The Way of the Consort

As soon as Zong Zhen's carriage arrived at the gate of the East Palace, Xiang Sheng hurried over. He had been waiting here for a long time.

Before the carriage stopped, he bowed and said, "Your Highness! You are back!"

Bao Qing lifted the curtain, "Your Highness—" Xiang Sheng looked carefully at Zong Zhen who had no blood on his face in the car, and was shocked, "What's wrong, Your Highness!"

"It's okay..." Zong Zhen said slowly, "But something urgent happened? I see Wen Xiang hastily left."

"Yes! His Majesty is waiting for His Highness, but His Highness, your body—"

Zong Zhen supported Bao Qing's hand, got out of the carriage, and walked west: "Go to Yanfu Hall..."

Renzong and Wenxiang were also very surprised to see him like this. Zongzhen didn't say that he went outside the palace, waved his hand, and said indifferently: "Old problem, father, don't worry, let's talk about business."

How could Renzong not worry?On the one hand, he ordered people to rush to the imperial doctor Xuan, and on the other hand, he asked someone to pour tea, and asked Zongzhen if he felt any discomfort. The officials standing below all secretly looked at each other, especially Wen Zhichang and Yu Tan, two old enemies. With a glance, they all showed smiles in their eyes, the prince's body is still so weak.

Zong Zhen didn't pretend this time, he was really uncomfortable. The eunuchs went to Xuan Yuyi, so he sat down and listened to what they said about it.

Zhang Yifei opened a salt well privately, and even embezzled official salt to work in his own salt well. Salt making is not a simple skill, and not everyone can master it. The vicinity of the salt well is uniformly controlled by the imperial court, and the skill of making salt is passed down from generation to generation.

If Zhang Yifei wanted to make salt in private, he either had to steal his teacher, or he could only use it by stealing someone from the official salt.

Obviously, stealing a teacher is not easy, so Zhang Yifei chose to steal someone.

However, there is a fixed number of salt workers, and it is recorded in the official government. Even if Zizhou Road is Zhang Yifei's territory, he can do whatever he wants. Every year, the imperial court will inspect and inspect. Official salt trading is an important source of income for the imperial court. It is impossible to act sloppy, and stealing people is not a long-term solution.

For a long time, Zhang Yifei found some people to secretly learn how to get brine and make salt in private.

These were also slowly found out by Zong Zhen after he knew that Zhang Yifei had opened the salt well privately.

It is extremely dangerous to extract brine from a salt well. There is a lot of poisonous gas in the salt well, and it is not easy to touch an open flame. Generally, only experienced masters dare to extract brine from the well. The people arranged by Zhang Yifei are not skilled. During the investigation, more than a dozen people had already died of this incident, and they were all suppressed by Zhang Yifei.

Recently, a few more died, and Zongzhen sent people to help some of them escape, and escorted them to the nearby state capital to beat drums and file a complaint. Only then did the matter spread.

It happened to be today, and the news was reported to Jinling City.

Renzong looked at Zongzhen very sadly: "That's the thing, tell me, who tricked your uncle?"

Zong Zhen was also very helpless in his heart. His mother and queen were really kind and kind, but it didn't mean that everyone in the Zhang family was good. His father and emperor couldn't change his temperament completely, but he didn't show it on his face, and nodded sadly along with him: " Uncle must have been coaxed, how could uncle do such a thing?"

Seeing that the two "bosses" were still the same as before, everyone felt helpless, familiar helplessness, except for a little bit of gratitude.

Wen Zhichang stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Zhang has been an official for many years and has always been praised by others. He is dedicated to serving the people. Such things must have been coaxed by others."

Yu Tan nodded: "That's right, Your Majesty, there is something wrong with this matter, we need to investigate thoroughly! Return Mr. Zhang's innocence!"

The two prime ministers thought so, and Renzong even thought that Zhang Yifei was framed by someone, and immediately said: "That's right! We must investigate thoroughly! I want to see who is behind such a nasty act!"

