That year, that cicada, that sword

Chapter 471

Xu Beiyou was silent for a long time, and then he let out a long and complicated sigh, "Xu Yan, the elder brother of the current empress, the king of Xihe County."

The proprietress picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Xu Beiyou, and said softly: "If you want to talk about the king of Xihe County, it is really full of nobles. Back then, the late emperor canonized 24 meritorious officials in Lingyan Pavilion. The Xu family had one family and two nobles, and the governor Xu Lin ranked first. Second, Xu Lin was named the No. 20 king of Xihe County. He was granted the title of Marquis of Xihe. After the death of the governor, Xu Yan inherited the title of King of Xihe County. "

The four kings of "Qi", "Jin", "Qin" and "Chu" are the most honorable princes of Da Qi, and they will not be conferred lightly, even Xiao Jin, the half-brother who followed Xiao Huang and made great achievements in the Southern and Northern Wars, could not get him. one.

And because King Qi was the title of Emperor Xiao before he came to the throne, which is the same as the title of Daqi, so King Qi is the most expensive, and he is the first among all kings, which means the crown prince.In today's Great Qi court, except for Qi Wang Xiao Bai, the other three kings are all vacant.

The rest of the kings are slightly inferior to these four kings. The reason why Wei Wang Xiao Jin is also called the number one among the kings is because he is the prince with the highest seniority, the greatest power, and the most extensive land in the royal family, not because he is " How honorable is the title of "King of Wei".

Under the prince is the county king. The prince is named with a single character, mostly the name of the state, while the county king is named with two characters, mostly the name of the prefecture. The reason why the king of Xihe is said to be the first among all the county kings is because Xihe The county king is the only county king named after a state, and it is also one of Xiaohuang's Longxing places, Xihe Prefecture.

Although Xihe Prefecture was later split and merged into Shanzhou, Yanzhou, and Zhongdu, and the fiefdom of Xihe County King was also included in the jurisdiction of Zhongdu, the title of Xihe County King has not changed, and there is a palace in Zhongdu, so This honor is still unique.

The proprietress fell into reminiscence, and said softly: "In the tenth year of Taiping, I entered the Xihe County Prince's Mansion as an errand. Although the old county king was alive at that time, the empress was just a princess, and the Xu family was not a descendant. But Xu Yan Mr. Xu is already one of the senior scholars in the cabinet. Even if he is not as old as Lan Xiangye and Han Ge, he is the candidate for the first assistant of the late emperor. No matter how you look at it, the Xu family wants to be prosperous and prosperous for a hundred years, but who would have thought that in just ten years, the entire Xu family would be overthrown and never recover from it."

Xu Beiyou said: "First, the governor Xu Lin died, and then Xu Yan died of a sudden illness. There is only one Xu Yi left. Even if Empress Xu wants to support her, she has nowhere to go."

The proprietress asked softly: "He died of a sudden illness? Mr. Xu, do you believe it?"

Xu Beiyou frowned and said: "This is what the court said, and it is also known to the world. Of course, I have also heard some rumors. I am afraid that they are not true. Does the proprietress have other opinions?"

The proprietress smiled, "It is true that Mr. Xu is weak and sick, but he has not yet died young, otherwise the late emperor would not have chosen Mr. Xu as the successor of Master Lan. Status and status, what kind of panacea can’t be obtained? It’s not difficult to get the golden elixir of Taoism, wouldn’t it be a big joke to say that he died of a sudden illness?”

Xu Beiyou rubbed his chin and asked, "What role did Duanmu Ruisheng play in this matter? But he was secretly pushing behind the scenes?"

The proprietress shook her head and said: "Then Mr. Xu thinks too highly of Duanmu Ruisheng, not to mention that Xiao Gongyu, Xiao Shu and other important officials of the clan were still alive at that time, only that Duanmu Ruisheng was only in the rank of the secret guard at that time. The third is nothing more, on top of him are the Governor Qu Cang and the Left Governor Tang Chunyu, who are far from being as powerful as they are today, to put it bluntly, he is just a murderous knife that obeys orders."

Xu Beiyou's face became serious, and he asked slowly: "Then who is the one who handles the knife?"

