Empress Mi Benji

Chapter 159 Great Merit

"Extravagant and wasteful, what did he think, using hundreds of miles of purple and gold gauze as a barrier." Mrs. Jiang was angry, her beautiful face was angry, and her eyes were wide-open.

Sitting in the car and opening the curtain, you can see a bright golden purple cloud, which is made of silk-dyed purple-gold gauze. It immediately aroused Mrs. Jiang's anger and made her have a fit. This kind of behavior is very treacherous. Tian's feeling, but Mrs. Jiang is the master.

Mrs. Jiang will go back early. Zhuang Xun has to pay an audience with King Zhao next, so she has nothing to do. She just needs to go step by step and make the covenant according to the previous agreement.

She had to make arrangements for the future, such as staying in Zhao for half a year, remotely controlling Yu to launch a coup, and seeing the recent changes in Zhao, etc. As soon as she walked to Jinyang, she saw these extravagant purple clouds. How could you not be angry at the top?

"It should be to show the strength of the country." Lan Qiu was timid and did not dare to contradict Mrs. Jiang, but just expressed her guess.

In these hundreds of miles of purple clouds, she seemed to remember that more than ten days ago, the farmer talked about the embarrassment of his family having no clothes. The farmer was embarrassed, and she was also embarrassed. The family's scandal was exposed. It would be okay if Zhuang Xun was also half-weight, but Zhuang Xunzhi treated the problem The people here live more like people than Zhao, who has several times the grain output.

You must not reflect on this. She is not an ordinary maid from an aristocratic family. She is a practitioner. Although she can use the excuse of committing evil in her previous life to convince herself, she cannot ignore it. Zhuang Xun said that people should live like a human being. .

Because Zhuang Xun is doing it, or partially achieving it, and working hard in this direction, and Zhao State, known as the land of the Central Plains and the most powerful country in Kyushu, has failed morally.

"Show off?" Mrs. Jiang became even more angry, holding the edge of the car window with her hands, her jade fingers turning red.

"What is needed to demonstrate national power is an army and culture. Even if he uses thousands of horses to greet him, it shows that he is serious. What is the use of using a hundred-mile foot barrier?

The steps can no longer be used as rewards after being recycled. Purple is the color of the royal family, and ordinary people cannot use it. What are you doing with so many of them! "

Mrs. Jiang wants to go home now, see what is going on in her son's mind, come up with such a plan to demonstrate national power, and give him a good scolding.

"Madam, please calm down, Your Majesty must have a deep meaning." Lan Qiu could only say comfortingly. She didn't know what the specific meaning was, so she could only let King Zhao explain it himself.

"Forget it, I'm not blaming you. You don't have the obligation or ability to advise him on anything he does. Is your Majesty okay?"

Mrs. Jiang is not someone who likes to offend others. She wants to fly back to the palace now and ask King Zhao what's going on, instead of waiting slowly on the carriage for the carriage to go back.

But it was really unseemly to do so. She silently recited the meditation formula in her heart. Holding back her thoughts, she lowered the car curtain and did not want to see such bad things. She had the right to keep out of sight, out of mind, and cultivate her mind.

"The empress has gone into seclusion. She said that she used magic to involve His Highness Prince Xiayou and was punished by heaven." Lan Qiu told Mrs. Jiang what Xuannv had told her.

"It's time to trouble Empress Xuannv, otherwise this time she might steal chickens but not lose rice, and lose the northwest in vain. Empress Xuannv's strategy can be regarded as opening up a way for the Zhao State, but the stronger it is, the greater the constraints. No wonder people Everyone wants to be transcendent.”

Mrs. Jiang first expressed her respectful thanks, and then expressed her desire to transcend. It is natural to want to get rid of this feeling of being bound to a world and having to act according to the rules of the world.

"Stealing the chicken will end up losing the rice? Did His Highness King Xia You's subordinates not want him to come to Zhao? How could they lose the northwest? Are they preparing to attack by force?"

Lan Qiu was a little confused. She was also a smart person. Once she had the answer to the riddle, the guessing process was very simple. She could follow the logical chain to draw the conclusion and the original truth.

"That's right, the Empress took Zhuang Xun away and the Ai family realized it. They investigated Xia's army and found out whether they were going to take over the northwest or attacking. They should have realized that those taking over the northwest were not Zhao's regular troops. .”

Mrs. Jiang frowned and said, the war is really about to break out. It is nothing to lose some county soldiers and village warriors. The strength of Zhao State is the well-equipped soldiers that Xuannv showed to Zhuang Xun. The problem is that there will be a kind of passivity in strategy, that is, watching helplessly. Jizhou lost control.

Mrs. Jiang knows the situation of Zhao State best. The elite soldiers basically come from powerful families from all over the country. They cannot be expanded casually like dumplings. Ordinary civilians can only be used as auxiliary soldiers.

