Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

Zhou Xi went back to his room that night and found that Bi Tao was waiting for him in the room.

"Have you eaten yet?" Seeing Zhou Xi coming back, Bi Tao hurriedly put down her needlework and got up to greet her. "There are still some steamed buns with vegetables and meat. I'll warm them up for you."

"No need, I've already eaten." Zhou Xi said casually, went straight to the room and sat down, moving his numb shoulders.

"Are you tired today?" Bi Tao walked around behind Zhou Xi, rubbing Zhou Xi's shoulders lightly, and asked.

Zhou Xi closed his eyes and just hummed, not bothering to answer.Bi Tao stared at Zhou Xi's back and neck, her eyes flickering, as if she wanted to say something, after hesitating for a long time, she carefully said:

"I see that the courtyard has been in a mess today. Some people talked about peace talks and leaks. It seems... Zhang Dexiu was mentioned..." Bi Tao's voice became softer and she lacked confidence, "We... want to talk to you. Has the Qing army negotiated peace? What does this have to do with Zhang Dexiu..."

"Women, don't ask so many questions." Zhou Xi said impatiently, then suddenly changed his mind, opened his eyes slightly, and there was a chill in his words. "However... if you want to know, I can tell you. Zhang Dexiu made public the secret of the peace negotiation. His crime is not light, and his life might be lost."

Hearing this, Bi Tao was startled, and gasped, and inadvertently pinched the hand on Zhou Xi's shoulder, until it hurt Zhou Xi's flesh. "Hiss... what are you doing!" Zhou Xi yelled angrily as he turned his head to Bi Tao in pain.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I hurt you." Bi Tao came back to her senses, and hurriedly rubbed Zhou Xi's sore spot, but Zhou Xi waved her away violently. "Bitch! You've been thinking about that Zhang Dexiu all your heart! You're so affectionate, every time you mention him, your mind is shaken and you lose your mind! So many years have passed, but for a moment, you put me in your eyes!" Zhou Xi got up abruptly , yelling at Bitao with red eyes, his face full of resentment.

"What, what is this..." Bi Tao was frightened by Zhou Xi's fierce reaction, her heart was pounding, her face was as white as paper, and she explained with trembling lips, "It's not what you think... Anyway, I and him I have known him for many years. He is going to die. Is it possible that I don’t feel it at all? Wouldn’t he be a wooden man... Don’t be angry, if Hong Xing and the others have an accident this time, I will be the same..."

"What are you talking about? I don't know what you're thinking!" Zhou Xi snorted angrily and turned away from looking at her.Bi Tao settled down, forced a smile, stepped forward and grabbed Zhou Xi's sleeve and said, "You also said that so many years have passed, but why are you still so caring? You don't care what I have done to you all these years." Should it be clear? I've followed you a long time ago, so don't worry about other people, so you can rest assured."

"Hmph...you said it nicely." Zhou Xi glanced at Bitao, with an awkward look on his face, but let Bitao pull his sleeve with his hands, without refusing.

Bi Tao smiled sweetly at Zhou Xi again, dragged him to the chair with both hands, and continued to rub his shoulders for him. "Whether Zhang Dexiu lives or dies...in fact, it has nothing to do with me. I've already belonged to you, and it's only serious if you are safe and sound."

Bi Tao's words were sweet and gentle, brushing Zhou Xi's ears lightly, and finally roughly dispelled the anger on his face. "How can I be unsafe, let alone safe, as long as you follow me wholeheartedly, sooner or later you will enjoy glory and wealth." Zhou Xi raised his eyebrows and said.

"That would be the best." Bi Tao, who was standing behind Zhou Xi, suddenly lost all smiles, coping with Zhou Xi's words in her mouth, and silently recited the four words that Zhou Xi just said that life is in danger, a My heart sank to the bottom.

"What are you thinking?" Seeing that Bi Tao was silent for a while, Zhou Xi frowned, and his voice became sharp again.

