Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty

When the nine gates outside the capital city were closed, the chief guard of the imperial guard showed his guard and ordered the key to open the city gate. At this time, the commanding troops from the Xiaoqi Battalion and the Qianfeng Battalion arrived, surrounded by the royal horses and galloped into the Nine City. Hearing the rumble of hooves and the sound of thunder, the emperor's heart was blank, and the lights of thousands of houses were like stars in the sky, rushing toward his face, and the streets and markets were hurriedly closed to guard against the curfew, and all the shops along the street were closed The sound of the upper plank, the horse galloped very fast, and passed by in a flash, the red wall of the Forbidden City could be seen from a distance, and the bright lights on the tower of the Shenwu Gate could already be seen.

Dajia returned from Shenwumen to the forbidden center. Although it was not in compliance with the rules, the ministers who led the guards had no choice but to follow the authority.After Yujia entered the inner city, he let go of his hanging heart.The foreign ministers were not allowed to enter the inner palace, so they knelt and resigned outside the Shunzhen Gate. The emperor returned to the inner palace with only his servants, changed to a sedan chair, and went to the Palace of Compassion. The Empress Dowager was slightly startled when she heard the emperor's return to the palace. She was stunned for a while before she let out a long sigh and said to the people beside her: "Su Mo'er, I didn't expect it to be peaceful for so many years. What we are worried about It's finally here."

Su Mo'er was silent, but the Empress Dowager's voice could not help revealing a bit of coolness: "In the fourteenth year of Shunzhi, the fourth son of Dong E's family was born by the emperor, and the ancestors actually called him 'my first son'. He died young, and he chased after him as Prince He Shuorong." Su Mo'er said: "The empress dowager is looking forward to safety, the emperor is wise and resolute, it will not be like this." The Empress Dowager was silent for a while, then heheed, and said, "I hope so." After hearing the light clapping outside the door, the eunuch came in and replied, "Report to the Empress Dowager, Lord Long Live is back."

Before the emperor could change his clothes, he was still wearing a blue tunic without a lapel. Only the soft and shiny sable hairs were exposed on the collar and cuffs. He looked a little dusty, but his eyebrows seemed calm and composed, and he bowed first: "Greetings to the Empress Dowager." The Empress Dowager helped him up with her own hands, stared at him holding his hand, and said with distress after a while: "Look at the sweat on the forehead, look back and let the wind blow to cool you down. Su Moer had already gone to twist the handle of the hot towel and handed it over. The Empress Dowager watched the emperor wipe off the fine beads of sweat on his forehead, and then asked indifferently: "I heard that you came back on horseback?"

The emperor struggled a bit, and called out: "Emperor's grandmother." The empress dowager's eyes were only slightly condensed: "I saw the oath you swore to me in the Fengxian Hall and in front of the ancestors that day. I forgot all about it!" The tone was already harsh: "You actually threw off the big driver and rode back tens of miles on a light horse with the honor of ten thousand rides. If there is a mistake on the way, where will you put yourself? Where will you put your ancestors? Where is the foundation? Could it be that for a woman, you don't even want the country, the ancestors, the Qing Dynasty?"

The emperor knelt down a long time ago and bowed his head silently.Su Mo'er whispered: "Empress Dowager, please let him go. The Emperor was also in a moment of anxiety, but he hadn't thought about it before. You should save him some face." The Empress Dowager sighed for a long time: " How can you act so rashly? If you let the officials know and hand over a note, I'll see how you can let it go." Hearing her tone slow down, the emperor said in a low voice: "Xuan Ye knew she was wrong." The Empress Dowager sighed again, and Su Moer said: "It's so cold outside, and Long Live Lord rode for dozens of miles. Kneeling..." The Empress Dowager said: "Don't describe him for him, as for his frivolous behavior today, according to me, he should be sent to the Fengxian Hall to kneel in front of the Taizu Taizong's spirit overnight." Su Mo Er laughed and said: "It's fine if you send the emperor to kneel and worship the first hall, but if you let a few younger elder brothers know in the future, how will the Lord Long live teach them?" Xie Yi said: "Get up, I usually see him teaching my son, the brothers seem to be avoiding cats and mice." But the smile only flickered for a while, and soon became sad: "That child Lin Lang, it's really... a pity The imperial doctor said it was only two months, alas..." The emperor just stood up, his face was pale under the lamp, the empress dowager said: "It's also because Lin Lang's child is confused, he doesn't know when he has a body, She also helped the empress dowager move heavy objects in the palace, and finally shed her waist—your mother-in-law is also very annoyed and regretful at this moment, she just came to plead guilty to me, and then asked me to persuade you to go back, you are not allowed to provoke me again Your empress is sad."

