Prime Minister dare not be

Chapter 36

The servant bowed and led Xie Shu into Xie Dun's room.He was lying on his back on the bed, his body was fat, his face was sallow, and he was panting with difficulty. It seemed that the situation was very bad.

Sitting beside the bed was Xie Dun's wife, Liu Shi, with a cold face, looking at her husband on the bed without any sadness.There was also a young woman kneeling beside her, who should be their daughter-in-law, Xie Min's wife.

Seeing Xie Shu, the two women immediately stood up and saluted, but she stopped her with her hands up: "Don't be too polite, aunt and sister-in-law."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law retreated to the side, very indifferent, after all, it was Xie Shu who sent Xie Min to the beheading platform.

Xie Shu looked at Xie Dun, and said to Mubai, "Go and invite all the doctors from the Xiangfu."

Mubai responded, and was about to go out, Liu said coldly: "Prime Minister, don't worry about it, we also have a doctor in our residence, this is your own crime, it can't be cured."

Xie Shu could hear resentment in her words, and he didn't know whether it was towards himself or Xie Dun.

Xie Dun on the bed seemed to be stimulated by these words, panting more and more.Xie Shu walked a few steps closer, wanting to express his condolences, when he suddenly sat up, took the jade pillow and threw it at her.

Before he could evade, someone behind him pulled Xie Shu to the area behind him, and the pillow hit his forehead, and blood dripped immediately.

Xie Shu saw that it was Xie Ran, and quickly reached out to help him: "How are you?"

Xie Ran was furious, clutching his forehead and yelling at the guards outside the door. Mrs. Liu and her daughter-in-law were a little flustered, and hurried forward to apologize.

Xie Dun gasped heavily and beat the bed, crying loudly: "Poor my son Min, who died so badly, you sinner, what face do you have to enter my house!"

Xie Shu pursed his lips and helped Xie Ran out the door.

Xie Ran was bleeding profusely on his forehead, looking a little creepy.Xie Shu ordered the boy to invite the doctor, but without helping him go far, he sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard.

"Why did you come?"

Xie Ran pressed his forehead tightly: "On the way back to the mansion, I met Mubai, he said that Xie Dun's life will not be long, and the prime minister is here, so I came here. Hmph, I deserve it for not living up to this point!"

Seeing that the blood on his forehead couldn't stop, Xie Shu said with a little trepidation, "Thanks to your sharp eyesight and quick hands, otherwise I would be the one who suffered."

Xie Ran glanced at her: "This is what it should be. If I can't even do this, then I won't be considered loyal."

Xie Ran's face turned pale after waiting for a long time without seeing the doctor.Xie Shu suspected that the servants in the house were resentful and deliberately delayed, so he called a guard Haosheng to take care of him, and went to call for someone himself.

To the west is Xie Ling's room, the more you walk in, the more deserted it becomes, until you walk into the garden, you finally see the young servant leading someone.

"Prime Minister forgives..."

Xie Shu interrupted the doctor's confession, "Hurry up and treat the wound."

"Yes Yes Yes."

Xie Shu took a step behind and walked back for a while, when he suddenly heard a child crying, he turned around and walked towards the source of the sound.

The cries came from a courtyard with messy things, even chickens and ducks, it should be the kitchen.The three children stood in the courtyard, all of them were dressed in silk shirts, and looked very dignified.The youngest one stood crying outside a room, round and white and tender like glutinous rice balls.

The taller one next to him looked like an older brother, holding a heavy small cloth bag in his hand, and was sternly admonishing him, while the other one was sitting on a rock far away with his back to them, ignoring them at all.

The little brother was tired of crying, so he pushed his brother to the ground: "I just took some rice, what are you afraid of?"

The younger brother sat down on the ground and cried even more fiercely: "But... grandpa said, that everything in the house is not ours anymore..."

"Nonsense! When I go out and exchange for candy, don't eat anything!"

He was about to leave, but his younger brother pulled his trousers, pointed at the door and said, "What should I do if there is a lot of rice sprinkled inside? Someone will find out, woo woo..."

The elder brother stomped his feet angrily: "Don't cry anymore! It's not you, clumsy, I wouldn't have taken you if I knew it!"

Xie Shu saw that there was a stick next to them, a bucket was tied to the end of the stick, and a big hole was broken in the window next to it. He guessed that they used this method to scoop rice out of the rice jar in the house, but after all, they were small and not strong enough. , When I retracted my head from the window hole, I sprinkled most of it.

Poor Nuomi Wanzi gasped from crying, Xie Shu felt pitiful looking at it.At this time, the elder brother yelled at the child sitting on the rock: "Ah Xuan, quickly find a way, isn't the way to steal rice the one you thought of? You must have a way!"

