Chapter 508: The Furious Empress
Chapter 508: The Furious Empress (asking for guaranteed monthly tickets at the beginning of the month)
"That's right," Zhao Duan nodded, organized his words, and said seriously:
"It was quite unexpected that I rescued him from the rebels this time..."
Immediately, he used the most serious tone possible to recount how he had hunted down King Heng, how the other party had kidnapped Xiao Dong'er, and how they had tried to slander, threaten, and defame him... as well as the plan he had envisioned:
“Although Prince Heng has been arrested, Qingzhou Road, as his old nest, must still have remnants, and the court should now devote its military forces to more important battlefields.
As the local tyrant, the Xiao family of Donghu can assist the imperial court and control Qingzhou Road, which is the most cost-effective option.
Not only that, this will also have the effect of buying a horse's bones with a huge sum of money. Apart from anything else, the other imperial merchant families in the nine provinces and eighteen prefectures will also be more inclined to support Your Majesty because of this."
Xu Zhenguan listened quietly, but did not comment on the pros and cons of his plan. Instead, he suddenly said:
"Prince Heng slandered you and framed you for having an affair with that widow?"
…!! Zhao Duan’s heart was filled with alarm bells, and without hesitation, he pointed to the heavens and swore:
"Slander! Absolute slander! I am a selfless person. Heaven and earth can bear witness to my feelings towards Your Majesty, not to mention a widow..."
Xu Zhenguan said quietly, "So, if you were not a widow, what would you do?"
Damn it, don’t be so picky… Zhao Duan changed his words:
"I only have eyes for Your Majesty. All other women are vulgar and unworthy of your attention."
Xu Zhenguan seemed to smile, as if he didn't care much and said:
"I was just joking. Zhao Qing's virtue is well-known in the court. I trust him."
...You seem to be hinting at me... Zhao Duan's face was tense, his heart was beating fast, he stared at Zhenbao's fair and elegant face for a long time, and said cautiously: "Your Majesty...then..."
Xu Zhenguan thought for a moment and nodded:
"The method you proposed is good, but I need to meet Xiao Dong'er to decide whether to approve it."
Phew... I knew that you, Zhenbao, are reasonable. King Heng's slander, which is so easy to break that even a three-year-old child would not believe, will definitely not fool you... Zhao Duan showed a warm smile:
"She is in the team and is now in the Imperial City, under the guard of the soldiers of the Divine Machine Camp. If Your Majesty wants to see her, you can order her to come."
Xu Zhenguan looked at him quietly and said with a smile:
"You have made a good arrangement. In that case, have someone bring her to see me. By the way, you don't have to stay here. You can just catch up with Eunuch Hai and the others."
Implication:
She wanted to meet Xiao Dong'er alone.
Zhao Duan's heartstrings were inexplicably tense, but thinking that Madam Xiao was sensible and had seen through the bottom line beforehand, he was relieved: "Yes."
After saying this, he stood up, said goodbye, and walked out of the imperial study to pick someone up.
The empress was left sitting alone in the room, playing with a Yulin brush dyed vermilion with her slender jade fingers, lost in thought.
……
Not long after.
Outside the study door, a female official led two imperial guards and escorted a woman.
"Your Majesty, people have been brought."
"Go out." Xu Zhenguan came back to his senses and said lightly.
The palace maids left, leaving only Madam Xiao, who was wearing a dark horse-faced skirt and had been dressed up on the way. She was extremely respectful, with her head lowered, and stepped into the threshold carefully, not daring to breathe. Her knees softened, and she knelt lightly on the Western knitted carpet in the study.
"I, Xiao Dong'er, pay my respects to His Majesty!"
Xu Zhenguan held the slender light brown pen between his white fingers, looking down with dignity:
"Keep your head up."
Xiao Dong'er hurried a little and raised her face carefully.
Her hair was jet-black, her face was round and majestic, and she had a pretty appearance. However, due to the ravages she had suffered during this period, the lady looked even more fragile and pitiful.
Although she is a widow, she is over 30 years old, which is the perfect age for a woman to reach maturity. Any more mature would make her look too soft, and any less mature would make her look too immature.
Especially her figure, which is curvy and full of femininity.
When Xiao Dong'er knelt on the ground and looked up, her heart skipped a beat when she saw the Queen of Yu State!
She was deeply stunned!
How could there be such a beautiful, cool, graceful and domineering woman in this world?
Xiao Dong'er herself was an extremely outstanding beauty, but at this moment, when she looked into the eyes of the empress, she actually felt extremely ashamed!
"As expected of her as the 'First Widow of Yu State' in folk legend, she is indeed very pretty." Xu Zhenguan examined her for a moment and said calmly.
