A piece of paper

Chapter 393 Extra Chapter: Storm (Part )
The twelfth month of the first year of Bai'an.

Snow flakes were falling, the white walls inside and outside the capital were painted with red flags, and the red bricks turned into black tiles, creating a new look to welcome the spring.

The two carriages drove along the wall and skillfully turned left into Jiqingfang. Without anyone putting down a footstool, the gray and dark brown figure that came out of the carriage jumped down flexibly with legs together, looked up and admired the newly paved magnificent bright red walls and dark bricks and tiles.

After a long while, he finally uttered a sentence that was difficult to describe: "It's so ugly."

Qiao Fangzhi, who got off another carriage, twitched his mouth helplessly: You are just a big gray rat, what right do you have to despise others for being ugly?

What's more - Qiao Fangzhi blew his beard with his crutch -

Besides, where is it ugly! ?
Red walls, golden tiles, and white snow.

The artistic conception is that the vastness hides wealth and the red walls hide uprightness.

Great kindness, great simplicity, great elegance, and great nobility.

It was so beautiful that he picked up a pen and painted a picture yesterday!
Master Qiao has always been able to tolerate his evil disciples' aesthetic tastes: Why bother with a big gray rat!

The broad-shouldered man who rode up next turned over and picked up the big gray mouse as soon as it landed. He didn't even look up and immediately responded: "It's ugly, like a festive vase in a feast for the feasting and revelry."

Qiao Fangzhi's crutch tilted, he could no longer endure it, there was no need to endure it any longer.

Qiao Fangzhi hit his eldest son's knee with his cane: "Bullshit! This is a sign of the founding of the Celestial Empire!"

Since the Baiduo Rebellion, the capital has not been renovated for 20 years. The main roads and wide alleys are still worth seeing, but the narrow roads and dark alleys here have been exposed to rain and sun for years, and the walls are mottled and the tiles are sparse, which is very unsightly.

Now, taking advantage of the new year and new atmosphere, in the first year of Princess Bai'an's accession to the throne, after receiving the tribute from the Japanese, she immediately opened the national treasury to repair bridges and roads, renovate shacks outside the capital, and repair the peeling walls inside the city. The capital city has a new look, as if it has washed away the past.

The past is dark and cannot be retrieved, but the future is bright and glorious.

Things like the Baiduo Rebellion, Zhaode’s lack of virtue, and the abdicated emperor’s lameness are all bad and I won’t mention them anymore.

The snow fell softly, mixed with the lush and biting cold air and the festive atmosphere of the big red lanterns hanging high, bringing an overwhelming liveliness and blessing to the Great Wei.

"Auspicious snow indicates a good harvest, and the coming year will surely be an auspicious year."

Qiao Fangzhi's eyes were red with anger, and he could not help but sigh, "Abbot Xinhe once made a divination for the Grand Princess Bai'an who was traveling incognito - the grass and trees will wither and the village will be up, and the pure jade will flow with the water and spring will come."

Qiao Fangzhi now realized the subtlety of this: "The grass and trees are withered and the village is going up", doesn't it refer to the abdicated emperor's escape to Liangshan? Doesn't the refined jade refer to the Xianjin whose original name is Yinfei? Doesn't "following the water" refer to the precious yuan coming from the sea?

Spring comes again, which refers to the fortune of the Wei Dynasty. Under the adverse situation that two emperors were not very reliable, a stunning empress suddenly appeared. The three hundred years of the Wei Dynasty was like a dead tree coming back to life, regaining vitality in the long river of stars.

——Emperor Zhaode’s death was not glorious. After escaping secretly from Chengde, he died tragically in a bandit camp. When he was found by a farmer who went up the mountain to chop firewood, maggots had grown on his face and limbs.

In a long-abandoned fortress, hundreds of people suddenly died. The blood soaked into the soil and the blooming flowers gave off a stench of corpses, which was enough to scare the farmers into shaking, thinking they had entered some mysterious eighteen levels of hell.

At this point, the former emperor, who had been dead for almost seven days, was finally discovered to have passed away.

Died with him were his children, the former queen, several high-ranking concubines, and a hundred or so personal guards wearing cold helmets.

Coincidentally, at this time, a white banner was hung at the palace of Emperor Xun, Prince Xiao, on the outskirts of the city, and a funeral was held. The coffin was placed in the imperial mausoleum, and all the male descendants of the Wei royal family were wiped out.

For a time, all kinds of rumors were spread in the market.

Some said, "This is all a conspiracy by the Japanese! They must have sent top warriors to Wei to assassinate me!"

Someone said, "Curse! It must be a curse! The Wei Dynasty is going to perish!"

There are also those who say, "Eighty percent of the time it's an internal struggle. The sage tried to kill Prince Xiao first, and then Prince Xiao killed the sage. When will the cycle of revenge end?" More people are focusing on Princess Bai'an, the person behind the scenes who has been keeping silent.

He looked away but didn't dare to open his mouth or say a single word - having learned from past experience, who would dare to be so lively when there are maggots crawling in their eyes?

