Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 378 5.60 Why did the emperor’s sister-in-law come here at this time?
Volume [-]

5.60 Why did the sister-in-law come here at this time?
That night, the "duty room" in the west side hall of Daming Palace.

The Ming Dynasty system in the Great Zhou Dynasty established a cabinet, established cabinet elders, and respected the chief and assistants. Counting the "special case" of the official secretary who was not included in the cabinet, there were generally six palace bachelors, namely Zhongji Palace, Jianji Palace, and Wenhua Palace. The Hall, Wuying Pavilion, Wenyuan Pavilion and Dong Pavilion respectively correspond to the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of War, Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Among them, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is known as the "Heavenly Official" because of his great power, and there is a custom that "the Heavenly Official does not join the cabinet". However, in actual implementation, it is generally "real but not famous", and the treatment is different from other There is no difference between the five people; these six people stay in the palace in order and are on duty. The custom is to live in the east side hall of Daming Palace. After moving in, no one will go out unless summoned by the emperor, so as not to see anything they shouldn't see. thing.

The side hall on the west side is used as a common "favor" to entertain some favored ministers who are "Jian is in the emperor's heart" to show their attention. Most of the time, it is empty; this time Zhou Yang was "enjoyed" summoned at night, and it was also After Emperor Yonghe had discussed the important matter with the elder on duty, he asked him to reply by the way. Since it was already midnight after the conversation, he was asked to stay one night and go back after breakfast tomorrow.

"Are you angry?" In the living room, Princess Yongchang teased someone while playing with the Bayi bayonet that someone always carried - of course, she would definitely hand it over when she saw the emperor and send it back afterwards - and leaned lazily on the couch, "I I know it’s difficult to deal with you, but I also have to think about my brother. Although Qi Jianhui’s place is reliable, it’s difficult to use it at critical moments because there is an equal force.”

"Yu Linjun?" Zhou Yang was actually just pretending to avoid the other party's misunderstanding that "it's actually very easy" and "do it again" and so on. Now that the princess has come to explain, it must be time to give it up, "Princess, we are all here. At this point, is it possible that I’m still not qualified to figure out the real problem?”

"Don't be angry. After what happened this time, I will let you understand how beneficial it is." Princess Yongchang threw the Bayi bayonet into Zhou Yang's arms, and she leaned on Ai Lang's chest and said, "My nephew I don’t know how I managed to raise enough manpower and even equip myself with weapons. I am not willing to accept the current situation and am ready to do something."

Zhou Yang's heart moved, and he didn't say much because of his guilty conscience. Although his intelligence network in Huguang and Jiangnan is not very powerful, some large-scale things are still no problem. For example, the weapons of Yizhong County King are mainly from Xuezi. The fine iron was financed by smuggling from Jiubian, the source of which was supplied to the Ningguo Mansion by the brand name Xue, and secondly by the private salt business along the Yangtze River. Needless to say, the origin.

If she really wanted to investigate these matters, Princess Yongchang would be able to figure it out clearly. It was only because of the friendship with Prince Yi Zhong that she did not take action. Unexpectedly, Prince Yi Zhong became angry in advance, so much so that almost everyone moved. Everyone knew it; the benefits were obvious. Emperor Yonghe had almost no energy to care about anything else. By the way, he also gave Zhou Yang the opportunity to be promoted to the capital.

"Princess." Zhou Yang thought for a while and still felt that he needed to ask clearly.

"Huh?" Princess Yongchang raised her head and stared at him with great aura.

"Rong'er!" Zhou Yang changed the title knowingly, "If I remember correctly, the Royal Guards are the Supreme Emperor's loyal supporters, right? This is the only one in the entire capital that can suppress the Imperial Guards. The armies will not be stupid enough to meddle in royal affairs; if something goes wrong, the Supreme Emperor will be able to do so."

"You really dare to ask." Princess Yongchang sat up angrily and gave him a hammer. "You should be able to guess the root cause. There was Kaier in the middle before, but this kid did a little too well. Wu Xun Mai has already fully recognized him, so the few things left in the father's hands will be worthless, and there are very few people coming to see him on weekdays."

"I'm so old, why don't I know how to close the door and rest, and I can live for a few more years." Zhou Yanggang complained a few words before retreating helplessly under the murderous eyes of His Royal Highness, "It means that the Supreme Emperor is very concerned about the current situation. Dissatisfied, he gave the few remaining things to Yizhong County King, and coupled with the many things that the prince had already mastered, this gave him confidence and felt that he could do it again—oh!"

"Shut up!" Princess Yongchang hit someone in the lower abdomen with an elbow, successfully interrupting the "singing", but did not mean to refute, "In this case, Qi Jianhui will definitely not be able to make a big move, in the hands of the emperor brother Apart from Zhao Quan, you are the only one here; and another one, you have just obtained your position, and no one would have thought that your men could form an army so quickly, especially after so many things were taken away by me."

"Outsiders would probably think that I was able to get where I am now because I provided money and equipment. They would never have thought that an army could actually be formed in less than two months." Zhou Yang finally accepted this explanation and reached out to hug the girl back. In his arms, "Then why are you in such a hurry? How do you know that Prince Yi Zhong will be before the end of the year - huh?"

