One of the passers-by

In the second year of Yong'an, the weather was like the changeable face of a baby. In May, there was a big hailstorm, and at the beginning of June, it became scorching hot again.

When Empress Wei was about to give birth, she was already exhausted, but when she met the weather that was sunny and rainy, she became more and more tossed.

It was approaching the dark morning of June [-]th, and the quiet Lizheng Hall suddenly became agitated, but it turned out that it was Empress Wei who started it.

The eunuch Gongbi in charge of the palace saw this appearance, and immediately ordered the imperial physician Yu gynecology, the director of the imperial medical department, to come over overnight to make preparations, and then took the Wen Po who had been prepared to the bedroom of the Lizheng Hall. , the aunt in charge of the palace immediately sent someone to send a message to Emperor Yong'an.

At that time Emperor Yong'an was resting in Concubine Yang's Qixia Palace, when he heard the message from the little eunuch of the Lizheng Hall, he hurriedly ordered someone to wait on him and dress him, and hurried to the Lizheng Hall.Concubine Yang, who was accompanying her, naturally followed.

Seeing the swift but methodical palace people in the Lizheng Hall, and hearing the crying from the sleeping hall, Concubine Yang looked worried, but she was not at ease.Seeing Emperor Yong'an standing on the platform of the Lizheng Hall fidgeting, and couldn't help walking back and forth, the discomfort permeated a lot, and the sadness in his heart gradually came up.

In a short while, all the concubines in the palaces who got the news rushed over.Some people have exquisite makeup and colorful clothes, and some people have slanted hairpins and loose temples, and they come here when they are dressed casually.

Emperor Yong'an looked deeply at the concubines who were lately dressed in elaborate attire, and smiled at the other concubines who were dressed casually and eagerly, and said, "The queen's mobilization is early this time, and you can't sleep well."

The leading concubine with a slack face and a gentle temperament said with a smile: "As the lord of the six palaces, the empress is always considerate and considerate to the concubines. The concubines are very grateful. Now the empress is pregnant with a dragon heir, and the concubines are very considerate. The concubines can't share the worries for the empress, so they can only come early to accompany the empress, and it can be regarded as doing their best."

Emperor Yong'an twitched the corner of his mouth slightly upon hearing this.Hearing the cries of pain in the dormitory, he was in no mood to chat with others.

Many concubines originally wanted to take this opportunity to express their love in front of Emperor Yong'an, with the intention of winning honor and favor, but seeing that Emperor Yong'an was taciturn and in a trance, they didn't dare to do anything, they could only accompany quietly.

If two or three hours passed, there was only a cry of pain piercing the sky in the hall, followed by the cry of a baby.Immediately, Xiao Gongbi, who was serving in the bedroom, came out to announce the good news: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty, the empress has safely given birth to a little prince."

When Emperor Yong'an heard the words, Long Yan was overjoyed, and immediately issued a verbal order, rewarding the eunuchs serving the palace and eunuchs for half a year.He also issued a decree to reward the officials of the court and the subjects of the world.Then he lifted up his clothes and was about to enter the bedroom, but was stopped by the palace guard at the door.Just because of the ancestral system of the palace rules, His Majesty is not allowed to enter the filthy place of the delivery room.

Emperor Yong'an had to wait impatiently outside for a while, until the palace servants had cleaned up, and then hurried into the palace.

Empress Wei was wearing a clean middle coat, with a forehead on her head, her face was pale and weak, she was lying on the bed with her head tilted, looking at the little prince in the nanny's arms with a smile on her lips.

Seeing Emperor Yong'an coming in, Empress Wei smiled and said, "Look, Your Majesty, our little prince is very beautiful."

In fact, the little prince who was born just now has red skin, and his facial features have not yet developed, so it is impossible to tell whether he is beautiful or not.However, Emperor Yong'an and Empress Wei were parents, so they naturally felt that their children were the most beautiful.