Xiao Dong'er shuddered and quickly lowered her eyes, terrified:
"Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. How could I, a humble girl of yours, be so attractive to your Majesty?"
Xu Zhenguan looked down from a high place with an elegant posture:
"Mr. Zhao just said a lot of good things about you to me. He even traveled a thousand miles to bring you back to the capital and arranged for you to meet me."
Geek!
Although Xiao Dong'er is a woman, she is able to take charge of the family. How can she not be a "human genius"?
Just hearing this sentence, I felt uneasy and hurriedly explained:
"Lord Zhao has defeated the Heng bandits. I am fortunate to have been rescued. I am extremely grateful. I dare not have any unreasonable expectations. If I can serve Your Majesty, it will be a blessing for my entire Xiao family!"
Xu Zhenguan stroked the pen with his fingertips, his bright eyes like lacquer looking down at her quietly:
"If you don't dare to have it, you will have it anyway."
Xiao Dong'er was very anxious and explained in panic: "I just said something careless and I didn't mean it..."
Xu Zhenguan suddenly chuckled, his voice was calm, but the words he threw out were earth-shattering:
"When you went to Beijing to discuss the imperial merchant quota and met with Zhao Shaobao privately, it was not like this."
At the beginning, Madam Xiao and Xu Zudi went to Beijing together, secretly went out, and met in a private house called "Cha Rong Xiao Zhai" in the city.
This matter was quite secretive, but after his identity as an imperial merchant was exposed, Prince Heng's Palace tried to find out about it.
Before this, the empress had already received the record of this private meeting from the shadow guards hidden in the city long before.
Of course, since the private meeting was top secret, no one knew the specific process, but the empress knew about it.
He said this casually at this moment, but he had the intention of deceiving others.
Xiao Dong'er's body trembled, and a look of confusion and grievance appeared on her face:
"Your Majesty, I have indeed sought help from Lord Zhao, but from beginning to end, I only talked about official business, nothing else!"
Xu Zhenguan narrowed his eyes to examine her expression, and after a moment, he smiled sweetly:
"I didn't say anything, please get up quickly."
……
……
Outside the Yangxin Hall.
Zhao Duan watched Xiao Dong'er disappear from his sight, then ran to the imperial study. After thinking for a while, he did not go to meet the returning acquaintance. Instead, he turned around, made a few turns, and arrived at a side hall.
At this moment, in the hall, Yuan Li, wearing a sky-blue official robe with a double-breasted collar, with a handsome face and eyes full of vicissitudes, was sitting alone.
Seeing him step in, she was slightly surprised: "Zhao Shaobao? But His Majesty wants to see me?"
After the impromptu "report meeting" just now, the ministers left one after another, except Yuan Li who stayed and waited here, trying to meet the empress.
Zhao Duan had just come out and learned this news from a familiar female official.
"Don't worry, Lord Yuan. His Majesty is meeting with the head of the Xiao family in Donghu now. I think he will have some free time later." Zhao Duan walked over with a smile and sat down opposite Yuan Li in a familiar manner.
"I thought Mr. Yuan and the others might be bored here, so I came to join in the fun."
Yuan Li was stunned for a moment. The man in blue had a strange look in his eyes, his beard stretched out, and he smiled:
"It is a great honor for the young guard to come and keep me company and entertain me."
Zhao Duan waved his hand and said unhappily:
"Mr. Yuan, you are too polite. My real power is only that of a temporary military commander, and my honorary title is only the third rank. What virtue or ability do I have to make Mr. Yuan be so polite?"
He said sadly: "I still remember that when I was lucky enough to overthrow the Zhang brothers, when I left the palace, Lord Yuan condescended to ride in the same carriage with me, a mere seventh-rank official at the time. I have to say that it is not an exaggeration to say that he was very kind to me."
Yuan Li was slightly distracted.
In just over a year, he witnessed with his own eyes how Zhao Du'an went from being a small envoy of the seventh rank to walking on a tightrope step by step, participating in the bloody storms in the court, toppling one political enemy after another, and finally making his way out.
Until now, let’s not even mention his identity as “future emperor’s husband”.
Also discard the honorary title of third-rank Shao Bao.
Just based on his powerful military position as the commander of the Shenjiying, no one in the court, civil or military, dared to underestimate him.
Yuan Li had no doubt that as long as the empress could survive the "Eight Kings Rebellion" and Zhao Duan was not dead, based on his military exploits alone, in the near future, Zhao Duan would most likely become the youngest first-rank official in the history of the Yu State.
A very human minister!
How many years did it take Li Yanfu to reach this point?
How many years did Yuan Li spend?
"Heroes emerge from youth..." Yuan Li sighed with admiration in her eyes.
