lady, please calm down

Chapter 402: Is the princess more important, or is the Cai family more important?

On the last day of March, the peace agreement between Qi and Jin was reached.

From that day on, the history of the father-son state of the two countries passed away; Hejian and Shenzhou were assigned to Qi State; Qi State released more than 12,000 Jin and Han troops in batches.

As for the military compensation of one million guan, it was secretly paid by Nanjing Road in three years, using local business, iron, salt, and tea taxes as collateral.

This peace agreement was also called the Xuanqing Peace Agreement in Qi State. Wanyan Wudubu seemed to be deeply ashamed of the Xuanqing Peace Agreement. On the second day after the peace agreement was reached, he led the delegation to leave Tokyo in a hurry.

Both Qi and Jin knew that this peace agreement was not the end of the war, but the clarion call for the next national war.

However, the significance of the Xuanqing Peace Treaty is still extraordinary. Not only did the changes in various places stop instantly, but it also had a huge impact on the entire Zhou Kingdom.

The main war faction that had disappeared in the Southern Dynasties resurrected in another way. The old main war faction advocated not only resisting the Jin Dynasty, but also destroying the Qi Dynasty.

After the relationship between Qi and Jin became tense, especially after Qi's victory in the Battle of Hebei, there were some different voices in the Zhou court, uniting Qi to fight against Jin.

The reason for Deng Yuanshou, the official who raised this issue for the first time, was that "Qi's great victory in Hebei shows that the Jin army has nothing to fear. The Tatars of the Jin state are uncivilized and ambitious; Qi is in the north, I am in the south, Qi and the Zhou Dynasty are the same From the same lineage, if our dynasty can become a brotherly state with Qi, Qi can be my barrier to the Great Zhou Dynasty."

This statement sounded reasonable at first, but it violated Zhou's political correctness.

Wan Qixi, the minister of Dali Temple, refuted it at that time: "The trouble for me, the great Zhou Dynasty, is not in Qi but in Jin! You, Deng Yuanshou, have made arrogant opinions about the country. If your wild and arrogant words spread to Jin today, wouldn't you surprise your allies? Now Qi State's Huaibei Army It is so fierce that at the time when Jin and Zhou were supporting each other and their lips were dying, Deng Yuanshou was talking nonsense in the court and did not distinguish between right and wrong. He deserves to be punished!"

Wan Qixi opened his mouth, and immediately a group of courtiers came out one after another, attacking Deng Yuanshou and deceiving the public with his evil words, demanding that he be punished for his crime.

Emperor Zhou pretended to ask Qin Huizhi for his opinion, and then put Deng Yuanshou in prison after he had been dismissed from office.

Although he expressed great regret, everyone with a discerning eye knows that the emperor is the one who resists uniting to fight against the Jin the most. The reason is not difficult to guess. Although the Jin people are cruel and greedy, they don't want more than money and women. As long as they are fed, It is not a big problem for the Great Zhou Dynasty to settle in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River.

However, the Qi State and the Pseudo-Qi State are also Han dynasties. If they hold up the banner of resisting the Jin Dynasty and win again and again, then the hope of the Han people in the world will most likely change to Qi Dynasty.

By then, it will be hard to say who is the orthodox Han people and who is the 'pseudo' dynasty.

Nowadays, there are similar signs. The impact of Huaibei's prosperity is not limited to the economic level.

Huaibei, where no one is hungry and no one picks up lost things on the road, has simply become a holy land in the minds of many literati. Since Qi State awarded Nao Shizi's "Four Prizes" to Lu Yanzhong last year, the "fair and just" Huaibei suddenly received a wave of Zhou Guoshi People like you.

It also attracted a large number of Zhou scholars to study abroad. After seeing the local prosperity, a group of Zhou people spontaneously formed Huaibei trumpeters.

Lu Yanzhong, who was originally a big troll in the Zhou Kingdom, was blocked by the imperial court because he went north. Xu had a rebellious mentality. After returning home, he changed his past defiant temperament and turned into the number one fan of the Zhou Kingdom in Huaibei. Through various truths and falsehoods, he Fake news showed the people of Zhou State an imaginary Huaibei in the newspaper.

Like, "After the king of Chu lost control of his horse and accidentally trampled on a vendor's stall, he not only compensated according to the price, but also took the initiative to go to Caizhou Prefecture Prison to be imprisoned for five days."

'. When the Huaihe River was in great trouble, Caizhou was not affected because of its perfect planning. The sewers in the city were crisscrossed and it was possible to use boats. '

"The reason why Caizhou is prosperous is due to good education. Even the dishwashers in ordinary restaurants know how to do their best and wash each dish seven times."

