Record of ups and downs in troubled times

"Uncle Ning?"

Liu Pu, who was crouching on the desk to correct the memorial, threw down the ink brush in his hand, his face moved slightly, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

How could he be unhappy?He has been living in dire straits for the past ten days: Those doctors and generals, every day, chant either "the etiquette level cannot be abolished", or "Your Majesty should appoint a regent for self-examination", as if according to the emperor's wishes Come, it seems that the country will perish tomorrow.

And he is under the control of others at this time, how can he deal with it?He could carry it with Cheng Nan to death, but the eldest brother couldn't wait: the summer was hot, and the coffin would rot and maggot in just a few days, how could he bear it? !

Well, the matter of King Ke's funeral is up to them. Anyway, the funeral is just superficial in the final analysis, and the eldest brother does not lack this.But the matter of the regent was also bitten too tightly, where is the remonstrance?It is simply forcing!If he is really stupid enough to give this person away, then he will just abdicate and let it go!

"Uncle Ning, is everything all right?" Liu Pu asked anxiously, walking up to meet him.

Ning Yu is a close friend of King Ke. He also served as the prime minister for several years when the emperor was young. He is a loyal and honest person.

"You know?" Ning Yu was a little surprised when he heard him ask this: before he came to the palace, he hadn't gotten through with the emperor yet.How does the emperor know...

"I asked Tan Yun, and he said that you went to Yingchuan. At this time, what else can you do in Yingchuan?" Liu Pu explained a few words, and then asked eagerly, "Is it possible?"

Ning Yu shook her head. "No. After all, King Yingchuan is a man with a wife, children and family. It would be difficult for him to put himself in danger."

The king of Yingchuan in his mouth is Liu Ning.This trip to Yingchuan was to persuade Liu Ning to become the regent, cut off the thoughts of foreigners, and also give some support to the emperor's younger brother.But King Yingchuan just got married a few years ago, and soon after he had a son. In addition, the place of Yingchuan is quite prosperous. How about going back to Beijing to be a flat boat on the undercurrent and turbulent waves?

"Since the king of Yingchuan is like this, what about the generation of Marquis Cheng?" Since the only surviving elder brother can't be trusted, what about the uncles?Are they all willing to give up the country that their ancestors worked so hard to build?

"Marquis Cheng, I'm afraid it's even more unreliable. In the past few months, he only focused on strengthening the fortifications and strengthening the city. Jizhong has been occupied by him for a long time, and he is an extremely cautious person. If pressed, I'm afraid he would rather stand on his own. As a king, I don't want to go to Beijing to take risks. However," Ning Yu paused, took a sip of tea, "Yundian King Liu is on his way to the capital, and maybe he can find a turning point."

"Hey! King Yundian?" Liu Pu smiled wryly and said, "He... Forget it, let's talk about it when he comes. My Liu family has countless generations of princes, but now I want to tie my life to an idiot. Seriously. Laugh out loud."

It's no wonder that Liu Pu looked down on the King of Yundian, just because the king was really worthless.

In ancient and modern times, most of the people who conferred the titles of princes and marquises were rich and prosperous places: for example, Yingchuan, conferred by Liu Ning, is a good place where copper coins are falling everywhere and every family does not close their doors.If the prince happens to be unhappy with his father and brother, and unfortunately ends up in a remote place, this place must be sealed with some care, at least it must have a long history and a history to speak of.But unfortunately, these two, Yundian County has nothing to do with it.

What kind of place is Yunnan Dian?One is poor, the other is miscellaneous, and the third is chaotic.

It is rainy all the year round, and even food is hard to come out.Most of the people living here are not Han Chinese, and later adding the Mu clan who migrated from Fanbang, it became more and more a place where various ethnic groups live together.Although the Mu family and the Fan people come from the same origin, they have a secretive temperament and are good at Gu skills. This place is lush with trees and a lot of poisonous insects, but it is also a good place to feed poisonous insects.Gradually, the rumors became more and more absurd.

Before Liu Zheng, he served as the prefect of Yundian, but he didn't expect to ask to return to Beijing after only half a year in office.The first emperor called him into the palace, and when asked why, the prefect only said, "The aliens over there are all crazy people who don't know virtue and law, so they can't be restrained." The emperor laughed when he heard what he said. Pointing to the idiot son Liu Zhengdao who was nestled under the stool, "There are lunatics over there, and I have idiots here. What do you think about using ignorance to cure madness?"

