Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 487 Entering the Palace
There is no empress dowager in the palace of the Song Dynasty, and there are only two princes. The current empress of Song Dynasty is gentle, generous, virtuous and kind. Even if Mrs. Huarui entered the palace last year, His Majesty’s favor and trust for her is not as good as before, but the relationship in the palace is simpler than that of previous dynasties. Much more, the overall atmosphere has been very solemn.In particular, although Mrs. Huarui is favored and possesses the art of charm, Zhao Kuangyin's favor has a certain influence on Zhao Kuangyin, but Zhao Kuangyin, as the founding emperor, has a firm will, but he is not an ordinary emperor. After spending time with the current Empress Song, Mrs. Huarui tried several times, and after confirming this point, her thoughts on this aspect also faded away, and she only wanted to serve Zhao Kuangyin comfortably, so that the emperor would favor her even more, and it was better to be fascinated by herself Be fascinated, and then one day be able to make great efforts for the leader.

In today's imperial palace, apart from the Son of Heaven, the woman with the most powerful voice is naturally Empress Song, and then Mrs. Huarui.

In addition, although His Majesty has not established a crown prince or crown prince, there are rumors that the queen mother left a will to let Zhao Kuangyin pass the throne to his younger brother Zhao Guangyi, but after all, it is just a rumor, not to mention that even if it is true, the so-called queen mother's will is for the emperor. How much binding force can the most unique 'creature' have.Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the prince who is most likely to take over the country of Song in the future is naturally the little prince Zhao Defang.

Although the little prince is still young, only a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy, the only elder brother who can threaten his status, Wei Wang Zhao Dezhao, although he has the heart of spying on the throne, but the Maitreya Sect half a year ago. The emperor's unbearable performance during the assassination has completely kicked him out of the emperor's heart. Even Zhao Pu, the original supporter of the prime minister, has gradually become estranged from Zhao Dezhao recently.

In short, at least for now, the path of the little prince Zhao Defang is bright.The support behind him is Ye Chen, who can be called the number one official in the Song Dynasty. It can be said that he is the most practical, and the trajectory of the entire Song Kingdom to unify the world in the future is clear and full of confidence, so the atmosphere in the palace has recently been at least on the surface. Fortunately, the depression caused by the assassination of the emperor half a year ago and the eunuchs and maids' purge gradually became more relaxed, and everyone's spirits and spirits seemed to show a sense of striving for progress.

Ye Chen took his time along the way.It was close to noon when entering the imperial city, and after entering the deep palace, it was already lunch time.

At this moment, he was sitting in the Chongzheng Hall, touching his softly beating stomach, and couldn't help frowning, thinking that he should have eaten at the gate of the imperial city before entering the palace.

This is just a very wonderful idea. He has the heavy responsibility of the emperor. Since he has already returned to Beijing, he did not enter the palace immediately yesterday afternoon.When he was secretly annoyed, he suddenly saw two young eunuchs walking into the Chongzheng Hall with a food box.

At this time, His Majesty does not know where to have lunch in the palace.Even if the inner court reported to him that Ye Chen had entered the palace, it would not be able to catch up at this moment.Ye Chen stared blankly at the food in the food box, smiled, and said, "It seems that Your Majesty knows that I haven't eaten lunch?"

Today, the chief eunuch who stayed outside Chongzheng Hall on duty is also Ye Chen who has been suspecting that it may be the most hidden son of the holy hall or Zhao Guangyi in the palace, Wang Jien, the chief eunuch in the palace.

Wang Jien had dealt with Ye Chen when he was in Jinyang.No matter how the two of them viewed each other in the deepest part of their hearts, at least they were acquaintances on the surface.At this time, Wang Jien looked at Ye Chen with a wide-eyed smile.Said: "The chief envoy is anxious about state affairs, and he must have missed the meal, so he picked up some snacks and mats first. Your Majesty is eating in the harem at this time, and he just wants to reward you with a bowl of palace food, but I'm afraid it will be too late."

Ye Chen was also polite, and started to attack the things in the food box.As a courtier, when His Majesty the Emperor was not around, he had already sat in the Chongzheng Hall, which was the crime of beheading.It is even more disrespectful to have a meal in the Chongzheng Hall without an invitation.It's just that he got the special order a long time ago, so he sits securely and eats with ease.

Wang Jien smiled at the side, the enthusiasm on his face was just right, but he thought, Ye Chen is not an ordinary courtier after all!It is easy to drive a wedge between Ye Chen and the Son of Heaven, and make the Son of Heaven feel a little suspicious of him, but it may not be so easy for the Son of Heaven not to trust Ye Chen.

Ye Chen put down his chopsticks and had a gentle talk with Wang Jien, then slowly turned his gaze to the back of him, looked at the young eunuch who became more and more calm, and said calmly: "I heard that my wife is in the palace. You were in charge of food and daily life when I was in bed, but someone actually spread the news of my suspended animation to my wife's ears, which made her conceived gas, and almost caused a catastrophe. Why don't you explain this to me? "

Xin Shi's face was full of respect, but his expression was a little panicked. In the depths of his eyes, there was just the right trace of anger that Wang Jien could just detect next to him. Well, all the duties are arranged by His Majesty and the nobles in the palace. The merits and demerits are right or wrong. , this slave just happened to be called by His Majesty to ask about something. So, this slave please forgive me, Lord Chief Envoy."

