Quick Wear: I and the Female Match Share the Battle Shirt

A long palace road extended to the palace gate in the distance. After passing the palace gate next to the Qinming Hall, Lu Changqing should have turned left and entered the Ruisi Gate, but he saw a woman in a green cross-collared and wide-sleeved dress being surrounded by people and walking towards this side on the palace road of the Kunning Hall not far away.

Zhang Maze saw Lu Changqing stop and looked to the right along her line of sight. After seeing the woman's face clearly, he hurried over with Lu Changqing to pay his respects.

"Your Majesty, I have seen you."

The only person who can be called "Niangniang" in this palace is the Empress Dowager or the Queen.

Then Lu Changqing followed Zhang Maozhe's example and bowed to Cao Danshu, "Your Highness, I, Bai Fuying, greet you."

Cao Danshu showed surprise on her face, and she reached out to help Lu Changqing up. "I heard the emperor talk about you a long time ago. He praised you for your wisdom and intelligence. Now I see that the emperor said it was not enough, and we should add the words 'both civil and military' to it."

Lu Changqing looked up at Empress Cao and smiled shyly, "Your Majesty, thank you for your compliment."

If we use one word to describe Empress Cao at this time, the most appropriate one is "as gentle as a chrysanthemum."

She is dignified and polite, noble but not arrogant.

Maybe it's just her indifferent personality, so she is indifferent to everything.

Zhao Zhen didn't like her, but she didn't complain or feel resentful. She just did her best to be a "good queen" in the eyes of the world.

Tuotuo, a vassal of the late Yuan Dynasty, once commented on Empress Cao: "She was kind and frugal, valued farming, often planted grains and raised silkworms in the imperial garden, and was good at writing on silk."

Yes, you read that right, a queen worked as a peasant in the palace.

Empress Cao had no biological children of her own, and her relationship with Zhao Zhen's surviving daughters was also very average, as well as her relationship with Zhao Zongshi, who she had raised for several years.

As for the historical Queen Cao, Lu Changqing felt that she was a "queen", a person who was detached from the secular world and only focused on herself.

But after Zhao Zhen's death, Empress Cao, who became the empress dowager, finally regained a bit of "popularity" and finally had desire.

After Zhao Zongshi succeeded to the throne, he was in poor health and unable to handle state affairs, so Empress Dowager Cao ruled the country from behind the curtain.

After experiencing the joy of power, Empress Dowager Cao no longer wanted to return power, but the censors led by Han Qi repeatedly petitioned her to do so. Finally, Han Qi threatened to resign, and Empress Dowager Cao decided to withdraw her power.

You see, power is really a good thing. Even the most indifferent to fame and fortune, once a person has it, he will be reluctant to let it go.

Cao Danshu knew that Zhao Zhen was very averse to the harem interfering in politics, especially her, so after saying hello to Lu Changqing, she asked Zhang Maze to lead Lu Changqing to leave.

Cao Danshu has always known that Zhao Zhen doesn't like her. When she married into the royal family, her family owed a lot of foreign debts in order to afford the dowry standards required by the royal family. So many years have passed and it still hasn't been paid off. As for Zhao Zhen, he pretended not to know about this.

But it was obvious that he only needed to take out less than one percent of the money from his private treasury to help her family pay off the debt, but Zhao Zhen just didn't want to.

Cao Danshu recognized this reality very early on, so she never counted on that man.

Her job was to be a good queen and make sure Zhao Zhen couldn't find any fault with her.

Lu Changqing turned his head and looked in the direction of Kunning Palace, but there was no one there.

"Zhang Goudang, you have been in the palace for many years. Do you know what kind of person the queen is?"

Zhang Maoze was Zhao Zhen's confidant. He knew that Zhao Zhen would favor Lu Changqing, so he kindly reminded him, "Yaban, the emperor doesn't like the harem interfering in government affairs."

Lu Changqing lowered his eyes. Has he become disgusted to this extent?

Later, when Concubine Zhang promoted Wen Yanbo, Zhao Zhen didn't say a word. He asked her father for an official position, and Zhao Zhen went to do it. However, he was spit in the face by Bao Zheng, so he gave up.

She just asked about the Queen's personality, and she thought she wanted to have private dealings with her.

It is really easy to tell whether a man loves or not.

Lu Changqing said apologetically, "I didn't think about it enough. Thank you Zhang Goudang for reminding me."

What is coming will eventually come. Lu Changqing entered the Purple Palace under the gaze of hundreds of officials.

