The Ring of the Red Chamber and the Nine Heavens

Beijing.

Imperial Palace, Imperial Study Room.

The envoy of the Raksha Kingdom, Gurney, entered the inner courtyard of the palace as if he was sleepwalking. Although he had also entered the tsar’s palace in the Raksha Kingdom and had seen the magnificent and rich palace scene, the luxury and extravagance of the Forbidden City was still beyond his imagination. He was so surprised that he opened his mouth wide, just like a countryman entering the city: the majestic dragon and rising sun are painted on the red court pillars, cigarettes are blowing out of the mouth of the exquisitely carved copper crane at the door, and the huge Fragrant flowers or gold and jade ruyis inlaid with dazzling gemstones are inserted in the precious porcelain. This majestic and beautiful scene cannot be described enough, even Gurney who claims to be well-informed A little dizzy, he tripped over the threshold and almost fell.

After seeing the emperor in the bright yellow dragon robe and the crown of golden wings sitting behind the dragon case, and the unknown princes and ministers sitting beside him, Gurney stood upright under the thick woven cloth. On the wool carpet with the pattern of rich and auspicious peonies welcoming the spring, I took a deep breath, then bent down and bowed deeply.

Seeing the dissatisfied faces of the emperor and the surrounding princes and ministers, Gurney deliberately pretended to be at a loss for a while, and suddenly said in a high-pitched and lyrical tone like an aria: "Oh! The great emperor of China! On behalf of us, we are equally great, His Majesty the Tsar of Russia sends you his most respectful greetings!"

The pure Chinese spoken by Gurney made everyone in the imperial study secretly admire him, and they didn't have time to investigate his indecency of not bowing down when he saw the emperor.

After finishing the series of passionate words, Gurney opened his arms, seemingly stepping forward to embrace the emperor.

"Presumptuous! Why don't you get this guy out! Seeing the emperor, he doesn't kneel down and say nothing, but actually tries to poison the holy body!" A cold curse made Gurney fall into an ice cave, and immediately stopped in his tracks. But it was an extremely noble and handsome young man. Judging from the python robe he was wearing, Gurney, who claimed to be "handy with China", knew that he should be a noble young prince.

Gurney quickly explained: "Your Royal Highness, please listen to my explanation. In our country, it is not allowed to kneel down and salute. When I went to see our Tsar Majesty, I just bowed and saluted or kissed hands. I just wanted to say hello to His Majesty the Emperor expressed my honor and excitement by kissing hands."

The emperor said tolerantly: "People from foreign countries don't know etiquette, Qian'er, forget it, I can't argue with them much."

Qin Wang Qiqian stood up, a pair of long and narrow phoenix eyes flew into his temples, the dark eyes that seemed to be bottomless seemed to be covered with a thin layer of ice, although cold and unmarked, there was a kind of calmness bright.He slightly parted his thin lips, and said coldly: "Father, the emperor is very generous. The envoy Gurney was lucky enough to win the favor of the tsar of their country because he knew the astronomy, geography, human customs, customs and language of our Dajin, and he was able to go to our Dajin. Don't you know that to see Tianyan, you have to kneel three times and knock on the clover nine times before the Emperor?"

After finishing speaking, the King of Qin looked aggressively at the messenger Gurney, as if the other party would not give up if he did not make a big salute. His thoughts suddenly escaped invisible, and he stood there in embarrassment.

The emperor waved his hand again and said, "Oh, forget it, since they are not considered the people of our country, it is justified not to bow down."

Qi Qian said angrily: "Messenger Gurney! Are you confused and ignorant of etiquette, or is your country's tsar ordered to do so? If the former, our country can flog you on behalf of the tsar so that you know the rules; if the latter, it is your country's tsar Provoking troubles and despising me, the Great Jin Emperor! Then we only have an old saying handed down from our ancestors to respect, whoever violates our Celestial Dynasty will be punished no matter how far away!"

Gurney was speechless, and stood stiffly for a while, then finally knelt down and said, "Okay, do as the Romans do, I'll answer according to the etiquette of your country."

After Gurney finished three prostrations and nine prostrations under the guidance of the servant, Qi Qian said: "Okay, let's forget it this time, now you can continue to kneel and return to the emperor's words."

There was a reason why Gurney, the envoy of Rakshasa Kingdom, came here.It turned out that during this period of time, there were refugees rebelling on the border between the Great Jin Dynasty and the Raksha Kingdom. Because the Jin Dynasty was busy suppressing the rebellious refugees, they occasionally had to rely on a little cavalry from the Raksha Kingdom. This Raksha Kingdom became arrogant. Get up, trying to take the opportunity to cut off a little land on the border of Dajin, in the euphemistic name of guarding the border on behalf of him.

