Jinghong Tower

By now, He Ran was able to determine the identities of the two girls, He Xiang and He Pan.

One is the biological daughter of Liu Shanhe, and her biological mother is probably Princess Huishan. The other is the poor child in the Liu family who was almost drowned by her relatives.

The two of them look alike because they are cousins!

After leaving Shunde, He Ran went to Kaifeng, Jinan, Taiyuan, Zhending, Fengtai, and finally returned to the capital.

After walking around this time, it is already early spring in February.

When he learned that He Ran was back, Lao Guanghuai came to see her. The old man said with a smile: "Master, I have fulfilled my mission. The food, grass and military pay have been prepared."

He Ran stood up and bowed deeply: "Grandpa, please accept your granddaughter's bow!"

He Ran knew in her heart that Lao Guanghuai and Mrs. Shangguan might have known for a long time that she was not their real granddaughter, but they still cared about her heart and soul and gave her all their love for their daughter and granddaughter.

She had been away from Beijing for more than two months. There were more than a dozen letters stored in Laomofang Hutong, including two from Zhou Cangyue, one from Wu Ji, and one from Ruyi. There was even a letter written by Nong Liu Niang. her.

However, what surprised He Ran the most was that one of the letters came from He Shuhui.

Distant memories were reopened, and He Ran remembered that when the capital was moved, Ding and He Shuhui lived in Jinghong Tower for a while.

Back then, she told Lu Chang to let the mother and daughter take shelter in Jinghong Tower for a while, and then let them leave on their own after the capital returned to calm.

It was several years after He Ran returned to the capital, and he had long forgotten the mother and daughter.

He Shuhui said in the letter that after their mother and daughter left the capital, they first returned to their maternal home in Zhending. Later, after the defeat of King Jin, the road became clear, so they went to join their aunt. Ding also opened an embroidery workshop, and the business was good. With my aunt and her family taking care of me, my life is worry-free.

He Shuhui thanked He Ran repeatedly for helping them. She no longer called He Ran her cousin, but called her the boss.

There is no postmark these days, and He Shuhui did not indicate her current address. It is impossible to tell from the letter where the letter was sent.

It seems that the purpose of He Shuhui writing this letter was just to say thank you and put an end to the incident that year.

He Ran was very happy. This was good. Both mother and daughter were smart people, and smart people usually lived well.

Nong Liu Niang's letter seemed to be written by someone else. The handwriting was neat. Nong Liu Niang told He Ran that the involvement between her and Wang Hao was resolved.

The so-called involvement is the poison in the two people's bodies that will live and die together.

Because of the poison, Wang Hao did not dare to kill Nong Liu Niang, and Nong Liu Niang could not take action even if she wanted to cut Wang Hao into pieces.

Now that the poison is gone, the real fight between the former couple has officially begun.

Before the Spring Festival, Wu Dongming sent people to deliver New Year's gifts. Of course, He Ran returned the gift, but it was not Wu Ji who came to give the gifts, but Wu Dongming's other son Wu Ju.

Speaking of which, He Ran was Wu Ju's savior.

When Wu Ju was captured, He Ran led others to rescue him.

This letter was written by Wu Ji.

The content of the letter was very empty, just a regular New Year's greeting.

He Ran felt a little strange after reading the letter. She always felt that something was wrong.

She said to Xiaoli: "Go to Jinghong Tower to check the latest news in the northwest."

However, before Xiaoli could return from Jinghong Tower, a shocking news was delivered.

Wu Ji and Wu Dongming's father and son turned against each other. Wu Ji led 100,000 troops to run away from home and went to Xianyang!

He Ran slapped the table, Wu Dongming's base camp was in Yulin.

There are soldiers and horses in Xianyang, but they are only a few thousand. This is also a tacit understanding between the two parties. After all, Xianyang is not far from Yudi.

What does it mean to station 100,000 troops and horses in Xianyang now?
At this time, Xiaoli came back from Jinghong Tower, compiled a copy of the information about the northwest these days, and sent it to He Ran.

Wu Dongming's second son Wu Ju used to be impulsive when he was young, but in recent years his temper has gradually calmed down and his eyes have matured. Wu Dongming became more and more satisfied with him and gave him the management of three states and twenty-four counties.

After Wu Ju took over, he replaced all the officials in the three prefectures and twenty-four counties, and most of them were Wu Ji's people.

Wu Ji was very dissatisfied about this and sued Wu Dongming. Unexpectedly, Wu Dongming favored Wu Ju, and the father and son were very unhappy.

Years ago, Wu Ji came to deliver gifts to the capital, but this year Wu Dongming sent Wu Ji to Xi'an and asked Wu Ju to come to the capital.

