Gel makeup

Chapter 34
But it was said that the night before He Shi's family had an accident, the weather was too hot, and the moon was in the sky, so Xiao Yi came into Ninghua Hall with a heavy heart.Siqing was taking off her make-up in front of the mirror, Xiao Yi sat behind Siqing, took out a silk brocade bag from her lap, took out some shredded tobacco, and casually pulled half a paper roll from the small case table, and asked, "Is there any fire?" ?”

Siqing casually took out the fire lintel from the dressing table and handed it to him. Xiao Yi looked for the shredded tobacco, only to realize that the half piece of paper he tore was a cursive written by Siqing, so he said embarrassedly: "I'm sorry. , I just thought it was waste paper."

Siqing said, "It's okay."

Xiao Yi saw that the remaining half of the words were Lao Du's "Crying in the wild, thousands of families heard about the war, Yige set up fishermen and woodcutters in several places", his heart moved, he let out a long sigh, and slowly took a puff of shredded tobacco.

Siqing turned her head and asked, "What's the matter?"

Xiao Yi hesitated for a moment, but still said: "If the imperial court raises the barrage again, what kind of crimes will I add."

Si Qing pondered for a moment, then suddenly understood, and said: "Now that King Duan is weak, why is he shrinking his head again, Your Majesty is pressing to cut down the feudal clan?"

King Dingnan made great achievements when he founded the country, and was crowned king by Emperor Taizu, who has defended the southern border for generations.Later, the clan's relatives did not want to keep their own place, and started a war again. The kings stayed in the capital and no longer served as feudal vassals, but King Dingnan stayed in the south on the grounds that the southwest was unstable.King Dingnan's power expanded, intervening in local government affairs, interfering in taxation, occupying smelters in Yunnan and Guangxi, and obtaining patents.In addition, half of the wealth in the world was consumed by the salaries of the troops stationed under King Dingnan, and King Dingnan also interfered with the normal promotion of court officials, blocked business routes, and supported the soldiers' self-respect.

Xiao Yi said: "The country's government is insufficient and the people's livelihood is difficult, all because of the increasing number of soldiers and horses. The vassals need to be paid, and if they are short, they will be sued. If they win, they will not be audited. Insufficient taxes have been collected from Jiangnan, more than [-] million years old. The military supplies of all provinces are originally taken from the province, and the Dingfan is used to transfer to the provinces. Half of the world's wealth is consumed by the Dingfan."

Siqing said: "When I was in the south, several uncles once said, 'The world's wealth does not prosper in the southeast, nor does it exhaust in the southeast'. It takes a lot of effort for the boatmen to transfer grain and grass. I am afraid that the cost of transshipment has far exceeded the grain itself. In the four years of Xining, the price of rice in the south of the Yangtze River reached more than [-] taels per stone, and people's livelihood was difficult. I still remember it vividly. Why not withdraw the feudal clan?"

"I should know that in addition to consuming imperial taxes, the Dingfan also controls the governor, bullies the officials, and harms the village. However, once the Dingfan is withdrawn, it will not let it go. If the Dingfan rebels, its supporters will have the potential to start a prairie fire. "

Si Qing said: "The imperial court has raised him too fatly. I'm afraid he will also have a heart of treason. All your Majesty can do is to seize the opportunity."

Xiao Yi said: "As you said, it is difficult to grasp the scale." He smiled faintly: "These words are always in my heart recently, and no one can complain. Siqing, I have a question, please answer it truthfully. How do outsiders see me if I want to cut down the feudal clan?"

Siqing smiled: "You are full of blood, eager to show off your strength."

Xiao Yi was stabbed by Siqing's words, "This is really the truth. I don't want to be constrained again. If the feudal clan is completely cut down, the strong feudal clan will be removed from the outside, and the military administration will be included in it, how clean it is!"

Siqing said: "There is another saying, haste makes waste."

Xiao Yi was stunned: "Are you going to cut down the domain against me, or against me?"

Siqing smiled slyly: "I don't know. How to make a decision is up to His Majesty. Haste makes waste, as the ancients said."

Xiao Yi said: "If the vassal king forced to rebel because of the withdrawal of the vassal, how will outsiders think of me?"

Siqing replied: "The winner is the king and the bandit is defeated."

