I can't die!I haven't ruled the world yet!

Chapter 215: The monarch and his ministers turn against each other, and the changes in stargazing

In the third year of Chengxuan, the fourth day of July, the beginning of autumn.

Another year of imperial examinations is approaching. The candidates who were sent out by Rong Cen in the first year of Chengxuan had only been in office for two years, but due to their outstanding political achievements, some were promoted by the empress.

Gu Yizhou and Yu Dengqin were among them.

The seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the Chinese Valentine's Day banquet.

As usual, the harem will hold a star-gazing ceremony, inviting young talents from aristocratic families to participate. Men and women will sit separately. It's called star-gazing, but it's actually a blind date.

Silk and bamboo strings, the singing is endless, the lingering sound echoes around the beams, the sleeves are fluttering, and the posture is graceful.

Before boarding the star observatory, Rong Cen asked Gu Yizhou privately: "Sui Qi is twenty-two this year, has his family made a marriage contract for you?"

Gu Yizhou didn't answer, and was thinking about how he would politely decline if the empress offered him a marriage on a whim.

Unexpectedly, the empress had no follow-up, so she asked again: "I heard that you and Yue He are old friends?"

"I don't dare. I am of such a lowly position, how dare I be friends with the Empress Xilin." Gu Yizhou stood two or three steps away from Rong Cen, hunched over, bowed his head, bowed his hands, and said truthfully: "It's just that we used to I just studied in the same school for a few days and met my classmates a few times."

The empress nodded and said nothing. She didn't know whether she believed it or not.

When the Three Kingdoms are in a stalemate, if you have dealings with other countries and are found to collect evidence and report, you will be collaborating with the enemy and treason.

What's more, the person he was dealing with was Xi Lin's high-ranking empress.

Gu Yizhou is not afraid of shadows as he is upright. It doesn't matter how others frame him. As long as the empress trusts him, she will protect him.

The empress was very kind to him and valued him very much. But emperors are all prone to suspicion, and the empress's heart is like a needle in the sea, hard to fathom. Influenced by the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, he did not dare to speculate rashly.

It's not that Rong Cen doubted him, he just thought about the possible disaster in the future and couldn't tell him directly, so he asked casually as a subtle reminder.

After all, since she was so important to him, Gu Yizhou would inevitably be the target of venting for some people who disliked him while he was in the open.

I hope Suiqi can understand his painstaking efforts.

Gu Yizhou seemed to have come to his senses, smiled knowingly, remembered something, and took the initiative to explain: "I am not talented, but I have also been a classmate of Jin Liuhou for several years."

Meng Qingzhuo's ancestral home is Liangzhou. Rong Cen has long known it, but outsiders don't.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, feeling that Gu Yizhou's words were quite meaningful, so she misinterpreted them forcefully: "Sui Qi wants me to punish him?"

"Your Majesty has the power of prophecy, and the merits and demerits of Liu Hou must be clear to his heart. I dare not overstep my duty."

Gu Yizhou was reminding her that the merits of retaining Hou now outweighed the faults, and she must have investigated before hiring him. Since she did not pursue the case when she first discovered that the other party had falsified his ancestral home, and instead used it with great fanfare, why bother bringing up the old matter now?
Rong Cen was just teasing, but he didn't expect that he would go out of his way to plead for that person, and commented lightly: "You and Qing Zhuo have a very good relationship."

"Qingzhuo?"

Gu Yizhou came back to his senses and realized that the other party was probably the empress' secret chess, so he remained silent.

The secret chess game is difficult, and Meng Qingzhuo's path forward is not easy.

Moreover, it is very likely that the two of them will be on opposite sides. Although their hearts are united towards the empress, they have to deal with each other in a hostile manner.

"There is no need to feel sad. I will have to rely on you in the future. The situation of 'Wen Sui Qi Wu Yan Xiao' will not be too far away. 'The trees are beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy them', but what if the 'wood is beautiful in the forest'? By then You've been manipulated into a corner, and there's no telling if you could work with Qing Zhuo by accident."

Rong Cen downplayed it, as if he didn't care that the people he had carefully cultivated were instigated to rebel, as if he was talking about everyday things.

She is capable, confident enough, and trusts her subordinates enough.

Perhaps, he should also trust the Empress 100%.

Gu Yizhou solemnly promised: "Thanks to the Holy Grace, I am willing to work hard as a dog and horse, and I will do nothing wrong."

Literati also have a strong character, a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold, and they will do what they say. This is more than just a show of loyalty.

"There will be opportunities." Rong Cen waved his hand, indicating that he could come as he pleased, "It's getting late, let's go on stage."

The conversation between the two ended abruptly. No one expected that the opportunity would come so quickly.

