Late Tang

Gongsun Lan came to see Li Jing in the palace and reported that Yang Fuguang had arrived. Originally, this matter also required her to go there in person. Not long ago, she had just given birth to her second child, another son, and it was not long after the [-]th day after giving birth.It's just that the fact that Yang Fuguang came to have a secret talk is still a secret, so Gongsun Lan made the trip in person.Unexpectedly, he disappeared when he arrived at the South Study Room. After asking the Yiwei Squad Army on duty, he found out that he had gone to Mother Li to say hello.After Gongsun Lan heard this, she went out of the South Study Room and went to the Palace of Compassion and Ning, where Mother Li lived. As soon as she entered the palace gate, she saw Jin Yan'er, the close female officer of the Han family, standing with her sister Wan'er, a girl who had just shaved her hair. Playing inside the palace wall, seeing Gongsun Lan coming but not seeing outside, knowing that she must be looking for Li Jing, she pouted inward with a smile.

Gongsun Lan smiled and nodded at Jin Yan'er, then walked straight into the hall, only to see Li Jing was accompanying Li's mother, and the Xiao Clan's Han family also came today, and Xiao Yulou was by her side, besides the four of them, Wan The son and Wang Guiniang were also there, and the three wives and concubines of Zhengshu each brought their own children.A few people sat there, and they just talked about some family gossip.Gongsun Lan was not in a hurry to go in for a while, she stood outside and asked a court lady she knew well: "Why didn't you see Concubine Yu and the third lady?"

About 15 or so female officials are widows, who were originally refugees, and have been serving Han's side all the time. Originally, Han also planned to find a man for her to remarry.But living with Han's side is comfortable, and her children are all in their teens and have entered the military academy to board Zhushu, so she simply forgot about remarrying and stayed in the palace wholeheartedly.In fact, in today's Forbidden Palace, there are generally two types of palace people. One is young palace ladies, who are usually selected into the palace at the age of 20, and released from the palace at the age of 30 after five years in the palace. For five years, they are also paid, and they will be taught some skills when they are in the palace.For many peasant girls, if they can stay in the palace for five years, their value will increase greatly after they come out, and they can often find a good family to marry.The other type of palace people are mostly women over 50 years old. Most of them are widows, and most of them are people of good background, good looks, and can read and write. They voluntarily enter the palace as female officials, just like palace ladies. Not only a salary, but also exemption from some taxation at home.Generally, women who enter the palace are seldom willing to leave after working for only a few years. For them, after they reach the age of [-], the palace will send them to a newly built nursing home in the suburbs of Beijing.

This female official is no stranger to Gongsun Lan. She knows that she is not only King Qin's concubine, but also the intelligence officer of King Qin, so she has an important position.So he explained with a smile: "Maybe it's cold. Concubine Yu and the third lady are not feeling well recently. They haven't been here for a long time. The old concubine is considerate of them, so she doesn't ask them to say hello sooner or later, just let them Rest in peace."

"What's the discomfort?" Gongsun Lan asked, "What's the discomfort? You should ask the little doctor to come over as soon as possible so that you can prescribe a prescription and take a few doses of medicine seriously."

That female official is also very smart, in fact, no one in the palace now knows what is wrong with Concubine Yu and Mrs. Wang, it's all a heart disease.Previously, the eldest princess had no legitimate son, the third wife gave birth to the eldest son, and concubine Yu gave birth to the eldest son.As a result, the power of their natal families is not small, and as a result, the two sides began to fight openly and covertly, and fought over the law.It was okay at first, but then it got worse and worse.Unexpectedly, King Qin, who had been holding back his silence all this time, made a sudden move. Mrs. Wang's uncle and several cousins ​​were all imprisoned for smuggling and other crimes, and several families allied with the Wang family were also beaten.On the other hand, the Yu family was also hit. The Tianping Town controlled by Concubine Yu's father was merged into Shandong Province, Yu's father was transferred to Andong, and Yu Cong, who was originally in the Zhengshitang, was also transferred from Yanjing. , several families allied with the Yu family were warned.

Of course, this was not the biggest blow. The biggest blow was that the princess Wang Guiniang, who was already close to becoming a monk, suddenly gave birth to a son, and gave birth to two sons at once.

