Xie Xiang

The charcoal fire that had been lit all night had been extinguished at some point, and the residual temperature in the room was just right, neither cold nor dry, just right.

Xie Yi was still asleep, leaning on Liu Zao's arms.Liu Zao had already woken up, and kissed her brow lightly, but felt that it was not enough, such a kiss was not enough to repose her full of love.She got closer to her, and felt better until she could hear her shallow breathing.

The window paper in winter is re-glued, using top-grade silk, which is both translucent and strong, blocking the cold wind from the window.Liu Zao watched the light gradually appearing outside the window, from night to dawn.

She had to get up early today to go to Su Wu's Gate, so she secretly prayed that the dawn would be slower so that she could spend more time with Xie Yi.

Xie Yi slept soundly, she put one hand on Liu Zao's belly, her palm stretched out, touching Liu Zao's clothes.While looking out the window, Liu Zao put his hand on the back of Xie Yi's hand, and unconsciously intertwined with her fingers.Xie Yi was probably really tired and showed no signs of waking up.

The sky was bright, Liu Zao couldn't procrastinate any longer, got up a little annoyed and reluctant, put on his robe lightly, tidied himself up, then returned to the bed, and softly called, "Thank you, Mrs. Wake up."

Xie Yi was awakened, and when she opened her eyes, there was mist in the water, but when she saw Liu Zao in front of her, the mist in her eyes gradually dissipated, and she came to her senses.Just looking at Liu Zao, she blushed a little, and pretended to sit up calmly, but before she could speak, the neckline spread out as she sat up, revealing some red marks on her chest.

Liu Zao's gaze was attracted, and he stared blankly, forgetting what to say.

"Mengmeng." Xie Yi pursed her lips.

Liu Zao was startled awake, and hurriedly looked away, but the corners of her lips raised involuntarily.Xie Yi was obviously uncomfortable, and she couldn't help Liu Zao's boldness in this matter. She tried her best to look as if nothing had happened, and closed the neckline, but Liu Zao smiled silly, and she could tell what she was thinking at a glance .

Xie Yi sighed, "Is everything ready?"

Liu Zao nodded, "That's it."

As soon as the words came out, all the charm in my mind disappeared, Liu Zao leaned over, leaned on Xie Yi's shoulder, and said in a warm voice, "Take care."

Xie Yi touched the back of her neck and said, "Your Majesty is the same."

Liu Zao leaned on her shoulder silently for a moment, and when he straightened up, his eyes were flushed.She turned around and said, "Then I'll go." She didn't dare to stay any longer, and quickly opened the door and left.

Xie Yi sat silently for a while.After being tender last night, the room where there was only one person seemed extraordinarily lonely.

Liu Zao arrived at the door, and the car was ready.Every time he is separated from the prime minister, His Majesty is in a bad mood.Hu Ao lowered his head, not daring to look directly at Shengyan.Liu Zao's face was cold and hard, and he forcibly endured it so as not to turn around.She boarded the car and sat down, wondering how Xie Xiang would feel if he was left alone in the room, and whether he also felt lonely.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt worried, but she had to regain her spirits and turn her thoughts to the court affairs.

Su Wu is a loyal person with his own strength of character. The court needs him. Even if it is just an edict, he will die, let alone the emperor himself.He is in good health, nearly eighty years old, and when he walks, his steps are still steady. After hearing the emperor's explanation of his visit, Su Wu sighed, "The country has been peaceful these years, and there has been less communication between the imperial court and outside the customs. There are some merchants. Those who go out to do business have a good understanding of the countries outside the customs, but they are the most slippery and unreliable."

Su Wu has a deep insight on this, he can't trust merchants, when he was herding sheep in Beihai in the early years, there was a passing merchant, he asked the man to bring back the news that he was still alive to the big man, the man agreed, but later he broke his promise , which made him look forward to it for several years, and finally became disheartened.

That's what Liu Zao meant too. It's okay to ask merchants to cooperate, but it's not necessary to rely entirely on them.

