Chapter 83: Harem Intrigue
"This time, Madam Yaoning and Concubine Lu are in trouble." In Ziquan Palace, Yun Fenghuang gently waved his round fan and said to Xi Jingxi Le slowly, "Since the Queen has put me under house arrest here, it is obvious that she is determined to investigate thoroughly. This matter was not done by me, and it has nothing to do with the Queen, and it should not be done by the pregnant Imperial Concubine. Then, in this palace, there are only a few people who are qualified to bribe the maids of Yanlan Palace to murder the heir..."
It is nothing more than Shufei, Xinfei and Madam Yaoning.
Among them, Shufei was cited by Queen Ji as the collaborator of Imperial Concubine's pregnancy. Now Imperial Concubine is still fine, and the Queen should not agree to bring the fire to Shufei's head; as for Xinfei, the daughter of the leader of the Qingliu, she only sweeps the snow in front of her own door and does not care about the frost on other people's tiles. In the previous dynasty, she was famous for being as calm as a chrysanthemum and not fighting or competing.
Compared with the well-known tyrannical and spoiled Yuan Jianniang, and the imperial concubine Zheng, who was the descendant of a powerful eunuch, neither needed Cui's help in guiding public opinion, and the scholars would unanimously believe that she was wronged.
The most important thing is that Cui is relatively neutral in the court, and has an ambiguous attitude on whether to support Emperor Chunjia's personal rule. She is not the number one target of Ji and Zheng Ju.
So the best choice is the regent.
There is another advantage in choosing Madam Yaoning and Concubine Lu, that is, the impeachment of Mr. Lingshan by the previous dynasty is still in progress. Although the incident of the prince bringing Qi Jiulu to see the emperor two days ago was suppressed by the royal family, it was not unleashed. Now the matter is pushed to Qiongfang Palace and Baohui Palace, and all the things inside and outside are connected, which makes the regent's mansion worse.
Xi Jing and Xi Le looked at each other and smiled, "Master, you are calm and composed. We were all scared just now."
Although one of them is the Queen's man and the other is loyal to Gong Xiangxiao in the Imperial City Department, both of them have backers, but now that they are serving under Yun Fenghuang, their reliance is on this Yunpin.
If Yun Fenghuang falls, even if they rely on the real master behind them to escape, it is unknown whether they can make a name for themselves in the future.
So before the mastermind behind the scenes targeted Yun Fenghuang, they still sincerely cared about Yun Fenghuang's honor and safety.
Yun Fenghuang has been very popular since he entered the palace, and now he is suddenly sent back by the people of Yanfu Palace to be under house arrest, and there are many palace guards outside...How can Xi Jing and Xi Le not be uneasy?
If both of them are like this, let alone others.
Except for Nian Xuan, who swore that she would go wherever her master, whom she had served since childhood, went, regardless of the hardships or wealth, the others did not say anything, but their expressions showed fear.
Now Yun Fenghuang explained the key points in a few words, and although they did not believe it immediately, they were somewhat relieved.
"Master, who did this?" After calming people's hearts, Yun Fenghuang waved her hand and asked them to do their own work. However, Xile quietly approached her and asked in a low voice, "This is not our fault. Could it be the Imperial Concubine?"
"It can't be Imperial Concubine Zheng." At this moment, Empress Ji, who had just sent Imperial Concubine Zheng away, was also discussing this matter with her left and right. "She is pregnant now. Although it is still early and the gender is unknown, Your Majesty has no children. If she gives birth to a prince, how can Zheng Ju not seek the position of crown prince for her?"
And the rule of the Guo Dynasty is that if there is a legitimate heir, the legitimate heir shall be established, and if there is no legitimate heir, the eldest son shall be established. But if the biological mother of the eldest son of the emperor is vicious and kills another concubine who is pregnant with the heir, this matter will be spread out. In addition, the eunuch behind Imperial Concubine Zheng is naturally not liked by scholars in the world. Even if Imperial Concubine Zheng gives birth to a boy, it will be difficult for her to covet the position of the future empress dowager.