Both the Yu family and the Wang family were greatly threatened, because it is said that the two children look very much like Li Jing, and they are very popular with the old lady.The two families began to regard Wang Guiniang and her two children as a threat, and acted secretly. After all, in their view, Wang Guiniang had no natal power, and it was easiest to fight their mother and son first.

Soon, a rumor began to circulate in the Yanjing market that the twins were unknown.He vaguely pointed directly at Wang Guiniang and her two sons.But what no one expected was that as soon as the rumors spread this time, Li Jing acted immediately.And the action was extremely fast, he didn't go after who spread the rumors, and he didn't find any evidence, although Li Jing, who has a powerful supervisory office, probably already had these evidences.Li Jing's counterattack was quick and fierce, and he directly issued a series of transfer orders.

These transfer orders were directed at the two families of Yu and Wang, and as many as 100 officials of the two families were transferred from important positions and places, especially in the provincial cabinet, court, department, etc. In important ministries, almost all the members of the two families have been demoted. Although they were transferred to other places to take up other positions, their grades have not been lowered, but from the central government to the local government, this is obviously demotion.This is also a naked warning, and it is Li Jing's anger.

Li Jing didn't explain why he did this, but both families understood where the anger came from.

The rumors disappeared quickly, and the two families did not have any complaints. They knew that they had crossed the line this time.

Even from this day, Li Jing has not stepped into the palace of the little princess and the Wang family for a long time.It's been a long, long time, part of it is a warning, part of it is because of being busy.Li Jing was too busy before his personal expedition to Bohai Sea, but he has been there for nearly two years since his expedition, and after returning, he has been busy every day.Both Yu and Wang are waiting for Li Jing's favor, waiting for Li Jing to step into their palace again, who knows that Li Jing has been back for several months, but they have not been to their place once, which makes the two of them "Sick" all of a sudden.

"Don't mention taking medicine. Recently, the Little Doctor Fairy has come to the palace almost every now and then, but just relying on female Bodhisattvas and goddesses like Little Doctor Fairy doesn't seem to have any effect."

Gongsun Lan smiled, it seemed that Li Jing was going to impress the two of them this time.But according to her understanding of Li Jing, she also knew that at most Li Jing was deliberately ignoring the two of them, and it was absolutely possible that she was really too heartless.In any case, regardless of the relationship between husband and wife, the two great Yu Wang families are very powerful. Even today's Qin Wang Li Jing cannot ignore the influence of these two top clans.But Li Jing will not let them go too much, otherwise, they will be overconfident in their own strength and do something that they regret.

The two were still talking, but they saw that Li Jing had come out from the inside, and asked, "Why are you here, is there something urgent?"

"The guests from Tianjin have arrived!" Gongsun Lan hurriedly replied.

Li Jing nodded, "It's almost time, let's go, let's go meet."

At this time, Mother Han also came out and shouted from behind: "Sanlang, stop, I have something for you."

After speaking, she beckoned the female officer to go over, and after a while, the female officer brought some things, but they were several boxes, and when she opened them, there were twelve blooming peonies of different colors in each box.

Han said: "This is cultivated in the greenhouse in the garden. There are such fresh flowers in the twelfth lunar month. It is really a rare thing. Guiniang, Wan'er and Yulou each gave twelve branches to each other. Here are some more , you take it back and divide it up, just give the aunt a box. In addition, Megan and Julie, who are away from home in the barracks all day long, you also take it there. There are also Yunniang and the eldest princess outside. Send a box over."

Li Jing took a look, the mother mentioned five women, but there are seven boxes here.

Sure enough, after a pause, Li's mother took Li Jing's hand and said softly: "Young Niang and Wanjun's place, you also go there, and send them there in person. After you go out and come back, it will take almost two years. It’s like saying something if you haven’t entered their door. No matter what happens, it’s almost fine, if you don’t look at anything else, you still have to look at the sons they gave birth to you.”

Mrs. Han patted Li Jing's hand, "As for the other rooms, you don't have to worry about it. I'll ask someone to deliver a box to each of them later."

Li Jing nodded, although Li Jing married so many wives and concubines, and most of them were married on his own initiative, without Han's consent.However, Mother Li treats these daughters-in-law as equals, neither giving more importance to those who are of noble origin, nor despising those who are of ordinary origin.She saw her son's indifference towards Wang and Fang, and she knew the reason.But as a mother, she also advised Li Jing to accept her as soon as she got married, otherwise, if the couple broke their hearts, they would lose their identity.

