bastard returns

"From this point of view, today's banquet must be very uneven." Sikong Xuan said with a smile.

"It's reasonable, but it doesn't matter what kind of conspiracy he has, our soldiers will block it, and we will cover it up." Ning Yuan's expression was very calm, as if he really didn't care at all.

Sikong Xuan didn't say any more.

In a tacit silence, the carriage swayed to the gate of the palace, and another armored warrior with a helmet covering his face rode from the palace holding a token, and said to the guards at the gate that he was under the imperial order , came to welcome Sikong Xuan and others into the palace, and then walked beside the carriage while pulling the reins, and even led the carriage directly into it.

Originally, according to the rules, carriages were not allowed in the court, let alone horses, except those of the royal family. However, even if there were many palace guards who wanted to stop them, when they saw the token in the hands of the armored warriors, they thought it was Knowing the origin of the token, he hesitated for a while, but finally did not go forward.

At the same time, in the Empress Dowager's Hall, the Empress Dowager Xia asked the maid to comb her hair, while listening to the report of the old eunuch beside her.

"You said they didn't get off the carriage at the gate of the palace, but came in grandly in a carriage?" Hearing a crucial point, Empress Xia frowned and turned to ask the old eunuch carefully.

"Yes, Queen Mother, if they don't get out of the carriage, then our arrangement may not work." The old eunuch was a little disappointed, "I originally wanted to take advantage of the time when they entered the palace, and send them to the palace with ambush archers." They went to the west, and then faked an accident to vent their anger on the Empress Dowager, but now they are hiding in the car and cannot get out, if the archers do it rashly, it is useless, and they will scare the snake."

Empress Dowager Xia said coldly: "Why don't they get out of the carriage? Didn't anyone tell them the rules of prohibiting carriages in the palace?"

"How can it be, the emperor sent people around him to take a gold medal to lead them into the palace, so that they don't have to get out of the car." The old eunuch said: "Although the guards at the gate of the palace have been replaced by the empress, People, but under the watchful eyes of everyone, they didn't have the guts to go against the gold medal bestowed by the emperor, so they didn't dare to stop it."

"In this case, let those archers come back. Originally, the Ai family didn't think that they could be taken care of by a few people who shot in the back." After hearing this, the Queen Mother turned around calmly and continued to look at Tong Looking at her fair face in the mirror, "Actually, taking care of those who dare to tease Ai's family is nothing more than a trivial matter. They should first use the emperor's gold medal to show off their power. If today's big event can be achieved, don't talk about one gold medal, count as ten gold medals." It won't save their lives."

"That's right, when the time comes, the whole palace will respect the Empress Dowager. Without the emperor's hindrance, it's just a matter of the Empress Dowager's words to punish those guys." He lowered his voice and said: "The courtiers have already entered the palace, and General Li has led people to ambush according to the Queen Mother's order, waiting for the Queen Mother's order."

"Understood." Empress Dowager Xia nodded calmly, with a smile on the corner of her mouth, "Although Aijia is planning for a rainy day, maybe it can be done without General Li dispatching today. The emperor is still too young. Teach him well, if he can't learn to kill and make decisions, he won't be able to sit firmly on the dragon chair."

Inside the carriage, Ning Yuan whispered to the curtain, "You said there are archers ambushing by the side of the road?"

"If there were no spies to confirm this, why would I come here in person with the gold medal?" A deep and warm voice replied to Ning Yuan through the curtains: "It's a pity that the queen mother in the palace is so powerful that it is very difficult to install spies, otherwise if I can investigate Knowing the ambush positions of those archers, we can act first, as long as one or two people are caught, maybe we can use this as an excuse to counter the Queen Mother." Through the gap in the curtain, the speaker can be seen It was the tall warrior escorting the carriage. Although his face was covered by a visor, Ning Yuan immediately recognized him as Huyan Yuanchen just by his eyes, so the two of them were separated by a carriage curtain. Whispered to exchange information.

"The archer who can be placed by the queen mother to assassinate the prince of another country must be a specially trained dead soldier. Even if caught, it is useless, but it seems that even such a trick is used, and the queen mother hates us to the bone. It's gone." Ning Yuan laughed.

Huyan Yuanchen let out a low laugh, "She has been teased by you in this way. Although no one in the government and the public has said it on the surface, there are many people talking about it in secret. They started the war rashly but returned without success. What is wrong with her today? Prestige is not a small blow, if you can still not get angry like this, there is really something wrong."

