Three days later, two men wearing fur hats led horses and entered the north gate of the capital after a period of interrogation.
After the two people entered the city and marched for a while, they headed towards the imperial palace in the west of the city. Half an hour later, the two people arrived at Xuanren Gate outside the imperial city.
When the guard saw someone approaching, he hurriedly shouted: "This is an important place in the imperial city, so no one else can come near."
"Brother Tiande, it's us." The man said, taking off his leather hat, revealing his full face.
"Li Hua, Zhou Shun?" The guard named Tiande said in surprise after seeing the person, "Didn't you go to Yancheng with His Highness King Yan and become a vassal? Why are you still in the capital?"
"Brother Tiande, don't get me wrong. We are indeed following His Highness Prince Yan. His Highness Prince Yan is already in Yancheng. As time goes by, we will inevitably miss the Emperor and the Imperial Concubine.
This time we were asked to deliver the letter, and we also asked Brother Tiande to help us report it. "Li Hua said as he quietly took out ten taels of silver from his sleeve and quietly stuffed it into Cheng Tiande's hand.
"Brother Li Hua, what are you doing?" Although Cheng Tiande said embarrassing words, he did not refuse the money in his hand.
"For Prince Yan's trivial matter, I still have to trouble Brother Tiande."
"Your Highness, Prince Yan, is too polite. Okay, you just wait, I will go and report it myself." After saying this, Cheng Tiande turned around and walked towards the palace gate. After communicating with the guards for a few words, he entered the palace gate.
It is not easy to pass through the Imperial Palace in the capital. There are many rules. There are requirements for who can go through which door. Not all doors are accessible.
Moreover, the palace is very large. It takes at least two quarters of an hour to walk from the east gate to the Qingxin Palace where Concubine Ding lives, and it takes almost half an hour to go back and forth.
The two of them were very familiar with the palace. They had been on duty in the palace many times, so they had no interest in the palace. After Cheng Tiande left, the two of them came to the open space on the side of the city gate to wait.
Half an hour later, a fat palace maid dressed as a maid followed Cheng Tiande out of the palace gate. Li Hua and Li Hua looked at each other and said to themselves, "It's just like Miss Ling'er said, she is indeed very fat."
When Cheng Tiande and his two men came out of the palace gate and approached, Li Hua and his two men hurriedly saluted: "I've seen Miss Liu'er!"
The fat girl returned the salute and said, "Are you sent by the Third Prince?"
"Yes, His Highness Prince Yan is currently well in Yancheng. He just misses the Emperor and the Imperial Concubine. He specially sent me to deliver the letter and brought gifts to the Imperial Concubine." Li Hua said as he took out a bag from his arms. The letter was handed to the fat girl.
Zhou Shun took out an exquisite wooden box from the side of the horse's belly and held it in front of the fat girl with both hands.
The fat girl took the two things and asked: "The Empress asked the Third Prince about your living and dining habits in Yancheng. Have you lost weight?"
Li Hua grinned and said: "Please rest assured, Your Highness, King Yan, lives very well. The palace was your Majesty's palace during his personal expedition. The food is also good. He eats meat every three days, including beef, mutton, and seafood. Not only is there no He’s thin, but he’s fatter.”
When the fat girl heard about eating beef and mutton every three days, she frowned and said, "The empress also asked the third prince to put the people first, do more good deeds, and don't lose the hearts of the people."
"Please rest assured, Madam, the prince has done nothing wrong with the people since he arrived in Yancheng. The people also love the prince very much." Zhou Shun replied.
"Here is a manual of swordsmanship that you can pass on to His Highness the Third Prince. He learned it when he was a child. The Empress said that the frontier is extremely dangerous, so she asked the Third Prince to practice more when he is free so that he can defend himself when encountering danger."
Li Hua took the sword manual, bowed and thanked: "I would like to thank the empress on behalf of the prince."
"Okay, there's nothing else to do. You can go back and be careful on the road."
"Miss Xie Liu'er"
The fat girl turned around and headed towards the palace gate with her things. Li Hua and the others also turned around and prepared to leave.
Halfway through, the fat girl suddenly thought of something, turned around and asked, "How do you know my name is Liu'er?"
"Well, Miss Ling'er mentioned it before I came here."
"What did she say?"
"This, this... Oh, she said that there is a very cute and beautiful girl named Liu'er beside the empress. Is that what she said?" Li Hua looked at Zhou Shun and said.
Zhou Shun hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, that's what you said."
"Bah, that damn girl can't spit out ivory from her mouth. Only a ghost can believe what she says. Tell her to serve His Highness the Third Prince well. If His Highness has any good intentions, I will skin her." After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the palace gate. and go
The two of them wiped the cold sweat off their heads. Fortunately, they didn't tell the truth just now, otherwise they would have been skinned by her now.
After leaving the palace, the two headed towards Bei City, carrying a letter to Miss Xing'er with them.
Since I didn't know where Xing'er and her group lived, I had no choice but to go to Bei City and Ya City to look for them. Zhao Bin had told me before coming here that if I saw any shop being renovated, I could go in and have a look.
