Urban Sims

"Mother, you want to marry me to that Turkic king, I, I don't agree!"

Just after returning to the palace, she suddenly learned that she was the marriage partner and was about to marry Princess Anping, the Turkic king. It was like a thunderbolt from the blue, and she opened her mouth in shock.

Then he opposed it desperately and refused to agree to it even to the death.

"Marriage matters, parents' orders, matchmaker's words, there is no room for your objection! I have ordered people to reply to the Turkic envoy to marry Princess Anping to the Turkic king. If you don't agree, the two countries will fight again. Ping'er, are you willing? See hundreds of thousands of people die because of your objection?"

Wu Mei used both soft and hard tactics.

Princess Anping shook her head desperately and cried loudly: "No, Anping doesn't want to marry the Turk king, Anping doesn't want to marry!"

"Hmph! How can a major national event be held at your expense? You can't do this marriage unless you go!"

"If so, Anping would rather commit suicide!" Princess Anping looked determined.

"If you commit suicide, I will pretend that I never gave birth to your daughter!"

The iron-hearted Wu Mei ordered Princess Anping to be placed under house arrest and monitored to prevent her from committing suicide. Seven days later, she was asked to follow the Turkic envoy's convoy to marry far away!

…

Two days passed.

Princess Anping, who was confined in the palace, could not deliver any news. She committed suicide several times, but was stopped by the maids who were watching her, and she could only cry helplessly.

On the third day, under her pleading, one of the maidservants who was monitoring her finally felt compassion and called Shangguan Yu'er, the chief female official in the inner court, over and said a few words to her.

Shangguan Yu'er is the granddaughter of Shangguan Yi, the prime minister who was convicted and killed in the "Biao Xiu Abolition" incident. She was married to the inner court as a maid with her mother Zheng. When she was fourteen, she was discovered and appointed by Wu Mei because of her intelligence and good writing. , who has been in charge of the imperial court for many years and is Wu Mei's important assistant and confidant. She was born in the same year as Princess Anping, but is a few days older. The two are very good friends in private and often refer to each other as "sisters".

"Sister Yu'er, please help me. Only you can help me now. Help me send a message to my father, or tell Mr. Zihua and ask them to save me! I don't want to marry the Turkic King!"

Princess Anping cried loudly. She didn't know why, but at this moment, the person she most longed to ask for help, besides her father, was Mr. Zihua, whom she admired the most.

"Don't worry, Your Highness Princess, Yu'er will try her best to help you!"

Shangguan Yu'er nodded, changed into casual clothes that day, and hurried to Furong Garden.

When she arrived at Furong Garden, she just reported to the eunuch Ma Dexi. When she wanted to see His Majesty the Ming Emperor, she was told by the eunuch Ma Dexi that the Ming Emperor and the Queen of Heaven were admiring the flowers in the garden, and they were in high spirits.

Shangguan Yu'er had no choice but to turn around and leave. She went back to the palace, took a horse, and galloped towards the north for two hours. Finally, she arrived at Fengyang Village, a hundred miles away. She reported her identity and informed the concierge. Mr. Zihua.

"Is this really true? The Queen of Heaven has put Princess Anping under house arrest and wants her to marry a Turkic king thousands of miles away?"

Zhou Ming was shocked by this sudden news. Queen Wu Mei had taken the wrong medicine and was about to push her biological daughter into a pit of fire.

During his travels in the Western Regions, he learned that the current Turkic King Ashina Gu was an old man who was nearly sixty years old. If Princess Anping married him, according to the nomadic people's property rule of "a son leads his father's tribe, and a son marries his father's wife" According to the custom, after the death of Ashina Gu, Princess Anping will marry his son. After his son dies, she may marry his grandson...

Anyway, as long as she survives, she will marry successive Turkic kings, and she may even marry her own son.

Because, in the grasslands, women are just like cattle and sheep. They are just "property" and "reproductive tools" for breeding the population. They are fishy and ferocious, just like animals, and have no human ethics or natural principles at all.

"Yes."

