Chapter 3: Ten Years of Cold Rain, A Palace of Cold Fragrance
"I have been following my father since I was a child."
"Ever since I can remember, my father has been very strict with me. When it comes to martial arts training, I have to admit that he is a rare good teacher. But as his child, I can hardly feel it at all.
His fatherly love for me."
"Even if I have done well enough, he will never say a word of praise to me, and I have almost never seen even a look of approval."
"My brother is an enviable child. I remember he always looked carefree. I envy him because he doesn't need to be his father's soldier or shoulder the burden of the family. In short,
, he can do what he wants to do.”
"But then, brother, he died in a plague."
"When my father was grieving alone, I sometimes had a strange thought: If the child who died was me, would my father shed tears for me?"
"No one told me the answer."
"I don't remember which day it was. I just remember that it started to rain in Luoyang City, very hard. At the age of twelve, I was brandishing a heavy sword in the heavy rain. My father stood beside me indifferently, with a face on his face.
There was no other expression on my face except stiffness. My tears flowed out of my eyes unsatisfactorily, and were washed away by the rain."
"Finally, I fell in the rain. The moment before I passed out, I looked at my father subconsciously. Unexpectedly, I even suspected that I had seen it wrong, because my father, who was as hard as stone, was rushing towards me.
The moment I came over, there was pity and fear on my face that I had never seen before."
"I don't know how long I was in coma, but I vaguely remember that there was someone who kept changing the hot towel on my forehead, the gentle whispering in my ear, and the hot tears dripping on my cheek..."
"It turns out that he has always cared about me in his heart; it turns out that I am the one who has always ignored love."
"At that moment, I suddenly remembered that on a Lantern Festival in my childhood, he had carried me on his back and squeezed through the crowd, looking for the most beautiful lantern."
"Later, my father took me to a tomb. The tombstone was engraved with the words 'Tomb of my old friend Chang Gongxi'. I didn't know who the person in the tomb was, but my father, who was usually as cold as ice, burst into tears at that moment.
He said to me: 'In this world, maybe only if you are strong enough can you protect yourself and the people around you...'"
The night is already deep. The rain is still pouring.
——————
In the Luoyang Palace, in the Chonghua Hall, the emperor was sitting alone on the dragon mat, seemingly asleep.
When Dong Zhao, the elder of the two dynasties and his attendant, arrived at the palace, the emperor seemed to be fast asleep. After bowing his head and saluting, Dong Zhao walked to the table as usual. When he saw the bamboo slips with their scroll tails facing him, he knew that the king had finished reading. This was
For his own viewing. Dong Zhao opened the bamboo slips and took a quick look:
"Pingling Township Marquis, General Conquering the South, and Jingzhou Governor Xiahou Shang reported: Liu Bei's other troops are in Shangyong, and the mountain road is dangerous and difficult. He is not in danger of me. If he sneaks up with surprise troops and surprises them, he will be able to defeat them alone."
It turned out that General Zhengnan wanted to take advantage of Liu Bei's new defeat, the loss of Jingzhou, and the new surrender of Shu general Meng Da, leaving Shangyong alone. He sneaked in with surprise troops and conquered Shangyong in one fell swoop.
"Gongren is here. What do you think of Boren's performance?"
The emperor didn't know when he woke up. His eyes opened slightly and he asked.
"I think what Xiahou said when he conquered the south is absolutely true."
"In this case, I asked Gongren to draw up an edict, saying that I ordered the southern general Xiahou Shang to be the commander, the right general Xu Huang, and the Jianwu general Meng Da to be the deputy commander to supervise the troops in Jingnan and attack Shangyong to do something convenient."
"My lord, I obey the order."
Dong Zhao understood that this time His Majesty specially appointed Zheng Nan as the commander, and also appointed the veteran general Xu Huang and the demoted general Meng Da as the deputy commander, which had deep meaning.
Xia Houshang, the general of the southern expedition, supervised the battle as the commander-in-chief. This was the first time that his majesty specifically allowed the southern expedition to achieve success.
The right general Xu Huang is the deputy commander to ensure that everything is safe.
He also sent the surrendered general Meng Da to test his heart.
After Dong Zhao finished drafting the edict, the emperor waved his hand. Dong Zhao understood and quietly exited the palace. Not long after, the king who had worked hard day and night fell asleep again.
Right General, Yang Hou Xu Huang, General Jianwu, and Pingyang Tinghou Mengda arrived at Xiangyang, the capital of Jingzhou, in a few days after receiving the order.
