Shannan County is located in the southwest of the Zhao Empire, occupied by the Nanyue Kingdom in the early years, and was captured by the general Chen Anlin during the reign of Emperor Chen, who set up a government to build a walled city here to resist the invading forces of South Vietnam.

In the twelfth year of Emperor Zong, this place was officially set up as Shannan County, and sent officials to tidy up the place, the mountains and rivers here are steep, and there are often poisonous snakes and beasts, ordinary people often dare not settle down here, and officials are not willing to go to this place to take up their posts, so most of the officials here are people who have made mistakes and been degraded, and they see that there is no hope of promotion and gradually stop managing the affairs of the government, which has led to the formation of imperial power in other places such as Fucheng and other places, including some other places in the county. Such a terrifying phenomenon of the only clan in the county.

At this time, in a small mountain village in Guo County, Shannan County, a group of eleven or twelve-year-old children are forming a circle on a meadow, and in the center of the circle is Cheng Ming Luosheng of Guo County, who was originally the supervisor of the Anzong Dynasty.

"The Book of Rites. In "Rites and Fortunes", it was said that eating and drinking, men and women, people's great desires existed, death and poverty, and people's great evils existed. Therefore, those who desire evil have the great end of their hearts. People hide their hearts, they are unfathomable, beauty and evil are in their hearts, they don't see their colors, they want to be poor, how can they give gifts, how do you understand the desire in this sentence? Ming Luosheng stroked his long beard and asked everyone.

A fair-looking young man stood up, bowed to Ming Luosheng, and said, "The first saint is telling us that human desires are evil and endless, and that only by honoring the rituals can we purify and eliminate these evil desires. ”

A slightly chubby teenager next to him stood up and retorted: "Sir, the student thinks otherwise, the meaning of the sage's words is not that all desires are evil, nor does it mean that desires should be eliminated by rituals, but that some desires should be controlled by rituals. Then, six or seven teenagers stood up in a row to answer his question, but Ming Luosheng closed his eyes and shook his head, not very satisfied with their answers.

"Sir! Brother Wen wants to answer! At this time, the little fat man at the front raised the hand of a young man next to him, and the young man turned his head to look at him, his eyes full of murderous energy.

The young man's name is Chu Haowen, and he is the illegitimate son of the current emperor of Zhao State, which is the protagonist of this book, of course, he doesn't know these things now, what he wants at this time is to beat this little fat man with a lot of words after class, and then hurry home to eat the roast chicken made by his mother.

Ming Luosheng looked at Chu Haowen and stretched out his hand to him, indicating that he would answer, Chu Haowen had no choice but to stand up and salute Ming Luosheng and replied: "Students believe that desire is a part of people's bodies, if we have no desires, then our lives will be destroyed, and society will have no motivation to move forward, but if we wantonly indulge our desires, people will become slaves of desires, so we must formulate etiquette to control our desires and make them move within a certain range." ”

After Chu Haowen finished speaking, Ming Luosheng stroked his long beard and said with a smile: "Well, the law is unique, then you can tell me more, obviously your thoughts are similar to theirs, why do I just think you are right?" ”

"Mr. Hui, what everyone answered earlier was discussing the meaning of the words in the Book of Rites, and the teacher asked how we think about desire, so the students are right." After listening to Chu Haowen's answer, Ming Luosheng nodded, a big part of his purpose in asking this question was to see what the insight of this group of teenagers was, he thought that the whole army would be wiped out, but fortunately, a Chu Haowen saw what he meant.

"Boss! Oh no! Something happened to your family! Ming Luosheng was just about to praise Chu Haowen, a young man suddenly ran over from a distance, shouted while running, and when he ran to the front and lay directly on the ground, everyone hurriedly surrounded him, and the young man panted and said to Chu Haowen who was holding him: "Boss, something happened to your family, a lot of guys with knives surrounded your house, the patriarch took people to ask the reason, but I didn't expect to be beaten directly by them, the patriarch thinks that it should be your family that should not be provoked, let you run as far as possible, this is the patriarch gave you the road fare." As he spoke, the young man took out a few taels of silver and a dozen copper coins from his arms and handed them to Chu Haowen.

After listening to what the young man said, Chu Haowen stood up and was about to run home, but the people next to him hurriedly pulled him and persuaded him with nonsense.

"Brother Wen, you don't want to die, didn't you hear the dog say that the patriarch told you to run away!"

"That's right, Brother Wen, run away."

"It's really not okay, a few brothers will run with you, why don't you go up the mountain and be bandits!"

"Stop!" Ming Luosheng, who was standing on the side, couldn't listen to it, stopped them, and then asked the dog lying on the ground, "What are those people dressed in?" ”

"They all wore black armor, rode big horses and had red cloaks behind them, and they were all black on their heads, and they were all ugly, all of them with green faces and fangs, and their whole faces were black, and they all held old knives in their hands."

As the dog continued to recall, Ming Luosheng also changed from the original dignified standing posture to a sitting posture without any image, his hands were clenched, his eyes were full of fear, and his mouth kept saying: "It's still coming, it's still coming." It was as if these people were the black and white impermanence that hooked his soul into the eighteen layers of hell.

