After hurriedly eating some food, Cao Yan walked out of Wutong Garden.

When he walked to the Orchid Courtyard, he hesitated for a moment, but still turned in. In his mind was Chu Yu's pleading, begging him to pretend not to know for the time being, and the provincial Li family was embarrassed.

Cao Yin had already returned, and was sitting cross-legged on the kang to eat, and Li was holding the rice bowl and sitting on the other side. Cao Yan glanced at the food on the table, except for a stewed chicken with bamboo shoots, the others were all plain seasonal vegetables.

Seeing his son come in and go out to dress up, Li put down the dishes and chopsticks in his hand, got up and said, "This is going out?" Did you eat the skewer box I sent someone, remember your favorite food before, and now I happened to be fasting, so that people made vegan. ”

Cao Yan's heart warmed, so that he didn't look at Li's waist, stepped forward to help her shoulder and said: "My son ate four, Chu Yu used two, even Tianyou and Hengsheng also love to eat." The mother sat down to eat first, and the son came to take a look and left. As he spoke, he pushed Li to the edge of the kang.

Cao Yin put down his chopsticks and said to Cao Yin: "Although the Thirteenth Master is not going to the court now, there is such a big thing in the northwest, and I don't know if I can't prepare it." Earlier, he also paid attention to martial arts, you have to know in your heart, and those who can be comforted still have to be comforted. ”

Cao Yan was stunned when he heard this, he really didn't think of this, and hurriedly said: "Yes, my son knows!" Speaking of this, he looked at Li with a somewhat lackluster expression.

Before, I thought that Li was tired and thirsty because of the change of seasons, but now I know that it is because of pregnancy.

Li Shi was a little confused by Cao Yan, and said with a smile: "What do you see, I have flowers on my face?" ”

Cao Yan stood sideways behind Li, pinched her shoulder, and said, "Seeing that my mother is not good-looking, let's invite a doctor to come over and take a look." It is said that the body has been conditioned well, and it is also a happy event for the whole family. ”

When Li Shi heard the "happy event", he looked a little uncomfortable, and said: "What's there to see, my body, I don't know yet, it's just that it's hot." ”

Listening to his wife and children, Cao Yin also looked at Li Shi carefully, nodded and said, "It's a little unenergetic, and you have been lying down a lot lately." Or take a doctor to come and take a look, the children in the province are worried. ”

Li Shi responded vaguely, Cao Yan saw that she was uncomfortable, and she didn't want to say much, so she said a few more words to Cao Yin and went out.

Li sent his son outside the house and watched him out of the yard before returning to the house.

Cao Yin saw that all the vegetables were placed in front of Li, and he only ate two bites of the golden fried gourd box, and only drank japonica rice porridge with pickled melons.

He couldn't help frowning and said, "How can you eat these two bites?" Even if you are a good person, you are so hungry that you don't have the strength! As he spoke, he stretched out his chopsticks, took a chicken leg, and sent it to Li's bowl.

Smelling the smell of flesh, Li's face couldn't help but turn pale, and he was busy covering his mouth and retching.

Cao Yin's chopsticks stopped in mid-air, turned his head sideways, and looked at Li in confusion.

Li's eldest maid Xiuying and Xiujuan were originally waiting for the master and the mother to eat in the house, and when they saw this, Xiuying hurriedly poured half a cup of tea and sent it to Li's mouth, saying, "Mrs. press it quickly." ”

Li Shi took it, and drank it all in three sips, and his face was better.

Seeing Cao Yin looking at him, Li's somewhat pale face "brushed", red to the root of his ears, but he didn't dare to look at Cao Yin.

Her eyes wandered, and she only muttered, "Master......"

Cao Yin had already gotten off the kang and looked at the loose gown on Li's body, and his face was unpredictable.

Li only felt that his body was weak, his hands and feet were at a loss, and he was ashamed that he couldn't do it.

Not to mention that now there are grandchildren, grandchildren, and granddaughters, and the eldest daughter Cao Jiashi is now three or four months pregnant, is this going to be confinement with her daughter?

