She fell out after crying at the wrong grave

According to the usual rules of the palace, the fourth day of the New Year is the inner palace banquet.

The so-called inner palace banquet is a feast for the whole family, which is also a folk custom. In order to show that the emperor is close to his subjects, these rules were established early on.

It is said that they are eating a basket of food, but how can the noble masters eat leftovers? So they just reduce the common dishes by half and make some lists that are not troublesome, which can be regarded as following the custom.

The new emperor Shen Zhuo has never liked such occasions, especially those where there are grand banquets and dances. This goes against his nature, so he always stays in bed and is lazy.

Seeing that the auspicious time was almost approaching, Xue Ping was wandering around outside the hall like a headless fly, not knowing how to remind his master without angering him.

The sun was just rising, and some warm sunlight was scattered everywhere, making it look like a scene of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new.

Xue Ping sighed, but saw from afar a soldier in armor running towards him holding something high.

"Five hundred miles, urgent! Five hundred miles, urgent! There is urgent military information in Pingzhou, please see His Majesty!"

The slightly hoarse voice cut through the peaceful Chong'an Hall like lightning.

Shen Zhuo was still in a deep sleep when he was suddenly awakened by the sound and sat up from the couch.

He took two deep breaths to wake himself up, then angrily pulled the bed curtain and faced Xue Pinglai, who had a serious face.

"Reporting to His Majesty." Xue Ping took the initiative to speak, leaving him no room for blame. "The scouts reported that there is urgent military information in Pingzhou, which needs to be reported to Your Majesty in person. Several officials from the Ministry of War are also waiting for you in the side hall."

Military intelligence?

After hearing this, Shen Zhuo finally came to his senses. "It's New Year's Day. What kind of urgent military information could there be? Everyone is bothering me!"

Half an hour later, the scouts standing in the palace and several anxious ministers finally saw the emperor who had been late.

"Tell me, what's the matter." Shen Zhuo, wearing a bright yellow auspicious robe and a crown, rested his arm on his arm in annoyance, fiddling with the tassel on the crown.

Important military matters were stamped with the military seal and could only be opened and reported when presented to the emperor in person.

A group of ministers had been waiting for half a day, fearing that something big might happen, but Shen Zhuo was nowhere to be found.

"Your Majesty." The scout knelt down quickly and handed the military report to Xue Ping, "The governor of Pingzhou has an urgent report. Chen Lan has started a rebellion. Half of Pingzhou has fallen!"

"What!" The Minister of War jumped up from his chair, "Chen Lan is rebelling?"

What was surprising was not that the rebellion was launched on New Year's Day, but that the mastermind was Chen Lan.

The remaining few people all had complicated expressions, and each had their own thoughts in their minds.

Shen Cong looked around in confusion and asked, "Who is Chen Lan?"

As soon as these words were uttered, the ministers were left speechless even more than the more urgent military situation at the moment.

Logically speaking, Chen Lan is a relative of the royal family.

Princess Pingchang is Shen Cong's aunt, and Chen Lan is her youngest grandchild. Even though the clan has fallen on hard times, he is still considered half a member of the clan.

Chen's ancestral home was in Yuzhou in the early years, and then moved to Pingzhou. Originally, the foundation was shallow, and after the death of the eldest princess, it became even more yellow and yellow, and it declined uncontrollably.

When the family fortune was handed over to Chen Lan, he was filled with resentment.

Because his family had fallen into poverty, anyone in Pingzhou could make fun of him after dinner. Chen Lan had lived a miserable life when he was young, but then he suddenly became the head of the family, shouldering the future of the entire family, so it was inevitable that he became conceited.

In order to climb up the ladder, he did a lot of flattering and begging.

However, I have little education and I am not good at being tactful, so I am still doing nothing until now.

By chance, he began to collude with Bei Tang.

This time, apart from the little wealth he had left, he relied on his daily experience of deceiving people and some empty-headed people who were willing to follow him.

