Beautiful step by step

Chapter 97

The arsonist probably didn't expect that the fire would spread from the courtyard to the Youzhou government office at an unstoppable speed, and then burn the entire Youzhou palace.

On a whim, he set off from the last stop two days earlier, concealed it from the officials along the road, and planned to kill the officials of Youzhou by surprise, and Emperor Qinglong, who was going to see more about the real situation in the northwest, never thought of it.After setting foot here again after being away from the Northwest for more than ten years, the local officials would give him such a grand welcome ceremony.

The flames of war are so fierce that they completely compare with the sunset in the sky.

"Father, is this the three months of beacon fire written in Du Fu's poem?"

The innocence in Princess Nine's voice has not completely faded, but her face is full of worry.

"The people in the city are afraid that they will suffer."

Emperor Qinglong frowned, and was about to lose his temper when he saw the unconcealable worry on his daughter's innocent face, and finally suppressed his anger.

"Ayi go to the back to accompany your concubine mother."

The nine princesses looked at Emperor Qinglong worriedly: "But father..."

This is his most beloved nine princesses. If it were his sons who were almost vying for the dragon chair, they would definitely be impatient to do so.Contact the ministers, gather your own people, understand the situation, and use tricks to push the blame on the hostile people, and eliminate dissidents as much as possible to consolidate your own power.

Emperor Qinglong was too familiar with this. After all, he had been dormant in secret for more than 20 years, dragged down several powerful brothers from his mother clan, and finally sat on the throne safely.

Those little bastards all thought that they were smart and brilliant, but they didn't know that that bit of self-satisfaction was all left over from his old days.

But Ah Yi is different, she only sees him as an ordinary father.She would beam with joy when she was happy with him, and act coquettishly when she was unhappy. Now that the situation was urgent, the first thing she cared about was his emotions.

"The imperial doctor said that my father should keep a peaceful mind. I don't need to bother my father, but my father must promise me that I must never be angry."

When it came to the last nine princesses pouted, and looked at Emperor Qinglong stubbornly, as if her father would not agree to her and just stay here.

The rising anger melted like ice and snow, Emperor Qinglong slapped Princess Jiu on the shoulder with a hand full of age spots: "The imperial chariot is spacious, Ayi will stay behind."

Not only the nine princesses, but Sansi, the chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace who was waiting outside the imperial chariot, was also in a rare daze when he heard the movement.

Is the emperor going to take the nine princesses together to be worshiped by the officials of Youliang Prefecture?It's one thing to like the nine princesses, but now it's not just a matter of liking.It's a pity that Duan Wang, before the west tour, had to fight with the owner of Guangyuanlou because of whether the bean curd should be sweet or salty.

If King Duan hadn't been so out of touch, with the power of the Ban family and the weight of Concubine Shu and Princess Ninth in the emperor's heart, King Wu and the crown prince would all stand aside.

wrong!As the name suggests, the manager who thinks twice likes to think about things three times.If Duan Wang really had a heart for the throne, with the emperor's suspicious character, would he still love Concubine Shu and the Ninth Princess so much?
That Duan Wang's current posture of idle clouds and wild cranes, is he just pretending?Or is it really like this?Think twice, the manager thought about it for the third time.

Not only was Chief Sansi suspicious, but the eldest son of the emperor, King Wu, who came to the northwest with Shengjia, heard the report from his subordinates who had placed in front of him. After the nine princesses of the approaching Youzhou hadn't come out of the imperial chariot, they always had a smile on their face A shadow of prey flashed across the sky.

Riding on the horse, he discussed with the counselor next to him.

"Ninth sister is so favored. According to Mr., is the fourth brother really not thinking about it, or is he hiding behind deliberately, and the snipe and the clam compete for the fisherman's profit?"

The counselor with the goatee showed hesitation: "Prince Duan is so delicate, some small actions can certainly please His Majesty for a while. However, in the long run, it will inevitably give people the impression of being cynical and unreliable. Comparing your heart with your heart, if the prince has a love with the little one in the market A son who is constantly quarreling with the people, would you feel at ease asking him to be crowned son?"

The counselor just used this as a metaphor, but King Wu thought of a lot from his last sentence.He is the oldest among the princes, he got married early, and his son was born long ago, and he asked to be crowned son.Among the remaining brothers, the concubine has not been married for many years, and the prince has only a few bastards; the third brother is obsessed with calligraphy and painting; after the fourth brother, including the famous sixth brother who is covetous about the throne, they have not yet married.

What are these brothers fighting against him?As long as he can defeat the prince, the new prince can only be the eldest son of the emperor.

"Thank you sir for pointing out the maze."

King Wu clasped his fists in thanks, and then rode his horse to the accompanying grandfather's house.

The family background of his first relatives and maternal ancestors is not obvious, and when his mother and concubine entered the palace, she was only a seventh-rank talent. She was only able to be promoted because she was lucky enough to give birth to the eldest son of the emperor. After spending most of her life, she is now only a fourth-rank Jieyu.Unlike the fourth younger brother, mother and concubine, who was born in the Ban family of the historian family of the three dynasties, as soon as she entered the palace, she was the concubine Concubine Shu, who was second only to the queen.

When Concubine Shu entered the palace, King Wu was already sensible. Even though he had the nature of mother and child, he also knew that his mother concubine was inferior to Concubine Shu.Not only is she old-fashioned and looks inferior to the young concubine Shu, she has even experienced more than ten years in the palace, and her knowledge and skills are still not at the same level.