Cao Yin swallowed hard, stared at Li's waist, and asked, "Is this ...... This...... With ......"

The Li family couldn't stand it anymore, and he didn't dare to look at Cao Yin, so he nodded and flew into the back room.

Cao Yin's expression froze, and then he laughed out loud, and chased after him with his hands, his voice was very loud than before: "Madam, madam, great joy, let me take a look......"

When the embroidered warbler and the embroidered juan saw each other, they both covered their mouths with handkerchiefs and laughed, but they were both relieved in their hearts.

As personal maids, they knew the truth about the Li family, and they also helped hide it for more than a month.

Seeing that the Li family was about to show their pregnancy, they were also worried. If this can't be seen, it will not be good to ask a doctor to recuperate, and it is really reassuring...... Cao Yan deliberately emphasized that Li's body was uncomfortable in front of Cao Yin, just to remind his father to pay attention to it, and the provincial mother couldn't erase it and wanted to hide it.

Riding on horseback, Cao Yan still wondered in his heart, if his father didn't find out after a few days, he would want to tell the truth.

Li Shi looked lacking in energy, but his face was plumper than before. Cao Yanyuan thought it was because he was getting old and getting lucky, but after a closer look just now, he found that it was a little swollen.

This is not a joke, you need to be extra careful.

One time less, when I arrived at the Thirteenth Elder Brother's Mansion, the sky was already slightly dark.

Zhang Rui, the chief eunuch beside the thirteenth elder brother, looked outside the mansion, saw that Cao Yan had arrived, and hurriedly approached and said: "Cao Eyu, you have arrived, our master has been talking about it several times!" ”

Cao Yan took the reins of the horse, handed the reins to Xiao Man, and said with a smile: "There is the chief of Laoda, and the yamen is delayed, so it's too late!" ”

Zhang Rui led the way and said, "Our master is waiting in the hall, and the slave and maid lead Cao Eryu over." ”

Cao Yan nodded and followed Zhang Rui into the gate.

In the living room, the thirteenth elder brother touched the door of his head with his hand and walked around, his expression was slightly heavy.

Seeing that Cao Yan had arrived, he stopped, with a smile on his face, raised his eyebrows and said, "Why did we come here with our kung fu, and there was a delay in the yamen?" ”

He was born in Kangxi for twenty-five years, and he is thirty years old this year.

Among the princes of Kangxi, except for the eldest brother who was imprisoned in Kangxi for 47 years, he has not yet seen it, and the other elder elder brother Cao Yan has seen it.

Speaking of appearance, except for the round face of the eighth elder brother, unlike other princes, most of the others have inherited Kangxi's long face. Among them, dozens of elder brothers and thirteen elder brothers are the most handsome.

Speaking of which, Kangxi treats these two princes differently, and I don't know if there is any love for the house and Wu.

The tenth elder brother was the king of the county at the beginning, although the surname was unruly, but Kangxi rarely reprimanded. The thirteenth elder brother has been by Kangxi's side since he was twelve or thirteen years old.

Whether it is the southern tour or the northern luck, until the abolition of the prince for more than ten years, he has always been one of Kangxi's favorite princes.

Hearing the question of the thirteenth elder brother, Cao Yan retracted his thoughts, nodded, and said, "Yes, a few adults asked about the situation of each division today, and it was only after it was darkened. ”

The thirteenth elder brother listened attentively, and saw that Cao Yan didn't say much, and was faintly disappointed, and said, "Dinner is useless, right, Zhuangzi just sent He Xian'er, let's drink two cups?" ”

When Cao Yan came out, he was already half-full, but when he saw that the thirteenth elder brother was looking forward to it, it was not easy to ruin his interest, so he nodded with a smile and said: "The weather is getting hotter, and I am thinking about this, but I am going to disturb the thirteenth master today!" ”

The thirteenth elder brother smiled when he heard this, and instructed Zhang Rui to take someone to set up a banquet and place it in the flower hall.

