Chapter Twenty-Five: The Queen

A month after Empress Dowager Xu's birthday banquet, the hoopoe man was taken into the palace in a beautiful manner and lived in the queen/palace. It was Empress Dowager Xu who issued an order to make the hoopoe man enter the palace to accompany her, and assisted Concubine Tian in handling the affairs of the inner court, and awarded her the rank of second-class female official. Most of the courtiers and people in the palace thought that the hoopoe man was the alternate queen. It's just that because Qian Hongzuo is in mourning, it is not suitable to get married, and Empress Dowager Xu is anxious to settle the family affairs, so it has become this transitional state.

The hoopoe male personality is arrogant and informal. After she entered the palace, she was supposed to go to the concubines to meet her, and she should also greet the Empress Dowager Xu every day, but she was tired of these red tape, so she waived these false courtesies. Several concubines were very dissatisfied, but because the Empress Dowager Xu had no objections, they couldn't say anything. The first king was originally in poor health with Concubine Tian, but because of his high morality, he had a very important position in the inner court, and the silver taels used by the concubines, princes, and palaces were all allocated by Concubine Tian. Concubine Tian was originally looking forward to having someone to help her share the burden, after all, she was not in good health, and the inner court was a place of right and wrong, so everything had to be handled properly and thoughtfully, which was very troublesome, so after the hoopoe man entered the palace, she intended to cultivate and teach many things to the hoopoe man. But soon Concubine Tian discovered that the hoopoe man was not a master of the material, and the account book was given to her for many days, and she was still confused about the accounts that should be mastered. What made Concubine Tian even more embarrassed was that the hoopoe man was reckless. Soon after entering the palace, he had a quarrel with another old lady sent by the concubine to receive the silver taels, and in a fit of anger, he also beat the old lady, causing the concubine to find Concubine Tian and make a big fuss, so frightened that Concubine Tian no longer dared to entrust important matters to the hoopoe man.

The hoopoe man is also unwilling to deliberately curry favor with Qian Hongzuo. After she entered the palace, she didn't go to see Qian Hongzuo for a long time. Under the urging of Empress Dowager Xu, when Qian Hongzuo took the initiative to visit her in the palace, she pretended to sleep and wanted Qian Hongzuo to wait a little longer. Unexpectedly, Qian Hongzuo, who originally wanted to get as far away from her as possible, took this opportunity to brush his sleeves away and never came to see her again.

According to the etiquette of Wu Yueguo, the prince who is not married can live in the auxiliary palace on the west side of the palace to study and practice martial arts. Soon, the hoopoe man began to play with these princes who were still in the auxiliary palace. Especially with the eldest among them, Qian Hongliang, who is the oldest, is the most compatible.

At this time, the palace no longer has the haze of panic when Qian Hongzuo was young, and the concubines are basically safe. Empress Dowager Xu not only treated the princes and princesses of the previous kings equally, but also was quite loving. As the former kings and princes who did not interact with each other were gathered by the Empress Dowager Xu to study and practice martial arts, the feeling of their own brothers became thicker and thicker. However, Qian Hongzuo was busy with state affairs, and there was a separate gentleman to teach him to read, so because of the difference in work and rest time, he rarely spent time with other Wang brothers. And Qian Hongliang is like a rich idler, he loves entertainment the most, and soon became the "child king" among the young princes of the previous kings.

Qian Hongliang is the same age as the hoopoe man, more casual, there were rumors in the palace that his mother's royal brother - Qian Hongyu was poisoned and killed, and it has a great relationship with Qian Hongyu, who wants to set up his own son and is also the adopted son of the first king. He should have distanced himself from the hoopoe man, but Qian Hongliang didn't seem to believe the rumor at all. Soon after the hoopoe man entered the palace, he led the hoopoe man to play everywhere, and even went out of the palace to have fun. And so a dramatic scene occurred.

On this day, Qian Hongzuo asked Xie Xiangcun to play polo, and the two, accompanied by the guards, originally entered the school field in the palace to practice salvo shooting with a smile, but Xie Xiangcun suddenly stopped talking and quickly turned around and left.

Qian Hongzuo was taken aback, only to find that the hoopoe man was dressed in men's clothes and was playing polo with several Wang brothers on the school field. The hoopoe man was playing happily and didn't see Qian Hongzuo. When the other princes saw Qian Hongzuo, they immediately dismounted to meet him. The hoopoe man reluctantly dismounted, and hurriedly saluted, which was very perfunctory. Qian Hongliang, who was present, saw that Qian Hongzuo's guards were also holding polo sticks and other things, and guessed that Qian Hongzuo was also here to play polo, so he proposed that Qian Hongzuo join their polo match. Qian Hongzuo was not interested in polo, mainly to accompany Xie Xiangcun for recreation, because Xie Xiangcun had avoided going, he was quite disappointed, so he only let Qian Hongzuo and them continue to play, and Qian Hongzuo himself left in a huff. And his future queen, without waiting for him to go far, shouted and chatted with Qian Hong, and continued to have fun.

