The south is still lush with green trees, but thousands of miles away in the capital has reached the season of autumn leaves.

Outside the ginkgo alley, the yellow leaves are flying, and the dozen or so thick and straight ginkgo trees are swaying in the autumn wind, removing the golden crown that covers the sky and the sun, and gradually revealing the gray branches.

These ginkgo trees began in the previous dynasty, originally there was only one, and they are hundreds of years old, hence the name of Ginkgo Hutong.

After Emperor Taizu established the dynasty, he gave Ginkgo Hutong to Xiao Yuan, the Duke of Dingguo. At that time, Xiao Yuan was over forty years old, but there was only one son Xiao Changdun under his knees, and the family of military generals was the most particular about people and prosperity, Xiao Yuan specially invited Li Wuya of Qin Tianjian to show the feng shui of the new house, and Li Wuya asked Xiao Yuan to move another ginkgo tree and plant it next to the original tree.

Coincidentally, in the second year of the ginkgo tree, the Duchess of Dingguo, Meng Shi, gave birth to a son at the age of forty, named Xiao Changhou.

This matter was rumored to be a beautiful talk in the capital for a while, and the age difference between the two sons of Dingguo Gong was 20 years, and everyone said that it was because of the planting of a tree.

When Emperor Taizu heard about it, he decreed that Xiao Yuan and Meng would enter the palace with Xiao Changhou, who was only a few months old. Coincidentally, that day, after Meng and the child met Emperor Taizu, they went to Empress Yang's Kunning Palace.

Coincidentally, as soon as Meng Shi chatted with Empress Yang for a few words, the chamberlain came with good news, and Concubine Rong had an attack.

On the same day, Concubine Rong gave birth to a son, who was the fourth son of the emperor, and later Zhou Huan, the king of Qin.

Although Emperor Taizu already had three princes, this son meant different things to him.

This is the first prince born in the palace, and it is also the most noble prince of his biological mother's bloodline.

Rong Concubine Kang's double ten years, is the sixteenth daughter of Emperor Wai of the previous dynasty, Princess Rong Yan, and is also the favorite concubine of Emperor Taizu.

It is because the four princes have just been full moon, and Rong Concubine is a virtuous concubine by virtue of her son, ranking one of the four concubines.

Emperor Taizu was very happy, remembering that on the day the fourth prince was born, it happened that Xiao Yuan and his wife took Xiao Changhou into the palace, and Xiao Changhou's birth was a bit magical, so Emperor Taizu gave him a four-rank riding lieutenant when Xiao Changhou was still an infant. When Xiao Changhou was five or six years old, he was often summoned to the palace to play with the princes.

Xiao Changhou is the same age as the fourth prince Zhou Huan, and two years older than the fifth prince Zhou Zi.

Later, the princes turned thirteen years old, and they went out of the palace to open the mansion, Xiao Changhou and the four princes were inseparable, the daughter Qiu, the five-flowered horse, the sword and the song, they were the top kings and grandsons of the Great Qi, and they were the most eye-catching teenagers in the capital.

Later, the four princes crowned the king of Qin and went to the northwest; The five princes crowned King Gui and went to Guangxi, and since then, they have gone to the west and the east.

Xiao Changdun, the Duke of Dingguo, stood under the courtyard wall with his hands behind his back, and under the blue sky surrounded by blue bricks and blue tiles, the branches of the ginkgo tree crossed the wall and poked into the courtyard.

"Grandpa Guo, let the little one go and cut down those branches." Ama said from the side.

Ama is not surnamed Ma, he follows his master's surname Xiao, his name is Xiao Ma, he is an orphan taken in by Xiao Yuan, the old Duke of Dingguo, when he was marching, he is two or three years older than Xiao Changdun, from childhood to adulthood, he has always followed Xiao Changdun.

"You don't need to cut it, it's more lively to watch." The breeze blew, and a few golden leaves drifted into the wall, Xiao Changdun reached out and took one and squeezed it in his hand.

