Cunxin Hall, this is the place where the prince rests. As mentioned before, the Prince's Palace is actually a smaller version of the Forbidden City. The emperor cultivates his heart and the prince cultivates his heart. The meanings are similar.
Huang Jin, the chamberlain, hurriedly walked into the palace and saluted Zhang Feng, the eunuch who was serving King Xing: "Grandpa Zhang, the prince is about to bring someone over. Is the house ready?"
"It's already healed, don't worry." Zhang Song changed his previous cold attitude and became very gentle. In fact, since King Xing became seriously ill, he had already begun to plan for his future.
, as the eunuch who followed the original Prince Xing, if he wanted to live a good life in the future, he would inevitably have to curry favor with the next master, so the capable people around the Crown Prince naturally became targets for wining over.
Huang Jin knew what he was thinking, but he didn't show it on his face. He was still as humble as before. The lives of their servants, especially the eunuchs, were in the hands of the master. The prince was pure filial piety. If he let him know what he had
If you have thoughts that you shouldn't have, you probably won't take into account your past feelings.
Just as he was thinking about it, Zhu Houcong came from a distance with Xian Ruxing.
Huang Jin winked at Zhang Feng, indicating that this was the fairy girl.
Why are you so young? Zhang Feng secretly frowned, feeling a little unreliable, but he didn't say anything. After bowing to the prince, he led people into the Cunxin Hall.
As soon as he opened the door, a strong smell of Chinese medicine hit his face. Zhu Houcong stepped forward quickly and whispered to the maid next to him through the thick bed curtain: "Father, are you awake?"
Before the maid could reply, a weak voice came from behind the bed curtain, "But Cong'er is here?"
"Dad!" Zhu Houcong changed from his usual calmness and responded quickly, "It's me, my son, who brought the fairy girl I mentioned before to see you."
Lifting the bed curtain, Xian Ruxing finally saw what the owner of the palace looked like.
Xing Wang Zhu Youqi should be in his early forties, but he looks very old, with a head full of white hair. He is very thin, almost to the point of being skinny, but only his belly is bulging, and his skin shows a
There was an abnormal light yellow color. He glanced at Xian Ruxing, and before he could speak, he started coughing desperately. The maid handed the silk handkerchief to King Xing, who covered his mouth with it, and soon blood oozed out through the silk handkerchief.
Xian Ruxing's heart sank, and he shook his head slightly as he faced Zhu Houcong's hopeful eyes.
Although he had already prepared in his heart, after getting the exact answer, the young man still felt hopeless. He suppressed his grief and thanked Xian Ruxing, "Xian Ruxing, don't worry, I didn't inform my mother and concubine when I came this time. We are the only ones here."
The two of them know."
Xian Ruxing also understood this meaningless sentence. The other party was assuring herself that what she had said before would not embarrass her even if she could not cure her father's illness.
King Xing saw the exchange between the two, and he was aware of his own physical condition. When his son told him happily that he had discovered a practitioner, King Xing just wanted to accompany his child to fool around, and did not do anything.
He was too concerned about it. But when he saw that Xian Ruxing did not make any suggestions, but confessed that he was powerless to save his life, he still became interested and smiled gently at him, "My son has offended me many times before. I hope Xian Gu will not take it personally."
.”
Xian Ruxing has always been a soft-spoken person. If the other party was domineering and rude, using imperial power to suppress others, she might find a way to fool him. But now that the father and son are both polite and not showing any signs of neglect, she feels a little guilty.
In fact, Xian Ruxing already had a rough guess in his mind as soon as he took a look at King Xing's illness.
Pain in the liver area, ascites, jaundice, gastrointestinal bleeding... These are obviously signs of late-stage liver cancer. For liver cancer, even in modern society, there is no way to solve it, not to mention, the other person is already terminally ill at the first sight, no wonder it is summer.
He passed away.
After hesitating for a long time, Xian Ruxing said slowly: "Your Majesty, although Pindao cannot cure your disease, it may be able to help relieve your pain a little. Do you want to try it?"
