Great Qin Shi Empress

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Ying Zheng and Lin Qian finally found out about Xiao's pregnancy after Xiao He's letter arrived, but their reactions to the news were completely different.

Lin Qian's first reaction was shock, and then worried that Xiao would be tired from working with her big belly.

Ying Zheng was somewhat dissatisfied: "Since she is pregnant, why didn't she tell the widow immediately? When discussing which city to send the 2 people to, the city under Xiao's responsibility was never considered."

Lin Qian was stunned for a moment, and explained: "Maybe she is just worried about this happening?"

Ying Zheng turned to look at her: "Isn't pregnancy very dangerous? She doesn't just ask for leave and take a rest for a while. It's fine to continue working without telling the news. As long as there are no mistakes, her family has no objections, and the widow will not pursue it. "

"But what a big deal is building a city? How can she continue to hide it?"

"Once the [-] yuan arrives at Xiao's city, the construction speed of that city will definitely accelerate rapidly, and the number of her jobs will also increase geometrically. Does she not worry about her children?"

Lin Qian couldn't help defending Xiao: "She didn't receive the news in advance, saying that the imperial court will arrange 2 people to build a city on the grassland."

She pointed to the content of the memorial presented by Xiao He, "Generally, when there is only one month left before the due date, pregnant women will stay at home to raise their babies and wait for the final delivery no matter what."

"Look here, Xiao's due date is two months away."

Ying Zheng was at a loss: "What is there to care about?"

Lin Qian said helplessly: "Of course there is. Generally speaking, the busy farming period is one to two months, and generally speaking, the speed of city construction will be greatly slowed down during the period from the busy farming season to the end of the year because there are too few people building the city. .”

"As the person in charge of building the city, it is reasonable for Xiao to reduce his workload during this period."

Ying Zheng was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized: "You mean, Xiao deliberately calculated the time of pregnancy, and waited to give birth and finish confinement during the period from the busy farming season to the end of the year?"

Lin Qian nodded: "I personally think so, otherwise the timing would be too coincidental."

What's more, even if Xiao didn't deliberately calculate the pregnancy time before she got pregnant, it must be because she found out that her due date was due to be born and she was working relatively leisurely in Jiancheng, and she was sure that she would not delay work.

After all, Xiao He and she are both in charge of the construction of the city. If she really has something to worry about, it is convenient to ask Xiao He to help.

It was impossible for Xiao to think that the imperial court would suddenly send her 2 people.

And since I didn't say it before, the imperial court has already decided to send people to the city she is in charge of, and when she received the news, those 2 people had already taken the train to the city she was in charge of. Not fit to speak.

Ying Zheng's anger subsided a little, but he was still a little unhappy.

Lin Qian was helpless: "I can quite understand Xiao."

Ying Zheng looked at Lin Qian sharply, "Do you think she did everything right?"

Lin Qian was a little amused, and quickly explained: "Understanding does not mean that I think she is right. I just think that if I were in her position, I would probably make the same choice as her."

"No," she looked at Ying Zheng with a smile, "Even if I was not in Xiao's position, but found out that I was pregnant in Shaofu's position, I would only make the same choice."

Ying Zheng glanced at Lin Qian, and couldn't help complaining, "No, you can't get yourself pregnant again."

[You still know me well? 】

Lin Qian couldn't help laughing: "Of course I wouldn't let myself be in Xiao's current predicament. After all, I didn't plan to have children from the beginning, and Xiao He and Xiao He were obviously ready to get pregnant before they got married."

"But, I'm just giving an example."

"If I was pregnant with a child when I was serving as the Shaofu and planned to keep her, in order to hold my position, I would only try to hide the fact that I was pregnant as much as possible."

Ying Zheng was puzzled: "Why?"

Lin Qian looked at Ying Zheng seriously, with a particularly serious expression: "Because I don't want my hard-earned position to be handed over to others because I'm pregnant."

Seeing that Ying Zheng didn't understand the key point, she simply pointed out, "If a woman is pregnant in October, if she finds out she's pregnant—even if it's the second month—tell everyone If she is pregnant by herself and directly asks for leave to go home to raise her baby, then she will have a career gap period of eight months of pregnancy plus one to two months of confinement time."

"Not to mention whether she can give up raising her child and return to the workplace after the ten-month vacation is over, I just ask you a question..."

"During the ten-month blank period, will you continue to keep the position that originally belonged to her, and wait for the other party to take office immediately after she returns?"

Ying Zheng paused, and after a long silence, he said frankly, "No."

Ten months is too long, no matter if any position is missing for such a long time, there may be various mistakes and accumulation of official duties.

It is impossible for him to leave a position to someone for ten months, not even a month.

If it is an important position, even a few days...