The two of them walked eastward and passed through two districts before arriving at the entrance of Bei City. The city was bustling with people.
There are three streets in Fangshi. The two of them each chose one street and agreed to meet at the end of Fangshi.
Half an hour later, the two people who met shook their heads. They didn't see any renovated restaurant or shop. Unfortunately, they turned back from the third road. Although they saw a renovated shop, they didn't find it after going in and asking about it. .
When we left Fangshi, the weather had started to get dark, winter was about to enter, and the days were getting shorter and shorter.
"What should I do? It's going to be dark soon, why not find an inn to stay in first, and then we'll look for it tomorrow," Zhou Shun said.
"That's all it can do," Li Hua said, leading the horse forward.
In fact, there was no curfew in the Great Xia Dynasty. Especially the night markets on both sides of the central river were extremely lively.
The two of them turned around an alley and came to an inn, which was exactly the inn where Xing'er and the others had stayed before. However, a few days ago, they had checked out and moved to the backyard of a restaurant in Yashi.
In the Qingxin Palace, the fat girl Liu'er placed the letter and the exquisite wooden box on the table next to Concubine Ding.
"Is the person gone?" Concubine Ding asked softly.
"Back to you, your Majesty, you've already left." Liu'er replied.
"How about asking King Yan where he is?"
"The person who sent the message said that the prince is still used to living there. He eats beef, mutton and other seafood every three days. I heard that he is a little fatter than before." Liu Er replied to Li Hua and his wife one by one. Narrated.
"Forget about the mutton, where did he get so much beef to eat with him? He must have been worried that I would worry, so he deliberately let people talk so that we can listen."
The fat girl thought for a moment and said, "I don't know whether it's true or not, but it doesn't look like they are lying. When they talked about it, they seemed a little proud."
Concubine Ding did not pursue further questions on this matter, but picked up the letter on the table and opened it to read.
After reading a few lines, Concubine Ding showed a look of joy on her face and murmured softly: Bin'er seems to have grown up a lot and become more sensible. This makes me feel at ease. I hope he can live happily. A rich man.
Thinking of the instructions at the end of the letter, the concubine took out another mixed letter from the envelope. The letter was sealed with vermillion lacquer, half-folded and stuffed into the original envelope.
Zhao Bin told her in the letter that she must hand it over to the emperor, but he did not mention the content of the letter.
However, Concubine Ding smiled when she thought of the content of the letter she had read just now. She thought it contained some concern and longing.
"How long has it been since the emperor came?" Concubine Ding asked.
"I came here once when the third prince just left, and he hasn't come again since then."
"Let the dining room prepare more royal meals. The emperor should be here today."
"Yes" Liu Er left the room and went to the dining room of Qingxin Palace.
Concubine Ding's guess was absolutely correct. As soon as King Yan's letter arrived, someone reported the news to Liu Zhi, the emperor's personal eunuch.
In the Zhengde Hall, after the afternoon court, the emperor would usually work or rest here. Prince Zhao Wuji of the Great Xia Kingdom was correcting memorials on the desk.
The great eunuch Liu Zhi quietly walked forward and whispered: "Your Majesty, King Yan has sent someone to deliver a message to the palace."
Zhao Wuji stopped the pen in his hand, raised his head, glanced at Liu Zhi and asked, "Sent to the West Courtyard?"
"Yes, there is also a wooden box."
"Then let's go to the west courtyard tonight."
"Yes, then do you want me to inform you in advance?"
"No."
As early as more than a month ago, Zhao Wuji received a secret report that King Zhao Bin of Yan had exchanged salt and Xianbei people for cattle, sheep and war horses. At that time, Zhao Wuji was extremely angry when he heard that such a big thing was not reported.
But later I heard that Zhao Bin had exchanged cattle and sheep and distributed them to the people, and handed over thousands of horses to the city defense troops, so he did not directly send anyone to hold him accountable. Instead, he has to wait for him to resolve his own affairs, and then the court will send someone to take over.
At the same time, the Zhang, Xue, and Dai families who run the salt business also received the news. Originally, the Zhang and Xue families advocated the impeachment of His Highness King Yan, but the Xue family proposed to ignore it for the time being and let the situation escalate. It would be best then. He was able to kill King Zhao Bin of Yan with one bite.
In this way, even though all parties had their own evil intentions, no one mentioned the matter, and Zhao Bin successfully solved the problem of Yancheng's labor shortage.
In the evening, a voice came from outside Qingxin Palace: "The Emperor has arrived."
In Qingxin Palace, everyone hurriedly put down what they were doing and ran out the door to kneel down to pick up the driver.
"I respectfully welcome the Emperor."
"My beloved, there is no need to be polite, just get up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"I asked the dining room to prepare some side dishes today. I was about to send them to the emperor, but I didn't expect that the emperor came first." Concubine Ding stood up and joked.
"Oh, really, I just finished busy with the things in the court, and I'm really hungry," Zhao Wuji said with a smile.
