Chapter 1: The Harvest of Early Autumn
At the beginning of autumn, above the northern plains of Kyoto in the Kingdom of Qing, a cloud shadowed the sky with light at first and then without. The people working in the fields didn’t raise their heads, they weren’t interested in enjoying the wonderful tricks the heavens played with the shape of the clouds and the refraction of the sunlight, they just wanted to collect those golden crops in the ground before that rain cloud drifted in from the sky. This year’s rainfall was a bit on the heavy side, and I heard that the big river in the south was rising strongly, but for these people living in the northern part of the frontier, whether the riverbank was well or not had little to do with them, they were more worried about these damned splashing rains and whether they would delay the year’s harvest.
Occasionally, a few fat field mice fearlessly passed under the farmers’ feet, snatching the scattered grains in the fields. The scythes in the farmers’ hands were too lazy to deal with these scourges, and they just concentrated on harvesting the grain. On both sides of the official road, in a large continuous rice field, those swish and swish sound of cutting grain gradually converged into one place, forming a kind of neat and wonderful sound that could make the smellers feel some kind of satisfaction.
Those lean and naked farmers, facing the soil and the sky, displaying the small cracks on their bodies cut out by the leaves to the indifferent heaven to see, but did not notice that there was a caravan on the official highway that was so long that it seemed as if it could not see the end of the caravan was slowly traveling over.
Qing’s mission to Northern Qi finally made good on its promise to go in the spring and return in the fall, and made it back to the country in mid-September.
Just back when the caravan but than to go to the team to look more huge, in addition to the North Qi side in order to express the sincerity of the return gift in addition to the officials to send the bride and ceremonial weapons is quite a lot, enough to see the North Qi court for the importance of the princess to get married. This is, after all, the first marriage between the two countries, who does not know this kind of women’s diplomacy can bring what kind of turnaround to this continent that has just been quiet for twenty years.
In addition to the gorgeous carriage where the Grand Princess of Beiqi was, there was another carriage in the long caravan that attracted more attention, because no matter whether it was compared to the colorful carriage of Beiqi that sent the bride to the bridegroom, or compared to the black carriage of the court of Qing Dynasty, that carriage was much shabbier, and even though the horse pulling the carriage was a stallion, even the head of the horse swayed a bit breathlessly.
The members of the delegation knew that it was because the carriage was too heavy, on top of which were the books that Zhuang Mo Han, a great man of Northern Qi, had given to the ambassador Fan Xian before his death, and those books were insignificant, but they were heavier than the dowry jewels of the Grand Princess. Whenever they saw this carriage, many members of the delegation couldn’t help but feel a bit of respect, not only because of the glow on Lord Fan’s face, but also because of the admiration for Lord Fan’s style of learning – everyone knew clearly that ever since passing through a few small countries in the North, and entering the border of the country outside of Cangzhou, Lord Fan had been locking himself up in that carriage, reading books day and night, not even eating or drinking. reading books, going so far as to not even be very willing to come down for food and rest.
“It’s impossible to live this life.”
Fan Xian sighed, placing the book of poetry from the previous dynasty in his hands back into the box behind him, and the curtains were closed by the oncoming wind, plunging the carriage into grayness. Can’t see the expression on his face, but listening to this voice, we can also tell that our Lord Fan is not very willing to stay in the car to pretend to be a diligent literary master of the world.
This journey to the south was incredibly smooth and safe, and after the Grand Princess of Northern Qi got rid of the sadness of Zhuang Mo Han’s death, she also returned to the reserve and self-respect that a nobleman should have, and didn’t bring him any trouble. On the contrary, at the post station and in the city guard’s residence, Fan Xian was occasionally able to speak with the beautiful-looking Princess, chatting about more ordinary things and dispelling the loneliness of the journey. Although he as a courtier dare not have any oversteps of etiquette, but to a girl family, than face up to those cold-faced swordsmen and speech Bingyun that block of ice to be much better.
But this situation, after crossing Cangzhou, finally ended. Not that returning to the land of Qing, Fan Xian would not dare to speak with this future daughter-in-law of the Grand Prince, but because there was suddenly one more person in the mission, and that person’s identity was a bit special, and his origin was a bit strange, and he had some unclear relations with a certain benevolent brother in the mission. That person has been staying in the carriage of the Grand Princess, and Fan Xian didn’t want to see her miserable appearance with tears every day, so he had to hide in the carriage himself, leaving the problem to Yan Bingyun, the little Yan Gongzi.
Along the way there was some intelligence coming in from the Supervisory Court, and other than the fact that there were still no clues to those odd murders being investigated in the south, there wasn’t anything special going on. No one expected that the news that shocked everyone the most came from the north.
Shen Chong died, in a rainy night, under the protection of thirteen Jin Yi Wei masters, by the military general Uesugi Tiger holding a lance sniped on the street in the sedan chair.
The commanding officer of the Imperial Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division, the biggest secret agent head of Northern Qi after Sean, died in such a vain! This seemingly absurd news had been proven to be incredibly true. Fan Xian rubbed his temples and gave a bitter smile, thinking of Wang Qinian’s description in that intelligence.
