love palace

"Ma'am? Why did you come back early? You didn't even notify me, so I can send someone to pick you up." Seeing the beautiful lady's return, Ke Xian hurriedly stood up to greet her.

Zhao Guowei's only daughter, Zhao Xuelian, went back to the General's Mansion to visit her parents a few days ago, and she was supposed to come back the day after tomorrow.

"It's not because of you that I went back to my mother's house in the snowy day. Now that the imperial decree has come down, I should come back." Zhao Xuelian said with a smile, walked to the brass charcoal stove, and warmed a pair of white jade hands.

"What? Is this decree related to father-in-law?" Ke Xian asked cautiously.He is 14 years older than Zhao Xuelian. When he married her, he set up thousands of banquets and caused a sensation in the city.

As for Ke Xian's original wife, Mrs. Liu, although she came from a famous family and was well-educated, she unfortunately died of dystocia, leaving one body and two lives. The emperor saw that his cousin was pitiful, so he proposed a marriage for him again, and married General Zhao's daughter as his wife.

Being a widower at the age of 28 is not easy, but marrying a fierce and domineering daughter of a samurai family is also difficult!

Relying on the emperor's marriage and her prominent family background, Zhao Xuelian sold all the attractive maidservants around Ke Xian within two days after entering the house. For a while, the maidservants packed their bags and cried, very miserable.

Then the maidservants serving the prince are all "dowry" brought by Zhao Xuelian from her natal family, they usually don't even dare to look at the prince's face, they are very well behaved.

Zhao Xuelian is in strict control of the family law of the palace and does not allow the slightest difference between "upper and lower". Over the years, because of a single mistake, no less than twenty servants have been tortured and beaten to death by her. Just throwing the corpse to the back mountain, I was startled and panicked, and I was even more obedient to this beautiful but cruel princess.

Although the family law is harsh, under Zhao Xuelian's care, the wealth of Prince Ke's mansion has also grown like a snowball, and the status in the court and the opposition is not the same. For this, the prince is grateful, even if the princess only gave birth to him. A daughter, who has not yet had a son, and he has no complaints.

"Of course." Zhao Xuelian said without concealment, "This imperial decree is the holy grace that my father asked for."

"What?" Prince Ke became even more uneasy, why did his father-in-law throw this hot potato to himself?You must know that the hunting of the royal family is no small matter, if there is a slight negligence, it will be a matter of killing everyone!

"I know your elm head—you can't get it out of death!" Zhao Xuelian poked Prince Ke's forehead hard, and said contemptuously, "Will my father still harm us? Don't even think about it, why does the emperor want to open up a new hunting ground?"

"This...is for the selection of a prince?" Lord Ke said carefully after thinking about it.

"Finally, I'm right." Zhao Xuelian's face turned pale, and her tone softened, "Next autumn, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace will be named. Right now, what everyone is most concerned about is how to choose. In terms of birth, all the princes have the right to inherit. , who told the queen to have no heirs?"

"Then what does the emperor mean is that you want the princes to compete in martial arts before making a decision?" Lord Ke asked. Now that the ten kingdoms are in constant conflict, the prince must be a generation with high martial arts skills, bravery and good at fighting, otherwise even if he sits on the East Palace, he will also sit on the throne. The country is unstable.

Although hunting is a court entertainment, it is actually an exercise for leading troops to fight. Kings of all dynasties have attached great importance to hunting. Every autumn macaque scene is very grand, which can be regarded as a military ceremony.

"Exactly." Zhao Xuelian said truthfully, "my father said, the emperor wants to hunt is not true, choose the crown prince is true, in order to select the East Palace that will allow the Great Yan Kingdom to dominate the world, the emperor secretly ordered my father to discuss for a long time, and opened up a new hunting ground, It is to test the true abilities of the princes. The royal beasts of the royal forest have long been figured out by the princes, so how can they be used?"

"According to what you said, once the autumn rhinoceros is over, the position of the prince will be decided?" This matter happened too fast, and Prince Ke didn't know which prince to take refuge in, so he was about to draw a conclusion?

"Of course, the crown prince should have been settled a long time ago!" Zhao Xuelian patted the table lightly and said, "But don't worry, my father has his own plan. He asked me to send you a letter, saying that you will understand after reading it."

"There is still a letter? Come on! Show it to me." Prince Ke swept away the haze on his face, and said enthusiastically.

Zhao Xuelian took out a wax-sealed letter from her sleeve and put it in Lord Ke's hand.

