In the first year of Chengqing of Great Chu, Zhao Zhu, the marquis of Jiannan, suddenly fell ill and died at the age of sixty-three.

Speaking of this old Jiannanhou, that name is well-known, not to mention the people in the capital, even the people in the whole world know that he is a founding hero and a veteran of the two dynasties.

When the Qing army entered the customs, invaded the city of Beijing, defeated Li Chuang, and wanted to wave his troops south, Emperor Taizu Gao Rong was doing a five-grade garrison in Shandong, and Zhao Zhu, the old marquis of Jiannan, was the general manager of his subordinates at that time, just a small seven-grade military attaché, because Emperor Taizu was born in Jiading, and Zhao Zhu was a Fengxian person, and the two places were separated by more than 100 miles. Emperor Taizu saw that the Qing soldiers were menacing, and he couldn't bear to see the mountains and rivers broken and the lives ruined, so he united with the Shandong officials and troops to resist, and from the first battle with the Qing soldiers, Zhao Zhu has been following him, which can be described as a cronie.

Emperor Taizu is a person who is ordered by heaven to save the people of the world, in a dream by the Queen Mother of the West thirty-three volumes of the Divine Soldier Heavenly Book, as early as when he served as a garrison, he has trained an iron army praised by everyone, and borrowed the secret method recorded in the Book of Heaven, the production of the divine soldier Tianhuo, the Qing soldiers were bombed into a rain of blood, and the generals with the troops were killed silently regardless of the official position, where they lived, even if they were among the ten thousand people, and the death was a bloody hole between the eyebrows, but the assassin was nowhere to be seen, and the Qing army was in chaos. After Taizu's army drove the Qing army out of Shandong, he received the will of Emperor Hongguang of the Southern Ming Dynasty and was appointed as the general of Pingbei, and he needed to be ordered to march north and recapture the city of Beijing. In order to let General Pingbei fight with peace of mind, the minister of the DPRK and the central government also sent people to take his family to Nanjing City for resettlement, accompanied by the families of dozens of Shandong military attachés, including Zhao Zhu's parents, wife and eldest daughter.

Who knows, just when Emperor Taizu took Zhao Zhu and others to the north to fight the Qing army, the cunning Qing army made a detour into the city of Nanjing, killed Emperor Hongguang and his courtiers, and Emperor Taizu and Zhao Zhu's family members also lost their news in the chaos. When Emperor Taizu turned back to recover the city of Nanjing and drove the Qing army back to the north all the way, Empress Taizu took her son and family to reunite with Emperor Taizu under the escort of righteous soldiers, but Zhao Zhu's family was separated from them on the way to escape, it is said that it was to help them divert the pursuers, so Emperor Taizu shed tears in front of Zhao Zhu on the spot, and promised to find his parents, wife and daughter, and repay this life-saving grace.

Later, Taizu led the troops to defeat the city of Beijing, killed the regent of the Qing army and several princes and ministers, drove them out of the pass, and then pacified the world, it was a few years later, Zhao Zhu's family also found, but his parents had died on the way to escape, and his wife was also sick, Empress Taizu specially took her son to visit, and Zhao Zhuyuan hugged and cried. Emperor Taizu was grateful, and when he decided to establish a country and began to reward his subordinates, he was the first to give Zhao Zhu the title of the founding of the country, and Zhao Jiarong was the first to crown the capital for a while.

Zhao Zhu won the royal favor**, not only because his family had a life-saving contribution to Taizu's wife and children, after recovering Beijing, he also followed Emperor Taizu to fight with the Qing soldiers everywhere and made great contributions. After the establishment of the Great Chu State, Emperor Taizu once wavered in the matter of establishing a prince, and it was also the persuasion of Zhao Zhu, the Marquis of Jiannan, that he did not abolish the position of the eldest son of the crown prince, and set up the youngest son of the first beloved, King Ying. Last year, Taizu passed away, and the prince succeeded to the throne, and he had great respect for Jiannan Hou, but it was a pity that although the old marquis usually looked at his body and health, he could run fast horses, and he could pull the Ershi bow, which did not look like an old man with a sixtieth armor at all, but he was too old after all. Some people also say that this is because the old marquis and the first emperor got along, and the first emperor went for less than a year, and he missed the old man, so the old marquis would follow.

