It took seven or eight days for the news of Fu Yuanxian's defeat and death to reach Jingshi, and after another four or five days, more and more reliable news also came, and this result was confirmed. This incident made Emperor Chongde more and more worried. Recently, there have been no good things everywhere in the world, and in Liaodong, Hong Yan's army and the Jin army have been in a stalemate for half a year, and a large amount of food and salary have to be consumed every day. Of course, Hong Yan still repaid some good news, such as fighting with Dongxuan one day, repelling the Gin army, killing and wounding a lot ......of people, but unfortunately when the Gin army retreated, he snatched back the corpses, so that he could not cut the head; Another example is that one day he fought with the Northern Cavalry attached to the Eastern Guard, defeated the Gallium Army, and beheaded the third rank; Another example...... In short, after half a year of fighting, the number of Dongg's heads captured added up to less than three digits. Moreover, looking at the concerto on the Hong performance, he still constantly emphasized that Dongxuan is brave, fighting in the wilderness, and winning in a difficult way, and must constantly rely on troops and material resources to grind them out. It's just that where does the imperial court still have so much material resources now?

In such a situation, after receiving the news of Fu Yuanxian's death, Emperor Chongde was so worried that he could not eat for almost a whole day, and he went to the ancestral hall to weep bitterly, praying that the ancestors could protect him and the entire dynasty. Coming out of the Fengxian Palace, Emperor Chongde raised his eyes and saw an old cypress tree outside the palace gate. This cypress tree was planted by Emperor Chengzu when he moved the capital to the north and built this palace. It has been 200 years now, and the tree has been flourishing. It can be called "frost skin and rain around 40 circles, and the color is 2,000 feet". But since the year before, the tree did not know what was going on, and gradually began to wither. At first it was one or two, then it was a whole tree. By the year before last, the tree had almost completely died. At that time, the palace once planned to dig up this tree, but considering that this tree was planted by Emperor Chengzu himself, it delayed for some time. As a result, the year before last, the tree suddenly had a few branches back to green, and it seemed to come back to life. Seeing this situation at that time, Emperor Chongde also regarded it as an auspicious sign that the imperial court was about to go through the sadness, the country would be revitalized, and the Jokhang was about to be prosperous. even specially instructed Wang Dehua to ask someone to take good care of the tree. Since last year, however, the tree has withered again. At that time, Emperor Chongde, who still had some luck in his heart, did not let people cut it down, and only hoped that it would have a miraculous rejuvenation. But now, in the shadow of the lush trees around it, the dead tree looks particularly glaring.

Emperor Chongde looked at the tree, sighed, and couldn't help but shed tears in his eyes. He walked over, stroked the dry bark of the tree and sighed: "The children and grandchildren are not good, and the ancestral industry is withered, which is sad and lamentable." Empress Zhou, who was accompanying her, came over to comfort him and said, "The emperor doesn't have to worry too much, where in the world can there be no hurdles?" Maybe after this year, the tree will come back to life next year. ”

Emperor Chongde looked at her, but did not speak, just shook his head. After a while, he said to her, "How is Concubine Tian's condition these days?" ”

Since the death of the fifth son, Concubine Tian's health has not been very good, and she has recently been sick again. The doctor went to diagnose and treat him, and prescribed a lot of medicines, but there was no improvement.

When Empress Zhou heard this, she replied: "The day before yesterday, Concubine Tian's sister coughed again, and she coughed very badly. Imperial Physician Wang and Imperial Physician Li went to see it again, prescribed some medicine, and are now drinking it. The concubine went to see it again yesterday, and Concubine Tian's sister's face was very bad, and she had lost a lot of weight. It's really distressing to watch. ”

Emperor Chongde nodded and said, "I haven't been to Concubine Tian for a few days. It's still early today, so I can go and see her, and the queen can go with me. ”

The two took the eunuch and palace maid to the Chengqian Palace, and Emperor Chongde went in directly, but saw that Concubine Tian was reluctantly getting up from the bed, so he hurriedly said: "Concubine Ai, you are still sick, so don't be polite." Keep lying down. ”

Concubine Tian replied, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness." He coughed again.

Emperor Chongde walked over, sat down on the edge of the bed, took a closer look, and saw that Concubine Tian was really as thin as Zhou Hou said, and her face was completely bloodless, so he frowned and asked, "Which imperial doctor saw it?" What prescriptions were prescribed? ”

A palace maid replied: "Long live the Lord, Niangniang's illness was seen by Imperial Doctor Hu, and the prescription is here." ”

As she spoke, the maid presented the prescription. Emperor Chongde opened the prescription and looked at it, and saw that it was all cough suppressant things such as loquat leaves, Sichuan fritillary, bellflower, and hay, as well as a little acacia and other soothing things. In short, they are all stable medicines, and I sighed in my heart. He knew that when the imperial physician treated the nobles in the palace, his basic attitude was not to seek merit, but to seek no fault. Of course, such drugs are not bad, but it is difficult to say how symptomatic and how effective they are.

