Bend Over [ 折腰 ] - Chapter 7

[Chapter 7: The Return of the Prince]

After Xiao Qiao went out, the palace of the emperor who was drumming and music gradually fell silent, the guests dispersed, and Qiao Yue saw that Qiao Ping was still facing the direction of the gate for a long time, so he went forward to persuade him to enter, saying: “Second brother, niece has gone far.” The grand situation in Fangcai City, you have also seen it with your own eyes, and you are really pleased for your brother.

Qiao Ping slowly turned around and said, “Elder brother, brother has a word, which should not have been asked, but it has been troubled for a long time, taking this opportunity, the brother dared to ask.” Ten years ago, his father sent an army to recruit Li Su, and he did not move in the front, so that Wei Jing’s father and son were killed, which formed a grudge with the Wei family. At that time, did my father really send a messenger to report to Wei Jing? When my brother and father joined the army, it should be clear.

Qiao Yue was stunned, and then he looked unhappy, waved his hand, and said, “It’s all in the past, now what are you doing when you suddenly mention this?” No matter how the adult handled it back then, he always had his reason, is it possible for those of us who are sons to put their beaks on it? The more Qiao replied

, Qiao Ping’s guess was solid in his heart.

Ten years ago, after the Chen Jun, the Wei family was mourned, and Qiao Ping was sent by his father Qiao Gui to Yuyang to mourn. Above the Spirit Hall, the Wei family would draw their swords and angrily at Qiao Ping, scolding Qiao Gui for being a traitor and a giant and not keeping his word, and at that time, he did not send a letter at all, and just sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight. Qiao Ping was very frightened, thinking that he would not be able to walk out of the Wei family’s gate. Unexpectedly, Madame Xu not only scolded the general in front of him, but also gently reassured Qiao Ping. Qiao Ping returned to Yanzhou for the rest of his life and detailed the scene to his father Qiao Gui.

He still remembers clearly, his father frowned for a long time, and finally sighed: “The Wei family has such a wife, I am afraid that in the future it will be the disaster of my Qiao family!” In

the past ten years, Qiao Yue has always suspected that his father had indeed not reported it that year. His father was scheming and ambitious. At that time, although the Wei family’s forces were still in the northern Yanyou area and had no offense with Yanzhou Qiu, Wei Jing’s army was strict, and because of his meritorious service, he also had the name of Xianda, and the world’s famous people fled away, faintly showing the appearance of a male lord.

Perhaps his father considered that once the Wei family rose in the future, it would be unfavorable for the expansion of Yanzhou, so he pushed the boat along the water, and wanted to borrow Li Su’s hand, intending to remove a hidden danger.

“The second brother, the marriage of the two families, not only resolves the discord, but also relieves the current difficulties of Yanzhou, why is it inappropriate?” You don’t have to think about it.

Qiao Ping smiled bitterly: “Elder brother, the barbarian has been married as you wish, and the Yanzhou dilemma has also been temporarily solved.” From now on, I hope that the eldest brother will make great efforts to revitalize the momentum of my Qiao family, so that not only will it benefit the people of the county, but it will also be considered to be reliable to the Wei family.

Qiao Yue looked at him and said, “Natural, natural, second brother rest assured.” ”

……

Wei Liang led a group of Wei family soldiers to escort Xiao Qiao north, day and night, starting with nothing to do, when he was about to enter the boundary of Jizhou, one day, the sky would be dark, a line of cars and horses had not yet arrived at the station to settle down, just passed through a deserted and uninhabited tortuous road, he noticed that there seemed to be someone behind him, and immediately ordered to turn back to investigate, but the soldiers came back but said that there was no abnormality.

Wei Liang looked rude, but in fact, he was as careful as a hair, and he did not move, after throwing himself into the court that night, he personally guarded Xiao Qiao with a knife, and the next day he strengthened his vigilance, and the road became more and more hurried, and finally before the end of the year, he sent Xiao Qiao to Jizhou Xindu smoothly.

……

Jizhou’s former assassin Shi Gaotang, in the name of Xingxun controlling the government, maiming Zhongliang, and surviving in the name of the Han Dynasty, rebelled against the imperial court, killed those who did not obey around him, and established himself as emperor. The imperial court successively sent many roads of soldiers and horses to encircle and suppress, but Gao Tang had been in business for many years, the soldiers were strong and strong, and they also borrowed the geographical advantages of Jizhou, but they could not attack for a long time, and they had no choice but to attack Wei Shao. In the autumn of last year, Wei Shao personally raised an army into Jizhou.

When the other soldiers and horses came to attack earlier, when they came to attack, the people of Jizhou went to a layer of skin, and even the officers and soldiers surrounded the township, slaughtered the villagers, cut off their heads, and hung up on the matter of immediately pretending to be the head of the rebels to go back to receive merit. After the arrival of Wei Shao’s army, not only did qiu not commit any crime, but when they saw that there was no one to harvest the wheat in the field and fell to the ground, the soldiers instead disarmed and went to the ground, harvested and piled up at the mouth of the village to leave, and then arrested those stragglers who had fallen grass along the road to make a living by plundering. As soon as the news spread ten or ten hundred, it didn’t take long for the people who had originally escaped home and taken refuge to return one after another, and more young and strong volunteered to join the army, and along the way, the people were unusual, beating gongs and drums to welcome Wei Shao’s army into Hebei.

