Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chang'an, Tai Chi Palace.

The eunuch dried the emperor's feet with a towel, making Li Hong's bare soles itch.

"The admonishers at Yushitai are really stupid!" The emperor twisted his neck and moved his nervous shoulders: "Today someone wrote a letter to impeach the general again, saying that the teacher has done nothing but respects himself as a bandit. Anyway, he listed more than a dozen points It’s such a big crime, it’s really hilarious!”

Concubine Yang gently took off her husband's gauze hat and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, don't say that. I see you looking sad all day long. Are the admonishers at the Yushitai foolish enough to ignore me? It might make you happy." The smile is true, and just because of this, I will appreciate their kindness!"

"Hahaha!" Li Hong laughed loudly: "Then there are many people who have read it well. There will be one letter to impeach the general every three to five days. It will not take ten days and a half to read it for the civil and military affairs of the DPRK." Got it!"

"I don't believe it!" Concubine Yang said angrily while taking off her husband's hairpin and combing his hair: "At least my father has not impeached the general yet!"

"Well, it's true that he didn't, Zhang Wenguan didn't, and neither did Liu Peiji of the Ministry of Revenue!" Li Hong recalled for a while: "Hey, the ministers of the DPRK and China know little about military affairs, and most of them just follow what others say, and the rest have ulterior motives!" Having said this, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Your Majesty, look at it, you just managed to have a smile, and now it's gone again!" Concubine Yang touched Li Hong's cheek: "Didn't we agree that the court is the court, the palace is the palace, concubine I will not interfere in the affairs of the court, and you should not bring the unhappiness of the court back to the palace, have you forgotten?"

"Yes, yes, I have not forgotten it!" Li Hong sighed and forced himself to laugh twice: "But as the emperor, how can I get away from so many things? In the past, when the general was here, I didn't have to worry about many things. Now that he has gone to Liaodong, he feels how heavy this burden is!"

"Then when will he come back?" Concubine Yang asked curiously.

"I don't know!" Li Hong shook his head: "But it will take a long time. When he discussed the strategy with the others before departure, he already said that he must proceed slowly and quickly!"

"Slow-to-quick fight?"

"Yes, that's why I said that the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government had little knowledge of military matters. Saburo had already mentioned many of the charges they impeached to the DPRK and Central Government before setting off. He explained the reasons for what he wanted to do and the possible consequences for the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Committee. The reactions were very clear, and now they look exactly the same!”

"Your Majesty, you mean that the general knew in advance that he would be impeached?" Concubine Yang looked shocked.

"Yes, so you understand why I said that the people at Yushitai are stupid, right?" Li Hong shook his head: "It's a pity that God only gave me one Saburo. It would be great if there were two. One is fighting the thief outside, and the other can Stay in the court and assist me!"

"Your Majesty is really greedy! It's hard to meet a person like the General, but you actually want two!" Concubine Yang said with a smile: "By the way, you just said that someone has ulterior motives, what do you mean by this?"

"Who else can it be?" Li Hong sighed and glanced in the direction of Zhonggong: "I thought that when Cheng Sanlang was not in the palace, I would kick him out and replace him! You know how much you weigh. I don’t know how many liang I have, so why should anyone else tell me?”

Concubine Yang was shocked when she saw Li Hong's actions, but she pretended to be ignorant on her face: "Kick the general out? Replace him yourself? How is this possible? What a talent the general is, how can others be able to match it?" ?”

"This is not just a matter of talent! Sanlang treated the widow with sincerity. Because of He Lan Minzhi's incident, the empress dowager ordered cruel officials to go out to torture and plunder. Everyone in the court was in danger, even the widow could not protect themselves. If not Sanlang stepped forward to save me, not to mention the widow, even Yang Pushe is probably not able to get away with it!"

"Yes! My uncle was arrested and imprisoned at that time, and the whole family was shocked. It's all thanks to the general!" Concubine Yang sighed: "My uncle has always been thinking about the general, and often said that he was the wonder of the world. Man! By the way, how do you deal with those impeachments, Your Majesty?"

"What else can we do? Just write 'I understand' and throw it aside!" Li Hong said with a bitter smile: "If you don't touch the real master behind, punishing the minions in front will not help at all. If you touch the real master behind, the Queen She will cry and plead for mercy again. I don’t want to see the queen, so I have no choice but to do this! I have no choice but to wait until the period of filial piety expires, and some things will be convenient!"

