Civil and military officials of the Manchu dynasty, begging me to ascend the throne

Chapter 248 Defeat
Fan Qing was a little angry and wanted to pull her hand back, but Mrs. Liu held her tightly.

"Where do you need me?

In the capital, there were high-ranking officials everywhere.Your husband and I are only of the third rank, and there are countless people with higher official ranks than me.There are naturally countless people with superior abilities than me.Why do you have to ask me to... take risks to open this mouth now? "

Mrs. Liu smiled helplessly and said, "Didn't you just say that? His Majesty didn't listen to what General Cheng said. Your Majesty also doesn't listen to what Prince Fu said now. Doesn't your Majesty love to talk to you now?"

For a long time, Fan Qing looked at his wife, feeling that the beauty became more and more beautiful under the light.

He patted his wife's hand and breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Your Majesty does not seem to be a kind person now. But he does treat me very well. I... I will try it tomorrow. If it works, that's fine. Even if it doesn’t work...it should be okay.”

------

The next day, night.

Fan Qing held Madam's hand again in the bedroom.Both husband and wife were wearing pajamas and leaning on pillows on the bed.

The two of them chatted about small things, and Fan Qing talked about what happened in the court today under the candlelight.

"Your Majesty is very angry now. I said what I said, but I was treated coldly."

The lady turned her face sideways, looked at Fan Qing, and rubbed his brow with her hand.

"My husband regrets it?"

Fan Qing instead smiled happily and leaned over.

"That's not true. I feel a lot more comfortable after receiving the cold treatment from His Majesty."

Seeing his wife's confused look, Fan Qing continued:

"His Majesty treats me so well, but it makes me feel overwhelmed and walking on thin ice. I have to painstakingly complete the paperwork on hand to repay Your Majesty."

"Now that His Majesty treats me coldly, I feel a lot more comfortable."

"It's not like we haven't gone through hard times, even if we return to our original posts, it doesn't mean anything. In this way, we can be considered as doing our best to repay His Majesty's kindness."

"Then what if someone else robs you and gets His Majesty's favor?"

Mrs. Liu lay on the soft pillow, looking up at Fan Qing, her face red.

Fan Qing lazily held her waist, with a smile in his dark eyes.

"A minister should do his best to complete his duties. Besides, I still have a wife to look after me."

For a time, the spring night was warm.

……

When the news came, Jiang Sile was wrapped in a thick cloak, holding hot tea in one hand under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree, staring blankly at the gray walls of the rental house in front of him.

Jiang Yi is playing with his youngest daughter Jing'an. Princess Jing'an has gained some weight in the past few days, and she is chubby and cute.

The Queen Mother Chengsu was copying Buddhist scriptures by hand.

Empress Dowager Cheng originally did not believe in Buddhism, but now that she is older, she has become a believer along with the group of princesses and wives. She often hangs out in the small Buddhist hall in the palace and talks to the elderly concubines in the palace.She believed that this Buddhist scripture might be able to keep her brother in the northwest safe, so she always copied a few more points in her spare time.

Her handwriting is plain and slender, and when looking at the entire text, the Buddhist sutra seems to be a little thin and quiet, and a little bit Zen-like.

The written scriptures will be sent to the Buddhist hall in the palace to be enshrined by the Queen Mother. It is said that this will be more effective.

On this day, she was copying the Nanhua Sutra. There were quite a few scriptures that she didn't understand very well, but she copied all the words.

The eunuch who delivered the news was waiting at the entrance of the palace, shivering, his face as pale as a piece of paper.

Queen Mother Cheng put down her pen and waved to him, telling him to come closer.

As the eunuch delivering the message was walking, he collapsed on the ground as if he was too frightened, muttering in a panic: "The Queen Mother, forgive me, the Queen Mother, forgive me..."

Queen Mother Cheng also seemed to notice that the eunuch was in a panic. She raised her eyes and spoke with a hint of majesty that she had not noticed at all.

"What's the matter?"

"It's the Duke... No no, it's General Cheng..."

"How is he?"

Queen Mother Cheng's voice only trembled, her face suddenly turned pale, her long-nailed hands were clenched tightly, and the cyan blood vessels could almost be seen surging under her fair skin.

Empress Dowager Cheng scolded the panicked eunuch, who suddenly trembled and said:
"Old General...he died in the battle at Qingyi! Together with the [-] troops on the border, he was defeated!"

The moment Queen Mother Cheng heard the news, her head was struck like five thunders, and she fainted the next moment.

