National Division

On the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, as usual, the streets are full of lanterns, no matter whether they are high-ranking or small households, every family has to go out to watch the lanterns, and get rid of all diseases.Although people in the palace couldn't go to the streets to see the lanterns, countless lanterns were set up in the palace to illuminate the entire imperial city in colorful splendor for the concubines and maids to watch in the imperial city.

"Your Highness, do you think it's good for me to wear this head mask tonight?" Zhao Yue excitedly rummaged through the jewelry box, asking Qi Jun who was opposite him from time to time.Tonight, I will go to all kinds of illnesses. As usual, everyone has to wear white clothes, regardless of whether they are concubines or court ladies, so we can only compare the jewelry.

Qi Jun was thinking about something.Concubine Ye Gui seemed to be very honest these days because she was robbed of the limelight at the New Year's Eve banquet, but apart from Ye's family, he had more troubles.Among other things, there hasn't been much snow since the twelfth lunar month this year. There is a reason for the so-called auspicious snow heralds a good year. If there is no snow this winter, the land will be droughty next spring. The irrigation of the canals must be done urgently. Get up, otherwise the spring plowing will be delayed for a year, and now seeing the barbarians scrambling, if there is a war and there is absolutely no shortage of food and grass, then we have to start now, and if we really wait until the war starts, we will raise money Grain, but three springs too late...

"Your Highness—" Zhao Yue's slightly impatient voice interrupted Qi Jun's thinking, and he also became a little impatient: "What's the matter?"

"Is your highness listening to my concubine?" Zhao Yue pouted, "I just said that wearing this head mask tonight, what does your highness think?"

Qi Jun was never interested in these jewelry and clothes, he didn't even look at them and said: "Not bad."

"Your Highness didn't even look at it." Zhao Yue was a little aggrieved, since she was a girl who wanted to please herself, she really hoped that Qi Jun could see her care in dressing up.

"It doesn't matter which one of these things you can't eat or drink." Qi Jun was really impatient, "Crown Princess, you are not the concubine of the Israelites, why do you care so much? Instead of thinking about these things, it's better to help the queen mother." It’s good to take care of the palace affairs.”

This is a bit serious, Zhao Yue's eyes turned red immediately: "Your Highness, this concubine wants to dress neatly, and it is also His Highness's face..."

"The face of the Eastern Palace does not rely on these things." Qi Jun sighed, "Crown Princess, you will be in charge of the Eastern Palace in the future, these jewelry materials are not something you should worry about—" He really didn't know how to say this , "Master Ye—do you know the situation in the palace?"

"Then what should I do?" Zhao Yue was also very distressed, "I know that Concubine Ye Gui is favored, but I can't do anything about the emperor's affairs..."

Qi Jun didn't know how to answer this question.He, the prince, has worked extremely hard, but at least he still knows what to do, and he really doesn't know what the princess should do.After thinking for a long time, he finally sighed: "Forget it, you spend more time with the mother and help the mother to take care of the palace affairs. Don't make any mistakes. I still have something to do. You will go to the mother's place later and stay with the mother." Look at the lights."

After leaving the East Palace, Qi Jun stood at the palace gate and glanced forward. Wherever he looked, there were flickering lights, illuminating the entire imperial city like daytime.Since it was so bright, the trees in the imperial city naturally couldn't be left bare under the lights. All the trees on both sides of the road were tied with flowers and leaves made of colorful satin and colored yarn, which seemed so lifelike at first glance.Just such a yarn flower, the yarn material alone costs money, and dozens of yarn flowers and silk flowers on a tree are almost the annual consumption of a farm family, and the consumption of a lantern is even more expensive. In terms of multiples, the beautiful flowers and lights along this winding road are piled up with tens of thousands of silver...

"Your Highness—" Feng En was a little worried, "It's windy here..."

"Go to the observatory!" Qi Jun recovered and left.At this moment, presumably only the observatory does not have such fiery trees and silver flowers.

