Chapter 1114 Qingming, Light Rain

Qingming,

Light rain.

The continuous rainy season, like an affectionate and gentle woman, stops, glances back, hesitates, anticipates, and looks back five times;

Or like covering this sky with a fine rain gauze,

Moistening a group of people and softening a city.

Inside the Empress Dowager's Yuxin Palace, the green in the pond is already apparent.

Unlike other nobles who prefer extravagance, the Empress Dowager of Chu has always been frugal. Every winter, many Chu noble residences have one or two courtyards used as greenhouses, where it is spring all year round, but the Empress Dowager does not like it.

In her words,

People, ah,

As they get older,

They become more and more concerned about the changes of spring, summer, autumn, and winter;

Ignorant when young, indifferent when adults, no time when older, until old age, when they suddenly look back, they are shocked that they have missed so much.

Every swing of spring, summer, autumn, and winter is like another layer carved on the bluestone pillar, seeing it once less, hoping for it once shorter. Greenhouses are comfortable, but it is like picking up sesame seeds and losing the watermelon, making oneself unable to distinguish the seasons, a stupid thing imprisoned in the deep palace. What's the point?

The Empress Dowager sat under the eaves, holding a cup of soup, occasionally taking a spoonful, taking a few sips, and looking at the hazy courtyard.

Outside the Yuxin Palace, the Fifth Prince, Xiong Tingshan, in a red python robe, waited there, occasionally glancing inside, but not daring to enter. Behind him stood a woman in gorgeous attire.

The surrounding eunuchs and palace maids dared not speak or look more, all with their heads lowered, as if they had hidden themselves in the fine rain and misty curtains in broad daylight.

The title of Prince is certainly honorable, but a newly promoted Prince alone is not enough to make these eunuchs and palace maids so cautious.

In fact, ever since the Fifth Prince guarded Wutong Prefecture for so many years, stories about him have been circulating in Yingdu.

Some say that he formed a blood oath with the Shanyue people, eating human flesh and drinking human blood, and that he loves to slice the pointed hearts and livers of sixteen-year-old girls to accompany his wine;

Others say that the Shanyue women around him must find a Chu boy every night to deflower, and then cut off his manhood and soak it in wine to seek eternal youth.

In short, these rumors are as disgusting and frightening as possible.

No one deliberately spread these rumors,

But in Chu,

The Chu people's contempt for the Shanyue people has long been engraved in their bones.

Just like the Yan people look at the barbarians, and the Jin people look at the savages, in fact, what they see is not people at all, but beasts.

Therefore, the image of the Fifth Prince, who called the Shanyue people brothers and even married a Shanyue woman, is naturally as terrifying as possible in the eyes of the people.

At this time, a little eunuch from the imperial court ran over and saluted Xiong Tingshan:

"This servant greets Your Highness. Your Highness, His Majesty has issued an edict, asking you to go in and see the Empress Dowager. His Majesty is delayed in the South Study Room."

"This..."

If it weren't for the fact that he was in the palace, Xiong Tingshan really wanted to curse at his fourth brother.

But there was no way,

Xiong Tingshan could only tidy up his clothes one last time, then turned around and personally helped his wife tidy up.

Unlike her husband's "trepidation," his wife seemed quite graceful. This woman named Wu Tingting came from the Wujiang tribe of the Shanyue people. The tribe had a population of seventy to eighty thousand and was considered a relatively strong Shanyue tribe in Wutong Prefecture.

"When you see the Empress Dowager later, you have to be more respectful," Xiong Tingshan reminded cautiously.

"Husband, you've been saying this since last night."

"Hehe."

Xiong Tingshan nodded and pointed to an eunuch next to him, signaling him to announce their arrival.

The eunuch immediately trotted in,

A moment later,

A shout came from inside:

"The Empress Dowager has decreed that Prince Dingqin be summoned."

Xiong Tingshan breathed a sigh of relief and led his wife into the inner courtyard of the Yuxin Palace.

On the steps of the inner courtyard, the Empress Dowager had already stood up impatiently, looking at Xiong Tingshan walking towards her.

"This subject, Xiong Tingshan, greets the Empress Dowager. May the Empress Dowager have good fortune!"

