Chapter 404 The Palace's Ghosts

The warm winter sun shines on the pavilions and towers of the capital, but the sky above the imperial city seemed to be full of haze.

The news of Xue Lu's defeat had already been spread to the court's Tongzheng Envoy; of course the court would not make a big fuss about such things, from the palace to the Qianbulang, they were all shrouded in a strange silence.

The emperor Zhu Gaochi heard bad news in the past two days.

Only one thing reported by the imperial doctor gave him some comfort.

Zhang Fu's eldest daughter, Zhang Miaohua, who was over 10 years old and the newly-conferred concubine, was just diagnosed with joy by the imperial doctor for a few months after entering the palace!

Zhu Gaochi took the opportunity to put down the military and national affairs that were very troubled, and immediately returned to the harem to visit Zhang Miaohua.

There are many people in the imperial concubine's palace, including Empress Zhang and Concubine Zhang Tai, who were not long ago.

After everyone held courtesy to the emperor, the queen continued to say some auspicious words and told Zhang Miaohua to eat, live and other things, and she was very concerned about her.

Zhu Gaochi stretched out his hand and gently touched Zhang Miaohua's abdomen in public.

Zhang Miaohua's childish face suddenly turned red, and she said softly: I'm not happy for a long time, but the emperor can't see it now.

Haha...that's the case!Zhu Gaochi laughed out loud.

Queen Zhang looked at Zhu Gaoxu's appearance and smiled; while Zhang Miaohua's aunt Tai Guifei looked at the queen sideways and paid great attention to her face.

Zhu Gaochi said: He must be a prince!

After hearing this, the queen smiled and blamed her a little: My sister is still young, and the emperor said so, don’t you be afraid of scaring her anymore. If she were a princess, would you not like it?Zhu Gaochi smiled and said: It’s good to be a princess, but you have to pay a lot of dowry when you get married.At that time, my father spent a lot of money on my sisters.

The queen said: The emperor is rich all over the world, and the treasury will recover in two years.

At this moment, the eunuch Haitao brought the princes Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhan'an in. The two children bowed together and said, "My son is here to pay homage to the father and mother."

Zhu Gaochi's face immediately pulled down and said sternly: Zhanji, don't run around with your brother all day, you have to read and write well!

Zhu Zhanji shrank his neck, lowered his head angrily and replied: Yes, Father.

His younger brother Zhan Yi was still young, standing there chubby and very obediently, neither crying nor making a fuss.

Originally, Zhu Gaochi liked Zhantan very much, and thought Zhantan was very similar to him and had a gentle temperament; but Guo Yan was involved in a very serious matter and was still locked in the East Palace. Gradually, Zhu Gaochi became more and more cold to her son.

Now Zhan Tan has no mother's care and has been handed over to the queen for raising her.

Zhu Gaochi asked a few questions about the princes' study and waved their hand to let them go.

At this time, Concubine Zhang stood up and said: Today, I don’t know that the emperor and the emperor will come to the imperial concubine’s palace. If you have any rudeness, please forgive me.I'll say goodbye.She was the imperial concubine of the previous dynasty, and it was rare that she had not entered the cold palace to live; but she belonged to the elders in terms of generations, and it was indeed inappropriate if she often appeared in front of the emperor and the empress.

Zhu Gaochi nodded and said politely: Concubine Tai, go slowly.Someone came and sent Taiguifei back to the palace.

Queen Zhang also stood up and said tactfully: I originally wanted to talk to my sister, but the emperor suddenly arrived. I will come and walk around tomorrow.

Zhu Gaochi said: Is it a problem for you to say what you said?

Zhang showed a coquettish expression, glared at Zhu Gaochi, and immediately smiled and said, "I'll leave."

...As the emperor's first wife, Zhang almost never interferes with the emperor's search for other concubines or even palace maids.Many people in the palace call this a virtuous person.

After the death of the late emperor, the emperor looked for all kinds of women, first changing to different palace maids every day; later he returned to his original state, and for a period of time he was mainly close to a woman.

However, over the years, the emperor has never changed: he will sleep with his wife Zhang during a difficult month.

After Guo Yan was detained, Zhang Miaohua, as the daughter of the Duke, was noble and well-educated. She was still young, white and tender, and immediately received the favor of the emperor.

In recent months, the emperor has been in the palace of the imperial concubine for a long time.

After Queen Zhang came out, she took a car to Kunning Palace on the south side.

A group of people surrounded the imperial chariot and just arrived near Jiaotai Hall, eunuch Haitao chased after him.

Zhang turned his head and looked at it, and Haitao immediately bowed and stood on the brick floor to salute.

But Zhang didn't say a word and continued to go to Kunning Palace.

Queen Zhang went straight into the bedroom and said: The weather is getting colder and colder. Haitao, go and add more charcoal to me.

Why!Haitao looked willing and hurried to work.

At this time, Queen Zhang waved her sleeves and told the other servants to go out.

Haitao magically took out a bamboo tube from his arms and gently blew up the charcoal fire, as if he had expected to do this.

Zhang sat down gently on a large soft fur chair and asked: Did Xue Lu defeat him in Sichuan?

Haitao moved his mouth away from the bamboo tube and turned his head and said: Go back to the Queen, yes.The emperor was very angry when he heard the news yesterday!However, the rebel King Han led the officers and soldiers of the Sichuan Guard, and they had old acquaintances; and Qu Neng had led troops in Sichuan for many years.It is reported that many surrendered troops from various Sichuan tribes!This battle is indeed difficult for the Marquis of Yang Wu.