"Isn't this exactly what you and His Majesty Xiadi wanted?" Ning Yuan said disapprovingly, "Actually, if Zhao Mo and the others wiped out that vanguard, the effect might be better. The vanguard army is all direct descendants of the Empress Dowager Xia and the Murong family."

Huyan Yuanchen was silent for a while before he said: "Your Majesty also had the same idea at first, but He Gu, ordinary soldiers, they are just obeying the orders of the upper hall. After all, they are also the people of Daxia. Neither Your Majesty nor I can bear to , I can only let those officers who eat inside and outside go along with it."

"His Majesty Emperor Xia is really a benevolent monarch. From this point of view, we did not help the wrong person." Ning Yuan sighed softly, "After all these days, I just want to hurry back to Hua Going to Beijing, I haven't seen Niangqin and Xin'er for a long time, and I don't know how they are doing now."

"When this matter is over, I will go with you." Hearing Ning Yuan's words, Huyan Yuanchen seemed to be interested, "Although I have a good relationship with my emperor's nephew, when he is stable, I have to be careful no matter what, think it over and over again, in order to avoid a dead dog, I'd better throw away all my fame and wealth, and go back to Dazhou with you to be raised by you."

"You can still say such unpromising words." Ning Yuan rolled his eyes vaguely.

"Forget it, it's not a good time to say too many jokes." Huyan Yuanchen straightened his face, "In short, tonight will definitely not be peaceful. My Majesty and I have guessed that the queen mother suffered such a big loss before, and in a hurry, In all likelihood, we will take advantage of this banquet to launch an attack. Although we have some preparations, if the situation forces us to lose sight of the other, you and King Xi must be careful first. I have already told Yan Fei to take my team The elites are secretly protecting you, if the situation changes, he and the others should be enough to escort you out of the palace, and then you don’t have to go back to the post house, and follow Yan Fei directly out of the city and back to Dazhou.”

"What about you?" Ning Yuan asked.

"Your Majesty still respects me very much now. Now that the Huyan family is declining, I am the only emperor uncle in the imperial city. I can't run away." Huyan Yuanchen said: "Are you still afraid that something will happen to me with my abilities?"

"That's not necessarily the case, and you don't even think about it. I ran all the way here from Huajing because there was no news of anyone." After Ning Yuan said the last sentence, he kept silent, and Huyan Yuanchen looked embarrassed. , let out a resentful laugh, saw a group of palace people coming towards him, so he didn't speak any more.

The carriage has already driven to the open area of ​​the palace, and the surroundings can be seen at a glance. Naturally, there will be no more archers in ambush. Under the hospitality of the welcoming palace people, Ning Yuan and Sikong Xuan got out of the carriage one after another, and headed towards the people not far away. Go to the high hall.

Huyan Yuanchen didn't turn his horse's head until their backs disappeared safely at the gate of the main hall, and went in another direction.

As soon as they entered the main hall, another eunuch dressed as a eunuch approached Sikong Xuan and Ning Yuan, and said in a low voice, "His Royal Highness Xi, your seat is at the front, please follow the servants."

Ning Yuan recognized the eunuch as Yan Fei Qiaozhuang at a glance, and he was dressed in a similar way. Not only did he have a precise voice, but even his face was simple and easy. If Ning Yuan hadn't been familiar with him, he might not have recognized him.

It seems that what Huyan Yuanchen said was right, he specially sent Yan Fei here, there will definitely be no peace tonight.

The two of them followed Yan Fei all the way to the front of the main hall, and sat down in the first place on the lower right next to the emperor's dragon chair. Most of the civil and military officials in the hall had already arrived, and some of them were whispering to each other. Some people were sitting upright with sullen faces, as if each had their own concerns.

Maybe others saw the flaw, and after taking Sikong Xuan and Ning Yuan to their seats and sitting down, Yan Fei stood aside without saying a word, not intending to talk to Ning Yuan at all, but the belt with his palm hanging down Nearby, something bulged slightly from the clothes, as if it was hiding a weapon, as if it was ready to deal with any eventuality.

After waiting for about two quarters of an hour, when all the ministers who were supposed to be present had arrived, Empress Dowager Xia and Emperor Xia slowly walked out from the direction of the apse amidst the eunuchs' shouts.

