The snow stopped.

Chu Mingxiu leaned against the pillars under the corridor, looking at the blue and white colors of the court, silent as a stone statue. Chu Zhixia walked slowly from a distance, with moist red marks in the corners of his eyes, and looked at Chu Mingxiu in puzzlement.

Chu Mingxiu has had excess energy since he was a child, and he has never been in a daze like now. Once his yard is quiet, he must be a demon.

"Second brother?" Chu Zhixia poked him, "Chu Chang'an? ”

"Did you know that the eldest brother once had a marriage?" Chu Mingxiu asked without warning.

Chu Zhixia looked at him blankly.

"The other party is the daughter of a Qingliu family in the clouds, who is clear and graceful, and has learned well. After she met her eldest brother by chance during the Flower Dynasty Festival one year, she fell in love at first sight. That's a very good girl, for the eldest brother to study medicine, at that time you-" Chu Mingxiu stretched out his hand and gestured at his knee, "So tall." She's hugged you. My father also liked the daughter very much, so he decided to get married. ”

"I've never heard my eldest brother talk about it." Chu Zhixia twisted his eyebrows, realizing that something was wrong.

The north is not like the hinterland of the Central Plains, because it is located in the borderland, but the people are open. There are many cases of one marriage and two marriages, and one marriage and two marriages, and the divorce is not a big deal. But Chu Mingyan is a person who does what he says, and he will definitely do what he promises.

It was hard for Chu Shixia to imagine that something had happened for him to withdraw from his family.

"Because the eldest brother later divorced." Chu Mingxiu exhaled a breath of white air, half sighing and half sadly, "That year, when he was eighteen years old, his father died, he inherited the throne of the king of Zhenbei, and he went to withdraw the marriage contract on the same day. ”

Chu Mingyan may really have a crush on that girl, but he is unwilling to delay her life with this crippled body after all. He knew that he would not live long, and that if he left behind a son and a half daughter, it would only make the situation worse. Chu Mingyan wanted to leave the throne to Chu Mingxiu, so he would not leave him the slightest hidden danger.

That daughter has been hurt for a long time because of this, and she can hardly afford to be sick for a long time. Her family soon told her another family business, a gentleman of good character. She didn't agree for a long time, until one year, during the Flower Dynasty Festival, she seemed to be suddenly relieved, sent a farewell poem to the Zhenbei Palace, and resolutely signed a new marriage letter.

Chu Mingyan was very busy at the time, and the farewell poem was pressed on the desk, and he didn't see it until the day the girl got married.

On the long street in the clouds, there is ten miles of red makeup, gongs and drums. Chu Mingyan sat under the porch and quietly watched the snow all night, and only at dawn did he put the farewell poem on the extinguishing candle flame and burned it, as if burning the last selfishness of his life.

"In this life, the eldest brother will never have his own wife and children again. His life seems to have lived for us. Chu Mingxiu smiled, with a hint of bitterness in his smile, "And I can't even get justice for him." ”

Chu Zhixia trembled and looked at him in shock: "You heard ......"

"What if I hear it, are you still afraid that I will dig the tomb of the Spirit Emperor?" Chu Mingxiu sneered, "This old immortal thing, he died a few years later, and I took his life with my own hands." ”

"He's dead." Chu Shixia was speechless, so he had to sit on the railing, his head leaning against the cold pillar.

"Isn't it because we're too useless, big brother is so tired?" Chu Zhixia muttered.

Chu Mingxiu turned his head around, stared at Chu Zhixia's eyes and said, "So you must win this battle in the imperial capital." I am optimistic about a courtyard in Guangling, there is a lake and a jujube forest, behind it is the green mountains and flowing water, the temple on the mountain is full of peach blossoms, and it is warm like spring all year round. When the world is peaceful, I will take my eldest brother to recuperate. ”

Chu Zhixia looked at him stunned, "Huh? ”

"Yunzhong will be handed over to you," Chu Mingxiu patted her on the shoulder vigorously and said, "This is not in vain for the book you have been reading for many years." There are also many women in the army on the ancestors of our Chu family, and the queen is not without it, you have to be angry. ”

Chu Zhixia slapped his hand away.

——

Chu Mingyan's military exploits are stacked higher than others, and they are really unsealable, and the officials of the six ministries scratch their ears and cheeks.

The military department said that we only need to fight the war and don't care about the reward, or give him an official and a knight, so they threw this hot potato to the ministry; The ministry said that Chu Mingxiu was seventeen years old and worshiped General Yipin Longxiang, how do you want to seal it, or you give him his brother's throne, or you can get the meaning, so he kicked the ball to the Ministry of Rites; The Ministry of Rites said that I can control this matter, I presided over his last reward, do you eat empty salaries and let me rush the first one every time?

Everyone in the imperial capital who has a ghost fetus is eager to send this killing god away quickly, but how to judge the reward for meritorious deeds has not been decided, and Chu Mingxiu has stayed in the imperial capital again and again. The six ministries went back and forth for several days, and the last letter was reported to the cabinet, so that the cabinet elders themselves offended this person.

Without waiting for the cabinet to come up with a clue, Chu Mingxiu took it upon himself and asked for the reward to be distributed to the widows of the soldiers who died in this battle.

Give money, it's easy to say if you give money.

The cabinet breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand, and was ready.

After the dust settled on this most important matter, Chu Mingxiu's return trip was also put on the agenda.

——

Weiyang Palace.

The emperor loosened the soil for a pot of orchids with his sleeves rolled up, and the eunuch read to him the recital presented by the cabinet on the side. Concubine Rong meekly waited aside, handing tools to the emperor from time to time, but she looked a little smart.

Ever since Chu Mingxiu forcibly snatched Chu Shixia out of the Luhe Palace, the emperor has become more and more snub to the queen and favor Concubine Rong. Now that the position of the East Palace is vacant, if Concubine Rong gives birth to a prince at this time, the power struggle in this imperial capital will be a little fiercer.

When he read the reward given to Chu Mingxiu, the emperor thoughtfully put down the small shovel.

Xu Delu spoke at the right time, and said with a harmless smile: "No wonder there are countless elite soldiers and strong generals under the command of the Chu clan in the clouds, and General Chu is really sympathetic to his subordinates and generous, in other words, anyone will sacrifice their lives and forget death for the Chu clan in the clouds." ”

This was said harshly and viciously, which was tantamount to alluding to Chu Mingxiu's borrowing of the treasury to buy people's hearts, and the soldiers who supported Xueguan were all the private property of the Chu family, loyal to the Chu family and not to the emperor.

The emperor was accustomed to being careful, and remembered Chu Mingxiu's unruliness a few days ago, and couldn't help frowning when he heard this.

"Then according to you, how much is the right reward for me?"

Xu Delu's eyebrows were lowered, as if he was contemplative, but the corners of his mouth swept into an imperceptible smile.

"Thunder, rain and dew are all Jun's grace, and General Chu has no reason to be too little. It's just that this amount of money is allocated to the relatives of soldiers who died in battle, and I am afraid that people with good intentions will slander General Chu for enriching his own pockets in the name of pension. The slave maid was shallow and thought that it should be restrained. ”

The emperor nodded slightly in agreement, washed his hands and took the pen from Xu Delu's hand, hesitated in the series of rewards drawn up by the cabinet, and finally crossed them all out, writing down a number far below the scope of the cabinet's thinking.

"Let's do it. Wen to the death, martial arts to the death, this is what they should do, they should not ask for merit. ”

The emperor said lightly.