female concubine

In the 15th year of Qianyuan, the crown prince of the East Palace gave birth to the eldest daughter. The emperor made an exception to use the prince's system to lower the German tone, and sent the world's death row prisoners to release them. Hundred-day feast.

When the prince's eldest daughter was born, news of success in the north came out frequently. The emperor took her as a lucky star and bestowed a title on the Hundred Days. He named Wei Chen and named her the princess of Le'an. He personally wrote a booklet and announced it to the world.

The wives of the imperial clan and courtiers all visited the East Palace, and the eldest princesses even came to greet them in person. The East Palace fasted on the eve of Hundred Night, and on the day of Hundred Night, the Crown Prince personally brought his daughter to Chongyang Temple to pray for her.

At the beginning of October, the Crown Prince entered the palace to greet An Shishan, accompanied by the Crown Princess and her eldest daughter.

Kunning Palace

"Chen Weixu respectfully invites Shengan, how is Shenggong today?" the crown prince said as he cupped his hands at Di Jishou.

"I'm safe."

"Is your lady safe today?"

"My peace."

The emperor stood up and helped the prince up, and Xiao Youqing helped up the princess on one side, "The bride's body has not recovered yet, the carriage is bumpy, so pay more attention."

The Crown Princess nodded, "Thank you, Ma'am, for your concern, this distance is not a big deal."

The nurse carried the child forward, and Xiao Youqing took it carefully, "It grows really fast, and it looks like Da Lang when you were young."

The emperor stretched out his hand and gently touched the tender little face inside the swaddling baby, "I'm sure she'll be a good-looking girl when she grows up."

"Daddy, ma'am let Ruhua hug her too." Princess Fuqing leaned beside her mother, reached out and gently scratched the little niece's little nose, "She's so cute."

The tense atmosphere brought about by the war was dissipated by the joy of the birth of the emperor's grandson, and the city of Tokyo returned to its usual bustle.

There are dozens of urgent post shops near the official road from the southwest to Gyeonggi. National horses gallop on the official road to hand over to another post envoy sitting on horseback in front of the shop. The sound of copper bells makes pedestrians and officials on the official road They all avoided.

The Beijing official sent by the Privy Council to inspect the southwest was sitting in the carriage. The driver heard the bell ringing and rushed to get out of the way. The lantern with the word Privy on the carriage shook violently.

The official lifted the curtain of the car, and saw soldiers galloping past on horseback, ringing the bell, and the horseshoes rolled up a cloud of smoke into the car. The official waved his crimson sleeves, "Delivery in a hurry? This is a military report. The official frowned, because he had just returned from the southwest, "Everything is as usual in the southwest..." Immediately he urged the driver, "Quick, hurry back."

"Yes."

The post sent an envoy to ride a fast horse from Nanxun Gate into the Imperial City of Tokyo and galloped on the street, causing an orange kitten on the street to jump out of the arms of a woman who was carefully choosing jewelry in front of a jewelry booth.

The driver who was driving the ox cart also hurriedly tugged on the ox rope, and the farmer almost rolled over the Longjin Bridge with his cart before he could avoid it while pushing the fruit.

Residents and shop owners on both sides of the street raised their necks one after another, "The urgent delivery that travels five hundred miles a day has not appeared on this street for so many years..."

"There is war in the north, isn't it peaceful in the south?"

"The countries on the southwestern border have always been ambitious. In the past, there was Duke Longde, and after Duke Longde there was the Xiao Family Army. The manufacturing department moved to Gyeonggi. Who else is there in the southwest?"

The post sent envoys rushed to the front of Xuande Tower, holding up the gold medal, "The Southwest Emergency Army reports to the Emperor Fuque!"

The guards stepped aside, and the post sent envoys rode in through the side gate, dismounted in front of the last palace gate, and galloped all the way.

Just as the subjects were immersed in the joy of the victory and the birth of the emperor's granddaughter, the flames of war in the southwest rang out quietly. There was no sign before, and the enemy army conquered several counties one after another like a broken bamboo.

The whole family gathered in the Kunning Hall to have a long talk, the servants on duty outside the court hurried into the inner palace, and the servants inside who were waiting outside the Hall of Kunning all whispered something in their ears.

Qi Liu rushed in with his eyes wide open, not afraid of the peaceful atmosphere in the hall, "Officials, there is an urgent military report from the southwest, and they are waiting in Wende Hall."

The smile on the emperor's face froze instantly, and then he frowned, "Southwest?" He stepped out of the hall without asking. He walked out of the inner palace with three or two servants.

"On October [-]st, Southern Tubo suddenly raised troops to attack, and the army was crushing the situation like a broken bamboo. Our army tried its best to defend but failed to hold it. Three cities were lost overnight, Yazhou fell, and within two days... all the roads of Chengdu were lost within two days, the magistrate He and the transfer envoys stood firm in the city, died in the melee after the city was broken, and the enemy army approached Lizhou Road."

The emperor was furious and tore the general newspaper into pieces, "Isn't there a defense in the southwest? Why can it be breached so easily?"

"They... they seem to know the defense and deployment of troops in the city... they bypassed all the lines of defense."

The emperor threw the shredded paper to the ground, "Let the prime ministers of the eastern and western prefectures and the Minister of War come to Wende Hall as soon as possible!"

The servant cupped his hands, "Yes."

At the same time, with the expansion of the war, refugees suffering from the war continued to pour into the capital, and tabloids from the southwest also spread to Tokyo, and panic swept along.