Ying Zheng was stunned: Xiao's current position is the top priority, even more important than some Jiuqing's affairs. Once Xiao asks for leave, no matter how long or short, he will definitely arrange someone to take the other's position immediately.

This has nothing to do with other things, Ying Zheng is only responsible to the country.

It is impossible for him to stop the city construction task that is currently in full swing just because of an official's personal reasons.

Lin Qian sighed helplessly: "Look, this is why Xiao concealed it."

Xiao's current situation is even more dangerous than Lin Qian's immediate pregnancy——

Even if Lin Qian is pregnant, she may not have other opportunities to recover after being replaced, and taking leave will not lose all her past achievements;

However, the task of building cities in the grassland has reached the final stage: several grassland cities near the hinterland of the Central Plains have been built with the efforts of the nearby people, and the cities farthest from Xianyang were built earlier, and now they are all finished. On the right track, it is becoming more and more prosperous.

Except for the two cities that Xiao He and Xiao are currently in charge of, there are only four or five cities left on the grassland that still need to be built.

And this, with the joint efforts of Xiao He and Xiao He, the construction task can be completed in half a year.

But just when he was about to collect the fruits of victory, Xiao asked for leave to give others a chance to take his place, so that he could pick peaches directly?I don't even know it's impossible!

Ying Zheng frowned: "Since you know that now is the critical stage, why do you want to get pregnant at this time?"

Lin Qian pointed out the blind spot: "Because the task of building the city is over, Xiao He and Xiao will return to Xianyang. With the merits of the two of them, the officials of one of the Jiuqing may not be able to stop them. Once the Jiuqing vacates the position, they The two will be the No.1 picks, right?"

Not only have these two people been working in the central government, but they have also been dispatched to other places to take charge of important affairs more than once, and their accumulated achievements are much more than those of Lu Zhi and Zhang Fu.

It is no problem for Lu Zhi and Zhang Fu to serve as officials of the Jiuqing, but for these two people...

The position of the subordinate officials of Jiuqing is lower.

Not to mention other things, Xiao Heke was originally one of the officials who governed Su Nei Shi.

There is another point that Xiao is probably worried about: "If Ruo Xiao gets pregnant after returning to Xianyang, whether she is pregnant when she is about to be promoted to Jiuqing or after she is promoted to Jiuqing, it is unacceptable to her. .”

After all, Jiuqing only has nine positions, and young officials like Lin Qian and Zhang Liang who have to stay in this position for an unknown number of years have to be eliminated, and there are even fewer positions that may be vacated.

And during this period, there will be other people who have accumulated merits not inferior to theirs——

Meng Yi, Zhang Cang, and Zhao Tuo went to the coast to promote salt fields to produce the sea salt needed by the country; Lin Mo, who is still guarding the Western Regions; people……

All of them are strong contenders for the position of Jiuqing in the future.

Once Xiao took the initiative to give up his position at this time, he might not be able to get promoted in the future.

If Xiao Ruo has enough ambition for her career, she can only and must give birth to the child before returning to Xianyang.

Because this time is the most suitable and the loss is the smallest.

Ying Zheng originally wanted to say "you can not get pregnant", but soon realized that with Xiao He and Xiao's situation, it was impossible for them not to have children.

When Qin Lv encouraged the people to bear children, it was impossible for him to ask Xiao to be barren.

She can do this by herself, but Ying Zheng must not say it.

Once it is said, there are bound to be people to follow suit, and the population growth rate of Qin State, which is in good momentum, may be seriously affected.

but……

It's really annoying that this is happening now.

What is even more annoying is that, as an ambitious emperor, Ying Zheng agrees with Xiao's choice.

Seeing that Ying Zheng's expression was relaxed, Lin Qian hurriedly said, "Didn't Xiao He already give a solution? You just switch the cities in charge of the two, and Xiao can still raise babies, give birth, and confinement as originally planned." After Xiao He took over the work of building the city, there will be no mistakes in the future."

Without waiting for Ying Zheng to answer, Lin Qian sighed: "The most important issue now is obviously not that Xiao concealed her pregnancy. After all, she never made any mistakes in handling things after she became pregnant."

"The key now is that Xiao is about to give birth, and a woman giving birth... is like walking around the gate of hell, and her life may be in danger at any time."

Ying Zheng looked at Lin Qian sharply: "You have forgotten this question!"

He immediately got up and wanted to order someone to find Li Si, Feng Quji and the others, but he didn't want to hear that it was Li Si, Zhang Liang and others who had entered the palace to seek an audience just as he was about to speak.

Ying Zheng and Lin Qian looked at each other, and then said, "Xuan!"

Soon, Li Si, Feng Quji and other ministers entered.

After saluting, Li Si immediately said: "Your Majesty, I have just received an official document from Grassland, saying that it is Xiao who is in charge of building the city and has just received [-] people from the Western Regions. It's almost time to give birth."

