Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

Chapter 135 Consonance

It was night, and it was snowing in Chang'an, like countless ice crystals shining in the moonlight. The faint silver light reflected the surroundings as brightly as day.

The carriage galloped past in the snow, leaving two long ruts, which were covered by the snow after a while.When he arrived at the palace, the snow had already fallen more and more heavily. Qingping was wearing court clothes, a hat on his head, a jade ring and a silver bag around his waist, everything he should have, and under the guidance of the palace staff, he changed into plain clothes in the side hall. Covered it outside the court clothes; covered the crown hat with white gauze, and hung two long belts from her ears, knotted with jade beads, hanging beside the hat. After all this was done, someone came to lead her away.

Because it was during the great funeral, all the lanterns in the palace were replaced with white gauze lanterns, the vermilion doors and windows were covered with white paper, and the palace was covered with snow. The desolate frost, the boundless snow on the moonlit night, together with the surrounding palaces, all turned into desolate ink marks on the paper.

The spirit flag fluttered gently, the paper curtains fluttered, the snow fell in front of the Yuxiao Palace, the moonlight was fading, and the white lantern cast a pale halo on the ground, Qingping followed the palace man who led the way into the side hall, just stepped At the gate of the palace, I heard a voice from inside: "... I didn't know that the late emperor had such a plan, and the edict was not handed over to the Wenhuage Grand Scholars to transcribe. What kind of rule is this?"

Qingping's expression was as usual, but the servant was overwhelmed by the fright, she raised her eyes and scanned the palace that had been decorated as a spirit hall, it was already a few years ago since the last time she was here.Probably because of the passing of the master, the palace lost some majesty. She stepped on the gold bricks with the servants, and walked towards the depths of the hall amidst the candlelight in the room.

Chu Jun called her into the palace this time without any cover, and he didn't sneak in through the small door, but walked through the side of the dry door, and the palace kept a file, and the etiquette was complete. This is clearly calling officials into the palace for questioning. meaning, and dignifiedly about to push her in front of everyone, what is the reason for this?

As they got closer and closer to the main hall, the disputing voices inside became clearer: "... what King Xinyang means is that the last emperor's edict was false, so you don't want to receive the edict and bow down to the new emperor?"

The servant had obviously never seen this battle before, and was standing in a state of bewilderment, when someone inside saw a figure, came out from the heavy paper tent, and asked, "Is this Master Li?"

Qing Ping nodded, the maid looked her up and down, saw that she was Zhou Quan, she slightly raised her voice, and said: "Report to Your Majesty, Li Shizhong has arrived."

The mourning hall behind the paper tent was silent for a moment, and Chu Jun's voice came: "Come in."

Qingping entered the room, knelt down and bowed to pay respects before slowly getting up.There are several officials standing in this square mourning hall, and their court uniforms are all above the third grade. Among them, Yan Minghua, the first assistant, and Shen Mingshan, the second assistant, are standing in the same row. Opposite them are five middle-aged women that Qingping has never seen before. Under the filial piety clothes, a corner of the court clothes is exposed, and the decoration of the Suzaku is faintly visible.

"Your Majesty, Li Qingping, greet Your Majesty."

Standing in front of Danxiu, Chu Jun took a deep look at her, then turned to the five people and said, "The edict cannot be faked, but it was promulgated in advance before calling the state herdsman to Beijing. Your Majesty, I don’t know what King Xinyang wants to do? Now that the chief assistant of the cabinet is here, and several senior scholars who were relied on by the late emperor are also here, why not ask them if this is in line with the ancestral system.”

A tall woman stood up and cupped her hands and said, "Of course I dare not doubt the late emperor's decision, but at that time the late emperor was ill in bed, is this an edict—" She glanced at the several important ministers opposite with a sullen expression, and said disdainfully: "Who knows if it will be in the hands of others?"

These words exploded in the hall like thunder. A university scholar couldn't bear it any longer, stood up and cupped his hands and said, "King Xinyang, what do you mean by this? Although the late emperor was ill in bed, he still Qiankun is arbitrarily determined, and such things will definitely not happen!"

