There was heavy mist on the Yangtze River in the early morning.
A large black ship was parked silently in the middle of the river, its sails had already been lowered. It was like a huge monster in the thick fog, silently waiting for the arrival of its prey.
At this time, a handsome man with outstanding appearance appeared on the deck.
He looks to be in his twenties, with a medium build, fair complexion, and nobility in his eyebrows and manner. The first impression he gives is that of a calm and reserved person.
He walked slowly to the railing and looked towards the south bank with squinted eyes.
The fog covered everything, and everything was white, as if you were in the clouds.
He sighed. Thick clouds blocked the morning sun. This was really not a good weather.
He was about to turn around and go back when he saw a middle-aged man with a beard standing respectfully behind him.
He recognized that this man was the owner of the cargo ship.
"Lang Jun, my boat has been parked here for three days. When I came here, I just thought I was sending Lang Jun to Jingkou, and I didn't prepare supplies. I saw... I saw that the fresh water on the boat was about to run out. Dare I ask? Sir, can we dock, either to Jingkou or back to Guangling, to replenish some supplies?"
"Wait for another half day." The handsome man's tone was cold, but there was also an indescribable dignity.
A flattering smile appeared on the captain's simple face, and the wrinkles around his eyes deepened a little.
"Half a day... is fine, then let's wait another half day." The captain smiled happily, but his cloudy eyes blinked again, "What if after half a day, the person Lang Jun is waiting for hasn't come back yet?"
The handsome man paused thoughtfully for a moment: "You will not miss a penny of the promised reward. They will definitely come back."
"Yes Yes……"
The captain bowed his head and agreed.
The handsome man stopped looking at the captain and turned around to walk back to the cabin where he lived.
Before I had even taken five steps, I heard a sailor's cry from the observation deck above me: "Look! There is a small boat approaching us from the south!"
After receiving the news, people on the deck became busy, fearing that the small boat would hit them.
But the handsome man didn't think so. When he turned around, he bumped into a busy sailor. He pushed the sailor away and returned to the railing as quickly as possible, leaning his head to look south.
I saw a narrow boat silhouette looming in the mist.
Vaguely, he seemed to see the petite figure that made him worried standing on the bow of the ship.
The nobility and powerful aura bursting out of that petite body are absolutely unmistakable.
The handsome man was ecstatic.
She's back, she's back whole.
Turning around to see all the sailors on the ship busy, he didn't know what to do.
His excitement was palpable, and he shouted loudly: "Weight anchor, quickly! Come over quickly!"
The captain also loudly ordered the sailors to move.
Not long after, a woman wearing a curtained hat and a very well-dressed woman stood on the deck. Behind her stood three burly men who looked like "evil stars".
The captain was wondering about the origins of these strange people when he saw that the handsome man had already respectfully stepped forward to welcome them to his residence on the ship.
Out of curiosity, he wanted to poke his head to take a closer look, but a burly figure like a hill blocked his view.
It was a servant beside the handsome man, standing in front of him with a look of disdain on his face. The servant held a heavy brocade bag in his hand.
"This is half of the reward that my Alang will give you. The other half will be discussed when we return to Guangling."
The captain stretched out his hands and took the heavy brocade bag with great gratitude.
When no one was paying attention, he quickly put the brocade bag into his arms and returned to his residence in a flash.
He opened the brocade bag in a hurry, and when he narrowed his eyes, a whole bag of sparkling gold sand came into view.
…
In the cabin.
Hu Xianzhen's eyes were a little red, and she managed to sit upright on the Hu bed in the middle of the room.
The three Northern Dynasty generals stood respectfully beside her.
The handsome man stepped forward and bowed deeply to Hu Xianzhen, and the three Northern Dynasty generals also raised their fists to the handsome man.
"Chen Yuanyi pays homage to the Queen Mother."
"I will finally meet Prince Qinghe."
Hu Xianzhen smiled faintly at Yuan Yi, showing her exhaustion. She glanced at the three generals again and said, "I haven't seen Prince Qinghe for a long time. I want to have a few words with Prince Qinghe alone. You guys go down and rest first."
Different expressions flashed across the faces of the three generals, and they bowed one after another before going out one after another.
There was no one else here but their uncle and sister-in-law, and the atmosphere was not as solemn as before.
Hu Xianzhen leaned lazily on the small table next to the couch. She asked Yuan Yi to sit down with her sweet and soft words, and Yuan Yi knelt down respectfully on the low couch opposite Hu Xianzhen.
He did not look at Hu Xianzhen's charming figure, but lowered his eyes and asked respectfully: "Queen Mother, how do you feel about your trip to the Southern Dynasties?"
