Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 54

Han Shizhong is newlywed Yan Er, looking forward to inheriting the family line, how dare he disobey his wife, and buy wine to make amends without hesitation, and everyone also knows how to keep silent.It's just that when pushing the cups and changing the cups, everyone tacitly exchanged a few winks.

Han Shizhong's face remained calm, and he drank with everyone one cup at a time, thinking about it. Among the four armies in Zhenbei, the first army in Zhenbei led by Xin Xingzong actually included the guards and honor guards of the marshal. Because it was a mission to guard the rear, many people who were greedy for life and fear of death entrusted them to transfer into it, so although the first army had the trumpet in the front, it could not fight.

The Third Zhenbei Army led by Bi Sheng and the Fourth Zhenbei Army led by Feng Mei are mainly infantry, and the [-] elite cavalry are all in the second Zhenbei Army tent.Although he is usually careless, his heart is like a bright mirror. Hebei has a flat river, and it is best for cavalry to gallop. As long as he holds the Second Army firmly in his hands, future exploits will not escape.Now the commander-in-chief suddenly recruited a barbarian cavalry, which was enough to fight against the Zhenbei Second Army, which made Han Shizhong a little worried about gains and losses.

On New Year's Eve, compared with the noisy and lively Hejian Mansion, Daming Mansion seemed a bit deserted.The whole army in the Hebei camp moved to Hejian Prefecture, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of military family members. Most of them are planning to move to Hejian after the spring warms up. This year, the family members will not be able to reunite. There seems to be a wave of melancholy floating in the smoke from the kitchen.

Prince Zhao Ke stayed in Daming to oversee the transportation of luggage because of the exhaustion of the journey. After the river thawed in spring, he took an official boat to Hejian.The resigned Hebei camps are all deployed, and General Zuowei has just returned from the residence of Prince Wei Wang.

The wind was harsh, and Liu Yanqing rode in the middle of the guards with a gloomy face. Zhao Ke made friends with scholars of Qingliu. A few years ago, when he went to Beijing to meet His Majesty, he met the prince. At that time, Zhao Ke was still polite. Now Liu Yanqing has already lost his military power, the crown prince is just playing tricks on him.

When they arrived in front of their own house, the soldiers knelt under their horses as stepping stones. Before Liu Yanqing dismounted, a servant from the house ran over quickly and said to Liu Yanqing in a low voice: "The old man sent someone to visit. The eldest son's study is receiving."

Liu Yanqing's complexion changed, he didn't care to ask more questions, and hurried to the study, only to see a man dressed as a Taoist sitting opposite his eldest son Liu Guangshi.After Liu Yanqing lost power, he sent people to ask the prime minister Cai Jing for countermeasures many times, but Cai Jing ignored him.Tong Guan regarded him as nothing, and kept Zhao Long guarding his name with all his heart.Tong Guan himself brought the troops of the Hebei Daying Camp to Hejian, where he drastically strengthened the direct line of the Northern Army and suppressed and subdued the Hebei generals. Some people reported to Liu Yanqing, but since he handed over the military power, at this time There is nothing to do.

The Taoist stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Zhang Huaisu, a down-and-out savage, met Old General Liu."

Liu Yanqing was surprised. This picture of Huai Su is Cai Xiang's good friend. His calligraphy is excellent, comparable to Cai's beauty, and his Taoism is magical. Three great masters.His Majesty wanted to call him several times to preside over the Taoist temple in the White Jade Palace, but he refused on the grounds that he was not used to being restrained, but his reputation was getting higher and higher, and he faintly surpassed Zhang and Guo.

Liu Yanqing was startled by such a famous person coming here, he quickly returned the salute with a straight look: "Master Zhang is here, and the humble house is full of splendor."

Zhang Huaisu waved his hand, indicating that he doesn't need to be too polite, and said with a smile: "The wild Taoist is very quiet, and wants to travel to Mizhou, looking for overseas fairy mountains, just in time for the meeting, and bring a word for Cai Gongxiang." He said and sat with Liu Yanqing After getting down, he took out an orange from the plate on the table, patted it lightly with his hands, and the peel of the orange fell off, split into three neat petals in the middle, Zhang Huaisu smiled slightly, and distributed them to Liu Yanqing, Liu Guangshi and his son , leaving a petal for myself.

Zhang Zhenren acted as if nothing had happened, Liu and his son were a little dazzled, took a look at the orange petals before putting them in their mouths, they felt much sweeter, very different from the usual taste.Liu Yanqing came back to his senses, and said: "I'm sorry Master Zhang, if Mr. Cai has anything to say, I will listen carefully."

"Cai Gongxiang said that it is inconvenient to travel in the middle of winter. General Liu might as well wait until spring when the flowers bloom, and then go to the capital. The court still has to rely heavily on General Liu."

"This..." Liu Yanqing hesitated for a moment. According to the court system, retiring generals should leave the defense line as soon as possible. Guan moved the Hebei camp to Hejian, and the Daming Mansion did not have any old generals under his command. Liu Yanqing's staying for a longer period of time would not be regarded as a violation of the taboo of the court. He has already written a letter to His Majesty, and he has already agreed with the Privy Council and the Ministry of War. , As long as you delay until the next year, you will leave for Beijing.However, since it was Cai Gongxiang's intention, and Zhenren Zhang passed on the message, it would be fine to delay it for another two or three months.

Thinking of this, Liu Yanqing nodded and smiled, "Then I would like to thank Mr. Cai for his compassion."

