Linque

As soon as the words fell, the breathing of the maids in the study became much lighter.

Everyone in the palace knew that even when angry, His Majesty seldom beat people. Compared with the previous masters in this palace, or even compared with the princes and dignitaries outside, His Majesty today is indeed called "benevolent".

Fifty sticks, not to mention the maids, even the guards and eunuchs in the palace, the emperor has never punished them so severely.If this slap continues, the palace maid can lose half her life. If the shadow guards in the Jingcheng Palace were more serious, it would not be impossible for them to be killed directly.

The queen mother was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly stood up: "Emperor!"

Fu Dong was startled for a moment when his name was called, his face turned pale, he knelt down and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

She couldn't finish her sentence, and the queen mother couldn't stop her. The emperor's shadow guard standing at the gate of the palace stepped forward upon hearing the order, and dragged her out with her mouth covered involuntarily.

Not long after, the muffled sound of the board hitting the flesh came from outside the hall.Fu Dong was obviously gagged, and the queen mother didn't hear any cries for mercy, which made her confused for a while whether the emperor was just using this as a warning, or if he wanted to beat people to death—

There is a set of rules for beating the board in the palace. If the master speaks, he must be beaten. As long as it is not killed by the rod or to prevent disturbing the master's rest, he will not gag when receiving the rod, and the slaves are allowed to cry and beg for mercy.

Now the emperor is sitting here, without reviewing papers or taking a nap, but Fu Dong is gagged, the queen mother is startled and angry, and really dare not think of the bad.

She looked up in amazement, the emperor on the dragon chair was drinking tea expressionlessly, his expression was so calm that no one could read his thoughts.

Empress Dowager Zhong took a deep breath, clenched the Buddhist beads in her hand, and turned her head to look at Chu Heng.She and the emperor knew each other well, and there would be no "people outside saying that His Majesty is favoritism"——

The emperor doesn't want to accept a concubine, and the queen mother doesn't want him to accept it either. It's already difficult to deal with a prince, and she never wants the emperor to have another heir, so at least for now, in this aristocratic family, the clan wants the emperor to open up the harem. , neither she nor the emperor will spread the matter of favoring men.

The purpose of the Empress Dowager coming here today is actually very simple, just to test a thing or two, to find out where Ling Ye's bottom line is for this imperial servant Mo, and to see how much weight he has in Ling Ye's heart.

The queen mother knew that it was impossible for the emperor to hand over Chu Heng to the inner court, and she thought about many excuses that the emperor might use.It is inconvenient for people in high positions to reveal their true likes and dislikes, especially in front of enemies. No matter how much they like people, they have to cover up a little bit, so as not to teach people to pinch their weaknesses.

But with the emperor, it was completely messed up, let alone concealing his emotions, he didn't even bother to think of a reason to prevaricate.The Empress Dowager never would have imagined that he would drag people out and beat them simply and rudely. This was not in line with the emperor's usual temperament, and even more contrary to the principles of ethics——

This is the Palace of Respect and Sincerity in the former dynasty, where countless ministers and servants came and went to watch. No matter what the reason was, the son who was a son would be responsible in public for the people who served his aunt's side, even the emperor had to be honest.Tomorrow at the Great Court Meeting, it is not certain that he will be advised by the censor one or two times, and it will really not be a good reputation.

But Empress Dowager Zhong had to admit that the current emperor, as the real master of Dayin Kyushu, did have such confidence when facing the Empress Dowager, he could tell her plainly that he was not worried about exposing himself in front of the Empress Dowager at all. weakness.Starting from the twenty sticks recorded in the Hall of Martial Ying, until now, all the "not being happy for the emperor" are just a cover to deceive people's ears, and even went to the Zhaoren Palace. is much more important.

— This is actually very good.

Empress Dowager Zhong forced herself to calm down. The emperor has no heirs and no harem, and now he favors a man, and this man is a showman with only one face.The Zhongli Chu family didn't care about him, and the Lishan Ye family was just a teacher, not his relatives, and would not waver their neutral position just because of an ordinary disciple.

As far as the queen mother is concerned, there is nothing wrong with this.

When the time comes later, to break up with the emperor and spread the news in due course, Chu Heng is not an abandoned child on the chessboard, so there is no need to worry about it becoming a change.

Empress Dowager Zhong twisted the Buddhist beads in her hand and thought about it for a while, and soon she became concerned.But now, she still has to endure the momentary anger and bow her head to Ling Ye.

"Your Majesty, why should you be angry with a court lady?" Empress Dowager Zhong forced a smile, "It is inevitable that there will be some misunderstandings when the rumors heard in the palace reach Aijia's ears. If there is no such thing, that's all. The emperor handles the affairs of state, Aijia Don't bother."