Xiao Yi clapped his hands and smiled: "Why are you so naughty."

Siqing persisted: "Then what do you want to hear from me? Consolation? Approval? Flattery? I will say whatever you want me to say."

After hearing this, Xiao Yi finally sighed and said, "So you still can't let go of Yu Yun and Yi Prison."

When Si Qing heard him mention the matter of writing, she couldn't help but sneer: "Your Majesty has all the literature, military and martial arts, so I have nothing to worry about."

Xiao Yi's patience was surprisingly good: "You are talking out of anger. Now that King Dingnan is getting old, he hopes that his son will inherit the kingship. This is a good time."

Siqing said: "Such a big matter can't be done overnight, think again."

Xiao Yi sighed: "Let's talk about Yu Yunhe's case. I should know that it will not benefit the court's reputation. However, there were two princes who assisted the government before, and then there were clan uncles." Family law'. You know, I have a new atmosphere, but they have to compete with the new atmosphere of North Korea and China to seek a place to gain a foothold in power."

Xiao Yi pushed open the long window, and the night wind rushed in, blowing Siqing's black hair, and the tassels with silver bells around Siqing's ears also jingled.Xiao Yi closed the window, "The things they did, I can only put the overall situation of the court and China as the most important thing, I don't care about it, but these crimes will still be counted on me in the end."

Siqing narrowed her eyes and said softly: "I know that third brother has been suffering from all kinds of worries and worries in the past few years, but the future will last forever."

"No, I don't want to wait any longer." Xiao Yi's eyes exuded eagerness and madness, but his eyes were erratic and helpless, "I want to cut down the clan, immediately."

Siqing acted as if she hadn't heard of it, and the flowers on her forehead made her skin feel a little uncomfortable.After she took off a flower tin from her forehead, because the glue on the back of the flower tin was still sticky, it stuck to the palm of her hand.Siqing picked off the flowers with onion-like nails and threw them into the lacquer box.

Xiao Yi didn't hear from Siqing for a long time, so he couldn't help asking: "What do you want to say?"

Si Qing said: "I never make decisions for others. Your Majesty has figured out the pros and cons, and it's up to you to decide. 'If you stop and stop, you will suffer from chaos'. It doesn't matter whether you cut the feudal clan or not, as long as your majesty doesn't regret it in the future That’s it. But King Dingnan is a hero who founded the country, isn’t His Majesty afraid to leave behind the reputation of ‘the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog cooks’?”

Xiao Yi said: "He just used his military achievements to dazzle the imperial court and consolidate the colony."

Siqing persuaded again: "The king of Dingnan has a strong army and a strong horse, and he has practiced for a long time on the border. You intend to cut down the feudal clan, but it will only be within a year or two."

Xiao Yi said coldly and arrogantly: "What I want is to strike first."

Siqing stopped persuading her, and said as she removed her makeup, "It's up to you to decide what to do. In the previous dynasty, the ruin of the country was a lesson, but in this dynasty, some people sum it up as strong vassals, foreign invaders, powerful ministers, foreign relatives, female disasters, eunuchs, treacherous ministers, and sycophants. Items, all countries and dynasties have them. I secretly think that in addition to these eight items, there is one more."

Xiao Yi asked, "Which point?"

Siqing said, "Partners."

Xiao Yi nodded slightly.

"There is no party in the country, but it will not perish. Cliques are intertwined, and the disaster will extend to the clan." Si Qing changed the subject and said: "Back then, the third brother said that the internal is more important than the external, is it really safe now? Or Dingnan King Lacking a reason to rebel, I deliberately provoked you through assassination, and asked you to decree to cut down the feudal clan, so that Dingfan would have an excuse to rebel."

Just as they were talking, at dawn, Huangmen came in to report the death of He Shizhi's youngest son and Mrs. He. Siqing sneered and said, "What a coincidence!"

He Shizhi's wife and son didn't get together for three or nine days, and the house was in chaos for a few days. He Shizhi was so angry and anxious that he was bedridden, and his brothers from the same clan came to attend to the funeral.

