concubines

After finishing reading King Canchun's excerpt, the emperor calmly put it aside, and went to look at the other one. He rubbed his forehead wearily, and asked, "Is there no excerpt from the Northwest?"

Yuan Rong, a cabinet scholar, said: "Report to Your Majesty, there is nothing."

The emperor nodded and continued to read the booklet. After a while, a servant came up to him and said a word. The emperor stopped his hand and frowned slightly.

"Oh." He said for a long time.

Yuan Rong asked: "Your Majesty, the minister should take these papers down first."

"it is good."

Yuan Rong bowed and retreated holding the approved folder, and a young eunuch came to report to Ji Hansong, Minister of the Ministry of War, to see him again. The emperor waved the servant beside him to step aside, and Xuan Ji Hansong came in.

Ji Hansong's goal is also the northwest affairs. The emperor hasn't moved at all these days. I don't know if he doesn't care or is indifferent. He is tied to the same boat as King Chun. He needs to find out what the emperor means before he can know what he should do next. How to do it.

Ji Hansong reported the military situation once more, and said: "Yushu Pass is easy to attack and difficult to defend. His Royal Highness King Chun killed three yakshas of the Xixiao clan, and it is really rare to attract the Qiang people to dare not commit them for many days. I read the files of previous years today. Fan Xixiao The Twelve Yakshas of the Clan participated in the battle, and our Dakang soldiers will suffer heavy casualties. It is the first time for the prince to participate in the battle, and he has such a record. I ask the emperor to reward Chun Wang and boost morale."

After hearing what he said, the emperor said, "Aiqing is right."

Ji Han was relieved and overjoyed.

However, the emperor continued: "However, if it is just a defensive victory, if you reward it at will, I am afraid that it will chill the hearts of the soldiers who have guarded the border for many years, and it will also make King Chun easy to develop arrogance. In my opinion, when King Chun and others are broken The enemy returns, and I respectfully allow Aiqing to pass on my will, how about that?"

Ji Hansong was already covered in cold sweat, and hurriedly said: "I am stupid, I am stupid, please punish me by the emperor."

The emperor said softly: "I have nothing to punish you, just step back, and when King Chun wins and returns to the court, do I still want you to issue an order?"

Ji Hansong kowtowed heavily, and hurriedly backed away, but his embarrassed appearance was seen by others, which inevitably led to speculation. On the second day, there were more evidences that King Shen Chun waited not to send troops, and he was suspected of forging military exploits.

But this is a later story. After Ji Hansong left, the emperor asked the servant: "Princess Chun went to Jingyang Palace?"

The servant said: "Princess Chun has been here for less than half an hour?"

The emperor laughed inexplicably, and after a while, said: "I heard that Princess Qing also often enters the palace."

The servant Huang Ling laughed and said: "My servant heard that Princess Qing often came to cry with Concubine Yuan Gui, probably because His Royal Highness Prince Qing was young and fond of playing, and the princess felt neglected, she was young, so she came to find her mother-in-law to decide."

The emperor shook his head and smiled wryly, "The third child is indeed young and ignorant."

Huang Ling said: "On the contrary, the eldest princess is the most virtuous and virtuous. She has never had any disagreements with His Royal Highness Prince Jing, and treats Prince Jing's two sons as if they were her own."

The emperor didn't speak, and his originally smiling face gradually sank. After Princess Chun entered the palace and Ji Hansong faced the saint, he had already seen the consequences.

The queen said softly: "You are pregnant, how can you shed tears? Don't worry, since it is a rumor, it is naturally not true, and the emperor will not take it to heart."

Qi Niqun wiped away her tears, and said earnestly: "I can only rely on my mother."

The queen smiled, "Good boy, the queen mother will intercede for Chen'er." She took a sip of tea and sighed softly, "But Chen'er is the same, sending troops is a big deal, and it's really not good for him to bring a male favourite. .”

Qi Niqun said anxiously: "My mother doesn't know, Qi Yunruo's biological mother is a prostitute, she is Shui Linglong who once Yan crowned the capital, Qi Yunruo has learned a lot of tricks from his biological mother, and he didn't grow up in Ziyangbo's mansion since he was a child. , my mother and I were deceived by him and brought him into the palace, the prince has never had such a capable person by his side, and there are people who are not aware of it for a while, I beg my mother to forgive the prince."

"... Shui Linglong, I've heard of it." The queen smiled.

Northwest, Yushu Pass.

Li Chen stood on the gate of Yushu Pass, looking at the vast mountains and rivers in the distance, the rumors in the pass were rampant, Li Chen unexpectedly did not ask anyone to stop it.

Qi Yunruo was always worried, but Li Chen just said: "Rumors only stop at the wise, and I punish those people, it seems that I am out of breath and jumping over the wall in a hurry."

