mountain river road

The sky is gloomy, with dark clouds covering the endless red walls and green tiles.

The palace people stood outside the palace with sullen expressions and fear.Dozens of gray-haired old imperial doctors also stood outside, looking anxiously at the closed door.

Inside the door, the candles were dimly lit, and there was no one in the palace, only one person was lying on the gorgeous dragon bed.One person knelt on the ground and stood by the bed.There was also an old eunuch standing beside him with his hands down.

"Far away, Nanchao will be handed over to you..." The voice was as thin as a silk.After Chu Xiuzhi finished speaking, he coughed unceasingly, as if his heart and lungs were going to be crushed, and the bloody smell surged upwards. He barely held back, and said intermittently: "Yu Zhi, you have always been more suitable than me to be a king... I am not worthy ..."

"Brother Huang..." Chu Yuanzhi, who was kneeling beside him, suddenly had red eyes, and a tear flowed from his bloodshot eyes, and slowly slid down his cheek to his chin.

Chu Xiuzhi glanced at him quietly, and raised his hand to wipe away the tear as if he had exhausted all his strength.Tears were cold, slowly flowing down his slender fingers.Chu Xiuzhi smiled: "Crying...why are you crying? Isn't this what you want? You ordered someone to give me...what's the poisonous name...what?"

Chu Yuanzhi trembled all over, staring at Chu Xiuzhi in shock.

Those peach blossom eyes are as clear as ice and snow, as clear as if they have seen through everything in the world and looked down upon it.With an almost ethereal smile, Chu Xiuzhi said with difficulty: "I... I want..., thank you... for helping me, this world, I... can't stand it. I'm sorry for the world. I want Go personally...to make amends to the ancestors."

Tears fell in strings, Chu Yuanzhi covered his mouth and gasped violently, the pain mixed with tears blurred his vision.Through the hazy teardrops, he saw Brother Huang looking at him with loving eyes, just like the smile on Brother Huang's face when he pestered him to play the piano for him many years ago. gentle.

Chu Yuanzhi raised his hand to wipe away his tears, and said in a hoarse voice, "It's called Guiyin San"

Chu Xiuzhi closed his eyes lightly, and said, "Good name."

Chu Yuanzhi trembled, and the turbulent sorrow washed over him fiercely. He straightened his body, gritted his teeth and said each word: "Yuanzhi will definitely live up to the Nanchao Jiangshan."

Chu Xiuzhi's thin chest rose and fell slightly, and he let out a long sigh.

……

This was the last sigh in his life.

Chu Yuanzhi stood up with a gray face, his hands trembling.He collected himself, waved to the old eunuch, and signaled him to deal with it.The palace people waiting outside filed in and fell to the ground crying.Although Chu Xiuzhi was not a good emperor, he was definitely a good master.He has always been lenient to his servants.

He walked out crying all over the place, with tears still on his face, and his eyes were as cold as frost.

I will watch the world you don't want to see, do the things you dare not do, and guard the world you... I can't forget after all.

At this time, it was the Southern Dynasty, the first year of Yonghe.

The former emperor Chu Xiuzhi suddenly fell ill with a serious illness, gold and stones were ineffective, and he passed away suddenly.His younger brother Chu Yuanzhi ascended the throne and named the country Yonghe.

royal palace.It was daylight.

Chu Yuanzhi saw a young man in a python robe with his back turned to him, playing a guqin with his head down.The aftertaste of reciting and kneading is subtle and long, like human words rustling.Sitting next to him was a boy with loose hair.

The boy tilted his head and called softly, "Brother Prince..."

The young man stopped his hands, raised his head, turned his face and smiled softly.From Chu Yuanzhi's perspective, he could see the corner of his mouth curled up.

Suddenly!A gleaming dagger appeared in the young man's hand somehow, and he raised his hand and stabbed at the young man's heart!

Brother Huang!

There was a sudden pain in his heart, Chu Yuanzhi stumbled towards the young man, and let out a nearly hoarse cry.

The boy threw away the dagger that was still dripping blood, and said leisurely, "Why are you crying, you asked me to do this."

Chu Yuanzhi grabbed the young man violently and met his face.He immediately lost strength in his hands, his legs went limp and he fell to the ground.The young man had a red mole between his eyebrows, and his eyes were long and narrow, hooked inside and turned up outside. It was none other than the 24-year-old Chu Yuanzhi.

"Huh...huh..." Chu Yuanzhi suddenly opened his eyes, gasping for breath.

The incense burner gradually burned, and the breath of tranquilizing incense made him calm down gradually.He read the memorial that Chu Xiuzhi had shelved all night, and fell asleep without knowing it.

Unhurried footsteps came from outside the hall, Chu Yuanzhi was used to the footsteps, it was Yan Shigao, an old eunuch who had served by his side for nearly ten years.