Prince Ke tore the envelope, and shook out the high-quality silk paper inside. The paper was as thin as a cicada's wing with densely packed small characters written on it. It was stacked several times. The prince carefully unfolded it and spread it all over the table.

"This, this is...?!"

Prince Ke only read a few lines of fine print, and his face changed drastically. What was written was all palace secrets, such as the horoscopes of the fourteen princes' birthdays and the five elements of numerology. These two alone are enough to make Prince Ke lose his head!

"These things are all useful." Zhao Xuelian seemed much calmer, and said slowly, "Knowing yourself and the enemy is the only way to win every battle. We must understand the weaknesses of every prince, so that we can successfully support our prince to enter the East Palace."

"Our prince?" Prince Ke was puzzled, and hurriedly asked, "Which one is it?"

"Ninth Prince Huang Ye." Zhao Xuelian deliberately lowered her voice and whispered into the prince's ear, "The crown prince must belong to him!"

"Why is it him?" Prince Ke shook his head and sighed, "Dayan's succession to the throne has always been dominated by the eldest son. Although there is no eldest son now, there is still an eldest son from the concubine. Isn't it great that the eldest prince Yaozu? The Empress Dowager also likes him. Huang Ye is ranked ninth, how can he not get his turn? Also," Prince Ke paused for a moment, his tone full of disdain, "his biological mother, Concubine Ping, is just a county with relatives. Lord, the country has been annexed by our Great Yan, so what kind of power do you have in the harem?"

"Then let me ask you, if we don't help the Ninth Prince, who else can we help?"

"Aren't the eldest prince Yaozu and the second prince Yaozhong good candidates?"

"These two princes are good, but don't forget, one of their biological mothers is the empress dowager's niece, and the other is Prime Minister Li's daughter, each has power, so where is our turn to intervene?"

"This……"

"So, don't just look at the surface of things. Although His Highness the Ninth Prince has no power in the harem, I heard that he is smart and sophisticated. He can recite poems and books of sages at the age of three, and can ride horses and shoot arrows at the age of five. Tong, the national teachers call him a child prodigy, and they admire him very much."

"I've heard a little about the Ninth Prince's ability, but after all, it's not good to be a good man. My father-in-law only bets on the Ninth Prince, will it be...?"

"It can only be a last-ditch fight. Now the harem is already in turmoil. The princes are evenly matched. We can only do something on the hunting ground and help the Ninth Prince a lot, but..."

"But what?"

"If the Ninth Prince is really incompetent, we can also change the direction in time. As long as the hunting ground is set in the Zhuque River Valley, no matter what troubles it has, it will not escape our eyes and ears."

"That's how it is! Father-in-law is really a god!" Only then did Prince Ke understand Zhao Guowei's intentions. The "examination room" was set in his own house, so he was afraid he couldn't cheat?

And no matter it is the Ninth Prince, or the First Prince, he can always grasp the information at the first time, adapt to the situation and adapt to the situation, so he is not afraid of standing on the wrong side and casting the wrong door!

"What's more amazing is yet to come." Zhao Xuelian said triumphantly, "Why do you think my father is so fond of the Ninth Prince?"

"Because he is young and ignorant, so he is easy to manipulate?" Anyway, there was no one around, and Prince Ke was not afraid to say it out, "Of course the prince we support must listen to us."

"Naturally, he is only 14 years old this year, and he will be no more than fifteen years old when he establishes the crown prince next year..." Zhao Xuelian winked at Prince Ke and said, "In a year or two, it's time to accept the crown prince. .”

"Yes! Why didn't I think of that!" Lord Ke said, slapping his thigh.

The princesses of the Wangfu family can enter the palace for selection at the age of 12. Prince Ke's only daughter, Princess Shuolan, who has just turned ten years old this year, will be able to enter the palace to select concubines in two years. My father-in-law is in charge of the palace, I don't believe that Shuo Lan can't take the position of the crown princess!

As for the other princes in the palace, either they already have wives or concubines, or they are too young to marry a wife. There is really only the Ninth Prince, Huang Ye, who is quite the same age as Shuo Lan.

Lord Ke couldn't help thinking about the scene when he became the head of the country. The feeling of hugging and hugging is not an ordinary beauty...

"What are you laughing at? Look how beautiful you are!" Seeing Lord Ke's smirk with his mouth open, Zhao Xuelian also became happy, and asked, "Where is my sweetheart? I haven't seen her since I've been back for so long? "

"Shuolan? You don't have to worry about it with the nanny." Lord Ke pulled Zhao Xuelian's catkin and sat on the warm kang. Just as he was about to warm up for a while, he heard someone's hoarse and panicked voice from afar. Shout out endlessly.

