The Concubine in the Palace_The Feast of Masks【Complete】(185)

The Wang family suffered from rumors. Wang Ge Lao reported his illness to Emperor Hongjing and stayed at home to recuperate. The Wang family faded from the public's sight overnight, but the impact of this incident was undoubtedly huge.

Seeing that the Wang family was about to collapse, there were naturally people who wanted to replace it, and the court entered a chaotic situation. The Wang family was a dead insect, but it was not stiff. Now it was just to avoid the limelight by keeping a low profile, but it was obvious that someone wanted to cross the line, so it was impossible to passively take a beating without fighting back.

This autumn was undoubtedly a chaotic autumn. The civil officials who had always been in a group crushed each other, attacked each other, and divided into several factions, among which countless people took the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. The civil officials were no better than the military officials when they tore each other apart. They rolled up their sleeves and took off their official hats. Once they almost fought in the court, but it was only when Emperor Hongjing got angry that they stopped.

In the end, the Wang family was seriously injured and Wang Ge Lao wrote a letter to beg for his bones.

The Wang family, a behemoth that had stood in the court for decades, finally collapsed. Naturally, there were rising stars. Perhaps they would also experience the same thing as the Wang family, rising, developing, and growing, until one day they violated the imperial power and caused a disaster. However, this is a matter for the future. Even though it is known that anyone who has reached the extreme of being an official will inevitably cause backlash, no one has ever been able to resist the sweetness of power.

While the court was in turmoil, the princes' situations were also different.

Since the Mid-Autumn Festival, King Hui has been staying at home, King Yong is also very low-key, and King Hui's son Zhao Zuo has been running to the palace more frequently. However, King An has changed his previous style and suddenly became high-profile, with an empty and humble appearance, and court officials began to appear around him.

At the same time, another high-profile person is King Jin. King Jin's high profile is not other things, but he did something that made everyone dumbfounded.

The story has to start from King Jin's second job.

The mission is related to Princess Anqing.

Speaking of Princess Anqing, we have to talk about it. Princess Anqing is the current aunt. Although she is not a direct aunt, among all the brothers and sisters of the previous emperor, only Princess Anqing is still in the palace. She is of noble status and of high generation, so Emperor Hongjing treats her very well.

When Princess Anqing was young, she was also a wise person who knew right from wrong. Now, I don’t know whether she is old and confused, or she is bullying others by taking advantage of her power, and she did something that people criticized a lot.

When a princess gets married, she has a princess mansion according to the system, and the construction of the princess mansion is regulated. But Princess Anqing’s princess mansion has existed for too long, just like herself. Princess Anqing is now seventy-five years old. The princess mansion was built when she got married at the age of eighteen, and it has been more than fifty years.

And as Princess Anqing and her husband got married and had children, her son gave birth to grandsons, and her grandsons gave birth to great-grandsons. The key is that Princess Anqing is very fertile. She alone gave birth to five sons and two daughters, not counting the two concubines of the husband's husband. After the five sons grew up and got married, they were divided into five rooms, each of which was a branch, and continued to reproduce descendants.

Anyway, up to now, there are no less than two hundred masters in Princess Anqing's mansion, not to mention the servants. The population is constantly increasing, but the mansion is so small, so it is inevitable to face one thing, to expand the mansion.

The problem is that the husband is not promising, and few of Princess Anqing's descendants are promising, so they can only rely on Princess Anqing's salary and land, as well as their respective titles to get silver and eat for free. In order to maintain their dignity, their family usually lives a tight life, and they have to let Princess Anqing go to the palace from time to time to ask for some rewards to maintain it, not to mention expanding the mansion.

Moreover, the location of the princess's mansion is too good. The neighbors are all people with titles or high official ranks, and others are unwilling to make room for her. There was really no other way, so the Princess Mansion began to intentionally or unintentionally occupy the land of the neighbors.

At first, they occupied public land. For example, there was an alley between the two houses, and there were no residents in the alley, so they occupied the alley. Others naturally hated this kind of thing. Who would want to live next to someone else's house? There was only a wall between them, and it was not the kind of cramped place where people in the market lived. But the problem was that they were not occupying their own land, and it was not worth offending a princess, so they all endured it.

As an official, there were many ups and downs in life. It was inevitable that some people were deprived of their titles and official positions because of committing crimes. Without the title and official title, the mansion awarded by the above would be taken back and wait for the next resident. Whenever this time came, it was the busiest time for the Princess Mansion.

First, the wall was pushed, and then it was rebuilt. The wall of the neighbor's house was tightened inward, and the wall of their own house was expanded outward. The key is that the Princess Mansion was hidden and not greedy. It nibbled and swallowed up little by little, and no one noticed it.

It has been swallowed up bit by bit for decades. This year, a family received a reward from the court. They happily moved into the house and found that the rewarded house was not as big as they said. Did they misunderstand the area of ​​the five-story house, or was the house awarded by the emperor so small?

The owner of this house was also a young man, and he immediately went to ask the Ministry of Works. The people from the Ministry of Works personally went to the house to survey and found out that the area of ​​the house was indeed wrong.

Since this family made a fuss, several other families who had been holding back their anger also made a fuss. One family was on the left side of the princess's mansion, and like the family on the right side, the area of ​​the house was greatly reduced. The three families at the back were the worst. The road in front of the door was obviously much narrower than other places, and it was not convenient for carriages to enter and exit.

