Tossing and turning into summer.

At this time, there is no spring at all, and the last touch of warmth and beauty in the twilight of spring is also left behind countless faint spring light, and no trace of spring can be found, and it disappears without a trace.

From this day on, the weather gradually warmed up; The scorching summer sun shines on the majestic Shangjing City, on the solemn and magnificent palace gate, on the majestic palace gate of the nine heavens, like a large area of red and colorful glow, the imperial capital of the world's largest country, hidden under the scorching sun, looming; Even the apricot-yellow "Great Zhou Dragon Flag" standing on the city tower and the stone sculpture of the "Ming Phoenix Chaoyang" at the entrance of the city gate have been covered with a layer of rolling heat after being roasted in summer.

The summer morning light, bright, blue, scorching, the sky hangs a round of sunrise, blazing like fire, the glow sprinkles all over the palace and outside, reflecting a dazzling golden light, shining, dazzling, refreshing.

It is the beginning of summer, and although it is not yet the end of the hottest summer, it is hotter than usual; Get up early in the morning, the layers of heat will all accumulate between the phoenix pavilion and dragon tower of the Shangjing Imperial Palace, the wind will not disperse, and the rain will not wash away.

The sun is getting hotter and hotter.

This symbolizes the high Heavenly Emperor, and at this moment, it is completely shrouded in the suffocating heat; Although in the deepest part of the Great Zhou Imperial Palace, there are several wide waters of Jinming Pond, Taiye Pond and Beihaizi, but due to the unique topography of the Imperial Palace itself, it has never been able to absorb the humidity and coolness from the Imperial Pond, and the summer heat is getting stronger and stronger, and it has not been reduced by half a point.

The summer breeze is silent.

But I saw that outside the Manna Palace, there were several tall poplar trees, with fat and heavy leaves, under the light of the hot summer day, glowing with scorching brilliance, reflecting a large patch of mottled shadows; Those countless cicadas entrenched in the trees, as if they had been unshackled, were moaning hoarsely and bitterly, endlessly.

Cicadas chirp.

That's right, it's the cicadas.

The sound of cicadas chirping with ease, one after another, hovered among the greenery, seemed to disturb people's tiredness and ridicule people's embarrassment.

A brilliant light and shadow, through the snow-white window lattice, is reflected on the white ground of the Manna Hall, reflecting an incomparably warm luster.

Compared with the steamer-like weather outside the palace, the current manna hall is a different scene.

Today, the atmosphere in the Ganlu Hall is solemn and solemn, a silence, and the two compartments are full of gold-armored royal forest soldiers standing solemnly with swords, displayed on the palace corridor, standing still, the golden armor on their bodies, shiny and shiny, far better than the edge of the golden knife in the sheath.

In the hall, there are many soldiers, silent, except for the noisy cicadas outside the hall, there is only a fourth-order dragon copper leakage bell in the side hall, "dripping" sounds, emitting a unique water sound; All the eunuchs and palace ladies in the Son of Heaven's dormitory were trapped in the palace by this annoying heat wave, and they could not move an inch, so they could only guard two huge blocks of ice to ensure that His Majesty and the saint were not invaded by the summer heat.

At the top of the Danqi, the emperor and queen sat on it.

But I saw that on the throne, His Majesty, the most noble emperor of the Great Zhou Empire, was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, with a hairband on his head, and a bamboo slip in his hand. The queen Dugu Yuanji, who was dressed in red and beard, sat beside the emperor, leaning comfortably on an agarwood soft couch, her left hand was like a delicate fingertip of mutton fat and jade, gently stirring her chin, and holding a volume of "Vajra Prajna Sutra" in her right hand, she was concentrating, quietly reciting those mysterious and ancient verses and scriptures in the book......

The two emperors and queens, one holding a watch and the other holding a Buddhist scripture; One is the Lord of the World, and the other is the Virgin of the Pilgrimage, standing side by side on the throne.

For a time, in the manna hall, Luan Feng and Ming, red sleeves added fragrance.

Under the Danqi, a white dress stands proudly, a handsome and upright figure, straight like the Yuanyu Yuezhi, standing alone in the center of the main hall, like the silver dragon handsome flag waving in the wind, majestic and magnificent, quiet as a mountain, there is no life; Such a majestic power can only be forged after years of fighting and tempering on the battlefield to forge such a formidable iron-blooded heart. Different from the imperial majesty overlooking thousands of miles, this is an awe-inspiring military power that can make the heroes of the Quartet bold, and willingly surrender to this person's blade and battle flag.