As expected, the observatory was still as quiet as ever. Although there were a few more lanterns hung up, it was a world of difference compared to the luxury of the other palaces.Qi Jun walked through the dark garden until he felt the stale breath in his chest dissipate. When he entered the inner hall, his tone of voice was much lighter: "What are you doing again? Didn't you go out to see the lanterns?"

Zhibai was writing. It should be said that he would obediently complete any homework assigned by Qi Jun no matter how unwilling he was, so now the writing can be seen much more.When he heard Qi Jun come in, he put down his pen, turned his head and smiled, showing his little white teeth: "Why didn't Your Highness look at the lamp?"

"What's the point, but it's just a waste of money." Qi Jun casually pulled up a chair and sat down, picked up his homework and looked at it, "This character is well written, and the word "Xiaoyao" is also well written, better than before Too much. I thought you were hugging Zhanlu again, but I didn’t expect to be hardworking when doing homework.” Since Zhibai “borrowed” his Zhanlu sword, he has been reluctant to return it, and it seems that he can’t wait to hug him to sleep. At that time, he was willing to put Zhanlu down to write, which was indeed a bit unexpected.

Zhibai has a serious face: "I just discovered recently that there is a saying in Buddhism that 'dressing and eating are all practices'. When turning around, the energy is flowing all over the body, the same—"

"Stop, stop!" Qi Jun interrupted him hastily, "It gave me a headache. Since you don't need Zhan Lu, I'll take it back." He had seen Zhan Lu hanging on the wall a long time ago, so he made a gesture to get up and go over take.

"No!" Zhibai jumped up, and a vicious tiger pounced on Qi Jun, wrapping his arms around his waist, "His Royal Highness, let me watch it for a few more days! Just a few days will do!"

Qi Jun didn't really want to take it away at first, he suppressed a smile and was about to speak, when he heard a buzzing sound, the Zhanlu sword hanging on the wall suddenly trembled, and half of the sword rushed out of its sheath by itself, The bright sword edge reflected the candlelight, shining with icy brilliance.Qi Jun was shocked on the spot: "What's going on!"

Zhibai was also shocked, let go of his arms holding Qi Jun, and moved over step by step as if he had seen some rare treasure: "Ming on the wall of Longquan—it turns out that there is something real! Your Highness, this, this is like Yes, like a warning!"

"Warning?" Qi Jun was startled suddenly, his eyes quickly glanced around, grabbed Zhibai and rushed out, "What kind of warning? Could it be that there is some disaster here? Don't say too much, get out of here first!"

Zhibai was also confused, and he was dragged all the way out of the inner hall before he realized: "Your Highness, this, this is not the way, you must know what is going on."

Qi Jun has also calmed down now, and narrowed his eyes slightly after thinking for a while: "What kind of disaster will you have in the observatory... This palace is just a man-made disaster..." He made up his mind in an instant Thinking, "Very well, Zhengchou has no chance to expose this matter...Feng En!" This time, he must not swallow his anger anymore.

The best place to watch the palace lanterns tonight is still in the Imperial Garden. Zhao Yue and the Queen dressed up and waited for a long time in Zichen Hall but Qi Jun passed by, so they had to wait.Because of the delay for a while, when the two arrived at the imperial garden, it was already full of lantern watchers. The queen couldn't help frowning when she saw it from a distance: "There are so many people——"

The voice hadn't finished yet, and suddenly there was a loud noise inside, the screams of the palace people, the yells of the middlemen, and the scolding of the guards seemed to be in a mess, and there were even flames flickering in some places , A good imperial garden, instantly turned into a pot of boiling porridge.In the sound of the boiling porridge, the queen vaguely heard someone shouting: "The prince has been assassinated!"

The queen's legs softened and she almost fell down. At this moment, Zhao Yue calmed down. The girl from the general's family was stronger after all. She tried her best to hold the queen, and shouted at the palace people beside her, "Go ahead and have a look, and ask the guards to save you!" drive!"

