Phoenix Fight: The First Concubine

Chapter 168 Changes in Texas
Although he has been canonized as the crown prince, because the crown prince is still young, he is still raised by Murong Wei's side.

In the third year of Qiande, Xiao Mingrui had already secured the throne, and the Great Qin Dynasty was also thriving, with a scene of prosperity. After the crown prince was canonized this spring, Xiao Mingrui announced that he would go to Nanjing to pay homage to the emperor's mausoleum. Murong Wei and several children also went to Jinling City for an outing.

It's more about going for a walk than worshiping the ancestors. Murong Wei has never been out of the capital since she married Xiao Mingrui. At most, she has played in the outskirts of the capital. How many scenery, really very excited.

The emperor's travel is a major national event. The dragon boat he rides on, the imperial guards in charge of protection, the palaces along the way must be properly arranged, and how to contact local officials is a headache for the court.

Before leaving, Xiao Mingrui had already issued a notice to the local government, asking them not to spend extravagantly and wastefully, but to keep things as simple as possible. It is extravagant and luxurious, but it hurts the people.

Before leaving Beijing, something happened that made Xiao Mingrui furious.

Xie Mingyan is gone.

She escaped from the place where she was guarded. This incident seemed so unbelievable that Xiao Mingrui couldn't believe it.

Afterwards, I called to inquire, and I knew that Xie Mingyan had behaved like an ordinary woman these years, which greatly lowered the vigilance of the guards. It was inevitable that they would feel bored after guarding this place for a long time. Come out and walk around the yard under the watchful eye of the guard.

After a long time, this woman actually used her beauty to seduce one of the guards, and even aroused the jealousy of the other guard, and the two actually fought for her.

This incident is very bizarre, Xiao Mingrui has a lot of things to do every day, so he has no time to pay attention to this matter, the purpose of keeping Xie Mingyan is also because of some unavoidable reasons, otherwise how could he let such a woman live.

No one expected that one day Xie Mingyan knocked out one of the guards and stabbed the other to death with a hairpin. Then he pretended to be a servant girl from another courtyard and fled with the money and things he had snatched from the guards.

Xiao Mingrui was furious when he learned of this, and immediately sent someone to arrest Xie Mingyan.

Obviously, they were all deceived by Xie Mingyan, Xiao Mingrui did not believe that Xie Mingyan had forgotten many things, and if this woman was talking nonsense outside, it would obviously not be a good thing for Xiao Mingrui.

But Xiao Mingrui is not afraid, he is the Son of Heaven, he wants to arrest a woman, even if he can't find it, he doesn't believe that Xie Mingyan can cause any trouble.

After all, the General Secretary is not a vegetarian.

Xiao Mingrui was obviously very upset by such a small incident before leaving, but seeing that the trip was about to start, he certainly couldn't stay here just to thank Mingyan, so he went to Jiangnan with his family in mid-April.

If Xiao Mingrui left, there would definitely be someone in the capital to oversee the country. King Chu and King Qin would oversee the country, plus King He, there would be no problem.

From Tongzhou to the Grand Canal, head south, pass through Cangzhou and other places, enter Shandong, and stop at Dezhou.

The speed of the boat was not fast along the way, the dragon boat was quite big, and accompanied by the escort fleet, the daily speed was as slow as a snail, and it went all the way, almost ten days had passed since we arrived in Dezhou.

Murong Wei stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the ancient scenery on the river bank. She was quite happy to see it at first.

And at this time, the river is still clear, the scenery is beautiful, and the rural scenery is really charming. It is spring, and the rapeseed flowers are in full bloom. I rejoice in my heart.

It's just that no matter how beautiful the scenery is, if I look at it for ten days, I'm afraid I won't be able to appreciate it. Now Murong Wei wants to go ashore to have a look.

It's just that Xiao Mingrui seldom stopped at the shore along the way, because he was afraid of disturbing the place and wasting money, so he spent most of his time on the boat, only stopping twice at places with palaces.

Dezhou is a big city, a land of transportation between the north and the south, before arriving in Dezhou, Xiao Mingrui greeted the local officials in advance, and did not allow them to greet them in a big way.

But when the dragon boat stopped outside the city of Dezhou, I still saw countless people coming to the canal to meet the driver. Dezhou officials, local gentry, and common people gathered here to welcome the holy driver, and watched the huge fleet go down the canal from a distance. A dragon boat carved with dragons and phoenixes in the middle made all the officials present, the gentry and the people couldn't help but exclaim.

"The saint has arrived!"

