Crossing the East Palace

In the Hundred Gardens, Tang Luojin was starting the beauty pageant with his four companions.

Among Tang Luojin's companions, Zhu Keshan, who is the oldest, is only 13 years old now, and he himself belongs to the Zhu family, and is related to the royal family, so at this time, he and Tang Luojin appeared together in the Hundred Gardens to "appreciate" the palace maids. It doesn't get in the way.

Yan Qingsong, Ye Linying, and Ning Junyu are only ten or eleven years old, so there is no hindrance.

It's just that although there are many beauties in the palace, it's not interesting to just choose people so dryly.

Fortunately, it is easy for a playboy boy at this time to have fun.

After listening to Zhu Keshan's "suggestion", Tang Luojin set up five tables and chairs, put up sunshades and umbrellas, and the five of them had tea and admiring the beauties, with "A, B, C, D" in hand For wooden cards, no one gave points to these court ladies. In the end, it was seen who got the most armors, and then there was a competition, and finally the ten most beautiful ones were decided, and Tang Luojin was asked to paint them.

When Emperor Tianyuan came, he happened to see a court lady dancing in the garden against the backdrop of hundreds of flowers, and his prince accompanied him to read, eating, chatting and admiring the beauties, it was a pleasure!

He was so comfortable that even he, the emperor, started to be jealous!

So Emperor Tianyuan felt jealous in his heart, so he deliberately walked forward with a straight face.

Xu Youwei wondered what Emperor Tianyuan meant, and immediately reported it loudly.

Zhu Keshan and his companions secretly took a look at Emperor Tianyuan, and bowed before accepting his head, feeling rather disturbed in his heart—why does the emperor appear to be such a hostile visitor?One must know that His Royal Highness the previous Crown Prince ran to the Hualou, and the folds were flying upwards all over the sky. The Emperor just reprimanded the Crown Prince intentionally. Why is the Emperor's face so dark now that he is just playing in the palace?

Zhu Keshan was the most thoughtful, and when he suddenly thought of the matter that he asked the prince to come forward yesterday, his heart suddenly jumped, and he was the most disturbed.

Tang Luojin was not afraid, and saluted with a straight face.

Emperor Tianyuan was willing to let other people's sons kneel for a long time, but he was reluctant to let his own son kneel for too long. Seeing this, he snorted coldly and said, "Get up." Then he pointed to Xu Youwei and said, "Look at the book for yourself! Trespassing into a courtier's house, beating and scolding his servants without reason, is this what a prince should do?"

Tang Luojin got up with a straight face, got up and picked up the book, and helped Emperor Tianyuan walk to the seat where he was sitting just now with a blank face: "Father is going to scold his sons and officials, so he has to sit down, have tea, and admire the beauties and friends." Hua, scolding your son together, this is a beautiful thing in the world, isn't it?"

Emperor Tianyuan couldn't help but twitched the corner of his lower lip, raised his hand, and knocked on Tang Luojin's forehead: "Stinky boy!"

But it was still Tang Luojin who waited on him and sat down to drink tea and admire the beauties.

The three of Ning Junyu got up and stood by the side, but Zhu Keshan didn't dare to get up, and said loudly: "Your Majesty is wise, I have something to say."

Emperor Tianyuan glanced at him, but didn't speak.

Zhu Keshan looked at Tang Luojin again, Tang Luojin nodded, and then Zhu Keshan spoke again: "Although I haven't read the brochure of His Highness, but I want to come, the 'I'm at home' written in the brochure should belong to me. At home. It’s just that I’m good at the subject’s home, so there’s no way to talk about it. The weather was very good yesterday, and I got another powerful cricket. After telling His Highness, I saw that His Highness was curious, so I took the initiative to invite His Highness to my home. When His Highness arrived at the minister's house, it happened that the minister's concubine sister was running into the minister's yard to avoid the servants binding her feet. His Highness was overwhelmed by the disturbance, so he sent them away."

Zhu Keshan said: "Although I don't know what the censors who attended His Highness's mind were thinking about, and how they wrote the excerpts, even though Your Highness came to your home, it was indeed because of your invitation; Your Highness Disposing of the slaves in the minister's family is because the servants made mistakes, and His Highness's punishment is justified. Besides, on the shore of the land, is it possible that the king's ministers, His Highness is the son of the sage, and disposing of the servants is what should be done. How can he be involved? reason?"

