A Complete Explanation of the Negative Textbooks of the Imperial Examination - Chapter 117

      She has been imprisoned in the palace by Princess Gan Ning, and is likely to be stripped of the title of Empress Dowager.

      Unless her daughter is involved in a major event like a rebellion, she will not be deprived of her title. It is not uncommon for concubines to be demoted, but the empress dowager is so prestigious, how can she be deprived of the position of empress dowager? This is simply a humiliation worse than killing her.

    When King Zheng heard this news, he jumped up from his seat in shock: “What? Will my mother be deprived of the position of queen mother?”

    The abolition of the queen is nothing new, but the abolition of the queen mother is the first of its kind. When King Zheng thought of this, his scalp felt numb, and his mother was going to be abolished? This is simply ridiculous, he will never allow it!

      It must be all rumors, it is not enough to believe!”

    “Rumours?” Zheng Wang smiled bitterly, “If there are no signs of abolishing the queen mother, who in the world would dare to spread rumors?”

    But they waited for two full months, and they did not wait for the person who reported the letter to come back. King Zheng is fourteen years old. The young man of this age is the most impulsive and bloody, and he explodes when he is a little unhappy.

    “Why hasn’t the messenger returned?”

    Two months, the messenger was light and simple, enough to walk back and forth between Qizhou and Chang’an. But they still haven’t come back, and most of them were detained by Chang’an.

    The servants kept beating drums in their hearts, if there was a bit of news, no matter how good or bad, they would have a bottom line in their hearts. But there is no wind at all, but it is the most thought-provoking.

    Zheng Wang thought about it for two months. The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became. He wanted to rush to the Tai Chi Palace immediately to support his mother. The person who served with King Zheng had to advise: “Your Highness, you must not be impulsive. Why don’t you send a message to the ancestral house of the Cui family, visit the elders of the Cui family, and listen to what the elders have to say.”

    “Visit the elders, visit the elders again!” King Zheng threw the things on the table to the ground, stood up and said angrily, “You always ask me to visit the elders of Cui. My surname is Rong, I am the king of Zheng, the chief of Qizhou, not the puppet of the Cui family! Why does this king listen to the Cui family in everything?”

    “Your Highness, you cannot say this! Your Highness, where are you going…”

    Chang’an, Tai Chi Palace.

    In the Wende Hall, Empress Dowager Cui was in a hurry. When she saw the palace maid, she rushed over and asked, “Have you heard, how is King Zheng?”

    “The Queen Mother.” The palace maid glanced at Queen Mother Cui timidly, “His Royal Highness King Zheng, the army is up…”

    The army is up. Empress Dowager Cui leaned back, and managed to stabilize her figure: “He just… raised an army! Zhier, she is forcing you to rebel! How can you raise an army!”

    In the Hall of Liangyi, Rong Ke threw the memorial to the ground: “You speak to the Cui family, speak to the king of Zheng, and see, the king of Zheng who has the virtue of the family in your mouth all do it what happened!”

    The memorial was smashed at the feet of Yuan Shangshu, Yuan Shangshu did not move, but Duke Duan bent down to build up, opened it to look, and sighed helplessly: “King Zheng, he is… young and energetic, You’ve gone astray.”

     Duke Duan handed the memorial to Yuan Shangshu, who then took over to read it. After reading it, even Yuan Xiang had nothing to say: “Zheng Wang is only fourteen, with a youthful temperament, maybe he was deceived by the people around him, so he did such a thing.”

    Bai Jiayi is a supplementary queer. Although he is only a seventh rank, he is a close minister of the emperor and can discuss matters in the same hall as the Zai. After listening to Yuan Xiang’s words, Bai Jiayi said: “Yuan Xiang’s words are inappropriate, even if he is young, he should be sensible at the age of fourteen. Rebellion, such a destructive and outrageous calamity, can be easily overturned at a young age. If so, if a young man murders and sets fire, just say that he is young and ignorant after the fact, wouldn’t he be innocent?”

