female concubine

In the tenth year of Jianping, the king of Chu returned to Qishan from the capital, and spent half a year relatively peaceful in the middle of the capital.

年秋

"Find out the vacancies in Beijing, this is a job that is still vacant in various state capitals, please take a look at it," the Ministry of Officials submitted the local roster, "The people who can be used in the court have been exhausted. The autumn has just passed, and this year's admission There are more cases than in previous years, so I just hope that next year's spring will come soon."

The emperor looked up at the booklet and looked up at the officials, wondering: "Why are you?"

"Chen Shilang knew that His Majesty didn't want to see him, so he sent his ministers here."

The emperor raised his head, "Is there no one available?" Looking at the red circle on Fengxiang's mansion, he narrowed his eyes and asked to the side, "I remember that the king of Chu once pushed a person to come up. Do you still remember the order? ?”

Han Si then turned around and bowed: "Your Majesty, I still remember, but it has been almost a year, and my surname is Liu."

The emperor put the brochure aside, "Fengxiang is the capital of the border state, the candidate should not be too hasty, send a judge."

The official of the Ministry of Officials asked: "Please show your Majesty."

"I remember that Yangzhou Tongju has been in Yangzhou for two years since Jijidi?"

The official of the official department replied: "Yes, Jiang Tong has passed the assessment of the trial court after two terms, and I will ask His Majesty to decide whether to be promoted to Zhizhou."

"Let him go to Fengxiang Mansion for another year, and then transfer back to Beijing."

"Yes."

After the officials left, the emperor pointed out his finger to the outside of the palace, and for a moment he seemed unable to remember the name of the person he wanted to call, "Who will be... who will be?"

Han Si then carefully said from the side: "Is your Majesty talking about Liang Neihan?"

"Yes, it's him, let him come over to draw up the decree."

"Have you forgotten, Your Majesty, Liang Neihan recently asked for leave to return home." Han Si looked at the emperor, and said again: "I think the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, so Nehan must be homesick."

"Mid-Autumn Festival?" The emperor looked up at Han Bang, and then leaned back on the chair. "So soon, it's Mid-Autumn Festival again?" The emperor breathed out softly, "Go to the Imperial Academy and call other scholars over."

"Yes."

After Han Si took the order to go to the Hanlin Academy, the emperor opened the memorial on the table, and after a year, the word "Li Chu" made his face sink immediately.

A quarter of an hour later, Han Bo came back, "Your Majesty, we are here."

"Your Majesty, please be safe."

The emperor looked down at the memorandum, pointed to the small table beside him and said, "Draw two edicts."

"Yes."

"Your Majesty." Zhao Ci walked into the hall, "Princess Chu and her son are seeking an audience outside the hall."

----------

In the ninth year of Jianping, when the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, the doors of hotels on all streets in Qishan County were crowded with people drinking and buying alcohol.

King Chu fell asleep lying on the table in the study, with a plate of fresh and untouched grapes beside him.

The sound of horseshoes in the dream woke her up, and when she woke up, she realized that it was Xiao Liuzi's footsteps.

"Ah Lang is having a nightmare again?" Little Six placed the wine he bought on the table lightly, turned around and went out to bring back a basin of clear water, "Look at the beads of sweat on this forehead."

The King of Chu looked sideways at the glow in the courtyard, and Little Six wrung out a piece of clean silk cloth and handed it over, "Tomorrow's Mid-Autumn Festival, the wine is ready for you."

The King of Chu wiped his face and asked in surprise, "Didn't it just pass the Autumn Society? Why is it the Mid-Autumn Festival?"

"Qiushe?" Little Six blinked his eyes in a daze, "It was already two months ago."

"Really?" King Chu lowered his head and looked at the old letter on the table.

"You are the county magistrate now. It's the Mid-Autumn Festival birthday. Do you want to notify the people in the yamen?"