"Sir, sir?" It wasn't until Chu Haowen's voice reached his ears that he came to his senses, looking at Chu Haowen next to him, his eyes were constantly changing, taking a deep breath, Ming Luosheng stood up from the ground and said to Chu Haowen: "Let's go with the teacher." So he took him by the hand and walked in the direction of the village. Everyone didn't know what Luo Sheng's intentions were, so they looked at each other left and right and followed behind.

In the north of the village, the Chu family, the villagers in the village are holding sickles, hoes, shovels, and shovels to confront the unknown troops outside the Chu family, and the patriarch standing in front of him keeps asking a person who looks like a leader: "My lord, I don't know what the girl has to do with you this night?" Do I owe you money? How much you owe, you give the number, and we will make it up to you. ”

Seeing that the other party ignored him, the patriarch said again: "Even if she has a holiday with you, can you let Xiao Lao'er go in and talk to her, let us know whether she is good or bad now, and let the whole village rest assured." ”

"Patriarch, if you talk to them! Punch it straight in! Seeing that the man ignored the patriarch, the quick-tempered blacksmith on the side was about to rush in, and the armor soldiers on the opposite side also made an attack posture when they saw this.

At this moment, Ming Luosheng rushed over with Chu Haowen, and when he saw the two coming, the patriarch hurriedly pulled the two of them and kept reprimanding Ming Luosheng: "Ming Luosheng, why did you bring him here, don't you want his life!" ”

"Don't worry, I won't hurt him." Ming Luosheng patted the patriarch's arm indifferently, and then pulled Chu Haowen to the leader, "The imperial history of the Great Zhao Empire, the imperial history of the imperial capital, Ming Luosheng, escorted the eldest son of the imperial concubine, Chu Haowen, to meet Concubine De Niangniang, and everyone quickly dodged!" ”

Immediately took off the necklace around Chu Haowen's neck and handed it to the leader, the leader took out a piece of paper and carefully checked whether the necklace was the same as the paper, and when it was confirmed, all the armorers knelt down on one knee: "Meet His Royal Highness the Prince!" ”

"Lao Zhao, I heard you right."

"That's right."

"My mother! His Royal Highness the Prince. ”

"If you don't understand, just ask, what does the prince do?"

After the two entered the house, most of the villagers standing outside were standing in place one by one, unable to calm down for a long time, they didn't expect that the three dogs who had lived with them for so long turned out to be the emperor's son and the crown prince of the dynasty!

People with good relationships began to be obscene at this time, this little guy is the prince, so these people must have taken him back to the capital, will he give them a big official when he returns to the capital this time? In addition, there are some people who sit directly on the ground, their eyes leaking with incomparable fear, and they turn their heads to look at their wives and children around them, and their eyes leak deep reluctance and self-blame.

"Mother!" Before entering the house, Chu Haowen was thinking that if something happened to his mother, he would fight hard with this group of people, and the people would be angry and bloody! When he walked into the room and saw that his mother was sitting on the stool, he slowly put down his hanging heart, and hurriedly ran to his mother and hugged her tightly.

Next to Ye Meng'an, there was a young man in armor and an old man in a golden silk unicorn robe, and when he saw Chu Haowen, the old man looked at him with a smile, "Is this His Royal Highness the Prince?" ”

"Yes" After getting Ye Meng'an's answer, the old man saluted Ye Meng'an, grabbed Chu Haowen's arm and rolled up his sleeve, carefully observing his arm, until he saw a tiger-shaped birthmark, and the old man's face smiled even brighter.

"Mo Feng, the former head of the old slave Xuanzheng Palace, visited His Royal Highness the Prince." Looking at the old man kneeling on the ground, Chu Haowen was full of black lines, what prince? What eunuchs? What's going on! "Uh, this eunuch, ah no, please stand up and speak."

After standing up, Mo Feng turned his head to look at Ming Luosheng who was kneeling on the ground, "Ming Luosheng, you have done a good job over the years, and the Holy Lord is very satisfied with you, I don't know if the identity of His Highness is known to others." ”

After speaking, Mo Feng's cold eyes stared at Ming Luosheng, and when he heard this, Ming Luosheng hurriedly slammed his head and said hurriedly: "The subordinates don't dare, the subordinates don't dare, the subordinates have never told anyone about the identity of His Highness!" Absolutely nothing! ”

"Since you don't dare, then why did you shout so fiercely at the door just now?" As soon as Mo Feng said this, Ming Luosheng was so frightened that he didn't dare to speak, lying on the ground and trembling constantly.

Seeing the teacher kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to others, Chu Haowen wanted to help him up, but he couldn't stop him at night, so he could only shout anxiously: "Teacher, don't kneel!" Hurry up."

"Since Your Highness has asked you to get up, then don't kneel." Looking at Ming Luosheng in such a posture, Mo Feng waved his hand at him contemptuously.

"Niangniang, you and Your Highness say goodbye, you have half a moment" After speaking, he glanced at Chu Haowen meaningfully and then dragged Ming Luosheng away.

