Biography of Qingwu

Chapter 11 Zhao Huaining deliberately approached Jiang Huanian
On July [-]th of the fifth year of Jingyou, Princess Xu Shuyi stumbled and fell into a cliff and collapsed. Zhao Huaining cried bitterly all night, closed the court for three days, and guarded Xu's spirit in Anning Palace.

Zhao Huaining didn't drink water or rice for three days, and looked haggard. In the afternoon, he forced himself to visit the Duke of Ju.

Mrs. Ju is receiving guests at the door. The poetry meeting originally scheduled for today was canceled due to the death of Princess Xu. Mrs. Ju had to prepare a little tea at home, apologize to the princes and ladies of each family one by one, and make an appointment to hold it one month later.

"Concubine Xu slipped off a cliff a few days ago and unfortunately passed away. Your Majesty has only been enthroned for ten days, and the conferment ceremony has not even been held. Why is Concubine Xu so unlucky?"

"Who says it's not! The former Concubine Xu was a well-known talented woman in the imperial city. She recited poems and composed odes, and her looks are all over the country. Her husband has just ascended the throne, and she is about to perform the queen's ceremony. She is the most honorable woman in the Zhao Kingdom, who would have thought that this would happen! God is jealous of talents!"

A few people complained about the injustice of God for Xu Shuyi at the gate of Duke Ju's mansion, and the wife of Duke Ju was standing at the door, watching these young masters and ladies get into the carriage.

From a distance, I saw the royal Kowloon driving towards this side. Just when I was puzzled, a man came down from the sedan chair, dressed in white, with a haggard look, and even staggered as he walked, Mrs. Ji was shocked After a while, he hurriedly ordered his servants to invite Duke Ju.

"My God, why is Your Majesty here!" Mrs. Ju Guo exclaimed in amazement, and everyone who was about to leave stopped.

"Your Majesty?" Everyone looked at each other.Here, Mrs. Ji Guogong has already knelt down to bow down, and everyone knelt down one after another.

"Get up, Mrs. Ji, my sudden visit is really bothering you."

Mrs. Mo said hastily: "It is the supreme honor of the family that His Majesty's presence, so why bother."

"Before it was sealed, the concubine died. It is really a blessing. The concubine loved Mr. Chongming's poetry anthology. I heard that there is Mr. Chongming's "Daoyi Collection" in the house. It is a rare copy in the world. Can you give it to me? This solitary copy will be buried with me to fulfill the wish of the princess during her lifetime."

Just as Mrs. Ju was about to reply, the Duke of Ju came out and hurriedly said, "If there are any, I will keep them in my home. Your Majesty, the old minister didn't know that His Majesty was coming, and he didn't go far to welcome him. I hope you will forgive me."

Li Wen, the Duke of Ji, is about sixty years old, his beard is already gray, he has always been in poor health, and has no talents, so he took up a idle job, and he didn't have to go to court if he had nothing to do. His wife, Cao Qin, is a person who loves talent as much as her life. She usually likes to invite the children of the family to visit the mansion and do some poetry collections. If you stick your head in the witty men and women, you feel as if you have talent, but the princes and ladies in the imperial city all think that the Duke of Ju's mansion is an excellent place to meet the sons of the rich and powerful, so they are invited by Mrs. There is no excuse.

Duke Ju immediately called his servants to fetch it from the study, "Your Majesty, sit in the mansion."

Zhao Huaining declined and said: "There is a funeral at home, you are not allowed to enter the door of other people's house at will, there are no rules when you come here today, even though you are a royal family, it is better to be taboo."

"You can talk as much as you want. It's not easy to ask His Majesty to stand at the door without even drinking a cup of tea." Duke Ju exchanged greetings with a face full of fear.

"The duke and his wife are both elegant people. Do you know who still has Mr. Chongming's collection of heaven and earth and collection of mountains and forests? In the past, the princess always wanted to find these books, but I didn't take them to heart. Now that the man has passed away, I regret it." It's too late." Zhao Huaining asked while the servants of the Duke's family went to pick up the books.

A clear female voice sounded from the crowd, "The little girl has these two books at home! I wish to give it to Your Majesty, and fulfill the princess' wish."

