Bright Spring

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt a certain uneasiness from Guo Wei.

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while, and thought of the imperial concubine Mu Zhen who was about to give birth, and her father, Duke Qian Mu Sheng, who had the most favored status in the court and the public.It was only then that Zhu Gaoxu realized that his promise to his third younger brother, Gao Sui, to marry Mu Sheng's second daughter to him as Princess Zhao did not seem to be well thought out... He felt that Mu Sheng, as a noble general, could not bear to fight It is not a big hidden danger; but the people of Queen Guo's family may not think so.

"As long as I'm here, no one will dare to bully Wei'er." Zhu Gaoxu said softly.

"My lord..." Guo Wei whispered and hugged him even tighter.

Chapter 7 Chapter Three

The emperor had just returned to Beijing yesterday, and today he was giving a banquet in Fengtian Hall to celebrate the meritorious soldiers of the Northern Expedition, and the palace was busier than usual.But at this moment, the queen actually came to visit Guo Yan in this courtyard south of the imperial garden.

The queen exchanged a few words in the living room, then handed a letter to Guo Yan.

At this time, Guo Yan had just read the contents of the letter.The letter was written by their father Wuding Hou Guoming: Guo Ming asked for an order to send Guo Yan to live in Fengyang!

Guo Yan knew exactly what it meant once a member of the royal family was sent to Zhongdu.Probably will be completely abandoned and forgotten by the world, living a life of seclusion.Of course, most of the time there will be a very grand rhetoric, which is called etiquette and morality.

In an instant, Guo Yan seemed to hear a "buzz", and her mind went blank.

After a while, Guo Yan slowly regained consciousness.First, she vaguely heard the sound of bells and drums in the distance to the south, which should not be her illusion; as she knew before, there was a celebration banquet in the palace today.

The bell and drum music sounds at this time, giving people a sense of wandering and trance.Or because of the hustle and bustle, it had nothing to do with Guo Yan.

"Sister?" My sister's voice came.

Guo Yan moved her eyes away from the letter paper and looked up at the queen.I saw that the queen's expression was a bit complicated, as if it was difficult to face Guo Yan.

The two sisters looked at each other for a moment, the queen looked away first, then turned her head and waved her hands naturally.The two maids standing beside him immediately bowed their knees knowingly, turned around and walked out of the living room.

At this time, Guo Yan asked in a daze: "Isn't there a banquet in the palace today, why is the queen here?"

The queen said: "The Holy Majesty only invited ministers and meritorious officers and men to the celebration banquet, and did not let his wife attend the banquet, so I don't need to show up. The banquet is hosted by the Honglu Temple, Shangshan Supervisor, Jiaofang Division, Etiquette Division and other government offices. People do it."

Guo Yan didn't say a word.In order to avoid embarrassment, the Queen seemed to casually talk about something irrelevant: "Uncle An Yuan, Liu Sheng has made a lot of contributions. Today, the emperor issued a decree to confer him a Marquis."

Liu Sheng?Guo Yan had heard of this name before, and she was originally a general loyal to Hongxi Emperor Zhu Gaochi; but she was not familiar with it, and she didn't care too much.So she didn't respond at all.

The living room fell silent.Guo Yan squeezed her father's handwritten letter with her fingers, racking her brains to figure out the complicated inside story.

Why did their father, Guo Ming, bring up this matter?

Guo Yan speculates: Maybe it has something to do with the Mu family, all because of power!

Rumor has it that Zhu Gaoxu raised troops in Yunnan, and Mu Sheng's support played a huge role.Therefore, after the new emperor ascended the throne, the Mu family's favor could not be increased, and Mu Sheng was named the Duke of Qian.In order to marry Mu Sheng, the emperor specially added the title of imperial concubine to Mu Sheng's daughter.And now that the imperial concubine is pregnant with Liujia, she may give birth to a prince.

The family status of the Mu family has clearly surpassed that of the Queen's Guo family by far.

But the empress is Zhu Gaoxu's first wife and the eldest son, so it is difficult to shake her position, and neither the civil and military officials of the court will agree... unless something happens and the Mu family finds a reason.

The Guo family must take precautions before they happen, and they must not let the Guo family make any mistakes.And Guo Yan, seems to be the hidden danger? !

After the deposed prince's family was burned to death, the palace was afraid that Guo Yan would have resentment, so they sent two maids to watch her in the courtyard.Father and sister became more and more restless because of this.

So they want to send Guo Yan away as soon as possible to avoid the slightest danger of complications?

These are all Guo Yan's own thinking, she can't be completely sure.But after so many years in the palace, she has gradually understood many things.

"Sister..." As soon as Guo Yan opened her mouth, tears suddenly burst out of her eyes, and she lost control of her emotions, "Do you really hate me that much?"