The two guests and hosts sat down, and the thirteenth elder brother waved his hand, and sent the waiters down, leaving only Zhang Rui waiting outside the hall.

On the table, there are sliced fresh lotus roots, peeled fresh water chestnuts and lotus seeds, as well as a plate of snails and a plate of dried fried small fish. There is also a watermelon cup with diced melons, plums, mulberries, peaches, apricots and other seasonal fruits.

The thirteenth elder brother held the bottle of wine that had been opened in his hand and said, "This is still the foreign wine you sent two months ago, and we will drink it today." As he spoke, he took a glass of wine, poured two glasses, and sent one glass to Cao Yan.

Cao Yan took it with both hands, and couldn't help but shake his head when he looked at the pink wine in the glass.

It's really strange, although the river of time is endless, but there is always something in the dark.

Just as this wine and this glass are just ordinary things three hundred years later, they don't seem abrupt three hundred years ago.

The thirteenth elder brother picked up the glass and said with a smile: "Come, let's do it first." ”

Cao Yan raised his glass and touched his glass, and both of them drank all the wine in their cups.

The thirteenth elder brother tasted the taste of wine in his mouth, shook his head, and said: "This foreigner's stuff may not be all good, and the wine we make here doesn't have to be so bad." Speaking of which, our Daqing soju tastes mellow and energetic. ”

Cao Yan had already picked up the wine bottle and got up to fill the cup of the Thirteenth Elder Brother and himself.

"Well, if there are good grapes, the wine will be made, and the specifier is not bad." Cao Yan put down the wine bottle and replied with a smile.

The thirteenth elder brother didn't answer, took a piece of fresh lotus root with chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and looked at Cao Yan with hesitation.

Cao Yan took the wine glass and took another small pee, but he was puzzled in his heart.

Looking at the demeanor of the thirteenth elder brother, could it be that he was not for the opening of a foreign goods store, and he was really concerned about the situation in the northwest?

Thinking of this, Cao Yan's heart moved, pretending not to care, turned his head to look out the window, and said, "It's dark, I don't know if my second child has arrived in Yanqing?" ”

"Oh?" The thirteenth elder brother was quite surprised and asked, "Cao Song is out of Beijing?" Isn't he working outside the guard's office? ”

Cao Yan told Cao Song that Cao Song was ordered to accompany the other nine guards to send Shangshu Fu Ning'an to Lanzhou, and as for the Dzungar Khan King's plot to make the Alabutan soldier Hami, and Hami's return to the king to ask for help, these "previous situations" were also explained one by one.

The thirteenth elder brother listened carefully, sometimes frowning, sometimes indignant, but melancholy.

After Cao Yan finished speaking, the thirteenth elder brother was silent for a long time.

After a long while, he smiled bitterly and said, "Cao Yan, it's hard for you to tell me these things like this without leaving a trace." What's wrong with me, mother-in-law and mother-in-law? Today, I sent people to look for you, just because I heard the news of the Dzungar chaos and wanted to ask what happened. ”

As he spoke, he drank all the wine in front of him. But he choked, and he leaned down and coughed vigorously. The wine poured down to his front, and it was red.

"Huh! Xu is in a hurry! The thirteenth elder brother wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve and said with a smile, as if he was telling Cao Yan and talking to himself.

Cao Yan looked at him like this, and didn't know how to be relieved. Afraid that the thirteenth elder brother would be embarrassed, he bowed his head and remained silent, only using chopsticks to compete with the plate of lotus seeds in front of the table.

It took a long time for Cao Yan to pick up one of the round lotus seeds and send it to his mouth.

The fragrance of lotus seeds is mixed with the bitter fragrance of lotus seed cores, which has a unique flavor.