As she spoke, she was about to get up and go out. Ling Ye knew that on the one hand, she was saying these low-key words, her face was uncomfortable, and on the other hand, she was anxious to stop the emperor's shadow guard from continuing the execution.Since she took a step back knowingly, Ling Ye didn't make things difficult anymore, put down the teacup in his hand, stood up after him, and wanted to go out to see off his mother.

The emperor stopped without saying a word, and the punishment in court continued.

Fu Dong had been subjected to twenty sticks, the executioner didn't hold back his hand, the stick hit the spot, Fu Dong's complexion was pale with pain, his cotton coat oozes blood, he almost passed out.

This scene hit the Empress Dowager's eyes, her eyes turned black, a deep sense of powerlessness surged from the depths of her heart, and spread to all her limbs.

Six years ago in Xuanxi, she also stood here, on the highest point of Dayin Kyushu, watching everyone prostrate at her feet.Power can make people sink and become addicted. Once you have obtained it, you will never forget the feeling of supremacy.

In the past, she was in charge of Qiankun Sheji, and she could dictate to the entire Kyushu, and others could not disobey a single bit; but after losing it, it is like now, even the life of the closest personal maid is in the hands of others. Kill, don't worry about her face at all.She didn't even have the ability to stop, the Queen Mother bit the tip of her tongue hard, and then swallowed the word "stop" back into her throat--she has lived a life of gold and jade, even if she loses power now, the remaining pride in her heart will never allow her prestige to be heard by everyone. Sweep the floor again in front of you.The emperor's slap in the face of Fudong had already slapped her in the face, she could no longer slap herself to stop the emperor's shadow guard who would not listen to her at all.

She held on to the empress dowager's airs and looked at the emperor.

The sound of the staff waving was especially clear in front of the silent hall. The surrounding court ladies and eunuchs knelt on the ground, their heads bowed deeply, and they kept silent like a cicada.It was terribly quiet in front of the main hall, no one dared to make a sound, and everyone's minds were focused on one person, begging him for mercy.

The stick smashed the flesh of the victim, and also shattered the backbone of the observer.Every moment is a torment, this extremely heavy and awe-inspiring imperial power presses everyone's head into the dust.

Finally, people around heard the emperor say: "That's it."

The shadow guard stopped his hands, and the staff duty ended.

I don't know if it was intentional, but the shadow guard didn't knock him out, Fu Dong's complexion was as pale as paper, his temple hair was soaked in cold sweat, but he still held his breath.Bandit Gao stepped forward, shook his whisk, and said indifferently, "Miss Fu Dong, thank you."

The Empress Dowager's nails got into her palms, and the two maids of the inner department stepped forward, tore off the cotton ball stuffed in Fu Dong's mouth, and half helped and half pulled her to the bottom of the stone steps.

Fu Dong's hands and feet were limp, and her eyes turned black for a while, but the pain caused by the plank falling on her body and the fear of being overwhelmed by walking by the gate of life and death made her really dare not have the slightest chance of being lucky, and insisted on not daring to Fainted for a moment, she kowtowed on the ground tremblingly according to the palace rules: "Your Majesty... I thank you for your grace."

The emperor raised his eyelids and glanced at her, and said to the queen mother with a pleasant face: "Since it's rumors, I have to trouble the queen mother to worry about cleaning up the inner court. If someone dares to spread random rumors next time—"

The emperor looked sideways at the man kneeling on the ground, "It's all over."

The guards of the imperial guards around watched their noses, noses, noses, and hearts, and stood silently. The maids and eunuchs bowed their heads deeply, and buried themselves in the dust.Fu Dong's whole body trembled, he could no longer kneel down, and fell limp on the ground.The queen mother swayed slightly, her complexion changed a few times, she nodded reluctantly, and helped the maid's hand to go down the stone steps.

The emperor said, "Respectfully send off the queen mother", turned and walked back into the hall.

Chu Heng didn't go out with him just now, but now he had stopped writing. Ling Ye walked in and hugged him. When he saw the booklet that fell on the floor, he frowned again.

As soon as Yun Fei was disturbed, the aristocratic party members seized the opportunity to criticize and would not let go easily. The matter of Yan Xiang was not so easy to settle.Ling Ye squeezed the center of his eyebrows, turned his head and shouted out: "Gao Bandit—"

Eunuch Gao walked in quickly and bowed to listen to the order.

"Go to the Xiao Mansion," Ling Ye said, "Xuan Yong'an Marquis enters the palace, please do not make any noise back and forth, please."

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Marquis Yong'an is Xiao Xiao's father, see Chapter 63.