Dingbei Hou's doctor brother

"What else can I say?"

Xiao Yan leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.

"The Crown Prince advocates killing, while the King of Zhao advocates peace. The two sides quarrel endlessly, while the King of Wu remains silent and avoids offending anyone."

"There are also those who want to take advantage of this opportunity to demand annual tribute, saying that they can benefit from it and let everyone in the world know how benevolent and righteous our Emperor Daning is in governing the country. He has everything."

Yang Zhounan raised his eyebrows and scolded, "These old bastards are crazy because of poverty. The Di Kou base camp has been overturned, and they still think about asking for annual tribute? What kind of brains are they?"

"When the Di people attacked us in the past, it was these people who were shouting for war and killing. Now that they've finally calmed down, they're the good guys again?"

He threw the towel casually on the small table, lifted his robe and sat down.

"They're trying to gain credit on the surface, but we have to fight tooth and nail. King Zhao's men are deliberately trying to make it difficult for us to eat."

Xiao Yan leaned his head back on the chair.

"Chishuo's old camp is gone, but Aru Khan is still here. He will definitely switch sides with the Danba tribe. Even if Danba Khan doesn't recognize him as his uncle, he won't ignore Wuqien, his nephew. They are using this to make a fuss."

But then again, Danba, like Chishuo, is a large tribe on the grassland.

These legendary Zhuge Liangs in Daning want to threaten a nephew who is not even a son. I wonder how they can succeed?

The King of Zhao and the Crown Prince have been fighting openly and secretly for many years. As long as there is a way to suppress the Crown Prince, there will always be opposition voices in the court.

However, using such important matters as prisoners of war from vassal states as tools for fighting is truly child's play and extremely stupid.

Yang Zhounan sat up straight and asked, "Our client is a soft-tempered person, so does he agree?"

"The emperor has not expressed his opinion yet, but..." Xiao Yan said.

"Even if he didn't express his opinion, he should be aware of the current situation. The Ministry of Revenue has listed all the details of Daning's military expenditures and livelihood relief in the court."

"Since our Lord ascended the throne, taxes on the people haven't decreased, but the national treasury's annual tax revenue has actually shown negative growth. Where do you think all that money went?"

He took a deep breath and continued.

"Plus, after all these years of fighting with the north, the legacy left by the late emperor will eventually be exhausted. I don't believe he can turn a blind eye to this. He will weigh the pros and cons of this matter."

In the early years, when Xiao Yan's father led the army, Aru Khan paid several times the annual tribute to Daning for his eldest son.

The consequence of letting the tiger go back to the mountains was that in the ninth year of Shengzhi, Di Kou's spies launched a surprise attack and blew up the Nantong garrison camp.

When Xiao Yan went to the battlefield, Aruhan's eldest son was not so lucky.

The Xiao family has been the backbone of the family, traveling back and forth to patch things up for decades. After their father became disabled and their son was added to the pile, they finally managed to make some sense of the situation.

The Chishuo royal court is no longer what it used to be. If the same thing happens again, Xiao Yan will be the first one to disagree.

As he expected, three days later, Emperor Shengzhi issued an order to execute Prince Chishuo in the autumn.

All the people in the world are happy.

It has been more than a month since Yang Zhounan was bitten by a wolf and returned to Beijing. He occasionally goes to the government office, but spends most of his time at home.

Lu Ziqing changed his dressings regularly and took good care of him, and luckily nothing went wrong.

He was quite polite in his words to the frail young doctor.

After Lu Ziqing left the room, Yang Zhounan lay on the bed alone and waited for a while, then shouted outside the door.

"Su Chengfeng."

After a while, Su Chengfeng came in from outside, looking impatient but not daring to say anything.

"What?"

"My room isn't far from the courtyard outside. Why would it take so long to send someone off?" Yang Zhounan said, "The young doctor comes here every day. Are you worried that he'll get lost on his way back?"

Su Chengfeng pinched the hem of his clothes with his fingertips, and he wanted to pinch this nagging ghost.

"General Yang, tell me what else you want me to do, all at once."

"I'm hungry. Go cook, and..." Yang Zhounan gave the orders smoothly.

"After dinner, help me wipe myself and wash my clothes before you leave. Um, I want to eat beef tomorrow."

Su Chengfeng was furious. This man had been nagging on the way back to Beijing, and in the past few days since he came back, he had been doing free labor for him every day.

After all, he is a gang leader. Apart from Lu Ziqing, he has never served anyone. Now, he is like a woman who washes her hands to cook soup.

Su Chengfeng didn't respond and walked out of the house with a gloomy face. After a while, he heard the sound of "dong dong dong" of a kitchen knife chopping a chopping board from next door.

Yang Zhounan pressed the back of his head with one hand, closed his eyes and listened to the man's impatient chopping sounds, with a slight smile on his lips.

In order to get the Imperial Medical Service badge within three months, Lu Ziqing worked very hard, going out early and returning late every day.

