The Ugly Empress

King Xue's class returned to the court, and the crown prince led all the Chinese and military officials out of the north gate to meet them. They knelt down on the ground and waited for the imperial chariot to return.

When Xue Junliang's chariot approached slowly, it suddenly snowed from the sky, and suddenly it became snow-covered on the ground, which was extremely spectacular.

The little prince was just about the age of a tall man, and he seemed to have grown a lot after not seeing him for a few months. He was wearing small blue boots, and ran over after inviting Ann.

Xue Junliang got down from the jade chariot and stretched out his hand to help Teng Yun down. When everyone saw him, they hurriedly knelt down again and said, "Long live King Xue and a thousand years old Marquis Tengnan."

Although Teng Yun was not favored by anyone when he was on the expedition, they all thought he was just a sycophant of Israel, but he did not expect to win a beautiful victory. After capturing King Feng alive, no one would dare to look down on him.

Xue Junliang ordered people to take Feng Ming down to guard him strictly, and there was nothing wrong with him, so he went to the palace with everyone.

Although the crown prince was still young, as Shen Yi said, he was already able to take charge of his own affairs. In addition, Wannianhou and Teng Shang were guarding the city in the capital, so there was no trouble.

Xue Pei reported the big and small events in the capital these days, Xue Junliang praised Xue Pei's actions, and finally brought the conversation to the main topic.

Xue Junliang said: "The fact that Feng Ming can be captured alive is all thanks to Marquis Teng Nan. In the past, there were always people who were dissatisfied with Marquis Teng Nan, but now they are convinced?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the crowd, seeing that no one spoke, he smiled in satisfaction, and continued: "You might as well tell me how Gu should deal with Feng Ming."

After Xue Junliang finished speaking, he saw Xue Pei standing aside, and said, "Let's talk about it first."

Xue Pei didn't expect that King Xue would ask his opinion. After all, he was still a child, so he subconsciously glanced at Shen Yi who was standing not far away.

Shen Yi also looked over, and nodded slightly at him, signaling him not to be nervous.

Xue Peidao: "I personally thought that Feng Ming could not be killed. Although Feng State has been defeated now, it has also caused panic among Feng people. The most urgent thing is to appease the people."

Xue Junliang nodded, and said with a smile: "Gu thinks so too. It's just that he can't be killed, but he must be persuaded to surrender. Who should Gu send to persuade him to surrender?"

Some people have heard about Zhao Lu and Feng Ming, and Zhao Lu also contributed a lot in this capture, so they teased Zhao Lu: "I heard that General Zhao Lu had a relationship with King Feng when he was in Fengguo. It is unusual, Your Majesty might as well ask General Zhao Lu to persuade him to surrender, maybe the king will really surrender because of his past kindness."

Zhao Lu smiled wryly when he heard this. He naturally knew that many people in the court looked down on him, but he didn't make a sound.

Xue Junliang was silent for a while, seeing Zhao Lu's reaction in his eyes, and said: "Zhao Lu is Gu's confidant, and he has worked hard for him for so many years. Gu can't bear to let him work hard. Who else can persuade him to surrender? , Shen Yi, are you? You have always been resourceful, why don't you ask for your life?"

Shen Yi said: "Your Majesty fell in love wrongly. Although I am a little clever, I can't break the barrier of serving the king."

"Oh? What's the reason? Feng Ming is a scourge? Even you dare not go?"

Shen Yi said with a smile: "Feng Ming is not a scourge, but he is a lunatic... I heard that King Feng is already insane, even if I am clever, I can't speak to a lunatic."

Xue Junliang suddenly laughed and said, "Okay..."

Everyone didn't know what he meant when he said "yes" twice. In fact, Xue Junliang was just praising Feng Ming's good strategy. He had heard about Feng Ming's temperament, and he was arrogant. Perhaps it would be worse for him to surrender than to die. It was uncomfortable, after Shen Yi's reminder, Xue Junliang finally knew that Feng Ming was pretending to be crazy, how could he reason with a lunatic, how could he make a lunatic surrender, even if he was very talented.

Teng Yun didn't say a word from the beginning to the end, and Xue Junliang didn't intend to ask him to persuade him to surrender. He knew very well that although Teng Yun was loyal and kind, he was loyal in everything and had a very good heart, so these were not suitable to persuade him to surrender.

