Harue Kagetsu

The wind is blowing, and the rain is coming.

The night sky above Taicheng is full of low, solidified dark clouds. The sky turned into a grotesque dark beast, glaring rage, as if it was ready to devour all creatures beneath it at any time.

A dazzling lightning suddenly ripped through the black haze, fell from the clouds, and smashed into the corner of the eaves of the highest golden tower in the palace.

The glazed and blue tiles collapsed suddenly.

Xiao Yongjia hurriedly walked beside the large vermilion pillars in front of the palace corridor, and with the sound of his own footsteps in his ears, he stepped into the palace where the emperor was.

After lingering on for several days, the emperor finally reached the end of his life tonight.

After seeing the Dongge court that day, the appointment of the prince was changed, and it was framed into an imperial decree that seemed to be supreme.

Gong resorted to Jiankang.

Dongyang Wang and his wife should be on their way to Jiankang.

And Xiao Yongjia, from that day on, left the palace.

Until tonight, the palace servants came to spread the word, saying that His Majesty was restless. After many guesses, the palace staff finally guessed what the emperor was thinking.

The emperor wanted the company of the eldest princess.

The imperial physicians, palace servants, and close officials all withdrew.

The palace was empty and dark. Xiao Yongjia stood in front of the dragon bed, staring at the person who was lying with his eyes half-open and half-closed, as if he was looking at him. He suddenly raised his hand and slapped him with a "smack" sound. hand.

The face was thrown to one side by her, and the neck remained in a strangely stiff posture, motionless.

"Ahu!"

She called the emperor by his nickname.

"Do you know why the elder sister beat you?"

"It's not because you lied to your sister in the East Pavilion that day! If you want to blame it, it's still because of your negligence! My sister already knows what kind of person you are!"

"The reason why Auntie beat you is because she hates you for being useless, and it doesn't count as killing her own life. When she is dying, she still refuses to let go of my husband, who has maintained the imperial court for you for so many years!"

"My sister knows that you blame him. When you wanted to regain power and were oppressed by the Xu Lu family, he didn't stand up to protect you. You even suspected that he wanted to usurp your position. Your brother-in-law really couldn't do it. Yes. But why don't you think about it, in this court, your position with your father and ancestral emperor, and all the dignity of my Xiao family was originally supported by these gentry. How do you want him to break with the entire gentry for you? It's not that my sister looks down on you, an emperor like you is worth the price he pays for you?"

"You want to do something big, but my sister doesn't see that you have the ability to half share your ambitions. Back then, I knew your intentions and tried my best to discourage you, telling you to keep a low profile, so as not to harm others and yourself. The Xiao family can't fight them. Of course you don't listen to me. After the failure, apart from complaining and indulging in pleasure, what else have you done in these years? The court has been in turmoil again and again, with natural and man-made disasters, when will there really be peace? Are you packing up?"

"Elder sister knows that you are wronged, you are helpless, and you hate it, but this is the fate of my Nandu royal family. It is innate, it is not your brother-in-law who made you so far. This time, if you don't listen to his advice, you will end Killed your own life. You can't let him go when you see that you are going? Why do you keep him trapped in the mud of the imperial court?"

"Ahu, where is your conscience?"

Xiao Yongjia almost gritted his teeth and asked the last sentence.

Outside the palace, a blue lightning bolt once again split the night sky above Taicheng.

The emperor's dead face was suddenly illuminated by lightning.

He didn't want to die, but he knew that he must die.

Fear, remorse, hate. Everything is too late.

Just before he died, his elder sister's arrangements for the events behind him made him smell that Gao Qiao wanted to leave.

The emperor's instinct in the blood made him stage such a scene in the East Pavilion that day.

King Xin'an is a side branch, and he exists by himself. Only when the King of Dongyang is established can Gao Qiao be bound and let him continue to maintain his own world of the Xiao family.

If he died like this, he would not be ashamed of the ancestors of the Xiao family.

He resented Gao Qiao, feared Gao Qiao, and was dying, but he had to continue to rely on his brother-in-law.

In the end, the only person he trusted seemed to be him.

Being the emperor for nearly twenty years, he has been suppressed by this brother-in-law.

Before he died, he finally got his army.

In the East Pavilion, when he temporarily changed his previous decision, when he and Gao Qiao looked at each other, the frustration and helplessness in Gao Qiao's eyes made him feel an unprecedented sense of achievement.

He is the emperor. And he can only be his servant.

He felt the anger in his body, along with the breath that seemed to be unable to get in and out, kept leaving him.

Half-opened and half-closed, two tears slowly flowed from the eyes that were gradually like the eyes of a dead fish.

"Ahu!"

Xiao Yongjia burst into tears, straightened his head, and hugged him tightly in his arms, just like when he was a child. He called the doctor loudly.

