I can't die

Today's court can be described as changing the face of the storm. The empress dowagers of the two palaces cooperated with the noble relatives of the Eight Banners to launch a sudden attack. It seemed that they seized the power of the Qing Dynasty in an instant, and sent the eight powerful ministers of Gu Ming who used to be invincible in the past to prison.Seeing such means, all the courtiers were startled, especially those who had made good friends with the eight ministers, and now they were even more trembling. Everyone was in danger, fearing that one day something bad would happen and they would be implicated.

Zhongcui Palace, a building on Neiting East Road in the Forbidden City, one of the East Six Palaces; it is located to the west of Jingyang Palace and north of Chengqian Palace.Zhong Cui is the same as Zhong Cui, which means to gather the essence and essence in ancient times.It is the second entrance courtyard, with the main entrance facing south, named Zhongcui Gate. The main hall in the front yard is Zhongcui Palace. The five-pronged bucket arch is single-angled and painted with Soviet-style paintings.Open the door in the open room, and the sill window between the second and the top, with ice cracks and step-by-step brocade doors and windows.The interior was originally built in the Ming Dynasty, and then the ceiling was added, and the floor was made of square bricks. In the Ming room, a plaque inscribed by Emperor Qianlong "Shu Shen Wen Wen" was hung.In front of the hall, there are 5 side halls in the east and 5 halls in each, with corridors in the front and doors open in the open room, with yellow glazed tiles and hard mountain-style roofs, and Su-style colored paintings under the eaves.

Jiao Hesheng, the son of Jiao Youying, was standing anxiously outside the gate of Zhongcui Palace. He raised his head and saw a vigorous pine tree shedding its leaves in the autumn wind in the distance from the red wall.It is said that pines and cypresses are evergreen, and pines and cypresses are evergreen, but this does not mean that pines and cypresses will not lose their leaves.Just like people, nothing lasts forever.

Jiao Hesheng calculated in his heart that his father had already been imprisoned for five days, and then thought of Sushun's mouth being sewn up with needlework because he scolded Cixi Ci'an in the sky prison, and his heart felt even more desolate.

Zhuli came out from Chuxiu Palace at this time, Jiao Hesheng saw Zhuli, the maid of honor beside Ci'an, hurriedly stepped forward and asked respectfully: "Auntie, would the empress dowager wish to see the minister?"

While talking, Jiao Hesheng took out 1000 taels of silver from his sleeve and stuffed it quietly into Zhuli's sleeve.Zhuli took the bank note without a change of expression, but shook her head: "The empress dowager said that the affairs of the eight ministers have been settled, and she doesn't want anyone to cause more trouble over this."

"This..."

Hearing these words, Jiao Hesheng's heart immediately turned half cold. Does this mean there is no turning point?

"Auntie, you always think of a way for the young one. Although the foolish father was once a minister of life, he is no better than Sushun and Duanhua, and he has never had the intention of treason. I hope the queen mother will take care of my father's hard work and forgive me. It's a death sentence."

Jiao Hesheng is a man, and even more of a foreign minister, he can't enter the harem without a call.This trip to the palace can be said to have used all the connections of the Jiao family. First, Prince Gong stuffed 1 taels, then sent 5000 taels to Prince Huilao, and finally got through the House of Internal Affairs before finally coming to Zhong. Cui Palace, but was blocked outside the palace gate after all.

Zhuli looked at Jiao Hesheng and took out another bank note from her sleeve to give it to her, but she shook her head, not daring to accept it again: "I accepted the 1000 taels before, so I handed over the money for you, the 1000 taels Two, the slave family can’t accept it. It’s a big risk to deliver the words before, and the husband should know what the Queen Mother means.”

Isn't it?If it wasn't for Prince Gong, Prince Hui would have accepted benefits from the Jiao family, how would Zhuli, a little court lady, dare to accept money to deliver a message for the Jiao family?After all, I want to blame the blame, and the law does not blame the public.