     Yuan Xiang and the Cui family have a long history. If a junior dared to talk to him like this in normal times, Yuan Xiang would have thrown his sleeves, but now Yuan Xiang can’t say anything. King Zheng led his troops to raise troops in Qizhou, and even if he fought in the name of the Qingjun, it would not change the fact that he led troops to rebel.

     Yuan Xiang, who was close to the aristocratic family, was blocked. Duke Duan has always been a good man. Now he can see what Rong Ke means, and he can’t object to anything except sighing. After all, Rong Ke is now taking control of the law, and no one can stop what she wants to do.

    The two leaders in the prime minister are dumb, and the other prime ministers will not say much. Rong Ke finally saw the situation she wanted. She straightened her waist and said aloud: “King Zheng raised his army, plotted unruly, and was rebellious, and he should be punished as the crime of rebelling against the party. He is the son of Emperor Gaozu and the only son of Empress Dowager Cui. , I will give him another chance. If he gets lost, he can still be punished lightly. If not, he will be dealt with according to the law. Now we will send people to encircle and suppress King Zheng and his henchmen. Do you have a leader in your heart?”

    The expedition to Tuyuhun only set off at the beginning of the year, and the battle report was sent back in April. Xiao Jingduo encountered Tuyuhun in Kushan, defeated the enemy, and won the first battle. In the past few days, good news has been reported from time to time. A few days ago, the sergeants sent back news that General Geng Rui had led his troops to the hinterland of Tuyuhun. Xiao Jingduo led them into the Jishi Mountain, trying to attack the tent and capture Tuyuhun Khan alive. The victory of Tuyuhun is only a matter of time. At this time, the generals in the DPRK are still fighting the enemy outside, but King Zheng leads people to rebel at home. This is not just a question of rebellion, he is wronging the country.

    Although Tuyuhun’s victory is imminent, the expedition troops can’t fly back immediately after the victory, and now the troops left behind in the capital are not enough, and many generals have gone out with the expedition army, Now, in a hurry, I am looking for someone to quell the rebellion against King Zheng. After a while, there is really no suitable candidate.

    In the morning the next day, the whole court is also discussing this matter.

    The people of the Rong family have always had a reputation for being beautiful and good at fighting. Empress Dowager Cui can be forced to this point, and Princess Xin’an, King Liang and others have also contributed a lot. Now that they heard that they are going to attack King Zheng, the royal family has also become active. There are no stupid people in the Rong family. Now they can see clearly that this rebellion is not only the war between Rong Ke and King Zheng, but also the royal family and the family. war between. If they win, the situation that the aristocratic family has dominated the government for hundreds of years, even more powerful than the royal family, can be reversed immediately.

    Both King Liang and King Qi invited to fight. This time it was a war between the Rong clan and the aristocratic family. Rong Ke generously chose the royal family to fight. Back then, Gaozu took the black iron cavalry to sweep the world and pacified the Quartet. Now, the sons and nephews of the Rong family will once again embark on the journey of their ancestors and use their achievements to tell the world who is listening to this land.

    The king of Liang and the king of Qi each led a marching commander, and immediately led the troops out of the capital. Not long after they left, Tuyuhun’s war report was sent back to Chang’an, saying that the Tuyuhun Khan had died, and they had captured more than a thousand people, 200,000 cattle and sheep, and were about to return to the court.

    Rong Ke made an urgent call to the army, so that Xiao Jingduo did not have to go back to Beijing, but directly took people to Qizhou to suppress the rebellion.

    The soldier with the expedited battle report on his body galloped all the way, and when he arrived at the barracks, he did not restrain his horse, and almost rolled and jumped off his horse. The soldier standing guard hurriedly went to lead the horse. As soon as the delivery soldier stood firm, he grabbed the soldier on patrol and asked, “Where is the general?”