"Ah... um. I was thinking that you go in and out of the prince's inner room every day. It's better not to involve you in this matter." Bi Tao came back to her senses, and made an excuse casually.

"Me? Huh, how is it possible?" Zhou Xi frowned, curled up his mouth contemptuously, lifted his skirt with both hands, and raised Erlang's legs. "It can be said that the emperor pays off those who have a heart~ah~ah~" I don't know what good things came to my mind, Zhou Xi, while enjoying the numb kneading on his shoulders, half-sang and half-recited, leisurely humming a ditty .

two

After all, paper cannot contain fire.As soon as the peace agreement was leaked, it immediately spread throughout the ruling and opposition parties.How can you condescend to make peace with Jianlu? Just as Chongzhen expected, memorials of protest flew into the Wuying Hall like snowflakes. Every day, officials blocked the gate of Xihua to see the emperor, and even many people signed a letter. Coercing each other with fate, and opposing peace talks.However, either they didn't know the truth, or they didn't dare to go too far. Although the opposition was huge, no one accused Chongzhen of this matter.

"Your majesty...the more and more memorials are being collected, it's not a solution to keep them in the middle..." In the Hall of Martial Arts, Wang Chengen said with a bitter face, "Now the outer courts are accusing Mr. Chen of negotiating peace without authorization, clamoring for Severe punishment, I don't know how the emperor will solve it?"

"He didn't really negotiate a peace on his own. How can I punish him?" Chong Zhen held his forehead, his brows were full of annoyance, "Hey, he has suffered a lot these days."

Wang Chengen lowered his head when he heard the words, and hid the look of contempt in his eyes, but there was still a little disdain in his words: "Master Chen...he is not bitter. Recently, Master Chen has been running around everywhere, saying that the peace talks are always the same from the beginning to the end. It was the emperor's intention, and he was just obeying orders. If others didn't believe it, he would show the emperor's handwriting to others, and his servants would watch. He wanted to push all the responsibility on the emperor, and he was afraid that he would leave some of it to himself. There is also a letter of appeal, full of excuses for myself, very upright and confident, I must ask the emperor to uphold justice for myself." After speaking, Wang Chengen took out a memorial from his sleeve, "Please read it, Your Majesty."

"Oh?" Chongzhen raised his head, took the notebook and read it, his face turned dark for a moment, and the boredom between his brows slowly turned into frost. "He does things vigorously and resolutely, and this paper appeals to himself really cleanly." After reading it hastily, he threw the notebook on the table, "Although it is true that I have promised, but as an important member of the court, How can you be so afraid of this?"

"Who says no? In the final analysis, he was the one who proposed the peace agreement." Wang Chengen took Chongzhen's words and said, "Forgive me for speaking bluntly, judging from the current reaction from the foreign court, this peace agreement may be difficult to proceed. If To quell public opinion, we must give an explanation and make an end..."

"You mean..." Chongzhen raised his eyes and looked straight at Wang Chengen.In the middle of the conversation, Chongzhen seemed to have grasped the meaning of the unspecified words, and the words were both inquiries, but not like inquiries.Wang Chengen saw that Chongzhen understood and didn't object immediately, so he smiled peacefully and bowed his lower body slightly. "Your Majesty is wise. Mr. Chen is ineffective in handling affairs and shirks responsibility. He only wants to injure the Emperor. Although the negotiation of the peace is not due to his arbitrariness, punishing him to give an explanation to the ministers is also a perfect strategy."

A surefire solution...?Letting Chen Xinjia take over the whole situation could indeed quickly end the turmoil, but if he did so, there would be no difference between himself and the fearful Chen Xinjia.Chongzhen thought for a moment, but still shook his head: "It's not right, it's not right. This matter is indeed ordered by me, and I can't just wrong him like this."