"Queen! Queen!"

The maid next to Queen Mother Cheng hurried forward and supported Queen Mother Cheng's body.

She placed her nails on the tip of the Queen Mother's nose for a moment, and after feeling the shallow breathing, she finally felt a little more relaxed.

The maid shouted loudly: "The Queen Mother has fainted, please call the doctor quickly."

At the same time, Chongguang Hall
When Jiang Yi heard the news, he was like a lightning strike. He sat there in a daze, unable to recover at all.

When he woke up, his next reaction was.

"Quickly, send someone to stop the eunuch who is going to see the Queen Mother. Don't let the Queen Mother hear the news."

Jiang Yi is concerned about his mother's health, and his mother has always been worried about her uncle, even going so far as to have a quarrel with me.

Now that I suddenly got the news, how can my body cope with it?

Chong'an went out for a while, then returned to Chongguang Hall with a grimace, and told Jiang Yi: "Your Majesty... the Queen Mother has already known the news, and now she has passed out. But she has called the imperial doctor, so it will be fine."

"No problem...no problem, that's good..."

Jiang Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief, but what happened next still made his eyes darken.

"This...how did it fail?"

"How could it be defeated?"

Jiang Yi only felt that there was a breath held in his heart, and a long-lasting feeling in his heart.

Now he can't blame Cheng Qian. Cheng Qian died on the battlefield and was a general who defended his family and country.

It seems that now, he can only blame Qingyi.

But who can blame Qingyi?Blame them for being too powerful?Is it their fault that they also carried out surprise attacks?
This only makes him appear more cowardly.

He knew that after the news of the defeat came, there would only be one guilty person in the entire Great Xia - and that was himself.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yi's complexion became even paler, his figure trembled, and he almost followed Queen Mother Cheng.

"Impossible, how could my uncle be defeated by Qingyi?"

"Isn't that Wu Mu just a loser?"

Thinking of this, Jiang Yi's eyes trembled, and a hint of coldness flashed through his eyes.

"They are lying to me! They are lying to me! The Qingyi people are really cunning."

Jiang Yi said through gritted teeth.

"You are so good at pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger. I underestimated this Wu Mu."

Jiang Yi couldn't help but feel a little curious and afraid of Wu Mu.

When he first ascended the throne, there were foreign enemies eyeing him, and he had suffered a huge defeat before.

Faced with such a bleak and pitiful situation, even Jiang Yi himself in this state did not feel that he could turn the situation around.

But Umu did it.

He quietly gave Jiang Yi a sap when he was at his most prosperous.

The beating was so painful that it also woke him up.

Now he "regrets not listening to the words of the old general, regrets not listening to the prince's dissuasion..." That is an army of one hundred thousand! !

That's the gateway to the north of the border!

Now...it's all gone...

Jiang Yi was so angry that his throat felt fishy.

He turned his back subconsciously, covered his mouth with one hand, and spit out a mouthful of blood on his sleeve, which was as red as the red plums on the winter solstice.

Chong'an seemed to have noticed something and hurriedly walked to Jiang Yi.

But Jiang Yi noticed something was wrong the moment he vomited blood, and he couldn't let this matter spread anymore.

Daxia just suffered a disastrous defeat, and now it is even more important to stabilize people's hearts.

"Everyone, please go out and leave me alone."

Jiang Yi turned his back and said calmly.

When everyone was about to leave the palace, he said again: "Chong'an stays."

Chongan, who was left behind, quickly walked to Jiang Yi's side with worried eyes.

But as soon as he walked in, he saw little blood stains on the steps that were obscured by Jiang Yi's figure.

"Your Majesty..." Chong'an was about to scream when Jiang Yi covered his mouth.

"Lower your voice."

Jiang Yi let go after warning Chongan.

At this time, he only felt that his mouth and throat were full of fishy smell, his head was dizzy, and his body was almost unable to stand.

Jiang Yi picked up a cup of tea and drank the herbal tea.

"Don't spread this matter."

Chong'an held Jiang Yi into his seat with one hand and nodded.

He looked at Jiang Yi with worried eyes and asked: "But your Majesty's body..."

"I'm fine. Please send someone to see how my mother is doing."

"Yes……"

After Chong'an left, Jiang Yi loosened his clenched fists, revealing his weakness and illness.

He just doesn't want to show weakness to others.

……

By the time Jiang Sile learned the news, the important news that the Queen Mother Cheng was critically ill had also been received.