From Wu Ji's point of view, Wu Dongming's move was just to get Wu Ju to come to He Ran.

Wu Ji was very angry. Wu Ju had not returned from the capital yet. Wu Ji took 100,000 troops to Xianyang without Wu Dongming's consent. Wu Dongming heard the news and personally led his troops to pursue him. Unfortunately, Wu Dongming's health has not been as good as before in recent years. , After chasing for less than a hundred miles, the old illness relapsed and returned to Yulin.

He Ran frowned as she looked at the information. She said to Xiaoli, "Send the order to check the people around Wu Ji and Wu Ju."

After handling these matters, He Ran had time to open the two letters from Zhou Cangyue.

In the first letter, Zhou Cangyue came to express his gratitude to her. He captured Yongxin City and captured Ma Xingzhou, the magistrate of Yongxin.

After reading the first letter, He Ran frowned even more. As far as she knew, the reason why Yongxin City is difficult to fight is because the person who is currently talking about Yongxin City is not Ma Xingzhou, the prefect, but a Miao king. .

And this Miao king had a very powerful Han military advisor.

He Ran still remembered that Zhou Cangyue once boasted about taking Yongxin City in Haikou within three days. After that, He Ran did not receive a letter from Zhou Cangyue for a long time.

But there are people sent by He Ran in the Huwei Army, and they will send letters every three months.

Even if Zhou Cangyue didn't say anything, He Ran knew that Yongxin City was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and those Miao people were good at using poison, and their weapons were all poison-quenched. The Huwei Army first lost many people, and later the soldiers had psychological shadows. They dare not confront the Miao people head-on for fear of being poisoned.

The small Yongxin City is the hardest bone that the Huwei Army has encountered since Xiangyang.

Now Zhou Cangyue said that he captured Ma Xingzhou alive, but said nothing about King Miao and the military advisor. He Ran knew without asking that King Miao and the military advisor must have escaped.

She opened the second letter. Well, this letter didn't mention the war at all. Zhou Cangyue first thanked her for the New Year's gift, and then asked her if she had received the bamboo tube and cup from him.

Only then did He Ran think of those cracked and moldy bamboo tubes and cups.

She hurriedly asked Xiaoli: "Where are those bamboo cups?"

Xiaoli: "I'll go look for it."

Because it was moldy, she put it in the yard and thought of drying it in the sun.

Then, they left the capital.
Xiaoli searched around but couldn't find the bamboo cups.

Shoumei asked her what she was looking for, Xiaoli said, Shoumei said: "Huh? Those broken cups are still useful, I threw them away!"

Xiaoli had no choice but to tell the truth, He Ran.
He Ran felt sorry for the Jinghong Tower carved by Zhou Cangyue, and the little girl with double spiral buns.

In the evening, she wrote a reply to Zhou Cangyue seriously, and asked about the situation of King Miao and the military adviser, reminding Zhou Cangyue that these two people must not be let go.

In addition, she also gave Zhou Cangyue a sack of dried fruits, including walnuts, chestnuts, red dates, and pine nuts, all fried. After sending the letter, He Ran got busy.

The next day, she entered the palace and met Zhou Jian.

This year Zhou Jian started to draw, and now he is only a little shorter than He Ran. It is estimated that he will surpass her by this time next year.

Now He Ran hired three masters for Zhou Jian, one taught the Four Books and Five Classics, one taught chess, calligraphy and painting, and the other only taught history books.

Zhou Jian knew that He Ran was back yesterday. He stayed up late and wrote an article. When he saw He Ran today, he happily showed the article to He Ran.

He Ran saw the blue eyes under his eyes and expressed some concern before reading the article carefully.

Compared with the last article, Zhou Jian has made great progress. At least he has something to say. It seems that it is still very useful to ask someone to tell the history.

He Ran praised Zhou Jian and stayed in the palace to dine with Zhou Jian.

He Ran advocated frugality, but Zhou Jian's food was always the best. Even in the capital in February, there were green leafy vegetables and prickly cucumbers on the table.

He Ran ate a lot during this meal, but Zhou Jian was too nervous to eat.

In the past two years, he had met less and less with He Ran, but every time he met, he felt that He Ran's aura was getting stronger.

He Ran looked at him with gentle eyes, but for some reason, Zhou Jian felt that he had nothing to hide in front of He Ran. He Ran could see everything and he could not hide anything.

He Ran ate three large bowls of rice. She had not eaten such a meal with fish, meat and vegetables for at least half a year.

There is no way, I am poor!

She glanced at Zhou Jian's rice bowl, and saw that half of it was not finished yet.

"This is the time when your body is growing. Eating too little will affect your growth." He Ran reminded you kindly.