The man in the hall, with one hand behind him, dressed in white and snow, like the white wings of a seagull, swept across the endless sea; His expression was as calm as water, his eyes were blazing, his sword eyebrows were elegant, and among the two sharp eyes like a sword, he was not shocked, but with a touch of pride that could not be ignored......

The scorching sunlight outside the palace, along the exquisite patterns on the window lattice, shot straight into this orderly and solemn sleeping hall of the Son of Heaven, illuminating Xiao Changling's angular and cold face, and under the background of the summer sun, it became more and more prominent His tenacity and determination as the commander of the Beida Battalion, like a sharp blade with a sword into the sheath, with that sharp edge, containing a bone-chilling cold.

At this moment, the open manna hall was as bright as this hot summer day, and the golden-armored royal forest soldiers standing under the corridor under the black pressure almost at the same moment, their eyes converged on the face of this young prince who was less than twenty years old, but looked like a jade tree in the wind.

Xiao Changling stood with his hands in his hands.

Just a moment when he looked back slightly, the cold and murderous gaze of the white-clothed commander had already coldly swept towards the faces of those royal forest soldiers. Although it is the middle of summer, the heat is extremely hot; However, being swept away by Xiao Changling's cold gaze, even the Royal Forest Army, known as the "Heavenly Son Guard", couldn't help but shudder, when their eyes touched, they subconsciously lowered their heads, not daring to face the clear eyes of King Ren Cheng, and their hands and feet were a little stiff and did not obey the call, as if they were frozen.

After a while, Xiao Changling slowly raised his head, his deep eyes, condensing the unique vigor of the young man, looking at the Nine Dragons Danqi in front of him, which symbolized the supreme imperial power, and looked at the middle-aged couple sitting on the Danqi; Suddenly, a bright yellow figure came into the eyes of the young man in white, Xiao Changling saw it very clearly, it was a golden dragon robe with a dark bottom, and the embroidered lines on it were a big golden dragon leaping into the sky, with long beards and sharp claws, and the dragon's eyes were aggressive, and it was impossible to look at directly.

Under the yellow dragon robe, there is the thin body of the middle-aged king; In Xiao Changling's impression, his father has always been unsmiling, since he was a child, he seems to have never seen his father smile, whether it is in the face of the subjects of the Great Zhou, or in the face of their children, his father is always the majesty of the king of a country, not so much majestic, but rather boring.

However, when Xiao Changling stared at the moment, he was surprised to find that in just a few years, his father had aged a lot; Xiao Changling stood in the corridor of the hall, quietly looking at his father's slightly murderous face, and he clearly saw that the wrinkles at the corners of his father's eyes were obviously a little more, and a few thin silver threads were added to his temples...... The scars of the years, after all, still left a ruthless mark on the face of this generation of heroes.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Changling turned to look at the queen mother on the side, his eyes were full of expectation; For Xiao Changling, the father is a strict father, and the queen mother is a gentle mother, not only he sees it this way, but even the eunuchs and maids in the palace also think so, compared to His Majesty's coldness, Her Royal Highness's smile and every move are like a clear spring, refreshing people's hearts and spleens, nourishing everyone's hearts, silently guarding her husband and children; As everyone knows, Queen Dugu back then was also a Xianbei girl who coexisted with wildness and enthusiasm.

Maybe it was the mother's nature, or maybe it was perceiving Erlang's eager gaze, Dugu Yuanji rolled up the Buddhist scriptures, raised the graceful and luxurious face slightly, looked around at the child in front of him, and a warm smile appeared on the corner of his lips, and then quietly glanced at him.

Receiving his mother's signal, Xiao Changling comprehended, his whole face stretched, and the two sword eyebrows were gently provoked, like clouds hidden in the depths of the clouds, and the clouds saw the sun in an instant, revealing a large area of bright dawn; He brushed the rust stains off his white bracers, took a slight step forward, took a deep breath, and was about to speak.

"Have you eaten?"

Before Xiao Changling could speak, he heard a middle-aged man's deep voice from above the throne; It was His Majesty the Emperor who was sitting on the dragon throne who spoke, ready to say that it was the father of the white-clothed prince and the pillow husband of Queen Dugu.

