"Jingle Bell-"
This is the sound of a row of copper bells under the eaves of the Qingwu Palace in the Zhao Kingdom Palace. This row of copper bells has been here since the beginning of the palace's construction. For hundreds of years, whenever there is wind and rain, it will make such a crisp tinkling sound. On nights with autumn winds and days with continuous spring rains, the bells often ring all night long.
“Da La La—”
This was the sound of the crystal curtain in the inner hall of Qingwu Palace being gently lifted and then sliding down and hitting each other. When Yin Ruxu was lying on the bed, she heard this sound and knew that someone was coming.
"Your Highness, Your Highness? Come out quickly. Madam has fallen asleep. Don't wake her up."
This was the voice of Cunqing, the palace maid who served her in Qingwu Palace. Yin Ruxu was even more familiar with her voice than Zhao Xu's, because in countless cycles, she had spent the most time with Cunqing. Whether she was willing or not, everything for her was taken care of by Cunqing. This palace maid who obeyed Zhao Xu made her hate and feel pain.
Cun Qing called out softly from outside, but no one answered her. The thin blanket covering Yin Ruxu was pulled back a little, and a small body climbed onto her bed.
"Mother, Mother," her child called her softly.
"Mom, are you sick again?" This was a very well-behaved child, obedient and sensible. When he came to see her, he never made loud noises, as if he was afraid that louder noises would frighten his sick mother.
Yin Ruxu's soft but somewhat cold hand was held by a pair of small hands, which were warm. "Mom, do you miss your hometown? I heard that you are sick because you miss home. Don't be sad anymore. When I grow up, I will take you home."
Hearing this, Yin Ruxu's heart was not moved, but subconsciously felt frightened. She wanted to reach out and cover the child's mouth, telling him not to say anything more, not to say such things again, and not to be heard by that person! The Yin Kingdom had been destroyed, and there was nothing left to go home. But she couldn't move, and her body was not under her control.
Yin Ruxu saw the child's innocent face and earnest eyes, and also saw the man standing outside the crystal curtain. Zhao Xu stood there quietly, like a terrifying shadow, his eyes were cold, piercing like ice and snow without any temperature.
She knew what was coming.
"Madam, the little prince... the little prince fell into the water and is gone. Don't be sad. You will have other children..." Cun Qing cried and said to her. He gently supported her with the hands that had drowned the child.
Yin Ruxu's body was crying and convulsing, but she no longer had the strength to react. She just felt cold, as if she was the one thrown into the water.
The child's face was pale, his hands were cold, and he was no longer breathing. The copper bell of His Highness Qingwu rang all night, and the palace banquet and dance music of Zhao Xu in the front hall also rang all night.
The autumn wind is bleak and the brocade quilt is cold.
…
"Xuxu, Xuxu?"
"… "
"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare? Why are you crying like this?" Wo Tu wiped the tears from her face.
In the middle of the night, he heard suppressed crying. He found his wife curled up on one side as if she was out of breath, crying with her eyes closed, and hurried to wake her up.
Yin Ruxu hadn't come back to her senses yet, she lay there in a daze, motionless. She was covered in cold sweat, and after her tears dried, her cheeks felt a stinging pain.
Noticing her cold palms, Wo Tu held her hands tightly and held her tightly in his arms, "Okay, okay."
It took Yin Ruxu a long time to come back to her senses from the swamp-like nightmare. She trembled uncontrollably and struggled hard to get into Wo Tu's arms.
Zhuangzi dreamed of butterflies in the early morning. She wondered, when was the dream? Now? Or was it Yin Ruxu in Qingwu Palace
Wo Tu noticed that something was wrong with her, frowned, and suddenly took a cloak from the shelf, wrapped himself and Yin Ruxu, and then strode out of the king's tent. He took Yin Ruxu on horseback and galloped towards the wasteland outside the tribe.
A tribesman who was on night patrol noticed the noise and thought something had happened, so he ran over nervously. Wo Tu said, "It's me, it's okay." Then he ran out without stopping his horse.
It was midnight, and it was pitch black outside. As she rode on her horse, the cold wind blew in her face. Yin Ruxu was completely awake. She pulled the reins from Wo Tu's hand, stared at the darkness ahead with red eyes, and galloped away.
It wasn't until she was completely exhausted that Wotu took the reins from her hand and asked, "Are you feeling better?"
Yin Ruxu leaned her head on his chest, listened to the movement there, and hummed softly.
"Are you cold? Let's go back."
In the morning light, a white line appears on the horizon. This white line dispels the darkness of the night and turns the gloomy dark color into a gloomy blue tone. When the sun comes out, the gloomy blue turns into a clear blue.
"Why did you cry so softly when you were dreaming? It made me uncomfortable just listening to you. If you wanted to cry, cry louder, and you wouldn't feel so uncomfortable holding it back." Wo Tu held Yin Ruxu in his arms and slowly walked back to the tribe.
Yin Ruxu: "I dare not cry in my dream because there is someone I am afraid of watching me."
Wotu: "Who scares you so much?"