So he said again: "What did Imperial Doctor Hu say? ”

The palace maid replied: "Imperial Doctor Hu said that the mother was thinking too much and hurt her spirit. I want my mother to recuperate with peace of mind, and don't think too much. In this way, it can slowly get better. ”

Emperor Chongde nodded and said to Concubine Tian: "Aifei, you also heard it, don't think nonsense, take care of your body." ”

Concubine Tian suddenly burst into tears and said, "Your Majesty, the concubine is only afraid that she will no longer be able to serve your majesty day and night." ”

"What nonsense!" Emperor Chongde straightened his face and said, "The imperial doctor told you not to think nonsense, you still have to talk such nonsense." ”

"In the past few days, as soon as the concubines close their eyes, they dream of Ahri." Concubine Tian continued, "Ahri said to the concubine: 'Mother, mother, Ahri misses you so much. You're not here, it's still dark here, and no one is with Ahri, Ahri is so scared. Then the concubine woke up. It was like this for several nights on end. The concubine thought, the concubine is afraid that it will not work......"

Before Concubine Tian's words were finished, Emperor Chongde hurriedly interrupted her and said, "Nonsense! Ahri is the son of the dragon and the grandson of the dragon, even over there, there are also ancestors and ancestors to take care of, how can there be those you said? You're just thinking about it day and dreaming about it at night. Don't be so cranky. ”

Zhou Hou also spoke: "Sister, what the emperor said is right, don't think about it, you hurt your body in vain, even Ahri knows it over there, and she will definitely be unhappy." ”

A few people persuaded her again, and seeing that Concubine Tian was deep in thought and seemed a little tired, they comforted her a little, told her to take medicine on time, don't think about it, and quit. Just walked out of the gate of Chengqian Palace, but saw Wang Dehua waiting there. Emperor Chongde knew that there must be something, so he said to Zhou Hou: "You go back first." ”

Zhou Hou nodded and said, "Your Majesty, don't be too tired." So he went first. Emperor Chongde stepped up, and while heading to the Qianqing Palace, he asked impatiently, "What's the matter?" ”

"Your Majesty, it's good news!" Wang Dehua, who was following alongside, hurriedly said.

"Good news?" Emperor Chongde was taken aback, but he immediately thought that this good news was most likely the kind of good news that Hong Yan had "repelled Dong's attack and killed a lot of Dong's, but Dong's snatched all the corpses back, and as a result, there was no one beheading the capital". So he said tiredly: "Is it Hong Yan who cut off one or two heads in Liaodong?" ”

"Back to the words of the Long Live Lord," Wang Dehua replied with a smile on his face, "but it was good news from Kaifeng." Henan Governor Gao Gao Ping, Kaifeng General Chen Yongshou sent good news. It is said that the thief army took advantage of the momentum after defeating Governor Fu and stormed Kaifeng. They dug tunnels in the walls, stuffed them with gunpowder, and blew down a long section of the wall. ”

"Huh? What happened? Emperor Chongde was taken aback, he knew that once the city wall fell, it would be difficult to defend the city.

"Mr. Chen personally led the team to plug the gap. Governor Gao personally led the people and carried stones and wood to block the opening. But that section of the mouth is too long, even if there is no thief army, it will take a whole day to block it, not to mention that the thief army also knows that this is a critical time, they are like locusts rushing upward, and even the thief leader Huang Zide personally went into battle to supervise the battle. Seeing that it was about to be blocked, Mr. Chen saw that Huang Zide was getting closer, so he shot him with a crossbow arrow, hitting this thief! Wang Dehua's face was full of smiles, and he said with spit stars.

"Shot the yellow thief?! Tell me, what happened to the yellow thief? Emperor Chongde sat up straight from his step, his eyes widened, and he looked at Wang Dehua with blazing eyes.

"The thief was struck by an arrow, and fell from his horse. The officers and soldiers were far away, and they couldn't rush up for a while. And a thief snatched him back. There were many thieves, and Mr. Chen was worried that it was a thief's trick, so he didn't dare to chase it. ”

Hearing this, the light of surprise in Emperor Chongde's eyes dimmed again. In the past few years, he had heard more about the giants being shot to death. Almost every once in a while, someone can be heard saying that he shot Zhang Bingzhong, Huang Zide, Lao Huihui, and Luo Mengde in the battle...... In short, these rumors shot Huang Zide Zhang Bingzhong's arrows, if they were tied together and placed on the bodies of two people, they would definitely be able to crush them to death. Listening to this meaning this time, I guess it's another such story.

"This time it's different, Your Majesty." Wang Dehua knew Emperor Chongde's thoughts, and hurriedly said, "The thief army immediately retreated at that time, Your Majesty, this city wall is so easy for them to make such a big hole, if Huang Zide was not really shot, how could the thief be willing to retreat?" Governor Gao led the whole city to repair it overnight, and he was busy until dawn, and the gap has not been filled. On the second day, after dawn, General Chen sent a cavalry who dared to die to investigate, but there was not a single thief outside the city! On the third day, I found out that I had traveled more than 100 miles, and I didn't see the shadow of the thief until Zhongmu County. If Huang Zide had been fine, the thief army should not have retreated so far. General Chen had few people in his hands, and Governor Gao was cautious, always worried that it was a thief's trick, and His Royal Highness the King of Zhou did not agree, so the officers and soldiers did not dare to go out of the city to pursue, so they could only let a few probe horses go out to watch. However, it was found that the thief army not only withdrew from Kaifeng City, but also transferred back the thief army that was originally distributed in other places to plunder. Your Majesty, this is absolutely unusual. ”

At this time, Bu Yuan had already arrived at the gate of the Qianqing Palace, so he stopped there. Emperor Chongde said: "Go inside and talk about it in detail." Obviously, from the description just now, he also heard that this time it seemed that it was really possible to shoot Huang Zide. If Huang Zide is really shot, then things in the world will take a turn for the better!