Generals and Emperors

Cheng En sat in a simple wine stall all afternoon, just as he wanted, took off his battle clothes, and no one recognized him as the triumphant General Zhenyuan today.

Until the sun went down, the sky seemed to be covered with a layer of orange veil, and the shopkeeper wanted to close the stall, so he asked him for the money for drinking and drove them away.Cheng En just got up, patted his clothes, and followed this familiar but unfamiliar street to find Cheng's mansion according to the dusty memory.

The gatekeeper of Cheng's mansion was a stranger, and he wanted to stop him from letting him go.

The old butler, who had been watching the wind from a distance for the whole afternoon, greeted him hurriedly, and said with tears in his eyes, "Young Master...Young Master...you are back."

The atmosphere in the Cheng family was very oppressive. As soon as Cheng En entered the hall, he saw the middle-aged man in the first seat. He smiled, and the haze of many days was temporarily stranded, and he respectfully shouted: "Father, I'm back."

The man on the seat nodded slightly, and stared at Cheng En with his eyes full of fine lines. In the hall of Cheng's family where the light was hard to reach, several candles were shining brightly. Cheng En could clearly see his father's silvery temples. white hair.

"Are you back?" Cheng Qianya said casually, as if Cheng En had never left home, and he treated this general of Zhenyuan just like three years ago, with a stern expression on his face.

Cheng En nodded: "The baby is back, it's just...Brother Pei..."

"It's hard for you to still call him brother. It's because of you that the news is blocked in the frontier. I don't know..." Cheng Qianya was really unhappy with Cheng En's words, and he didn't hide his displeasure. His voice was mocking: "I don't know why The current situation of the father and the Cheng family."

Cheng En didn't dare to do anything wrong, so he could only sullenly obey orders.

But this afternoon, Cheng Qianya didn't confide in him again, it's not because he arranged Li Mi.

When having dinner, two aunts served by the side.

Cheng's mother was also extremely enthusiastic, and her sweetheart kept screaming. In this harmonious family atmosphere, Cheng En's bloody heart was slowly warming up, and the balance in his heart was gradually tilting towards his family.

Cheng Qianya came from a famous family and lived a smooth life. She was always high-spirited in the officialdom, but Cheng En was away from home for three years, and the former emperor of Jingzhong was seriously ill.Cheng En thought again: "After Li Mi ascended the throne, he put the Cheng family on top of the charcoal fire. It's really not easy for my father."

I have been free for a few days.

Cheng En fell into a new round of offensive by Cheng's mother. The old man hoped that he would start a family and start a business. After all, there are only a few unmarried people at the age of 22. Today, Cheng's mother showed Cheng En a lot of portraits as usual .

Cheng En was talking to Xu Songzhi when Cheng's mother came in with a smile on her face and said, "The girl from this family is plump and very fertile, while the girl from that family is not very beautiful, but she is very charming." , but Xu Songzhi covered his mouth and suppressed a smile.

"The emperor misses the general, please enter the palace." The eunuch in the palace shouted in a shrill voice, which made Cheng En slightly relieved.Waiting for Cheng En to give the father-in-law some time to be lenient, and after he changed into court clothes, after the father-in-law went out, Cheng's mother got up from the ground, frowned, and slapped the dust on her knees from the beauty, and said suspiciously: "Is this going to happen?" What are you doing? Xiaoyao..."

Although Cheng's mother is a woman who seldom goes out of the house, she is always keenly aware of the turmoil in the court. This time, when Li Mi summoned her son, she was afraid that she would be decapitated. son.

"Mother, don't worry, our relationship with my cousin is not... to the point where the enemy meets, you wait at home for the child to come back." Cheng En was not sure, but still had a clear expression on his face, comforted his mother, and entrusted Xu Songzhi to stay at Cheng's house. Taking care of his parents, he changed into a blue silk mang-pattern gown, a court dress, a black gauze hat, and powder-soled black-covered official boots, and went out to let the boy lead the horse.I only heard the father-in-law hastily stopped him with a flattering smile and said: "General, don't bother, the emperor has ordered this old slave to come prepared."

Cheng En looked in front of the street, and found a green-covered and golden-gauze eight-treasure sedan chair carried by eight people parked there. Startled: "Elder-in-law, Cheng is a rough man who has experienced wind and sand for a long time, riding a horse is more comfortable..."

