Upon hearing the strange question raised by Hu Lu, Cai Xin quickly put down his bowls and chopsticks and picked up paper and pen to record.

Xiao Guoer was confused, "Painting talisman? Brother, our Xiao family is an heirloom of poetry and calligraphy. If you want someone who can paint, you should look for poppies."

"Sister Xian Fei, a painter and a talisman painter are two different things, right?" Yu Zhiyu explained in a low voice.

Hu Lu sighed, "That's it. I helped Lin Xiaotian find the other three heavenly kings, and found out that one of them, Xiao Potian, was originally from Hexi, and your Xiao family is from Hanzhang, Hexi. That's why I made this association, and it's me too.

think too much."

Hulu has nothing to hide from his wife and children.

Xiao Guoer said angrily, "How can our Xiao family be the queen of rebels? My father is the most loyal and patriotic!"

Hu Lu waved his hand, "It doesn't matter, it's not our Hu family that's the opposite, and it's been almost two hundred years."

Wan Linglong said from the side, "That's right, but His Majesty asked the Concubine Xian just to embarrass her. How could she know these old family affairs at such a young age? If you want to ask, you should ask the Queen Mother."

Hulu glared at her, provoking trouble, right? She knew that the Queen Mother didn't like to talk about this, but she still wanted to provoke me to hit the muzzle of the gun. Humph, let me let you hit the muzzle of the gun tonight!

After lunch, Hulu called Hongxiu to the Sixiang Hall.

He was busy with Cai Xinjuan's cultivation progress, and his four wives and six children also needed time. But there had to be someone to deal with important national affairs. Even if he had to seal the memorial, he had to have someone he could trust.

At this time, Sister Hongxiu, who had been his secretary since childhood, did her part. Anyway, now Poppy can also take care of Lao Liu, and her time is completely freed up.

Looking at the pile of memorials in front of me, I realized how lazy Hulu had been recently. Sister Hongxiu sighed, "I am just Zhaoyi who earns 70 taels of silver per month, but I am doing the job of deputy emperor."

Hulu crossed his legs and closed his eyes and said with a smile, "If you say that, I will just assume that you want a salary increase. Anyway, it's time to upgrade you to a higher level. Whatever word you like."

Hong Xiu's face straightened, and he lowered his head and was busy, "I'm just complaining, I don't want to take credit from you."

Seeing that she was silent and could no longer practice, Hu Lu walked up to her, picked her up, put her on his lap, and pried her mouth open, "I just want to promote you."

Hongxiu whined and shook her head, "It's not appropriate. I was promoted to Zhaoyi last year because I gave birth to Xiaoliu. It's not appropriate to be promoted too quickly. Besides, I'm from a humble background..."

In the harem, when the emperor's favor is the same, birth background becomes very important.

Wan Linglong was his first woman. She gave birth to the eldest princess to Hu Lu ten years ago, and then gave birth to another one and raised three princesses. However, she was promoted to concubine after Xiao Guoer because there were people behind the Xiao family.

The Prime Minister and the Queen Mother, but behind Wan Linglong there was only one businessman, Wan San.

If the businessman's status had not improved in recent years and Wan San's influence had expanded, Wan Linglong would have had to wait until she gave birth to a son if she wanted to achieve the rank of concubine.

Hulu sighed, "If the Red Sea is still there, I can still give him an official title to enhance your status, but it's a pity that he has been gone for three years."

"Brother, you are talking as if my brother has passed away~"

"I'm not being strict anymore," Hulu laughed, put down his red sleeves, and came to a huge map, "It's been three years, I think I should be back soon."

This is a map of the division of power in Dayue and its surroundings, but it is only Dayue and its surroundings, no matter how far away it is.

The territory of Dayue is like a big roc soaring into the sky, with the east and south facing the sea.

To the north, north of Northern Xinjiang are barren permafrost glaciers and thick fog that no one can penetrate.

To the west are some small countries called Zuer, which are prone to miasma and are often visited by hurricanes and earthquakes. Dayue has always disdained them.

Hu Lu once firmly believed in the round earth theory and believed that there must be other vast lands outside this continent, where there are novel animals, high-yielding grains, piles of gold and silver mineral deposits, and maybe even people.

So he set his sights on the sea very early, hoping to discover the New World and make a big wave of sailing dividends.

Hongxiu also came over, looked at the East China Sea area and said quietly, "Brother, he is actually very capable. If he is in the capital, he can help you with political affairs. Now that he is going to sea, I am really afraid that he will have some disadvantages."

Hulu held her hand, "It's a pity that my uncle likes to wander around the world. When he first knew that I wanted to form an ocean-going fleet, he went straight to work as a boatman. But with my uncle watching over him, he is safe.

It’s okay, it’s just that we have gone too far now and the information feedback is not timely.”

The last time the Dayue Global Fleet sent back a message was a year ago. They planted Dayue's dragon flag on an island the size of the capital city, and sent a ship to return to the country the novel animals and plants they had recently harvested.

Those animals and plants were put into the Beast Garden in the capital, and ticket sales were booming, which greatly made a fortune for Hulu's inner treasury.

However, because this fleet is too large, the income is far less than the output. In the eyes of hundreds of officials, this is a waste of people and money, and is not viewed favorably. Therefore, all expenditures for the Global Fleet are borne by the internal treasury.

