Jinghong Tower

Chapter 450 Ascending the Throne
He Shuting staggered out of the house and stopped at the corridor.

The huge courtyard was pitch black, without even a light.

No, no, there should be a lot of lights in the yard. They will be lit as soon as it gets dark, so it will be as bright as day even at night.

Not only were there lights, but there were also many servants, with someone standing every few steps, ready to receive orders at any time.

And now, not only were there no lights, there was no one either, only her.

He Shuting suddenly felt scared, as if something was waving its claws and fangs in the dark, ready to attack her at any time.

Those were ghosts, fierce ghosts, and they were clamoring to take her life.

"what--"

He Shuting covered her eyes and curled up on the ground. A hot current flowed out from under her body and flowed far along the stairs.

The guards on duty in front heard the sound and came running over. They were all from the Chang'an Army. If there were no changes, they would be on duty here for the next few decades as long as Concubine He was alive, until they retired due to old age and were replaced by newcomers.

Not only did they have to look after Concubine He and prevent her from leaving the palace, they also had to protect her safety. The head of the household, Mr. He, who was far away in the capital, had issued an order that Concubine He must live unless she died of old age or sickness.

Now they were frightened when they heard the screams. Could it be that Concubine He had done too many evil things, and some victim saw that she was in such a state of desolation that they came to kill her secretly?

That wouldn't do. It would be dereliction of duty. Besides, they don't have to risk their lives to fight, nor do they have to train day and night. They can just chat and drink here every day, eat and wait for death, and get their military pay. It's hard to find such a good job even with a light on. If Concubine He dies, their good days will be over, and they will have to go back to the barracks. So whoever kills Concubine He will be their enemy.

The guards arrived quickly, but what they saw was not the bloody assassination scene, but the incontinent feces and urine all over the floor.

He Shuting always wanted to be a princess. She instigated Wu Ji to proclaim himself king, and later made Wu Guochang king and proclaimed herself the queen dowager.

So even though He Ran took Wu Guochang away, she still retained the title of Concubine Dowager for He Shuting and left the palace to her.

Since she likes being a princess, then she should stay in the palace and be a princess. She will be a princess for the rest of her life, living in the palace, a princess all alone.

Yes, in this palace, apart from the dozen or so guards outside, there was only an old woman who looked after her and a cook who was transferred from the military camp and was responsible for cooking.

In the winter of that year, it snowed in Longxi. The heavy snow fell all night long. Before dawn the next day, the newly appointed county magistrate personally led his men out.

It snowed heavily that night, and I wonder if the houses of the poor families will be crushed by the snow. The snow on the road also needs to be shoveled and covered with wood chips and slag.

"Mr. Magistrate, I heard that it doesn't snow in your hometown?" asked a yamen runner.

The magistrate laughed: "Yes, to be honest, the first time I saw snow was when I was interning in Ludi. Everyone else was hiding from the snow in the house, and I was the only one standing in the snow, curiously watching the snowflakes flying all over the sky. However, the snow in Ludi is not as heavy as here. I have never seen such heavy snow."

"My Lord, something bad has happened. There is a person who has frozen to death over there."

The magistrate was startled and hurried towards the place where the body was found.

It was a beggar with a full beard and messy hair covering half of his face. He was lying on the snow, his body stiff.

"Hey, this man looks familiar." said a yamen runner. He was an old man in the county yamen and had seen off two county magistrates. This one was the third one. Half of the yamen runners in the county yamen were old people.

Another yamen runner came over and took a closer look. He exclaimed, "I remember now. This is Mr. He."

The magistrate was puzzled: "Which Mr. He?"

The yamen runner quickly explained to him: "His name is He Jiang, the father of Concubine He, Mr. He Jiang. Oh, I thought he had escaped, but I didn't expect that he would become a beggar."

Before the county magistrate was transferred to Longxi, he learned about the situation here. Before He Zongqun returned to Beijing and resigned as the Grand Marshal of Longxi, he also talked to him about He Jiang. It is said that this He Jiang was originally the general of Xi'an promoted by Wu Dongming. Later, he adopted Concubine He as his adopted daughter and facilitated the marriage between Wu Ji and Concubine He. Wu Ji proclaimed himself king, Concubine He turned against the Wu family, and later Concubine He fled and replaced the Meng family in charge of Longxi. All of these were caused by He Jiang.