"The emperor has ordered that this is specially made for the general. If the general does not take it, the old slave will not be able to explain it..." the old eunuch said.

Cheng En didn't want to offend these eunuchs, so he got on the sedan chair.

The bearers galloped all the way. Although they tried their best to control their balance, Cheng En still couldn't get used to sitting and was dizzy. He just lifted the curtain to get some air. The old eunuch rode behind him by the window with a flattering smile on his face. Chatted with him: "Your Majesty didn't mention it, but this old slave knows that he cares most about you, the General. The General grew up in the Prince Ji's mansion and is related to the Emperor by blood. If you have the status of a great general, you might rush to the palace to curry favor."

Cheng En nodded indiscriminately, feeling that these words were inappropriate, but he didn't understand what was wrong, so he heard the old eunuch say: "there are few masters in the palace, only the queen and a few talented people, and the general should only be in the mansion of Prince Ji." Generally speaking, let go, and whoever dares to say that the general is wrong, His Majesty will definitely not tolerate it."

Cheng En smiled to express his gratitude.

The sedan chair was neither in the direction of Wang Jinluan's palace, nor the side hall where the foreign officials went, but went all the way to the inner palace.

Cheng En couldn't help being taken aback, he had only been to his aunt, the Empress Dowager Cheng in his life, and had never been to any other place in the inner palace. When the sedan chair stopped in front of a palace, he got off the sedan chair and wanted to ask the old eunuch, the old eunuch But he said with a formulaic smile: "This is His Majesty's Zhaolu Palace, General, you can just treat this place as your home."

"Elder-in-law, you must never say that again." Cheng En was shocked, and he thought the Inner Palace was in charge, so was there any other explanation besides wanting to rebel?Sure enough, Li Mi was worried about him, Cheng En held his breath in his chest, and looked up at the majestic Zhaolu Palace sadly. Is this trip really a grand banquet as mother thought?

"General, please."

Cheng En was numb, moving forward like a marionette.

In Zhaolu Palace.

It was gloomy, and all the windows where the sun could step in were blocked by curtains, and the inside was silent, unlike the legendary imperial palace. This thought intensified when Cheng En stood in front of Li Mi's room.

"Your Majesty, are you here?"

He hesitated for a moment, the guards and maids of the palace with the old eunuch looked a little unusual, but...

The king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die...

"General..." the eunuch reminded softly.

The education Cheng En received since he was a child prompted him to walk into the darkness of that room with ashamed heart.

As soon as he entered the door, the only light source behind him suddenly disappeared, and the vermilion wooden door was closed heavily, and the turbulent sound of the iron lock twitched his heart, once or twice, until he accepted the reality, the sound of the lock also stopped abruptly.

"Brother Pei... Do you want to wipe out the Cheng family? Do you want this..." Cheng En touched the sachet at his waist and took out a fire pocket next to Fangzheng's seal. The habit of marching and fighting made him Carry this kind of thing with you.

Cheng En lit some candles in the room with the help of a torch, and a faint light slowly lit up in the room.

This is a small room, not at all like the sleeping place of an emperor. Although there is no Kowloon golden bed, it has all the necessary things. There are a few men's clothes hanging on the wooden shelf beside the bed. There are some rice papers, the inkstone has not been cleaned, and the writing brushes are randomly placed on the table, broken in two pieces, one can tell at a glance that there are people living there.

Cheng En picked up the balls of paper scattered on the ground and slowly spread them out. His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed, because the painting on the paper was not someone else but himself.

If the person in the painting is in good shape, it's fine, but he is still lying on the couch, with a weak body, disheveled clothes, blurred eyes, full of spring water.

"It's unreasonable!" His majestic general was painted like a woman in spring.

He picked up another one, this one more explicit than the last one.

Cheng En tore Danqing into pieces, and his face was hot, as if he was becoming angry from embarrassment, and there was something inexplicable.

Is this... painted by Li Mi?

how is this possible……

Cheng En immediately refuted his thoughts.

From his point of view, Li Mi has been normal since he was a teenager. With his appearance, he is very much admired by the girls in Beijing. He never once changed his expression to contempt and disgust when he talked about the broken sleeve to Cheng En.

Who else will there be?

