female concubine

A young emperor was replaced on the throne of the Tent Hall of the Northern Liao Dynasty. Seeing that Wei Song's envoy was another eunuch, Yeluming propped his head and put his feet on the table and said arrogantly: "I heard that you are going to attack Xixia?"

"Yes, Xixia tore up the covenant with our court, which made me furious at the emperor."

"That won't work. Xixia is my subordinate of Beiliao. If you hit him, don't you hit me?"

"Your Majesty, the Western Xia King Li Yuanhao's document proclaiming himself emperor must have been delivered to you. Since he has proclaimed himself emperor, it means that he is not willing to be a minister. He wants to be on an equal footing with the Northern Liao Dynasty and the Great Song Dynasty. Is this still considered an affiliation?"

The young emperor stroked his beard, "What you said seems to make sense."

"This is my enthronement congratulatory gift to His Majesty from the Son of Heaven. I wish Your Majesty a long and prosperous life."

Several courtiers from the Northern Liao Dynasty opened the big box under the emperor's signal. Yeluming stepped down from his seat and looked at the rare and rare treasures in the box that he had never seen before, "Your emperor is really generous."

"In addition to these, I have something to say to His Majesty the Emperor."

Yeluming looked up at the servant, and immediately raised his hand. After all the irrelevant people in the tent left, the servant changed his previous respectful attitude, "Your Majesty has been on the throne for less than a year, so you must be very confused?"

Yeluming frowned displeasedly, "What did you say?"

"Obviously His Majesty is the emperor, but all the khans in the Northern King's Academy obeyed the orders of the Generalissimo, and even your mother, Empress Dowager Xiao, also defended him."

Yeluming clutched his cuffs, waved his hands and said, "It's all nonsense."

"Your Majesty is ambitious, but he is controlled by others, so the emperor has something to tell you."

"What does the Son of Heaven have to say?" Yeluming turned his head hesitantly.

"As long as your majesty does not send troops to prevent the Song Dynasty from conquering Xixia, the emperor will get rid of Yelufang for your majesty and help your majesty regain power."

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In the spring of the ninth year of Qianyuan, the founding father of Xingyang County was ordered to be the Marshal of Zhengxi, and Xiao Yunze, the founding Marquis of Nanyang County, was appointed as the deputy commander. They led the three armies to attack Xixia.

After Cao Yun received the edict and returned to Beijing, he temporarily lived in Cao's residence. Cao Ji replaced his grandfather with the black lacquer armor bestowed by the emperor, squatted on his knees and sobbed, "It's been many years since my grandson sent Weng Weng to the battlefield... .”

His wife, Mrs. Zhang, also covered her face and wept. Cao Yun sat on the grand teacher's chair and bent over to touch his grandson's head, "I have no regrets seeing you getting married with my own eyes. If Weng Weng can't come back, he will listen to your father's advice more in the future."

"Weng Weng will definitely return safely."

A carriage was parked at the entrance of Cao's house, and a young man wearing a round-neck and narrow-sleeved gown got out of the carriage, followed by a woman of similar age.

"Weng Weng."

Cao Ji stood up and wiped away tears, "Sister, brother-in-law."

"Peru?"

"Weng Weng just arrived last night and is going to leave today?"

"The battle is imminent, and there must be no delay."

Cao Peiru took three steps and took two steps forward, threw herself into her grandfather's arms and sobbed, "There are so many old generals in the court, why did the officials choose you?"

Cao Yun stretched out his hand and gently stroked his granddaughter's face, reluctantly said: "Ru'er has always been smart, our Cao family has been favored by Emperor Gao for generations, and we can't shrink back when the country is honored and humiliated."

Wang Wenfu looked at the reluctance of his wife and grandfather, and said angrily: "Old General Cao was able to enjoy his old age in peace when he became an official, but now he is on the edict to go on a campaign and regard death as his home. There is no such righteous court with the heart of the country, and none of the scholar-officials who say they are loyal to the emperor and patriotism can do so." It's pathetic to stand up!"

