Chu Mingyan was sick.

After dissecting Chen Chen's heart traces that night, Chu Mingyan's breath that had been hanging for many years suddenly relaxed, and he was so sick that he was out of control. Chu Zhixia guarded Chu Mingyan for three days and three nights, and Shen Zhou also followed Chu Zhixia and ran sleeplessly for three days and three nights.

Chu Shixia once again changed the ice towel on Chu Mingyan's forehead, and the smell of water and agarwood in the room was so faint that he couldn't smell it. Shen Zhou silently stood behind Chu Zhixia and reached out to support her arm. Chu Zhixia leaned on Shen Zhou's chest like an unloader, but his eyes were fixed on Chu Mingyan, who was in a high fever on the bed.

"Sometimes I'm really scared." Chu Zhixia lost his soul and said, "I thought I was changing the world, was it like my father's mighty northern expedition, but in fact, I found that nothing had changed in the end...... I'm still going to lose them. ”

"No, it won't." Shen Zhou held her hand and strained slightly, "Bai Ziche is not Bai Zhan, and you are no longer the one who is alone." ”

Chu Zhixia took a deep breath and wiped his face.

There was a knock on the door, and Shen Zhou turned to open the door, and was slammed by the cold, damp smell of rain. Xu Yan's hat was crooked, his shoes were soaked, and he panted and pushed away the sinking boat. Chu Zhixia frowned and pulled down the curtain of the bed to block the cold wind that rushed towards Chu Mingyan.

"Isn't the prince still awake, is there any use in your clouds?" Xu Yan said anxiously, "The cabinet is revising the terms of the peace talks, and the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household will implement the border market, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Shoufu can't hold it back." ”

Chu Zhixia's eyes lit up, and he turned around and picked up the drinking stream snow on the table.

"I'll go to the cabinet, you guard my brother." Chu Zhixia said to Shen Zhou.

"I'll go with you." Shen Zhou stopped her and snapped his fingers.

Luo Shuangyi unknowingly tumbled off the beam of the house and half-knelt on the ground.

"Frost clothes, guard the king of Zhenbei."

"Obey the orders of the head of the house."

Chu Zhixia hesitated for a moment, turned his head and rushed back to the bed, lifted the curtain and glanced at Chu Mingyan. Chu Mingyan also frowned tightly in his dream, as if he was puzzled.

Chu Zhixia couldn't help but think that she was sick when she was a child, and Chu Mingyan guarded her while handling official business. Chu Zhixia was young at that time, squeamish and clingy, and no one was allowed to hug him except for his two elder brothers. Chu Mingyan was pacing back and forth in the study with the crying little girl in his arms, and he had to reply to his subordinates' inquiries in an orderly manner.

Time has changed, and the thousands of heroic spirits that Chu Mingyan was carrying on his shoulders still fell on Chu Zhixia's shoulders. The elder brother who stood up to the sky was crumpled into a small ball and placed in a place where the wind and rain could not blow; The innocent and willful sister grew up in the face of bloody wind and rain, and traveled alone in the long night.

Chu Zhixia took off the Buddha beads on his wrist and put them in Chu Mingyan's palm, holding his fingers and slowly tightening them.

Pray the Buddha with palms together to avoid calamity, and the heart is auspicious without deception.

"Brother, you have to get better soon. Let's go back to the cloud together. ”

Shen Zhou stretched out an umbrella and stood in the pouring rain and stretched out his hand to Chu Zhixia. The storm behind him was like the blood of a giant beast, and it was cold. Chu Zhixia carried the snow and held his hand into the roaring wind and rain.

——

The snowflakes of paper were trampled on by countless feet, and the paper was crumpled into a ball and thrown on the ground. The room, which was not spacious, was crowded with important cabinet ministers and officials of the six ministries, and two columns of tables were hastily laid out, and the people who had their own opinions were clearly separated.

In the middle of the two columns of tables, only two people can walk side by side, and at the end sits the exhausted Bai Ziche. Bai Ziche's face was haggard, and his eyeballs were covered with cobweb-like bloodshots. It seemed that there were eight hundred ducks in each of his ears, tearing open their throats and screaming wildly, and he couldn't help but bury his face in his palms and take a deep breath.

From the beginning of the arguments, the officials gradually developed into attacking each other.

The side that supports the mutual market scolds the other side as a conformist and vegetarian moth, and ignores the overall situation in order to collude with the Chu clan in the clouds. On the opposite side of the denunciation against the mutual market is the rotten wood with the brain in the water, and the whimsical frog at the bottom of the well. The anger on both sides continued to rise, and they even began to ask each other's genealogy without words.

Bai Ziche couldn't bear it and smashed the teacup in his hand.