The intelligence said that on that rainy night, Uesugi Tiger was covered in black armor, holding a long spear, on the long street, galloping on horseback, picking the head of Shen Chong in the sedan chair with one shot, sweeping the long spear again, ripping the body of the guards around Shen Chong, closing the spear and heading back to the house, the rain on the long street seemed to have dared to fall down – this kind of momentum is really a bit horrifying. An absolute powerhouse on the ninth rank, with such strong means, directly tearing apart all intrigues and calculations, and starting to challenge the authority of the entire imperial court purely by force, this is not a word that can be described as reckless, it should be called violent!
I didn’t think that Uesugi Tiger would be such a barbaric character, Fan Xian knew that he was still underestimating the iron blooded nature of the army practiced on the battlefield, and he couldn’t help but feel that his head ached more and more, and his fingertips couldn’t be relieved by rubbing them any more. After all, many people know that he played a dishonorable role in Sean’s escape from prison, even if Tan Wu did not shout “kill me Fan Xian” before committing suicide, it is expected that the Uesugi tiger will also Sean’s death, the South Koreans betrayal of the battlefield, these two accounts, both of which are counted on his head.
Fan Xian can only hope that the Southern Qing Dynasty and Northern Qi will continue to be friendly for generations to come, never fight again, and never give Uesugi Tiger a chance to fight against himself on the battlefield.
Of course, Shen Chong’s death there are still many doubts, after all, he is the power of one side of the Jinyiwei chief, even if the upper Sugihu how violent, the military how angry, want to kill him in the street, but also how easy thing, and after the reaction of the court of the Northern Qi seems to confirm this point. After a night of silence in the palace, just the Shangsugi tiger confinement in the house, the title of the whole, another decree is shocking straight to Shen Chong over the years of many violations of the law prohibited things, that the decree on a stroke, is just dead Shen Chong thrown directly into the sewage tank, so that he will never be able to turn over again.
Shen House was then copied, Jin Yiwei internal cleansing, the military raised eyebrows, although the teenage emperor remained silent, but think the heart must also rejoice, because through this matter, the Uesugi tiger for the royal resentment should be less. However, like a tiger like Uesugi tiger, is not really a good role, alone see the palace will still be Uesugi tiger forbidden in the capital, we know that they are still in the headache in the end how to resettle him. Kill, naturally, can not kill, no one is willing to withstand the military backlash; put, also can not be put, the tiger returned to the mountain, who knows what will be the aftermath.
Fan Xian shook his head, did not think that Haitang listened to his words, Shen Chong’s hand actually came so fast, so violent. However, after the image of Uesugi Tiger killing Shen Chong in the rainy night was organized in his mind, he, who should have been worried about his own safety, had a trace of pleasure and appreciation for no reason. When Uesugi Tiger slowly raised his black lance on his horse, ready to harvest Shen Chong’s life, there was no more fear of the world in his eyes. The night rain on the long street, how arrogantly it was falling?
He lifted the curtain, did not call the driver to stop directly jumped down, stood on top of the official road, waved his hand to fan away the oncoming yellow wind, looked at both sides of the official road is working hard farmers, the heart of the slightest movement, will be those things in the north of the back of the mind. Those things can no longer affect him, and he can’t affect it for the time being, so he has to throw it away.
Raising his head to look at the sometimes bright and sometimes dark sky, he squinted his eyes, knowing that he should be able to make it to Longquanyi within today, and slightly put down his heart. With the princess being married far away, the journey should be much slower than it is now, but Fan Xian had a hidden worry in his heart about the pile, so with no one in the mission daring to speak out, he sped up the journey by quite a bit. Seeing that soon will enter the capital, he finally stopped thinking about his relatives at home, tomorrow should be able to see Wan Er, I do not know her body better or not, as for the younger sister side, if the five bamboo uncle in Kyoto, should be temporarily unhindered is.
On the latter carriage, he glanced at Yan Bingyun who was pretending to be asleep, frowned and rebuked: ”The things that you have caused, after all, you have to go to solve, this is immediately going to enter the capital, is it possible to let her follow the princess all the time? If we let the Northern Qi side know that we are harboring their felons, how will you let the court account for it?”
Yan Bingyun opened his eyes, but he inclined his head to not look at his superior, looking out the car window at the golden rice paddies, a hint of struggle flashed in his eyes, but in the end, he just said faintly, “Shen Chong’s death is just a step in the Emperor of Northern Qi’s seizure of power, as for her death, I believe that the Northern Qi side won’t care about it.”
Fan Xian looked at him and suddenly softened his tone, “If you don’t care about her death or life either, then leave it to me.”
Yan Bingyun slowly turned back, the stern color in his eyes appearing and disappearing, “Killing her will do us no good.”
“To give up is to give up.” Fan Xian shook his head, “I had thought that you weren’t an unusual character, but I didn’t expect that you would be so self-deluded as well.”
Yan Bingyun did not reply, turning her head away in silence, looking out the window at the farmers harvesting a heavy bounty.
In the gorgeous and expensive carriage at the front of the caravan, the Grand Princess of Beiqi sighed and looked at the sister beside the window who had been extremely affectionate since childhood, and did not say anything. The eldest Miss Shen, who had luckily escaped from the Upper Capital, was at this time lying on the window pane in a state of infatuation, looking at the same scenery outside the window with Yan Bingyun, but she did not know whether she was thinking of her lover’s desperate love, the tragedy of her family’s destruction, or the sadness of leaving her country and going to her homeland.