The eighth day of the first lunar month is the Shunxing Festival. When offering sacrifices at night, rich families can put up 108 lanterns, while ordinary people can also put up 49 lanterns, at least nine. There are 108 lanterns on the market in Kyoto.
You can buy lanterns, but most people put up lanterns at home, which does not cost much. At night, the entire Kyoto is lit up like stars.
This year’s lanterns were not visible to the Prime Minister.
On the seventh day of the first lunar month, he was escorted to Suzhou by people from the Ministry of Punishment. At the end of the day, he was far away from Kyoto and arrived at Luokou.
From Kyoto to Jiangnan, the most convenient way is of course to take the waterway.
Board the boat from Luokou and go south along the Tongji Canal. It exits the Yellow River at Luokou, passes through Honggou and Laodang Canal, and enters the Huaihe River. It goes eastward along the Huaihe River and enters Shanyang County. It changes the route and continues southbound. After passing through Yangzhou
, you can directly arrive in Suzhou.
When Qin Xiao went to the south of the Yangtze River, he followed this waterway.
The Ministry of Punishment sent a chief officer and ten officers from the Ministry of Punishment to escort him. In addition to the Prime Minister and Xiahou Qingcheng, Wen Xitai also went with him as a prisoner.
This is not because Lu Junzhong was open to Wen Xitai.
The sage did not directly issue an order to kill the prime minister, which meant that he left some room for it. Lu Junzhong would carefully consider every decree of the sage for many years. Since the sage did not want to kill the prime minister, he must ensure that the prime minister could survive.
Lu Junzhong knew in his heart that Prime Minister Xia Hou Yuanzhen had many more enemies than himself, the Minister of Punishment. If anyone knew that the Prime Minister was being escorted to Suzhou and leaked the news, there would be people waiting to intercept him everywhere along the way.
The enemy who killed the Prime Minister, if the Prime Minister really had some shortcomings, it would be difficult for the Ministry of Punishment to explain it when the saints asked him about it later.
So this time he secretly arranged for the Prime Minister to leave Beijing. Everyone dressed up in disguise and tried their best to conceal their whereabouts.
But this is still not safe.
He knew that there were too many escort officers sent to escort him. Firstly, the government office was short of manpower and could not spare so many people. Secondly, the target was too big and easy to be targeted. The disguises of ten officers were just right and there could not be more.
However, although the ten cadres are carefully selected by the Ministry of Justice, they may not be able to handle them if they really encounter trouble.
He knew that Wen Xitai was the commander of the bodyguards of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and his martial arts must not be weak. The palace would certainly not specifically issue an order to deal with a little person like Wen Xitai, so the Ministry of Punishment had the right to decide how to deal with Wen Xitai.
It would be a good idea to send him to Suzhou and imprison him along with the Prime Minister.
In this way, if there is any trouble on the way, Wen Xitai can handle it.
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Although Wen Xitai was the commander of the guards of the Prime Minister's Office, he was very aristocratic. Not only did he have good relations with many officials, but he also had contacts with many reckless heroes in the arena. He could be regarded as a person who was at ease with both black and white.
Lu Junzhong knew that although Wen Xitai's status was not very high, he was the most difficult person to deal with, and it was much more troublesome to deal with it than many important officials in the court.
Although the execution of officials in the DPRK was hated by others, the Ministry of Punishment was fully able to handle it. However, if Wen Xitai was really executed, a large number of people in the world would be offended. Lu Junzhong knew the danger of being remembered by thieves. If a group of people in the world were to
He wants to avenge Wen Xitai and stare at him all day long, which makes his hair stand on end just thinking about it.
Sending Wen Xitai to follow the Prime Minister to Suzhou could increase the number of guards on the way, and also give Wen Xitai a favor. It could be said to kill two birds with one stone.
He was not worried about Wen Xitai taking the Prime Minister and escaping on the way. If the Prime Minister was really confused enough to escape halfway, his escape would be completely cut off, and the Xiahou family would never be able to turn around again. The saint would even be even more furious because of this.
When the Ministry of Punishment attacks the Xiahou clan again, they will have much less worries.
The night wind was like a knife, and Xiahou Yuanzhen, dressed in casual clothes, stood on the bow of the boat, with his hands behind his back, looking at the broken water, but he looked very calm.