Cao Yun looked at the grandson-in-law who was ashamed and angry, "Jiezhi has the talent of a public servant, but he still needs to calm down. Ru'er can help you with this."

"Grandfather taught, grandson-in-law will always remember."

Then he told his granddaughter: "Jiezhi is an honest person, you have studied since you were young and practiced martial arts with me and your father, don't bully others."

"The grandson knows."

"Is Old General Cao there?" A soft male voice came from the courtyard of the middle hall.

The family boy walked into the internal communication and reported: "Patriarch, it is the nobleman from the big family who has arrived."

Cao Yun quickly got up from the chair of the grand master and went out to greet him.

"Zhonggui, don't you know that Zhonggui's visit is to convey the sacred wishes of the officials?"

The servant nodded, "According to the order of the official family, immediately call the general Cao Yun into the palace to see your majesty."

Cao Yun took off the armor he had just changed, put on his official uniform and rode his horse towards the palace.

The clerks and customers who were doing business standing at the entrance of the shop on the street turned their heads one after another. The old shop owner looked at the purple robe on the horse, squinted his eyes and said, "This is not Old General Cao."

"Weng Weng, who is Old General Cao?"

"It's the generals of the Cao family. Their family is not as outstanding as the Xiao family. Apart from their family, there are also several families of generals. It's just that the country emphasizes literature. Now I know that there are not many young people in them."

Panting, the veteran lifted the hem of his skirt and climbed up the stairs of the Chuigong Hall.

"Report to the official family, the general has arrived."

"Hurry up please."

The veteran stepped forward and breathed a sigh of relief, "Cao Yun kowtows to Your Majesty, and Your Majesty bows to you." When Cao Yun was about to kneel down, he was stopped by the emperor's bow, "Old General Cao, there is no need to be polite."

"Quick, give the old general a seat."

Two servants brought a top chair, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

The emperor sat back on his seat, "Old General Cao has worked hard all the way. This time Xixia humiliated the court, I wish I could ask for it personally, but the eldest son is young, so I can't get away."

"Your Majesty cares deeply about the country, and it is indeed a blessing for the people of the world. Recovering Hexi is the long-cherished wish of the late emperor. Your majesty will inherit the last wish of the late emperor. The ministers will do their best, and dare not bear the kindness of the late emperor and the trust of your majesty."

The emperor got up on the stepping bed and walked to Cao Yun's side again. Cao Yun also got up and bowed quickly when he saw it.

The eyes of the young emperor were full of determination, "I will not only recover Hexi, the Uighurs in Xizhou, even Tubo in the southwest and Beiliao, all the mountains and rivers that the sun and moon shine on, are all Han soil," the emperor stared at the old general, sonorously : "Boy Yu is a benevolent man who dares to only accept God to curb chaos. China is barbaric. If you don't follow suit, how can the size of my China be limited to the only 24 roads in the hands of Guochao?"

Cao Yun opened his old eyes, looked at the young emperor in front of him in shock, bowed with tears in his eyes, and said, "Your Majesty's holy bow makes us, the old ministers, feel ashamed."

The emperor turned around and propped himself on the desk in frustration, "The old general knows, but unfortunately they don't know, they don't know what I want to do, they don't see me or the country, only themselves, but they are missing their country. It's going to tilt, it seems to sound a little ridiculous."

Cao Yun immediately lowered his hands and knelt down and said: "When I resigned, the late emperor said that there would be a time when I would use the old minister again. I thought it would be the second king, but I was wrong. The second king is too benevolent and filial. Maybe it can bring about peace and prosperity for the country and the people." The prosperity of the world does not necessarily mean that you have the heart to expand the territory, the old minister is willing to do his best to assist His Majesty in creating a prosperous world for thousands of years, even if the old minister is no longer there, the minister still has sons and grandsons, they can all see it."

