female concubine

"Your Majesty, the case file sent by the Ministry of Punishment." The servant forwarded it to the case file and stepped back.

The emperor looked at the confession and several case files stamped with the red badges of the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice, "Before the Hundred and Fifth Festival..." After careful inspection, he picked up a pen and dipped it in cinnabar. When he wanted to write, he hesitated and hung it on his pillow After a while, I still put the pen down, without writing a word.

Living man stood aside respectfully, lowering his head to write something, he looked at the charges on the case file, and said, "Qing."

Han Si stopped the pen in his hand, and took a step forward respectfully, "The minister is here."

"You said treason, should you kill him?"

"If you are guilty of the crime, you should be punished according to the crime."

"What about meritorious people?"

"A merit is a merit and a demerit is a demerit, merit and demerit are never offset, meritorious service should be rewarded, and demerits should be punished, so that justice is not lost."

The emperor looked sideways at Han Bang and asked, "Do you know who this condemned person is?"

Han Si cupped his hands and lowered his head slightly, "Since your Majesty is asking about a minister, I think this person must be more or less related to the minister, so that His Majesty can personally review it. There are many, so it should be related to the benefactor."

"He is Marquis Yu of the Ma Jun, so Qing thinks that he should be killed now?" Marquis Yu of the Ma Jun belonged to Shen Yi'an, so he was also from King Zhao.

Han Si said without changing his face: "I still say the same thing, Li Lou Zhiming, it's a coincidence that the public loses the son, if you don't follow the rules, you can't make a square."

"He's your benefactor's right-hand man, aren't you afraid that his words will be heard by him and you'll lose your trust?"

Han Bang folded his sleeves and bowed, "I said before that I only serve the king, and I can't use public service for personal gain because of gratitude. Your Majesty is the Holy Lord. The Holy Lord asked again and again. It's not hesitation, but a clear decision in my heart."

Hearing Han Si's clever answer, the emperor asked with a smile, "Do you know how many people will die if I write this stroke?"

Han Si lowered his head slightly, "And vice versa."

The emperor looked down at the verdict, and took a long breath, "The Hundred-Fifth Festival is coming soon, it's not appropriate to see blood!" Immediately he wrote and called out: "Zhao Ci!"

Zhao Ci heard the sound and entered, "The villain is here."

"Send the decree to the Ministry of Punishment. In addition, let the people of Dali Temple seal up the evidence and bring it up. I want to see it."

"Yes."

Shentu was arrested within one day and was convicted and executed. The sentence was based on the merits of Jiang Shi's life and death, so his family was not implicated, but his family property was confiscated and all his property was confiscated.

It was already night when King Zhao heard the news. He wanted to go to Da Nei to find the emperor, but after thinking about it, he went to Han's house.

"Shen Tu has the most elite cavalry in my dynasty. He was trained by his uncle. The cavalry in his hands are all his personal soldiers. If he dies..."

"This army will be taken over by others." Han Si took Zhao Wang's words leisurely while playing chess.

"My king's hands are about to disappear, how can you still play chess leisurely here?"

After the chess pieces were settled, Han Si retracted his hands to his stomach, raised his head and slowly opened his eyes, saying, "Otherwise?"

Zhao Wang breathed a sigh of relief, looked back and forth as if he had nowhere to breathe, and immediately shook his sleeves heavily, "Hey, I'll go to His Majesty to make an argument!"

"The prince is already a mediocre person in the eyes of His Majesty, do the three kings also want to be a mediocre person?"

Zhao Wanglen turned his head, "What do you mean by that, sir?"

"Is it treason? Your Majesty has been the king for so many years. Could it be that you will believe it with just a confession?"

"Since your majesty knows, why do you want to allow them to kill heroes indiscriminately? Do you mean that your majesty is the Holy Lord?"

Han Bang picked up a sunspot, "Your Majesty killed heroes, are there still few? The Holy Lord is a Holy Lord, not a benevolent Lord, and everything must be lacking. This sentence is applicable," Han Bang stared at him and King Zhao. The sunspot in the middle immediately dropped a point on the chessboard, "Anyone!"

After the sunspots settled down, he ate a piece of the whites, and Han Bo methodically collected the whites and threw them into the box.

King Zhao looked down and saw that the black stones who had the upper hand had lost a large piece, and were evenly matched with the white stones, so he raised his eyebrows unwillingly and said, "In the end, in his eyes, we are all pawns!"

"It's good that the three kings understand."

"But can I just sit back and watch Ma Jun being taken away from his hands?"

"If you lose Donggu, you will gain Sangyu."

Zhao Wang seemed to be resentful, he got up and turned his back and said: "Your Majesty let the prince preside over the martial arts. Those martial arts scholars who have been admitted to the imperial examination all regard the prince as their benefactor. This king is one after another. The pity that Sang Yu didn't even see his shadow." !"

