Rebellious officials bow their heads

It was three poles high in the sun, and the little maid was carrying a water basin up the stone steps of Taixuan Hall, but was stopped by the nuns guarding in front of the hall gate.

The old mammy lifted her wrinkled eyelids and glanced at her, "Are you newly transferred?"

The little maid saluted and said: "Yes."

"Change the rules of the Taixuan Palace that I will teach you tomorrow. I don't want you to serve me right now, so go back." The old mother said.

The little palace maid took a few steps back, then stopped hesitantly, and said puzzledly: "It's not that the emperor has been ill for a long time, so how can there be no one to serve him?"

Just as he was talking, there was a laugh from the bottom of the stone steps, and a maid in a brocade skirt came slowly, the little maid recognized that this was an old man who had been serving in the palace for a long time, and quickly saluted.

The maid in brocade skirt looked up and down the little maids, and said with a smile: "The newcomer is not sensible, mother, you should teach her earlier."

She said to the little palace lady: "Let me tell you, although this Taixuan Palace is the emperor's sleeping palace, it is no different from a deserted palace. No one will come and go on weekdays. We don't need to ask about the emperor's affairs. Those superficial efforts can be ignored. down."

The little maid was a little stunned, "Why...why?"

She has been here for a few days in the Taixuan Palace, and found that everyone in the palace is extremely cautious, usually indifferent, does not have any interaction with others, and retreats after finishing their work.Like a puppet on a string, they were silent, revealing an indescribable weirdness.

And the door of the palace has been tightly closed, and the seriously ill emperor has never come out to show his face, so she couldn't help wondering if there was anyone inside.

She also discovered that what the palace people sent into the palace every day like flowing water was not soup and medicine at all, but jars of wine.

The little palace maid's obvious doubts caused the maids and the old mother to show mocking smiles on their faces.

The maid said: "This is the most secret taboo in the palace..."

Before she finished speaking, Mammy lowered her voice and stopped, "That's enough, stop talking."

The maid then stopped her voice, waved her hand, and signaled the little maid to step back.

The little maid walked down slowly, full of confusion, when she suddenly heard the sound of orderly footsteps ahead, she raised her head quickly.

I saw a group of people coming not far away, several groups of imperial guards stood in a dense forest, the leader wore a black pattern official uniform, his face was stern, and it was the chief assistant Ji Han who had great power.

Several palace people quickly retreated to both sides, knelt down like a chill, and said in unison: "See Mr. Ji..."

Ji Han led the imperial guards through them without looking sideways.

The little maid bowed her head deeply, and could only see their clothes and boots fluttering in the wind as they strode past.Then she heard the hall door creak open, she couldn't help but raised her head curiously, before she could see anything clearly, the nun next to her gave her a hand, causing the little maid to lower her head nervously.

There are layers of bamboo curtains hanging on the four walls of Taixuan Hall, not a ray of light can penetrate, and the shadows are like intertwined cobwebs. It is impossible to imagine that this is the palace where the emperor lives, but it looks like a dark cave.

The guards rushed into the hall following Ji Han's footsteps, and the elongated light from the pavilion door was projected on the ground, and then disappeared due to the closure.

Ji Han raised his eyes and saw a man reclining in the deepest part of the hall, surrounded by scattered wine jars.

The darkness blurred the man's eyebrows and eyes, and the heavy shadows faded away, only a thin and pale chin could be seen on his face.

Raising the wine cup casually to salute, he said: "I haven't seen you for a long time, why is your temper getting worse?"

There was a bit of a lazy smile in that voice: "Why don't you accompany me to drink a few cups to reduce the fire?"

After a distance, Ji Han stood still, and only said to the guard behind him: "Come here, please Your Majesty draw up this imperial decree."

He used the word please, but the guards didn't mean to be polite at all. They stepped forward and pressed the man's shoulders, pushed him to the ground heavily, spread out the scroll, and grabbed his hand to hold the wolf hair.

The man let them move without struggling, and when he fell to the ground, he knocked his hand on the ink pad next to him. He hissed and complained: "Take it lightly, isn't it just writing an imperial edict?"

Ji Han waved his hand, and the guards let go of the man immediately.

"What to write?" The man casually flipped through the scroll, brushed his forehead hair with his fingers stained with cinnabar ink pad, and wiped the corners of his eyes, leaving red marks.

"Promote Cheng Pei to be the commander of Beizhen Fusi, and is ordered to patrol the defense of the capital."

The man nodded, finished writing in a fluttering manner, picked up the jade seal that was thrown aside and stamped it, and said, "Don't look for me next time, it's not that you're asking for my opinion, don't you think it's troublesome to maintain your superficial skills?"

"According to the emperor's intention, we want to take off that layer of honor and glory of the Xie family?" Ji Han asked.

"Destroy the imperial power of the Xie family in the hearts of the people of the world, and declare that you are not sick and unable to go to court, but a wolf dog who has been raised to hurt yourself?" He said, "Even you can only be imprisoned in this dark cage?"

The man laughed after hearing this, and the laughter echoed in the closed hall, which seemed very abrupt and cold, "Ji Han, I will write you an abdication edict right now, do you dare to accept it?"

The laughter continued, the man picked up the scroll and walked down the stairs, standing in front of Ji Linze, raised his chin slightly and said, "You dare not."