Cheng En calmed down and figured it out, couldn't help but smile bitterly, and thought: "Is this humiliation just to give me a bad reputation? Brother, I never thought of endangering your country, I came...to defend the world for you ah……"

The door opened for the first time, and it was the guards who delivered the food.

With the old eunuch in charge, he just smiled when he saw the crumbs of rice paper all over the floor, and still said respectfully: "General, Your Majesty specially ordered the Imperial Dining Room to make your favorite stuffed glutinous rice, candied haws, and roasted chicken with honey."

Cheng En stood in front of the closed window, neither turning his head nor responding.

"General, if there is no order, the dinner will be placed here, and the old slave will leave." The old eunuch bowed slightly to salute, and was about to leave the room, only to hear Cheng En ask coldly: "Eunuch, can you tell me now?" What time is it?"

The old eunuch didn't respond to Cheng En's revealing of his identity, and he still replied with a smile: "It's the quarter of Hai, General."

Cheng En thanked him and stopped talking.

The old eunuch retreated.

As soon as the door was closed, there was another ding-dong of iron locks.

Cheng En turned around slowly, looked at the food on the table calmly, his expression gradually became complicated, and his heart gradually calmed down. He went to the desk, picked up the half brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote on the clean rice paper:

letter to the emperor

Minister Cheng En, although the Cheng family has a single lineage and has no siblings, fortunately, the aunt, the Empress Dowager Cheng, sent the minister to the Prince Ji's Mansion, and accompanied His Majesty to adulthood. Your Majesty is better than a brother to a minister...

……

……

The long-cherished wish of the minister in his life is to guard His Majesty's country and solve problems for His Majesty.

After finishing writing, Cheng En put down the pen and watched the ink dry a little bit, and his frown slowly eased. This was the voice of a young man talking outside the door. Cheng En heard a man say: "Your Majesty, for the sake of the whole country , Your Majesty, please think twice."

The voice was somewhat familiar, and Cheng En thought for a while before he remembered such a person: the new prime minister who is now in the limelight——Yuan Qinglan!

The other voice, neither happy nor sad, was Li Mi.

Cheng En hurriedly lay down on the couch, pretending to have been asleep for a long time.

The sound of the iron lock being removed, the sound of two people entering the door...

Yuan Qinglan glanced at the person on the couch, his face turned pale, and he looked straight at his king in disbelief: "Your Majesty...you..."

Li Mi looked at the scraps of paper on the ground, and then picked up the discarded firefly. The candlelight made his aggressive and handsome face flicker, he stroked the firefly, walked to the desk, picked up the paper full The rice paper, eyes fixed on the figure on the couch, bright red lips outlined a beautiful smile: "Through the matter, this idiot still thinks that I want his life, so stupid and cute, how can I be willing?"

Yuan Qinglan's face became paler, and he tremblingly said: "Your Majesty, you have not long been enthroned, and your foundation is not as stable as you imagined. On the left is King Qin, who is eyeing him, and then there is King Li, who is ready to make a move. The matter of expanding the harem and marrying is urgent..."

"To expand the harem? Heh..." Li Mi's tone was light and light, but it was inherently mocking: "The queen mother asked me to marry a wife to join the powerful, so I married the Jiang family, and my good brother His Royal Highness King Qin asked me to take a concubine , I accepted those few spies as talents, and now! Yuan Aiqing wants me to expand the harem..."

Yuan Qinglan fell to his knees with a plop, but the rage he had imagined by the Ninety-Five Supremes did not come. The condescending young emperor let out a frivolous laugh. Yuan Qinglan raised his head sharply, and saw that Li Mi was already sitting on the couch and stroking the sleeping man With deep eyes on his face, he said word by word: "I have a kind heart, so I accept this kindness and make my youngest queen, how about it?"

The other two people in the room were shocked by these words.

By pretending to be asleep, Cheng En was able to suppress the turmoil in his heart.

But Yuan Qinglan couldn't, he was trembling, and felt that his seven souls had been scattered for five or six days, and he didn't know when it would be.

"What? Yuan Aiqing has objections?" Li Mi chuckled, his dark eyes flickered across the handsome face of the person on the couch, and said in a gentle voice: "Cheng En's dowry is a million soldiers and horses. Could it be that he can't get into the eyes of those immortals in the court? "