Uncle (24)

Speaking of the border war, it happens all the time, but it is not a big deal. If you don't fight, you will lose, and if you fight, you won't get any compensation.

The border faces the grassland. When winter comes, the barbarians on the grassland have no grass for their cattle and sheep, so they start to harass the border and rob the people of this dynasty.

This behavior is shameful, but they just run away after harassing, and when the soldiers rush over, there is only a mess left, and they can't do anything about them for a while.

These barbarians are divided into large and small tribes. The royal family naturally lives in the largest tribe. They were not in this grassland before. Another barbarian race originally lived on this grassland.

But this barbarian is really too ignorant of the importance. He led the tribe not only to seize the property of this dynasty, but also kidnapped women, killed men, and took children back as slaves.

It is annoying to rob things, but when a fight really breaks out, no one will take it seriously. After all, the barbarians are best at running into the bushes when they can't win. The soldiers don't know the way and are easily lost on the grassland. They can only give up after chasing.

But robbing things is fine, you also kill people.

This is intolerable.

The general stationed at the border was furious. After reporting to the court, he took his soldiers to kill all three princes of that tribe.

The old king fell ill because his sons died.

The royal family declined, and the major tribes that were originally dependent on them immediately rushed up and divided the royal family.

So, the new owner of the grassland learned the lesson of the previous owner.

He still commanded his men to rob in winter, but strictly prohibited robbing people back and killing people, otherwise he would be sentenced to death.

The death penalty on their grassland is much more severe than that of the Central Plains. They behead and pay attention to a quick battle, but they pay attention to the slower and more torturous death.

For example, tie a rope to a person's feet, with a big stone tied to one end of the rope and a tree tied to the other end. Push the stone down from a high place. The tree will definitely not move, but the person will fall down uncontrollably with the stone being pushed down.

With a stone on one end and a tree on the other, you can naturally feel the pain of the body being pulled. The best outcome is that the whole person falls down with the stone and dies. The worst outcome is that the rope is tied too tightly, and the person is hung at a high place, enduring severe pain on both sides, and will not die until about five days later.

This torture is very cruel, especially every time it is carried out, the mouth will not be sealed, so the wailing and screaming of the person being tortured can be heard on the grassland day and night.

Otherwise, how can you deter the subordinates who don't want to starve in the difficult winter?

The newly born royal family learned to be smart. When the enemy advances, we retreat. When the enemy retreats, we advance. We just stole things and robbed things, and did not kill people. Your country is strong and rich. The people will not die without this little food. Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of your soldiers and come to the unfamiliar grassland to hunt us down?

They thought it was really good. The soldiers at the border would not chase us thousands of miles for some food.

Otherwise, if they were trapped in the grassland, they would be the ones who suffered in the end.

So, the royal family lived shamelessly for several years.

But this year was strange. The royal family, who always felt that they could not beat the people of the Central Plains and never thought about fighting, actually declared war on the Central Plains directly.

Declare war.

The border was caught off guard and could only report to the court in a hurry and apply for military pay or something.

The barbarians who declared war were still as shameless as before. They still retreated when the enemy advanced and advanced when the enemy retreated, and randomly harassed the border.

Although they had not fought directly, many soldiers had become irritable.

They had never encountered such shameless fighting style before. When they suddenly encountered it, they wanted to fight back, but they couldn't reach it. They wanted to do the same thing. Their city walls stood here and couldn't run away, but the tribes in the grassland all lived in tents.

With a mat rolled up, they could sleep anywhere.

Especially shameless.

The soldiers were very puzzled. They had dealt with these grassland barbarians before. Although they were cunning, they were not shameless to this extent.

What are you doing?

General Zheng, who was in charge of guarding the border, was silent as always. He didn't express his opinion, and he didn't do much else. He just waited for the court to say that His Royal Highness Yao Wang would come to supervise the army.

The subordinates below were also used to his appearance.