Hu Xianzhen's eyes showed contempt: "The Southern Dynasty was rich on the surface, but in reality it was strong on the outside and incapable of doing anything on the inside. The wealth was not hidden among the people. People died of hunger on the roadsides. The noble families became bigger and bigger. People in the court were panicked. There were no ministers who could rule the world inside and no generals who could rule the country outside. Xiao Yuheng didn't understand checks and balances. His technique is to kill indiscriminately, and until the end, there are not many people around him who can be of great use, and he only needs an opportunity to bring about his own destruction."
"An opportunity..." Yuan Yi frowned.
"Any opportunity will become the last straw that breaks the behemoth Nanqi."
Yuan Yi had his own opinion, but at this time he wanted to understand Hu Xianzhen's real thoughts first.
"Your Majesty, please make it clear."
"The Jiankang Incident continues, the local powerful factions are getting bigger, the powerful families are watching indifferently, the imperial power is weak, the kings and the Lord of Qi are at odds, what problem can't lead to its downfall?" Hu Xianzhen smiled again: "Now our country has strong national power We have strong soldiers and strong horses, and we are united internally and externally. Once an opportunity comes, we only need to reap the benefits to complete the unfinished grand plan of the late Emperor Xiaowen and unify China. When the time comes, we will still need to rely on our fourth uncle to contribute to the emperor and unite the troops. March south."
Yuan Yi nodded slightly.
"If that day comes, Yuan Yi will be obliged to do so, but... the centipede insect is dead but not stiff. I think it will take some time to reach that point. After returning to the court, we need to discuss it with all the princes and important ministers."
Although Hu Xianzhen was slightly dissatisfied with Yuan Yi's caution, she still showed an attitude of accepting advice with an open mind.
"During the Queen Mother's southern tour, I was collecting information on the Qi army's defense situation in the Jianghuai area."
With that said, Yuan Yi spread a prepared defense map of the Jianghuai Qi Army on the long table between the two of them.
Hu Xianzhen sat upright for a moment, glanced at Yuan Yi, and then lowered her eyes to look at the Qi army's defense map drawn by her own spies. Listening to Yuan Yi's summary of the defense situation of various states and counties, her eyebrows never relaxed. She was so charming. The bone-deep posture completely disappeared.
She said seriously: "King Qinghe, is this defense system really as difficult to break as you said?"
Yuan Yi stared at the table and pointed with his finger on the picture: "This defense system was jointly designed by the late Emperor of Southern Qi and Xiao Ziqian, the king of Jiangxia who is now under house arrest. It is quite difficult to break through in one fell swoop, but once it is broken through, it will be like a horse to drink from the Yangtze River." The unification of China is just around the corner."
Hu Xianzhen nodded thoughtfully, and her fingers kept measuring and drawing on the map. Occasionally, her slender green fingers touched Yuan Yi's, but she didn't care at all and didn't shy away from it.
"Your Majesty, the Southern Dynasty is like a dying elephant. As long as it still has a bit of strength, its counterattack may be fatal. Your Majesty, please think twice and don't underestimate the Southern Dynasty too much."
"King Qinghe, please continue."
"In the land of Qingyan, Uncle Pei's career is still there. This veteran is old and strong. He has 30,000 soldiers and cannot be underestimated. Xiao Yan, who guards Jingxiang, is responsible for the military affairs of the three states, and his strength cannot be underestimated. Although he has always been jealous of the Southern Qi Emperor, this person He has general knowledge and is able to endure. If he is not very sure, he will not dare to mess up. The line between Zhongli, Guoyang, and Shouyang is occupied by Cao Jingzong and Chang Yizhi, and a hundred thousand elite troops are deployed along the line. It is an extraordinary military force."
Hu Xianzhen bit her nails and thought deeply. Her posture was not so much that of a queen mother of a country, but she looked more like a young girl waiting to be married.
"I know that Cao Jingzong is a famous general of the generation. Although he has not been reused for many years and is only the governor of one place, Wang Yuanying of Zhongshan thinks highly of him. The battle of Changyi is as fierce as the mountain tiger, unstoppable and really difficult to deal with."
Yuan Yi nodded: "No matter what kind of chaos there is in Southern Qi, if the Jianghuai defense system does not change, it will be difficult to shake Southern Qi..."
Hu Xianzhen suddenly laughed: "What King Qinghe said is reasonable, but things are not static. You and I can look down."
After Hu Xianzhen said that, she walked to the window. The thick fog outside the window had not cleared. She couldn't help but think of what happened last night, and there was a little more tenderness in her sharp eyes.
"King Qinghe, I'm tired. I won't talk about these important military matters anymore. We'll discuss them again when we return to the court."
"The Queen Mother wants to rest? I'll go first..."
