027. Confrontation

Liang Shenyu looked around the army, and only found out how Yun Chu came in such a grand manner when he returned to the tent. He just laughed in response, but there was a hint of sharpness in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows.

"Did the Regent order it?"

Wu Jie nodded, expressionless, "I'm afraid the news has already reached the palace by now."

Liang Shenyu opened the food box leisurely. The ice that had not yet melted was still emitting cool air. Inside, golden cold cakes were neatly placed. To be able to produce such a box of ice in such a hot summer day, it was clear that the Regent's Palace was generous.

The pastries are sweet, but there is calculation behind them.

This was different from his visit to the Regent's palace, which was a visit, but the Regent's gift of this box of cakes had much more meaning.

Liang Shenyu picked up a cold cake and put it into his mouth. It was sweet and soft, and a smile appeared in his eyes.

The Regent is really reckless.

Do you really think you can use this box of cold cakes to plot against him? Little do you know that as long as he gives this box of cakes to others intact, it is equivalent to telling all the dignitaries in Jinjing that I, the Marquis of Dingbei, have a bad relationship with your Regent Palace and do not appreciate your kindness.

There were not many cakes and they were all eaten by Liang Shenyu in a short while. He stretched out his hand to touch the melted ice water and smiled with an ambiguous smile.

Wu Jie saw his master like this, and a hint of doubt appeared on his stiff and cold face, "Master, what are you doing?"

"Let them say what they want." Liang Shenyu seemed indifferent.

After a moment of silence, Wu Jie said, "Since you returned to the capital, everyone in the court thought that the Dingbei Marquisate and the new emperor were of the same mind. The Jinbei Iron Cavalry had made great contributions to the emperor. Everyone in the court knew that. Now that the Marquis was close to the Regent Prince's Palace, he must be suspicious."

"All good things must come to an end." Liang Shenyu said lazily, and then laughed again, "Besides, I have been too close to the Regent Palace, and it's not just Your Majesty and the Cao family who are worried."

Wu Jie was stunned and said nothing more.

.

As Liang Shenyu said, this move by the Regent's Palace really caused ripples on the seemingly calm surface of Jinjing.

The imperial guards were dismissed, and everyone knew that Yun Zhi was Rong Se's confidant. But he gave Liang Shenyu a box, and Liang Shenyu thanked him and ate it all.

When Rong Jing learned about this, he tore up the handwritten history book in his hand and swept the inkstone away. He was furious and shouted, "What does Rong Se mean by this? It's not enough that you have seized my imperial power, you even want to bring Marquis Dingbei under your wing?!"

Seeing his violent reaction, Cao Lun, who had just entered the palace upon hearing the news, glanced at the mess on the ground and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, calm down."

Rong Jing slammed the table, "Uncle! How can I be so calm! Liang Shenyu holds the military power of Jinbei, and Rong Se has placed people in various counties. My father has also been deprived of power by him. What can I do? What are the civil and military officials in the court doing? Didn't they see that Rong Se is abusing his power and causing trouble for the government? Why don't they do anything? Are they blind?"

"That's enough!" Cao Lun said in a serious tone, "You are the emperor, how can this be so?"

Rong Jing was furious and filled with fear. He said angrily, "What about those censors? Why did the court keep them? Why didn't they impeach Rong Se? Why didn't they die in protest? As long as Rong Se is spit on by the people and pointed at by the people, how can he have the confidence to sit beside the throne?!"

Cao Lun looked at him coldly and scolded him, "Those who accomplish great things must be able to endure. What are you doing?! Let the civil and military officials of the whole court know that you despise their incompetence? Your Majesty! Do you think there has never been such a thing as dying for remonstrance? Have you forgotten what happened in the 20th year of Yongshi?"

Rong Jing suddenly calmed down.

In the 20th year of the Yongshi reign, at the end of last year, Rong Xu was still alive.