When the news of the death of Jiannan Marquis Zhao Zhu was just reported to the palace, the current saint cried in front of the ministers, and said "I lost my shares", and took the princes to personally come to the Jiannan Marquis Mansion to mourn, and after returning to the palace, he issued an order to posthumously crown Zhao Zhu as the founding county prince, and allowed his eldest son Zhao Jiong to attack the title of Marquis of Jiannan, and rewarded the widow of the county prince with countless treasures. Whether it is the founding father or the minister of civil and military affairs, it is extremely rare to have such a grace, the emperor is still insufficient, in the palace simple clothes, every time he thinks of the voice and smile of the county grandfather before his death, he has to cry, the courtiers can't help but sigh that the grace is too much, and they have a little jealousy of the Jiannan Hou family.

The emperor respects and misses the prince of the county so much, if he loves Wu and Wu, and promotes his heirs exceptionally, wouldn't it be a bad thing? The court is in the middle of the replacement of the old and the new, and countless people are staring at the vacated positions of the old ministers of the previous emperors, how can they let others take advantage?

However, the world doesn't know that the emperor is very fortunate to the family of the county grandfather, and the eldest son of the county grandfather, Zhao Jiong Zhao Marquis Zhao, who attacked the title of Marquis of Jiannan after the death of his deceased father, is also very frightened!

Jiannan County Duke died for 100 days, just returned from the funeral, the palace came again, you must know that when the funeral, there were already messengers in the palace to follow the whole process, but the emperor still felt that it was insufficient, and sent someone to appease the Marquis of Jiannan. Finally sent people away, Jiannan Hou Zhao Jiong went back to the main courtyard to find his wife Niu, and said with a frightened face: "There are people in the palace again." ”

Niu is happily calling the girl's mother-in-law to adjust the furnishings of the new house, the upper room of the main courtyard was originally the residence of the master of the Hou Mansion, and it has been the step-mother-in-law Zhang's residence before, after moving over, Niu is busy with the funeral, no time to cook, and now she finally has time, naturally she has to be attentive. After listening to her husband's words, she didn't take it to heart: "Come here, in the past few months, people have come to the palace every now and then, and it is no longer strange to see it, and the master is also more stable, you are now a first-class marquis!" ”

Zhao Jiong saw that his wife didn't understand what he meant, so he angrily kicked the girl out of the house, so he pulled his wife into the bedroom and lowered his voice: "Are you confused?" The emperor always sent people, in case he knew about it......" he didn't say anything.

Niu Shi snorted: "What is there to be afraid of Master Hou? Except for you and me, no one else in the family knows about it now. The emperor sent someone to come, it will only make our faces shine, you are so cringe, it makes people suspicious! ”

Zhao Jiong was busy with his mouth, but after a while, he whispered: "There is one more thing, I did what you said, I moved the old lady out of the main courtyard just over the first seven, when the emperor sent people in the past, he didn't let him see people with 'men and women' to stop him, forget it, the queen's condition is getting better now, if she remembers, send the palace maid to see the old lady, how can it be good?" It was reported over there before, saying that their eldest sister was sick and wanted to ask for a doctor, but you didn't care, and forced them to go out of the city with the child for funeral, I heard that the eldest sister is getting sicker and sicker now, what if the old lady gets angry and sues the people from the palace?! ”

Only then did Niu Shi understand his intentions, but he was indifferent: "What is this?" Don't you know the old lady's temperament? I will never tell outsiders about the ugliness of the family, and now you are the Marquis of Jiannan, she is an old lady, and it is right to move out of the main courtyard, even if the queen comes, it is no wonder that we are. Moreover, at that time, the county grandfather was still at home, naturally it was the county grandfather's major affairs, the eldest sister and the youngest child, there was a headache and brain fever, and it would be good to be hungry for two meals, and the child who had just passed the age of one should ask for a doctor? I don't have to break her blessings! ”

Zhao Jiong felt a little reasonable when he heard it: "So, don't you care?" ”

"Don't care!" Niu replied very affirmatively, "The old man in the family has died, the brothers should be separated, the old lady is just a stepmother, let's just do the courtesy on the surface, who really wants her to be an old feudal monarch at home?" Catch Ming'er and wait for the eldest aunt and wife to leave, while the eldest brother of the sect is there, you quickly divide the family, let Zhao Zhuo and them move out, and save the light of our Hou Mansion! ”