Seeing that everyone was speechless, Xue Junliang smiled and said, "Let's put this matter aside, and we will bring it up when the ministers have an idea. There is another thing, I just want to mention it now..."

He paused as he spoke, glanced at everyone, and said: "I have mentioned this matter before, but the ministers may have their own opinions, so it ended without a problem, so now that the old matter is brought up again, I must love it." You may not have much objection."

He laid out so many words, all the ministers in the hall tensed up in unison, knowing that King Xue must have something important to say, and he has already said so much, if someone objects, it may cause King Xue's displeasure.

Xue Junliang finally said: "I'm just thinking about it...Teng Nanhou has a noble status, a loyal nature, and has repeatedly made military exploits. He is always by his side to persuade Gu. Gu is a blessing from Sansheng Xiu. Gu is still the same sentence. Marquis Teng Nan is the queen, do you have any opinions from the ministers?"

His words came out, no one spoke for a while, it was you who looked at me and you, the little prince Xue Pei looked up at Teng Yun, and Teng Yun never expected that Xue Junliang wanted to talk about it at this time, he was surprised He looked at Xue Junliang.

Xue Junliang said: "Teng Qing, come here."

Teng Yun raised his head slightly, walked over, and stepped up the jade steps, Xue Junliang said: "I think everyone has heard about Teng Nanhou's achievements in Mingshui. , when he was on the expedition, many people wanted to see a joke, but Teng Qing lived up to Gu's expectations. He is a talent, has both ability and political integrity, and can convince others. Can such a person make him a queen? "

The ministers in the palace heard Xue Junliang's words, and no one dared to say anything. Since ancient times, it is not surprising that emperors have one or two male concubines, but no emperor will have a male queen. In the consciousness of these people, male favorites are all based on There are very few celebrities with real talents and real learning, so many people can't accept it for a while.

Seeing this, Shen Yi took half a step, knelt down on the ground, and said first: "Your Majesty's words are absolutely true."

Someone was the first to express his opinion, and the people behind him also began to express their opinions. In an instant, the people in the hall knelt down on the ground, fearing that being slow would be negligence, and at the same time shouted, "Your Majesty's words are very true."

Xue Junliang nodded in satisfaction, and said with a smile, "Since everyone agrees with Gu's statement, then there is no objection to the posthumous matter? Then start preparing."

King Xue annexed Teng State and Feng State, and there was no one who was not Xue Tu. Xue Junliang ordered someone to post a notice, exempting the tax, and sent people to Feng State to send food and salaries while stationing troops, so that the local officials would appease him. The common people are also exempted from taxes, and set up temporary huts for refugees to give up porridge.

Ordinary common people don't have any thoughts of loyalty to the emperor. Whoever can feed them, not starve and have a place to live in times of floods and famines, will not conscript soldiers every year, and will not donate harshly every year. To whom will it belong.

And the civil and military people who surrendered to the country will be rewarded, and they will not be left out in the cold because they are surrendered ministers. Some people who are difficult to develop their ambitions are naturally willing to surrender.

Although there are still a lot of remnants, large and small, and there will be troubles from time to time, but there is no big achievement, and it has been calm and peaceful all the time.

Because of his meritorious service, Zhao Tong was promoted to an official position and worshiped as a general.

When he came to the prison, the prisoner saw him nodding and bowing his head and said with a smile: "General Zhao, what brought you here, this prison is too chaotic, you can laugh at me."

Zhao Tong ignored his flattery and let the guards lead him inside. When he got to the innermost part, a man in shabby clothes was sitting in the cell, looking at him and he didn't know what he was looking at.

The prisoner went to open the cell door and shouted, "Lu Shichen."

Lu Shichen didn't move, still looking at the wall, Zhao Tong walked into the prison, and took a closer look, it turned out that the walls were all carved with stones, either poems or fuss.

Zhao Tong let the prisoner go down, and it took a long time before he said, "Master Lu, are you here?"

Lu Shichen finally moved his eyes, squinted his eyes at the wall, and said, "If the general is here to persuade you to surrender, you don't need to waste your words. Lu still said the same thing. I am a pedantic scholar, and I only know foolish loyalty."

Zhao Tong stared at him, but didn't speak for a long time, and then said as if he didn't hear his words: "Lu Shichen, you are a celebrity, and you should know Xue Wang's Wencheng martial arts. In all fairness, he is a wise monarch. Do you want to develop your ambitions? Don’t you want to see that with your help, the world is peaceful? Is it really your natural ambition to chant poems against the wall every day?”