Ji Han pursed the corners of his lips indiscriminately.

There was a narrow smile in his voice: "Even at this point, Ji Shoufu still has the fear of Xie's family deep in his heart?"

Ji Han reached out and grabbed the scroll, and said coldly, "Xie Linze, you are too self-righteous."

He took the scroll and walked aside, lit a candle, and the shadow covering the entire hall faded away.

Following his movements, the man slowly closed his eyes, his slightly trembling eyelashes seemed to be piercing, the outline of his side face was outlined in the hazy candlelight, and the lines from the corners of his eyebrows to his chin were so graceful Heartbreaking.

Ji Han paused for a moment, looked away from his face, glanced at the words on the scroll against the light, and raised the corners of his lips mockingly, "It seems that you have been half blind for a long time, and the handwriting has not diminished but improved. "

"Take your things and roll quickly." The man stepped forward.

"Xie Linze." Ji Han called him, "Can your eyes still see?"

The man turned a deaf ear to him, he was wearing a red robe, and his back was soaked in candlelight, like a bewitching flower branch growing in the dark touched the sky, melting and rotting silently.

Ji Han refused to answer, put out the candle, and said: "Xiyi paid tribute to a bunch of exquisite curios, and there is also a pearl the size of a goose egg, which is embedded in a silver and gold crown, to show the meaning of submission to Dazhao. Someone brought it to you. But if you're really blind, those things won't be of any use."

He paused for a moment to remember something, and then said: "By the way, I remember that the Queen Mother's death day is coming soon. At that time, the national teacher will leave the customs to worship and worship, and you can come out to see the light."

The figure of the man has been lost in the darkness.

Ji Han stopped talking, turned around, and the door closed again with the figure leaving, but the news spread out of the palace without any hindrance, and people inside and outside the capital were talking about surrendering and paying tribute in Xiyi.

The sun shines on the tea bar, accompanied by the voice of the storyteller, the tables and chairs in the hall are full, and everyone is drinking beef and wine, enjoying the leisure in the afternoon.

"After talking about the rare pearl that Xiyi paid tribute to, I have to talk about the Ji family who is now respected and respected in the court..." The storyteller spread out the folding fan in his hand and shook it.

The young man who was standing in the corner and listened to what Mingzhu had to say, just started to walk, but stopped again.

"You must know that 20 years ago, Ji's family only had a master Ji, Ji Zhongzhou, who was appointed as the Minister of Rites, but now he is a cabinet scholar, and the children of the family are all over the court. And the karma of this is just It's because the Patriarch Ji adopted a daughter, and that woman was later sent to the palace and became the first emperor's first wife, that is, Empress Huijin, which made the Ji family what it is today!"

As soon as the words were finished, there was a sigh of relief, only the young man stood silently.

Someone said: "What a bargain!"

"You can't say that. You have a daughter in your family. You send it to the palace to see if you can become a queen?"

"Tch, if the emperor hadn't been seriously ill, I would have sent my girl away long ago!"

The storyteller knocked on the table with his fan, and the tea bar gradually became quiet.

"Today, I'll look through those old sesame seeds and rotten millet for everyone. There is another interesting thing about it. I don't know if anyone still remembers that when the former emperor and Queen Huijin were still alive, they once hosted a banquet for the envoy of Beiluo Kingdom. Among the people here, there is that Prince Beiluo, who said that he wants to drink, you must know that the group of people have lived in the bitter cold outside the Great Wall for a long time, and they are all drunkards!"

"Most of the officials at the banquet were poured out by them. When it was about to make us lose face, one of them stepped forward and drank three thousand cups with the prince! Guess who won?"

Just at the critical point, the storyteller slowly picked up the teacup, and the people below were unhappy and shouted anxiously.

After drinking the tea, the storyteller whetted everyone's appetites before continuing: "The first one who can't keep drinking is that Prince Beiluo!"

The audience couldn't help laughing, and asked: "Who is so powerful and can beat that Beiluo man?"

"Don't worry, don't worry, listen to me. The first time Prince Beiluo lost in wine, he was very unwilling. He said that his opponent was the reincarnation of a wine bag, and he also said that the people of the Central Plains have great tongue skills, but they are weak compared to martial arts, like a mother." Guys, look, can this be tolerated?"

"Then the two of them compared wine and martial arts. Prince Beiluo was so drunk that he didn't care about the severity. He even ordered his men to bring his scimitar. But the man challenged the challenge despite dissuasion, saying he wanted to 'perform peeling flowers' , the two fought with swords and swords, and saw that Prince Beiluo's robe was torn apart like a flower..."

Before the storyteller finished speaking, there was already a crowd of laughter, even the storyteller himself couldn't stop laughing, he yelled several times before calming down the scene, "And the person who made Bei Rao lose face was—— His Royal Highness, the current Emperor!"

When everyone heard this sentence, they all cheered up, but they didn't know what they thought of, and they all sighed, saying that it's a pity, and then talked about why the disease is still not cured.

The man in the corner didn't listen any more, he stepped out of the tea bar, the sunlight outside fell on half of the man's side face wearing a bamboo hat, he squinted his eyes, raised his head, and looked at the imperial palace with a corner exposed .