Chapter 92
Zhou Xianyang put a stool next to Xiangmian, sat next to her, gave her a bowl of soup, and served her food.
Xiangmian heard Xiao Nan and Xiao Bei say that when they were sick and injured in Western Qin, it was often Zhou Xian Yang who took care of them, so she was content to let him do the work of serving tea and dishes, and just buried her head in her own food.
Seeing that she had a good appetite and had eaten almost all of it, Zhou Xianyang asked, “Does your stomach still hurt?”
“Not anymore.”
Zhou Xian Yang glanced at the inside of her neck, thinking that she had covered it with powder, and said, “You hid it from me because you were afraid that I would be worried, angry, or even turn against the Empress, making it impossible to end the situation. But such an important matter, we should not communicate? Could it be that I’m just as good as a fool, as good as being at peace with people?”
Sang-mi has not thought about this section, just bring himself into Yü Wang’s point of view, in the face of this situation really can not do anything, simply do not know the better.
Seeing that she doesn’t reply, he adds, “It’s not certain that they won’t do anything again. If you let me know and keep an eye on you, isn’t it better than you facing it alone? After all, it’s all because of me, I’m your husband, even if this is difficult, it’s still something I should face.”
Rong Xiangxian had to put down his spoon and told the story of the day he was drugged.
When Zhou Xian Yang heard the details, he was even more furious than when he heard Chen Rixin tell him, and he got up and headed out, saying in a loud voice, “Xiao Bei, prepare my horse.”
“Ignore him!” Rong Xiangshi ran and stopped in front of Zhou Xianyang, pushing him back and pressing him to sit down.
Xiao Bei naturally listens to King Yu and turns around to go out, Feiyun tugs on him, “You fool, do you want to get His Highness killed?”
He is uninformed and doesn’t understand Feiyun’s words, so he has to go see his sister.
Xiao Nan knew that day the crown princess came back injured, the exact inside story is not clear, but also guessed a few points.
If His Highness went to the palace, there was bound to be a storm. Wangfei is willing to endure, naturally for the good of His Highness, busy telling Xiao Bei not to move.
Rong Xiangmian clasped Zhou Xian Yang’s shoulders with both hands forcefully, explaining to him properly: ”That medicine was blended into the soup, the Imperial Doctor said that I only drank a small sip, so it shouldn’t be a problem, and prescribed nourishing medicines for me to regulate. The Empress Dowager has spoken, and His Majesty has refused to punish the Empress severely, do you still want to kill her in the Chengqian Palace?”
A sense of powerlessness arose in Zhou Xian Yang’s heart, realizing that he was no different from back then. He couldn’t save his mother then, and he couldn’t protect the princess now, “It’s all my fault, it’s all because of me. If you had married someone else, how would you have suffered so much idle aggression.”
“Who wants to marry someone else!” Rong Xiangmian was anxious, and Zhou Xianyang immediately hugged her and made amends to her, “I’m sorry.”
She leaned on his shoulder and gently stroked his back to soothe him, “You say I’m raw, but how are you not raw? I have been given the honor of being the Consort of Yu Wang, and the hostility and malice that I need to bear as the Consort of Yu Wang should also be borne by me. It’s not your fault.”
Zhou Xian Yang’s heart was full of self-blame, he lifted the crown princess’s chin, his hand gently rubbing her scar, “Was this cut at that time?”
Xiang Xiang pressed his hand and laughed, “This was cut by myself with a broken bowl piece.”
“You ……”
Zhou Xian Yang was momentarily speechless, his hand holding the crown princess’s slender neck as he struggled to understand. She explained, “His Majesty favors the Empress, and if I don’t hurt my face or bleed a little, I’ll just suffer for nothing. Spare me this, His Majesty did not spare the Empress a heavy punishment, but only promoted Imperial Concubine and Empress Hui.”
“Was it worth it to do so?”
