***
Qin Mu recited lightly with a look of desolation on his face. The morning breeze blew in from the window, ruffling the pages of the book on the table:
"Once upon a time, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly, fluttering about like a butterfly. He thought he was content, but he did not know that he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up and found himself to be Zhuang Zhou. He did not know whether Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreamed that it was Zhuang Zhou. Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly must be different. This is called transformation of things."
He leaned against the window, looking at the distant sky, chewing on a passage, which roughly means:
In the past, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he turned into a butterfly, a lifelike butterfly, and felt so happy and comfortable! He didn't know that he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up, and in a panic, he realized that he was Zhuang Zhou. I don't know whether Zhuang Zhou turned into a butterfly in his dream, or the butterfly dreamed that he turned into Zhuang Zhou? There must be a difference between Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly. This can be called the intercourse and transformation of the object and me.
Thinking about his past and present lives, Qin Mu felt like he was in a big dream and couldn't get out of it. All the weapons and horses, civil and military achievements, suddenly seemed as vague and distant as floating clouds in the sky...
There were soft footsteps beside him, and then a warm body leaned against him. Qin Mu turned around and saw a pair of eyes as bright as stars, looking at him quietly, just like when he first came into this world.
"Brother Qin...what's wrong with you?"
Hearing this address, Qin Mu felt a ray of warmth in his heart. He held Qiao'er's little head in his arms, stroked her hair and said, "Brother Qin is now a real tyrant. He has killed many people. In fact, Brother Qin knows that most of them are not guilty of death. Girl, do you think Brother Qin is cruel?"
"I... I don't know, but... leaning in Brother Qin's arms, I still feel warm and safe."
Qin Mu smiled and said nothing more. He held her in his arms and looked at the majestic palaces quietly. Above the palaces, the sky was blue and the white clouds were floating.
"Brother Qin, I heard that you are going to tour the north near autumn, is that right?"
Yun Qiaoer put her arms around his waist, hugging him a little tighter, and her little head nodded from time to time, as if looking for the warmest place.
Qin Mu nodded and replied, "Yes. In this case of treason, many people from both the navy and the army were implicated. The good side is that it eliminated two major hidden dangers in the army, but there is also a bad side, that is, some people in the army are inevitably unstable and need to be revitalized.
Moreover, this routine northern tour was originally planned. At that time, the leaders of the Mongolian and Tibetan tribes will come to see me. If I suddenly cancel this northern tour, it will inevitably make the leaders of the tribes have second thoughts, which is very detrimental to the ongoing reform of the native system. "
"I know. I know. I also want Brother Qin to go on a tour of the north. However, this time Brother Qin wants to take me with him. Can you take me with you?"
"Haha, I knew you were going to pester me. Fine. I promise you."
"That's great!" Yun Qiaoer happily hugged his neck and kissed him on the face. Her eyes, which were already as bright as stars, sparkled even brighter.
Qin Mu couldn't figure out the reason, but when he hugged this girl, he felt particularly at ease and real. The feeling of Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly was gone with the wind.
If life could only be like the first sight, maybe! Although this girl has become a girl of seventeen or eighteen, she still maintains an optimistic and smart mind, which is very precious in Qin Mu's eyes, especially after seeing too many conspiracies and intrigues, and experiencing many life-and-death struggles, he feels that this innocence is more precious.
Whenever he felt lost, when he saw Yun Qiaoer's pure and bright eyes, Qin Mu could find the origin of his life again and then straighten out the longitude and latitude of his life.
This may seem unbelievable, but it is true.
This is why Qin Mu has such special feelings for her. Qiao'er is like his roots.
Everyone in this world has his or her own roots. Each person's roots may be parents, ancestors, the mountains and rivers of the hometown, or every plant and tree in childhood memories.
When you are full of ambition to make a living, you often ignore these things and don’t feel how important your roots are.
But when you are lost or old, no matter how many ups and downs you have experienced or how far you have drifted, you will unconsciously think of your roots and want to return to the origin of life.
But Qin Mu has none of these in his life, no parents, no hometown, no childhood memories. In fact, his heart is even weaker. Qiao'er, the first person who shared the joys and sorrows with him, unknowingly became the origin of his life and his roots.