As soon as he heard this, Xiao Changling was slightly stunned, and he was confused, he didn't understand the meaning of his father's words; Don't look at him in the barracks and on the battlefield, he is an invincible general and a hero admired by thousands of people, but here, there are no generals, commanders, when facing his emperor Lao Tzu, he is just a son.

"Father, what did you say?"

After saying that, Xiao Changling didn't say a word, and stood quietly in place, his face as gloomy as water; It's just that there was an afterglow in the corner of his eye, but he couldn't help but glance up, he wanted to see his father's expression.

"I asked if you had eaten it."

I saw that Emperor Xuan put down the watch in his hand, picked up a bowl of warm bird's nest on the imperial table, and took a sip of it by himself; Through the summer light transmitted in, Xiao Changling faintly found that the silver hair on his father's sideburns was faintly white, and the corners of his eyes were not very obvious wrinkles, but at this time, they were much smoother by the sun.

After a while, Xiao Changling concentrated slightly, and there was an elusive light in his eyes, looking directly at his father's black and golden eyes, and slowly spoke calmly.

"Father, son, ......"

Who knows, before Xiao Changling finished speaking, Xiao Longxian on the throne had already waved his hand very casually, interrupting what his son was about to say, as if he didn't care about these false courtesies at all.

"Okay, this is not in the court, just our family of three, in front of your Lao Tzu, who is so pretending to show it!"

Emperor Xuan's tone was slightly smiling like Lao Tzu ridiculing his son, but Ci Feng was still cold. The wise king of Xiongchai saw through at a glance the freedom and stubbornness of his own Erlang hidden under the humble appearance; No matter how sarcastic and mocking the words are, you can still smell a strong smell of pampering.

However, Xiao Changling's reaction looked extremely ordinary; He frowned, his eyes blazing, never left his father's face, and he responded in a low voice as low as possible.

"Yes, father, ......, Daddy taught me that the child gets up early in the morning and has not yet eaten."

At this time, the emperor put half of the bird's nest on the table, looked up at Xiao Changling standing in the hall, looked at this Erlang, who he favored, the most spoiled, and the combination of Wentaowu strategy and resourcefulness, looked at the face as beautiful as a crown of jade, the emperor's heart that had been cold and hard for a long time, and slowly moved, and had mixed tastes for a while; But soon, the Son of Heaven nodded and said in a deep voice.

"Well, okay, then eat first, what's the matter, let's talk about it after eating."

Immediately, Xiao Longxian turned his head slightly and looked at Dugu Yuanji beside him; At this moment, this man in a bright yellow dragon robe seems to be no longer the emperor who is high, but just a husband and father of an ordinary family, his eyes are full of love for his wife who has been with him for decades, and he is full of licking the calf for his son.

"Yuan Ji, you let the imperial dining room cook a few dishes that Erlang likes to eat. Remember, there must be loofah porridge you boiled, I've been thinking about it for a long time. ”

Dugu Yuanji smiled,

"I know, you have liked this bite since you were young, and today I will satisfy your mouth, and the two of us will be touched by the light of Erlang."

Just before Dugu Yuanji was about to get up, she first glanced at Xiao Changling, and suddenly gently held the emperor's hand, like an old husband and wife, and instructed His Majesty the emperor beside her, saying.

"Have a good talk with Erlang."

"I know." Xiao Long patted the back of his wife's hand first and answered softly.

"It's hard to worry about your mother." Xiao Changling also said in a deep voice.

When Dugu Yuanji left, in the huge Manna Palace, in addition to the "tick-tock" copper leakage, there were only this pair of world-famous royal father and son, one on top and one on the bottom, just looking at each other quietly, and time seemed to return to the previous silence, as if everything had never happened.

……

A stick of incense.

Two sticks of incense.

The faint morning light of summer looks lifeless, the scorching heat wave, the silent summer breeze, sweeps away the warmth of spring and March; The Shangjing City shrouded in midsummer is like a steamer that has just been opened, and the hot air emitted from the surface of the ground makes this majestic Great Zhou Imperial Palace look a little listless, just like the dead air, losing the vitality that the heavenly family should have.