Concubine Yang's heartbeat suddenly became faster when she heard Li Hong's words about deposing the queen. This was something she had dreamed of but dared not think about. She would ascend to the position of queen and become the master of the Sixth Palace. This would be a glorious future. Right in front of her eyes, it seemed extremely far away, yet within reach. Her hands massaging her husband's shoulders slowly stopped.Li Hong also noticed Concubine Yang's movements. He smiled and patted his wife's right hand gently: "When the queen is deposed, I will make you my queen. You don't have to be too anxious. I and Sanlang have already discussed it. When he returns to Chang'an, he will be deposed!"

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Zhonggong.

"Your Majesty, I have just received the news from Concubine Yang!" Xu Xuwen knelt in the silent inner hall, surrounded by swaying candlelight and heavy curtains. Even so, the eunuch lowered his voice, as if hidden behind the curtains With countless ears. "While Wen Ke was washing His Majesty's feet, he heard Your Majesty personally telling Concubine Yang that he had discussed it with the general. When the general returns to Chang'an, he will depose the queen and make Concubine Yang his queen!"

"Bitch!" The queen clenched her fists, and the sharp nails were deeply embedded in her palms, but she did not feel any pain: "Men are all the same, they like the new and dislike the old!" Xu Xuwen tightened his neck and tried his best to curl up to avoid causing any trouble. The Queen's attention, he has been trying his best to avoid making a choice, he is just a eunuch, without fists or courage, whether it is the emperor, the queen, the servant or the general, he can kill him effortlessly, just like crushing him. An ant dies.But Wang Wenzuo's departure from the capital left him no room for maneuver. Empress Pei gave him a straightforward choice, either to stand on her side and inform her of the news, or to die, along with her adopted son. 's two nephews.Xu Xuwen finally had to accept Queen Pei's "kind offer" - a manor near Chang'an, plus three thousand guan of money, and boarded the Pei family's ship.

"Xu Shaojian, you have done a good job!" The queen finally vented her anger: "Is it Wen Ke who is reporting the news today? Later I will ask someone to take [-] pieces of cloth and send it to his outer house. You Let him act with caution, and if there is any news about the emperor, spread it out as soon as possible, and I will reward him heavily!"

"Yes, yes! Your Majesty is so generous. I thank you for Wen Ke!" Xu Xuwen hurriedly kowtowed twice. One piece of news can be exchanged for five hundred pieces of cloth. The queen didn't say anything else. At least the reward was generous enough. General During the period when I was away from Chang'an, I would not suffer too much if I chose the ship of Pei Shizhong and the Queen.

"That's it for today. Please step back first!" The queen waved her hand: "Also, if you are fine on weekdays, you don't come to the palace, so as not to let outsiders see it. If you report to the emperor, it won't arouse suspicion. alright!"

"Yes, yes!" Xu Xuwen kowtowed twice, then stood up and walked backwards out of the hall. When he reached the door, he turned around and crossed the threshold to go out. When the cold wind blew outside, he realized that his body was already covered in cold sweat, and he couldn't help but shiver. Shivering, he sighed: "Hey, the Queen and the Emperor have their own agendas, and a slave like me is caught in the middle. It really is impossible to survive!"

political affairs hall.

Pei Judao was sitting in the middle, holding a pen in his right hand and a document in his left hand. There were piles of documents on his desk that he could never finish.He has been working since morning, but the mountain of documents above has not diminished at all.He could feel the dull pain in his elbows, neck, and waist. As long as he twisted a little, he almost imagined that he could hear the sound of bones rubbing inside. Maybe he should go to a doctor and get some medicine. Pain relief... But every doctor will tell Pei Judao after prescribing: Self-cultivation is the real cure for pain. Even an immortal cannot make an old man over fifty years old work in the political hall for five days a day. hours.Pei Judao sneered at these doctors. Even if he was exhausted, he would not let go of his grip on power.

"Pei Gong, this is the list of grains transferred to Guangtong warehouse this month!" Liu Peiji stood in front of Pei Judao, holding up a document with both hands. Pei Judao did not speak and reached out to take the document. Liu Peiji then took four or five steps back. , turned and left.Pei Judao read the document again. The first line was the total, which was [-]% more than last month. The corners of his mouth turned up subconsciously, and soon he realized that he shouldn't smile. That Liu Peiji was Wang Wenzuo's man, Caoliang The increase is also attributed to Wang Wenzuo!He suppressed the joy in his heart and read the entire document from beginning to end. He saw that the handwriting on the document was neat and clear, marking the amount of various supplies, the number of supplies and ships lost along the way, the amount of compensation and pension, and finally It is a summary of last month's report. It is clear at a glance whether the losses on the way were due to weather, ship maintenance, crew errors, and the solution was to strengthen regular maintenance of ships, training of crew and sailors, punishment of officials, etc. .

