Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

Looking at the fire burning in the cold palace, Zhao Yiyi sighed softly.

This fire was not set by Liu E.

Liu E is cautious and careful by nature, and even when panicked, he would not do something like setting fire to the harem.

The emperor hadn't grown up yet, and he didn't even have a maid to warm the bed. In the harem, she was the only empress dowager who could take charge. If he got angry, he would slap himself in the face.

What's more, it is such a sensitive place as the Lenggong, where all the concubines of the late emperor lived.

If one operation is not good, the reputation of jealousy will be on Liu E's head.

The goal of Liu E's early struggle is Empress Changsun, who is an unprecedented virtuous queen, not only never jealous, but also generously taking care of the woman her husband Li Shimin likes.

Li Shimin also has a deep affection for Empress Changsun, and he has a deep affection for her, which is really a good story that has been passed down through the ages.

Once upon a time, Liu E also wanted to follow the example of Empress Changsun and be a model empress couple with Song Zhenzong in the Song Dynasty.

It's just that time changed and her goal changed from Empress Changsun to Wu Zetian.

But after all, she is still Taizong's woman, so Liu E thinks she is still consistent.

With great desire comes great responsibility.

If you want to be the Great Sage Emperor of Zetian, of course you can't let your reputation of jealousy hold you back.

So this time to get rid of Concubine Li, she didn't make much fanfare, but quietly asked her confidant eunuch Guo Huai to send a glass of poisoned wine.

Then give Concubine Li a sudden death and that's it.

However, after all the calculations, it is still a short move.

She should not have tried Kou Zhu before executing Concubine Li.

The reason why Kou Zhu was interrogated was because she suspected that Concubine Li already knew something.

Unlike the ambitious Liu E, Concubine Li is a rather traditional housewife woman who obeys the three virtues and regards her husband as the sky, submits to everything, and unconditionally succumbs to fate.

That's why Liu E dared to deal with her in that way.

Back then, Guo Huai bribed the midwife Youshi to replace Concubine Li's newly born prince with a skinned civet cat. Concubine Li passed out because of the lack of labor at that time, and she had never seen her son.

For Concubine Li, this was when she woke up and found that she had given birth to a bloody monster.

If it was another person, who would believe it, who would not doubt it, and who would not make a big fuss?

Concubine Li can really do it.

She really thought that what she was born was a monster, that she was not virtuous, and that God was punishing her.

So Song Zhenzong wanted to put her in the cold palace, she didn't even say a word of excuse, she packed her luggage quietly and left.

Then I just stayed in the cold palace for ten years without making any trouble, reflecting on my mistakes every day, repenting to God, and begging the gods and Buddhas to forgive my crimes.

Because of this, for so many years, Liu E never gave her any trouble.

After all, who could fault such a woman?

She punished herself very well.

If it weren't for Concubine Li's personality, how would Liu E dare to trade a civet cat for the prince.

After all, at that time, whoever gave birth to the crown prince between her and Concubine Li would be the queen. If something happened to Concubine Li, who would be the happiest?

Not to mention the absurd thing of giving birth to a civet cat.

As long as Concubine Li had a slight suspicion at that time, cried in front of Song Zhenzong, begged for mercy, and then checked carefully, the truth would be revealed.

But Concubine Li didn't, she felt it was her fault, so she insisted on punishing herself.

Then Liu E had no choice but to fulfill her.

So, even if such a concubine Li saw the little emperor, how could she get the little emperor to come back crying and plead for her to let her out?

Shouldn't she have a righteous look on her face and say, Concubine Concubine Concubine Concubine Concubine Sui deserves punishment here, so please don't pity Concubine Concubine Concubine, so as not to pollute Shengming?

unless……

Concubine Li knew something.

Concubine Li was in a daze, but she accepted death.

If you make her feel that she is wrong, she will think that she is wrong, and she has been alone in the cold palace for more than ten years to atone for her sins.

But if she finds out that she was not wrong at all and was framed by someone, then she won't care what kind of empress dowager you are, she will avenge your grievances and pull you off the horse to prove that she is right.

So in fact Liu E is quite afraid of Concubine Li.

The hard ones are afraid of the horizontal ones, and the horizontal ones are afraid of death.

She, Liu E, is playing the Game of Thrones, not a fool's game.

Concubine Li is the idiot who will shake the shameful secrets of the royal family under the sun in the public.

She doesn't care about the royal face, she doesn't care about the checks and balances of the party, she just wants an innocence and a truth.

That's why Liu E is afraid of Concubine Li, because you can bribe, intimidate, and use both soft and hard tactics to deal with a selfish person, but you can't do anything about a fool.

Unless you kill her.

So Liu E decided to kill Concubine Li, because Concubine Li, a fool, probably already knew that she was wronged back then.

She had to finish Concubine Li completely before she made things impossible to end.

As for how Concubine Li knew...

Of course she didn't think it was because of the sweetness of Concubine Li and Zhao Yiyi's mother-child bond, she could only think that someone had leaked the secret.

As for who leaked the secret...

The midwife Youshi died long ago, and the eunuch Guo Huai is his confidant, so Kou Zhu is the only one left!