When he said this, there was a strong sense of self-deprecation, Qi Yunruo said angrily: "The reputation of the prince has been ruined by those villains."

Li Chen smiled and didn't say a word.

In fact, it was Zhao Weidu who should be criticized for not sending troops, but because Li Chen's status was higher, people forgot his status as "a thousand commanders".Zhao Weidu sent a number of spies from Yushuguan to investigate the place where the Qiang people were stationed, but all the way back without success, the Qiang people are more familiar with the complex landscape of mountains and rivers. In addition, the map of Xinyuan Kingdom is clear, and it is given to the Qiang people for free. On the contrary, the people of the Central Plains keep guarding the customs year after year, as long as they keep it, the result is not very clear about the situation outside the customs.

The map Li Chen used only showed some important locations, and the spies sent out in recent days have added many details, but those undiscovered places are still full of dangers.

Zhao Weidu and Si De have been waiting for the Qiang people, especially Botuk and Xixiao Nubiha to fight back, but half a month later, Li Chen waited for a cruel news.

The leader of the Qiang tribe, Aguermu, is going to give his concubine, Princess Changping Li Yao, to his eldest son Berg as his concubine.

Qi Yunruo remembered what happened that day, the spies passed the news to Zhao Weidu, Zhao Weidu came to look for the prince, at first the prince thought it was the news of the war, but Zhao Wei's face turned ugly, even Qi Yunruo felt something was wrong, Zhao Wei hesitated Hesitantly said the matter, Li Chen stood up abruptly, unable to stand still, Qi Yunruo screamed, Li Chen shook off his hand, and squeezed out a few words between his teeth-"Too much bullying, Agu Ermu, Botuk, you are too deceitful..."

Zhao Weidu said: "My lord... Shall we send troops?" Zhao Weidu could lead the troops, but he didn't dare to make a rash decision when it came to the royal family.

Qi Yunruo eagerly went to see Li Chen, and Li Chen sneered: "They released the news, isn't it just to force us to leave the customs? It must have been fully prepared."

Zhao Weidu frowned and said, "Could it be that we are just watching the princess..." Before he finished speaking, Li Chen's cold eyes shot over, and he was speechless for a while.

In the Qiang nationality, women become slaves of their husbands after they get married, and concubines are more like slaves. After the death of the patriarch, his wives and concubines can be inherited by his sons, and some concubines are given to others when they are alive Yes, but Princess Changping is Dakang's princess after all, with a noble status. Would these barbarians really do such a thing?

Zhao Wei couldn't make any promises, and felt very depressed. It was not a good time to send troops, but it hurt the dignity of the country and the emperor didn't like it, so it was difficult for him to deal with it.

Qi Yunruo was on the side, recalling the prince's memories of Princess Changping in the past, he vowed to bring the elder sister back to the capital, how could he tolerate such shame and humiliation for the elder sister, the plot of the Qiang people is really too insidious.

In the evening, Li Chen called his cronies and several generals to discuss matters, but he did not return all night.

In the morning, when Qi Yunruo went out to look for him, he found him sitting in the corner of the camp, with a jug of wine in his hand, and the night on the edge was cool. Qi Yunruo didn't know how long he had been sitting, so he hurriedly helped him into the house and fetched hot water.

Li Chen lay on the bed, raised one hand and covered his eyes.

Qi Yunruo warmed him up, Li Chen said: "No need, I'm not drunk, I just came back not long ago, just sat there quietly for a while."

Qi Yunruo didn't speak.

Only Li Chen's voice was left in the small room.

"...Actually, Eldest Sister came to Ci'an Palace later than me. I was already four years old when she came. I don't like my grandmother being close to other people, and I can't like Eldest Sister's appearance. But when I was sick, , the eight-year-old elder sister kept watch over me day and night, feeding me medicine... I forgot everything about my childhood, only this one thing I remember clearly, the elder sister's hand holding the medicine bowl was shaking , I asked my grandmother to come and not want her, the eldest sister said, grandmother was tired, and fell asleep after a lot of difficulty, so don't disturb her rest."

Qi Yunruo had never experienced the joy of having brothers and sisters, so he just listened silently.

"Later, our relationship got better, and I was reluctant to let my elder sister take care of the other siblings. The elder sister said, I am also an older brother, and I should learn to be sympathetic to the younger ones and give them the things I love."

Li Chen suddenly asked, "Did I never tell you about my grandmother?"

Qi Yunruo said: "The Empress Dowager Lan is a person worthy of respect."

"Grandmother took my father and walked out of the most critical way out of life, so when I encountered difficulties later, I couldn't help thinking, what would my grandmother do when she encountered the same situation as me?"

