Tianjing seven years.
The young emperor, who was only eight years old, was still unable to take care of himself, so the eldest princess Wei Ruyi assisted in government affairs behind the scenes.
In the imperial court, the princess faction, headed by Jiang Gaoyi, the Minister of Justice, and the royalist faction, headed by General Zhen Guobei, had gone through five years of open and covert fighting, and the royalist faction was gradually declining.
In the blink of an eye, six years passed.
In addition to General Huo Huobei who is still guarding the north, General West, General East, and General South, three of the four generals in Zhenguo, either because they are old or because they are not interested in government affairs, have successively dismissed their troops and returned to their fields, and replaced them with newcomers from the princess's faction. .
Since the eldest princess entered politics, she has used iron-fisted measures to eliminate dissidents and made a series of reforms.
Yu Wen: The former six ministries were abolished, the left and right prime ministers were abolished, and the Central Council was established, with various ministries under the Central Council.
Yu Wu: The eldest princess implemented the separation of military powers and divided "sending troops", "military registration" and "managing troops" into three departments. In the past, marshals and generals no longer had familiar subordinates, and all military forces were centralized and deployed by the eldest princess.
Yu Gong: The eldest princess emphasized "meritism" in her official promotion, abolished hereditary titles, established terms for officials, and replaced the positions of important officials in the court. She vigorously promoted the imperial examination system, selected talents, and established "Wen Zhuangyuan" and "Wu Zhuangyuan". In the past, it was held once every three years, but it was changed to once every year. She spent three years radically cutting off the bloated official system and cutting off many unnecessary positions.
Privately: The eldest princess was light on corvee and paid little in taxes. She hired people to compile "Agricultural Books" and "Business Books", built water conservancy projects, controlled floods and relieved droughts; reclaimed farmland and developed agriculture; encouraged people to do business and promoted commercial development.
Outside: The eldest princess sent envoys to the Western Regions and Northern Barbarians many times, and vigorously developed the navigation industry to unite overseas island countries.
In the eighth year of Tianjing's reign, the northern barbarian wilderness was officially merged into the Daqian Dynasty and was named "Manzhou".
Thirty-six countries in the Western Regions submitted to the Daqian Dynasty one after another.
Each of the thirty-six countries is named a state according to its own name, and the thirty-six states are collectively called "Daxizhou".
It's spring in the twelfth year of Tianjing.
Huo Huo, wearing a bamboo hat and a light shirt, opened the door of Zheng's house with a pot of wine.
In the courtyard, Zheng Haoran, with gray hair on his temples, was full of energy. He moved slowly in the courtyard and punched softly.
"Old Zheng, you're so weak, haven't you eaten?"
Huo Huo looked at it from a distance for a while, his eyes narrowed, and he shook the wine bottle in his hand, making a sound, just to wake up the wine bug in Lao Zheng's stomach, and said cheerfully.
Ten years have passed by so quickly. Zheng Haoran is already in his sixties, but except for his hair being a little grayer, his energy and energy are still the same as before. Huo Huo is extremely envious and secretly wonders if this old monster has taken some tonic soup. .
Zheng Haoran landed a set of soft "powerless punches", lowered his palms, looked at his old friend for many years, and said with a smile: "I should have quit early."
"Then...have a drink?"
Huo Huo asked tentatively.
"Then... just have a drink, a little bit." Zheng Haoran pinched his thumb and index finger to indicate what "a little bit" means.
So, the two old men squatted in a corner of the courtyard wall, secretly sharing the wine in the pot with you and me. Originally they agreed to drink "a little bit", but Zheng Haoran couldn't help but drink "a little bit" more, and then added "a little bit", and finally "a little bit", a "little bit" with deep feelings, going back and forth, the two of them still couldn't get enough of each other. He squatted in the corner and drank all the wine in the pot, saying that he was enjoying himself.
"Old Zheng, what's the significance of that thing you just shot in the yard?"
"It's nothing fancy." Zheng Haoran laughed: "The fitness boxing technique my son taught me is said to be good for health and longevity. What kind of trick is it called... Tai Chi or something like that can't kill anyone."
"By the way, does your grandson... have a horoscope?"
Huo Huo asked through his drunkenness.