The emperor gritted his teeth lightly, and after a while, Fang replied in a low voice: "Yes." The Empress Dowager nodded and said softly, "Lin Lang is still young, and your days are long. I think that child Lin Lang looks blessed. Don't be too sad about this time." He took off the prayer beads wrapped around his wrist and said, "Give this to Lin Lang, so that she can have a good life. Don't think about it, the Buddha will bless you." her." The string of Buddha beads has always been the empress dowager's belongings, the emperor was grateful, took it in his hand and bowed: "Thank you, the emperor's grandmother." He said: "It's late at night, please arrange it early." The empress dowager knew At this moment, he wished he could give birth to wings, nodded and said: "You go, you have to rest earlier, take care of your body, that is to show filial piety to my imperial grandmother."

The emperor came out from the Palace of Compassion and Ning, just when Li Dequan arrived with his eunuchs.More than a dozen people were not evenly breathing. When the emperor saw Li Dequan, he only asked: "What's the matter?" Someone asked, and at this time he answered in a low voice: "Long live Lord, it is said that Master Wei went to pay respects to the queen mother, but coincidentally, Director Wei of the respect room gave the queen mother a western style pug, and the queen mother was very happy. The dog recognized his life, but ran out from the warm pavilion. Master Wei came in and didn't pay attention, and kicked the dog. The queen mother was annoyed, thinking that Master Wei had intentions, so she wanted to pass on the shin stick, but fortunately, Master De begged for forgiveness at the side , the Queen Mother punished Master Wei to kneel on the porch. After kneeling for two hours, Master Wei fainted on the ground, seeing Master Wei's prostitution, the Queen Mother then ordered someone to pass on the imperial doctor."

After Li Dequan finished speaking, he secretly glanced at the emperor's face, he couldn't see clearly in the bewildered night, only two clusters of dark flames seemed to be burning in one pair of eyes, and they seemed to be crackling and splashing in the dark night.Li Dequan had worked in the imperial court for quite a long time, but he had never seen the emperor with such an expression, and his heart trembled.After a long while, Fang heard the emperor squeeze out two words from the gap between his teeth: "Let's drive." A group of people surrounded the emperor's warm sedan chair and went straight to the West Sixth Palace.

The emperor was silent all the way, until he got off the warm sedan chair, Li Dequan stepped forward and said in a low voice: "Long live Lord, my slave begs me—if you have anything to say, just send the slave inside to pass it on." The emperor ignored him, Straight into the Chuihua Gate, Li Dequan followed closely, pleading repeatedly: "Long Live Lord, Long Live Lord, the ancestors ruled, and holy cars are taboo. When you come to this yard, Master Wei knows, so he understands your intentions. "Seeing that the emperor didn't stop, he complained endlessly. Two imperial doctors, the head of the respect room, and some eunuchs and maids came out to welcome them, and knelt down on the ground.Seeing that the emperor had stepped up the steps in a hurry, Wei Changan, the head of the respect room, had no choice but to kowtow, and said bravely, "Long Live Lord, according to the ancestor's rules, you can't go in at this moment."

