female concubine

Chapter 259

The emperor left the Chuigong Hall ahead of time and returned to the inner palace, and told Xiao Youqing all the conversations in the hall, "Zhao Luting asked me to order the Northern Expedition, but I didn't reply to him, but let him wait for an answer at home. The ministers discussed the candidate for the command and there was no suitable candidate. .”

"Beiliao is famous for its bravery, and morale is especially important. The concubine thinks what Wang Youxiang said is right."

"Huo Qing's temper..."

Xiao Youqing said again: "However, Marquis Yinping's temperament still needs to be sharpened. To smooth the edges and corners, the general in charge of the army is most afraid of being favored. Besides, the capital also needs people to stay behind."

"No one is in command, so how will we fight this battle?"

"The government has the Shenji Battalion, and there is civil strife in the Northern Liao Dynasty, and the alien races in the east are also rising. Even if they fight for power, the country's chances of winning are [-]%."

"Then let the second uncle be in command?"

Xiao Youqing shook his head, "Uncle's health is getting worse every year." Then he looked up at the emperor.

"Zhao Luting?" The emperor raised his brows, "He is not only the son-in-law, but also the father-in-law of the crown prince..."

"But don't forget the official, his loyal person is you."

"Looking at Zhao Luting's sudden statement, it was the prince's intention. After you left that day, the prince said that the envoy was killed, so I told him clearly that I would send troops to the north." The emperor propped his forehead, "I can let Zhao Luting be in command, as long as I hope that the prince will always be enlightened and reasonable in the future, and don't want to be as pedantic as those ministers who are fuque and Shangshu."

Xiao Youqing sat next to the emperor, "In recent years, the Northern Liao Dynasty and the Guochao's mutual business business have long been dragged down. Now they are disorganized internally and crushed by their strength. No matter who is in command, as long as they are not too stupid and stupid, they will not lose. But it doesn't matter to the courtiers and concubines who is in command, as long as the officials don't try to push themselves, it's better than anything else."

"Sister knows, I am powerless."

"So you should stay more obediently and take good care of your body."

The emperor nodded.

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The next day, the important ministers of the two prefectures of the East and the West were summoned, and the emperor personally ordered the candidates for the expedition. He ordered Zhao Luting, the commander in front of the palace, to be the Marshal of the North Army, and Xiao Yunze, Marquis of Nanyang, as the deputy commander. Command, and the generals selected by the various military elections were sent as vanguards to accompany the army.

At the end of February, the horse army infantry and Shenji Battalion of the forbidden army in Gyeonggi Province were ready to go.

On the eve of the expedition, the emperor summoned each of the expedition generals in turn in the Chuigong Hall, and the one who had the longest talk was not the Marshal of Zhengbei but the Deputy Marshal of Nanyang Xiao Yunze.

The emperor ordered someone to give him a seat, and sat opposite Xiao Yunze in the side hall, "Since the death of Mount Tai, you have been the saint's closest relative, and she only has you as her own brother, so I hope you can take good care of yourself, cherish yourself, and hope You will always be a saint and a brother and sister."

"What do the officials mean?" Xiao Yunze sat on the chair given by the emperor, his hands on his lap tightened unconsciously.

"Since ancient times, relatives have always been on the tip of the sword. There have always been those who have been oppressed, those who have power, and those who have disrupted the country. You can distrust me, but you can't distrust the saint."

"I only have this one younger sister, who has been held in my palm since I was a child." Xiao Yunze looked at the emperor, his tone seemed to be ordering the funeral, and then he sat up and knelt down nervously, "Even if people in the world don't believe her, I will not disbelieve her, your Majesty and Your Highness's good intentions are only now understood by the minister."

"You have to make meritorious service, so I can give you all the troops. You have to have the ability to compete with Zhao Luting. This time, I will give you a horse army and a battalion of gods. You have to be cautious, be careful, don't it disappointed me."

Xiao Yunze raised his head, "Isn't the commander-in-chief a member of the official family?" Then he lowered his head and frowned, thinking, "His Royal Highness..."

"No one knows what will happen in the future, I just feel more and more powerless."

Xiao Yunze knelt heavily, "Your Majesty is in the prime of life, and is blessed by the Emperor."

The emperor got up and went to Xiao Yunze and helped him up, "Remember what I said, your surname is Xiao, and the saint is also surnamed Xiao, no matter who she marries, it will not change the blood flowing in her body."