"Your Majesty." Wang Chengen persuaded patiently, "If Lord Chen is not pushed out this time, the government will not return to normal. Li Zicheng is now besieging Kaifeng again. Do you want to teach those officials to block the Xihua Gate every day and force the Emperor to come back to the city?" This is a waste of time and effort? Besides, Mr. Chen’s fault is not limited to today’s one. At the beginning, Mr. Hong wanted to fight a protracted war, but he ran up and down, admonishing a quick battle, which led to the death of Mr. Hong, the death of his ancestors, and the fall of Song Jin. The hand of the Qing army. Lord Chen bears the unshirkable responsibility for the defeat in this battle. What's more, if there is no such defeat, how can our Ming Dynasty be reduced to the situation of humiliation and peace? The emperor has charity in his heart and cannot bear to let him take the burden In the name of Xing, if you think about it carefully, the instigator of all this is this person, and in the eyes of the servants, not to mention taking a false name, it is really not an exaggeration to cut him into pieces."

"But……"

"Your Majesty... If you really feel that it is inappropriate to make a peace agreement without authorization, his crimes worthy of the name are actually quite a few..." Wang Chengen raised his eyes slightly, and there was something in his words.

"Hmm..." Hearing Wang Chengen's remarks, Chongzhen pondered for a long time before finally nodding his head. "Hey... what you said is also reasonable, let me weigh it and make a plan."

"Yes." Seeing that the words were in place, Wang Chengen stopped urging and bowed to answer the order.

"However..." Chongzhen thought about it, and suddenly changed the topic, "How did the news about the peace talks leak out? Have you...have you checked it?"

Chongzhen's eyes fell directly on Wang Chengen's face, and he was caught off guard when he said a word, which made Wang Chengen's nerves tense up.

"...Go back to the emperor, the servants have already checked it out."

"I heard that the incident happened with the Li Supervisor." Chongzhen said calmly.

"Your Majesty, forgive me!" Wang Chengen hurriedly knelt down on his knees, and exaggeratedly kowtowed, "It's all slaves who are incapable of discipline, and let the subordinates peek at the contents of the secret book, slaves deserve death, slaves deserve death!"

"Since it's a secret book, it should be kept well. How can I teach others to read it?" Chongzhen didn't mean to blame him, but continued to ask.

"Hey..." Wang Chengen made up his mind, and said the arranged words one by one, but fine beads of sweat could not help oozing from his forehead, "That day, Master Chen sent a booklet, and this servant knew that this booklet was very important. Yes, so I went back to the inner room to have a look. After reading it, I carefully locked it in the cabinet, and the key was only on the maidservant. Later, Eunuch Zhao, the imperial horse supervisor, said that there was something important to ask the maidservant to go, just for a moment At the same time, the goddamned bastard somehow pried open the door of the cupboard, peeked at the content of the compromise, and said to everyone he met... Hey, the peace negotiation is a rare respite for Daming. It can be done, but it teaches the slaves to be negligent for a while and fall short, and the slaves know that they will die! I implore the emperor to punish them severely!" After finishing speaking, he kowtowed his head again.

Although he took the initiative to incriminate himself, he left himself completely clean inside and outside the words.Chongzhen listened to Wang Chengen's narration, his face remained calm and expressionless.After Wang Chengen finished speaking, he took a deep look at Wang Chengen and sighed softly, seemingly helpless and relieved. "It's none of your business. Get up." Chongzhen withdrew his eyes, but there was no wave in his tone. "Who is the name of the person who peeked at the Secret Zhe?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your forgiveness..." Wang Chengen stood up, continued to answer, but subconsciously glanced at Xizhao beside Chongzhen, "His...name is Zhou Xi."

Zhou Xi? !Xi Zhao, who had been listening silently, suddenly changed his face.how come?How could it be Zhou Xi? !Could it be that he was the culprit who caused the uproar!But Chongzhen didn't react when he heard the name, he just nodded slightly.

"Then look, Your Majesty... how to deal with Zhouxi this week?"

"Hmm..." Chongzhen paused for a moment, and then spoke again, only uttering a word in a low voice, but this word made Xi Zhao's breathing flustered, and it was difficult for her heartbeat to return to the peaceful and calm rhythm just now.

"kill."