This is not a ceremony of kneeling and worshiping, which they have discussed in advance. If the Jin emperor is weak, the tone of demanding the cession of the border land will be even tougher.

Although Gurney was underwhelmed at the beginning, after he stabilized his position, he began to seduce the emperor with rhetoric: "...that small piece of land is just a small piece of land to your country, but to our country, It is of great significance, and your country will not suffer any disadvantages. With our cavalry guarding the border for your country, His Majesty just enjoys the infiniteness of these thousands of miles of rivers and mountains..."

The emperor was not spared by Gurney's rhetoric, and said: "My border defense is my own, and I will go to the general to guard it. Is there any reason to give it away for nothing?"

Gurney said: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, your country is not peaceful now. In the past few months, Cheng Anjiang never mentioned that those disaster victims lost their homes and food, and they all wanted to rebel. Your Majesty's General The peace of the country should be the main priority, so how can we care about the frontier affairs? So why not give us that little piece of land? I have made the favor of the Tsar of our country. The Tsar can also come to his aid..."

Before he finished speaking, Qi Qian interrupted him coldly, saying: "This is impossible. First, the people of our Great Jin Dynasty also live in the borderlands. The people's hearts must not be lost, and an inch of land must not be given up. Second, My emperor will handle our country's domestic affairs on his own, so there is no need for His Majesty the Tsar of your country to worry about his madness thousands of miles away! Third, my emperor is wise and mighty, and it is impossible to cede the land of our country to the coveted wolves. Seniors, let alone do anything to lure wolves into the house."

Qi Qian's words were impassioned, and Gurney suddenly blushed and couldn't get up.The emperor was still jealous of the sharp guns of the red-haired ghost's barbarian country, and was a little displeased with Qi Qian's sharp words, and said, "Qianer!"

Qi Qian said: "Please forgive my son for being rude. It is really this emissary who turned black and white and forcibly demanded our territory. The boy couldn't help but feel indignant, so that he lost his dignity in front of the emperor."

Qi Qian really shouldn't have scolded the messenger before the emperor spoke, and the subsequent apology was also not in line with the norms. Ordinarily, he should kneel down.But because Qi Qian didn't bother to be in the same rank as this messenger, he refused to kneel down, which was tantamount to an offense again.

The emperor knew in his heart that his son was a little arrogant and upright, so he didn't care about him, but said to the envoy in a gentle tone: "It's kind of you, the tsar, to send you here to greet me, but this territory talk is not true. It's impossible. Also, although there are some disturbances in Dajin, I can calm down by myself, so I really don't need to bother him."

After the envoy Gurney was taken out, the other ministers also retreated, and Qi Qian kowtowed to the ground on his knees, begging his father to forgive him for his misconduct.

The emperor sighed and said, "Qian'er, I know that you are aloof and upright, so you don't want to listen to the wild words of these foreign barbarians. However, what he said is somewhat true. The flood in Cheng'an River has affected a lot of land. , the people are in dire straits, and there is no more relief, I am afraid that someone will take advantage of the situation to stir up rebellion among the people, alas, what a big head..."

Qi Qian said: "Yes, father, I think that for the present plan, we should ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to temporarily suspend all other payments, and first get out money to relieve disasters and bring peace to the people."

The emperor said: "I just sent 50 treasury silver out, and now the House of Internal Affairs is empty."

Qi Qian said: "Hey, how did I hear that the "Chengen Temple" built by the Imperial Concubine Hui ordered the House of Internal Affairs to use a golden Bodhisattva all over?"

The emperor said helplessly: "Your mother and concubine originally had some knots in her heart, but I can't get rid of this supply for her."

Qi Qian endured it, and finally couldn't hold it back, and said: "I think that at this time, the victims of the disaster are fleeing and the country has reached an extremely critical moment. No matter how sad the concubine Hui is, the country should be the most important thing. Besides, then 'Cheng'en Temple' is not in a hurry, it's not too late to build it after a while."

The emperor was silent and did not express his position.

Concubine Hui has specialized in the emperor's pet for more than ten years. Since the death of Empress Xiaoxian, she has been in charge of Fengyin and in charge of the affairs of the Six Palaces. Everyone has been discussing behind her back that if Concubine Hui has a prince, she will be honored by the mother and the son. She will be promoted to empress and become famous. The true Lord of the Central Palace.

It's a pity that Concubine Hui has wrists, but she is a bit unlucky, and every time she conceives a child, she will have a miscarriage in three or four months.After the recent miscarriage, Concubine Hui learned from the pain and invited an expert alchemist to see Feng Shui.The alchemist said that to pray for the souls of those fetuses who failed to come out of the mother's womb, a large temple had to be specially built.Therefore, Concubine Hui begged the emperor to order the Ministry of Internal Affairs to build the unfinished "Grateful Temple". Its large scale and exquisite statues are the best in this dynasty.

