Qi Huang

The tea smoke was curling up, and the Queen Mother was the only one left in the Hall of Qinzheng. She drove the servants who served beside her out of the hall, and boiled water and tea herself.After Zhao Xian led the way for Xie Xuan, he closed the door softly, while he retreated behind the palace gate, waiting for orders.

There is a cup on the other side of the long table, and there is only half a cup of tea left in the cup. It seems that the owner who used this cup has already left.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the Empress Dowager did not raise her head, she just freed up a hand to beckon Xie Xuan: "Come."

There are many tea sets and tea powder on the table, which were carefully selected by many officials and dedicated to her.Ordinary people like to drink tea, but the Empress Dowager loves to paint with tea foam, and her craftsmanship is also very exquisite.When Xie Xuan stepped forward, she had already used the cup of tea in her hand as a drawing paper, and with a sword as a pen, she laid out a picture like ink smudged with a brush.

"Do you recognize this painting?" The queen mother withdrew her hand and asked.

Xie Xuan leaned over and took a look: "It's... a small piece of silk "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"."

The queen mother laughed: "It's you who can recognize it. If Duan'er saw it, he would just say 'it's just a landscape painting'."

Xie Xuan shook her head like a spoiled child, squinted her eyes and said with a smile: "That's natural, I'm much smarter than Brother Ten, doesn't the emperor's grandmother always say that?"

The queen mother pointed at Xie Xuan, and let out a pampering sigh.

After the tea set was used up, the Queen Mother casually pushed it aside, leaving a water mark on the table, and a little emerald green powder stained her hands.Seeing this, Xie Xuan took out a handkerchief from his arms and stepped forward to wipe it.

"Speaking of Duan'er..." The Queen Mother said slowly, "I heard that you asked him to approach Wei Lian a few days ago?"

"Yeah." Xie Duan nodded, his hands kept moving, "Wei Lian is Li Jin's abandoned son, and he may not be the one who conspired against him. If there is a chance to instigate rebellion, he will be spared to deal with Li Jin."

"But why did you let Duan'er go? With his elm head, I'm afraid things will only fail."

The tea foam on the fingertips had been wiped clean, the queen mother withdrew her hand and pulled Xie Xuanyi to sit down by herself.The bench was big enough for their grandparents to sit side by side. The Empress Dowager loved Xie Xuan very much. She was as terrified as hell in front of others, but when facing Xie Xuan, the spring breeze was always blowing on her face.

With a smile on her face, she listened carefully to Xie Xuan's words: "Wei Lian is not the most important thing. It's just right to let Brother Ten go."

If it succeeds, everyone is happy, if it fails, they have nothing to lose.

Besides, Li Jin must have guarded against him because of this incident. If Xie Duan hadn't gone forward, Wei Lian would have died in prison "fearing crime" before he even saw anyone.

How could the Empress Dowager not understand these simple truths.But when she asked, the only explanation was the word temptation.

Xie Xuan responded one by one.

After the temptation is over, and knowing what Xie Xuan is thinking, can she feel at ease.

The Empress Dowager picked up the teacup on the table and delivered it to Xie Xuan with her own hands: "Try it? I brewed it myself."

At this moment in the Palace of Qinzheng, if someone else was here, facing the empress dowager's amiable face, he would either guess that the tea was poisoned, or immediately get up and bow down in fear.

But Xie Xuan just stared at it for a moment, then took it naturally, and took a sip.

Slightly sweet in the mouth.

Unlike the astringent taste of ordinary tea powder, the tea still has some mellowness in the mouth. Xie Xuan was surprised, and suddenly smiled: "Grandmother's craftsmanship! Is there any seasoning in it?"

The queen mother looked at Xie Xuan for a long while, her face suddenly paled.

"Add antidote."

Xie Xuan's smile stopped.

"It's not all an antidote." The queen mother stood up, leaving Xie Xuan to sit alone in the high seat, "Did Xiao Ling tell you that you need to take this antidote every once in a while?" Otherwise, you will feel as if your body is being bitten by insects and ants, and you will feel unbearable pain?"

