Chapter 2890 Mutation, and Another Expedition [2]
On the first day of November, the capital city was already covered in snow. Everyone had to wear thick cotton-padded clothes and leather boots when going out for a walk, otherwise the cold could cripple one's feet.
But the capital city in winter was still bustling with activity, weddings continued, and the court was also busy preparing for the Winter Solstice Festival.
Because the Winter Solstice Festival in the first year of the David Dynasty was held too hastily, Wei Qi attached great importance to this year's Winter Solstice Festival. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, he ordered the Ministry of Rites and the Qin Tian Jian to start preparing for the ceremony.
He just waited for the arrival of the winter solstice and immediately took his son Wei Lin to attend the sacrifice. In this way, Wei Lin's position as crown prince would be much more stable, and the chance of Wei Xiao's succession to the throne would be even smaller.
However, just as Wei Qi was talking to the ministers about the Winter Solstice Festival in the Jinluan Palace and praying that the David Dynasty would not fall, Commander Yuan suddenly entered the Jinluan Palace and said: "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Zhou has returned with a cavalry force. , I have to meet with His Majesty for something big, and I asked Your Majesty to summon him as soon as possible no matter what!"
The smile on Wei Qi's face condensed, and he was a little unhappy... This Zhou Huang was becoming more and more ignorant of the rules. He knew clearly that it was early morning, but he still hurriedly asked for a meeting.
Wei Lin took the lead and said: "Father, the Marquis of Zhou is coming to Beijing to ask for an audience at this moment. There must be something important. Please, Father, summon the Marquis of Zhou as soon as possible to avoid missing state affairs."
That's right, Wei Lin is only eight years old and has already been allowed to come to the court to listen to politics by Wei Qien.
After hearing this, Wei Qi smiled again on his face and said, "The prince is right. We will stay here for today. The ministers should go back to their respective ministries to handle errands and retire from the court."
"Yes, I will retire!" Mr. Ge and the six ministers led the courtiers to bow and retreat.
"Take the Marquis of Zhou to the Qingzheng Hall." Wei Xiao ordered, leading Wei Lin to the Qingzheng Hall first.
The imperial city was too big. Zhou Huang arrived at the Qingzheng Palace half an hour later. When he saw Wei Qi, he didn't even have time to kneel down and worshiped. He could only say hurriedly: "Your Majesty, Northeast War Report, Dongqing planned to murder Liu Hou , launched a large-scale siege of Yangji Mansion. It has been more than a month now. It is still unclear what the situation in Yangji Mansion is... Leading the troops to attack the city was the young prince Zhou. He hated the Wei family deeply, and Yang Ji It is very likely that the city will be destroyed and massacred!"
"What, what are you talking about!" Wei Qi stood up from the dragon couch in shock, rushed down, snatched the secret letter from Zhou Huang's hand, read it hastily, held up the secret letter, and sneered: "Is this a battle report? Why are there no big seals from the government offices and garrison camps along the way? Who gave you the battle report? Could it be that there are evil thieves who lied about the military situation and wanted to destroy the stability of the country?!"
What if we send troops to reinforce the capital because there are no reports of battles from the various government camps along the way, and the capital falls? !
Zhou Huang said: "The battle report was sent from Jiqing Mansion, but it was using a letter eagle, so there is no seal of each government... The northeast is too far from the capital. If you use war horses to deliver the message, even if you travel day and night, it will take almost three people. It would take a month to get to the capital. It would be too late. We could only use the letter eagle to convey the message, so we couldn't get every government office to stamp it... But there are the handprints and big seals of the Jiqing government office and the new guard general on it. It’s fake!”
No wonder Prince Wei's people would first send him the letter eagle and the battle report, and let him, his confidant, send it to Wei Qi, so as to prevent Wei Qi from not believing it and delaying the war.
And because of this move, Zhou Huang's view of Wei Xiao changed somewhat.
"Your Majesty, Prince Wei is here." Commander Yuan came to report.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wei Xiao entered the Qingzheng Hall, holding the same letter in his hand: "Uncle, this is a battle report sent to my nephew by the soldiers of the Eagle Food Gang who stayed in the northeast...Uncle Liu is indeed in danger. Yes, but I don’t know if he is missing or killed?”