"This battle is both an external battle and an internal one. If one wins, a hundred will win, and if one is defeated, a hundred will be defeated."

"If you lose, I will apologize with death."

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The day before, the night.

Xiao Yunze, the founding marquis of Nanyang County, led the Huainan [-] standing army to station near Gyeonggi.

Mrs. Lu lit up a candle, Xiao Yunze took off the armor and twisted his neck, "If you are reluctant, I will take you to the post next time."

"Did I say I was reluctant?" Shi Lu put down the thin needle in his hand.

Xiao Yunze looked at the hairpins and gold hairpins that he had sent back on the dressing table, all of which had traces of use, so he smiled and said, "You are just stubborn."

"Even if you are the first son of Xiao's family, then you can't be like them..."

"I joined the army not because I am the son of the general family, but because I am not like my sister...His Royal Highness, I don't like to read and can't read books." Xiao Yunze approached, stretched out his hand and gently hugged his wife into his arms, "Okay, don't be angry, I will definitely win this battle for the officials, and I promise you will return safely."

Xiao Yunze's mind was full of children's laughter during the day, "I went to Da Nei during the day, and saw the county king grow up to the height of my shoulders, and Princess Fuqing has also grown up, she is very cute, when I come back, my lady will give me Have a daughter."

"..." Mrs. Lu lowered her head shyly.

"If the lady doesn't speak, I will take it as a promise."

Lu Shi gently pushed it away and said, "Who will give birth to you."

In the summer of the ninth year of Qianyuan, Song and Xia fought at the border between Xipingfu and Gyeongju. Every ten days, there would be a rush to send the report to the capital directly to the emperor by ringing the bell to clear the way.

Since the beginning of the foreign war, the disputes in the court have not diminished. On the one hand, the civil servants do not want to lose, and on the other hand, they are afraid that after the victory, the emperor will have an excuse for thorough reform. It will be even more difficult to oppose it at that time.

In just over a month, the entire table was filled with letters and memorials to impeach the two ministers who presided over the reform, and the emperor rejected them on the grounds that he was busy with military affairs.

Shangshu Zuo Chengzhang leaned on the table in Dutang and said angrily: "Xiangguo, how can Fang Zhiyan He De be above you?"

"There were quite a lot of powerful generals in the first emperor's dynasty. The old generals used by the official family were the Cao family, not the Li family. The Li family belonged to Fang Zhiyan's family, and the official family members treated everyone the same. They didn't have complete trust." Lu Wei raised his head. , "He, like you and me, is just a pawn of the government."

"What you are doing and dissatisfied now is just that you can't restrain the desire in your heart."

"No, the next official is just to fight for my breath. When it comes to desire, no one can compare to you, Lu Xiang. Forbearance, retreat, and submission are all just for the desire in my heart. I don't want to give up the desire in my heart and retreat to advance. Because Lu Xiang has no heirs to succeed him, he is afraid of making a mistake, and if he can defend Qingshan, there is no need to fight for it."

Without a son to succeed him, Zhang De's words hit a thorn in Lu Wei's heart. His wife Wang's jealousy made him dare not take a concubine, "It's not enough to form a party with officials, do you still have to collude with businessmen?"

Zhang De's face changed drastically, and then he calmly said: "Shang? There are people around the lower officials? They form a party with the officials, so why did Xiang Lu meet with the founding marquis in private yesterday?"

Lu Wei raised his bewildered hand to say something, then dropped his trembling smile and said, "You'd better take care of your own family affairs, how can you make father and son reconcile."

Zhang De raised his eyebrows. He really didn't expect that father and son would confront each other in the court one day, which made people from the old and new parties feel scruples when arguing. The lower official just blamed the mistakes of the official family, and the youngest son of the lower official is still too young, but he was fooled into a fool and loyal, and he didn't understand anything."

Lu Wei sighed earnestly: "Competing with the imperial power will not only make no profit for the children and grandchildren, but may also implicate them. You should do it yourself."