Qi Yunruo said: "If the queen mother is here, will she send troops?"

Li Chen was silent for a while, then said, "She will."

Qi Yunruo looked at him in surprise.

"Grandmother is the most decisive person. She will never be indecisive. When the elder sister asked to marry herself, the person who was most reluctant to part with her should be grandma. But grandma nodded without hesitation, but she accepted it in front of the Buddha. I begged Buddha to bless my elder sister, and I stayed up for three days. After my elder sister left, I stayed with my grandmother all day long... Finally, my mother was dissatisfied. I was young and ignorant, and once I got into an argument with my mother." Li Chen fell into a trap. During a painful memory, his eyes were full of sadness.

Qi Yunruo held his hand and quietly stayed aside.

"I said that the empress mother disrespected her grandmother because she was not filial. I don't want to recognize her as my mother."

Looking into Li Chen's eyes, Qi Yunruo seemed to feel his sadness and regret.

"Grandmother heard it, and slapped me on the spot, and told me to kneel in front of my mother and beg for forgiveness. I couldn't figure out why my grandmother did this. It was the first time my grandmother did something to me, and it was the only time... Now that I think about it, it might be that At that time, our grandparents had just lost a relative, and their moods were unstable. My grandmother was very angry with me and told me to go back to Jingyang Palace with my mother.”

Li Chen's voice became lower and lower, "I refused to leave, my grandmother drove me out, so I knelt outside Ci'an Palace. At night, my grandmother said sorry to our mother and son through the door, and said that before I was sensible, our grandchildren would not See you again."

"That's right, the empress dowager..." Qi Yunruo looked at Li Chen, and finally understood why every time Li Chen talked about the empress dowager, his expression was always sad.

"I was finally scared. I went to Jingyang Palace and returned to my mother's side. I thought my grandmother would open the gate of Ci'an Palace when I was appointed king, but no. I thought my grandmother would meet me after my wedding, but she didn't either... ..." Li Chen said lightly.

"Everyone said that my grandmother hugged me and raised me herself because of the Zhou family's suppression of the Lan family and hated my mother. I am probably the only one who understands...Grandma, she is just lonely."

The big tent of the Qiang people.

Botuk looked pale, and said to Nubiha beside him: "The general's good idea, I'm afraid the prince already knows about it."

Nubiha said: "It's just that this subordinate doesn't understand a little bit. I asked the second prince to ask the king to give you a Han princess, but you asked the king to give the first prince a Han princess. Don't you like that princess?"

Botuk looked dull: "What's so good about Han women? I only like the beauties of our Qiang nationality. Those Han women love to put on airs. In the past, my father gave me a maidservant of a princess who cried all day long. What a shame, he died in a few days."

A strange smile appeared on Nubiha's face, "But the second prince, those Han women taste very good."

"Tsk tsk, I thought I didn't know you. You are not a pity. You snatched back those Han women, and some of them lived for half a month."

Nubby laughed.

Botuk sneered and said, "That Han princess is not as weak as she looks. I haven't seen her suffer a lot in these years. From now on, let Berg worry about it." He looked at Nubiha, "In the future, we will slaughter the princes and emperors of the Han people. You will have as many princesses as you want. If you want Princess Changping, we can also go to Berg to snatch them."

Nubiha seemed to have seen that day, and narrowed his eyes happily. After a long time, he said: "Aren't those Han people the most bloody? If the prince doesn't send troops, he will be a coward. If he sends troops, we will force him to fight." An army of men is ready."

Botuk clinked glasses with Nubiha, they looked at each other and laughed together.

Not far from the Qiang king's tent, the man in Chinese clothes looked gloomy and looked in the direction of Li Yao's residence with an uncertain expression.

The attendant said: "This is indeed a good idea. Regardless of whether King Chun sends out troops or not, he will not be able to gain the upper hand. Why, Lord, you seem not very happy."

Cheng Sijie took a deep breath, and said coldly: "I just thought that Princess Li's piano skills are superb, and the tea is also good. I don't know if it will be ruined by Berg."

The attendant said: "As far as I know, Prince Berg is not as simple as other people know. He is not strong in force, but his scheming is unfathomable. Botuk and others may not be his opponents."

Cheng Sijie murmured: "But he has a delicate mind, and he won't take the Han princess seriously like Aguermu, if..."

The attendant was silent for a moment, and said: "My lord, you don't want to stop Princess Bergnarlee, do you?"

Cheng Sijie was silent for a long time, so long that the attendants thought they could not hear his answer, Cheng Sijie said lightly: "No."

In Beijing, the Minister of the Ministry of War pleaded for King Chun but was severely reprimanded by the emperor, and the news that Princess Chun was running around for King Chun had spread quickly.