Hearing this, Zheng Haoran's face fell: "We don't know what happened. The young couple ran to the old miracle doctor Situ every two days. Two years have passed since they ran away. Yue Linglong's belly is still empty. movement."
"Aren't you worried that your old Zheng family will have no heirs...?"
"Hey!" Zheng Haoran looked at it openly and said with a smile: "Our Zheng family has a tradition that has always been passed down alone. This is fate. Maybe in a few years, the young couple will not be able to have a son. His mother. I was so worried that I secretly asked me at night if I wanted to persuade my son to take several concubines, but my son and Yue'er had a good relationship and refused to do anything, so that was it."
Huo Huo seemed to remember something, sighed softly, and said no more.
"Speaking of which, the old wolf asked the merchant to bring a large jar of tonic wine, saying it was mixed with their secret recipe of the Northern Barbarians, and gave it to the young couple to try later." Zheng Haoran said, remembering the battle with the Wolf King on the Northern Barbarian battlefield. The life-and-death struggle and the marching career made Zheng Haoran's eyes gradually become more serious. He was silent for a while and said with a smile: "I still remember that more than ten years ago, the old wolf looked like he was about to die. He was dying. I didn’t expect this dog to come back to life after another ten years, life is unpredictable.”
"You know how Lao Lang said no?" Zheng Haoran pretended to be mysterious and raised his index finger.
He imitated this move from his son and thought it was cool, so he copied it.
"Old Wolf wrote a letter saying that if he doesn't see his grandson for one day, he will never return to the West! Hahaha——"
Zheng Haoran laughed.
Huo Huo's eyes widened.
Zheng Haoran smiled and stopped laughing.
The atmosphere was inexplicably a bit dull.
"Lao Huo."
"Um?"
"You came here today not to catch up with me, right?"
Huo Huo was noncommittal and asked with a smile, "Isn't it possible?"
Zheng Haoran shook his head: "We are all old."
"Yeah, in the blink of an eye, I'm almost sixty years old."
"I'm sixty-three."
Huo Huogong raised his hands: "Brother!"
Zheng Haoran: "Brother Huo!"
The two looked at each other and smiled.
"How many years have you grown, Brother Huo, please listen to me." Zheng Haoran's eyes flashed.
Huo Huo closed his eyes and said, "Brother, please tell me."
Zheng Haoran sighed: "Stop messing around."
Huo Huo's pupils shrank and he remained silent.
"Zheng! Hao! Ran! You fucking drank secretly again!"
After a while, the roar of the Hedong lion came from outside the wall.
Zheng Haoran reacted very quickly and kicked Huo Huo out.
"Lao Huo! You're hiding from our house to drink again!"
Huo Huo was kicked out of the yard. When he turned around, Zheng Haoran disappeared. Another pretty light cyan figure passed over the wall like lightning, ignoring Huo Huo, and chased in the direction where Zheng Haoran escaped.
The elderly couple chased and fought on the wall of Zheng's house.
This scene made many people in the Zheng family laugh secretly.
At this time.
Huo Huo, who was sitting on the ground in a daze, heard footsteps behind him.
Four good-looking maids from the Zheng family who were in their prime years walked up the bluestone road with small steps.
Huo Huo often came to Zheng's house and knew that these four maids were Zheng Xiu's personal maids with strange names: Zhizhi, Bobo, Pingping, and Lili.
Huo Huo often stared at the Zheng family ten years ago, and did not notice when the Zheng family had four more maids. What didn't exist before, but one day, it will appear in the blink of an eye.
There are rumors in the city that the four maids have an unclear relationship with the young master of the Zheng family, which everyone is happy to hear and see.
Huo Huo believed it at first. After all, he always saw the four maids flirting with the young master of the Zheng family. But their stomachs have remained flat for ten years, and Huo Huo doesn't believe that rumor anymore.
Unless it's Master Zheng who can't have a baby.
Ha~ How is this possible?
Huo Huo would rather believe that Master Zheng and the four beautiful maids are innocent.
Of course, there was a rumor in the city that Mrs. Zheng was too cold to have a baby. I don’t know whether it was true or not.
"Young master invites you."