After Zhuli finished speaking, she took her knees and performed a palace salute, then turned around and walked back to Zhongcui Palace, and slowly closed the gate of Zhongcui Palace.Jiao Hesheng looked at Zhuli's figure disappearing behind the palace gate, and felt that this autumn day was extraordinarily cold.

In fact, the Jiao family is much better than Sushun Duanhua's and others' families. Only Jiao Youying was imprisoned, unlike other ministers, almost the whole family was implicated.This is why Cixi Ci'an cared about Zeng Guofan's memorial.

To say that the Zhongcui Palace in Ci'an is already considered good, at least Zhuli is still nice to talk to. Compared with the Cixi Chuxiu Palace that she has been to before, An Dehai looks like she can't wait to eat Jiao Hesheng.Why. . .

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter, and when the wall falls, everyone pushes away. .

Jiao Hesheng knew that he was completely helpless now, so he sat on the way out of the palace in a daze, his figure extremely lonely.

At this moment, I saw a court lady dressed in purple-brown silk and cotton, with blue satin and gold bars, and wearing Wufu Xiangyun shoes. She saw Jiao Hesheng and led a group of young palace maids over.

The head maid looks very classy in her attire, and she is favored in front of the master. She is not very old, probably only in her teens, but seeing that there are at least a dozen young maids behind her, one can tell that she is powerful.

"Slave Zhilan, if you dare to ask, is Mr. Jiao Hesheng?"

Jiao Hesheng watched the big palace lady walk in front of him, he was surprised: "It's the lower official, dare to ask my aunt...?"

"My servant Shangyi, what a coincidence, the emperor heard that Mr. entered the palace, and is going to look for Mr., please invite Mr. to go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation."

emperor?

Jiao Hesheng didn't expect that it was Zai Chun who came to invite him. Could it be that the emperor came here to save his life because he thought his father had taught him a lesson?It's just that when Jiao Hesheng thought that the emperor was only 6 years old, his anticipation cooled down again.

Forget it, no matter what, the emperor summoned him and had to go.

Thus, Jiao Hesheng followed Zhilan to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Since Emperor Yongzheng, the Hall of Mental Cultivation has been used as the emperor's bedroom in the Qing Dynasty. It was remodeled and added to Qianlong, and it became a group of multi-functional buildings that gather officials, handle government affairs, study, study and live in one. Buildings.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation is an I-shaped hall. The front hall is 7 rooms wide, 36m wide, 3 rooms deep, and 12m deep.Yellow glazed tiles have a mountain-style roof, and the Mingjian and Xici indirect rolling sheds hold the building.For the positions of the pillars on the front eaves, two square pillars are added to each room, which looks like 9 rooms.The name of the Hall of Mental Cultivation comes from Mencius's "Cultivating the Mind is not good at few desires", which means: "The best way to cultivate the mind is to reduce desires." '

Jiao Hesheng came to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, was summoned by Zai Chun, and went to the West Hall.In the west hall, there is a plaque written by Emperor Yongzheng "Diligence in Administration and Prosperity", which has always been the place where the emperor summoned the military ministers.

"The minister Jiao Hesheng kowtowed to the Holy One, long live the Holy One, long live the Holy One, long live the Holy One."

When Jiao Hesheng entered the hall, he saw a small figure in bright yellow clothes on the desk, kneeling hurriedly to salute.

Zai Chungao sat on the dragon-carved red gold wooden dragon chair, looked at Jiao Hesheng, who was indeed very similar to his father Jiao Youying, and said, "Get up."

"The minister obeys the order."

"Have you seen the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces?"

Listening to Zai Chun's questioning, Jiao Hesheng thought to himself that the little emperor was also a good eared person who got the news so quickly.

"Reporting to the emperor, I went. But I was not summoned."

Isn't it?

Zai Chun recalled the embarrassment on the faces of the two old mothers when they saw Zeng Guofan's memorial at Shufangzhai the day before yesterday. How could they not know that Jiao Hesheng might return empty-handed?

