National Division

Sheng Jia went on tour in early summer and did not return until early autumn, staying outside for two full months.It is said that they inspected half of the Yellow River in Shandong, and killed the demon dragon in Mengjin. Therefore, the weather this year was smooth, and even the summer floods were not as severe as in previous years. .Of course, no one knew about the fact that the emperor went to Shu with dozens of guards in his microfuge.

When Qi Jun came back, the queen mother was the happiest.I haven't seen my son for several months, and I can hardly sit still in Renshou Palace. I want to go to Xingqing Palace to see my son, but Shaoyao finally persuades me.

Qi Jun also knew the Queen Mother's temper, so he went to Renshou Palace after a little freshening up.When the Empress Dowager saw him, she sighed for a while and became skinny and dark, and then asked if the servants did not take care of him carefully, whether the food and drink outside were not good, until Qi Jun repeatedly assured that he was fine, and then asked Let's talk about killing the demon dragon.

Qi Jun knew in his heart that if it was said that the demon dragon had been killed by himself, the queen mother would have to nag again, so he only said that the guards shot the demon dragon to death, without mentioning his own affairs at all.Even so, the queen mother still sighed greatly.

Zhao Yue heard that the emperor had gone to Renshou Palace, so she rushed over.Since Wenxiu's false pregnancy last time, she has been confined in Zichen Palace for nearly half a year.Fortunately, it was said that she was sick. Except for a few people, the rest didn't know that she was actually grounded, and she didn't receive too much cold treatment.

At the beginning, Zhao Yue was worried every day, for fear that Qi Jun would abolish her queen position because of this, but later when Qi Jun went on tour, the person in charge of power in the palace was Concubine Xian, who was gentle in temperament and respectful to the queen. Not bad at all, the queen mother doesn't care about the affairs of the palace, and the matter of Wenxiu's fake pregnancy is deliberately concealed, so very few people in the palace know the truth. so sad.After a long time, Zhao Yue's fear gradually dissipated, and instead she felt a little wronged - it was Wenxiu who was plotting against her, why was she, the queen, grounded instead?

In this way, Zhao Yue gradually tried to get out of the Zichen Palace, and went to ask the Queen Mother from time to time.

The person the Empress Dowager hates the most is actually Wenxiu.It's not just because of Wenxiu's fake pregnancy, but because Wenxiu branded the deer on her body.At the beginning, Zhibai claimed that the Lu Shu was a male beast, and it was specially painted for Qi Jun. When the queen mother heard it, she was heartbroken: If it weren't for Wenxiu's selfish desire to compete for favor and pregnancy, Qi Jun might often wear a Good news has already spread from the harem for this thing!But just for Wenxiu, a good spiritual object was wasted in vain.When the queen mother thought of her fat and white grandson, she couldn't help cursing Wenxiu. If Wenxiu hadn't gone crazy, the queen mother would have ordered someone to reward her with a few feet of white silk.

Because she hated Wenxiu, the Queen Mother treated Zhao Yue more lightly. After all, Wenxiu had no children in her stomach, and she was the one who designed to anger Zhao Yue.So Zhao Yue respectfully came to greet her several times, and she gradually put away her cold face.At this time, when I heard that the queen came to pay her respects, I called in lightly.

Zhao Yue was also a little apprehensive.Qi Jun didn't say anything to death at the beginning, but only told her not to go out if she had nothing to do, so although she often came to pay her respects to the Queen Mother, she seldom left Zichen Palace on weekdays.Come again today, the queen mother will not say anything, but I don't know what the emperor's attitude is, will he see her come out and then get angry?

It's just that I'm nervous, but I still have to come.Ever since Qi Jun left the palace, the Empress Dowager has been planning for a draft. Now that the first round of selection has passed, the second round should be the Queen's Eyes, who will select a group from them, and finally let the emperor choose by himself.Don't underestimate this second round. It is the queen's right to choose a concubine for the emperor. If she doesn't show up at this time, the outside world will probably suspect that something has happened to her, the queen.

