Chapter 134: Powerful Minister 【03】
When Meng Qi came to greet Mrs. Yan, seeing that Mrs. Yan, who had been tired and worried with her makeup before, was extraordinarily radiant today and looked in good spirits, she couldn't help asking: "What's the happy event for mother? You look very happy. good."
A shallow smile appeared on Mrs Yan's face and said, "Your second brother will be back soon."
Meng Qi's heart suddenly burst, and a happy smile appeared on his face immediately, and he said in a slightly raised tone: "Really? When will the second brother go home? Then I will go out of the city to meet the second brother!"
Yan Shi smiled and said, "Jie'er has a heart, but your second brother didn't say when he would arrive in the capital in the letter from home. It should be on the way now. You should send someone to inquire."
Meng Qi lowered his eyes and replied, "Yes, mother, my son will send someone to inquire."
After Meng Qi came out of the Yan family's yard, he paused in his footsteps, looked back at the yard with a blank expression, and then left.
Although he was dissatisfied with Yan's instructing him to inquire about Meng Yuanjia's whereabouts, he still had to inquire.
I thought that Meng Yuanjia went to the border, either died in the battle like his father and elder brother, or was deadlocked for several years and could not return home.
He had at least several years of development, but he didn't expect the war to end so quickly in just over half a year. Meng Yuanjia's early return had a great influence on his plan.
Meng Qi looked at the route of Meng Yuanjia's march that his subordinates had inquired about, frowned, and muttered to himself, "It seems that preparations should be made early."
On the day Yuanjia returned to Beijing, Meng Qi personally took the butler of Zhenbei Gongfu to the gate of the city to greet him.
The sound of horses’ hooves sounded frantically, and a neat line of cavalry rushed towards the city gate. The young general at the head was dressed in majestic armor. When approaching the city gate, the speed of the horses slowed down. People are one.
Meng Qi, who was waiting at the gate of the city, saw this hundred-fighting cavalry, his face changed slightly. The elite soldiers who came down from the battlefield were full of blood and evil spirits, and they all rushed in his direction. Consider his willpower.
Other ordinary people who were waiting to enter the city had already been frightened and retreated to both sides of the road.
"Yu—" Yuan Jia tightened the reins and stopped his horse. He sat on the horse and looked down at Meng Qi and the chief butler of Zhenbei Gong's mansion, and said with a cold face, "I still want to enter the palace to face the Holy Spirit. , you go home first!"
Meng Qi lowered his head subconsciously and replied, "Yes!" Immediately, he reacted, and a feeling of embarrassment rose in his heart.
Yuan Jake was not in the mood to pay attention to his younger brother's glass heart. He waved his hand and rode his horse and whip, and all the guards and cavalry behind him quickly followed.
The **** sent by the emperor to preach the decree also arrived soon, and the decree let him enter the palace to face the holy.
Yuan Jia took the order and turned to his own guards and said, "You go back to Zhenbei Gongfu first." Let the guards go back to protect the original owner's family first, and go to the palace to see the emperor. He can do it alone.
In terms of strength, he dared to kill seven in and seven out in the palace alone, and naturally he was not afraid of the emperor setting an ambush in the palace.
Yuan Jia entered the palace with the **** Chuanzhi, and the emperor met him in the imperial study.
Yuan Jia saluted the emperor and said, "Wei Chen pays respects to His Majesty!"
In this dynasty, except on important occasions or when asking for guilt, the courtiers did not need to bow down to the emperor, but only slightly bowed and saluted.
But at this time, when the emperor saw Yuan Jia not kneeling, all kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind: "He sees that I don't kneel, did he have an antipathy long ago?"
"Is he just being humble towards me?"
"He shouldn't be thinking about how to pull me off the dragon chair right now and take the position himself?"
The various thoughts in the emperor's mind kept flashing like a barrage.
After a long while, the emperor came back to his senses and said to Yuan Jia, "Meng Aiqing doesn't need to be polite, come and give me a seat!"
Yuan Jia sat down calmly and calmly reported to the emperor the general process of retreating the enemy at the border.
The emperor didn't listen very carefully, he felt that Yuan Jia would definitely not tell him the truth, it was nothing more than a cliché.
However, he was now trying to appease Yuan Jia to prevent the mutiny of the 200,000 elite divisions stationed outside the capital, so even if he didn't listen carefully, he smiled and occasionally nodded slightly as if he had listened.
After Yuan Jia finished speaking, the emperor couldn't wait to say: "Meng Aiqing, the 300,000 Zhenbei Army should have been at the border to prevent the Hulu people from looting south, why did you only stay behind the 100,000 Zhenbei Army, without authorization? The remaining 200,000 Zhenbei Army will be brought to the capital?"
Why? Of course to threaten you!
Yuan Jia sneered in his heart, but the peace on the surface still had to be maintained, so he said: "Your Majesty, Gaozu once ordered that the 300,000 Zhenbei Army will be dispatched by our Zhenbei Gongfu, and the Hulu people must be blocked. Outside Queyu Pass. Therefore, the dispatch of Zhenbei Army by Weichen is not an assertion, but has an edict from Emperor Gaozu. As for the Hulu people, 100,000 Zhenbei troops guarding Queyuguan are enough. ."
The reason why the emperor is so afraid of Zhenbei Army is not because the military power is not in his hands. The Meng family has been in control of this army for too long, and the Zhenbei Army can completely change its name to Mengjia Army.
In addition, during the period of Emperor Gaozu, when the Hulu rioted and ravaged the border, Gaozu had great trust in the then Duke Zhenbei, and even promised in public that 300,000 troops of Zhenbei would be dispatched by the Duke Zhenbei.