Although the officials of the Ministry of Punishment were escorting the Prime Minister to Suzhou, they naturally would not really treat him as a prisoner. Both the Prime Minister and Wen Xitai had full freedom.
"Dad!" A voice came from behind. Xiahou Yuanzhen turned around and saw his beloved daughter Xiahou Qingcheng walking over. She held a cup of tea in her hand and said softly: "I made tea for you, but you didn't like it.
of tea...!"
Xiahou Yuanzhen looked at his beloved daughter lovingly, took the teacup, and said with a smile: "Have you not rested yet?"
He could tell that the smile on Xiahou Qingcheng's face was no longer as natural as before, and the smile was very forced.
Xiahou Yuanzhen only gave birth to his beloved daughter when he was in his forties. Naturally, he regarded her as a pearl and loved her extremely since her birth.
Xiahou Qingcheng has hardly experienced any storms. Under the protection of Xiahou Yuanzhen, she has a pure temperament and does not know the dangers of the world.
However, this time the Xiahou family faced an unprecedented disaster. Countless members of the family were detained and imprisoned. All of this was something Xiahou Qingcheng had never seen before, but she had to experience it personally this time. Naturally, it was a heavy blow to her.
Although there was a smile on her face, there was a melancholy that could not be concealed between her brows.
"You have to drink tea at this time every day. I'm afraid you'll forget." Xiahou Qingcheng said softly: "Dad, it's cold outside, please go back to the cabin and rest."
Xiahou Yuanzhen smiled slightly and said:
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"Don't worry. Qingcheng, when you get to Suzhou, you can meet your little aunt. The scenery of Chishan is beautiful that day. You will like it after living there for a while." At this point, he sighed and said: "Don't blame dad, even more
Don’t blame your aunt."
Xiahou Qingcheng shook her head, but she was still very confused and said: "Dad, aunt...why did the saint do this to Xiahou's family? Aren't you going to lead people to save her? Why did she hurt us instead? We all are
Her relatives, she...did she not even want her own relatives?"
"There are many things that you cannot understand now." Xiahou Yuanzhen said calmly: "The emperor has no relatives."
Xiahou Qingcheng was startled, lowered her head and was silent for a moment, then said: "Dad, are we never going back to Kyoto? I heard before that my little aunt was imprisoned in Tianchi Mountain by the saint, and she will spend her whole life in Tianchi Mountain.
Even if you die, you won’t be able to get out of the mountain. Will we... also do the same?"
"No." Xiahou Yuanzhen stared at his beloved daughter, his tone was very sure, and he shook his head and said: "Dad can promise that he will never let you live in Tianchi Mountain. He will definitely find a way to let you leave." He raised his hand and stroked Xiahou Qingcheng.
With beautiful hair, she said softly: "My Qingcheng wants to be married as a wife and have children, so how can she be trapped in Tianchi Mountain?"
Xiahou Qingcheng's cheeks turned red and she said, "I don't want it. I want to stay with dad all my life."
"Children's words." Xiahou Yuanzhen said with a smile: "Dad is already this old, how many years can you live? When I give up and return to the west, will you die alone? You are willing, but dad is not willing." He sighed softly: "
Dad originally wanted to keep you by my side for a few years and wait two years before finding you a good husband. Who knows what might happen? But Dad promises you that no matter what, he will find you a good family and never let you be wronged.
.”
"Dad, if you don't talk about this, I don't want to hear it."
"Oh?" Xiahou Yuanzhen said with a half-smile but not a smile: "Dad, I still remember that someone often mentioned that young man in my ears before. Every time I mentioned him, I was so excited that even a fool could see that my precious daughter was moved.
.What, you don’t like to hear it now?”
Xiahou Qingcheng blushed even more and said: "I...I mentioned Qin Xiao to promote talents for the country. He has the ability, but he just doesn't have the chance. I just want him to have the opportunity to serve the country."
"How do you know I'm talking about Qin Xiao?" Xiahou Yuanzhen laughed and said, "That's right. Apart from Qin Xiao, my precious daughter has never mentioned any other young men...!"
"Dad, if you keep making fun of me like this, I'll be angry with you!"
Xiahou Yuanzhen shook his head and smiled: "Dad is not making fun of you." He looked up at the sky and murmured: "Now that I think about it, it might not be a bad thing if dad arranges for you and me to get married as soon as possible. At least you follow him and stay away from the court.