Marry the villain and the whole court kneels down and calls her the queen

"My dear, what a coincidence, we meet again."

Zhou Shian wanted to move forward, but Zhao Li blocked his way without giving an inch.

Zhou Shi'an wanted to push him away, but found that Zhao Li didn't seem afraid of hurting him. The horizontal sword turned into a vertical sword, successfully separating him and Jiang Jiu.

"Who are you to stand in my way?"

Zhou Shian angrily scolded Zhao Li and waved his hand, and the guards behind him rushed forward.

Zhao Li was very calm and composed, not in a hurry. He fought one by one and two by two. His movements were clean and neat, and it was obvious that he was a master.

Zhou Shian is a person who wants something more the more he can't get it.

Seeing how fierce Zhao Li was, he made up his mind.

"Kill him for me. If anything goes wrong, I will take care of it."

He planned to use human wave tactics to deal with Zhao Li.

At this moment, Zhao Zhuoxi and Zhao Zhuoran both jumped off the carriage.

Zhao Zhuoran's face was gloomy, and Zhao Zhuoxi's face was even uglier.

"How dare you! You think you can touch my people."

With a wave of his hand, Lu Ming, along with the palace guards, quickly killed all of Zhou's guards. He put his sword on Zhou Shi'an's neck, his eyes stern.

"Zhou Shian, you are so presumptuous..."

Just when Zhao Zhuoxi was about to kill Zhou Shian, suddenly, a deep voice called out to him.

"King Qi, how are you?"

Following the voice, I saw an old man in his fifties walking out of a sedan chair. He was dressed in crimson official attire and had a kind smile on his face.

"Grandfather."

Zhao Zhuoxi bowed to him politely.

It turned out that this person was Zhao Zhuoxi's maternal grandfather, Pei Yuan, the Grand Secretary of the imperial court.

Mr. Pei walked up to Zhao Zhuoxi with firm steps and stroked his beard.

"I heard you're weak and the weather is cold, so don't go out casually. Come on, I happen to be feeling well today, let's have a couple of drinks together to warm ourselves up."

Pei Yuan interrupted him, and Zhou Shian and his men quietly slipped away.

Zhao Zhuoran also got on the carriage and went back. Zhao Zhuoxi signaled Zhao Li to send Jiang Jiu back home.

Pei Yuan led him into a small alley before letting go of his hand.

"You have the same temperament as your mother, impulsive and incapable of tolerance."

A few years ago, Pei Yuan sent his daughter to the harem. Not long after, news of her pregnancy came out. Concubine Pei was beautiful and deeply loved by the late emperor. She was favored for almost the rest of her life.

After the death of the crown prince, Concubine Pei also died of illness. The people he cared about most left one after another, and the late emperor finally could not bear it and passed away.

Originally, the late emperor left a will, appointing the ninth prince Zhao Zhuoxi as emperor.

However, Zhou Shiang bribed the leader of the imperial guards and took the emperor's eldest son to force Zhao Zhuoxi to burn the will.

Later, Zhao Zhuoxi left the capital under Pei Yuan's escort.

Back then, the world was changing rapidly and life and death were unpredictable.

Although Zhao Zhuoxi finally escaped from the capital, he still felt resentful.

Pei Yuan was in a high position of power at the time. If he had stood on Zhao Zhuoxi's side, his throne would not have been in jeopardy.

However, Pei Yuan actually supported the eldest son to ascend the throne, on the grounds that Zhao Zhuoxi was too young to control the government.

Therefore, Zhao Zhuoxi was deeply scarred and did not feel close to his grandfather.

"Grandfather, if everything is alright, I will go back."

Just as Zhao Zhuoxi was about to get off the carriage, Pei Yuan grabbed his wrist.

"Today in the palace, the emperor wants to grant you a marriage. You are old and have been in Su City all the time. You don't know much about the capital. Do you have a girl you like in your heart? Grandpa can make the decision for you."

What’s going on today? One by one, two people come to propose to him.

"No need, Grandfather. I already have a favorite woman in my heart. She is not from the capital. Besides... my brother would definitely not like me making friends with officials from the capital."