"My child knows, I didn't mean to be cold, but I'm really busy recently, so I'll send it to them myself in a while."

Leaving the Palace of Compassion, Li Jing didn't really send flowers, he called the guards, "Send these flowers to some wives!" The guards took them, asked which wives they wanted to send, and left.Li Jing turned to Gongsun and said, "Let's go, let's see Yang Fuguang."

Several guards took a box each and sent them to Wang Wanjun. After asking about it, the female officer at the palace gate quickly came in with the box and said with a smile: "Madam, the king sent someone to send flowers to Madam!"

Wang Wanjun is lying on the bed and has lost a lot of weight. It has been more than two months since Li Jing returned to Beijing, but she has not stepped into her palace so far. Her father wrote several times, saying that she was dismissed from the Minister of War and Participating in political affairs, even though he became the governor of a province in the local area, but this governor is too leisurely, which is very different from when he was in Beijing.Moreover, my uncle Wang Gai and several cousins ​​are still locked up. I heard that after the new year, they will be demoted to Bohai Frontier.Her father asked her to find a way to regain Qin Wang's favor, but this favor is not so easy to invite.Before, I didn't feel it.Now being deliberately left out, even the warmth and warmth of the people in the palace can be felt immediately.Regret, self-blame, self-sigh, and self-pity made this smart woman get into a dead end, and became depressed all day long.

Hearing that Li Jing had sent flowers, her originally gloomy eyes suddenly lit up, she lifted the quilt from the bed and got up, "What flowers, bring them to me quickly." She reached out to take them, Opening the box, I saw that it was not an ordinary palace flower made of yarn, but a fresh hibiscus flower, and they were all precious species, so I couldn't help but smile on my face on the spot.

Wang Wanjun walked to the vanity mirror and sat down, asked the palace servants to do her makeup, and then put flowers on her hair.

"Is this flower just for me, or for everyone else?"

The female official replied: "This flower was given by the old concubine, and all the ladies have it. The big concubine, Mrs. Xiao and Mrs. Jin are all in the Palace of Compassion, so I gave them directly. The old concubine gave the king seven boxes, so that He gave it to Mrs. Gongsun, Mrs. Liu and Princess Donghai, as well as the two female generals of the navy, and then to his wife and the little princess. The other wives, the old princess sent someone to send gone."

The smile of Wang Wanjun who was in high spirits disappeared all of a sudden, and he looked at the flower in his hand with some disappointment, thinking that it was given to her by King Qin, but unexpectedly, everyone had a share.

"What is Your Majesty busy with, why don't you come here for a while?"

"I heard that some kind of guest came from Tianjin, so I was in a hurry to meet the guest. As for who came from Tianjin, I don't know."

Luwu, Wang Wanjun's female officer, looked anxiously at the side, "Ma'am, you are such a smart person, why did you suddenly become confused. In this case, it is normal for the king to be angry. But You can’t just sit there all the time, you have to take the initiative.”

"initiative?"

"Ma'am, you are a fan of the authorities, and if you care about it, you will be in chaos. Who is King Qin, he is a hero that the world looks up to. We have to bow our heads first. Now that the king has returned to Beijing, it seems that the New Year is coming. No matter what, we have to give this knot to him." Solution. Since His Majesty refuses to come here on his own initiative, regardless of whether he is really busy or pretending to be busy, we will always be free. If His Majesty does not come, can't Madam go to see His Majesty in person? Could it be that Madam has gone, Majesty It won’t work to push you out of the door. Besides, Madam doesn’t have to go in person, the king will come too.”

"Oh, Luwu, what's your plan?"

"If madam can't let go of her face, you can actually ask the king of the county and the two princes and the little princess to invite her." Lu Wu has been with Wang Wanjun for many years, and she is considered smart. Seeing his wife haggard day by day, she can't help being anxious. Finally came up with a good idea.

Wang Wanjun's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help being a little bit happy.Indeed, maybe King Qin is still angry with her, but it is absolutely impossible for him to be angry with the child.Especially the eldest son, Dezhao, who was praised by many scholars as an excellent prince. If he brought his younger siblings to invite his father to see his sick mother and reunite with the family, he would not refuse.

Thinking of this, she nodded quickly, "Go and see if Dezhao and the others are out of school, and pick them up!"

"Hongqin, help me take a bath and change my clothes!" (To be continued.)