The boy is determined to leave his hometown, and will not return until he becomes famous... Zhao Duan silently replied in his heart, smiling: "It's just luck, just like many famous generals emerge in troubled times. If I can, I would rather not wear this official robe than see the world suffer so many disasters."
Yuan Li looked at him deeply and said in surprise: "You didn't lie."
"..." Zhao Duan was sad: "Am I, in Lord Yuan's eyes, a person who desires fame and fortune?"
Isn't it? Yuan Li was shocked.
Zhao Duan coughed lightly, stopped teasing him, and became more serious, tentatively asking:
"Mr. Yuan wants to see Your Majesty, is it because of Emperor Xianzong of Wei?"
Yuan Li was not surprised and nodded calmly with a gloomy look:
"Wei Xianzong surrendered to the enemy and betrayed the court. His crime is extremely serious. I recommended him in the beginning. Now that he has shown rebellious intentions, I cannot escape the blame. Therefore, I have come to Your Majesty to apologize and severely punish Wei Xianzong and Yuan. Otherwise, it will not be enough to set things right."
He cupped his hands, looking solemn:
"I will resign from my post as Imperial Censor and stay in Beijing as a teacher to teach the younger students and let them learn from my mistakes."
No... Old Yuan, you are not being sincere. At this critical juncture, when we need people, how could Zhenbao agree if you just resign?
Zhao Duan curled his lips, thinking that he was indeed an old villain in the court.
Heart hand black.
Yuan Li's strategy was nothing more than going with the flow. Now that the Li Party has been defeated, only the Imperial Party and the Qingliu Party remain in the court.
The former was still shallow, and the Qingliu Party became an unstable factor. It happened that Wei Xianzong surrendered to the enemy, and Yuan Li simply did not wait for the empress to punish him, but took the initiative to plead guilty.
If she makes him guilty of all his crimes first, it will be difficult for the empress to punish him severely.
"Lord Yuan is making things difficult for Your Majesty." Zhao Duan sighed softly.
Yuan Li waved her hands hurriedly: "I have no such intention, but I feel that my sins are so serious that I must be punished."
He had some suspicion that Zhao Duan was here to test the waters on behalf of the empress, and was very cautious.
Zhao Duan looked at him seriously and said straight to the point: "Mr. Yuan, you should know that the State of Yu is in turmoil right now, and it is time to use people."
Yuan Li was stunned for a moment: "What does Zhao Shaobao mean?"
Zhao Duan pursed his lips and said:
"I don't know much about marching and fighting, but I can see that Wei Xianzong is a talented person. After I arrested everyone in Prince Heng's palace, I interrogated them on the way back to the capital. I learned that Wei Xianzong was forced to join the army.
Xu Heng set a trap for him, set up a plan, got hold of his leverage, and used his relatives to coerce, coerce, and bribe him into joining the pirate ship..."
Yuan Li felt something was wrong the more she listened: "So?"
Zhao Duan smiled and said, "I wonder if Lord Yuan would be willing to give up this man and let me have him do good deeds while serving his sentence?"
This time, Yuan Li was really stunned. Her expression became serious and she leaned forward slightly: "You dare to use him?"
Zhao Duan smiled calmly: "Why not?"
Yuan Li stared at him blankly for a while, then suddenly lost his temper and sat back in his chair, his eyes complicated: "Heroes emerge young."
This was the second time he made this comment.
The two times are completely different.
Of course he understood what Zhao Duan meant: It might be true that he valued talent, but even if Zhao Duan really dared to use it, there was no need to come to him to ask for it.
The reason for coming here is to go through the motions, and the meaning is clear:
The one who surrendered to the enemy was Wei Xianzong, who was your Yuan Li's man. Now that I am taking this man away, I, Zhao Duan, will bear the blame for Wei Xianzong's crimes.
This is undoubtedly taking the initiative to share the blame with Yuan Li and share the guilt that he will bear.
"Why?" Yuan Li's eyes were complicated, and she jokingly said, "You won't tell me, just because of the phrase 'gratefulness of knowing me'."
"I'm not that 'grateful'," Zhao Duan stood up and walked out calmly, "I'm just helping your majesty to share his worries."
Yuan Li seemed to be thinking about something.
……
After leaving the flower hall, Zhao Duan took only two steps and suddenly stopped. He turned around and looked at Mochou, who had been standing quietly not far from the corridor outside the flower hall.
After exchanging glances, the two of them walked away for a distance in tacit understanding.
"Is it fun to eavesdrop?" Zhao Duan joked.
With his current level of cultivation, he naturally noticed Mo Chou coming outside the door.
The "female prime minister" had a stern face, not showing any shame or anger for having her eavesdropped on. She just stared at him fiercely:
"What did you mean by what you said to Yuan Li?"