The emperor's eyes were condensed, he only looked at the tightly closed doors and windows, and said, "Get out of the way." Wei Chang'an kowtowed heavily, and said, "Long Live Lord, I don't dare. If you go in now, the Queen Mother will have the slave's head. I just ask Long Live Lord to spare this slave's life." The emperor didn't even look at it. Look at him, he raised his foot and kicked Wei Changan hard in the chest, only to make him groan and fall back heavily, hitting the back of his head on the edge of the steps, dark red blood trickling down slowly, dripping Lily neck, struggling for a long time unable to get up.The rest of the people were already frightened, the emperor raised his hand and pushed the door, Li Dequan was frightened out of his wits, rushed up and hugged the emperor's leg: "Long live, long live, I beg you to think about Master Wei - I beg long live Lord, think twice, breaking the rules is a small thing, if people know about it, why don’t you use Master Wei as a raft?” He spoke bluntly in a hurry, the emperor was taken aback, and finally his hand slowly dropped.Li Dequan said in a low voice: "Long Live Lord has something to say, just let the slaves go in and pass it on." The emperor was slightly taken aback again, but repeated in a low voice: "What do I have to say..." Looking at the closed door, it was carved with red lacquer and filled with gold. It was originally a very gorgeous and lively color, but in the deep night, it was so beautiful. It was Yin who turned purple in the dark, like congealed blood, reflected in the eyes and piercing the heart.There is only such a door, but there is silence inside, the silence makes people panic, and there is no one inside.There seemed to be a desperate fear in his heart, and he could only think over and over again, what to say... what to say to her... but what to say to himself... It was like a knife twisting the internal organs, and the pain was unbearable .There was also a kind of unprecedented fear, and cold sweat broke out in the vest. The room is not spacious, the room that Yiming entered, he had agreed to live with another person, when something like this happened, Fang hastily moved that person out.All the people around went out to pick him up, only a maid sent by the Compassionate Ning Palace stayed in the house to take care of him.At first, the palace lady heard the constant kowtow outside, but now she suddenly quieted down. Just when he was puzzled, he heard Lin Lang on the kang groan in a low voice. He hurriedly leaned over and called out in a low voice: "Master, what do you want?" Lin Lang was in a painful coma, moaning unconsciously He let out a cry, but big tears trickled down the corners of his eyes and into his temples.The palace lady held a handkerchief in her hand, and spent a long time wiping her sweat and tears for a long time. She was already soaked through, and she felt pitiful, and said softly: "Master, Long Live Lord, the master is coming - the rules don't allow him to come in, now he It's outside." Lin Lang only frowned, and didn't know if she heard it, but the tears were still falling down like beads with broken strings. Li Dequan saw the emperor standing there motionless, as if he had lost his soul, he was flustered and afraid.After a long time, the emperor whispered to him: "You go in, just tell her that I'm here." After a pause, he said: "Also, the Empress Dowager rewarded her with this." The string of Buddhist beads given to Li Dequan was handed over to Li Dequan. Li Dequan kowtowed and opened the door to enter.But he backed out after a while: "Going back to Lord Long Live, Master Wei has not woken up yet. The slave has passed on the orders of the Empress Dowager and Lord Long Live. I don't know if the master heard it. The master is just crying." The emperor Hearing the last sentence, his heart was pierced by a knife, and he galloped back in a hurry. He was full of shock, regret and anger, and it had been four hours without a drop of water. At this moment, he seemed to be floating under his feet. He regained his composure, but saw that all the people in the yard were kneeling upright, and there was a dead silence in the surroundings, only the night wind blowing, whimpering.That Wei Chang'an groaned twice, and the emperor suddenly turned his head, his voice was filled with coldness: "Come on, give me this wolf-hearted thing! Beat it hard!" Someone came up to help Wei Changan go down. The eunuch of the Punishment Division had no choice but to ask Li Dequan in a low voice: "Li Wenda, Long Live Lord said so, but how many sticks do you need?" Li Dequan couldn't help but stamped his foot, and reprimanded in a low voice: "Stupid! I didn't say how many sticks to hit, and I will count after killing!"