Even though he is already a father, Emperor Yong'an is still very happy to see that he has another son.Looking at the little prince who was sleeping soundly in the nanny's arms, he said, "The fifth prince's baby name is Xi'er, does Wuyou think it's okay?"

He also mentioned to Empress Wei that he had ordered officials of the fifth rank and above in Beijing to enter the palace for a banquet, and rewarded all ministers with silk, satin, gold and silver according to their ranks, and rewarded all babies born on this day with chestnut rice.Take the meaning of universal celebration.

Empress Wei looked at Emperor Yong'an's cheerful and foolish expression, she couldn't help but twitched her lips and said, "This baby name is very good, and my concubine likes it very much."

At that moment, the Supreme Emperor in the Taiji Palace also came after hearing the news.There is a folk saying that it is not unreasonable to say that children are married every other generation.I saw the aged Taishang Huang holding his grandson in his arms and not letting go, with a look of love on his face.The corresponding gold and precious rewards also showed the Supreme Emperor's love for his little grandson.He even surpassed Emperor Yong'an, who was the father, and gave his grandson a name, Zhuang Lie.

I hope he can be like his father, strong and courageous, with a gentle temperament.

Seeing that the Supreme Emperor was so interested, Emperor Yong'an swallowed the character "焄" that he had carefully selected for several months after he learned that Empress Wei was pregnant, and thought that the character "Strong" was also very good.

When he was young, the crown prince, King Wei and several other princes in the palace also came over, and they were circling around the little prince Zhuang Lie.

Not to mention the joy in the Lizheng Palace.Let's say that after five drums of the day, after the gate of the square was opened, all the families of officials and nobles in Beijing also received the good news that Empress Wei in the palace gave birth to a little prince for the royal family of Da Chu, as well as His Majesty's banquet for the five-rank and above in Beijing. Oral orders from officials.

It is unnecessary to elaborate on how others reacted.Let's talk about the Duke of Wei's mansion, after hearing the good news, Princess Pingyang hurriedly ordered her family to prepare gifts, and also ordered people to prepare chariots and horses, ready to enter the palace to pay her respects, and congratulate Her Majesty and Queen on their birthday.

When Emperor Yong'an saw Xue Yan's mother and son, he couldn't help thinking of the generous dividends paid by the glass shop in the past two months, so he asked Xue Yan with a smile when the hot spring village in the Duke of Wei's mansion would be completed.

Xue Yan replied that around the Mid-Autumn Festival on August [-]th.After saying a word, he looked around at all the people in the hall, and smiled and invited them to move their lords, and go to their Zhuangzi to play for a while.

Emperor Yong'an and Empress Wei laughed as they thought about Xue Yan's endless ideas.Only the Taishanghuang didn't like to walk around very much, but before he could say no, he was pestered by Xue Yan, and with the gentle persuasion from Princess Pingyang and the empress, he finally complied.

Afterwards, the emperor invited all his ministers and workers to a banquet, and issued a decree to reward all the babies born on the same day as the prince Lie. There were also a few court affairs, which need not be elaborated.

In Russia, it was early August, and the repair works of Shangquan Zhuangzi in Duke Wei's mansion had been completed.Princess Pingyang sent some rough envoys and servants to tidy up the place, and personally arranged the decorations before inviting the empress, the Supreme Emperor and others to play.

It's just that in the huge hot spring village, if only the emperor and empress hang out, it would be deserted.So after Pingyang's mother and son asked His Majesty for instructions, they posted a post to invite the men and women of the Duke of Zhenguo's family, as well as the meritorious family who had been friends with each other and were quite favored by His Majesty.

Among them, Lu Guogong's mansion, Zhongshu Lingfang's mansion, Hubu Shangshu Xu's mansion and Shangshu Youcheng Wei's mansion are all listed.

Since I invited all the ministers and craftsmen to come and play, besides the exquisite workmanship in the Zhuangzi, which is not out of the ordinary, Xue Yan also put a lot of effort into the dishes and wines at the banquet.