Although this pair of mother and son fought secretly because of the imperial power, they did not tear themselves apart in the open. When encountering such an occasion, they had to pretend to be a loving mother and filial son. The young Xia Dilongpao Jiashen carefully supported the young Empress Dowager Xia, and the Empress Dowager Xia also smiled at him, but it was uncertain how much of that smile was true or false.

As soon as these two people with the highest status in the Great Xia Dynasty came out, all the courtiers stood up and bowed down one after another.

"Pingshen." Empress Dowager Xia went out of her way to help Emperor Xia greet the courtiers for a while, and then walked to the phoenix chair next to the dragon chair and sat down.

Emperor Xia also sat down without saying a word.

Ning Yuan noticed that the guard warrior dressed as Huyan Yuanchen also entered the arena closely behind Emperor Xia, his shining armor was extremely eye-catching.

All the ministers got up from the ground, went back to sit peacefully, and the whole hall became very quiet, no one spoke anymore. The Empress Dowager Xia glanced at the old eunuch beside her. A bright yellow scroll unfolded and read aloud.

It was a decree from the Empress Dowager Xia. Aside from the cumbersome affixes, the content was nothing more than saying that Sikong Xuan and his party had worked so hard for the friendship between the two dynasties. There was another burst of thanksgiving.

But before the edict was finished reading, a burly man with the appearance of a general stood up suddenly, clasped his fists and said, "The empress dowager praised these two Zhou people so much, and the ministers are very dissatisfied. The Zhou people are always scheming. Among them, on the surface, they came to quell the war, but in fact they secretly stirred up troubles, using them to shake our court Guo Zuo, how can they bear the Queen Mother's praise!"

"General Li, don't be rude!" Empress Dowager Xia frowned, as if she was very displeased, and said, "What is the occasion now, don't talk nonsense, and apologize to His Royal Highness Prince Xi soon!"

"Apologize? Many soldiers under my command have become heroic souls because of the conspiracy of these two Zhou people. How can I apologize to such a person?" The big Chinese characters clanged loudly, "Empress Dowager, I will understand, my servant Today, I am not here for a real banquet, but to expose the sinister intentions of these Zhou people in front of the Empress Dowager!"

As soon as the big man's voice fell, the military general did not respond, but the civil servants began to discuss in detail.

"General Li led his troops to the Great Zhou before, but he suffered a lot in Yanzhou and lost face. Now he is deliberately looking for a place with the Zhou people."

"If you want me to say that Li Dewu himself is incompetent, the so-called soldier is not tired of deceit, he will not lead troops to fight, and it is embarrassing to lose, and now he still blames other people's schemes and tricks. It's really thick-skinned."

"Having said that, maybe the empress dowager will really vent her anger on him. General Li is a senior disciple of the old Murong Pavilion. Even if the empress dowager knows that he is making trouble for no reason, she still has to show some face to her father."

These civil servants are all part of the party that supports Emperor Xia. They not only spoke harshly, but also did not hide their voices at all. Everyone present could hear them clearly. There was no expression, as if he really didn't hear it.

However, General Li is angry because he is angry, and he understands that now is not the time to be angry with such a poor civil servant. When the Empress Dowager Xia becomes a major event, he will naturally take care of these ignorant guys, so he restrained his temper and continued to clap his hands at the Empress Dowager Xia. : "These Zhou people colluded with the rebellious party, bewitched the Holy One, and tried to shake the foundation of our Great Xia. It is really abhorrent. Please also learn from the Queen Mother!"

This time no one spoke anymore, even the civil servants were a little dazed, because the few words that General Li said this time were really not trivial.

"Collude with the rebellious party to confuse the Holy One?" The Empress Dowager Xia hadn't spoken yet, but the Emperor Xia sneered and said, "General Li, I think you are an important minister of the former court, but you must know how to speak properly. How can you listen to what you mean? Is it because I was bewitched by others and my stupidity contributed to the frustration of leading the troops in Yanzhou?"

"Your Majesty knows better than anyone why the subordinate army fell into the Zhou people's trap, so why did you ask your subordinates?" General Li said to Emperor Xia without hesitation.

Emperor Xia's complexion changed, he didn't expect General Li to be so bold, and was about to reprimand, but Empress Xia said at this moment, "Li Dewu, you are presumptuous, and you can blame the emperor casually?"