Rao Zhu Keshan's words were well-founded, but Emperor Tianyuan believed it too, put down the teacup in his hand, and snorted softly: "It's a coincidence, the prince went to your mansion yesterday afternoon, and your concubine sister was footbound yesterday afternoon, little girl Little girl, can you actually break through those servants and run into your yard?"

Emperor Tianyuan has been emperor for ten years, how can he not see through Zhu Keshan's little tricks?How can you not guess it?Moreover, he didn't know what he had guessed, for example, what those censors handed over today was just a test book for him.Tomorrow, what those people wanted to hand over was that Tang Luojin interfered in matters such as footbinding of the courtiers' female relatives, which should not be something the crown prince should do.

Rao Zhu Keshan had always been vigilant, smelling it made Long Yan slightly angry, cold sweat broke out on his forehead suddenly.

"minister……"

Before Zhu Keshan could plead guilty, Tang Luojin spoke up: "Father, don't blame him, it was his son who told him to say that. Cousin Keshan's concubine sister is naturally also his cousin. Poor cousin, she is already nine years old. But the mother-in-law at home forced her feet to be bound. My cousin is nine years old, and her feet have grown up naturally. At this age, if you want to bind your feet, you have to break the bones of your feet and wrap them with a cloth to make them deformed and ugly. But my cousin was tortured in this process. How innocent is my cousin? She has never committed any crimes, nor has she ever been unfilial, loyal, or obedient to women. Why should she suffer such pain of broken bones? Women have to suffer from the pain of being pregnant in October , the three obediences and the four virtues are bound, already hard work, why should we suffer such useless torture?"

Hearing the words, Emperor Tianyuan sighed in his heart, he was no longer in the mood to appreciate beauties, and waved his hand immediately, most of the palace people went down, and Tang Luojin's companions also left respectfully, that is, Xu Youwei and others The palace servants who served her personally stayed behind.

How could Emperor Tianyuan not know about the bad habit of foot binding?

If Emperor Tianyuan looked at it from a man's point of view, the three-inch golden lotus in one's grasp would be undeniably beautiful.

However, Emperor Tianyuan was not only a man, but also an emperor, and an emperor with lofty aspirations.

Although Datang seems to be stable, if you look at the map, you can see that there are Turks in the north, Tubo in the west, and small countries such as Dongying and Koryo in the east. In those countries, Turks and Tubo are powerful, and they have fought many battles with Datang. Weak, but also cunning, when he saw that Datang had the strength to deal with them, he obediently paid the annual tribute, and when he saw that Datang had no energy to deal with them, he would harass Datang's border.

In such a predicament, Emperor Tianyuan naturally wanted to fight a few fierce battles. It would be better if he could subdue or drive him away.

However, to fight a war, you need a lot of men, food, cloth, cotton, and money.

If the imperial court conscripted soldiers, most of the people left in the households would be women.Although women are weaker than men, it is no problem for rural women to farm and harvest food, and they are an indispensable part of Taitang's war.

However, it is such an indispensable part of the people, among the people and the gentry, there is a "foot-binding wind" that makes women bind their feet, and they become weak and swaying when they walk. Even more unaccustomed to walking, let alone such things as farming and food after taking on the role of a man as a soldier.

If it was only girls from rich and noble families who had their feet bound, Emperor Tianyuan would not feel any difference, but seeing this foot-binding wind blowing more and more crooked, not only four or five-year-old girls have to bind their feet, but also those eight or nine-year-olds whose feet have grown big enough Girls also had their feet bound, and women with feet bound were exaggerated to the common people and villages. Emperor Tianyuan couldn't accept it.

"The imperial court is meant to employ people. If there is a war, let alone men, even strong women, I will drag them to the battlefield. Even if they don't go to the battlefield, they need to grow food at home to meet the needs of the war. They all have bound feet, and they can't even walk steadily, how can I go to the battlefield and grow food for me?"

