On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 581

In the third year of Kaiping (AD 611), Meng Chun first month, Shang Jitian.

The so-called Jitian is a kind of etiquette, that is, before the spring plowing, the emperor personally went to the field to plow, implying the meaning of attaching importance to farming.

Most of the emperors just took a few steps with the ox in a symbolic way, but Cui Che was obviously serious. Not only did he go down to the field with a hoe on his shoulders, even the crown prince Cui Qiji was brought over.

But Cui Che is now 42 years old, and he is no longer young. He has been indulging in drinking and sex for many years, which has also made his physical strength not as good as before.

After working in the fields all morning, Cui Che was sweating profusely, his waist ached and his back ached from exhaustion, so he had to stop his farm work and was panting heavily while sticking his hoe.

Seeing this, Cui Qiji hurriedly dropped the hoe, calmed down Cui Che's breath, and persuaded:
"Father, let's go to the field ridge to rest for a while, don't get tired and hurt your body."

Cui Che did not try to be brave, he listened to persuasion, nodded, Cui Che returned to the field, Cui Youzhi approached with a porcelain bowl:

"Grandfather, quickly quench your thirst with a bowl of herbal tea."

Cui Che nodded with a smile, took the tea bowl and drank it down in one gulp, then said to Cui Youzhi:
"Go and give your father a bowl too."

Seven-year-old Cui Youzhi agreed, scooped another bowl of tea for Cui Qiji, walked down the field carefully, and delivered it to his father.

Cui Che watched Cui Qiji lead Cui Youzhi to work in the field after drinking tea, his eyes were full of relief.

At dusk, the three grandparents and grandchildren of the Cui family returned to Luoyang City surrounded by officials.

The Luoyang palace was completed in July last year. After Cui Che sent people to check and accept it, he immediately issued an edict to move the capital. They also went south with the family members of Dayan soldiers.

"Grandfather, can the grandson go to the mausoleum to pay homage to the grandmother tomorrow?"

Cui Youzhi asked.

Hearing this, Cui Qiji gave Cui Youzhi a hard look, as if scolding him for not mentioning Yang Lihua and making Cui Che sad.

Yang Lihua has been in poor health since she fell ill at the beginning of last year. She finally failed to survive the winter of last year and passed away in Luoyang Palace at the age of 50.

Cui Che and Yang Lihua were deeply in love with each other, and they were hit no less than Cui Zhaorong's death.

For this reason, he was indeed depressed for some time.

Fortunately, now that Cui Che has come out of the haze in his heart, Cui Che lightly put his hand on Cui Youzhi's thin shoulder, and said:

"Grandfather will go with you tomorrow."

Yang Lihua was buried in Mang Mountain, a mausoleum built by Cui Che for himself.

As early as Yang Lihua's health was deteriorating, Cui Che asked Wei Zheng to supervise the construction of the Luoyang palace, and also recruited civilian husbands to build a mausoleum for him in advance.

The two of them, including Yang Ah Wu, must be buried together in the future.

The next day, Cui Che brought Cui Youzhi to the Yuan Palace of the mausoleum. After Cui Youzhi paid respects to Yang Lihua, Cui Che stayed alone in the mausoleum, looking at the enshrined portrait of his dead wife, memories of the past came to mind again, and he couldn't help crying.

Today, Cui Che can no longer remember whether he married Yang Lihua out of love or because she was Yang Jian's eldest daughter.

But Cui Che knew that for 27 years, this woman loved him with all her heart and gave her everything for him.

When Cui Che walked out of the mausoleum, he had wiped away his tears, but his red and swollen eyes could not deceive anyone.

"Let's go back."

Cui Che took Cui Youzhi's hand and walked away slowly.

Back at Luoyang Palace, Yang Awu rushed over after hearing the news. The death of the eldest sister also made her lose a lot of weight.

After Yang Lihua passed away, only Yang Awu could bring Cui Che spiritual comfort.