King Xing was stunned for a moment, then coughed and nodded. In fact, when liver cancer patients reach the advanced stage, their abdomen and even limbs are very painful. Acupuncture and decoction can only do so much. However, Xian Ruxing is different. She has a lot of pain in her body.
Pain tablets.
As early as when he agreed to Zhu Houcong's visit to see King Xing, Xian Ruxing went to his house in advance to get a few tablets of medicine that were always available. Now seeing King Xing nodding, he casually broke off half a tablet and handed it over.
Looking at the white pills in front of him, King Xing did not hesitate. The pain caused him to be too lazy to think. Even if he died now, it might still be a kind of relief.
Western medicine made in modern times has an immediate effect for ancient people who have never taken it. King Xing felt that the pain was greatly reduced soon after taking it. He stretched out his hands and was even able to get up and walk around twice with the help of his chamberlain.
It was only then that he really believed what his son said, and his attitude towards Xian Ruxing immediately changed slightly. The gentleness that was originally just to coax the child was changed to respect and admiration. He looked at Xian Ruxing and suddenly asked
: "Xiangu, tell me the truth, how long can I survive this illness?"
Xian Ruxing was silent for a moment, "More than three months."
Not far away, Zhu Houcong couldn't help but clenched his fists, but Prince Xing accepted it all calmly, "Three months is not a short period of time. With your magic medicine, I can live a restful life."
"
Xian Ruxing shook his head, "This medicine is not omnipotent. You can only take it three times a day. Otherwise, the more you take it, the weaker its effectiveness will be."
King Xing was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly, "That's okay." At this point, he waved his hand and ordered Zhang Feng to bring the princess and others over.
Zhang Feng watched the whole process, and you can imagine the shock in his heart. He didn't hesitate to go to invite the princess after hearing the prince's order.
After a while, a large group of female relatives rushed over.
It is not true to say that there was a large group of people. In fact, King Xing did not indulge in sexual activities. There was only one head wife and one concubine in the palace.
My wife, Mrs. Jiang, was born as the daughter of a military general. She has sharp eyebrows, handsome eyes, and a tall figure. Although her husband, who likes to dance and write, has nothing in common, the two still have a good relationship. Now there are one son and two daughters in the house, both of them are Jiang's.
So. She had already inquired about what happened from Zhang Feng before, but she was still so excited to see her husband being able to go to the ground that she ignored the etiquette of the palace and went straight up to hold Prince Xing's hand firmly.
King Xing had been in coma since two months ago. He could rarely talk to his wife soberly, and he was also very excited. The two of them stayed together for a while, and then he explained his situation to his wife.
When she heard that her husband only had three months to live, Princess Xing was filled with grief. She looked at Xian Ruxing for help, and said tremblingly: "Xiangu, isn't there any other way?"
Xian Ruxing sighed inwardly and slowly shook his head.
Mrs. Jiang sobbed loudly, and it took a long time before she stopped under the comfort of her husband. She was strong-minded and knew that it was not easy to get together now, so she still thanked Xian Ruxing respectfully, and then called her children over, and the family reunited here.
Prince Xing's youngest daughter, Sister Shou, is only seven years old this year. She is still at an ignorant age. Looking at her somewhat strange father, she bit her finger and asked curiously: "Father, why is your belly so big?"
Mrs. Jiang nodded her daughter's forehead, and Prince Xing quickly pulled her back. He smiled and rubbed Lao Gao's abdomen, which was swollen due to ascites. "Why? It is said that Su Dongpo's stomach is full of inappropriate things. Then your father
The king's belly is filled with family happiness."
Zhu Houcong couldn't bear it anymore and knelt down beside King Xing, crying: "My son is not going anywhere in the past three months. He is closely guarding his father. If you have anything to do, just ask your son to do it!"
