Noble Lady

The remaining Han Hongyue's morale was low and he was unable to hold on alone. He was forced to retreat again and again, and finally had to give up the two counties he had managed for a long time and retreat to the mountains.

He originally thought that with the wealth he had accumulated over the years, not to mention making a huge push into Shengjing, he could at least take over three or five states in the south.

Unexpectedly, he suffered heavy losses before he even left Lingnan.

And the longer it lasted, the more their stored food supplies ran out.

After the heavy snow, Lingnan became increasingly cold. Marquis Xue and Prince Cheng led everyone in a major counterattack.

As a result, Prince Cheng, acting with the emperor's decree to act at his own convenience, said only to kill the mastermind, and the northern soldiers led by the deposed prince surrendered one after another, which completely collapsed.

The deposed crown prince was also captured.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Han Hongyue's deputy general took advantage of the night to kill Han Hongyue and cut off his head as a surrender.

Just after the winter solstice, the battle that had lasted for several months came to an end.

Han Hongyue's dream of becoming a king, which he had been pursuing for many years, was completely shattered in less than half a year.

Marquis Xue took the opportunity to recruit the troops, wrote a memorial to the emperor detailing all the twists and turns, and then returned to the court.

Situ Zhen did not return with them, but left a letter and left the night before the army returned to the capital.

When His Majesty learned that the man had run away again, he was both angry and happy. He was angry that he refused to return to the capital, and he was happy that he had never forgotten his responsibilities.

But this result also means that the Queen's plans over the years have completely failed.

……

While Marquis Xue was busy fighting, the children of Marquis Wu'an's mansion were also busy.

Xue Chenyu's farm has long become a popular destination for noble ladies and girls in Shengjing to cool off and escape the summer heat, and this year's business has made a lot of money.

The only drawback was that Du Jingyuan was pregnant and couldn't run around, so in the end it was Xue Chenyu who stepped in.

The eldest daughter of the Xue family had participated in the flower-viewing banquet in the palace, and with the empress dowager's decree granting her freedom of marriage, many people came to her because of her reputation.

Xue Huai took the Autumn Examination and luckily got the third place.

Xue Luoyan found a very reliable master and became Weng Xuemei's junior uncle.

Because of his contribution in suppressing the rebellion, Marquis Xue was rewarded with a lot of gold and silver, but the matter of the title was tacitly not mentioned.

Because both His Majesty and Marquis Xue knew that the Second Master of the Marquisate was behind this.

Because he had not considered how to deal with Xue Hejun in order to avoid implicating the Wu'an Marquis Mansion, he just picked out a mistake and dismissed Xue Hejun from his post.

After the prince was escorted back to the capital, he was imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison.

Afterwards, the Queen requested permission to leave the palace for a visit, and His Majesty agreed, but he also went along.

The deposed prince in the Dali Temple prison, although his prison uniform was clean and his cell was spotless, had long lost his former high spirits and was in a state of dejection.

Even his beard was newly shaved after hearing that His Majesty and the Queen were coming, and the stubble was still there.

"Youth pays homage to father, the emperor, and mother, the empress." The deposed prince knelt on his knees and kowtowed.

His Majesty lowered his eyes slightly, "Do you know your mistake?"

"I know my sins are grave, and I beg Your Majesty to make a fair judgment." He had no intention of saving his life. "But the Crown Princess and the child are unaware of my actions, so I beg Your Majesty to spare their lives."

His Majesty did not speak.

The Queen stepped forward and said, "Look up."

The deposed crown prince looked up upon hearing this, and the queen slapped him without mercy, "You disobedient and unfilial creature! I have raised you for so many years, with the best teachers teaching you poetry, literature, etiquette, and morality, yet you have become a traitor!"

"How can you be worthy of my education over the years?"

The deposed crown prince didn't dodge, and with a calm expression, he kowtowed to the queen again, "I deserve to die. I have failed the queen's good intentions. Please calm down, queen!"

"What's the point of me calming down? You've committed such a heinous crime of treason that you're stabbing me in the heart with a knife. From now on, I'll pretend I never raised a son like you!"

After the queen finished speaking, she flicked her sleeves and left.

The deposed prince kowtowed towards her back and did not get up for a long time.

His Majesty had many things to say, but seeing him like this, the only thing that came to his lips was, "Do you regret it?"

The deposed prince remained silent for a long time.

After leaving with the Queen, the deposed Crown Prince sat alone facing the wall and did not eat much of the food brought in by the jailer.

The next morning, when the jailer came to check, he found that he had smashed the bowl and cut his throat, and had already bled to death.

Four big words were left on the wall: It's too late to regret.

This is the only use of the pen and ink that Your Majesty gave him.

……

When the news reached the palace, His Majesty, the Queen Mother, the Empress and others were silent for a long time.

"I've waited and hoped for so many years, calculated everything, and tried to force everything, but in the end, this is the only result I got."

"It's all in vain!"

This time, the queen did not seal off her own bedroom, but moved to the cold palace.

His Majesty did not stop her, but ordered people to collect the body of the deposed prince and arrange the funeral.

The Queen Mother only sighed and said, "He is already dead. There is no need to trouble his wife and children."

The death of the deposed crown prince ultimately saved the other people in the Eastern Palace.