Lu Shichen laughed, his voice was a little hoarse, he looked up at Zhao Tongtong, as if he was looking at a child who didn't understand the world, "The winner is the king, the loser is Kou, don't you understand the general, why bother to say more? The king is gone. Now, where are the ministers, where do you talk about ambitions..."

Zhao Tong sighed and said, "Feng Ming is not dead."

Lu Shichen stood up abruptly at this time, because he had been sitting, he suddenly stood up and staggered, hitting the wall next to him.

Zhao Tong wanted to reach out to help, but finally stopped.

Lu Shichen looked at him with burning eyes, and said in a trembling voice, "Prince Feng is still alive."

"Nature is alive."

It was the first time that Zhao Tong saw Lu Shichen, who had always been calm and calm, a little excited, and Zhao Tong couldn't help being shocked by his uncontrollable expression.

Lu Shichen suddenly knelt on the ground with his knees bent, and said: "General, do you still remember what you said to Lu? If the general still remembers, Lu implores the general to let the king go."

Zhao Tong said: "You didn't ask me to let you go, but you begged me to let him go. Is this your loyalty to the emperor? You are really pedantic."

Lu Shichen didn't speak, Zhao Tong said again: "I can't promise you, even if I promise you, it won't help, you can't not know..."

He watched the other person's eyes darken, and seemed to have a wry smile. He couldn't help feeling impatient, and said: "Don't worry, the king will not kill Feng Ming, it is impossible to kill him due to emotion and reason, but Feng Ming If you don't fall, you won't have a chance to see the sun again."

Lu Shichen had expected this to happen a long time ago, but he still couldn't help being absent-minded for a moment, shaking as if he was about to fall to the ground.

Zhao Tong wanted to sigh "Why is this so", but if it was him, he would do the same, so he could only turn around and sigh again, and said: "I will tell the prison guard not to embarrass you, if you ever figure it out, then Tell me."

As he spoke, he walked out of the cell, and the guard hurried to lock the door.

Xue Junliang asked people to start the matter of setting up the queen. He has not been in the capital for so long, and there are many things waiting for him to deal with. He has been very busy in the past few days when he comes back. Fortunately, Teng Yun will also help him.

Xue Junliang suddenly felt a little emotional. The tacit understanding between him and Teng Yun was as if they had been together for ten or twenty years, and they couldn't understand each other any more.

Xue Junliang approved the scriptures, stretched out his hand to rub his forehead, and Fang wanted to take a break to look at Teng Yun, when Jiang Yu said, "Your Majesty, General Zhao Lu asks to see you."

Xue Junliang knew in his heart that it was not a good thing, but he didn't see him, so he asked Jiang Yu to recruit Zhao Lu.

After Zhao Lu came in, he greeted Xue Wang first, Xue Junliang looked at him with a smile, and said: "You came here just after a short rest, what's the matter? You must have thought of how to recruit, right? If not...Gu I don't want to hear anything else."

Zhao Lu was blocked by Xue Junliang, so he could only bite the bullet and say: "The last general is not here to offer advice, but..."

"But what?"

Xue Junliang laughed, and said, "I'm here to beg for mercy, right?"

Zhao Lu raised his head and glanced at King Xue, then lowered his eyes and said calmly, "Your Majesty is wise, yes."

"How dare you call Gu Yingming?"

Xue Junliang said: "Zhao Lu, Zhao Lu, what on earth are you thinking? Over the years, Gu has never doubted your loyalty to Gu. By Gu's side, you are the most loyal person, even though you have been far away Fengdi, but he never has two minds. But now, what you want to say, think carefully for yourself, and don't say the wrong thing. "

Zhao Lu kept his head down, and only spoke for a while. The voice was not too loud, but still very calm. In the quiet pavilion, it seemed very abrupt.

"The general knows that his words will offend His Majesty, but it's a pity that the general will not vomit, Your Majesty...Since Feng Ming is already crazy, why don't His Majesty let him go on the basis of benevolence and righteousness, so that the people of Fengdi will know about His Majesty." kind."

When he finished speaking, Xue Junliang slapped the table heavily, and shouted: "Zhao Lu, you are so bold."

