Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 645 Xia Yuan
On October 13, the emperor returned to Beijing.

All the civil and military officials in the court came out of the city to welcome the emperor. The emperor went directly through the Lizheng Gate without passing through the entire Lin'an City.

Otherwise, the whole city would welcome him with great fanfare.

The day after tomorrow is the Lower Yuan Festival, when the emperor will watch the lanterns and enjoy the fun with the people. There is really no need to disturb the people so frequently.

Therefore, Zhao Yuan kept everything simple when returning to the capital.

When he returned to the palace that day, Zhao Yuan only left his younger brother Zhao Yu to meet Queen Mother Wu.

Empress Dowager Wu first went to pay a visit to the Grand Empress Dowager Wei, and then she and the Grand Empress Dowager met with Prince Jin together.

Queen Mother Wu was particularly kind to the child she had raised.

The mother and daughter held hands and talked affectionately for a while. The emperor and the empress were beside them, and the family was very happy.

Zhao Ning'er had arrived a long time ago and was hiding behind a large pillar and curtain, peeking out and not wanting to come out.

Aunt Luxi has agreed to speak for her, but Zhao Ning'er has no idea whether she can convince her father and mother.

Therefore, when I saw my father and mother, I felt a little scared when I thought about how they watched me very closely all day long.

"Who's hiding there?"

Suddenly the queen noticed a pair of deerskin boots peeking out from under the curtain next to a Panlong pillar.

As soon as the queen saw the little feet, she knew who it was and asked deliberately.

After hearing this, Zhao Ning'er quickly retracted her foot.

The queen snorted coldly and said with a straight face: "Ning'er, mother has been away for so long, don't you miss her?"

"No, I...I miss my mother too."

Zhao Ning'er became anxious when she heard this, and quickly pulled open the curtain to explain to her mother.

"You kid, your mother is not here these days..."

The queen was halfway through her speech when she suddenly froze in place, as if she were speechless, and stared at her daughter in surprise.

Zhao Yuan was listening to his brother talking to his mother with a smile on his face. When he heard the queen talking to her daughter, he turned his head.

When Zhao Yuan saw his precious daughter, he was shocked and stood up suddenly.

"Ning'er! Why are you..."

Zhao Yuan walked over quickly, squatted in front of her daughter, looked her up and down, and grabbed her arms with both hands.

When he held her arm, her arm, which was as thin as a stick of firewood, actually became plump.

Zhao Yuan was so happy that she was shaking all over: "Ning'er, how come...how come you feel so much stronger?"

The queen also hurried over at this time. She was also shocked by the drastic change in her daughter's complexion.

She pulled her daughter over and looked her up and down like a treasure, then suddenly hugged her in her arms, choking with sobs, "My child, your body...how come your body is so well now..."

After she finished speaking, the queen burst into tears.

Zhao Yu came over triumphantly and said, "Brother, sister-in-law, do you think Ning'er looks like she did before?"

Queen Mother Wu also walked over quickly and took a look at Zhao Ning'er's rosy cheeks, which actually had some cute baby fat on them. She was very happy.

She slapped her adopted son Zhao Yu on the back of his head and said angrily, "Stop keeping us in suspense. Tell me how Ning'er got better."

After Zhao Qu told them about leaving Lin'an, Zhao Ning'er, who had been trapped alone in the palace and was lonely and bored, begged him to go out of the palace for a walk. He allowed Ning'er to go to Yang Yuan's house to relax. Yang Yuan took her there and asked a pharmacist to treat her body.

Zhao Ning'er said quickly: "The pharmacist said that Ning'er was trapped in the palace for a long time, and she couldn't eat what she liked. She looked well-fed, but in fact, she was like a flower in a warm cellar, unable to withstand a little cold.

He said, well... he said, Ning'er needs to go out of the palace often and eat whatever she wants, so that she can grow strong. "

It was the first time in Zhao Ning'er's life that she lied. It was a skill she learned from hanging out with little girls like A'man, Qingtang, Ata and Li Fengniang.

This was the first time she used it on her own parents, and she felt very guilty.

However, Zhao Yuan and his wife had tried every possible way for their precious daughter, but to no avail.

This daughter was taken care of with great care, but she became more and more fragile.

The couple had long been mentally prepared for the child to die young. Now their daughter has suddenly turned into a beautiful, energetic girl. Do you say it is only the effect of acupuncture and massage?
It’s not like the imperial physicians in the palace had not used this method before.

Therefore, they would rather believe that what Ning'er said was true.

Zhao Yuan hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, okay, as long as you are like this, you can do whatever you want. Daddy and Mommy will no longer restrict you."

Zhao Ning'er was overjoyed. The method taught by Sister Feng Niang really worked.

Now that her worries were gone, Zhao Ning'er began to get closer to her parents.

The Queen said, "Ning'er met the miraculous doctor when she went to Marquis Yang's mansion. Your Majesty, this Yang Yuan is truly a lucky general for our Zhao family."

Zhao Yuan said with emotion: "Yes, when I first met Yang Yuan, I really didn't expect him to be so outstanding."

Zhao Yu said proudly: "Brother, I have a keen eye for talent, so I introduced him to you, okay?"

Zhao Yuan laughed: "Yes, yes, my brother is born with a keen eye."

Since they were talking about Yang Yuan, the two brothers went aside and talked about what had happened in the court during this period.

The focus is on some issues concerning the Ministry of Personnel and Councillor Tang Situi.