Going out to watch the lanterns tonight, the empress is surrounded by palace maids. At this moment, the imperial garden is in chaos, and some people are desperately fleeing here. How can these palace maids squeeze ahead to protect the empress and the crown prince? It's great not to be hit by people.After tossing for a long time, the scene was finally brought under control. When Zhao Yue helped the queen desperately squeezed to the front, Emperor Jing'an had already arrived, and a group of people surrounded Qi Jun on the ground.The queen glanced over, and saw that Qi Jun's right arm was dripping with blood, and there was a tear in the skirt of his left chest, and blood was also oozing out.Because of all kinds of illnesses tonight, Qi Jun was wearing a set of plain Taoist robes, and the palace people around him were holding many palace lanterns, the blood was particularly glaring under the lights, the empress saw that the wound was on her heart, and suddenly there were tears in her ears. With a bang, he almost passed out.In my ears, I heard Emperor Jing'an yelling: "Where is the imperial doctor! Quickly send the imperial doctor!"

"Father——" Qi Jun was about to sit up supported by Feng En and Zhibai, "Father, Empress, don't worry, the son is not seriously injured."

The queen was quite angry when she heard what he said, and she didn't look like she was seriously injured. Only then did the rumbling head calm down a little, and she rushed over with soft feet: "Jun'er——this, what's going on!"

Qi Jun pulled open his collar with his uninjured left hand, pulled out a longevity lock, and said with a wry smile, "Fortunately, I'm wearing this—"

Emperor Jing'an stared at the longevity lock.It was a long life lock with red gold auspicious cloud patterns, about the size of a baby's palm, with a piece of high-quality emerald in the middle, and small diamonds inlaid around it.He still remembers this thing. It was made by Qi Jun after he landed. Of course, this size can't be worn around the baby's neck. Afterwards, he even carried it close to his body.Thinking about it carefully, although I have rewarded him with many things, but this is really the only thing that is so close to him.

Emperor Jing'an didn't know what it was like at the moment, but before he could think about it, he found that the emerald inlaid in the middle of the longevity lock had been shattered, and even the entire lock surface was sunken inward, which showed that it had been hit hard.Reminiscent of the rip in Qi Jun's clothes, Emperor Jing'an's face was extremely gloomy - if Qi Jun hadn't been wearing this longevity lock, the sharp blade might have pierced his heart!

"Who assassinated?" Emperor Jing'an squeezed these words out between his teeth, "There are assassins in the palace, what do the guards do, and the prince was assassinated!"

"The two assassins are dressed as middle-aged men." Qi Jun asked someone to help him stand up. "My son injured one of them, but he was caught off guard."

Emperor Jing'an had a gloomy face: "Dress like a middle-aged man? How nice!"

"Your Majesty—" Two guards dragged a corpse over and knelt down tremblingly, "I wait for the guards to fail—the assassin committed suicide..."

"He committed suicide..." Emperor Jing'an kicked the guard in the chest, "He committed suicide! Another one!"

The guard dared not answer.There are more than thousands of palace people in this imperial city. Tonight, everyone is dressed in similar clothes in order to avoid all kinds of illnesses. If it wasn’t for this middle-aged man who was injured and limped by the prince, they might not even be able to catch this one. As for the other one, I haven't even seen the shadow at all, where can I catch it?

"Search, search him, to see if he is a murderer, and if there are any clues!" Emperor Jing'an took a few breaths, and sat down on the chair Wang Jin brought, "After the search, pull out the whip Corpse!" There are assassins sneaking into the imperial city, they can assassinate the prince today, how do they know that they will not assassinate the emperor tomorrow?