"I don't dare." Li Dewu knelt down on one knee, showing a loyal and courageous expression: "I have lived in the army for a long time, and my temper is quite straightforward. Some things are really uncomfortable. I don't know if I have important matters. Can the Empress Dowager decide for the servants?"

"Looking at your appearance, is it true that there is something that cannot be discussed." The Empress Dowager Xia glanced at Emperor Xia calmly, nodded and said: "Forget it, if you have anything to do, you can just play it, and the Ai family will make the decision for you. "

"That subject thanked the Queen Mother first." Li Dewu cupped his fists, and then blurted out a sentence that shocked everyone in the audience, "The first thing I want to ask the Queen Mother is whether the emperor broke the law and committed the same crime as the common people!"

Ning Yuan pursed his lips and smiled, unexpectedly, he began to sing. It was reasonable, but faster than expected.

Emperor Xia also remained silent, looking very calm, as if what was about to happen had nothing to do with him.

"Why, could it be that the emperor you want to admonish is not successful?" The queen mother sneered.

Li Dewu said: "Since I dare to say it, there is no reason to be timid. Even if it is His Majesty who is really admonishing, so what, the eight words that the people of Zhou said before "colluding with the rebellious party and bewitching the Holy One" are not groundless. Do you still remember how the vanguard army led by your servants was ambushed by the Zhou people when they were in Yanzhou?"

"You wrote this matter very clearly in the battle report." The Empress Dowager Xia said: "Those Zhou people apparently withdrew their troops from Yanzhou, but they actually set up an ambush. Trapped."

"That's right." Li Dewu nodded and said, "Those Zhou people really did everything they could to ambush our army. They cleared out several cities and towns in Yanzhou in advance, transported away all the supplies, and then And let the soldier Qiao Zhuangcheng stay in the city to catch us off guard. Of course, this is not the most despicable thing. The most despicable thing is that many Zhou people actually put on the equipment of our Xia army and disguised themselves as those of other troops. The army, we were attacked by the opponent without checking, so we were surrounded so easily, so that we returned in a big defeat. At that time, the ministers were very puzzled, why did those Zhou people come from? Our Xia army has so many armaments, so we returned to Yanjing Afterwards, my subordinates searched secretly, and found that those armaments were handed over to the Zhou people by His Majesty!"

As if a thunderbolt had struck in the palace, all civil and military officials showed expressions of shock. Some generals who were close to Li Dewu had already begun to yell "what's the point?" The civil servants of the emperor all remained silent in surprise, because if the matter was true, even if they were partial to Emperor Xia, they would not be able to accept it calmly. A little appalling.

However, some civil servants stood up and shouted at Li Dewu: "General Li is so bold to slander the emperor, but the real treason can be punished by beheading!"

Li Dewu glanced at the civil official contemptuously, "Xue Yu envoy, be safe and don't be impatient. I don't have such a big order to dare to slander the Holy Majesty. No matter what I say, it must be well-founded. Besides, everything is decided by the Queen Mother. What kind of words are you jumping out in such a hurry?"

"Emperor, what General Li said is true, did you really equip our army to the Zhou people?" Empress Dowager Xia looked at Emperor Xia.

"Why, the Empress Dowager actually believes such nonsense?" Emperor Xia asked the Empress Dowager Xia with a half-smile expression.

"The Ai family just asked casually. I think that although the emperor is young, he would not do such a foolish thing." The Empress Dowager Xia nodded on the surface, but sneered in her heart, and continued to Li Dewu: "You just said If you say you have a certificate, then show it, otherwise if you dare to slander Your Majesty, once this crime is confirmed, even the Ai family will not be able to protect you, so you should leave the palace gate to die."

Li Dewu's expression froze, and he suddenly turned his head and shouted to the outside of the hall, "Bring me up!"

It seemed as if it had been prepared long ago, but in the blink of an eye, two of Li Dewu's subordinates escorted a middle-aged man in from outside the hall, and many officials in the hall saw the middle man's face, and rushed Surprised, "Isn't that Luo Shilang?" "I'm still wondering why I didn't see him today, I thought he was busy and not coming." "This Li Dewu tied Li Dewu in so rudely, what the hell did he do?" .