Seeing the three of them leaving, Chu Haowen asked Ye Meng'an, "Mother, why do they all call me the prince?" ”

Looking at his son who tilted his head and looked puzzled, Ye Meng'an squatted down and stroked his head, his eyes were full of love and reluctance for him: "Because my Wen'er is the son of the emperor and the son of heaven in the future Da Zhao."

Wen'er, if you leave your mother in the future, you remember to listen more and watch more, talk less, learn from people who are stronger than you, and think twice before doing things. Looking at his son with doubtful eyes, tears began to fall from the corners of his eyes as he spoke.

Seeing his mother crying, Chu Haowen wiped away Ye Meng'an's tears with his little hands, and comforted softly, "Mother doesn't cry, Wen'er won't leave her mother, Wen'er still wants her mother to watch Wen'er get married and have children." ”

"Wen'er, what your mother said, you have to deeply remember that you, Chu Haowen, are the emperor's son and the son of the dragon! He is the future emperor of the world! You still have a long way to go, this road will be difficult to walk, and every step forward will pay the price of blood! You're going to move forward, you're going to move forward! You can't turn back, because behind you is a cliff!

When you enter Beijing without your mother's company, you must know how to think about danger, retreat, and change, and you must always warn yourself and remember that you can't trust anyone in that place. After saying this, Ye Meng'an laughed, what did she tell him about this? He didn't understand either.

However, at this time, Chu Haowen understood what she said, and accepted the reality that he was the crown prince and was going to the palace for a palace fight.

Laughing and laughing, Ye Meng'an cried, desperate! Reluctantly! Deep despair! Extreme reluctance! But what if you don't give up? She's just a helpless woman, what else can she do now? Do you want to pull the child and not let him go? But she believed that as long as she dared to pull Chu Haowen and not leave, the group of people outside the door would not hesitate to kill her, and the entire village might become a human purgatory.

Outside the door, most of the onlookers had dispersed, only the twenty or so people who were scattered in the forest were still staying in place, Mo Feng looked at Ming Luosheng who was kneeling on the ground and trembling, and sighed, "Lord Ming, the one who asked you to stay here is so that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not be threatened and can successfully ascend the throne and take power, do you understand?" ”

"I don't understand! I've been here for 14 years, and I have nowhere to unleash my talent! I should share the worries of the Son of Heaven in the court and leave a name in history for the benefit of all the people! And not to teach people to read in this place! Father-in-law, I beg you, you let me go back to Beijing with you! I don't want to be here anymore! If you still let me stay here, you might as well kill me! Ming Luosheng frantically told his unwillingness, he understood that what he said might anger Mo Feng and make him kill himself in a fit of rage, but if he didn't say it, would he be able to live?

How smart Mo Feng is, after listening to Ming Luosheng's words, he instantly understood Ming Luosheng's thoughts, he was gambling, betting that Ming Luosheng would not dare to kill him, "Okay, Lord Ming, you don't have to be like this, the emperor also wants you to go back, but if you don't make a contribution, the emperor can't help it." ”

Ming Luosheng bet right, "I have been guarding His Highness for so long, there is no merit and hard work, please ask my father-in-law to help me." "Since he didn't dare to kill himself, now was the time to ask him for favors.

Mo Feng looked at Ming Luosheng with a blushing face, thought about it for a moment, and helped Ming Luosheng, who was kneeling on the ground, up and said: "The one who knows that Lord Ming has worked hard to protect His Highness, so he specially ordered me to send you three thousand taels of gold, in recognition of your Majesty, and also restored your position, and at the same time, he is also the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, and the one who knows that you have a son here, specially ordered me to bring him back to Kyoto with His Highness." You will be here to protect the concubine for another five years, and after five years, I will definitely take you back to Kyoto. ”

Mo Feng's words have been made very clear, if you want to benefit me, I will give it to you, not only gave you money but also gave you a promotion, you should be content, as for your son, the court must have a means to restrain you.

Ming Luosheng understands that this is already the best result, if he still holds on, then his little life will be gone" That minister is so gracious, the minister must do his best to protect the good lady. ”

"Niangniang, it's time for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to go." The two Mo Feng pushed open the door and came to the two, urging Ye Meng'an.

Seeing Mo Feng come in, Ye Meng'an knew that it was time to separate from his son, and Chu Haowen also knew that Ye Meng'an looked at Chu Haowen kindly, and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of Chu Haowen's eyes with his hand.

"Wen'er, you have to go by yourself in the future, don't cry, don't be afraid, stand tall and stride forward!"

Looking out of the door through the gap between the two, dozens of people knelt at the door in three rows, and took a closer look, Uncle Zhang next door, Uncle Liu at the entrance of the village, Uncle Wang who worked as a carpenter, Aunt Li who weaved cloth, etc., were all their left and right. Ye Meng'an wiped away her tears and said in a trembling voice: "That, what do you want you to do with me?" And also...... This village"

Mo Feng bowed dangerously, and a smile leaked from his face, "Of course it's better for you to stay here, it's not impossible if you want to leave, but there are still more poisonous snakes and beasts outside, and the slaves and maids still don't recommend you to leave, as for this village, that person feels that its existence is conducive to protecting you, but this location needs to be changed." ”