Xiao Yunze stepped back and bent his knees again, clapped his left hand on his right, knelt on the ground, kowtowed his head to the ground and stayed for a long time, "I will open up the territory for the emperor, restore my rivers and mountains, and assist the emperor to come in a prosperous age."

Not long after Xiao Yunze left, when the emperor was about to sit down, the servants came in and said, "The officials, the guards and the Ma Junsi all commanded Huo Qing to ask for an audience."

"..." The emperor sat down and propped up the small desk on the wooden couch, "Let him in."

"Minister Huo Qing," the military official knelt before the imperial court, "I respectfully invite Sheng An."

The emperor looked down at the military official with cross-legged head in front of him, "I know what you are doing, the candidate has been decided, and we will go out tomorrow."

"Why doesn't your majesty let me go..."

"Want to go?"

Huo Qing nodded again and again, the emperor tilted his head and took a sip from the teacup, "Next time."

"It's not fair." Huo Qing knelt up straight.

"Why isn't it fair?"

"I have been with Your Majesty for almost 15 years. How many wars have been fought, big and small, and I have never been defeated. Your Majesty let the Marquis of Nanyang go but not my minister. I don't know. San Yali thought that I was isolated by Your Majesty. Is it..."

"You are my beloved general, the battlefield is dangerous, why not stay by my side?"

"Your Majesty has so many guards beside him, so there is more than one lack of ministers. The official position of Marshal Ma and a noble minister cannot be won in vain."

The emperor got up, took a cup of tea to the window of the side hall, "Stay in the capital, this time I have sent all capable generals out, the capital is empty," the emperor looked back at Huo Qing, "so you can't Let's go, this is my trust in you, and they are my appointment, do you understand?" Huo Qing is a sincere man, and regardless of his rank, he has lived with soldiers in the army for many years, and injured his mount The subordinates, so it is quite morale.

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East Palace

Hanging in the hall is a cat play picture of the emperor rewarding a crown prince. A small bamboo basket for needlework was placed on the crown princess's knees. The setting sun slanted in from the west window, and her fingers were pricked when she returned the needle.

The palace servants at the side stepped forward in shock, "Your Highness, let the villain do this kind of thing."

Zhao Xi just held his mouth lightly, looked at the slightly blood-stained embroidery and shook his head, "Your Highness won't let me out of the palace, so I can't even do this little thing," and then he lowered his hands and stroked his protruding belly, "I don't know what he looks like, restless little guy."

"The baby boy is very active. Her Royal Highness must be the eldest grandson of the emperor."

"Emperor's eldest grandson..." The princess frowned, "Those ministers must really think about it, but Your Highness likes daughters, and I also hope to be a princess." The princess looked up and saw that the setting sun had already climbed into the window, " The sutra banquet at the Chongwen Hall should have ended, why hasn’t His Highness come back yet?”

"The villain went out to take a look for His Highness, maybe His Highness the Crown Prince is already on his way back."

"Okay, sorry to trouble you."

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Before the expedition, the emperor summoned several generals and important military officials in Funing Palace, and they didn't leave until night. During this time, the Crown Prince waited outside the palace, and the Crown Prince looked at the fiery sunset in the sky and called out: "Huaizheng."

The servant bowed and crossed his hands, "The villain is here."

"You go back to the East Palace and bring a message to the Crown Princess so that she can have a good meal without waiting for me."

"Yes."

"If she asks you, she will say that I was left behind by my mother, so don't worry about her."

"Yes."

The crown prince didn't enter until nightfall, after the ministers left one after another. The emperor sat sideways on the chair in the study room of Funing Hall, holding several booklets in his hand and looking down.

The crown prince clasped his sleeves and walked into the room calmly, before kneeling, "Chen Weixu," he put his left hand on the right hand and kowtowed to the ground, "Respectfully, Sheng An, how is Sheng Gong today?"

The emperor held the roster of high-ranking officials who went to war, looked up and then lowered his head, "Ann."

The crown prince got up and walked forward and bowed again, "Daddy."

"what's up?"

"Son wants to..."

"Don't even think about going out with the army." The emperor raised his head and put down the booklet in his hand. "You should know your current identity."

"Didn't dad also personally conscript a few years ago, now that the son grows up, he can take care of daddy."

