After Li Feng got the news about Gao Xun and Cao Rui's prison order, he immediately arranged for his second brother Li Yi to ask for instructions from the guard Li Yi who was lying on the sick bed.
Li Feng quickly took Gao Xun to the house of Yan Qian, his father's close friend and General of the Five Gentlemen, and asked Yan Qian to mobilize troops to assist in martial law.
Li Yi was not pretending to be ill.
He was indeed ill, so he did not come forward to meet Gao Xun.
"Father, His Royal Highness King Pingyuan has sent Gao Tingwei's son and son, Gao Xun, to convey the order of the King of Prisoners!"
Li Yi ran into the back room in a hurry and knelt in front of his father's bed.
"Prison order...!"
When Li Yi heard these words, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. As soon as the emperor left Luoyang, His Highness King Pingyuan urgently issued a royal order to himself, the guard in charge of the capital's guard. What happened?
Li Yi didn't dare to delay. Before his father could ask questions, he poured the beans into a bamboo tube and explained clearly what would happen next:
"There is a secret operation in Luoyang. Wang Ling asked his father to urgently mobilize the soldiers of the Guards and Lieutenants to guard the twenty-four squares of Luoyang City together with Yan Shibo, the Lieutenant of the Five Features!"
Li Yi felt both tense and relaxed after hearing the news.
Tight because it is no trivial matter to do something small, and loose because it is much smaller than what I was worried about just now.
He hurriedly pointed to his desk and said:
"Yi'er, the guard's military seal is in the box on the case. Take it quickly. According to His Highness's instructions, you and your brother will mobilize the soldiers to quickly impose martial law on the whole city. Ahem!"
"My child understands!"
Li Yi took the military seal, bowed again and turned over.
————
Jiuzifang.
Not long after, Li Yi gathered the guards and soldiers and gathered here with the generals of each battalion.
Yan Qian, the general of the Five Generators, was an official subordinate to Guang Luxun and He Xia, so he did not dare to act rashly. Therefore, he sent someone to ask for instructions from his superior He Xia, and then he sent his soldiers to follow Li Feng and Gao Xun. Meet up with the Weiwei Langzhong brought by Li Yi.
"Master Li, I summoned you at night. Why?"
The people who asked the questions were Xu Yun, the son of the Xu family of a wealthy family in Hebei, and Cui Zan, Xu Yun's friend from the same hometown. Xu Yun was quite talented, so he hit it off with Li Feng, and was recommended to his father by Li Feng. Together with Cui Zan, he was promoted to captain of a fifty-man team.
Li Feng took out his father's guard seal and shouted loudly:
"His Royal Highness King Pingyuan has issued an order to immediately impose martial law on the twenty-four squares of the capital. There must be no mistakes!"
"only!"
Xu Yun, Cui Zan and other dozens of backbone guards, as well as the second son Guang Luxun and Gui [匌, pronunciation, meaning leisurely and contentedly], who commanded the five senses, shouted loudly and immediately rushed to their respective teams to collect weapons from the arsenal. went.
————
The night is filled with moonlight, which complements the fine wine in the glass.
"Brother Xun, I heard that on that day, you actually rejected the invitation from Miss Xiao, the oiran?"
Xia Houxuan, who was slightly drunk, played with the jade cup that was warm in his hand and looked at Xun Can with interest.
"There is such a thing."
Xun Can smiled, raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp.
"Brother Xun once said in the past that beauty is the most important thing among women in the world. At the Mangshan meeting, Brother Xun once raised his wine and shouted that he would marry a most beautiful woman in the world one day, but why did Brother Xun refuse Luoyang again? An invitation from an oiran? Xuan is quite puzzled and curious about this."
While Xia Houxuan was speaking, Xun Can had already drank three cups in a row. Xun Can, with drunken eyes and red cheeks, smiled and said to Xia Houxuan:
"Among my friends, I am Brother Xiahou. Anyway, Chan today will take advantage of this fine wine and the bright moon to talk about romance and the past with Brother Xiahou."
Xia Houxuan raised his jade cup and said seriously:
"Since Brother Xun is willing to speak, Xuan dares not to listen attentively."
The two clinked their jade cups against each other and drank the whole drink in one gulp.
[The past is vague]:
Five years ago, the Wei Dynasty first accepted Zen. The first year of Huangchu.
Outside Yecheng, the wind rustled and the willow leaves danced, just like Xun Can's heart.
That person was about to leave. He wanted to keep that person, but he knew that he would not be able to keep him.
Jumping out of thin air, Cao's white swan.
Although the girl in red is only eight or nine years old, she is already able to control her father's cavalry general Cao Hong's sacred war horse "White Bird" with ease.
"Xun Can, I'm leaving. Remember to wait for me. When I finish my studies, I will leave Longhu Mountain and come to the Central Plains to find you!"