The child sitting on the rock finally stood up and pointed to the corner of the courtyard: "Help me catch the chicken."

The elder brother was stunned for a moment, and then he understood: "You mean you don't want rice, and you can exchange the chicken for sugar? That's fine." He threw the rice bag to the younger brother and rolled up his sleeves to help. Ah Xuan's children worked together to catch an old hen.

Ah Xuan turned around and found a rope, tied it around the old hen's ankle, let him carry it and stuff it into the window hole, the rope was still firmly in his hand.Soon after, he started to draw in the rope, and the hen in the house jumped wildly for a while, but was dragged to the window forcibly, and was carried out by his brother again.

"Okay, the rice is clean, no one will find out now." He untied the rope, let the hen go, and helped up his crying and dirty brother.

Xie Shu turned to leave, only to find that Mubai had returned, standing right behind her.

"Mubai, do you know whose family these children belong to?"

"The subordinates only know the young master named Ah Xuan, who is the grandson of the son's cousin Xie Ling's family."

Xie Shu smiled: "It's surprising that Xie Ling has such a smart grandson." She thought for a while, and then ordered: "You go and pass on my order, and the children in this house will be paid by the Prime Minister's house." Invite a famous teacher to come to teach. I don't think our Xie family has no good seedlings, and we may not be able to surpass the son of Wang Jing's family in the future."

The most important thing for the prosperity of the family is the continuous talent. Thinking that Wang Jingzhi can no longer stimulate him, Xie Shu felt extremely happy.

Not long after Wei Yizhi returned to the fief, he wrote to Xie Shu, and it was already March in Yangchun.

He probably had some scruples and didn't say anything explicit.Xie Shu read it carefully, and at the end, he suddenly mentioned that the King of Changsha was training his troops recently.

It is not a good sign to train soldiers frequently in the Taiping years. No wonder even Wei Yizhi felt that something was wrong.

Xie Ran's injury has been recuperating for half a month, and finally healed a lot, now only a little scar remains.In the evening he came to Xie Shu and brought news from the East Palace.

"I have some clues about what the prime minister ordered, but I still can't figure it out."

Xie Shu raised his hand to signal him to sit down: "Tell me about it."

"The queen has been coming and going to the East Palace a lot these days. At first, I thought she was concerned about the new crown princess, but every time she had a long secret talk with the prince before leaving. The prince is also a little abnormal. I tried a few words, but he was very strict and refused. To elaborate, but it is certain that it must be related to His Majesty."

Xie Shu frowned, stroked the penholder with his fingers, and suddenly asked, "Do you know the King of Changsha?"

Xie Ran was taken aback: "King Changsha? I often heard the crown prince mentioning that he is His Majesty's younger brother. The crown prince often said that His Majesty thought he was dull and indecisive, but the King of Changsha admired him very much, and his uncle and nephew had deep feelings. The crown prince has been sad for a long time."

Xie Shu felt that something was vaguely connected, "Your Majesty promised that the prince will return the power to me after the wedding, but he has not fulfilled it so far. Maybe your majesty is not guarding against me, but the prince... No, the prince is kind and can't do it." What is out of the ordinary, His Majesty is guarding against the Queen."

The more I think about it, the more transparent it becomes. No wonder the emperor discouraged Wei Yi's departure from the capital.

Before the conclusion was reached, Mubai hurried in from the door suddenly, and said in a low voice: "Young master, the news from the palace is that His Majesty suddenly fell ill."

Xie Shu hurriedly packed into the palace, and the palace was already in chaos.

The Empress Dowager was questioning Eunuch Xiang in the hall, when Xie Shu entered, he saw a group of ministers standing around, and they didn't even care about greeting each other.

Eunuch Xiang nodded his head on the ground: "Reporting to the Queen Mother, Your Majesty fainted suddenly."

The Queen Mother asked sharply, "Why did Your Majesty suddenly faint?"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty drank a bowl of ginseng soup earlier, and then felt exhausted, and fainted not long after."

"Who brought the ginseng soup?"

"Concubine Yuan Gui."

Zhongshu Supervisor Yuan Lin immediately cupped his hands and said: "The Empress Dowager clearly understands that the imperial concubine is deeply loved, how could she do such things that harm oneself and benefit others?"

Xie Shu also felt that it didn't make sense. He had heard many examples of harem fights before, and framing one's position was the most typical one.Concubine Yuan Gui's mother and son both favored Zhenglong, so they would harm the emperor only if they had holes in their heads.But if the emperor and concubine Yuan Gui are in trouble, the biggest beneficiaries are the queen and prince.