Wei Shao gathered the hearts and minds of the people, like a tiger adding wings, several wars, Gao Tang successively lost several cities, and finally shrunk in the letter and closed his house. Wei Shao was not in a hurry to attack, the garrison came down, and at the beginning of the year, after several months of siege, he attacked Xindu with a single blow, and Gao Tang was cornered and killed himself. The people of Jizhou heard the news and rushed to tell each other, pushing the elderly and respected elderly to hold the Book of Ten Thousand Peoples, and came forward on behalf of Wei Shao to stay. Wei Shao went up to the table, saying that there were still remnants of Gaotang outside the xindu, and there were a large number of them, so he complied with the people’s feelings and continued to garrison troops to sweep away the remnants of the rebellion. The imperial court was jealous of the expansion of his power, and at first did not allow it, so he ordered the withdrawal of troops, and Wei Shao obeyed the order to withdraw his troops. I did not want the number of Jizhou pastors sent by the imperial court to be blocked outside the city gate by the people, and the crowd was turbulent, and several times down, no one dared to take the Jizhou pastor again, and the court whipped the chief, and had no choice but to conform to the will of the people and let Wei Shao temporarily take the lead. Wei Shao entered Ji again, and the people were greeted by the people at that time, and it had been nearly a year now.

Recently, Wei Shao was in Xindu. Compared with Yuyang, Xindu is also closer, so the marriage place is set here.

……

The ancient city of Xindu is not very big, but in Jidi, everyone knows it.

Warring States Zhao Wei War, Zhao Guo lost Handan for three years, with the letter as a companion, the city built a letter palace, there is a first floor, named Tantai, built by a hundred years of sandalwood, more than ten zhang high, the platform can see the whole city, after hundreds of years, it still exists, after several repairs, the palace characters in the “Letter Palace” were removed, changed to a residence, and became the official residence of today’s ambassadors.

When Wei Shao was in Xindu, he settled in the old Xin Palace.

Little Joe’s wedding car slowly entered from the city gate.

Through the carriage window, she saw that the moat was not streaky, the main road paved with blue stones in the city was wide and flat, and could accommodate ten horses side by side, the houses on both sides were lined up, the street scenery of the city pool was not the same as the East County she was accustomed to, Yan Zhao ancient style, coming to her face, the men and women and children walking on the street found the big car she was riding, they stopped and looked at it, and their faces showed curiosity, as if they did not know that Wei Shao was going to marry a wife.

Under the curious gaze of the whole road, the carriage finally stopped in front of the xingong gate, and the armored guards at the door stood up, recognized Wei Liang, and opened the door to let it go.

Little Qiao was helped down, and finally broke away from the bumpy carriage for many days, and entered the Letter Palace with the dowry Chunniang and several maids.

When on the road, the journey is boring, in order to pass the time, Chunniang inevitably imagined a lot of scenes after arriving at the marriage place.

Now I saw with my own eyes that although the Letter Palace was large and the palace was like a palace, it was cold and clear inside, and Mo said that Chunniang’s original imagination of the celebration of preparing for marriage was that even no one had seen a few, and it took a moment for a woman, who was in her mid-forties, dressed in Zhou Zheng, with a solemn face, showing a bit of sternness. Behind this woman were several servant women, who claimed to be surnamed Zhong, and were ordered to greet the bride of the Qiao family here. Although the tone is also respectful, looking at Xiao Qiao’s gaze, it always makes people feel a little cold.

Xiao Qiao speculated that although this woman was a subordinate, she should have a certain status in the Wei family, so he called her “Zhong Niang” as usual.

“Don’t you dare, but the maid is only a person, and she is ordered to listen to the dispatch, and the lady can call the maid to sound the bell.”

Zhong Mi led Xiao Qiao to the place where he landed, named “Yuyang”, facing west and south, with excellent lighting.

Zhong Mi left two servant women for Xiao Qiao to send, saying that there was something to find herself, and after saying that she bowed to Xiao Qiao, turned around and left.

As soon as this Zhong Mi left, Chun Niang could not help but be disappointed, and she was even more distressed about Xiao Qiao, and she opened the two servant women left by Zhong Mi, and while she was busy laying a seat with the maid, she whispered a complaint, and finally said: “Then Wei Hou can be in the city now?” When is the wedding date?

ChunNiang did not understand, Xiao Qiao was also dazed, pounded his calves that had become a little sore because of the long-sitting carriage, got up and came to the window, pushed away to look out.

The courtyard is sparse. Near the Yuyang where she lived, the quaint high-rise building was pulled up from the ground, and a beam of sunlight just passed through the gap between the corners of the cornices, casting a circle of bright light spots, slightly shaking people’s eyes.