Xiao Mingrui frowned when he saw the movement on the shore from the boat.

Murong Wei shook her head and said: "Your repeated orders are useless, they dare not really have no one to greet them."

Xiao Mingrui felt a little helpless, the emperor could not do everything.

The maids and eunuchs have already gone down to make arrangements, and the two sides are covered with yellow curtains, and the floor is covered with carpets, so that ordinary people are not given a chance to watch.

Xiao Mingrui and Murong Wei's family got off the boat, immediately changed to the imperial chariot, and went straight to the palace.

Xiao Mingrui heard the common people calling long live three times in his ears, but he said with emotion: "This way, I don't know how much the common people have been delayed."

Murong Wei smiled and said: "It's the Dragon Boat Festival soon, and it happens to be in Dezhou. My husband can also have fun with the people."

The Dezhou side also has two water and land gates, and the dragon boat stops just outside the water gate of Dezhou City, but Xiao Mingrui, under the protection of Dezhou officials, forbidden army, and local officers and soldiers, made his way to the Dezhou Palace.

These days, if you want to go out once, you always need to hurry, and the speed of traveling is often very slow, especially for such a large-scale trip, with too many people and a big boat, the speed of the boat must not be fast.

However, the waterways of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal are not at the same level. In some sections, the water level of the canal is different. At this time, trackers need to pull boats from the shore.

These really shocked Murong Wei who had never seen them before.

However, Xiao Mingrui knew it very well. He talked to Murong Wei about the folk customs of Dezhou along the way, and he was very logical.

Although Hutou is only five years old, he is already a prince. During this period of time, he has become a lot more sensible after going out to study in the pavilion. At this moment, he is sitting upright like a little adult, only occasionally looking at the cheering people outside, his eyes flashed with excitement and excited.

It was not until the Dezhou Palace that the crowd gradually dispersed.

The palace was also used when Emperor Wu was built before, so it is still as new. After the emperor and empress moved in, there was no other use except the maids and eunuchs brought on board.

Xiao Mingrui didn't go there all the way to play. He also inspected the local government affairs along the way. After arriving in Dezhou, he summoned the prefect of Dezhou to inquire about local affairs.

Of course, these superficial things don't make much sense, just in time for the Dragon Boat Festival, Dezhou City will hold a dragon boat race, Xiao Mingrui is specially invited to participate, and have fun with the people.

Xiao Mingrui also had this intention, so he agreed to this matter.

When returning to the palace, Murong Wei was watching Hutou and Lele reading.

Brother Pei is only less than two years old, and he is looking at his elder brother and sister curiously.

Hutou is reciting "Poems of a Thousand Families". This kid is very smart. Not to mention he has an ephemeral memory, but it is almost the same. Basically, he can be very familiar with things he has memorized a few times. If someone explains it, he will remember it more clearly. .

Murong Wei likes to let the children think for themselves, drawing inferences from one instance, in this way, Hutou's thinking becomes more flexible and changeable, and sometimes the questions he asks can even overwhelm Xiao Mingrui, the father.

Xiao Mingrui came in and listened to his son reciting Qianjia's poems, nodding his head and listening attentively.

"Royal father!" Hutou saluted Xiao Mingrui respectfully, and said with a smile, "I heard from my mother that I would spend the Dragon Boat Festival in Dezhou. I don't know how my royal father will spend it?"

Xiao Mingrui didn't answer this question. He first tested his knowledge and said when he was satisfied: "Tomorrow there will be a dragon boat race in Dezhou City, and I will have fun with the people at that time."

Hutou's eyes lit up: "Are the queen mother, son minister and younger siblings going together?"

Lele also looked at him expectantly.

These children have never been out of the palace, but this time they have gained a lot of experience. When they heard about the dragon boat race, they immediately wanted to go and see it.

Murong Wei looked at Brother Pei, he still couldn't figure out what his brother and sister were excited about.

"How about this, brother Pei is still young, so he will stay in the palace, and you and Lele will accompany your mother to the queen." Xiao Mingrui said.

Hutou and Lele shouted happily, then hugged Murong Wei, chattering about the dragon boat race and how to do it.

The second day was the Dragon Boat Festival. People all over the city wore wormwood, hung calamus and mugwort leaves in front of their doors, drank realgar wine, and ate rice dumplings. In the early morning, a large number of people went to the moat to watch the dragon boat race, plus the emperor Xiao Mingrui and Murong Wei. The arrival of the queen, prince, and princess made this place even more lively.