One hundred days after the national mourning, someone in the cabinet proposed that Princess Bai'an choose a young son from the royal family to raise by her side and support him to become emperor. Princess Bai'an could still rule the country from behind the curtain and govern on behalf of her son. When the young emperor grew up and Princess Bai'an was over sixty years old, she could hand over power smoothly and retire after completing her mission.

This proposal was highly praised by the court officials, who also brought up Empress Deng, the original wife of Emperor He of Han who was ordered to support the young son in times of crisis, and Liu E, who returned power to the emperor, to praise Princess Bai'an.

When the remonstrance was first made, Princess Bai'an remained silent for a moment before ordering the court to be dismissed; when the remonstrance was made again, Princess Bai'an smiled and said nothing before ordering the court to be dismissed;
After three times of admonition, Zhongwu Hou Qiao Hui jumped forward. The young high-ranking official was wearing a purple robe, holding a jade cymbal in one hand, with his chin raised high. He glanced at the old ministers with the corner of his mouth curled up and said, "The women you are talking about, Empress Deng's surname is Deng, and Liu'e's surname is Liu, both of them are foreign surnames! You colleagues, don't forget that your highness's surname is Xu - he has the same father as Prince Xiao and Emperor Zhaode!"

An old official spoke tremblingly: "What does this mean? Could it be that Your Highness intends to ascend the throne as the empress!?"

Qiao Hui glanced at them, and Hu Hualiang, the chief general of the Xijiao Camp Cavalry Guard, stepped forward first, bowed and clasped his fists: "Your Highness has worked hard in the northern border for twenty years, killed the old man Tuotuo, suppressed the rebellion at Yumen Pass, and went to the southeast to suppress the Japanese pirates, lifted the sea ban, strengthened the foundation of the country, punished the treacherous ministers, and accepted the tributes from all nations - I sincerely welcome your Highness to ascend the throne!"

Afterwards, more than 30 people from the Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of War, Honglu Temple, Xijiao Camp, and Imperial Guard Camp followed suit.

Above the Tiandi Zhenghe Hall, the echo of "Your humble servant sincerely welcomes Your Highness to ascend the throne" lingered for a long time.

The old official clenched his left chest, his pupils dilated like a dying man, and he couldn't breathe for a long time: "How shameful! How shameful! How can a woman be the emperor!"

oh?
Emperor Wu is about to crawl out of the inscriptionless monument and strangle you.

The old official was almost mad with anger, and cried bitterly, "Ruling behind the curtain is already a concession! Your Highness, please don't be careless and commit a crime that will be infamous for eternity!"

Behind the dragon throne, the pearl curtain moved slightly, and a woman in a dark black robe and simple attire slowly stood up. She opened the curtain in front of her with one hand, and with a calm face, she strode slowly to the front of the dragon throne, looking down at the ministers who were in a mess.

“I gave men a chance.”

Princess Bai'an was not wearing any makeup, finally revealing the fine lines on her eyes and forehead, and a few silver strands in her hair: "I gave it to you twice - Emperor Xun was incompetent, and the Baidu Rebellion took Dawei ten years to recover; Emperor Zhaode was mediocre, and only cared about eating and not fighting, and the tiny country almost rode on my Dawei to bully me. Last year, when I took over the court, the treasury was so empty that I couldn't even build a fleet. The generals in charge of the southern and northern Zhili couldn't tell the east, south, west, and north, let alone lift the lock platform or stone spear."

Princess Bai'an said calmly, "Don't even mention the civil officials. The first-place paper in the imperial examination three years ago discussed the relationship between farming and water conservancy. It was 18,000 words long and quoted from more than 130 volumes of classics. It can be said that every word has a source and every sentence contains an allusion - but I couldn't find a single useful move."

"Besides the two li, the annual income of a farmer is only three qian of silver. A family of six can only eat fifteen eggs a year. In winter, the whole family strips naked and huddles together to keep warm. They dare not go out to collect firewood because of the heavy snow. If they are not careful, their feet will be frozen purple. If they have no money for treatment, they will either become paralyzed or die."

Princess Bai'an smiled, and finally saw the wrinkles left by the vicissitudes of time on her cheeks that were usually made up: "This is the country that you men govern."

"It's very well managed."

The old official raised the jade pendant with trembling hands and opened his mouth to say something. He had thousands of reasons to respond, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Princess Bai'an didn't pay attention to the old officials. She raised her eyes and looked at the vast sky outside the Tiandizhenghe Palace. "I will give you ten days. If you really can't accept a woman as the emperor, you can submit a letter of resignation within ten days. I will not pursue the guilt of you and your family. If there are people in the family who are interested in entering the court as officials, I will still post a notice to recruit them and forgive their past. After ten days, those in office must perform their duties and work together to achieve great things - don't lose face as men!"

After Princess Bai'an said this, she immediately ordered the court to be dismissed.

Unexpectedly, no one submitted their resignation within ten days.

Just kidding, after studying so hard for so many years, the fact that my boss is a woman is not hard to accept.

Even Han Xin could endure the humiliation under his crotch!

Then can we tolerate being told what to do by women?

What's more, this woman is so fierce!
He is so good at killing people. He kills one brother at a time!

After a month's break, the extra chapter will be updated.