Plan to cut off the nine states

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The Queen Mother's maiden name was Luan, and she came from an obscure small family.

Father Luan had been a local official, and had almost no contact with the rich and powerful. After his only daughter was selected to enter the East Palace, he never had any extravagant hopes, and continued to work hard as an official, giving up the idea of ​​having another son. He planned to retire and wander among the mountains and rivers to live out his years, but he died in office.

Father Luan's death was a trivial matter for the entire court, and it did not cause any waves in the local area. He was buried as usual and recorded as usual, that's all.

Emperor Zhang Xi, the founding emperor of the Tiancheng Dynasty - then the Dacheng Dynasty - noticed this trivial matter when he was choosing a queen for the prince, and made the final decision because of it.

Emperor Wanwu was only seventeen years old that year. He was gentle, mature, and had an imperial demeanor. He was deeply loved by his subjects, especially the powerful families. They had begun to fight openly and secretly a few years ago, all wanting their daughters to be the future queen.

Emperor Zhang Xi was fed up with it, and he selected a daughter from each family and sent her to the Eastern Palace, but he was reluctant to choose a crown princess. Until he could no longer delay, he wanted to register and check the family background of the women in the Eastern Palace. The daughters of the powerful families were all rejected, and those with large families and many brothers were not in his eyes. Finally, he chose Luan.

Luan was an orphan at this time. The news of her father's death was recorded in the register, but she knew nothing about it. No one had ever thought of notifying her.

Emperor Zhang Xi sent people to inquire a little and found that Luan was almost a transparent person. Many people in the Eastern Palace did not know her at all, and even if they knew her, they could not say anything.

Emperor Zhang Xi admired this girl more and more, and asked the queen to summon Luan, comfort her and send her back to the East Palace. Some smart eunuchs and palace maids saw the clues, quietly congratulated Luan, and secretly notified the powerful families.

Luan didn't believe it, and the powerful families didn't believe it either. Three days later, Emperor Zhang Xi issued an edict to select the crown princess, and the whole city was shocked.

Many years later, Luan didn't dare to believe it was true. She was always cautious and never dared to compete with other beautiful women. She continued to be her invisible person. Becoming the queen and giving birth to the prince did not change her character. Everyone who saw her said that the late emperor really had vision.

Queen Mother Lan was also very satisfied with the queen. She had no fear of her, but she didn't have any confidence in her, so she kept the prince by her side to raise him, one to avoid the jealousy of many concubines, and the other to worry that her grandson would be too deeply influenced by Queen Luan, and his character would be weak in the future and unable to control the ministers.

In this way, Luan lived in the deep palace, enjoying the treatment of the queen, like a jewel hidden in a box, and then buried ten feet underground. The owner occasionally thought of the existence of the jewel, but never opened it again.

The Emperor of All Things had lost interest in the harem early, and turned to like women from the people. Three years before his death, he had never seen the queen.

Luan didn't care. She had heard about her father's death, sent people to rebuild the tomb, worshiped every year, and often went around with the queen mother to worship Buddha, intending to spend her life like this.

When the news of the assassination of the Emperor of All Things came, Luan was calm. She tried hard to recall, but she couldn't remember the emperor's appearance.

The prince ascended the throne and treated his biological mother as a stranger - they were indeed strangers, they could only see each other two or three times a year, and there were always people around them - he was closer to the Grand Empress Dowager.

Luan's heart was as calm as water. Apart from the title of queen mother, she could not perceive any impact of the death of the Emperor of All Things on herself.

The world was becoming more and more chaotic, with one defeat after another. Luan didn't care at all. She prayed to Buddha more diligently, without missing a day. What she prayed for was not the safety of the country and the people, nor the emperor's health and disaster, but she hoped that she could ascend to the Western Paradise as soon as possible and never enter the emperor's family again.

For Luan, what happened next was too sudden. Before she saw the rubble sliding down, the whole mountain collapsed in front of her: the Empress Dowager had not appeared for several days, and rumors said that Lan had been taken away by the two kings of Xiangdong and Jibei. A few days later, the emperor also disappeared with the Liang family.

When they fled, no one thought of the Empress Dowager. Luan had no resentment in her heart, but just wondered, the two grandparents used to depend on each other, closer than mother and son, why did they go their separate ways when the disaster came? From this, she believed more and more in the Buddhist scriptures that everything in the world "is like a dream bubble".

But "dreams and illusions" can also come true. One day, Empress Dowager Luan suddenly found that there seemed to be fewer eunuchs around her. A few days later, a group of ministers suddenly broke into the palace and shouted.

Empress Dowager Luan had never seen so many ordinary men, let alone such a big battle. The meditation skills she had practiced for many years of worshipping Buddha were broken in one day, and she was frightened and cried bitterly.

The ministers had another explanation for the crying, comforted her, and left. Empress Dowager Luan had no idea that her nod had appointed a minister to guard the city.

Life seemed to return to its original state. Although there were fewer eunuchs, many palace maids were still there, and the service to the empress dowager was still as rigorous as before.

There was only one change. Empress Dowager Luan had been a vegetarian for many years. After the winter, the warm room provided fresh vegetables every day, but this morning there were no fresh vegetables. The palace maids brought a bowl of porridge and a plate of pickles.

Empress Dowager Luan was easy-going and did not blame. She ate half a bowl, ordered people to clear the meal, and sat in the room in a daze.

Lunch was also simple. The Queen Mother recited Buddhist scriptures for the whole afternoon. When it was almost dusk, she asked the female official beside her, "What's going on outside?"

"It's sunny outside, but a little cold."

