The concubine is poisonous

Chapter 196 Zhou Changsheng?
Ying Shui'er looked at Ye Junyan who was playing happily in the yard, all kinds of entanglement and melancholy came to his heart.

"Maybe I should return you to the people of the world, but alas!" Ying Shui'er accidentally pricked his hand with a needle, and couldn't help but breathe out softly. Ye Junyan, who was playing in the yard, heard Ying Shui'er With a sound of exclamation, he ran out to ask Ying Shui'er what happened.

Ying Shui'er shook his head with a smile and said: "It's okay, the clothes have been sewn up, the emperor put them on to see if they fit."

"Well, good." Seeing that nothing happened to Ying Shui'er, Ye Junyan agreed happily, then took the leather jacket and tried it on.

"Sister Shui'er, look." After Ye Junyan was dressed, he jumped up and down, pacing back and forth in the room, and kept yelling to show Ying Shui'er his new clothes.

Obviously smiling and nodding, "Well, not bad, it fits pretty well."

After hearing what Ying Shui'er said was appropriate, Ye Junyan immediately jumped up and down and ran back to the yard to play.

Zhaoxuan State, the capital.

Bianfeng Kuaima sent a secret letter to Du Wangshan. After Du Wangshan received the secret letter and saw the contents, he froze for a moment and ordered someone to prepare a sedan chair. Then he entered the palace with the secret letter. Go straight to Qinzheng Hall.

Today's Qinzheng Palace Ye Junyan is not there, only Gu Xinning is alone, although it is said that there are eunuchs and maids to accompany her, but after all, they are in two moods.

Due to the absence of Ye Junyan, Du Wangshan was responsible for the previous major government affairs. Since Gu Xinning came back, Du Wangshan has handed over the power to Gu Xinning, because Du Wangshan has gradually discovered that as a queen, she has a heroic spirit that is not inferior to that of a man. and sanity.

However, all of this was done in secret. On the surface, Du Wangshan still had to preside over the memorial and discussion, but in private, Du Wangshan left everything to Gu Xinning to decide. Fortunately, the Empress Dowager and Ran Yunmo have been placed under house arrest. , Otherwise, these two people will probably jump out to trouble Gu Xinning, saying that the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics, and that Gu Xinning wants to use her own selfishness to disrupt the government.

So now, Gu Xinning is sitting where Ye Junyan was reviewing the memorials, and helping Ye Junyan sort out the memorials and documents that have been going on for many days. He doesn't want Ye Junyan to see a mess when he comes back.

"Qi report to the empress, Lord Du Wangshan said that he has something urgent to see the empress, and he is already waiting outside the hall." Gu Xinning was bowing her head and reminiscing about everything that happened when Ye Junyan was there, when she suddenly heard the report from the eunuch outside the door, Gu Xinning looked After looking at the sky, it was almost noon, and he immediately knew that something must have happened, otherwise Du Wangshan would not be so impatient about ordinary trivial matters, so he picked this time to come.

So Gu Xinning frowned and said, "Master Du, please come in."

"Yes!" Gu Xinning murmured to herself after seeing that he was about to obey orders and turn around to leave, "What will happen at this time? Could it be that the emperor finally has news? If this is the case, it would be great."

Soon Du Wangshan said that he could lead them in and walked in. Seeing that Du Wangshan was about to kowtow and salute, Gu Xinning hurriedly said: "There is no outsider here, Mr. Du, don't be too polite, is there any news from the emperor?"

"No, it's another matter, about Zhou Changsheng." Du Wangshan shook his head awkwardly and said.

"Zhou Changsheng? Master Du, you didn't try your best to find the emperor, and you came here suddenly in such a hurry, just to tell me about a person whose name I have never even heard of?" Gu Xinning, after hearing Du Wangshan's words, couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but also a little anxious. Said with some surprise and dissatisfaction.

Du Wangshan hurriedly clasped his fists and said respectfully: "I would like to report to the empress, this week Changsheng is actually somewhat related to you, the empress."

"Oh? Ben Gong also has the ability to remember with a photograph, but I really have no impression of Zhou Changsheng that Mr. Du mentioned." Gu Xinning frowned and shook her head.

Du Wangshan clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, do you still remember Zhou Xuemei who conspired with Fu Ya, another beautiful woman in Yuqing Palace, to poison your empress when you just entered the palace and you were still a beautiful girl?"

"Zhou Xuemei?" Hearing Zhou Xuemei's name, Gu Xinning's heart skipped a beat, and her eyebrows frowned.

Even if Gu Xinning had no photographic memory, it was impossible for Gu Xinning to forget the three words 'Zhou Xuemei'. The viciousness of this person can be said to be no less than that of herself at the time, but her skills and brains were a bit weaker. But at that time, because Zhou Xuemei's poisoning and harming people were exposed, she was hanged by the emperor and executed.

Gu Xinning began to recall things related to Zhou Xuemei in her heart, and while thinking about it, she thought to herself: "Now, Du Wangshan suddenly mentions this person again, could it be this Zhou Changsheng, what does it have to do with Zhou Xuemei? Although they are all surnamed Zhou, but I I remember that I asked Nian Se to find out that Zhou Yu'an had only one daughter, Zhou Xuemei, and had no other children."

Gu Xinning thought about it and gradually lost his mind. Du Wangshan bowed his head and waited respectfully for a long time, but when Gu Xinning did not speak, he couldn't help but look up at Gu Xinning, and found that Gu Xinning's eyes were clouded, as if he was wandering away.So he coughed twice and said, "Ahem, empress, have you ever thought of this person?"