What else can you say?At first, I just thought the emperor was joking, but I didn't expect Liu Zheng to be named King of Yundian after a few days.Everyone booed and sighed a few times in one place, and forgot that there was such a person.

When Emperor Wen of the Chao Dynasty ascended the throne, Liu Zheng sent people to the capital several times to request to return to Beijing, but Emperor Wen was either perfunctory or simply ignored them.Year after year, he has stayed in Yundian until now.

"This idiot King Yundian may not be of much use. If you want to teach him to wake up from the idiot, it may be more difficult than the sun rising from the west."

Liu Pu sighed so much, he waved his hand to Huang De who came in through the curtain, and taught him to carry the silver plate in his hand to the apse.On the silver plate was a three-legged porcelain bottle the size of a fist, and beside it was a crescent-shaped yellow porcelain spoon.The soup in the porcelain bottle was brown and black, exuding a lingering bitter aroma.

"Is Yan Gui sick?" Ning Yu asked.Apart from the emperor, Tan Yan was the only child who could live in the back hall of Changle Palace.

"Well, I caught a cold yesterday. The doctor saw it and said it's nothing serious, just take two doses of medicine and you'll be fine." Liu Pu said it lightly, as if he didn't take this matter to heart.

"Your Majesty and him..." Looking at the emperor's expression, Ning Yu finally couldn't help asking.He watched these two children grow up, and for some reason, he naturally felt more fond of Tan Yangui.Being the emperor's pillow seems to be a blessing, but it is actually very difficult to do.Yan Gui must not be a person who is good at power and tactics, and he is afraid that he will suffer in the future.

Liu Pu understood what Ning Yu was thinking, and his face turned cold: "How long does Uncle Ning want to stay in Beijing? After King Ke's funeral?" His words actually meant to chase away guests.

"My father is seriously ill, and I need to go back to take care of the Ning family's business." Ning Yu is also sensible, and sighed: "I am good at doing business, but I have no talent for governing the country. Besides, King Ke is dead. There is no reason to stay here any longer. I will be returning to Kezhou in about half a month."

The emperor was noncommittal to this answer, exchanged some pleasantries with Ning Yu, and asked Zhou Zheng to send him out.

When the hall was empty and he was the only one left, Liu Pu sat back in front of the case.Picking up the vermilion pen, only to find that the ocher ink spilled just now had stained a stack of scrolls.He didn't care, he pushed those dirty scrolls aside, picked up the pen and continued the instructions he had just stopped to draw a few times, suddenly became angry with himself inexplicably, threw the vermilion pen away, folded his arms and thought for a while, Get up and turn into the apse.

The window sash is still half-closed as usual, and greenery as thick as daisy is exposed from the gap as wide as a paperweight: midsummer is coming to an end.

Tan Yangui was surrounded by a thin blanket and leaned on the couch with her eyes closed.Hearing Liu Pu's footsteps, he opened his eyes and looked towards the door, but he seemed to be looking for someone behind Liu Pu.Naturally, there was nothing behind Liu Pu.

He smiled lightly as if mocking himself, and pursed his thin lips tightly.

"Still hot?" Liu Pu picked up the bowl of medicinal soup on the side of the couch, touched his lips, and slowly stirred it with a spoon that was put aside.The brown concoction rippled around the spoon.

"It's the third time." The man leaning on the couch opened his lips slightly coldly, as if he had made up his mind. "I want to see Uncle Ning."

"The medicine is cold, drink it. What's wrong with always opening the window no matter it's windy or rainy? You see, I'm sick this time, and I'll teach you how to handle it." Liu Pu knew that every time Ning Yu came, Tan Yan returned to the capital. Something went wrong once, and he pretended not to hear, took a spoonful of medicine and brought it to Yan Gui's mouth.

Getting this answer was not beyond Tan Yangui's expectations.In the past two times, he was perfunctory like this, and he should have gotten used to it long ago.But today I don't know why, maybe it's because of my health that makes my heart angry?On the contrary, he didn't want to let this matter pass so simply.

"I want to see him." Tan Yangui turned his head slightly, and the corner of his mouth brushed against the edge of the spoon.

