Harue Kagetsu

The one who called Gao Luoshen into the palace was the empress dowager Gao Yongrong, the cousin of Gao Luoshen.

After listening to Gao Yongrong's words, Gao Luoshen was startled, and his heart was at a loss.

Gao Yongrong said that she hoped she would agree to marry Li Mu.

Li Mu, courtesy name Jingchen, whose ancestor was the governor of Hongnong County, was conferred the title of Duke of the County due to his accumulated merits.

When the Lushen and Dayu royal families in Shenzhou crossed south, the ancestors of the Li family did not want to follow the flow and moved back to Xuyi, Huaibei, where their ancestral home is located.

Since the royal family abandoned the Central Plains and crossed south, the north-south junction of Jiangbei and Huainan has become a battleground between the two sides.

After Li Mu's grandfather returned to his hometown, he built a dock to accommodate the refugees who had nowhere to go. When it was the most powerful, it had developed to nearly 10,000 parts.

Li Muzu Shang, so he used his own strength to protect the peace of one party, and at the same time looked forward to Master Wang going north to restore the Central Plains.

However, after ten years of hard work, the long-awaited Master Wang disappeared, and with the establishment of the Northern Jie regime, Li Shiwu Fort was finally alone and inevitably fell.

More than 20 years ago, Li Shiwu Fort was breached, and Li Mu's father died in the military chaos. Li Mu's mother took Li Mu, who was ten years old at the time, with the refugees across the river to Jiangzuo, where they settled down in Jingkou and began to live a difficult life.

He joined the army at the age of thirteen. Ten years ago, he began to emerge in the army due to his contribution to the imperial court's efforts to pacify the Taikang Rebellion in Wudi three years ago. core figures of the army.

In the past ten years, he led his army to the south of the Yangtze River three times to destroy the northern regimes such as Xishu and Nanliang, and successively recovered most of Henan including Yanzhou, and drove the Hu people to Hebei.

The great cause of the Northern Expedition can be said to be half-complete, and because of this, he is famous all over the world.

When his name was mentioned, the Hu people fled when he heard the wind, and the Han family all looked up.

Two years ago, Li Mu, then the governor of Yanzhou and the general of the town army, went to Huaibei to prepare for the fourth and largest northern expedition in his life. The Xu family, who had been stabbing in Jingzhou for generations, took the opportunity to launch a rebellion.

The rebels soon captured Jiankang. In order to avoid the enemy, Gao Luoshen's brother-in-law, the then Taikang Emperor was forced to leave Taicheng (Note: It refers specifically to the location of the offices of officials and the imperial palace from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties, located in Jiankang City, the capital of the country, this article is overhead and borrowed). Frightened and apprehensive, he soon fell ill and died. When Li Mu heard the news, he suspended the plan of the Northern Expedition and rushed back with the army. After quelling the Xu clan's rebellion, they brought back the empress Gao Yongrong who had fled and the four-year-old crown prince Xiao Xun.

At that time, Xiao Xun succeeded to the throne and Gao Yongrong was promoted to the empress dowager, and Dayu was finally able to restore stability.

But also because of this change, the pattern of the court has undergone tremendous changes since then.

In the past, those clansmen who were in control of the political affairs, their children and disciples spread all over the place, and their power was strong enough to compete with the royal family. After this mutiny, they were ruthlessly purged by Li Mu.

The Xu clan, the Lu clan, and the Zhu clan, these former clansmen who had successively held the bull ears of the Southern Dynasty and were looked up to by the people of the time, were greatly damaged and gradually declined.

In his place, Li Mu, the official residence of the great Sima, appointed the governor of the internal and external military affairs, recorded the affairs of the ministers, and gathered power in one, and the power reached the peak that could be attained by people and ministers.

"Sister, this is too sudden. How could you have such a thought? You know, after Lu Lang left, I have no intention of remarrying. Besides, Da Sima and I have never lived together. If he really wants to usurp the tripod, I will Marrying him, how could he lose his mind because of my wife?"

Gao Luoshen finally came back to his senses and said.

She is no longer the girl who was loved by her parents and ignorant of the world many years ago.

For a noble woman like her, there is absolutely no possibility of her own choice in marriage, and it has always been subordinated to the interests of the family.

Like her, it was rare to marry a Ruyi man who was well-matched and in love with him back then - and it was because of this that it caused the jealousy of the gods. Just one year after the wedding, the Lu family lost an outstanding son whom the family was proud of, and she also lost her husband, and she has been a widow ever since.

Over the years, there has been an endless stream of people proposing to her, but people from the Gao family have never forced her.

Today, since Gao Yongrong spoke like this, how could Gao Luoshen not know what she was thinking? So be blunt.