General Zheng was the most loyal to His Majesty, and this was absolutely recognized by everyone.

When His Majesty first ascended the throne, his position was not very stable. His Majesty's brother rebelled, and it was General Zheng who protected him with all his strength, and even blocked a sword for His Majesty. There is still a hideous scar on his shoulder.

His Majesty also trusted General Zheng very much. Not only did he give him the military power, but he also made his daughter a princess and took her to the palace for instruction.

What a touching relationship between the emperor and his subjects.

Everyone thought that His Majesty was very good to General Zheng.

But Duan Qingen knew that it was not the case.

General Zheng was in love with his wife at the beginning. Although they only had one daughter, it was a daughter born in old age. He loved her like a treasure and wanted to bring the best things in the world to her.

He was probably one of the few super good fathers in ancient times.

Unfortunately, he had too many military achievements and had military power.

The emperor could not remove his military power, otherwise it would cause discussion among the people of the world, so General Zheng was sent out of the capital, but his wife and daughter were left behind.

This was also a common operation, and General Zheng accepted it and continued to be loyal to him.

The bad result is that the emperor is a creature who thinks with his lower body, and the wife and daughter of General Zheng are often summoned to the palace by the empress dowager to show her favor to them.

The emperor, who had drunk a little wine, bumped into General Zheng's fifteen-year-old daughter.

She was as young as a flower, and he had never seen her before. He didn't know that she was General Zheng's only daughter, so he ignored her crying and dragged her to do good.

Madam Zheng was already old, and she saw her old girl being tortured to death and died in the palace before she could catch her breath.

The emperor was also guilty and quickly proposed to make the girl a concubine.

The girl refused to obey, so he could only settle for the next best thing and let the empress dowager take the girl as her adopted daughter and make her a princess.

His wife and daughter stayed in the capital well, but his wife was angry to death and his daughter was raped by him. Even if the emperor was justified on weekdays, he felt that this matter was not easy to deal with.

But if this matter became a big deal, what would happen to his reputation.

Therefore, he could only leave the girl in the palace as a hostage, so that General Zheng could only continue to work for him as before.

General Zheng never told anyone about this matter.

Even if he hated her so much that he wanted to burn down the palace, he could not say a word.

There was no other reason. If this matter was publicized, the emperor would lose his reputation.

But his daughter, his only relative in the world, was known to the world that she had lost her virginity. Given her personality, she would probably not survive.

Why did Duan Qingen know this secret? He should thank Wan Siyuan.

Wan Siyuan, who entered the Queen's Palace as a female official, had to do work she had never done before every day, was ordered around by others, and had abdominal pain due to a miscarriage.

Because he hated her and thought she was as stupid as a pig, the emperor would not spend much time on her, but she did not give up or abandon him, and tried to make herself attractive to the emperor as before.

So she spent a lot of money and asked someone to buy things for her when she left the palace.

The emperor knew how stupid she was, and never checked the list she wrote.

The people Duan Qingen left in the palace could easily pass on the news they found out by writing it on Wan Siyuan's list with a secret method.

And they would not expose themselves.

Wan Siyuan, a perfect cover.

When Duan Qingen arrived, General Zheng, who was already white-haired, came to greet him.

Seeing him kneeling on the ground, Duan Qingen reached out and helped him up:

"General, there is no need to be polite. This king has been traveling all the way and feels a little uncomfortable. I will go to rest today."

The people sent by the emperor to follow Duan Qingen felt relieved.

Sure enough, King Yao's temper would definitely not be a hindrance.

They followed Duan Qingen into the house with confidence. General Zheng outside was still as cold-faced as usual, and turned around and left here.

When he reached a place where no one was, he slowly opened his palm.

In the palm, there was a emerald green dot.

This was bought for his wife, and his daughter liked it, so his wife gave it to her.

When he learned that his wife had died suddenly and his daughter was named a princess and taken to the palace, he felt something was wrong. He hurried back to Beijing and knelt in the palace for an afternoon before he was allowed to see his daughter.