King Xinyang looked arrogant, obviously he didn't pay attention to this group of people, and said: "The lonely king asked you, who of you has seen it before?"

Seeing that no one answered, she said to herself: "One place can be fake, and everywhere can be fake. If the late emperor saw that the world's society was entrusted to the wrong person, I don't know how to be angry! Don't you think so, Mr. Yan Ge? "

Yan Minghua's eyebrows trembled, he twisted the jade beads on his court belt and refused to answer.

Although Chu Jun was smiling, his eyes were cold, and he said warmly: "King Xinyang, you are my elder, and the late emperor mentioned your achievements to me several times when he was still here. Now that you have entered Beijing overnight, it is better to go to the poor." How about offering sacrifices to Zigong in the Luzhong with this intention?"

Qingping bowed his head and stood aside, finally understood the origin of this dispute. The king of Xinyang has always been close to the eldest princess, and he expressed his heart early on. He wants to be the No. 1 who has made the most contribution. He must have spent countless thoughts on it. , Seeing that the enthroned Great Treasure has changed in the middle of the process, he is naturally very unwilling.Chu Jun has already given her the steps, if she can be more sensible, she should follow the trend, if she gets angry, it's all right, but the prince's face changed, and he said coldly: "I'm going to cry to the late emperor After all, this edict is unclear, who can know the authenticity? I am afraid that some people have worked hard for the throne of the lord of the world, and those ministers who care about life have always been double-faced, and they will obey for the sake of their own official position and wealth! But where is there an impenetrable wall in this world, there is a god standing three feet above your head, you are not afraid of the late emperor's heroic spirit if you act like this?"

Her eyes were wide open, and seeing that no one from the group of ministers said anything, she immediately sneered and said, "As we all know, the late emperor had long wanted to be the empress when he was in power, and now she was framed by that villain, and she fell into a deadly and self-inflicted murder." Fortunately, His Royal Highness King Yue still has a son, who is the eldest granddaughter of the emperor, who was also very favored by the late emperor. Then whose name is on this edict? I am afraid that someone took away the position of his niece and changed the edict, and I am not afraid of this— —”

"Presumptuous." Chu Jun's eyes were sharp, and he scolded: "The first emperor Zi Palace is right next to you, yet you are so presumptuous and rude!"

King Xinyang still refused to accept it, and wanted to say more, but Chu Jun said: "Didn't you want to know why Chu Ming, as the eldest daughter, ended up with a pregnant letter? If you want me to say that this book is already the grace of the mother emperor, otherwise she will still be able to see it in the tomb today." Entering the Taimiao has not yet been known, such unfaithful, unfilial, selfish and immoral villains..." She said with a gloomy face: "Li Qingping is here, take a step forward, and tell this Xinyang King, who is here? Rebelliousness caused the country to fail, and it was almost destroyed!"

Qingping took a deep breath, she finally understood why Chu Jun called her here, and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."

King Xinyang rushed to Beijing before the new emperor ascended the throne, just to force him to abdicate.This sounds very ridiculous. Although King Xinyang is only a vassal king, he has a high prestige among the clan and has a deep friendship with the late emperor. Also very vocal.His Zhengjun is the direct son of the Fu family, and he and Fu Guijun are brothers, so the relationship between them is naturally extraordinary.Mrs. Fu didn't know what he had promised, and wanted to take advantage of the unstable foundation of the new emperor, so he invited this one to find out. The clan was happy to see it come true, after all, supporting a young emperor is easier than a mature princess too much.

Chu Jun can't be under the control of others, and he can't dispose of King Xinyang too much, offend the clan, cause the clan's hearts to fluctuate, and spread any unfavorable words, she said: "You were sent to Xirong, what happened at that time, Ding Why Qian led the mission to treason, tell all these things."

Qing Ping knew that he had to be careful with what he said at this moment, so he knelt down and said: "All the officials of the mission have never treasoned the country, and Ding Qian is the only one who treacherous."