Shangguan Yu'er nodded and said anxiously: "Mr. Zihua, please find a way to save Princess Anping quickly. If it is delayed for a few more days and gets on the wedding convoy, Princess Anping will have no choice but to marry a Turk and die in a foreign land. It will be difficult for me to return to the Central Plains!"

"Don't panic, don't panic about this! Miss Yu'er, let me think of a way, I will definitely come up with a proper way to rescue Princess Anping!"

After giving Shangguan Yu'er some reassurance, Zhou Ming used his brain and began to think hard about a solution.

The simplest and crudest way is to lead people to intercept the Turkic convoy and kill all the Turkic envoys! Get back Princess Anping!

But the hidden danger of doing so is that it will trigger an all-out war between the two countries, as well as the angry pursuit of Queen Wu Mei, and risk exposing herself.

The best strategy is to go to Beijing to meet the emperor and persuade him.

However, the supreme ruler of this era has always insisted on his own way in many things and is extremely difficult to reverse. At best, he "talks about the constitution of heaven and keeps his word"; at worst, he "cannot accept advice and is willful". Zhou Ming estimates , with Wu Mei's character, once she decides something, she will do it by any means necessary. The above advice will not only fail to achieve results, but will make her even more angry.

Moreover, Zhou Ming vaguely guessed that this matter should have something to do with him. If he tried to persuade him, he would only achieve the opposite result.

What should be done, while rescuing Princess Anping, not arouse the resentment of Queen Wu Mei and avoid becoming a thorn in her side.

"Yes!"

Suddenly, Zhou Ming thought of a good idea. He immediately ordered his servants to get pens, inks, paper and inkstones. After thinking for a moment, he wrote an article with pen like a dragon.

This article is called "On Great Powers".

The main theme of the content is: What kind of country can be considered a great country.

Judging from the title, it has no connection with the rescue of Princess Anping, and the content does not seem to have any connection.

In fact, Zhou Ming adopted the strategy of "quoting from others and making suggestions". In this article, he discussed three dynasties that existed in history: Shang, Wei, and Shun. Which one is the real "" A big country".

In the early days of the Shang Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty had a strong military, conquered all directions, and annexed six countries. Their chariots and writings were on the same track, their books were on the same text, and they unified weights and measures. They established the first unified dynasty. However, in the later period, due to corruption at the top, the combat effectiveness of the army deteriorated and weakened, and it lost its ability to attack foreign countries. He could only rely on the construction of the Great Wall to resist border troubles. In the end, due to the abuse of people's power, a peasant uprising broke out and he died in only three generations.

Wei controlled a territory larger than that of Shang. In the early days of the founding of the country, it was repeatedly beaten by nomadic peoples. It relied on offering beautiful women every year to ensure peace. After more than thirty years of recuperation, Emperor Wu of Wei, who advocated "revanchism", The Xiongnu were beaten to the point where they cried for father and mother. At the same time, Wei was also the first dynasty to conquer the Western Regions, open up the Silk Road, and become famous among foreign countries.

However, although the Wei State was strong, it only subdued the Xiongnu for a hundred years. When the Wei State weakened and the grassland peoples revived again, in order to avoid war, Emperor Wei Xuan was the first to make peace with foreign tribes and ordered Zhaojun to go out of the fortress and exchange peace with his beauty. For thousands of years, in the several Central Plains dynasties after Wei, there were basically no marriages between different races, with only one exception.

This exception is the country called "Shun" established by Ran Shun, the king of Wu Dao, during the "Nine Husbands and Shang Dynasty" period, during a hundred years of war and under the iron heel of foreign races.

This country called "Shun" has only existed for more than a hundred years, and its territory is not large. It only occupies part of the area between Yanshan and Taiyan Mountains in Youqing Prefecture, and its population does not exceed one million at most.

It was this merchant-dominated country that issued the "Hu Slaughter Order" from the day of its birth, vowing to kill all the barbarians who were rampant in the Central Plains. During the "nine barbarian merchants" that lasted for hundreds of years, Shun State was not in a state of conflict with foreigners every day. In the war, 33 kings were killed, and countless troops and subjects died in battle. It is difficult to count. In the end, due to too few documentary records, it was gradually lost in the dust of history.