"──It's terrible, the princess fell off the horse!"

"What?!" Zhao Xuelian stood up abruptly, Lord Ke was also very frightened, almost rolled off the Kang bed, hurriedly packed the things on the desk, and opened the door.

"My lord, my lord! The little princess... fell... from the horse..." The maid who came in to deliver the message was pale and trembling all over.

"Quick! Call Dr. Wan! Call the butler..." Prince Ke was talking in a panic, and Zhao Xuelian had already rushed out. The stables of Prince Ke's mansion were in Xiyuan, and it took a long walk to get there from the study.

So, Prince Ke followed the concubine, together with the servants and maids who joined along the way, dozens of people ran to the racecourse together...

※※※

Half an hour ago.

Under the strong north wind, the stables in winter are particularly crowded, with dozens of horses clustered around, neighing and kicking, very irritable.

At this time, even the groom would not like to stay in the stable, it was so airtight and smelly, and it was very cold.

But today, not only the groom Ali was standing in the stable, but also the little princess’s nanny A Xing, the personal maids Chunmei, Qiuling, and Dongxiang were all crowded in the smelly stable, and there were many panic-stricken servants standing around. .

"Ouch! My little ancestor, this red eagle can't be ridden."

Ah Xing was in her thirties, with a bloated and short body. She was holding a ten-year-old girl with her plump arms, no matter how much she pinched and kicked her, she didn't dare to let go.

"Let go! I'm going to ride a horse! Ride a red eagle!" The girl was wrapped in a snow-white mink fur shawl, her hair was full of emerald beads, her round face was rosy, and she stared at a pair of big black eyes , very beautiful, but she was full of anger, bit her lips tightly, and finally opened her mouth, and bit the nurse's arm fiercely!

"Oh my god!" The nanny hurriedly let go. Fortunately, the clothes were thick, otherwise they would all be bitten and bleed.

"It deserves it!" The girl smiled triumphantly, then raised her chin and looked around the other servants haughtily. The servants quickly bowed their heads, and no one dared to offend her.

Concubine Ke is in charge of the housework, and she is extremely strict. If a servant makes a small mistake, they will be beaten to pieces, let alone the little princess who angered the concubine's most precious princess?

And the princess has been with the princess since she was a child, and under the influence of her ears and eyes, her temper is even more surly than that of the princess, and no one can disobey her intentions.

Even if she said she wanted the stars in the sky, others had to find a way to get them for her.

──Not to mention riding a horse.

But "Picking the Stars" is for the servants to ride horses, and they are still riding red eagles, but the princess will go into battle by himself. If something goes wrong, the lives of the nurses, maids, and grooms here will all be ruined!

Chunmei and the others were already crying in fright. The little princess was not annoyed at all, but it can be seen that everyone stopped her, panicked, and her face was so long!

"I'm the princess, I can ride whatever horse I want! Slave, go and get the horse!" The little princess shouted sharply.

Ali's face turned blue, and Chi Ying's temper was so fierce that even Lord Ke was kicked by it.Before winter, Chiying also gave birth to a little red horse. The mare is a thousand-mile famous horse. Naturally, the price of this little horse is not high. Prince Ke is very happy and plans to pay tribute to the court when the little horse grows up.

As a result, the red eagle was rarely taken out, and it has been raising its offspring in the stable. It has less closeness with people, and its temper has become more irritable. It can be said that strangers should not be close!

The little princess got on the horse rashly, which was tantamount to courting death. To be thrown off such a high horse and hit his head on the ground, it was no joke!

"If you don't bring the red eagle out, I'll chop off your heads!" Seeing the servants looking at each other without moving, the little princess stomped her feet angrily.

"Ride! Let's ride!" The nurse didn't care about the pain in her arm, and coaxed her well. Seeing that something was wrong, Ali had no choice but to walk to the innermost stable to put the reins on the red eagle.

As expected, Chiying didn't cooperate, he groaned and complained, and called several people to put the saddle and rein on it, but Ali stopped again.

This red eagle was led by him to the little princess, if something happened, he would bear the brunt of it, if he was to be beheaded, he would have to find someone to lead the horse for him, who should he turn to?

Ali looked around, but everyone lowered their heads tacitly, unwilling to meet his eyes.

"Xiaoqing, come here!" Ali still found a substitute, a boy who specialized in cleaning the stables, who was younger than the princess, about seven years old.

While everyone surrounded the Princess like a star, Xiao Qing was busy arranging the haystacks and tying up all the scattered hay to prevent it from being blown away by the wind.