There was anger between Emperor Tianyuan's brows: "Officials and rich families, they just bind the feet of the women in their families, but they are not satisfied with this, and they even spread rumors among the people that 'women with big feet can't get married'. The wind of foot binding is more prevalent! Turkic and Tubo women like to ride horses the most, and some noble women even have good archery skills. But Datang women are gentle and slender, but if everyone is like this, so are the women of the common people , does the country want no one to use it?"

Tang Luojin: "..." His father used double standards so confidently, which really opened his eyes.

However, who made his father the emperor Lao Tzu?Emperor Tianyuan devoted himself to the common people, worked day and night for Datang, did not drink alcohol, was not lecherous, and did not follow his will and disregard the government. Such an emperor was considered a wise emperor.

Occasionally there are double standards, Tang Luojin feels in his heart that this is fine.

However, Emperor Tianyuan's double standard this time was based on the pain of many women.

However, due to their different identities and different concepts, Tang Luojin did not continue to speak for those women with bound feet, but said: "What the father said is true. Although women should respect the three virtues and obey the four virtues, a lady should not go out of the door. However, looking at ancient and modern times, in the fields, there are always healthy women who plow the plow; in the homes of ordinary people, there must be women who do housework, wash and cook, are filial to their parents-in-law, and coax children; There are not a few young girls who show their faces and make money to support their families... These girls are originally born with natural feet and strong bodies, and they can do everything. Women with natural feet can do things, but women with small feet are inconvenient, how can they do it? If they can’t do it, it’s not to mention the work that the father said to replace men’s farming, it’s just ordinary things to subsidize the family, they all do it It’s terrible. Wouldn’t this reduce my taxes in Datang and increase my burden? If there is a husband who dies or is disabled, how can a woman with little feet raise her children?”

Emperor Tianyuan was already worried about this matter, and upon hearing Tang Luojin's words, he was also shocked to realize that ordinary women's footbinding really did a great harm, even greater than he had imagined.

Tang Luojin continued: "There is one more thing. When my son was admiring the maids, he also found that the feet of some court ladies were different from others. After asking carefully, I found out that these court ladies had their feet bound at home when they were young. Seeking a good family. However, it happened that the palace was selecting maids, so they came to the palace to serve. The maids do the work of serving people. The first thing is to be able to stand for a long time and stand upright, and the second is to be able to Walking fast and steady, these maids used to have their feet bound, how could they do this? Then they let their feet go and slowly recovered, although they are similar to ordinary people, but they know their own affairs, those maids still said, it is better to The ladies in the palace work briskly."

There was a faint looseness between Emperor Tianyuan's brows and eyes.

"It can be seen that women's footbinding has no other benefits except that it pleases a few men. Please stop footbinding!" When Tang Luojin said the last sentence, he knelt on the ground with a very serious expression, " I, a woman from Datang, can be gentle and charming, can be valiant and heroic, but can provoke the family after the soldiers go to the battlefield, but only can't, with a pair of small feet, trapped at home, unable to do anything, but become a burden on the country! "

After saying this, Emperor Tianyuan also became serious. After looking at Tang Luojin for a while, he saw that Tang Luojin's words were well-founded, but his person was still only so young—seven years old, he could have With such knowledge, being able to serve the country and the people, and persuading him so much, Emperor Tianyuan couldn't help thinking in his heart, thinking that it was like this when Emperor Wu was back.

"Father will take this matter to heart." Emperor Tianyuan didn't know what to think, and suddenly said, "It's all right, if someone uses this matter to intervene with Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi will go to the court by himself, and the censors themselves Fight! This is what makes me a headache because of you."

Tang Luojin: "..." Princes can only go to court and stand on duty after they get married.He is the crown prince, and he already has the embarrassing status of second in command, how could he go up to court at this moment?

When he was about to object, Emperor Tianyuan personally pulled him up, touched his head, and sighed: "Speaking of which, my Xiaoqi is comparable to Emperor Wu in terms of intelligence; but in terms of Martial arts...Emperor Wu shot a tiger at the age of seven, was able to lift huge boulders, and his martial arts are even more superb, why is it that my little Qi is not particularly good at martial arts?"