Qin Yuan stroked his beard and looked at Zhao Zhuoxi deeply for a long time without saying a word.

Zhao Zhuoxi couldn't sit still and prepared to leave.

At this moment, Qin Yuan said quietly, "Back then, the court was plagued by internal and external troubles. Our Qin family had no military power and few descendants. Even if you ascended the throne, you might not be able to hold on to it. It would be better to conserve your energy and strike with one final strike."

Zhao Zhuoxi snorted coldly, "Now the court is full of people from the Zhou family, and my brother is also working hard to govern the country. The world is in turmoil. What virtue and ability do I have to make a breakthrough with just one blow?"

Qin Yuan sighed: "The Marquis of Zhenbei is going back to Beijing. He has a granddaughter..."

Qin Yuan actually wanted him to marry the Marquis of Zhenbei.

But Zhao Zhuoxi didn't listen to him at all: "I said, I already have a woman I like..."

After saying that, he jumped off the carriage and left without looking back.

Qin Yuan was left looking at his back worriedly and sighing deeply.

When he returned home, Jiang Jiu found that Zhao Zhuoxi was in a bad mood.

I heated up a pot of peach blossom wine and snuggled up with him on the soft couch.

"That old man, is he your grandfather?"

Zhao Zhuoxi nodded.

On the way back, Zhao Li had already told Jiang Jiu about Qin Yuan.

Qin Yuan was once the emperor's teacher, the prince's teacher, and a grand secretary. Half of the scholars in the court were his disciples.

In the court, the only one who can compete with the Zhou family is Qin Yuan.

But the Qin family is aloof and unwilling to follow the crowd. They have always regarded themselves as honest and stayed away from court disputes.

Jiang Jiu suddenly said, "Conserve your strength, wait for the opportunity, and strike with one strike."

Zhao Zhuoxi chuckled and pinched Jiang Jiu's face: "Why do you think so? He is old, who can he beat..."

Jiang Jiu raised his eyebrows. "Although I didn't experience the struggle for the throne back then, I've heard a lot about it over the years. The late emperor liked your mother, and you were smart, so he wanted you to be the emperor. But don't forget that you were only seven years old at the time..."

"Also, I heard that after the previous emperor's death, Beining in the north and Li in the south were both eyeing Daning covetously. You're only a seven-year-old child, and the only one you can rely on is the Qin family. You're truly powerless."

Zhao Zhuoxi knew very well how serious the situation was at that time, so he burned the late emperor's will in front of the emperor.

No matter who becomes emperor, he must first protect the country.

Suddenly, Jiang Jiu changed the subject: "But now that you're back, the emperor is weak and incompetent, and the court is controlled by the Zhou family. I'm afraid many ministers in the court are dissatisfied."

"There's a technique called flattery... Since Grand Secretary Qin is the Emperor's teacher, how could he not have anticipated the Emperor's weaknesses..."

When Zhao Zhuoxi heard what Jiang Jiu said, a light suddenly flashed through his mind.

Praising to death, could it be that the current situation where the Zhou family is the only dominant family is exactly what Qin Yuan wants?

He was silent.

At this time, Lu Ming came in from outside and reported.

"My Lord, the Marquis of Zhenbei has arrived at the Shili Pavilion outside the capital. Tomorrow morning, the Emperor will send the Crown Prince to personally greet him..."

The Marquis of Zhenbei is coming back. This most powerful general of Daning has been guarding the northern border of Daning. He defeated the people of Beining and signed a fifty-year non-aggression treaty with them.

Jiang Jiu couldn't remember who this Marquis of Zhenbei was for a moment, and Nichang beside him quietly reminded him.

The in-laws of Zhou Hengzhi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the grandfather of Madam Sun’s mother.

Jiang Jiu finally realized, "Marquis Zhenbei is the son of the Duke of Zhenguo. Doesn't that mean he has a grudge against Zhou Hengzhi, the Minister of Personnel?"

They used to be relatives, but because Zhou Hengzhi's wife died early, his step-wife abused her step-daughter and married her to a merchant family in Jiangnan. He could not swallow this humiliation.