Regarding these arguments, Li Dewu completely ignored them, pointing directly at the middle-aged man who was taken in, he said: "After some investigations, I finally found out about the source of those armaments, Luo Cheng, the servant of the Ministry of War. He was brought up by his subordinates, let him tell the queen mother what the truth is."

As soon as Li Dewu's words fell, Luo Cheng said tremblingly: "The queen mother redeemed her sins, the queen mother redeemed her sins, and this official has no choice but to... Even if I give this official ten courages, this official will not dare to disobey the imperial order..."

"You mean, the emperor really gave you an order to hand over our army's armaments to the Zhou people?" Empress Dowager Xia raised her voice and asked.

Luo Cheng raised his head, glanced at Emperor Xia with some guilty conscience, saw that the young emperor was silent, and said, "That's right, someone took the gold medal that is close to His Majesty's body to announce the decree, and let the next official Temporarily mobilized a large amount of armaments, because the gold medal was real, and the officer did not doubt that he was there, but out of caution, the officer asked a lot about the use of the armaments, but was told that it was a secret... But Queen Mother, you know that military supplies and other matters are very important. Even if the official position is not big, I dare not make mistakes in it. It's just that the person holds the emperor's gold medal in his hand. It is an imperial decree. I was able to adjust the items to him according to the quantity, but afterward, the subordinate officer took a good look and secretly sent someone to follow the man, trying to find out the specific use of these armaments, only to find that the man had the official approval letter to go to A large number of military documents were extracted from the warehouse outside the city, and they entered the post house in Beijing specially used to receive foreign guests. At first, the officials did not understand the mystery. It was not until General Li's vanguard army was ambushed in Yanzhou that they realized it. Maybe That batch of armaments passed through the posthouse, and finally reached the hands of Zhou people..."

Having said that, Luo Cheng glanced obsequiously in the direction of Sikong Xuan and Ning Yuan, and stopped talking.

"That's how things are. The Empress Dowager understands why the ministers just said that these Zhou people 'colluded with the party and bewitched the Holy One', but it was the emperor who really made the ministers feel sad. As the king of a country, why did he collude with the Zhou people? He came to harm us soldiers who defended the country against the enemy, if this matter gets out, it will chill the hearts of millions of soldiers." After speaking, he shook his head very sadly.

"There is such a thing?" Empress Dowager Xia frowned, and asked Emperor Xia: "Your Majesty, why did you do this?"

"I've already said it. It's a bunch of nonsense. Such a person who created something out of nothing can still enter the court as an official, and one is a general, and the other is a servant of the military department. It's not very good." Emperor Xia not only denied it categorically, but also took the opportunity to join the Empress Dowager Xia's army, "That's right, the imperial court is so big, and the Empress Dowager is very old, so it is inevitable that she will not be able to take care of it. It is better to return the government to me. I just happen to be able to clean up the imperial court, and such absurd people cannot be kept under any circumstances." Emperor Xia said while casting a glance at Li Dewu.

Emperor Xia was not very old, but his eyes were very sharp. Even though Li Dewu had experienced many battles, he couldn't help but shuddered from the excitement in his eyes, but he gritted his teeth and continued: "It is reasonable for your Majesty not to admit this matter. , but as a general, I have to seek justice for my officers and soldiers, even if the other party is His Majesty, if the Queen Mother and Your Majesty feel that Lord Luo’s testimony is too pale, and I still have an ironclad proof in my hand, Lord Luo, you can tell the Queen Mother Empress, who was the person who came to you to mobilize your armaments with His Majesty's personal gold medal that day?"

"This..." Luo Cheng seemed to have some encouragement, his eyes kept dodging, as if he didn't dare to say anything.

Li Dewu sneered, "Lord Luo, I know that you want to take care of the emperor's face, but it is equivalent to covering up those rebellious officials and thieves, and the crimes involved in it are of secondary importance. In the future, will the history books be meticulously classified as the same as the thieves?" One party, leaving eternal infamy, but not necessarily."

Luo Cheng shivered, and immediately said: "I said, Empress Dowager Mingjian, the person who came to look for the humble minister with His Majesty's gold medal that day, is actually Prince Yongyi!"

"What, Prince Yongyi?!"

"It's actually him?"

"Then are the rebels still staying in Yanjing?"

There were quite a few voices coming from among the officials, obviously the news surprised them.