[Red Mansions] The Road to Empress Dowager

Time hastily arrived at the beginning of April, but it was Xiao Jingyun, Jia Lian and his party who escorted the Jiedu Envoy of Ping'an Prefecture, several leaders of Fusheng Bank, and several bandit leaders on Shuibo Liangshan back to Kyoto.

The emperor's heart was very happy, and he rewarded the ministers with meritorious service at the court meeting, and ordered the three divisions to publicly try these traitors, corrupt officials, spies and repeat criminals who were escorted back to Beijing.

Last time, although Yang's life experience was accidentally made known to the common people, it was somewhat disgraceful, but the public trial also has the benefits of a public trial, that is, it is the easiest way to get the whole court to agree, and the common people also support the results of the public trial. Xiaoxiao is not easy here Make a fuss.

This time they recruited almost all the well-known bodyguard agencies in Ping'an Prefecture, and escorted back more than 500 million taels of silver. Among them, some of them needed to be exchanged back to the customers of Fusheng Yinzhuang, and there were definitely a lot left.I have to say that Shanxi merchants are really good at taking care of themselves, and they are as rich as an enemy.

Xiao Jingyun, Jia Lian, the second hero, and the leader of Jinyiwei also reported to the emperor what had happened in Ping'an Prefecture.

At that time, the second hero hadn't rushed to help yet, so Xiao Jingyun and his group rushed to Ping'an Prefecture in the severe cold of the twelfth lunar month.

When I first entered Ping'an Prefecture from Henan, it was the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, and it was snowing heavily. I was trapped in Liaocheng, but I met Zhao Gongzi, He Qingqing and their children who Jia Lian had helped back then.It turned out that the child had a fever from the cold, so he came out to see a doctor.

But because of this, it was exposed to the public, and the men and horses who had been chasing and killing them from Ping'an Prefecture were about to arrest them. There were not many people on the streets, and the arresters were dressed as officers and soldiers, and the people did not dare to control them. They returned Jia Lian It happened that he recognized Mr. Zhao when he saw him in the restaurant of the inn.

Jia Lian said that Mr. Zhao was the son of a general under the Pingan Prefecture Jiedu Envoy, and Xiao Jingyun hurriedly led his troops to rescue him.There are many people on the other side, but Xiao Jingyun and his party are also quite a lot.

Later, Mr. Zhao reported that his father had been killed, because he knew that the Jiedu envoy of Ping'an Prefecture had killed good men and pretended to be meritorious, embezzled military pay, and also smuggled salt and food to suspicious elements outside the region.Zhao Shen will be transferred to Yingkou. During a patrol, several people on the merchant ship in Yingkou look different from Han people, but they are not Koreans either.

It turned out that General Zhao Shen was also a veteran who rose step by step during Gaozong's time. He had been stationed in Liaodong before, and after seeing the characteristics of the Houjin people, he became suspicious and took people to investigate.

It turned out that a barbarian with a shaved head was found, and he was shocked. He ordered someone to detain him.

Zhao Shenjiang was afraid that the other party had already passed through the relationship with the Jiedushi of Ping'an Prefecture. He was trying to block the traffic with his arms, so he smiled and hinted that he would ask the Jiedushi to take him to make a fortune together.Jiedu of Ping'an Prefecture offered money and beauties, and Zhao Shen would not refuse to accept them in the future, and then released those suspicious people sensibly.But behind the scenes, he told his son about the matter. After the Unicom, Jin Shi committed a crime of treason, and the father and son knew the seriousness of the matter.

Although General Zhao was not an upright official, he still knew the difference between Hua and Yi. He knew the brutality of those wild boars after fighting in Liaodong.The Jiedu Envoy of Ping'an Prefecture had colluded with them, so he was going to sneak in and report, but he was being watched by the Jiedu Envoy of Ping'an Prefecture, who still didn't fully trust him.

But General Zhao hurriedly let his son's family escape through the back door, and he made false promises, and was finally arrested. Mr. Zhao was good at martial arts, and he pretended to be a beggar overnight. He left the city before the ban and fled to Henan with his wife. Most of them don't follow the official path.

Fortunately, Mr. Zhao has martial arts skills, is skilled in bow and horse, and can still hunt for food all the way in the wild, but when the three of them arrived in Liaocheng, their wife and children couldn't bear it.

The son had a high fever for two days, so he had to go out to find a doctor, but he met a man from the Jiedu envoy of Ping'an Prefecture, and his life was almost hanging by a thread, but Jia Lian recognized him.