"Girl, come here, let Brother Qin hold you!"
“Hmm!” Yun Qiaoer called softly, her little head nudging back and forth in his arms, “Brother Qin!”
"Girl, what's the matter?"
"It's okay, I just want to call you, Brother Qin. I can always call you that, right?"
"Haha, even when your hair is white and your teeth fall out, you can still call me that."
"No, I don't want all my teeth to fall out."
"Hahaha... .."
"Brother Qin, I haven't been to the grassland yet. I heard that in the autumn on the grassland, the clouds are especially white, the sky is especially high, the land is especially vast, and the wind is especially cool... Yeah, anyway, I want to go there now. By the way, Brother Qin, are you going to the grassland on this northern tour?"
"I think I will have to go out for inspection. I need to promote the land reform and further accelerate the sinicization. I need to show the majesty of the Qin Dynasty and win the hearts of the people on the grassland. In addition, Dong and Xibo have just been incorporated into the territory of the Qin Dynasty. My going out will have a significant effect on the stability of these places."
The emperor's northern tour had a strong political significance.
To put it bluntly, this is like a lion king patrolling his territory. Once other animals smell a little bit of it, they will become much more obedient and dare not invade.
The people of the Central Plains have been influenced by Confucian culture for thousands of years and have become accustomed to city-state rule, which means that the emperor sits in the Forbidden City and can win the hearts of the people as long as he governs the country with benevolence.
But the nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall are more accustomed to "roaming state rule" and are more wild. If you don't patrol and show your majesty and military force, they will become indifferent, think you are nothing special, and then rebel.
Looking back at history, only the Qing Dynasty was basically free from the threat of nomadic tribes outside the Great Wall. This was not only because the Jurchens themselves came from outside the Great Wall and strengthened their marriage alliances with Mongolia, but also because Kangxi, Qianlong and others often went out of the Great Wall to hold large-scale hunting trips in Mulan Paddock.
Qin Mu originally decided to conduct a northern tour every three to five years with this in mind, and he was going to stick to this policy at least during his lifetime.
If he could live to be sixty or seventy years old and hold on for a few decades, the North would basically be at peace.
Considering that this would bring considerable expenses, there was no need to send hundreds of thousands of troops to Mongolia five times like Emperor Yongle did, or to organize hunting activities involving 100,000 or 200,000 people.
Quality is more important than quantity. When Qin Mu went on his northern tour, he decided to bring 5,000 elite soldiers with him, and then mobilize 10,000 to 20,000 border troops from the border to participate in the exercise. Each time he displayed the advanced weapons of the Qin Dynasty, it basically had a deterrent effect.
When Yun Qiaoer heard that he was going to come out of seclusion, she smiled brightly and hugged him tightly.
"Girl, let go. We're not leaving now. Why are you holding on so tightly?"
"Hehe, just hug me, just hug me!"
"Hahaha... ... ... "
While Qin Mu was laughing, a report came in that the Minister of War He Liang wanted to see him. Qin Mu thought that He Liang might have important military information, so he immediately asked the eunuch to bring him into the palace.
"I'm a confidential secretary." Yun Qiaoer quickly loosened her arms around his neck and ran to the table to grind ink.
As soon as Qin Mu returned to the imperial table and sat down, He Liang walked in quickly, stood tall and saluted, and said, "Your Highness He Liang pays homage to the Emperor. Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long, long live the Emperor!"
"He Qing, is there any report from the battle front?"
“Your Majesty, that’s right. The Ministry of War has just received two battle reports. One is that Sengge defeated Aurangzeb and is approaching Delhi. Batur in the Western Regions is actively preparing to abandon the Western Regions and concentrate on seizing northern India.
Second, Aobai and Li Ding successfully joined forces in the Kazakh Central Camp, and before the news came back, they were marching towards the Small Camp on the Caspian Sea, and now it is estimated that they are fighting with the Kazakh and Ottoman armies. "
These two pieces of news were very important. Qin Mu couldn't help but ask, "Where is Su Jin's army now? Has any news been sent back?"
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0(To be continued...)
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