Chapter 84 Apprenticeship

Chunjia nodded with serious eyes, he was indeed suspicious of the North Army.

Due to the threat of Wei He, the Dingbei Army has been highly valued by the court since the Dingding of the Kingdom Dynasty.

The commanders-in-chief of the past dynasties are all people who are simple in the emperor's heart.

Otherwise, how can the emperor capital rest in peace?

Not long after Xiaozong ascended the throne, he had a fierce conflict with his family, the Ji family.

Due to his weak power, unable to compete with the sophisticated Ye Guogong and others, Xiaozong could only win over his courtiers and support his brothers at the same time.

Emperor Shenzong had two sons. Although the empress dowager had a cold attitude towards the regent who was born by the concubine, Xiaozong still made great efforts to cultivate the regent, for example, sending him to the Dingbei Army for training.

Later, before Xiaozong died, he had no children under his knees, so he thought about relying on the power of the Dingbei Army to support the regent as the emperor's younger brother.

It's just that under the firm opposition of the Ji family and the empress dowager... this matter will not be resolved.

In Chunjia's view, this matter is a good thing.

It's not that if the regent became the emperor's younger brother, he would have nothing to do with him, but if the regent could rely on the Dingbei Army to control the throne, then... How can his current seat be secure?

Also because the Dingbei Army failed to interfere with the success of the succession of the throne, in Chunjia's eyes, this strong army that has guarded the frontier for generations is still a duty.

Not the kind of target he needed to worry about.

However, the timing of this flood was so coincidental that the imperial court was preparing to send troops to the grassland to interfere in Weihe's internal affairs under the guise of Mu'e Dayan's mother and son...

This is too suspicious!

After all, if it weren't for the flood, the Dingbei Army would have taken Chen Bing, the mother and son of the Da Yan family, to the grassland. It is impossible for Chunjia not to send his confidants to sit in charge of such a major event.

During that time, not only did the Wei family, who wanted to seize the opportunity to become a knight, try to marry the Gu family, but Chunjia quickly decided on the marriage between Princess Minghui and Yun's son, and clearly told Yun Fenghuang that he planned to reuse the Yun's children, so that the When he entered the Dingbei Army, not to mention replacing the Gu family, at least he was fighting against Uncle Zhaowu's lineage.

If the children of the Yun family performed well enough, Uncle Zhaowu would not even be able to decide on the next commander of the Northern Army.

This is what it should be. After all, military power, which normal emperor can rest assured that it is not in his own hands?

However, due to the flood, the imperial court decided to give up sending troops after discussion. The marriage between the Wei family and the Gu family came to an end immediately. Nobody mentioned it.

It's not that Chunjia thinks that since there is no war for the time being, Yun's son will not be allowed to go north, but that he has to consider Uncle Zhaowu's mood.

Like before, the imperial court decided to add a foot to Wei He's internal strife. At this time, the emperor sent some cronies to the Dingbei Army to "sharpen", implying that Gu Fangshu is easy to cultivate. No matter what Gu Fangshu thinks in his heart, he must always be like Just like Ouyang Yanran brought Xie Wuzheng and others in the flood in the south, at least she showed her bearing on the scene, she couldn't refuse, and it was not easy to refuse.

In this way, as long as the Yun family's children support them, they will naturally have the opportunity to make contributions. In the future, they will gain a foothold in the Dingbei Army, and then they will rise to the top and become Gu Fangshu's successor, which is a matter of course.

But now Weihe in the north, despite beating lives and beatings to death, has not interfered with the imperial court, and the emperor is not the regent, but has a close relationship with Gu Fangshu, so he suddenly sent a high-ranking disciple there, which is very suspicious of Gu Fangshu. .

And although Gu Fangshu is well known to have a profound friendship with the regent, but he has never disrespected or disloyal to the court and Chunjia.

The emperor began to doubt his words, let outsiders know, how can they not feel that Chunjia is mean and ungrateful?

The most important thing is that Chunjia currently has no one who is suitable to directly take over the Dingbei Army. It is not good for him to let the army's morale fluctuate hastily. Of course, he can't force Yunxike to be assigned to Gu Fangshu's subordinates.

Well, now the emperor can't help thinking that the remnants of the Ji family caused this flood at that time... Could it be that there are some secrets in the Dingbei Army that are not suitable to be revealed, and he is afraid that he will know or become suspicious?

That's why the flood happened so coincidentally.

