The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 516 Dance
Today is the Little New Year in the north. Li Hu hosted a banquet for his generals, the surrendered Jurchen royal family and the Eight Banners nobles in the Jurchen palace.

It was snowing heavily outside, but it was warm as spring inside the hall. In the center of the hall, a group of palace maids were dancing gracefully, and the sound of stringed instruments was pleasant to the ears. A group of soldiers filed in, and in an instant, wine and food were served.

The wine and food were all prepared by the cooks in the military camp. Today, the commanders of each camp are here, and Li Hu doesn't want to be spoiled!
Li Hu had not arrived yet and the banquet had not officially begun. Everyone was sitting at their tables, some resting with their eyes closed, some enjoying the dance, and some whispering to each other.

They sat separately, with generals such as Zhang Xi, Bai Wu, and the Xuanfu General and Mongolian nobles on the left, and the kings, beiles, and eight banners nobles headed by the Sixth Prince on the right.

At this moment, the officer on duty at the palace gate shouted, "The prince has arrived!"

The hall suddenly became quiet. The palace maids retreated one after another. Those on the left stood up together, while those on the right knelt down in a mess.

At this time, a team officer came in with a group of personal soldiers, and they immediately dispersed and stood in various places in the hall.

After a while, Li Hu appeared at the gate of the palace, surrounded by Wang Daniu, Wang Yaozu, and Heshen and his servant.

"Greetings, Your Highness!" Everyone knelt down on one knee in a row according to the proper etiquette and bowed their heads to the ground.

Li Hu smiled and nodded: "Don't be polite, everyone stand up." Then he walked to the main seat at the top and sat down.
To show respect, Li Hu's seat was moved slightly to the left and not placed in the center. The central axis of the palace was exclusively for the emperor, symbolizing the supremacy of imperial power.

Wang Daniu still sat with Li Hu, sitting beside the table.

He Shen sat on the side seat next to him, and Wang Yaozu returned to his seat, next to Bai Wu. As soon as he sat down, Bai Wu leaned over and asked, "General Wang, is there any news about Fu Kang'an?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding generals immediately looked over.

Wang Yaozu shook his head.

Bai Wu was a little disappointed and muttered, "This dog must be a rat!"

Wang Yaozu smiled and said that Li Hu came late because of the news about Fu Kang'an.

After more than ten days of tracking, Fu Kang'an's whereabouts were finally confirmed. Fu Kang'an turned around at the Dalinghe Ranch and fled to North Korea.

Li Hu originally planned to send troops to pursue, but was persuaded by Heshen.

Heshen said that this situation was very favorable to Li Hu. If Fu Kang'an was eliminated, the court would have a reason to summon Li Hu back to Beijing and disband the troops under Li Hu's command.

On the contrary, if Fu Kang'an led these 50,000 or 60,000 elite troops to flee to Korea, he could accumulate strength and wait for an opportunity to rise again and threaten Liaodong. Li Hu would have a reason not to withdraw his troops and manage Liaodong and even the entire area outside the Great Wall.

Li Hu sat in the back hall for a stick of incense and finally agreed with Heshen's advice.

On the other side, the Sixth Prince looked at Heshen with a complicated expression. The old military officers who led the troops to massacre the He family and their clansmen were all killed by Heshen, even the babies in their cradles were not spared.

He heard about the imperial mausoleum, and he wished he could eat its flesh alive, eat its bones, break its tendons, drink its blood, and grind its bones into ashes!
Unfortunately, he had no way out. Heshen was now Li Hu's servant, and even the child emperor of Dashun could not do anything to him.

Li Hu coughed, and the hall suddenly fell silent. Everyone raised their heads and looked at Li Hu who was sitting on the imperial platform.

Li Hu's eyes slowly swept across everyone's faces. From this position, the people under the imperial platform looked very thin. This was the emperor's perspective, looking down on everything in the world.

He picked up the wine glass and said with a smile: "We are all warriors, so we won't talk about the sour words and fake jealousy of scholars. Of course, we can't talk about it either."

Everyone laughed silently.

Li Hu suppressed his smile: "We enjoy wealth and glory, but we cannot forget this first glass of wine for those brothers who sacrificed their lives for the country. Let's toast to them, and may their souls in heaven rest in peace!" After saying that, he slowly poured the wine in the glass onto the imperial platform.

Everyone spilled their wine on the ground.

"Enough of the nonsense, everyone, enjoy your meal!"

Li Hu waved his hand and said, "Keep playing the music, keep dancing!"

The music started again.

A group of palace maids in colorful clothes floated into the hall and danced gracefully in the hall accompanied by the sound of stringed and wind instruments.

The atmosphere quickly became lively as people toasted each other.

A group of Mongolian girls in gorgeous costumes performed Mongolian dance to the cheerful tune.
After the song, the Mongolian girls bowed to Li Hu and retreated.

At this time, the four princes and several old Mongolian princes looked at each other, stood up together, walked to the foot of the imperial platform with wine glasses in hand, and knelt down.

The Fourth Prince: "Your Majesty is wise, benevolent and brave. He loves the people like his own children. He treats us surrendered soldiers equally and gives us the power and dignity to live. We are willing to follow Your Majesty until death, and we will fight for you and die for you!"

Several old Mongolian princes: "We swear to follow you till death, even if it means death!"