The four maids' manners and gaits were surprisingly similar, and they laughed at the same time.
Huo Huo was stunned for a moment, his expression solemn.
"Please lead the way!"
…
When Huo Huo came to Zheng's house, the sky was refreshing.
Drinking wine with Zheng Haoran, the sun is shining brightly.
But when he came outside the east chamber, the temperature suddenly cooled down. It was like early winter in December, and there seemed to be an invisible layer of frost in the air, which was refreshing to the bones.
Turning the corner, Huo Huo saw a "picture".
Zheng Xiu, wearing a white gown with his long hair flowing smoothly, was sitting in the middle of the courtyard.
The surrounding flowers were withered, and the entire yard was paved with a layer of gray-brown that was incompatible with the surrounding areas.
Behind Zheng Xiu, under the eaves, his wife Yue Linglong wrapped her body in a robe. Her face was mottled with shadows and could not be seen clearly. Huo Huo could only vaguely see Yue Linglong's unusually pale complexion.
Huo Huo was stunned. It seemed that in his "impression", Mrs. Zheng from the Northern Barbarians did not like the sun. There were rumors that she had a strange disease, but other than that, she was no different from ordinary people.
I haven’t seen him for about two or three years.
How many years exactly?
A strange question mark appeared in Huo Huo's mind. He seemed to have difficulty remembering the last time he saw Zheng Xiu. It seemed like it was yesterday, or it seemed like it was a few years ago. A distant memory came to mind, but it seemed like it was just yesterday. This memory gave Huo Huo a strange sense of dissonance.
"Uncle Huo."
Zheng Xiu was painting in the yard and greeted Huo Huo from a distance.
"Good nephew."
Huo Huo shook his head, waved away the strange sense of disobedience in his mind, and returned the greeting calmly.
"The sun is a little bit hot, you should go back to your room and rest."
Zheng Xiu turned around and said tenderly to Yue Linglong.
Yue Linglong nodded, and her eyes as cold as snow swept over Huo Huo. For a moment, Huo Huo couldn't help but shudder. For a moment, he couldn't help but have the illusion that his eyelids were scratched by ice cubes, which made him feel raw and painful.
"Qingpi, Ji Hongou, please step aside. Uncle Huo probably wants to have a private chat with me."
Soon after Yue Linglong entered the room.
Zheng Xiu raised his head and whispered to the "empty" roof.
Huo Huo was shocked, his pupils almost shrunk into a awn shape, and he looked towards the roof.
At some point, two people sat there.
A man is dressed as a farmer, wearing straw sandals, a bamboo hat, and smoking a dry cigarette.
Another young woman still has her charm. She is dressed in a beautiful red dress. She is bright and charming, with a bulging waist. As the dress swings, there is a faint fragrance of flowers on her body.
"Acquaintance, don't put poison."
Zheng Xiu, one last reminder.
Ji Hongou nodded dully.
The fragrance of the flowers disappeared suddenly, as if it had never come before.
Only then did Huo Huo realize that he was feeling dizzy, as if he had been poisoned.
"Thirteen, let's go."
Ji Hongou covered her mouth and chuckled, clapped her hands, a handful of faint gold powder emitted a shimmering light, she held Qing Shisan's arm and jumped off the roof with a smile, disappearing in front of Huo Huo.
Huo Huo held his breath and subconsciously pressed the handle of the knife at his waist.
Zheng Xiu, who has long hair shawl, painted his painting with a calm expression.
Swish, swish, swish!
The tip of the pen made a slight sound on the drawing paper. Now it fell in Huo Huo's ears, but it became louder and louder. It was as if an invisible claw was scratching his chest, scratching harder and harder, and finally scratched his heart hard.
Withered flowers in the courtyard, a man with white hair painting, a gloomy sky, and bright sunlight.
ah!
On the wall, a few old crows with bald hair fell.
Pattering!
In a blink of an eye, it started raining!
sand! sand! sand!
The wind is blowing!
sand! sand! sand!
The sound of the wind, the rain, and the low crow of the crow could not cover up the sound of Zheng Xiu painting.