"I mean, outside the palace, the ministers were shouting and yelling the other day. I didn't hear what they were saying, but it didn't seem good."

"Outside..." The female official could no longer bear it, and knelt down, crying, "Empress Dowager, the Eastern Capital has been surrounded by rebels, and they will attack sooner or later."

"Oh, no wonder the emperor and the Empress Dowager want to leave." The Empress Dowager picked up the teacup, took a sip, and thought, so big things happened outside.

The female official was surprised and stopped crying, "Empress Dowager, the rebels will enter the city and will inevitably burn, kill and loot. Queen Dowager, please think of a way?"

"What can I do? Don't we have ministers?"

"The ministers have all run away, leaving only Lord Fei Bing to support alone..."

A palace maid ran in in a panic, "Empress Dowager, Lord Fei wants to see you, I dare to make the decision and bring Lord Fei in."

Thinking of the ministers' shouting, the Empress Dowager was still frightened and put down the teacup, "Let him talk outside, it's not convenient for me here."

The palace maid went out, and Fei Bing's voice soon came from outside, "Empress Dowager, the situation is critical, the rebels are about to come Enter the city, ask the Queen Mother to move, and leave the city for a while."

"I won't leave." Queen Mother Luan sat in the house, able to remain calm, "If someone enters the city, let them in."

"The rebels are rebels, and after entering the city, they have to go to the palace. How can the Queen Mother, the mother of the country, fall into the hands of the rebels? If the Queen Mother is humiliated, we will die for our crimes."

"Alas, everything has its own will. 'All things are like dreams, bubbles, dew and lightning', Lord Fei, please leave the city by yourself, I want to stay. Rather than suffering from the pain of running around, I would rather stay in the palace, and the Buddha has his own arrangements for me."

Fei Bing persuaded, but Queen Mother Luan was unmoved.

Fei Bing had no choice but to take his leave. Before leaving, he said, "We are incompetent and have put the Queen Mother in danger. I hope the Queen Mother will take care of herself. Among the rebels, there is a King Wu, who was originally the son of a general. He changed his surname to Xu and his name to Xu Chu. Unlike other rebels, he still has some civility. If the Queen Mother is in trouble, she may ask him for help."

"I understand. Lord Fei, take care."

Fei Bing sighed, turned around and ran out of the palace in a hurry.

The Queen Mother called in the maid, "No matter what happens outside, the rules inside must be followed. If there are any men who want to see you in the future, don't bring them to me."

The maid answered blankly, "Yes", and left the room. She originally thought that the Queen Mother was easy-going and docile, but now she wondered if the Queen Mother was a little... stupid?

The female palace in the room asked: "Why doesn't the Queen Mother want to leave the city to seek refuge?"

"Alas, where can we go after leaving the city? You said it was seeking refuge, but what I saw was facing difficulties."

"It is said that the Queen Mother is in Yecheng, Jizhou. Your Majesty... may have gone to Huaizhou. The Queen Mother can go to the two palaces for refuge. She can always..."

"I was not called when I left. What can I get if I go thousands of miles to seek refuge? I will be humiliated if I leave, and I will be humiliated if I stay. It is better to stay and wait and see. If I have a bad fate, then I deserve this disaster. I have committed sins in my previous life and I have to pay them off in this life. Only when I am free of debt and feel light, can I be reborn in the paradise."

The female official was stunned.

Queen Mother Luan said again: "You don't have to stay here. If you have family outside, go and seek them out. You don't have to accompany me to suffer."

The female official shook her head, "I have no family. I am willing to share life and death with the Queen Mother."

"Okay, help me to rest, and you should rest early too. Things in the world are often like this. A half-life of peace is often repaid with a temporary storm. Do you think I will cry again?"

"The last time it happened suddenly, the Queen Mother was not prepared, so it happened... This time the Queen Mother has been reminded, and it shouldn't happen again."

"Well, I don't want to cry again. The last time I cried was... It was many years ago, when I was only seven or eight years old..." The Queen Mother recalled the past and sighed.

The female official supported the Queen Mother, and it was hard to believe that this was just a woman who had just passed thirty years old, a few years younger than herself.

When she got to the bed, Empress Dowager Luan remembered something, "Master Fei said there was a member of the Lou family among the rebels?"

"Yes, he is a general, but he has changed his surname to Xu Chu and calls himself the King of Wu."

"Is it him?"

Empress Dowager Luan asked without knowing the answer, but the female official understood and nodded, "It's him. He became a rebel after escaping."

Empress Dowager Luan couldn't help laughing, "This man is really interesting. He assassinated my husband, scared my son away, and now he wants to take my place. Does he have a grudge against me?"

The female official replied, "He has no grudge against the Empress Dowager, but he is too ambitious and wants to take over the world."

"The world...what is good in the world? Everyone wants to take it. It would be best if there are fresh bamboo shoots tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Empress Dowager." The female official covered the emperor with a quilt and didn't dare to say that the food in the palace was about to run out.

The next morning, it was still porridge and pickles. Empress Dowager Luan didn't say anything and ate half a bowl of it. She chanted sutras when she should, and was in a daze when she should, but she didn't leave the house and didn't notice any changes.

In the afternoon, the "change" finally came. The palace maid came in and said palely: "Queen Dowager, Wu, King Wu wants to see you."

"Which King Wu?"

"The leader of the anti-rebel...rebel army, King Wu Xu Chu."

"Bring him in." The Queen Dowager was very curious about what kind of person this person who opposed her everywhere was, so she forgot the order yesterday not to bring anyone into the palace.

The female palaces around the Queen Dowager were not curious at all. They only cared about one thing, that is, they must not let the Queen Dowager be humiliated, even if they died together.