It seems to have held back the country's intervention in Weihe, but in fact, it is not allowing itself to intervene in the Dingbei Army, in case the Dingbei Army is afraid of being exposed?

"Has Your Majesty ever asked the Secretary of the Imperial City?" Yun Fenghuang asked after pondering for a while.

Chun Jia said: "You know, it's only been a few days since the Imperial City Secretary has been completely in my hands. Before, they were all members of the Regent just like the Dingbei Army."

And the key point is that the Imperial City Department is under the control of the emperors of all dynasties, and outsiders are not allowed to comment.

At the beginning, Xiaozong handed it over to the regent, so that's all... It was handed over just before his death.

As for the Dingbei Army, when Xiaozong arranged for the regent to go to sharpen it, how could he think that he would have no heirs and needed to establish an emperor's younger brother?

At that time, he just hoped that the regent would grow up to be his right-hand man. How could he arrange the Dingbei Army into the regent's private army?

Therefore, although both Dingbei Army and Huangcheng Division could be said to be the forces of the Regent, they are different.

The Imperial City Division was once a subordinate of the Prince Regent, and even the former son of the Prince Regent, Xiang Xiao, was able to dictate to him; the Dingbei Army was not the case, it had never been subordinate to the Prince Regent, only because the commander and other upper echelons had a close relationship with the Prince Regent , and everyone knows that the Prince Regent has been trained in the Dingbei Army, maybe the Dingbei Army generally has a good impression of this prince...but they have never been the Prince Regent's subordinates.

Therefore, when the Regent was in power, even if the Imperial City Secretary was to keep an eye on the Northern Army, he definitely couldn't go too far.

Otherwise, it would not be a good thing for Dingbei Army to harm him.

Yun Fenghuang figured this out, sighed, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, I don't think this matter can be rushed now, after all, the flood has passed for several months, even if there was something wrong in the Dingbei Army, Now I'm afraid I can't find any clues. Since Mr. Ouyang is old and prudent, no news has been spread, so there must be a real culprit behind the scenes, and His Majesty's discernment is unexpected! It's better to figure it out slowly."

She has learned to behave well now, anyway, at the critical moment, she will say the words that are not very different between saying and not saying.

Although it is not possible to transform into a virtuous, virtuous, gentle and virtuous person all of a sudden, at least it cannot make Chunjia feel that she has more ideas about getting worse.

Otherwise, the day after tomorrow will know what the emperor will think of her.

It's fine to make a fuss once or twice, but if there are too many times, Chunjia will bother her even if she doesn't.

"It's just that Gu Fangshu's face still has to be given..." Chunjia pondered.

Although the flood in the south was fierce and spread far and wide, with the size of Guochao, it could still bear it.

And because when the Ji family seized power before, the battle between the court and China was fierce, and the efficiency of everything was low.

Even for disaster relief, it is easy to be dragged down by the intrigue of all parties. This is far from the case. Chunjia gave an order to go out of Beijing that day, and the decisive and swift action was very well received in the public.

... Deducting conscience and morality, this flood is actually not a bad thing for Chunjia.

However, something went wrong with the Dingbei Army, but it was different.

Now that Hele has the intention of sweeping all directions, it is no problem for him to rely on force to secure the position of Weihe Khan.

At that time, if the Dingbei Army does not carry it if they cast their eyes on the Central Plains, or if the Dingbei Army has a different heart, the result will be unimaginable!

This is also the reason why Chunjia did not dare to touch Gu Fangshu lightly.

"Uncle Zhaowu's family are all in the imperial capital." Yun Fenghuang said, "his concubine's daughter is still the empress, so it is said that Uncle Zhaowu should be most loyal to His Majesty..."

Before finishing speaking, Chunjia showed disapproval: "Those who come to great things don't care about trivial matters, and there are many who ignore their parents, wives and children. Besides, although Gu Fangshu's main wife and many concubines stayed in the imperial capital to serve the elders, He has been in the north for many years, and he also took in a few concubines and gave birth to children. It is rumored that he dotes on those young heirs very much, and even takes the youngest daughter-in-law with him from time to time, teaching them personally Riding and shooting."

The implication is that although according to the secular rules, the birth of a concubine is more important than that of a concubine, but who knows if Gu Fangshu thinks so in his heart?

If he is already tired of his old wife and his long-grown heirs, but pays more attention to the young and beautiful concubine Ji and her young children, then... the hostages in the imperial capital are meaningless up.