"Development?" Zhou Jian was stunned, "What development?"

He Ran raised her eyebrows, okay, she's on the phone again.

"It's just to grow taller." He Ran explained.

Zhou Jian said hurriedly: "Don't worry, sister, I will take good care of my body."

He Ran remembered the information Yuan Xiaodong brought back last time, smiled and said nothing.

Seven days later, He Ran issued Military Order No. 1, ordering He Xiulong's troops, Lu Zhen's troops, and Feng Zan's troops to be ready for deployment at any time.

He Ran entered the palace again and bid farewell to Zhou Jian. Only then did Zhou Jian know that He Ran was going south to attack the new emperor.

Zhou Jian was shocked. He listened to his master's history lectures these days and knew that there were several dynasties in history that were divided into kingdoms, and some of them faced each other from the north to the south like this dynasty.

Therefore, he believes that the current situation can last at least ten years.

Within ten years, neither the emperor nor He Ran would attack the other party.

War wastes people and money. Now that the world is finally at peace, why do we need to fight?

"Sister, isn't it great now? Why do we continue to fight?"

There was something he didn't dare to say: Look, the new emperor didn't even go north to fight you.

He Ran smiled: "If they are together for a long time, they will separate, and if they are separated for a long time, they will be reunited. I counted with my fingers, and now it's time to reunite."

Zhou Jian: I think you are deceiving me.

He Ran returned to Laomofang Alley from the palace. That night, she received the information sent from the palace. Zhou Jian and Feng Cairen met by chance again!
He Ran investigated this Feng Cairen and found that Min Xiang did not get married or drafted. Feng Cairen entered the palace during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. He was pregnant once, but could not keep it. The pregnancy was miscarried in six months, and Feng Cairen was also injured. If you lose your body, it will be difficult to get pregnant.

Feng Cairen's father served as a county magistrate. After she entered the palace, her father was injured and disabled in the line of duty, and he became an official from then on.

From then on, no one in the Feng family became an official, and Feng Cairen was helpless whether in the palace or outside the palace.

She was usually taciturn, and her presence among the concubines was very low. Some concubines could not even remember which one was Feng Cairen.

But Feng Cairen met Zhou Jian by chance many times. Chunwang was not with Zhou Jian during several of these encounters.

But this time it was not an accidental encounter, but Zhou Jian waiting on the road that Feng Cairen must pass every day.

Chunwang was not around at that time, so Zhou Jian deliberately pushed him away.

He Ran called Zhong Yi. Well, everyone and everything related to the Zhou family should be handed over to Zhong Yi.

Zhong Yi frowned: "You won't let me go south with you?"

He Ran: "Go south? Do you want to go south to fight? Which army do you have a tacit understanding with?"

Zhong Yi: I didn’t say I wanted to lead troops to fight.

He Ran: "You stay in the capital and are at your disposal at any time."

Zhong Yi was noncommittal. After thinking about it, he asked the question: "If the world is unified, will you let Zhou Jian ascend the throne?"

He Ran looked at the sword hanging on the wall and asked leisurely: "Who do you think is more suitable to be the master of the world, me or him?"

Zhong Yi suddenly smiled and shook his head: "Forget it, just pretend I didn't ask."

He Ran walked up to him, reached out and patted his shoulder: "Commander of the Royal Guards, you have done a good job. This position is suitable for you."

Zhong Yi didn't know how she walked out of He Ran's study.

The moon has already hung on the branches, and in Beijing in early March, the night is still biting with cold wind.

Zhong Yi finally recovered and smiled bitterly. He thought he hid it well, but He Ran still saw it.

He is not a good emperor, nor a good son, brother, husband, nor a good father.

As for He Jinghong, he is nothing!

Now that I think about it, the commander of the Jinyiwei is the one who has done the best among his many roles in his two lives.

Compared with He Ran or Zhou Jian, who is more suitable to be the master of the world?
Is that even a question?
Zhong Yi patted his head like a young boy. How stupid must he be to ask such a question?
Zhong Yi dusted off the non-existent dust on his body, walked out of He Ran's house, and walked into the early spring night.

A few days later, He Ran issued a handwritten "Letter to the Nation".

The emperor was fatuous and lustful, and looked down upon human life, causing the common people to change their minds when talking about the emperor. Families with young girls even left their hometowns and were in constant panic.

The emperor's actions are intolerable to the world, shameful to the royal family, and shameful to the world!
Liu Shanhe, the first assistant, was corrupt and perverted the law. The Liu family's wealth confiscated in the capital city alone amounted to millions. Liu Shanhe made many provocations and was arrogant for his own selfish interests. (End of chapter)