The queen's eyes turned red immediately, she shook her head vigorously, and the bead ornaments on her hair shook violently.The queen choked with sobs and said, "Back then, I brought my sister to the palace because I begged before the Holy One. If it wasn't a last resort, I wouldn't want to see my sister sad."

Guo Yan hesitated to speak.Both her father and younger sister chose to abandon her, and her mother, Xu, was not her own mother.She seemed to feel a chill rising slowly from the soles of her feet.

The queen's voice became very soft: "At this point, no one can change anything. My sister has to think about it, and leave the capital, maybe she can still be clean."

"Is this fate?" Guo Yan asked.

The queen did not answer, and the two fell silent again.

Guo Yan pondered for a while, and finally she didn't beg her sister, and didn't blame her anymore.After a long time, Guo Yan seemed to calm down a little, and said, "I want to ask my sister one last thing, can you let me see the Holy One?"

The queen's expression was strange, and she asked back: "Why does my sister want to see the Holy Majesty?"

Guo Yan said: "What happened in the middle of last year."

The queen frowned and said, "My sister doesn't believe in the Holy Majesty?"

Guo Yan shook her head and said, "I can't ignore it like this, I just want to ask the Holy One face to face. This is the last time I will beg my sister."

It can be seen that the queen has a look of hesitation, but she has always felt a certain guilt towards Guo Yan.Guo Yan discovered it very early, but she never said it out.

Sister Guo Wei's guilt is because she always fought for her sister's favorite playthings when she was a child?Or when the princess of Han was first chosen, the elder sister was the first choice?

Sure enough, the queen hesitated for a while, and finally nodded and said: "I will try my best to arrange this matter."

After Guo Yan listened, a very forced smile appeared on her face.

... In the afternoon, Zhu Gaoxu left the celebration banquet in Fengtian Palace. He drank a total of five or six cups of wine at the banquet, so he was not drunk.

This kind of formal palace banquet is not free. There are rules about when to drink, what to say, and what etiquette.However, the state of etiquette seems to be about this.

There are not many dishes, each table has four dishes and one soup, plus a plate of spring pancakes and a few cold fruit dishes to go with the wine.Even so, in the end the ministers still packed up the unfinished dishes and took them away.

It is said that since the Tang Dynasty, ministers have had the habit of packing at palace banquets.Zhu Gaoxu speculates that the implication is probably to demonstrate a concept of emphasizing clan ties, and the ministers attending the banquet will not forget the parents and children at home.However, he privately believed that the people in the world would never get tired of it, probably to share a kind of glory with their family members; after all, only a few people could participate in the emperor's banquet, which represented a kind of political status and power interests behind it.

When Zhu Gaoxu came to Rouyi Hall, the smell of alcohol on his body was still there, so he immediately summoned Qian Xun.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, Qian Xun and two servants, led by the eunuch Hou Xian, came to the main hall of Rouyi Hall.After a few people bowed down, the servants brought up two long sticks wrapped in silk and carefully placed them on the large book case in the center of the hall.

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and stretched out his hand to untie the silk cloth.In front of him, a long-fired blunderbuss shaped a bit like a rifle appeared.

Zhu Gaoxu's eyes suddenly lit up!

Although he knew that this kind of thing was still a kind of smoothbore gun with black gunpowder and lead bullets as ammunition and ignited by a matchlock; but in an instant, he was also attracted by its exquisite craftsmanship.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help stretching out his hand, and caressed the smooth iron pipe with metallic luster, as if he was stroking|stroking a woman's skin full of emotion.Even the wooden support is carved with fine patterns of auspicious clouds, which looks precious and stylish.This fire|gun immediately made him feel joyful.

He looked up at Qian Xun, and said in his heart: I give you [-] million yuan every year, it seems that it is not in vain.

"Please come forward, sir." Qian Xun said with a bow.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded.

Qian Xun walked to the side of the table, pointed to the firecracker and said, "Shang Mingjian, there are threads at the end of this iron pipe. When you need to clean the residue of the blunderbuss, you only need to unscrew the thread and clean it with a cleaning rod. The middle of the iron pipe is riveted to The copper hoop is fixed. After using it for a while, the craftsman must pry off the copper hoop to clean it thoroughly, and then re-rivet it. It is also inconvenient for the sergeant to use the firecracker. Because the firecracker is too long, two kinds of brackets, long and short, are required..."

Qian Xun described his achievements very carefully.Zhu Gaoxu also listened patiently, nodding his head from time to time.

Even the technology of the Ming Dynasty, including shipbuilding, star positioning, and firearms manufacturing, has surpassed Zhu Gaoxu's knowledge; he has indeed seen more advanced things in later generations, but he has only seen them, and cannot fully understand how to start from the smallest. parts to make a thing.