The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is the Great Cold solar term. ○ A white sun in the sky looks a little dazzling, but not much heat is spreading to the earth. The cold wind swept across the streets, rolling with dead branches and leaves, and whistling and rolling on the ground.

In the shop of Duan Yunjie and Tan Erniang near Panlou Street, Xu Ping, Li Zhang and Shi Quanbin were sitting on a table, and the charcoal in the charcoal basin next to it was burning red, sitting together to drink.

According to the customs of the capital, the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month of the next day is the "New Year's Day" and the day of worshiping the Kitchen God. Xu Ping has now supported the door, and all the etiquettes of this festival have been handed over to his hands. His father Xu Zheng has completed his mission and has long left these chores. Tonight he will return to his home outside the city to prepare for the busyness to start tomorrow morning.

The New Year is approaching, and today Xu Ping and Lin Su Niang went to Li Zhang's house to be guests. Because Li Zhang was on duty, Xu Ping left early, leaving Lin Su Niang and Su Er to continue gossiping. If it was too late, Lin Su Niang would not leave the city and live in the courtyard of the original Xu family, and would not return to the outside of the city tomorrow morning.

When they arrived near the Imperial City with Li Zhang, they happened to meet Shi Quanbin, and the three of them made an appointment to have a drink.

Xu Ping's memorial had already been raised, and the court decided to set up the Registration Office of the Three Divisions. Xu Ping was appointed as the editorial officer and selected officials to help him sort out the case files of the Three Divisions in recent years and form new regulations. Since it was just a change in the accounting method and the specific laws did not change, the Secretariat placed power to the Three Divisions, and the memorial was only five or ten days.

Shi Quanbin immediately asked to recommend all the errands of the Regulations Office. He left the palace and took up the position of the Regulations Office, and pushed the ministry of the Queen's Palace to others. These two days he was busy moving outside the palace, busy inside and out, and happened to meet the two of them.

Duan Yunjie deliberately avoided Xu Ping, and Tan Erniang came up with the food and drinks, and she was always outside the house. In this cold day, I don’t know where the guests came from outside.

When his parents died, Duan Yunjie had to keep filial piety for three years, and men and women should be consciously avoided, and Xu Ping also understood. Since he met Duan Yunjie last time, he had only been here two or three times to see if there was anything to help. As a result, the dishes in this small shop were very popular in the palace, and Xu Ping could not get involved even if he had the care of the palace.

Poured wine and the three of them drank a glass.

Shi Quanbin put down his wine glass, looked at Xu Ping and Li Zhang and said, "A big incident happened in the palace today. You two probably don't know yet, right?"

Li Zhang said: "As the end of the year approaches, the palace is also very busy. Who is still in a mood to make trouble? What big deal can it happen?"

Shi Quanbin said slowly: "Today there is a Ming Dynasty imperial edict. After entering the palace, Empress Guo had no son for nine years and was willing to enter the Tao. She has been named Jingfei, the Immortal Master of Yujing, and the Taoist name is Qingwu. From now on, she will not be the queen, and she will concentrate on practicing Taoism in Changning Palace."

"What?!" Xu Ping almost exclaimed with Li Zhang.

What the edict says about the sonlessness and willingness to enter the Tao are all excuses, but in fact they are deposed. What a big deal to abolish the queen, how could it be that a sudden imperial edict was created to form a fait accompli.

Xu Ping asked Shi Quanbin: "When did this happen?"

"This afternoon, the official family sat in the side hall again. After meeting the prime minister, the imperial edict came down."

Xu Ping asked again: "Didn't the ministers object?"

Shi Quanbin said: "Of course there is a decree. After the imperial edict was issued, the censors wrote letters one after another, hehe, but they were detained from the Political Affairs Hall and could not enter the palace at all."

The memorial to the censors must be instructed by the emperor, and the prime minister should avoid the suspicion of autocracy, otherwise he would not do so.

Xu Ping knew much more about the matter in the palace than ordinary foreign officials. He was not as fierce as the censors opposed it. Now that the palace is in a big trouble, Empress Guo has been ruthless. Almost any beautiful concubine Zhao Zhen is with her, she has to disrupt the situation. How can this continue? If a couple has conflicts, one party must compromise. If it falls on the emperor, it will naturally require the queen to compromise. But Empress Guo has no such awareness at all. The emperor and the queen are forced to do so. The other people in the palace will still survive!

Whether it was Emperor Zhao Zhen or Prime Minister Lu Yijian, this thought had certainly been aroused. However, the ridiculous reason why the queen slapped the emperor, so she had been delaying for so long. Fan Feng, who had been undrawn by the unbearable censor, was driven out of the capital by the unbearable censor. Before leaving to visit Lu Yijian, he came up with an idea. It has been nine years since the emperor's wedding and the empress entered the palace. After nine years of no son, the empress will be deposed.

Today is the most suitable day. The person Lu Yijian was most afraid of, the Privy Councilor Wang Zeng, the two empress dowagers, left the capital. Second Prime Minister Zhang Shixun, as an old official in the East Palace, had a close relationship with Emperor Zhao Zhen. Other priests who stayed in the capital could not make waves under Lu Yijian.

When the emperor first took power, Lu Yijian was unexpectedly demoted from the capital. Although he was quickly recalled, his grudges remained. The reason for his demotion was because Empress Guo said in front of the emperor that Lu Yijian said at that time that the other prime ministers were the Empress Dowager Quyi Afu, so why didn't Lu Yijian himself be? Because of this sentence, Lu Yijian was demoted together with Zhang Qixia and others.

However, although there is a holiday with Empress Guo, Lu Yijian's full support for the emperor to depose the empress is not entirely selfish. Others may not know that as the prime minister, he knew that the messy situation in the palace could not continue, otherwise it would affect the government affairs sooner or later. It would be better to cut the mess quickly and quickly.

After thinking through this, Xu Ping didn't know how to judge this matter and asked Shi Quanbin: "If the memorial cannot enter the palace, will the censors give up?"

"How is that possible! Now the censor Fan Zhongyan and the censor Kong Daofu are taking several censors to argue with the prime minister in the Political Affairs Hall! The other censors who received the news were also rushed over."

Speaking of this, Shi Quanbin said to Li Zhang: "By the way, when I came out of the palace just now, I heard that the official had already ordered the door. No matter who was waiting for the right person today, the official family would not see him. If the Li family's Dalang could ask an acquaintance, he might as well have someone on your behalf for one day, so as not to go to this muddy water."

Li Zhang smiled bitterly after hearing this: "Where will I find someone to take my place for me at this time? Who is willing to come and take my place for me?"

If you know it is muddy water, how can others not know? Who will cause trouble?

There were sounds of gongs and drums outside the door, accompanied by noises.

The three of them turned around and saw two young men in women's clothing outside the store, twisting and twisting there. There were several people next to them dressed up as gods and monsters, gathering around and making fun of them, holding gongs and drums in their hands.

This is the "Watching Night Hu", a traditional custom in the capital. As soon as the twelfth lunar month enters, the beggars in the city pretend to be strange and ask for money from the shops on both sides along the way, which also means exorcising evil spirits and avoiding disasters.

"Fighting the Night Hu" will end until the 24th anniversary of tomorrow. Today is the last day, and these beggars work hard.

It’s time to see the end of the New Year. The capital is so lively that it’s so lively.
Chapter completed!