Although the matter of abolishing the prince has been interfered by the courtiers and has not been realized, the emperor has never given up on the idea, and the queen is naturally worried.

The queen's natal family has been severely suppressed by the emperor in the past few years, and she can only wait until the prince gets married and has the help of the royal family before she dares to do anything.The emperor may have noticed it a long time ago, so he held the power of the court and refused to let go, so that if the prince had second thoughts, he could directly abolish him and establish the ninth prince.

Or the other way around, it was because the emperor was unwilling to let go of power and the empress was impatient, so she took the risk and even contacted the king of Changsha, who was close to the prince, for help.

The Empress Dowager seemed to understand what was going on, so she remained silent.

Xie Shu quietly looked at the inner room through the screen. The sandalwood was wafting and the lights were peaceful. The emperor, who had always been fighting against her, was lying motionless on the bed at this moment, which made people not used to it.

The imperial doctors withdrew, and the Empress Dowager immediately asked, "How is your Majesty doing?"

"I still need to look at the situation again."

The queen mother said angrily: "Is it because you are being raised in the palace so that you can take another look at the situation?"

The imperial doctors hurriedly confessed: "Yes, I will do my best to heal Your Majesty as soon as possible."

Xie Shu just took a look at the situation and then withdrew. After all, it was a harem battle, and the Queen Mother was in charge. She had no right to interfere. She just felt that the Queen was too impatient this time.

It would be good for the Xie family if the crown prince could really ascend the throne, but now it seems that everything is still unknown.

On the second day, news came from the palace that the Empress Dowager's solution was to put Concubine Yuan Gui under house arrest in the palace.

This move is considered mild, but the Ninth Prince heard from nowhere that the empress and the crown prince were responsible for this incident, how could he swallow this breath, and sneaked out of the palace that day to win over the Yuan family as his father, queen, mother and concubine Ask for justice.

Unexpectedly, he was young and moved very quickly. The Yuan family and Wei Yizhi's forces supported him, and they were quickly persuaded to lead the people to the palace.

Xie Yun was in charge of guarding the palace city, so Xie Shu was the first to get the news, rushed over in person, and ordered all gates to be strictly guarded.

On a cold spring night, the city of Miyagi was ablaze.

Sima Ting, who was riding on a horse, was wearing armor, and the youthfulness between his brows and eyes was completely covered by anger. He looked up at Xie Shu and cursed: "Traitor, don't open the door yet!"

Xie Shulang said: "It's not that the truth doesn't open the door. Once the truth opens, His Highness will become a sinner through the ages, and it will be difficult to recover from now on."

"Nonsense!" Sima Ting pointed at her with a horsewhip: "You are the sinner who murdered my father and the emperor and blamed my mother and concubine!"

There was the sound of uniform marching behind him, and Xie Shu narrowed his eyes to see Yang Qiao leading the capital guards marching from a distance.

When Sima Ting saw him, he became more confident: "Xie Shu, do you want to fight against so many of us with just a thousand forbidden troops?"

"His Highness Ninth Prince's move is equivalent to forcing the palace, and there is a suspicion of treason." Xie Shu snorted coldly, and then ordered: "Strictly guard the city gates, and those who enter the palace without permission will be killed immediately!"

Sima Ting stared at her resentfully, hum, pretending to be upright, nothing more than to protect the crown prince's seat!
Yuan Peiling who followed behind him had a troubled expression on his face, alas, they are all acquaintances, how bad it is to fight and kill.

The situation quickly changed again, Wang Jingzhi mobilized the Wang family horses to block the palace gate, obviously to help the prince.

After all, the Ninth Prince did not conspire against him, he did not directly attack the city gate, and retreated outside the palace city, but he did not give up his plan to collect debts, and ended up in a stalemate with the Prince.

Xie Ran sat in Xie Shu's study and made tea carelessly: "It seems that His Majesty hasn't had any accidents, and the two princes have already reached the point of confrontation."

Xie Shu was taken aback by his words: "I always feel that you are on point, but there is something wrong."

Just as he was talking, Mubai came in to report: "My lord, Taifu Wang is asking to see you."

Xie Ran put down the tea set: "Yo, rare guest."

When Wang Jingzhi walked into the study, Xie Ran had already retreated. He was wearing casual clothes today, and described the evacuation as before, but his expression was quite dignified.

Xie Shu took a sip of the freshly brewed tea and invited him to sit down.

"Why did Tai Tuo come to the Prime Minister's mansion today?"

There were fine lines of laughter at the end of Wang Jingzhi's eyes: "Come to send a letter to the prime minister, I hope the prime minister can understand."

