A Complete Explanation of the Negative Textbooks of the Imperial Examination

Chapter 55: Palace Banquet

In the Taiji Palace, the queen received the news that the emperor was returning to the palace, and had been waiting for a long time.

The palace banquet is placed in the Linhu Hall, not far from the South China Sea, the West Sea and the North Sea.

There is no banquet yet, it is impossible for the emperor and the Turkic khan to wait in the back garden, and the Turkic khan travels thousands of miles to Chang’an, not to travel around the mountains, play and watch polo, so After entering the palace gate, the emperor and the prince and others parted ways with everyone, and went to sit in the former court palace with the Turkic khans, accompanied by several prime ministers. As soon as the emperor and the others left, the others clearly relaxed. This kind of diplomatic event has not yet come for King Liang and King Qi to participate. These idle princes have nothing to do. Now they are walking on the palace road with ease, along with many female relatives to the harem. Meet the Queen Mother.

This palace banquet is not big, and the people present are basically the royal family’s own family, but it is not small. When it comes to the kings of the outer regions, the etiquette cannot be neglected, so the queen took great pains to finalize the location by the lake. Now The queen mother rested in the warm pavilion next to her.

The queen mother was surrounded by many palace people, sitting in the warm pavilion and listening to people. The queen and several concubines surrounded the queen mother, silently and racking their brains to say compliments.

Several concubines were laughing when they suddenly heard the report from the servants outside the hall: “Your Royal Highnesses are here.”

The queen mother laughed immediately: “It’s Wen Yan and the others.”

Princess Xin’an and King Liang walked in the front, leading a mighty group of people to greet the Queen Mother: “I have seen the Queen Mother.”

Xin’an and Liang Wang are juniors, there is no reason for the queen mother and the queen to greet each other, so the queen still sits firmly beside the queen mother at the moment, smiling and looking at these people, but staying by the side Several of the concubines stood up and avoided the ceremony halfway.

Although the brothers fought against each other later, the eldest son and the second son turned against each other for the throne, and the second son almost made the long house impossible, but after fighting back and forth, her empress dowager’s noble status will not change.

The queen mother is very well maintained. Although she is not young, there are not many wrinkles on her face. On the contrary, she looks more energetic than the emperor who is burdened by state affairs. The queen mother is used to her detached status, and her expression has always been indifferent, but at this moment, when she sees this group of people asking for peace, she has a smile on her normally dignified face, and beckons to the crowd affectionately: “Yan’er, Are you tired this time? Come up and show your grandmother.”

Princess Xin’an, King Liang and others are the blood of the Queen Mother’s direct relatives, but at this moment, the Queen Mother only calls Rong Wenyan out, which shows how far the scale in the Queen Mother’s heart is biased.

Princess Xin’an is used to this kind of injustice, she just smiled and turned the matter over, she still looks like a decent and noble princess. Rong Wenyan came out from the crowd who were greeting her with many eyes, and walked towards the Queen Mother gently. When she got closer, Rong Wenyan bowed to the Queen: “He Jing has seen the Queen.”

Queen Cui is the successor, even if she is the queen, she can’t help the blood left behind after Yuan Dynasty, such as the prince, such as Princess Xin’an. However, Rong Wenyan has always treated her with courtesy and respect, which made Queen Cui very useful, so Queen Cui was also willing to show respect to Rong Wenyan, and deliberately carried Rong Wenyan to confront the little evil obstacle in the East Palace.

Rong Wenyan and the Queen are filial and filial, and the Queen Mother is more satisfied after seeing it. After Rong Wenyan greeted the empress, she sat down beside the empress dowager unceremoniously. The empress deserved her to stop and greet her, other concubines did not deserve it.

Everyone else was standing, only Rong Wenyan was sitting on top, and Rong Wenyan was only the county lord, no matter her age or position, she was far inferior to the few people standing below. But neither the Queen Mother nor Rong Wenyan turned a blind eye to this and had no objection.

Xiao Jingduo had only heard that the interior of the royal family was not very peaceful, but today he experienced it personally, and only then did he know how serious the conflicts and barriers in the harem were.

He stood with many people in the spacious palace, listening to the empress dowager and the daughter of the former prince talking affectionately.

“Yan Er, are you happy to be out of the palace today? Is there anyone who doesn’t have long eyes to make you angry?”

“Grandmother, my son is an eye-opener today. Not only was I fortunate to see the skills of the new scholars, but I also watched the match between the three brothers and the Turks. It’s a pity that you didn’t go!”