"Do you think I'm ungrateful? Ning Yu came here to help me, but I wouldn't even keep him in the palace for a while." Liu Pu looked at him for a while, chuckled, and turned the conversation calmly own.He then poured the cold soup from the spoon back into the bottle.The medicine in the porcelain bottle was already cold, but he started to stir it slowly again, as if there was nothing else to do except this.

"Yes, when I was young, my eldest brother Tuo Ningyu did take care of me. But how did he take care of me? Not only did he lose his status, but he also made the power of the government fall into the hands of the Queen Mother's party. If he talks about benevolence and morality every day, if he If you really talk about benevolence and righteousness, you will cause your eldest brother to return to Beijing to preside over the overall situation? Will you still cause me to try my best to get sex from the traitor? Such a fool, why should he be allowed to stay."

He answered the question irrelevantly, already meaning that he didn't want to talk about this matter any more.Tan Yangui has been with him for many years, how can he not know his thoughts?But this time he just didn't want to conform to the emperor's mind.

"I can go out to see him."

The movements of Liu Pu's hands froze for a moment, and suddenly he dropped the porcelain bottle.The porcelain bottle rolled down from the couch, and the sound of shattering was very crisp, and the porcelain spoon spun around and slowly stopped.

"Going out of the palace? Okay! Tan Er, you finally said that!" Liu Pu has been feeling very sad recently, and it is when he is in a state of desperation. He can usually suppress his temper, but how can he suppress it when he teases him this time? I couldn't hold back anymore, "What's the matter? Hate me, blame me, right? Treat yourself like a canary in a cage, right?! Want to leave? I'm not as good as you want! I'm just bullying others, don't worry He hates me and only treats me as a heinous villain. Want to leave the palace? Even if you die, you have to die in this palace!"

Zhou Zheng, who had just sent Ning Yu out, turned back and happened to see this scene. He cried out inwardly, and hurriedly stepped forward to remove the body of Tan Yangui, who was motionless, silent and hard as a stone, and was soaked in soup. The thin blanket, muttering in his mouth: "Oh, even if His Majesty is angry, he still cares about the illness of Second Young Master Tan! What's the matter, it's not good to talk about it after he recovers?"

"Hmph! It's a pity that the medicine isn't hot, so I'll just have a good time and forget it!" Liu Pu watched Zhou Zheng hurriedly wiped off the soup that had stained Yan Gui's lap, and hurriedly found a new blanket for him, holding back. She couldn't help sneering and stabbing: "You don't have to worry about him! He wished to kill himself, why didn't he fulfill his wish?"

Zhou Zheng saw that Tan Yangui's face was not looking good, so he quickly cheered up and persuaded Liu Pu, who was on fire, to get out.It happened to be a step, how could Liu Pu not go down?He stopped looking at the two people in the hall, snorted coldly, and walked out with a flick of his sleeves.

Finally stopped.

Zhou Zheng heaved a sigh of relief, and covered Yan Gui with the newly changed blanket.He was about to pull the blanket tightly against Yan Gui's chest, when Tan Yangui suddenly reached out and grabbed a corner of the blanket.

The palm of his hand is wide, and there are thin calluses and scars from the past on the tiger's mouth. When his fingers are closed, he can vaguely see the skills of practicing swords and knives when he was young: his father, Tan Yun, was a general in Habayashi in Miyagi.When Yan Gui was young, he was also a young genius in martial arts. If Liu Pu hadn't appeared, perhaps he would be living a different life at this moment.

It's a pity that in this lifetime, how can we go back and start all over again?Having lived to such an age, Zhou Zheng has long understood that the most useless thing in the world is to worry about the unchangeable past.He patted Tan Yangui's arm, and sighed: "From now on, don't mention going out of the palace before His Majesty. Didn't it make both sides unhappy?"

Tan Yangui sat dumbly for a long time, slowly raised her hand, and covered the horned blanket in front of her eyes.His shoulders didn't tremble, nor did he cry out, which made Zhou Zheng a little uncertain about what he was thinking.

"Your Majesty, he is still just a child." Zhou Zheng hesitated, and suddenly remembered that His Majesty was a child at that time. Wasn't Yan Gui, who was younger than His Majesty, a child?

Alas, it is useless to talk.

Zhou Zheng went out quietly on tiptoe.