Mingyu spent a quiet and peaceful life in Lu'an County. Time slipped away quickly like sand in one's hand. Mingyu watched the camphor tree in front of the window slowly sprout new buds from its bare trunk, gradually grow leaves, gradually bloom with flowers, and then gradually lose all its leaves.
In the blink of an eye, she and Lixiang had been back home for almost a year. During this year, Mingyu had grown a lot taller and her breasts had started to swell. If she accidentally bumped into them, she would feel pain for a long time, causing Mingyu to lament that she had to go through the pain of puberty again.
Whenever Xu Mingye came home from the academy, Mingyu would stay by his side and listen to his conversation with his father. Many of Xu Mingye's classmates in the academy were from official families like Qi Su, and were extremely well-informed about the news. Xu Mingye already knew the news that Xu Changqian, as an official, didn't know yet.
The King of Shu led several troops to besiege the capital for a month. The previous year-long war had consumed most of the royalist forces. Now it was only Prime Minister Dong and the young emperor who were fighting a desperate battle. There were many royal relatives and nobles in the capital, and the transportation of supplies was inconvenient. Those dignitaries had long complained, and it was only a matter of time before the King of Shu captured the capital.
The situation in the northwest was surprising. Judging from the original intention of the King of Shu, everyone guessed that he would give up the land west of Shanxi at the worst possible moment, with the Yellow River as the natural barrier, and with the neutral King of Jin guarding the Yellow River, the land east of the Yellow River could be preserved, and as for the land west of the Yellow River, they would first attack the palace, because they had to stabilize the country before they could resist foreign aggression.
A year had passed, and the Tartars had only invaded Xi'an Prefecture and were confronting the garrison there. Judging from the tone of Xu Mingye and Xu Changqian, it was not difficult to see that the two admired the Northwest garrison.
"If the King of Shu captures the capital and the world is at peace, our troops can be deployed to the northwest to drive out the Tartars who occupy our Great Chu territory!" Xu Changqian couldn't help but show his joy.
Xu Mingye clapped his hands and nodded, smiling, "That's right! If the King of Shu occupied the capital, Prime Minister Dong fell, and the Tartars lost hope, they would not press the Great Chu step by step as they do now. After so many years of displacement, the people in the northwest whose homes were occupied by the Tartars finally have hope."
"It's a pity that you were delayed for a year because of the war." Xu Changqian sighed. If nothing unexpected happened, Xu Mingye should have gone to Beijing to take the exam this spring. If he passed the exam, he would have a bright future at such a young age.
Xu Mingye shook his head and comforted his father, "This may not be a bad thing. I am still young, and if I prepare for one more year, I can learn more and have a better grasp of the situation. Lord Qi also often gives me advice. If the King of Shu... is the one who will reopen the examination next year."
Mingyu couldn't help but interrupt and asked, "If the King of Shu enters the capital, will he become the emperor?"
Xu Mingye covered his sister's mouth with his hand and said, "What nonsense are you talking about, little girl? You can't say this outside." The King of Shu raised an army to "protect the emperor and kill treacherous ministers." If he became the emperor in the end, it must be because he "had no choice." He was "forced" to ascend the throne by the officials who said, "If you don't become the emperor, I will die in front of you," with military officials holding knives to his neck and civil officials holding memorials ready to bang their heads against the pillars at any time.
Mingyu broke free from Xu Mingye's hand and glared at him with dissatisfaction. She was not a fool and would not go to the street and shout that the King of Shu was going to be the emperor.
In her impression, the King of Shu was a middle-aged man with an easygoing temper, but Mingyu didn't know what he was like inside. She and the King of Shu had only met once. Would the King of Shu be narrow-minded? When he and Lord Lu Hao escaped from the capital and passed through Tianshui, Mingyu secretly took them in for two days. If the King of Shu became the emperor, he would not kill her to silence her.
Mingyu was a little uneasy. The emperor was the supreme ruler. How could he tolerate someone seeing his most miserable and lowest moments if he met a petty person? She didn't dare to think that the King of Shu would give her some benefits after becoming the emperor because of the favor of a meal. After thinking about it, Mingyu felt more and more uneasy. She just hoped that the emperor would forget about her and let her live a good life in this distant Jiangnan. She even secretly hoped that the King of Shu would never become the emperor.
However, ideals are full of hope, while reality is very skinny. Before the Chinese New Year, in the twelfth lunar month, the King of Shu led thousands of troops to attack the capital, broke through the heavy palace gates, and captured Prime Minister Dong alive. Suddenly, the court impeached Prime Minister Dong like snowflakes. The civil officials under the King of Shu worked overtime to read the memorials and unanimously summarized Prime Minister Dong's "18 major crimes", all of which were capital crimes punishable by the death of the entire clan.
Prime Minister Dong, who was once so powerful and influential in two dynasties, now ended up as a prisoner. The King of Shu was not polite to him. He did not let him celebrate the New Year but sentenced him to be beheaded in the Caishikou. His property was confiscated, and all adult male members of the Dong family were beheaded, and all minors were exiled.