She narrated the experience on the grassland, and all the adults present did not know that there was such an inside story, and when Qingping said: "Ding Qian is the person sent by the eldest princess, and the purpose of going to Xirong this time is precisely I want to hand over an important item to the royal court of Xirong in exchange for Xirong secretly sending troops to disturb Juning Pass, so that the Gyeonggi garrison can be transferred to Yunzhou, so that we can take the opportunity—”

"Shut up! It's all nonsense! Nonsense!" King Xinyang strode forward and shouted angrily: "You despicable and shameless villain, how dare a traitor have the guts to slander a nobleman! Come on, tell me She was dragged out by Gudao and chopped up!"

Yan Minghua's eyes were filled with astonishment. Even though she had calculated everything, she never expected that Chu Ming would act like this. The factional dispute between the court and China is a small matter. It is the sinner of the country who will be reviled and ridiculed for thousands of years in the history books.

Shen Mingshan's eyes flickered slightly, his eyes turned to the stack of letters and documents placed in front of the table, and he looked at the new emperor standing under the osmanthus as if he had realized something.

"What I said is all the truth, and there is no falsehood. I really don't know what that thing is, and I didn't slander the nobleman." Qingping shook her head and said in a deep voice. She recalled those people who ran away like frightened birds. The days and everyone's faces are deeply imprinted in her mind. During the process of narrating, she has tried her best to keep calm and not think about his affairs, but she did not expect that after the narration is finished, her face is completely cold. But she didn't realize it suddenly, the scholar of Wenhua Pavilion who was standing beside cast a sympathetic look, and she just kowtowed and bowed again.

Naturally, everyone here is a genius, who has been immersed in officialdom for several years, and has sharp eyesight, so you can tell what is true and what is false at a glance.The new emperor actually fished this person out of the Yunzhou battlefield. He must have come prepared and delayed the funeral for half a month. Let's do the surgery, let's kill a chicken and show it to the monkey.

King Xinyang's face was distorted, and his hands were unconsciously groping around his waist, but he had already untied his sword before entering the palace, otherwise he would have cut this man in front of the imperial court.

"The mission was ordered to go to Xirong to go to the king's court to obtain a peace agreement. The court wrote that they would work together to seek a hundred years of peace." Chu Jun signaled Liu Zhen to present the stack of things on the table to the king of Xinyang, playful looking at her.

"What is this?" King Xinyang glanced at her suspiciously, reached out and took the top one, and glanced roughly, her expression changed drastically: "This...what is this!"

"The evidence of King Huai's treason and collusion with the enemy lies in these letters. The Queen Mother searched his palace before she was alive and accidentally obtained these things. King Huai not only had correspondence with important figures in the royal court, but also gave something to that person. A nobleman of Xirong, in exchange for his trust and support, no one knows what this thing is better than King Xinyang, right?"

King Xinyang's eyes were in a trance. The vassal kings behind her were just here to help out. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but hesitate. King Xinyang roared and said, "This is all nonsense!"

A trace of sarcasm flashed across Chu Jun's eyes, and he said lightly: "Let's present it to you adults, it's a royal scandal, and the queen mother didn't want to mention it when she was here, but she still cared about the relationship between mother and daughter. Charges are pressed together."

As soon as King Xinyang changed his arrogance and arrogance just now, his face was as yellow as dirt, and he could hardly speak. There was no other reason, but there was her handwriting in this stack of letters. This was indeed a correspondence between her and Chu Ming. Then he stayed.

"...The distribution map of Yunzhou military defense?"

A Minister Gu Ming yelled out in disbelief, and everyone's hearts sank. It is already a felony to have an affair with the empire, but sending the map of Yunzhou's military defense distribution to the enemy country is really a serious crime against the nine clans. It's special, so it's not easy to deal with it like this.Therefore, his family members were only demoted to common people and moved to Chenzhou, and they were not allowed to leave this place for generations.

