After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 77: Some old melons from past lives ([-])
Hai Jiao looked at his sister speechlessly: "How would I know? I don't even remember the day the Queen Mother died!"

Haitang smiled and held his arm to coax him: "My brother has been working in Jinyiwei for so many years and has made friends with well-informed people like Divine Whip Zhang San, so he would have heard some rumors, right? Just think about it carefully. .”

When she saw Hai Jiao frowning, she continued to persuade: "This matter is quite important. Don't you really want to catch up with Mr. Tao Yuetao? You still expect him to work hard in advance to prevent Mr. Sun Ge from continuing to be famous. But you do. Grandpa and cousin are now counting on the protection of the Zhou family to stay safe and sound for many years. If we want to get closer to Mr. Tao, we have to pay attention to the ideas of the Zhou family. We can't put the Zhou family down before we get to Mr. Tao. Is this backer offended? But if the two families can reconcile and join forces, with both holy family members and military power, it will not be easy for Mr. Sun Ge to deal with it. And the biggest conflict between Mr. Tao and the Zhou family is probably It’s about the matter of pursuing the title of Concubine Tao Hui. Of course I want to find out clearly what happened back then?"

What my sister said makes sense.

Haijiao really recalled it seriously.

After he was reborn, in order to live a good life in the future, successfully rescue his benefactor, and have a smooth career, he often recalled the things he had experienced and heard in his previous life, so as to find information that could be used by him.The acquaintances under Jin Yiwei are naturally one of his biggest sources of intelligence, and they will help him understand the trends in officialdom in the next 20 years.After nearly a year of recalling and sorting out, he basically knew it in his mind. Now when he thought about it for a moment, he remembered something he had experienced.

His master once caught someone wanted by Jin Yiwei and took him and his senior brother to escort him to the prison. He happened to meet an acquaintance there and they made an appointment to have dinner at a nearby restaurant.

The acquaintance was said to be an internal prisoner from the palace and a master of torture. He received grace and was released from the palace before the death of Empress Dowager Zhou.But he was alone and had nowhere to go. Someone in Jinyiwei knew his ability, so they paid a lot of money to invite him to sit in the imperial prison.

At that time, Hai Jiao's senior brother was serving two elders in the private room. Hai Jiao was standing by the door and was responsible for delivering food and wine, so he only heard part of the conversation between "Grandpa Xin" and his master: "... Chang Guifei He seemed to be a decent man, and Prince Ji was also smart. He didn't expect that the Chang family had such a family tradition. It was really dirty. No wonder the Queen Mother hated his family during her lifetime, and always wanted to find ways to find something to do with his family. She even vented her anger on Concubine Tao Hui. On his body. I don’t know if the death of Prince Xiaoming has anything to do with his family..."

Haitang's eyes widened when she heard this: "What does this sentence... mean? Who is Concubine Chang? Who is Prince Ji? Who is Prince Xiaoming?"

Hai Jiao explained: "Concubine Chang was the late emperor's concubine, and her son was named Prince Ji. Prince Xiaoming was the biological son of Empress Dowager Zhou, who died very early."

In the last years of the late emperor's reign, the princes fought fiercely to seize the throne.The first person to die was Prince Xiaoming, the direct descendant of Empress Zhou.After his death, the most popular one was Prince Ji, who was born to his favorite concubine Chang Guifei, but at the same time, there was also Prince An, the holy family member of another concubine Zhang De, and other princes also performed well from time to time and won the favor of the late emperor. It's hard to say which prince has the upper hand.

Emperor Deguang was just an inconspicuous prince at that time, and was not taken seriously by his brothers who were interested in competing for the throne.He was able to win because he recognized his legitimate mother, Queen Zhou, as his mother and made great contributions with her support, so he entered the East Palace before his brothers.

The late emperor died soon after, and the new crown prince succeeded to the throne with the support of the Queen Mother Zhou and the Zhou family.Even if the princes originally planned to pull the new prince off his horse, they had no time to do it and had to accept their fate.