After Xia Houshang met with the two men, they only stayed in Xiangyang for one day, and the three men mobilized their armies and led their troops to march westward.
The land of Shangyong is located in the upper reaches of the Han River. It is divided into three counties: Shangyong, Xicheng and Fangling.
Xia Houshang, Xu Huang, and Meng Da led their troops upstream and reached the east of Fangling in less than three days.
Their opponent was none other than Liu Feng, the adopted son of Shu Lord Liu Bei.
"General Jianwu, you once shared the town with Liu Feng, so you should know something about him."
Coach Xia Houshang walked away with the bridle in hand and asked this question casually.
A general with an elegant appearance and a mighty moustache, wearing chain mail and a red cloak smiled slightly, bowed to Xia Houshang on his horse and answered:
"The Marquis of Xia is conquering the south. To be honest, the last general received the kindness of His Highness the King of Hanzhong. I didn't want to abandon him. However, after Guan Yunchang's defeat, Liu Feng's son invaded me several times and took away the last general to promote military music. Finally,
I couldn't get enough of it, so I gave up the dark side and turned to the bright side. However, speaking of Liu Feng, this guy... is quite brave."
The right general Xu Huang had already led his front troops to camp, and Meng Da and Xia Houshang hit it off and regarded them as friends, so they dared to speak frankly.
Xiahou Shang smiled and said: "Zi Du, everyone says that you have the talent of a general, the weapon of a minister, and the strength of joy and perseverance. Now that you have abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side, you have a bright future, so why should you never forget your old master?"
"The words of conquering the south are serious." Meng Da smiled bitterly: "I have no love, I only miss my family in Shu, and I feel ashamed to treat my old friends."
Xia Houshang patted Mengda on the shoulder and said comfortingly: "Zidu, human beings are born to live between heaven and earth, just like birds living on dead branches. Everything is always changing. I hope you can see clearly."
"I am fortunate to be favored by the emperor, so I should tie a grass ring and repay His Majesty!"
"The camp has arrived, Zidu." Xiahou Shang smiled, dismounted, and handed the reins to the soldiers in front of the horse.
——————
One month later, the Wei army defeated Liu Feng and successfully captured the three counties and nine counties of Xicheng, Shangyong and Fangling.
Yang Hou Xu Huang moved to Yangpinghou and Xiahou Shang moved to conquer the South General.
And Mengda received the most generous reward: the emperor directly combined the mausoleum, Shangyong and Xicheng counties into Xincheng County, so that he could become the prefect of Xincheng.
Mengda suddenly became the empire's feudal official and southwest barrier, which shows the emperor's trust in him.
A few miles to the north from Kaiyangmen is the intersection with Dongyangmen Street. Less than two miles to the west from here is the location of the Imperial City.
A young man in white clothes was whistling to himself and walking on the stone road of Kaiyangmen Street.
Although Xia Houxuan has lived in Luoyang for several years, he has not entered the Luoyang Palace many times. Especially this time, it was the first time he entered the palace alone.
His father, Xia Houshang, commanded all the armies in the north of Jing Dynasty, followed the Han River to the west, defeated the superiority of Shu, and pacified three counties and nine counties. And he entered the palace today to receive the reward from the Shaofu.
Not long after, Xia Houxuan arrived at Dongyemen. Entering Yemen, you will find the forbidden garden of the palace.
The young man followed closely behind the imperial guards who led the way, and at the same time he did not forget to look at the beautiful scenery around him. The rebuilt Luoyang Palace was indeed extraordinary. Xia Houxuan thought to himself, even if the Han Dynasty palace still existed, it would probably be difficult to have anything like this.
Grand and grand.
When they were about to pass by the government meeting hall and the chancellery, the guards deliberately took a detour for fear of accidentally entering the restricted area. Not long after, they arrived at the Shaofu official office. The young man asked someone to send the gifts back to his house, and he proposed
Although the chief chamberlain looked embarrassed at first when he met the Holy Master's request, after carefully considering the close relationship between His Majesty and the Xiahou family, he immediately agreed with a smile on his face and sent someone to guide Young Master Xiahou.
The street connecting Jianchun Gate and Yongmen is the east-west axis of the entire inner and outer city of Luoyang, and it also faintly divides the palace into two halves. The south side where Xiahou Xuang just passed is the gathering place for political discussions. And this horizontal axis
To the north of the axis are the royal gardens and the gathering place for various residences and palaces.
Compared with the majestic scenery in the south, the scenery here is even brighter and more brilliant, making people unable to bear to look away.
The young man followed the chamberlain and headed north.