"Come and chat with me for a while! I remember many years ago, when I was the late emperor's rich wife, you served as an envoy and followed King Yuanxi of Xianyang to Southern Qi. During those days in Southern Qi, what was the most profound to you? .”
Yuan Yi glanced at Queen Mother Hu's graceful figure, a sense of guilt came to his heart, and he quickly turned his face away.
He thought about his experiences in his youth, his eyes softened, and his whole body and mind fell into that long-lost memory.
"It's so profound that I dare not say it. I was still young at that time, and all my memories are of children's things."
"It's okay to talk about children's things."
"I remember that year when it snowed heavily, during the break of the banquet in Hualin Garden, I took my young sister to the garden to enjoy the snow, but they met Emperor Qi who is now the crown prince. We didn't provoke him, but for some reason he released the vicious dog He went to bite us, and my sister-in-law was also very frightened that time, and she became particularly afraid of dogs after that."
Hu Xianzhen blinked: "Oh? There is such an allusion to Princess Xuanming being afraid of dogs? What happened next? Was she bitten by a vicious dog?"
"No." Yuan Yi smiled, "Suddenly a bold young man jumped down from a rockery. It really shocked my little sister and I, and also scared the vicious dogs. See you there. The young man picked up a stone and hit the vicious dog on the head."
"And this young man who is not afraid of the prince?"
"Yes," Yuan Yi said with a smile, "Those vicious dogs chasing us seem to know this boy. They are all afraid of him. I guess this is not the first time they have met."
Hu Xianzhen seemed to be entranced when he heard it.
"and after?"
"There was a vicious dog that kept chasing my sister-in-law. Before I could save him, the boy jumped over and hugged the vicious dog. They rolled and rolled in the snow! I was scared at that time. Thanks to a few The guards arrived in time and separated the injured boy from the vicious dog.
"At that time, the Crown Prince of Nan Qi also rushed over and loudly scolded the young man for meddling in his own business. The young man cursed, "What's the point of a dignified man bullying a weak woman?" As a result, the two of them also started fighting. The guards, eunuchs and maids, it's so big. A bunch of people couldn't persuade him to leave, so the young man just sat on the prince and beat him up, haha..."
Hu Xianzhen suddenly became interested: "That young man was so bold that he dared to hit the prince at that time. Who is he?"
"After I returned home, I heard that he fell from a tree and damaged his brain, turning him into a foolish and stupid person. It's such a pity..."
"you are right……"
"Xiao Yu, his father is Xiao Ziqian, the prince of Jiangxia who is one of the pillars of the Southern Qi Dynasty. Hey, I am really jealous of talents. It must be the heroic prince of Jiangxia who took all his son's luck, so...hey, what a shame. People are so sad. It's a pity that we never met him, and we don't know what he is like now."
"Xiao Yu? The prince who broke his head?" Hu Xianzhen laughed loudly after hearing this, "King Qinghe, if I had known that you wanted to see him, I would have tied him back!"
Yuan Yi's eyes widened: "What does the Queen Mother mean by this?"
Hu Xianzhen didn't answer. She glanced out the window with her charming eyes, a slight blush on her cheeks.
…
"Ah sneeze! Ah sneeze!"
Xiao Yu sneezed continuously and sat up from the soft berth.
He reluctantly opened his eyes, stretched his arms and yawned widely. He felt that his nose was a little stuffy, and he might have caught a cold.
He calmed down a little, and the lingering clouds and rain last night flashed in his mind again. For some reason, he suddenly felt a sense of loss, like he had been drained.
He couldn't help but ask, who was the woman who fell to the ground with him last night?
For a moment, he did not recover from that strange thought.
He looked around and then at himself.
The nurse's uniform with the sour smell was gone. He had been put on a dark, loose robe at some point, and his underwear had also been changed, with a faint fragrance of gardenia.
And the environment he was in was no longer the cabin of the boat, but the crowded carriage box.
In addition to himself, there were three other men sleeping soundly in this small box. They were the prince-in-law Pan Duo and the two eldest princesses' guests.
When exactly were they sent back here from the boat? Xiao Yu couldn't recall any memory at all.
There was a little noise in my ears, and the hawkers' cries echoed into No. 2 Middle School.
He pushed the car window and looked out.
He returned to the shoreside streets of Qinhuai, Shili, and saw mist in front of him. The Qinhuai River was gurgling. More than a dozen boats had docked to rest, but the mysterious Chunxiang Boat was nowhere to be seen.
Xiao Yu couldn't help but doubt whether the boat really existed. The four of them were actually drugged with ecstasy that night, and everything they saw was actually made up in their minds.
He couldn't help but laugh out loud. A salesman selling morning tea happened to pass by him and looked at him like he was a fool.