Qingzhou was hit by a drought and refugees were everywhere. Qiu Sinan recommended Rong Se to go to the disaster relief as the Ninth Prince. He did a great job and became famous. It was at this time that he suddenly attacked and targeted Cao's followers with fierce means. It happened that the former emperor was ill, and Rong Se took the opportunity to regent.

At that time, Cao also arranged for censors to impeach and even kneel down to make a death-defying appeal, but Rong Se did not buy it at all. He beheaded the two censors who were about to make a death-defying appeal outside the palace gate and even confiscated their homes. As a result, no one dared to make such an appeal again.

Everyone is afraid of death, let alone these censors, who are not so reckless as to risk their own lives, otherwise they would not have attached themselves to the Cao family.

From then on, anyone who opposed the political views of the Regent's office was either beaten or exiled. During the six months of fighting between Cao and the Regent, they suffered a lot.

Rong Jing suddenly remembered Rong Se's vicious reputation, and he couldn't help being afraid, his teeth chattering: "He is the son of a whore... the son of a whore..."

He hated it terribly, but he was also really scared.

Cao Lun saw that he was strong on the outside but weak on the inside and could not help but feel disappointed. In order to ensure that he could sit firmly on the throne, Cao Lun really educated him seriously. But who would have thought that he was just a loser. It was difficult for him to memorize books and even more difficult for him to write policy papers. In the final analysis, he just didn't have the talent.

He had high aspirations, but at this moment he only knew why the court officials did not help him. This was a game between the emperor and the regent. If the emperor was timid, how could he have a chance of winning?

Cao Lun sighed silently and said, "It is important to stabilize Marquis Dingbei. I told you that year that you shouldn't write those letters to force him. What old relationship? I'm afraid Marquis Dingbei still resents you."

Rong Xu thought that since the Huns had retreated, he would no longer need General Liang Shenyu, so he wanted to take back the military power from him. In order to please his emperor and father, Rong Jing wrote letters many times to try to force Liang Shenyu to hand over the tiger talisman based on their old friendship. At that time, Cao Lun strongly disagreed.

The chess piece of Marquis Dingbei is far more useful in my own hands than in the hands of the late emperor.

"How could that be?" Rong Jing said, "If the king wants his subjects to die, the subjects have to die. I am the king, Liang Shenyu should work for me, and he should obey me. Besides, I helped him to clean up the Duke Huan's mansion. I have done so much, how can he resent me?"

Cao Lun realized that he couldn't reason with him at all. He was silent for a while and said, "Your Majesty can just issue an order now, ordering Dingbei Hou to kill Xie Jun himself, and then see whether he will rebel directly and leave Jinjing, raise an army and force his way to the palace, or accept the order and kill himself."

Rong Jing stopped talking.

Cao Lun then said, "Put aside your airs of being an emperor. If it were the time of Taizu, a decree could decide life and death. But you were born at this time, when the imperial power has fallen into the hands of others. The military power in the hands of Marquis Dingbei is extremely important. Even if Liang Shenyu doesn't want to wade into this troubled water, he must not be allowed to stand on the side of the Regent Prince!

Rong Jing was silent for a while before he agreed.

At noon, the Regent Prince appreciated the cold cakes, and at dusk the palace sent an order to let Liang Shenyu enter the palace. Those who were not aware of the situation thought that this was an honor bestowed upon him, but those who were smart knew that this was another fight between the Emperor and the Regent Prince.

Rong Jing had set up a table in the palace. When he saw Liang Shenyu coming, he smiled a little reluctantly and said, "Shuyun is here. Please sit down."

Liang Shenyu did not move, "I am terrified."

There was no sign of panic at all.

Rong Jing said: "Today is a family dinner, no need to be restrained, sit down, don't you want to eat with me?"

Liang Shenyu lowered his eyes, as if he was not the one enjoying the cold cake. He said calmly, "I am not a royal relative, but an outsider. If Your Majesty really feels that the palace is empty, the court officials have made a report recently, and it is a good opportunity to select beautiful women to expand the harem."

Rong Jing's forehead twitched, and he slowly clenched his fists, and suddenly said, "Marquis Dingbei is one year older than me, why hasn't he got married yet?"