He added: "Ever since Xinliu City was captured, Dongqing has been dissatisfied with us and will definitely wait for an opportunity to attack David for revenge. Ninety percent of this battle report is true. Uncle, don't doubt it. Quickly report the six ministers and the elders." We have been summoned to discuss the matter of aiding the Northeast and counterattacking Dongqing!"
After Wei Qi heard this, he looked at Wei Xiao, his mind racing, thinking about killing two birds with one stone, or even three birds with one stone.
After a while, he said: "It is my decree that there are changes in the Northeast. It is announced that the six ministers and the elders of the cabinet will come to the palace to discuss matters. Uncle Xiao is also called."
"Yes." The chief eunuch immediately ordered the palace officials to summon all the adults.
The adults had just returned to the Sixth Department, and before their chairs were warm, they hurried to the Qingzheng Hall, causing the subordinates in each department to panic and whisper: "What happened? Why did all the six ministers go to the Qingzheng Hall?"
Colleagues waved their hands and said, "I'm not sure... don't talk anymore, just finish the official business at hand first."
However, the adults of the Six Ministries had been there all day, and they had not come out of the Qingzheng Palace until the imperial city gate was closed. The officials of the Six Ministries became more and more uneasy. It was clear that something big had happened, but they didn't know what the big thing was.
…
Gu Jinli was also very curious, but she didn't have to be curious for long before Qin Sanlang came back with a sad face.
When Gu Jinli saw this, he felt distressed. He went up to hug him and asked, "What's wrong? Aren't you going to see Zhang Zhong and his wife off? Why aren't you happy?"
A few days ago, Zhang Zhong and Lian Mingxiu of the Lian family got married. Today is a day for the young couple to pay a special visit. Qin Sanlang's family called Xie Cheng's family, Zhang Yan's family, and Widow Xiao's family. Everyone was busy. Zhang Zhong and his wife were entertained.
Qin Sanlang raised his hand and hugged her tightly. After a long time, he said: "I just received news from the Fei family that Dongqing raised troops to attack Yangji Mansion. Yangji Mansion has been besieged for more than a month. It is estimated that the city has been broken... Uncle Liu is dead."
Qin Sanlang has been in contact with the Fei family, and the Fei family is also more oriented towards the Qin and Gu families, so Qin Sanlang got more complete information, and the letter said a lot... Fei Jiawang sent someone to Da Liu Checking the mountains where the general disappeared, traces of the Dongqing people were found.
Because Fei Jiawang and the others knew Dongqing dialect, they overheard: "Uncle Liu was eaten by a tiger, and his body was not intact!"
At the end of the sentence, Qin Sanlang's voice choked up, and his arms tightened around Gu Jinli's body, as if this was the only way to make himself feel less uncomfortable.
Gu Jinli was shocked when he heard this and hurriedly comforted him: "Don't be sad. The news may be inaccurate. If you didn't see the body, you might still be alive."
But……
Those Dongqing people said that the buried bones of Uncle Liu were dug out and made into a flagpole for the white flag of surrender. They were also taken outside Yangji Mansion to show off to the people in the city!
Qin Sanlang's heart ached when he thought of what Fei Jiawang wrote in Fei Jiawang's letter about the Dongqing people trampling Uncle Liu's bones. However, he didn't want Xiaoyu to know the cruel things on the battlefield, and he didn't want the bones to be humiliated. Son told her.
He just hugged her and said: "I hope Uncle Liu is still alive... We have suffered for twelve years and finally live a good life. I don't want anything to happen to you."
Uncle Liu endured a lot of hardships in his life to become a marquis. In order to help the Wei family and the Qin family, he was thrown into prison twice and was almost beheaded by Emperor Jingyuan.
Fortunately, Da Chu was unstable at that time, the northwest was already in chaos, and the northeast could no longer be in chaos, so Uncle Liu was released again.
But he had obviously survived, how could he end up like this... he was eaten until only the bones were left, and the bones were dug out and humiliated!