, pavilions, flowers and birds.
Lifelike, fresh and natural, it is simply a masterpiece of landscape painting restored with jade carvings.
And judging from the placement of the jade carvings, it is obvious that they were used as screens in front of the bed.
Lying on the bed and turning sideways, you can have a panoramic view of the beautiful landscape and countryside. Just imagining it is extremely useful.
But Chen Xiang couldn't understand it even more. If there was such a big commotion, everyone in the inner court would soon know about it. Gao Ping was crazy before he dared to accept this treasure.
What does it mean to be my own emperor?
This time Chen Xiang finally gave in. Accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger. Heaven’s heart is unpredictable and its depth is as deep as the sea!
Not understanding the underlying meaning, but having to run an errand, Chen Xiang transported the jade carving out of the palace and placed it in a small, remote and quiet house in Mingyufang Shibei Alley, Xicheng.
This is a small courtyard where Xuan Miao used to stay when he went out to look for flowers. Now it is a property in the name of Emperor Gongrang, and Chen Xiang has been taking care of it.
The explanation Chen Xiang gave to the public was to repair and decorate a small courtyard so that the emperor could come out and relax when he was bored.
When Xuan Miao was in power, he often went out of the palace privately without anyone caring about him. Therefore, the reason given by Chen Xiang is also normal. Emperor Gongrang has abdicated, and ministers should not meddle in things.
However, it is difficult to say whether this small courtyard is close to the famous Jietian Tower and will arouse the association of interested people.
In the evening, Chen Xiang returned to Nangong to deliver the order. Zhu Qizhen nodded with satisfaction and said, "In a few days, give this small courtyard to Gaoping.
If he thinks it's too conspicuous, just say you let him live there and look after the yard for me. Then he put ten thousand taels of silver into the account room in the small courtyard and let him manage it.
I will ask him to pay more attention to me when receiving information from Tianlou in the future. "
Chen Xiang quickly agreed, but he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, why he didn't get a share of such a good thing.
Chen Xiang withdrew, and Zhu Qizhen began to listen to Xing'an's report on the government affairs of the Supervisor of Ceremonies today.
Xing'an hesitated, looking like he was hesitating to speak.
Zhu Qizhen scolded impatiently: "If you have anything else to do, just tell me."
Xing'an replied with a bitter face: "Your Majesty, I have received hundreds of memorials this whole day. Some said that the emperor favored the demon concubine and begged to be punished; some said that the emperor doted on the concubines and begged to be dismissed.
All these memorials have been sent to the western suburbs, and I don't know what the emperor will do with them.
However, the reputation of the emperor from both the government and the public took a turn for the worse. The officials who had supported you before were a little bit withdrawn. "
(End of chapter)