What happened next was within Xu Mingye's expectations. The King of Shu succeeded in his "serving the king" and saved the young emperor from the danger of treacherous ministers, so he wanted to resign and return to Shu. As a result, a group of ministers and the young emperor cried and begged the King of Shu to stay and be the emperor. After repeated requests, the King of Shu repeatedly declined. Finally, after completing the necessary procedures for ascending the throne, the young emperor gave up his throne to the King of Shu and was named "Duke of Yong'an". According to the Shunzhao chronology, it was only two years, and the next was the New Year of the King of Shu, which meant looking forward to the new dynasty having a new atmosphere and giving the people new hope.
In fact, for Mingyu who was far away in Lu'an, life was not much different. It was just that Xu Changqian was in a much better mood, because the first thing the King of Shu did after ascending the throne was to reduce and exempt taxes across the country for three years. He no longer had to worry about his superiors urging him to collect taxes.
After the New Year of the first year of Xinzhao, it was the time of year when the water in the south of the Yangtze River warmed up and the ducks knew it first. Mingyu was already fourteen years old. The good climate in the south of the Yangtze River had nurtured her into a bright and beautiful girl. She was no longer the little beggar who had fled in a hurry.
This spring, Xu Changqian finally got what he had been waiting for for more than a decade, but he had given up hope and never thought about it again—an imperial decree of promotion. The emperor was very kind and said, "Xu Aiqing, you are a very honest official and have made great contributions to the people under your rule. I feel bad if I don't promote you." He gave Xu Changqian a fifth-rank doctor of the Ministry of Rites. Although a doctor in the capital is just an insignificant official, it is equivalent to a promotion of two levels compared to the current county magistrate.
After Xu Changqian received the imperial edict, he was completely confused. Although promotion was a good thing, he had no connections and no connections. How could he suddenly be chosen by the emperor whom he had never met and wanted to promote him? A pie in the sky fell, making Xu Changqian, who had always been dutiful, a little uneasy.
After gathering the whole family to discuss, Xu Mingye and Madam Xu also had no idea. Mingyu then said hesitantly, "Before the Tartars attacked, the Marquis' Mansion placed me in a farm in the suburbs. It happened that Lord Lu took the emperor there, so I secretly took the emperor in for two days. Could it be because of this..."
Xu Changqian's eyes widened in shock, and after a while he murmured, "Is this true?"
Mrs. Xu's focus on the issue was completely different from her husband's. She immediately raised her eyebrows and asked, "Why would the Marquis' Mansion not let you live in the mansion and instead move you to a farm in the countryside?"
Mingyu smiled and said, "His eldest mistress was too bullying. I was so angry that I beat her up with Lixiang. Maybe we beat her too hard, so she couldn't go out to see people for a few days. In order to silence the servants, the wife of the Marquis' Mansion arranged for me to live in the other manor for a few days."
Hearing that her daughter had not suffered much, Madam Xu's anger subsided a little, but she was still dissatisfied, "Beating her up is the least of her worries. Even the Marquis' Mansion cannot bully others casually!"
Xu Mingye reached out and flicked his sister's forehead, saying, "Why are you telling me such an important thing now?"
Mingyu covered her forehead and glared at Xu Mingye with dissatisfaction. Her eyes were red, and she said, "I'm afraid the emperor is narrow-minded. I've seen him in such a miserable state. He ascended the throne and wanted to kill me... You don't know about this. Maybe the emperor will let you go and avoid getting you implicated."
There was silence for a while. Xu Mingye lowered his head and smiled. He reached out and flicked Mingyu's forehead. He said softly, "Silly girl."
Madam Xu came back to her senses, hugged Mingyu into her arms, and sighed, "What are you thinking? We are a family, there is no need to talk about getting involved. If the emperor really wants to kill our benefactor, at most we can just share the hardship together, and we will have someone to accompany us on our way to the underworld."
After hearing these words, Mingyu couldn't help but let out the tears that she had been trying so hard to suppress.
Xu Changqian felt a little uncomfortable. He originally thought that he had worked hard and diligently over the years, and the emperor knew about it and specially promoted him to make him lucky in his middle age. He didn't expect that he was promoted because his daughter had helped him. He felt hot and cold in his heart. He wanted to be happy but couldn't be happy. It was really a sweet sorrow. After thinking about it, it was better to have a promotion than not. Alas, he had to make do with it reluctantly and go to Beijing to take up his post!
However, when it was time to leave, Xu Changqian was reluctant to leave. He had been in Lu'an for nearly twenty years, married a Lu'an woman, built a family in Lu'an, and had a pair of children in Lu'an. This place was more like his home than the capital. Moreover, he had managed Lu'an carefully for so many years. Although he could not achieve the goal of leaving doors unlocked at night and not stealing on the road, no major case had occurred in the past twenty years.
When Xu Changqian passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi in his youth, he was determined to make a career and achieve his ambitions in the officialdom like every young and successful scholar. However, once he entered the officialdom, he found that his ambitions were nothing compared to money, family background, and backers. Over the years, he did not ask for anything else but to be a good county magistrate. Now that he has the opportunity to be promoted, he does not want to leave.
Mrs. Xu had already started packing up the family's belongings. Xu Changqian stood in the yard, looking at the camphor tree with new buds sprouting, feeling a bit sad about the impermanence of life.
Mingyu walked up to her father hesitantly, not knowing how to start the conversation.
Xu Changqian asked with concern: "What's wrong?"
Mingyu opened her mouth several times, and finally gritted her teeth and said, "Dad, you, mom and brother go to the capital. I will stay in Lu'an and not go to the capital." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to subscribe and reward on Qidian Mobile Network (). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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