Chapter 43
Wang Meiren was taken away by the Queen Mother and her whereabouts are unknown. Even after knowing the news, Han Ruzi did not immediately decide to act, but was more cautious, fearing that her mother's life would be hurt.
But the concubine was right, the situation did not wait for anyone, and she was impatient with the emperor. What happened in the next two days finally made Han Ruzi decide to go all out.
The first thing is that the little eunuch Liang An suddenly disappeared. He was originally one of the many eunuchs holding boxes around the emperor. He went to Lingyun Pavilion every day with the crowd. Since he was caught by the emperor with Zuo Ji, he has become more honest. Do not leave the team. But he didn't follow him this morning. When Han Ruzi entered Lingyun Pavilion, he deliberately turned around and took a look. He didn't see the little eunuch in the specified position, and he was not seen in the entire team.
Since then, Liang An has never been seen again, and no one has mentioned his name.
That evening, when Han Ruzi returned to Tai'an Palace to rest, he found that even his personal waiters Zhang Youcai and Tong Qing'e were gone, replaced by two complete strangers.
He asked a question casually, and he didn't ask more after getting a perfunctory answer. He had already understood one thing: caring without protection is more harmful to others, and it is difficult for him to protect himself.
He learned from this that Zuo Ji started.
Zuo Ji's allegiance was not reliable at all. After a few days of honesty, he found that the emperor did not seem to be as prepared as he imagined, so he began to take action, first to remove the "criminal evidence" Liang An, and then to track down the person who informed the emperor. For the time being, there was no suspicion of the imperial concubine, but the waiter beside the emperor was taken away.
Zhang Youcai and Tong Qing'e know nothing about the emperor, and Zuo Ji will take more drastic measures sooner or later.
After Han Ruzi made these inferences, he felt that he could not wait any longer and would rather replace known dangers with unknown dangers.
The imperial concubine and Luo Huanzhang are unknown dangers.
On June 20, the first year of success, on the third day after Zhang Youcai and Tong Qing’e were taken away, it was drizzling continuously. Dictate on one side.
The queen concubine is the queen mother's sister, and when she rejects the waiters, she will not be suspected.
"I am young, I flatter Hongye..." The imperial concubine slowly recited, first humbled herself for the emperor, then recalled the great achievements of the three ancestors of Taizu, Liedi, and Wudi, and then sighed with emotion at Emperor Huan and Emperor Si. The successive collapses of each other, and the stroke of the pen changed, pointing out that the Dachu court was in danger of being dominated by traitors, and the emperor ordered his ministers to escort them in the name of the ancestors of the Han family.
Han Ruzi guessed that this was Luo Huanzhang's writing as soon as he heard it. He felt that it was too long, but he still wrote it stroke by stroke.
Finally entering the substantive stage, the imperial concubine backtracked: "The chief commander of the Southern Army is a false official, and he acts rebelliously and has unruly intentions. Your Majesty left a space of four or five words here, and then wrote 'I have a high-ranking minister, the late emperor believed, I am the chief Sima of the Southern Army, and I will act cheaply'."
Han Ruzi took a photo, put down the pen, raised his head and asked, "In other words, whoever gets this imperial decree can make anyone the Great Sima of the Southern Army?"
The queen concubine nodded.
"Don't I need to know who it is?" Han Ruzi didn't take a pen.
The imperial concubine sighed softly and said, "Does your majesty understand the danger of your situation?"
"Of course, once the queen mother has a more suitable puppet, she will replace me, or even - kill me."
"But does Your Majesty understand how far the Empress Dowager has reached?"
Han Ruzi shook his head. He knew his ending, but he didn't know anything about the specific plan of the queen mother.
"The queen mother needs a younger puppet. If your majesty can give birth to a prince, it would be better. If not, there is the king of the East Sea."
"East Sea King?"
"King Donghai is also the son of Emperor Huan, and his son is naturally qualified to succeed him."
Han Ruzi was speechless, it turned out that he was not the only puppet.
The imperial concubine continued: "Your Majesty knows that there is a position of living order in the palace."
"Yeah." Of course Han Ruzi knew that Neiju Ling was a eunuch who had come to record the emperor's marriage, but he returned disappointed.
"If Your Majesty has the opportunity to read the notes he wrote, he will see all kinds of bad deeds. Any one of them is enough to prove that His Majesty is unfit to be an emperor."
Han Ruzi's eyes widened, "A bad deed? I didn't do anything..." He did do some inappropriate things, but calling it a "bad deed" was a false accusation.
The imperial concubine smiled and said: "It doesn't matter what your majesty has done. The pen is in the hands of the internal living order, and he only accepts the will of the queen mother. The internal living note is usually kept secret, but it will be handed over to the historian regularly, and this part will be recorded in the national history. In the middle, when future generations look at it, they only know that His Majesty is an emperor who misbehaved and was abolished by the Queen Mother."
"Hey, I would love to be abolished." If he can't be the emperor, Han Ruzi hopes to return to his old life.
The concubine's smile was more obvious, "Being abolished is just a way of saying, none of the deposed emperors of the past dynasties can live a long life."