That night, Xu time.

The eldest princess Rong Qiao was infected with wind and cold and suffered from a severe headache. She was sent to the Queen's Fengzi Palace to rest, and the imperial doctor was asked to check her pulse.

Unexpectedly, Gu Yizhou, the new minister of the former dynasty, accidentally entered the harem and insulted the princess while drunk, intending to do evil things!
When Rong Cen heard that the secret guard had come to report, he immediately ordered people to block the news, but in the end he failed to catch up with the evil plan of the person behind the scenes. Dayin's old rule was that those who were princesses were not allowed to serve as officials in the court.

Rong Cen was on guard against all odds, but she didn't expect this move. No wonder she was negligent. It was because this eldest sister had such a low sense of presence, she was like a transparent person.

Even such a big thing as moving to the princess's palace outside the palace did not alert anyone except to report it to the queen.

It was when Rong Cen claimed to be the empress that everyone had different opinions. The other royal princesses were mentioned in the capital and compared with each other. Only then did everyone realize that there was a beautiful lady living in that princess mansion.

The star observatory is located in Ziwei Hall, the office of Qin Tianjian, near the front court and some distance from the harem.

Rong Cen arrived in a hurry, and Fengzi Palace was extremely noisy.

Rong Qiao was sitting on the bed with her knees in her arms, her eyes were red, her tears were about to fall, and she cried so hard that I felt pity for her.

Her bun was messy and her clothes were disheveled. The queen on one side pulled up a thin blanket and wrapped it around her.

In the palace, a maid was kneeling and crying miserably, testifying against Gu Yizhou with reasonable words.

Rong Cen listened and watched, his eyes flashing slightly, his eyes clear and unclear.

Gu Yizhou was a young man from a poor family whom she single-handedly promoted, adding to her power.

A few months ago, she had just pulled out the hidden nail that had been placed next to Zuo Sisi, and with Wen Zhao as the exception, Mrs. Lu couldn't sit still.

So he took advantage of the stargazing ceremony to bribe Rong Qiao and secretly designed to "seduce" Gu Yizhou into making a big mistake.

Yes, illusion.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is extremely fake. It would be possible for Princess Shang to use this trick on anyone else, but not for Gu Yizhou.

The empress has always valued the virtuous and talented, and as long as she does not commit corruption and harm the people, she can be considered responsive to her subordinates' requests to a certain extent.

Gu Yili was a favorite of the empress, and was specially transferred back to Kyoto. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was a confidant. He still has no wives or concubines. If he is interested in anyone, he can ask the Empress of the Ming Dynasty to marry him.

Doing such a nasty thing? This is nonsense!
However, the injured party insists that it is difficult to overturn the case with all the witnesses and material evidence.

If Rong Cen protects Gu Yizhou, it would be covering up a crime and unfair. What's more, the other party is the eldest princess. If she is not careful, she will be blamed for disregarding the dignity of the royal family.

Of course, she did ignore the royal family. After all, she accepted the concept of equality in her bones. But people in the old dynasty had to bow their heads. She can do it, but she can't admit it, otherwise she will be punished.

Don’t you look down on the royal family? Then what kind of empress do you want to be?

If she didn't protect Gu Yizhou and her life was ruined because of this unfounded crime, the people who followed her would be extremely chilled.

Moral support from many, scant support.

Lu did it deliberately and put Rong Cen in a dilemma.

The situation was still under control, but Rong Qiao was bewitched and instigated by others. She was so sad and angry that she actually wanted to commit suicide!

Half of the Lu family members vowed to seek justice, saying that it was Gu Yizhou who deserved the death, and wanted him to pay with his life.

The other half pretended to be innocent and begged to be exempted from the death penalty, saying that he was innocent.

Mr. Lu, on the other hand, made a clean choice and watched from the sidelines without forgetting to fan the flames. At the same time, he gathered people's hearts and sent secret messages to Gu Yizhou, who was in prison awaiting trial, to point out the way forward.

She originally thought that this plan would cause Rong Cen to lose his arm and his vitality.

The result was not what she expected.

The conversation under the stargazing platform was the foreshadowing, and an unprecedented fortress of trust was built up between the monarch and his ministers.

Gu Yizhou believed that the empress would not abandon him, so he jumped into the trap and took advantage of the situation. He pretended to be at odds with the empress, made rude remarks and betrayed his master, and went into hiding under the Lu family.

In fact, it is to bait the fish to take the bait and successfully sneak into the enemy's forces, only to wait for the rest of the day.

Of course, this is an afterthought, let’s not mention it for now.

The stargazing ceremony finally came to an end because of the rebellion between the king and his ministers.

It is recorded in history as the change of stargazing.

(End of this chapter)