An archway has been built by the river in Xifu, West of Dezhou City. Many colorful boats are docked in the river, and a pergola is built on the high platform on the bank. It is prepared for the nobles who watch the game. At this moment, many gentry and officials from Dezhou have come. The envoys and the procuratorial envoys also arrived, and they all waited eagerly for Xiao Mingrui's arrival.

In the distance, someone suddenly shouted: "The holy driver has arrived!"

Everyone looked into the distance, and sure enough, they saw the arrival of the Emperor Yujia and the Empress Fengjia. With the impediments of the prince and princess, it became even more lively.

After some pilgrimage, Xiao Mingrui, Murong Wei, and Hutou Lele sat down in the curtain built on the high platform. The place is covered with bamboo curtains, but people can see the scene on the river, but people outside can't see clearly The situation inside.

There were people everywhere, which also aroused the vigilance of the officials, and the security was even tighter. Xiao Mingrui was also surrounded by Ouchi guards to protect him at all times, so there was absolutely no danger of any danger.

The Xifu River is already preparing to start a competition. From this archway, whoever reaches the archway in the distance the fastest and picks off the red flowers on it will win, and the winning government will be rewarded.

The prefect of Dezhou came to ask for instructions, Xiao Mingrui nodded, and the competition began.

With the sound of a drum, all the boats were launched suddenly, like an arrow leaving the string.

Hutou chatted excitedly with his younger sister, pointing to the boats in it and yelling "Hurry up, it's overtaken" and other words.

Xiao Mingrui couldn't help laughing, and seeing Murong Wei watching with gusto, he said with a smile, "It's your first time watching it too?"

Murong Wei regretted: "Yeah... I haven't seen this before, it looks really good."

Although she has seen Dragon Boat Races before, this is the first time she has seen them held by the ancients. The scenes and competitions are unexpectedly fierce. Those boats are on the surface of the water, and the helmsman dashes left and right with superb skills, like thousands of big white dragon boat races. The fish rushed straight forward, such a scene is really shocking.

Everyone's eyes were attracted by He Zhong's competition, and Xiao Mingrui was also discussing with Murong Wei.

Suddenly, Xiao Mingrui sensed a danger coming, this intuition was cultivated on the battlefield, he subconsciously shouted "Be careful" and then threw Murong Wei to the ground, along with Hutou and Lele, fell to the ground.

At this moment, the guards on the left and right had already reacted, and Wu Jing was the first to react. He opened his hand and threw a grand master's chair. With a sound of collision, a huge arrow knocked over the grand master's chair thrown into the air, and was blocked by this force. The oblique thorns are inserted into the wooden pillars on the high platform.

With a bang, the arbor creaked and shook wildly, and there were screams from all around.

A large number of guards surrounded the place from the outside, and Wu Jing rushed out, sharp-eyed to see a crossbow protruding from a boat in the river!
His expression changed, and the officers and soldiers ran towards the ship.

No one expected such a situation to happen!
Xiao Mingrui's face was livid, and he helped Murong Wei to stand up. Hutou and Lele were both terrified, and they grabbed Murong Wei's sleeves in panic.

Xiao Mingrui looked at the huge arrow stuck on the wooden stake, his expression was ugly: "A crossbow arrow! It's actually a crossbow arrow!"

This is a tool used on the battlefield, and it is extremely powerful. There is absolutely no such thing among the people.

Although this giant arrow is not a siege crossbow, it is also a stepping crossbow. It can shoot through the enemy at a distance of [-] steps, and it just shot from the river, just within the range!
In fact, the officers and soldiers had already occupied all the commanding heights and places that were easy to attack, but no one expected that during the competition, someone would hide a crossbow and shoot at the high platform chaotically during the competition!
The boat was close to the river bank and stopped for some reason. Who would have thought that such a thing would happen.

But when Wu Jing led people to hunt him down, something even more astonishing happened. Many villains with sharp knives appeared among the onlookers, rushing in and wanting to attack the high platform.

Murong Wei was surprised and said: "Husband, this was premeditated. It's too chaotic here now, and it's easy for people to fish in troubled waters."

Xiao Mingrui also understands this truth. There are too many people watching the dragon boat race during the Dragon Boat Festival, and the current situation is very chaotic. Not only are those gangsters shooting arrows from the river, but now there are actually many villains among the people.

Although they are still far away from the high platform, and the high platform is full of officers and soldiers and forbidden troops, it does not look dangerous, but I am afraid that these people will kidnap the people and attack them. When the time comes, there will be a huge crowd, but it will really be a mess .