"Remember to serve His Majesty with more heart in the future." Ye Chen said something indifferent, and then stopped.

Wang Jien saw that Ye Chen was not in a good mood, so he flattered him casually, and led Xin Shi away from the Chongzheng Hall. As he walked on the road, he thought in his heart that this little Eunuch Xin, who is highly valued by His Majesty, accidentally offended him. Ye Chen, Ye Chen doesn't see eye to eye, it seems that we should get close to this little Mr. Xin on weekdays, support him a lot, and find a way to develop him into his own person.

Wang Jien didn't notice at all, when he left the Chongzheng Hall, Ye Chen and Xin Shi looked at each other, and then nodded lightly, not easily noticed.

The Chongzheng Palace was quiet, and Ye Chen silently sorted out the thoughts in his head. After all, Xin Shi's qualifications were too low. We need someone who can get out of the imperial palace and the imperial city at a critical moment and send the news out.Wang Jien is No.1 in the inner court, and just now he took advantage of the chance that he and Xin Shi were together to act in a play. If Wang Jien was really from the temple or Zhao Guangyi, then most likely he would get close to Xin Shi and even support him with all his strength.in this matter.Ye Chen also made many detours, giving Xin Shi some strength.

Just thinking like this, there was a rush of footsteps outside the Chongzheng Hall. Ye Chen had already remembered Zhao Kuangyin's footsteps in his heart, and could easily tell that it was Zhao Kuangyin who had come.

Ye Chen quickly retracted his stretched arms and stood up to meet His Majesty.

The door of Chongzheng Hall was pushed open.His Majesty Zhao Kuangyin, the Emperor of Song, who was dressed in bright yellow, strode in, his slightly thin cheeks were calm.Only the white hair in the temples reveals his true age and the mind that has been consumed too much in these years.

All the eunuchs serving did not get started.Wang Jien very cleverly closed the door of the Chongzheng Hall in the rear, and only the emperor and Ye Chen were left in the entire Chongzheng Hall.

The two monarchs and ministers met each other, and Ye Chen was given a new seat. He thanked him and sat down, and then expressed his gratitude to the emperor for taking care of Han Ke'er and his family in a very sincere tone as a courtier.

The emperor just nodded slightly, and didn't mention this trivial and extremely annoying matter in his opinion.After the news of Ye Chen's death came, he sent people to bring Han Ke'er close to the palace. He was worried about the problem of Ye Chen's only blood, but he almost had a problem because of his low eyelids. This incident made him extremely annoyed. The emperor was angry, blood flowed like a river, and more than 30 eunuchs and maids died in the palace because of this, but anyway, this incident made him feel very shameless in front of Ye Chen and lost the dignity of the emperor, so it is not much at this time Say what.

After the matter was finished, Zhao Kuangyin sat down on the soft couch comfortably, rubbing his knees with his hands.His eyes looked at Ye Chen.Suddenly he laughed.

Ye Chen was confused by this string of laughter, and stood there awkwardly.

Zhao Kuangyin chuckled lightly again, and said, "Ye Chen, you are indeed a lucky star sent by the heavens to assist me in unifying the world and establishing unworldly feats. I didn't misjudge you when I was in Jinyang."

Ye Chen casually said a few words of modesty, and took out the melody box that had been prepared by his side.Put it on the low table in the soft couch.

Zhao Kuangyin opened the box and looked at it seriously.There are two secret volumes in this box, the upper one is the territory map of the former Wuyue Kingdom and the detailed situation of the population and financial distribution.The dense scroll below is Ye Chen's biggest gain in Southern Tang - a list.

After Zhao Kuangyin read the first secret scroll, he slowly put down the scroll in his hand. Instead of rushing to read the second one, he stood up, walked to a wall of the Chongzheng Hall, and opened the scroll hanging on the wall. curtain.

Under the curtain is a large map of the whole world, on which the roads and states are clearly described, and even the coastlines in the east and south are drawn in great detail.The prototype of this map was hand-painted by Ye Chen last summer. The map not only includes the territory of the Song Kingdom, but also includes the territory of the Southern Tang, Khitan, Dali and the previous Wuyue Kingdom around the Song Kingdom.

Ye Chen had seen this map before when discussing matters in Chongzheng Hall.I know the emperor and ministers of the Song Dynasty, especially the emperor in front of me, has great enthusiasm for Tuo Bian.

Zhao Kuangyin moved his palm steadily on the map, although the light in Chongzheng Hall was bright.But after all, it is not a shadowless lamp in the operating room.Wherever his palm moved on the map, there would be darkness, like a black arrow, containing countless authority, representing hundreds of thousands of troops, full of killing intent.

(End of this chapter)