"Okay, I'll wait for you, I'll wait for you!"
Looking at the red color that was gradually disappearing, Xuncan waved the willow branch in his hand desperately while shouting loudly until he could no longer see the girl's shadow.
Xia Houxuan couldn't help frowning and sighing after listening to Xun Can's confession.
Childhood sweethearts, separated from each other for years without hearing from each other.
The two filled a glass again and drank it all in one gulp.
"So, Cao Qiaoqi's daughter left the capital with Brother Ai and went to Longhu Mountain to rest and practice."
The brother Ai mentioned by Xia Houxuan is none other than his uncle Cao Zhen's seventh son, Cao Ai.
Speaking of Longhu Mountain, it is now the main altar of Wu Dou Mi Taoism.
In the previous dynasty, Zhang Ling, a real person, and his wife Yong lived in seclusion in Longhu Mountain to practice Taoism. Later, Zhang Sheng and Zhang Yuanzong, the third son of Zhang Lu, the grandson of Zhang Ling and the former general of Zhennan in this dynasty, Zhang Yuanzong, entered Longhu Mountain. When Taoism was spread, there were many Taoists from all over the world, so Longhu Mountain became the authentic Taoist school today.
"It's just that Brother Ai went to Longhu Mountain for training because he was weak and sick since he was a child. As for Lechenghou's daughter, she was able to control the famous horse 'White Hu' at the age of eight, so why did she go to Longhu Mountain? Woolen cloth?"
Xun Can drunkenly smiled and said:
"It is said that there was a fortune teller who told Cao Huiqi's life. The fortune teller said that Cao Huiqi was facing a great difficulty in his life. If one of his descendants could be allowed to practice cultivation from a young age, this difficulty could eventually be averted."
Xia Houxuan couldn't help laughing after hearing this. He smiled and asked:
"What kind of fortune-teller makes Cao Qiaoqi believe in him so much?"
Xuncan said seriously:
"That fortune teller is none other than Zhu Jianping, my fortune-teller!"
"It's Mr. Zhu Jianping, no wonder!"
Xia Houxuan also put away his smile and looked serious and thoughtful.
————
Not long after, brothers Li Feng and Li Yi, led by doctors such as Xu Yun and Cui Zan, had controlled the entire traffic in the inner city of Luoyang.
Outside the gates of Changling Township Marquis and Xiahou Mansion.
A team of 100 people who are responsible for martial law in Jiuzifang, the inner city of Luoyang, are guarding and patrolling the most critical place.
The hundred-man general among these doctors is none other than He Kui.
He Kui, who has just turned fifteen this year, is the second son of Guang Luxun. He has served in the army for two full years and has been promoted to a hundred-man general step by step. He already possesses qualities that most of his peers do not possess. Stability, and the responsibility of a military soldier.
"Ask the captains of each team to allocate manpower and keep an eye on every corner and alley. Don't let suspicious people slip away!"
"Wei!" The two team leaders and generals immediately issued orders to their respective subordinates.
"Squeak..."
At this time, the left side door of Xiahou Mansion opened, and a petite and exquisite figure slowly walked out of the mansion, escorted by two Xuanjia Mansion soldiers.
This Xuanjia Mansion soldier, also called Xuanjia Guard, is the honor bestowed upon the Changling Township Marquis Mansion by His Majesty. Looking at the city of Luoyang, apart from the head of the family, Xia Houshang, there is no other minister with a foreign surname who can have 200 Xuanjiafu soldiers.
The head of the family, Xia Houshang, conquered the land in the past years and earned a total of 1,900 households for the Changling Township Hou Mansion. The food towns of 1,900 households were based on the previous dynasty's system of numbering households with the same name. Each local household had about four or five people. Based on the calculation of four people, 1,900 households had a population of 7,600.
The title of the head of the family, Xia Houshang, is Marquis of Changling Township. Therefore, the annual taxes paid by the 7,600 people in Changling Township are the legal income of Xia Houshang's family. According to the tax reform of Emperor Wu of this dynasty, Cao Cao, for the grain grown by the people in the fields, the government would distribute farm tools and cattle for farming, and the government would be six to four for the people; those who prepared their own farming tools for the cattle would be divided into half for the government and the people. In addition, for land farmed by civilians who are not farming, each household pays a land rent of four liters of grain per mu, and in addition to this, they also pay two pieces of household silk and two pounds of cotton.
In the previous dynasty, there were frequent wars, and the land was vast and sparsely populated. Each household cultivated about 100 acres of land.
Changling Township is not a land for farming, so according to Emperor Wu's land tenants, the Xiahou Mansion can get 760,000 liters [Note 1] of grain, 3,800 bolts of silk cloth, 3,800 pieces of silk cloth, and 3,800 pieces of silk every year from the food fiefdom. If a catty of cotton is equivalent to five baht in this dynasty, Xiahou Mansion can get more than 4.5 million yuan from food every year!