Zhao Huaining cast his gaze over, and saw a beautiful girl of eighteen or nineteen years old wearing a goose yellow dandelion Confucian skirt speaking timidly, seeing his gaze cast over, her voice unconsciously became three points lower.

"This is?" Zhao Huaining had already seen Jiang Huanian's portrait, but at this moment he had to pretend not to recognize him.

Seeing that Jiang Huanian was shy, Mrs. Juguo introduced, "This is Jiang Huanian, the daughter of the Duke of Wei's family."

Zhao Huaining pretended to be surprised and said: "It turns out that she is the daughter of the Marquis of Wei's family. She really has an extraordinary temperament. Marquis of Wei has been a soldier all his life, but he never thought his daughter would be so cute and cute. Since you have these two books at home, can you Tomorrow I will send people to the palace, my wife is newly mourned, it is wrong to disturb the duke's mansion today, it is not good to go to the marquis of Weiguo's mansion again, so I have to trouble Miss."

"Your Majesty will definitely deliver the books tomorrow. Please take care of your majesty. It is true that your wife is sad, but your Majesty must take care of your health. My daughter looks too pale when you look at me." Jiang Huanian secretly felt that although Zhao Huaining is a king, Knowing etiquette, high-ranking but humble, and watching him grieve because of his wife's death, I think he is a good man who values ​​love and justice.

At this time, Duke Ju's servants brought "The Collection of Daoyi" from the study and handed it to Duke Ju. Duke Ju bent down and presented this solitary copy to Zhao Huaining with both hands.

Zhao Huaining took it, "I want to thank you very much. Although the book is priceless, I still want to give you a thousand taels of silver as a thank you gift to the Duke. I hope the Duke will not refuse."

Wang An knowingly took out a plate of silver from the sedan chair, and presented it to Duke Ju with both hands.

Duke Ji trembled, not knowing whether to accept it or not. He couldn't fathom the emperor's intentions. While hesitating, Wang An said softly, "Master Guo, please accept it, or His Majesty will be upset." uneasy."

Duke Ji glanced at Wang An gratefully, took a thousand taels of silver, and knelt down to thank him.

Zhao Huaining hurriedly went to help Duke Ju, and said: "You are the elder of my dynasty, there is really no need to perform this great gift every time."

This is the first time Duke Ju has been respected by others. He has been an official for 40 years. Everyone knows that he is the Duke of Duke passed down from his ancestors. He is really mediocre. He has done nothing for [-] years. Except for this title, he He is the most borderline figure in the court, when he heard that Zhao Huaining honored him as the elder, he was so grateful that tears welled up in his eyes, if there were not so many people here, otherwise he would have burst into tears on the spot.

"Your Majesty, I don't go to court very often, and my political achievements are not outstanding. I haven't made any meritorious service for many years. In previous years, you were still a prince and had no contact with you. I didn't know that you were like this." Yes! So benevolent, so humble and polite, treating people with kindness!"

"Duke Ju, although you have no great achievements, you have been an official for [-] years and have made no small mistakes. This shows that you are an upright official and upright, so why can't you be called a veteran." Zhao Huaining was already tired of such hypocrisy, How is this appearance different from that of King Andu.But the play will continue.

Prince Ji's tears fell a drop, he hurriedly raised his shoulders to wipe away the tears, and said in his mouth: "Your Majesty, if there is any use for the humble minister in the future, just order it."

Zhao Huaining said: "That's natural. It's getting late today, and I'm going back to the palace to guard the spirit. Duke Ju, please go back quickly. Everyone, please go back quickly, otherwise your parents should be in a hurry."

Everyone retreated after hearing the sound, Duke Ju returned to the mansion with the silver in his hands, Zhao Huaining boarded the carriage, and shouted to Jiang Huanian who was behind: "Miss Jiang!"

Jiang Huanian stopped and looked at him suspiciously.

Zhao Huaining trotted over and said: "Miss Jiang, is there anything you want? I have someone prepare it. When Miss Jiang delivers books at the house tomorrow, I will also send you some of your favorite things."

"I don't have anything I like." Jiang Huanian worried that he would also give him a thousand taels of silver, so he hurriedly said that he didn't have anything he liked.

"Since this is the case, then I will let people go back to the warehouse in the palace and pick some good ones for Miss."

