"Forget it." A deep voice sounded, and Zhao Song waved his hand helplessly, "A Jiang, let's go."
Ah Jiang was taken aback, Xiao Ba stepped forward and tapped him on the forehead, and said lightly: "Go away soon? Waiting for your master to go back on his word and drive me away?"
A Jiang suddenly smiled naively, swiped his whip and lashed the horse. The carriage moved forward slowly. The morning sun was shining golden, and the rising sun was like a huge disc, hanging high in the sky.
Leaving Zhenhuang City and Daxia Kingdom, from now on, he is no longer Daxia's direct son and prince, and she is no longer a popular prostitute in the capital city, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, thank God, in The moment before the storm comes, give them a chance and life to start over.
Among the dense Populus euphratica forest, a woman wearing a navy blue cloak rode out, and He Xiao was standing not far from her. The escort teams of several escort agencies passed by, and a large cloud of dust was raised on the post road, but she seemed to have not seen it, still quietly watching the carriage going away, without saying a word for a long time.
Goodbye, her friend.
Goodbye, her sister.
Goodbye, the two most sorry people in her life.
The sun was gradually rising, and the north wind was still raging. Chu Qiao withdrew her gaze from a distance, and raised her head silently.
This is the great summer, the taste of the great summer, the wind of the great summer, the past of the great summer and the old people of the great summer. Those who have left have already left, but those who stay have to continue to face the next life. Whether it is adversity or adversity, whether it is ups and downs or twists and turns, each of them has their own responsibilities, and they have their own people who need to wait and protect.
She turned around and faced the majestic and thick city wall in the distance, where there were countless pavilions, palaces, golden palaces, countless powers and ambitions, as well as countless plots and traps.
Once upon a time, she hated everything here so much, but now, she walked into this huge cage willingly, just like her sister voluntarily became a slave, this is the path they chose for themselves. That was her battlefield, but she was not alone, because in the center of that cage, there was a person waiting for her.
Even if everything is wrong, life and death will never be restored.
"Drive!" Chu Qiao shouted coldly, and galloped on the horse. The cold wind blew past her ears, and everything turned into a cloud of smoke and passed away quietly.
It's the end of the new year in a blink of an eye. Although this year is really not a smooth and happy year, the Zhenhuang City on the surface is still beautiful and peaceful. Half a month before the Spring Banquet, the governor of the capital canceled the curfew of the imperial city, and under the authorization of the Presbyterian Council, reduced or exempted merchants from taxes during the New Year, encouraged merchants to trade, and prospered the economy of the imperial capital, and issued a decree in the name of the emperor , Officials from other provinces came to Beijing to pay homage, and praised officials with outstanding achievements this year.
In this way, within three days, Zhenhuang City returned to its former splendor. Under the deliberate connivance of the government, this year's New Year is particularly luxurious, and wealthy households from all over the world have come to Beijing one after another. Zhenhuang City is prosperous for ten miles, with colorful satin-wrapped trees, singing and dancing, no matter how chaotic the outside situation is, how imminent the border war is, the people in the imperial capital are still immersed in the majestic dream of the celestial dynasty.
The cold wind passed through the city bitterly, bringing up a drunken smoked wind, and plundered far away to the north.
However, the battle between the Northwest Frontier Pass and Yanbei became more and more tense. Zhuge Yue slept more and more late, and often stayed up all night. The candle tears in the study rolled down drop by drop, forming layers of red ripples on the candlestick, reflecting his increasingly ugly face and still straight back , the figure is like a strong javelin.
Three days ago, Chu Qiao finally saw Zhao Che again.
It was still snowing heavily that day, and the snow that had accumulated for four consecutive days had accumulated more than two feet thick, barely reaching my thighs during my movements. Chu Qiao has been in poor health for the past few years. She couldn't stand the cold, so she was lazy and didn't want to go out. She stayed in the room all day long and fell asleep.
That evening, Zhuge Yue's laughter came from far away. She was leaning on the soft couch, frowning slightly, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she felt a burst of cold air rushing towards her face. She shivered slightly, pulled the soft quilt on her body, and straightened up slightly. Then Zhuge Yue lifted the curtain with a smile and said to her: "Xing'er, look who is here?" After saying that, he led the people behind into the bedroom.
Zhao Che walked in against the light, wearing a black robe without any embroidery or patterns on his body, low-key and silent. He still looks the same, seems to be taller and thinner, his face has not changed much, but his eyes are no longer as unruly as before, they have become deep and cold, like a cold pool and deep lake, even if he smiles, There was also three points of alienation and defensiveness in that smile. He greeted her peacefully, still the same as before, nodded slightly, and then said with a light smile: "Finally we meet again."
The food in the kitchen was put on the table, and Zhao Che brought Qianghu wine from the Northland, which was very spicy. As soon as he opened it, a strong aroma of the wine came to his nostrils.
He chatted and drank with Zhuge Yue, detailing the battles and the situation in the past few days, occasionally making jokes, and despising each other.
Zhuge Yue has very few friends, there is probably no one else in the world who can talk to him like this except this person in front of him.
Chu Qiao sat quietly at the side, drinking to the full, listening to them talking about the past, the embarrassing things that they disliked each other in the Martial Arts Hall when they were young, and each of them thought highly of themselves when they grew up. With the ups and downs of wars everywhere and the fall of the imperial regime, they gradually came together.
The same noble birth, detached status, and the ambition to swallow the sun, the stomach has the latitude and longitude of the talent; In the eyes of the clan, deviant and rebellious are regarded as aliens; the same was born in the splendor, fell away in the splendor, climbed up in the mud, and walked back to the center of power step by step. However, although the heart is as hard as iron, it is hard to hide the enthusiasm after all. The friendship between men, in many cases, is so needless to say.