    “In the camp.”

    The soldier wiped the ashes from his face and quickly ran towards the camp in the middle.

    “General, there is a military report!”

    “Come in.”

    The guards opened the curtains and let them go. The messenger walked to the case, knelt down on one knee, and presented the secret letter with both hands: “General Xiao, an urgent edict from the imperial court.”

    The person behind the case raised his head, he was dressed in armor, the light of the candlestick reflected on the black armor, cold and hard, and when he raised his head, it seemed to illuminate the humble military tent . His indifferent expression matched with the icy armor unexpectedly complemented each other.

    The corner of the messenger’s eyes swept to Xiao Jingduo’s movements, and his head lowered again. This is the famous general Xiao in the army. Two years ago, he led the people to destroy the Turks, and now he leads the right army to sweep Tuyuhun. His illustrious military exploits are as famous as his appearance. Such a tall, thin, fair and beautiful person walking in the barracks is really eye-catching, and he is inevitably surrounded by people wherever he walks.

      But after he submitted the letter, he waited for a long time, but he didn’t wait for further words. He secretly raised his eyes and found that their jade-faced **** of war was looking down at the envelope, his fingers flicking on the cover. Although his face was still expressionless, it somehow made people think he was smiling.

    The soldier who delivered the letter twitched his head and couldn’t help but ask, “General, why don’t you open the letter?”

    After saying this, the soldier who delivered the letter wanted to slap himself, and sure enough, Xiao Jingduo raised his head and looked not very good: “Yu Yue, you have done a good job in reading the letter, this time will not be punished. next time…”

    “There will be no next time.” The messenger hurriedly answered. He hurriedly bowed his head and retreated outside: “Don’t dare to disturb the general, the subordinates will retreat.”

    He was halfway through, and was suddenly stopped by Xiao Jingduo: “How is she, Your Highness?”

    “Your Highness?”

    The soldiers looked helpless when they saw their general raised his head against his eyebrows: “Of course it is His Highness Gan Ning!” Otherwise, who else could it be?

    Prince, princess, and even queen can be called your highness. The messenger felt very aggrieved. With so many highnesses in the palace, who knew that Xiao Jingduo was asking about the eldest princess!

    “Everything is going well for the eldest princess. It’s just that there have been many events in Beijing these days, coupled with the war on the two fronts, the eldest princess is mainly dealing with the battle reports between the two places, as well as the internal affairs of the DPRK and China, which is quite busy. .”

    The news of King Zheng Tuyuhun has also been heard here. With so many government affairs piled up, she doesn’t know how long she will be busy at night. And the palace is not very peaceful, I’m afraid she can’t sleep well. Xiao Jingduo stared at the pen grid. After a while, he turned to look at the messenger soldier: “Why are you still here?”

    The soldier was stunned when he was asked. Seeing that Xiao Jingduo had not spoken for a long time, he thought he had something to order, so he kept waiting. But Xiao Jingduo thought about it for a long time and just drove him out?

    The boss’s mind really can’t be guessed, the soldier who sent the letter thought and retired: “This subordinate will retire.”

    When there was no one in the tent, Xiao Jingduo’s eyes shifted to the envelope again, on which was written a few strong and clear characters: “March Chief Xiao Jingduo personally opened – Gan Ning.”

    The same handwriting is also inside the envelope, which shows that they are all from the same person. Along with Rong Ke’s handwritten handwriting, there were also talismans from Kunzhou.

    Ren Xiao Jingduo was the governor of Kunzhou, and he led his army to Qizhou, and followed the two kings of Liang and Qi to suppress the rebellion.

    When the army pulled out of the camp, Xiao Jingduo did not go with the army, but took the right army, took the road of Kunzhou and Luzhou, and went straight to Hebei Road.

    Xiao Jingduo met King Liang’s team in Luzhou. King Zheng set off from Qizhou and then marched all the way to Luoyang. It seemed that he had the idea of ​​Luoyang.