Seeing the two brothers talking about state affairs, the Empress Dowager Wei gave the others a look, and the four generations of Zhao family women quietly left and went to the imperial garden to play and talk. ...

Zhao Yuan returned to Lin'an on the 13th. Although it was a long journey, the emperor had no time to rest.

As a series of grand activities including a grand military parade, presentation of captives, sacrifices, lantern viewing, and palace banquet were to be held on the 15th, the grand court meeting was moved forward one day to the 14th.

The affairs of the Ministry of Personnel must be investigated, including the issue of Tang Situi, but the national celebration must be put first, and it is not appropriate to do anything that will spoil the mood at this time.

All the officials knew that today was just the day the emperor returned to court to meet with all the officials. Today was not a suitable day to discuss state affairs, especially things that would spoil the mood.

Therefore, everyone wrote a letter to express their opinions on this matter without knowing when to advance or retreat.

The emperor and his ministers happily spent a peaceful morning court session, and then all officials went about their own business.

After leaving the palace, Yang Yuan rode a fast horse and headed straight for the western suburbs.

There will be a military parade tomorrow, and we need to rehearse all the details today to avoid making a fool of ourselves in public tomorrow.

On the Privy Council side, Yang Cun Zhong also met up with Palace Commander Zhao Mi to make urgent overall arrangements.

During the grand court events every day, the emperor's safety was the responsibility of the Imperial City Administration and the Privy Council.

The officials of the Imperial City Department were responsible for serving as the emperor's personal guards.

As for the places the emperor wanted to pass through or go to, the Privy Council would dispatch troops to garrison them.

The Imperial Guards had previously transferred 50,000 elite troops to Huaidong. Now, in order to ensure the safety of the Huaibei region before the garrison troops were replenished, another 30,000 Imperial Guards were transferred to garrison in the Huaibei region.

The 8,000 wounded soldiers who returned were to participate in the military parade, and the rest of the troops participating in the parade were also drawn from the three yamen...

As a result, the number of personnel responsible for the garrison security of the capital was slightly insufficient.

However, the Imperial Guards have already allowed in 20,000 new recruits.

These 20,000 people were not newly recruited men of good families, but were selected from the garrison troops.

The soldiers of the Song Dynasty's imperial guards were recruited from various places and selected from the garrison troops and local militia.

However, the qualified recruits from good families need a training process because they have never served in the military.

But now when the imperial court recruits people, it can only select directly from the garrison soldiers and local soldiers, and the height requirements are appropriately relaxed.

These imperial guards, selected from the garrison troops and local militia, were originally soldiers and could be put to use directly.

However, as the garrison troops of each prefecture, although the Xiang Army was nominally under the control of the Cavalry Division and the Infantry Division of the Imperial Guard, in reality the local prefectures and the Ministry of War had more jurisdiction over it, and their influence on the Xiang Army was far greater than that of the Three Yamen.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Zhang Shuning, was currently at the front line in Lianghuai, commanding tens of thousands of elite imperial guards and nearly 100,000 garrison troops in Lianghuai prefecture.

Li Xianzhong returned to Beijing to attend the grand military parade and the emperor's commendation ceremony.

Therefore, Minister Zhang became the supreme commander of more than 100,000 troops in Lianghuai at this time.

October 15th, Lower Yuan Festival.

For ordinary people, this festival is just the period of time at night when the whole city is filled with lanterns and the sound of firecrackers.

For the people, the daytime was not much different from the past.

But at this time, various ceremonial procedures had already begun in the court.

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau (Sitianjian) selected an auspicious date and time, and the emperor led all the civil and military officials in the court to pay homage to the Taimiao, worship their ancestors, and read and burn memorials to the emperor.

In Datong Lane and Cuiyu Tower, people had been singing and dancing all night long. It was the most quiet and peaceful time.

The girls are all sleeping, like lazy cats. Night is when they are most dazzling.

However, Miss Shui Fu was not feeling well last night and did not see any guests.

She was a prostitute, so she could take a day off if she wanted to, and no one dared to make things difficult for her.

At this time, Shui Fu, who was said to have rested for a night due to illness, was sitting in front of the dressing mirror, carefully trimming her eyebrows.

She was not trying to make herself more charming. On the contrary, as she modified herself a little bit, her charming face was slowly turning into a handsome man's.

On the chair next to him was a set of imperial guards' uniform, military cap, sword, and a waist badge.

Shui Fu had been in Lin'an for many years, and her patrons were either rich or noble, one of whom was He Wendi, who was "in charge of the affairs of the Palace Front Office."

This time, the Imperial Guards selected a large number of soldiers from the Wing Army and lowered their physical requirements.

Shui Fu took the opportunity to ask for a place from the "distant cousin" given to her by He Wendi.

If you become an imperial guard, your salary and benefits will be twice as high as that of the wing guards.

So despite the large number of places available, the competition is still fierce.

But in order to please the beauty and get her a place in the imperial guards, He Gongshi could still do it.

This wing soldier really exists, but the person who will be on guard in front of the Zongyang Palace where the emperor watches the lanterns today will be the imposter Shui Fu.

The imperial guards standing guard at the foot of the city wall were all newly selected from various garrison troops. They were not familiar with each other, and Shui Fu's skillful hands were enough to deceive others.

Today, she wants to overthrow the Song Dynasty and avenge her father with her own hands by killing her archenemy, Li Xianzhong!

PS: Last time I said happily that I still owed three chapters. Now...

I still owe the leader of the Alliance who speaks frankly four chapters, and I still owe the leader of JJM one chapter.

(End of this chapter)