"It's a pity, Liu Peiji is a capable official!" Pei Judao sighed secretly: "But there is still no one who can replace him, so we can only use him first! And Wang Wenzuo, the Japanese transport envoy, is really a capable guy. At the moment The envoy from Longyou who urged the army to transport food was Xiang Zhidao, and the food supply could not be less. It was really thanks to Wang Wenzuo. If he had not sorted out the food transportation before he left, I would not have been able to sit in the political hall. Stable!"

After reading the water transport documents, Pei Judao was hesitating whether to continue working or go for a walk in the yard below to relax, when out of the corner of his eye he saw his slave hesitating in the hall. There must be something important at home!He frowned. His old wife was really indifferent. She came to the political hall to take care of all the family matters and didn't care at all?

Pei Judao hesitated for a moment, and finally stood up: He was going for a walk in the yard to relax, but he happened to meet his slave!While comforting himself, he walked down the hall. The slave knew it well, half-bowed and quickly walked through a bush, approached Pei Ju and said, "Master, the queen has urgent news! My wife asked the villain to deliver it!"

"Queen?" Pei Judao frowned, calmly took a wax pill from his slave, and walked to a jujube tree. The slave was a discerning man. He dropped four or five steps and followed behind to look at the wind. Pei Judao said Crush the wax ball, pull out a piece of tissue paper from it, unfold it, and there is only one line of words on it: "The emperor wants to wait until Wang Wenzuo returns to the capital and is deposed!"

"The emperor wants to depose the queen?" Pei Judao was more angry than surprised.Of course it is, otherwise why would the emperor be in such a hurry to send that little bitch of the Yang family to the palace?It must be because of that little bitch. As for waiting for Wang Wenzuo to come back before deposing the queen, it’s because that little beast is afraid of me. Without Wang Wenzuo to back him up, he wouldn’t dare to do anything!Thinking of this, Pei Judao turned over the tissue paper, and the back of the paper was blank. Yes, the child is in the palace, and it is inconvenient to talk about many things, so he can only talk about the important ones!

Thinking of this, Pei Judao put the tissue paper into his sleeve, already made up his mind, and said to the slave: "You go back first, wait until I get back to talk about anything else!"

"Yes, Master!" The Pei family slave responded and retreated.

Pei Judao returned to the hall and continued his work, but the waves in his heart became more and more ups and downs. The words on the paper seemed to have limbs, crawling around on the paper, unable to be seen at all.Suddenly, Pei Judao slapped the brush in his hand on the desks, and heard a crisp sound that resounded through the lobby, and dozens of eyes suddenly gathered over.Pei Judao knew something was wrong and quickly shouted: "Is there someone coming?"

"Shizhong Pei!" Why did the official on duty respond?

"How do you manage this place? There are so many flies and they are buzzing everywhere. How can I read the documents sent from various prefectures and counties with peace of mind? This is in the imperial city, under the sect of Zhongshu. Is there anything else? A little more decent?"

"Yes, yes!" The official, who was only a sixth-rank official, was frightened to death by Pei Judao's scolding. He dared not tell the difference, so he could only bow his head and admit his mistake.Pei Judao scolded him angrily for a long time, then rolled up his sleeves and left, leaving the officials in the room talking among each other and discussing right and wrong.

"Hey! Did Shizhong Pei take the wrong medicine today? How come it's like a firecracker, just light it?"

"Who knows!" Liu Peiji looked at Pei Judao's back and said, "It must be because he is out of breath, right? So he sprayed whoever he caught and bothered him with mosquitoes and flies. I sat next to the steps, right next to the window, and there were no mosquitoes. Are you coming to disturb me? It’s so weird that you can’t poop!”

"Hehehehehe!" A person next to him covered his mouth and laughed: "Old Liu, you have such a vicious mouth. Aren't you afraid that Pei Shizhong will hear it and sue you? My daughter can blow the emperor's pillow!"

(End of this chapter)