Lin Qian paused, and couldn't help but sweat for Xiao.

Fortunately, Ying Zheng covered it up: "I know this."

Li Si raised his head and looked at Ying Zheng in disbelief: "Your Majesty knows? Why haven't you heard about this before..."

Ying Zheng glanced at him, and said calmly: "It's not something worth paying attention to, why spread it around? She just needs no mistakes in her work."

Li Si paused, this seemed to be something His Majesty would say.

but……

He turned his head and looked at Feng Quji and the others, and his expression immediately became awkward: They rushed into the palace today precisely because of Xiao's pregnancy. If His Majesty knew about it and didn't care about it, wouldn't they be entering the palace this time? Suspected of causing trouble and sowing discord?

Fortunately, Ying Zheng gave them a step down: "If you don't come today, I will send someone to summon you. Now that you have come, it is time to discuss who should be sent to take over Xiao's position."

Li Si and others: "???"

They looked at Ying Zheng blankly, not understanding why His Majesty just said that he didn't mind this matter, then turned around and ordered them to discuss who should take Xiao's place.

Isn't this contradictory?

Ying Zheng listened to everyone's heartbeat, and said helplessly, "It's dangerous for women to give birth, so we need to make adequate preparations just in case."

Only then did Li Si and the others understand, and they immediately discussed who to send to take over Ren Xiao's position.

Lin Qian was a little anxious, but she couldn't speak in front of Li Si and others, so she could only discuss with Ying Zheng in her heart——

[Since the construction of the grassland city is so important, it is better not to change the person in charge during the construction of the city, right? 】

[Didn't we exchange a lot of middle-grade longevity pills from the master of cultivating immortals before?After so many years, except for Wang Yun eating one, the others have not moved yet.The two of us have three top-grade life-extending pills, and the middle-grade ones are useless to us, why don't we give Xiao one? 】

Ying Zheng paused and turned to look at Lin Qian.

Lin Qian smiled at him: "Nowadays, most of the people who need to be used in the court have been sent to take care of other things. It is not so easy to find another one who can take the lead."

"And it's dangerous for a woman to give birth, but it's not certain death."

"If the imperial court sends someone to replace Xiao before she gives birth, it may not only affect the mother's mentality, but also make people think that the imperial court is waiting to use the woman's childbirth as an excuse to send someone to harvest the fruits of victory for others."

"In view of these reasons, Wei Chen suggested that even if someone is to be sent, it is best to send only a young official who can assist Xiao, and there is no need to mobilize people."

Everyone looked at Lin Qian and fell into silence for a while.

Sending someone over at such a time seems to really affect Xiao's mental state?What if she was fine, but was provoked by the people sent by the court, and something happened instead?

Doesn't Ying Zheng know that this is wrong?

Of course he knows, but the timing and other details of sending people over can be discussed, but the sending of people must be negotiated to reach a result——

Building a city on the prairie is related to the settlement of the nomadic people, and whether the nomadic people settle is directly related to whether the prairie can be swallowed by the Qin State and digested into its own land and people, so the task of building a city on the prairie must not be missed!

Although Xiao made a great contribution to the construction of the grassland city, it is impossible for Yingzheng to affect the state affairs for the future of a subject.

It's a big deal, I'll make it up to her later.

But these were Ying Zheng's thoughts before Lin Qian spoke, and after he spoke, he changed his mind.

the reason is……

Ever since Yingzheng got the top-grade life-extending pill, he had forgotten the middle-grade longevity-prolonging pill, and now Lin Qian reminded him to remember it.

As far as Yingzheng is concerned, the matter of exchanging a medium-grade life-prolonging pill for grassland and building a city will not be affected, and it is worth it!

So soon, a group of ministers discussed a suitable candidate——

Zhang Fu.

Now one of the officials of the Nine Ministers, once the second in command of the county, and had the experience of being sent to the Western Regions to preside over the establishment of factories in the Western Regions, and to deal with the royal families and nobles of the Western Regions...

Except for Lu Zhi, who is busy running around in the Shaofu, among the military officials in the Chinese and Chinese courts, she is the only one who is suitable to be dispatched to the grassland to assist Xiao.

In addition to Zhang Fu, Ying Zheng sent the genius doctor Bian Que to the grassland to show that he valued it.

With this arrangement, it can be said that no one can make a mistake.

But what Ying Zheng and Lin Qian didn't expect was how this medium-grade longevity pill was sent to the grassland, and how it was sent back to Xianyang in the end, and returned to the two of them.

It's not that Xiao didn't encounter danger during the production process, but...

Because after Xiao's dystocia, before giving her the elixir, the divine doctor Bian Que, who was specially sent to the grassland to be in charge of Xiao's delivery, refused to take the medicine for Xiao, but directly gave her the first place in the world. Caesarean section.