Tang Luojin said expressionlessly: "Emperor Wu is the founding emperor of our dynasty. He was born differently, which is exactly what should be done. His sons and ministers are descendants of Emperor Wu. It is a blessing to be able to rely on Emperor Wu's blessing and never forget it. Are you still on a par with Emperor Wu in other respects? Besides, no one is perfect, gold is never pure, and my minister is just one of these people who are not perfect, so I dare not compare myself with Emperor Wu."

In fact, Emperor Tianyuan knew about it in his heart, and knowing about the reincarnation might just be a coincidence.However, whether it is a coincidence or not, Tang Luojin is talented, intelligent, filial and respectful, friendly and brotherly, and has the air of a gentleman. As long as such a Tang Luojin does not grow crooked in the future, he will definitely be able to gain his greatest trust and become the crown prince. Location.

"That's all." Emperor Tianyuan laughed loudly, "Speaking of which, Junchi said that you skipped the riding and archery class last time. The reading lessons are nothing more than that. Once you learn it, you can run away as well. For shooting, Xiao Qi doesn't have much talent, so in the future, you must never skip class, remember?"

Tang Luojin: "...Remember."

He didn't want to escape either, but the riding and archery class was really boring, and in those few days, he felt that the servants around Ning Junchi were not quite right, and he always felt that it was the queen who saw that she couldn't get a place by his side If he is a human being, he puts him next to Ning Junchi to monitor or harm him, so he refuses to go.

Now Ning Junchi said that the boy made a mistake and was dismissed, so he can continue to study hard.

The father and son talked a lot more, and Emperor Tianyuan brought Tang Luojin to the Zichen Palace, and asked Tang Luojin to take a pen to approve the papers that had been submitted to him.

Tang Luojin suddenly felt relieved, so he scolded those who attended him in the memorial.

In the end, Emperor Tianyuan took the booklet to read, laughed a lot, and rewarded Tang Luojin with a lot of things, and asked him to go back.

Seeing that there was a lot of gold in that pile of things, Tang Luojin was immediately satisfied, her face became more serious, and she walked happily outside the Zichen Hall.

The poor little eunuch didn't know that because Tang Luojin had been pretending to be stupid for a year, she slowly practiced this high-level skill of "the more joyful, the more serious, the more cold as ice", trembling and sweating, she walked away for a long time like a year, Only then did Tang Luojin be sent to the gate of Zichen Palace.

At the entrance of the hall, there was a slender woman in a purple palace dress, standing with her back to the entrance of the hall.

Tang Luojin recognized the woman's identity with just one glance.

He stopped.

The woman happened to also turn around, revealing a face as gentle as water.

"So it's the prince." Concubine Xin slightly bowed her knees and saluted, seeing Tang Luojin turned sideways to avoid her, she smiled.

Tang Luojin went through half of the junior ceremony, and said coldly: "Mother and Concubine Xin have been waiting for a long time?"

He remembered that he had talked with Emperor Tianyuan for a long time.

Although Concubine Xin seldom saw the Crown Prince, and she hated the things that the Queen's cousin used red apricots to disgust her, but she couldn't hate Tang Luojin at all.

Even the way Tang Luojin spoke with such a cold face, Concubine Xin thought it was extremely cute.

Of course, even if she felt this way in her heart, Concubine Xin would not show it, she just smiled gently: "It hasn't been long. It's not a big deal for me to come here. I just want to remind the emperor, don't forget to get my fifth princess Take it back."

Tang Luojin and the Fifth Princess were born in the same year, the same month, and the same day. Tang Luojin is now seven years old, and the Fifth Princess is also seven years old. They happened to "practice" in the nunnery for seven years, and it was time to pick them up.

Tang Luojin looked at the loving mother's face on Concubine Xin's face, paused slightly, and said, "In that case, let's congratulate Concubine Xin and the fifth princess first."

Concubine Xin smiled very warmly: "Thank you, Prince."

Outside the Zichen Palace, there were many people, so Tang Luojin bid farewell, "If it's still a bit cold today, mother and concubine Xin, please take care of yourself and take care of Gu Jiumei, Luojin bids her farewell."

Concubine Xin watched Tang Luojin's back completely disappear before turning around and walking towards Zichen Hall.