"Since it's a false accusation, how can it be airtight and flawless? Instead of being sullen here, it's better to calm down and think about the cause and effect of the matter. If you think about it clearly, you may not only find Sangyu, Maybe you can still find some sweet melons?" Han Si smiled and propped himself up, clapping his palms, "Your Majesty is a little hungry, do you want to stay for a supper? Your Majesty just rewarded a sheep. The wind furnace that I brought back from Fan Lou before I was sent down to the official can be used, and the three kings stay here to taste the hot food made by the lower official?"

Zhao Wang turned his head, looked at Han Bang with a calm face, frowned and said: "Sir, let's enjoy it slowly, I don't have such a good taste as my husband now."

"Oh, I have to rush to clean the stove, so I won't send the three kings back."

King Zhao looked at Han Bang, and was speechless for a moment. He just sighed and turned around and went down the stone steps of the pavilion.

"However, three kings, please remember that there is no haste, no small gains, haste makes waste, and small gains lead to great failure."

"The lower official has a weak temper and prefers to eat hot food."

King Zhao listened, and immediately left with his hands behind his back.

------

The man covered in mud hurriedly washed his hands and ran to the bathroom, and fell down on the couch next to the screen as if exhausted, looking sideways at the woman in the bath.

Xiao Youqing never looked back to see who it was, and asked: "Shen Tu is a general, and he has made great contributions. How do you know that His Majesty will not thoroughly investigate this case and the Ministry of Approval and Punishment will execute it immediately?"

"Because Shentu is a general with military power. I'm not afraid of his achievements, but I'm afraid of his pride. He has been in the Majun Division for so many years, and with the help of Yao Shen, the envoy of the Privy Council, all the cavalry under his command are single-handedly selected and trained by him. An unruly army is still cavalry, I am afraid that His Majesty has long wanted to get rid of this Shentu."

"According to your words, His Majesty knows there is a behind-the-scenes?"

"of course."

"Aren't you afraid that he will suspect you, don't kill Shentu, and then track him down to the end?"

"Your Majesty has the Imperial City Secretary, and we have only three brothers in total. It is natural to be suspicious of me, but smart people will first remove the known threats, and then find ways to deal with the unknown. After all, haste makes waste, and it may be self-defeating. !"

The King of Chu smiled again and said, "As long as King Zhao believes it, it will be fine. After all, the Imperial Medical Officer is now the Crown Prince's man!"

Xiao Youqing lowered his head, seemingly regretting, "It's just a pity for Shen Tu, who can understand fire and gun at a glance, and his ability to command troops is not bad."

King Chu got up from the couch, dragged himself to the edge of the pool, sat down by the edge of the pool, and stretched out his hand to stir the hot water in the pool, "I don't think it's a pity, there is no shortage of good generals in the world, what is lacking is finding good generals Eyes, the world has no ministers, no kings to make it."

She picked up the water with her hand and immediately made a fist, "If it's not for my use, why keep it to help others!"

Xiao Youqing was stunned suddenly, and looked back at her blankly.

The King of Chu raised his head and was taken aback, "Sister, do you think... Liu Lang is a bit scary?"

Xiao Youqing shook her head, and leaned forward to gently wipe off the mud on her nose, "If you want to become a king, this is the only way you must go, even in the future..."

The King of Chu knew what Xiao Youqing wanted to say, and immediately interrupted her, "There is no future, as I said, my interest in Jiangshan is only because of you!"

"It is now, and it will be in the future." After finishing speaking, she got up and brushed her clothes, bowed to Xiao Youqing and stretched out her hand, "The flowers in the yard are ready, sister can go there."

At the beginning of April in the eighth year of Jianping, Shen Tu, the guard of the army Ma Jundu, hid gunpowder privately. He was sentenced to execution for the crime of treason, and he was not allowed to return to the autumn queen.

Shen Yi'an, the commander of the capital in front of the palace, frankly pleaded guilty in front of the palace, but the emperor sent him back instead of convicting him. Then he summoned the commander of the capital of the horse army to hold him accountable, and punished him with one year's salary for the crime of ineffective control and poor discipline.

There is no general in the court, so the post of Marquis of Yu is not available, and the Majun Division is under the direct control of the Majun Commander.

"Uncle, what does His Majesty say?"

Shen Yi'an shook his head, "Your Majesty said that Shen Tu was in the Majun Division and not in the front of the palace, so he did not convict me, but punished the commander of the Majun Commander."

"Third King, before Shen Tu was arrested, the officials also found out one thing."

"Oh?"

"Shen Tu went to the home of the imperial medical envoy due to illness, and brought back two beautiful young women from the home of the medical envoy."

"A young woman?" Zhao Wangleng looked at, "Yang Shu has been an imperial physician in Da Nei for so many years. He has been diagnosing my pulse, and he is honest and honest. I have never heard of him as a womanizer, and he has never had a child."

"That's why I went to Yang's house to investigate."