Although the Jiedushi of Ping'an Prefecture sent people over, the magistrate of Liaocheng County and the thousand households of the Weisuo were in a different system from the Jiedushi.Xiao Jingyun was an imperial envoy holding Shangfang's sword, or Dingzhonghou's son, they naturally listened to him and assisted them in controlling all the chasing equipment sent by the Jiedu Envoy of Ping'an Prefecture, and those who disobeyed would be killed without mercy.

Temporarily staying in Liaocheng, Mr. Zhao's three members were resettled. Mr. Zhao talked about the disfavor of several generals under the Jiedushi of Ping'an Prefecture. He was an old friend with General Zhao. /Anyway, capture the governor of Ping'an Prefecture and his henchmen.

Joining together several generals, together with Jin Yiwei, the second hero who arrived later, and Xiao Jingyun, the military attache of the same department, everyone worked together to fight the Jiedu envoy of Ping'an Prefecture and his party feather rebels. The Jiedu envoy of Ping'an Prefecture was captured alive on the Gao battlefield, and most of the soldiers surrendered.

After that, it was the work of reorganizing the army. In order to pay for their crimes and make meritorious service, the people under them exposed the evil deeds of the governor of Ping'an Prefecture, and recruited him to collude with the bandits and officials on Liangshan.After the bandits robbed, they gave them a share, so he suppressed the bandits in a fake way. The people in Ping'an Prefecture were miserable, and they were even killed by them.

When everyone heard this, it was really outrageous, and then Xiao Jingyun sent a few generals who were willing to commit crimes and meritorious deeds to "defect" to Liangshan, and at the same time organized the army to suppress the bandits.

On the other hand, the second hero brought the news that Fusheng Bank is a group of treasonous spies. Jia Lian took Jin Yiwei to conduct a comprehensive search of its lair, arrested the head of the family and its backbone, and counted their wealth and the bank's silver. Jia Lian's eyes were blurred .The people in Jinyiwei belonged to the emperor, and there was Xiao Jingyun, a local tyrant, as the imperial envoy. Jia Lian was greedy and did not dare to move at this time, and the people in the center of Jinyiwei also believed that Jia Lian and Xiao Jingyun were the emperor's in-laws, so they did not dare to move. Almost all those silver taels were brought back to Beijing.

Tu Yuanyi remembered that in his previous life when the Pingan Province Jiedushi incident broke out, Jia Amnesty asked Jia Lian to seek money, and the Jia family promised to protect his children. They got about 80 taels of silver, but they still lost.And the imperial envoys sent by the imperial court could only bring back a million taels of silver.

There is no harm without comparison, how can Tu Yuanyi not be happy at this time?

Therefore, those who made meritorious service were promoted or rewarded, even ordinary soldiers were rewarded with ten taels of silver. For example, Xiao Jingyun was promoted two ranks from a real-ranked official to become a third-rank official.Jia Lian had been promoted in an exceptional way before, and the actual officials were not promoted, but Tu Yuanyi reappointed Jia Amnesty as a first-class general, and canonized Jia Lian as the son of a nobleman.

But having said that, when Jia Lian returned to the mansion, he was stunned to learn that there was another big incident in Jia's mansion when he was away, Jia Yuanchun was dead, and Tanchun went to the Muni Court.

Jia She, who relied on his son Jue to return to his seat, was naturally proud of himself, but still like an old child, he called Jia Lian, who was on vacation, to come to his side, complaining about Jia Zheng with snot and tears, and there were also hints of suing Jia. mother-like.But he didn't want to think that his own hands-on ability was zero. Although Jia Lian was talented, but his seniority was a little lower, could he still support him?

Jia Amnesty didn't expect Jia Lian to become a fighter in the house fight, but he just wanted to take Jia Lian to Jia Zheng in the East Court to show off that his son was capable and his official position was much higher than his eighth-rank one. To prove that his son is not bad.Then, Jia Amnesty said that Jia Lian's family members were in his body and had a wide network of contacts, so Jia Zheng's momentum was much weaker.Jia Amnesty also mentioned that his daughter Yingchun married into the Hou family, and he was about to become a grandfather. Jia Zheng was incomparable, and what happened to his two daughters.

Jia Lian was helpless, but Jia Amnesty finally felt more at ease.

Xiao Jingyun and several cousins ​​and attendants naturally returned home. After seeing their parents and elders visiting, Madam Nie led Daiyu to him. Xiao Jingyun was so excited that he grabbed her hand and said, "My husband is not in Beijing. Tired lady!"

Madam Nie said with a smile, "Be careful!"

Xiao Jingyun was still at a loss, but Daiyu blushed and lowered her head. It turned out that she was diagnosed as pregnant in February, and she was a giant panda in the mansion.

