The Gilded Cage

Rao is the Empress Dowager Qi and Qi Mu well-informed, and they have never seen such a battle, being pointed at by countless cold sharp blades, no one can be calm and composed.

The two held their breath for a while and remained silent for a while, and then the Queen Mother held tightly to the handrail next to the couch and asked in a cold voice, "You are so arrogant and inordinate, are you not afraid that you will not be able to block the world's leisurely people and be unable to sit on the throne!"

"Can't stop the crowd?" Xiao Kezhi asked calmly, looking at the two as if he had heard some unbelievable strange talk, "Why do I bother with such a thought? You should be the one who should be worried."

As he said, he waved to Jin Jiang on the side, motioning him to present the prepared stack of paper bound into a book.

The Qi family looked at each other in surprise. Qi Mu took it with a calm face, and sent it to Madam Qi. They browsed together. The more they looked, the more they felt terrified, and they didn't know what to do.

In the stack of books in their hands, they clearly remembered the résumés of all the officials in the Qi family and the various behaviors of their families in the past seven or eight years, including the contents recorded in the official archives. , There are also shameful things that they have desperately tried to erase from the file, from occupying private fields and embezzling taxes and money, to deceiving men and women, and deceiving people from the top and the bottom. Almost nothing is left out.

"Where did you get these?" Qi Mu became more and more frightened as he looked at it, as if the volume in his hand was as heavy as a kilo.

There are a lot of old things here. They didn't even make a big deal at all. They let the officials underneath deal with it. Who knew the emperor knew it all!

"In the past few years, the Qi family has stood too high." Xiao Kezhi took the towel and brushed the sawdust from the blade, and said slowly, "If you stand too high, you will forget to look down. There is that. Mostly because of the existence of the Qi family and the existence of other families, the poor officials who cannot be promoted are there. You always ignore them and suppress them wantonly. Naturally, they can't bear it."

Most of these low-ranking officials have real talents and practical work, so although they are not high-ranking, they are mostly true directors. Therefore, they can access and collect much more things than those of the Qi family. In the past few years, Xiao Kezhi was only secretly gaining support from these people so that he could grasp enough news, accumulate strength step by step, and reach the top in one fell swoop.

Qi Mu stared at him, unable to say a word, but the Queen Mother Qi suddenly calmed down and whispered: "Liu Lang, do you really think that you can defeat the Qi family with these charges? The great clan that has stretched for a hundred years, speaking of it, has lasted longer than the Great Liang Dynasty."

"Queen dowager is worrying too much. I never thought of using these to defeat anyone, otherwise, I would not wait until today to take it out." Xiao Kezhi put his hands behind his back, raised his eyes to the vast sky outside the palace, and said leisurely, "However, People say it is awesome. The Qi family is a relative, how many families of the family are eyeing? If I mentioned these old things in the court, what would the queen dowager think would be?"

After hearing the words, the Queen Mother Qi remained silent.

What will they do? They will seize the opportunity to try to pull the Qi family from their current high position in order to get a share of the pie.

In this way, although the big family that has lasted for hundreds of years will not be uprooted, it is likely that they will never recover.

"When did you start preparing?" Her original anger was knocked down by a little bit, turned into weak sand, and hurried away.

Collecting such a detailed volume obviously cannot be done overnight. She has worked hard in Chang'an for many years. She thought she had firmly grasped everything in her hands, but she didn't expect that in the northwestern Ganzhou, which had long been ignored by her, her unremarkable concubine had been planning to seize power and usurp the throne!

"Eight years." Xiao Kezhi slowly turned around, the bright sunshine shining behind him, making his figure taller and taller, "It's just that you are in Chang'an and haven't noticed."

Somehow, Qi Mu suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but widen his eyes, and asked: "Someone suggested to me that we should let King Qin return to Chang'an first to replace the Prince. Could it be that--"

"Not bad." Xiao Kezhi smiled, and Qi Mu's heart became colder and colder as he watched. "It was also arranged by me."

Qi Mu suddenly stiffened, then his body softened and he almost slipped off the couch.

By now, they didn't seem to be sure anymore. Their every move was already in the calculations of the other party.

"I underestimated you." The Queen Mother slowly closed her tired eyes, folded her hands gently, and sighed weakly, "What do you want, just say it."

"Queen dowager rest assured, I don't like meaningless fights. As long as the Qi family stays safe, I can still use it." He said, finally handing the long knife back to Jin Jiang, and tapping his chin in Qi Chenxiang's direction, "Don't I want to be the first emperor at will."

These words are implying that Mo is no longer planning to marry Qi's daughter to him.

The Queen Mother Qi and Qi Mu didn't speak, Qi Chenxiang, who had been standing silently, squeezed the corner of her clothes, but finally couldn't help it, and said softly: "Liu Niang doesn't want to marry your Majesty either."

This thought has been lingering in her heart for a long time, but every time she wanted to say it, it was blocked by her aunt and father.

Seeing that the emperor was so powerful today, she was able to beat her aunt and father so hard that she knew that this marriage would not be finalized.

While breathing a sigh of relief, it was unavoidable to feel a bit lost.