Xue Yan, who is a foodie, regretted that he did not eat the corresponding delicacies when he accompanied His Majesty on the trip to Tangquan Palace last time. This time he entertained all the people himself, so he thought that these people had never eaten, and they should not even be here. The delicacies that I ate during the day were tinkered out one by one.

However, Xue Yan's tossing and tossing was a pain for the master cooks in the kitchen of Duke Wei's mansion. In addition to providing the three daily meals for the mansion, Xue Yan had to cook baked cakes, imperial noodles, etc. according to Xue Yan's requirements. Nansha cake.Especially for the imperial noodles, Xiao Shizi also strictly required that the noodles must be "white as jade, as fine as silk, and as elastic as tendons". Several masters who are good at noodles have tried thousands of times before they will succeed. Rubbing secretly, this little prince can almost drive a person to death in order to have a bite of noodles.

It's really insane.

However, he never tires of eating fine food, and never tires of detailing. Since then, the master chefs in the kitchen of the Duke of Wei's mansion have also gotten used to thinking about food, and in their spare time, they take the ingredients and tinker with them.As time goes on, the menu of Duke Wei's Mansion is full of beautiful things. It is famous in Chang'an for its novelty. It is really a surprise that the owner of Duke Wei's Mansion and the various families who have good friends with him have also tasted the food.

This is a later story, so I won't mention it for the time being.

Let's just say that on this day, the Duke of Wei's mansion invited Emperor Yong'an and all his ministers and workers to visit the Zhuangzi.Because this Zhuangzi is also on the side of Lishan Mountain, and less than half a day away from Tangquan Palace, Emperor Yong'an simply took his concubines and other officials and relatives to visit Lishan Tangquan Palace again.

After staying safely in the Tangquan Palace, the emperor, empress, couple and the Supreme Emperor took the prince and princess and the old friends who had been invited by the Duke of Wei's mansion to the hot spring village in the mansion of the Duke of Wei.

All the way down from the mountains, it didn't take long to see a four-horse-wide path that looked like a stone but not a stone, like a brick but not a brick.

Different from the layers of bluestone road steps in the mountains, like a ladder, nor the compacted dirt road on both sides of the mountain road, this path is extremely smooth and gentle, winding along the dense trees on both sides of the mountain road into the distance, out of sight.

Lu Guogong Jiang Zhi stepped on it curiously, and asked with bright eyes: "Is this the cement road? It is really solid, and the horses and chariots are running. It is like walking on flat ground, without any bumps." feel."

Emperor Yong'an took the lead, walked a few steps carefully, felt the texture of the concrete road, turned around and asked Xue Yan: "Yan'er built this mountain road, how much did it cost?" Xue Yan replied with a smile: "It's not much . Seriously, it’s actually cheaper than bluestone paving.”

After all, he said a few figures accurately, which are the cost of cement and the price of gunpowder, sand and gravel, labor and so on to build this section of the mountain road.

Emperor Yong'an heard the words and pondered for a long time in silence.On the contrary, Xu Hui, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said in amazement: "In this way, it is indeed cheaper than the road construction price of the imperial court."

And most importantly, after building such a mountain road, the journey from Tangquan Palace to the foot of the mountain was obviously much faster.This is still a winding mountain road. If the official road with a relatively flat road down the mountain is also built with this method, it must be faster and more convenient for vehicles and horses to travel in the future.

If this is the case in all states in the world, why worry about Dachu's vast land and sparse population, and the lack of news from the north and the south?And why worry that the imperial order cannot be smoothly issued to the states and counties?And why worry about the imperial court's army, food, grass, soldiers and horses can't reach the frontier fortress sooner?

All the ministers and workers looked at each other, barely suppressed their excitement, and continued along the concrete path.

From a distance, I saw clusters of pear blossoms blooming at the end of the path, like snow and clouds.