The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Empress Zhang had a comforting look on her face, and even returned to Kunning Palace happily. After returning, she immediately sent someone to tell her two younger brothers to enter the palace.

She didn't feel at all that this time was different from the past. In the past, she went to give her husband a cleansing, but this time she was successfully backwashed by her husband, and she still didn't know she was a victim.

She also felt that what her husband said made sense... She wanted to pass on the education she had received to her two younger brothers, so that they could also receive this spiritual baptism.

"Sister, are you right? During the Chinese New Year, you want us brothers to go to Yongping Mansion? Is that place for people?"

The Zhang brothers were going to cause trouble when they heard the news, but this time when their sister called them, it seemed like they had found a punching bag.

Empress Zhang said coldly: "Why, have I treated you poorly? I don't even think about it, how can there be so many good things in the world? Staying in the capital camp, doing evil all day long, and being impeached by ginseng, it is because of this palace that you can survive today. , otherwise you won’t even have any scum left.”

Zhang Yanling said: "Sister, that's not true. We are also doing our best. Who did something wrong?"

"Stop talking!" Zhang Heling seemed to be forbearing at this time and gave his younger brother a hand.

Obviously, the boss was well aware of the incident.

Empress Zhang tried her best to fight for her younger brother in front of the emperor, but in front of her younger brother, she had to show off her sister's style and said coldly: "Don't worry about whether you have done it or not! Do you have to let your majesty spread the evidence in front of you? How much ginseng?" Impeach you? Are you two? If you behave like this, Your Majesty will be angry with me, thinking that I can't teach my two brothers well."

Zhang Yanling said angrily: "Sister, when did you teach us?"

"Bastard!" Empress Zhang scolded, "It is precisely because of your lack of discipline that you have ended up where you are today. I could see before I even came to Beijing that you two can't stand on the stage. Have you ever done a good thing in so many years? ?”

"us……"

"Okay!" Zhang Heling hurriedly interrupted his younger brother and looked at Empress Zhang eagerly and said, "The Empress, you are telling me to let my two brothers go to Yongping Mansion and accompany Cai Guogong to make contributions, so that you can forget the past and get...an official position. Jinjue, right?”

"Yes." Queen Zhang glanced at Zhang Heling and said, "With merit, one will be promoted to Duke of Chang Kingdom and the other to Marquis of Jianchang. Let's consider whether to go."

Zhang Heling asked: "How can it be considered meritorious?"

Queen Zhang said: "It doesn't matter whether you have merit or not, you have to have someone recognize you."

"Who is it?" Zhang Yanling frowned and asked, "It can't be Zhang Bingkuan, right?"

Empress Zhang said sternly: "You still call him by his first name? He is the Crown Prince, the Minister of War, and the Duke of the country. He has won every battle in the north. Which time has he not been making suggestions behind the scenes? Look at what he has achieved Among those who have made great contributions, which one was not promoted by him? You have also worked with him, so why don’t you learn from others?”

Zhang Yanling was so angry that she stamped her feet and said, "Who wants to imitate him? Why should I imitate him?"

Zhang Heling asked: "I dare to ask the queen, is it true that as long as Cai Guogong recommends us, we can... be promoted to a noble title?"

"Yes." Queen Zhang said.

Zhang Heling also frowned and said: "This matter is a bit strange. When has the title in the court been decided by a minister? Even if your majesty trusts Cai Guogong again, it can't be like this, right? He will be promoted just as he says? Those ministers in the court... don't object. of?"

Empress Zhang said: "Are you quite serious? I ask you, is there any matter decided by Bingkuan that His Majesty would object to? Just ask the ministers in the court, is it useful to object?"

Zhang Heling was immediately relieved and smiled and said: "That makes sense. It's easy. We just give him gifts. With the queen making the decision for us, how can he not sell his face?"

"Hmph!" Empress Zhang said disdainfully, "Do you think Your Majesty hasn't thought of this? You must really have military merit. I have already asked you clearly. You don't need to charge into battle, as long as you make no serious mistakes, but during the march You have to go in person. This time we are fighting the Jurchens. You won't be deserters like last time, right?"

Zhang Heling said with a smile: "The second one is the deserter, not me."

Zhang Yanling said: "It would be the same for you. What is a good place in Liaodong? Fighting Jurchens? They are all a group of half-clothed savages. I just don't want to fight with them."

Zhang Heling quickly added: "The Jurchens are just a group of uncivilized savages. Don't worry, the Queen, our brothers will definitely make great achievements. If you can't defeat the Mongolian Tatars, is it not easy to defeat the Jurchens? Besides... …hey-hey."

Before he finished speaking, he asked his sister and brother to guess.

