Chapter 143 The Queen Mother Returns
Since the Qinian Palace mutiny that year.
Queen Dowager Zhao Ji has been living in Yongdi away from Xianyang for nearly ten years.
Eighteen Qin officials once threatened to commit suicide in a plea to the First Emperor to allow the Queen Mother Zhao to return to Xianyang.
The First Emperor was considerate and allowed those Qin officials to die if they asked for it, thus preserving their reputation.
From then on, no Qin official dared to speak out and advise the First Emperor to welcome back the Queen Mother Zhao.
So when the First Emperor made the decision to welcome back the Queen Mother, the ministers were confused - how did His Majesty figure it out?
The gates of Xianyang City are wide open today.
In front of the city gate, Qin Shi Huang's younger brother Ying Chengjiao was sitting in the center.
As one of the only two males of this generation in the Ying clan, although he had a bad reputation, it was natural that Ying Chengjiao would be the first to welcome the Queen Mother Zhao.
In the row behind Ying Chengjiao were the right prime minister Wang Wan, the left prime minister Li Si, and the national commander Wei Liao, three of the top ministers of the Qin Dynasty.
Behind them were the senior ministers among the Qin Dynasty, including Senior Minister Yao Jia, Langzhong Ling Zhang Han, and Internal History Meng Yi.
On both sides of the road, Qin soldiers were holding bronze spears and wearing leather armor. Every two soldiers were five steps apart.
It is already autumn.
The autumn wind takes away the summer heat, making everyone feel slightly cooler.
The carriage moved slowly along the road.
When they arrived at the city gate, a jade hand half-lifted the black cloth carriage curtain.
The beautiful Zhao Ji, wearing a phoenix crown, appeared in front of the Qin Dynasty officials.
"Greetings to the Queen Mother."
Led by Ying Chengjiao, all the ministers bowed their heads and clasped their hands, bowing slightly.
"Get up."
Zhao Ji looked around at her ministers with a stern face.
All the ministers stood up in response.
The queen mother, who was imprisoned in Yong but had no intention of being imprisoned, stretched out her pure white hand to Ying Chengjiao.
"Qian'er, help me get out of the car."
Ying Chengjiao pretended to be deaf and dumb, just looked at Zhao Ji and said nothing.
The two of them, one of them stretched out his hand and the other smiled, and then they remained in a stalemate.
Later, a Qin official was very dissatisfied with Ying Chengjiao's rudeness and spoke out.
"Chang'an Jun still hasn't come to greet you..."
"I am not dead yet, is there any place for you to speak here?"
Before the Qin minister could finish his words, Li Si turned around and said the most harsh words with his most stern face.
The Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty is in charge of all government affairs and has the power to govern everything.
As the saying goes, don't hit people in the face and don't expose their weaknesses when scolding them.
The Qin minister was ridiculed by Li Si in front of all his colleagues. His face turned red instantly and he was about to explode on the spot.
"What the left prime minister said is absolutely right."
Wang Wan did not turn around, but his old voice followed Li Si's voice and floated into the back.
Wang Wan had been the right prime minister of the Qin Dynasty for many years, and his prestige was very different from that of Li Si, who, in the eyes of others, came to the position .
Qin Chen, who was about to explode, blushed even more, as embarrassed as a monkey's butt, but he swallowed the curse that was about to come out of his mouth.
The left and right prime ministers of the Qin Dynasty are of the same blood.
Li Si represents the trust of the First Emperor, and Wang Wan represents the prestige of the old prime minister.
Few Qin officials dared to confront this tremendous force.
After this little episode, no one dared to disturb the confrontation anymore. Even though Zhao Ji and Ying Chengjiao were posing in front, no one dared to say a word of displeasure.
Behind the Queen Mother's carriage was the First Emperor's four-horse carriage.
According to etiquette.
There is no one in the world greater than the First Emperor.
Even the Queen Mother Zhao, the biological mother of the First Emperor, should have her carriage following behind the four-horse royal carriage of the First Emperor.
However, the First Emperor let the Queen Mother's carriage go first, with the royal carriage drawn by four horses following closely behind, on the grounds that "mother and son are walking together, so how can the son walk before the mother?"
As a result, the Queen Mother's carriage had already reached the gate of Xianyang, and Zhao Ji was confronting Ying Chengjiao, while the Emperor's four-horse carriage was still moving forward and was still some distance away from the gate of Xianyang.
