An Lingrong's Rebirth: The Lock of Qingqiu

With the stalemate like this, a week passed. The emperor issued an imperial edict in the palace, asking Zhen Heng to evacuate the two hundred thousand people, and charged Nian Gengyao with the crime of rebellion. His crime should be exposed to the world and he should be punished.

The emperor was worried in the palace, Nian Gengyao was expanding his territory step by step, and war broke out in the east. The Jingnan King "Geng Jingzhong" who guarded Fujian held military power and supported his own troops; the Pingxi King "Wu Sangui" guarded Yunnan , King Pingnan "Shang Kexi" who guards Guangdong has a tendency to rise.

In addition to listening to the opinions of civil and military officials in the court, the emperor also participated in morning meetings in the harem every day and listened to the opinions of the concubines. Although the harem was not allowed to participate in politics, the current affairs were urgent, and the emperor wanted to learn more from Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang. Listening to opinions, of course, An Lingrong can be regarded as a quite satisfactory adviseer.

In the emperor's Kunning Palace, An Lingrong lit the awakening incense to help everyone's minds sharpen.

The hairline on the emperor's forehead was getting thinner and his face looked a little haggard.

An Lingrong sat respectfully, and Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang were also sitting nervously. Only the Queen looked careless. She picked her nails and said calmly: "Your Majesty, you just can't let go of Nian Shilan. When you were in the palace, you Dealing with her in time, attracting Nian Gengyao, and then capturing him and imprisoning him would be easy. Now it's easy to let him go. That's fine. He has returned to his hometown. It will take a lot of effort to subdue him. ”

The emperor let out a long sigh and said: "Human beings are not grass and trees. Who can be ruthless? I was the one who felt sorry for her first. In order to suppress the Nian clan, I personally asked Concubine Duan to abort the child in her belly. From then on, she lost her whole life." I am not qualified to be a mother. I will never experience the joy of having children, nor can I enjoy the happiness of family. I feel guilty and cannot bear to kill her, and I do the same to you. Concubine Hua is on the wall of Tutangguan, He kept shouting my name, shouting at the top of his lungs. I was indeed very sad at the time, but at this point in the situation, I had no choice."

On the black table, memorials were piled up into a mountain. There was no room for them on the table, and they were piled under the table. The emperor pointed his finger there and said: "Look, these are all memorials to Gengyao of this year. When you open them, they are all piled up." Those who scolded his whole family, although these people are not military generals or military attachés, but the scolding is really killing people, I have a headache and can't stand it."

The empress said: "Even if you are a civil servant, you are still a scholar. How can you curse someone so hard to hear?"

The emperor said: "Queen, if you don't believe it, just open a book and have a look. Take a look."

The empress picked up a memorial from the ground and opened it to see that it was a memorial signed by Zhu Ziliang. She read softly: "I have this memorial to commemorate Nian Gengyao. The whole family will not die well. All the daughters he gave birth to were sold into brothels, and the sons he gave birth to were slaves for generations and would never be able to escape. I have thought of one hundred and eighty ways to die for him, and the most tragic one was "dividing his body into pieces by five horses." , followed by..."

The empress couldn't read any more. Her face was pale and her body was trembling. She dropped the memorials to the ground by mistake. Looking at the pile of memorials was like looking at the ghostly faces of ghosts and snakes, for fear of being contaminated.

On the side, Empress Duan Fei and Empress Jing Bin couldn't help coughing. Jing Bin was a person with a mysophobia both in life and spirit. She leaned over and retched.

An Lingrong was frightened when he heard this: "I don't know who is the one who submitted this memorial. The scolding is really cruel and cruel."

Shen Meizhuang said: "Then the emperor will not deal with such people? Even if they are officials, do they have freedom of speech? In our harem, we cannot be so presumptuous."

Zhen Huan said slowly: "The imperial censors of this dynasty are neither administrative officers nor judicial officers. Their main duty is to open their mouths and criticize anyone. There is no one in the world who dares not Scolding.”

The emperor had a bitter smile on his face: "The duty of the officials is to criticize the emperor and impeach ministers. In front of me, they have no scruples. This is the privilege given to them by the dynasty. The ancestral system left by the late emperor, even I have no right to change this system. There is freedom of speech and the speaker is not guilty. Of course, they still give me a little face in front of me because they really piss me off. Even if I can’t kill the speaker, I can remove them from office. Yanguan, if he changes his position to another position, he can rectify them."

The emperor said: "It's so annoying. Even if it doesn't actually happen, as soon as there are some signs of this matter, they will start impeachment. Since Nian Gengyao came to power, there have been memorials to impeach him, and they have been sent to me in a steady stream. But if I were to investigate, where would I start? Even if I ordered Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment to investigate, there would be no proof. If they don’t investigate, they will not stop.”

An Lingrong shook his head: "When the situation stabilizes, such official positions can gradually disappear. I think it doesn't mean much to be a concubine. They will ignite the fire at the first sign. Although they can know some signs in advance, any trouble will be magnified by them." , to scare the grass and scare the snake, in short, it does more harm than good."

Zhen Huan nodded in agreement: "For such an organization, when our dynasty develops to a certain level and the system of supervising the country is perfected, it is recommended that the system of speaking officials be abolished.

The emperor really listened and ordered Su Peisheng to record everyone's opinions.

The empress looked disdainful: "The concubines in the harem are talking all over the place. Don't mess up the rules and add chaos to the emperor. The system inherited from our ancestors cannot be changed by just a few words from you."

The emperor stopped her: "No, queen, I allow you to discuss court affairs. I think you are more measured than the officials in the court. I am willing to listen. Whether to change it depends on the ministers' opinions. I second the proposal, but you can’t miss out on every useful decision. Since ancient times, loyal advice is hard to hear.”

The emperor had spoken, and the queen smiled awkwardly: "Since the emperor has said it, I don't care about you anymore. Just listen to the emperor. It's just that I have no interest in these court affairs and don't understand them. I feel like sleeping after listening to them." , it is better for the emperor to let the concubine go back to Jingren Palace to rest as soon as possible."

The emperor did not let her go: "No, the queen is here to listen. She has an understanding. Everything has a beginning. You will naturally understand it after listening more."

The queen smiled slightly, stopped answering, simply closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

An Lingrong had an urgent idea in her mind about this battle that the emperor wanted to win quickly: Concubine Hua must be executed so that the emperor could concentrate on dealing with Nian Gengyao.

Zhen Huan, Shen Meizhuang and An Lingrong looked at each other. Everyone felt like a mirror, but no one dared to bring it up.

Zhen Huan said: "The current situation is unstable, we still need to capture Nian Gengyao quickly. The emperor's purpose of letting Nian Gengyao take away Mrs. Xihua smoothly is to convict him of rebelling."