Zhang Yanling said disdainfully: "Don't think that I don't know what you are thinking about. You still think that Zhang Bingkuan is a good person. There is no room for two tigers in one mountain. It's okay if he didn't dig a hole to bury us."

Zhang Heling scolded: "Boy, you are stupid! Don't you think about it, how many times has Cai Guogong buried you? You are the only one who doesn't live up to expectations!"

Queen Zhang said: "In any case, I have a guarantee from His Majesty that you will not disappoint this time, so I will give you this opportunity. It means that you can make up for it. If you can't grasp it this time, …Don’t say you don’t even have any errands after returning to Beijing!”

"I know, I know..." Zhang Heling seemed to be looking forward to this.

Although Zhang Yanling on the side did not object, he looked at Zhang Heling awkwardly, as if to say, are you mentally ill? Now you actually think Zhang Bingkuan is a good person?
……

……

Because the Zhang brothers wanted to work with Zhang Zhou, Queen Zhang was naturally less wary of Zhang Zhou.

But then Chen Kuan came over to report the matter to her, which was related to Zhang Zhou.

"...The slave asked Li Zhang to take people to check on the Ning family's daughter. The prescriptions used were indeed unverified, and no one had ever taken the medicines and diet she used, and some were even sent directly to her. Give it to your Majesty."

"The Empress Dowager's condition has not improved, which may be related to her poor use of medicine. Concubine Xian has also looked for her before...it seems..."

Empress Zhang originally wanted to give Zhang Zhou face, and didn't intend to argue with a little person like Ning Tong.

But when she heard this, she felt angry and said, "What?"

Chen Kuandao: "It was reported by Li Zhang. It is said that the daughter of the Ning family is just the daughter of a magistrate from a military household. She has no experience in studying medicine. What she has learned is only the superficial knowledge of medical skills. She even thought that she was in the palace." He used the pretense of treating noble people to treat patients among the people, and he got into trouble because of it.”

"In addition, she seemed to have given Concubine Xian many medicines behind her back, but they were not reported. Some of the medicines were judged by Dr. Liu and others from the Taiyuan Hospital to be similar to the prescriptions that the Queen usually used to treat her. If you do it, it may damage your body, the Queen.”

When Queen Zhang heard this, she slapped the table and said, "Is she looking for death?"

Chen Kuandao: "I don't know this, but these are just rumors, or someone should be found to investigate carefully."

Queen Zhang said: "Then let Li Zhang ask carefully who instigated it!"

Obviously, in Empress Zhang's mind, she did not regard Ning Tong as a good person. She directly asked "who instigated this". She obviously wanted to put the shit basin on Concubine Xian. She did not bother to punish a little person like Ning Tong. After all, she still It doesn't matter about fighting for favor or anything like that.

But what Chen Kuan said next made her break her guard: "... When His Majesty left the palace in the past, he had met and even been alone with the Ning family."

"what?"

This time Queen Zhang was not angry, but frightened.

If the next one to enter the palace and compete with her for favor is Ning Tong, she feels that her enemy is too strong. Zhu Feng's ex-wife has some contact with Zhang Zhou and is in the same group as Concubine Xian... and she can also treat people's illnesses. , and even gained the appreciation of Queen Mother Zhou... How could such a woman be allowed to stay?

"Let's check." Queen Zhang said.

Chen Kuan asked for instructions: "Shall we let Li Zhang go?"

"If not him, who else? Don't let Your Majesty know before there is a result. I want to find evidence of her murdering the palace people and let Your Majesty know how evil these people are!" When Queen Zhang said this, her heart was full. disgust.

She was quite polite to Ning Tong before. After all, she felt that Ning Tong was a goddess doctor who could bring some changes to her. Now she felt that she was feeding a tiger into trouble.

……

……

Chen Kuan then asked someone to call Li Zhang, and then gave him a face-to-face explanation.

Li Zhang was horrified and had to do something after learning that it was the queen's order.

After Li Zhang left, Wei Bin immediately walked out of the back hall of the Supervisor of Ceremonies and asked, "Are you really going to do this? Even if this Ning family is from an ordinary family, she has been in a famous family. Such a little girl, At best, it’s just a good relationship that the virtuous concubine made when she was outside the palace, so why bother?”

Chen Kuan said: "Do you really think our family is causing trouble for you?"

Wei Bin asked: "Could it be..."

"Haha." Chen Kuan said with a sinister smile, "Our family also inquired and said that this girl almost entered Cai Guogong's house. Our girl is an informant of Cai Guogong. What do you think Cai Guogong has done in recent years? Can he get promoted just by luck? He is resourceful."

Wei Bin took a breath and said, "If Cai Guogong relies on women to bring him some news from the palace, then it is indeed very unusual."

Chen Kuandao: "The virtuous concubine was favored because of Duke Cai Guo's secret help. Do you think the queen knows about this?"