Now he was standing at the gate of Mingcui Palace, holding a medicine box. "I'm here to deliver medicine to Concubine Mei. This is the badge."

The eunuch took the badge, looked at it, and handed it back to him, "The imperial physician has been working quite early these days."

Actually, it wasn’t that he came early.

Before her miscarriage, Concubine Mei was still Concubine Mei. Like many women in the palace, the emperor showed her great favor when she first entered the palace and even planted a yard full of her favorite plum blossoms.

As time went by, the love they had before faded.

It was not until she became pregnant that she was blessed with immense wealth and honor again, and was promoted from a concubine to a royal consort.

Unfortunately, she had a miscarriage when she was four months pregnant. However, the emperor still felt sorry for her and gave her many supplements to nourish her body.

Two years later, the second baby was finally born. The imperial physician diagnosed the baby as a boy, and the emperor was overjoyed.

The Chen royal family had always had few descendants, and now that he had a son, he believed it was God's compensation for him, and planned to wait for Concubine Mei to give birth to a son and then be promoted to Imperial Concubine.

Unexpectedly, this time when she was six months pregnant, she had another miscarriage, and just as the imperial physician had diagnosed, it was a boy.

As luck would have it, a rumor spread from somewhere in the palace that Concubine Mei had never forgotten her childhood sweetheart and was not willing to have a child from the Chen royal family, which was why she had two miscarriages.

The emperor was furious, but he still remembered their past affection and only demoted her to a noble lady instead of sending her to the cold palace.

He was confined to the Mingcui Palace, and his food, drink and medical care continued as usual, but he was not allowed to be served.

People in the palace are used to changing their attitudes according to the situation, so the Imperial Hospital naturally doesn't care about this fallen concubine.

After taking medicine these days, Concubine Mei has some strength to speak. She lies on the bed, but still looks very tired, like a withered and yellow plum blossom.

Concubine Mei slowly raised her hand, and Xiyue hurried forward to hold it. "What does your Majesty want? Xiyue will help you get it."

She didn't answer, but pulled her hand out and pointed at Lu Ziqing beside her with a trembling voice.

Xiyue immediately understood, moved a chair over, and asked Lu Ziqing to sit near the bed. Only then did Mei Guiren speak weakly.

"Thank you... If you hadn't come here so often these past few days to deliver medicine, I might not have made it this far."

Lu Ziqing comforted him slowly, "Your Majesty is blessed with great fortune. I believe that if you persist in taking the medicine, you will gradually get better."

Concubine Mei seemed to raise the corner of her mouth for a moment and spoke very calmly.

"I know my body very well. Doctor, there's no need to comfort me. Everyone is avoiding me right now, but you...are the only one willing to save my life."

Her eyes shifted slightly, "Xiyue, go..."

Before she could finish, Xiyue took a small box from the dressing table and handed it to Lu Ziqing. He opened it and found a gold bracelet inside.

"This was once given by His Majesty. Now... I give it to you as a reward."

Lu Ziqing closed the box without thinking, stood up and returned it to Xiyue.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to do this. As a doctor in the Imperial Hospital, it is your duty to diagnose and deliver medicine to the masters. How can you accept gifts of thanks?"

Concubine Mei's eyes were slightly blurred, and she looked at Lu Ziqing for a long time before speaking.

"In all my years in the palace, you're the first person I've met who isn't tempted by money. If you refuse to accept this gold bracelet, then... I can't help you in any way."

Lu Ziqing thought for a moment and said, "I don't need your gold or silver, but there is one thing I would like to ask you."

"You said."

Lu Ziqing took out a piece of paper from his arms, unfolded it, and handed it to her.

"I wonder if Your Majesty has ever seen this jade pendant in the palace?"

Concubine Mei looked carefully and thought for a while.

"I've never seen this style before, but this one is just as crystal clear as mine." She said to Xiyue, "Bring it here."

Xiyue brought the jade, and Lu Ziqing carefully picked it up and took a look at it.

The jade is as crystal clear as ice, and the magpies and plum blossoms carved on it are lifelike.

If you look closely, you can see two faint patterns that look like "十, 丨" on the feathers of the magpie's wings. They are just hidden in the wings. If you don't look carefully, you might think they are distinct feathers.

It's just too small, so small that it's hard to see even if you stand close to it.

He took it to the window and placed a white pulse-diagnosis towel under the jade pendant. The light shone through the jade pendant, and the direction of the carvings became clearer.

Lu Ziqing frowned and squinted his eyes, looking carefully for a long time, until his eyes felt slightly swollen before he could see clearly that the two patterns were actually two words.

Thousands of mountains.

Such outstanding carving skills made him exclaim that this man was a genius in the jade carving world.

The quality of this piece of jade is exactly the same as the one in the drawing, top-grade white ice jade.

Lu Ziqing was delighted and asked, "Does your Majesty know if there is anyone else in the palace who has this kind of jade?"