She, who had always been lively and alert, seemed to have lost all her vitality. Her face was pale and her body was so thin that she couldn't even hold up her clothes. She burst into tears when she saw him.

The father and daughter talked for less than half an hour before someone hurriedly urged them to speak, saying that the empress dowager wanted to talk to the princess.

After that, he was called to the Shangshufang.

The emperor gave him two beauties and said that he could marry him and let him have another son to inherit the family business.

But what's the use of these.

Let alone two, even twenty or two hundred beauties, they can't bring his wife back.

Having another son can't offset the suffering and pain of his daughter who he raised in his palm since childhood.

But he also knew that he couldn't express his dissatisfaction.

The emperor was doing him a favor. If he didn't accept it and burst into tears of gratitude, saying "It doesn't matter if my wife dies or my daughter is humiliated", the favor would turn into a punishment.

He was loyal to this person.

General Zheng knelt down to thank him. After returning to the barracks, he was still the same as before, except that he no longer laughed and drank, and no longer recalled how much the emperor trusted him.

He just waited.

Although he didn't know what he was waiting for.

And now, looking at the jade in the palm of his hand.

General Zheng smiled.

As he smiled, tears came into his eyes.

Madam, I've waited.

****

"The Han prince seems to be here. Big brother, do you think we should capture that prince? He is a prince, so he should have a high status. After catching him, we can ask them for food. I don't believe they won't give it to us."

In the large tent, the Khan, wearing thick clothes, lay on the fur blanket wantonly, holding a map in his hand, looking at the grassland location marked on it and thinking.

His younger brother was immediately dissatisfied when he saw him like this: "Brother, you have been looking at this picture every day since you got it. I am talking to you now, can't you wait until we finish talking before continuing to look?"

"Am I not listening to you too?"

"You are looking at the picture, brother, which girl gave you this picture that made you like it so much? When I came here today, I heard someone was jealous."

The Khan carefully put the picture aside and sat up slowly. He was strong and had hair tied into a whip. He had a typical thick eyebrow, a high nose bridge, and was very handsome.

Although such a look was not very popular in the capital, most women preferred handsome and gentle men like Duan Qingen, and could not appreciate these wild beauties, but the women in the grassland tribes liked such looks and felt safe.

In addition, although he was young, he was very good at seizing opportunities. Two years ago, the previous Khan died and there was no heir. At that time, everyone fought and robbed the wealth left by the previous Khan.

Only he stood up and led his people to conquer other tribes in the chaos and became the new Khan.

In recent years, he successfully led his people to survive the winter, so he had a high prestige on the grassland. Many beautiful girls wanted to marry him. He could receive flowers and gifts almost every day, but he was not very interested and only lived with his wife.

The higher the status of a man on the grassland, the more women he has around him. This is normal, but he never thinks about having more women, which inevitably makes people worry whether his wife can satisfy him.

Therefore, his younger brother guessed that this picture that his elder brother had been holding in his hand for several days and was reluctant to let go was given by a beautiful girl.

"It's not a girl, it's a person who wants to seek our help."

The Khan trusted his younger brother very much. When they were young, they chased wild horses together. When they grew up, his younger brother followed him to fight. Finally, he became a great man, and he and his younger brother became the most noble people on the grassland.

But this is not enough. Every winter, their people will still starve to death, and their cattle and sheep will die because they can't find food.

They can only rob the Han people of their food, but this is also very risky. Just look at how the previous Khan died.

So he has been very worried, but a few days ago, when a Central Plains merchant came to their grassland and gave him this picture and a letter from the Han prince, he found a new way out.

When the grassland was controlled by the previous Khan, he did not prohibit his subordinates from targeting the Han people.

Therefore, the merchants who came to the grassland were killed or robbed of their money, which also led to the Han people not daring to set foot on the grassland. The previous Khan was very satisfied with this, and he felt that he was defending his territory.