"If you have a noble heart and a country, I don't have to worry about it." Liu Zao said with a smile.

There is still a stalemate before the battle, the Huns are coming aggressively, they will not withdraw their troops no matter what, and they have learned to be cautious and no longer rush forward. In this way, this battle will be even more difficult to fight.Liu Zao wanted to send envoys to the Western Regions, not only to see what happened in the Western Regions, but also to join forces with other countries so that they could attack back and forth and completely annihilate the Xiongnu.

Su Wu said with emotion, "Your Majesty can use the minister, but I dare not resign. I can only serve you wholeheartedly."

With him willing to serve, at least he will not be helpless, which is also a good start.

When Liu Zao returned to the palace, he ordered to go in front of the old house.When passing by the old house, she opened the curtains to look around, the front door was empty, all the chariots and armored men of the prime minister's mansion were gone, and Prime Minister Xie also left.

Liu Zao raised his hand to press his chest, feeling stuffy and extremely uncomfortable.

How long will it take, can it be faster, so that they don't have to be separated like this.

Obviously they often face each other, but they can only pretend to be monarchs and ministers.

Back at Weiyang Palace, Liu Zao immediately ordered people to select dozens of strong men, who must be physically strong and quick-witted, preferably officials who serve in the court, can read and write, and know the situation of the border town.

Such a person already has some understanding of the border situation, and he only needs to learn from Su Wu for a month or two before he can go out of the fortress without restraint.

The ministers below received this edict, and because of their strong physique, they set their sights on the army and selected more than ten Lang officials in their twenties.The rest of the places are selected in the court, and most of the selected people are from the general family and have a long history of family education.

Liu Zao looked at the directory and checked the past resumes one by one, and he was quite satisfied.To her surprise, Han Ping recommended himself and wanted to go with him.

Needless to say, the bitter cold beyond the Great Wall, traveling all the way was tiring, eating and sleeping in the open air were all light, so most of the men chosen were strong and strong men, how could Han Ping not know.She is highly valued because of her quick thinking and appropriate actions. Everyone is surprised, and they don't know why she wants to fight for this drudgery.

She is also the emperor's person.The minister in charge of this matter did not dare to be exclusive, so he reported his name to Liu Zao's case. Liu Zao summoned her to ask her, but he understood her thoughts.

There are more than tens of thousands of talented people in the world. She was lucky, entered Beijing and was reused, but the next step was not so smooth.

Seeing that she wanted to earn credit, Liu Zao did not stop her. If she loses outside the pass, it means she is too ambitious and cannot blame others.

In addition to Han Ping, there are also many people who want to take this opportunity to stand out, but unfortunately they are not good talents and cannot be selected.

Progress in Beijing was quite good. Not only did the envoys arrive, but the emperor also lowered the transportation of grain and grass to the frontier continuously.

There were also three battles, big and small, in the border town, each winning and losing.The Xiongnu seemed to have changed their nature and changed their previous rough style of play. They neither advanced aggressively nor retreated, preferring to stalemate.Xie Wen captured more than ten enemy heads, and made a small contribution.Since Xie Yi said that she cared about her the most, Liu Zao consciously placed herself in the position of an elder, no longer jealous with Xie Wen, and even wrote down everything for him in his heart, just waiting for him to win and return to court , Then add a reward.

It's nothing to be so busy, Liu Zao couldn't stop thinking about Xie Yi when he had free time.When she thinks hard, her heart feels as if it has been hollowed out. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night and cannot fall asleep. She dismisses the palace guards, carries a lantern, and goes to the pepper room alone. Looking through Xie Yi's dowry over and over again, as if this would be a consolation.

She learned to hide promises, anxieties and longings in her heart, so Xie Yi didn't know how she spent her sleepless nights.

Xie Yi will also miss Liu Zao, they are all in Beijing, separated by only a palace wall, but it is like a moat in the sky.Unlike Liu Zao who always misses her in the dead of night, Xie Yi misses her the most when they are facing each other.