Everyone supports a thorough investigation, but what exactly was found... Zong Zhen looked at Wen Zhichang and Yu Tan idly, and he couldn't believe that they didn't want to get Zhang Yifei out. Have eaten for ten years.

Renzong immediately said: "As for who to send..." He looked around and pointed to two officials who often go on such errands.

Zong Zhen spoke at the right time: "Father, the matter involves uncle, and only two adults have passed by, so I'm afraid we can't hold back the scene."

"Yes yes yes! Then tell your cousin Ding to take your cousin there?"

Zong Zhen pretended to be thinking, and said, "Father, why don't you ask people from Prince Zheng's residence to go?"

The officials standing below began to look at each other quietly again, and Zong Zhen sighed: "What happened last time, in the final analysis, it was the Guo family who was behind it. Uncle Wang was at fault, but that's not all. bias."

A few months ago, Renzong was very angry about this matter, but his anger always comes and goes quickly.

On the day of Old King Zheng's burial, his anger had dissipated. He felt that it was all the fault of the Guo family, so he nodded: "Oh, that's the reason. Don't make people think that I'm tired of them from now on."

The officials below all praised His Majesty and His Highness for their benevolence.

"Which son of Prince Zheng's mansion is he sending?" someone asked.

Zong Zhen thought about it again, and continued to sigh: "Tell Zong Yu to go..."

Fourth son, everyone understands, the grandson of the Guo family, he is the cause of the incident, let him solve it, if everyone was worried and wary of His Royal Highness, after all, he is the heir of a country, at this time everyone I have withdrawn a lot of my worries, the prince is really carved out of the same mold as His Majesty.

Presumably, when the new emperor ascends the throne in the future, they will be able to control the government as usual.

Wen Zhichang also suggested that it would be worth investigating those people if they could escape to a neighboring state capital to file a complaint. Zong Zhen was not at all worried that they would find out about him, and that they could even be used for use, so he readily agreed.

After the discussion, everyone dispersed, Zong Zhen stayed in Yanfu Hall and drank the medicine, Renzong sighed with him for a while.

Zongzhen told the truth to his father, "Father, this matter cannot be groundless. It must be that the uncle's family did misbehave, so they were caught by the pigtails. They have not moved their nests in Zizhou for many years."

Renzong was stunned for a moment, then sighed, "He is your uncle after all."

"Father, let's see what the situation turns out to be. If uncle really cares about the lives of the common people, he can no longer indulge him. Otherwise, the queen mother's spirit in heaven will feel ashamed and saddened by it."

Zongzhen directly made harsh remarks, and after carrying out his mother, his father became more and more silent, until he left without saying a word.

On the way back to the East Palace, Zong Zhen was thinking, what kind of relationship is there between the emperor father and the empress mother?

In his two lifetimes, he has seen so many couples, and he has never seen such a couple. Even in common people's homes, there are many wives and concubines. What kind of relationship can make the father and the queen only see each other in their eyes? ?

In the last life, because I missed my mother, my father also left early.

Are feelings really that important?

He was puzzled, but curious, but that was all, he didn't want to have this kind of emotion.

He will never own it, and he will never entrust everything he has to an outsider. With feelings, people will not see clarity and gradually become chaotic.

In two lifetimes, he has never been tempted by anyone, he doesn't know what it means to be tempted, and he doesn't want to be tempted by anyone.

He just wanted to take care of his body better, put down the two old men, Wen Yu, and ascend the throne earlier, so that his father could relieve these pressures and live a few more years.After he ascended the throne, to settle Ji Zhao's matter, if he can find Pei Rong at that time, that would be the best, and everyone will be happy.

Thinking like this in his heart, he stepped into the gate of the East Palace, but he blurted out and asked, "Do you have a letter today?"

The moment he asked, his footsteps stopped on the spot, and Bao Qing had already said: "Your Highness, not today."

"Oh..." Zong Zhen stepped forward, thinking that he would not ask any more questions in the future.

