Yanyuntai·One

Chapter 3 Disaster on Xiao Qiang
In 951 A.D., the fifth year of Tianlu in Liao Dynasty, Yelu Ruan, Emperor Shizong of Liao Dynasty, worshiped his ancestors in the ancient mountain of Xiang.

This time, besides the emperor, the empress dowager, and the two empresses, there were also the eldest son of the emperor, Hou Abu, and the second son of the emperor, Ming Jian, as well as various princes, nobles, and ministers of civil and military affairs.

The prairie boy joined the army early, and this time the emperor set off to worship his ancestors, even the four-year-old little prince was brought with him, and all the relatives and ministers naturally brought their children and nephews of the right age with them.

In the ancestral hall of Xianggu Mountain, the emperor took the queen mother, Sagezhi and two princes to pay respects to the ancestors, and named his father Yelubei, the king of Dongdan who died early, as the emperor of the country.The throne originally belonged to Yelubei, but because of the exclusive power of the Empress Dowager Shulu, he, the original heir to the throne, left his hometown and died for no reason.Now, the throne has finally returned to his son, and his title of emperor has been ratified.

The queen mother had mixed feelings, and she fell to the ground and cried bitterly.Sage only tried to persuade him again and again before helping him up.

After the ancestor worship, Sejong ordered people to hold a banquet in the palace to entertain all relatives and tribes.He plans to stay here for a few days to organize the army, and then he will take it to the battlefield.Sejong has been on the throne for five years, and he has consciously controlled the government.If you can take this opportunity to go south, you may follow Taizong's unfulfilled ambitions and establish your own prestige.That being the case, it is natural to entertain the princes and nobles who led the tribe before going out to gather people's hearts, so that they can serve on the battlefield.

Sejong held a banquet in the front, while Empress Zhen handled the reports from various places in the back tent, checked the map, and planned for the next war.The confidant maid was aggrieved for her: "The empress works day and night for Daliao, but they don't even let you enter the ancestral hall, it's too much."

Zhen Hou drank a cup of tea and waved her hand to prevent her from continuing.Seeing that the maid was still unconvinced, she just smiled and said: "Xia Chong is beyond words. I don't care about these details!"

She has experienced four dynasties and seen countless ups and downs.No matter how much the emperor and general, the queen's favorite concubine, and the prince's grandson are arrogant, what can they do?
The country is easier, and how many prominent people are like ants and turned into loess in an instant.What she cares about is whether the dynasty she and her husband-in-law can establish, whether they can successfully promote reforms through war this time, and whether the Liao Kingdom can finally live up to her wish, and the Han and Liao families will continue forever.

At that time, no one would remember any tribe or clan.It doesn't matter whether she steps into the ancestral hall or not. Her portrait will be hung in the ancestral hall for future generations to pay homage to. This is the most important thing.

Empress Zhen thought so confidently, and also looked forward to it.She raised her face slightly and smiled.

At this time, in the camp of Empress Xiao Sagezhi, there was another scene.

The eldest son Hou Abu was eight years old, and the second son Ming Yu was four years old. They were both extremely naughty.Sage was furious and asked the maid to catch them for a bath, but the two children kept running away.

In desperation, she had to go into battle herself.When the two leather monkeys saw their mother coming, they naturally ran away faster.

Xiao Ming was running happily in the tent, when Sage threw him on the couch, and hugged him regardless of his yelling "ahhh".Sage was just about to hand over Ming to the maid, when in the blink of an eye Houa Bu took advantage of her to catch his younger brother and sneaked out the door.She clamped the Ming sword under her left elbow, stepped forward quickly, and grabbed Hou Ah Bu who had already stepped outside the door.

Hou Ah couldn't help but prevent his braid from being pulled, and hurriedly covered his head and screamed: "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah..."

Sage took advantage of the situation and kicked Hou Abu's leg, and Hou Abu fell to the ground immediately.

"You look like a mud monkey, where are you going?"

Although Hou Ah Bu is naughty, he is an eight-year-old child after all. There is nothing he can do if he falls into the hands of his mother, so he can only apologize: "My mother, the king will definitely call me for the big banquet ahead, so I will go first."

