Chapter 247: The Rabbit is Dead and the Dog is Dumped
At that time, Song Zhao looked at Concubine Chen's smug expression and suddenly realized something:
——That is the stupidity of Concubine Chen, which was probably inherited from her father and brother.
The most taboo thing in the palace is that the concubines have any connection with the previous dynasty.
Even letters sent to the palace by the concubines' mother's families had to first pass through the Ministry of Internal Affairs before being handed over to the concubines in the palace.
If this letter containing the tiger talisman had passed through the hands of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Xiao Jingheng would not have been unaware of it.
But if it had not gone through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, how did the tiger talisman and the letter get delivered?
Concubine Chen dared to take it out openly.
It was obvious that she was either too stupid or she was used to the lack of rules in the palace and had long since thrown all the strict palace rules out of her mind.
However, Xiao Jingheng did not delve into the matter, but instead showed great joy.
Yibi said that General Ning had made great contributions, and now that the country was peaceful, he should be promoted to a higher position.
Yibi asked the palace servants to move Concubine Chen's table and chair next to him, so that he could almost sit side by side with her.
Concubine Chen was overjoyed, and seeing that the queen sitting on her left had turned green, she toasted the queen with a glass of wine.
"Your Majesty, on the occasion of the new year, I offer you a glass of water instead of wine. But I am pregnant and cannot get up. Your Majesty will not blame me, right?"
The queen forced a smile and said, "Sister, you have good intentions. How can I blame you?"
As the queen, she had to stand up and walk to the imperial concubine to toast with her.
It's really ridiculous.
However, this scene happened right under Xiao Jingheng's nose.
However, he was only concerned with drinking and chatting with the princes and turned a blind eye to this.
At the morning court the next day, Ning Baichuan and his eldest son Ning Xiuqi submitted a letter to Xiao Jingheng, requesting to resign and return to the countryside.
In this way, Xiao Jingheng's suspicion and fear of them were completely dispelled.
He had always known that the Ning family father and son were not clean and had embezzled a lot of money over the years.
But they have made contributions to the country, and their contributions outweigh their faults, so Xiao Jingheng turned a blind eye to such things and was unwilling to bother with them;.
He thought,
If the Ning family was willing to settle down from now on, he could leave them a way out, allowing them to move away from Kyoto and return to Sichuan and Shaanxi to live the rest of their lives in wealth and comfort.
Therefore, although he did not agree to the Ning family's father and son's request to resign, he also said:
"My dear minister, you have made great contributions to the Qi Dynasty. Now the world is at peace. I know that you have been a soldier for half your life and now you want to retire and live a carefree life. Let's put it this way. I will keep your official positions for you. To the outside world, you are still the general of the Qi Dynasty. But if you want to live a leisurely life, I will allow you."
Ning Baichuan opened his sleeves and bowed deeply to Xiao Jingheng, saying in a voice as loud as a bell:
"I thank the emperor very much! If the country calls us in the future, we will definitely serve the emperor and sacrifice our lives for the stability of the Qi Dynasty without hesitation!"
After the court session that day, Xiao Jingheng summoned King Rui.
He has been using Prince Rui to check and balance the Ning family all along. He also wants to hear Prince Rui's opinion on the Ning family's sudden handover of power and resignation.
"What do you think about this?"
Prince Rui said, "I dare not make rash comments, but I have a question in my mind. It has been almost half a year since the Qi Dynasty defeated Zhuyin. Zhuyin was defeated and the world was at peace. Why didn't the Ning family hand over the military power at that time? Why did they hand over the military power that they had been holding tightly in their hands when Concubine Yuchen was about to give birth?"
He looked at Jamel Xiao's deepening eyes, and added in a deep voice,
"I am a foolish young man. I wonder what your Majesty thinks of their actions. Is there any other hidden meaning behind them?"
Prince Rui almost said it out loud, the Ning family did this to make Xiao Jingheng relax his vigilance, let the imperial concubine give birth to the child safely first, and then take the next step.
Xiao Jingheng frowned, and his index finger kept stroking the black jade ring on his thumb.
After a while, I heard him say solemnly:
"I am not without your concerns. The will of the people is sometimes more terrifying than the power in one's hands. I wonder how the generals of the three armies view Ning Baichuan's resignation."
King Rui understood.
Xiao Jingheng wanted to find out how important Ning Baichuan was in Jiangtu's eyes.
But if Xiao Jingheng personally summoned the generals from all the divisions, he would definitely not be able to hear the truth from them.
So the King of Rui said, "If my brother wants to find out, it's not difficult. There are many soldiers in the three armies who have fought with me in the past."
Xiao Jingheng said, "Then you can ask people to find out what the generals of the three armies and six departments think of Ning Baichuan's return of military power to the court."
King Rui bowed and clasped his fists, saying loudly:
"I will not disgrace the emperor's order!"
In the following days, King Rui was determined to handle this matter well. He privately asked people to ask many soldiers and generals indirectly.
He sorted out the information he had collected, but found that the results were completely different from what he had expected.
The generals gave Ning Baichuan an unexpectedly good evaluation.
It is said that he was strict in military discipline, but he treated his soldiers well and was never arrogant. Even when facing small soldiers, he could get along well with everyone and no mistakes could be found.
The military generals expressed some regret about Ning Baichuan's resignation, but they all felt that the emperor would definitely have a better arrangement. As military generals of the Qi Dynasty, they would definitely follow the emperor's lead.
Prince Rui knew very well that if he said such words to Xiao Jingheng, Xiao Jingheng would definitely let the Ning family go.
But how could he be willing to let the Ning family get away with it?
For him,
His mother was angered to death by Concubine Chen.
His arm was also broken by Ning Xiuqi.
The hatred for killing his mother is irreconcilable, he will never let the Ning family go easily!
Therefore, when he replied to Xiao Jingheng, he couldn't help but add fuel to the fire.
"I have privately consulted the generals of the three armies, and they all praised General Ning. They mentioned that General Ning took good care of the generals in the army, treated them like brothers, and was friendly and approachable without any airs.
After all, I have never heard anyone say a bad word about General Ning. Instead, everyone praised him highly. As for General Ning's resignation, I heard some dirty words, but I dare not say anything for fear of polluting the emperor's ears.
At that time, Xiao Jingheng's face was already extremely ugly.
He scolded angrily,
"Just tell me."
King Rui then half-heartedly agreed, hesitatingly saying:
"Some of the generals said that General Ning's resignation was because my brother saw that the world was peaceful now, so he wanted to forget the fishing net after catching the fish, and to cook the dog away after the rabbit died!"
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