"Fuck, these old guys got there first!" Bai Wu glared at the four princes and the old Mongolian princes, knelt down with his wine glass in his hands, and shouted: "I swear to follow you and fight for you until my death!"

Before he finished speaking, all the generals knelt on the ground and shouted in unison: "We are willing to follow you till death, to go through fire and water for you, and die without regrets!"

Li Hu did not speak. He looked at the four princes and several old Mongolian princes, then turned his gaze to the generals kneeling on the left.

Everyone raised their heads, not avoiding Li Hu's gaze.

Li Hu's gaze skipped over Yulin General Zhang Xi and swept to Xuanfu General beside him.

Before the Xuanfu general's gaze met Li Hu's, Li Hu's gaze had already quickly swept to the right.

The Sixth Prince's expression suddenly changed. Could it be that Li Hu wanted to kill people to silence them?

Li Hu raised his glass: "Please."

Everyone raised their glasses and drank with Li Hu.

Although it was just a "please", everyone understood and immediately became excited, with hot eyes interweaving with each other. They had conquered thousands of miles of territory outside the Great Wall following Li Hu, and they had also pacified the Central Plains. Now that Dashun was doomed, they naturally hoped that Li Hu would make further progress!
Just as the Fourth Prince and several old Mongolian princes returned to their seats, the Sixth Prince stood up with his wine glasses in both hands and said in a distorted Beijing accent: "In order to thank you for saving my life, our royal family and the women of the family have discussed and decided to present the Six Yi Dance, a Yi dance with Liaodong characteristics, to you."

Yi dance originated from the creation of rituals and music by Duke Zhou, and is a purely ceremonial dance.

Yi is a procession of people dancing to music, and the number of rows and people is the same both vertically and horizontally. The number of people in a Yi dance formation is strictly regulated according to the rank of the emperor, that is, eight Yi for the emperor, six Yi for the princes, four Yi for the ministers, and two Yi for the scholars.

That is to say, the emperor used sixty-four dancers in eight rows and eight columns, while the princes could only use thirty-six dancers in six rows and six columns, and so on.

Yi dance was usually only performed in the palace. Li Hu and others were all warriors, so they naturally did not know its meaning.

However, there were two people present who knew the truth. One of them was Heshen, who immediately stepped forward to explain to Li Hu.

The other person is Xue Ke.

Bai Wu and others knew that Xue Ke had read a lot of books, so they asked him what the "Six-Legged Dance" was.

After hearing Xue Ke's words, Bai Wu and others immediately stood up and glared at the Sixth Prince fiercely, as if they wanted to eat him alive.

The Sixth Prince seemed to have reacted as well, and said in a trembling voice: "How about, let's change to the Eight-Legged Dance?" As he spoke, he looked at Li Hu cautiously.

Li Hu also looked at him at this time, frightening him so much that he knelt down in a hurry.

Just now He Shen also mentioned an anecdote, Confucius said to Ji Shi, "Eight Yi dancing in the courtyard, this can be tolerated, but it is intolerable to be familiar with it."

The Eight Yi are usurping the throne and have rebellious intentions. They cannot be so blatant as it will be bad for their reputation.

Thinking of this, Li Hu smiled slightly, raised his glass, and said to the Sixth Prince: "Follow the etiquette."

The Sixth Prince hurriedly picked up the wine glass with both hands, drank with Li Hu, and then hurried out.

Soon, outside the hall, the zither, harp, flute and bells, chimes, drums and cymbals sounded together, playing the music of Xuanxuan.

Thirty-six women dressed in Jurchen costumes, standing on flower pots and following the beat of music, came on stage in six rows, waving tasseled fans and singing in unison as they performed the Liuyi Dance.

He Shen said, "This was adapted by Kang Lao San. It looked okay before, but I went to the capital and saw authentic palace dance and music. Now, it seems weird."

Li Hu smiled and nodded. These women were none other than the princesses and wives of the Aisin-Gioro family. The girl leading the group was Qian Xiaosi's most beloved youngest daughter, the Tenth Princess.

Wang Daniu, who was sitting next to him, nudged him gently with his elbow and then glanced at Heshen.

Li Hu looked over and saw He Shen staring at the Tenth Princess. Hey, is this old guy trying to steal her away? No, Fengshen Yinde and the Tenth Princess did not get married, and the engagement was cancelled by the Sixth Prince.

This tenth princess is indeed unique. She has the gentleness and kindness of a Han girl, as well as the beauty and grace of a Manchu woman.

However, in Li Hu's eyes, they can only be considered third class. The first class is of course Lin Daiyu, followed by Xue Baochai and other golden hairpins.

Wang Daniu lowered his voice and said, "Could it be that this old guy has taken a fancy to his daughter-in-law? We must be on guard against others. Your Majesty cannot give this Tenth Princess to him."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Li Hu glared at him, but in his heart he agreed with Wang Daniu's words. He would never let Heshen marry the daughter of the Aisin-Gioro family.

At this time, a personal soldier came over with a letter and reported to Li Hu: "Your Majesty, this is a letter from the capital."

Li Hu took the letter, tore it open and read it, his face suddenly became serious, the Imperial Army expanded by 100,000 troops, and they were all controlled by Niu Ben, he must be crazy.
(End of this chapter)