Yan Shigao walked into the hall, put a stack of memorials on Chu Yuanzhi's desk, and after putting it down, he bent down to salute. "Report to the emperor, this servant has already selected today's selection."

"Get up." Chu Yuanzhi bowed his head and started criticizing again after saying that.The more you look, the deeper the lines between the brows, and the more dignified the complexion.

In recent years, there have been droughts in the north and floods in the south, severe natural disasters, and farmers have no harvest.Hunger is everywhere, ten rooms are empty, and when Chu Xiuzhi was in power, the court didn't care.Coupled with his lack of strict governance, his subordinates exploited layer upon layer.Without food and unable to survive, the people under him will rebel.There was smoke everywhere, and the courtiers were in chaos, but Chu Xiuzhi still drank and played the piano every day without caring, composing poems and listening to music.Fortunately, there was finally a new emperor, who was in charge anyway.

Chu Yuanzhi sighed, stopped writing and looked up to the old eunuch, "Yan Shigao, how many generals are available to suppress the rebels?"

The old eunuch thought for a while, and said: "Yan Qi is the champion of martial arts, he is very brave and can be used. In addition, Yan Fei is good at strategy, so he can also be used."

Chu Yuanzhi glanced at Yan Shigao, who was hanging his head, and said: "Okay, first, I will send Yan Qi to the northeast to wipe out the rebels all the way. The rebels in the south are not yet in the air, so Yan Fei will go to the south to suppress and assist in disaster relief."

He paused and said, "Secondly, from now on, all affected areas will be exempted from taxation, and the remaining areas will be reduced to [-]%. Thirdly, the Ministry of Households will reduce officials and distribute food for disaster relief."

"The emperor has a clear plan." Yan Shigao knelt down and said.

"Okay, you can go down and do these things. Be quick."

"The slave follows the order." Yan Shigao was about to step back.A guard in black barged in, knelt down on one knee, and said urgently, "Your Majesty, I have something important to report!"

Chu Yuanzhi stood up and waved Yan Shigao to step back.He said to the guard, "Why are you so anxious?"

"The special envoy sent by our dynasty to Xijiang was killed by the people of Xijiang!"

Chu Yuanzhi's expression tightened, and then he calmed down again: "What's going on?"

The guard said: "There was a turmoil in Xijiang in August this year. His son Tuoba Yuan launched a rebellion, and the special envoy was killed during the rebellion. Now Tuoba Yuan has unified the Western Xinjiang Sanbu and is in control."

Chu Yuanzhi took a deep breath, was silent for a while, and asked, "What is Xijiang's attitude now?"

"The subordinates failed to find out."

"I see, you go down and look up things in Xijiang."

After the guard left, Chu Yuanzhi's face completely sank.The new king of Xijiang must obtain the approval of the Southern Dynasty, and now Tuoba Yuan has already undergone a coup.It stands to reason that the Southern Dynasty must send troops to crusade.It's just that right now, where can I find the extra mental energy to take care of this matter.

When the Southern Dynasty was dying, it was presumed that Tuoba Yuan would no longer be willing to submit to the Southern Dynasty, and it was hard to say whether he would take advantage of the danger.Looking at the court today, there are no generals who can do it.Yan Qi, Yan Fei, didn't he know that these two were Yan Shigao's people?If no one was available, would he use these two?

The thing he has to consider now is - if Tuoba Yuan launches a rebellion, who should he let in command of the army?

Chu Yuanzhi walked slowly to the window, looking at the blue sky from a distance.

When the Southern Dynasties was founded, there were four generals who fought with the Yuanzu.Except for the Sun family who was later given the surname of Chu, the other three were all eliminated by Yuanzu.The cunning rabbit dies, the running dog cooks, this has always been the reason.General Sun understood this truth better than the other three, so he resigned from his old age and returned to his hometown early, which touched the unbearableness of Yuan Zu, and instead got the surname of the country and was named king.

Now everyone calls them the Chu family, as if they are relatives of the emperor.

Fortunately, the Chu family has been very honest for generations. Although they are national surnames, they have always kept a low profile.After successively producing several emperors who valued literature over martial arts, the Chu family was one of the very few families that favored martial arts. They had produced generals from generation to generation, and the generals of the same generation asked themselves to return to Ning after they were 45 years old.He knows each other very well, so he has always been trusted by the emperor.However, this emperor did not include Chu Yuanzhi. Although the Chu family kept a low profile, to the common people, the benevolence of the Chu family and the representative general of the Chu family already possessed a prestige higher than that of the emperor.Unless it was absolutely necessary, Chu Yuanzhi was unwilling to hand over the military power to the Chu family.

And now, is it the time of last resort?

The author has something to say: try to update two chapters every day if you are new, please comment~