Xie Xuan put down the teacup slowly, but didn't get up, just sat casually like this: "The emperor's grandmother knows everything."

"To go to Yongzhou, it will take at least a year, or at most, I don't know how long it will take. I have prepared some for you. Remember to ask Zhao Xian to pick them up when you leave Beijing."

"Thank you, Grandmother."

They are like a pair of ordinary grandparents, discussing matters to be prepared when they are about to go abroad.The Empress Dowager's always beautiful face, under the backlit steps of Qinzheng Hall, also has a somewhat inexplicable sense of oppression.

She turned around and stared at Xie Xuan's white clothes for a long time: "Did you go to Mr. Xiao's just now?"

"Yes." Xie Xuan also smiled, "No, Xinglan is still wearing Mr.'s clothes."

The Queen Mother nodded slightly.

She has a deep mind, and her vigilance is also different from ordinary people. Few people can really figure out what is in her heart through the appearance, so they are restless, fearful, or thinking about how to put her to death all day long.

But the queen mother is contradictory, kindness and viciousness intertwine and coexist on her young body, which cannot be ignored, nor can it ignore the fact that she stands at the pinnacle of power.

But now, this woman who holds the power of life and death has given up her position to Xie Xuan.

Xie Xuan didn't sit for long, he didn't need to speculate on what the Queen Mother was thinking, and he didn't need to.

He just walked briskly down the high platform, stepped down from the position that symbolizes that one person is above ten thousand people, and came in front of the Queen Mother.

This white dress well outlines Xie Xuan's tall and straight figure, with a straight waist and a capable and powerful girdle, which is the unique taste of young people.He pulled the crown rope hanging from the bun behind his ears, then turned around in a circle, and opened his arms to the Queen Mother as if showing off: "Does it look good?"

The queen mother stared at it for a long time, and finally smiled slightly: "Looks good, if my family Xinglan is a girl, I'm afraid I can be rated as the most beautiful in my big week."

Xie Xuan and Xiao Ling had intentionally spread the news in the palace that the two of them had the hope of Longyang—although this incident was rare, it had not never happened over the years.Xiao Ling's original intention was to take advantage of this matter to occasionally go out of the palace. As a person who has been under house arrest in the palace all year round, he is like a trapped animal.

Only with a reputation can one go to Luming Residence.

But at this time, the disturbing rumors were about to spread from summer to autumn, the Queen Mother seemed to have just remembered, and asked Xie Xuan herself.

She didn't seem to be afraid that Xie Xuan would collude with Xiao Ling and then seek to do something wrong.

The Empress Dowager walked up the stairs again. Behind the seat, on the screen with dragon patterns that symbolized the power of the emperor, there was a ray of light seeping in from outside the house.She stared slowly, touching the edge of the light with her fingers, and said, "Actually, I'm going to Yongzhou now, and I have one more thing for you to do."

"Grandma, please tell me."

The Empress Dowager turned her head and looked at Xie Xuan with an inexplicable meaning in her eyes.

"You want to wipe out the old Xiao clan for me."

Since you want Xie Xuan to kill people, you must always tell him the whole story.

The past that had been covered in dust many years ago was told to Xie Xuan by the Empress Dowager herself on one of the most ordinary afternoons.

More than ten years ago, Xiao Shendu, the patriarch of the Xiao family, was the commander of the Southwest Town Army, commanding [-] troops and horses in the southwest, using the thirteen cities of Yanzhou as the pass to protect the stability of the southwest of the Great Zhou.

In those few years, the former emperor was old and frail, and was about to die, and the royal family was in decline.Therefore, the interior of the Great Zhou was precarious, and there were also foreign thieves staring at the border.

The climate in northern Xinjiang, where the Feng family is located, is extremely cold, but in that year, for some reason, herdsmen often came to harass them.Year after year, conflicts between many tiny clans snowballed, one after the other, eventually turning into large-scale wars that could not be ignored.

