Emperor Kangxi: The First Rule of the Palace

Chapter 64
After several consecutive winter snows, there was another continuous spring rain.Calculating with one's fingers, it has been the eighth year since Kangxi ascended the throne.With the change of seasons, the desolate Beijing city has quietly recovered.

Wu Ciyou slept on the hot kang for the whole winter. After changing the bed, he felt cold. He couldn't help thinking of a saying: "'Southerners are better at eating than northerners, and northerners are better at living than southerners'. It is true." He wanted to sleep on the hot kang for a few more days, but he saw that He Guizhu had brought a few people to try to dismantle the kang, so he swallowed and went back without mentioning it, and said, "Don't dismantle the kang, I think this cool kang would be fine." So he put a low table on the kang, burned two incense sticks, sat cross-legged, took a book to read, and circled and commented on it casually.Suddenly someone called softly: "Brother is working hard!" When Wu Ciyou looked up, Mingzhu had already entered.It seemed that he had taken good care of himself this winter.Although the body is still weak, but the spirit has recovered.He patted the edge of the Kang and said with a smile: "You and Zhu'er came together, please sit down!"

"'Red sleeves add fragrance to reading at night', the eldest brother only needs Wanniang to wait here." Mingzhu laughed, and with a flick of her robe, she sat beside Wu Ciyou.When squinting his eyes, he saw Wu Ciyou holding a copy of "Tai Gong Yin Talisman" in his hand.He smiled and said, "Brother's reading is getting more and more complicated, don't you plan to enter the arena for a test, and lead troops to fight?"

Wu Ciyou shook his head with a smile and said: "I believe in Confucius and Mencius, and I also believe in Zhuangzi. When I am hot, I believe in Confucius and Mencius, and when I am cold, I believe in Zhuangzi. When I entered the examination room at the age of 34, I couldn't be proud. Instead, I was murdered. The words became fainter. Now I just want to teach this student well—I will teach whatever Longer wants to learn."

"This Longer is also weird," Mingzhu laughed, "What's the use of learning such a complicated thing?"

"I don't quite understand either—if you don't become an official, you can't use these books. Could it be that the court will let the commoners lead the army? So I just pick some useful comments on the books, and when I lecture Just talk more."

"Big Brother's knowledge is beyond words," Mingzhu said in her heart, "I have only been an emperor's teacher for a few years, and I don't even notice some clues, it's stupid enough." Seeing Mingzhu smiling and groaning, Wu Ciyou Then he took the book and said seriously: "Brother Mingzhu, what are you thinking? Do you miss Cuigu? Your affairs should be done, and things that are neither hot nor cold will not be done." Mingzhu's face darkened, and she shook her head. Said: "Brother, you don't know that Cui Gu has passed away!"

"Really!" Wu Ciyou was taken aback, jumped up and almost stood up from the kang, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Mingzhu sighed: "Firstly, people cannot be resurrected after death, and secondly, I am afraid that my elder brother will be surprised when he is ill. Zhu'er took 300 taels of silver from here as a gift ceremony, and only kept it from elder brother. ——She is a firework girl, I It is worthy of her."

"What are you talking about?" Wu Ciyou was displeased with the words behind Mingzhu, and changed color, "Didn't you also be a beggar who died of freezing? You have read the books of sages and sages, how can you treat people's identities like this ?”

"Brother taught me a lesson," Mingzhu quickly admitted his mistake seeing Wu Ciyou getting angry.Although he hated hearing about the history of beggars, he couldn't say anything in front of Wu Ciyou. He thought to himself: If you knew your identity, you might not lose your temper, but he said: "Actually, why don't I feel sad?" , she is still doing it for me..."

Hearing Mingzhu talk about Cuigu's death in detail, Wu Ciyou didn't speak for a long time, just staring intently at the wisps of cigarettes in front of him.After a while, Fang took a deep breath and said, "She is not for you alone, so you don't have to be too uneasy. Judging from her poem letter, there seems to be a bigger reason for it, and I don't quite understand it."

There is a "reason" of course, Mingzhu knows it clearly in her heart, but she can't explain it in detail, so she just keeps silent.I don't know when the wind picked up outside, and with the light rain, the window lattices rustled.The two listened quietly, both feeling chills.

Suddenly, the door squeaked, and Wei Dongting stepped in. While removing the oily mud shoes on the moccasin boots, he said with a smile, "What's wrong with the two brothers? They sit facing each other like a mud bodhisattva and meditate."

"It's nothing," Wu Ciyou forced a smile, "Please come up and sit down."

Wei Dongting said: "It's good to sit here." Leaning back, he also sat on the edge of the kang, suppressing the excitement in his heart, and said, "I'll tell you a letter, today the Holy Spirit has made a clear decree that Oboi was granted the title of grand master and first-class prince in Jin Dynasty. Just passing by there, the Ao Mansion held a grand banquet, and the lanterns and festoons illuminated it as if it were daytime...He Xi's sedan chairs and cars were all over the street."

"It's only Liu who can't be king, and it's only one step away." Mingzhu said, "Brother Wu is annoyed, can't he choose a few good things to say?"

