Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 259 Baili Dutaigu (3)

After a rare moment of free time, Yelu Dashi picked up his bow and arrow and walked out of the tent to relax his muscles and bones.Crimson clouds shrouded the western sky, and flocks of weary birds returned, perched on the double eaves and arches of the palace, or flew up and down among the lush tree crowns.The Khitan people believe that all things have spirits, so naturally they will not drive away these harmless crows.Yelu Dashi knew a method, which was to tie fire to the legs of birds that went out of the city to look for food, and set fire to the city by taking advantage of the habit of tired birds knowing their return.Witnessing the beautiful scenery of the setting sun, what he thought of was the military attack. He couldn't help laughing at himself, because he didn't know when he had lost the mood to appreciate the scenery.Yelu Dashi took a deep breath of air, stretched his bow and strung the string, and shot an arrow with a whoosh.Only when the bowstring in his hand is tense can the bowstring in his mind relax a little.

Passing through the flat grass, the eldest son of the emperor, Yelu Yilie, followed Empress Xiao and walked over.Looking at the archery target a hundred paces away, most of the arrows were 'inserted' on the hearts, Yelu Yilie showed reverence and envy.The mother and son stopped behind Yelu Dashi, and after he shot the arrow into the bull's-eye, Empress Xiao said in a low voice: "Your Majesty." Yeluyi said: "Father."

"Yi Lie is going to the military camp tomorrow." Yelu Dashi smiled and handed the bow and arrow to his son, "Try it, my son of Yelu Dashi is no worse than others." Yelu Yilie blushed and took the bow and arrow , Aiming at the archery target in the distance for a long time, an arrow 'shot' out and 'inserted' on the target, but missed the heart.Yelu Yilie showed an annoyed expression.

Empress Xiao hesitated to speak, and finally said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, can you let Yi Lie go home at least ten days a month, and let him listen to His Majesty's teachings." She saw that His Majesty seemed to ignore it, and said, "Your Majesty is talented, both civil and military. In the whole country, if you want to teach Yi Lie, is there anyone better than Your Majesty?" Her words were full of grievances, but also a hint of pride.After Yelu Dashi succeeded to the throne, he made a rule that all the children of the countrymen, after reaching the age of twelve, must go to the military camp to receive training, and the North Court government will arrange civil and military lessons.These children only go home one day a month.Life in the barracks does not end until the full age of 22.The elite were selected into the palace account, and the ordinary ones were included in the military register. The 14-year-old Yelu Yilie is no exception, and Empress Xiao hopes that Yilie will not leave his mother like an ordinary child and spend years in barracks training.

Yelu Dashi ignored it, took the bow and arrow from his son, opened the bow, and said in a deep voice: "Under the whole world, is it the land of the king, and the shore of the land is the king's minister. Therefore, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, once said to Liu Taigong, Compared with the eldest brother, which one is more governing property? Mr. Huang Zhoushan of the Southern Dynasty said it well, this is to regard the world as his private property. Yi Lie, what I want to teach you today is that Daliao does not belong to the emperor, but on the contrary, the emperor belongs to Daliao."

As soon as Yelu Dashi released his right hand, the arrow flew out. "Forget about yourself on the day you are ordered. Others can relax, rest, and enjoy themselves, but the emperor cannot. The emperor does not belong to himself, but belongs to Daliao. As a prince, you have more responsibilities than ordinary people. He patted Yelu Yilie on the shoulder and said with a smile, "I believe in you and can take this responsibility."

"Father." Yelu Yilie was so excited that he couldn't speak.Empress Xiao also showed relief in her eyes.There are rumors below that Dashi does not want to inherit the throne from father to son as in the Southern Dynasties, but to choose talented and virtuous subordinates to inherit the throne. This is the first time His Majesty has been instructed on the way for a prince to be a king. "It seems that the rumors are nothing more than rumors." Empress Xiao secretly heaved a sigh of relief, and put aside the matter of begging His Majesty at first.

After Empress Xiao and Yi Lie left, Yelu Dashi went back to his tent and continued to read the memorials presented in various places.It is recorded in the history that Qin Shihuang was full-time criminal punishment, devoted himself to writing and ink, was released from prison during the day, and read books at night, and he had to read bamboo slips every day.The diligence of the emperor of the Daliao Dynasty today is similar to that.As the night fell, the imperial concubine came in bleakly to present velvet antler blood ginseng tea. Seeing that Yelu Dashi had no time to rest, she persuaded with some concern: "Your Majesty is diligent in listening to the people, and it is a blessing in Daliao. But if Your Majesty is exhausted, The body, on the contrary, is too much to go too far. You must know that stretching and relaxing is the way of civil and martial arts."

Although Yelu Dashi didn't think so, he hugged her into his arms and said with a smile, "'You have to lie down on your salary and taste your courage, and inspire the strong men to donate their lives; you can go to the north of Qingmo and sleep on Yanyun at night.' The poems written by the concubine Xian, based on these two The sentence is wonderful."

Xiao Sesu's face was slightly cold and said: "Your Majesty, don't make fun of your concubine." She was about to get up from Dashi's arms, but she was hugged tightly by her waist, struggled a few times, and then continued to snuggle into his arms , supported his knee with one hand, and put the other hand on his chest, murmured in a low voice: "I don't know why, Your Majesty, maybe everyone in the world is laughing at my concubines."

Yelu Dashi's face darkened, and he said in a deep voice: "Whoever dares to do this will be punished." Xiao Sesur was taken aback, and quickly comforted him in a low voice: "No one said that. That's all." Yelu Dashi held her hand lightly, the two of them are extremely intelligent people who are familiar with history books, words of consolation here are superfluous.