'. An old friend of mine lives in Caizhou. During the continuous autumn rain last year, the sewer pipe was not smooth. The old friend called his son to repair it, but he found an oil paper bag hidden next to the damaged pipe, which contained several replacement connectors! A friend of the story later lamented that since the Qin Dynasty unified Liuhe and for thousands of years, good governance in Huaibei has never been heard of! With such officials, why worry about Huaibei not being rich, and why worry about the world being unfair! '

Lu Yanzhong's short essays, which he wrote without distinguishing between true and false, once again captured Huaibei's many unintelligent fans within the Zhou Kingdom.

Emperor Zhou had a great headache for him, but within the Zhou State, which "ruled the world with the scholar-bureaucrats", it was really difficult to restrain people like Lu Yanzhong.

After all, not everyone dared to make disobedient scholar-bureaucrats physically disappear like King Chu.

Finally, this popular trend among the people slowly invaded the court. For someone like Deng Yuanshou, who was an official in the court, to be an official in the court, it was impossible not to know that Emperor Zhou was afraid of Qi.

But he still said the words "Unite Qi to resist Jin". In addition to the possibility of someone instigating him behind his back, Deng Yuanshou's favorable impression of Huaibei may also be a very important factor.

On the same day when the dynasty dispersed, Emperor Zhou summoned the prime minister and assistant Qin Huizhi to the imperial study to discuss matters.

An hour later, Qin Huizhi returned home and summoned Wan Qixi again.

As soon as the two met, Qin Huizhi said straight to the point: "Is there no movement over there on Yangzhou Road again?"

Wan Qixi behaved very respectfully in front of his benefactor. He cupped his hands and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Zha Yongen, the prefect of Yangzhou, had secretly contacted Fan Shigui and others, the gentry of Sizhou Prefecture of Qi State. Unexpectedly, the puppet King of Chu of Qi actually won a great victory on Hebei Road. , when the news came back, Fan Shigui did not dare to act rashly."

Since the opening of the Four Prizes and the construction of the Huaxia Museum in Huaibei last year, the Zhou Kingdom has not been without counterattacks.

Yangzhou Road is close to Sizhou in Huaibei, and its prefect Zha Yongen is from the Wanqixi family. After the Hebei border disaster happened last year, Zha Yongen sent someone to secretly contact Fan Shigui on the other side.

Sizhou is to the east of Suzhou. The fate of squires Lu Yuanju, Han Jun and others from Huaiyuan County in Suzhou shocked Fan Shigui and other Sizhou squires.

Fortunately, due to the limited strength of the Huaibei Army, it did not extend its tentacles to Sizhou further away for the time being.

But last year, after Yang Dalang's new army was formed in Shouzhou, it gradually moved into Suzhou and Sizhou.

At this time, Fan Shigui and others, who had been dominating the local area for hundreds of years, became nervous.

In normal times, they may not have the courage to resist the Huaibei Army, but the war on Hebei Road gave them an opportunity.

Based on what they thought at the time, and what most people in the world thought, if Qi and Jin fought, Qi would definitely be the loser.

At that time, it happened that Zha Yongen, the governor of Yangzhou Prefecture in the Zhou Dynasty, sent people to contact Fan Shigui. When the Qi army was defeated and Huaibei panicked, he would take action to capture the government office and offer Sizhou to the Zhou Dynasty.

But the development of the battle situation exceeded their expectations.

As a result, a coup that had not yet been launched was quickly eliminated. Zha Yongen, the prefect of Yangzhou, promised high-ranking officials generous salaries, but Fan Shigui and others did not dare to move.

After Qin Huizhi understood the current situation, he pondered for a moment and then said: "Huaibei is good at deceiving people's hearts, and now it is even more powerful than before with the power of victory. If it is allowed to develop, I, the Zhou Dynasty, will be worried about losing the hearts of the people."

Wan Qixi, who was sitting half-butt on the chair, heard the words and bowed: "It is precisely because of Huaibei's new victory that Fan Shigui's people are so worried that they dare not take action."

Qin Huizhi shook his head, "They can't count on it. The Jin Kingdom."

"The Jin Kingdom is not stable now. Both the Jin Emperor and King Hailing have refused to make a move. They probably want to wait for the outcome of the Jin-Qi peace talks before fighting again." Wan Qixi added.

The thin and fair-skinned Qin Huizhi thought for a while and suddenly said: "Send people across the sea to secretly envoy Jin. As long as there are results within the Jin Kingdom, Jin and Zhou will attack from the north and the south. I think Jin Ting will be very satisfied."