Ji Zhao was at home, feeding the rabbit with vegetable leaves in his hand, while Yin Yu was eating the peeled loquat, and said, "What does the old man mean, the prince did it on purpose, just because he didn't want to make the sons of Zheng Wang's family feel better, yes This is the time to send the fourth son over there."

After Ji Zhao came back from Mochou Lake that day, he never went out again, and he didn't know anything about what happened outside the window.

It was only when Yin Yu came to the door that he found out about Zhang Yifei. He remembered that Zhang Wubai had given him the Yanjing deed last year. He felt that His Highness the Crown Prince had done a lot of work. He didn’t see any movement from the Crown Prince at that time. At that time, I also thought that the prince was a good person, and felt that the prince was also deceived by his uncle's family.

It turned out to be waiting here.

Ji Zhao figured it out on his own, Zong Yan's family had just arrived in Jinling, and the next thing happened right after, so His Highness the Crown Prince is counting it as a good time, right?

He threw a handkerchief to Yin Yu: "Wipe your hands, get some juice."

Yin Yu laughed: "Thank you, uncle!"

Wiping his hands, he continued to eat, and said: "The old man said, if the prince asks you to enter the palace these days and wants you to do anything else, you will push it away. If it is difficult to deal with, come back and tell us, and the old man will come forward."

The day of the Dragon Boat Festival was so embarrassing, why would he enter the palace? He just begged the prince not to pour dirty water on him again.

Having said that, Ji Zhao is still very grateful to his grandfathers.

The turbulent family love finally healed him. After Yin Yu left, he became interested, spread out the paper and began to draw rabbits.

Chen Xing mixed the red and green paints for him and put them on the sidelines. The rabbit was still pretty good. Ji Zhao painted for seven days, and a lot of drawings were wasted. He drew a rabbit that was barely readable. After he finished drying, he rolled it up. Woke up, found an exquisite box and put it away, wrote another letter, asked Yin Ming to send it out, and said with a smile: "Send it to Huizhou!"

Seeing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Their lord is happy again!In the past few days, Tian Tian had such a gloomy face that even Chen Xing didn't dare to laugh anymore.

After sending the letter away, Ji Zhao changed his clothes and finally went out after so many days. He went to Qin's house to find Qin Wen.

Qin Wen, who was always cheerful, looked not in high spirits. Sitting in front of him, while Ji Zhao was talking, Qin Wen just lost his mind.He is going to take the imperial examination, and this year there will be Qiu Wei. Ji Zhao stretched out his hand and waved in front of his eyes: "What's wrong with you? Are you too tired from studying? Why are you always distracted? Although the imperial examination is important, the body is more important."

Qin Wen came back to his senses, and smiled at him embarrassedly: "No..."

"Then what happened to you?"

Qin Wen thought for a while, then said in a low voice: "You are not an outsider, I will not hide it from you, my sister is about to enter the palace."

"Ah..." Ji Zhao thought, then this is quite worthy of sympathy, the prince is a psychopath, he even suspected that the prince has a mental problem, that's why Zhou Liangdi was scared like that, she could tremble at every word, Qin Wuniang is so delicate My little lady, after entering the palace, I don't know what it will look like?He also lowered his voice, "I've never heard of this matter, and there's no news from the princess side. Could things turn around?"

Qin Wen smiled wryly: "Last time, it was the concubine who sent a message. Not long ago, the East Palace sent someone to my house and told us not to say goodbye to my sister... Before such a matter is fully finalized, it is natural It’s not easy to show off.”

Ji Zhao didn't dare to show sympathy, so he could only comfort him: "Zhou Liangdi in the East Palace has a very good temper and is very easy to get along with."

Qin Wen nodded gratefully: "Thank you, Brother Zhao, you have met my sister, and she has a good temper. I only hope that my sister can live a peaceful life in the palace."