Xue Junliang stood up, walked around the table, picked up a booklet, threw it in front of Zhao Lu, and said: "You write letters to Gu these days, Gu will treat you as a fool, and write four or five commendations in a moment of confusion, so that Gu Let Feng Ming go, but Gu sees that you are not confused for a moment, you are really confused! How did you let Feng Ming go, you know him, you can tell me, if you let go of Feng Ming, do you let him recruit soldiers and buy horses to make a comeback? Let him assassinate secretly?"

"His Majesty……"

Zhao Lu's voice was stuck in his throat, Xue Junliang's words were good, according to his understanding of Feng Ming, if Xue Junliang let Feng Ming go, Feng Ming would never let him go.

"Okay." Xue Junliang sighed, "You have been in Fengguo for so many years, you can't bear it, and Gu can understand, otherwise Gu would have arrested you and charged you with treason. You are tired these days Gu once said, after finishing these things, I will let you rest and go back."

Zhao Lu's heart sank, knowing that Xue Junliang was actually beating himself by saying this, if he said more, it would be a crime of treason, and if he gave himself a rest, he would be dismissing his official position.

Zhao Lu took off his official hat, put his hands on the ground, kowtowed and said: "Zhao Lu has a stubborn temper, and it must be because of this that His Majesty reused Zhao Lu. Since the decision has been made, he will not regret it. If His Majesty can't let go Over Feng Ming, Zhao Lu is willing to share the same crime with Feng Ming and share the punishment for him."

Xue Junliang was buzzed by Zhao Lu's words, and smashed the bag at hand on him, sneered: "Zhao Lu, are you crazy? Are you impatient? You feel that you have made great achievements and are unscrupulous." gone?"

Zhao Lu said: "The guilty minister dare not, it's just that the guilty minister has something in his heart, if he doesn't do this, not only will he not live comfortably, but life will be worse than death."

Xue Junliang stared at him coldly, and said: "Okay... If you think about it this way, it doesn't make you perfect, it seems that you are not magnanimous enough. If you want to go to jail, suffer, or be tortured, then go ahead and don't regret it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for fulfilling it."

Zhao Lu bowed again, and when he saw the official hat on the ground, his eyes seemed to be sour. This is his lifelong ambition...

Zhao Lu was escorted by the guards and sent out of the palace. Xue Junliang's words were naturally not meant for jokes, and he was really sent to prison.

Teng Yun was wielding swords in the back garden of Yunfeng Palace. Ruixue rushed over suddenly, her eyes were red, and her face was almost crying. When she saw Teng Yun, she knelt down, grabbed Teng Yun's clothes, and said, "Master!" , Master, save General Zhao Lu!"

Teng Yun didn't know why, but someone suddenly said that Zhao Tong asked to see him.

Yunfeng Palace is a harem, foreign ministers are not allowed to enter, but Teng Yun is also Tengnanhou, so Zhao Tong came to see Tengnanhou, there seems to be no irregularity.

Zhao Tong came in a hurry, and when he saw Teng Yun, he knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "Master Hou, go and persuade Your Majesty, Your Majesty will execute General Zhao Lu Ling Chi."

Teng Yun was a little dazed when he heard that, and said, "Why did King Xue suddenly want to kill Zhao Lu?"

Zhao Tongdao: "The general asked the king for the matter of serving the king, but he didn't know what he said. The king was furious. First he put the general in prison, and then he wanted to kill the general."

Ruixue cried: "The general wants to die with all his heart. The slaves have been following the general. How could they not know the general's thoughts? Although the general has always been loyal to the king, his heart for the king is also true, and he has been suffocating himself to death all the time. The road is chaotic, now that King Feng is in such a state, the general must be feeling bad, he wants to live and die together with King Feng, if King Feng can't live, how can the general live alone!"

At the end of Ruixue's speech, she was sobbing.

Teng Yun's heart jumped twice, and he stretched out his hand to support the table. He naturally knew about Zhao Lu and Feng Ming, how could he not understand Zhao Lu's feelings? Fortunately, he was Teng Nanhou at this time, and his name was Teng Ying. Otherwise, he and Xue Junliang are still on the road of confrontation.

Some things are reasonable in themselves, but they will never be reasonable. Zhao Lu is loyal to Xue Guo for the sake of loyalty, which is understandable in itself.And after everything was settled, Zhao Lu must have been relieved, he could finally take a chance, maybe he could die for his own country, but he could only live for Feng Ming.

It is indeed a coward if there is only affection in one's life, but only one person.