"There is no way to trade each other." Bai Ziche looked at the most excited Hubu Shangshu and said coldly: "Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Yongxue Pass has always been a military stronghold to resist foreign invasions. The trade route that runs through the north to open up Beidi and the Great Zhou is up to you. ”

Hubu Shangshu was not in a hurry in the face of Bai Ziche, and said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince does not know the people of Beidi, the land of Beidi is barren and the products are scarce, and every time there is a war, it is for a mouthful of food. If the grain problem in Beidi is solved by the border market, there will be no more wars, and the problem of supporting the snow pass will be self-defeating. In time, there is no need to even hold the snow pass. ”

"You say it lightly." Bai Ziche did not let go, "During the Taizong period, the border mutual market was only carried out outside the Yongxue Pass, and the amount and type of transactions were strictly controlled. Even when the relationship between the Great Zhou and Beidi was at its most relaxed, no one dared to say that they would depose Yongxueguan. ”

The military department Shangshu sang and said: "But now is not the Taizong period!" Beidi shook hands with Da Zhou and bowed his head. Once the exchange of markets began, the military department could set up military forts along the trade routes to ensure the tranquility of the trade routes. ”

The military department and the household department dare to talk to the prince like this, of course, they are not tired of being crooked.

Bai Ziche knew that this was actually what the emperor meant.

The forces of the household department and the military department entered the four prefectures of Yanbei to divide the financial and military power of Yanbei, and the next step was to recover the military and political power of the Chu clan in Yunzhong in Yanbei and abolish the title of "King of Zhenbei". The so-called mutual market is nothing more than a high-sounding excuse.

Pei Shoufu pressed Bai Ziche's shoulder, shook his head at him, and signaled that he didn't need to say any more. If you argue further, I am afraid that the two Shangshu will accuse Bai Ziche of having too close contacts with the Chu clan in the clouds. The emperor has become wary of Bai Ziche, and the more Bai Ziche does, the more wrong he becomes.

"That's a good point."

The gate was pushed open, and thunder, lightning, and torrential rain poured in.

Chu Zhixia walked into the group of ministers with applause, with the cold of the rain and the murderous aura of the sword. Shen Zhou's face has always been expressionless, and the action of putting away the umbrella is like pressing the sword back to the sheath, pressing down the murderous aura that is about to erupt.

Everywhere the two went, the courtiers parted like flowing water, lest they avoid them.

Chu Zhixia stood still in front of the military department Shangshu, slightly leaned over and pressed the table in front of him, his sharp eyes almost made the military department Shangshu's heart stop.

"Where did Lord Shangshu rise in the past?" Chu Zhixia asked kindly, "Northern North, Southern Xinjiang or East China Sea?" Are you familiar with the displaced people in southern Xinjiang, the Japanese in the East China Sea, or the barbarians in northern China? ”

The secretary of the military department gritted his teeth and said, "I am a jinshi. Although the eldest lady has a noble status, she is not allowed to trespass into the cabinet and interfere in the government affairs! ”

"My brother is ill, so I came in his place. Or is it that now that the northern border defense is no longer our turn to have the final say in the Chu clan in the clouds? Chu Shixia stretched out his hand and patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Lord Shangshu's patriotic heart is really admirable. It's just a pity. ”

"What a pity?"

"It's a pity you're just talking on paper."

Chu Zhixia pressed the military department Shangshu back to his original position with one hand, and said coldly: "There are many plains and few mountains in the north of the country, and the snow pass is the only pass built according to natural hazards. After the snow pass is a horse Pingchuan, if the Beidi people enter, your soldiers and horses will not be able to see their horses' buttocks when they run away. Stationed in the business road? I don't look at how many pounds and taels I have. ”

Hubu Shangshu scolded: "Chu Zhixia, don't be alarmist. Even if the king of Zhenbei is in poor health, it will not be your turn to talk nonsense here as a woman! ”

"When Bai Yi mutinied, Bai Huan rebelled, and Gyeongju rebelled, without me as a woman, you would have been a traitor and a ghost, and you could still shout at me here alive?" Chu Zhixia sneered, "Whether you are for the country and the people, or for the sake of being worthy of the gold sent to your house by the Beidi people, you know it in your own heart." ”

Hubu Shangshu was like being struck by lightning, and his face turned pale a little in the surrounding discussions. He retorted weakly, and sat back in his place.

Chu Shixia looked around the room full of frightened officials, and the indifference and anger in his heart reached its peak.

This is what she wants to guard.

Everyone involved in drawing up the terms of the peace talks has evil intentions. The household department and the military department tried to rely on the trade road to expand their power, and by the way, they won the favor of the emperor; The emperor tried to completely monopolize the power and take back the power from the hands of the Chu clan in the clouds.

No one cares, once the snow barrier is opened, who will be the first person to die.

"The two countries have made peace, and Beidi has also announced its surrender. I know that the Chu clan and Beidi in the clouds have a deep blood feud, but those are all in the past, don't hurt the harmony between the two countries for your own personal vendetta. The Ministry of Rites Shangshu said roundly, "Miss Chu, don't talk too much. ”

"There's something worse I haven't said." Chu Zhixia smiled lightly, and the cold hairs of the Ministry of Rites stood up.

"The reason why you can stand here today, unashamedly talk to me about the overall situation, talk to me about forbearance, and talk to me about the harmony between the two countries and the great cause of a thousand years, is not because you have the ability, not because you know Beidi better than me."