No wonder King Xinyang had such thoughts and came to Chang'an during the great funeral, threatening the new emperor with the airs of an elder.The fiefdom of King Xinyang is in Changfu County, Chenzhou, and there are various reasons for it, which can probably be guessed without saying anything.

If this deposed daughter-in-law is supported to ascend the throne, the young emperor will naturally have to rely on the support of powerful ministers, and it will not be clear who owns this world at that time.Presumably King Xinyang had this kind of idea. A group of important ministers showed contempt on their faces, and they all united front, standing on the side of the new emperor invisibly.

After Chu Jun finished appreciating the embarrassing expression on King Xinyang's face, he calmed himself down. At this time, King Xinyang's eyes were red and he said angrily, "All the envoys sent to Xirong are dead. Naturally, you can just talk nonsense. Who can prove it?" Was she telling the truth?"

Chu Jun waited for her words, and immediately said: "Bring him up."

The sound of the chains rubbing against the floor tiles was exceptionally clear. The man was half-dragged and brought in front of the crowd. He had obviously gone through some grooming. She dodged and did not dare to raise her head. Chu Jun looked down at her and said, "Ding Qian, Tell me all you know."

Ding Qian's teeth were trembling, she lowered her head and shoulders trembling violently, and said: "...Yes, His Royal Highness Yue Wang asked me to take that thing to...to the royal court..."

"During the peace talks, His Highness also made an appointment with Xirong long ago, and promised to give up Yuehe to the people of Xirong..."

King Xinyang raised his head in disbelief. The next few vassal kings were also ignorant, whichever way the wind was blowing, although at first some people echoed what King Xinyang said, but at this time they all chose to be wise and safe, and did not want to get into trouble again.

Although Qing Ping hated Ding Qian to the core and wished she could be buried with those colleagues who died tragically under the pursuit of the royal court, he had to endure it.Unexpectedly, Ding Qian seemed to sense her sight, glanced at her in panic, and then fell to the ground in fright, as if seeing the rebirth of an evil spirit, she stammered: "You...you died a long time ago!"

Qing Ping didn't speak, just looked at her faintly, really frightening like a wandering spirit.Ding Qian thought she had died long ago, but she didn't expect to see her alive, and she was so frightened that she was half crazy and started talking nonsense, which involved the royal family's secrets.Chu Jun ordered her to be dragged down, and said to the vassal kings headed by King Xinyang, "It's about the royal family, and I hope you keep it a secret. Clansmen should not be divorced because of this. King Huai has passed away. If you pursue it further, I will not ask more questions. King Xinyang mourns and ruins his body, so I will not investigate your lack of dignity in front of the imperial court."

She ignored King Xinyang's unsightly expression, and said calmly: "Kneel down, all of you, the late Emperor Zi Palace will enter the mausoleum tomorrow, and there are still many matters to be dealt with."

The several vassal kings looked at each other. What happened tonight was so weird that they all felt a little strange. The new emperor was obviously prepared, knelt down and kowtowed one after another in salute: "I thank your majesty for your kindness, follow the will, and respect the grace of heaven..."

King Xinyang stood for a long while in a daze, and finally knelt down reluctantly.

Now that it's over, several Gu Ming ministers also retreated one after another, Qingping looked around and wanted to leave the palace with the several ministers, but as soon as he turned around, he heard a voice behind him: "Stop."

She turned her head slowly, and Chu Jun was standing behind her, with dark eyes and the corners of her mouth slightly raised, looking at her with a half-smile.

It's just that this time the two of them had no connection at all. The night wind blew the paper curtains and white flags, and they could vaguely smell the cold breath of falling snow outside, mixed with a vague fragrance. The snow hadn't really fallen heavily yet, but Qingping could already feel the bone-piercing chill climbing up the sleeves of his robe.

Chu Jun walked up to her and took a cold hand, and held it in the palm of her hand. There seemed to be ink and gold in her eyes, which could not be concealed by all the plain colors. I am afraid that after tonight, no one will be able to approach her like this, and there is no way to know this. A strange and seductive color.

She looked at her for a moment, lowered her eyes, and then asked gently: "...Are you cold?"

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