After saying that, Qin Huizhi sighed leisurely and said: "If Dajin conquers the world, you and I can still be rich. If the pretender Qi conquers the world, with the style of the King of Chu, I may not be safe. This is Lifting, not only for the country, but also for yourself."

"My subordinates understand."

In mid-April, Chen Chu received a secret report from Emei Peak.

The secret text said that the battle in Hebei put the Jin Emperor in an extremely bad situation. Many military and state affairs were no longer handled by the Jin Emperor. There were thousands of cars and horses in front of the Hailing Palace every day.

As a result, Emei Peak will no longer have access to a lot of confidential information.

In addition to describing the situation of the Jin Emperor, Emei Feng also implicitly expressed his desire to return to Huaibei in the secret text. Also, based on his experience of sleeping with almost all the noble ladies of the Jin Kingdom, if the Jin Emperor lost power, it would be a good outcome if he could be hacked to death with a knife.

However, Chen Chu comforted him in his reply and instructed him that if he found that the momentum was not right, he should try his best to persuade the Jin Emperor to flee south. Arrangements had been made on Zhongjing Road and Nanjing Road in the Jin Kingdom to ensure that the Jin Emperor was safe.

In the current Jin Kingdom, whether it is the Jin Emperor or King Hailing, whoever completely controls the government will not be a good thing for the Qi Kingdom.

The best result is internal friction. But no one can say whether this matter can develop according to Chen Chu's vision. The right time, right place, right people and the right people are indispensable.

On April 16, after handling various matters, Chen Chu set off back to Huaibei on the same day.

The night before, I stayed overnight in the palace.

When I got up in the morning, it was still dark. Last night, the family of three slept together. Before leaving, Chen Chu gently kissed Mian'er's forehead while he was sleeping.

Zhuan Yun carried a lantern and sent Chen Chu to the outside of Renming Palace. He knelt down and said in a low voice: "Farewell to the prince. I will serve your highness and the little princess well in the palace."

Chen Chu turned around and smiled, then followed Huang Doudou out of the palace.

Zhuan Yun turned around to the bedroom, only to find that Jia Rou, who was still sleeping soundly when King Chu left, was now sitting on the corner of the bed in a daze, wearing only plain white clothes and hugging her knees.

The spacious palace and the huge dragon bed make the tall Jiarou appear petite and fragile.

"Your Highness, are you awake?" Zhuan Yun stepped forward and asked in a low voice.

Jia Rou raised her bloodshot red phoenix eyes and glanced at Zhuan Yun. Then she released her arms holding her knees, supported the bed with both hands, moved to the bedside and got down, and slowly sat in front of the bronze mirror. .

In fact, Jiarou didn't sleep all night last night. She was pretending to sleep when Chen Chu left.

How should I put it, Chen Chu was a clear political opponent to her.

But when the two of them are affectionate at night, Jiarou always has the illusion that she can control Chen Chu.

Chen Chu controls Da Qi. If Jia Rou controls him, doesn't that mean Jia Rou controls Da Qi?

It's just that Jiarou didn't expect that some things could be made.

For example, this morning, when Chen Chu left, Jiarou suddenly felt that there was a void in her heart.

Recently, even though Chen Chu's visits to the palace were not frequent, Jiarou would feel a sense of security whenever she thought of him in Tokyo.

This sense of security originally came from the seventeenth day of the first lunar month when the Jin envoy Helian Weilun shouted in the Daqing Palace, "Please go north and marry our emperor as the Qin and Jin Dynasties." Huang Doudou suddenly brought the news of King Chu's victory in Hebei. information.

It turns out that having someone to back you up and back you up is such a great thing!

Jiarou sat in front of the bronze mirror, gradually lost in thought.

Zhuan Yun took the initiative to step forward, help Jia Rou comb her hair, and asked in a low voice, "Did your Highness not sleep well last night?"

Jia Rou came back to her senses, but did not answer Zhuan Yun's question. Instead, she suddenly asked: "Zhuan Yun, in what year did you enter the palace?"

"Last year. However, this slave has heard of the prince's name as early as seven years ago in Fuchang!"

Zhuan Yun added.

At the beginning of last year, she entered the palace with Ayu, but she knew the prince very early. When the prince and Ayu, who was still a young mother at home, had a tryst at Qingyun Temple, she was still the lookout.

However, Zhuan Yun would definitely not say anything that would ruin his wife's reputation.

"The seventh year of Fuchang." Jia Rou recalled carefully. After she became regent, she went out of her way to learn about many of the past events of the King of Chu. In her impression, the seventh year of Fuchang was when the King of Chu led the soldiers and civilians of Tongshan to fight against the army of Zheng Yi Shenrui in Caizhou. Year was also the starting point of King Chu's fortune.