Wu Tingting also knelt down and prostrated herself, "May the Empress Dowager have good fortune."

"Come in and talk, don't let the rain wet your clothes."

The Empress Dowager didn't say much and went straight into the hall. Xiong Tingshan stood up, and everyone entered the hall;

The Empress Dowager sat in the main seat, and Xiong Tingshan and Wu Tingting sat to her lower right.

Palace maids served tea and pastries.

Wu Tingting had waited outside with her husband for a while, and she had entered the palace early. She hadn't eaten much for lunch, so she was really hungry now. She didn't stand on ceremony and directly reached out to pick up the pastries from the plate and eat them.

This action was somewhat impolite,

After all,

The food served and displayed on some occasions is not for eating, but for decoration.

Seeing this, the Empress Dowager smiled and said, "Seeing Fifth Son's family eating so sweetly, this old one is also a little greedy."

Then,

The Empress Dowager reached out and picked up a piece of pastry and took a small bite.

After sitting down, Xiong Tingshan's eyes were a little red, and he said;

"Empress Dowager, Fifth Son misses you."

The Empress Dowager picked up a handkerchief and wiped the corner of her mouth, scolding with a smile:

"Missing this old one for what? Wanting to be beaten, is it?"

"I really want to be beaten by you."

"You cheapskate, just like when you were a kid."

"That's right."

When he was a child, Xiong Tingshan's birth mother was of humble status. Usually, let alone disciplining the child, she sometimes didn't even dare to speak loudly.

At that time, the Empress Dowager was the Imperial Concubine, and she was highly respected in the harem. She often whipped and beat Xiong Tingshan.

This was not abuse,

But sometimes, when Xiong Tingshan and his fourth brother went to the Empress Dowager's palace to eat, seeing Xiong Tingshan sitting there timidly, the Empress Dowager would order the eunuch to take a rattan whip to whip him. As a prince, how could he sit so timidly?

For example, when he heard the servants' slander elsewhere and felt wronged, he hid by the rockery and cried. The Empress Dowager saw him passing by and, after asking the reason, ordered the surrounding eunuchs to throw Xiong Tingshan into the cold pond in winter next to him.

"Cry, cry, cry, all you know is to cry. You are a prince, and you have the blood of the fire phoenix in your veins. How can you let the servants bully you? Don't you like to cry? Then cry as much as you want in this pond!"

The next day, the Fifth Prince beat up several palace maids and eunuchs who had spoken ill of himself and his birth mother and threw them into the pond.

As a result, this matter spread, and an outside official accused him of abusing servants and lacking the way of a prince.

The Chu Emperor didn't like this son very much, so he severely punished him, and at the same time, his birth mother's expenses were reduced for half a year because she didn't teach her son well.

Then,

The Fifth Prince was summoned by the Empress Dowager and tied to the big tree in the Yuxin Palace and whipped more than a dozen times.

"Fool, you can't even handle a few servants, and you even implicated your birth mother. Is your brain full of paste?"

For a long time,

The Fifth Prince was actually an invisible person in the palace.

There were rumors in the palace that the Imperial Concubine at that time, who is now the Empress Dowager, disliked this humble Fifth Prince the most and often used discipline and corporal punishment on him.

But only the Fifth Prince himself knew that at that time, how difficult it was to have an elder willing to teach him, willing to teach him, or even... willing to beat him.

Later, after he came of age, the Chu Emperor directly sent this son, whom he found annoying, to Wutong Prefecture. At that time, the Shanyue people in Wutong Prefecture often rebelled, and they would attack the city from time to time. Sending the Fifth Prince there was just to let him fend for himself.

The so-called tiger does not eat its cubs does not hold true in the imperial family, because, except for some special circumstances, the emperor's sons are generally not few.

Everything follows the law of scarcity is precious. If there are too many sons, they are not worth much.

After going to Wutong Prefecture, the Fifth Prince sent people to Yingdu every year with carefully prepared local specialties from Wutong Prefecture, always two copies, one for his birth mother and one for the Empress Dowager.