Here, Concubine Hui heard that King Qin Qiqian actually persuaded the emperor to suspend the construction of "Cheng'en Temple". She was so angry that she smashed a white jade teacup and said, "Okay, I married my niece to him. I thought he would be more towards me, but unexpectedly, he turned his elbow outward, and instead told the emperor that I was wrong!"

As soon as the emperor came, Concubine Hui pretended to be devastated, with frowning eyebrows and tears in her eyes. When asked about it by the emperor, she only said that she was slightly ill because of missing the unborn children. , shouldn't he also go with those hard-fated children?

Under this coquetry and intimidation, the emperor would stop building the "Thanksgiving Temple" idea, instead he ordered the emperor's sons and daughters to visit Hui Guifei to show their filial piety.

On this day, King Qin and Princess Qin visited Concubine Hui by order of the emperor.Before he could say a few words, King Qin was ridiculed by Concubine Hui. The implication was that if she could marry her charming niece to King Qin, she would treat him as her own. Speaking of those unborn children, Concubine Hui became more and more annoyed, and directly reprimanded King Qin for being unconscionable. For a few victims who were begging for food, she actually spoke ill of her in front of the emperor, causing her imperial sons to be reborn as human beings.

The King of Qin was unmoved, and said coldly: "If the imperial concubine mourns for the unborn princes, she should stop the construction of the Thanksgiving Temple. On the one hand, there are unborn fetuses, and on the other hand, they eat bark and grass to survive. Gen, victims who sell their children and daughters, which side do you think God will take pity on first?"

Concubine Hui's eyes almost burst into flames.

Concubine Qin was weak, she didn't dare to blame her husband for her aunt, and she didn't dare to follow her husband to disobey her aunt.

The King of Qin bowed to Concubine Hui, and said: "I came here today to visit my mother and concubine. Unexpectedly, I made the concubine and empress angry, and I am more and more able to maintain peace. I might as well come again some other day."

Concubine Hui said: "If you want to go, you go by yourself, and I want to leave Miaozhen to talk."

King Qin glanced at Wangfei and said, "Are you going?"

Qin Wangfei bit her lip, and said in a jiffy: "I will stay and talk with the imperial concubine and empress, the prince can go first if he has something to do."

Concubine Hui scolded Concubine Qin for a while, poked her forehead and said, "You are really useless! You are pregnant with his child now, why don't you take this opportunity to be stern and kill him in one shot?" Take it? I see you, in the future, you can only lower your eyebrows and accept his anger for the rest of your life."

Qin Wangfei smiled bitterly and said: "Why not? But it's not that I haven't tried it. I have used all the methods my aunt taught me. The prince's temper is like that. Not only me, but none of the other concubines can do it. Tell him to look at him more and say something more. Sometimes I feel that he is just a big block of ice that can't be warmed, and I have to live like this for the rest of my life."

Concubine Hui said: "I'm really pissed off. Don't worry about it this time. I really want to clean him up and let him know how powerful he is. He's too arrogant."

That night, Concubine Hui took advantage of the emperor's feeling of relief after the cloud and rain, and took advantage of the situation to persuade: "Your Majesty, my concubine was very disturbed by what happened yesterday, and I sincerely regret it. I wish I could stop the construction of the 'Grateful Temple'. It is a pity that the money of the government has been abandoned halfway, and it is a pity to leave it there for nothing to be exposed to the sun and rain. When the imperial court was in trouble, it was right to ask them to bring some money and food. I called the imperial envoy a few days ago but only raised a few hundred thousand taels of silver. Is it because the status of the imperial envoy is not enough? If you send the king of Qin who has the most sacred heart, it will be obvious His Majesty Zhao’s determination to relieve the disaster may be half the result with twice the effort. Even if King Qin’s trip is not satisfactory, it is good to ask him to go out to practice and practice, this is also the painstaking efforts of a concubine who is a mother and concubine.”

The emperor smiled and said: "You have some truth in what you said, just ask him to go out for a walk. It just so happens that Qian'er is so old and has never been to the south of the Yangtze River."

Concubine Hui thought to herself, did I ask him to open his eyes?Are those Yangzhou salt merchants friendly?Pulling the feathers off an iron cock is easier said than done.Hehehe, let that kid touch his nose and come back with a humiliation, he will know how good he is, and will he dare to challenge me in the future?

The author has something to say: this chapter can be regarded as a transitional chapter, so that everyone can understand Xiao Gong's personality characteristics and family situation.

Another point that must be explained is that Huaner in our family is by no means a male mistress, and the moral standards of Gongshou are relatively high. The meeting in Yangzhou this time is equivalent to a feeling of friendship or appreciation, and then, a spoiler , the princess will die soon, because there is an evil and jealous male partner, err.