Qinse is in the imperial court, forgetting both favor and disgrace

In the north of Jinling City, there is a large lake surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the city on the other. It was originally named "Beisangbo".

A few days ago, something strange happened in Lianhu Lake.

At noon that day, there was a heavy thunderstorm, which is rare at the turn of autumn and winter. Soon the thunder stopped and the rain stopped, the wind continued unabated, and the sky was still as dark as night. Suddenly, a terrifying scene appeared on the lake. There are sailors in daily training, and there are also fishermen in the city. Hundreds of people described the vision almost in unison:

At first, it was a white dragon rising from the bottom of the water, followed by a colorful tiger, leaping towards the white dragon. These two gods are both lifelike, with a height of hundreds of feet. Some people say that the vision is a battle between dragons and tigers. omen.

The dragon naturally symbolizes the Son of Heaven, while the tiger is often compared to a general, and the implication is self-evident.

In addition, there are even more evil things. There are dozens of people who say that when they saw this vision, they heard the Buddha's words clearly in their ears. Until the government was alarmed.

After several twists and turns, this strange incident was finally reported to the emperor by the Ministry of Rites after Zhao Rang's inexplicable return the next morning.

At that time, Li Lang was in the imperial study room, listening to Wang Xin of the Imperial City Department's report about the recent capture of the Northern Liang spies. Some of them used their identities as fishermen to cover up, sailing along the river, going to and from both sides of the river, to detect the situation. If there are more and more reports, this matter must be related to a series of imminent actions after the new king of Beiliang ascended the throne.

The flames of war are about to ignite, and the resurgence of soldiers is already imminent.

Cao Lin guarded the north of the river with heavy troops, pressing on the Huai River. This place must not be lost. A few years ago, the commander of the northern army drove straight in and occupied Jiangbei after Li Xian opened the door to arrest the robbers. , almost put Jinling in the nest.

The matter of Jinling must be resolved quickly, Li Lang pondered, who is the Eastern Chu dignitaries who communicated with foreign enemies there, the Imperial City Secretary can't find any clues - after Li Lang ascended the throne, he took out a group of Li Xian's confidantes, There are not many royal relatives left in the court, and there are only a few people coming and going from the powerful families and the families of important ministers. However, the Imperial City Secretary watched day and night and never slacked off, but finally found no clues.

It is easy to dodge an open gun, but hard to defend against a hidden arrow. I am afraid that when I go all out to fight the enemy, I will be stabbed in the back unexpectedly.

Wang Xin emphatically reported Xie Lian's whereabouts to the emperor. Since the "jun and ministers wept goodbye" with the emperor in the court hall, that time has been staying at home and thanking guests behind closed doors. If he plans to make trouble in the near future, The connection with the outside world is likely to be through Xie Kun.

And Xie Kun, and the elite soldiers he brought back, seem to have completely forgotten by this time that he still has the important task of guarding the frontier. , drinking green and red lights, gentle and unrestrained in the country, let alone a person with great ambitions.

It's just that although Li Lang knew Xie Kun's deeds, he never underestimated the enemy. After all, Xie Kun had the former concubine Yu Yu by his side, so Li Lang had to be alert to the secret plot of the Leng Gong mother and daughter.

Unexpectedly, at this time, he learned of the vision in the north of Jinling City. After Li Lang was dumbfounded, he immediately thought that there was an expert secretly manipulating this matter. He never believed in ghosts and gods. Reasons like this have always been scoffed at, but hundreds of people said the same thing, and it happened in the capital, but it is not a small thing that can be laughed off.

After ordering Wang Xin to be closely monitored and everything to be business as usual, Li Lang summoned Wei Yixiao and told him about the strange incident at Lianhu Lake, and asked him to lead the forbidden army to Lianhu Lake tomorrow, and find the person who witnessed the strange phenomenon with his own eyes that day. The soldiers of the navy army cross-examined carefully and investigated thoroughly to find out who was responsible.

Wei Yixiao listened silently, his expression changed, hesitantly asked: "Does Your Majesty know the meaning of the fight between dragon and tiger?"

Li Lang said indifferently: "Isn't it a sign that the generals will rebel? Those who hold the military power, if they were rebellious, they would have taken their father's place long ago, why delay it until now?"

"Maybe it's not the general who is in charge of the heavy army today?" Wei Yixiao said again, "The cloud follows the dragon, the tiger follows the wind, the wind and the cloud meet, and the dragon and the tiger fight each other. Does your Majesty have no idea?"

"Smile," Li Lang said with a sneer after being silent for a moment, "When you were the deputy chief of the imperial army, you seemed to be just a submissive person. After these days, you have improved a lot."

"A good bird chooses a tree to live in, and a virtuous minister chooses a master to do things." Wei Yixiao remained unmoved, and continued, "I heard that the one who disappeared suddenly and reappeared inexplicably, without any effort, made His Majesty rebellious. Acting like this, the sage will be dusted. Your Majesty is not relentless to the Queen Mother, but can you get something other than ghosts and gods from her mouth?"

He paused for a while, and saw that although the emperor had a sullen expression on his face, he forcibly held back his words. Knowing that there was still room to spare, he chased after him, "Whether this matter was done by human beings or not, the meaning of the rumors couldn't be more obvious, Your Majesty." , I have to guard against it."

"The matter of the Queen Mother has nothing to do with him." Li Lang shook his head, "In the past, Liang Wu served the Buddha, wrote Buddhist books with blood pricked, sacrificed himself as a slave to the Buddha, bowed his knees as a monk, and distributed it to the monks. At the end of the day, he starved to death in Taiwan. City. The queen mother is obsessed with this way, and it is not a good thing in the end. If I continue to indulge because of filial piety, then I will follow the example and the whole country will respect the Buddha. Carrying Buddha statues, worshiping and delaying the war, future generations will only find it ridiculous, and people who are at the right time may not be able to laugh."