Later, when his birth mother passed away, the Fifth Prince asked to return to Yingdu to mourn, but the Chu Emperor took away his filial piety, depriving him of his humanly duty to return to the capital to mourn and observe filial piety on the grounds that the situation in Wutong Prefecture could not be damaged.

In the end, it was the Empress Dowager at the time who said that human relations could not be abandoned and asked the Fourth Prince to perform the filial rites for the Fifth Prince's birth mother.

At the beginning of last month,

The Fifth Prince Xiong Tingshan personally submitted a memorial in Wutong Prefecture, requesting the Regent to be crowned Emperor and inherit the throne.

This move marked the recognition and support of the Regent's legitimacy by Wutong Prefecture and a group of forces represented by Wutong Prefecture.

In the Chu court, some people thought that the Fifth Prince saw that the Regent's power was now established, so he was unwilling to fight against a stone with an egg, so he chose to surrender;

Others believe that the Fifth Prince is, after all, a member of the royal family and is unwilling to see Chu continue to consume itself internally, so he chose to be impartial and considerate of the country.

In fact, both are true, and there is another reason that Xiong Tingshan did not tell others, he owed the Empress Dowager, and he had to repay it.

"I can't beat you anymore, I can't beat you anymore."

The Empress Dowager waved her hand with a smile and continued:

"You brothers have all grown up, and you have all married wives and had children. Even if this old one wants to beat you, on the one hand, I can't beat you anymore, and on the other hand, the servants don't dare to attack you."

"Empress Dowager, Fifth Son is thinking about your whip."

"You cheapskate, you cheapskate, look at you, what are you saying in front of your own wife? If your wife hears this, she will think that this old one was too harsh on you when you were a kid."

Hearing this, Wu Tingting put down the food in her hand and said:

"Empress Dowager, how dare I think like that? At home, he always talks about your kindness to him and tells the children that they have a grandmother in Yingdu."

The Empress Dowager turned her gaze to Wu Tingting. This woman from the Shanyue tribe seemed so out of place in the rule-bound palace, revealing a wild and untamed air.

It is said that when the Fifth Prince first arrived in Wutong Prefecture, if it were not for meeting this woman, he might have died long ago.

"Are you called Tingting?"

"Yes, that's my name."

The eunuchs and palace maids on the side lowered their heads, not daring to show any other expressions.

Xiong Tingshan licked his lips. That's how his wife was, she didn't like to follow the rules.

"You have a good build for bearing children."

"That's right, my mother also said that about me."

The Empress Dowager pointed at her and said:

"When you choose women from your tribe to enter the palace for His Majesty, you must help to choose carefully. You must choose someone like you. My grandsons are all a bit delicate and weak. This old one wants to hold a strong grandson."

Taking women from the Wujiang tribe into the palace was one of the agreements reached between the Regent and the Fifth Prince.

Wu Tingting patted her chest and said very boldly, "Empress Dowager, don't worry, leave it to me. I will definitely choose a woman with wide hips and a solid build for the Regent Emperor."

"Yes, yes, choose like that, choose like that."

The Chu nobles' aesthetic standards for women are biased towards gentleness and beauty, preferably the kind with a petite and slender figure and a graceful waist.

"What about your children? Why didn't you bring them into the palace to let this old one take a look?" the Empress Dowager asked.

Wu Tingting replied, "Empress Dowager, they were all clamoring to come into the palace to see the grandmother that their father was talking about, but my man said they didn't understand the rules and would disturb you, so he didn't bring them into the palace."

Xiong Tingshan supported his forehead,

It was enough that you, as a mother, don't understand the rules. If there were a few more little monkeys like that, the Yuxin Palace would really be completely out of order.

The Empress Dowager glared at Xiong Tingshan and said, "Old people are most afraid of being lonely. Bring them into the palace next time and let my place be lively too."

Xiong Tingshan smiled and said, "Of course, Fifth Son also wants them to come before the Empress Dowager and let you help teach them."

"No, no, no."

The Empress Dowager waved her hand quickly,

Then she covered her chest with her other hand and said:

"This old one has already taught such a good daughter, I dare not mislead others."