Liang Shenyu replied: "I have been living in the bitter cold outside the Great Wall for many years and have rarely seen any girls."

Besides, there is no throne to inherit in the family.

Rong Jing wanted to say that I would arrange a marriage for you, but he was afraid that Liang Shenyu would really agree. His face turned even paler. After a moment, he said, "Life at the border is too hard. I advised you to return to the capital, but you were stubborn and refused to come back."

Liang Shenyu almost laughed out of anger, "How dare I return to the court when the border is unstable?"

When he was fighting against the Huns, no one from Jinjing came to persuade him to go back. After he won the battle, he was not rewarded, but instead he was stripped of his military power. Now he still has the audacity to say that it is for his own good.

If he hadn't been on guard against the royal family abandoning him, Liang Shenyu thought it would be better to let Rong Se rebel.

Rong Jing said after a long while: "You really don't want to have this meal with me?"

Liang Shenyu lowered his eyes: "I still have military duties to attend to--"

Rong Jing stood up suddenly and swept all the dishes on the table to the ground. After a crackling sound, the eunuch outside was startled and shouted: "Your Majesty——"

"No one is allowed to come in!" Rong Jing shouted outside.

Liang Shenyu remained motionless.

Rong Jing gritted his teeth and questioned, "You ate the cakes Rong Se gave you, why don't you want to eat at my table? Liang Shuyun, the friendship between you and me for many years is not worth a box of cakes from Rong Se?"

Liang Shenyu narrowed his eyes slightly, leaned forward and knelt, "Your Majesty, calm down."

Seeing this, Rong Jing gritted his teeth and said, "Liang Shuyun, what do you mean? I'm not asking you to plead guilty!"

Liang Shenyu didn't even raise his head, "Then what does your majesty want?"

Rong Jing choked hard. He had also thought about revealing his feelings to Liang Shenyu, but that must have been a situation where they were in love with each other under the moonlight, not like now, with all the mess on the floor.

"I..." Rong Jing said, "I just want to go back to the past with you, when you accompanied me to study."

Liang Shenyu actually didn't understand. Rong Jing really had no talent, but he seemed to be oblivious to it. Moreover, during the time when he was studying with Rong Jing, he and his mother were simply held hostage in Jinjing. To him, he was no different from a dog with a collar. When he thought about it, he could only sneer. Why was it worth remembering?

Rong Jing still didn't feel anything at all, and only said to himself: "Shuyun, do you think Rong Se is a good person? In the past six months, so many court officials have been persecuted by him. You went to the capital and ruined his plan to force the emperor to abdicate. He must have hated you a long time ago. He is a vindictive person and will do anything!"

"Listen to my advice and stop associating with him."

Liang Shenyu felt that it sounded familiar, and after a while, he remembered it.

"Listen to my advice and return to Beijing as soon as possible."

This sentence appeared more than once in the prince's handwritten letter.

When Rong Jing finally finished speaking, he looked at Liang Shenyu with implicit expectation. The latter just raised his eyes lightly, his eyes were clear and he was not moved at all.

Rong Jing felt a little heavy in his heart. He didn't understand why Liang Shenyu was so stubborn. Wasn't he the one who really cared about him?

At first he really wanted to please his father, but the weather at the border was bitterly cold and the war was over. What was wrong with him wanting Liang Shenyu to return to the capital?

Rong Se was the son of a prostitute, a corrupt official and a thief. His death was not a pity. Liang Shenyu would be implicated sooner or later if he had any dealings with him.

However, Liang Shenyu only said: "If your majesty has finished speaking, I will ask for your permission to leave. The Jinbei Army still has military affairs to deal with."

It can be seen that Rong Jing spoke for a long time, but Liang Shenyu did not listen to a word he said.

After Marquis Dingbei left the house, there was another burst of smashing noises from the house. The eunuch outside lowered his head and dared not utter a word.

Rong Jing's face inside the door was almost distorted with anger.