After the Chang'an Army changed its flag, He Zongqun once tried to capture He Jiang, but there was no trace of He Jiang.

It was precisely because He Jiang had never been caught that He Zongqun specifically mentioned this man to the newly arrived county magistrate when he left Longxi.

Unexpectedly, He Jiang froze to death on this snowy night.

The magistrate shook his head and said, if he had known this would happen, he would not have done it.

Before he came to Longxi to officially take up his post, he had interned in Yulin for three months. As far as he knew, the old generals under Wu Dongming were all living well now and had not been implicated by the feud between the Wu family and the head of the He family. They were walking their birds, listening to operas, and playing with their grandchildren.

If He Jiang had not had the delusion of relying on He Shuting to rise to prominence, he would now be enjoying the same family happiness as those Wu family army generals who have retired.

The magistrate sighed and said to the people around him, "Find a straw mat and bury it outside the city."

Three months later, Beijing.

He Zongqun returned to the capital to report on his work, handed back the tiger talisman to He Ran, and officially resigned from the post of Grand Marshal of Longxi.

Walking out of the Wenhua Hall and looking up at the blue sky, He Zongqun let out a long sigh of relief.

Several officials were walking towards this side from a distance, and when they saw He Zongqun, they all came forward.

"Master He is back. You must have had a hard time on the journey."

"Sir He, please come to our yamen when you are free. The tea we have is the best."

"If I didn't know you, I would have been fooled by you. Tea from your place? Forget it. I know you have a vacancy. You saw that Mr. He is capable and wanted him to work like a slave for you."

"Nonsense, I sincerely want to invite Mr. He for tea."

He Zongqun smiled and sighed, said hello to everyone, and quickly walked out of the palace.

Boss He gave him a one-month vacation. During this month, he didn't want to do anything. He just wanted to lie in bed, eat, sleep, and eat again.

He Ran rewarded him with a house, and he returned to the new house and began to lie down there.

But on the first day, he was invited by He Xiulong, and more than a dozen generals were waiting there. On the second day, He Yamin personally came to interview him. On the third day, the headmaster of Shuren Academy came to invite him to give a speech at the academy. On the fourth day, someone from the Imperial College came to invite him. On the fifth day,
A month later, He Zongqun returned to the court. Only then did he realize that during the one-month vacation, he had not lived the life he wanted for even a single day.

Now that he was back, he could no longer be lazy. Right now, more than half of the officials in the capital were preparing for the same thing: the coronation ceremony.

Yes, He Ran is ready to ascend the throne.

The date was set as April 28th, which was the date given by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory. There were two other dates given at the same time, and He Ran chose this one.

At that time, she had only one thought: since this day was later, Zong Qi could catch up with him when he returned from Fujian.

She hopes to have her family around her on this important day.

When she confirmed the date and notified everyone, Zhongyi paused, raised his head, and looked at her with complicated eyes.

He Ran was stunned for a moment, then understood instantly.

How could she forget that on April 28th of her previous life, she first met the eight-year-old Zhou Chi amid the loud gongs and drums of Pingyang.

She really forgot, or rather, she really let it go.

When she and Zhong Yi were the only ones in the room, Zhong Yi suddenly asked, "You've been blaming me, right?"

He Ran shook her head: "If I meet you again when you were eight years old in Pingyang in this life, I will still save you, raise you, and send you back to Zhoujiabao to help you take back everything your father left you."

Two flames lit up in Zhong Yi's eyes. He had thought about this question countless times since he was reborn. If he was not reborn as Zhong Yi, but turned back into his younger self, when he met He Ran again, would He Ran save him? Probably not, and she might even kill him with one knife.

He thought of many possibilities, but the only thing he didn't expect was that He Ran would save him, and even raise him like in his previous life and help him take everything back.

Zhong Yi raised the corners of his lips. He wanted to laugh, but he found that he might not have laughed for a long time, and even his smile became stiff.

He Ran said that she would help him take back everything his father left him, but she did not say that she would help him conquer the world like she did in his previous life. In the end, she was disappointed.

In her previous life, He Jinghong was free and easy. She didn't like being bound, nor did she like staying in one place. She liked to travel freely and drink and sing. Countless times, she talked about her parents, her brother, and the things she wanted to do while drinking.