It turns out that the He family has reached He Shizhi's generation, except for He Shizhi, there is only one cousin, He Shouzhong, who is now in front of Jiangxi Liangdao.The mother's family of the Empress of the Guochao Dynasty had originally been enfeoffed, and the first Empress Rencheng had lost her father and brother, so her next-door brother, He Ningpin's younger brother, inherited the title of Marquis of Ningshou, but Marquis of Ningshou had never been successful.With He Shi's illness, the He family lost the person in charge, and it was like a mess.After the funeral, He Shizhi drank a glass of cold wine, turned his head and collapsed in the wind, unable to move half of his body, so he had to retire from office, and was escorted by his nephew to his hometown of Taizhou to recuperate, leaving only Ningshouhou in Beijing.

He Shizhi suddenly fell ill and left Beijing. The He clan was leaderless, and the people in the court were panic-stricken and extremely quiet.

Even though Xiao Yi was full of doubts, he couldn't find out anything, because King Duan had always been at odds with He Shizhi, but there were a few idlers wondering whether He Shizhi was assassinated by King Duan.

But no matter how or whoever checked, the result was that the girl from the Xu family ran out of the mansion by herself, probably in a panic, and ran into the alley of fans, and was molested by the flirtatious He Dashao as a fan.Xu Xiangse refused, and the two got into a quarrel, stumbled and fell from the building, and both died.

Xu Wenchang's family is also in a bleak state. Mrs. Xu's throat is hoarse from crying, and she must go to He Shizhi's mansion to make a theory, and she also wants to sue the Jingzhao Yamen.Xu Wenchang naturally disagreed, saying that He Shizhi's son had never seen Xu Xiangse, and that Xu Xiangse ran into the fireworks land by himself, and the Xu family didn't take it for granted.Mrs. Xu cried and asked Xu Wenchang how their daughter looked like a pink head, and scolded He Dashao for being blind.Xu Wenchang couldn't persuade him, got annoyed, and walked out with his hands.The beams of the Xu family and He Shizhi were thus formed.

Even so, King Duan couldn't sit still in the imperial capital, and said, "He's sick from the heat." He made an offer to go to Xijing to escape the summer heat and recuperate. Before leaving Beijing, the two went to Jinzhong to pay homage to Siqing.

This day Lingzhen personally led two noble ladies wearing red gold buns, Princess Duan Ye Shi led the way, followed by Prince Duan Xinna's side concubine, saluted Si Qing together.

Siqing smiled and said: "Wangfei doesn't need to be too polite." Because Wangfei and the new side concubine are invited to sit down.

The maids of the palace presented some bonsai, tapestry scorpions, and some fruits presented by the concubine Shangduan.There are also purses, jade ruyis, forbidden steps and other things for the prince and princess.Siqing handed over to Ling Zhen to take it away, and also ordered Ling Zhen to present the brocade and bead ornaments to Princess Duan.The new side concubine is the daughter of Shi, the head of Prince Dingnan's residence, and Siqing never treated her poorly, and rewarded her with a whole set of ruby ​​jewellery.The two left their seats to thank them.

Concubine Duan Ye's family is considered to be a distant relative of Si Qing, and she also came from Ye Xiufeng's family.At the beginning, she entered Duan Wangfu as a side concubine, and after Duan Wang Yuanfei died of illness, she was supported as the main family.But Prince Duan has always been at odds with the cabinet, and his relationship with the second concubine is also very weak.Later, Prince Duan strongly opposed the appointment of Siqing as the empress, and Prince Duan's mansion and the Central Palace had a bad relationship. Because of this reason, Princess Duan was caught in the middle and it was difficult to be a human being, and she seldom entered the palace.

Siqing first praised the new side concubine for her cleverness, then asked about the old concubine Duan's illness, then ordered Lingzhen to bring wild ginseng as a reward to the concubine Duan, the concubine Duan couldn't stop thanking her, she sat down for a while, then led the new concubine to stand up and leave.

A small ball of paper fell from the side of the new side concubine to the ground, and Siqing's skirt twirled like a flower, hiding the paper ball under her skirt.The new side concubine couldn't help but look back, Siqing smiled meaningfully at the new side concubine.

After Duan Wangfei and the new side concubine left, Siqing bored out a copy of "Taishang Induction Chapter" to read.After half a day, Xiao Yi walked in, and Si Qing asked, "Is everything over today?"

Xiao Yi nodded.