He paused and continued, Sheng Yong, Ping An and Qu Neng are now under the command of the King of Han.It is reported that when the Han King fled from the capital to Yunnan, the old officials of Jianwen went to surrender halfway.However, Meng Ge from the Silijian said that perhaps the King of Han had hid them at the beginning of Yongle and had ulterior motives!

Zhang nodded slightly and frowned and sat on the chair.I was silent for a long time in the palace.

Haitao quietly looked at him sideways, and saw that Zhang had no intention of speaking, he spoke again: Zheng He, Hou Xian and Wang Jinghong brought back many Western tributes, and the emperor picked some supplements for health care, which he gave to Duke Qi.You said this...

Zhang said: Now the country is in a turbulent period, and military officials are particularly important.The emperor knew that treating Qiu Fu, who had once waved flags and drums for the Han King, would like to pay extra attention to the nobles and military officials.

Haitao looked admiring and nodded quickly.

He then said carefully: By the way, Zheng He picked something from the Western treasures and asked his servants to present it to the Queen.

Zhang showed a faint smile, with single eyelids and small eyes looking at Haitao's face.

The eunuch first mentioned a few people who went to the West, and then looked like he suddenly remembered and mentioned it by the way, and he did nothing. However, Zhang knew in his heart that Haitao was afraid that he had taken Zheng He's benefit and had been looking for an opportunity to talk about it.

Haitao took out a box from his arms, opened it gently, then lifted the red satin inside, and held it in front of the chair with both hands.

Zhang looked down and saw a string of Buddhist beads placed inside.

Haitao said: Empress, Buddha Shakyamuni is from India. Before becoming a Buddha, he often twisted this bead to comprehend the Dharma, and later hid it in the palace of the Indian king.The Ming fleet landed on the beach of Tianzhu and by chance exchanged for this treasure.Eunuch Zheng said that no one in the world dared to own this thing except the Queen, so he specially picked it out of the countless treasures on the boat and presented it to the Queen.

Zhang picked it up gently, found it was very heavy, so he put it in front of him and observed it carefully.

She couldn't let go of her and played with her for a while before her eyes moved away from the Buddhist beads.

She suddenly asked: Did Zheng He have a good relationship with Gao Xu before?

This... Haitao's face turned pale and he hurriedly said, "I dare not deceive the Empress, but I have been in the Prince's Mansion and the Eastern Palace before, and I rarely know what happened to the late emperor."

Zhang said: You either took away your white-haired godson, or you were the brother Meng you mentioned just now. He was a eunuch from the Yàn Palace in the past.You go and ask him.

Haitao hurriedly said: I will obey my decree.

At this moment, Zhang suddenly asked: Where is Zhang Fu now?

Haitao said: Go back to the Empress, according to the recent memorial to the palace, the British Duke has just entered Yunnan.The British Duke was ordered to join forces with the Marquis of Zhenyuan (Gu Cheng) in Guizhou to attack Yunnan; but the British Duke marched very slowly and reported that the southern part of Yunnan was full of mountains and forests and difficult to supply, so he had to build strongholds and warehouses along the way first.

Haitao thought about it and said in a deep voice: The British Duke had written a letter before, and he opposed the joint attack on Yunnan with Gu Cheng.Later, the imperial court issued an order to advance north and he set off.

oh?Zhang looked very concerned.

Haitao said: After learning that the King of Han went to Sichuan, the British Duke submitted a memorial to make some claims, which was very different from the intention of attacking Yunnan.

He believed that Xue Lu was definitely not the opponent of King Han.

After the fall of Sichuan, the battlefields of Yun, Guizhou and Sichuan were integrated into one. The court should first confer a general of Pinghan to coordinate the overall situation of Yun, Guizhou and Sichuan; instead of letting Xue Lu, Gu Cheng and Zhang Fu fight on their own.

The British Duke must have meant that the emperor must have appointed him as the General of Pinghan; the three nobles in the southwest, only his British Duke had the highest title.

The British Duke also said that the court should not be in a hurry to fight, and proposed the strategy of "surrounding the southwest, defending Guizhou, and dividing Yunchuan".After Brother Meng's explanation, I was roughly the British princess who wanted to seek stability and wanted to block the Han king in the southwest first and seek victory in stability, so I was not willing to attack Kunming with Gu Cheng.

After listening carefully, Zhang only asked one question: Is Zhang Fu a talented person?

Haitao said: I heard from the martial officials in the outside court that among the heroes of the "Jingnan", Zhang Fu should be the most capable person.

Zhang said calmly: There are not only the heroes of the "Jingnan".

Haitao was stunned for a while and hurriedly said: In addition to those under the command of the King of Han, the Duke of Wei (Xu Huizu), Marquis of Jiangyin (Wu Gao), Marquis of Ningyuan (He Fu) in the court, and other people from the Jianwen Dynasty gave the late emperor a headache in the "Jingnan Battle", so they must be somewhat capable!However, those people are not as reliable as the Duke of England, the Marquis of Yangwu and others.

Zhang said seriously: We have all received the favor of the Lord, so we must share our worries for the Lord.No matter what kind of person you are, as long as you can help the emperor, we must consider them!

Haitao bowed and said: The Empress has taught her a lesson, and I will obey my decree.