A sister's cry, the messy footsteps of the imperial doctor and the palace servants, the faint sound of lightning and thunder cracking the sky above Taicheng...

Gradually they left him.

At the last moment before the emperor's death, a person's name suddenly popped out of his mind.

Li Mu.

The kite he flew out once gave him a great sense of accomplishment.

In the past, the emperor could not help but secretly merged himself and that man into one.

In his imagination, he was Li Mu, and Li Mu was him.

He is just on behalf of himself, fulfilling his elusive dream in reality.

That kite may fly higher and higher in the future.

And he could no longer hold the rope.

…

The letter was sent by A-Niang, and it was urgent for 800 miles.

"What did grandma say?"

Because his expression became a little dignified, Luoshen became worried, guessing that Aye was forcing himself back again?

She looked at him nervously.

Li Mu glanced at her, picked her up, and put her on the bamboo couch by the window.

"Your Majesty is dead," he told her.

It only took a moment, and he seemed to have recovered from the news. The tone is calm.

Luo Shen was shocked.

He snatched the letter from his hand and read it quickly.

After reading the letter, after a long while, people still couldn't slow down.

A-Niang's letter was sent half a month ago.

The letter said that her uncle had a sudden stroke, abolished the prince, and replaced the Prince of Dongyang as the heir.

A-Niang said that she knew that she was with Uncle Huang, but considering the long distance and the sudden incident, even if she left immediately after receiving the letter, she would not be able to make it to the funeral. Tell her not to go back to Beijing for the funeral, but to stay in Yicheng.

From childhood to adulthood, Uncle Huang has always been kind to her.

Except for later disregarding her wishes and forcibly marrying her to Li Mu.

But this matter, when I think about it now, is also a mistake, and it is playing right and wrong. How could she blame him?

Hearing the bad news, holding the letter in his hand, he was stunned for a moment, and his eyes were red with sadness.

She fell into Li Mu's arms and buried her face in his chest.

Li Mu hugged her, patted her back lightly, and comforted her.

When her emotions gradually recovered, she ordered Aju and others to accompany her first, and then passed the news to Jiang Tao herself.

A banner was hung at the head of the city, and the whole city mourned for three days in mourning for the Emperor Daxing.

Knowing according to Hou Ding. Hou Ding sent an envoy to bring the funeral, and Li Mu also, as the imperial court’s prefect outside the country, wrote a letter of grief, and sent it to Jiankang together with Qiu Chi’s funeral, with full etiquette.

The location of Yicheng is far beyond the geographical scope of the effective control of the Dayu court.

Strictly speaking, before Li Mu's arrival, this place was not considered the land of Dayu.

Li Mu's reaction to the death of Uncle Huang made Luoshen very gratified. After the mood gradually stabilized, he took up the pen and wrote a reply to A-Niang, saying that everything was fine with Gao Huan here, and she must mourn and not be too sad. She also asked her to greet Aye on her behalf, and told him to take care of his health, not to worry about state affairs and exhaust his body.

In A-Niang's letter, the king of Dongyang was established as the heir.

Although she didn't quite know what happened to Jiankang during the days she was in Yicheng, such a great change happened in the palace.

But since the mother said so, presumably the matter has been settled.

The King of Dongyang is one year younger than his cousin.

After his mother died, the King of Dongyang continued to marry, and then loved Wu and Wu.

As a prince, his status was once threatened by his younger brother.

Fortunately, in his early years, his mother had arranged a marriage for him and his cousin. And his mother family is also very close to the Gao family.

After he married his cousin, the threat of status was finally completely eliminated.

When the King of Dongyang died, he inherited the throne, and the affairs of the palace were taken care of by the capable elder sister.

Its person, Luo Shen has seen several times before.

The impression he gave to Luoshen was that he obeyed his cousin. Other than that, there are no other deep memories.

Now that he succeeded to the throne and became the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, it is unknown what the future situation will be, but now, everything must rely more on his father.

Luoshen was a little worried that Aye's body could not bear it.

Give the written letter and Li Mu's book to the messenger and send it to Jiankang.

After three days of mourning, Yicheng returned to his original appearance.

Soldiers practiced for half a day, and worked together with the townspeople to open up wasteland for half a day. Every day, hearing the news came from all directions, gathered outside the city gate and waited to enter the city, and there was an endless stream of refugees asking for asylum.

Luoshen also gradually put aside the sadness caused by the news of the emperor's uncle's death.

The number of residents in the city is increasing day by day, and she is no longer like when she lived in Jiankang, where she spent half a day studying and playing the piano for half a day.

In fact, recently, there are things waiting for her every day.