“Really?” The Queen Mother was also surprised when she heard it, and at this time she finally turned her attention to King Liang and the others, “You are also out today?”

Liang Wang was able to talk to the Queen Mother, so he smiled and replied: “Yes, the Turkic visitor wants to play a polo game, and I will naturally accompany you.”

There are no outsiders at the moment, and the queen mother said bluntly: “You are true, they are just mere savages, they want to play polo and send other people to accompany you, you are the princes, and you will end in person. What’s going on?”

The several county kings who had just won the battle looked Nuonuo, but King Liang replied without changing his face: “Grandmother said that grandson has been taught.”

Seeing that other people’s faces were not good, Rong Wenyan knew something was wrong, and said quickly: “Grandmother, the third brother and the others are also trying not to fall into the prestige of the country, so don’t blame them!”

Rong Wenyan pleaded for mercy, and the Queen Mother’s face improved: “Okay, since Yaner likes it, grandma won’t spoil your interest.”

At this time, the queen came out to round up the field and interjected with a smile: “I see that you are all in good spirits. I don’t know what happened today to make you so happy?”

The maid who accompanied him out of the palace took half a step forward, and vividly talked about the two polo matches outside the palace. His eloquence is excellent, and when he speaks, he is full of excitement and ups and downs, and he has captured the hearts of the audience unconsciously.

Even the Empress Dowager was attracted, and the waiter became more and more diligent when he saw this, and said: “…the Turks kept saying that the people off the field were the bravest warriors on their grasslands, relying on them to ride horses from childhood, I wanted to compete with the man I was facing. At this time, His Royal Highnesses King Liang and King Qi stepped forward and took the princes and concubines off the field. I saw a few of their royal highnesses riding on the field, and the cheers from outside the field went straight into the sky. Princess Xin’an and several Her Royal Highnesses also came to join in the fun, and they all bet on who is the warrior with the most goals today, Princess Xin’an is betting on the concubine, and the county master is betting on King Liang…”

The waiter was still talking, but Rong Wenyan’s face suddenly turned cold. With a gentle and shallow smile, she interrupted the servant’s words unceremoniously: “Who do you think held Prince Liang?”

Others listened well, but were suddenly interrupted by Rong Wenyan, all of them were a little confused, not knowing what happened to Rong Wenyan. The servant who told the story became more and more frightened, and said tremblingly: “The county master used two jades to hold His Royal Highness King Liang, and the slaves remember correctly…”

It turned out that it was this place that upset the Princess Hejing.

According to the etiquette system, they should honor Rong Ke as Yangxin County Lord, but it is an iron rule for the daughter of the prince to be the County Lord. As for the titled county master, both the courtiers and the common people are used to the existence of Rong Ke, so when people talk about Rong Ke, they often omit it as the county master. This habit continued for many years, and it was not until Rong Wenyan appeared and Xuan Chao had a second county lord that the behavior of using the county lord to refer to Rong Ke as a substitute for Rong Ke showed a loophole.

In order not to confuse the two county masters, when people talk about Rong Wenyan, they will call her full name and Jing county master. Ke no doubt. The palace maids and eunuchs are used to this name, and they don’t think there is anything wrong, but when they hear it in Rong Wenyan’s ears, it is especially piercing.

However, a small **** dared to list the title of county master as exclusive to Rong Ke without even thinking about it. Doesn’t that mean that in these people’s minds, Rong Ke is actually the only one , the righteous county master?

Rong Wenyan interrupted the eunuch’s words, but did not say what was wrong, and only left the servant to think sweating. Slowly, the queen mother also connected the joints, and her face was also difficult to look.

Being ordered by the Queen Mother to be disposed of, what this means is self-evident, the little **** was so frightened that his knees softened, and he hurriedly fell on the ground, begging for mercy: “The Queen Mother, spare your life, and the Lord of Jing County… ”

Rong Ke really can’t stand it anymore, what’s the point of embarrassing a little eunuch? Xu Shi was aware of Rong Ke’s thoughts, Xin An quietly stretched out his hand and pressed it on Rong Ke’s shoulder.

To kill someone because of a slip of the tongue is undoubtedly extremely inappropriate, but for Xin’an and the prince, this is a great opportunity to attack the queen mother and Rong Wenyan and show the mercy of the East Palace.

