After the troubled five years of Zhongping, the situation of the Han Dynasty in the sixth year of Zhongping suddenly took on a new look. The defeat of Liu Bei, the general who protected the Xiongnu Zhonglang, at Sangqian seemed to be a turning point in fate. After this battle, the victory reports from all over Kyushu were like snowflakes. Generally fly to Luoyang:
In January, the Liangzhou rebels besieged Chencang without success and prepared to retreat. In February, left general Huangfu Song pursued the Liangzhou rebels and won a great victory, beheading more than 10,000 people. The Liangzhou rebels retreated to Gaoping and the court Yongdi was restored; in March, Liu Yu, the shepherd of Youzhou, appeased Xianbei Wuhuan with his benevolence and paid a lot of money to buy Zhang Chun's head. Zhang Chun was killed by his retainer Wang Zheng, and the Youzhou rebels were destroyed.
But this does not help the emperor's condition. On the fifth day of April, just as Liu Bei was raising troops to Jinyang and marching westward to fight against the rebellion, the emperor was seriously ill with cold and was in a coma in the Jiade Palace all day long. The bed-warming maids from western Liaoning couldn't help complaining to the imperial doctor: The emperor's hands and feet are colder than those in Liaoning. Ze floating ice. But the imperial doctor was helpless and could only prescribe some tonics every day to keep the emperor alive.
Jian Shuo stood in front of the emperor's bed all day long, helping the emperor change his clothes and clean his body. He saw that the emperor was losing weight day by day. On the fourth day of the lunar month, the emperor could still sit up and talk and laugh with Jian Shuo for two hours. On the tenth day of the lunar month, the emperor could only wake up for two moments, gaze at Jian Shuo for a moment, and even lost the strength to speak.
At noon on the 10th day of April, Empress Dowager Dong and her prince Liu Xie came to visit. She sat sideways on the bed, holding the emperor's palm with one hand and touching the emperor's protruding cheekbones with the other. She couldn't help crying secretly and complained to Jian Shuo: "How could your Majesty become like this!" Jian Shuo did not dare to answer, but Liu Xie on the side pulled him away and asked him in a low voice: "Have you used your father's medicine?" Jian Shuo replied that he had. It took two moments to fry.
The prince walked out of the palace. When Jian Shuo saw him again two moments later, the nine-year-old prince wrapped his hands in wet cloth, carried a foot-high medicine jar and stepped into the palace. Zhao Zhongzhang asked two old men. The attendant followed behind him, with a hurried look on his face. His arms were like a few dead branches on the edge of the nest in front of him, and he kept saying: "The medicine jar is heavy, so I'd better let the old slave come. The old slave comes."
Liu Xie walked to the bed, placed the medicine jar in front of the bed table, poured the medicine juice into a lacquer bowl with a large spoon, and asked Jian Shuo, "Did the imperial doctor tell me how much medicine to drink?" Jian Shuo replied, "Once. Just drink half a bowl of medicine." After Liu Xie learned about it, he drank the medicine to test the temperature, and then gave the medicine to the emperor in the arms of Empress Dowager Dong. When the attendants saw tears in the prince's eyes, they all thought of the emperor's care for them. I feel sad.
After sitting in the palace for half an hour, the Queen Mother left a packet of refreshing sachets for Jian Shuo and left with Liu Xie. But as luck would have it, the Queen Mother bumped into the Queen's procession when she was leaving the palace. The Queen was wearing a red and yellow phoenix-patterned skirt with a collar and a train, her hair was tied with a golden ginseng bun, her face was appliquéd in yellow, and her lips were waxed, making her look gorgeous and noble. Angry.
The queen held the prince Liu Bian by one hand, followed by seven or eight regular attendants and a dozen maids. As soon as the two met, their faces were filled with frost. The Queen Mother looked at the Queen, while the Queen turned her face aside with a look of surprise. But fortunately, the two noblemen abide by the courtesy and do not speculate or behave like shrews. The two of them were in a stalemate for a moment, and then left each other. They did not notice that when the two princes met, they had quietly made an appointment with their eyes and gestures. : Let’s go boating in Zhuolong Garden the next day.
