Seongnam, Choi House.

The afterglow of the setting sun adds a golden veil to the tiled roof of this large mansion. Taiwei Cui Lie finished handling a day's government affairs in the Sangong Mansion, took a sedan chair, and returned to his own mansion.

At the door of the mansion, a young man in a brocade robe stepped forward quickly, bowed and saluted, and said, "Uncle is hard. ”

Cui Lie stepped off the sedan chair and nodded with satisfaction when he saw the young man. Then, under the guidance of the young man, they walked into the house together.

The servants and maidservants in the house all call him 'Xu Gongzi'.

This 'Xu Gongzi' is not born to the master, but a side branch of the Cui family, who only came to Luoyang two years ago, even so, he is deeply trusted by the master.

He would stay at the door of the mansion every afternoon, waiting for the return of the head of the house, and preparing everything in the mansion properly, which can be said to be a very capable person.

Of course, the reason why Cui Xu was able to gain Cui Lie's trust is that there are some little-known credits.

The Son of Heaven sold officials, and the price of the three public was 10 million yuan.

Cui Lie wants to be the third prince, but his face is not easy to speak. So Cui Xu took a line from it, and bribed Mrs. Cheng, the Son of Heaven's mother, and bought Cui Lie the position of Situ for only five million dollars.

Soon after, Cui Lie was worshiped as the chief lieutenant of the three princes of the imperial court.

At that time, the Xiliang rebels were attacking the fortifications, and the imperial court was deeply worried. Cui Lie, as a lieutenant, proposed to give up Liangzhou, but this proposal was strongly opposed by hundreds of officials, and Fu Xie, the speaker of the council, was even more angry, and scolded angrily on the spot: "Old horseman, you are a Hanchen in vain!" ”

The Liangzhou incident, coupled with the previous buying of officials, pushed Cui Lie to the forefront and was despised and spurned by the people of the world.

At this point, the fame gradually receded.

After a long time, Cui Lie was also a little uneasy in his heart. One day, he asked his son Cui Jun: "I am the third duke, what do people outside say about me now?" ”

The son Cui Jun replied: "My father had a good reputation when he was young, and he successively served as Taishou and Jiuqing, and everyone thinks that my father should be the third official. And now that your father has become a boss, the world is very disappointed in you. ”

Cui Lie asked, "Why is this?" ”

The son's answer was very straightforward: "Because everyone dislikes you for having a copper smell." ”

Cui Lie was furious when he heard this, and he raised his cane to hit him.

Cui Jun was the general of the tiger ben at the time, wearing a military attache uniform, and fled in embarrassment. Cui Lie chased and scolded behind: "Dead soldiers!

Father hits and runs, is this a filial son! Cui Jun turned around and said: "Shun treats his father, the small cane will be beaten, and the big cane will run, this is not unfilial!" ”

Cui Lie was ashamed and stopped.

…………

Entering the mansion, Cui Lie sat down.

Cui Xu summoned the servant, brought the hot soup that had been prepared a long time ago, held it in both hands and respectfully handed it to Cui Lie, and said with concern in his mouth: "Uncle, you seem to be very tired, is there something uncomfortable?" Why don't my nephew go and ask a doctor to come and see you. ”

Looking at Cui Xu's concerned expression, Cui Lie took the hot soup, shook his head slightly, and sighed: "If Jun'er is half sensible with you, I will die, and I can rest assured." ”

mentioned the word dead for no reason, Cui Xulu noticed the unusualness in this, his eyes rolled, and he asked tentatively: "Uncle, have you encountered something uncomfortable today?" Let's listen to it and let your nephew do the work for you. ”

"You can't help me."

Cui Lie shook his head, but still told Cui Xu. First, he has regarded this distant nephew as a confidant, and second, he also wants to find someone to confide in.

Cui Xu listened to everything that happened in the Chongde Hall this morning from his uncle, although his face remained unchanged, his heart had already set off a turbulent wave.

"Zijiu, did you say that I was wrong to buy an official at the beginning, and I was scolded by the world." Cui Lie sighed heavily, brought the hot soup in his hand to his mouth, and put it down again.