"You are the prince, and you will also be the father of the child in the future. The country is not yet at the point where the prince needs to go to the battlefield to work hard."

"Because my son is the crown prince, I have to take the lead." The crown prince lowered his hands and lifted his clothes and knelt down again. "My son knows that it has always been Daddy's long-cherished wish to recover northern Xinjiang." The prince raised his head lying on the ground, "If Daddy is worried , even if you let your son be a soldier with a knife..."

"Enough!" The emperor slapped the table and scolded.

Seeing the crown prince kneeling on the ground trembling with fright, the emperor sat up on the table and walked to his son's side and squatted down slowly. He sighed helplessly, and put his hand on Ziyi's shoulder to gently stroke, "You He is the only and most important son of your mother and me. Even if you are not the crown prince, how can your mother and I be willing to let you suffer in the army, your parents who suffer from your body, hair and skin? It's time for you to come out."

The crown prince raised his head, a soreness gushed out of his nose and red eyes said: "Does Daddy really think so?"

The emperor and the crown prince who raised his head looked at each other. The two were very close. The gentleness in his son's eyes was exactly the same as the gentleness in the past. The innate kindness made the emperor tremble and raised his hand, and couldn't help touching it with red eyes. The crown prince's side face, "Your mother must be the most reluctant. I have always been harsh to you. Maybe when you first came, I was not ready, and I didn't even know how to be a good father. Does Lang know, since father came out of the pavilion, he only saw the late emperor at a big banquet," said the emperor and sat down slowly on the floor in front of the table, "except for the servants, there is no one around father The exceptions are all women. In this dark city where there is no freedom, Dad has seen too many joys and sorrows, too many people who shed tears. Bad guys, just have different positions and different opinions.”

The crown prince closed his eyes, tears welled up and fell on the back of the emperor's hand, he trembled and said, "That's why daddy set up the six palaces in vain and let women be officials?"

The emperor put down his hands and stood up, the crown prince quickly wiped away his tears and got up to help the emperor up, the emperor went to the desk and pointed to the chicken-pitch pen on the pen hill.

The crown prince stepped forward and picked it up and handed it to the emperor. The emperor shook his head, "See if your handwriting has improved compared to when you were young." The emperor picked up the small pot filled with water and poured a little water on the inkstone, "Daddy Grind ink for you."

The crown prince wiped his tears again with his eyes wide open, walked to the table and took out a blank piece of paper, "My mother said that Daddy's books and paintings are excellent, especially when it comes to calligraphy, even Lu Gong, who has become an official, is not as good as Daddy. .”

The emperor gently turned the ink ingot, and as the injected water became darker and thicker, the fragrance of the ink also dispersed. "It's just imitation," the emperor paused while rubbing the ink, "who knows the helplessness involved."

The crown prince stopped the pen in his hand, raised his head suspiciously, "Daddy?"

The emperor shook his head and continued grinding the ink ingot, "Don't you blame daddy for being partial?"

The crown prince stopped again, "The empress and sister Zhen said that I should be what I am, and my son has obtained everything that ordinary people can't get, so how can he be greedy for perfection? At least ..." The crown prince turned his head with red eyes, "Daddy didn't abandon his son."

The emperor raised his eyes and froze for a while, and then his eyes were red, "Partiality is because you like it, and the degree of partiality depends on how much you like it." Then he swallowed again, "If you like it, you will get praise and partiality, whether she really likes it or not. He’s so good, only if he doesn’t like it will he be disgusted and cast aside, no matter how good he is.”

The emperor immediately let out a long sigh, "In the past ten years or so, I have kept asking myself, questioning myself, why do I have to suffer again for you? Daddy doesn't blame you for bearing grudges, but Daddy hopes that you can always Always be by your mother's side, and take good care of her filially."

The crown prince lowered his head, and immediately raised his hand to wipe the tears from his eyes, "My son will."

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In the middle of the night, the crown prince took the emperor's Mo Chi and the door amulet to the Donei key vault and took out the key. Bong Mo Chiye opened the palace gate and left Da Nei in a carriage.

The crown prince sat in the carriage and opened the curtains. The moonlight was hazy, and when he walked into the backlit alley, he could not distinguish the pedestrians beside him. A little bit of light flickered inside, "The only person in this world who gets all the love from the adults is the mother."