Even if Gu Fangshu's relatives are in the imperial capital, to put it in a bad way, not everyone is sincerely filial.

Anyway, the emperor didn't think that Zhao Wubo's parents, brothers, sisters, wives and children could sit back and relax under his nose.

Yun Fenghuang understood his suspiciousness very well, because she thought the same way, but she just kept silent so as not to appear too scheming.

Thinking about Chunjia's thoughts at this moment, he said slowly: "I have never met Uncle Zhaowu before, and I don't know what kind of person he is. Now I dare not say anything nonsense. It's just that I think that seeing the empress Acting, if it is a daughter-in-law, is it possible that Uncle Zhaowu was also deceived? He is still loyal to His Majesty in his heart, but only used by others? After all, in the eyes of the concubine, Uncle Zhaowu is deeply in love with the emperor, and he is the earl himself. With the military power in hand, the daughter-in-law entered the palace to serve His Majesty, and now she is the lord of the Sixth Palace! Although the Empress cannot give birth, His Majesty may send the daughters to the palace for the Central Palace to continue the heirs..."

"With such a favor, who else can he ask for better?"

"Uncle Zhao Wu, as long as he is not confused, he should not be disloyal to His Majesty!"

There is no way, if the Xie family is already a well-respected family and drives Chunjia to suspect Gu Fangshu, then Yunfenghuang must have immediately made trouble and tried to pull Gu Zhen from the back seat to make room for himself .

But Xie's worthless...

If Gu Zhen loses his position at this moment, it will be nobody's turn but Yun Fenghuang's turn.

It would be better to let Gu Zhen sit still.

Otherwise, what good would it be to Yun Fenghuang if he changed to a young and fertile one?

No matter how the adoptive son belongs to the son in name, how can the emperor's own prince be justified?

"That's what you said." Chunjia pondered for a while, and said, "And it's also possible that I'm overthinking it. After all, after the Ji family was chased and killed by the regent, not many people escaped from the sky. They Even though he was stubbornly resisting, he might not have wanted to go to the north, but he happened to bump into it."

That's what he said, but Yun Fenghuang understood that since the emperor proposed such an idea, Dingbei Army was not so trustworthy in his eyes.

That being the case, whenever there is an opportunity, Chunjia will not let go of the opportunity to take power.

Thinking of Gu Su's only pregnancy, a secret smile flashed in Yun Fenghuang's eyes, and he said softly: "It's also possible, but the Dingbei Army has a very important relationship and cannot be ignored."

After Chunjia nodded slightly, she talked about Zhu's pregnancy, because now Chunjia has many heirs, especially princes, and Zhu just served Chunjia by chance under Yun Fenghuang's order. Once, it wasn't Yun Fenghuang who said it now, Chunjia even forgot.

He didn't take it seriously, just let Yun Fenghuang decide for himself.

He didn't even say that he wanted Yun Fenghuang to take good care of the pregnant concubine, he just said: "This is someone from your palace, you can deal with it."

Seeing her hesitate to speak, she wondered, "What else is there?"

"Gu Baolin is also happy, does Your Majesty know about this?" Yun Fenghuang asked knowingly, Chunjia didn't go to the Central Palace at all in the past two days, and Gu Zhen had already received enough lessons from the king of Chu, now Gu Su is pregnant. In the morning, all she could think about was how to keep her first cousin's child, how could she take the initiative to report to Chunjia?

Sure enough, Chunjia frowned, and said: "There is another matter? That's good news, the queen should be able to breathe a sigh of relief."

Yun Fenghuang said: "The Empress has ignored other matters for the past two days, and only cared about Gu Baolin."

After a pause, she lowered her voice, "This is why I feel that Uncle Zhaowu should not do unwise things. After all, although he is not a very powerful minister, he is not far away. May I ask who else in the world besides His Majesty Can you treat him like this?"

Chunjia smiled, stretched out his hand to stroke her temple hair, and said slowly: "But hope so, after all, people's hearts are unpredictable."

He ignored the topic, and asked Yun Fenghuang when he would bring his nieces into the palace, "I remember that this time Mrs. Jiang was with your elder brother? Do you plan to meet?"

Of course we must see each other, after all when Yun Fenghuang was at home, Xie Xiyu was the closest to her, the brother and sister had a deep bond of affection, now this brother came all the way to the imperial capital, how could she not see him?