The old man in front of him is so lonely and lonely, Cui Xu should be happy. But somehow, he didn't have much joy, but just said: "Uncle, the court is now in charge of traitors, and the third prince is better than falling into the hands of those treacherous villains, so you should take the responsibility, uncle." Why care about other people's opinions, just have a clear conscience. ”

Hearing these words, Cui Lie felt a lot better, waved his hand, and motioned for Cui Xu to go down first, he wanted to be alone.

In the middle of the night, candles were still lit in Cui Xu's room.

That night, Cui Xu wrote bamboo slips in the house, and he had already figured out the route of the patrol in the house, and took advantage of the night to easily find out the outside of the house.

The black shadow waiting outside the mansion bowed down and hugged his fists, he was one of the guards who followed Cui Xu into Beijing back then.

Cui Xu handed the letter to this person, his face was slightly solemn, and he ordered in a low voice: "Go to Youzhou and hand it over to Mr." ”

The black shadow nodded in response, took the bamboo slip, and quickly disappeared into the night.

In the next period of time, the Son of Heaven did not go to the early court, and the matter of discussing the establishment of the prince was put on hold for the time being.

On this night, the Son of Heaven, who had not ascended for a long time, went to Yong'an Houtai.

Standing on the high arched bridge, the Son of Heaven stood with his hands in his hands, and the cold moonlight sprinkled on his skinny pale face, adding a bit of coldness.

In Luoyang City, the lights of thousands of homes are in full view.

The old eunuch who was waiting beside him leaned and secretly glanced at the young son of the Han family, and found that this young emperor who had grown up watching since he was a child, this moment made him feel extremely strange.

"Father, has my word gotten out?" The emperor who was looking at the railing retracted his gaze, but there was a momentum of surrender in his flat tone.

"Back to Your Majesty, the old slave has already sent someone to Youzhou, and I think it should be able to reach General Lu's hands in the near future." Zhang Rang replied in a low voice, unaware that the cavalry he sent had already been killed that day, and the emperor's edict had also fallen into the hands of others.

The Son of Heaven let out an 'um' and said no more. He was waiting for Lu Bu to return, and as long as he had this sharp sword, he would be able to cut down all the disobedient.

"Your Majesty, the hour is not early, you better go back to the palace and rest early. It's windy and cold-friendly. The old eunuch reminded in a whisper.

The Son of Heaven knew that Zhang Rang was doing this for his own good, so he withdrew his gaze and prepared to go back to the palace to sleep, but he didn't move his steps yet. Suddenly, I saw a pillar of red light blooming in a house in the north of the city, forming a colorful group, reflecting the whole sky, like a dragon pattern, rushing up.

This is a vision that he has never seen in all the years he has been on the throne.

The vision lasted only a short time before it dissipated.

"Your Majesty, I want to see you."

At this time, Duan Jue, one of the ten permanent attendants, led a civilian official to the Son of Heaven.

Wangqi Cheng, a subordinate official of Taichang Qing's Taishi, has an annual salary of only 200 stones. The main job is to look up at the starry sky and observe the flow and direction of the stars and the 'qi'.

According to the process, an official of Wangqicheng's level is not qualified to worship the Son of Heaven. However, the stakes were very high, and Duan Jue was extremely shocked when he heard it, so he brought him to the Son of Heaven.

"What?" The Son of Heaven did not turn around, and leaned on the railing with both hands.

Wangqi Cheng was afraid of the wrath of the Son of Heaven, knelt on the ground first, and kowtowed categorically: "Your Majesty, according to what the ministers have observed in recent days, the north of the city is pregnant with the breath of the Son of Heaven. I'm afraid that it will soon come to the world, if this person is born, the person who will destroy my Han Jiangshan Society in the future will also be this person! ”

After the words fell, there was no more sound, and Yong'an Houtai fell into a dead silence.

After a long time, they heard the order of the Son of Heaven on the railing, and his tone was even colder and colder than his face: "Tell Jian Shuo that all pregnant women in the north of the city will be imprisoned and killed!" ”