Li Mu has been very busy. Civilians in the city were originally handled by Jiang Tao. At the beginning, even if Luoshen wanted to do something, he couldn't intervene - Li Mu told Jiang Tao not to bother her with chores.

In view of the previous experience of taking Luoshen to Qiuchi with Li Mu on his back and experiencing a night of fright, Jiang Tao naturally did not dare to make his own decisions this time.

It wasn't until a few days ago that he encountered a difficult matter that he couldn't handle, but it was solved by Luoshen, and things changed.

On the day that a woman entered the city, before she could settle down, she started giving birth.

Her husband was kidnapped by the Hu people, and her only family member died on the way. The woman is a traveller who has made it hard to get here.

The fetus in the womb was not yet full term, but when it arrived, the person squatted on the side of the road and could not walk, and was carried into an empty house by well-meaning people to be delivered. Not wanting the woman to be powerless and unable to give birth, she fainted.

There is a military doctor in the city, who also treats headaches and headaches for the residents on weekdays, but no midwife can be found. When Jiang Tao heard the news, he was afraid of losing his life and had nothing to do. Thinking that his wife had many servants by her side, she might be able to help with this kind of thing, so she asked the girl Ah Yu to ask her for help.

At that time, he was just desperately ill and went to the doctor, but he didn't want to be beaten and told him to find the right person.

Before letting his daughter come to Yicheng, Xiao Yongjia secretly made two plans.

The selected servants, in addition to the cook who can cook, the embroiderer who can make clothes, have the strength to do chores.

Luoshen didn't know it, but Aju knew it.

After hearing the news, he immediately rushed over with someone. Boil water, wake up the fainting mother, feed her sugar water and food, and restore her strength to give birth.

The woman woke up at that time and saw that there were seven or eight people around her. Among them, the beautiful young woman with a childish look on her face was actually Mrs. Prefect. Because she couldn't worry about herself, she also came in person, and she couldn't help but burst into tears. , The heart that was already despairing of all thoughts gradually reborn, and the mother-in-law was there to help, using all her strength, and finally gave birth to a child smoothly.

It was a baby boy.

It is also the first new life born in the city since Yicheng opened up the wasteland.

Many people nearby came to hear the news and smiled.

It was only after he came to Yicheng that Luoshen realized that in those places in the north where there were constant wars, most newborns could not escape the fate of dying even if they were born.

Hunger, disease, killing, and even being eaten, the number of children is decreasing.

In such a chaotic world, the birth of any new life is precious.

At that time, when she saw the woman holding the baby in her arms and breastfeeding, Luoshen was also excited, and her eyes became slightly warm.

After that incident, she started doing what she wanted. Jiang Tao did not speak out to dissuade him.

Now there are dozens of children in the city. Because they are still young, adults cultivate the land during the day, and the children have nothing to do and are left unchecked, and they run around the city. That day, a mischievous man got into an uninhabited abandoned house and was crushed by the broken wall that suddenly collapsed. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured.

In order to avoid such an accident next time, I also think of the tradition of Gao’s always running a school, accepting the children of poor families to study, and recommending and promoting those with excellent character and learning to become officials, in order to let more children in Yicheng. Also able to read, Luoshen packed up a large empty courtyard in the backyard of the governor's mansion, opened a school, sent people to the residences of the residents with children, preached door-to-door, and asked people to send the children to the governor's mansion to go to school.

Having such an opportunity, it was arranged by Mrs. Governor, and rumors spread that Mrs. Governor was actually the daughter of the famous Gao Xianggong in the Southern Dynasty. Ken?

A few days later, the backyard of the governor's mansion, which had always been quiet during the day, began to hear the sound of books.

The girl Xiaoyu was Luoshen's first student.

When she comes to school, she will bring a bunch of fresh wildflowers neatly bundled and put in the corner of the chair.

The identity of the new Mrs. Shishi and the life she had never thought of before made Luoshen feel like a fish in water.

Although every day is a lot busier than before, it is very fulfilling.

She will no longer be like those days before, doing nothing every day, always waiting eagerly for Li Mu to come back.

Things in the school gradually stabilized. Besides her, Qiongzhi could also teach these children to read, so Luoshen planned another thing.

The number of Li Mu's soldiers was gradually increasing. I heard Gao Huan mention a sentence that day, and it seems to have doubled as much as when he first came. And it keeps increasing every day.

Then came the issue of military supply.

Rations, except for the military rations that were carried with the first group of people at the beginning, it is impossible to count on the court in the future. The first crop of crops planted in the wasteland this year will not be harvested until some time later. But fortunately, Hou Ding borrowed grain to support the army and civilians in the city until the harvest, so the problem should not be big.

In addition to rations, another indispensable military necessities is clothing.

Luoshen has seen soldiers walking on the street more than once, with ragged clothes, ripped shoes, and even people walking barefoot.