Yin Ruxu: "... I don't remember who it was. I'll tell you when I remember." She hugged Wo Tu's neck tenderly, but in her heart she was thinking that the man was going to die eventually.
…
"You can't ride horses like this anymore. You need to take care of yourself for the next few months. Although the princess's health has improved a little in the past few months, she is still not as strong as those of other women. It's better to stop riding horses for now, so that the baby can be born safely."
"Yes, I understand."
Yin Ruxu and Wo Tu went out for a horse race in the middle of the night. After Yin Ruxu calmed down, she had an inexplicable premonition and asked someone to call the doctor to take her pulse. She was just guessing, but she was right. She was pregnant and needed to take care of the baby.
As soon as the news spread, some people began to make it sound miraculous. At first, some people said that it was no wonder that the patriarch suddenly ran out in the middle of the night. Later, as the news spread, it became that a stream of light suddenly fell into the king's tent in the middle of the night, and the patriarch and his wife fled out. People said that the patriarch's son was born with strange signs and must be an extraordinary person.
Somehow the news spread to all the tribes, and soon people from other dependent tribes came to give gifts, making the scene quite lively for a while.
Yin Ruxu was very calm about the arrival of the child, and just smiled at Wotu who kept rubbing his hands. Wotu was very happy, and he met all the tribesmen who came to congratulate him, and even asked Wuzhizhu Amu to call the women in the tribe who had given birth to several children to come over and let them take care of Yin Ruxu.
Yin Ruxu was served mostly by young palace maids. With these women around, things were much more organized.
Whether in Yin or the grasslands, men of Wo Tu's age generally have children. Now that the good news has finally come, the entire tribe is very happy. Although they don't value the king's heir as much as the Central Plains countries, it is undoubtedly reassuring if a wise patriarch has an excellent heir, which means that their stable days can continue for a longer time.
Yin Ruxu also wrote a letter and sent it back to Yin. Since she married into the grassland, there has been no more friction between the grassland and the small cities bordering Yin. Wo Tu controlled the scattered tribes around and did not allow them to cause trouble again. The relationship between the two sides eased for a while. In addition, with the large flow of caravans, some cities began to be willing to let some kind tribesmen enter the city and allow them to trade and live in the city.
The craftsmen that Yin Ruxu brought to the grassland spent these few months getting familiar with the tribe and life, and then recruiting apprentices, which was also very busy.
In comparison, Zhao Xu's life was not so good. In order to send troops to the grassland as soon as possible, he personally led his troops to attack Yuguan, hoping to end this stalemate as soon as possible. He was indeed a man of some wisdom, and he broke through Yuguan within half a month, but the Yuguan commander also had capable people around him to help him, who used a strategy of alienation to create a rift between the Jin commander and Zhao Xu. In the final battle, the Jin army did not listen to Zhao Xu's dispatch and acted on its own, resulting in tens of thousands of troops trapped in the dead city and suffering heavy losses.
Even if they won this battle, it would be a pyrrhic victory, and it would not be worth it for the State of Jin.
They thought that if they took Yuguan, they could attack the capital of Lu in one go, which would reduce the losses, but they were stopped by a small fortress town behind Yuguan. This blockage lasted for another half a month, like a thorn in Zhao Xu's eye.
At this time, the State of Jin announced its withdrawal and directly abandoned its ally, the State of Zhao.
Zhao Xu was so angry at the King of Jin's stupidity that he almost laughed. Especially the other party's letter, in which he kept saying that his improper command caused the Jin State to lose many good soldiers. If the King of Jin was in front of him, Zhao Xu would definitely be able to kill that immortal old thing with one sword.
"This Jin State is really despicable! What good will it do for them to withdraw troops at this time!" The generals under Zhao Xu's command were equally angry and started cursing one by one.
"We really can't delay any longer. Now that the situation has come to a point where the arrow is on the string, we have to shoot. Even if Jin withdraws its troops, we have to capture this small Huangcheng!"
"King, do you have any idea to conquer Huang City?"
"From what Huangcheng has been doing these days, it seems that they have long planned to abandon Yuguan and defend Huangcheng." Zhao Xu pointed at the map and said, "We won't attack Huangcheng, but will take a detour to Longzhou."
He was prepared to take a risky road. If he succeeded, it would be no problem to take the capital of Lu. Unfortunately, he was destined to fail in everything he did. The risky road became a dangerous situation, and he almost lost his life there. The Lu army seemed to have known that he would go to Longzhou, and they deployed 200,000 soldiers to wait for him. In that battle, the number of troops of the two armies was quite different. The Lu army was fighting to protect their homeland, and the momentum overwhelmed the Zhao army, which had been frustrated many times. Even if Zhao Xu was extremely capable, he could not turn the tide and could only watch the army fail miserably.
If he hadn't been rescued by his confidant at the risk of his life, he would probably have died there.
He was seriously injured and fled back to his country with a small number of remnants. He left with great fanfare, but returned in disgrace. After such a poor battle, the alliance between Zhao and Jin, which was not very solid to begin with, was broken in an instant.
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