Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 13

When Yujing arrived in winter, the sky was always gloomy as if it would never be sunny, which made the ministers who rushed to enter the palace early in the severe cold feel depressed.

The bell in front of the hall rang, and the heavy bell echoed over the huge palace complex, and the lingering sound continued for a long time.Accompanied by the sound of the bell, there was a gust of cold wind, which made the ministers at the foot of the white jade steps shrunk their necks, and one after another entered the Qinzheng Hall with four doors wide open according to their official positions.

Above the spacious and majestic hall, hundreds of officials lined up on both sides, bowing to the emperor in bright yellow.The emperor was only 12 years old, and he only took up a small part of the large gilt dragon-carved chair. Although he was young, he was taught to be very imposing. He sat there with a straight body and a serious face.

But speaking, everyone can see the current situation clearly. The empress dowager, who has always controlled the government and several ministers and chief ministers, said she was sick. Many people are speculating that she may finally retire from the court.In this way, the emperor is still young, and the affairs of the court are not to be left to the three old ministers.To be disrespectful, in recent years, the court may belong to Wang and Feng.

But there are also some active thoughts, thinking that the Empress Dowager will not let go of the government so easily, and just wait and see.So these days, I keep my mouth tightly shut and become a wallflower, lest the cruel and ruthless master will settle accounts and harm himself.

Even though several years have passed, who would have known that the Empress Dowager directly ordered someone to kill the former prince Xiao Nanhe during the banquet, and at that time more than a dozen ministers from the faction who were close to Xiao Nanhe were also implicated, and they killed as soon as they said they would.No one can care about whether the prince's treason charges are true or not. After all, if he dies, only Xiao Huaixu, the little prince of their Liu family, will be left to succeed him. Directly discuss treason.

But in the past few years, the empress dowager has also given a lot of face to the two chief assistants, not to mention humility in everything, and a few days ago she let the little emperor handle government affairs and asked him to consult the chief assistant.No one could guess whether the empress dowager really wanted to retreat or pretended to be humble, but there were already many people who couldn't help throwing olive branches to those two.

In such an environment, the two chief assistants standing at the top of the hundred officials did not speak, and no one dared to speak out.Therefore, half an hour later in the morning, everyone was still listening to an official in charge of ceremonies singing praises.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the hall.Some eunuchs sang in unison: "The empress dowager is here." Then a beautiful woman in a costume was holding the hand of a young eunuch, followed by two big maids Shi Shiran into the hall.

The hall suddenly fell silent, and the official who wrote the long praise before seemed to have his throat stuck, and suddenly closed his mouth and blushed.After a moment of silence, everyone came to their senses and called out to the empress dowager for a thousand years, and the little emperor stood up unexpectedly and took a few steps forward.

"Mother, you..." Why did you come here? The little emperor swallowed it halfway through the words, and said with a concerned expression on his face, "Is the mother's health better?"

"No matter how bad it is, I'm afraid all the lovers will forget that there is an old queen who assists the emperor." Liu Qingtang said pointedly, without looking at the lowered officials on both sides, she went straight to the emperor's dragon chair Chairs separated by screens.

"The queen mother was joking." The little emperor's expression was a little unnatural, but he immediately put on a smile and said, "My son's heart is relieved when the mother is here, and when the mother is not here, I always feel that I have no idea and can't do things well. Fortunately, thanks to my mother's blessing these days, the court is relatively stable and there is no major event, otherwise my son and minister will really be ashamed to see his mother."

"Is it safe? It seems that the emperor really doesn't know about this matter." Liu Qingtang said lightly, regardless of what expression the little emperor had after hearing her words, he directly said to the sixty-year-old man standing next to him: "Feng Shoufu , The Ai family heard something yesterday, which really made the Ai family feel sad, I wonder if Feng Shoufu knows?"

Feng Shoufu's heart skipped a beat, and he wondered if that matter had been known, but after thinking about what he had done, he reluctantly calmed down, and only leaned over with a puzzled face and said: "The old minister is terrified, I don't know what the empress dowager is referring to? "

"Yesterday, the young master of the Feng family beat someone to death in a tea house on North Street. Could it be that Feng Shoufu didn't know?" Liu Qingtang sneered in his heart, but his face was surprised.

Shouting inwardly, Feng Shoufu gritted his teeth after thinking for a while and said, "Criminal ministers deserve to die, I don't know that the rebellious son dares to disregard human lives. It's all due to the incompetent teaching of the criminal ministers. Please punish the empress dowager. For the sake of the Southern Dynasty, spare the life of my wicked son, and the guilty minister is willing to take the punishment on his behalf."

He knew very well that the empress dowager was going to take him under the knife no matter what.These days, the reason she made concessions was to make them proud and get carried away. Naturally, he and the old man from the Wang family would not be affected, but their family members and those who had taken refuge under the sect could not be as cautious as they were.Relying on his power in the court, his son became more and more arrogant and domineering, and finally caused disaster yesterday.

Thinking about it now, no matter how carefully he managed it yesterday, the empress dowager should be watching, or this is a trap aimed at them.If he refuses to admit it now, and the mother will show some evidence later, he will also be dragged into the water.

Feng Shoufu spoke with sincerity, knelt down tremblingly and shed tears of regret as he spoke.But in his heart he secretly cursed this powerful queen mother, and of course his son who caused a catastrophe.If he hadn't only had this one son under his knees and he was still old, he really wanted to kill the son who had no brains and caused trouble for him.

Liu Qingtang was not moved by the attitude of the elderly man.She knew what Feng Shoufu was thinking, but because he was the first assistant ordered by the first emperor himself, and the little emperor's trust in them, she thought that she would not really disregard the little emperor's real relationship with him. Care about, it's all about retreating.