Hearing her say this, Zhao Jiong hesitated a little: "The matter of the separation...... Let's talk about it in a few days, the emperor will send someone every now and then, and if he knows, it will be troublesome. Although the old lady is a stepmother, ......" he glanced at his wife, "what my background is, the palace may not be clear, and I don't have to let people gossip." ”

Although Zhao Jiong is recorded in the name of Zhao Zhuyuan, the old county grandfather, he is considered the eldest son, in fact, he was born to the second noble concubine, after the death of the yuan, the county grandfather remarried the stepfamily Zhang who was the same age as the eldest son, and the Zhang family gave birth to a son Zhao Zhuo, which is the real sister-in-law of the county grandfather. If it weren't for the fact that the county prince had no intention of changing the choice of the prince, Zhao Jiong's status would have been lost a long time ago, Rao is so, and now there is still a lot of controversy outside about his inheritance of the marquis.

As soon as Niu thought of this, she was depressed and panicked, she married into the Zhao family as the eldest daughter-in-law, and died only a month after entering the door, and her mother-in-law wanted to keep filial piety, and finally took the power of the housekeeper, and gave birth to a son, I thought that no one in the Jiannan Hou Mansion could press on her head, and there was a mother-in-law who was the same age as her, and snatched the power of the middle feed in her hand. I can already raise my eyebrows, why should I continue to endure it?

"No way!" Niu didn't care what her husband would think, and vetoed his idea categorically, "Master Hou forgot? If you really let the old lady see someone from the palace, you can't care what she says! She may not tell outsiders about something as trivial as her granddaughter's illness, but what if it's not a trivial matter? She looked at her husband with a meaningful gaze: "If she knew that the Hou Ye had funded King Ying in the past and participated in the establishment of the crown prince......

Zhao Jiong's face suddenly changed: "Don't talk nonsense!" How could she know? ”

Niu Shi approached him and lowered his voice: "Grandpa Jun can know, why can't she?" The county grandfather will be so angry that he will let it go? As long as you are guilty, the title of Marquis of Jiannan belongs to her son, and a fool will hide it! Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if she doesn't know, but the death of the county grandfather, she has doubted it! She said more than once in front of the eldest aunt and the eldest master of the sect house, the county grandfather is too anxious, and you are also in a hurry to collect the funeral, so she didn't let her see the last side, so she complained about you tightly, have you forgotten it? ! ”

Zhao Jiong's face was as white as paper. He knew in his heart that the current emperor was benevolent and forgiving, and because of the prince of the county, he looked at the Zhao family differently, if it was just a matter of King Ying, he might be able to make a light move, but it involved the death of his father......

He once made a big mistake, although he was extremely remorseful in his heart, but now, there is no turning back, so he can only go on hard.

"Madame is right." Zhao Jiong's eyes shot a strange look, "It's better to send the old lady and the second brother back to their hometown as soon as possible, they are far away, and we can't see the people in the palace, so we can rest assured." ”

When Niu passed on the couple's decision to separate tomorrow to his step-mother-in-law Zhang, Zhao Zhuo and his wife were relieved that their daughter's fever had finally subsided, and they were angry when they heard the words.

"Before my father was grounded, he was watching from the family temple outside the city!" Zhao Zhuo said hatefully, "How can they be so ruthless?!" ”

Zhang frowned and sighed: "It's a matter of time, just divide it, and it will be cleaner if you divide it earlier." ”

Zhao Zhuo looked at his sleeping little daughter with his eyes closed, and also fell silent. Zhang stood up: "Although the child has a fever, the medicine he takes is only my mother's ancestral prescription, for the sake of safety, I still have to ask the doctor to take a look." I'll go talk to Jue's daughter-in-law. "Zhao Jue is the eldest son of Zhao Jiong and Niu, married to Jiang, is from the Jingzhong family, and has always been polite and obedient.

Zhang brought Yahuan with him, Zhao Zhuo's wife Mi comforted her husband, and went to the neighboring house to take care of her five-year-old eldest son, Zhao Zhuo sat alone outside and sulked, leaving the nurse to take care of her daughter in the back room. The nurse yawned boredly, and without seeing it, the one-year-old girl on the kang opened her eyes and showed a complicated expression.