Chapter 540: Entering the palace and receiving rewards
June 24th, today is the beginning of autumn.
Xu Zizhen was riding on a horse, drinking water with his clothes open. Although it was the beginning of autumn, the weather was still very hot, and he was afraid of the heat. He couldn't sit still in the carriage.
All the female family members were still in the car, and Daye was driving away. Only Li Meng's two children followed him on horseback, happily discussing the Battle of Taiyuan as they walked.
Suddenly, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves behind him. Xu Zizhen looked back in surprise and saw a horse with fine coat galloping towards him. Immediately there was a guard in official uniform. When he saw him from a distance, his face lit up with joy.
He shouted: "Is that Mr. Xu Zizhen in front of you?"
Are you looking for me? Something happened in Taiyuan again? But it shouldn't be a guard coming to deliver the message.
Out of curiosity, Xu Zizhen stopped his horse and waited for the guard to come up and asked: "Are you looking for me?"
The guard came to a stop, but did not dismount. Instead, he sat upright on the horse and shouted loudly: "Xu Zizhen accepts the order!"
Xu Zizhen was startled and was a little dazed. However, Gao Chong next to him reacted quickly and quietly pulled his sleeve and whispered: "Brother-in-law, get off the horse quickly."
"Ah? Oh." Xu Zizhen quickly got off the horse as he was told, and knelt down on the ground regardless of whether it was dirty or not, following Gao Chong's instructions in a low voice and shouting "Long Live the Mountain".
The guard looked solemn and carefully took out a bright yellow scroll from his arms, opened it and read aloud.
"The righteous Xu Zizhen helped defend Taiyuan with his courage and righteousness. I am very relieved...I will return to Beijing immediately and enter the palace to be rewarded!"
This was not the first time for Xu Zizhen to see the imperial edict, but he still couldn't understand most of it. He could only understand that he had made meritorious service in guarding Taiyuan, and Emperor Zhao Ji wanted him to enter the palace to be commended and rewarded.
After the guard finished reading, Xu Zizhen kowtowed and thanked him. The imperial edict was handed over to him. When he opened it, he saw that it was indeed stamped with the national seal Tianbao at the end, and the signature was a strange signature. It looked a bit like the word "天" and a bit like the Chinese character "天".
"One big".
Xu Zizhen asked Gao Chong secretly: "What is written here? There are so few strokes. Doesn't it look like the name of the Holy Emperor?"
Gao Chong sneered: "I don't know. The Holy Emperor's signatures have always been like this, meaning one person in the world. I don't know how many times I have seen it since I was a child."
Only then did Xu Zizhen feel relieved. It seemed that the imperial edict was true. Since Zhao Ji asked him to get the reward, there was certainly no reason not to refuse it. After the guard announced the edict, his face relaxed and he waited with a smile.
he.
Everyone got out of the car and gathered around. Xu Zizhen raised the imperial edict and said with a smile: "Okay, you should respond to Tianfu first, don't make the noise too big."
Everyone was happy that Xu Zizhen was praised by the emperor. They originally wanted to go to Bianjing with them, but when Xu Zizhen said this, no one said anything. After all, Xu Zizhen is still a thorn in the eyes of many officials in Beijing.
It's always better to be more low-key.
Gao Pujun frowned and pondered for a moment, then said to Xu Zizhen: "It is no small matter to go to Bianjing to see the Holy One. If you don't know the etiquette, I'm afraid you will make mistakes. I will accompany you."
Xu Zizhen said with a smile: "At worst, I'll talk less and kowtow more. Anyway, there should be eunuchs in the palace who teach the rules. If no big mistake is made, Xiao Su San will just go with me."
Gao Pujun was a little annoyed. Just when he was about to say something else, Xu Zizhen leaned into her ear and said, "There are many people in Beijing who are concerned about my life. If they want to attack me when I go back, won't they involve you?"
?You can run away alone, but what will happen to your Gao family? Listen to me and be good."
Xu Zizhen's concerns are normal. Wang Fu, Liang Shicheng and others have always wanted to touch him, but there has never been a good opportunity. They failed to kill him in Suzhou, and he also escaped in Lanzhou. Yingtian Mansion had the famous bodyguards of the academy and Zhao Gou.
I kept him for a while, but when I was in Taiyuan, I couldn't touch him because of the Jin people's massive attack on the city, but now I can't say for sure if I return to Bianjing.
Although Lord Yong is also a prince, he is already old and has no real power. It would be very unfair to Liang Shicheng and others to label him as an accomplice, so Xu Zizhen decided to take only Su San and not even Shui Liuli.
Because it will implicate the seventh master Zhao Gou.
After the matter was finalized, the troops divided into two groups. Xu Zizhen took Su San and returned to Bianjing with the guard. The others all went back to Yingtian Mansion first. Before leaving, Gao Pujun glanced at Xu Zizhen with some reluctance, because for some reason, she
There is always a vague uneasiness in my heart.
The emperor's summons was no small matter. It would take two or three days to rush back to Bianjing from Xu Zizhen's current position. Xu Zizhen no longer wasted time and started galloping his horse under the scorching sun.
The guard called himself Wang and was very talkative. Except for his solemn expression when announcing the order, he always had a smile on his face and looked very kind. Xu Zizhen had a brief chat with him on the way, but it was basically useless.
With his flattering words, at most I learned one piece of news, that is, the Young Master Wang Fu went to the Jin Army Camp in Zhending Prefecture for another peace talk.
Xu Zizhen didn't have any reaction on his face, but he felt a sense of contempt in his heart. He didn't have a good impression of Wang Fu to begin with. After learning that this traitorous minister had gone to peace talks, he even guessed that there would be no good results. But the current court was like this, and it wasn't him.
He can control the situation, and Zhao Gou has not yet taken control of the situation, so he can't complain.
The weather today is very good, and it is even cloudless at night. A bright moon hangs high in the sky. Xu Zizhen wanted to find a place to sleep, but Guard Wang reminded him very "politely" that the official family was waiting to see him.
, it was not advisable to delay, so Xu Zizhen had no choice but to endure the fatigue and rush all night while cursing secretly in his heart.
Traveling is a physically strenuous job. After one night, Xu Zizhen felt that he had lost all feeling in his hips. If he didn't hold the reins firmly in his hands, he would probably fall off the horse if he bumped. The sky gradually became brighter, and he walked on country roads all the way. Finally,
Near noon, we arrived outside a city.
Guard Wang slowed down his horse, pointed to the distance with a smile and said: "Xu Yishi, how about we find a shop to rest for a while before leaving?"
"Okay, okay, you make the decision!" Xu Zizhen wished that there was a bed now so that he could pounce on it and fall asleep.
When he approached the city gate, Xu Zizhen couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, because there were two big characters on the city gate - Pingyang.
He couldn't help laughing and said: "Oh, it turns out that the famous Pingyang is here."
Guard Wang also smiled and said: "Exactly, the famous former Han general Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were originally born here. So Xu Yishi has also heard of it?"
Xu Zizhen gave a perfunctory laugh, but thought to himself: "I'm talking about a tiger falling flat and being bullied by a dog...but I've forgotten where this saying came from, and I don't know if it's been said like this these days."
After entering the city, Xu Zizhen found that there was a lot of people coming and going, and there were many shops on both sides of the street. It was actually a prosperous city.
Guard Wang brought Xu Zizhen and Su San to an inconspicuous wine shop and stopped in front of it. He smiled and said, "It's just a short break. I hope Xu Yishi doesn't find it too shabby."