When the Queen and her entourage entered the Jiade Hall, Jian Shuo hurriedly greeted the Queen. The queen glanced sideways at Jian Shuo and said nothing to him. She led the prince into the side hall, sat down on the chair in the hall, and let the regular attendants come in to answer questions. She first asked Zhang Rang with her hands on her hips: "Has His Majesty's condition improved?"
The leader of the Changshi, who was called "Changshi Zhang is my father" by the emperor, lowered his head and burst into tears: "Mr. He shed tears on his sleeves and choked on his words, which made the attendants around him think about his future and shed tears.
The queen felt upset for a while, and made all the attendants fall silent. Only the prince in her arms cried out in pain as the queen held her hand. She let go of her hand in dissatisfaction, patted Liu Bian's back, and then looked at the old eunuchs at the bottom of the steps. Their low eyebrows made the queen relax her eyebrows. But when she saw Jian Shuo's burly figure, she couldn't help but twist her voice and said, "Has your Majesty made any plans to establish a throne in the past few days?"
Jian Shuo lowered his head and said, "Your Highness should know that your Majesty's hands and feet have been stiff these past few days, and you cannot speak. You have not given any orders." The queen breathed a sigh of relief and forced herself to be sad and said: "If your Majesty is so powerful, you will be orphaned and widowed." What can Mother General do about it?" Then he hid his face and pulled Liu Bian out of the hall in a hurry. The other regular attendants also chased him up like the wind. Only Jian Shuo stood there with an expressionless face. He took a deep breath, his burly figure He was hunched in front of the desk, packing away the medicine utensils on the desk. The medicine jars were still warm.
At night, Jian Shuo drank the concoction for the emperor and put a new cold quilt on the emperor. The quilt is made of Nanyang fine cotton silk quilt, and the embroidery is a two-sided dragon and phoenix image embroidered by a famous artist in Wuyin. Three palace maids took off their clothes and got into the quilt, and one woman lay down with the emperor's feet on her lower abdomen. , the two women lay on their sides on the couch, embracing the emperor's arms, using their body temperature to warm him in the early summer. Seeing that the arrangements were completed, Jian Shuo put on a robe, lay down on His Highness's desk, and soon fell asleep.
At Yin time, Jian Shuo heard someone calling him. He was so excited that he fell off the table and woke up from his dream. Jian Shuo managed to get up, picked up the scattered robes on the ground, looked around blankly, and saw the emperor on the bed with his mouth slightly open and his chin slightly shaking towards him.
Jian Changshi walked quickly to the couch and listened to the emperor. It took a long time before he heard the word "water". Jian Shuo hurriedly took the honey water from the table, poured it into the jade cup for the emperor, and then handed it to the emperor's mouth. The emperor drank it all in one gulp. Jian Shuo was very happy and wanted to pour another cup for the emperor, but the emperor shook his head and refused. , said weakly and clearly: "No, let them all step back."
After a slight hesitation, Jian Shuo woke up the three palace maids, asked them to pick up their clothes and hurried to the side hall, and asked the guards at the entrance to close the doors before returning to the emperor. The emperor looked at him sideways, his face pale, but his eyes were blank. With a bright and clear voice, he said to him in a calm tone that showed insight into the world: "Jian Shuo, I'm going to die!"
Just as Jian Shuo was about to speak, he was interrupted by the emperor again: "These days, I have been having nightmares. I dreamed about the late emperor, about Song Qi, and about Duan Jiong. There were fierce ghosts everywhere, and they all wanted my life." Damn it! But I finally dreamed of you. You were riding a Wumingji and led the Eighth School of Xiyuan to rescue me! Then I woke up."
Jian Shuo burst into tears and said with a smile: "In this case, your majesty should live a long life. This old slave must die to protect your majesty's peace."
The emperor shook his head and said: "Jian Shuo, death is death. A god like Gaozu also died on the bed. I know I am going to die, and you can't stop me." He tremblingly stretched out his left hand from the cold quilt. , Jian Shuo hurriedly held it with both hands, and the emperor's chill made his whole body awe-inspiring.
