Return of the Swallow

"What did you say!" The Queen Mother's face turned pale, and she tightly grasped the armrest of Jinxiu's couch in anger, "How is it possible, they are all living people, how could it be possible that they all disappeared suddenly, Er, wait, don't make a fool of yourself Talk about it to prevaricate Aijia!"

"The empress dowager, please calm down! The slaves really did not lie, Mr. Sun, Mr. Li and other lords, together with their family members, really disappeared overnight!"

"That's a human, not a bird, and the whole family can fly with wings?"

The Empress Dowager got up angrily, paced back and forth, and stopped suddenly after a while, and suddenly looked at the servant who was replying with a look of horror.

"You said just now, who is the one who lost it?" His thoughts turned and he said in horror, "The ones who disappeared, are they all those who surrendered from the Yan Dynasty?"

After thinking about it, the servant turned pale, trembling in fear, and stammered: "Hui, Hui Queen Mother... yes..."

The Empress Dowager thinks that the things in the court can be regarded as sensitive, and she has never had the opportunity to participate in it before.

At this time, I used my brain and suddenly understood.

"King Yan and his father-in-law, Gu, are they all gone?"

"Back to the Queen Mother, yes."

The queen mother vaguely felt that there was a huge conspiracy hidden in it, so she calmed down and said: "Please come to Ci'an Palace, King Lijun."

"Yes." The servant quietly breathed a sigh of relief as if he had received an amnesty, stood up and bowed and retreated.

The queen mother said again: "Invite the Marquis of Qingyang to my palace."

"yes."

After the servant took the order to retreat, the queen mother paced irritably for a long while, and the things in the court that kept rolling in her mind were all about the affairs of the court.

The Tatars do not know when they will mobilize troops.

Now the ministers of the Yan Dynasty have also disappeared inexplicably.

I don't know if Li Qitian is buried in the underground palace, dead or alive...

After these days, the Empress Dowager has long been freed from the panic and panic when she first got the news. Li Qitian's existence is indeed the mountain supporting her prosperity. But she can't depend on others forever.

If you want to guarantee the glory of the family and only rely on Li Qitian, it is better to take this opportunity to give the Zhou family members a chance to gain power.

After all, the Li family's Jiangshan can only be named Li.

Although she also felt sorry for her son and worried about him. But things have come to this point, even if she cries to death, it won't solve the problem.

There must always be someone in charge of such a huge country, so is it good for her, the Queen Mother, to wait until the world is in chaos?

The only downside is that it is too difficult to manage a country, fight with courtiers, and fight against the outside world.

At this moment, the Queen Mother's mind was in a mess, worrying about Li Qitian at one moment, and worrying at the other that the loss of most of Yan Jiangchen was a huge conspiracy, and she was afraid that she would not be able to handle it.

Not long after, a servant outside the door came back and said: "Return to the Queen Mother, King Lijun, Marquis of Qingyang, Princess Anyang has arrived."

"Let them in."

The Empress Dowager sat upright, her back straight, and she looked high and dignified.

When the three of them entered the main hall, Prince Li and Marquis Qingyang saluted and said, "Queen Dowager Jin'an."

Only Li Helan bent her knees and quickly walked towards the Queen Mother.

"Mother! But there is good news on the mountain again?"

Seeing that Li Helan came uninvited, and acted so casually in front of Li Junwang and Qingyanghou, the Queen Mother felt a little displeased, so she passed Li Helan and said to Li Junwang and Qingyanghou: "Two Please take a seat."

Seeing the empress dowager's dignified expression, Li Helan knew that something bad might happen to her, so she hesitated and said, "The empress mother has something to say to her cousin and uncle, so my daughter will leave for the time being."

The queen mother let out a long "hmm", raised her hand and sent Li Helan out.

The Marquis of Qingyang observed the expression and saw that the Empress Dowager looked unhappy, there must be something bothering her, so she stood up and saluted and said: "If the Empress Dowager has anything to do, just give me orders, as a younger brother, I will go through fire and water, and I will not refuse!"

Seeing that Marquis Qingyang was loyal, Lijun Wang quickly stood up and said, not to be outdone, "What Qingyang Marquis said is true. Now that the whereabouts of the saint are unknown, we should all work together to tide over the difficulties."

The queen mother nodded in satisfaction, "Sit down, all of you. Ai's family just got a piece of news and couldn't figure out what to do, so I told you about it. The surrender of the Great Yan Dynasty who came to serve in the court, unexpectedly Even the family members disappeared suddenly, do you know about this?"

Qingyanghou shook his head, and looked at King Li beside him.

Although King Li Jun is in prison, the relationship in the court cannot be figured out in a short while, and all the things he knows are things that have been made public, so naturally he doesn't know the news.

Seeing the blank expressions of the two, the Empress Dowager sighed: "The Ai family heard from the emperor earlier that King Yan and his father-in-law were originally imprisoned in the sky prison, but they all disappeared. Now the officials of the Yan Dynasty have disappeared like this. There must be something strange in it. Aijia wants to discuss with you, what should we do about this matter?

Qingyang Hou said: "Could it be that these people from the Yan Dynasty have two minds? It is impossible for people to disappear overnight. They must have taken advantage of the chaos in the court during this period to sneak away."

"The Ai family thinks the same way. If these people escape, they must have a plan to flee collectively. In addition, King Yan has disappeared, will they have rebellion?"