Huo Huo's face became paler and paler, and there were more and more sweat stains on his face. It was so wet that his clothes were soaked all over. Huo Huo couldn't stop trembling all over. He looked behind Zheng Xiu. The dark shadow in the white gown actually stood up. At first it stood on the wall, and then it darkened the entire sky, like a group of demons dancing, twisting and turning. The shadows swayed wildly and arrogantly like tentacles.
"puff!"
Huo Huo opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The sound of pen and paper rubbing against each other stopped.
Zheng Xiu stopped writing.
The wind has never come, the rain has never fallen, the flowers in the yard are still withered, and there are no crows on the wall.
Everything seems to be Huo's own imagination.
Huo Huo recalled the terrible scene just now in horror. He suddenly realized that it seemed that from the moment he stepped into the yard, from the moment he suddenly felt that the people and scenery in front of him were as artistic as a "painting", he had You fell into the opponent's "trick".
"Meow!"
Suddenly, a shrill meow came from behind.
Huo Huo was so frightened that he almost peed.
There was an old orange female cat behind me at some point, lying at the door, blocking the door.
"call……"
Huo Huo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said with a bitter smile: "Flying geese all day long, you were pecked blind in the end. Are you the leader of the Jing Sect?"
Jingzong was established as the state religion by the eldest princess five years ago with an official document. Temples were set up in various places. They had a transcendent status and had a strange influence in the court. They seemed to be everywhere, but they were everywhere. Their emblem is a burning red flame, like a "red fire" that burns away all the dirt in the world.
Over the years, Huo Huo has been tracking down the mastermind behind the Jing Sect all over the country. After several years of investigation, a clue led him to realize that the legendary leader of the Jing Sect had always been in his hometown in the imperial city.
That clue led him here.
"unimportant."
Zheng Xiu smiled faintly and waved to Huo Huo: "Uncle Huo, come and see my paintings."
Seeing the junior waving to him, Huo Huo suddenly had an illusion. That indifferent tone and casual tone made him feel as if he was a junior in front of him.
Huo Huo came closer. When he saw clearly what was written on the paper, a chill ran down his spine and he took two steps back.
What is drawn on the paper is a magnificent palace. In the center of the palace, a graceful and noble emperor wearing an imperial crown sits in the center and orders all the officials.
That emperor is a woman.
A... empress!
"Uncle Huo, it's time for you to retire."
The man gently put the pen aside, raised his eyes and spoke softly, but there was an undoubted majesty in his words.
"……good."
The several-year secret war between the royalists and the princess faction has come to an end.
The next day, Huo Huo was disarmed and returned to the field.
He is known as "the last Marshal Zun'an".
…
In the empty yard.
A man and a cat sit under the eaves.
The orange cat lay lazily, seemingly taking a nap, but the trembling whiskers showed that she was clearly not asleep.
"You said you hate sleeping, and it seems it's true."
"...I hate being dug into secrets."
"You told me yourself. You also said that once you fall asleep, terrible things will happen. After you fall asleep, it is 'His' territory." Zheng Xiu raised an index finger and almost revealed the thing: " One time when we went into a cave, you suddenly jumped up and beat thousands of bats in the cave into scum. You said that bats are what you hate the most in your life. Speaking of which, beings at your level all like to use something similar to Using the appearance of an 'animal' as a totem? Your mortal enemy is... a 'god' who looks like a bat?"
"Shut up." Orange Cat's face fell, and he changed the subject: "Are you sure you can do it this time?"
Zheng Xiu smiled slightly, knowing that the orange cat did not want to mention this, so he followed Lady Anne's words and said: "I have tried the tyrant, the benevolent king, the foolish king, and the young emperor. But neither the benevolent way nor the iron-blooded way can defeat that guy. Hook it out.”
"I tried keeping Old Wei alive, or letting his three sons become emperors."
"Even Wei Chen has done it."
"The 'Emperor' seems to look down on this kind of emperor... he is too ordinary and not qualified."
"This time, I will try to make Er Niang the empress."
"An empress who is famous throughout the ages."
"The success rate is 70%."
The orange cat nodded and stretched out his fist towards Zheng Xiu: "I will definitely take it."
Zheng Xiu bumped his fist and said, "We must take it."
then.
The young emperor wrote the "Edict of Abdication" in his own handwriting.