When the fifth princess reaches her age, apart from Concubine Xin, she will remember the things that should come back, and the queen will remember the rest.

Tang Luojin returned to her East Palace, was stunned for a while, then picked two pictures of beauties that she drew today, and ordered Heliu and Changqu to be sent to Qingning Palace.

After the two came back, they didn't say anything else, they only said that the Queen's place was indeed preparing something for a seven or eight year old girl; besides that, the Queen's place also welcomed a guest.

Tang Luojin was silent for a while, and said, "Mrs. Yuehou is here."

Chang Qu was slightly startled and said, "How did Your Highness guess it? It's not Madam Yuehou who is here. Although Marquis Yue is still in Lingnan, Madam Yuehou heard that she misses her younger siblings very much, so she set off first and came to Chang'an."

Tang Luojin let out an "um" and let people go down.

Mrs. Yuehou is the daughter of Ning's family, the elder sisters of Empress Ning, Ning Junchi, and Ning Junyu.

Compared with other people, the queen naturally trusted her sister who was four years older than her.

Mrs. Yuehou is also known for being shrewd and capable.

Tang Luojin sighed. After all, the queen lost her two daughters in a row and lost her mind. In recent years, although she obviously didn't like him, she didn't do anything too outrageous.But when Mrs. Yuehou came, the fifth princess should also return to the palace. Tang Luojin didn't know how things would develop.

Qingning Palace.

Mrs. Yue Hou's appearance is not very outstanding, but she has a heroic spirit, which makes her not inferior to others.

When she was in Lingnan, when she received the queen's letter, she felt something was wrong, but after seeing the maid sent by the queen, she knew what good the queen had done.

It's a pity that Yuehou couldn't live without her at that time, and her children were young and couldn't live without their biological mother, so she couldn't return to Chang'an.

Now that Marquis Yue is about to return to Beijing to report on his duties, and her children are growing up, Mrs. Marquis Yue left early to try her best to persuade her, a confused second sister.

"You are so confused!" Mrs. Yue Hou hated iron and steel, "I used to write it in letters, so I couldn't say it clearly. But now, you and I have met, and there are some things that I have to say."

Aunt Yu is gone by the Queen's side, and her mother has been away for a long time, and Fugui and the others can only serve others, and there are some things that they can't do to make suggestions.

Seeing that the eldest sister was willing to teach her, the queen hurriedly said: "Eldest sister has something to say, just say it. In recent years," the queen revealed a little bitterness, "I have always felt that I am not like the old self. I can't stop thinking about my Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi and weeping. I wish I could kill Concubine Xin, mother and son, and the three to take revenge! Eldest sister wants to teach me. The last time I used Yueer, it was only to let Yueer get demoted. In the end, Concubine Xin survived. I always want to let them have a bad life, so that I won't feel so bad in my heart."

Madam Yuehou knew about Concubine Xin's birth four years ago.

"You did a great job on that matter." Mrs. Yue Hou held the Queen's hand and said, "Isn't it good to lead the disaster to the east and clear the blame? It's just a coincidence, you didn't expect that The woman is also good at medicine, and she happened to save Concubine Xin's life. However, it was just that one time. She is a concubine, and you are the empress. If you want to handle her, isn't it easy to catch her? You can always find her fault. Even if you have scruples Seeing that the emperor is not easy to make a move, it is not difficult to find a way to attract Concubine Xiang or Concubine Jiang De to make a move."

The queen gritted her silver teeth and said: "I always want her to taste the pain of losing my two daughters in a row before she is willing to let her die. If it weren't for the son and daughter she gave birth to, how could she kill my two daughters?" Concubine?"

Mrs. Yuehou said: "Huan'er, Concubine Xin is not good enough, and there is no empress dowager or queen dowager to take care of her. If you want to move her, there will always be a way. The difficulty lies with the crown prince. Now, Huan'er, what you have to do , from now on, let go of your prejudice against the prince and become a loving mother again."

"The prince is only seven years old now, and it is the time when he needs a mother. Moreover, only a loving mother can make the child the least defensive, believe in your every word, and be willing to work hard for everything you want, right? ?”