This is another practice, just like the imperial decree formulated by the queen mother. On the surface, it is lenient, but in fact, it is strict. Naturally, someone will kill the monarch for the queen mother.
"I understand all this, but I still want to know who the ministers outside support me are."
The smile on the empress's face slowly disappeared, "Your Majesty is in a place of death and has to save himself, but the ministers in the court take the initiative to go through fire and water. Take unnecessary risks. Master Luo must do everything possible to protect them, and he didn't tell me which ministers were involved."
"In other words, the success or failure of this matter depends on Luo Huanzhang alone, and I can only trust him."
"I believe Master Luo." The imperial concubine took two steps back, "This pen is in His Majesty's hand, and it is up to His Majesty to write or not to write, and how to write it. If His Majesty doubts everyone, then no one is needed. helped."
Han Ruzi picked up the pen again. The concubine was right. He didn't have any more choices, but he still said, "I know that the person who passed the note is not Zhang Yanghao."
The imperial concubine was stunned for a moment, "Zhang Yanghao... said it to His Majesty personally?"
Han Ruzi shook his head, "There are some things that don't need to be said, Luo Huanzhang will not hire someone like Zhang Yanghao, that's all."
"It's the same sentence, this matter is very important, and there is no need to be sure. Your Majesty is deep in the inner palace, the less you know, the better."
Han Ruzi continued to write, but he was very disgusted with the phrase "the less you know, the better." If they didn't believe in the emperor's ability, why risk saving the emperor?
Depriving Shangguanxu of his seal and giving it to an unknown person, it was just a few lines of words, and then the concubine asked the emperor to write a long paragraph of high-sounding words, so that the really useful content only occupies a small paragraph in the middle of the imperial decree .
"You want to deceive Jing Yao with this imperial decree?" Han Ruzi immediately understood the intention after writing it.
The concubine smiled and said: "Your Majesty is really smart, it is impossible to steal the treasure seal from Jing Yao, I often help the Queen Mother handle government affairs in the Qinzheng Palace, and I will give Jing Yao a treasure seal with the prepared will. , I hope to catch up with the times when there are many decrees, and sandwich His Majesty's imperial decree among them."
"Won't Jing Yao find out?" Han Ruzi was a little surprised. The concubine's idea was very simple, but it was also very risky.
"Jing Yao's eyes are only on Baoxi, never the content of the will. If he really does, I will be the first martyr who is loyal to His Majesty."
Han Ruzi had nothing to say, he was taking risks, and the imperial concubine took even greater risks.
Maybe he was too suspicious, maybe there are people in this world who devote themselves to benevolence and righteousness without asking for anything in return, Han Ruzi thinks of Liu Jie who protects the seal with death, and has more confidence.
The same imperial edict was written again, and the imperial concubine explained: "Just in case, Shangguan Xu is very vigilant. If the secret edict is discovered, there is a backup."
Then the imperial concubine dictated the third imperial decree, the beginning and the end of which were almost unchanged, but the most crucial middle paragraph was to relieve Cui Hong from the post of grandmaster and general, ordering him to obey orders, and who the seal was transferred to was still blank.
There is also a fourth imperial decree. This time, the position of the inner court Zhonglang will be relieved. Zhonglang will be in charge of commanding the palace guards. The replacement is to protect the safety of the emperor in time.
That's enough, the capital still has the Northern Army, the patrol city and other forces, there is no need to capture them all. As for the officials of the court and Chinese, as long as the emperor has mastered the army, they will come to pay homage.
After the imperial decree was written, the imperial concubine folded it up carefully, and prepared to leave, "Master Cui Hong is about to return to Beijing, please wait for the good news."
Han Ruzi sat down beside the bed and listened to the pattering rain outside, his heart was empty, he really did it, he opened the bow without turning back the arrow, and the next thing was no longer under his control: Cheng, he is true The emperor can take his mother by his side; if he fails, he will be a deposed emperor with "bad deeds" and will be recorded in the history of the country.
"Emperor..." Han Ruzi muttered to himself, and a picture suddenly appeared in his mind: the hall was gloomy, the red pillars were so high that the top could hardly be seen, and the sunlight that accidentally shone in had lost its vigor, and there was nothing but the promise, for fear Destroying the solemn atmosphere here, the blurred old emperor sat on the high throne, thinking that there was no one nearby, and said in a lonely voice: "I am a lonely man."
The emperor is always alone, and the puppet is so, and the Mingjun is no exception. As great as Emperor Wu, he cannot escape the shroud of loneliness.
Han Ruzi couldn't tell if this picture was his imagination or if it really happened. He sat there, and his heart was gradually filled with something. He thought, he can't just wait, the queen mother is taking risks, the queen mother The concubine is taking risks, Luo Huanzhang is taking risks, and those ministers who do not know who are taking risks are also taking risks. How can the emperor "wait for good news" here?
The door opened, and eunuch Zhang Youcai and palace maid Tong Qing'e entered, with wounds and tears on their faces, standing in front of the emperor trembling.
Zuo Ji changed his mind again, he was demonstrating to the emperor.
(seeking for collection and recommendation)