The medical concubine is blessed with good fortune and her husband's life is prosperous. The mo

Dong Su did not show any coquettishness or pretense, but said to Ling Moxiao very frankly:

"Your Majesty, I am not worried about these things. I have always believed in Your Majesty."

"When you go to Chang'an, what I am most worried about is your personal safety. What if some powerful people take risks and want to take advantage of the Empress Dowager's serious illness to cause trouble and make trouble with the son of the deposed emperor?"

"Please do not take it lightly. Whether you are in the palace or meeting with officials, you must bring the imperial guards with you."

As she spoke, she walked forward and took Ling Moxiao's hand. It was already very late. He could only sleep for three hours and had to rush back to Chang'an at a forced march.

Ling Moxiao put his arm around Dong Su's waist and sighed again: "I am so lucky to marry you!"

Neither of them mentioned the noble ladies again. It was not worth wasting time on them.

The next morning, Dabao and Xiaobao got up early and washed up, fearing that their father had already left. Fortunately, Ling Moxiao was also willing to have breakfast with his family before leaving.

He and Chen Xingyao rode away with half of the imperial guards. Dong Su took the three children and sent them to the gate of the palace. Dong Su found something funny and heartwarming: there were two female officials dressed as maids in the team.

They are all young, about twenty years old, and like Yuejian, they are a group of female guards trained in the palace.

How come she worked as a female official in Yuejian's secret agency, but was now being used by Ling Moxiao as a nanny in the harem.

He not only said words to reassure Dong Su, but also proved with actual actions that even in the harem in Chang'an, he would not give those noble ladies the opportunity to ascend to the throne.

As soon as Ling Moxiao left, the leader of the imperial guards who stayed behind to escort the queen, the prince, and the princesses became visibly more nervous.

He did not recommend that the empress continue to live in the palace in Luoyang because there was collusion between the gentry and unscrupulous merchants. He was afraid that those people would become desperate and do something detrimental to the empress.

Dong Su did not plan to live here for long. She also wanted to return to Chang'an as soon as possible. Once the matter of the Empress Dowager was settled, the family would hurry back to Gwangju to celebrate the New Year.

Back on the boat, the leader was still very nervous. Dong Su brought the three children to the deck to see the scenery, and he brought a group of people to protect them.

He stared at both sides of the river with his eyes wide open like an eagle, saying that he was worried about an assassination attempt by archers.

Dabao said he wanted to go to the bow of the boat to watch the fishing. The leader was so anxious that he almost broke out in a sweat. He asked the queen to persuade the prince and princess not to do such a risky thing.

Because Ling Moxiao had to rush back to Chang'an, the memorials sent from Youzhou every day were still delivered to the ship, and Dong Su took Dabao and Xiaobao to review the memorials together.

They were responsible for reviewing memorials of greeting, when local officials asked, "Your Majesty, how are you?" The emperor would review the memorial with something like, "I am fine."

Dabao was already very experienced and could write the character "安" properly. He also taught his sister to recognize the owner of the paper and which state the official was from.

If the greeting letter contained other matters besides greetings, the brother and sister would write it down and read it to Dong Su.

Dong Su sometimes deliberately made them think and pretended that she didn't know the inside story. Then Da Bao would talk about it.

The Crown Prince's Third Teacher watched the Crown Prince reviewing memorials the whole time. He nodded and stroked his beard with a smile, and was very satisfied with the crown prince he was teaching.

When she read the memorials herself, she would focus on the situation in Lingnan. Officials in Lingnan would report on the progress of plague control.

Dong Su found that these officials were a bit boastful, because she already knew the real progress from Master Bai, but looking at what the officials reported, it seemed that the plague had been completely eradicated.

This is to take credit! If the plague is cured during his tenure, he will definitely be promoted after completing his three-year term.

The local officials were eager to get out of Lingnan immediately! Dong Su shook his head. It seemed that in the next civil service examination, they would have to recruit more grassroots officials for Lingnan.

We must change people's attitude towards Lingnan officials. Not all officials were sent there because they were demoted or not given important tasks. Instead, the court sent capable officials there because it really wanted to develop Lingnan.

The next thing is to look at the memorials from Liangzhou. If she were just the queen, then what she would be most concerned about would of course be the oil research being conducted by Mo Men there.

But now she is reviewing memorials for the emperor, which is equivalent to being regent again. What is the emperor most concerned about in Liangzhou?

Naturally, can Liangzhou now go to war with the Fan people? In fact, if General Xie is short of sugar, weapons, or war horses, the court will naturally support him.

Fighting foreign enemies now is not like when Ling Moxiao fought in the northern border. The imperial court not only does not provide supplies, but also does not support his expedition.

However, only the Liangzhou Army is the most suitable to fight against the barbarians. The reinforcements sent there will not be able to withstand the climate of the barbarians and their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, Ling Moxiao has been waiting for General Xie to train the new recruits. The entire Liangzhou is united and determined to fight the barbarians.