Siqing then showed Xiao Yi the note that Prince Duan's new side concubine had quietly thrown to him.The thin Jingchuan paper was ravaged and crumpled, thin and easy to damage, with only the words "Duan Wang secretly communicated with the Twelve Jingwei" written on it.

Xiao Yi was surprised and angry: "Where did this come from?"

"It fell out of the cuff of Prince Duan's newly married second concubine." Siqing looked at Xiao Yi's innocent and uncertain face and said, "The second concubine is the daughter of Dingnan Wang's chief Shi, Dingfan wants to use her hand to provoke you With the relationship with King Duan, Dingfan is easy to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. Third brother, don't fall for it."

Xiao Yi took the note and said: "Yuan is going to the southwest, he may have neglected the affairs in Beijing. You should pay more attention to the miscellaneous matters of Beijing defense in the future."

Si Qing smiled: "Not to mention that Shen Yuanxi will be back in a few days, and now I can't take care of the military guards, and I can't do anything else. With such a heavy burden on me, the third brother won't prevent me from rebelling?"

Her playful eyes were extraordinarily bright, Xiao Yi smiled and said, "Why would I be suspicious of you?"

Siqing said seriously: "If you don't keep secrets, you will lose your ministers. Third brother, are you too suspicious?"

Xiao Yi suddenly said: "I'm not too suspicious, I also want to leave a way for Yuanxi to retreat."

Siqing suddenly changed color: "So that's how it is. As the saying goes, brothers are like siblings, and wives are like clothes. The siblings can't be broken, but the clothes can be changed. You left everything to me in order to give him a way out?" Finished speaking Ignoring Xiao Yi any more, he lifted the curtain and went into the inner room.

"I pointed out Ding Fan's daughter to be the side concubine of King Duan. I originally wanted to cause some trouble for Duan Wang, but I didn't expect Ding Fan's daughter to take advantage of the situation and make a mistake." Si Qing only said to Ling Zhen when she came in.

When the note that King Duan's new side concubine threw to Siqing appeared in front of King Duan, King Duan was stunned and suddenly raised his head and said, "This is..."

Xiao Yi said: "This is given to the queen by the new side concubine in Uncle Duan's mansion."

Duan Wang was startled and said: "Your Majesty! This is purely a frame-up!"

Xiao Yi tore the note to pieces in front of King Duan, and said with a smile: "I know this is a frame-up, I originally wanted to remind Uncle Duan, be careful, and don't fall into the trick of Dingfan to sow discord."

King Duan came out of Maode Hall, thinking that the new side concubine was originally pointed out by the queen, and this kind of thing happened again, which really made people angry.Just after walking out of the palace city, a follower from the palace came to report in a hurry: "My lord, the new lady who entered the palace suddenly died of poisoning."

Duan Wang's face was flushed, and he strode towards his mount.

The death of Duan Wang's side concubine, who was born in Dingfan, added a spoonful of oil to the already deadlocked relationship between the imperial court and Dingfan.In order to make up for it, the funeral of King Duan's side concubine once exceeded the etiquette system, and the empress of the day was invited to pay homage to Prince Duan's mansion in person, attracting everyone's attention.

King Duan objected to establishing Ye's family as his successor, and he had a bad relationship with the current Queen of the Palace, which was well known in the court.Siqing came to Duan Wang's mansion in person, and Duan Wang and Duan Wangfei greeted each other according to the etiquette, but they did not show any particular unfamiliarity.While taking a nap next to the mourning hall, Siqing met King Duan alone, and King Duan went straight in and said, "Is the queen so anxious to kill people and silence her?"

"When it comes to killing people and killing people, who can compare to King Duan? Why, King Duan suspects that the note is not from the concubine of the Lingfu, but that it was forged by the palace and handed over to His Majesty to provoke the relationship between Prince Duan and His Majesty?"

"Isn't it, Your Highness knows it well."

"It doesn't matter what King Duan thinks. But the note was indeed given to me by the side concubine of the Lingfu. Your Majesty will fight with King Duan, who will benefit? I hope that King Duan will not be won by Dingfan to sow dissension and endanger the court." trick." Siqing said.

Duan Wang suddenly turned around: "Even if she is a member of Dingfan, even if she has the intention to stir up troubles in the court, I will deal with it myself, and I will not bother Her Highness the Queen to kill her for this king!"