Sure enough, without waiting for Liu Qingtang to express his opinion, the little emperor said hesitantly: "Feng Shoufu is also eager to love his son. Seeing that he has served the country and the people for so many years, why not... just save the Feng family's son from the death penalty?"

"You are the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, and all the people in the world are your people. Now that the emperor says so, how can you give an explanation to the people in the world? If you commit a crime of homicide, you only need a small punishment. Where are the laws and regulations of the country?!" Liu Qingtang She unceremoniously refuted the little emperor. Now that she still has any scruples, this emperor is no longer her concern.He doesn't want this face, and she doesn't have to protect him.

Liu Qingtang turned his head and said in a loud voice: "Those who commit the crime of murder should be executed according to the law, and Feng Shoufu, as the head of the hundred officials, is a veteran entrusted by the late emperor, and something like this happened at home. He should have been dismissed from office, but he is a veteran. , Today, he killed relatives righteously, set an example for the world, and will not be held accountable if the merits and demerits are equal."

In her previous life, Liu Qingtang knew about this matter for a long time. At that time, she did not pursue this matter because of the emperor's nephew's request.This time, she was not going to let go of the handle that came to her door.Because it was too long and she couldn't remember the exact time, she sent someone to watch at Feng's house every day.According to the news from yesterday's informant, she came here today to inquire about the crime, even if she couldn't kill him, she must injure him greatly.

Thinking of what happened in her previous life, Liu Qingtang's eyes turned cold.If she hadn't given herself more than a month to calm down and think about these things after her rebirth, she might not be able to control herself and confront these two old foxes regardless of the consequences.Step by step, she always wants to ruin the two people's reputations, ruin their families and ruin them.

Feng Shoufu's face was stiff, and only now did he realize that there was something different about the Queen Mother.This time, he didn't think about the little emperor and his own reputation at all, and looked like he wanted to tear his face off with him.

I can't believe that Feng Shoufu can only grit his teeth and thank you at this moment, and then get up from the ground trembling with anger, thinking quickly about how to preserve his only blood.

"Wei Zheng."

"My minister is here." A tall man in a military officer's robe stood out from the queue.

"You will personally go to Feng's house to capture the prisoner, and then escort him to the Meridian Gate and behead him immediately."

"The minister obeys the order."

After Liu Qingtang finished speaking, Feng Shoufu couldn't bear it anymore. He thought that he should wait for a while, and then he could use this time to think of a solution.Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager would immediately send Wei Zheng, who was directly related to her, determined to make him end the Feng family.

Feng Shoufu's face was gloomy, and he gestured backwards.Immediately, an official stood up and made a generous statement: "The Empress Dowager, according to the law, the prisoner should be in prison for three months before beheading. It is extremely inappropriate for the Empress Dowager to make such a hasty decision..."

Liu Qingtang didn't even look at the official who stood up, and before he finished speaking, he directly said to Wei Zheng: "Shang Judiciary violated the edict of mourning the family and attempted to shield the criminals. He will be deprived of his official position starting today, and his descendants will never be allowed to enter the court. Let's drag it on." .”

All the ministers were dumbfounded, and Shang Judicial, who was speaking, was also stunned.Even if they all knew that the Queen Mother was tough, they had never been so unreasonable, just because he said these few words would take away his official position.

When the officers and soldiers outside the hall came forward to pull him out, but Feng Shoufu, who signaled him to come out, did not move, Shang Juyi shouted with resentment on his face: "Empress Dowager! I have done nothing wrong. I am not convinced! It is so unfavorable." What's the difference between You's mutilation of courtiers and the demon queen Yan Ji of the previous dynasty? The southern dynasty will be destroyed by a single woman..."

After being gagged and dragged out by Wei Zheng himself, none of the officials in the main hall dared to speak out.At the beginning, those officials who saw Feng Shoufu's gesture and were about to go out with Shang Judici also shrank back, their heads could not be lowered any more, for fear that the empress dowager would have another attack.

Liu Qingtang remembered that this Shang Judiciary just picked on the legs of those three old foxes. In her previous life, in order to please them, she made a list of a lot of crimes for her father and brother.Those nonexistent crimes were added to my father one by one, bending my father's back.

The most terrifying thing about the Yanguan is the mouth and the pen in the hand.Since he wanted to work his life for those two old foxes, he should keep his mouth shut for the rest of his life.

The empress dowager remained silent, the little emperor stood beside him with a pale face, and the two chief assistants looked even more ugly. The atmosphere in the hall was so stagnant that it was almost suffocating.Even the officials of Liu Qingtang's faction began to complain secretly.However, these days, the Queen Mother's father, Lord Liuhou, is recuperating at home due to illness, and there is no one who can stop the Queen Mother a little bit.

Fortunately, these people were not worried for long. Liu Qingtang smiled and sat down on the chair where she had always been in charge of politics.All the trembling courtiers immediately relaxed.

Glancing back at Qin Shu, who was looking down at his toes, Liu Qingtang waved to Zui Yi behind him to spread out a picture in his hand.

As the scroll unfolded, the blood-colored Samuume appeared in everyone's eyes, as well as that conspicuous ink stain.

"What do you think of Ai's recent leisure work?"

On the way back to Ci'an Palace on the phoenix chariot, light snow began to fall.A small flake of snowflakes was blown into the phoenix chariot from outside the curtain, Liu Qingtang stared at the snowflake that melted immediately as soon as it was blown into the curtain, and sighed leisurely.

(End of this chapter)