But this Khan did not think so.

It is not feasible to always rob the Han people of their food. The Han army is very powerful. They were just too lazy to deal with them before. If one day, the Han people suddenly did not want them to be neighbors, although it would take some effort, they could definitely destroy their tribe.

As a Khan, he must look far into the future.

And this letter painted a future for him that would allow his people to survive.

As long as he made a little effort, the grassland could get help from the court. When the grassland was full of green grass and the cattle and sheep were fat, these cattle and sheep would be exchanged for food with the Han people.

When winter came, the food would allow them to survive the winter.

This solution is very simple. The Khan has not thought of it, but the problem is that the Han people, from the court to the people, reject and fear them. Their appearance is very different from that of the Han people. Even if they enter the Han territory, they will be killed.

After all, the relationship between the two sides is really not good.

In addition, the merchants who died before, even the richest merchants dare not come to the grassland to find luck again.

If there are 100 merchants, 99 of them die, and there is still one who makes a lot of money.

Then there will be a large number of merchants coming to the grassland.

But the problem is that the current situation is that in the eyes of the Han people, 100 merchants came and 100 died. In this case, how could the merchants be willing to come here.

People in the tribe can't go, and merchants won't come. This is a problem.

But now, as long as he helps, the Han prince can help them.

He also gave him a map, which clearly depicts the terrain of various places in the grassland. If they really anger the court, they can completely change their development.

At worst, they will come back in winter to rob and run away after robbing.

There is no loss at all, but the benefits in return are quite large.

Why not agree?

The Khan sat up straight with a smile and said to his brother: "Keep letting them harass the border, but don't attack. Just let them know that we are fighting them."

The younger brother didn't understand: "But what good will this do for us? We can't get cattle and sheep by harassing them."

The big man smiled confidently:

"We can't get cattle and sheep now, but we won't lose them. But if we delay long enough, we can get the safety of the entire tribe."

The grassland tribe still harasses every day, but they don't fight directly. They just harass for a while and leave quickly.

The border can't be abandoned now, and it can't be reached by fighting directly. If it can't be solved here, the court can only send food here.

General Zheng communicated with Duan Qingen, and took his soldiers to "fight" the other side in a proper manner.

Then he asked the court for food with confidence.

This time, the other side provoked first and did not repent. Even if the court didn't want to fight, it had to keep its face and could only continue to give.

Duan Qingen still acted like his useless prince, hiding in his room every day, and often saw doctors coming in and out of the general's mansion (where he was temporarily living).

So everyone knew that Prince Yao was in poor health. He had been recuperating since he came to the border, and it was said that he still couldn't get out of bed.

This was normal, after all, everyone knew that His Royal Highness Prince Yao had injured his leg, so his body was damaged, and it was normal for him to be weaker than others.

When the news came back to the capital, the emperor was a little disappointed that Duan Qingen had not died on the road even though his body was so broken.

But knowing that he would not last long, he was relieved.

He was in a good mood recently because of the good news. He went out of the palace for a stroll again. After not encountering any beautiful women, he had to go back to the palace, and then he saw Wan Siyuan.

To be honest, Wan Siyuan's appearance now is completely different from when she first met the emperor.

At that time, she was beautiful and young. Although she had some problems with her brain, her face was definitely presentable.

But now, her hands are too rough because of doing rough work, and her face is also blown by the wind. There are two highland red spots on her face. Moreover, because she was forced to take medicine to cause miscarriage, she did not rest well. Instead, she came to the palace to wash clothes with cold water and served others hard. Her face was sallow, and she looked as if she had aged ten years in an instant.

With this appearance, let alone letting the emperor touch her when he knew the truth, even if he didn't know, he would not look down on her.

Wan Siyuan had never suffered such hardships in her two lives.