"Brother Ali." Xiaoqing stood up obediently, shaking off the weeds that covered her trouser legs.Although it was mid-winter, he was dressed very lightly, an old gray jacket with thin cotton wool, a coarse cloth belt tied around his waist, and a pair of straw sandals with icy scum on his feet.

Prince Ke loved to raise horses, so grooms and stable boys were naturally indispensable. There were several stable boys like Xiaoqing in the palace, and the equipment and outfits were all the same, so simple and shabby.

"You lead the red eagle and let the princess mount the horse." Ali handed him the rein, and Xiaoqing held the rein firmly with her little finger that was red from the cold.

"Yes." Compared with the groom, the stable boy is the one who suffers the most in the stable. They are of low status and young age. No matter what kind of dirty work, they have their share.

This guy named Wei Qing is very easy to manage, he never complains, he often even does the work of other stable boys, and he loves the horse very much, the night Chi Ying gave birth to the little red horse, he stayed up all night with him.

Chi Ying was also good to him, among so many people, it only let Wei Qing get close to the little red horse, so it was safe to let him lead Chi Ying.

It's strange to say that Chi Ying, who was restless a moment ago, became submissive as soon as he got into the little boy's hands, as obedient as a cat.

Wei Qing's height was less than Chi Ying's chest, and he was very thin. However, such a strong and tall horse was pulled by a "little guy" and brought to the princess.

※※※

"Isn't Chiying very good? I knew you were lying to me!" After the little princess glared at the servant, her mood improved obviously, and she grabbed the whip with one hand and planned to get on the horse.

"Princess, please be careful." The nanny and maid stepped forward to help her, and the princess was not afraid of soiling her lilac-colored satin gauze skirt, so she pulled the saddle hard and straddled her.

Chi Ying exhaled through his nostrils and moved his horse's hooves, but because Wei Qing was leading him, he didn't lose his temper.

"Let go!" The Princess took the rein and ordered Wei Qing.

"You want to go out?" Wei Qing raised his head, revealing his small face the size of a palm. Although he was thin and bony, he had delicate features and good looks.

"Nonsense! I'm not going out for a walk. What are you doing on the horse? Give me the reins!" The little princess became impatient, and stretched out her plump, white and tender hands, and the jade bracelet jingled.

"No." Wei Qing protested in a rare way, "The red eagle cannot live without the little red horse. If you ride it out, it will lose its temper and throw you."

"Bild slave! Presumptuous! How dare you teach me a lesson?!" Seeing that such a small handyman dared to offend him, sparks flashed from his eyes, he grabbed the reins, and gave him a slap in the face!

This whip not only hit Wei Qing's cheek, but also pierced the horse's eyes, only to hear the red eagle screaming sharply, raised its front hooves and stood up, the little princess fell down on the horse's buttocks, but his feet were entangled in the stirrups, Come head down, feet up, can't help screaming for help!

In order to get rid of the princess on horseback, Chi Ying struggled up and down, kicking his hind hooves, his strength was extremely powerful, the open space in the stable was not big, the servants just screamed and dodged around, how could they dare to come forward To die?

A horizontal wooden fence slammed and was broken by the red eagle's hind hoof. More horses were frightened and scrambled out, forming a very terrifying scene.

"Princess! Save the princess!" the nanny shouted at the top of her lungs, but was soon drowned out by the sound of hoofbeats. Seeing the horses coming straight at her, she was so frightened that she quickly hid beside the pillar.

Others were unable to dodge in time and were trampled until they vomited blood. There was only one small person who rolled around among the dense horseshoes falling like raindrops, but was not injured at all.

He grabbed the red eagle who was leading the gallop, hugged the horse's neck tightly with both arms, and with a golden hook hanging upside down, he turned onto the horse lightly!

"Woo! Stop!" Wei Qing desperately tightened the reins, Chiying's two bamboo-like ears twitched, and suddenly drew back its four hooves, and hurriedly stopped.

At this time, the stirrup broke with a snap, and the little princess fell down. Although the fall was not heavy, she ate a mouthful of mud, and her head was full of pearls and emeralds. She was stunned for a moment, and then burst into tears stand up.

Despite being spoiled and domineering, she was still a girl, and she was terrified, crying out of breath!

After Chi Ying stopped, the other horses stopped running around, but the stable seemed to be swept by a chariot, with broken wooden posts, fences, and the roof of the stable collapsed everywhere. When outsiders saw this tragic scene, everyone was shocked. Hu Xiaoxiao went to report, "The princess fell off the horse, come quickly!"