But he still performed his duties and reported to the emperor the changes in the palace in the past few days, the words and deeds of the Queen Mother and the Queen, and the performance of the two princes. But the emperor was obviously thinking about other things and did not listen to his report. When Jian Shuo finished speaking, the emperor began to speak, and the content of his words was unexpected: He said that he had thought that all chaos would be settled in a few years, so he would disband the army, lower taxes, Let the people live a good life... When Liu Xie was a little older, he handed over national affairs to him, returned to his hometown in Hejian, and took Huang Qingcang with his regular attendants to go boating...
"The time has come, the time has come." The emperor ended the topic in this chanting tone, and said to Jian Shuo: "I left this mess, Jian Shuo, don't blame me. Being an emperor is a hard job, and only Liu Xieneng takes it, and you must do your best to help him inherit the throne. Liu Bian is not a pillar, and he cannot bear this hardship."
This was the last edict. Jian Shuo kowtowed in tears, and the emperor's voice also became weaker. He whispered: "If you have no help in the court, the ones who can help you are Gai Xun, Liu Yu, Dong Chong..." He said no at the end. To speak, he could only use his fingers to scribble the names of Liu Bei, Chen Chong and Huangfu Song in Jian Shuo's hand.
Jian Shuo lowered his head to feel it. After a moment, he found that his fingertips had lost strength. He looked up and saw that the emperor's eyes were slightly open, his eyes were slack, and he was completely exhausted.
At this time, the sky was still dark, and a breeze blew through the palace, blowing out several candles in front of the couch. Jian Shuo stood up, tucked the emperor's quilt, then lit the extinguished candles, and touched the things on the table that the emperor used. Extremely sad. After he calmed down, Jian Shuo opened the palace door, called the guard guarding the door, and asked him to send a message to the general He Jin, saying that the emperor's imperial edict had been handed down.
After delivering the message, he left Jiade Hall and went to Baihu Gate alone to contact Dong Chong, the hussar general who was on duty here at night. Dong Chong was over forty, and his energy was not as good as before. When he was tired, he rested in the small room built in the side door. Jian Shuo woke him up and told Dong Chong everything about the emperor's imperial duties.
When Dong Zhong learned that the emperor had passed away, he couldn't help being frightened. He asked Jian Shuo, "What do you want Duke Jian to do?" The only thing that guarantees his accession to the throne is that He Jin is in the position of a great general, commanding the army of all the counties in the world, and has Yuan Wei, Lu Zhi, and Xu Xiangxiang to help him. If he wants to force Shi Hou to be the emperor, does Mr. Dong have a good plan?"
These words were like the sound of thunder. Dong Chong stood up in panic, took Jian Shuo's hands and knelt down again, saying to him repeatedly: "What good plan can I have? Mr. Jian has always been very wise. If you come here to find me, you will definitely Teach me some good advice!"
Seeing Dong Chong lose his composure, Jian Shuo was greatly disappointed, but he still stood up and said to him: "General, why do you do this? The general is the nephew of the Queen Mother and is in charge of four thousand guards in the palace and outside the province, while Jian Shuo is in charge of the young manor. With this position, I can command five hundred eunuchs in the province, and can also control two thousand forbidden troops in the Western Garden. As long as the general and I are of the same mind, we will have everything under our control both inside and outside the palace and province.
Shuo has already given orders to He Jin, pretending to have a posthumous edict to announce it. As soon as He comes in, the general will dispatch his confidants to set up an ambush in front of the White Tiger Gate. When the butcher He Jin arrives in front of the palace, the general can order his confidants to shoot him with arrows! Once the success is achieved and the party is leaderless, the general can take charge of the overall situation. At that time, the general can first appease the princes with the Queen Mother's will, and then use the Queen Mother's relatives to rule the government. How can the name and reality be matched? "
After hearing the end, Dong Chong nodded and smiled happily, and said to Jian Shuo: "If this can be done, all the great achievements belong to Jian Gong!"
Jian Shuo let go of his hand and thought of what Chen Chong said two months ago, feeling sad in his heart.