Zhao Duan curled his lips, rubbed his eyebrows, and sighed softly:
"I really don't know how you got the title of 'female prime minister'. You don't even understand this? Let me ask you, is the balance of parties important in the court?"
Mo Chou frowned, resisted the urge to turn around and leave, and said coldly: "Naturally it is important."
"But there are always more important things than this," Zhao Duan said with a serious expression, staring at her:
"Now that your majesty is in charge, even if the Qingliu Party is temporarily powerful in the court, it cannot overturn the world. However, if we remove Yuan Li, the leader of the Qingliu Party, for the sake of balance, it will be tantamount to pushing the families behind the Qingliu Party officials to the Eighth Prince. This is unacceptable.
Now that the Li Party has collapsed, it means that there are a lot of vacancies in the court. Some of these can be used to promote new officials and cultivate the imperial party, and the other part will be fed to the Qingliu Party so that this group of people can be tied to the chariot of the court. "
Mo Chou suddenly realized:
“So, the charge of Emperor Wei Xianzong’s betrayal to the enemy is here. If Your Majesty does not severely punish Yuan Li, then you will not be able to convince the people. However, if you severely punish Yuan Li, then the Qingliu Party will be alienated, which will harm the overall situation.
Therefore, someone must give His Majesty a way out, a reason. When you ask for Wei Xianzong, you will be the person who gives him the way out.
With the military achievements you have made, once you ask for someone, His Majesty should grant it, both morally and logically.
And if you saved Emperor Wei Xianzong and even brought him to atone for his crimes, then even this commander who surrendered to the enemy was not severely punished, and it would be even more unreasonable for Yuan Li, who recommended him, to be severely punished...
In this way, you can maintain your majesty's dignity, stabilize the Qingliu Party, and give Yuan Li a favor... and all you lose is the reward for this military achievement... You don't need this anyway."
Zhao Duan nodded with a smile:
"Right, it seems that you are not that stupid. Stay with His Majesty and use your brain more."
Mochou got angry when she saw that he acted like a know-it-all and was condescending, and the admiration that had just risen in her heart disappeared in an instant.
Big Ice Tuozi sneered and replied:
"If you want to lecture me, why don't you go and see if His Majesty is angry? Oh, let me remind you that Xiao Dong'er has been sent out of the palace."
Zhao Duan's expression changed. He looked deeply at the maid who came with the dowry, then turned around and rushed to the imperial study.
However, as soon as he entered the courtyard where the empress was, an elderly female official who looked familiar raised her hand to stop him:
"Lord Zhao, please stop. His Majesty has just ordered that she is a little tired and no one is allowed to disturb her."
Zhao Duan opened his mouth and pointed at his face with his finger: "I want to go in, it's me."
He tried hard to emphasize his own specialness.
The older female official smiled and said, "His Majesty has said that Lord Zhao in particular is not allowed to enter."
"..." Zhao Duan's heart tightened, realizing that something was wrong. He cursed Xiao Dong'er in his heart. His intuition told him that it must be the two women who met, which led to Zhenbao's misunderstanding and anger.
He pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand and pointed in a certain direction: "Look, Cai Xukun!"
"Ah?" The female officials were stunned for a moment, and subconsciously turned their heads to look, and then they saw a residual shadow forcibly breaking through the blockade.
Zhao Duan easily bypassed the palace servants and appeared outside the tightly closed door of the imperial study. He coughed lightly and raised his hand to knock on the door:
“Your Majesty, it’s me…Ah!!”
A majestic, vast, invisible energy wave suddenly hit Zhao Duan, his face changed drastically, and he was blasted away like a cannonball without any ability to resist, over the high wall, and out of the Yangxin Palace.
"roll."
The empress's cold voice echoed in her ears.
Zhao Duan took a few steps and landed on the ground, releasing the force. He felt his blood boiling and the energetic energy in his body gradually faded away.
With a bitter face, he said loudly: "Your Majesty, I have something important to ask you... Damn it!"
As soon as the word "see" was uttered, Zhao Duan's hair stood on end. He suddenly broke away from the afterimage and retreated violently.
The next second, with a "ding" sound, the Taia sword pierced into the ground where he had just stood, half of it was embedded in the ground, leaving the hilt still trembling!
"Murdering my own husband..." Zhao Duan took a deep breath, feeling grief-stricken and angry. He was not as strong as others, and it was difficult for him to be a husband:
"But I can also control the Taia Sword..."
"The sword comes..." He stretched out his hand to grab it, then suddenly pulled it back, turned around and ran away.
Behind him, the Taia sword was drawn out by itself, as if held by an invisible hand, and slashed towards him:
"roll!"
……
Correct typos first and then correct them
(End of this chapter)