Shu Blossoms

Chapter 370
Today's morning court was very long and lasted until noon. The atmosphere in the sultry hall was stagnant. Many courtiers' inner clothes were already wet with sweat. Familiar with Shu's cold soup, but drinking the soup still can't stop everyone's hunger.

Emperor Zhou hadn't had any water or rice since the morning, and even had only two sips of cold soup.Even now, he is dizzy and dizzy from hunger. Although he still has no appetite, he knows that even if he doesn't eat, many veterans can't hold on.

He ordered Gao Han to go to Lang Zhongling to spread the word, and asked the secretary of food to give all the ministers a bowl of gruel to fill their stomachs. The old ministers who were over sixty years old got an extra piece of rice cake, and even Emperor Zhou himself only drank a bowl of gruel.

When the ministers saw this food, their expressions became even more serious.

Your Majesty is more frugal than usual. It seems that this disaster is very serious. How bad is the disaster?

Civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty supported themselves on this bowl of gruel for a while longer, and at dusk, a servant came to report in a hurry that King Ling had returned.

All the ministers were startled and looked outside, Zhou Emperor even said, "Hurry up!"

Although the voice was still calm, everyone could hear a little anxiety.

King Ling walked into the hall in a hurry, and knelt down in the hall with a plop.

After Wang Can's comfort and admonition, his mood has stabilized a lot, but his expression is still dignified. He bowed his head and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, a disaster occurred in the suburbs of Beijing. The granary in the northwest was destroyed, as if it was burned, but Not quite, according to the nearby villagers, there was a loud noise there, and the loud noise brought a lot of air waves and smoke, and everyone who approached was blown away! Moreover, the guards of the granary were all dead, and many people only found the All that's left is a stump."

At this time, there was Ren in the court muttering to himself: "Heavenly fire? Is it really God's punishment from heaven?"

Emperor Zhou's eyes sharpened suddenly, and he yelled: "Nonsense, if God's punishment, how could it destroy the granary? I'm afraid the whole Jiankang City will be doomed! There must be something wrong with this matter!"

Although Emperor Zhou was not sure whether there was anything wrong with this matter, he knew that the courtiers and common people of the Great Zhou Dynasty must not think that this was a divine punishment from heaven, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable!
He thought of Xia Houqing whose whereabouts were unknown, and guessed in his heart that this matter had something to do with him?
But how could a mere mortal have such great power?
After struggling for a while, Emperor Zhou made a decision in his heart, and his eyes became firm, "I suspect that some culprits did this on purpose, just for revenge!"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, for a moment they didn't quite understand what Emperor Zhou meant. If the enemies in Jiankang City would pay such a huge amount of money to take revenge on Da Zhou, probably only the Xiahou family would be the only one, right?
But can he do such a big thing by himself?

All the courtiers were thinking about it in their hearts, but they were all silent.

Emperor Zhou ignored his courtiers and only asked King Ling, "Where is Wang Can?"

King Ling hurriedly replied: "Master Zaifu left to take care of the aftermath, deal with the wounded, appease the people, so as not to cause civil disorder!"

Emperor Zhou nodded, and finally softened his tone, "Wang Qing is doing things properly. I am most at ease in entrusting this matter to him. What I am worried about is that there is such a big movement in Jiankang City, and I want to hide it from the people of Jiankang. I'm afraid it can't be done, but if the people know the truth, I'm afraid it will cause turmoil, what do you Ai Qing think about this matter?"

Jing Zhaoyin and Li Zemin feel that since he took office, there have been many disasters, and it is not easy to live well now.

The stability of the capital is the responsibility of the Jingzhao Mansion. He frowned and thought for a long time before he stood up and said, "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, although the people in the capital have heard the vibration, they don't know the details. For the sake of the safety of the capital, it is temporarily It’s better to block the news. Only in this way can we have enough time to raise food from other places!”