The thirteenth elder brother had already cleaned up and returned to normal, and said: "This Dzungar has always been cruel, and the scheming Alabutan is also the nephew of Galdan, and the surname of the bandit is so. Since he dared to commit Hami, he was designated to be well prepared. I heard that there was a heavy snowfall in the north last year, and the Dzungar people have always lacked livelihood, how can this hungry and red-eyed wolf be so easy to deal with? There are more than 6,000 troops sent by the imperial court to rescue, although it is a lot, but it may not be good to go thousands of miles away to meet the battle in other places. ”

Cao Yan listened, nodded and said: "What the Thirteenth Master said is, presumably the Long Live Lord also knows this, if there is no accident, there should be a will to go on in these days, and the Khalkha Mongolia and Qinghai Erlut Mongolia will also send troops to fight!" ”

"Qinghai Eruts?" The thirteenth elder brother hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do you drive wolves and tigers?" They are from the same origin as Alabutan, if the inside and the outside are combined, then Qinghai is not dangerous? ”

Cao Yan didn't think about this, the Mongolian Department of Qinghai was divided into several Taiji, and the relationship with the imperial court was quite close. There are also many Eruts who are officials and eunuchs in Beijing.

The Mongols are no longer the Mongols of the early years, and in the centuries of power struggle, the descendants of these golden families have killed each other, sowing countless seeds of hatred.

After the Manchu Qing entered the customs, in order to guard against the huge Han people, they recruited the Mongols to be their allies.

In the early years, the Mongolian concubines occupied the harem of the Qing Dynasty, and the five concubines of Emperor Taizong Taiji in the past were all noble daughters from various Mongolian departments, and the two concubines of Shizu Shunzhi were also from the Mongolian Horqin Department.

In the Kangxi Dynasty, there were fewer Mongolian nobles entering the palace, but most of them were married to the royal palace.

From before the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, from the time of Nurhachi, the Gege of the Aixin Jueluo family began to caress the Mongols. After nearly a hundred years of hard work, the bloodline of the golden family on the grassland and the bloodline of the Aixin Jueluo family gradually merged.

Today, the princes of various Mongolian tribes, county kings, beylers, and beziers are mostly nephews of the Qing royal family.

From the initial living in pursuit of water and grass to the construction of a gorgeous princess's mansion, living a luxurious life no less than that of the Central Plains, the Mongols have lost the blood surname of the goshawk and become the dogs and horses of the imperial court.

After the thirteenth elder brother finished speaking, he stood up and said to Cao Yan: "The Mongols are available, you can't trust them, and Huang Ama will also be wary of this." Even if the Mongols were ordered to send troops, they would make the Eight Banners go to Hami again. Otherwise, the Mongols had more troops than the imperial court, and wouldn't it be annoying if there was a rebellion before the battle? There is no place to put the face of the imperial court. The ambition of the Mongols must be guarded against! ”

Listening to the thirteenth elder brother talking, Cao Yan couldn't help but be stunned.

He said that the Mongols sent troops, and the fourteenth elder brother also mentioned it in the military department in the afternoon, and he also had the same view as the thirteenth elder brother, thinking that the imperial court should send another group of men and horses to Hami to deter the Mongols.

These two brothers, one lost power and the other was proud, but their sense of smell for war was equally sensitive.

Compared with the fourteenth elder brother who was not famous in the early years, the thirteenth elder brother can be described as both civil and military. His knowledge was taught by Kangxi himself, "poetry and writing, all are sensitive and fresh", on the side of martial arts, he also emerged as a teenager, and he was one of the best among the princes, "good at riding and shooting, and his hair must hit, and he gallops like flying".

When the thirteenth elder brother was a teenager, he also killed a tiger, so he was praised by Kangxi as "desperate thirteen lang".