The prefect of Dezhou crawled over like hell: "The emperor, please move into the city with the queen, the prince and princess, it's too dangerous outside now.

Indeed, if you enter Dezhou City from here instead of the moat, there will indeed be a lot less danger.

As long as the city gate is closed, the villain can't commit murder.

But Xiao Mingrui opened his eyes and saw that because of the dragon boat race on the Dragon Boat Festival, there was a huge crowd of people around, and the changes that happened at this moment have already caused many people to panic. Many people ran away in fright. mess.

If you want to enter the city under the escort of officers and soldiers, it may be more dangerous than usual, and there may be some assassin hiding on the road.

"Transfer, where to transfer?" Xiao Mingrui said coldly: "In the current situation, further transfer will only be more dangerous!"

After all, he ignored the governor of Dezhou and other civil servants who were frightened and frightened, and called Wu Jing over directly, and ordered Lu Bing, the commander of the Shandong Capital, to call the officers and soldiers of the nearby guards, and then gather all the defensive forces on the spot. On the high platform, a formation was set up.

He directly used this place as a battlefield. It is condescending here, and it is very difficult for others to attack from above. But with his own elite soldiers and excellent equipment, is he still afraid of these mobs?
"Your Majesty, it's dangerous here, why don't you go into the city," said the Chief Minister of Shandong Province.

Xiao Mingrui waved his hand and said solemnly: "Needless to say, I am going to capture and kill these mobs here today, so as to teach the world that no matter how many mobs there are, it is useless. These rebellious officials and thieves will surely die under my sword!"

As soon as he waved his sleeves, he continued to sit down on the high platform. At this moment, the emperor's power was fully revealed, which directly made everyone present feel a sense of insignificance and want to bow down. The tail is still wagging.

Everyone was overwhelmed by Xiao Mingrui's demeanor, seeing him so calm, they all recovered from the panic just now.

Immediately busy with the deployment of troops, those who transferred people, and the maintenance of order, those who shouted were all busy.

Lu Bing, the Commander of the Shandong Capital, is also a general at any rate. With the current situation, he naturally knows how to do it. He has set up an army formation around the high platform, with shields in the front, spearmen in the back, and shooters in the end. Xiao Mingrui is at the close The Ouchi masters and guards brought from the capital.

Although this formation is simple, it is also extremely powerful. If someone really approaches, first use the archer to snipe from a long distance, and then use the gunner's long spear to attack, and the cavalry he called to snipe nearby, I don't believe anyone can break through .

The reason why Xiao Mingrui dared to sit here is that he still has such confidence, mainly because he saw that although those people showed their weapons among the common people and rushed towards this side, fighting with the strong local people and the yamen servants who maintained order, they obviously did it for their own sake. In war, there is no backbone.

This method of warfare is obviously a reckless act, not a well-trained soldier.

Seeing this, his heart was relieved.

When he saw the crossbow arrows before, he thought that someone had colluded with the military to rebel, but looking at the situation, it was clear that someone bought some desperadoes to assassinate his family!

As long as he wasn't a soldier, he wasn't afraid at all. A savage against a soldier might kill him.

Ten may also cause a lot of damage to the opponent, but a hundred Jianghu figures will definitely not be the opponent of a hundred well-trained and well-armed soldiers.

Without him, it's just the cooperation of the army.

All it takes is a thousand arrows to be fired, and a joint strike technique, and half of these mobs can be killed.

However, the appearance of the crossbow also made Xiao Mingrui furious, and he was already thinking about going back to investigate clearly, where did the crossbow leak out from, this thing is for military use, how could it appear here?

Xiao Mingrui's heart fluctuated, but his face was very calm.

Seeing this, Murong Wei also calmed down, and took Hutou and Lele to sit beside her.

Hutou asked nervously: "Father, are these people really not going to rush over?"

Xiao Mingrui picked up his son and stood on the stage, stood up and pointed to the front, his eyes were determined and cold: "Wenzhi, today I will teach you what is killing and decisive, what is the might of the Great Qin Bing! Remember, you are the prince, are you not Ordinary people, when you encounter this situation, you need to be more calm, if even you mess up, others will be even more disorganized. If you mess up, you will be caught deadly."

Hu Tou looked at the sound of killing in the distance with a vague understanding. He had never seen such a cruel and bloody scene when he grew up in a deep palace. He was scared, nervous and a little inexplicably excited. He tried his best to hold his breath. Mouth, pale face, but a pair of eyes stubbornly staring straight ahead, without turning away or shouting.