General Xie's memorial mentioned that this year's grain harvest in Liangzhou was a rare bumper year. Even the extremely barren and uncultivated gravel land had a harvest because it was planted with spices such as fennel and cumin.

In addition to agriculture, there are also businesses. Because the Queen Mother added some Liangzhou goods to the special supplies of maritime merchants, the Mo Men and female officials attracted a large number of merchants to Liangzhou to open workshops.

Mo Men's research on petroleum can currently only be used for road construction and lighting. As a result, the roads in the border town of Liangzhou are better than those in the Central Plains, and commercial exchanges are more frequent.

Due to the court's reform of the military, the soldiers' treatment has been improved, and the number of young and strong men recruited to join the army this year is several times more than last year...

General Xie always wrote very long memorials. He did not mention the war against the Tibetans at all, but Dong Su could tell it from the words between the lines.

What he meant was that Liangzhou was ready, and as long as His Majesty gave the order, he would lead the men of Liangzhou and would not return until the barbarians were defeated!

Dong Su picked up the pen several times to write this memorial, but did not review it. Instead, he put it away separately and prepared to give it to Ling Moxiao when he arrived in Chang'an.

The only thing she was worried about was whether Ling Moxiao would act on impulse and go to Liangzhou to lead the army in person?

Another letter that concerned her was the one sent by Jia Si from the Japanese island, which had the smell of sea salt on it.

He came to report the good news that the silver mining on the Japanese island was going extremely smoothly and three ships of silver and precious metals would be sent back to Youzhou before the New Year.

After telling the good news, the next thing he did was to ask for food. Dong Su found it both sad and funny that all he asked for was food. He said that there was a shortage of food on the Japanese island, and he and his soldiers missed the food from Youzhou very much.

In addition, he also spoke well of the civil servants who were sent to the Japanese island last year, saying that they were completely different from the officials who came from the imperial examination system, that they did not have any of the airs of civil servants, and that they were all down to earth.

With their help, the great task of completely sinicizing the Japanese island will be completed faster. So he hopes that His Majesty can send more people to the Japanese island for the civil servant examination this year.

In addition, more female medical staff and Momen disciples should be sent over...

Dong Su did the math and thought, well, considering the three ships of raw silver and precious metals he sent back, he can get both the people and the things he wants!

Along with the memorial, there was also a letter from Yuejian to Dongsu.

Yuejian didn't ask Dongsu for anything. She just wanted to ask about his well-being and the situation of the three children.

All they said were good news, such as how many Japanese pirates were killed; how much maritime trade there was after the Japanese ports were opened; how much profit the cotton, linen, silk and tea from Japan brought to the maritime merchants, etc.

After reading the letter, Dongsu showed it to Dabao and Xiaobao, and asked them to write a letter back to Aunt Yue each.

Thinking about Xie Qingzhi and Chen Xingyao getting married soon, she started to worry again. Are Yue Jian and Jia Si officially dating?

It was extremely fast to travel by water from Luoyang to Chang'an. There were officials waiting at the dock to receive the emperor. Dong Sudu asked the leader of the imperial guards to go ashore and say that the imperial ship would go directly to Chang'an and would not stop at the temporary palace.

Although it was not a favorable wind, it was probably because the people on the ship were very worried and anxious, and just wanted to send their masters to Chang'an as soon as possible.

However, after only four nights, they arrived at the Chang'an wharf. Eight rivers surround Chang'an, and even though the capital has been moved, Chang'an's prosperity is still incomparable to other provincial capitals.

Just to welcome the emperor, all the boats on the water were cleared away, and imperial flags were flying on both sides of the river. Not far away there was a drum team, beating drums and passing on orders, and countless palace servants and guards stood on the shore with their heads bowed.

There was a solemn feeling as if a general was about to appear during a military review. Dong Su recalled the scene when the people saw him off when he left Youzhou.

If it was in Youzhou, the two banks would be filled with people watching the ceremony, right? Even if they were stopped by the imperial guards and not allowed to approach, they would still wait at a distance to cheer.

And what about Chang'an? It was terrifyingly solemn and silent, and the common people and the rich and powerful seemed to be two opposing classes.

The dignitaries who stayed in Chang'an attached too much importance to these old rules. No wonder the dignitaries who moved to Youzhou always lamented that Youzhou's rituals and music had collapsed.

Faced with such a welcoming scene, even Dabao and Xiaobao's voices became lower. Dabao had been to the naval base with Ling Moxiao to watch the military exercise.

The scene back then was not as solemn as it is now. It was not until they saw the emperor's procession and their father on the dock that they became excited.

Almost all the dignitaries, nobles and officials in Chang'an came to welcome the emperor. Dong Su hurriedly took the children to change their clothes, putting on complicated palace costumes and gorgeous headdresses that pressed their necks so hard that they could not stand up straight.