“Of course it was worth it! The Empress doesn’t have any children of her own, and the Royal Noble Consort’s child is the most honored royal son in the palace. Imperial Noble Consort is King Qing’s birth mother and your nominal birth mother. Your Highness, no matter how much you miss your mother, right now Imperial Noble Consort is your birth mother, and the more honorable her status is, the more honorable you and King Qing’s status will be.”
Zhou Xian Yang heard that she was also referring to something between her words, and his heart understood: “Wangfei is moving for the throne?”
“So what? King Qing and King Yun are both good, Your Highness or not, the throne can be in anyone’s hands, but we can’t let King Li take the throne! Otherwise, when the time comes, not to mention the situation of the two of us, even your mother won’t be able to live in the Imperial Tomb.”
This point Zhou Xian Yang how do not know, so he returned to the capital, only to guard against the King of Li, but also actively send people to the palace secretly investigate the King of Li’s life. I didn’t expect the princess to consider his concerns, but also acted decisively.
Zhou Xian Yang smiled bitterly: “You hurt yourself and planned for me, but I can’t even say thank you.”
“Your Highness doesn’t need to say thank you. I didn’t do it all for Your Highness. That day, I specifically mentioned my mother’s matter, and His Majesty, to appease me and save the royal face, granted my mother a first rank grant!”
Zhou Xian Yang looked at the crown princess in surprise, her eyes flashing with paranoia and delight: “Do you know, now my mother is also a courtesan, entering the clan temple and enjoying official sacrifices, no longer something that everyone can mock and trample on!”
This is her heart disease, she finally did it. Zhou Xian Yang looks at her with mixed feelings in his heart.
Xiang Xiang holds Yul Wang’s hand and caresses the newly added scars on his hand, “Your Highness, if I hadn’t married you, if you hadn’t said that you wanted to earn a grant for my mother, I wouldn’t have dared to think about it and I wouldn’t have been able to do it! Now that I have suppressed the Empress and gotten the result I wanted, why bother making trouble? I’ve asked the Emperor and Empress Dowager to keep my secret, and each of them thinks I know what I’m doing! Your Highness, consider it a round-up for me and pretend you don’t know about this!”
Wangfei’s earnest eyes made it impossible for Zhou Xianyang to refuse, and he said, “I will naturally listen to your words.”
Only then did Xiang Xiang breathe a sigh of relief and give him some food.
She had thought that they could really be at peace with each other, but who knew that the next day, a big event happened in the courtroom.
The son of the Princess, Rong Xiangzhi’s husband, the Supervisory Yuan Wen Zhongqing impeached Jiangzhou Governor Qian Jin in the court, enriching himself and embezzling the money for flood control and disaster relief in the past years.
Supervisory Yuan and the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Household sent people together in Jiangzhou visit to investigate, found that the coastal flood relief, flood control project is responsible for the money Jin’s aunt and cousin brother. That is called a jerry-built perfunctory.
Because of this, this year’s rain is obviously not as bad as previous years, in the case of the upstream nothing, Jiangzhou’s big flood peak has not yet arrived, that embankment is just like papier-mâché, washed out in advance, so that the arrival of the big flood peak rushed straight into the villages and towns, killing and injuring nearly a hundred, thousands of people displaced.
“Your Majesty, Jiangzhou is obviously an extremely rich place, but every year ask the treasury for silver relief. Everyone is also accustomed to the flooding in Jiangzhou and feels that it is powerful, has it ever occurred to Your Majesty that this natural disaster is not all a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster? Jiangzhou is treating floods as business. Floods every year, every year can not be cured, so that every year to ask the court for money and food ah!” Wen Zhongqing newborn calf , when in front of not long back to the capital of Yongan Marquis Zhang Huai not the slightest bit of fear, the word Wanjun, resounded through the hall.