Seeing that Cao Yan's expression was as usual, and there was no surprise at all, the thirteenth elder brother thought about it for a while and said, "What, someone mentioned this?" …… But the fourteenth elder brother? ”

Cao Yan nodded and said, "The Fourteenth Master did mention it in the afternoon, and looking at that meaning, the Fourteenth Master wanted to ask for orders to lead the troops." Several other princes are also eager to try, presumably there will be news in the past two days. ”

The expression of the thirteenth elder brother froze, and after a while, he turned around, looked at Cao Yan and said, "Cao Yan, I also want to give Huang Ama a request for his life, how about it?" ”

Cao Yan hesitated for a moment, and said bluntly: "Although the Thirteenth Master is enthusiastic, but in the eyes of others, I am afraid that I will think that the Thirteenth Master is going to win the merit, which is really not comprehensive." ”

The thirteenth elder brother's face turned pale and murmured, "Emperor Ama, will you also look at me like this?" ”

Cao Yan thought for a moment and said, "I don't know what the Lord thinks. Those clan princes who are looking forward to military exploits are afraid that they don't want the thirteenth master to take the lead. The thirteenth master still thought about it again, the province was thankless, and he was wronged again. ”

The thirteenth elder brother clenched his fists and said, "What haven't you survived all these years, what else is there to worry about?" ”

Cao Yan couldn't help frowning when he saw that he had already made up his mind in his words. The final outcome of this war is unknown, but there should be nothing good left on the side of the imperial court, otherwise Alabutan would not have the vitality to rebel again a few years later.

"Thirteenth Master, why don't you wait and see?" Cao Yan didn't want the thirteenth elder brother's already difficult situation, and the impact of this war became even more unbearable, so he couldn't help but persuade again: "The people's hearts have not been decided for the past two days, and in two more days, if they can't keep it, they will be allowed to come down." ”

The thirteenth elder brother smiled and waved his hand, and said, "When I have the quasi-letter, I will ask for the battle again, won't it become an afterthought?" Don't persuade me, why are you also a mother-in-law? This is my wish, the horse leather shroud, it is better than dying in this stone coffin. ”

The thirteenth elder brother has lost his previous melancholy and hesitation, and only his face is full of perseverance and determination.

At this point, Cao Yan didn't have much to say, so he had to diverge and say: "Thirteenth master, the opening on the eighteenth day, is it still as usual?" ”

The thirteenth elder brother nodded and said, "It's business as usual, and there is no reason for us to mess up ourselves for the sake of a Dzungar." Not to mention that it is just a force, and it is Hami, which is thousands of miles away from the capital. Even if he is like Galdan, when he arrives in Uzhumuqin, the Thirteenth Master has the confidence to beat him up......"

* When he came back from the Thirteenth Elder Brother's Mansion, it was already the beginning of the year, and Cao Yan's mood was not as optimistic as that of the Thirteenth Elder Brother.

Through these years of cold observation, Cao Yan also knows a little about Kangxi's surname. Kangxi is a cold-blooded emperor and a humane emperor.

These two seemingly contradictory surnames are intertwined to create Kangxi's imperial authority.

He is very tolerant of those who see him, and sometimes even unprincipledly indulgent. For example, for the Kali of that year, for the Cao and Li families.

For those who don't look down on him, the coldness and meanness he exudes also makes people shudder.

Although the thirteenth elder brother is his son, which is not his son, which is not his son?

The thirteenth elder brother's enthusiasm may not be able to warm the emperor's suspicion, and the result may only be disappointment and sadness.

Although Cao Yan sympathizes with the Thirteenth Elder Brother, after all, he is an outsider, and he has said everything he can say, and the rest is to respect the choice of the Thirteenth Elder Brother...... Entering the alley, when passing by Dongfu, Cao Yan saw Zhaojia's carriage entering the mansion. Cao Shuo was originally following on horseback, and when he saw Cao Shuo, he dismounted and came to say goodbye.

"Where did this go, and we're just coming back?" Cao Yan looked inside the gate and said to Cao Shuo: "Your second brother is on a business trip, you have to be careful at home, pay attention to the door, the weather is dry, and you must be careful to walk in the water." ”

"I went to my uncle's house, and I went there later, so I came back. The eldest brother can rest assured, the second brother has already explained before leaving, and the younger brother is provincial. Cao Shuo bowed and replied......*

(To be continued)