The fall of the Chengdu Mansion shocked the government and the public. In desperation, the emperor had to order the Bell and Drum Academy to ring the golden bell to summon the court officials in the capital to discuss matters.

Some old-fashioned opponents of the reform in the Zhuhe faction stood up one after another. Yushitai and Jianyuan took turns to attack the reform. Before the joy was over, the emperor's face was stiff and pale.

"Southern Tubo must want to take advantage of the time when I sent troops to attack Liao. The land in the Central Plains is fertile, and it is not a day or two for foreigners to covet. Previously, the Northern Liao was willing to cede the land and negotiate with you, but now it is good. The war in the Northern Liao has not yet come. Stopping in the southwest, war broke out again, and the strength of Southern Tubo is stronger than the current Northern Liao."

Immediately, another minister wondered, "Before the Northern Expedition, didn't you specially deploy troops to garrison the border, and added additional defenses in the southwest, and the terrain of Western Shu is difficult to defend and difficult to attack. Why can Southern Tubo be easily captured?"

"Shu is so mountainous, why did the Southern Tubo know the deployment of troops in the southwest, bypass the defense line and take advantage of the terrain to easily enter Yazhou and drive straight into the hinterland of Chengdu. Isn't there an inner ghost?"

"Border defense and troop deployment have always been under the control of the West Mansion. If no one in the Privy Council has an affair with foreign enemies, is it a divine soldier?"

"Qianyuan's responsibility for reforming the Privy Council was divided into half to the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of War cannot escape the responsibility."

"Besides, the Privy Council sent Beijing officials to the southwest to inspect a while ago, who knows if there are ghosts in here."

The war broke out in the southwest, and the whole road was lost, causing refugees to pour into the capital to mourn. This gave the peace faction more excuses to attack, and the conservative faction once again became active in the political arena. Fang Zhiyan was in charge of the Privy Council, and Fang Zhiyan was once again accused and attacked by the ministers.

The matter involved the military and political state, the land fell, the state officials and several court officials were killed, and the people were displaced. The conservative faction knelt down in the court hall and demanded the emperor to deal with it.

Almost half of the courtiers knelt down to remonstrate. Under pressure, the emperor had no choice but to dismiss Fang Zhiyan for the crime of treason suspected of betraying state secrets, and ordered the Ministry of Punishment to imprison him for trial. Fang Zhiyan's relatives were implicated and arrested Zhang Hou, the deputy prime minister, his wife and children were also implicated and forced to be suspended and imprisoned.

When the edict was issued, the emperor fainted on the imperial throne in the court hall, citing the panic of all civil and military bureaucrats, and the servants who entered the Ministry of Internal Affairs hurriedly helped the emperor into the side hall, and reprimanded the court officials for not allowing them to enter, and sent people to publicize the Hanlin medical officer envoy and notice Queen.

After Xiao Youqing arrived, the court meeting was stopped because the emperor had fainted. The crown prince rushed into the palace after hearing the news, and waited outside the palace with Princess Fuqing. The crown prince left the court to supervise the country, but was immediately reprimanded and dismissed by the queen.

Outside the hall, Princess Fuqing burst into tears, "What's wrong with him, Daddy, hasn't he been fine these few days, why did he suddenly faint in the hall?"

The crown prince looked at his younger sister who was in the golden hairpin year, and immediately approached to wipe her tears, "Ruhua, don't worry, Daddy will be fine."

What the crown prince said made Princess Fuqing cry even harder, and she hugged her elder brother tremblingly: "Is it those stinky ministers? I don't understand why they are fine. Didn't your husband always teach that being a minister should only be respectful? Why is it so?" Is there a courtier who made the emperor angry like this?"

The crown prince gently comforted his sister, "It's not just this reason, there are other reasons too. In short, there are many, many helplessness."

"Daddy is the emperor, why don't you just throw away those unpleasant things and lock up those ignorant ministers?"

The crown prince looked at his younger sister who had always been self-willed, and immediately plucked the hair on the side of her ear, "Daddy is the Son of Heaven, and the Son of Heaven cannot be willful."

"What is willfulness?" Princess Fuqing let go of her elder brother, and said with red eyes, "Is it self-willed to live according to one's will and respect one's heart?"

"You all like to define others, and you all like to let others live according to your wishes. Since you can ask others to do this, why can't you do it yourself?" Princess Fuqing turned around and grabbed her little hand, "Except for Daddy, you are all annoying."

Knowing that Fang Zhiyan, a member of the Privy Council, and his wife and family were wrongly imprisoned, the Privy Council and its associates were all imprisoned, including their daughter and son-in-law. Overnight, many dignitaries' homes in Tokyo were sealed off by the guards.

The mansion of Zhang Hou, the minister of Zhongshu, the deputy prime minister bestowed by the emperor, was surrounded by the forbidden army. His wife Fang Shi and their son who was only a few years old were also escorted out. "What crime have we committed that you want to do like this?"

The person who took the man was the commander of the brave army in front of the palace, "Ms. Jun has offended you, and the matter has not been investigated clearly, so I ask you and Xiao Ya Nei to stay in the prison for a while. When the matter is found out, I will definitely give you justice." .”

"My father served the late emperor and the present and last two dynasties. He devoted himself to serving the country and the people. There was never any difference in his tenure." Fang sneered, "It's really ridiculous to be framed by you people who don't do anything with their salaries."

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It wasn't until late at night that the emperor woke up from his coma. Xiao Youqing held her hand and cried tremblingly, "Don't talk about anything, take care of me, and I will take care of the trivial matters outside."

The emperor opened his powerless eyes, and wriggled his lips guiltily, "I'm sorry..."