Feeling the weight on her shoulders, Rong Ke only paused for a moment, then continued: “Mother, what did this little **** do, to the point of beating or killing?”

The queen mother thought that everyone was neglecting Rong Wenyan, and it was when she was angry. She didn’t expect that Rong Ke would dare to hit the fire. Her anger was getting worse, she glanced at Rong Ke condescendingly, and said, “Are you questioning my decision? Or do you think my queen mother is unkind?”

Princess Xin’an’s heart jumped fiercely, although they were right in their hearts, but they mustn’t say it, is it still good to be found out by the queen mother? Xin An was about to say something, and changed the topic for Rong Ke, but before she could think of a topic, Rong Ke slammed into it: “The little **** said just now that ‘the county master has detained King Liang’, what’s the problem? Since it didn’t say which county lord it was, then two county lords bet at the same time.” Rong Ke glanced at the kneeling **** from the corner of his eyes: “Is that what you mean?”

The little **** said, as if in a general amnesty, “Yangxin County Lord is right, this is what the slave means!”

Rong Wenyan and Rong Ke did bet on King Liang at the same time, so although everyone present knew that this was not the case at all, they could not refute Rong Ke’s fallacy for a while. Rong Wenyan didn’t want to make a big fuss, otherwise her reputation would be ruined in the end, so she followed Rong Ke’s words: “Grandmother, I just said casually, don’t be angry, if it’s because of me that these servants suffer. , but it was my fault.”

The queen mother had no way of dealing with Rong Ke’s words, so it happened that Rong Wenyan also came forward to intercede, and the queen mother also eased her face and said: “Forget it, you child is compassionate and protects the servants in the same way. What if you are bullied by others without me watching?”

With a sharp sword, he walked through the gate of **** in just the time he spoke.

At this time, the queen smiled and said, “If I want to say that Hejing is really good-natured, gentle and elegant, quiet and considerate, she can be regarded as a model for the royal family.”

Worry more. You and Yangxin are the same county masters, but you are higher in seniority than her, and it is not appropriate to always use the same fee. The elders and the young should not be confused. According to me, it is better to take Yaner’s share. It’s better to be on the same level as the princess.”

As soon as the Queen Mother said this, let alone the concubines in the harem, even an outsider like Xiao Jingduo could not listen.

He thought that their old lady was eccentric enough, but he didn’t expect that there were people outside the mountain, and the queen mother in the palace was so righteous and eccentric.

Not even the queen dared to respond.

The queen just laughed and didn’t speak, and Princess Xin’an just thought she couldn’t hear. Seeing these people behave like this, the queen mother didn’t understand anything in her heart. She was also displeased, and she kept her face straight and stopped talking.

Fortunately, at this time, the emperor passed the word, and the banquet can begin. The queen breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly greeted everyone to go out, ignoring the embarrassing topic just now.

The palace banquet has been prepared for a long time, as long as the emperor and the Turkic khans are free, the palace banquet can start at any time. The banquet is set in the garden, and today is a rare good weather, so even after an unpleasant conversation just now, everyone’s mood is still light.

With the emperor here, the queen mother did not dare to show her face to Xin’an and Rong Ke like before, and the banquet went on happily. The emperor and the Turkic Khan were the absolute centers of the palace banquet. Basically, everyone’s attention was on these two people. Even Princess Xin’an was busy talking witticism to the emperor, and didn’t notice that there was one person missing from the banquet.

The maids in palace costumes were knitting, and in the center there was a dancer in elegant clothes dancing with the song, Rong Ke mixed in the crowd and walked out silently.

No one should have noticed this scene, but just as Rong Ke left the seat, Xiao Jingduo discovered it.

As new jinshi, now is probably the time when they are most concerned, and at the palace banquet, they must write poems and fu to make the emperor smile. This was a rare opportunity. The fellow jinshis were all trying their best to please the superiors. Xiao Jingduo should have seized this opportunity, but for some reason, he could not calm down.

He sat on the seat for a while, and finally, he couldn’t help but quietly left.

Not long after walking out, the sound of talking and toasting faded away, as if the staggering of gifts was just an illusion. Xiao Jingduo took two quick steps and caught up with Rong Ke by the lake.

“Sir, why did you come out?”

Rong Ke heard the voice and looked at him in surprise: “I want to ask you, how did you come out?”

The author has something to say:

This chapter lays the groundwork for court relations, these are the big bosses and invisible bosses in the future.

Entering the world of fighting. (what the hell)