When his younger brother Xiao Changhou was sixteen years old, his father died, and since then Xiao Changdun has been the head of the family, the eldest brother is the father, he is twenty years older than his younger brother, his eldest son Xiao Yi and second son Xiao Wei are older than Xiao Changhou, therefore, Xiao Changdun has more feelings for his younger brother in addition to brotherhood, but also a little more affection for the elders to the younger generations.

Before Xiao Changhou got married, next to the two ginkgo trees, Xiao Changdun took Xiao Changhou, and the two brothers planted ten ginkgo trees with their own hands.

"Back then, there were only two trees here, and there were only two of us brothers under my father's knees, and now we have planted ten trees, and there will be at least ten of our Xiao family sons in this generation, do you remember, you must rush to give birth to the eleventh, and a few more, hahaha."

At that time, Xiao Changdun already had six sons, five sons, and one son, and the Xiao family was prosperous and vibrant.

The ginkgo biloba leaf in his hand gradually blurred, Xiao Changdun let go gloomily, and the leaves flew away with the wind, and disappeared without a trace in a blink of an eye.

Xiao Changhou died in the sixth year after he got married, and he only had one son under his knees, and he was only twenty-four years old at that time.

In the past eight years, Xiao Changdun has always wondered if they had planted nine trees that year instead of ten, wouldn't what happened later?

They were warriors, they didn't pay so much attention to it, and they thought that the more trees they planted, the better, so they planted ten trees, but they forgot that the meaning of nine was the best.

"Grandpa Guo, there's a letter from the south."

There was a voice from Ama in his ears, Xiao Changhou didn't look back, he stretched out his hand blankly.

The letter from the south was written by Zou Xuehuai.

Over the years, Zou Xuehuai has written a letter every month, rain or shine.

Sometimes, he knew about things in the south before Flying Fish Guard.

But for him, he just knows, he has long since stopped asking about the affairs of the DPRK and China, and Zou Xuehuai will still tell him everything about the big and small things of the various guards and yamen.

The envelope was handed to Xiao Changdun, and he suddenly felt that something was wrong, so he withdrew his empty gaze and his gaze fell on the letter in his hand.

He understood that this feeling of wrongness came from the weight, and that today's letter was much lighter than before.

He didn't go back to the study, he tore the paint while standing under the wall.

Sure enough, there was only a thin page in the envelope, and the paper was densely packed with Zou Xuehuai's fly-headed letters.

The Protectorate sent the eldest grandson Yang Jincheng to Shangqiao Town, and Tao Shiyi's entire family died; Jiang Shuangliu, a general of Huaiyuan under the command of King Qin, pretended to be Long Huwei and went to Xiaqiao Town......

Seeing this, Xiao Changdun's eyes shrank, and he saw a few words: Qi Shao has gone to the capital!

Seven Lesser ...... Seven Lesser ......

Xiao Changdun repeated these two words in his heart over and over again, he raised his head again, and looked at the sky above the courtyard wall, and there were yellow leaves blown down by the wind, Xiao Changdun reached out again to pick them up, but the leaves were like a naughty child, sliding in his hand...... He didn't catch it.

Xiao Changdun smiled bitterly, his hand was still in the air, the autumn wind blew, and the ginkgo biloba leaf danced in the wind, or circled, or jumped, flying farther and farther, flying over the courtyard wall made of blue bricks, and flying out of Xiao Changdun's sight.

Seven young people are going to Beijing, and seven young people are coming back!

"Amma, go and ......" Xiao Changdun didn't continue, he originally wanted Ama to clean up the courtyard, but the words came to his lips and swallowed.

Won't come back, won't!

"Amma, if the uncle comes back, let him come to my study." Xiao Changdun stood under the wall for a moment and slowly left.

His sideburns were covered with gray hair, and his back was slightly raised, like fallen leaves outside the wall.