After a moment of silence, Xiao Sesue said in a low voice: "Although your majesty intends to make great efforts to bring order to our Daliao, you must always take care of your own body." Yelu Dashi shook his head and sighed: "The country is full of wastes waiting to be rejuvenated. There is time to rest." Xiao Sesel's eyes moved slightly, and he said in a low voice: "Kong Ming specializes in everything, and it is not the way of the master. General Liu Bang, General Han Xin. There are many ministers in the court, so why do you have to do everything personally? What?" She said with genuine concern.Yelu Dashi smiled slightly, and said in a deep voice: "Originally, governing a big country is like cooking a small fish, and you should plan it slowly. But I did the opposite, and implemented various new policies like a sudden storm. There are still many unknowns about the New Deal, but because of this, if you want to profit from it, you must not deceive me. Human nature is born to like profit. If it is delayed, I am afraid that the courtiers who carried out the New Deal will be like Wang Anshi's reform in the Southern Dynasty They worked their hands up and down, and the interests gradually became intertwined, and the accumulation was hard to return, and it was too late to regret."

Concubine Xiao knew that it is a taboo for a woman to interfere in politics, so she lowered her head and said nothing, but Yelu Dashi stroked her hair, and said slowly: "The Jurchen Kingdom has always wanted to capture the Liaoyang Mansion, and it was all won by the Tokyo Road." It is the old place of the Bohai Kingdom, and they will definitely contact the people of Bohai to make an internal response. I plan to order my concubine’s elder brother, Xiao Suxian, to stay behind in Tokyo, so that he can pretend to be in contact with the Kingdom of Jin, lure the snake out of the cave, and the Jurchens arrive at the city of Liaoyang. Xiao Suxian just stay out of the fortified wall, and I will lead the troops of the North Academy out of Shenzhou, cut off their retreat, and wipe out the Jurchen elite and the city of Liaoyang." He casually found a huge Dongzhu gold hairpin from under the imperial case, and "inserted it" On the bleak bun, he said in a deep voice: "After the Jurchen was pacified, the country of Bohai was restored, and Xiao Suxian was the king of Bohai, defending Liaodong for me."

Xiao Sesu lowered his eyelids, and said in a low voice: "The concubine, on behalf of the people of Bohai, thank you Your Majesty." Yelu Dashi smiled slightly and took her into his arms.The moon was getting higher and higher, hanging in the middle of the sky, and the lights in the imperial tent were always on.

Across a palace wall, in the distance, the red candles in Empress Xiao Luan's tent were also burning brightly. Empress Xiao stood in the center of the big tent, surrounded by confidant palace ladies.She completely lost her usual graceful and virtuous demeanor, and asked coldly: "Has that vixen come out yet?" A favored court lady timidly said: "The maidservant just went to look at it secretly, and the imperial concubine's entourage is still waiting outside the imperial account. As soon as she finished speaking, Empress Xiao's face darkened, and she asked: "That was just now, what about now?" The maids below were afraid to answer, Empress Xiao said sharply: "Go and guard outside the imperial tent. , when will Hu Meizi come out, and when will you come back and report."

The court lady didn't dare to be negligent, she agreed and withdrew. Empress Xiao lost her temper, and then she sat softly on the bed, "This vixen, who has caused chaos in the government, really wants to usurp the queen for her son-in-law. You can do it by any means. Your Majesty is so wise, yet he was seduced by her." The queen thought of this, tears of grievance were in her eyes, if there were not many servants in the tent, the tears would have already fallen Falling.

From the moon to the middle of the sky, in the Bianliang Hanging Arch Palace, Emperor Zhao Ke massaged the temple's temple quite tiredly, he looked up and looked outside, and asked the eunuch next to him: "Has Chen Yushi not gone back yet? "He looked at the sleeve of his left hand, and couldn't help laughing bitterly.Yesterday Chen Dong dared to pull the emperor's sleeves to prevent him from leaving the court, and today he was guarding the side hall of the palace and insisted on seeing him.

Because there are more people in the southeast and less land, the refugees are increasing day by day.All Xiangyang camps deployed Wang Yan to play, and it was precisely because these refugees harbored resentment towards the imperial court and were used by Fang La's remnant party that it was difficult to completely put down the civil chaos in the south of the Yangtze River.Wang Yan’s memorial stated that there is a large area of ​​fertile land in the South China Sea, and suggested that the imperial court organize refugees to go overseas to reclaim wasteland and farmland.

This is a big matter, and Zhao Ke was indecisive, so he summoned important officials to discuss the matter in the inner court.The prime minister Zhao Zhifu thought it was a waste of money and the people, but Chen Dong, the supervisory censor, strongly agreed. Both sides insisted on their opinions and refused to give in to each other.Zhao Ke is not a good king, originally wanted to use the name of rest, let's not mention this matter for the time being, so that the two important court officials have room for change.Unexpectedly, Chen Dong didn't appreciate it and insisted on forcing the matter of Tuo Hai. Under the excitement, he tugged on the sleeve of Zhao Ke's dragon robe to prevent him from being in the harem.Zhao Zhifu reprimanded Chen Dong for deceiving the emperor on the spot. Although Chen Dong said he was guilty of death, he never gave in.Zhao Kesu said that you tolerate remonstrance, so naturally it is impossible to blame him for this matter, but he feels a little uncomfortable.

Chen Yushi, who is known as the most loyal and straightest in the court, waited in the side hall for a whole day, and he didn't even take a bite of the cake that Zhao Ke specially ordered the eunuch to send at noon. Thinking of this, Zhao Ke's anger also dissipated yesterday Most of the time, even a little moved. "It's really a straight minister who doesn't know how to live or die," Zhao Ke sighed in his heart, and then thought with some relief, "I can be considered a virtuous king if I have a straight minister in the state."