"No, you don't need it, Your Majesty, I am touched by the relationship between you and the princess. I gave you the book voluntarily, not in exchange for anything." Jiang Huanian waved his hands, his face full of embarrassment. .

"I know, but the old saying is good, it's not rude to come and go, Miss will help me, so that I won't become a rude villain who is greedy for cheap." Zhao Huaining still refused to let go.

Sure enough, Jiang Huanian was teased and smiled, and suddenly realized that it was inappropriate to laugh at this time, so he stopped laughing all of a sudden, and said, "Yes, that minister might as well be obedient."

Zhao Huaining said: "It's getting late, go back quickly, why don't you bring a maid and a coachman with you, isn't the girl's family afraid of danger?" After that, he called Wang An: "Wang An! Send two people to send Miss Jiang go home."

Wang An answered yes, and waved his hand. Two attendants walked over knowingly, watching Jiang Huanian get into the carriage, and Zhao Huaining also got into the Jiulong drive with Wang An's support.

It was getting late, the setting sun did not know when, the streets were sparsely populated, and smoke rose from the homes of residents on both sides of the road, Zhao Huaining was hungry, so he ate cakes in the sedan chair.

Wang An drove the carriage and said with a smile: "After this incident, His Majesty's kind and gentle demeanor will spread to every family in the imperial city."

Zhao Huaining tried hard to swallow the pastry in his mouth, and said: "It's not in vain for me to perform this scene in front of so many princes of aristocratic families."

Thousands of miles away in Yingdu, Chen Qingwu and Yaxin marched overnight, and finally arrived outside the city of Yingdu. Yingdu is the border between Zhao State and Dirong, and further south is Dirong's base camp. Dirong's land is not good. When the autumn and yellow seasons were not harvested, there was a lack of food, and they were in famine all the year round. Therefore, they repeatedly robbed the people of Zhao State of food. All guarding, this is to avoid war.

"We're in Yingdu ahead. Once you pass Yingdu, you're in the territory of Dirong. It took a lot of effort to make Dirong surrender when you sent troops to attack Dirong." Outside the city of Yingdu, the two had already arrived at their destination, and they relaxed a little. Some, Chen Qingwu mentioned the matter of attacking Di Rong, which can be regarded as a small chat during the hard work of the day and night.

Yaxin asked suspiciously: "How do you know so much?"

Chen Qingwu took a sip of water, moistened his throat, and said, "Five years ago, I accompanied my father to conquer Di Rong. My father led an army of [-] to attack Di Rong's [-], and Di Rong was good at horsemanship, so we suffered a lot."

Recalling the battles that year, Chen Qingwu also sighed, "Later, we came up with a way to cut the horse's legs to force Di Rong's soldiers to dismount and fight. They lost half of their combat power when they lost their horses. Di Rong Good at melee combat, not good at far-distance attack, my father and I came up with a way to lure the enemy deep, and then defeated Di Rong in one fell swoop, my father was injured while luring Di Rong, and his left arm is still disabled.”

Yaxin was a little shocked and said: "What?! You actually subdued Di Rong?! But I remember that the report five years ago said that the emperor's third son Zhao Huaining led the army to subdue Di Rong. No one else said a word. Not to mention, this is how he got the position of prince! How dare he pretend to be a military hero!"

Chen Qingwu smiled, "I didn't accept it back then. Such a feat was enough to make my father the supreme general, but my father advised me to be patient and never confront the royal family head-on."

"In this way, Zhao Huaining's crimes are too numerous to list!" Yaxin roared angrily, Zhao Huaining forced the palace to kill his father, framed ministers many times, and now he has the crime of pretending to be a military leader. Great power is really disturbing.

Chen Qingwu said: "If you commit crimes yourself, you can't live. Aren't we going to move our troops to take him in now? Yingdu is right in front of us. We will see King Anjing tonight. When we march straight to the imperial city, his crimes will be punished." In the end, he has to bear it himself.”

The night was getting darker, and the two had a tacit understanding during the past few days of getting along, brandishing whips and galloping horses together.

Behind them is everything that is gradually being swallowed up by the night, and in front of them are the lanterns of Yingdu that last all night.It is guiding them forward.

(End of this chapter)