"
"Nonsense!" King Xing frowned for the first time since he woke up, and said to Zhu Houcong with a serious expression: "Why don't you quickly learn how to handle the internal affairs of the palace while you can still speak as a father? Are you going to wait until I die and be raped by my subordinates?
Bullying? How can I, a royal descendant with true dragon blood, behave like a child?"
"But..." Zhu Houcong hesitated, but was forcibly interrupted by his father, "Nothing but, my father has heard that Xu Zhizhou has visited the house several times in recent times, and it seems that he wants to discuss how to deal with the refugees.
This matter can be big or small, and cannot be delayed. I have just said hello. You can go and say hello now. From now on, you can deal with the big and small things in the house during the day, and then tell me at night. If you don’t understand anything, write it down.
My father will teach you when the time comes."
He took a deep look at his son and patted his young shoulder, "In the future, if I'm not around, your mother and the rest will have to rely on you."
Zhu Houcong's heart was shocked. He looked at his father's expectant and encouraging eyes and nodded sharply.
The painkillers should still be effective for a while. King Xing wanted to take this opportunity to have a good rest. After all, he had not had a good sleep for a long time due to the pain. His wife, concubines and children did not want to disturb them, so they reluctantly left.
's departure.
Xian Ruxing followed Zhu Houcong uneasily. She originally planned to give medicine, but she overheard the private conversations of Wang Xing's family. Although it was nothing important, she still felt that she was getting involved too deeply. She
In the name of a fairy girl, she is actually a charlatan. Xian Ruxing knows that talking too much will lead to mistakes. Moreover, if he gets entangled too deeply with the imperial power, he may not be able to get away from it until the day he regrets it.
Thinking of this, she made up her mind to give the medicine to Queen Xing, and went back to Qingfeng Temple to hide. However, when she came back to her senses, she found that she and Zhu Houcong had walked to the door of Chengyun Hall in a daze, and were about to leave the house. She hurriedly
He opened his mouth and asked: "Your Highness, what does this mean?"
"Ah! Go see Anlu Zhizhou. Didn't you hear everything my father said to me just now?" Zhu Houcong looked surprised.
Then he seemed to remember something and clapped his hands, "By the way, Taoist Master Xian is going back to Qingfeng Temple, but since we have already come here, Taoist Master Xian will go with me."
Xian Ruxing: "..."
Can we only say that he is worthy of the legendary Emperor Jiajing? His acting skills are top-notch at a young age.
In fact, Xian Ruxing could find many reasons to refuse this kind of thing, but she finally chose to remain silent. Without him, since time travel, except for today, strictly speaking, she has not even left the community. As a person with a somewhat extroverted personality,
Xian Ruxing already felt a little out of breath after being trapped in a small four-dimensional world all day long and having to deal with the old pervert of Taoist Qingfeng.
If he shied away this time, he didn't know when he would get out in the future, so even though he knew that the other party had set a trap for him, Xian Ruxing still got into the carriage with the kid in the end.
Anlu is actually not that big. It used to be a prefecture, but it was demoted to a prefecture in the early years of the dynasty. Although the Huguang area is densely populated, it is far less prosperous than the capital city of Jiangnan.
At first on the road, Xian Ruxing was interested in opening the curtain and taking a look, but after a long time, he got bored and sat back in the car.
After all, this is ancient times, and even in towns, the roads are just loess. Although the people passing by are not wearing blue clothes, they are all a bit sallow and thin, wearing gray and dark clothes, and their expressions more or less reveal a few things.
It was quite insensitive, and most of them were men. He saw very few women. But after a few meetings, Xian Ruxing felt that he was not interested.
No wonder people often say that maids from wealthy families live a better life than girls from ordinary people. Although there are times when starvation is unavoidable in the palace, compared with ordinary people in the countryside, their lives are like gods.
Anlu's local Zhizhou, surnamed Xu, is a thin middle-aged man with a goatee. Originally, according to etiquette, Xu Zhizhou should go to Prince Xing's Mansion in person to pay a visit. However, this Master Xu is usually the most timid, even though the court has now
He didn't care much about the personal relationship between local officials and the vassal prince. He still didn't dare to come to the door. He could only invite people from Prince Xing's Mansion out in the name of inspecting the city wall.