Sage just let go of his braids, grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back into the tent, and shouted: "Go to hell, don't even think about going anywhere until you wash it clean."

At this time, the servant trotted into the account and passed on a message: "Queen, the emperor has an order to order the two princes to go to the main hall for a banquet." Hou Abu was overjoyed, and jumped up from the ground: "Mother, you heard me, the emperor told me to go." Go to the banquet."

After saying that, he ran out, not being wary of Sage, he just grabbed the back of his neck, and said with a sneer, "I'm not allowed to go until I've washed it clean."

Hou Ahbu was dissatisfied, he poked his neck back and said, "Could it be that those who went to the banquet tonight took a bath?"

Sage has long been familiar with the questioning of his sons: "I can't control others, but I can control you." Hou Abu had no choice but to be hugged by the maids and turned into the back tent with his head downcast.

Ming Yan, who was caught under the armpit, struggled and danced: "Mother, mother, I also want to take a bath, and I also want to have a banquet." Sage only threw him on the couch, stared at him, and said with a smile : "You, I'll bathe you personally, so don't even think about having a banquet."

Ming Yan was dumbfounded, and when he came back to his senses, he burst into tears, rolled on the couch, and shouted: "I want to have a banquet, I want to eat barbecue, and I want to drink!"

Sage just slapped Ming's little butt twice angrily: "Don't go, those bastards out there are too drunk to care about you, a little thing, and they will trample you into meatloaf." I want to take Ming to take a bath, I don't want the child to be wronged today, not only did not stop being beaten, but also cried louder, and rolled all over the kang.Sage had no choice but to coax him: "If you are good today, I will ask Liu Jieli to make fried meatballs for you tomorrow, okay?"

Seeing his mother softened, Ming Yan sobbed and said, "I want to eat now."

Sage just said angrily: "The cook is not free now." Then he asked the maid to bring him pancakes, took him to bathe, saw that it was getting late, and coaxed him to sleep.

I don't want to think that although Ming is small, he is naughty.Seeing that his mother didn't allow him to go out, he kept his eyes open and stopped arguing. He obediently lay down on the couch and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, thinking that he would slip away to the banquet after his mother fell asleep.Sage just lay down outside him, patted him, and hummed a lullaby.

Although Xiao Ming had the intention of sneaking, he was a child after all. After being naughty for a day, he was already exhausted, and he fell asleep unconsciously under the coaxing of his mother.

He had something in his mind, and he woke up after a short sleep.He was also smart, with his eyes closed, he heard his mother breathing evenly, then slowly opened his eyes and rolled his eyes to look.Sure enough, Sage had already fallen asleep, only two oil lamps were burning in the whole tent, the other maids presumably had already left, and only one maid was left, and she fell asleep beside the couch.

Ming Yu got up quietly, and slowly crawled past Sa Ge's legs cautiously.As soon as he got down on the couch, Sa Ge suddenly turned over. He was so frightened that he held his breath and stared at his mother with wide eyes.Seeing that Sage continued to fall asleep and did not wake up, he smiled happily, and quickly covered his mouth again, for fear of alarming his mother.After a while, seeing that there was no sound, he breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed his coat, sneaked all the way to the curtain, and tiptoed out.

Although he is the respected prince, Sage has been strict with him since he was a child, and he has taught him to dress and boot himself.After he got out of the tent, he was busy putting on his clothes and boots, although they were crooked.Seeing that there was no sound in the tent, he cheered triumphantly in his heart, let go of his little feet and ran out.

The night is dark, and the camp tents are full of lights, and they look similar.After all, he was still a four-year-old boy, after running for a few steps, he no longer knew the direction, he just turned around in the camp, but he couldn't even find the tent he came out of, and he stumbled here and there to find it in a daze.

Suddenly bumped into a person, and that person hurriedly picked him up: "Second Prince, why are you still awake, who are you looking for?" Before Ming Yan raised his head, he had already smelled the familiar scent of fried meat on this person's body. The smell of meatballs made him overjoyed at the moment, he looked up, grabbed his lapel and shouted: "Liu Jieli, where is the big tent?"

This person was Liu Jieli, Sejong's most useful cook, and Ming Yu loved his fried meatballs the most.Liu Jieli held the little prince in his arms, and asked doubtfully, "What is Your Highness going to do in the big tent?"