The guards hurriedly rolled over to search the body. Since they wanted to check whether it was a murderer, they naturally wanted to tear off their pants. One guard pulled the assassin's belt and pulled it hard. The belt was torn open, and something tightly wrapped inside also rolled off. It came out and fell to the ground with a ding.Under the light, it can be seen clearly that it is a small bronze medal.The guard didn't dare to be self-absorbed, so he quickly picked it up and presented it to Emperor Jing'an. Emperor Jing'an looked at his hand in disgust. The bronze medal was only the size of a peach pit, with a hole pierced on the top, as if it should have been strung with a rope. A small print: one one five.The guard turned the bronze medal, and a leaf was embossed on the other side.The pupils of Concubine Ye Gui, who was following Emperor Jing'an, suddenly shrank, and her well-drawn face faded instantly, turning pale as paper...

On the Hungry Ghost Festival, an assassin assassinated the crown prince, and a bronze medal with leaves was found on the assassin's body. Although the news is not allowed to spread indiscriminately, how many palace people were watching the body search at that time, how could it be suppressed?Didn't it just blow up like wildfire?The assassin who assassinated was indeed a man, but what does the bronze medal on his body mean?What is cast on the bronze medal is a leaf, leaf... what does this mean?The number on the reverse side is [-], so doesn't that mean that this assassin has at least [-] four companions?Are they all in the imperial city?

However, two days after the news spread, no one spread it anymore, because the middle-aged ladies who spread the news were already too busy to take care of themselves-the guards searched the palace wantonly, and the middle-aged people were the first to bear the brunt. I don’t know how many were dragged away. After the interrogation, he never came back; the maids were a little better, but not much better, after all, who knows if there are any maids among the more than 100 accomplices in front?All of this started from the assassin who assassinated the prince, and from the bronze medal with the leaves cast. If no one assassinated the prince, without this bronze medal, everyone is still living well now. How can there be prisons or even life and death? disaster?The resentment was also like wildfire, and with the cries of the palace people who were taken away, it burned to every corner of the imperial city.

In the Hall of Liangyi, Concubine Ye Gui slapped Qi Zhang on the face, her chest heaving: "Idiot! How did I give birth to such an idiot like you! Who told you to find someone to assassinate in the palace!"

Qi Zhang covered his burning face: "Concubine Mu, I just sent people to kill the little Taoist priest, and did not assassinate the prince!"

"What's the difference, what's the difference!" Concubine Ye Gui was so angry that her temples throbbed with pain, "It doesn't matter who you assassinate, it's not the same!" As long as he can assassinate in the imperial city, Emperor Jing'an will If you are afraid, you will become suspicious. Is there any difference between assassinating Qi Jun or Zhibai?

"But—but my son really thinks that little Taoist priest is too much of a hindrance... Besides, the person my son uses never has such a bronze medal on him, that is, that must be a fake token made by the prince!" Although there are people in the Ye family Hands, but they are just a few middle-aged people, who dare to bribe a guard to deliver the news. As for the dead soldiers of the Ye family, they really don't have the ability to infiltrate the inner palace.The middleman used by Qizhang was just a family member who had received a great favor from the Ye family and had to repay it with his life. Since he was not a confidant of the Ye family, naturally he would not have any tokens.

"That token is real." Concubine Ye Gui said solemnly, clenched her hands tightly.The Ye family's private soldiers have been established for ten years. Although the soldiers have changed several batches, the tokens have been used all the time.How can a bronze medal that has been used for ten years be exactly the same as a newly minted and fake one?What's more, Emperor Jing'an was very discerning in identifying ancient relics, it was difficult to hide from his eyes whether it was true or not.Although the name of the Ye family's private soldiers is not written on the bronze medal, a bronze medal that has been used for many years and cast with leaves is enough to make Emperor Jing'an suspicious, and the emperor's suspicion is just a hanging over his head, which will fall at any time Here comes the guillotine.