Xiao Bao said sensibly: "Don't worry, mother. My brother and I have learned the palace rules very well and will not let those people catch us wrong."

Dong Su felt that she had wronged the children. She did not have a good impression of Chang An, and now she was afraid that the children would also be left with such an impression.

As soon as they got off the boat, Ling Moxiao came forward to help her. She glanced at the group of dignitaries and saw that their faces all looked unhappy.

It seemed as if it was a shameful thing for the emperor to help the empress in public.

Chen Xingyao took the lead in saluting her, and then saluted the prince and princess, and everyone present followed closely.

Ling Moxiao's brows were slightly furrowed, and he didn't have the relaxed look he had on the road at all.

It seems that the whole family doesn't like to go back to Chang'an. After the funeral of the Empress Dowager, they will probably never come to Chang'an again.

After getting on the carriage, the family relaxed. Ling Moxiao reached out and stroked Xiaobao's hair. He knew that Xiaobao hated having his hair tied tightly and causing pain on his scalp.

He said comfortingly, "After you go to the palace to see your great grandmother, go and change your clothes."

Under normal circumstances, Dabao would have sat next to him, and Xiaobao would have rubbed his shoulders coquettishly, but when he thought of so many eyes outside, he wanted to see into the carriage and see what the emperor and empress were doing.

The children all sat up straighter, put their hands on their knees, listened to their father finish speaking, and then laughed properly.

Dong Su hurriedly asked Ling Moxiao: "How is the Empress Dowager's health?"

Ling Moxiao shook his head slightly: "Just these two days."

Dongsu felt a little regretful. If she had known earlier, she would not have hurried on her journey so fast. She really didn't want to meet the old lady.

But with so many people watching, how could she refuse to see the Empress Dowager?

Ling Moxiao was considerate enough to not allow other officials to accompany him, on the grounds that they were a family and wanted to spend some quality time together. Only one censor came in.

The Empress Dowager was lying on a luxurious nanmu bed, her face was unnaturally rosy, her snow-white hair was still shiny, and she certainly didn't look like a seriously ill person.

But when she opened her eyes, they seemed to be carved from wood, and with each breath, the redness gradually turned into bluish-white, indicating that she was indeed terminally ill.

No, it should be said that the poison has invaded the lungs and there is no way to save it.

Even in this situation, the look she gave Shen Dongsu was still full of contempt and condescending charity.

It seemed as if Dong Su's ability to meet the Empress Dowager was a supreme honor bestowed upon him by her.

Until Dong Su brought her two children and performed a standard palace ceremony.

She waved her hand and said, "Come closer so that grandma can see it more clearly."

Dong Su led the two children to the bedside. The Empress Dowager did not look at the children, but stared at Dong Su.

The contempt in her eyes turned into shock, then confusion and disbelief, and she even asked rudely:

"You, are the Shen family's peasant girl?"

Before Dong Su could answer, Ling Moxiao spoke for her: "Grandmother, my queen has always been Shen."

Dong Su added: "I am indeed a peasant girl, if the Empress Dowager is not mistaken."

The surprise on the Empress Dowager's face had not yet faded. She glanced blankly at the nanny beside her, and the noble lady who was specially arranged to serve closely so that she would have the opportunity to meet the Emperor.

This was the beauty she had carefully selected! But when she stood next to Shen, she was completely outshined.

She still remembered the situation when the Emperor, who was still Prince Ling, brought the Nong Wang Concubine back to Chang'an City. The whole of Chang'an was watching the joke, and she was watching the joke too.

Especially when I see Shen, who has a good-looking face but doesn't know the rules at all and always makes a fool of herself.

In the blink of an eye, nearly ten years have passed. Half of those who laughed at Shen and Prince Ling have been buried in the earth, and the other half have surrendered.

Now the only person in the world who can continue to make fun of Shen is her, the Empress Dowager.

But now, she couldn't smile at all.

She had been a queen, and Queen Chen was even more famous throughout the world.

And at this moment, looking at Shen, she was shocked to realize that this is what the true queen who rules the country looks like!

But she was still unwilling to give in, and wanted to use her last bit of power to force Shen to submit:

"Although you have borne two sons and one daughter for His Majesty, His Majesty's offspring are still too few."

"The most important thing for a royal family is to have more children. Throughout the ages, I have never heard of an emperor having only one queen in his harem."

She stretched out her hand towards the two noble ladies, but at that moment, the two noble ladies did not dare to step forward at all and kept shrinking back.

The Grand Empress Dowager still did not give up, pointing at the two of them and saying: "They have served me well, so they can enter the harem to serve the emperor. It will also be your reputation."

Ling Moxiao took a step forward and said, "If you have done a good job in serving the Imperial Grandmother, I will reward you handsomely."

"My harem only needs one queen."

The Empress Dowager stared at Dong Su, and Dong Su smiled sweetly: "I will obey the Emperor."

I don’t want such a reputation!