Hearing Du Wangshan's words, Gu Xinning withdrew her thoughts, turned her head and said, "Of course, I'm afraid no matter who it is, I don't think anyone will forget the person who almost took his life. It's just that this person has been hanged by the emperor. Is it? Master Du why did you mention this."

Du Wangshan nodded and said: "That's right, Zhou Xuemei was executed, and Zhou Yu'an was still in prison, but your majesty still remembers that the emperor didn't kill them all because he remembered that Zhou Yu'an had worked for the court for many years, but only sent out the Zhou family members. Go to the frontier to serve."

Gu Xinning nodded and replied, "Remember, could this Zhou Changsheng be one of them?"

Du Wangshan immediately nodded and said, "Yes, Zhou Changsheng is the son of Zhou Yu'an's elder brother, that is, Zhou Yu'an's nephew. Zhou Changsheng lost his father when he was young, and his mother also died when he was a teenager. Before his mother died, he entrusted Zhou Changsheng to Zhou Yu'an's care. I hope that Zhou Yu'an can raise him up, and Zhou Changsheng has been living in Zhou Yu'an's house since then. Because he was implicated in Zhou Xuemei's poisoning case, he was sent to serve in the frontier, and he will never be allowed to return to the capital."

After hearing Du Wangshan's words, Gu Xinning immediately understood the relationship between Zhou Changsheng and Zhou Yu'an, but he still didn't understand how this Zhou Changsheng could make a seasoned counselor like Du Wangshan so nervous and concerned.

Looking at Gu Xinning's frown, Du Wangshan seemed to see the doubts in Gu Xinning's heart, so he bowed and said, "However, Zhou Changsheng didn't feel grateful for the emperor's life. He only thought that the royal family was sorry for their Zhou family. In the frontier, rumors were spread many times to confuse people's hearts, and what's more, this Zhou Changsheng suddenly disappeared three months ago."

Hearing this, Gu Xinning frowned again, interrupted Du Wangshan and asked, "3 months ago? A serviceman assigned to the frontier suddenly disappeared, and no one reported it to the imperial court and the Yamen? Who is responsible for this matter?" of? It must be pursued."

"Back to the empress, three months ago, the relationship between Zhaoxuan Kingdom and southern Xinjiang was almost at a time when fire and water were incompatible. The life and death of the two countries were not on the verge of breaking out, and small countries on the border continued to come to harass and cause trouble, so at that time The frontier generals mistakenly thought that Zhou Changsheng had died in the flames of war. At that time, the court was in troubled times. The border guards thought that such a trivial matter was unnecessary to disturb the court, so they didn't take it to heart and did not report it. Although the guard at the border gate is responsible for negligence of duty, it can be considered excusable, and I hope the empress will forgive me." Du Wangshan explained.

After listening to Du Wangshan's words, Gu Xinning's anger finally subsided, but she was still puzzled and said, "Forget it, I won't pursue this matter for now, but since it was not reported at that time, what's the point of reporting it now? Is this Zhou Changsheng appeared again?"

Du Wangshan sighed and nodded, "Oh, back to Empress, it's exactly. According to the spies sent by the border guards, Zhou Changsheng appeared in the army of Liuli Kingdom."

"What!" Gu Xinning's body shook when she heard the words, and she sat up straight suddenly. The expression on her face couldn't tell if it was anger, surprise, or inexplicable.

After contemplating for a while, Gu Xinning stood up slowly, pacing back and forth in the open space beside the table, with thousands of thoughts flashing through her mind.After a while, Gu Xinning opened her mouth and said to Du Wangshan: "That is to say, Zhou Changsheng must be inseparable from the sudden invasion of the Liuli Kingdom. It must be his instigation. If I had known today, I should have advised the emperor to execute the whole family of the Du family." Gu Xinning couldn't help but think of her father, and said bitterly.

It's no wonder that although Gu Xinning's mood at this moment is not as decisive and ruthless as when she first came back to take revenge, whenever she thinks of her father, who was raped and executed because of the crime of being framed, Gu Xinning's heart will rise endlessly. Sad and angry.Because Gu Xinning felt that the world was very unfair. My father was obviously a loyal and loyal person who defended his family and the country, but because of the framing by his cronies, I was going to be ransacked and beheaded.But what did Zhou Yu'an do at the court?Zhou Yu'an is just a mediocre person who does not seek meritorious deeds but seeks no faults. Zhou Xuemei was poisoned in the palace and killed her fellow party members, but she was only punished by being imprisoned forever and sent to the frontier with her family. The whole family, then who should seek to recover the 42 deaths of the entire Gu family?
Seeing the unwillingness in Gu Xinning's eyes, Du Wangshan seemed to have guessed Gu Xinning's thoughts and sighed, "Has the empress thought of General Gu Jingzhou again? General Gu's family was indeed wronged back then, causing a huge case of injustice, perhaps because of this In order not to kill too many innocent people, no matter how big or small the crime is, the current emperor usually only punishes the person involved heavily, and the rest of the family members try to reduce the punishment as much as possible."

But of course, it is only to reduce the punishment, not to not punish. The punishment should not be too harsh or too lenient, otherwise it will make people feel confident. No.That's why the subsequent implication system came into being. Based on the degree of crime, the whole family was punished for one crime.

(End of this chapter)