Siqing said indifferently: "Whether the prince believes it or not, I have to say, I didn't kill her. I don't have the heart to kill her to demonstrate to the prince. Whoever wants me to die without a place to be buried is the one who provokes Prince Duan to target me , whoever uses Duan Wang as a spearman, please think again, Duan Wang."

Duan Wang said angrily: "She is a member of Dingfan, and her death will inevitably speed up the court's antagonism with Dingfan, and the matter of cutting down the clan has to be done. Isn't this the Queen's scheme?"

Siqing took a deep breath, and said, "I don't agree with the reduction of feudal vassals either. Prince Duan should check it out." After speaking, she turned and walked out of the side hall.

Siqing didn't say much after returning to the palace, but Xiao Yi took the initiative to ask her: "Did Uncle Duan tell you anything?"

Si Qing casually said: "Is there any need to negotiate with Prince Duan?"

When Siqing went to visit the imperial concubine the next day, the more Xiao Yi thought about it, the more he felt uneasy, so he summoned Cheng Yingzhou, and said face to face: "He Shizhi is gone, why are those dark lines under him so arrogant?"

Cheng Yingzhou pleaded guilty repeatedly, and Xiao Yi instructed: "Be sure to keep an eye on it, find out, and don't make any mistakes."

Xiao Yi ordered Cheng Yingzhou to go down, and then slowly walked to the side of the hidden compartment, took out the letter from the Fuzhou guard accusing He Shizhi, looked at it for a while, and then threw it back.

After the funeral at Prince Duan's mansion was over, King Duan threw away his hands and went to Beijing.Seeing that he was gone, Xiao Yi began to plan more about withdrawing the feudal clan. There was a lot of discussion in the court, and he covered up the death of He Shizhi's father and son and the collapse of Duan Wang's side concubine.

Since Jiang Feng came back from the funeral at the Tongduan Palace, he never went out, sat at home every day, and never went out for banquets.This day when Siqing invited her, she wore a beaded crown on her head, a cardboard on her side, and entered the palace in formal attire to pay her respects to Siqing.Siqing accepted the ceremony and asked her to change clothes in the side hall.Jiang Feng changed into a bright green sleeve and a white skirt, Siqing ordered everyone to step back, and said, "My sister has a rich family background, I invite you here today, I want to ask you for a favor."

Jiang Feng said: "Don't dare, please speak, Your Highness."

Siqing smiled slightly: "Prince Duan's newly deceased side concubine is the daughter of Chief Shi of Dingnan Palace, do you know?"

"I know." Jiang Feng replied.

Siqing told Jiang Feng how King Duan's side concubine told him that King Duan secretly communicated with the Jingwei, and how he was poisoned to death, and finally said: "On the day of the funeral, Tang Peng, the commander of the Yulin Guard, saw it near the Ci'en Temple. Chen Nanfei's shadow. I would like to ask Jiang's sister to find out who poisoned Duan Wang's side concubine to death, and whether this matter has anything to do with Chen Nanfei."

Jiang Feng was shocked when he heard this: "Princess Duan was poisoned to death? Is there any trace of Chen Nanfei?"

Siqing nodded, "Since you came to Beijing to get married, there have been many strange things, such as whether Chen Nanfei was the one who killed your father and wounded old man Wu, and where is he hiding? Also, on the day of your wedding, you entered the cabinet and assassinated us." Who is it? Besides, is the incident between Xu Wen's eldest daughter and He Shi's son really a coincidence? I always feel that the death of Queen Zhaduan's side concubine is now an opportunity, or that all the strange things in the past can be linked together. Check properly."

Jiang Feng pondered: "The concubine dared to ask Your Highness, why did I ask the concubine to investigate?"

Siqing said: "I know that when the Fuzhou case was investigated, it brought a lot of inconvenience to you and the Jiaguo Mansion. At that time, that old fox Yang Wanquan didn't want to get involved in the Fuzhou case involving the two cabinet scholars. Looking at the entire Ministry of Criminal Justice, only you Go and investigate, and let the matter fall to the Jiaguo Mansion, so that he can escape."

Jiang Feng sighed, "My concubine is engaged to Yuanxi, and I know it. It wasn't until Xining started the ceremony at the beginning of 17 that everyone knew about it. Now I just hate that it's too early for everyone to know."

(End of this chapter)