The Empress Dowager Zhou had always been at odds with Concubine Chang Guifei. She also suspected that she was involved in her son's death and firmly opposed Prince Ji's establishment of a crown prince.But as soon as she took power, before she had time to arrest anyone for interrogation, Chang Guifei simply killed the late emperor. She also cried and told her deep love and reluctance in front of her relatives, officials and imperial edicts, and then took poison. Suicide.Not only was the Empress Dowager unable to hold her accountable, she also wanted to give her a grand burial.King Ji also fainted in public because he was too sad when he was crying. He became seriously ill afterwards and won a reputation as a filial piety in front of the public.The Empress Dowager Zhou and the newly succeeded Emperor Deguang were unable to do anything to him due to material disputes.

While King Ji was recuperating, he quickly disbanded his team. Even Princess Ji's grandfather was purged from the court by the new king and sat idly by.He did not interfere in the government affairs, and took the large amount of wealth awarded by the late emperor and left by Concubine Chang Guifei, and lived a small life behind closed doors in the palace. He raised a group of guests and discussed poetry, songs, romance and romance every day.He is so honest and can be regarded as a model for the clan.Not only could the emperor not retaliate against him, but he also extended favors and rewards during the holidays to show his benevolence and friendship.Hai Jiao said: "Prince Ji has been in glory for decades, and he has lived longer than the emperor! Although the Chang family has failed in its ambitions, except for a capable nephew who was demoted, he has not suffered any major crimes, and his reputation in the capital is not bad. , The family is also rich. If Grandpa Xin hadn't mentioned it, I really wouldn't have known that his family was not clean. I also don't know what bad things they did. If Concubine Chang was really related to the death of Prince Xiaoming, no wonder the Queen Mother has always resented her. "

Haitang asked: "But what does this matter have to do with Concubine Tao Hui?"

Hai Jiao replied: "I can't say how deep the relationship was. It is said that Tao Hui died early. Before her death, she was worried about the palace people around her, so she recommended her to Concubine Chang. One of the palace people later became Concubine Chang's confidant. , often giving her advice. If Concubine Chang had harmed Prince Xiaoming, this palace man might be an accomplice. It happened that Prince Xiaoming died on the front leg, and the palace man on the back leg died suddenly. The Queen Mother suspected that she had been silenced, so she expressed her anger to Concubine Tao Hui who recommended the person." This is what Grandpa Xin said personally.

However, the Empress Dowager Zhou could accept Concubine Tao Hui's son as her adopted son and even put him on the throne. It is estimated that her anger was limited.She couldn't accept the emperor's posthumous title for his biological mother. I'm afraid she was more concerned about the honor of the queen mother's position, right?
Haitang was curious: "Concubine Chang died for the late emperor and was unable to answer the Queen Mother's questions. What about her palace attendants? Can't the Queen Mother interrogate them?"

Hai Jiao shook his head: "After Concubine Chang died, almost all of her confidants were martyred, and the Queen Mother had nowhere to ask."

The Queen Mother was aggrieved, and so was the Emperor.The Queen Mother's upbringing dictates that she will not retaliate against innocent people.The emperor could only take advantage of the Chang family.

However, the Chang family only plays a small role, and the key player is King Ji.

Emperor Deguang had nothing to do with this wealthy and leisurely brother. He had been feeling aggrieved for a long time and wanted to take revenge.A few years ago, when the fourth prince asked himself to succeed the royal family, he adopted his son to the prince on the grounds that Prince Ji had no children, which was a good opportunity to seize the prince's substantial wealth.

In fact, King Ji was not childless, he just had no legitimate sons, but he had many concubines and concubines.But the emperor insisted on using the reason that he did not have a legitimate son, so he had no choice but to happily take the fourth prince to his home, and the next day he submitted a letter asking for the title of prince.

Hai Jiao told his sister: "This is Prince Ji, who later always made noises about returning to the clan, and even colluded with the Sun family. If not for this, the eighth prince would have been the heir apparent long ago! Now the emperor is the only one under his knees. Miaomiao alone, if you don't make him the crown prince, who else can be made? Back then, the fourth prince was clamoring for succession, and now he wants to return to the palace and become the prince. How can there be such a reason in the world? If he hadn't been here, Sun Pavilion has lost its support a long time ago, how can it be possible for it to be prosperous for another ten years?!"

This was something Haitang didn't expect again.

She hurriedly asked: "What's going on? The emperor has so few sons, why are there still people clamoring for a successor? For such a 'filial' son, the emperor did not punish him, but even found him a rich father? !”

(End of this chapter)