Zhao Yue came in almost tremblingly, first bowed to the queen mother, then turned to Qi Jun: "The emperor is back..." One is afraid, the other is really worried, Zhao Yue's voice trembled slightly, involuntarily My eyes were red, "I heard that the emperor was killing the demon dragon in Shandong, I'm afraid the emperor will be hurt, so I miss you..."

These few words speak with sincerity.If Qi Jun is gone, and he still has no son, the throne may fall to King Ping, and then she, the queen, will also die without a place to bury her.

Qi Jun looked up at Zhao Yue.I haven't seen her for a few months, she has lost a lot of weight, and her eyes are getting bigger and bigger.The usual domineering look of ease was gone from his face, and his eyes were filled with apprehension.After all, it is the wife of Jiefa. At the beginning, he was the queen he chose. Although it was for family background, there is always some kind of affection. Qi Jun nodded and said simply: "Empress Lao is thinking about it. Zhanlong is also The guards work hard, I'm fine."

When Qi Jun opened his mouth, Zhao Yue's heart hanging in his throat fell back to its original position with a thud, and his eye circles became redder with excitement.Qi Jun obviously forgave her by doing this, and she took the queen's seat again!

The queen mother did not have so many twists and turns. After confirming that Qi Jun was safe, she brought up the matter of the draft, and asked someone to show Qi Jun the roster and portrait.When Qi Jun saw that the portrait scrolls were piled up like a hill, he suddenly felt dizzy, so he just took the roster to read.

Nafei is different from the post-election.After the election, it depends not only on the family background, but also on the talent. This talent must have both the four virtues, and must be able to check and balance the Sixth Palace. Never be selected.But choosing a concubine is different, as long as the emperor likes it.

Qi Jun's choice of concubine was aimed at splitting up the previous dynasty, so he didn't even look at a portrait, only looked at the introduction of family background on the roster, and after a while, he drew out four or five candidates: "These few must be kept. Next. For the rest, the Empress Dowager and the Empress will decide."

Zhao Yue took it in her hand and looked at it, her heart suddenly became cold.Although she hadn't read this booklet, she still asked people to inquire about what kind of beautiful women entered the palace, especially those with outstanding talents and family backgrounds, and they inquired more carefully.Looking at it now, the most outstanding ones were all picked out by Qi Jun.

"Your Majesty, this—" Zhao Yue didn't know what to say.These few show girls come from exceptional family backgrounds and are outstanding in appearance, especially their fathers, brothers and grandfathers, most of them are at odds with the Zhao family, if they are all selected to enter the palace, will she still have a foothold?

The queen mother was also a little strange: "Choose these? They all look good, but this, this Zheng, her sister is Princess Ping!"

The corners of Qi Jun's lips twitched slightly: "It is because her sister is Princess Ping that I chose her. Princess Ping is her cousin and the daughter of the first wife, but this one is the second wife. Let's see if the Zheng family supports King Ping, or they turn to support me! I don't believe that the Zheng family can still be monolithic with their interests at stake!"

He suddenly thought of another thing, and turned to tell Zhao Yue: "This draft, the queen should not show up, and leave it to the queen mother and concubine Xian."

Zhao Yue's already cold heart was poured with ice water again, and she almost cried: "Your Majesty, why is this?"

Qi Jun didn't like to hear this kind of tone that seemed to be crying but not crying. He frowned and said, "This draft is also for the former court—" I wanted to explain carefully that Zhao Yue was not allowed to show up in order to mobilize these new concubines The ambition of the concubine caused the forces behind them to fight each other, but after thinking about it, the queen mother can't hide her words, and Zhao Yue doesn't have any palaces. If they accidentally let it out, wouldn't it be a waste of time?

"Anyway, you don't need to come forward, just leave it to the Queen Mother and Concubine Xian." Qi Jun pondered for a while, and added in a soft voice, "I will tell you in the future, don't ask more questions now."