Wu Ciyou said lightly: "It's nothing to worry about. Last time I said that Oboi's prosperity is extremely difficult to continue. With this abacus, it will return to one every ten. According to my cold eyes, either he is extremely smart now, or There will be very wise people to point out."

"Why? How do you say this?" Wei Dongting stared at Wu Ciyou with wide eyes, and Mingzhu also said, "Brother, this is difficult to understand." Wu Ciyou smiled and said, "What's so difficult to understand, Oboi is recuperating at home recently. Why did the imperial court confer the title of top grade for merits of size? According to his original intention, if he could swallow up the emperor, he would have done it long ago. He actually accepted such meritless rewards without any doubts, he is truly deluded by the authorities!"

Wei Dongting and Mingzhu looked at each other suspiciously.These words of Wu Ciyou are too mysterious, too coincidental!Seeing the surprise of the two, Wu Ciyou smiled and said, "Second gentleman, why should you be serious! I'm just making a judgment based on reason. You come back every day and talk about the situation in the court, so why don't I have a few words?"

The admiral of the Nine Gates, Wu Liuyi, is busy preparing for his son's soup cake meeting these days.Wu Liuyi got married very late, and his wife Qing's first two children were all girls. She didn't give birth to this son until she was 43 years old. It goes without saying that she is happy.During the three-day banquet, more than 200 invitations were sent out.The strange thing is that there are not a single foreigner invited, all of them are his old friends or new generals.But he has always acted perversely, and people don't see evil.

At the end of the afternoon, guests came to pay their respects one after another, and the east and west corridors were colorfully filled with gift boxes from various houses.Wu Liuyi accepted without hesitation, and the family members were all surprised: the master has always regarded himself as honest and honest, and he has not received any private gifts in his life except Zha Yihuang, why is he so uncharacteristic today?
Many of the guests were his former subordinates, and now they are all in various government offices in Beijing, some are serving in the imperial army, and some have already surpassed him in rank, but they still respect him very much.When they came, they only exchanged a few words, mostly presented the gift list, and then left with words like "I have important business, I can't attend the banquet at night, please Haihan".Wu Liuyi knew that they would go to Aobai's mansion to entertain, but he didn't reveal it, and dealt with them with a smile on his face, and then sent them away one by one.When it was nightfall, except for Wei Dongting who was considered a foreign guest, the rest were a group of lieutenants, generals, guerrillas, and generals under his command. These people did not dare to leave without an order.

"Everyone!" Seeing that everyone was seated, Wu Liu stood up from the chairman and raised a big glass of wine. He said in an accent that is neither south nor north, "today I will make soup and cakes for children, thanks Appreciation, everyone! I am so happy to see the brothers who have followed me for more than ten years!"

General Liu Can, who was sitting at the first table, got up and arched his hands: "Junmen! Today's soup and cake meeting is honored by Mr. Wei. This is because Mr. Wei looked down on us for raising the stage and didn't go to climb high branches. Come on, brother first A toast to you!" After speaking, he filled a large glass of wine and handed it over with both hands.The generals and assistants in the court also urged in unison: "Master Wei is a close minister of the emperor, and it is rare to come here, so please ask Mr. Wei to please the young master first!"

"Okay!" Wei Dongting saw that Wu Liuyi's generals were all heroic and heroic, and even to his own taste, he raised his glass and drank it dry, lit the bottom of the glass and said: "Brothers will take the first drink, everyone please!"

So the toasts were interlaced, and they drank five and six.In the hall, only the first iron beggar had a glass on the left and a glass on the right, eating wine with a calm air.He Zhiming sat by the side of the table with Wei Dongting, constantly persuading him to drink and add food.

When the wine was half drunk, Wu Liuyi blushed slightly, said "it's convenient", and resigned from everyone.Except for Wei Dongting, no one noticed his move.Seeing that Wei Dongting was in a daze, Mr. He got up to pour the wine, and whispered in a low voice: "Master Wei, our military gate is going to start first, I'm afraid it will be too late." Wei Dongting's heart sank suddenly, and the wine surged up, My heart was beating wildly, I forced myself to calm down, nodded and said with a smile: "As expected, the reputation is well-deserved, 'iron' is very strong!"

While speaking, Wu Liuyi had already returned to the living room. He was wearing a red-topped hairpin tassel, a Jiangya Haihai gown, a long sword around his waist, and a pair of brand new black satin official boots, swinging three times. walk in.The most conspicuous thing is the yellow mandarin jacket on the outside of the supplementary uniform, which is golden and dazzling under the light. The generals drinking wine had a premonition that something big was about to happen, so they stopped their glasses and stared blankly at their chief general, not knowing what was in his gourd. What kind of medicine are they selling.

Forty or fifty generals in the hall were stunned, watching Tie Beggar walk into the middle as if no one was around.He didn't say a word, the muscles on his face twitched, his eyes shone fiercely, and with a wave of his hand, more than 30 school captains in full uniform had already spread out, sealing all the passages in the hall .

"Please order!"

(End of this chapter)