Chu Qiao sat quietly by the side, it was rare to see Zhuge Yue so radiant, and she had never seen Zhao Che so free and unrestrained.
In a daze, she seemed to see two poplar trees that had weathered wind and rain, side by side, slowly growing into towering ancient trees.
Another shadow in my mind came out unconsciously, those dark youthful years, those ups and downs and dangerous days. When Zhao Che and Zhuge Yue were up and down side by side in this world, she also went through obstacles with one person, but in the end, they failed to reach the same goal by different routes.
Zhuge Yue actually got drunk that night. He has never been a very good drinker, but he has always been self-disciplined and sensible, but facing the reunited friend today, he was a little carefree and carried away.
Chu Qiao knew that he was just too tired.
These days, there has been a massive snowstorm in the northwest region, grain harvest failure in the southwest, and one-third of the empire’s land is devastated. The grain, grass and clothes distributed by the imperial capital have been exploited layer by layer by local officials and aristocratic families, and have not been able to reach the people for a long time. Zhao Yang is the real power holder in the western part of the empire, but he connives at his subordinates who are openly greedy for ink and indulges in showing favor to the big clan in order to win the support of the upper-level organization. Within half a month, more than 200,000 people in the West died, and millions of people began to flee from the famine, going south, east, and some even headed northwest. A large number of starving refugees gathered in front of Yanming Pass, Tanghu Pass, and Yao Pass. Hundreds of thousands of people froze to death and starved to death every day. However, the imperial capital would rather spend a lot of money on repairing palace buildings and planning spring banquets. , and do not want to send troops and food to give the people a way to survive.
Zhuge Yue's letter of remonstrance has been written more than ten times, but except for a few powerless speech officials, no one in the civil and military courts of the Manchu Dynasty is willing to support him. His memorials were ignored, his letters of remonstrance were shackled, and the government and the public were full of humility and enjoyment. The elders of the Presbyterian Church were like a group of rotten moths. They could only see a place the size of a palm, and let the local officials sing their praises. , but turned a blind eye to the actual disaster.
He said that the local disasters were serious, and more than 200,000 people in the West had died. But they said that the great summer is peaceful all over the world and the people live in peace, but he is talking nonsense.
He said that Yanming, Tanghu, and Yaoguan had gathered hundreds of thousands of people fleeing famine. If they were not guided, the people's rebellion would definitely lead to catastrophe. But they said that the three passes are as solid as gold, and the fertile fields outside the pass are thousands of miles away, and the area is open and open. Residents don't close their homes at night and don't pick up their belongings, and they can't even find a thief or bandit.
He said that Daxia's life and death are about to overthrow, the elders will deceive themselves, the government and the public are immoral, and the local officials are greedy and shameless. If they are not punished, chaos will arise. However, they falsely accused him of supporting the army and self-respect, creating chaos in the government and the public, and wanting to exercise power and dictatorship.
The slobbering in the court is like a pot of porridge, but the folks are dying anytime, anywhere. They took out merit umbrellas and ten-thousand-word books donated by all the local people, praising the emperor's benevolence and fraternity, the court's Qingping Gaoyi, and the great Xia Fuzuo stretching, and then accused him of slandering the court for no reason without evidence.
evidence? She heard him angrily scolding several generals in the study, his face was livid with anger, and his eyes were like a huge pool of rolling waves.
They turned a blind eye to the dark masses of refugees beyond the three gates, they turned a blind eye to the countless messy corpses on the western land, and they turned a deaf ear to the heart-wrenching cries of grief. Now, they are holding a group of local rice worms to present the Wanmin Umbrella to deceive themselves and others. Then sarcastically asked him for evidence
Before falling asleep that night, he was silent for a long time, and then he said through gritted teeth in her ear that he really wanted to chop off all those moths with one knife.
He spoke so low and depressingly that a layer of frost crept up Chu Qiao's back. She stretched out her hand to wrap around his waist, and touched his arm lightly, only to feel that his muscles were tense, his fists were clenched tightly, and his skin was cold, as if he had been covered with solid ice.
But Chu Qiao knew that he could only talk after all. Even though he has power for a while, even though he has a high status, even though he holds military power, even though he is no stranger to his family. But there are some things, some people, and some responsibilities that he cannot ignore.
Emperor Xia was lifeless for a while, but these days he gradually got better, his mind is clear, and he can occasionally go to court to govern.
No one dares to underestimate this emperor who has been in power for many years and has been hidden. For so many years, he seems to have been like this, showing no interest in politics anytime and anywhere, but as long as someone dares to go beyond the threshold, he will definitely suffer a devastating blow. Fourteen years ago, Yanbei Lion King's whole family was executed, which was a bloody example.
However, everyone is thinking this way, the emperor is old after all, he is not a god, and he will not die forever. Now that Zhao Che and Zhao Yang are fighting for the throne, whoever can please the emperor more, whoever does what the emperor wants, will have a greater chance of winning. But now, the emperor is obviously more happy with the Wanmin Umbrella, who can spoil the emperor's mood by mentioning the disaster situation in the Southwest? Even Zhao Che had to take into account his reputation in the eyes of the big Western families.
At that time Zhao Che was not in Zhenhuang, and Zhuge Yue supported him alone, forcibly extracting money and grain from the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Grain, and merchants of various clans, and continuously transported them to the outside of Sanguan Pass, but it was a drop in the bucket after all.
Once, Yaoguan soldiers made a small mistake when distributing food. Because the food was scarce, the rice porridge was very thin. A soldier said something serious to the complaints of the people, which attracted local refugees. Small riots broke out. The army and the civilians fought together, and more than 30 soldiers died, more than 50 civilians died, and nearly a hundred were injured.