Now that the weather is hot, it's not a big problem. But I heard that the winter here is much colder than Jiankang. When the weather turns cold, I am afraid it will be a big problem.

Although by then, she believed that Li Mu should also solve this problem.

But if you can mobilize the women in the city to spin yarn and weave together, and make some preparations as early as possible, even if your strength is limited and you can help a little bit, that would be good.

But there is a shortage of spinning and looms.

Previously in the ruins of the Governor's Mansion, the old machines left by the former weavers were pulled out. They have been repaired and can be used, but there are only one machine each, which is far from enough.

Even if you can call someone, there is no spinning machine and loom, and it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

Luoshen wanted to go to Jiang Tao to discuss it, and asked him to help him think of a way to see if he could get some from somewhere, or ask someone to rebuild it.

The place where Jiang Tao usually handles civil affairs is located in the former ya of the governor's mansion.

Luoshen immediately looked for it.

Others are there too. He was lying on the desk, writing papers, busy, seeing Luoshen coming, he put down his pen and got up to greet him.

Luoshen said his thoughts.

Jiang Tao seemed very happy and said, "If the soldiers know that Madam cares, they will be grateful. Madam, don't worry, I will find a way."

Luoshen thanked him and was about to leave when he saw the soldier who was guarding the gate hurried in. Seeing Luoshen, he knelt down and said, "Just now, a group of people from Jiankang arrived, and Tao was sent by the queen, and brought it to Madam. A letter with many rewards!"

After he finished speaking, he held up the letter in his hands and held it high above his head.

Luo Shen was stunned.

Slowed down for a while, and then recollected the taste. The so-called "Queen" should be her cousin Gao Yongrong.

Counting the time, it should not be long before my cousin-in-law, King Dongyang, succeeded to the throne. The old and the new were replaced. At this moment, the new ascendant became the queen's elder sister, and things should be indispensable.

She was far away in Jiangbei, and she hadn't had time to write a letter to congratulate her and her brother-in-law, but she didn't expect that she would remember herself first, and she wrote the letter so quickly.

Luoshen hurriedly took it and read it.

The letter was written by my sister in her own hand.

A sister said in the letter that the sisters have not seen each other for a long time. A few days ago, she arrived in Jiankang and wanted to see Amei at the first time. When I asked, she found out that she is now with her husband and is thousands of miles away. to make. She was very worried. Fortunately, I know that Mrs. Mei is a dragon and a phoenix, and A-mei is a match made in heaven. They were originally ordered by the late emperor to expand their soil in Yicheng. They are loyal to their hearts and courage, and they are worthy of praise. Now, A-mei is willing to live together. Yicheng, the two of them worked together to open up the Jiangbei territory for the Dayu court, and she was very pleased. So I immediately picked up my pen and wrote this letter. Not in the name of the queen, but in the name of the family, he sent someone to send a gift to make up for the wedding ceremony of the two that was not sent due to inconvenience.

At the back of the letter, a long gift slip was attached.

Luoshen glanced.

A carload of silk and satin, a carload of delicacies from mountains and seas, a carload of fine food, and a box of gold, silver, jewelry, agate and jade, all of which are valuables.

At the end of the letter, Sister asked Luo Shenzhuan to encourage Li Mu. Emperor Daoxin also appreciated him very much. He hoped that he could establish a firm foundation in this place in Jiangbei and gain a foothold for Dayu. .

The sisters are deeply in love. From childhood to adulthood, Luoshen has always been very respectful to her sister.

Luoshen would never forget that when she was stung by a wild bee when she was a child, it was her elder sister who sacrificed her life to save her from being poisoned.

Now that she is the queen, not only does she have no air, she still misses her, and the tone of the letter is also a lot of praise for Li Mu.

The letter received from the elder sister made Luoshen in a good mood.

She called someone to the door, removed the contents of the car, and arranged for someone to rest. When things came to an end, I had no intention of doing anything else, and began to look forward to Li Mu's return.

In her heart, she never forgot Li Mu's promise to Aye: "If the court does not persecute or hinder the northern expedition, he will be the minister of Great Yu."

Conversely, this sentence is actually understood to mean that if the imperial court imposes persecution and hinders his northern expedition, he will still turn against the imperial court.

In my heart, I still have some worries.

And now, seeing the letter from my sister, Luo Shen finally felt relieved.

The death of Uncle Huang, although it makes me feel sad when I think of it, but from another point of view, the King of Dongyang and his sensible elder sister succeeded to the throne and became the new generation of Emperor Empress of Dayu. Together with his father, the original In a stagnant and desperate court, the weather may change from now on.

She was in a hurry and wanted to transfer the last paragraph of Sister A's letter to Li Mu, so that he could also feel relieved.