Xiao Yu was about to get off the car and go to the river to have a look when a hand suddenly put on his shoulder, which startled him.
"What time is it? Why isn't it dawn yet?"
That was the lazy voice of Prince Consort Pan Duo. He seemed to be asleep and awake, looking at himself with squinted eyes and a confused look on his face.
"It's foggy outside, and the fog covers the sun." Xiao Yu replied.
Pan Duo also sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes.
"Xiao Dalang, why are we here? I remember we seemed to have boarded a boat last night."
I don’t know if it’s me. Does that mean that the missing boat really exists?
He then thought about being knocked unconscious. Maybe the bottle of wine was not reserved for him at all.
But no matter how you say, they are living well now, which means that the people on the boat are not hostile to them.
They should be different from the wave of men in black who attacked him before.
Thinking of this, Xiao Yu felt a lot more at ease.
I saw Pan Duo also stretched his muscles, jumped out of the carriage with bare feet, and walked to the Qinhuai River in a daze.
"Consort Pan, where are you going?"
Xiao Yu hurriedly put on his shoes and jumped out of the car to follow.
"Where is the boat? It's gone? Did you really encounter a ghost?" Pan Duo murmured.
"Well, maybe!" Xiao Yu agreed.
At this moment, Pan Duo hugged Xiao Yu and pointed to the hazy morning scene of Qinhuai in the mist and rain: "Xiao Dalang, why don't you write a poem for such a beautiful scene?"
Xiao Yu's mouth was crooked, and he wanted to write poems again, but he suddenly broke free.
But thinking about using Pan Duo as a gunman last night, he felt a little ashamed, so he didn't want to scorn the consort.
He cleared his throat: "Consort Pan, last night there was another old man who was sitting on a boat watching the spring scenery. He dreamed of a song and told it to you to listen to. You can appreciate it yourself if you hear it or not."
Pan Duo rolled his eyes at Xiao Yu: "Let's talk and listen first."
"Dream into the misty rain road in the south of the Yangtze River,
Traveling all the way south of the Yangtze River,
Don't meet with others.
There is nothing to say in ecstasy while sleeping,
I feel melancholy and ecstasy.
It’s too late to finish this love letter,
Floating geese sinking fish,
Finally no evidence.
But I lean on the slow strings to sing my farewell,
The broken heart moves and breaks the Qin Zheng pillar. "
This is a song "Butterfly Loves Flowers" by Yan Jidao of the Northern Song Dynasty. Xiao Yu in his previous life had a special liking for lyrics. For some reason, when this poem was recited here, he felt a thousand loneliness in his heart, and he felt uncomfortable. A little heavy,
Last night's experience was like a dream, it seemed to happen, like a dream in a yellow beam, or a dream in Zhuang Sheng's dawn.
Pan Duo sighed, and he only said two words for a long time.
"In response to the occasion..."
From Xiao Yu's point of view, although Pan Duo didn't ask any more about what happened last night, I'm afraid he also wanted to regard what happened last night as a dream.
Whether it was Hu Xianzhen, Hu Ling, or Queen Mother Hu, Xiao Yu at this time just hoped that last night was just a dream.
He hopes that he will never use the plan of "if he can't stay in the Southern Dynasty, someone will help him escape to the North"...
"Xiao Dalang, are you noble?" Pan Duo suddenly asked.
"Probably...probably eighteen or nineteen!"
"Well, the crowning ceremony will be held next year."
"Uh-huh……"
"Then there will be a letter."
"Uh-huh……"
Pan Duo looked at Xiao Yu with a warm look and patted him on the shoulder:
Even without the crowning ceremony, he is already an adult.
The two of them were standing by the river, looking at the river view. Unknowingly, there were more pedestrians on the road, turning their heads to look at them from time to time.
Yao Jinghong and Li Kan were still fast asleep in the car. It seems that they were the most romantic and happy last night, and their bodies had been squeezed dry by those stunning women.
At this time, there was a noise in the distance, and two fast horses galloped past. The riders were wearing Tingwei's waist-tight robes, shouting "Tingwei's office is on errands, passers-by should avoid it."
Xiao Yu was surprised when two fast horses came close to the carriage, and one of them seemed to recognize the handsome Consort Pan at a glance.
The two men reined in their horses at the same time, and one of them asked: "Is this the Prince Consort on the riverside?"
"Exactly!"
The man held up his hands and said, "I am an official of the Tingwei Department. I took the order from the superior officer and made a special trip to look for my consort. Now that I see that my consort is well, I feel relieved and ask my consort to follow me back to the house. Her Royal Highness the eldest princess is looking for the consort." The prince-in-law is worried about his safety!"