"accelerate."
"only."
Zhao Gao, the Director of the Imperial Chariots, first responded to the Emperor's order, then took the reins of the four horses and controlled them with his hands.
In the past, Zhao Gao mostly appeared as a close attendant of the First Emperor. Today, he finally had the opportunity to demonstrate his abilities as the Minister of the Imperial Chariots.
No one knew how Zhao Gao controlled them, but the four horses made a snorting sound from their nasal cavities, neighed briefly, and all turned their heads to the right.
The sixteen horse hooves slightly deviated from the original straight line, took a slant, and pulled the king's chariot forward madly, at a speed more than five times faster than before.
There wasn't much sand on the track, otherwise you would have seen sixteen horses galloping, raising a cloud of dust.
The four-horse carriage on the road seemed to be powered by lightning in Zhao Gao's hands. It drew an arc and rushed towards the Queen Mother's carriage.
When they were almost there, the veins on Zhao Gao's arms were exposed, and he twisted the reins around his hands three times.
Then he used all his internal strength and pulled the reins with all his might.
The four horses transmitted a huge force pulling backwards from their mouths, and the four horses stood up, with their eight hooves raised high and dancing in the air.
Tap tap tap
The sound of horse hooves hitting the ground was intermittent.
The steed snorted in dissatisfaction as it pulled the royal carriage with four horses and stopped right in front of the Queen Mother's carriage.
It is difficult for ordinary people to control one horse, but Zhao Gao can control four horses as easily as using his arms.
Only with such extraordinary driving skills could one add the word "Zhong" before the official title of Chefu Ling.
Zhao Gao turned around and lifted the curtain of the carriage embroidered with the black bird totem for the First Emperor. The First Emperor walked out slowly but actually quickly, and after a few strides he held his biological mother's hand.
He pulled it down slightly, but failed to move Queen Mother Zhao, who was staring at Ying Chengjiao.
"Mother."
The First Emperor lowered his voice and moved closer to Zhao Ji.
"Don't make things difficult for Cheng Jiao."
Zhao Ji said nothing.
But when the First Emperor tried to pull Zhao Ji out of the car for the second time, he was able to do it.
The First Emperor breathed a sigh of relief.
He was the richest man in the world, but he was really afraid that his mother and brother would fight.
"Your Majesty."
Ying Chengjiao exclaimed softly.
"Your Majesty."
All the ministers followed suit.
"Get up, get up."
The First Emperor was perfunctory.
Ying Chengjiao stood up along with the other ministers and moved to both sides of the road, leaving a path in the middle.
The First Emperor supported the Queen Mother Zhao and walked towards the middle road made available by the ministers.
All the ministers lowered their heads, and they were actually a little confused.
Why did the Queen Mother want to get out of the car, and why did Your Majesty come to help her?
Xianyang City is very big. If you want to walk from this city gate to Xianyang Palace.
At the pace that the First Emperor and the Queen Mother were walking, it would take at least an hour.
The normal procedure should be that Queen Dowager Zhao would appear in the carriage and all the ministers would pay them respect.
Then the Queen Mother should retract the carriage and be pulled into Xianyang City, all the way to the Xianyang Palace.
Who could have thought that after Queen Dowager Zhao showed up, she would insist on getting off the car and even ask Ying Chengjiao to help her. This was actually difficult to understand in the eyes of the ministers.
The Queen Mother is going to the Xianyang Palace?
Then Ying Chengjiao refused to help and pretended not to hear, but the ministers still could not understand.
Your Majesty has gone to Yongdi in person to pick people up, what are you doing here?
Finally, the First Emperor's carriage with four horses overtook the Empress Dowager's carriage. The First Emperor came to pick up the Empress Dowager and the ministers were even more confused.
Since Your Majesty let the Queen Mother go first, why did you surpass her?
Just to help the Queen Mother enter Xianyang, the two of them went together?
The way to be a good official is to listen more, watch more, think more and talk less.
The ministers looked at Ying Chengjiao with some confusion, then bowed their heads slightly to show their respect to the First Emperor and the Queen Mother.
If Your Majesty and the Queen Mother are willing to leave, then let them leave...
When they walked in front of Ying Chengjiao, Queen Dowager Zhao, who was supported by the First Emperor with one hand, stretched out her other hand to Ying Chengjiao, with anger in her eyes.
"I only have one child?"