Therefore, if the imperial concubine had any intention of giving birth to the future crown prince, she would have acted with restraint.
As she had just confessed to the queen, it was fine to cause trouble for Yuan Lianniang under the pretext of being a legitimate cause, but to actually murder the crown prince... even if she wanted to do it, she couldn't do it so violently.
The Queen narrowed her eyes slightly: "I think what Yunpin said before makes sense."
The people around were puzzled: "What does the Queen mean?"
"She said that Your Majesty has no power, no influence, and no people. Looking at the court and the country, the easiest and most likely to be used by Your Majesty, and the one who is also useful enough, is the Imperial City Division." Queen Ji sneered, "And the Imperial City Division has been in the hands of the Regent for many years... You see, these recent things, one by one, in the end, which one didn't fall on the Regent's Mansion?"
She lowered her eyes and sighed, "I'm afraid that Your Majesty has been hiding his strength for these years, hoping to accumulate strength for a breakthrough!"
Only the people in Ningbi Palace saw Shanxiang murdering Yuan Lianniang, and the person is dead and there is no evidence. As the victim, Yuan Lianniang was safe... Whether it really happened or it was self-directed and self-acted, probably only the people in Ningbi Palace know it best.
And this storm directly pointed to the Imperial Concubine and Yun Fenghuang, and indirectly reflected the Queen and even the Ji family. It seemed to be Yuan Lianniang's revenge, but in fact, if you think about it carefully, isn't it the work of Emperor Chunjia?
Taking advantage of the suspicion that Ji was plotting to murder the heir to the throne, she forced Ji to show that she valued her heirs, and through the hands of the empress and the imperial concubine, she dealt a blow to the regent's palace, which was already plagued by impeachments... This blow came at a coincidence, just when the regent entered the palace to propose marrying a wife for the prince, trying to win over a family to help.
It was so coincidental that the empress could not think it was an accident.
"Then you won't ask Madam Yao Ning and Concubine Lu to take the blame this time?" A maid asked tentatively.
But the queen rejected it without hesitation: "No, why don't you ask them to support you? I have just discussed it with the imperial concubine, and they are the most suitable, right? Besides, the grudge between the regent and my Ji family is not shallow! Isn’t it a good thing to take this opportunity to weaken Gong Xiangmao?”
She narrowed her eyes slightly, "Besides, it was originally the noble concubine's suggestion to blame this matter on the Gu family and the Lu family. Now the Prince Regent's Palace and the Qingping Marquis Palace are still in power, and there is nothing really wrong with Yuan's wretched maid. Such a small crime will not cause the two concubines to be completely defeated. At most, they will receive some punishment... and they will be separated from the noble concubine. "
In Empress Ji's view, Concubine Zheng was more of an eyesore than Lady Yuan, who was also pregnant.
After all, the latter is just an unpleasant person. However, even if he gives birth to an imperial heir, it currently does not seem to be enough to threaten the status of the empress and the Ji family. But if the former... one is not careful, he can have the power to decide the world's major events with a single word. Yes, maybe it will be replaced by the Quanhuan Group represented by Zheng Ju.
Therefore, although she wanted to arrest the emperor immediately and interrogate him, the queen weighed it again and again and thought that it would be better to use this matter to unite Zong Lianheng and solve Concubine Zheng's pregnancy.
...This is mainly because the Ji family does not agree with many of her suggestions and opinions. Queen Ji is in the deep palace and cannot do many things without the family's permission. She wants to restrict the emperor from now on, but she is unable to do so.
We can only take care of the matters between the concubines first.
Empress Ji and Concubine Zheng discussed it. In the evening of that day, Mrs. Yaoning and Lu Jieyu teamed up to bribe Shanxiang, the maid of Yanlan Palace, to murder the head of Huzhu Palace and try to frame Xiaoyun, the concubine of Huzhu Palace. The news spread like wildfire.
"Empress, I have been wronged! I don't know Shan Xiang at all, so how could I instigate her to murder Yue Jieyu and frame Yun Bin?" The two of them were caught off guard. When they arrived at Chongchang Hall, they kept shouting that they were wronged.