Although he was far away from the palace, it was not new news that Prince Xing was seriously ill. Therefore, when he saw the twelve-year-old Zhu Houcong, Xu Zhizhou did not show too much surprise, but only took a second look at the people behind him.
The pretty Taoist nun Xian Ruxing.
Zhu Houcong didn't have a good impression of this cowardly magistrate, but as a local vassal king, he would inevitably have to deal with him, so he nodded slightly and exempted himself from the other party's courtesy. Several people stood on the city wall and looked at the gathering in the distance.
The young man frowned slightly at the thick head, "Is everyone here?"
"About that," Xu Zhizhou nodded, "There are hundreds more in the distance near the water, but most of them are women and children."
If the ordinary people in the city are just a little thin, then these refugees can only be described as skinny. Some of them are even half-clothed. They are squatting or lying on the ground, staring, without looking closely, they have nothing in common with the corpses.
Parting. There was a foul smell in the air, and mosquitoes were flying everywhere.
A trace of disgust flashed in Xu Zhizhou's eyes, and he said in a hateful voice: "This group of people had all rushed to the city gate before. It's a pity that Xianguan heard the news a long time ago and took precautions in time. He built guardrails in advance to drive them away. Otherwise,
It’s really difficult to deal with the two to thirty thousand refugees.”
You must not underestimate these two or three homeless people. You must know that the entire Anlu Prefecture has a population of only 100,000. If you really want to drive them away, it will still take a lot of effort.
There are more than 1,000 troops stationed in Anlu Prefecture, but in fact, excluding factors such as empty pay and other factors, it would be good to have half left. In order to successfully drive away the refugees, Xu Zhizhou had to seek cooperation from the local lord.
Although the vassals of the Ming Dynasty were repeatedly whittled down due to well-known reasons, and they have long since lost the strength they had to defend the capital when the country was founded, it was still possible for such a large palace to mobilize 1,800 troops.
The officials of the Ming Dynasty were actually very good at dealing with the refugees. They just rushed them from one place to another, leaving them to die or find a place to hide in the process. In the end, it was up to the unlucky one to take over.
Xu Zhizhou didn't want to be such a bad guy. He had been excellent in the official examination for two years and was about to return to Beijing, so he had to get rid of this trouble no matter what.
Zhu Houcong didn't say anything. In fact, the state government taking over the refugees did not have a big impact on the vassal palace. After all, they all directly received salary from the court, but now they can sell it to local officials, which can be regarded as a favor.
He glanced at it with a lack of interest, and suddenly noticed that Xian Ruxing next to him was staring at something with a serious face. He couldn't help but leaned over and asked the other person in a low voice, "What are you looking at?"
Xian Ruxing shook his head and did not answer his words, but asked Xu Zhizhou: "Were these refugees originally here?"
Xu Zhizhou was not sure of her identity, but seeing that the prince was inseparable from her, he did not dare to neglect her and said quickly: "No, she used to be at Fengde Gate."
"That's strange," Xian Ruxing seemed to be saying to himself: "It's shady here, there are so many mosquitoes, and it's inconvenient to even get water. If Fengdemen doesn't stay here, why do they all migrate far away here?"
The other two people were stunned for a moment by what she said, and they all fell into thinking, "Yes, why are these refugees stationed here?"
Seeing that they still didn't understand, Xian Ruxing pointed to the city helplessly, "Is there really a convenient place? I'm afraid there's only one. I looked around and found that it doesn't take long to go directly to the Yamen of the state capital by entering through this door. Moreover.
This place is remote and the defense is relatively lax compared to other places, so..."
Before she finished speaking, cold sweat started to fall on Xu Zhizhou's forehead.
"No, it can't be." Xu Zhizhou stammered, but deep down he already understood what Xian Ruxing meant.