"Ami, others can't do it, but you can give it a try."

Gao Yongrong stared at his sister and said word by word.

Gao Luoshen looked confused.

"Ami, do you still remember the scene when the Xu family was in chaos two years ago, you followed me and the late emperor to the south, and Li Mu came to rescue him?"

Gao Luoshen was reminded by her, and when she thought about it, she still had some impressions.

At that time, Xu's rebels were chasing after her, and in a panic, the carriage she was riding turned down the mountain road.

She was sent to nearby Xuancheng, where she temporarily settled down to recover from her injuries. The rebels then chased here, leaving part of their forces to attack Xuancheng, besieging the city for more than a month.

Just when the city was running out of food and grass, the defenders lost their ambitions, and the city was in danger, Li Mu descended from the sky and personally led his troops to solve the siege of the city.

Not only that, he also personally found Gao Luoshen, who was hidden in the secret room at that time, and sent his own soldiers to **** her to a safe place until after the rebellion was over, and sent her back to Jiankang.

"Xuancheng is not an important place for the military, but even if it is temporarily lost, it is not a big problem in the overall situation of pacifying the chaos. At that time, he had just returned from Jiangbei to lead troops to the south, and instead of solving the most important problem of Jiankang, he went to rescue Xuan first. City, and then went to the city to find you in person. He is over thirty, but I heard that he has never married. It is not an exaggeration to say that he has ulterior motives for you?"

Gao Yongrong's words made Gao Luoshen feel a little embarrassed and shook his head.

"Sister, you must have misunderstood. Da Sima and I have never met each other. Before Xuancheng, we had never met face to face. After returning to Jiankang, there was no contact with him. How could he care about me? Besides, I remember clearly. Chu, the day when Xuancheng was relieved, when he found me, he only explained a few words, and there was no rudeness. Don't you care?"

Gao graceful smile.

"Ami, because of your talent and appearance, I have the Gao Clan's respect, why is it strange that a man secretly admires you? He is not married, and he is not lewd. In the past, when someone sent him a beautiful girl, he refused to accept it. After all, during these years, his power was overwhelming, and there were many nobles who were willing to leave the door and offered to marry him, but he refused all of them on the grounds that the northern expedition was not successful and that he had no intention of starting a family. But two days ago, I sent someone to see He told him that he intended to marry you, in order to listen to him, but he agreed."

"What? Sister, you already told him? Why didn't you tell me first?"

Gao Luoshen was taken aback again.

Compared with Gao Luoshen's gaffe, Gao Yongrong's expression did not show any waves.

Perhaps, her cousin's reaction was what she expected.

In the palace, there are only two of her sisters.

She walked to her cousin's side, held her hand, and led her to sit on the couch, with herself sitting beside her.

"Ami, my sister just wanted to hear what Da Sima said before, so she didn't tell you. Isn't she calling you into the palace now to discuss with you? Yi An and you are originally a companion of the gods, but why did he go early? It's been more than seven years now. You are only twenty-five years old now. When a woman has a good time in her life, do you really want to grow old and live alone? If Yi An is alive, he will not want to see you like this. Li Although Mu was from a prostitute family, to this day, not to mention my Gao family and the Xiao family. Looking at the Great Yu, what kind of portal can shake his status? To ask you to marry him is wronging you! But you also I've seen him with my own eyes, and his appearance is not bad, and he is a match for you..."

"Sister, don't talk about it. This is not right! I won't agree!"

Gao Luoshen was so upset that he interrupted Gao Yongrong's persuasion.

The smile on Gao Yongrong's face disappeared, and his expression gradually became solemn.

She got up, walked slowly to a south window in the palace, stood in silence for a moment, and turned around.

"Ami, how has Ami treated you since you were young?"

Princess Gao Qiaoshang, although the couple love their daughter like a treasure, but the relationship is not harmonious, the two have only her one daughter.

Although Gao Yongrong is a cousin, but because he is five years older than Gao Luoshen, he has treated Gao Luoshen like a sister since childhood. No matter what he eats, if there is a good one, he must first let Gao Luoshen choose it.

These foreign objects are all gone.

When Gao Luoshen was eight years old, when he was out to play, he accidentally touched a swarm of wasps. When the wasps chased her, Gao Yongrong rushed her under him desperately and took off his clothes to cover her head and face. When the servants dispelled the wasp and the two were rescued, Gao Luoshen was safe and sound, but Gao Yongrong was severely stung. After returning, her face was swollen and she was in a coma for several days.

A sister treats her well, one by one, how could Gao Luoshen forget?

"Sister, you are better than my own sister. I still remember that when you were eight years old, you almost died trying to save me."