After a while, a round of golden sun finally broke free from the shackles of the clouds, penetrated the barrier of the blue sky and white clouds, and sprinkled countless fiery shadows; The fiery sunlight illuminated the huge imperial city at a glance, and it also happened to integrate the nectar hall into it.

The layout of the manna hall is divided into the front hall and the side hall, and the space is not big, but it is not small; The front hall is where the emperor approves the chapter, and the side hall is the inner palace where the emperor sleeps and lives, and a vermilion lacquer painted gold wooden door isolates the front hall and the side hall, as if forming two different worlds.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the Manna Hall was extremely cold and solemn, and all the eunuchs and palace maids who served were all sent out; Now, in the empty dormitory, only the pair of Xiao family father and son who are not born in the world: Xiao Longxian, the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who is dressed in bright yellow clothes, and Xiao Changling, the king of Rencheng, who is dressed in white.

The emperor put his hands behind his back, a bright yellow figure, standing in front of a curtain wall of the Ganlu Palace, the eyes of a generation of male lords Hansu, coldly staring at the map hanging on the wall, this is an extremely wide size, almost occupying most of the wall of the map, but also a map of Kyushu with the most detailed drawing, the most meticulous workmanship, and the territory of Kyushu, which not only includes the vast territory of the Great Zhou, but also includes the land of Southern Chu and Western Yan, and even the Rouran in the north, Tubo in the southwest, and Qianghu in the northwest, whether it is the national border or the territory, are all clearly divided.

Thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, all over the world, like a magnificent picture, has been slowly unfolded, presented in front of the eyes of the most powerful king in the world; A terrifying chill and coldness suddenly burst out from this middle-aged man in bright yellow clothes, as if he wanted to weld the huge map on the wall into the depths of the ice and snow.

This is the will of a generation of emperors, and it is also the majesty of an emperor through the ages.

Behind the emperor Minghuang Gao, there is a proud figure; But I saw that Xiao Changling, who was dressed in white, stood straight beside his father, without moving, and the summer light sprinkled all over the white clothes, reflecting his already heroic and upright figure, showing even more heroism. The two sword eyebrows on his forehead are still so elegant, and the perseverance in his eyes, just like the blades of two long swords, stabbed straight into the dome of the desert grassland, and stabbed at the city pass of the border Xiongzhen, no one can withstand the momentum from the commander of the battlefield.

The difference is that Xiao Changling's posture looks quite strange; Dressed in white, he crossed his waist with his hands, and the fingertips of his ten fingers were tightly fastened on the jade belt tied around his waist, rubbing the smooth lines of the jade belt, following his father's sight, looking at the territory of Kyushu in front of him.

At this moment, Xiao Changling's cold gaze slowly swept across the territory of the Great Zhou, sweeping over the majestic outline of Kyushu, and for a while, all kinds of tastes were about to come up from the bottom of his heart...... Once upon a time, he rode a sword alone, spurred his horse, and went to the country for three thousand miles, just to one day, with his sharp blades and iron hooves, crush the decay of this earthly world, and create an endless Qingping wish!

The vast snowy scenery in the north, reflecting the eyes of the white-clothed general, Xiao Changling's expression was cold and solemn, and his eyes looked at the mountains and rivers on the surface deeply; Here, for Xiao Changling, is the place where he was born and grew up, and it is also the altar where he used swords and iron horses to lay the foundation for the Great Zhou, and he left not only blood and tears in this land, but also countless glory and endless glory.

Father and son, both silent.

At this moment, His Majesty the Emperor, who had been silent, finally turned around slowly, looked at this son who was somewhat similar to himself between his eyebrows with a different kind of eyes, and spoke extremely naturally.

"Jiro."

Xiao Changling raised his face slightly, looking directly at the unfathomable emperor Lao Tzu in front of him, his eyes were extremely firm, and his tone was as plain as water.

"Father."

"What do you think of this?" Xiao Long looked at him quietly, his calm eyes narrowed slightly, but his words were still indifferent, not much different from usual.

"Majestic."

"Magnificent."

With the words "majestic" and "magnificent" exited, Xiao Changling did not hesitate, and his deep vision swept past the two thick black mustaches under his father's nose, and looked towards the vast prairie in the extreme north of the territory.

Emperor Xuan was obviously very satisfied with his son's answer, he was silent for a moment, and carefully recalled Xiao Changling's short and concise, but powerful four words; Suddenly, the middle-aged emperor, who had always been silent, burst out laughing for the first time, and the sudden laughter echoed in the sky above the secluded hall of the Manna Palace.