The Great Chu Princess, Xiong Liqing, threw herself into the arms of the Earl of Pingye of Yan at the Qu clan's wedding, and even rushed out of the villa with him to enter Yan.

This move caused an uproar throughout Chu.

The Chu people felt that this was their great shame!

Of course, the biggest victim was the Qu clan.

Although the royal family immediately married another princess to another son of the Qu clan, and the Qu clan immediately submitted a memorial declaring that they would continue to support the Regent, and everyone jointly announced a political signal that they would continue to cooperate, everyone understood that the Qu clan had really lost face this time.

Hearing this, Wu Tingting said directly:

"Empress Dowager, that's not right."

"Not right?" The Empress Dowager was a little puzzled.

"I think the princess did the right thing. Just imagine, a man who dares to come to the enemy country at great risk and take himself away at a heavily guarded wedding;

Such deep affection, such a heart,

How many women in this world can resist?"

The Empress Dowager was speechless for a moment because she found that she didn't seem to be able to communicate well with this woman from the Shanyue tribe.

Wu Tingting looked at her husband sitting next to her and continued:

"At first, my father was going to betroth me to the young patriarch of a neighboring tribe. It was him who took two subordinates into my tribe and asked my father to betroth me to him."

Xiong Tingshan continued to support his forehead.

Seeing the Empress Dowager's gaze turning to him again,

Xiong Tingshan could only say:

"This, young and frivolous, young and frivolous."

Wasn't it young and frivolous? But youth is really good.

Wu Tingting continued, "At that time, he was tied up by my father, but he was still shouting my name, telling me not to marry anyone else. At that time, everyone in the entire tribe was alarmed by him.

In the end, I had to beg my father, and my father spared him and let him go back."

The Empress Dowager nodded and asked, "What happened later?"

"Later, I packed my luggage myself, escaped from the tribe, and went to find him under the county seat. After that commotion, I became famous in my tribe and the surrounding tribes. Who else could I marry except him?

So, after marrying him, I desperately gave birth to babies, gave birth to babies, gave birth to babies, to get revenge on him!"

"Hahaha."

The Empress Dowager was really amused.

"Good, so the root is with her fifth brother."

The Regent walked in from outside.

A group of palace maids and eunuchs knelt down together:

"Greetings to His Majesty the Regent."

"This subject, greetings to Your Majesty."

"This son, greetings to the Empress Dowager. May the Empress Dowager have good fortune."

The Empress Dowager glanced at her son and said, "Fifth Son's family, accompany this old one to walk in the garden. Leave this place for the men to talk."

"Yes, Empress Dowager."

Soon, only the Regent and the Fifth Prince were left in the hall, and even the palace maids and eunuchs consciously went outside to wait.

The Regent looked at the Fifth Prince,

And said:

"So, Liqing learned from her fifth brother, right?"

Xiong Tingshan was cautious in front of the Empress Dowager, but he didn't have the previous restraint in front of his fourth brother. Hearing this, he just smiled and said:

"You can't blame me for this. I heard that Fourth Brother, you used to be with him. When our two sides were competing in martial arts by the river, wasn't he watching from the side?"

"Alas."

The Regent sighed,

And said:

"Who knows?"

"Did Fourth Brother really not notice?"

The Regent shook his head, then nodded, and said:

"I felt that he didn't look like Su Mingzhe, but I thought he should be a real talent from Qian, but I didn't expect him to be Zheng Fan.

If I had known it was Zheng Fan,

I would have..."

"What would Fourth Brother have done?"

"I would have directly regretted the marriage with the Qu clan. If he liked Liqing and Liqing liked him, then let them get married in Great Chu."

"If Sister Liqing heard this, tsk tsk..."

"I have already appeased the Qu clan, and nothing major will happen. You lead Wutong Prefecture to submit, and Great Chu is already in my grasp.

A ruler must put centralization first. The Qu clan does not dare to take the lead, nor will they take the lead."

"There is no need to care about the Qu clan. With Qu Tiannan gone, the Qu clan's status has actually dropped by one level. Fourth Brother, what we need to do now is to reorganize the royal guards and not continue to be suppressed by the Yan people as we were before."