Xie Shu personally added a cup of tea for him: "How do you say?"

"The Prime Minister must now feel that the Queen and the Crown Prince are framing Concubine Yuan Gui and the Ninth Prince, right?"

Xie Shu rolled his eyes lightly, not understanding his intentions.

"I just want to tell the prime minister that it is not the king of Changsha that the queen contacted with the crown prince, but the crown prince that the king of Changsha contacted on his own initiative to help him ascend the throne. As for the bowl of ginseng soup that His Majesty gave this time, Concubine Yuan Gui was used by someone to make it his. knife, and it was the queen and the prince who were stabbed."

Xie Shu was stunned, he also knew about the King of Changsha, Wang Luoxiu must have told him.

"Teacher's words are serious?"

Wang Jingzhi took out the letter from his sleeve and handed it to her.Xie Shu took it and opened it, and sure enough the signature was Wang Luoxiu, and the content was consistent with what he said.

Xie Shu was secretly startled, the king of Changsha had not moved for many years, and suddenly raised troops, he must have come prepared.It seems that this time it was a trick, it was not the Queen who blamed Concubine Yuan Gui, but the King of Changsha who deliberately provoked the relationship between the two parties. When the Prince and the Ninth Prince Brothers fight each other, he will be able to reap the benefits of the fisherman.

She looked at Wang Jingzhi: "Then what does Tai Tuo mean now to cooperate with the truth?"

Wang Jingzhi nodded: "The reason why the king of Changsha used this trick is because he saw that the aristocratic families would fight openly and secretly and would not unite. I wonder if Wang Xie will join forces one day?"

Xie Shu raised the teacup: "It's just today."

At the end of March in the 28th year of Yuanhe, Sima Qi, the king of Changsha, led his troops to Jiankang under the banner of "Qing Emperor's side".

Which minister in the court can afford this honor?Naturally, it is Xie Shu, the prime minister who is known as the queen of the traitor.

Xie Shu is not happy, you can't be so shameless, you can rebel if you want, why bother to use the truth!

She sat in the study and rubbed her forehead: "The Ninth Prince and the Crown Prince are still confronting each other, and their uncle can't wait to get them together. Truthfully, he is loyal to the country and bears the brunt of it."

Xie Ran looked at her pretending to be sympathetic: "The prime minister is so pitiful."

Mubai was extremely excited: "This subordinate swears to protect the young master!!!"

"Hey, it would be great if I had more than Xie Yun in my hands."

Xie Ran said intentionally or unintentionally: "It would be great if the person with the most troops is here."

Xie Shu nodded: "Sure enough, I was right to write to King Wuling."

"..." Mubai suddenly felt that the previous slogans were all in vain.

The Great Jin Dynasty was not peaceful at all. Every three to five years, there would always be one or two people who wanted to turn against each other. The hearts of the people in the capital had been trained to be very strong.

Xie Shu's supporters angrily refuted Changsha King's remarks: "It's nonsense. Since when is my family's Prime Minister Xie a traitor? He is clearly righteous!"

The supporters of King Wuling will naturally choke: "Where is your prime minister so righteous?"

"He...he looks like a good person!"

"Hey, our Wuling King has a good face! Otherwise, can he be called a virtuous king?"

"Go to your virtuous king, Lai Fu, bite her!"

Just when it was in a mess, someone suddenly pointed to the carriageway on the street: "Look, Wang Taifu and the prime minister are actually traveling together in a car."

Because Xie Shu "polluted" the monarch, many ministers have distanced themselves from Xie Shu recently, but Taifu Wang Jingzhi has started to frequent the prime minister's house, which is really surprising.

Xie Shu waved his fan and asked Wang Jingzhi: "The Taifu said before that he wanted to find the murderer who framed the queen and the prince. I wonder if there is a clue?"

Wang Jingzhi nodded: "I am about to bring the prime minister to see her. This person is the beauty presented to His Majesty by Wang Jin of Changsha, and she is also his eyes and ears in the palace."

Xie Shu played with the handle of the fan: "Sure enough, the king of Changsha had a premeditated plan."

The beauty was imprisoned in the Huangsha Prison.

Xie Shu and Wang Jingzhi entered the cell first, and the beauty was lying on the ground with her wrists and ankles bound by iron chains.Wang Jingzhi always felt pity for beauties, but he couldn't bear to see them.

"Poor..." Xie Shu squatted on the ground and asked the jailer to help her up. When he saw her face clearly, he was taken aback: "A foreigner?"

Wang Jingzhi said: "She is from Tuyuhun."

Xie Shu stood up and asked the jailer, "Did you find anything?"

(End of this chapter)