People secretly laugh at the Supervisory Yuan’s good sense, obviously go to the first line of the person is not Wen Zhongqing, the person in charge is not him, but Wen Zhongqing began to enter the civil service, the bottom line is clean, there is no handle for people to take, but also is the son of the Princess, His Majesty’s nephew, the status of the noble and not afraid of the power. He came to impeach, really the best candidate.
His Majesty was indeed furious: “How could there be such a thing? No wonder the flowing silver can’t fill up the holes in Jiangzhou, and no wonder the people and the gentry are rumored to have jointly petitioned for the dismissal of Qian Jin! If they weren’t cornered, who would dare offend him as a parent official.”
The Emperor dismissed Qian Jin in a fit of rage.
Marquis of Yongan, Zhang Huai, who had just been awarded by His Majesty for his efforts in wiping out the pirates and safely receiving the tributes sent by sea to the capital, and had been awarded the title of Grand Maester by His Majesty, was caught in the middle of the court, and immediately kneeled down to apologize to His Majesty because Qian Jin was the person he had recommended to be the candidate for the post.
His Majesty immediately called him flat, said: “the hearts of the people are easy to change, Qian Jin original talent, just for the official for a long time, for the interests of the incense will be so. If you are not recommended properly, I have not been negligent.”
All the ministers heard, his majesty on the state uncle can be really forgiving, this matter must be as usual to turn the page again.
Who knows that on the second day, Wen Zhongqing continued to report impeachment, based on the confession of Qian Jin himself, impeachment of the eldest son of the Yongan Marquis, the Governor of Salt Affairs of the Two Rivers, Zhang Pan, soliciting bribes, accepting bribes, and grass-roots killings.
“Zhang Pan used his father’s recommendation as a pretext to borrow money from Qian Jin for the purpose of purchasing a house. That money Jin how dare to say that is borrowed, every time, honestly counted the silver, sent to the Zhang House. Before and after five years, according to him total more than 300,000 taels.”
For a time, the courtroom clamored. The governor’s annual salary was only a few hundred taels. They, the high officials in the capital, could not get this much money from their families. If this money is not misappropriated from the public funds, it is from accepting bribes.
Wen Zhongqing continued to expose in a loud voice: “Previously, the Jiangzhou deputy leader was dissatisfied with Zhang Pan’s style and wanted to expose the corruption in Jiangzhou to His Majesty when he went to the capital to report his duties, but he died violently on the way to the capital. This time, his family brought a bloody letter, saying that Zhang Pan had threatened to take his life if he dared to disclose half a word to the public.
Although there is no proof of this, but this time the court sent to Jiangzhou and his party, also in the middle of the assassination. If it wasn’t for King Yuh’s experienced followers who risked their lives to save him, I’m afraid that the scholar from the Supervisory Yuan and the Ministry of Revenue would have died on the way!”
Hearing about Zhang Pan’s bribery, the emperor is still calm, now involved in the murder of court officials, his majesty was furious, and directly rebuked Zhang Pan: “Wolfish, insatiable greed!”
Also said: “The Empress for me to control the harem, Yongan Hou for me to calm the East China Sea. He is good, in vain of my trust. Shame on me, shame on the Empress, shame on Marquis Yongan!”
His Majesty’s words, only saying Zhang Pan’s faults, not involving Marquis Yong’an in the slightest, and pitting the two of them against each other.
When it comes to his own eldest son, Marquis Yongan is not in a position to intercede in the court, and naturally, there are officials from his discipleship who come out to defend themselves.
After all, but refers to Zhang Pan originally in charge of the two rivers salt this fat, and is the eldest son of the Yongan Marquis, how can lack of money? The Marquis of Yong’an fought for the dynasty, how could his son murder an official of the court, please don’t believe in one side of the story, Your Majesty.
His Majesty pondered for a moment and did not come to an immediate conclusion, but secretly sent an envoy to Jiangzhou to bring all of Zhang Pan and his men back to the capital for interrogation.
When Rong Xiangmian heard this news, his first reaction was: Yü Wang did it.