It wasn't that she didn't want to take the initiative to provoke a war between Zheng and Jing. For example, she defeated You Guo seven years ago to temporarily relieve the pressure on the rear. She wanted to take advantage of the victory to attack Jing and Zheng, but the two countries became horns, and the family We firmly opposed this risky plan and had to give up in the end.

The same is true now. Politics is a kind of exchange. The more mature the political system, the more so. After hundreds of years of development, the aristocratic family has long been bound to the Zhao State. Mrs. Jiang can make the aristocratic family pay taxes and develop Zhongxing, which must be transferred. Part of the power was that King Zhao held two small meetings.

Everyone is opposed, and the emperor must listen to everyone's opinions. It is okay to have his own way, but if the family does not cooperate, it will be difficult to achieve results, and it will also damage the tacit understanding that has been formed.

The aristocratic families are relatively conservative. Just like seven years ago, they had no idea of ​​attacking after hearing that Zheng and Jing were being treated seriously. Similarly, in their eyes, Jizhou is just a scabies disease and does not require much effort. .

If Zhuang Xun's side really succeeded in betraying the enemy, according to the situation of the Zhao family, they would just watch and persuade the Zhao family to use the troops on the western front to attack and wipe out Jizhou, unless the risk in Jizhou is really greater than that in Jingzhou. Zheng.

The problem is that before the unification of Jizhou, the threat from Jizhou cannot be greater than that of Jingzheng, so there is a high probability that some means will be used to prevent it. If it cannot be stopped, the only thing left to do is to watch the unification of Jizhou.

And Zhao State is the only channel for Jizhou to connect Jizhou. The newly born regime that unifies Jizhou must expand in the direction of Zhao State.

"That's okay. Fortunately, His Royal Highness King Xiayou wanted to come over, and Empress Xuannu brought him over. Otherwise, he would have been hijacked and made an enemy of our Zhao country."

Lan Qiu breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the outcome was good, at least from their perspective. Now that she was being pulled back on track, she no longer had to be hostile to Zhuang Xun.

She doesn't want to be an enemy of Zhuang Xun. Darkness loses its color in the face of light. She is a practitioner and a compassionate person. She doesn't want to be an enemy of Zhuang Xun.

But it was destined not to be what she wanted, because the reason why Zhuang Xun was brought here was because he was worried that Zhuang Xun and the others would compete with the Yu Kingdom for the throne. This in itself was a kind of coercion, and it was to see whether Zhuang Xun and the others would accept it silently or be dishonorable.But it was no longer his turn. Mrs. Jiang immediately exposed Lan Qiu's fantasy. She narrowed her eyes and said with a half-sneer:
"Why are you being coerced? Zhuang Xun is probably hostile to us because of his own imagination. You are too naive. Do you listen to what he says? Do you believe what he says?"

Mrs. Jiang pierced the surface layer of paper mercilessly, making Lan Qiu open her eyes wide and couldn't believe it.

"How could it be possible? Empress Xuan Nu has obviously said so, and King Xia You has also said so himself. How could this be possible?"

She exclaimed, her understanding had always been that Zhuang Xun was being held hostage, and now that she was in Zhao country, it was an established fact.

"Your Majesty may also lie. Don't forget that your Majesty stayed in Jiannan for a while. Jiannan developed very well. Zhuang Xun is very kind to the people of Jiannan. Zhuang Xun himself is more pleasing to the eye than the nobles of these aristocratic families in Zhao Kingdom. Therefore, it is entirely possible for your Majesty to protect Zhuang Xun."

She expressed her good impression of Zhuang Xun and guessed that Xuannv must also have this kind of mentality, which is why she shielded Zhuang Xun. After all, there is a huge gap between active surrender and passive surrender.

"Madam, do you have any evidence?" Lan Qiu was dubious, her mind was in a state of confusion, and she couldn't tell what was wrong, so she could only ask.

"There is a lot of indirect evidence. The first is that Zhuang Xun is actually a very self-aware person. He is not incapable of temptation, but he himself has a strong immunity to temptation. It is normal for him to like Aijia and want to It’s normal for the Ai family to marry him, but it’s really abnormal to want to marry the Ai family without listening to the advice.”

Based on her daily judgment of Zhuang Xun, Mrs. Jiang said that if Zhuang Xun can catch her eye and become her koi, she can consider it a comprehensive investigation and she has a clear understanding of his character. Zhuang Xun cannot be persuaded on certain important matters. But asking to marry yourself is obviously not such a big deal.

"Aren't there two other places in the northwest? It makes sense to come here for the sake of half of the You Kingdom. After all, he will be worthy of the name of King of Xia."

Lan Qiu tried to defend Zhuang Xun, although she didn't know why. Maybe she didn't want to see Zhuang Xun and herself become antagonistic.