"Did you know King Chu because of your fight with Zheng Yi?" Jia Rou said matter-of-factly.

Zhuan Yun pursed his lips and smiled, and corrected him: "Your Highness, you remembered wrongly. The traitor Zheng Yi invaded Tongshan in the eighth year of Fuchang."

"Uh." Jiarou couldn't help but be even more surprised and asked: "Then something big happened in Fuchang in the seventh year, making you remember the King of Chu?"

"Hey, compared to the world's affairs, it's not a big deal. That year, there was a man named Zhang Gui and a few gangsters who bullied the princess. The prince was just a pony at that time, but after he found out, he took those few Kill all the scoundrels who are accustomed to oppressing women!"

Times have changed, and Zhang Gui, who had to go through all kinds of troubles to get results in Shahugang in the early days of Chen Chu, is no longer a secret that needs to be concealed.

"Your Highness can't understand the dangers involved. After all, the prince was still a quick pony back then." Zhuan Yun stressed again because he was worried that Jia Rou would not understand Chen Chu's determination and difficulty in venting his anger on the princess.

Jia Rou nodded and said, "I can guess a thing or two."

Seeing this, Zhuan Yun laughed contentedly and said: "My wife Ayu once said that when we are young, what we women want is nothing more than the love of our parents, and when we grow up, what we want is only the care of our husbands. Her devotion to the prince is not Because the prince is rich and noble, but because she knows how the prince protected the princess and Lady Yunong when he was still in his later years."

At this point, Zhuan Yun quickly shut up. Because of his father, Ayu knew a lot of inside stories about Huaibei, including Chen Chu's murder of the imperial envoy for Yunong.

Now this matter has no effect on Chen Chu, but it is still embarrassing for Jiarou, the orthodox representative of Liu Qi, to know about it.

Fortunately, Jia Rou didn't notice anything strange. Instead, she got distracted because of the words, "When you grow up, you can't hope for more than a husband to take care of you."

Seeing that Jia Rou didn't ask further questions, Zhuan Yun breathed a sigh of relief and started to help Jia Rou make her bun.

After being silent for dozens of breaths, Jiarou suddenly said: "Princess Chu has a good reputation and has shared the joys and sorrows with the King of Chu. In the heart of the King of Chu, she should be more important than the Cai family, right?"

"."

Zhuan Yun didn't dare to accept these words, so he only smiled forcefully.

Jia Rou may have felt that her question was a bit silly, so she immediately changed the subject and said, "Zhuan Yun, what do you think the princess values ​​most?"

"family!"

This time, Zhuan Yun answered simply and neatly.

"Oh? In addition to King Chu, does the princess have other family members?"

"Well, the princess also endured hardships when she was young. The princess's father died in Tokyo in Ding Wei, and her mother died of illness in Fuchang in the early spring of the seventh year. She only had one little sister to depend on."

Speaking of Mao'er's life experience, Zhuan Yun couldn't help but sigh.

Jiarou was silent for a while, then suddenly raised her hand to interrupt Zhuan Yun's hair-twisting movement, and ordered: "Bring paper and pen."

Zhuan Yun was confused, but he spread out the paper on the big case and added water to grind it.

After a while, the seal cloud was ready. Jiarou, with her hair in a half-tied bun, came up to write.

Zhuan Yun couldn't help but be curious, and secretly glanced at the beautiful small regular script, and saw that what Jia Rou wrote was in the format of an edict, ". Princess Zhao of Chu, with a seal of Ci Zhi, Jing Zhang, Hui Zhai, Ti and Shushen." His father Zhao Gong was the Grand Duke of Shang County, and his mother Qin was granted the title of Grand Lady of Shang County.

Zhuan Yun had stayed in the palace for more than a year, and he understood some of Qi's official system, so he couldn't help but be surprised when he saw this.

There are many important ministers in the court, but few can protect their parents!

His Highness is the Duke and Lady of the County, and he also adds the word "Tai". Your Highness is putting himself in the position of a junior!

Although the princess is the most respected by the King of Chu, her lack of family background has always been her biggest shortcoming.

Now the whole female family of the palace has been saved. Apart from the princess, who else has such an honor!

Afterwards, Zhuan Yun secretly glanced at Jia Rou who was writing seriously, and suddenly had a hint of enlightenment in his heart. No wonder His Highness asked whether the princess or Cai Hua was more important in King Chu's heart.

It seems that Cai Hua scared His Highness the last time he entered the palace.

Your Highness is trying to please the princess in advance.

(End of this chapter)