Xiao Jingyun looked at his wife again, and found that her lower abdomen was slightly swollen, and it had been nearly four months now.Xiao Jingyun was overjoyed, and took his wife back to his yard, expressing love.

……

But at this time, Xing Xiuyan was already nearly seven months pregnant, and her stomach was as distended as a ball. Even though she was in good health, she sometimes had cramps at night.

On this day, Tu Yuanyi was resting and accompanied her to ask for pulse. Doctor Li moved his left and right hands. Although he felt something strange two months ago, if he was not sure, he dared not tell the emperor or empress.

Tu Yuanyi saw Li Taiyi's solemn expression, and thought something was wrong, so he couldn't help asking.

Doctor Li said: "Congratulations to the sage, the empress is probably pregnant with twins."

Tu Yuanyi couldn't help being stunned for a moment, then laughed again like a beckoning cat, and said, "That's great! Doctor Li, you must take good care of the queen's body so that the queen can give birth to a dragon heir smoothly! I will definitely reward you a lot !"

Doctor Li said: "This is the job of a humble official!"

After Lin retired as an imperial physician, Xing Xiuyan was still in the dark. Although her motherhood exploded, what does it feel like to have twins? It is twice as difficult to give birth as a single child.She already felt that giving birth to a child was scary, and now she became more depressed.

Tu Yuanyi supported her shoulders, his face glowed, and he said, "Xiuxiu, did you hear that? You are going to give me two children at once!"

Xing Xiuyan looked at him and said, "Two, how come?"

Tu Yuanyi said: "Don't worry, I'm here for everything."

Xing Xiuyan asked back: "Can you give birth to me?"

Tu Yuanyi coughed and said, "I will be with you."

Xing Xiuyan is still under a lot of pressure, besides the difficult task of giving birth to two, if two magic stars are born, can she take care of it?

Here, the empress is about to give birth in two or three months, but the Xing family has just moved into the stately new Cheng'en mansion.Mrs. Xing and Li and several capable nuns set out to find a nanny for the queen.

Mrs. Xing and Li rarely saw Mrs. Song, so she only sent a word and asked her to go back to the courtyard arranged by Xing's family for Li's family.

Mrs. Song was depressed because she could not see Mrs. Xing and Mrs. Li, but when the eldest son came back from Zhuangzi, he recruited him and asked him not to go on business tomorrow, but to take Mrs. Zhang and her to see his aunt.

The Xing family gave Li Tingxuan a Zhuangzi with a hundred acres of land in the suburbs of Beijing, but Li Tinglang didn't have anything.The Xing family made a statement that they were not allowed to buy, sell and transfer, but only pass on to the eldest grandson, and take it back if there is no eldest grandson. This made the Song family feel jealous towards the son of the eldest son, but they had to stay close to the eldest son.

Mrs. Song brought her eldest son over, but Mrs. Xing and Li met her. It turned out that Mrs. Song had made up her mind that her second daughter-in-law, Mrs. Yao, would give birth next month and wanted to enter the palace and become the prince's nanny.

Mrs. Xing Li expressed her loyalty after hearing her good words, and said lightly: "If you become a prince's nanny, you will gain glory and wealth, right? Will you be able to get an official in the future, and you will also be granted an imperial order? Yao is going to give birth to a son. Daughter, do you want to be married to a prince and princess in the future?"

Song's face turned red and then turned pale, and said, "Sister-in-law, I don't dare to think that way, everything depends on the future."

Li Shi Xing ignored her and only said to Li Tingxuan: "Xuan'er, next time you come with your mother, I won't see you, take your mother and go."

Song said: "Sister, you can't be so ruthless, Ting Lang is also your nephew, how can you be so partial?"

Xing Li said: "They are not my sons. I prefer my nephew who was raised by my side since childhood. It is human nature. No one can say no to me no matter where I go."

With that said, let someone see you off.

Unwillingly, Mrs. Song left the Xing Manor, and cursed behind her back. Mrs. Zhang tried to persuade her, and Mrs. Song slapped Li Tingxuan to help his wife, but Mrs. Song called him unfilial.

Li Tingxuan said: "Why is Yan Niang unfilial? You insulted my aunt, who is Mrs. Cheng Engong. If people hear about it, my mother will be punished."

Song said sternly: "Do you think your wings are hard now? With the support of the Duke and Madam, you can disobey me?"

Li Tingxuan said: "Mother, the whole family lives a good life, and we will not stop supporting you, why do you bother?"

Song said: "Then what about your brother?"