Hearing Chunjia's initiative to mention it, the noble concubine was overjoyed, and kissed him with a smile: "The concubine will thank Your Majesty for her kindness."

For example, she mentioned this matter when she went to pay her respects to the empress the next day. The empress is now focused on Gu Su, even if she is not distracted by Gu Su, she is too lazy to object to the fact that the emperor nodded, so she said: "Since If so, then do as His Majesty wishes."

So after noon that day, Yun Fenghuang ordered someone to bring Xie Xiyu and his wife to Huanhua Hall.

Xie Xiyu, who ranks eighteenth among the male heirs of Xie's generation, has seven or eight similarities to Yun Fenghuang's eyebrows and eyes, but the outline is more masculine, wearing a pea green blouse and sable fur, looking very handsome; His wife, Xiao Jiang, is the niece of Jiang's natal family. They were originally cousins ​​of the brothers and sisters. They don't look like Jiang's. They are only delicate and fair, not very beautiful, but they get along very harmoniously with Xie Xiaoyu. The score is not shallow.

The three have known each other since they were young, and even though their identities are quite different now, after talking and joking, they quickly warmed up.

Xie Xiaoyu was still a bit reserved towards her younger sister, Xiao Jiang was always quick to talk, seeing Yun Fenghuang's approaching attitude, not that kind of deliberate arrogance and alienation, so she asked directly, but Xie Xiaoyu really wanted to be loyal to the court, but she didn't know Is there any chance?

This is euphemistic, but in fact, he wants to be an official.

"If someone else doesn't pass the imperial examination, they will definitely not be able to do it." Yun Fenghuang is not disgusted with this, after all, she is afraid that her brother is not self-motivated, or blindly motivated, and it is okay to climb up if she wants to gain fame, and she also thinks so no?

Hearing this, he showed a little smile, and said to her, "But Brother Shiba and Bengong have the same mother, and the sister-in-law is also the cousin that Bengong played with, how can I not think about you?"

I just talked about the cultivation route arranged for Xie Xiaoyu, because although there are many brothers, there are only four of them with the same mother, and two of them are very honest and kind. I can only hope that my nephew will be more clever when he grows up. Yun Fenghuang naturally attaches great importance to Xie Xiliu and Xie Xiaoyu.

Learning from Xie Xiliu's previous lessons, and considering that Xie Xiyu is just a juvenile, she decided to find a teacher for Xie Xiyu first, not only to bring some lessons, but also to let him rely on multiple teachers in the future.

Yun Fenghuang had already thought about the candidate for this teacher, and it was Cui Wan.

"This is Mrs. Qing Shu's natal father. Although Mrs. Qing Shu had some quarrels with me in the past, in the past two years, the conflict has turned into friendship." Anyway, even if Cui Lianye suddenly wanted to turn his back on one day, she could still hold her to death with one hand. , Yun Fenghuang explained to his brother and sister-in-law, "There is no doubt about Cui Wan's knowledge. He is the same year as Wei Liushou. She was favored by the late emperor, but she still had to resign, and she has lived in seclusion in the palace and never entered an official position! On the contrary, this Cui Wan has gradually become an excellent minister, even though His Majesty seems to have lost power after taking office, she still holds an important position."

"Some of his disciples are also used by His Majesty."

"For example, Du Langu, who was ordered to preside over the Sanzhou Rebellion, was only the county magistrate of Wannian two years ago, but now he has herded one side."

"I thought about it, if my elder brother can worship under him, firstly, his status will be different from now on, secondly, he will be taken care of by people inside and outside after he enters the officialdom, and thirdly, our family has never been an official in the imperial court. In fact, he is not proficient. If Eighteenth Brother can get Cui Wan's advice, plus this Gong's advice before His Majesty, why not be successful in official career?"

Xiao Jiang was very satisfied when she heard it, thanked her repeatedly, and promised to urge her to thank Xiaoyu and not let him slack off: "I must not embarrass my empress!"

This remark was a bit connotative to Xie Xiliu and his wife, but Yun Fenghuang didn't care about it, he smiled and told them about the old things, made a gesture of nostalgia for the old love, and then served tea to see off the guests.

After such a greeting, when the people left, Yun Fenghuang also felt a little tired, and when he returned to the inner room, he gently pinched his forehead, let the left and right back down, and wanted to be quiet for a while.

But it didn't stay quiet for a long time, and someone rushed to report, saying that there was news from Wannian County: "The concubine Xian started it half a day ago!"