In the past, Hulu wanted to find high-yielding crops. Now, if he could contact the fleet, he hoped to help him find if there were any immortals in the fairy mountains and islands.

Missing his brother-in-law who went to sea for a moment, Hulu said to Hong Xiu, "I'm going too far, let's talk about how to reward you. I'm afraid I'm going to have to work hard for you during my days of cultivating immortality."

"I don't need to reward my concubine. If my brother insists on a reward, why not give it to Xiao Liu."

"Well, what should I reward her with?" Hu Lu thought for a moment, "Why don't we reward her with a name?"

Hearing this, Miao Hongxiu was so surprised that she almost cried with excitement.

Children of the royal family usually have to be sorted (arranged in order) until they are five years old. At that time, they will be given a name and officially enter the royal family tree.

After all, the rate of child death was extremely high in ancient times. Although Hulu was the sixth prince with eight brothers, the previous prince had more than twenty sons, but most of them did not survive.

Hulu was lucky. Except for the danger when Wan Linglong gave birth to his eldest son, everything went smoothly after that. This had a lot to do with his insistence that his concubine should have children after she turned eighteen.

Therefore, every one of his children has grown up healthily, except for the sixth child, who is under five years old.

At first, Hu Lu wanted to directly title her the Sixth Princess, but due to royal rules, he had to give her the nickname "Xiao Liu", and everyone called her the Sixth Princess.

In fact, she is not officially the sixth princess yet. Hu Lu gave her the name, which clarifies her identity. From now on, she will be the upright sixth princess. Even if something unexpected happens before she is five years old, she will still be recorded in the history books as the sixth princess of the Fushou Dynasty.

!

This is considered breaking the rules for the sake of the children.

"Then what's the name?" Hongxiu asked.

Hu Lu walked to the desk and spread out a large piece of paper. Hongxiu immediately helped him grind the ink.

Hu Lu had already planned it, so he immediately wrote the word "immortal" with ink.

The name "Hu Xianzhi" soon spread throughout the palace. Hu Lu and his clan members caused Hu Tu to scramble, and finally added Hu Xianzhi's name to the royal family tree.

Lao Liu likes this new name very much, but is worried that he still can't write it. "Hu" and "Xian" are easy to say, but it is the "Zhi", why is it so difficult to write.

Yu Zhiyu taught her to write over and over again, impatiently, and at the same time urged Ji Xiang Ruyi, who had not yet formally started school, to memorize the ninety-nine multiplication table invented by his father.

As for their biological mother, Xiao Guo'er, she is enjoying the cool weather and eating melon with the Queen Mother at the moment, while chatting about the family history of the old Xiao family.

"Aunt, do you think our Xiao family had any ancestors who could draw talismans?"

"What?" Queen Mother Xiao suspected that she had heard wrongly, her expression was the same as Xiao Guoer's before.

"It's the kind of talisman drawn on yellow paper that can suppress evil spirits. Do we in the Xiao family have such talents?"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Empress Dowager Xiao said displeasedly, "How can I, the Xiao family's heir of poetry and calligraphy, have such unfaithful people..."

Speaking of this, Queen Mother Xiao paused and said decisively, "No! Why do you ask this?"

"That's what I think. Now the emperor's brother is addicted to cultivating immortals and can't help himself. If our family has knowledge in this field and can help him, he will definitely favor me even more."

"You girl, you are used to doing these crooked ways, and you make the emperor very happy, but there is no movement in your stomach. If you can give birth to a eldest prince first, I can persuade the emperor to make you his queen." Xiao

The Queen Mother poked her niece's forehead in disgust.

Xiao Guoer was also aggrieved. She had already worked very hard, but she had to do it twice that night.

Queen Mother Xiao denied this statement, and Xiao Guoer believed it. After all, she also felt that it was impossible for her family to be related to the rebels of the previous dynasty.

After sending Xiao Guo'er away, and recalling what she just said, Queen Mother Xiao's memory went back to more than forty years ago, when she and her brother Xiao Shen accidentally broke into a darkroom in the family ancestral hall. She still gets hairy when thinking of that scene.

numb.

Talisman, lots and lots of talismans!

Of course, the talisman is not scary, what is scary is the simple coffin covered with talisman paper!

After being found out by the elders, my brother fell seriously ill. After waking up, he completely forgot about the incident. Empress Dowager Xiao recalled it many times, and Xiao Shen said she did not remember it. Her brother seemed to be ten years old at that time.

~

To the east of Dayue, on a remote overseas island, groups of men wearing coarse linen and sackcloth were digging mountains and mining.

One of the young men with starry eyebrows and sword-eyed eyes wiped his sweat and waved his scarred and strong arms vigorously with a pickaxe.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, he looked around and then hurriedly knelt down to collect a piece of momentum and put it in his arms, and then he was whipped hard on the back.

"Miao Honghai, you really can't change your habit of eating shit, and you still dare to hide it secretly!"

Because this was not his first offense, he was beaten severely this time and was finally carried back to his residence with his back covered in blood.

But when there was no one around, he slowly reached out his hand to his buttocks, and after digging around, a small, shiny stone appeared on his hand.

"hey-hey!"

His eyes instantly became brighter~
Chapter completed!