Different from the layout of the North and South Palaces in the previous dynasties, which paid equal attention to the North and South Palaces, the South Palace in the Han Dynasty had long been abandoned and became the intersection of government agencies and cities. The North Palace was also replaced by the current imperial palace, and the Jianshi Hall built by the previous king became the only
Main hall.
After passing the Jianshi Hall, there is the Chonghua Hall. Xiahou Xuan understood that His Majesty must be in this hall at this moment, but he had not been summoned, so he could only wait outside the hall temporarily.
I heard that my father won a great victory in the southwest and expanded the territory for dozens of miles. The enemy he defeated was Liu Feng, the adopted son of Liu Bei, the Lord of Shu.
The master said that Liu Feng did not seem to be simple. I heard that he became a general with extraordinary bravery at the age of twenty. Liu Bei was able to move to Yizhou. Liu Feng also put in a lot of effort.
It's just that... he still couldn't escape death in the end. What's even more sad is that he died in the hands of his father Liu Bei instead of being wrapped in horse leather on the battlefield. And the master said that his death was just Liu Bei's way to pave the way for his own son, not
The crime of defeat.
What is even more regrettable is that Liu Feng refused the reward of becoming a prince in the Wei Dynasty, but was willing to return to the capital of Shu to accept his crime!
Xia Houxuan couldn't help but sigh.
Not long after, two old men wearing red robes and nine-stripe imperial robes came slowly over. It was Taiwei Zhong Yao and Situ Huaxin. They had probably finished discussing the affairs and were walking out of the palace. As soon as they left the palace gate, they saw
A handsome and cute boy in white.
[Note 1: During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the imperial robes of the three princes were red in color, with nine patterns such as mountains and dragons on them. 】
When Xia Houxuan saw the two elders, he bowed and bowed, appearing neither humble nor arrogant. The two elders smiled and responded, obviously admiring the young man very much.
The moment I stepped into the palace door, I felt a sense of depression, the kind of heavy atmosphere that makes people breathless.
Although the interior of the hall is gorgeous, it is still spacious and spacious. The incense burned is styrax as tribute from the Western Regions. However, the gorgeous and spacious inner hall and the rich and expensive incense not only did not reduce the dull feeling, but also replaced the emperor's exclusive incense.
The aura is more obvious, making people feel so depressed that they dare not show off.
The young man couldn't help but look up. The emperor who was leaning on the throne and taking a nap no longer had the gentleness of the prince's uncle that he had seen when he was a child. Instead, there was only gloom and coldness. When he saw it, he couldn't help but
Shiver.
He was so lost in thought that he forgot to salute His Majesty.
After a while, Cao Pi slowly opened his eyes. He looked at the young man standing at the foot of the stairs and did not blame him for being rude.
"Are you Boren's son?" The emperor's voice was low and clear, making people's spines tingle upon hearing it.
"That's the boy, Xia Houxuan." The young man was calm as usual and was not completely overwhelmed by the powerful aura of the Supreme.
A rare smile appeared on Cao Pi's lips. He seemed to like the boy calling himself his son, which at least showed that the boy still regarded himself as a relative as he did when he was a child...
[Note 2: During the Jin Dynasty, uncles and nephews began to be called uncles and nephews. At this time, the sons of brothers were called "Congzi", etc.]
"Xuan'er, I haven't seen you for a long time. Is everything okay at home?"
"Your Majesty, everything is well at home." Xia Houxuan bowed slightly and answered.
"This time, your father has made great contributions to the expansion of the territory of the Wei Dynasty by pacifying three counties and nine counties." Cao Pi suddenly said this with a smile on his lips.
"It's all thanks to His Majesty's divine power. I don't dare to take the credit for it."
"You are quite smart for your young age." Cao Pi looked at this smart, neither humble nor overbearing nephew with interest: "Then, what do you think of Liu Feng's death?"
Xia Houxuan couldn't help but be stunned.
Regarding Liu Feng's death, it has long been spread among the people, and it is talked about by everyone. If for no other reason than that he was willing to refuse the reward of a prince in the Wei Dynasty and return to the capital of Shu to die.
If you answer this question incorrectly, it will be considered a minor crime.
"Your Majesty, Liu Chan was a child, Liu Bei was a hero, and Liu Feng's death was not a crime of defeat."
After hearing Xiahou Xuan's reply, Cao Pi couldn't help but his eyes lit up.
This boy is really smarter than his father.
"My nephew came here today because he actually wants to ask for something from Your Majesty."
Xia Houxuan raised his head and looked at the emperor with his clear eyes and said this.