Murong Wei couldn't bear it, she hugged Lele into her arms to prevent her from seeing such a bloody scene, but for the eldest son, Xiao Mingrui was very cruel and wanted him to watch all this happen with his own eyes, regardless of the tiger. The head is just a five-year-old child.

This may be cruel, but for the prince Hutou, such a bloody and cruel scene may be what he needs most.

Because he is the prince!

Xiao Mingrui looked at his son with some distress and some approval, and saw that he stubbornly did not look away, but chose to accept all of this. Although he felt that this was too cruel to a child, but if he wanted to be an heir, he would not see blood or go through some troubles. How could the iron-blooded matter be qualified?

In fact, the situation is indeed chaotic enough at this moment.

Because the emperor came in person, this place can indeed be said to be well-defended, and thousands of elite soldiers were mobilized here, but when the game started, most of these people were separated from the crowd and around the river, that is to say, the total number of people who stayed near the high platform There are only a few hundred elite soldiers, and the rest are maintaining order.

So as soon as the incident happened, some soldiers were completely blocked by the turbulent crowd, unable to come over at all, and could only worry in the distance.

But this time will not last for a long time, because the city will dispatch troops soon, and even if there are hundreds of people who want to assassinate, these gangsters can't afford to delay, so they can only take the risk and rush to the high platform while taking advantage of the chaos.

It took only a moment, while the people rushed across the open space in front of the high platform in panic, the crowd was raging, and the scene was extremely chaotic. At this time, some of them took advantage of the chaos to emerge from the crowd and killed some ordinary people who were maintaining order first. Min Zhuang then rushed towards the high platform with the murder weapon in his arms.

As soon as Lu Bing set up his formation and arranged it, these people rushed towards this side immediately.

There are only more than 20 cavalry around. Originally, these were soldiers who followed Lu Bing, but they were definitely elite. But now facing five or six hundred people rushing, the other party has no scruples, but I have to protect Empress, the pressure is not insignificant.

Lu Bing couldn't help but break out in cold sweat on his forehead.

Xiao Mingrui said in a deep voice: "Lu Bing, don't be afraid, kill these mobs!"

"The minister obeys the order."

Lu Bing lifted his spirits, the current situation was beyond his expectations, he could only hold on tight and wait for the arrival of reinforcements, if something happened to the emperor, he could really die.

Those hundreds of people rushed towards this direction, and a torrent was formed immediately. These people were dressed in the clothes of ordinary people. Some of them looked like scholars, some like butchers, and some looked like gentlemen. All of them changed their expressions, and rushed over like menacing spirits.

They didn't have any queues at all when they were on the attack, they rushed over chaotically like a flock of sheep that had completely run wild.

Some people threw out their weapons, and Lu Bing quickly shouted: "Raise the shield."

Immediately, the shield soldiers raised their shields, and those colorful and varied hidden weapons suddenly attacked here, but without such sharp weapons as bows and arrows, most of them were blocked, and it was difficult to cause any damage.

The weapons in these people's hands are also different. Some of them had hidden weapons on their bodies before, such as swords, and some even held small panlong sticks similar to nunchakus. He was still shouting: "Kill the dog emperor and do justice for the heavens. The heavens are dead, and Huang Tian should stand!"

Xiao Mingrui's expression was sour. Seeing these people rushing forward, a name came to mind... White Lotus Sect.

This evil sect is not blocked by a unified one. In fact, they are very scattered, with many branches, and the names of the branches are different.

Usually they hide among the people and do their own things, but once there is some turmoil in the court, it is time for them to act.

They will oppose which dynasty and which world they oppose. In short, they are terrorists and unstable elements in the eyes of the court.

Unexpectedly, this time, someone from the White Lotus Sect came to assassinate him?
Who gave them the courage and the crossbow bolts they provided?

He didn't think that the White Lotus Sect had the ability to obtain these things!

And at this moment, these mobs are getting closer and closer!
Watching from fifty paces, to forty paces, to thirty paces, everyone can almost see their flamboyant faces, murderous expressions, and seeing the appearance of swarming, everyone is jealous.

Many civil servants had never experienced this kind of thing, and their legs were already trembling. They questioned Lu Bing and urged him to shoot arrows quickly and let the cavalry go up to cover up the kill.

Lu Bing ignored it, because the effective range of the bow and arrow has not yet reached. Although the spike arrow is powerful, the lethality can be maximized within 50 meters. He has to wait for these people to get closer.

(End of this chapter)