Since she was recuperating in a separate garden, the news came either from the guards in red from the capital, or from the news brought back by the guards in the market through chatting.

The news that Queen Mother Cheng was critically ill was the first, but General Cheng and her uncle's death in battle were the second.

Jiang Sile knew that Jiang Yi had been hiding the news, but I'm afraid it wasn't just him.

Now he probably wants to hide it from everyone in the world, but there are hundreds of thousands of troops at the border.

Even if he thought about it, he couldn't stop everyone in the world from talking.

When the guard in red came the news, he also asked Jiang Sile if he wanted to go to Beijing to attend to the disease.He also vaguely revealed to Jiang Sile that the Queen Mother might not be well.

Jiang Sile nodded, accepted the sentiment, and asked someone to reward him with some gold nuggets.

After everyone left, Jiang Sile was still hesitant about whether to return to Beijing and whether to meet the Queen Mother.

It turned out that because of her status, it was difficult for her to go to Kyoto.

It stands to reason that she currently belongs to the wife of the late old Shanyu and should stay in Qingyi.

But Jiang Sile's matter is not so clear that can be explained in a few words.

Now even if she wants to go back, in what way and in what capacity.

A hundred thousand troops had just been killed in the border battle. If she entered the capital, she would become the target of public criticism.

Although she got Lao Shanyu's permission to leave Qingyi, and she didn't care about other people's opinions, it didn't mean that she was willing to become other people's pawn.

Just after the news of the war came, Jiang Sile had a vague premonition.

It seems that behind the scenes there is Wumu's push for this matter - or the Qingyi people's push.

And this promoter is not in Border Pass, let alone Qingyi, but in Kyoto.

Among the group of adults dressed in official uniforms of beasts and birds, they were surrounding Jiang Yi, changing his mind little by little and subtly.

After all, even Jiao Wen could see that our side seemed to be slightly at a disadvantage in these two wars, both morally and in terms of momentum.

"After all, we are beating them up. I'm not even over [-] yet? Morally, we are shameless."

This is what they deduced when Li Yancheng fought last time. Jiang Sile sat among them and listened to Jiao Wen's discussion.

"Although war is not about morality, if the name is not correct, the words are not correct, and if the words are not correct, things will not go smoothly. There is still some truth in what the old man said."

Jiang Sile commented on this battle.

"Your Highness is right."

Some people around him lowered their heads in deep thought, while others nodded silently.Jiao Wen and the others looked a little gloomy, but those from Qingyi, including A Yishi, discussed the tactics of dividing the group into small groups this time, and the discussion was heated.

Jiang Sile knew that all of them were now far away from the battlefield. At their age, they still didn't look down on the matter of making contributions and were somewhat obsessed with it.

For this reason, she did not restrict their discussion of tactics and military affairs on weekdays.

That time, we specially found people from the Red Guards and built a decent sand table for these people.

However, this sand table is different from the one in the military camp. It is basically just a toy.

If it is a real sand table used by the army, it can be regarded as a military secret. Anyone who asks casually will be punished by military law.

But this small sandbox is enough for those people to play and rehearse. People who are dozens of years old and can be fathers and grandfathers guard the sandbox as their treasure all day long, and they all get into arguments during the rehearsal.

This made Jiang Sile almost not even look at them, but these were her subordinates anyway, and Jiang Sile was at least more tolerant towards them than he was towards the old man Wu Xian.

Jiang Sile's question now is whether he should fulfill the man's wish and go to the capital.

One is to meet Jiang Yi, whom they haven't seen for a long time.

The second is for the original person, the 'Princess Anle' who made her look like this. Meeting her before the death of the Empress Dowager Cheng was regarded as fulfilling her filial duty.

These two things are actually indispensable for Jiang Sile.

It's okay to go, but it's a bit troublesome.

It's okay to hide. Anyway, she is sick now. If she really wants to hide, she can escape.

It is precisely because it can do both that Jiang Sile is in trouble.

She couldn't let other people help her with this kind of thing. The little Taoist priest had no conscience. He traveled all day long and disappeared.

This Taishan is just like his home, people disappear in a flash.

Jiang Sile thought about it again and again, and finally felt that he still couldn't make this decision rashly, and he still needed to find someone to do some calculations.

After a while, she called for the little Taoist priest to come over and said that she had something important to discuss with him.

This was a good excuse, but an hour later the little Taoist priest came back happily.

(End of this chapter)