When the battle report from Northern Xinjiang was sent back to Bianliang, the first emperor was already ill, and there was no one among the Xie royal family who was stupid enough to take on this important task.

When there was nothing to do, the Empress Dowager, who was still a noble concubine at that time, intervened forcefully in the government affairs of the court as a woman.Holding the late emperor's oral order in her hand, she immediately sent the soldier talisman in the late emperor's hand to the Imperial Forest Army, and asked them to send it to the Huaiyuan Wang Fengyi at that time.

Da Zhou's 30 soldiers and horses gathered in the northern border because of a tiger talisman. Feng Yi led the army to fight to the death, and finally drove the northern barbarian out of the border of Da Zhou.

However, misfortunes never come singly. At the final stage of the war in northern Xinjiang, the drums of war in the southwest suddenly sounded again.

The war in northern Xinjiang came first, and no one expected the danger in the southwest, and no one made preparations in advance.

Fortunately, Xiao Shen was brave and good at fighting alone. Even if Goguryeo joined forces with other tribes to attack the southwest of Dazhou, he withstood the pressure and did not let Goguryeo enter the territory of Dazhou.

It’s just that this war was too tragic. Under the numerical offensive of Goguryeo and its allies, most of the Xiao’s army in the southwest was killed and injured, and their advantages gradually disappeared. In desperation, the Queen Mother asked him to retreat to Yanzhou City and wait for reinforcements.

However, the 30 elites of the Great Zhou Dynasty had just experienced the war in the northern border, not to mention marching to the southwest with high mountains and far distances, even if they went here regardless, they might not have the power to fight Goguryeo and others.

It was also at this time that the Queen Mother suddenly remembered that there was another Xiao Ling in Bianliang City.

"Xiao Ling has been by Xiao Shendu's side since he was a child, and grew up in the mold of his father Xiao Shendu. When the war broke out, he was spending Duanyang with his mother in Bianliang. In order to save his father, and also to save me in the southwestern part of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Common people, Xiao Ling accepted my order and led the army to the southwest with General Wang who was still a thousand households at that time."

Xie Xuan asked: "How old was Xiao Ling at that time?"

"Teens? Fourteen or fifteen? I don't remember." The Queen Mother said in a daze, "It's been too long, and I can't remember clearly. I just remember that he was still a teenager at that time, just like you."

She looked at Xie Xuan's clothes, saw the amber gemstones on the girdle, suddenly smiled and said: "He seems to be wearing this one back then."

Excluding those who needed training, Xiao Ling and Wang Qi led the remaining [-] soldiers to assist Xiao Shendu.

The battle in Yanzhou is urgent, and Goguryeo and its allies have come prepared. If the reinforcements do not arrive, the thirteen cities of Yanzhou will be in danger after the defeat of the Southwest Town Army!

Even though it is so urgent, everyone in Bianliang City and Ziluan Hall is full of hope.

——That is the Xiao family with great military exploits and never lost a battle!

However, however.

Things are like this, impermanent and trackless.

Originally, they only needed to stick to it for another ten days, but in just ten days, Xiao Ling and Wang Qi would come with reinforcements, and the situation of the battle would not be irreversible by then.

But at the critical moment, Xiao Shendu seemed to have been lowered. Before the reinforcements arrived, he suddenly opened the city gate and brought his damaged subordinates to confront Goguryeo head-on.

The end is naturally a fiasco.

"When Xiao Ling and the others arrived, Yanzhou was shattered, and the people in the thirteen cities were unwilling to surrender, so they were brutally slaughtered by Goguryeo." The queen mother said softly, "Hundreds of thousands of people were wiped out like this. They The blood flowed out can stain the entire land of Dazhou red."

Xie Xuan calmly said, "What happened next?"

"Later... naturally it is accountability." The queen mother lowered her eyes, she seemed to be still grieved by the tragedy more than ten years ago, "Xiao Shen's only move, enshrining all the thirteen cities of Yanzhou in the hands of Goguryeo, is tantamount to rebellion according to the law. Zhu Jiu Clan, unfortunately, in that battle, he was accidentally shot by random arrows and died in the southwest."