Especially her biological mother, Cixi, who has always had the deepest hatred against the Eight Ministers, and wished to wipe them all out and implicate the nine clans to relieve her anger. It would be ghostly to meet Jiao Hesheng.

What's more, to Zaichun's understanding of Cixi.Cixi has a resolute personality and hates being threatened the most.Zeng Guofan pleaded for Jiao Youying's order. Because Zeng Guofan was suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Cixi could not disturb the morale of the army, so she let Jiao Youying's family go, and only Jiao Youying was sent to prison alone. But secretly, she might be even more angry, right?

"What about Prince Hui and Prince Gong?"

Zai Chun asked again: "What do they say after taking money from your family?"

It was not difficult for Zai Chun to guess about the cash register.If it wasn't for the benefits, how could Jiao Hesheng have entered the palace at this moment?

Jiao Hesheng never thought that Zaichun knew about his family's private delivery of money, but felt that the six-year-old little emperor might be scheming far beyond his age, so he couldn't help being frightened, so he had to tell the truth: "Prince Hui said that this matter mainly The queen dowagers of the two palaces and the emperor ruled, how could the children of the clan have the right to intervene. Prince Gong also meant the same thing. Prince Gong also said that if he could give him another 10 taels, he might be able to persuade the British envoy to speak for his father. .”

Prince Hui's meaning is probably to take money from people and take short-handed people.Besides, Jiao Youying is no better than Sushun after all, to them, he is insignificant.

As for the British envoy?

Zai Chun didn't expect Prince Gong to say these things.But it's true, Guizi Liu made good friends with foreigners, and asked foreigners to pass a sentence, half of the 10 taels was given to the British, and half was taken by himself, and he could get a lot of benefits.

"What about the 10 taels?"

Jiao Hesheng looked distressed: "Although my father is a minister of military affairs, he is not a corrupt official. The family fortune of [-] is already complete."

Zai Chun weighed this matter in his heart, but he didn't speak. For a moment, the whole Hall of Mental Cultivation was very quiet.

"It's useless for you to ask my mother-in-law about this matter, and the British have no reason to meddle in other people's housework. The key is to look at my mother-in-law."

The empress's mother is Ci'an, and her mother is Cixi.

If Zai Chun insists on protecting Jiao Youying, Ci'an may eventually give in after looking at the emperor's face, but Cixi is no better than Ci'an. Firstly, Cixi is more vengeful and has a ruthless personality. How could a mother and her own son have an overnight feud?To be clear, Cixi probably thinks the same way.

Hearing Zai Chun's analysis, Jiao Hesheng was instantly overjoyed. He never expected that the little emperor would stand beside his family in this matter, and hurriedly kowtowed and shouted: "I implore the Holy Majesty to make a clear decision. The Jiao family will definitely go through fire and water in the future, and they will be devastated."

Seeing Jiao Hesheng's statement, Zai Chun smiled: "To impress my mother, I am not enough. You have to talk to someone else, he is the celebrity around my mother, and only when he speaks can you be more powerful .”

The celebrity around Cixi?

As soon as these words came out, Jiao Hesheng frowned: "An Dehai? It's just that the enmity between An Dehai and the Eight Ministers is deeper, I'm afraid it's..."

Zai Chun shook his head: "It's An Dehai. Although An Dehai has a big grudge against Sushun Duanhua Zaiheng, your father is fine. I will give you a trick. An Dehai has a life-saving benefactor named Li, whose name is Huaihua, was originally the city guard of Gubeikou. Because of this, he made meritorious service in guarding the city, and was just transferred to Beijing from the local government. Because there is no one in Beijing, although he has meritorious service, he can only spend time at home. You leave your family behind. I handed over the 5000 taels to this person, and asked him to persuade An Dehai. And told him that as long as he accepts the bank note, the Qingyun Road of the Ministry of War will be under his feet. If necessary, it doesn’t matter if you carry me out.”