King Lijun heard about it

The word "anti" made my heart skip a beat. He has stumbled and stumbled as a supervisor of the country, and has not given him a chance to gather power. Could it be that Yan Chao wants to restore the country?

There was originally a Tatar rebellion in the north. If there is another Yan Dynasty in the south, wouldn't Dazhou be under the enemy?

King Yan frowned.

It is Qingyanghou who is more worried than King Yanjun.

If there is really trouble in Yan Dynasty, will he, the newly appointed Huben Army commander, be about to take command and set off?

"Don't think so, Queen Mother. You have to think in the right direction. The people of the Yan Dynasty have been punished and obedient. King Yan is willing to be a worthless county king in our court. It must be People who are greedy for life and afraid of death. Even if they escape, they will not be able to make a big disturbance. As for the surrendered officials of the Yan Dynasty, I don’t think the Holy Majesty has assigned them any important official positions, and their departure will not cause much disturbance to us. Send people immediately Just follow south."

The Empress Dowager still trusted her younger brother, and it was the same reason after thinking about it carefully, and said: "In this case, let's arrange someone to follow him. You should chase quietly, and don't startle the snake."

"Yes. The Empress Dowager will leave it to me to handle it."

The queen mother thought for a while, and said: "Arrange another person to find out how many surrendered officials of the Yan Dynasty, who escaped, and who else was in the capital. They will be arrested and interrogated strictly by the Ai family. It is very likely that they are the spies of the Yan Dynasty who stayed in our capital."

"The empress dowager is wise. Among the civil servants of the Great Yan Dynasty, isn't Pang Zhixi's father-in-law the most capable. I don't know if he has escaped, but we will investigate later."

The queen mother nodded, thinking about it carefully, she felt that there was nothing wrong with her, so she calmed down quietly, and then put on a smile and said: "The court is in turmoil, and it is the time when the Ai family needs your concerted efforts. You have not let the Ai family Disappointed. In the future, the emperor will be rescued and the country will be stable. The Ai family will never forget your kindness."

Qingyanghou cupped his hands, "Thank you, Queen Mother, for your promotion!"

King Lijun also saluted. It's just that my heart is somewhat beating.

If Li Qitian is still alive, seeing him in prison, I don't know what will happen to him...

If so, it would be better to let Li Qitian sleep forever in the underground palace.

Thinking of this, Lijun Wang had another plan for the excavation of Suongshan.

The two of them had a conversation with the Queen Mother, basically speaking of encouragement, and drew a pretty good blueprint for the Queen Mother, which made the Queen Mother feel relieved about the future of Da Zhou.

However, at this moment, an internal servant came running in from outside, and said in a sharp voice, "Queen Mother, there is news from the north! Lord Wang, Minister of the Ministry of War, please see me!"

When the queen mother heard it, she felt her hairs explode.

Could it be that the Tatars are calling?

The Empress Dowager hurriedly said: "I don't have so many taboos now, so I invite Mr. Wang to come to Ci'an Palace to meet Ai's family!"

"Yes!" The servant Sa Yazi turned around and ran away, which showed how urgent the situation was.

The Queen Mother really couldn't stand still at this time.

First, the Holy Majesty was buried in Suongshan Mountain, many important officials in the court were killed and injured, and then the surrendered officials of the Yan Dynasty left. Yuchiyan was sure to do something wrong. Now what they feared most happened, the Tatars actually started to use troops!

In the current situation, the Empress Dowager felt that her ability could not bear the pressure at all.

"Empress Dowager, Lord Wang, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, has arrived."

Outside the gate of the hall, the servants passed the pass, and saw a tall man of about forty years walking quickly.

After meeting the queen mother and saluting, Wang Zhi didn't talk nonsense, and said anxiously: "Back to the queen mother, the Tatar Utkin Khan commanded a large-scale raid. Among the four northern passes, Tianyu Pass, Tianlang Pass, and Tianshu Pass The pass has already been lost! The commander of the Longxiang Army, Kang Qiong, marshals the remnants of the Tianmen Pass and sends an urgent letter asking Zeng Bing to rescue Tianmen Pass!"

When the queen mother heard this, there was a buzzing sound in her head, she felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground.

Kang Qiong is the coach of the Longxiang Army personally chosen by the Holy Majesty, but he can't match the barbarians of the Tatars?

"When did it happen? Why did the Tatars break through three barriers in a row without warning?"

"Returning to the Queen Mother, Marshal Kang means that Utkin Khan carried out a surprise attack and hit us off guard."

The queen mother carefully thought about the locations of the three checkpoints at the border, and took a long time to let out a breath.

"Don't panic, the Tianmen Pass is dangerous, and the Longxiang Army is not a vegetarian. They are retreating at the Tianmen Pass. As long as our rescue arrives in time, it will be fine."

"What the queen mother said is very true." Li Junwang also nodded in praise.

Wang Zhi said: "I also ask the queen mother and Lijun king to make a decision as soon as possible, so as not to have long nights and dreams."

The queen mother nodded slowly, and looked at Qingyanghou who was beside her trustingly.

But Qingyanghou felt the hairs on his back stand on end.

"If the Empress Dowager's Huben army goes to support the north, what will happen around the capital?" Qingyang Hou clasped his hands and said, "If there are young people who dare to go around the capital, I'm afraid they won't be able to defend them."

Wang Zhi, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, lowered his head, hid all his thoughts very well, and said in a flat tone: "There are three major battalions and soldiers from the Beijing Guards. What's more, if everyone is sent to the capital, even if the Huben Army Is it not good to be afraid?"