"It's because you weren't born in the north of the city."

Chu Zhixia wept blood and shook the ground, and his gaze swept over his young or old face. She is just a mortal, and she has not seen her heart, liver, spleen and lungs through her skin, but she has made everyone she has seen a chill in their hearts.

"You have no wives to kill their husbands, parents to their sons, children to their fathers. You have not been buried at the border for generations, you have not watched your family wealth be plundered, your brothers have been brutally killed, and your sisters have been insulted. You study and do scientific research in peace, and you will not think that there are still people in this world who live a precarious life, and they are always afraid that the butcher's knife of the Beidi people will be cut down. ”

"Blood feud? Of course, we have a blood feud with the Beidi people. ”

Chu Shixia forced his eyes to look at several important ministers who were avoiding her sight, and said aggressively: "What about you? You haven't been killed by the Beidi people, and you haven't been burned by the Beidi people, can you open the snow pass, and let the enemies of the north show off their might in the land of the north! ”

Chu Zhixia smashed the tea cup on the table with a punch, the shards pierced her hand, and the blood splashed on Tobe Shangshu's face.

She was like an angry leopard, grinding her snowy teeth, ready to tear the throat of her prey at any moment. Everyone was shocked by Chu Shixia, and they didn't dare to speak out under her anger and majesty. The pavilion was silent for a while, so quiet that the sound of the embroidery needle falling could easily tear through the deadlock.

The Ministry of Rites Shangshu trembled and said to the mud: "Your Majesty also ...... about the mutual market."

"Your Majesty? If Your Majesty were here, I would definitely kill a few of you rebellious ministers and thieves who colluded with foreign races! ”

Chu Zhixia interrupted him violently, and his hand pulled out the drinking stream snow. The Ministry of Rites Shangshu felt a cold neck, and crawled back with a roll. Bai Ziche was startled, and just wanted to stop it when he was pressed back to his seat by Shen Zhou.

Drinking the snow slashed into the table three inches, and the hilt of the sword still trembled.

"The border passes and the mutual market are really luring wolves into the house, destroying the foundation of the ancestors, and messing with the dynasty of the Great Zhou. Those who discuss the mutual market again can be killed. ”

Chu Zhixia stared at those shocked and frightened faces, and said word by word.

——

"Qin Tianjian said that this is the last rain of this summer."

Chu Zhixia leaned on the vermilion pillar and turned his head to look at the lush flowers and trees outside the corridor. The light between heaven and earth was dim, and the lanterns hanging on the corridor could not penetrate the dim darkness. Chu Zhixia was wearing a white brocade robe with wide robes and large sleeves, which was the only bright color in this dim scene.

Bai Ziche carried a lamp and slowly approached in Chu Zhixia's looking back.

"Is your brother alright?" Bai Ziche asked.

"His body has always been like this." Chu Zhixia sighed.

"I thought you were really going to kill someone, but fortunately Shen Zhou stopped me." Bai Ziche smiled faintly and said, "Thanks to you, otherwise we would be weak and would not be able to withstand the pressure of the three Shangshu." ”

"I really want to kill someone," Chu Zhixia also smiled and said with a slight sourness, "But I have to hold back." My brother is still sick, I poked a hole in the sky, who will clean up the mess for me? My second brother is far away in Yongxue Pass, and now in the imperial capital, the Chu clan in the clouds can only rely on me. ”

Chu Zhixia hugged his arms a little coldly, and his white and slender eyelids were slightly red when the wind was blown by the rain. Bai Ziche suddenly wanted to touch her hair, but he held back, and his fingertips trembled slightly.

"It is true that Hubu Shangshu received the gold of the Beidi people."

Chu Zhixia was unaware of Bai Ziche's throbbing, and said to him officially, "You can ask Yu Linwei to go directly to check it, and then tell Your Majesty the results." With His Majesty's suspicious character, he will no longer pay attention to the Ministry of Books, and he will not mention the matter of mutual markets in a short period of time. ”

"Okay."

Chu Zhixia was slightly relieved, and then said: "There is a list of nobles and officials who have received benefits from the Beidi people in Shenzhou. Your Highness can keep an eye on their movements, so as not to be confused by them. ”

Bai Ziche still nodded.

Chu Zhixia didn't know what to say, so he simply kept silent. Bai Ziche stood quietly opposite her, clutching his white sleeves.

There was only a silent burning lamp between the two, and the candles made a slight explosion. The sounds of power struggles, intrigues, and noisy quarrels briefly distanced the pair away from the courtiers, and for a moment there seemed to be only the sound of gurgling rain in heaven and earth.

It's as quiet as another world.

Bai Ziche stared almost imperceptibly at Chu Zhixia's side face shrouded in a warm halo.

In the decades that followed, Bai Ziche recalled this moment repeatedly.

The trail of rain dripping from the branches, the lines on the pure white sleeves, the traces of the crow-like eyelashes, all the subtle details are constantly enlarged and clear in Bai Ziche's memories, trying to compete with time and retain the original color.

The emperor, who was destined to be alone, stole a moment of sweet dreams from the hands of the gods.