After all she came from aristocratic family and she had never been so rejected by others, so she couldn't help but say what was in her heart, as if this could prove anything in general.

Xiao Kezhi raised his eyebrows and looked at her. There was no mockery in his eyes, but there was a hint of surprise: "It's so better, and it won't miss your marriage."

Queen Mother Qi only shook her head silently in her heart.

"Let the people below constrain. What the court wants is officials with real skills. Those corpse-position vegetarian meals are self-interested, so don't leave it." Xiao Kezhi continued to speak slowly, but he held the tea cup in his hand. I personally poured a cup of tea for the Empress Dowager Qi, "If you can clean up your house, the court in the great coolness, there will naturally be a place for Qi's family."

His words seem to be light, but in fact they caused the Qi family to cut off their arms and give up most of the benefits they had previously claimed, and set an example in the family—the Qi family has never complained, and other large families will naturally not cause any trouble. .

"Well, I will give you some time. Before the prince gets married, if I am not satisfied-these knives and guns outside are not long-eyed."

After all, he didn't wait for the two to answer, he just got up, walked away, and took away hundreds of heavily armed Qian Niu guards, leaving only the sound of neat footsteps and the sound of clambering swords, guns and armor. Scattered.

…

The marriage between Donggong and Zhao's family was decided after a few days.

The Ministry of Rites and Zongzheng Temple performed six rituals according to the emperor's meaning. Xiao Yu was determined to make this happen quickly. It just so happened that both of them were not first married. They shouldn’t behave arrogantly according to the cool customs. Therefore, the six ceremonies, which originally took at least half a year to complete, only took about three months.

There were still people in the DPRK talking about the matter, and they kept wondering whether there was any connection between Xiao Yu and Zhao Lun, and whether the emperor knew about it.

A few days later, everyone’s thoughts moved elsewhere—

Zhong Shu Ling Qi Mu unexpectedly went to the official post, saying that he was too old and should no longer hold the post of Zhong Shu Ling. Please allow the emperor!

This fact is beyond everyone's expectation.

In today's court, the Qi family can be called a hundred responses. Of all the officials of higher grades in Beijing, a small percentage are Qi Mu, or someone who has a close relationship with the Qi family, and Qi Mu is the backbone of them. Every discussion, whether it is a military or administrative matter, or Ritual sacrifices almost always follow his opinions.

He is now only over half a hundred years old. Although he is not at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, he is not so old that he is declining to the time he deserves to be an official.

Everyone thought that the Qi family and the emperor were at odds with each other, so they used this as a means to make an appearance. Unexpectedly, not only did he take the initiative to resign, he even privately signaled to several other high-powered henchmen to retreat to the second line and stop intervening in political affairs too much. Among these people, there were both officials in the central court and local leaders. Politically, each one is very important.

The courtiers came to understand slowly, where did the Qi family want to challenge the emperor? Obviously, it has been completely subdued and has voluntarily retreated!

For a while, everyone wondered what method the emperor used to make the Queen Mother Qi and Qi Mu, who have been in charge of the government for many years, silently abandon most of all their painstaking efforts.

After some tossing, over a whole month, more than a dozen important official positions were transposed, and a huge wave was set off, which made officials of all sizes vigilant, and they became more and more conscientious in their daily conduct and handling of official duties.

…

In the view of Guizhen, Chu Ning listened to the daily news sent by the servant, and the waves in his heart became smaller day by day.

At first, every time she heard the word "prince", she would still feel a little strange and dazed. Now, she can feel like an ordinary person.

At night, there was a murmur of bamboo in the direction of Ganlu Hall.

Cuihe came in with the decocted tonic and sent it to Chu Ning. After opening the door a few inches outside the hospital, he walked back.

It is April, Fangfei is exhausted, and the air is full of warm vegetation, and the fragrance is slightly maddening.

Squeak —

The wooden door was pushed open and closed from the outside, and then, a tall figure wandered to the door of the house.

He didn't go in, but silently walked to the open window and silently looked at the woman in the window.

She was kneeling down on the couch with her left hand resting on the paper, her right hand holding the pen tube, and meticulously facing the copybook.

The orange light shone on her side face, coating the originally fair skin with a warm color, and the side face was slightly drooping, drawing delicate and graceful lines. The hair stranded in the crown is probably too soft, and a thin strand fell to the cheek by accident.

She wrote carefully one by one, until she finished writing the word "he", then pinned the strand of broken hair behind her ear with her left hand. But after only two strokes of the next word "n" were written, the strand of hair fell again.

The person outside the window couldn't help reaching out and pinning the strand of hair behind her ears for her.

The soft and delicate touch of the fingertips was unbearable, and he gently stroked her face and refused to leave.

"Your Majesty." Chu Ning put down the pen tube and turned his head to face the rare gentle eyes by the window.

She was not surprised at all.

In these days, every one or two days, he always quietly came to watch. The time he stayed here was no shorter than in the Temple of Ganlu.

"Leave a bowl of cherry butter." She raised her head and smiled, her eyes shining with the stars behind him.

He stood outside the window and couldn't help lowering his head and kissing her eyes softly.