The incident broke out, and the whole city was shocked.

Can it be done like this?

But she just did it, not just one or two days. It is estimated that someone had discovered it before, but it was not said for various reasons. The Ministry of Works probably knew about it, but they pretended to be confused. Anyway, the house was not for them to live in, so they should repair it and fix it. As for the rest, it had nothing to do with them.

After the incident, Princess Anqing immediately entered the palace with a dragon head cane.

Unfortunately, Emperor Hongjing was busy with government affairs and did not see her. It was Queen Wei who entertained her. Queen Wei was respectful and was willing to listen to Princess Anqing crying pitifully. But whenever she mentioned making a promise, she would keep silent and just say that this matter was not something she, a woman, could manage, after all, it involved the previous dynasty.

Princess Anqing wanted to see Emperor Hongjing, who was busy with government affairs every day. It was also because Emperor Hongjing was afraid of her. Since he was a child, he saw this aunt coming to the palace every now and then to ask for things, rewards, and titles. Emperor Hongjing always thought that having many children and grandchildren was a blessing. When he met such a person, he really wanted to say that he couldn't afford to raise so many children.

The court could control the princess, and also control the princess's sons, grandsons, grandsons, and great-grandsons. How many times did Emperor Hongjing complain in his heart that he found such an incompetent man for Princess Anqing.

It's not that the Zhao family can't support Princess Anqing's family, but it's against the rules. After all, there is no rule in the future.

Emperor Hongjing just didn't see her. Princess Anqing knew that no one cared about her. Since she was old and was going to be put into the coffin, she had to create some blessings for her descendants.

She used to hide it, but now she doesn't hide it anymore. She looks like she won't give it back. If you have the ability, throw me out.

But who dares to throw her out? She is a married woman, but she is still a princess after all, and the only princess with the highest generation left.

If it were an ordinary person, he would have considered himself unlucky if he encountered this incident, but the young and inexperienced Marquis Zhongyong who caused this incident before was not good enough.

Marquis Zhongyong is now in his forties, and it is rare for such a young man to be granted the title of marquis. After all, he did not rely on nepotism or flattery, but relied on his real ability and made great contributions to the court, so he was granted the title of marquis.

Marquis Zhongyong was originally a small captain of the Fujian Navy. The Japanese pirates were causing trouble in the coastal areas, causing the people to live in misery. The court sent troops to suppress the pirates several times, but all returned in vain. It was also in recent years that the court directed its main forces towards the rough plains and neglected to cultivate the navy.

And at this time, Marquis Zhongyong suddenly emerged as a new force. When Fujian was one-sidedly beaten by the Japanese pirates and could not raise his head, he led his troops to win one after another.

It was simply a red dot in the dark!

In this way, the loyal and brave marquis was promoted three levels and became the commander-in-chief of the Fujian Navy's anti-Japanese forces. He led the Fujian Navy officers and soldiers to wipe out the Japanese pirates along the coast. He even fought to the Japanese pirates' homeland, Japan, and forced several Japanese shoguns to beg for mercy from the Daqian Dynasty, and compensated a large sum of silver, promising to strictly control the island's wanderers from going to sea in the future. Only then did the matter rest.

The victory was reported back, and the whole country was jubilant.

And the jubilant scene is still vivid, and now it is too much to let the meritorious officials succumb to tears!

The loyal and brave marquis went to see Emperor Hongjing twice, and Emperor Hongjing sent a message to the Minister of Works.

In fact, although Emperor Hongjing did not see Princess Anqing during this period, he did have ideas. He asked the Ministry of Works to pretend to pass on a message to persuade him, wanting to move Princess Anqing's mansion to the outer city and have the court pay for the reconstruction of the princess's mansion.

But Princess Anqing is not good. Princess Anqing said that no one would say which princess's mansion was built in the outer city. Isn't she a member of the royal family?

In fact, to put it bluntly, she is still concerned about the last bit of dignity. If she is really thrown out, Princess Anqing's family will not be able to live as a human being, and will be laughed to death.

Since they are not moving, the problem is that there is really no place to relocate in the imperial city, that is, the inner city.

There is no way, but to force it to be demolished!

This matter naturally fell on the head of the King of Jin.

Knowing that the King of Jin was assigned such an assignment, Yao Niang, who is so gentle, also cursed.

She cursed the Minister of Works for being a black bastard, who did not come forward for such a matter, but took the King of Jin's responsibility. She cursed Emperor Hongjing for not knowing how to love his son, and that he was going to abandon the reputation of the King of Jin.

The nephew's grandson went to demolish the house of his great-aunt, which made people poke the King of Jin's spine. No matter how reasonable it is, people will not say anything bad about the Minister of Works, nor will they say anything about Emperor Hongjing. They will only say that Prince Jin is cold and heartless, has no respect for elders and juniors, and violates the ethics of being a younger generation.

Emperor Hongjing obviously threw the pot to his son, and the key is that Prince Jin has to take it.

Yao Niang was worried and thought of several ways for Prince Jin.

For example, pretending to be sick, or going there to show his feelings and then coming back, etc., but they were all refuted by Prince Jin one by one. The matter must be resolved, and Prince Jin did not intend to give in.