The fox minister in the late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 276

The morning sun shines on the ridge of the palace roof, and a few birds are jumping happily on the roof of the palace. Amidst the hurried chirping, an eunuch is walking forward in small steps on the eaves of the palace below, with the clothes of the servants in the palace behind him. A figure with a downcast face.

Along the way, the eunuch looked around and whispered something to the people behind him. When he saw a group of guards passing by, he quietly waved his hand on his buttocks to make them follow closely.

Soon, bypassing the inspection route, the two quickly walked through a crescent door one after the other, and there were many potted plants on both sides of the flowerbed lawn and gravel-paved path.

A plump woman was picking off a petal, carefully looking at her pretty face, with a slightly sad expression, now she has changed from a queen to a queen mother, she sounds noble, but in fact she has an unresolvable sadness in her heart, hearing the footsteps towards her Come over here, and continue to walk among the flowers with the maid quietly.

"Report to the Empress Dowager, people have brought it here."

For such an occasion, the eunuch's duty is to inform the visitor's name and official position. Now, it is probably because of the Empress Dowager He's order. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the visitor, and it was Cui Yuan, the servant of the Ministry of War.

"Meet the Queen Mother."

On informal occasions, the man still bowed his hands respectfully and bowed, and then quickly covered up, following the woman to help weeding and watering, like a laborer in a palace.

So proficient, I have come here several times.

"What's wrong with King Liang's body this morning? He looks a bit awkward when he walks. Are there any rumors outside?"

Empress Dowager He picked off a few petals and put them in the maid's basket, took the scissors, and repaired the potted plants in front of her. Cui Yuan, who stepped into the garden to pull weeds, did not look up.

His voice was very soft: "The appearance of Liang Wang walking around today is indeed a bit strange, but there are no rumors outside."

"But there are others?"

Empress Dowager He stopped the scissors in her hand, looked at the cut branches and leaves, her eyes were a little lost.

The death of her husband, the death of the prince, the other nine princes, and the youngest son who didn't know the news, she was able to survive until now because of the breath in her heart and how to keep the current majesty.

She alone would definitely not be able to accomplish anything, so she had to contact the court ministers, and if possible, she would risk her life to fight.

This morning, when she followed the emperor to attend the court, she saw that Zhu Wen walked strangely, his legs were slightly spread under the hem of his robe, and the soles of his feet were handled lightly. People recruited the Minister of the Ministry of War into the palace to ask clearly.

Hearing that there were no rumors, he was regretful after all, and then asked about other things. What he said just now was an allusion to how many ministers in the court were willing to work for the court to get rid of Zhu Wen.

"Queen, you have also seen the current situation in the court. Many civil and military personnel have already joined Zhu Wen's command. I dare not test it at will. However, the original group of people is still on His Majesty's side, but..."

"But what?" Empress Dowager He slightly raised her eyelids, her eyes were clear.

Cui Yuan was pragmatic, and he would say everything basically. He paused, "Queen Mother, the courtiers who moved from Chang'an to Luoyang have no military power in their hands. Stand up, maybe you can take a risk."

"The servant has someone he likes."

"There is one."

"who?"

"Shang Shuling, Geng Qing!" Seeing Empress Dowager He frowned, Cui Yuan hastily explained, "Empress Dowager, it's not unreasonable for me to say him, why should I listen to my analysis."

Cui Yuan pulled up a weed, shook the mud on the root, and lowered his voice: "From outsiders' perspective, Shang Shuling is comparable to Zhu and Wen brothers, and often goes in and out of the Liang Palace, but according to my observation, Shang Shuling seldom does anything for you. Zhu Wen does not even bother to care about public affairs when he seeks affairs, and does not fight for power or profit, so why?"

Empress Dowager He frowned, nodded slightly, and continued to listen to him without interrupting.