Although the background of the mother and concubine is not obvious, the family of the mother and concubine is He Guogong's mansion, which is one of the best in Dayue, and the Duke of the country is an important old minister of the former emperor, He Ge.With the help of the elder He Ge, he has been on par with the prince in the court these years.

In the flames that filled the sky, King Wu rushed back on his horse, stopped in front of He Ge's old car, and jumped on it.

"Uncle, there is a fire ahead, I have found the source of the fire."

Old He Ge, with white beard and hair, was sitting cross-legged in the carriage playing chess records. He didn't even lift his eyelids when he saw King Wu coming in. He was still looking at the chess records.

King Wu joined the army when he was young, and has always been decisive in killing and attacking.If he met others who were so indifferent to answering, he would draw his sword and face each other early in the morning.But Mr. He Ge is different. When he was still a prince born from a humble talent, it was Mr. He Ge who had been helping him all the time.Out of respect, he kept calling Old Uncle He Ge.For many years, Mr. He Ge has always had this indifferent appearance, and King Wu has long been used to it.He even fantasized in his spare time that if one day He Ge always behaved as attentively as the staff around him, and when he saw him, he was either frightened or flattered, just thinking about that scene was enough to make his skin crawl.

Seeing that he didn't talk to him, King Wu said to himself: "The fire started first from the courtyard where Yan Zhenfu lived, and somehow the roof of the courtyard was blown up. When the accident happened, the Youzhou government office had just received the notice of the arrival of the holy car, and by the way, the Yan Zhen asked his family members to arrest him, because he wanted them to be scapegoats."

He Ge's elders nodded invisibly, indicating that they were listening, and their hands full of age spots began to pick up the chess pieces.

"Yan Zhenfu is just a lowly military officer from the fifth rank, but unlike others, he was conferred by his father and emperor. Uncle must still have the impression that the Northwest was victorious in June, and the Northwest Army entered the city in early July. The most shining of the Wu family's descendants Wu Gong, one of the twin stars, was found out for his military merits, and he was demoted to the common people for three generations. The person who was embezzled for his military merits was none other than the humble Yan Xiaoqi in the Northwest Army.

Finally put away all the chess pieces, Mr. He Ge turned over the chessboard that had been used for many years and was somewhat blackened.

King Wu looked at it intently, the wood of this chessboard is not expensive, nor is the workmanship exquisite, but it is Mr. He Ge's most beloved object.No matter where he went over the years, even if he just went to a hot spring village in the suburbs of Beijing for a few days in winter, he would definitely take it with him.When he was young, he had vaguely seen that there seemed to be something on the back of the chessboard, but he had no chance to turn it over since then.

The right hand subconsciously opened the curtain to let the sunlight in from outside the car. After 30 years of confusion, King Wu finally saw the whole picture of the back of the chessboard.

If Wei Wei was here, he would definitely recognize it. He Gelao's chessboard, both in material and style, was exactly the same as the one she used to play backgammon on the way to Liangzhou.It's just that the map on the back of the chessboard is different. Her map shows all the terrain, mountains, rivers, deserts and grasslands, while Mr. Hege's map circles the details of all the guard posts on the western defense line.

"This..." Wu Wang, who has been leading troops for many years, is very familiar with the map of the territory of Dayue, and he was surprised because of his familiarity: "This is not the layout of all the city defenses in the northwest. I was in the northwest when I first led the troops. Unexpectedly, my uncle said that he could not help, but he was always there. secretly watching."

Elder He Ge finally spoke, but his voice was cold: "Don't think too much, I don't know anything about military affairs."

It seems to be the case.King Wu remembered that when he first led the troops, he occasionally had confusion, and He Ge always sent his staff to answer his questions.

"My uncle was very scheming and strategizing in political affairs, and he was an extremely courtier for most of his life. He also has a brilliant literary talent, which is already amazing enough to be amazing. After all, no one is perfect."

"No one is perfect?" Repeating the last four words, Mr. He Ge stroked the chessboard, his expression became very strange, a little crazy, and even more sentimental: "That's the truly amazing talent you have never seen before." Man, all of us are fools compared to him. Absolutely stupid and extremely greedy."

It was the first time that Mr. He Ge praised a person so much, the more he praised, the more obvious his loneliness was.

King Wu recalled He Ge's anomaly along the way. Although he was old, when he went to Jiangnan a few years ago, he would get out of the car and take a walk along the way.However, during this tour to the west, he stayed in the carriage all the time, and even covered all the glazed windows that he spent so much time buying with curtains, playing chess in silence.

King Wu was keenly aware that the people He Ge always praised were related to his silence along the way, and even related to the fire this time.

"Who is the uncle talking about?"

"An old man," said He Ge, his eyelids drooping, his hand as old as withered bark never left the chessboard, "Yan Zhenfu is not some inconspicuous person, he is the empress of a serious old man."

"Well," King Wu hesitated, "but the Wu family..."

"The Wu family is just an unfamiliar white-eyed wolf," He Ge said sarcastically without raising his eyelids.

Just when King Wu was about to change his mind and let the "Queen of the Old Man" go, He Ge changed the subject: "But the Queen of my old man must never raise his head again."

Scenes of the past when he was young flashed in his mind, He Ge's old face was full of compassion, but his words were extremely decisive.

(End of this chapter)