After leaving Beijing for more than two months, although there are ministers handling state affairs, there are still hills of papers that need to be approved by the emperor himself in the Hall of Martial Arts.Qi Jun had already been delayed for half a day in Renshou Palace. At this time, after explaining the matter of the draft, he was concerned about the scriptures, so he got up and said, "Now that my son has returned, the Queen Mother does not have to worry. It is good to have a rest. My son will retire first. There are many books to read."

Although the Empress Dowager was reluctant to part with it, she also knew that it was a memorial that had not been dealt with for several months, so she could only reluctantly see her son go out, then turned her face and ordered Shao Yao: "Call the concubine Xian to come to Renshou Palace."

Zhao Yue sat there in a daze, until she heard what the Queen Mother said, she woke up with a shudder, stood up with her head down and said: "My son is also leaving..."

Zhao Yue walked out of Renshou Palace in a hurry, and saw Xianfei's chariot coming here from a distance.Under the sun, Concubine Xian was wearing a pink palace gown embroidered with a phoenix bird. On her head was a golden sparrow hairpin, which was inlaid with a huge hard ruby. She had a smile on her face, which was so glaring in her eyes. Heart.Her background is not high, but now she is No.1 in the harem.

"Let's see how long you can be proud!" Zhao Yue squeezed out a sentence between her teeth, "The chariot detours, I don't want to see her!"

It was very quiet in Zichen Palace, the empress was in a bad mood, and the palace people dared not even vent their breath.Zhao Yue sat in the room for a long time, and the young man who went to inquire about the news came in timidly: "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has already discussed with Xianfei. Xianfei said that the osmanthus trees in the imperial garden are in bloom. There will be a osmanthus banquet in the garden, and all the beautiful ladies will be invited to show off their talents, and the emperor will choose them himself."

"She will please the emperor!" Zhao Yue clenched her fists, and suddenly thought of one thing - Concubine Xian made things so lively that she, the queen, would not be able to go, but it was Concubine Xian who presided over the banquet. Come on, doesn't everyone know that the palace is now headed by Concubine Xian?

"You don't want to be proud..." Zhao Yue's nails were dug into her palms, and when she saw that the little man was still standing at the bottom, she suddenly became angry, grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it over, "Get lost! "

Qi Jun didn't know that Zhao Yue was going crazy in his palace, he was busy talking with Meng Shilang.

Before going on tour, Qi Jun promised Meng Shilang a favor: to let Concubine Meng "die of illness", and then the Meng family would pick her up and send her away to marry someone else.

When Qi Jun said this to Meng Shilang, Meng Shilang was so grateful that he knelt down and kowtowed.Concubine Meng is only seventeen or eighteen years old this year. She has become a concubine at such an age. Will she have to spend the rest of her life in the palace for 50 or [-] years?Although it is better than going to the royal temple, it is not the life of a young girl.Now with Qi Jun's promise, even though she is no longer a Huanghua girl, with the Meng family's ability, it is not a problem to arrange a more ordinary marriage, at least it will keep her daughter from being lonely for the rest of her life.

Meng Shilang only had this one daughter, at first he thought of going to the palace for a formality, or marrying some prince who is considered to be of the same age, but who knew that Emperor Jing'an got it.How much he hated Concubine Ye Gui, the instigator, and how much he is grateful to Qi Jun now. If it was said that he had to serve Qi Jun because of his daughter in the past, now he is truly loyal and determined to do his best!Not to mention anything else, Meng Shilang spent a lot of energy on political affairs during Qi Jun's tour.Although his official position is not too high, but the Meng family has their own old relatives in the capital and outside, this network cannot be ignored, and the force they can contribute is much more than what outsiders seem to think.

"A few million taels of silver?" Meng Shilang was inexplicably surprised at this moment, and couldn't help but said, "Where did the emperor get it—" Halfway through the sentence, he suddenly realized that these questions should not be asked by himself, and quickly swallowed the second half of the sentence.

Now that they are all confidantes, Qi Jun has always been trustworthy in employing people, and without concealing the truth, he said: "I got it from King Ping." As for how he got it, it's hard to tell a sensational story.Although it is said that Shinto teaches, Qi Jun doesn't like it. Even if he has a knowledgeable person by his side, he doesn't like to use these supernatural things to make people awe-inspiring.If it wasn't for Emperor Jing'an's unreasonable superstitious belief in ghosts and gods, he would never use Jianke to pretend to be a phoenix in order to elevate his status.