Cui Che hugged Yang Ah Wu in his arms, and was speechless for a long time.

On the same day, Cui Che issued an order to Zhongshu Province to plan to build a house next to Yuan Palace, the mausoleum, and ordered maids and eunuchs to live in it, serving the dead queen Yang Lihua as if they were living people.

Although Zhongshu Ling Dou Luyu knew that this was not in line with etiquette, he did not dare to disobey Cui Che's intentions, so he asked his subordinate Zhongshu Sheren to draft an order and send it to Menxia Province for review by the attendant Pei Xiu.

Pei Xiu knew that this was Cui Che's memory of his dead wife, so how could she make things difficult for him.

However, when the imperial edict was sent to Shangshu Province to be handed over to the Ministry of Industry for implementation, it was stopped by Wei Zheng, the left servant of Shangshu.

The Ministry of Industry belongs to Zuo Pushe, which is Wei Zheng's scope of authority.

Wei Zheng appealed to Cui Che and advised Cui Che to withdraw the edict on the grounds that he only had the method of providing food in the palace but not the rituals of guards on the mausoleum.

Cui Che read Wei Zheng's memorial, called him into Luoyang Palace, and said:
"I have been married to the Queen for 27 years. In the early years, I fought all over the world and had no time to care about her feelings. She even needed her to use her own food to subsidize the family.

"When I overcame thorns and thorns and started a foundation, the queen's beauty was already old.

"Now that the empress has abandoned me, I am full of guilt.

"In order not to make the queen feel lonely and desolate in Mangshan, I issued an edict to build a house in the Yuan Palace, and let those eunuchs and maids who served her before her lifetime go to Mangshan to accompany the queen.

"I don't usually admire luxury, and I live a frugal life. Now I just want to do something for my dead wife. Do you want to use etiquette to suppress me?"

Cui Che's mood was stable and did not fluctuate too violently.

This was unexpected by Wei Zheng, who was ready to bear Cui Che's anger.

Cui Che continued:
"I am very pleased that Wei Pushe dares to speak out and give advice, but although I am the emperor, I am also an ordinary person, and I am indispensable for my seven emotions and six desires.

"Wei Pushe should stop persuading you about today's matter, I've made up my mind.

"When I am about to die, when I am able to accompany my deceased wife in person, I will leave a will for the prince to demolish the Yuan Palace house."

After all, Cui Che fixedly stared at Wei Zheng.

Wei Zheng is just straight, but not dull, Cui Che said all the words for this sake, he can only confess to Cui Che again and again.

Cui Che helped Wei Zheng up, not only did he not blame Wei Zheng, but he even rewarded Wei Zheng with some silk cloth in recognition of Wei Zheng's loyalty and outspokenness.

After all, Cui Che himself knew that what Wei Zheng said was not wrong, building a house next to the Yuan Palace and housing maidservants and eunuchs was indeed against etiquette.

Without Wei Zheng's obstruction, the Ministry of Industry immediately started the matter.

After a truce for two years, the national treasury gradually became richer and there was peace both inside and outside.

Although there were frequent border conflicts with the Sui Dynasty in the south, there were no large-scale battles between them.

Naturally, Cui Che wanted to recuperate and wait until he was fully prepared before starting the Southern Expedition.

And Yang Guang also moved his capital to the south of the Yangtze River after checking and accepting the Jiankang palace.

Yang Guang was lucky if Cui Che didn't call, and he didn't have the heart to recover the lost land during the Northern Expedition.

But the temporary peace is just a preparation for the future war, Yang Guang is also clear about this.

He did not choose the Northern Expedition, because he did not want to use his own weaknesses to attack the other's strengths.

Yang Guang worked hard in the south and never relaxed his preparations for war.

Only by relying on the strength of the boats and boats to severely injure Cui Che's northern elite, can there be a possibility of recovering the north.

And Cui Che didn't fight unprepared battles. In the past two years, he had to inquire about the news through his internal affairs in the Sui Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)