No matter which aspect you look at it, "Shun", a country that has nothing to do with "big country", is the only country that Zhou Ming believes can be called a big country in "On Great Country"!

because--

"Shun, it has stood for hundreds of years without falling, and has never been destroyed by the barbarians around it. This is because it does not pay tribute, does not pay tribute, does not make peace, and does not cede territory. The emperor guards the gate of the country, and the king dies in the country! The country and its people, from top to bottom. , Everyone’s blood is like this, everyone is strong and lives! Even if you die, you will not change your clothes, your hair, your ancestors, or bend your knees to foreigners. How can you not be considered a great country?"

"Colorful! Mr. Zihua's article is brilliant!"

As soon as Zhou Ming finished writing this sentence, there was a burst of excited shouts from the side.

It turned out that Shangguan Yu'er, who was helping him grind, saw the content of this article. She, who had always been gentle and quiet, was so excited by these majestic words that she couldn't help but scream.

Zhou Ming turned around and looked at her. Shangguan Yu'er's pretty face turned red, she lowered her head, and her heart started beating faster.

She thought to herself: No wonder Princess Anping fell in love with him wholeheartedly. How many extraordinary men can there be in the world who can write such words and have such talent?

Moreover, he is handsome, handsome, civilized and capable, and has a mind for all things in the world. Not to mention he is a princess of a thousand gold. No young woman can refuse such a great husband.

She even felt a little envious in her heart. Princess Anping was lucky enough to be rescued by such a man.

In contrast, she is lonely and miserable. I wonder if she will meet such a beloved person in this life and write the same wonderful articles and majestic sentences for her...

"Miss Yu'er, take this article back to the imperial capital as soon as possible, and present it to His Majesty Emperor Ming and the Empress of Heaven in the name of presenting a masterpiece..."

He then ordered his servants to prepare the horses, then turned to Shangguan Yu'er and said, "Miss Yu'er, it's not too late to go back to the imperial capital now! Don't worry that it's getting late and it's inconvenient to hurry. I'll personally escort you back to the imperial capital!"

Shangguan Yu'er nodded, put the article into her sleeves, and after some preparations, she rode on the gray horse and followed Zhou Ming, galloping southward in the dim sky along the road that was not clearly visible. And go.

However, less than twenty miles into the journey, an unexpected situation occurred. Because it was dark, the vision was blurred, and the road conditions were difficult to navigate. The horse Shangguan Yu'er was riding suddenly sprained its hoof with an "anglu" sound, and a tender cry was heard. If Zhou Mingfei hadn't pulled her up, she would have fallen off her horse.

Zhou Ming dismounted and checked the horse's injury. He found that the horse could no longer be ridden. However, in order to hurry up, he had to pull Shangguan Yu'er onto the back of his red dragon horse. The two of them shared a horse and continued on their way. .

Originally, Zhou Ming, who was focused on rushing, had no extra thoughts in his heart and just wanted to reach the imperial capital as quickly as possible. However, it may be because the speed was too fast and the horseback was too bumpy. Shangguan Yu'er in his arms hugged him tighter and tighter. He was getting closer and closer, his breath was messy and rapid. When his body reacted and finally realized something was wrong, he was holding the beauty in his arms, her jade arms were already around his neck, and the tip of her tongue was tapping his skin.

"Miss Yu'er, what's wrong with you?"

Zhou Ming stopped his horse, held her shoulders and asked.

In the faint moonlight, Shangguan Yu'er's eyes were blurred. She caressed the man's handsome face with her jade fingers. She blew her long breath on his face and said, "Mr. Zihua, the gates of the imperial capital will be closed at the hour of the day. It can be opened, but even if we rushed to the imperial capital, we couldn't enter the city for a while... Lang Jun, don't you think that this night was specially given to us by God?"

After finishing speaking, the fragrant wind approached, and her soft lips were already printed on his lips.

This night, Zhou Ming felt a little tired. After all, there was no place to stay in this wilderness. The dew was too heavy and the clothes would get wet on the ground... Therefore, the most tiring person this night was actually Chilongma. , because there were two human beings shaking on its back all night...

Another trip... Ahem, please subscribe!