Ming Yan was still bouncing in his arms, and he pointed excitedly: "There is a banquet in the big tent, and there are a lot of delicious food, take me there quickly, take me there quickly!"

"Second Prince, this servant and his disciples have been waiting for the big banquet in front of him all night. He didn't turn off the fire until it was said that there is no need to wait on him. Then he turned off the fire and told everyone to disperse. Why did you come out at this moment? Did you ...Did you take a nap?"

These words were talking about what was on Zhongming's mind, and he suddenly became annoyed, he clearly wanted to pretend to be asleep, why he fell asleep unknowingly.Now it’s all right, the feast that I’ve been thinking about for a long time is over, so I burst into tears: “Yeah, why did I fall asleep, I want to eat barbecue, I want to eat fried meatballs, woo woo woo..."

Liu Jieli panicked, and hurriedly coaxed him to persuade him: "Oh, Second Prince, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry..."

A sense of grievance broke out in Ming Dynasty. Hearing Liu Jieli's persuasion, he couldn't stop crying, sobbing and shouting: "I want to eat fried meatballs, I want to eat fried meatballs..."

Liu Jieli knew that his four-year-old child had a big banquet, and he just watched the excitement and picked up some favorite dishes to eat. Seeing him crying hard, he had no choice but to respond: "Okay, okay, don't cry, my slave!" I'll do it for you."

This place was originally a servant's tent, and the feast is over, except for the master's attendants, everyone else has gone to bed, so Ming Jian strayed into this place by mistake, and no one paid attention to it after walking for half a day.

Liu Jieli took Ming Jian to the imperial kitchen camp.Most of the stoves have been sealed, and only two stoves are reserved for nobles to use in the middle of the night.The little apprentice was guarding the fire, when he saw the master coming in with the second prince in his arms, he carried the firewood and lit it up again as instructed.Liu Jieli set up the oil pan and concentrated on cooking. The little apprentice buried his head in the fire, and the oil pan sizzled.

When the fried meatballs came out of the pot, Liu Jieli brought them to Ming Yan. When he saw the child, he reached out to grab them, and advised him: "Second prince, eat slowly, there are plenty of meatballs. Hey, don't grab them with your hands, be careful, use a fork, and use a fork to scald the meatballs. fork!"

Ming Xing picked up a meatball, blew on it, showed a smiling face, and ate it contentedly.Liu Jieli asked his apprentice to turn off the fire, and was about to pack his things, but he heard the noise outside getting louder and louder, mixed with shouts like "Killer" and "Run away".

Liu Jieli stopped, and asked the little apprentice in surprise, "Listen, what's the sound outside?" The little apprentice hurried to the gate of the camp, raised the curtain to look outside, and ran back in fright: "Master, it's not good, The flames are burning outside, and there are... a lot of people killing people in the distance!"

Liu Jieli was shocked, and pushed the little apprentice: "Hurry up and go to the camp, wake up those who are asleep, and let them run quickly." He turned around and picked up Ming Zhang: "I will take the little prince back to the queen's tent. The little apprentice nodded quickly and ran out.

Others are fine, the man in the imperial kitchen is so tired after serving a big banquet, he will fall asleep as soon as he lays down, if he kills someone for no reason, it will be wronged.Although they are slaves and their lives are worthless in the eyes of the nobles, they still cherish them.

Liu Jieli picked up Ming Jian, fearing that he would yell, so he stuffed a meatball into his mouth and said, "I'll take you back." Then he ran to the queen's tent, and after running for a while, he looked vaguely I saw many guards carrying knives, entering every tent and killing everyone.

He was too frightened to approach, and ran back, all the way back to the imperial chef's tent.After all, he is just a cook, and he doesn't know what to do when he encounters a sudden change.The little prince held in this hand was scorching like charcoal fire, he dared not hold it, and dared not let it go.Although Xiao Ming was naughty on weekdays, he also knew what happened at this time, the meatball in his mouth had already been bitten into scum, and he didn't dare to swallow it, he just stared blankly at Liu Jieli.