The proprietress picked up the teacup on the table and said softly: "Master Xu really doesn't understand or is he just pretending not to understand? The Dark Guard Mansion has always followed orders directly from His Majesty the Emperor. After the former Emperor died suddenly, he never left any will. The new emperor has just ascended the throne, the foundation is not stable, and all the power of the court is in the hands of the empress dowager, besides the empress dowager who hangs the curtain, who else can Duanmu Ruisheng take orders from?"

Xu Beiyou said expressionlessly, "Even if the Empress Dowager is the one behind the scenes, why would she attack the Xu family?"

The proprietress didn't answer directly, but asked instead: "I wonder if Mr. Xu has heard the saying that the son kills the mother?"

Xu Beiyou said in a deep voice: "Of course I have heard that after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty forced Prince Li to death, he made the youngest son the crown prince. He feared that the son and mother would grow up, so he made the relatives of the descendants monopolize the power, so he killed the mother of the prince. According to historical records, Emperor Wu once did so. In other words, "Cao fools know right and wrong. In ancient times, the country was in chaos because the master and the young mother were strong. The heroine lives alone and arrogant, and she is promiscuous and self-indulgent. There is no way to stop it. You don't hear about Lu Houxie! So you have to go first. It's also.'"

"Mr. Xu is well-known, and I admire him." The proprietress first praised, and then said: "Although His Majesty who had just ascended the throne at that time could not talk about the word 'master and young', there are two major hidden dangers in the dynasty at this time. They are the clan Wei Wang Xiaojin and the foreign relative Grassland Khan Wang Linhan. At that time, the Xu family could be said to be in full swing. There is a queen empress, and the empress dowager does not want to have a second relative from the descendant family, and she is afraid that your majesty will not be able to act because of the relationship between husband and wife in the future, so she will take the initiative to act for your majesty."

Xu Beiyou said with emotion: "The imperial court is like a thorn, which is covered with thorns. The empress dowager is afraid that your majesty will not be able to handle this thorn, so she wants to pull the thorns off the thorn for your majesty. There’s really nothing wrong with that.”

The proprietress drank the tea in the cup and said slowly: "That's the reason. It is said that the Tian family has no relatives, but in my opinion, the Empress Dowager really loves His Majesty to the bottom of her bones, and even in the end she wants to help the current Majesty." Your Majesty clears the way."

Xu Beiyou sighed softly, then asked, "Where were you in the 20th year of Taiping and the first year of Taiping?"

The proprietress said calmly: "At the end of the 20th year of Taiping, I left the imperial capital with Xu Yan, the king of Xihe County."

"Why did you leave the imperial capital?"

"I don't know the specific reason, but I just heard from His Royal Highness that the situation in the city is dangerous, and it is not a place to stay for a long time. I want to go to the fiefdom of the Northwest Central Capital."

"Which people followed Xu Yan, the king of Xihe County, to the northwest?"

"In addition to His Royal Highness and concubine, there is also a side concubine, the young prince who was just born, and three other guards. In addition, His Royal Highness also left a substitute and His Royal Highness in the palace of the imperial capital, so There was no fanfare on that trip, it should be considered a secret trip."

"The results of it?"

"It turned out that something went wrong, our whereabouts were exposed, and we were hunted down by the Dark Guards. Because we traveled secretly and did not bring a large number of guards, we were no match for the Dark Guards. We could only fight and retreat. We arrived in Yuzhou When I was in the territory, I was knocked down in Luoshui during a chase, so I escaped by blowing up to death with the technique of water escape, and was later rescued by a postman. Under his care, it took me a year to recover. Take care of the injury, and then I married that Yi Cheng, that is, not long after I got married, news of Xihe County King's sudden illness and death came in the mansion newspaper."

Xu Beiyou didn't speak for a long time.

The proprietress sighed quietly: "My husband is a good man, but unfortunately he died early. After he left, I spent some money to buy this inn that was about to be abandoned, and opened it as an inn until today. If Mr. Xu had never appeared in front of me, maybe I would never mention these old things to others."

After a long time, Xu Beiyou said softly, "Bring your pen and ink. Jiangdu is a good place, not worse than here. After the truth of this matter is revealed, it's not impossible for the proprietress to come back here again, but right now..."

The proprietress smiled, "Don't worry Mr. Xu, I know the pros and cons of it."

(End of this chapter)