When this matter reached the ears of the concubines, it almost became a laughing stock, the Qian royal family was strict in governing the family, and there had never been a female dependent like a wild horse like a hoopoe man. When the chief merchant heard about it, he also felt that the hoopoe man's behavior was inappropriate, so he told the Empress Dowager Xu.

Empress Dowager Xu said: "It's rare that Miss Dai gets along well with the princes, there's nothing wrong with it, and when the relationship with the saint is slowly cultivated in the future, she will naturally take care of it, and don't pay attention to it now." ”

In this way, with the connivance of the Empress Dowager Xu, the future queen of Hoopoe Nan, continued to indulge in her happy life in the palace.

After a long period of learning rules, Xie Xiangcun finally put on a well-fitting trumpet guard costume and followed the other guards who were a head taller than him, and officially went on an errand. The duty of the sword guards in front of the palace was to guard the Empress Dowager Xu and Qian Hongzuo under their thrones when they went to court. The throne is located on the top of the nine-step platform, placed in the center, and under the three steps in front of the palace, there is a small bookcase and soft cushion for the front of the palace to record the words of the court. In the entire court, except for the Empress Dowager Xu and Qian Hongzuo, there were only two people sitting, one was sitting in front of the palace on the soft cushion for the purpose of recording, and Yuan Banmeng; The other is Dai Yun, the generalissimo of soldiers and horses sitting in the first row of courtiers. And the guards with knives in front of the palace to which Xie Xiangcun belonged, divided into four directions, front and back, left and right, stood around the ninth-order throne. Because Xie Xiangcun has the least qualifications, he ranks last among the guards with knives in front of the palace, and his position is behind the throne, in the middle of the jade steps. In addition to the New Year's Festival, Wu Yueguo has a dynasty every three days, and the guards with knives in front of the palace are divided into two shifts to alternate errands.

Compared with his stunning appearance as a servant, Xie Xiangcun's first errand as a guard with a knife in front of the palace can almost be described as difficult to detect. Because the throne is higher, the ministers of the court can't see Xie Xiangcun standing behind the throne at all. In the whole process of going to the court, according to the etiquette of Wu Yueguo, the guards with knives in front of the palace with low ranks are generally not qualified to participate in the court discussions. He could only press the hilt of the knife at his waist majestically, and at the same time stand silently.

It may be only Qian Hongzuo who noticed Xie Xiangcun's first errand. As he walked up the jade steps, he smiled at Xie Xiangcun, who was looking down behind him. In the face of Xie Xiangcun's first errand, Qian Hongzuo was only a little happy for him, and more regretful for him, and he even doubted whether his decision to let Xie Xiangcun join the forbidden army was correct. Xie Xiangcun has worked hard for many years, although he has just become an apprentice, he has obviously become a famous actor in the world, and he is just around the corner. Now that he has joined the forbidden army, he may only be one of the many guards for the rest of his life.

Perhaps it was for Xie Xiangcun to accompany himself in and out of the inner courtyard of the palace, or perhaps to alleviate the regrets in his heart, Qian Hongzuo granted Xie Xiangcun a waist card for the passage of the inner garden of the palace, with this waist card, Xie Xiangcun could freely enter and leave the inner courtyard during the day.

The range of activities of the guards with knives in front of the palace is limited to the previous dynasty. No one is allowed to enter the inner court without being summoned. The main person in charge of guarding the inner court is the chamberlain. However, because Wu Yueguo was founded for only three generations, compared with the Central Plains Imperial Court, not only the number of internal servants was small, but also the martial arts were weak, so a special personal guard was set up to assist the internal servants in defense. It's just that these guards can't move freely, and can only be managed and led by the inner guards. Any guard, if he dares to break away from the supervision of the inner guard, leaving the brigade is tantamount to violating the palace rules, and if it is serious, it may even lead to death. But in the Guard, those who are particularly trusted are granted a pass pass and can be released from the supervision of the chamberlain, of course, before the curfew at night. Although Xie Xiangcun was not a member of the pro-soldier guard, Qian Hongzuo still awarded Xie Xiangcun with a very small number of pass waist cards.