After the laughter ended, Xiao Longxian's face resurfaced the self-confidence of a generation of overlords.

"Majestic?! Magnificent?! Well, that's a good point! In the troubled times, the princes only know that one side is divided, if I am ten years younger, you and I father and son join forces, this great river and mountain, why worry about not being unified! ”

At this moment again, the corners of Xiao Longxian's lips bloomed with a cold smile; Then, this majestic and majestic king unfolded the Ming and Huang dragon robes, and pointed to the vast territory calmly and extremely domineeringly, as if the world was in his hands.

"Ten years, just ten years, if God favors me, I will be the golden iron horse to determine the Central Plains, sweep away the barbarians in all directions, cleanse this chaotic world, so that there is no difference between the Zhou people, the Chu people, and the Yan people in this world; I want to spend my whole life so that there will be no pain of flesh and bone slaughter, the pain of wife separation, and the death of people in this world. ”

The Emperor slowly closed his eyes.

He felt it quietly, only to feel that the monstrous waves crashed on the reef on the edge of the island, stirring up a roar of wind and thunder, turning into hundreds of thousands of iron cavalry, sweeping past the sun, moon, mountains and rivers.

Until this time, the expression on Xiao Changling's face remained calm and resolute.

"Father, according to the opinion of the sons, within ten years, the world will be one."

"Oh, you're so confident." The emperor looked at Xiao Changling curiously.

Finally, Xiao Changling's slightly uninhibited demeanor gradually changed slightly, and the hands that were extremely tough and stable on the jade belt hung down very naturally at his side, and gradually clenched into fists; The young commander's eyes were calm, and on his handsome face, a look of calm suddenly appeared, as if a layer of frost was shrouded.

"Father, there are twenty states in the world, my Great Zhou occupies twelve states, Southern Chu occupies five states, and Western Yan only occupies three states; The population of my Great Zhou is 7 million, the Southern Chu is 1 million, and the Western Yan is only 600,000. In terms of strength, the Great Zhou is the crown of the Three Kingdoms, and Chu and Yan have no chance to win. What's more, my Great Zhou has a million male soldiers, a vast territory, and all the people in the country are soldiers, all of them are one enemy and one hundred, and they are strong in nature; In the past, Emperor Taizu attacked Chu, and when he was dying, he still used himself as a bait to protect the people of the six counties into my periphery. Thousands of people were slashed, and the enemy was captured and killed; Ten thousand people were slashed and rampant all over the world. 'I, the king of the Great Zhou, can make millions of soldiers for my use, how can I be invincible? Therefore, Erchen dares to assert that in less than ten years, my Great Zhou will be able to sweep the Central Plains and dominate the world! ”

Speaking of this, Xiao Changling's face showed an unprecedented excitement more and more, and there seemed to be a raging fire burning in his eyes; It was a long-lost feeling, the fiery that would only rise when he heard the angry horse neighing at the border pass, the restlessness that would arise when he saw the rolling beacons in the north, or rather, this was the soldier's heart from the depths of Xiao Changling's heart and his inertia as a commander.

I saw that the Son of Heaven, who was bright and yellow, smiled slightly, then turned around, patted Xiao Changling's shoulder gently, and said slowly.

"Okay, Erlang, it seems that your kid hasn't been on the battlefield in vain in the past few years. If Da Zhou wants to dominate the world, he needs a handsome talent like my son. In my opinion, maybe in the future, you will be the mainstay of my Great Zhou and the mainstay of our Xiao family. ”

After praise, Xiao Changling stood upright, raised his hand to support the crown of his hair, and then strode forward, with a steady and powerful gait, walked straight to his father, knelt down with a dignified expression, waved his wrists, and said loudly.

"In order to help my father sweep away the heroes and dominate the world, son, I still have no regrets even after nine deaths!"

Xiao Long first picked up his son in white in front of him, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

Father and son looked at each other.

"By the way, there's one more thing, I want to let you know in advance."

"What's the matter?"

After the words fell, Xiao Changling raised his eyes slightly, swept away the coldness and coldness on his face, stared at his father's upright and calm dragon face, and was silent.

The atmosphere of the dormitory once again fell into an endless dullness.