Hearing this, Xie Xuan's gaze finally fluctuated.

Since it belongs to the Zhu Jiu Clan... why is Xiao Ling still alive?

He asked, and the Empress Dowager replied: "Because Xiao Shendu had a gold medal for avoiding death bestowed by the late emperor, before he died, Xiao Shendu gave the gold medal for avoiding death to the deputy general and sent it to me."

Xie Xuan caught the point: "Only one?"

"There is only one." The Queen Mother said, "Among his beloved wife and his only son, Xiao Shen chose the latter."

So Xiao Ling survived.

But who knew how he felt when he was young at that time, when he saw that his father could almost be called a rebel?

At that time, he could still whip his horse and gallop heroically on the battlefield.But now, because of that tragic war, he is sick and can only sit in this wheelchair, looking at the southwest of his dream.

The past is put into the flow of water, and it is ruthlessly washed away together with the ruined past like falling flowers.

The queen mother turned her head and stared deeply at Xie Xuan: "No matter what kind of relationship you have with Xiao Ling, I can ignore it, but Xing Lan, the old Xiao family that is still wandering in the territory of the Great Zhou must be cleared. Keep them , is of no benefit to the common people, and is of no benefit to the country. As long as the Xiao Clan's old department exists, Xiao Ling's threat to the country will continue to exist. Even if you and him are together, there will be no peace."

"However, if all the old Xiao Clan disappeared, Xiao Ling would have no reliance. Naturally, it would be impossible for him to do anything that endangered the country. You and him can stay together and know each other. A few days ago, the bandit riots in Yongzhou were related to the old Xiao Clan. "

Unexpectedly, what Xiao Ling never asked Xie Xuan to do would be revealed to him in another way.

Xie Xuan looked at the Queen Mother calmly.

The young empress dowager's eyes were full of sadness, but she also showed determination everywhere.It seems to be for the hundreds of thousands of people, and also for the soldiers who died tragically because of a single person's mistake more than ten years ago.

However, in these words, how much truth exists?

Xie Xuan thought for no reason.

The queen mother really thinks he will believe it?

Among the falsehoods and realities, there are lies that cover up the truth, and there are also truths buried in lies.Her purpose was not to lay out the truth, but to push Xie Xuan into a situation where there was no way out.

Once these Misinli, which belonged to the royal family and the legacy of the previous dynasty, touched the edge, they couldn't help themselves.

Xie Xuan has no right to refuse.

He had no choice but to bow his head slightly, suppressing the feeling of depression in his chest, and respectfully said: "Grandson obeys."

After the words were finished, dark clouds suddenly gathered in the sky, and a clear eye knew that a downpour was about to fall.

After this rain, Bianliang will be ready for autumn.

As the sun faded, the screen with dragon patterns, which symbolized the power of the emperor, also dimmed. The Empress Dowager sat back on the bench again, with a dignified, elegant and gorgeous appearance.

Xie Xuan stepped back slowly, and when he put his hand on the door frame of Qinzheng Hall, the queen mother behind him suddenly spoke abruptly.

"Xinglan, I wonder if you still remember your ninth brother?"

Xie Xuan's breath was stagnant, and many complicated and nightmare-like memories swept over.He clearly avoids this name on purpose, he dare not even let it enter his dream, and now, it is so nakedly placed in front of him.

He hid his hands in his sleeves, clutching his knuckles tightly.

"I'm afraid you have forgotten. He lived in the palace for a few years at that time. I vaguely remember that he still had a good relationship with you. Later, after Huaiyuan Wang Fengyi died, he returned to Northern Xinjiang to inherit the title of Huaiyuan Wang. "

Xie Xuan took a deep breath: "Emperor Grandmother...why did you mention him suddenly?"

"Because he also went to Yongzhou." The Queen Mother said lightly, "He will help you."