"Those two women are..." Shen Yi'an took a step closer, "It was given to Yang Shu by the crown prince. Do the three kings still remember the false oral instruction they told the lower officials earlier?"

"You mean, Prince?"

Shen Yi'an nodded, "Yes, it is very likely that Xiao Xianfu changed the word Donggong to the country name, which made the crown prince think that His Majesty wanted to appoint the eldest grandson of the first emperor born in our dynasty as the grandson of the emperor, and the crown prince was afraid of Zhao Wangfu. He will give birth to an heir before Donggong, and he will threaten Imperial Physician Yang."

"No wonder, and Donggong has always been afraid of the military power in uncle's hands."

Shen Yi'an said regretfully: "It's hard to find a general, it's a pity for Shentu's general talent."

"This king knows that sooner or later he will die at the hands of a woman. This matter is too strange. The husband said that he should calm down and follow the vines, and don't startle the snake, so I troubled my uncle to continue to investigate in secret to see if he can find it. What Mister said, Melon!"

"The subordinate obeys the order."

"Speaking of which, King Chu is the head of the Dali Temple, and he is also responsible for the review. How is he now?"

"The spies near King Chu's mansion said that besides handling cases in Dali Temple, the King of Chu is busy planting trees recently."

"Plant a tree?"

"Yes, I heard that it is Princess Chu's birthday."

"It's...it's almost the Cold Food Festival!" Ever since we met each other, every year on Xiao Youqing's birthday, King Zhao would send some good things to the founding mansion.

----------

There was an empty garden in the Prince Chu's mansion. There used to be only some withered bamboos in it, but now it has turned into a bright red one.

"I don't care much about flowers, so this garden has been empty all the time. Now that the crabapple flowers are in full bloom, I ordered people to bring these trees back from Sichuan."

She dragged Xiao Youqing into the garden full of potted plants. There was a unique crabapple tree beside the artificially dug stream. Then it gradually turns pink, like Xiaotian Mingxia, "When I first arrived in Sichuan, I went to the flower sea in Yan Palace, and I saw this crabapple tree at first sight. I wanted to transport it back to my other courtyard, thinking about moving the tree and planting it. It was too troublesome to let it go. After knowing that my sister liked Haitang, I ordered someone to find it and transport it back to the Chu Palace. Unexpectedly, after more than three years, there is not much change except that it is a little taller than before, and the flowers are still the same. It’s in full bloom, but the place where it blooms has changed.”

"The sea of ​​flowers in Yanwang Palace has been replaced by my mother."

"I pay homage to Peony and Begonia. None of these begonias are worth less than ten gold pieces, so how should my sister reward me?"

"The prince is so rich, what reward do you want?"

The king of Chu pretended to complain, "Oh, it took me a lot of painstaking efforts, but I threw this pit."

"What do the six kings want?"

Seeing that the person changed his tune, the King of Chu laughed and said, "My sister has been with Liu Lang for so long, what does Liu Lang want, my sister doesn't know?"

Xiao Youqing looked at her, then shook her head helplessly.

"On the day of Zhengdan..." King Chu suddenly became heavy, pointing to a blooming flower on the crabapple tree, "The begonia that my sister gave me is also embroidered with this style of crabapple."

"Because my sister predicted that I would not be safe at the banquet. The officials didn't know that when His Majesty walked towards me, his eyes were red. It was not because of my injury, but because he saw the embroidery on the skirt."

"Why did Your Majesty recall me from Sichuan to marry my sister? It's not just the prince's instigation. My sister was born to my mother-in-law. The mother and daughter are naturally like each other. The painter presented my portrait to Your Majesty, so," she suddenly sneered, "He just Have this idea, otherwise the abandoned son will always be just an abandoned son in his eyes!"

"So I also know that the more I resist, the less he will take back his will."

"Didn't my sister realize that the person in that portrait is a little different from me?"

"Because, I painted it and ordered someone to copy it and send it back to Kyoto!"

After listening to the whole thing, Xiao Youqing was not overly surprised by King Chu's explanation, "The portrait is like His Majesty when he was young, but it is more like you now, maybe I should have thought of it a long time ago, I didn't choose you, Instead, you chose me!"

The King of Chu immediately lowered his head and smiled and said: "Before I was ordered to leave Beijing, someone told me that there was a rebellious female student in the Duke's mansion who was better than her mother in reading and writing. government, so no one dares to point out."

"Female students..." Xiao Youqing laughed suddenly, "It turns out that outsiders passed it on to me like this."

King Chu walked forward slowly, walked to the crabapple tree, stretched out his hand to caress the trunk, and suddenly said in a low voice, "Sister."

"What's the matter?" Xiao Youqing looked at the isolated figure under the tree, and for some reason, suddenly felt sad.

"If one day, you miss me, come to this garden, I will...see you."

The King of Chu turned his head, his eyes were reddish, and tears dripped down his cheeks into the newly turned soil under his feet.