Chapter 129: Frog in the Well

After Yuan Ziying returned to the Princess's Mansion, she repeated the words of Princess Jinyang, Yan Zhixuan and Ruan Shu to Yan Donghuang without missing a word, and severely complained about them.

"That princess also mocked Miss Qi, thinking that the female officials were not as powerful as the queen. In fact, she didn't understand Miss Qi's ambition at all." Yuan Ziying frowned, "A frog in the well."

Yan Donghuang's eyes fell on the chessboard, and his voice was lazy: "Are they planning to push King Wuyang out?"

"If King Wuyang dares to move, he will die." Feng Yaoguang sat opposite her, picked up a white piece and put it on the chessboard, and said in a cold voice, "He has guarded the border for ten years. He has no merits but hard work. Once he participates in the battle for the crown prince, the southern border should change its master."

Yuan Ziying looked at Feng Yaoguang strangely: "Why is General Feng free to play chess here today?"

"It's none of your business." Feng Yaoguang glanced at her, "You can go to Xie Yunjian to cultivate your relationship. The Crown Princess doesn't need you to serve her anymore."

Yuan Ziying pouted lightly and turned away.

The seven generals of the Qingluan Army have gradually resumed their daily training recently.

They were transferred to the imperial city to take up duty before the New Year because of the issue of establishing the crown prince. Except for the first few days and the New Year holidays, after the early morning court was resumed after the New Year, the duty time of several people became more flexible.

When Mu Yunfan went out to do business, the other six people only had to take up duty for one or two hours, and they did not need to take turns every day.

Because the training in the military camp could not be neglected.

Only Feng Yaoguang stayed in the Princess's Mansion the longest.

The other generals knew this tacitly, and Yan Donghuang also acquiesced.

After being told this by Yuan Ziying today, Yan Donghuang couldn't help but look at Feng Yaoguang: "Do what you should do. I will temporarily focus on the government affairs. I will have time to think about the wedding when the situation is completely stable."

"What do you think of me, Your Highness?" Feng Yaoguang pursed his lips slightly, as if he was dissatisfied. "I am not thinking of getting the moon first because I am close to the water. I just want to be there whenever Your Highness asks me."

Yan Donghuang raised his lips: "Really?"

"Of course." Feng Yaoguang nodded calmly, "Too many things have happened during this period. Your Highness has a hard time dealing with it alone. I want to share some of the burden for Your Highness."

Yan Donghuang's eyes fell on the chessboard: "I have time to play chess with you. It is obviously not very strenuous."

Feng Yaoguang retorted: "Even an iron man needs to rest. Appropriate relaxation is to prepare for the next busyness."

Yan Donghuang heard this, lowered his eyes and stared at the black and white chess pieces crisscrossing on the chessboard, and nodded silently.

The next few days will indeed be very busy.

The emperor planned to let her ascend the throne on the second day of February. Now there are only a few days left, and the inner court is rushing to make dragon robes.

The Dali Temple is investigating Miao Qiyuan's death. Before finding out the cause of his death, it must first check his identity.

But after a few days of investigation, it still knows nothing about his identity.

Prince An Yan Ling ordered people to secretly monitor the movements of the Dali Temple, and at the same time worried that Yan Donghuang would do something else. He was on edge every day, and had to deal with the bribes from the ministers in the court who secretly wanted to go through the back door.

After the court session in the daytime, he began to confirm the registration of the companion reading with the Ministry of Rites. At night, servants from various families brought valuables and knocked on the back door of the palace to ask for an audience.

Yan Ling hated and was angry about all this.

He hated the officials' hypocrisy. They should have resisted the arrangement of the Crown Princess at all costs, eliminated the possibility of Yan Donghuang breaking the system of male superiority and female inferiority, and let the court continue to be dominated by men and refuse women to enter the court.

But they accepted it so easily, and even wanted to send their daughter to the crown princess as a companion at all costs, hoping to get a position in the future and protect their father and brother.

Yan Ling was so angry that he smashed more than a dozen tea sets, three vases and a Duan inkstone in three days.

After he calmed down and slowly accepted the fact that the ministers put the interests of the family first, he began to think about countermeasures calmly.

Yan Donghuang wanted to humiliate him and force him to obey in this way, but he ignored the most important point.

Since he was responsible for selecting companions, he should decide who would be selected in the end.

If he selected a few people who could be used by him and put them in the court, and followed Yan Donghuang, then these companions would be his pawns.

Aren’t the people who gave him gifts these two days the best candidates?

Yan Donghuang was too arrogant, thinking that everything was under her control?

Little did she know that arrogant people would eventually suffer the consequences.

After Yan Ling had an idea in his mind, his mood finally calmed down, as if all the anger and loss of control in these days were soothed. He stayed in the study and began to carefully select the available people.

The Crown Princess was selecting a companion for the first time. The registration period was ten days. The Ministry of Rites was responsible for counting the number of people and then arranging the examination room.

The Ministry of Rites had great power, Prince An had a high status, and Qi Fangfei had the support of the Taifu Mansion.

None of the three leaders dared to suppress anyone.

It can guarantee the fairness and justice of the examination to the greatest extent.

On the 20th of the first lunar month, the list of people counted was presented to Yan Donghuang by the Minister of Rites.

After reading it, Yan Donghuang was surprised: "There are as many as 150 people?"

The Minister of Rites nodded: "Yes, I am also surprised. I didn't expect that there are so many people in Beijing who meet the conditions and are willing to be companions."

Since ancient times, women have followed the principle of virtue without talent.

Many people mistakenly believe that women without talent will be liked by others, and humility and gentleness are virtues. Few people in ordinary families are willing to let their daughters study. On the one hand, it is because studying is too expensive, and on the other hand, they do not value their daughters.

Daughters of powerful families tend to study more, but not all of them are brought up as carefully as their sons.

Yan Donghuang was mentally prepared this time. If there were too few applicants, she would select two or three first, and then encourage the girls to study more, and recruit more girls from the local area.

Unexpectedly, there were as many as 150 applicants.

"I thought that among these 150 people, there must be some who were not well-educated and just reported to give it a try, but so many people signed up, which at least proved that the officials could accept their daughters as officials."

Yan Donghuang nodded.

No matter what the reason for acceptance, as long as the result met her expectations, it would be fine.

She had said long ago that what really drives people to do things in this world is always interests. Only by tying the future of the girls to the interests of their fathers and brothers, they will have the opportunity to step out of the inner house.

If she did not use "fathers and brothers can be conferred a title" as bait when she issued the decree, the number of applicants this time would probably be reduced by half.

After reading the list, Yan Donghuang ordered in a deep voice: "Summon Prince An and Qi Fangfei to the Qinzheng Hall to discuss matters."

"Yes."