He Jinghong wanted to do a lot of things. She wanted to build a house, she wanted to travel around the world, she wanted to drink all the finest wines in the world, she even wanted to open the largest winery. She wanted to do a lot of things, but the only thing she had never thought about was becoming an emperor.

She didn't even want the title of Princess.

But in this life, He Ran finally chose to ascend the throne and become emperor.

As a woman.

Throughout history, there have always been women in power, and even female emperors, but those women all came from the harem and moved to the imperial court. They were first the emperor's women, and later the emperors, or they were above the emperors.

Only He Ran, she went from being alone to leading an army of millions, from Hejia Village in Qingcang Mountain, her iron hooves trampled across thousands of mountains and rivers, this world, this throne, was won by her real swords and guns.

Zhong Yi looked at He Ran, and the moment their eyes met, they both saw relief in each other's eyes.

The two of them said the same thing at the same time.

"Thank you."

Thank you for saving me again and again, thank you for raising me, thank you for your teachings, thank you for fighting for me, thank you for helping me unify the world, thank you for treating me like a family member.

"Thank you."

Thank you for your company when I was young in my previous life, which made me not feel lonely in this strange time and space. Thank you for staying by my side after my rebirth, regardless of fame or gains and losses. Thank you for doing so much for me over the years.

When he walked out of Laomofang Hutong, it was already night and the sky was full of stars. Zhong Yi stretched lazily. No matter in his past life or this life, he had never felt so relaxed as he did now. The huge rock pressing on his heart finally disappeared at this moment. In the night breeze, he jumped up and jumped several times, just like a martial artist who finally took off the sandbag on his legs and became as light as a swallow.

He let it go, finally let it go, and even the air became fresh.

He knew that after tonight, he would usher in a brand new morning.

He is still himself, Zhong Yi, the Jinyiwei commander who was notoriously cold and cruel in the eyes of others. He has changed, but only he knows the change. However, everything will develop in a good direction, and everything will be better.

Feng Xieying hurried back to the capital on April 15th. He had been in the northwest for the past six months, either in Longxi or Longnan, and had also been to the Hexi region. If he had not learned that Mr. He would ascend the throne on April 28th, he might have stayed in these places for a while.

After sleeping in the open air throughout the journey, they finally returned to the capital ahead of schedule.

He must come back, he wants to witness that woman ascend to the throne with his own eyes.

He will never forget the story that the little girl told her in front of a vegetable field in Mount Wutai many years ago. The girl in the story lost her brother. In order to comfort her parents' pain of losing their son, she gave up what she wanted to do most and chose to stay with her parents. But at the end of the story, the girl died in front of her parents, making her parents experience the pain of losing their child once again.

Over the years, he often thought of this story, and the unspeakable sorrow in the little girl's eyes when she told the story.

That girl must be herself. As smart as she is, she shouldn't belong to this world, just like He Jinghong who once made a stunning appearance.

But no matter where she came from, the dynasty has changed since she appeared. When she came, the world was in chaos and the people were living in misery. Now the world is unified, the four seas are peaceful, and the people live and work in peace. Although there are still many people who cannot get enough food, their lives are much better than more than ten years ago.

Her appearance is like a bright light in a dark valley, illuminating the rugged mountain road ahead. If you keep moving forward, you will see a vast world with sunshine paving the way.

Zong Qi returned to the capital ten days later than Feng Xieying. He had a brief reunion with Lu Chang outside the city gate and then went to Laomofang Hutong.

He Ran still lives here, but she now works in the Wenhua Hall in the palace. Only very close people come to Laomofang Hutong.

"Brother, you're finally back." He Ran was surprised. She had been worried that Zong Qi would not be able to return to the capital before the ceremony.

"Of course I have to come back. I want to witness with my own eyes my sister who grew up under the red flag sitting on the dragon throne, hahahaha!"

He Ran, you are really my brother.

Zong Qi took out the tiger talisman from his bosom and handed it to her: "Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission."

He Ran took the tiger talisman and asked, "Are you staying in the capital from now on?"

After the Battle of Fuzhou, Zong Qi said that he was training young generals who could fight naval battles. Now that he has even handed over the tiger talisman, it seems that he is preparing to retire.