"This...it's hard to say..." Even Wei Bin couldn't believe this conspiracy theory.

Chen Kuan shook his head and said: "Everyone thought that the Empress Dowager helped His Majesty accept Concubine Xian, but how could the Empress Dowager change His Majesty's original intention? If Cai Guogong hadn't come forward, this matter would have been unresolved. The concubine only entered the palace after she gave birth to the emperor's heir. Since Cai Guogong is very close to the prince, and has a life-saving friendship with the wise concubine and the second prince, Cai Guogong is in an invincible position whether he advances or retreats. "

"Then Eunuch Chen still..."

Wei Bin felt that Chen Kuan was playing with fire.

Chen Kuan said: "Which brick is the loosest in this palace?"

Wei Bin asked tentatively: "Ning's daughter?"

Chen Kuan shook his head and said: "She is not a brick in the palace wall, at most she is a bricklayer. She wants to pry the bricks loose, but she doesn't have that ability. The only one who has the ability is Cai Guogong."

"Please give me some advice from Eunuch Chen." Wei Bin said hurriedly.

"It's the Empress Dowager..." Chen Kuan said.

"what?"

Wei Bin never expected that the breakthrough point would be Empress Dowager Zhou.

Chen Kuan said: "Only by uniting the weak can we defeat the strong. Now the most powerful one is Cai Guogong. We all have to stand back. Can we people conspire with civil servants now? Isn't that the same as seeking death? We don't collude and we don't take action. , How to gain a foothold? If no one in this palace is of the same mind as us, they will all die sooner or later."

Wei Bin asked: "So, are we of the same mind as the Empress Dowager?"

"Wrong." Chen Kuan said, "We have been with His Majesty from the beginning to the end. The Queen Mother is also helping His Majesty. Who are we helping?"

"help……"

Wei Bin can't stand Chen Kuan, the Riddler.

Chen Kuandao: "On the surface, they are helping the Imperial Hospital, and they are also helping the Queen. In fact, they are also helping the Queen Mother... because the Queen Mother does not want the power in the palace to be unbalanced. In the past, the Queen Mother relied on Cai Guogong to check and balance the Queen, but now Who do you think she wants to check?"

"hiss……"

"We are not helping anyone." Chen Kuan patted Wei Bin on the shoulder and sneered, "It is up to Li Zhang to investigate this matter. If he is found guilty, it will be Li Zhang and the people from the Taiyuan Hospital who are responsible for it. But most likely His Majesty will not Will your Majesty ask about such a trivial matter?"

Wei Bin seemed to understand something and said in surprise: "You have achieved your goal and then let Li Zhang take the blame?"

"What scapegoat? Can you speak?" Chen Kuan said angrily, "We only deal with official business, and so does Li Zhang. But with Li Zhang here for a day, we can't live a good life! Ning is just a small role, I really think Can she reach the sky? This is more important than anything else."

Because there were some words that Chen Kuan couldn't say clearly at all, so Wei Bin was very confused when he heard this.

But Wei Bin also felt it vaguely.

Compared with Dai Yi and Xiao Jing, who were the eunuchs of the Chief of Ceremonies, Chen Kuan in front of him was a "ruthless character". However, in the past, Chen Kuan was too low-key and had no sense of presence. As a result, even Wei Bin did not expect that the Chief of Ceremonies would actually It is up to Chen Kuan to stabilize the overall situation.

……

……

Li Zhang was ordered to investigate Ning Tong. He also knew that Ning Tong and Zhang Zhou were related, but he did not dare to investigate.

So he assigned the task to Mou Bin.

Mou Bin asked out of curiosity: "Father, I'm just a medical woman, why do I need to work on your old master?"

Li Zhang said: "What do you know? This medical woman, whom Your Majesty admires, was once arranged by Cai Guogong to take care of the concubine to raise the fetus outside the palace. Do you think she is just a palace maid?"

"That……"

Mou Bin was still confused.

"If I want to arrest someone, I need you to go, but you have to treat her well. Just keep her in the house and don't let her come out. When you want to ask questions, you go there in person, do you understand?" Li Zhang said.

Mou Bin was curious and asked: "Private house... the custodian?"

"It's not a human crime." Li Zhang emphasized.

Mou Bin said: "Since the Queen asked me to investigate, if we just prevaricate, I'm afraid we won't have a good life."

"Hmph!" Li Zhang said, "Do you think you will have a good life after checking it? Don't Cai Guogong's people call others?"

Mou Bin also suddenly realized that Li Zhang was more afraid of Zhang Zhou than Queen Zhang.

This seems to explain why Li Zhang was still so worried when he was clearly ordered to give Ning Tong some love.

This little woman has a great background. (End of chapter)