Liu Jieli was in a state of confusion, rubbed his hands and turned around twice, picked up the scorpion again, and stuffed another meatball into his mouth.At this time, the meatballs have been fried for a long time and are cold, and the greasy ones are not delicious.But Ming Yan was dumbfounded, and was gagged by the meatballs. He didn't dare to cry, so he had to be hugged by Liu Jieli obediently.

Liu Xieli opened the curtain with Ming Jian, looked outside, but saw a group of guards had already searched in this direction, and shrank back in fright.He turned around and felt the little prince in his arms trembling. Seeing an old felt on the stool, he pulled it out and wrapped the child tightly, and carried him out from behind the tent.

I didn't want to go out like this, but I was delighted to see it.There was a lot of firewood piled up outside the imperial kitchen tent, he came up with an idea, he took off a large bundle lightly, wrapped the little prince tightly with old felt, only his small head was exposed, so as not to make any noise when he was struggling, and he was afraid that the child would eat it After the meatball was finished, he could talk, so he lowered his voice and said, "Second prince, there are many bad guys outside, killing people everywhere. I will put you in the woodpile and hide you. Don't make a sound, otherwise the bad guys will kill you if they see you." about you."

Xiao Ming was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he nodded repeatedly.

Liu Jieli wiped off his sweat, and fearing that he would not understand the meaning of "kill you" at such a young age, he piled firewood on him and threatened him in a low voice: "If you are killed, you will not see the Lord." , I won’t see the Queen Mother, I won’t see the Empress, I won’t see the Eldest Prince anymore…” Ming Ting stared wide-eyed, with cold and greasy meatballs in his mouth, he could only nod his head.

While moving the firewood, Liu Jieli warned in a low voice: "Don't make a sound, don't talk, don't nod..." He lightly stacked the firewood, finally settled the hot little prince, and slipped back under the tent .

As soon as he got back, he saw the curtain was lifted, and several fierce black-clothed guards barged in with knives, and asked, "Who are you?"

Liu Jieli was still in shock, when he saw a knife pointing at his face, his calf felt weak immediately, and he replied tremblingly, "I, I, I...is the cook...I, I, I..." But the guard looked at him. The little prince ate half of the meatballs on the table, and suddenly felt something was wrong, and quickly replied: "I, I have finished serving the banquet in the big tent, so I will clean up and fill my stomach..."

The guard didn't have the patience to listen to his ramblings, so he pointed his knife at him and asked, "Did you see the second prince?" He made a gesture as he spoke, "Such a big little boy?"

Really afraid of asking anything, Liu Jieli supported the table and tremblingly said: "No, no, I don't know...no, no, I didn't see..."

The few guards in black glanced at the dining room, one guard looked at Liu Jieli, and the rest of the guards held knives and poked around, rummaging through boxes and boxes.Liu Jieli explained with a bitter face: "My lords, my lords, I, I, I haven't left all night, really, really, really no one..."

Several guards rummaged for a while, but they couldn't find anything, so they were about to leave.Seeing that they had already left, Liu Jieli breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly stopped alone, as if he felt that he heard something and was about to turn around.

Liu Jieli's heart almost jumped out.He also heard the rustling of the firewood just now, or the child moved in shock, or he was not steady when he piled the firewood just now, the sound is really terrible at this moment.In desperation, Liu Jieli took a few steps back, and sat down on the place where the little apprentice was burning the fire just now, holding the firewood by the stove, shivering.

As expected, the guard became suspicious when he heard the rustling of firewood. Looking around, it was the greasy cook sitting on the pile of firewood trembling. Suddenly, he felt that he had been fooled. In a rage, he stabbed Liu Jieli with a knife. chest.Liu Jieli was frightened and wanted to escape, but it was too late, he fell out and hit the edge of the tent.His eyes were wide open, his mouth was "clucking", and he wanted to say something, but he couldn't speak anymore.

The blood flowed out slowly, penetrated the tent, and seeped in from the woodpile.

The little prince in the woodpile stared round in the darkness.Through the gaps in the woodpile, he could only see a little light from the tent.Then, with a scream, a person was crushed on the pyre.

A warm, fishy liquid seeped drop by drop from the pyre, soaking his clothes, and then slowly became cold, bitterly cold.

(End of this chapter)