[Note 1: 760,000 liters is equivalent to 7,600 dendrobium/stone. The price of rice in the Han Dynasty was usually one hundred qian per hu, and the price of 1,5 baht in the Eastern Han Dynasty was approximately equivalent to six cents of RMB today based on purchasing power. 7,600 hu of rice can be Exchange 765,000 baht, which is about 456,000 yuan in RMB. In the Han Dynasty, a piece of fine silk cloth cost about 1,000 yuan, and 3,800 pieces of silk equaled 3.8 million yuan, equivalent to more than 2 million yuan in RMB. 】
As a prince of the imperial court, with such a rich income from food and towns, plus the annual official salary of 4,200 dendrobium [Note 2] for the position of General Xiahou Shangzhengnan and Jingzhou Governor, the servants, servants, and musicians in the house In addition to dozens of people including , cooks, and fifty original soldiers, even if there are two hundred more well-paid elite Xuanjia guards, it will still be no problem at all.
[Note 2: Four thousand two hundred dendrobium is equivalent to 420,000 qian, which is equivalent to RMB 252,000. 】
Since this Xuanjia Guard was a privilege bestowed by the emperor, it was no small matter, so even the young master of the family, Xia Houxuan, did not dare to dispatch it at will.
If it weren't for the fact that the housekeeper Gu Ting was unwell and Bi Han was afraid that the other servants would not pay attention to him, so he sent armored soldiers to protect Yu'er, it would be difficult for ordinary people to see the majesty of this Xuanjia Guard.
And the thirteen- or fourteen-year-old cardamom girl who was escorted out of the mansion by the Xuanjia guards, wearing a light yellow curtain hat and a light yellow skirt, was Xia Houshang's second daughter, Xia Houxuan's younger sister, and Bihan's only daughter. , Xia Houyu.
It was Bihan who heard that the whole city was under martial law and that Xia Houxuan went out to have a drink with someone again. He was so worried that he asked Xia Houyu to go out and ask about the martial law soldiers.
He Kui, who was originally concentrating on observing the streets, couldn't help but tremble in his heart when he faced this quiet girl under the moonlight.
His face turned red unconsciously.
"This...soldier brother, I dare to ask, what is the reason for the martial law tonight..., have you heard any news about my brother..."
Xia Houyu's voice was soft and gentle, making He Kui's already red cheeks turn even redder. He, who had always spoken fluently, now actually stuttered:
"Back to my sister... According to my sister, it's nothing serious. I just found a craftsman, so I'm under martial law. As for my dear brother, I don't know who is in the house. I really... I really don't know. I'm sorry... ....”
After hearing this, Xia Houyu felt embarrassed. She said coyly:
"I'm sorry, it's the little girl who just did it. I didn't say it clearly. My brother is the young master of the house."
Since Xia Houyu had been learning etiquette and reciting poems under Bi Han's tutelage since she was a child, she never dared to call her brother by his first name.
"It turns out that the girl is the daughter of Xiahou Zhengnan, disrespectful, disrespectful!"
After He Kui learned the identity of the other party, he couldn't help being surprised again. He hurriedly bowed to Xia Houyu and apologized:
"Brother, it's okay. I'm in Qingqing Garden at the moment."
He Gui didn't know that the martial law was actually controlled by Xia Houxuan.
"Well, thank you for your service to this soldier brother. My little girl will leave first."
After Xia Houyu finished speaking, he bowed and entered the mansion under the protection of two Xuanjia guards.
With a bang, the door of the mansion was closed, and He Kui felt regretful that he had forgotten to tell the other person who he was.
————
East Palace.
Arrangements were made for the next day for Taiwei Zhongyao, Situ Huaxin, Sikong Wanglang, and his own king Fu Gaotanglong, as well as Shizhong Xinpi, Shangshu Fu Xun, Du Xi, and the two chief officials of Zhongshu Province: Liu Fang, the supervisor of the Zhongshu, and Sun Zi, the Zhongshu Ling, as well as Guang Luxun Heqia, Wei Wei Li Yi, Ting Wei Gao Rou, Zhi Jinwu Zang Ba, Zhong Lingjun Zhu Shuo, Yu Shi Zhongcheng Bao Xun, Da Si Nong Chang Lin, Si Cao Rui finally breathed a long sigh of relief behind the meeting hall prepared by Jin Duwei Han Ji and others.
Cao Rui, who was alone by the lake in the pavilion, looked at the reflection of the bright moon and stars in the lake, feeling filled with emotion.
For no reason, the majestic faces of Emperor Wu and Weng Weng flashed before his eyes. They were only kind to him.
He silently wished in his heart:
I hope Weng Weng protects Rui'er and she can get through this difficult time.