King Chu shook his head, "No, let them spend the Mid-Autumn Festival at home."

"In the past two years, you didn't let it go, but this year's birthday, don't you?

The king of Chu only picked up the wine on the table, and his only son walked out of the back office alone.

When the yamen was promoted, in order to show justice, the courtyard in front of the lobby allowed the common people to enter and watch, so the courtyard of the lobby was built very wide.

The autumn wind blew off the yellowed leaves on the trees, and the horseshoes trampled on the dead branches. Different from the guards dressed in the state capital's army, they accompanied the carriage on both sides, and there were armored generals and a young official in official uniform riding in front of them.

When they reached Fengxiang, the officials summoned some soldiers on horseback and whispered a few words, and then they saw them rushing to Fengxiang mansion with a whip.

The carriage was driving steadily on the official road, and the sound of camel bells could be heard from time to time. The people in the carriage lifted the curtains slowly with the sleeping child in their arms.

【At the beginning of the month

After drafting two decrees according to the emperor's wishes, the Hanlin scholar went to the political affairs hall with the decree in hand. The emperor finally explained some trivial matters before summoning Princess Chu who had been waiting outside the palace for a long time.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

When Xiao Youqing came in, he brought a child who could already walk. The emperor stared at the child who was persuaded by his mother to kneel on the ground. This was the first time he had seen him since he was born.

The emperor stood up from his seat and walked slowly to Xiao Youqing, "What's his name?"

After the king of Chu left, the emperor stopped asking about anything about the palace of Chu, so Xiao Youqing replied, "My lord named him Zongren before he left Beijing."

"Ren?" The emperor immediately bent over and stretched out his hand, and the child crawled behind the mother and refused to come out.

"The kid is a bit shy by nature."

The emperor straightened up, "Get up."

Xiao Youqing pulled the child to stand up together.

The emperor turned around with his hands behind his back, "You haven't entered the palace for a long time, come to see me this time?"

"The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon..."

Hearing the word Mid-Autumn Festival, the emperor interrupted Xiao Youqing, "So, you want me to recall the King of Chu?"

"Youqing doesn't ask His Majesty to be gracious to recall him, but he asks His Majesty to allow Youqing to take this child to meet his father."

The emperor approached the desk, picked up the memorial on the table, and said with a stern face, "It's a long way to Qishan, are you afraid of suffering this child?"

"What kind of suffering is there, is it more bitter than the separation of flesh and blood?"

The emperor paused to read the booklet, frowning his old face, "What if I don't allow it?"

Xiao Youqing looked up at the emperor's back, suddenly loosened the little hand holding her trousers at the side, Xiao Zongren staggered and ran behind the emperor, seemed to be very interested in the leather belt on his body, and moved to the emperor's leg to hold it Clinging to the emperor's hem, she stood on tiptoe trying to hook Han Han's tail hanging down to the ground.

"Zong Ren!"

The emperor raised his hand towards Xiao Youqing, turned his head and looked down at the child in amazement, immediately put down the memorial, touched the square jade belt on his back waist, knelt down and picked up the child, "Do you want this?"

"Your Majesty, children are not sensible..."

The emperor ignored it, but looked at the child in his arms with a kind smile and said, "But this is not something you can take now."

Xiao Zongren couldn't understand the emperor's words, but looked at him innocently, then stretched out his hand with wide eyes and poked the emperor's neat beard and laughed.

The child's smile was full of redness and innocence, which softened the old emperor's cold and stiff heart, "Bright eyes and bright teeth, this child looks good." The emperor then called out: "Zhao Ci."

Zhao Ci walked inside, "Officials."

"Go to the treasury and get a gold belt from the treasury, and give it to the eldest son of King Chu."

"Yes."