When Prince Ke and Concubine arrived in a hurry, the nanny was hugging the princess, as if holding a baby, stroking her back while muttering, "It's okay, princess, it doesn't hurt anymore..."

"Shuo Lan! My son!" Seeing her precious daughter's face turning pale and sobbing, the princess also burst into tears.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Lord Ke said angrily, "So many people can't stand the princess? Do you want to die?!"

"My lord, spare me!" The servants all knelt on the ground, and the nanny was the first to beg for mercy.

"Mother... woo...you are here!" Shuo Lan felt even more wronged when she saw her mother, crying and complaining, "He bullied me."

"Who? Who dares to bully you?" Zhao Xuelian raised her eyebrows when she heard this, as if she was desperately looking for someone.

"It's him! I said I want to ride a horse, but he refused to let me fall off!" The little princess knew that she had angered Chi Ying, but she blamed Wei Qing.

Wei Qing's cheeks were bleeding, because he was pulled by the princess's reins, he endured the pain, sacrificed his life to save the princess, and comforted Chi Ying, he was truly a great hero.

Concubine Ke followed the direction pointed by the princess and saw the little boy standing by the horse fence. She walked over quickly, raised her hand, and bowed left and right.

Wei Qing couldn't stand such a beating, he fell down immediately, five bright red handprints appeared on his small face, and blood was still bleeding from the corner of his mouth.

"Come on! Hit me! This vicious thing! Hit it to death!" The princess was so angry that she couldn't control her noble status. Go out and feed the dog!"

Two strong servants obeyed the order and stepped forward, clasped Wei Qing's wrist like an eagle catching a chick, and tied it tightly with hemp rope. One of them threw the rope over the beam and pulled it hard, and Wei Qing was suspended in the air.

The other person took the thick and long leather whip hanging on the wall. It was originally used for training wild horses.

There was only the rustling of the wind, and a black shadow mercilessly drew towards the poor little man. The jacket was instantly torn, and the tattered wadding was flying, and the smell of blood soon filled the cold wind, making him People shiver uncontrollably!

At first, some people rejoiced that beating a stable boy to death was better than letting everyone be buried with him, but seeing the boy who was beaten to bloody blood like a leaf in the wind, they were moved with compassion .

Adults can't bear a few whips, not to mention a thin child, who may have passed out... But the emotion is the emotion, the princess is in a fit of anger, and no one dares to stop it.

Because of killing chickens to scare monkeys, the princess is determined to kill the horse boy today in order to teach this group of servants who dared to frighten the princess.

"Wait." Lord Ke suddenly said, "Don't hit me yet."

The servant stopped panting, and just whipped six times, his wrists were numb.

"Stop why? Continue to fight!" Wang Hao said, but at this time, she had returned to the princess and wiped her face carefully.

"If you really beat him to death, it won't sound good to spread the word." Seeing that his daughter was fine, Prince Ke calmed down, and persuaded, "Now is the time to employ people, and it's enough to punish him with deprivation of food for three days. .”

"You are too merciful, the house will lose the rules, and the next one will break the law!" The princess said angrily.

"Yes, ma'am, don't be angry. I just said that he still has to be punished, and the death penalty will be spared." The prince coaxed him again, and then looked at the servants around him.

The concubine saw that all the servants were so frightened that their faces turned pale, and they had already played a threatening role. Besides, killing an unarmed child would indeed bring people down, which would be detrimental to the prestige of the palace.

Right now, he is about to run around for next year's royal hunt. At this time, if bad news spreads and the people criticize him, the emperor may change his mind and not come to the Suzaku River Valley to set up a siege. Killing the stable boy is a small mistake. It's a big deal between Qiuji and the prince.

The concubine is worthy of being the jewel in the palm of the general who protects the country. In just such a short time, she has weighed the pros and cons and reached a conclusion.

"Well, since you said so, my lord..." The concubine put on a merciful look, "I will punish him without food for three days and not to go out."

"Well, it should be like this." The prince nodded, and then said to the nanny, "What are you still doing in a daze? Hurry up and help the princess go back and wash up."

"Yes, my lord." The nanny hurriedly supported the princess who was still weak.

"Fix all the fences, look at this, what a mess it looks like!" the prince taught again.

Therefore, the servants nodded and bowed, and hurriedly cleaned up the stables as if they were granted an amnesty. The princess, the princess and the servant girl all left slowly.

The prince waited for the princess to go far away, then looked up at the stable boy covered in blood. He stopped him just now because he remembered something.