He proclaimed himself "General Assisting the State" and, relying on his thorough knowledge of Pingzhou Prefecture, he set fire to the prefecture court, burned, killed, and looted, and yet he continued to advance with unstoppable force.

However, as the emperor, Shen Zhuo might not know the people under his rule very well, but when urgent military intelligence was sent to him over a distance of 500 miles, how could he not recognize the rebellious clan?
It is really ridiculous for this emperor to be so worthy of the throne.

Everyone was angry but dared not speak out, so they could only come up with the most appropriate solution based on the current situation.

"Your Majesty." The Minister of War frowned and looked at Mu Ran solemnly. "I think that Pingzhou has no troops stationed there, so it is naturally powerless to fight back against the rebels. Your Majesty should personally select troops to suppress the rebellion before Chen Lan expands his power, capture Chen Lan alive and bring him back to the capital to be severely punished as a warning to others."

The remaining ministers stood up and echoed the Shangshu's words.

Shen Zhuo sat at the top with a moody look on his face, still twisting the ear of corn in his hand, and did not answer for a long while.

"His Majesty?"

When he raised his eyes again, he saw evil thoughts flowing in the emperor's eyes, as if he had bad intentions.

"After thinking about it, I feel that what Shangshu said is really reasonable." Shen Zhuo raised the corner of his mouth, "Then what do you think, commanders?"

After that, he pointed his finger and called out the names one by one, "You are all the most trusted generals in our dynasty. Who is willing to deal with the cruel Chen Lan in order to quell the rebellion?"

"You, you, or you?"

Finally, his fingers landed on the center of the Minister of War’s eyebrows.

The old man, who was over 70 years old, had gray hair on his temples. He knelt in the hall with a look of anger and absurdity. "Your Majesty really thinks highly of me. I passed the imperial examination at the age of 23 and have worked hard for Da Chong for 50 years. Now at this age, I can't even lift a gun, so how can I command an army?"

The words were spoken seriously, and they did hurt the old minister’s feelings.

Besides, the rest of the people also began to feel insecure. After all, the new emperor was still in his prime, while they were already quite old.

If you treat the Minister of War like this today, you may also be treated like this in the coming year.

These people all have their own thoughts, and no one seems to really focus on military intelligence.

After these powerful words were spoken, the emperor and his subjects fell silent at the same time. However, given Da Chong's current situation, Shen Zhuo couldn't help but say such disrespectful words. The military examination was held every three years, and there were only so many candidates who passed the examination every year. Even if they were willing to train, they couldn't train any generals.

In addition, the imperial court had long been a boat in the face of storms, and under Shen Zhuo's helm it was barely moving forward, and with some repairs and patches, it at least wasn't sinking.

As for when all those ministers who followed Emperor Wu An and assisted three dynasties passed away, it is impossible to say what the fate of this small boat will be after that.

After a while, Shen Zhuo laughed, and personally smoothed things over. "Look at what the Minister said. I just said it casually, how can I take it seriously?"

After a short sigh of relief, he continued, "I have already thought about it. Since Pingzhou is not too far away and the New Year is not over yet, and Hengzhi is in the capital, then let's send him."

After saying this, he walked away with a wave of his sleeves.

The stunned ministers watched the emperor go away complaining, "It would be better to go to the feast earlier."

Is that it? How many troops should be sent? When should the expedition be launched? How should the anti-rebellion army be organized and deployed? What tactics should be used? Before any of these questions were even raised, the person in charge left without a care in the world.

Xue Ping hurriedly followed Shen Zhuo's footsteps, and then asked people to set up the banquet hall.

Only the scouts and ministers were left, and they were unable to utter a word for a long while.

Da Chong is in danger, in danger.

It was the fifth day of the first lunar month when the decree was received.