After returning from the Qin Mansion, Ji Zhao's heart was heavy again. He subconsciously reached into his purse, wanting to eat some sweets, only to find that his purse was already empty, and he forgot to ask the brother of Huishang for candy in his letter!After arriving home, he hurriedly wrote another letter and asked to send it out.

As soon as the letter was sent away, Yin Yu came, carrying the words from his grandfather.

Although Old Master Yin has been away from the court for several years and has numerous disciples, he is well-informed about the news, not to mention that such a matter is not an extremely important secret.

Today, the matter on Zizhou Road has come to fruition. It is true that Zhang Yifei opened the salt well privately, and it is also true that he directly killed more than a dozen people. The officials on Zizhou Road are also divided into two groups, one group is nervous and the other The thighs are not let go, and the other faction has been suppressed for a long time because of dissatisfaction with Zhang Yifei's style.

After Prince Zheng's fourth son Zongyu brought the officials to Zizhou, he investigated impartially, and finally brought a few people back for trial by His Majesty himself.

Yin Yu took a sip of tea, crossed his legs, and said leisurely: "Your Majesty wanted to let the Zhang family go, and asked Zhang Yifei to commit crimes and meritorious deeds in Zizhou. The two prime ministers, Wen and Yu, led all the officials to kneel in front of the Daqing Hall to petition. , request heavy fines for the Zhang family, remove Zhang Yifei, and send someone to take over Zhang Yifei's position as a transfer envoy on Zizhou Road. His Majesty agrees to remove Zhang Yifei, but wants to transfer Zhang Yifei back to the Ministry of Households to be a doctor. Still should not, insisting that His Majesty should be completely dismissed, and Zhang Yifei should not be allowed to enter the officialdom. In the end, His Majesty agreed to them, but when he proposed a replacement, His Majesty ignored them and casually pointed to a doctor from the household department in the palace."

"Oh..." Ji Zhao was never very interested in these things, so he asked casually, "Who is it?"

"Qin Fa, the cousin of Princess Qin in the palace."

Ji Zhao, who was pouring tea for him, paused, but Yin Yu continued: "The official rank is too low. Of course, the old men disagreed, and they started arguing again. His Majesty was furious, and asked Qin Fa directly if there was anyone in his family who was of the right age. Girl, she was pointed out to be the prince's side concubine on the spot!" Yin Yu was purely watching the excitement, "Hahaha, although I didn't see it with my own eyes, I can imagine how good-looking those officials' faces were at that time!"

Yin Yu said happily: "The uncle of the prince's side concubine, the cousin is still the concubine, this is completely enough!"

Ji Zhao was silent, Yin Yu gradually closed his smile, approached him, and said in a low voice: "It's just a joke, the old man thinks that this seems to be a coincidence everywhere, it's too coincidental, it's just man-made! It's a pity A few old men couldn't care less about it at this time. There are quite a few people who took off their black hats on Zizhou Road this time. In addition to the transfer envoys, they can also stuff other people in it. When they come to their senses, they will already be dusty Once it’s settled, they won’t be able to find any evidence, and they will be skeptical.”

Yin Yu looked at him, and laughed again as he spoke: "The old man said, this trick is called fishing in troubled waters, everyone catches his own fish, everyone will reap something and be happy, but in the eyes of those who really catch big fish, They're all so funny!"

Yin Yu was so playful that he couldn't sit still, so he ran to the back of the house to pick loquats to play, while Ji Zhao stayed in the house on the pretext of feeling unwell due to the sun.

The weather was getting hotter and hotter, and Ji Zhao was very hot, but now he felt cool.

He was sitting on the couch, looking at the polished floor, it was several months ago when he just found out that Qin Wuniang was going to enter the palace, so the prince had plans earlier, right?This is really a loop, and it is rare for Ji Zhao to show a wry smile.

Qin Wuniang is actually just a poor girl who was used by the prince.

In addition to hating it, he also admires it a little bit. How can it be unadmirable when he has so many eyes?

He was still puzzled, is the prince tired?