Of course, Gaozu would say this to avoid someone interfering in the Zhenbei Army, which would lead to the defeat of Zhenbei Gong.
The Duke of Zhenbei of that generation did not live up to Gaozu's expectations. He led 300,000 Zhenbei troops to guard Queyu Pass and kept the Hulu people who were ravaging the border from Queyu Pass.
However, with the passage of time, the emperors who succeeded later did not trust Zhenbei Gongfu as much as Gaozu did.
In fact, if Yuanjia stood on the emperor's point of view, he would also be afraid of Zhenbei Gongfu, which is not under his control.
It is normal for an emperor to take military power away from his subjects. Any emperor with an online IQ would think so.
But the problem is that the emperor's method of taking back his military power is too disgusting, not to mention that the Duke of Zhenbei is loyal to the royal family, but he still needs Duke Zhenbei to defend against foreign enemies. People assassinate ministers, is this a person doing things?
Remove the mill to kill the donkey, let's wait for the donkey to remove the mill anyway! When the donkey was still grinding for the master, the master couldn't wait to wave the butcher's knife. Who wouldn't be chilled?
＜＜＜＜＜＜
When the emperor heard Yuan Jia move out of Emperor Gaozu to press him, his face turned slightly blue, and he forced himself to pull out a far-fetched smile: "Meng Aiqing is sure, but I am worried that the 100,000 Zhenbei Army will not be able to defend Queyu Pass."
In fact, no matter what the Emperor Gaozu said, if the emperor had enough troops to suppress the 200,000 Zhenbei troops stationed outside the capital, he would have ordered Yuan Jia to be arrested.
However, he didn't. He only had more than 10,000 forbidden troops in his hands. These 10,000 forbidden troops did not see much blood to kill the enemy. Their combat strength was mediocre, and even the Zhenbei Army of the same number may not be able to fight, let alone two with 10,000 enemies. One hundred thousand.
All the emperor can count on is the army stationed in various places, but these armies are mostly mixed with fish and dragons. Bottomless.
The emperor was worried that the question he had just asked would make Yuan Jia feel suspicious, so he quickly reassured him: "Meng Aiqing has made a great contribution this time, and I will reward you well. The Duke of Zhenbei should be freely inherited by Meng Aiqing, and I will reward you with thousands of acres of fertile land. , ten thousand taels of gold..."
Yuan Jia listened to the emperor's unbelievable generous reward. This wave of rewards alone is enough to make people rich overnight. His mood was calm and he stood up and said: "Wei Chen, thank your majesty for your grace!"
After Yuan Jia came out of the palace, he went directly back to Zhenbei Gongfu.
At this time, the old lady and the Yan family in Zhenbei's mansion were already looking forward to it. When Yuan Jia came back, they burst into tears of joy: "It's good to come back! It's good to come back!"
The old lady took Yuan Jia's hand tremblingly, looked at him carefully, and asked hastily, "Are you injured? There are no swords on the battlefield, don't hide your injuries, and treat them quickly, the delay is serious. , bad body bones!"
Yuan Jia smiled and shook the old lady's hand, and replied, "Thank you grandmother for caring, my grandson is not injured, if grandma doesn't believe me, I will ask the doctor to give me a pulse later, and I promise not to lie to you."
When the old lady saw him say this, she felt relieved, and smiled with relief: "It's fine, it's fine." Then she turned her head and said to Mrs Yan, "Take my post and ask an imperial doctor to come to the house later. Please give Yuan Jia a pulse of peace."
Yan Shi quickly responded.
Yuan Jia: "..." I still don't believe what he said, and I specially invited the imperial doctor to take his pulse. Is this because he was afraid that he would bribe the doctor in his house to tell lies?
Yuan Jia went to bathe and change clothes, and he was so dusty that he felt really uncomfortable.
Taking off his armor and putting on soft satin clothes, he changed from a majestic and unparalleled young general to a graceful young gentleman.
"Second Young Master, the old lady sent a servant to invite you over for dinner."
It was already afternoon when Yuan Jia returned to the house. After a delay, he took a shower and changed his clothes. It was almost time for dinner.
Yuan Jia went to the old lady's yard and saw that the old lady Yan and Meng Qi were both there, he walked over to greet the old lady and Yan.
The old lady hurriedly said: "Yuan Jia, sit down." Then she ordered the people to serve the food quickly, so that her good grandson would not be hungry.
Yuan Jia could feel the deep concern and love of the old lady and the Yan family for him. Meng Qi, who was sitting beside him, was sitting there, watching the old lady and Yan's caring for Yuan Jia. feeling of exclusion.
It's not biological, it's just different.
Meng Qi laughed at himself.
It's just that he never thought that Yuan Jia had just returned from the battlefield. After experiencing the terrible news of the death of Duke Zhenbei and his eldest son in battle, in the hearts of the old lady and Mrs. Yan, Yuan Jia returned safely from the battlefield, that is, death. Escape from here, such an excited concern is a reasonable thing.
And as Meng Yuanjia's younger brother, he was sitting in his seat indifferent at this time, without a word of concern, which was really chilling.
Fortunately, Yuanjia already knew Meng Qi's true face and had no expectations for him. Naturally, he would not care about Meng Qi's feelings as much as the original owner Meng Yuanjia.
Meng Xian likes to sit alone and exclude himself, and he doesn't bother to pay attention to it. He only concentrates on talking to the old lady and the Yan family about the war at the border. The old lady and Mrs Yan were both happy.
The more their grandparents and grandchildren chatted happily, the more uncomfortable Meng Qi who was sitting next to them felt.