Declining Liu Yanqing and his son's persuasion, Zhang Huaisu said goodbye. He really had something important to go to Mizhou. A batch of ordnance purchased by Mingjiao from Beiguo needed to be inspected at sea. If there is a problem again, it will be too late.

A carriage was already waiting at the corner of the street, "See the left protector." A middle school disciple dressed as a porter bowed and saluted. "Thank you, let's go." The carriage bumped towards the east gate. After Zhang Huaisu sat firmly, he took out an orange from his sleeve, peeled it, and ate it. It was just a simple embedding, and Li Daitao froze. technique.While eating the orange petals, he pondered deeply, "This old thief, Cai Jing, what did you mean by this sentence to Liu Yanqing?"

After contemplating for a while, Zhang Huaisu couldn't figure out why, so Zhang Huaisu secretly scolded the old thief for being treacherous, took out a piece of letter paper from under the table in the carriage, and wrote a letter to Zhizhou Wu Chu.This secret letter was written with 'potion' water, and the writing behind it continued, while the writing on the front gradually faded away, like a blank sheet of paper.

"...The difference between human beings and beasts lies in the gods. People have no beliefs, so they are different from beasts. From the court ministers to the small people, they don't believe in gods, and the world is going downhill. Therefore, the goodness of heaven is suddenly lost, and fearless retribution is true. That's why they behave pervertedly and recklessly, that's why there are continuous natural disasters, and the barbarians invade, and that's why the demons show illusions, but fools can't tell them..."

Writing here, Zhang Huaisu remembered that he was just like this, and shook his head in a self-deprecating manner. Those who achieve great things do not care about trivial matters, and Wu Chu, the state magistrate, and Lu Yuan, the governor of Suzhou, are rare officials in the southeastern counties who sincerely serve Mingzun , when this is an extraordinary time, it is necessary to stabilize his mind.

Lanterns were put on on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and Kaifeng Mansion set up several mile-long theater sheds on both sides of the Royal Street opposite Da Nei Xuanhe Building. The scales are tangent, and the music is noisy for more than ten miles.In addition to common tricks such as Cuju, Zaju, spitting fire and water, monkey shows, calling bees, butterflies and ants, the most grand program of the Lantern Festival is naturally the lanterns. This dynasty has been established for more than a hundred years. To this day, the lantern is majestic and grand, and it has been called Dengshan.The overlapping lanterns on the mountain, in addition to the images of Fu Lu Shou Xing, Taishang Laojun, Manjusri and Puxian, etc., there are also craggy and strange stone lanterns, and waterfall lanterns with gurgling water, competing for splendor.

There are many tourists on both sides of the imperial street, and even the royal family has set up a place on the Xuande Tower. The officials, concubines and princesses in the harem watched the prosperous scene of putting on the lanterns in person.The flower market is full of colorful colors, princes and grandsons, beauties and green temples, during the time of cruising in twos and threes, there are rogue children in the market, and there are also groups of people who stop good women from molesting them, there are also "dewy" marriages that meet by chance, and vows to each other under the moonlight in front of the lamp There are also.

Li Ruobing was exiled in Qiongzhou, and his friends were still running around for his early transfer back to Beijing, which made the atmosphere of Li's house a bit more depressing in Yuanye.Li Ruoxu was impatient and bored, so he went out to wander around Dengshi by himself. There were two girls in front of him who were stopped by three or five rascals and couldn't get away. It was Zhao Huan, the princess who had met once before. She immediately lifted her robe, strode up, and said, "Cousin Sixteen, let me find it easier!"

When Zhao Huan looked up, she recognized the young man who was traveling with Zhao Xingde that day. She was quick-witted and guessed Li Ruoxu's intention to save the siege. Brother, come to find me, if you don’t want to be locked up by the officer, why don’t you open it and get out of the way!”

Those rascals were just bullying the lonely woman. Seeing family members coming to visit, Li Ruoxu dressed like a gentleman of a high-class family, and didn't dare to make more troubles. He scattered away embarrassingly. Li Ruoxu came When he came to Zhao Huan, he fell to the ground first, and said in a low voice: "Xiaosheng Li Ruoxu is impertinent, and sees the sixteenth princess." But his eyes secretly glanced at Zhao Huan's feet, his heart jumped, and his face was hot.

Zhao Huan didn't care how Li Ruoxu knew his identity, and said with a smile: "Mr. Li, you don't need to be polite. Qing Nu and I went out to look at the lights, and we got separated from the guards. When we met these rascals, I would like to thank Mr. Li for saving us." . " Pulling the palace maid Qing Nu was blessed.

Li Ruoxu longed for the beautiful woman, and only hoped to stay by her side for a moment longer. Zhao Huan wanted to learn more about Zhao Xingde from Ruoxu. In the middle of the night, colorful Kongming lanterns began to rise in twos and threes in the city of Bianjing.The Kongming Lantern is also known as the Wishing Lantern. Li Ruoxu and Zhao Huan each bought a lamp. After lighting the lamp, they watched it slowly rise to the sky, and gradually merged with the dancing lights in the sky, making them indistinguishable. .

It was not until the left armpit door of Xuanhe Building that I met Zhao Huan's guards.Zhao Huan said in a low voice: "New Year's Eve, this time is the happiest, thank you Mr. Li." Putting on the gold silk peacock feather coat handed over by the guards, under the guard of the guards, walked into the left armpit door.Li Ruoxu watched the figure of the beautiful woman gradually disappear behind the tall Miyagi, and stood in front of the majestic Xuanhe Building for a long time, his mood fluctuated, and he didn't feel his clothes wet with dew.