    But there are so many governors along the road, they are not blind, how can they let King Zheng pass through. And King Zheng was only fourteen years old, and he started the army on an impulse, and wanted to go back to Chang’an to save his mother, but he himself had no practical experience. It didn’t take long for infighting broke out within King Zheng’s army. The command of Zheng’s army was unclear, and the military orders were also changed from day to day. None of the generals under his command obeyed, and everyone wanted to command the entire army, but King Zheng himself couldn’t suppress it. Although there are people from the Cui family who accompany them to help, but unlike the Rong family who came from aristocratic Longxi, the Cui family only needs to compile history, compile books, and deal with cultural affairs, but marching and fighting is a fatal weakness. . As soon as they encountered Xiao Jingduo and King Liang’s army, Zheng’s army immediately collapsed and collapsed.

    This battle is won without effort.

    Xiao Jingduo didn’t take this war seriously, he just came out to clean up the mess for Rong Ke. After all, this is a contest between the royal family and the aristocratic family. King Liang and King Qi’s military exploits are all their own. Rong Ke is also a royal family, so it is impossible to justify without merit, so Xiao Jingduo can only be transferred from a long distance. Xiao Jingduo’s credit is naturally attributed to Rong Ke.

    They easily disbanded King Zheng’s main force, and even captured King Zheng alive. Xiao Jingduo accompanied King Liang’s army and escorted King Zheng back to Beijing.

    The army must be stationed ten miles away from the city, and it is not allowed to be near the farmland. They can only find a flat place to camp. Now that he has left Luoyang City, he will be able to walk out of the border of Luoyang in another day. After leaving Luoyang, Chang’an is near. If you hurry with the horse and whip, 800 miles in a hurry, you can ride from Luoyang to Chang’an in one day, but Xiao Jingduo brought the army, most of the army was infantry, and it was always exhausted, and it took four or five days to travel.

    “What?”

    “The messenger said it was about King Zheng. King Zheng went on a hunger strike yesterday. King Liang didn’t know what to do, so he came here to discuss it with the governor.”

    It really is a child’s nature, what’s the use of your hunger strike? Xiao Jingduo put down the volume in his hand. The number of soldiers killed on the battlefield corresponded to different meritorious deeds, and he was the commander in charge of writing the merits. Xiao Jingduo put down the half-written merit book, stood up and said, “Let’s go, let’s go to King Liang’s tent to see.”

    In the tent, seeing Xiao Jingduo coming, King Liang immediately greeted him: “You have come, King Zheng is really worried about me.”

    Xiao Jingduo’s eyes swept behind King Liang, and there was an armor in the southeast corner of the tent, radiating cold light. Behind the screen is a camp bed with a table outside and a Persian blanket on the floor. Liang Wanggui was the prince, but looking at the furnishings in the tent, he was quite frugal.

    Xiao Jingduo did not answer King Liang’s words, but asked, “Where is His Royal Highness King Qi?”

    Xiao Jingduo did not move. He looked into King Liang’s eyes and said slowly: “His Royal Highness King Liang, you are the prince, why is there no one serving you in the tent?”

    Liang Wang’s smile remained unchanged, and he asked: “A mere servant, what is Chengxi Hou asking this for? Could it be that you can’t trust me?”

    “You can’t trust me.” Xiao Jingduo swept his eyes back, revealing a clear smile, “You are afraid that I will be careless, so you deliberately sent out all the personal guards in the tent. If I guessed right, the outside of the tent should be full of soldiers right now?”

     King Liang maintained a hearty smile, with one hand behind his back, fixedly looking at Xiao Jingduo, Xiao Jingduo also looked back calmly. After a while, King Liang said: “Marquis Chengxi has pacified Tuyuhun again this time. You are only twenty-three years old this year, right? You have achieved such feats at a young age. I respect you as a young hero. How about we plan a major event. ?”