Mrs. Yaoning added: "I have always been on good terms with Sister Shufei. Yunbi is a clan sister of Sister Shufei. She has always been taken care of by Sister Shufei. I regard her as one of my own family members, but I am not happy with Jieyu." , but how can you target Yun Concubine? Wouldn’t doing this also damage the long-term friendship between me and Sister Shu Fei?”
Empress Ji said calmly: "I really want to believe you, but everyone in your palace has already confessed, which makes it difficult for me to excuse you. After all, for such a big thing, where did the people below have the courage to murder you?" What good does the imperial heir do to them? If it is said that it has nothing to do with you, how can it convince the public?"
As he said this, he threw out several confessions, all of which were just confessed by several palace members from Qiongfang Palace and Baohui Palace, with fresh fingerprints on them.
Mrs. Yaoning and Lu Jieyu knew that they were in trouble when they saw this posture. Some of these palace people had no impression of them at all, and some were close servants but not close friends. Not to mention that they did not interfere with the affairs of Huzhu Palace. Even if it was true If we want to do it, it is impossible to send these few people.
Eighty percent of them are spies planted by others in the two palaces, and now they are thrown out as a lead to drag the two palaces into trouble.
She just knew that she could not defend herself without any evidence. She wanted to confront these palace officials, but the queen said, "Diao slaves have committed suicide after knowing that they were guilty of heinous crimes and confessing."
Well, just like Shanxiang, there is no evidence of death.
Simply speaking, both the Gu family and the Lu family had family support. Although Empress Ji "identified" them as the real murderers, she had no intention of humiliating them. After beating and scolding them in Chongchang Hall, she sent them back, saying they wanted to go. Ask Queen Mother Ji to discuss how to deal with this matter.
Then Mrs. Yaoning hung herself from the beam.
Xuanliang left a suicide note before, saying that as a daughter of a noble family and a concubine of the emperor, she could not bear such humiliation: If she really did this, it would be natural for her to be a slave for life, but it has nothing to do with her, why should she do this? Accused her wrongly? !
"After all, she is the daughter of a general, and her temperament is strong." When the news reached Ziquan Palace, Yun Fenghuang said with emotion, "Then what does the Queen say now?"
Chen Zhu, who was inquiring about the news, smiled awkwardly: "The Queen is comforting Mrs. Yaoning in Qiongfang Palace."
Yun Fenghuang was startled: "The person is not dead?"
"It is said that the personal palace maid realized something was wrong in time and saved the person, but it was also very dangerous, because Mrs. Yaoning is said to be unable to speak until now, and here on her neck..." Chen Zhu gestured, "Slip away The bruises on his son looked terrible. The female relatives of Uncle Zhaowu's family had come to the palace overnight to visit. They hugged Mrs. Yaoning and cried together. They also wanted to go to the Empress Dowager to complain to their mother, the Empress Dowager. No, It’s so late and I’m afraid of disturbing those two people, so I can only go there in person and make the decision for them.”
At this point, he lowered his voice and said, "My servant also heard that it hasn't rained on the grassland for a long time this year, and Wei He's livestock has suffered a lot of casualties... I'm afraid the north will not be peaceful next time."
Yun Fenghuang frowned and said, "When did you know this news?"
Chen Zhu said that it came from outside the palace not long ago: "Uncle Zhaowu has written several times since the beginning of the year about this matter, asking for more luggage to be prepared."
It seems that Mrs. Yaoning can pass the test. She was not responsible for the incident in the first place. Yuan Yuniang is fine after all. Her biological father, Uncle Zhaowu, who has been stationed in the North for many years, originally had a lot of weight. The court has no idea what to expect next. He resisted Wei He's invasion... Yun Fenghuang thought for a while and asked, "What about Lu Jieyu? Is there any movement?"
Princess Lu, who has the same adoptive father as Lu Jieyu, is restless in the Regent's Palace. There is no reason why Jieyu who has entered the palace will be honest and easy to bully?