Li Tingxuan said: "Since he is basically hopeless in high school in this life, there is no need to waste time on scientific examinations. If he is willing to follow me to manage the farm, I will give half of the farm output to him every year. After a few years, he himself If you can buy a few acres of land, you will have a place for the rest of your life."

Mrs. Song slapped her with a few mouthfuls, cursing: "How dare you curse your brother, you bastard!"

Mrs. Song hated him and beat and kicked Li Tingxuan. "

After Li Tingxuan returned home, his nose was bruised and his face was swollen. Although Li Xiuqi used to listen to Mrs. Song's words.But a short-sighted person also has an advantage. He knows that a prominent sister only treats the eldest son with some affection, so he still has to show that he loves the eldest son more than the second son.After Li Xiuqi learned that Mrs. Song was the one who beat her, Li Xiuqi became angry and scolded Mrs. Song, saying that if she dared to make trouble again, she would be divorced, and Mrs. Song was startled.

The Li family formed a situation where one thing was reduced to one thing, and the Xing family finally got relatively quiet, without going into details.

But he said that because the diagnosis was twins, most of which were boys, Tu Yuanyi wanted to think of a name for another child.

Xing Xiuyan thought it was a refreshment of the Three Views, and Tu Yuanyi said that the other child would be called Tu Yun, whose name was Wei Bang and whose name was Dong Sheng.

Xing Xiuyan was very disgusted, and said: "If you don't study much, why don't you think about it?"

But Tu Yuanyi said: "Who said I read less? What a good metaphor!"

Xing Xiuyan said: "Yes, it's very good. If you go out, you can see the 'Dongsheng Inn'."

Tu Yuanyi said: "Is that called 'Eternal Ascension'?

Xing Xiuyan: "Then it will rise to the horizon."

Tu Yuanyi clapped his hands and said, "That's called 'Yongyao', which fits the word 'Yun'."

Xing Xiuyan said: "What if it's not for sure, are there two princesses?"

"No, Doctor Li is very accurate!"

……

At the end of June, six or seven days before the due date, she was taking a walk outside Lingbo Hall, so as to facilitate her future delivery.

But I felt a pain in my stomach like a big ball, as if something wanted to fall, but it just couldn't come down for a while.

She couldn't help screaming, and Gong'e, who was serving her closely, turned pale with shock and asked why, Xing Xiuyan shouted: "Ben Gong... I'm going to give birth!"

The queen's side has also been on full alert recently. Wherever the queen is, there are two midwives and two imperial physicians on duty.At present, the eunuchs and maids helped Xing Xiuyan into the Lingbo Hall as if they had practiced.

Tu Yuanyi was in the early court, when he heard someone report that the queen had activated, he hurriedly abandoned the imperial court and rushed to Lingbo hall.

When she was outside the delivery room, she heard Xing Xiuyan's cry, the midwife advised her not to scream and save her strength, but Xing Xiuyan was so pained and scared that she cursed Tu Yuanyi, and the people in the delivery room wanted to prick her ears.

"Xiuxiu, I'm here, bear with me, don't scold me for now, it won't be too late to scold me after you give birth!"

Xing Xiuyan just felt that she was going to be so stupid that she was not afraid of anything, but the process of giving birth was too scary.

And she is the first child, but she is only 17 years old, which is not the most mature time. She has been having seizures for three hours and still cannot give birth.

At dusk, Tu Yuanyi was still walking back and forth outside the house like a headless chicken. At this time, the Empress Dowager Zhou, Princess Hede, Empress Dowager Liu, and Princess Hexiao were all waiting.

Empress Dowager Zhou persuaded: "Emperor, be at ease, it is normal for this woman to be in pain for a few days after giving birth."

Tu Yuanyi pounded his fist in the palm of his hand, and he didn't have the heart to protect his image at this time, he said: "What an enemy, they have come, but they want Xiuxiu to suffer this great crime."

Seeing Tu Yuanyi actually shed tears, Princess Hede thought to herself that the relationship between the two was so good, and she also secretly begged for the safety of the emperor's wife.

The pain lasted until midnight, Xing Xiuyan was still not born, Tu Yuanyi began to cry: "God, I have been traveling all my life, and I finally met a caring person. If you want to torture me, torture me! Xiuxiu who has suffered ah!"

He was about to rush into the delivery room, but it was the nuns who asked him not to enter, and the Empress Dowager Zhou persuaded him, so Tu Yuanyi stood outside the house crying and shouting love words to the delivery room.

I don't know how long it took, Xing Xiuyan regained her strength after swallowing the snow ginseng slices. She knew that no one could help her at this time. Be a piao.