The emperor's reward was unexpected, Xiao Youqing couldn't guess his intention for a while, and always felt that it was not a good thing, "Your Majesty, the gold belt that the late emperor ordered craftsmen to forge in Ziyun Tower is too expensive, and Zong Ren is still young, so he can't bear it." Such a heavy reward.” When Emperor Taizong was in power, he ordered skilled craftsmen to forge gold belts, but the process was so arduous that the craftsmen died of exhaustion, and finally left thirty gold belts. Taizong took one and gave Duke Longde and Wen Mu Gong has one for each, and the rest are hidden in the treasury, so it is also known as the town treasury belt.

The emperor had lived half his life, and it was the first time someone dared to touch his beard so boldly. He was not angry, but smiled and said: "He is the eldest son, so he can bear it, and when he grows up, he can naturally use it." .” The emperor hugged the child and shook his chubby hand, “Come here.”

"Your Majesty." Zhao Ci was not there, and a servant Xiao Huangmen came in.

"Let the people from the Ministry of Officials come to Wende Palace."

"Yes."

The emperor smiled with a sharp-edged face, "The birth of a gentleman, the great celebration of the country, I will make you the Duke of Qing first."

"Your Majesty, Zong Ren is not yet one year old."

The emperor didn't say anything, but looked sideways at Xiao Youqing who was standing aside, "You said just now that you wanted to take this kid to Qishan to meet his father?"

"Yes."

"Before you came to see me, I issued two decrees to go to Fengxiang, one of which was to call back the king of Chu." The emperor handed the child back to Xiao Youqing, and reached out to touch the tight square jade belt on the back of his waist, "You Take him with you, and I will ask the commander of the horse army to send a team of horse troops to escort you."

"Thank you Your Majesty for your grace."

】

Xiao Youqing put down the car curtain, looked down at the sleeping child, his eyes seemed to be thinking about something, from the beginning of the year to the mid-autumn festival, it had been eight months since he hadn't seen each other, Xiao Youqing had many questions in his heart, he wrote a letter without asking Also do not return.

When it was mid-autumn, on the birthday of the King of Chu, she thought of coming to see Qishan in person. The carriages entered the city without hindrance. In terms of major events, it was submitted to the transshipment envoy.

When leaving the city, there were two lines of guarding soldiers standing at the gate of the city, as well as a bunch of officials in green uniforms.

"The lower officials received the order, and the imperial court assigned Tong San to take up his post in Fengxiang. Only then did someone come to inform me that this time Princess Chu also came, and that she and Enfu arrived in Fengxiang ahead of schedule. The lower officials did not go out of the city to welcome them. , I also ask Princess Chu to come down." Not only that, they didn't know that the prince of the current dynasty was hiding in Fengxiang Mansion until Princess Chu's carriage entered Fengxiang Realm.

Suddenly a half-year-old child climbed out of the large carriage, wearing a narrow-sleeved round neck with dark patterns on his body. The child climbed to the front of the carriage, stood up holding the rail of the small hook, and looked around curiously.

The two grooms who were driving the carriage turned around and held out their hands cautiously, for fear that the children might make mistakes.

"Zongren, you're not good again."

Hearing his mother's call, he turned his head and climbed back into the carriage, startled the officials bowing in front of the carriage, turned his head to discuss in a low voice, "Couldn't this be Prince Chu's eldest son?"

"Sitting in the car with the princess, who else could it be if it's not the little prince."

Not long ago, the imperial court issued a document to the place where the eldest son of the king of Chu was conferred the Duke of Qing.

So the officials clasped their hands again and said, "I pay my respects to Duke Qing."

Jiang Luochuan crossed the reins and hit the horse, turned around and approached the carriage, "Sister, they..."

"Go straight to Qishan, I don't want to waste time here."

"Yes." Jiang Luochuan nodded lightly, then rode back.

"Your attitude, the concubine already knows, it will be night soon, and the concubine has to go to Qishan to pick up the prince, let's get out of the way."

Several small officials hurriedly moved to the side, "Your official will wait to send off Princess Chu, Duke Qing."