"There are three times out of ten in Shangshu Ling, and they are also considered as veterans of the three dynasties. If you count the yellow thief's share, it will be the four dynasties. Under such turmoil, how can the method of staying in the court and standing still be not clever? The minister observes. Zhu Wen kept him because he wanted to be by his side and not let him be free, and Shang Shuling naturally understood this, so he lived in a daze, and on the surface, he still maintained a brotherly relationship with Zhu Wen."

"The assistant minister's words are reasonable, but these alone cannot be trusted."

"I still have speculation."

Cui Yuan's words were naturally not nonsense, to prevaricate the queen mother, "The former emperor sent Shangshuling to Longyou, and later Shangshuling bewitched Longyou soldiers to return to Chang'an, forcing His Majesty to go to Huazhou, but he Instead of occupying Chang'an, he restrained General Ji of Longzhou soldiers, and later wrote to the late emperor, still claiming to be a minister, so it can be seen that he still has the imperial court in his heart. It's just why he did this back then, perhaps only he and the late emperor know the details."

"That's all?"

"Of course not, the queen mother will wait." Cui Yuan squatted on the ground and looked around, and continued: "Later, Shang Shuling went to Hezhong Mansion to save his mother, and when he returned to the city, he met Zhu Wen chasing and killing Yang Fugong. What, but it is rumored that the two sides confronted each other for a long time. After that, Shang Shuling brought his family members to live in Chang'an, and then moved the capital. Empress Dowager, if you look at the performance of Shang Shuling during this period in Luoyang, do you think that this person Did you have to vote under Zhu Wen's command?"

Empress Dowager He was silent for a while. As a woman of the generation, her husband used to tell her about court affairs, so she didn't need to think about it. Thinking about it now is quite troublesome. After a while, the woman will come back I figured out these joints little by little, but I still couldn't believe why the person who once counterattacked Chang'an and forced her through the palace with Jiang Xuanhui helped her.

"The servant's words are just guesses. If you want to kill Zhu Wen, you and I only have one chance."

"But only he has the military power in his hands, and the rest are Zhu Wen's confidantes."

"Then try to contact the leading general under his command?"

"The empress dowager doesn't know that Yang Huaixiong is someone Shang Shuling has known since Emperor Xizong's time. This person was originally a master of the green forest, and later entered the Ministry of Criminal Justice as the chief arrester. There is no hope of promotion. It was Geng Qing who brought him to the point of being in charge of an army alone. , How could he betray? What's more, it is unknown whether such a thing can be accomplished, this person will never take the risk of conspiring with the minister, unless the minister orders him to speak."

Empress Dowager He is a woman after all, and she only started contacting political affairs for more than a month. In terms of weighing the pros and cons, she is not as thorough as those courtiers, but judges based on women's likes and dislikes.

After hesitating for a long time, his silver teeth clenched tightly, and his gaze finally became firm.

"The servant can try it out, if it doesn't work, then don't involve too much."

"Yes."

Cui Yuan saluted quietly, then took his leave and followed the previous eunuch.Empress Dowager He also calmed down, handed the scissors to the maid, looked at the trimmed potted plants, twirled some miscellaneous debris with her fingertips and dropped them on the ground, walked gently and slowly to the front corridor, stood in front of the fence, and watched the butterflies flying. In the flower garden, I stood for a long time, thinking about some past events, my husband, my child...
I haven't recovered for a long time.

On the afternoon of the arrival, a carriage quietly drove out from the side courtyard of Cui's mansion, and stopped at the side courtyard of the mansion with the door plaque with the word "Geng". The official saluting towards the door shook his head.

"Cui Shilang, my master said he is not here, please go back."

Cui Yuan: "."

The smile on his face froze, and the obvious wrong words should have been intentional, so that he could retreat in spite of the difficulties.

'It's a good idea to ask for the Queen Mother's consent, but I didn't expect that I was rejected before I even met. '

Cui Yuan sighed, stepped into the carriage, and urged the driver to leave.

(End of this chapter)