Looking around at the Hall of Liangyi, which was already half empty, Concubine Ye Gui's heart sank.In the past few days, except for the middle palace and the east palace, the number of middlemen and maids in the other palaces has been greatly reduced, and some of them are not even manned enough.In her Liangyi Hall, even the chief supervisor and maid in charge of the palace were called out for interrogation, and Emperor Jing'an finally saved her face. These two people came back alive in the end, but the palace servants below were killed. Half of it was lost, and the other half was replaced by a newcomer.Although Emperor Jing'an did not say that this "leaf" is the other "leaf", he obviously already suspected her in his heart.Everything is broken on this bronze medal, but this thing, as long as the Ye family's private soldiers die, their companions will take back the bronze medal if they die. How did this plaque with the number [-] fall into Qi Jun's hands?Could it be that the people sent by my brother made such a stupid mistake when they were in the southwest?

The more Ye Guifei thought about it, the angrier she became, and the more she thought about it, the more worried she became. Finally, she sent someone to spread the news to the southwest before Emperor Jing'an went on a rampage. I hope that my brother will calm down and deal with it properly.

"Mother Concubine—" The people in Qizhang Palace have also been replaced. He has been going smoothly for more than ten years, and he is a little panicked at this time, "What should we do? Will Father—"

"Shut up!" Concubine Ye Gui cut him off sharply, "You didn't do anything, why are you guilty? It's just that Donggong directed and acted a play to frame our mother and son. We are not guilty, so what is there to be afraid of?"

Qi Zhang couldn't react for a while: "The token—" Didn't the mother and concubine just say that it was true?

Concubine Ye Gui stared at him with dark eyes, stared back at the last part of his sentence, got up and went to the door to check, and made sure that no one could hear them, and then said in a deep voice: "Listen well, offender! Once you make a mistake, don’t make it again! What you have to do now is to worry about whether there are assassins lurking in the palace, trying to assassinate the emperor! These days, you should stay by the emperor’s side, be vigilant at all times, and protect your father! Remember, all you have to do is to be a good son like before!"

These words were squeezed out word by word from between the teeth.When Concubine Ye Gui was saying these words, only she knew that the hand she put in her sleeve had pinched the palm of her hand to bleed.Because she was one step behind the queen from the beginning, she was the main concubine, and she was only a side concubine, so the queen and Qi Jun naturally stood taller than her and her son.For this gap, she worked hard for many years.

It's not that assassination can't solve the problem, the problem is that you must never assassinate in the palace.Isn't there more people in her hands than Qizhang?But all she could do was force Qi Jun to the southwest and let him die outside.Emperor Jing'an was obsessed with female sex and believed in Buddhism, but he didn't dote on her to the point of obeying her.In the final analysis, Emperor Jing'an was still an emperor, relatives, high positions, these were all things he had to consider, and he would never just abolish the queen and help her to the throne just because she was favored by Concubine Ye Gui.She understood this a few years ago, the only thing she can do is to let Qi Zhang compare Qi Jun.Emperor Jing'an couldn't abolish the empress casually, but establishing a crown prince could establish a virtuous person. What a beloved woman couldn't do, a beloved son could do, because that was the blood of Emperor Jing'an.This point Qizhang did a good job, coupled with Zhen Mingzi's insinuations, their mother and son are getting closer and closer to the goal, this can be seen from the fact that Emperor Jing'an never planned to entrust Qizhang out.But after so many years of hard work, I'm afraid it will be ruined by Qi Zhang's impulse this time!

"You have to worry about your father, but you can't waste your homework." Concubine Ye Gui barely suppressed the anger in her heart, and stretched out her hand to gently tug at Qi Zhang's crumpled skirt.Qizhang is still fine, she can no longer scare her son, "Just do it as before, remember, nothing happened."

Qi Zhang's lips moved slightly, wanting to speak but didn't know what to say.The mother and son were staring blankly at each other, when suddenly a court lady came in from outside with small steps, her face was full of joy: "Your Majesty, Your Highness!"

"What's the matter?" Concubine Ye Gui was just getting agitated, she was about to sink her face, but in a blink of an eye she saw the palace maid's happy expression, and she barely suppressed it.

"Announce the good news to your empress and Your Highness." The maid bowed her knees, "The imperial concubine has diagnosed a happy pulse!"