"So what did you say at the beginning? His men were preparing to attack the northwest and then break away from the Zhao State. The other party knew that we did not have a large army in the Seven Northwest Paths of Youdi, otherwise they would never have had such an idea. He wanted the Seven Northwest Paths. It can be taken by force, we don’t need to send it away, and we can’t hold it.”

Mrs. Jiang dotted the lines to outline a picture from Zhuang Xun's perspective, and then said in a sympathetic tone: "Think about the price of betraying Cheng Guo. First, she would be at odds with the princess and the leader of the army, Li Rusi. Second, , provoked hostility and conflict with He Chengguo, and he lost a reliable support and backer."

"As for betraying the State of Zhao, there is not so much trouble. It is difficult for the State of Zhao to target him. It has almost no impact on him with ordinary power. Moreover, the eastern front of the State of Zhao is empty. He is free to do anything, even if he turns around and annexes the State of Yu. , and there is no risk of becoming a hostage in Zhao State."

"There is also Zhuang Xun's control over the military power. Although Zhuang Xun does not control the Xia army very much, he is actually the actual master. There are many factions in the entire Xia army. The only thing in common is Zhuang Xun. Without him, It is impossible for Li Rusi to mobilize so many troops according to the order."

"Who are you sending so many troops to the northwest of the Deep Land to protect against? To form an alliance with us, you need so many troops to defend us? It's obvious that they have bad intentions and have the intention to turn against you."

Mrs. Jiang analyzed the situation Zhuang Xun was facing to Lan Qiu, and Lan Qiu nodded in understanding. It sounded like there was no benefit at all, and the so-called threat did not exist. It was indeed suspicious to come here like this.

"So it was Empress Xuannv who forcibly captured Zhuang Xun? No wonder the empress wanted to nurse her back to health. I'm afraid it was the backlash of heaven that hurt the origin."

Lan Qiu suddenly realized it and said to himself: "No wonder Empress Xuannu asked Lan Qiu to take care of her at twelve hours because she was afraid that King Xia You would run away."

"That's it. Now I can be absolutely sure that the Ai family was not suspicious before. Another reason is because the Zhao State is strong and the Xia State is weak. Zhuang Xun's ambition is not big. He just wants to protect the country and the people, seek refuge with the Zhao State, and just hang out. The idle prince, becoming a rich man is also a way to preserve his life, but now it seems that he is more ambitious than Ai Jia thought."

Mrs. Jiang has a smile, and the ambitious Zhuang Xun is quite likable, especially now that he is subdued. After all, the koi in the pool are quite nice to watch.

"Coming to the Kingdom of Zhao, now King Xia You has no way of turning back. No matter how much ambition he has, it will be of no use. Now he can only become a rich man. After all, he is your koi, madam. You will not kill him, right? "

Lan Qiu laughed dryly, but couldn't help but worry about Zhuang Xun's situation. Madam Jiang discovered that his heart was not sincere and his intentions were not true. Madam Jiang was also a decisive person, and Zhuang Xun was now in danger.

"As long as he doesn't run away and does what the Ai family says, he will be given some benefits, such as the promise of becoming the king. After all, it was Empress Xuannv who protected her. She always has to give her some face, and she comes on her own initiative. ”

After achieving her goal, Mrs. Jiang is not a stingy person. She is an excellent politician. If the promised benefits can solve the problems and conflicts, she does not mind letting go of the conflicts.

"King Xia You is a smart man and will not run away." Lan Qiu said expectantly, hoping so, hoping that good people will be rewarded.

"That's natural. It must have been reminded by Empress Xuannu. Today I asked the Yi family what they agreed to do. After taking care of him for so many days, what do you think of him? The Ai family thinks he has a good opinion of you."

Mrs. Jiang raised her eyebrows and recalled what Zhuang Xun said. Now she wanted to think about how to fulfill it. At that time, it was just to coax Zhuang Xun over, but now Zhuang Xun has been coaxed over.

"It's very good. I feel that King Xiayou is a good, benevolent and kind person as Madam said. So Madam, do you want to marry King Xiayou?"

Three people in a row, Lan Qiu, praised Zhuang Xun extensively. Judging from their interactions with Zhuang Xun these days, he didn't have a bad temper despite being in a high position. He was friendly, understood the suffering of the people, and was neither arrogant nor humble.

"Aijia? Forget it, wouldn't it be embarrassing for Aijia to marry him? Zhuang Xun is younger than Wang'er, so that's absolutely impossible." Mrs. Jiang said with a smile, gently shaking her head, looking towards Lan Qiu.

"Then King Xiayou is going to be sad. After all, it seems that he is very obsessed with you." Lan Qiu said regretfully that after spending more than ten days together, Zhuang Xun was a nice person. It was hard to say that it was not good to deceive Zhuang Xun in front of Mrs. Jiang. After all, Zhuang Xun It had bad intentions from the beginning.

"You have broken through the Zi Mansion, Lan Qiu, the Ai family has a good merit for you!"

(End of this chapter)