Gao Yongrong stared at Gao Luoshen, suddenly walked in front of Gao Luoshen, and actually knelt in front of her.

"Sister, get up! What are you doing?"

Gao Luoshen was startled and hurriedly helped Gao Yongrong.

"Ami, my sister has never asked you for anything, this time, my sister is begging you! Li Mu's reputation in the northern expedition has grown so much over the years, and two years ago, he took advantage of the Xu clan's rebellion to kill him a lot. Lu, Zhu and others, who have constraints, are ruthless, and they are extremely versatile. Now I am Dayu, and no one can control him. The affairs of the court are all controlled by Li Mu, and sooner or later, this world will also. Become his Li family's world."

"Sister... Da Sima shouldn't be like this... If he had the intention to rebel, two years ago, he wouldn't have to take you and Deng'er back..."

Gao Luoshen murmured.

Although he was trying to persuade Gao Yongrong, his tone was hesitant. I am afraid that even she herself has doubts.

Gao Yongrong sneered.

"Ami, you usually live in a secluded place, so how do you know people's hearts are unpredictable? He has made several northern expeditions, do you think he is all about reclaiming the old land for me in Dayu from the Hulu? It's just to gather people's hearts and accumulate prestige! Since Emperor Yuan went south, he has known people. With the back of his heart, he used the name of the Northern Expedition to gain prestige, and then suppressed his opponents. This kind of behavior, the Xu family, the Lu family, these first-class aristocratic families, which one has never done it? Shi, when he was at its peak, my uncle was in a high position and was famous all over the world, isn't the opportunity also due to the great achievements made by my Gao's children in the battle against Jie?"

"Although Dayu is now on the left side of Anjiang, the Xiao family's kingdom has lasted for two hundred years. Over the past two hundred years, how many people have coveted the throne and tried to replace him. Whether he is a clan aristocrat, or a clan, have you ever seen , who has done it? The blood of the royal family is inherited from the sky, and the dignity is not allowed to be confused by ordinary people!"

Speaking of this, Gao Yongrong straightened his shoulders, and there was a faint arrogance in his eyes.

"What's more, this Li Mu, who was born in a poor family, was originally only a desolate military general in a humble place. How could he not know, if he didn't accumulate enough prestige and power, and rashly usurped the throne, how could he be able to convince people with his background and qualifications? , can you sit this guy?"

"At that time, he knew that his momentum was not full. Besides, there was a lesson from Xu's previous experience, so he didn't do the usurpation immediately. Otherwise, after the Xu rebellion was settled, why couldn't he wait? Is it because of Lu Zhu’s many constraints on him? Now he is ignoring the opposition of the courtiers, insisting on doing his own way and making great fanfare. When he comes back, it will be the end of my orphan and widowed mother's end..."

Gao Yongrong's eyes gradually turned red, and there were little tears.

"Ami, if my sister is begging you, you should be helping me, so agree!"

"Sister... Even if I marry him, what can I do for you?"

After a long while, Gao Luoshen asked in a low voice, his voice weak.

"If he can help Deng'er to rise to power, he can also abolish Deng'er and establish himself as emperor. It's all in his mind. A sister thinks, since he admires you, if you marry him, you will have relatives by marriage. , and with your power to turn it around, even if Li Mu follows Xu Ni in the future to move the cauldron, my orphan and widowed mother may still be able to seek peace and die in this life, otherwise, how could he allow my mother and son? I am afraid that when the time comes, there will be no burial place for death!"

Gao Luoshen lowered his head, his figure seemed to freeze, motionless.

Gao Yongrong stared at her and didn't speak again.

There was a sudden sound of small footsteps behind him.

Gao Luoshen turned his head following the sound and saw his six-year-old nephew Xiao Xun, wearing a small dragon robe, ran out of a door in the apse, ran in front of her, and knelt down.

"If my aunt refuses to save me, Deng'er won't get up!"

With a childish tone, Youdiyu tightly clings to the corner of her clothes with both hands, opened her eyes wide, and looked up at her without blinking.

A month later, in the late spring of the second year of Longyuan, for Li Mu's long-prepared Northern Expedition to send troops as scheduled, Gao Luoshen completed his marriage with him almost in a hurry.

Undoubtedly, it was a grand wedding that the whole city paid attention to.

One is a noble woman with unparalleled talent and beauty. The only known nostalgic poem written by a young girl when she and her clan brothers went to school together, is still circulated in the market today.

One is the Great Sima, in the minds of ordinary Southerners, the God of War who represents the blood and supreme glory of the Southerners, under one person and over ten thousand people.

After the lengthy wedding, Gao Luoshen sat alone in the bridal chamber of the Great Sima Mansion in a wedding dress, waiting quietly for the arrival of his second husband in his life.