Hengzhi had no family or friends in the capital, so he cooked some dumplings in his residence, ate them with the famous pepper juice in the capital, and watched the snow fall halfway and not melt. He held a grindstone in the yard and continued to sharpen the small dagger.

I came in a hurry and didn't bring any clothes with me, so I only had this set of court clothes to wear. But the wide sleeves were not suitable for work, so I took them off, put on only the black middle coat, tied up my hair, and sat in the yard neatly.

The housekeeper was an old man who had been guarding the mansion for Hengqi when he was still alive. Perhaps because of his age, the young man looked very cold even though he was dressed in thin clothes and looked handsome.

He brought the stove and planned to boil the pepper juice, which would be more appropriate to drink with some hot wine.

Hengzhi lowered his head and rubbed the sharp edge with his thumb.

Finally, she couldn't help but said, "Young Marquis, your clothes are thin. Please put on one more piece of clothing when you get inside."

Hengzhi looked back and saw lush green pines behind him.

"Thank you for your concern. I'm used to living in the north. It's not cold."

Perhaps it was because Hengzhi had to return to Kezhou after the New Year and could not wait until the first month of the year, the old man deliberately spent more time with him these days.

Each of them is a lonely person.

Even if he was an old man, his son would come to pick him up and stay up to watch the New Year on New Year's Eve. Hengzhi was only in his early twenties, and he stayed alone in this huge house until dawn, which was quite pitiful.

"Young people always feel that they are in good health." While muttering this, the old man still heated up the pepper juice, adding some heat to the yard.

But the wine was not heated up yet, and someone came from the palace.

Xue Ping personally brought the imperial edict, and Heng Qi went from the backyard to the front yard without saying a word.

Looking at the young Zhaohou disappearing at the end of the small door, the old man sighed and extinguished the candle on the stove.

Hengzhi guessed correctly, good things would never happen to him.

Last year, they were able to pretend to be obedient, and even went to great lengths to get a fake picture of the emperor's hunting trip for the new emperor. But this year, when the war broke out, they could no longer turn a blind eye.

Any movement would alert others and Shen Zhuo would know about it.

He learned about Chen Lan's rebellion this morning and felt that he was closely related to it.

As expected, this imperial edict came like timely rain, chilling him to the bone.

When I returned to the yard with the bright yellow volume in my hand, the snow began to fall again.

The snow here is different from that in Kezhou. It is goose-feather-like snowflakes, piled on the ground loosely, quietly, crystal clear and clean.

Hengzhi stood still in the courtyard, unfolded the imperial edict and looked at it. Snow fell all over his body, and his eyelashes were cold and white.

The old man removed the wine jug and dumplings and asked someone to take them to the kitchen to warm them up. On the small ebony table, there was only a sharp dagger left.

Hengzhi tightened his grip again and again, and finally, with a cold face, he threw the thing on the table.

"My Lord, you can't throw this around!" Upon seeing this, the old man ran over nervously, carefully brushed off the snow particles on it, and put the imperial edict away carefully.

Just like a green pine tree, Hengzhi stood there without moving. After a while, the tips of his ears were indeed red from the cold.

Heng Zhi had thought of going to Pingzhou to quell the rebellion a long time ago, but when things really became a done deal, he was still unhappy.

Not to mention the round trip, which would take at least two or three months. If spring came, it would be impossible to receive news from Kezhou in time, and the North would be in danger again.

If I leave now, I will switch from a defensive stance to an offensive one. Swords and spears are merciless on the battlefield, and I will never see Ah'ao again.

After thinking for a long time, he moved his stiff fingers, put the sharpened dagger on the table into his arms, and then turned around, "Don't wait for me, I won't come back tonight."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

"Hey!" Knowing that he would not stop, the old man fell silent after being called out.

Forget it, just do whatever the master wants. He knows his limits and seems much calmer than Xian Zhaohou.

I just hope that we can make it to the morning tomorrow and gather our troops outside Yongning Gate to march out.

(End of this chapter)