Back then she felt that Kou Zhu was unreliable, but she acted in a hurry and employed people without suspicion, so after all these years, she still kept Kou Zhu's life well.

Things changed this time, she was the first to think of Kou Zhu, who would have thought that Kou Zhu would touch the pillar and die during the torture.

Isn't this suicide in fear of crime?

Liu E's suspicion turned into affirmation, it was Kou Zhu who told Concubine Li the truth of the matter!

Concubine Li couldn't stay anymore, Liu E ordered people to clean up the blood that Kou Zhu knocked out, and at the same time ordered Guo Huai to send Concubine Li on the road.

Who would have thought that there was another eunuch in the palace, Chen Lin, who was also one of the parties involved in the case of replacing the civet cat with the prince. Seeing that Liu E was arraigning Kou Zhu, he knew that something was wrong, so he quietly went to Lenggong to find Concubine Li, and asked Concubine Li Plan early.

So the little eunuch Yu Zhong died for Concubine Li, and Concubine Li quietly left the palace, concealed her name, and wandered around the world until more than ten years later, she met another upright fool, and the two fools insisted on this shocking case The sky is broken.

On the other side of the palace, Qin Feng, the head of the cold palace, did nothing but set a fire, burning all the clues of Concubine Li leaving the palace.

Including Qin Feng herself.

So Qin Feng is also a fool.

Liu E has never been able to resist what the idiot did.

So this fire caused Liu E to sleep for three days and three nights.

Without him, the little emperor cried in the harem to see Empress Li, and Kou Zhun used the fire in the previous court to imply that Liu E was immoral.

On the second day of the fire, Kou Zhun appeared in the court hall full of energy, and faced Liu E with two dark circles under his eyes, he made a deafening speech.

Kou Zhun's high-level remarks generally have the following main points.

One: When the king loses his morality, the heaven will issue a disaster warning.However, the fire burned the cold palace, and now the emperor doesn't even have a concubine.All the people living in the cold palace are former colleagues of the queen mother, so is it the queen mother who lost her virtue or the late emperor who lost her virtue?

Two: If neither the Empress Dowager nor the first emperor lost their virtue, then what was the reason for the fire?Is it a natural disaster or a man-made disaster?Who on earth is so insane that even a palace like the Lenggong, which is indifferent to the world, will be burned down?

Three: If the cold palace can catch fire, then other palaces can also catch fire.Is the place where the empress dowager and the emperor live now safe?Does the Ministry of Industry need to repair the palace again?It's just a matter of money...

When it comes to money, Liu E's face turns dark.

Money, money, money, money everywhere, no money anywhere!Have the year coins been collected, have the refugees been appeased, have the fortifications been repaired?What a palace to build!no money!Retreat!

After beating Liu E, Kou Zhun dismissed several officials in the Ministry of Industry who were in charge of palace repairs on the grounds that he was not doing well, and installed a few of his own people into the Ministry of Industry.

These seats were originally occupied by Liu E's cronies.

Without seeing Concubine Li's body with her own eyes, Liu E always felt uneasy, so she was powerless to control Kou Zhun's petty actions.

This round, Kou Zhun won.

Kou Zhun was in high spirits, held a banquet at home for a day and a night, and even persuaded the emperor's attendant to drink, forcing him to escape from Kou's mansion through the dog hole.

At the same time, Zhao Yiyi is also very happy.

After this battle, he roughly figured out the depth of Kou Zhun and Liu E.

Now that the depth has been found out, he will be able to let go of his hands and feet to do some things in the future.

After all, he doesn't want to be a marionette controlled by two people at the same time, he wants to be the controller of two marionettes.

And he also chose the stage for his two puppets.

In troubled times, it is extremely dangerous to rule a small country.

A young emperor ruling a huge country is like a child carrying money through the market, anyone can get a share of it.

So Song Tai. Zu Zhao Kuangyin took advantage of Zhou Shizong's death and bullied the orphans and widows, and usurped his country.

But now that Song Zhenzong had just passed away, a 12-year-old child succeeded him, and the Queen Mother was in court, it would be strange if there was no movement from the Khitan side.

Coupled with the fact that the Liao Kingdom had the habit of harassing border towns with small groups of cavalry before and after the autumn harvest, and now is what they call threshing time, then this year's Liao Kingdom can be said to be a bad visitor.

So Song Guo must make preparations early.

However, there is no natural danger on the Song-Liao border, or rather, there is no natural danger between Bianliang, the capital of the Song Dynasty, and the Liao Kingdom. After repairing, if you want to resist the invasion of the Liao Kingdom, you can only garrison more troops in Tokyo and cities along the way.

Naturally, there are hundreds of thousands of imperial troops in the city of Tokyo, but it is difficult for the cities along the way to increase their troops immediately because there is no food and grass.

In the case of Song Dynasty, local taxation should be sent to Tokyo in a unified manner, and only a little money and food can be left in the local area for self-sufficiency. This is to prevent local separatism.

However, if there is no food in the local area, it has to be adjusted from the central government.

When the food from the central government is transferred to the local area, the emperor will be captured by the Liao army and go on a day trip to the grassland.