"It's out! It's out! Madam, try harder!" the midwife said happily.

Xing Xiuyan let out a scream, and her stomach became much lighter. A midwife carefully picked it up and said happily, "It's a little prince!"

After patting the child's buttocks and crying, the mother hurriedly sent swaddling clothes to wrap the child, and carried the child out.

It was already the morning of the next day, and the sun was shining everywhere, and the mother smiled and said: "Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the queen mother! You are a little prince!"

Tu Yuanyi took it in a daze, looked at the group of small red-skinned monkeys, felt incredible, and asked, "How about the queen?"

The nanny said: "Your Majesty still has one in her stomach, and it will always be born after a while."

After half an hour, the nanny carried out another child. Tu Yuanyi smiled with tears at this time, holding the two sons one by one.

Accepting the congratulations from everyone present, Long live Shanhu, and carrying the child into the house, he didn't mind the smell of blood.

But seeing a midwife holding another baby in her hand, and finding a spare swaddle to wrap it in, Tu Yuanyi asked with wide eyes, "Where did it come from?"

The midwife who was holding the child was overjoyed and said: "Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor, the empress is pregnant with the third child, this is a little princess!"

"Huh?" Tu Yuanyi was dumbfounded, and then laughed loudly.

Let the nurses pick up the children and walked to the bed. Xing Xiuyan drooped her eyelids weakly, but cheered up when she saw him, and said, "You... who loves... to pick up cheap..."

After saying that he couldn't bear it any longer, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Tu Yuanyi held her hand and smiled, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

He inquired about Xing Xiuyan's situation in detail, and he was relieved when he learned that she was only short of breath after giving birth and there was no serious problem.

The court lady and eunuch tidied up the house, and Tu Yuanyi asked him to move a soft couch into the house, where he would stay with his wife and children.

The old sage was also dumbfounded when he heard the news: "Third child? Hongzheng is really not weaker than me!"

Dai Quan laughed and said, "No matter how wise and powerful Your Majesty is, he was born of an old sage."

The old sage nodded: "That's true! The queen is a blessed one. Go and send my thousand-year-old blood ginseng to the queen."

Dai Quan flattered with a smile: "The greatest blessing for the empress is to have such a good father-in-law as the old saint."

The old sage laughed loudly, and then went to the group of Hanlin and scholars who started to study books to award them, and they were happy together.

Xing Xiuyan slept for a day and a night before waking up. The emperor was reviewing the memorial outside, and came in when she heard her call.

Tu Yuanyi helped her sit up and leaned against him. She was hungry and tired, but she asked the child first.

Tu Yuanyi pointed to the three cribs and said, "Xiuxiu gave birth to Wei Guo, Wei Bang and Yuanyuan all at once."

"Hurry up and show me!" She was also curious about what the bun she gave birth to looked like.

Tu Yuanyi instructed the nannies to bring three children over, Xing Xiuyan took two, and Tu Yuanyi took one.

Xing Xiuyan looked at the little dumpling strangely, with red skin, and couldn't help asking, "Why is it so small?"

Tu Yuanyi said: "The iron pillar weighs four catties and nine taels, the big pillar also weighs four catties and nine taels, and the round circle weighs four catties and six taels. The imperial physician said that this is serious. It is really hard for Xiuxiu to carry these three. Extremely."

Xing Xiuyan looked at this, looked at that, the original objective evaluation, now the children are actually not good-looking, but they are their own so they don't dislike them.

Xing Xiuyan murmured: "Three children, how do we take them? We can't leave them all to the nanny."

Tu Yuanyi said: "As long as I am free, I will accompany you and the children."

Then a court lady brought bird's nest porridge, and the two put down their children, lying on Xing Xiuyan's bed in a row, and Tu Yuanyi fed her with his own hands.

On the third day, all the relatives of the emperor gathered in the Lingbo Hall to attend the three washing banquets of the two princes and a little princess, because the queen was not suitable to move at this time.

The old sage and the empress dowagers of the two palaces all attended, and Cheng Engong and his wife, Dingzhonghou and his wife, and Mrs. Xing also received this honor.The queen's sisters couldn't come, Su Fu'er was born 20 days ago, Yingchun was born ten days ago, Daiyu and Shi Hui were too heavy to travel.

However, each family gave generous gifts, but these were managed by Princess Hede and her confidant five servants.

Xing Xiuyan couldn't help but feel a little shy when she saw her mother. She gave birth to three babies, so she looked like a sow.Mrs. Xing and Li looked at Qiqi's three children with great joy, and gave them a generous gift from their grandmother.