……

Every day, servants brought hot soup, and it was thoughtful, but Xiao Qiao did not seem to be able to get out of the door of the Letter Palace, and she seemed to be forgotten.

Zhong Mi did not appear after that day, and as for her husband, let’s call it a husband, the man named Wei Shao, she did not even show the shadow.

In the blink of an eye, it will be almost the end of the year. ChunNiang began to get anxious, caught the two servant women and inquired countless times, but the servant woman seemed to follow Zhong Mi, no matter what she asked, she shook her head, and then pressed the question, she knelt down and prostrated her head to ask for guilt, and Chun Niang’s anger was not light, and she wanted to go to the Zhong Mi to ask for a clear question, and was blocked by Xiao Qiao.

Come to peace. But it’s just the beginning. He wasn’t in a hurry, and she wasn’t in a hurry.

The Spring Festival of the seventh year of Dingkang is coming. When the sky is clear, Xiao Qiao climbs the sandalwood and can see the people in the nearby houses busy cleaning the houses, washing clothes and drying quilts, preparing for the Spring Festival.

It was also after coming here that Xiao Qiao learned that the Spring Festival, which is regarded as the most important festival of the year by later generations as an auspicious reunion, does not indicate auspiciousness in the simple cognition that has continued from ancient times to the present. Just like the bamboo knot, the bamboo is smooth, only the “knot” knot, this kind of day is called the festival. The so-called Spring Festival is the most unlucky day in spring. It is in order to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings that people spend the Spring Festival in the form of dust and reunion, and the degree of liveliness is far less than that of future generations.

Little Joe couldn’t go out. Of course, she herself had never thought of going out, but no one stopped her from climbing the sandalwood next to the residence.

The sandalwood is really high, even higher than the city walls. Standing on the observation deck on the top floor, you can see a wilderness outside the city walls as far as the eye can see.

……

With the last few days left until the end of the year, it was snowing.

At noon, the snow stopped, and the sun came out, which was exceptionally bright.

Little Joe didze off in the room for an afternoon, and in the evening, he climbed the sandalwood.

In recent days, she would climb the sandalwood at this time to wait for the sunset.

Beyond the city walls, there is an endless wilderness. Watching the sunset collect the last rays of light at the end of the field and finally be completely swallowed into the horizon, if she is a poet, she may be able to write a song that can be passed down to future generations.

This dusk was not much different from before, except that the roof was covered with a layer of snow like cotton, and the streets were dotted with black and white. The white one is the snow, and the black one is the true color of the road exposed by pedestrians trampling on the melted snow. As usual, people took advantage of the last moment before the light went down. Carrying, pushing carts, sprinting… A few children happily piled up the snow in the corner of the alley, and the laughter seemed to reach the tall building.

“It’s getting dark!” It’s so dry and cold! The wind is like a knife blowing! There is a brazier in the house, so go down! Chunniang was

fat, climbed dozens of stairs, and was a little breathless, persuading Xiao Qiao to add a fox fur cape to her.

Chunniang never left the warm climate of The East County in the first half of her life, and when she first arrived, some were not accustomed to the climate here, and they were eager to stay in the room from morning to night.

The wind on the roof of the sandalwood is indeed very large. Xiao Qiao folded his hands to his mouth, took a few sips of heating, pressed the frozen cold cheek with the remaining warm palm, and turned around to go down with Chunniang, when suddenly, in the direction of the distant sunset, there was a faint sound.

The sound was at first vague and muffled, and Little Joe thought he was hallucinating. But soon, the sound became clear, and it came a little unexpectedly, like a muffled thunder rising from the ground.

Little Joe couldn’t help but stop and turn his head to look into the distance again.

Beyond the city walls, the white wilderness that was originally dead and silent like a sleeping one suddenly seemed to wake up. At the end of the line of sight, a snow mist seemed to be swept up by the fierce wind, obscuring the sky, blocking the half-round sunset on the horizon, and if there was a flag, it loomed in the middle.

“What’s that?”

ChunNiang looked down at her line of sight, her eyes widened, and her voice couldn’t help but panic.

Little Joe continued to look.

The muffled thunder became clearer and clearer.

She finally saw clearly that it was a large group of cavalry, thousands of them, and was galloping rapidly in the direction of the city, and the closer it was, the momentum was already like thunder.

“Princely Return—”

“Princely Return—”

Just in the midst of this faint sound of horseshoes that seemed to shake the ground, a moment later, at the foot of the city gate, there was a sudden roar, and this cry was blown with the wind, one higher than the other. Sent to the ancient city of Xindu above the twilight sky, it also reached Xiao Qiao’s ear drums.

People on the street also heard it and stopped. After a brief pause, they rushed toward the city gate.

“The Prince returns! The Prince returns! The

whole ancient city was in a commotion, and more people began to run out of the house and rush to tell each other.

……

After Xiao Qiao arrived in Xindu and nestled in the Xin palace for half a month, at dusk after the snow, Wei Shao, the Marquis of Yan, finally returned to Xindu from Boling hundreds of miles away.

[End of This Chapter]