"I understand, but we have to take it step by step. Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish, you can't rush it. I have decided that you will be in charge of this matter of the guards. First train them, and I will figure out the rest.

Brothers work together."

"This younger brother will definitely not disappoint Fourth Brother."

"Oh, right, Nian Yao has already returned. I was just meeting him in the South Study Room. He's waiting outside now.

Someone, please invite General Nian in."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Soon,

Nian Yao walked in,

"This servant greets Your Majesty, greetings to Fifth Master."

According to the rules, family members call themselves servants, and outsiders call themselves subjects.

Although Nian Yao is a glorious general outside, he has to call himself a servant in front of the Regent because he was born as a family slave.

Of course, calling oneself a servant is not a simple derogatory term. In fact, many people want to beg for a "servant" status but cannot get it.

The Regent pointed to Nian Yao kneeling on the ground and said to the Fifth Prince:

"Fifth Brother, do you know what this thing submitted to me last month? In the memorial, this servant actually dared to suggest that I let the Qu clan's Qingluan Army be transferred to Zhennan Pass;

And said that the Qu clan will definitely do their best to ensure that Zhennan Pass is not lost."

Xiong Tingshan touched his head and laughed loudly:

"Hahaha, you servant, you are too bold. Don't you bury people like that? What, let the Qu clan go to Zhennan Pass to reunite with their family there?"

"This servant dare not," Nian Yao said aggrievedly.

"Heh, there are still things that you, General Nian, dare not do. What is the intention in your memorial? Do you know that if I really do this, the Qu clan will suffer such great humiliation and will have to rebel even if they don't want to!"

"This servant deserves to die, this servant deserves to die!"

"Hey, hey, don't rush to kowtow. Nian Yao, I ask you, how does it feel to play chess with that Yan Southern Marquis?"

Nian Yao immediately showed a sad face and said:

"This servant was scared to death."

"Humph."

The Regent snorted coldly.

Xiong Tingshan smoothed things over and said, "Okay, still okay, you can still put on a crying face, so you can be considered to be handling it with ease."

The Regent closed his eyes and said with emotion:

"Liqing ran away with that Zheng guy, which is certainly very passive for me and for Great Chu, but it can't shake the foundation after all. If my Great Chu can't go north out of Zhennan Pass, it will have to be suppressed by the Jingnan Army in Jin all the time.

Although the Qian people are making a lot of noise, it's just a lot of thunder and little rain. The Yan people's power is already established, so now it depends on how long the Yan people themselves can hold on."

"Fourth Brother, don't worry, since ancient times, there has been no constant power. The Great Xia eight hundred years ago rose like the sun, didn't it also perish as soon as it was said to perish? I see that his Yan Kingdom's current power is great, and the false fire must account for four or five points. Let's see how long his firewood can last."

"But in the end, it's still very uncomfortable. I actually invited that Zheng Fan to drink wine."

"Hahaha, wouldn't this be considered the brother-in-law inviting his future brother-in-law to a pre-wedding drink?"

The Regent glared at Xiong Tingshan, but Xiong Tingshan didn't care and continued to laugh loudly.

Nian Yao, kneeling on the ground, also "hehehe" echoed with a laugh,

Seeing this, the Regent kicked him directly,

Nian Yao didn't dare to take the force, and even more didn't dare to mobilize the Qi and blood in his body to resist this kick, so he was kicked around in a circle on the ground, and then immediately knelt back in place.

"Laugh, laugh, laugh, didn't you, General Nian, be rated as one of the four famous young generals in the world along with that Zheng Fan? Now, that Zheng Fan came to my Great Chu and abducted my Great Chu princess. When will you, General Nian, go to Yan and abduct a princess back for me!"

Hearing this, Nian Yao immediately showed a bitter face and said very aggrievedly:

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this servant, this servant can't do it."

Hearing this, the Regent kicked him again.

General Nian rolled around in a circle again in place,

After kneeling back, he continued:

"Your Majesty, this servant, this servant really can't do it."

"Worthless thing," the Regent scolded.

Nian Yao was very aggrieved,

And said:

"Your Majesty, this servant wants to abduct someone, but the Yan Emperor is all sons and has no daughters."

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The next chapter will be before 2 am.