As soon as Li Zemin's words fell, a minister immediately questioned, "Everyone has heard about this matter, and it can't be hidden for a while. The rice grain near Gyeonggi will take nearly a month to harvest, and it will take seven weeks to transfer grain from other states and counties at the earliest." Eight days of effort, how long can we keep it a secret!"

As soon as this remark came out, some courtiers immediately echoed it, and some agreed to hide it first. Zhou Emperor was so quarreled that he had a headache and was so irritable that he ordered Gao Han to retreat.

Emperor Zhou left King Mausoleum, Shang Shuling, Liang Cao Liu Zheng, Li Zemin, and generals stationed near Gyeonggi back to the side hall to discuss matters.

In the side hall, Zheng Wei has also been waiting for a long time

And when Zheng Wei and the eldest princess were anxiously waiting for the news in the princess mansion, they also felt the earth-shattering vibration. Her first reaction was an earthquake?

After she stabilized her body, she dragged the eldest princess and A Xin to the open space in the courtyard. After waiting for a long time, there was no more movement.

The eldest princess looked at Zheng Wei in panic, and pulled her to look up and down, "Wei'er, are you okay? What happened just now?"

Zheng Wei was also full of doubts and shock, first she wondered why she thought it was an earthquake just now, and what shocked her was that no matter what happened just now, something big must have happened in the capital!

Zheng Wei immediately stood up, looked at the eldest princess and said solemnly: "Aniang, something must have happened in the capital, we can't sit idly by!"

"How can you manage it?" The movement just now was too scary, and the eldest princess was also a little at a loss.

"Let's go to the palace and have a look, uncle may have some news!" Zheng Wei mused.

The eldest princess hurriedly said: "Aniang, follow you!"

Zheng Wei shook his head and refused, "Aniang, someone has to guard here, if they have any news about Awan, they will send it here."

"But." The eldest princess was worried, Zheng Wei interrupted her, "And you have to go home and have a look, grandpa and grandma may be terrified!"

"There is your father in the mansion, he will take good care of the family!" The eldest princess thought for a while and made a decision, "I'll stay here and send someone back to the mansion to have a look. If you have any news, send someone to send me a letter." !"

Zheng Wei fully agreed, Ah Xin didn't know how to ride a horse, so she was left to accompany the eldest princess, and she went to the palace with the guards.

She didn't expect to wait for half a day, and the longer she waited, the more serious the matter was.

When the queen heard that she was coming, she came here specially to accompany her. Seeing that she was waiting anxiously, she asked the little servant to go forward to inquire about the news.

Knowing that it was sunset, the little servant came back with a pale face and said: "His Royal Highness King Ling is back, it seems that something serious has happened, and there is a lot of chaos ahead!"

The queen and Zheng Wei were even more disturbed when they heard this, the queen who was planning to leave didn't dare to leave, they waited until Emperor Zhou came back with someone, they hurriedly went up to meet him.

Seeing that their expressions had eased a little, Emperor Zhou was still ugly and frightening, and he was not in the mood to speak, so he waved his hands tiredly and said: "You all go back first, I want to discuss matters with the ministers!"

Zheng Wei didn't want to leave, but was stopped by the queen when she was about to say something and pulled away!
She had waited for a long time just to know the real situation and see if she could help, but she was unwilling to leave now.

Zheng Wei racked her brains to think of a way, suddenly she pulled the Queen back, and said softly: "Your Majesty, Wei'er just saw that His Majesty's complexion was not good, those adults were also hot and sweating profusely, and after hearing the servant's report back, Your Majesty He and the adults only ate a bowl of rice porridge all day, how can this body hold on, if His Majesty and those adults in charge fell ill, wouldn't Jiankang be in chaos!"

The queen felt polite when she heard the words, and then asked: "Then what should I do?"

Zheng Wei whispered a few words next to the empress, the empress hesitated, she was afraid that the Zhou emperor would blame her, after all, the crown prince was poisoned a while ago, and His Majesty had already severely reprimanded her, what if she acted recklessly and angered His Majesty?
(End of this chapter)