The queen treated her like a dog, asking her to do this and that every day. Even the little maid looked down on her, calling her sister on the surface, and saying all kinds of bad things about her behind her back. The quilt was too thin and she couldn't sleep at night because of the cold. Her stomach hurt from time to time, even on rainy days, and she wanted to rest but couldn't.

She didn't want to live such a life anymore.

Therefore, as soon as she saw the emperor, she rushed forward desperately and begged: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I finally see you, I am Yuan'er, didn't you say that you would treat me well for the rest of your life? Please save me."

"Get out!"

The emperor was startled and quickly kicked her away with disgust. The servants around him hurried forward to pull Wan Siyuan back.

Wan Siyuan still rushed forward: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten what we did before? Your Majesty, please, Your Majesty..."

The emperor really forgot Wan Siyuan before, but now he remembered her as soon as he saw her.

Oh, yes, he forgot to deal with her.

He waved his hand directly: "Drag this woman away and beat her to death."

Wan Siyuan was completely frozen.

She looked at the emperor in disbelief, but found that the man she had always thought was affectionate to her was looking at her with disgust.

What's going on? ! !

What on earth is going on! !

Seeing those people dragging her down and beating her to death, her instinct for survival made her brain spin rapidly: "Your Majesty, you can't kill me!! I know a lot of things, I know a lot of things!!!"

What can such a stupid woman know.

The emperor turned around disdainfully and was about to leave, but heard Wan Siyuan shouting behind him: "Tomorrow the heavenly dog ​​will eat the moon!! If you don't believe it, wait one more day, just one more day to know if what I said is true!!"

The emperor's footsteps paused.

Every time the heavenly dog ​​eats the moon, the emperor is the one who takes the blame, and he must pray to the heaven and confess his guilt.

And such a big thing was said by Wan Siyuan with certainty.

He looked back suspiciously, and seeing Wan Siyuan's face of certainty, he still felt that he couldn't be careless, and waved his hand: "Suppress it."

"If there is nothing tomorrow, I will skin you alive."

Wan Siyuan shuddered, but was very sure.

After all, it happened in her previous life. At that time, she was so scared that she hid in the house, especially afraid that the heavenly dog ​​would come down after eating the moon.

She would never be wrong!

The next day, the moon was eclipsed by the heavenly dog.

Duan Qingen looked at the moon that seemed to be gradually being devoured, and said to Dexi: "The one in the capital should go down."

Dexi promised: "Yes."

Wan Siyuan was soon released. She did not say that she had lived a lifetime again, but only said that she had a fairy fate and could predict some major events. If the emperor wanted her help, she must be made a concubine.

The emperor's face was gloomy.

But in the end, he still agreed to Wan Siyuan.

So, there was a concubine Yan in the harem.

Yan Yin and Yan Yi were the same, which was also the last dignity that the emperor did not want to be robbed.

That day, Wan Siyuan did not sleep all night.

She finally became a concubine! ! !

She finally became a member of this palace! !

In the future, she can get pregnant again and give birth to another prince.

She can take action in advance so that the prince who has not been born in this life will never have the chance to be born again.

Her prince will be the emperor's only child.

Then there is the prince.

The emperor.

She gave up the position of Princess Yao and suffered so much, but fortunately, the results were all good.

Wan Siyuan thought about it all night and fell asleep beautifully in the morning.

Fortunately, she is now the emperor's "favored concubine", so it doesn't matter if she doesn't get up early.

It's beautiful just to think about it.

She is the imperial concubine, hahahaha.

She was dreaming that her son would become the prince, but the dream was suddenly pushed away, and the maid who served her ran in in a panic:

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!!"

"What are you doing! Can't you see that I'm sleeping?!"

Wan Siyuan sat up with an unhappy look on her face, and saw that the maid in front of her was pale, and knelt on the ground with a plop:

"Your Majesty, His Majesty... has passed away..."

"The Queen Mother said that the concubines in the palace who have not given birth to children should be buried alive with him..."