Meng Shilang was very surprised.Where did King Ping get several million taels of silver?Unless it is a private silver mine.But a silver mine could not be moved, and the emperor just said that the several million taels of silver had already been obtained and could be taken as needed, it sounded as if it had been stored in the capital.If so, it cannot be a silver mine.He couldn't figure it out, but he also wisely knew that he shouldn't ask more questions, so he changed the topic: "With these several million taels of silver, we can make preparations for what the emperor said last time."

The matter he mentioned refers to the establishment of a guard between Fujian and Shu.

Shu is the fiefdom of Qizhang, but Fujian is the old nest of the Ye family. If the two sides join hands, half of the country in the south will be under their control. Therefore, Qi Jun wanted to build a guard between the two since he ascended the throne. , Training a group of soldiers, if a war breaks out, the connection between the two can be cut off, and it can even play the role of surprise attack.

It's just that since you want to raise rare soldiers, you can't put everything on the bright side.Qi Jun's plan was that there used to be a guard there, but because the world was peaceful for a long time, Emperor Jing'an needed a lot of money to spend extravagance and support the monks, so it was abolished.If you want to restore it now, the place is ready, just spend some money to renovate it.

The original establishment of this guard was 3000 people. Comparing the army in Fujian Ye's hands, we know that 3000 people are useless, so Qi Jun plans to put 3000 soldiers there, but the military salary allocated on the surface is still 7000. As for the quota of [-] people, another money has to be paid.

Seven thousand sergeants may not sound like much, but one year's salary, food, horses, weapons and armor are not a small amount.Qi Jun could not embezzle money from the court's tax money, he could only use the emperor's internal treasury, but the internal treasury had been spent by Emperor Jing'an beyond his means over the years, so where was the money to raise soldiers?

Qi Jun had discussed this matter with Meng Shilang before, but the headache was that there was no money. Who would have thought that during this trip to Shandong, millions of taels of silver would fall from the sky, and the preparations for this matter could begin immediately.Meng Shilang was also overjoyed, his cousin was an official there, so it was naturally convenient for him to do this.And if the cousin made a contribution to this matter, then the future of the Meng family will be smooth sailing, it is needless to say.

"I immediately went to discuss with my cousin, but my brother is an expert in preparing food and grass, but he is not good at how to train soldiers, and the emperor needs to choose another famous general. In addition-this is a big matter, I am afraid that the correspondence between letters will not be safe, You should go and discuss it with your brother in person."

Qi Jun is already familiar with this matter: "You let him recruit three thousand soldiers. This matter can be clearly stated in the official document. In September, Concubine Meng could 'occasionally catch a cold', and then 'sickness became increasingly serious. ', you can die of illness in October. I heard that your hometown is also nearby. Although the concubine is going to be buried in the concubine's mausoleum, Concubine Meng is homesick. The queen mother can give you a set of clothes from her lifetime so that you can send them back to your hometown Burial. In this way, you can take the opportunity to return to your hometown according to the order." At that time, you will sneak out quietly, it will be in your hometown, and you will not be embarrassed to hide it.

"Meng Tai Concubine was always loved by the late Emperor and Empress Dowager. When the late Emperor was pushed into the water by Concubine Ye Gui, Concubine Meng risked her life to save him. Because of being soaked in water for too long, she became chronically ill and passed away at a young age. Since he was loyal and meritorious to the late emperor, it is reasonable for me to give some rewards to his family after his death. The Minister of the Ministry of War is old and has already begged for his bones. I can't bear to work hard even when he is old. Allowing him to serve as an official, the responsibility of the Minister is not small. It's up to you."

Hearing this, Meng Shilang's heart was ups and downs, and he knelt down again with a plop: "The emperor's kindness is hard to repay by the whole family, so I must follow the emperor wholeheartedly until death!"