The emperor expressed his feelings and spoke eloquently, with no surprises in his words. Wei Yixiao knew that this was the emperor's intention. It is hard to explain that Zhao Rang had evil intentions by separating mother and child. , and Zhao Rang, who made himself king, could really submit to Eastern Chu willingly, change his mind and become a loyal minister again.

However, the emperor seemed to be possessed by a demon, and he did everything possible to keep this person. He was about to persuade the emperor to lose his guard against Zhao Rang, but the emperor had signaled him to go down to perform his duties. Wei Yixiao had no choice but to salute and retreat. When the opportunity arises, act immediately without delay.

After Li Lang reviewed the memorial, he put down his ink pen and asked the officer on duty. He heard that it would be noon, so he ordered the royal chef of the imperial dining room to go directly to Chengxian Palace to make preparations. He wanted to move to meet Zhao Rang. I want to add another sentence with a smile: "There is no need to inform Chengxian Palace to pick you up."

Just when she was about to leave, the personal servant rushed over and told another strange thing that happened in the harem: the queen went to Chengxian Palace, and she and Zhao Rang were alone in the main hall for a long time.Fortunately, the palace gate was open, and everyone spied that the queen knelt down to salute Zhao Rang, but neither of them knew anything about what they were talking about.

Li Lang was inexplicable after hearing this, and felt an indescribable anxiety spontaneously, and his desire to see Zhao Rang became more and more urgent.

But when he drove to Chengxian Palace, he didn't see anyone. The palace servants led Changle out to meet him. After Li Lang asked carefully, he found out that Zhao Rang had taken several followers with him to visit Qinghe Mountain and East Lake behind the palace.

Chang Le volunteered to call her elder brother back, but Li Lang stopped her and insisted on finding him himself.

Once out of the palace gate, after a short walk, he saw a respectful servant standing by the East Lake from a distance. Li Lang ordered his surroundings not to make any noise. When he looked closer, he found that Zhao Rang was holding a thick branch four or five feet long in his hand. , waving gestures in the open space in front of the lake, concentrating on nothing else, and never noticed the arrival of Li Lang and others.

Li Lang silently watched Zhao Rang's moves. He is proficient in martial arts. Although he is not good at short-handed weapons, he can also see that Zhao Rang is using branches instead of knives, chopping and stabbing, poking, picking and twisting, and turning back and forth with his footwork. Offense is defense, hold the imaginary sharp blade and then cooperate with body skills, sweeping and flirting with wide open and close, after this method, the practitioner will be intoxicated physically and mentally, and the viewer can't help but feel excited, as if this place is no longer pink, black and beautiful The forbidden deep palace, but the battlefield of swords and swords, conquest and killing.

It was not the first time he appreciated Zhao Rang's sword skills. He had fought Zhao Rang once before on the way back to Jinling, but at that time he had tried his best and treated them as equal in martial arts. The man's subordinates did not know how much affection he had left, so that the emperor would not be embarrassed on the spot.

For a while, Li Lang suddenly felt extremely contradictory. He wanted to keep Zhao Rang in the harem by his side, but he knew in his heart that this was definitely not what Zhao Rang wanted. Concubines are equivalent to extortionate things.

He was in a trance, but when he came back to his senses, the servants of Chengxian Palace had already knelt at his feet along with Zhao Rang. Li Lang pulled Zhao Rang up with a chuckle, and praised happily: "Good sword technique. That's right, why do you need to use tree branches?" Well, you told me earlier, the eighteen martial arts are up to you to choose."

Zhao Rang was stunned, shook his head and said with a smile: "The harem bans murder weapons, Your Majesty, please don't mess around again."

I don't know why, Li Lang felt that Zhao Rang's slightly reproachful tone was the most useful, and he felt an itch in his heart, and he took Zhao Rang's hand without any scruples, and pressed him side by side to Chengxian. Palace to go.

Zhao Rang smiled wryly, but he let Li Lang do the same.

The food and drink were set up in the hall. Before Li Lang held up his chopsticks and asked about Empress Xie, Zhao Rang did not hesitate for a moment, and told the truth about Xie Lian's assassination of the prince. Redemption actually sent the queen's golden seal to me. You see, how should I deal with it?"

Li Lang laughed when he heard the words: "That's a good thing! To save me any trouble, you just take it and keep it. You don't need to return it to her. She doesn't have the right to do so."

Seeing Zhao Rang frown in confusion, Li Lang smiled maliciously and said, "Do you know where this golden seal is most commonly used?"

"How do I know?" Zhao Rang said, "The sixth palace is in charge, this is the proof, right?"

Li Lang clicked his tongue: "Didn't you also have a side concubine? Why don't you understand?" Seeing that Zhao Rang still didn't understand, he couldn't help laughing, "The queen is in charge of the six palaces, and the most important one is to manage the emperor's house." The matter of the house. Except for the queen herself, whenever the emperor visits the palaces, the inner palace will know that the queen will be there, and get the "hand letter" from the queen with the golden seal as evidence. Now that the golden seal is in your hands, it is up to you Come take care of me."

Zhao Rang couldn't help being embarrassed when he heard this, the pinnae of his ears up to the earlobe were bright red, but he couldn't refute even a word to Li Lang who was laughing, and was stunned.

Li Lang took advantage of all the advantages, his smile was smug and gentle, he raised his eyes to Zhao Rang and said, "Jing Du, since you are at ease with me, I will never let you down.

"About the prince," Zhao Rang said with a dignified expression, ignoring the honeyed words, "What are your plans? And... Alang, you don't want to know about my disappearance from Jinghua Palace? "