After the ceremony, Lu Changqing stood there and looked at Zhao Zhen at the top of the hall, waiting for him to speak.

Zhao Zhen commended Lu Changqing. In addition to rewarding him with some money and property, he also promoted Lu Changqing from the position of Zhang to Si, and from the fifth rank to the fourth rank.

Is this over?

Lu Changqing looked at Zhao Zhen in astonishment. What did he mean? The battle in the northwest hadn't been over yet? The Liao Kingdom in the north was also eyeing them covetously. Did they want her to stay in the palace again?

"Your Majesty, Li Yuanhao is ambitious. He failed to capture Yanzhou this time, and he will surely come back one day. Minister Fan is too old to travel around, so I dare to ask your Majesty to appoint me as the pacification envoy of the four routes in Shaanxi, commanding the military forces of Qinfeng Road, Jingyuan Road, Huanqing Road, and Fuyan Road."

The air was eerily quiet, and then a man's voice was heard.

"Bai Yaban, as a concubine, you are not allowed to leave the inner court according to the rules. The reason you are here now is because you have made contributions in fighting against the Xia soldiers. Now that you have resumed your status as a concubine, you should stay in the inner court and share the emperor's worries, instead of making such an impolite request to His Majesty and making him embarrassed."

Lu Changqing looked at the purple-robed man who was speaking and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Han Qi."

One of the protagonists in the Battle of Haoshuichuan, to be fair, Han Qi was a man of strategy and decision-making, but he met a bad teammate named Ren Fu. He repeatedly told Ren Fu to march in the direction he gave, but Ren Fu did not listen and was killed in the battle. The Song army was defeated miserably in Haoshuichuan.

"If I don't have the ability, I naturally won't make such a request to the government, but I have the ability to march and fight, so why can't I make such a request?"

Lu Changqing knew that the other party was going to use the argument that you are a woman to stop her, so she didn't wait for the other party to speak and said directly: "You are a minister of the Song Dynasty, and I am also a minister of the Song Dynasty. Our duty is to share the worries of the emperor. Now the emperor is worried about the northwest border. I stand up and ask to lead the troops to guard Shaanxi. What's wrong? How am I not doing my duty?"

Han Qi did not want to listen to Lu Changqing's sophistry, so he asked Zhao Zhen for permission: "Your Majesty, the four routes of Shaanxi are important military bases of our dynasty and are of great significance to our dynasty. I think it would be better to let Minister Xia take the post of pacification envoy of the four routes of Shaanxi..."

Lu Changqing didn't listen to what was said next. It seemed that history had returned to the starting point.

Although Lu Changqing made great contributions this time, Zhao Zhen finally gave in after repeated requests from court officials and never thought of letting Lu Changqing leave the palace again.

Because of Lu Changqing's previous complaint, the court sent people to verify it. After that, Fan Yong was transferred to Anzhou, and Lu Shouqin was dismissed from office and demoted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He returned to the palace to serve as a eunuch.

The only change is that generals such as Liu Ping and Guo Zun are not dead, and Jinmingzhai is still there.

This time Li Yuanhao suffered a loss in Jinmingzhai. Given his character, he should have changed his offensive strategy. Coincidentally, Haoshuichuan was not on Fuyan Road where Yanzhou was located, but on Jingyuan Road where Weizhou was located.

Perhaps to compensate Lu Changqing, Zhao Zhen gave her a leave to visit her family.

When Lu Changqing returned to the Bai Mansion, the mansion was eerily quiet.

Lin Wenqing told Lu Changqing that not long ago Bai Xingke left home after leaving a letter.

Lu Changqing went to visit the sick Du Hezhi. Bai Lingyi had returned from the Earl's Mansion and was serving her at her bedside.

"The fourth sister is back."

Lu Changqing nodded at her and called her "Second Sister".

"Is the mistress feeling better?"

Bai Lingyi covered her mouth with a handkerchief with red eyes, choking with sobs, "It's been going on for half a month, and it hasn't gotten better at all. The doctor said it was because I was too worried."

"Have you written to Dad? What did he say?"

Bai Lingyi nodded, "I have been there, but Dad scolded Mom and Third Sister in his reply letter, saying that Third Sister disregarded the family reputation and that he did not want a daughter like Third Sister."

"Dad, didn't he send anyone back to take a look?"

Bai Lingyi shook his head. "You know my father. In his eyes, his future and the honor of his family are more important than anything else."