Either on the main hall of the Great Dynasty, or in the Xuanshi Hall, there are always many irrelevant ministers around, Xie Yi stands at the bottom of the hall, Liu Zao sits at the head, their eyes meet each other, and they try their best to restrain their heartbeats, calmly move away.

Xie Yi didn't know what she looked like, but her cuteness looked so pitiful, the more she didn't show anything, the more distressed she was, and she always wanted to hold her in her arms to comfort her.

The genius doctor Liu Zao found was very capable, and Xie Yi saw it, and Xie Yi's wounds improved, Liu Zao was very happy, and appointed the genius doctor as a medical officer, and made him stay in Beijing and stay in the prime minister's residence.

Li Wen knew about their relationship.It's strange to say that even though the emperor is ruthless, when Li Wen learned of the affair between the two of hers, he concluded that the two of them were sincere, and never thought that His Majesty might be interested in it for a while, but it would not last long.

After all, for a person like Xie Yi, once his heart is moved, he can't change it easily.

Fortunately, His Majesty still knows how to measure, Xie Xiang also has integrity, and he didn't take the opportunity to flatter him, so it didn't cause a catastrophe.However, even though he didn't see how the emperor was in contact with the prime minister, Li Wen was still uneasy. He always felt that his majesty's temperament should not be so quiet, and his majesty still refused to make an emperor's husband. But oil and salt do not enter.

Sure enough, another major event happened in less than a year.

When the envoys left the customs, after untold hardships, they finally found out that it turned out that there was a foreign country rising up in the grassland, and the Huns were hard to fight against.Not only that, Han Ping also brought the envoys of small countries such as Dawan and Yueshi back to Chang'an, and formed an alliance with the big Han to fight against the Xiongnu.A small country doesn't have much military strength, but it's just for the purpose of boosting momentum on the scene, and the main thing is to have a big man to take the lead.

However, the scene of all nations coming to court is really beautiful, as if all the countries regard the Central Plains as their suzerain, and the grand Han atmosphere is majestic and majestic.

Liu Zao showed her ambition to conquer the Western Regions. As soon as the envoys left, she suddenly mentioned to the court that she wanted to lead an army to conquer the Xiongnu and conquer the Western Regions in person.

The ministers turned pale with fright, and the emperor personally conscripted, not to mention whether the battle was successful or not, the manpower and material resources spent in it alone were thousands of times.After the two years of fighting, although it can't be said that it hurts muscles and bones, it is by no means easy.If His Majesty stirs things up again, even if the nations finally surrender, the gains will outweigh the losses and hurt one's own bones.

The ministers hurriedly persuaded them, but the emperor became more interested and made up his mind that he must pacify the Western Regions and show the spirit of the Central Plains. Anyone who tried to remonstrate would turn a deaf ear, but instead kept urging the ministers to prepare.

Her Majesty is very wise. She neither builds palaces indiscriminately, exploits the people, nor favors courtiers, harms the loyal and good. She is also very diligent in politics. Whether it is border wars or the hardships of the people's livelihood, she takes it to heart, but she has measures. , It may also be an act of generosity and love for the people.

It can be seen that His Majesty, who is wise in everything, suddenly shows signs of militarism. With such a situation, the world cannot withstand a few years of tossing.

The ministers were really worried, but they couldn't persuade anyone, they discussed again and again, and they came to find Li Wen one after another. Li Wen is the emperor's teacher, and His Majesty should be able to listen to what he said.Li Wen felt even more bitter. If His Majesty would listen to him, there would probably be several princes.

Your Majesty can only listen to the advice of Prime Minister Jin.It is impossible to say this.Li Wen had no choice but to pretend to be deliberate, and said, "The matter is very important, I am afraid it will be difficult for me to accomplish it alone, and I have to invite the Prime Minister to go with me."

When the ministers heard it, they also felt reasonable. The last time they discussed posthumous titles, they all depended on the prime minister to persuade His Majesty.