"I will not see any trouble in the royal family. Even if there is any trouble, it will never affect the stability of the court." Princess Yongchang's explanation also made Zhou Yang understand that all the armies around the capital were not aligned, and there was her shadow in the middle. " You don’t have to worry, I will let Binger notify you in time if there is any news; remember, two to three hundred households will come to Beijing before the end of the month, and I will ask Qiu Liang to help arrange the place."

"Rong'er, you..." Zhou Yang was dumbfounded. He asked two or three hundred households to come to the capital. Not many in the entire capital could do this. In addition, Qiu Liang, the commander of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division, Being honest and obedient cannot be explained by a mere "intelligence network". "Do you know that you are playing with fire?"

"My nephew's men came to Beijing in the name of a caravan. Don't say you don't know." Princess Yongchang did not explain, but brought the topic back to Zhou Yang, "Nowadays, all the major businesses in Beijing , there are not many people who have no dealings with Xue Zihao, and suddenly there are more than a dozen caravans with hundreds of people. If you say that Xuezhihao doesn't know, do you think I believe it?
There are also artillery and firecrackers. Is your second uncle a little too ambitious?He could buy dozens of artillery pieces and thousands of firecrackers from the red-haired ghost so easily. Do you think the emperor is really so relieved?Of course there is no problem now, but what about after this incident passes?Have you ever thought about how to end it? "What do you mean?" Zhou Yang asked after a moment of silence. Of course he knew that the current power of the Xue family had come into the attention of interested people. This was also the reason why he originally encouraged Xue Xun to take over the East China Sea Islands as his foundation, and then go to Beijing to "pay tribute and become a vassal". But it is clear that he underestimated royal sensitivities.

"You don't have to think too much, just listen to my greetings." Princess Yongchang did not answer directly, but moved a little to cater to someone's exploration of her clothes, "The situation in Beijing today is actually far from being urgent. It is even more urgent. Chances are, my father and brother spent too much energy on places they shouldn't have spent, which consumed the royal family's own foundation.

Nowadays, there is instability in the court. As the saying goes, "What is good from above will be followed by the lower ones." The royal family itself cannot be monolithic, so there is no way to expect these ministers to be honest and obedient. The only way is to end these undesirable things as quickly as possible. , in order to restore stability to the court, things in the world are not just limited to the capital, other places are not so smooth. "

"Okay!" Zhou Yang thought for a while and nodded in agreement. He had no better choice.

"That's good." Princess Yongchang nodded, holding down someone's excessive movements and driving them away, "You will come out of the palace with me tomorrow morning, and you will do whatever you want to do next, but the core focus is on the men in your hands. Others You don’t want to be here.”

"Your affairs are over, mine haven't even begun yet!" Zhou Yang made an angry move. Now he wanted to regain the initiative with the princess, and this was the only way, but he didn't have the courage either. It’s really too much fun in the palace, it’s just for show, “Is it possible that there is something going on in the palace in the middle of the night?”

Unfortunately, anyone who has taken a lot of exams in modern times knows that at critical moments, enemies often cross paths——

"Creak -" The door opened at an untimely sound. Just as two figures were about to enter, they saw figures cuddling closely together on the couch in the living room. Fortunately, there was a screen blocking them, so they were not too exposed.

Princess Yongchang pushed away someone who had already started to "control the water", hurriedly packed up her clothes a few times, and quickly chased them out. It took half a cup of tea before she brought two people in, but her cheeks were rare. It is clear that the other two are only slightly better, with a lot of blush on their pretty faces.

"But I came at the wrong time?" Zhou Yang smiled bitterly and bowed. He really didn't expect that the queen would choose this time to come. "I thought Rong'er had something to tell you, and seeing that you have been tired for a day, I brought her I came here to take a look and wanted to rest early, but I didn’t want to underestimate you two—what are you doing standing there and not pouring tea!”

"Why did the emperor's sister-in-law come here at this time?" Princess Yongchang's face had recovered a lot. She pointed to the person whom the queen greeted just now and said, "Speaking of which, you and this girl should be familiar. There are many people in Rongguo Mansion waiting for you, and only She hasn’t seen it before.”

"I've met eldest sister!" Zhou Yang took the tea bowl respectfully and guessed the identity of the female official in front of him. It was Jia Yuanchun, the "hope" of Rongguo Mansion. He just didn't expect that this girl would be so favored by the queen. value.

"I have met General Zhou, and I have heard from the palace people that there is a very capable disciple in the palace, but it is a pity that I have not been lucky enough to meet him until today!" Yuan Chun smiled and bowed and retreated behind the queen without saying anything.

"Okay, why should we be so aloof when we are all talking to the same family?" The queen smiled gently, turned to look at Zhou Yang and said, "General Zhou, don't be too nervous, I just stopped by to see this girl Rong'er; now Now that I have seen it, it is naturally inconvenient to stay longer, besides, Rong'er must have already mentioned to you about your marriage with Miss Xue's family?"

"I will be ashamed!" Zhou Yang smiled bitterly and bowed. Of course he knew what the queen was implying.

"Okay, General Zhou, let's have a good rest." The queen naturally didn't want to stay here for too long, so she nodded with a smile and took Princess Yongchang out without mentioning it.

(End of this chapter)