His Majesty bestowed a princess's mansion upon the little princess, and asked the Crown Princess to move in with the princess. This provided a guarantee for the mother and daughter's life.

On the day of the deposed prince's burial, Xue Chenyu went to Qinglong Temple and met Situ Zhen, who looked exhausted.

He went to see off the deposed prince, but he did not show up.

No one even knew that before the prince was escorted back to the capital, Situ Zhen had met him and the two had a private conversation.

As for what was said, one is dead and the other will not reveal it, so it is also an unsolved mystery.

Xue Chenyu couldn't help but ask him, "Why would the prince rebel? Even if he had already colluded with Han Hongyue, he has 20,000 elite soldiers at his disposal, so he can easily capture Han Hongyue."

"With this achievement in suppressing the rebellion, your future ascension to the throne will be even more legitimate."

Situ Zhen seemed to smile and said only four words: "The heavens are impermanent."

If you look closely, you can see that he is smiling bitterly.

Rather than saying that heaven is impermanent, it is better to say that heaven is ruthless.

Xue Chenyu saw through it but didn't say anything.

In fact, as early as before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhang, the second wife of the He family, returned to Beijing, and she received an accurate news from Zhang.

Even if the prince took Han Hongyue back to the capital, he would never be able to ascend the throne.

So in the eyes of outsiders, the deposed prince's stupid behavior was just a desperate attempt to climb to the throne.

"When does the prince plan to return to Beijing?" Xue Chenyu asked again.

He had clearly returned to Beijing, but he only lived in Qinglong Temple, which showed that he didn't want others to know that he had returned to Beijing.

"There's no rush. Let's wait until the Empress Dowager agrees." Situ Zhen said unscrupulously.

"You won't come back for the New Year?"

"Won't come back."

Seeing that she couldn't persuade him any more, Xue Chenyu gave up.

When she returned home, she learned that Marquis Xue had been summoned into the palace again by His Majesty.

This time, she probably went there for her second uncle who was harming others and himself.

The Little New Year.

The winter in Shengjing is getting colder and the price of charcoal is rising.

Marquis Xue made an exception and released Mr. Xue and Mrs. Xue, and the family had a reunion dinner.

After dinner, he asked someone to pack up Mr. Xue’s things and send him back to his hometown in Liyang.

"Brother, I won't go. It's almost the New Year. Can't I come back after the New Year?" Mr. Xue seemed to have known something. He was very panicked and kept clinging to the door, refusing to leave.

Madam Xue also said, "Yes, it's freezing outside, why would you go out? Can't you wait until the spring comes and the weather warms up? Your brother has already been fired because of you, and you're still not satisfied?!"

Tears flickered faintly in Xue Hou's eyes. "This is not up to you."

After saying this, he asked someone to send Madam Xue back to Yongshou Hall.

Xue Hejun, the second master of Xue, was also forced onto the carriage back to Liyang with great reluctance.

The road was difficult to travel in the heavy snow, and the carriage returning to Liyang overturned on the way. When the news reached the Wu'an Marquis Mansion, it was already the seventh day.

On New Year's Eve, His Majesty ordered Eunuch Wang to personally escort a carriage to the Marquis's mansion.

When Mr. Lu and Mrs. Qi saw the people sitting in the car, they were so happy that they couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Go to school, go to school..."

Along with Cai Jinxue's return, there was another shocking news -

The queen hanged herself in the cold palace, leaving behind a letter requesting to leave.

With her was the Imperial Medical Officer Yang Kaitai.

When Yang Kaitai was young and learning his craft, he accidentally saved a girl from a noble family. While the girl was recuperating in the clinic, the two secretly fell in love.

But later they were forced to separate because the elders in the girl's family disagreed.

When they met again, one was the Empress Dowager and the other was a medical officer in the Imperial Academy.

Now that it has ended in such an inglorious way, Your Majesty has also saved the reputation of the Queen Mother Han, deposed her, and returned her to her family.

On New Year’s Eve, I wonder how many families are happy and how many are sad.

His Royal Highness Prince Cheng said, "The New Year's Eve dinner at the Wu'an Marquis's Mansion is still delicious."

Upon hearing this, Miss Xue rolled her eyes at him, thinking he was taking advantage of her.

In the blink of an eye, it was the next spring examination.

Xue Huai did well, ranking among the top ten in the provincial examination and fifth in the palace examination.

When asked why he couldn't be among the top three in the palace examination, he replied, "A tall tree attracts the wind."

Such narcissistic words naturally caused disgust from his elder sister and younger sister, but he enjoyed it.

Time goes by and it is Mid-Autumn Festival again.

During the past six months, Prince Cheng was away from home, and news of the punishment of corrupt officials kept coming back to the capital, and the Empress Dowager was keeping him in mind for the past six months.

He finally arrived in Beijing before the Mid-Autumn Festival and went to the palace to ask for an imperial decree granting him marriage.

But the Queen Mother rejected her proposal: "I have already allowed the eldest daughter of the Xue family to decide her own marriage. If you want to marry her, go and ask for her help yourself."

then.

After the Duke of Chen’s mansion married off their daughter in a high-profile manner, the Prince of Cheng also made a high-profile proposal to marry the eldest daughter of Marquis Xue. It was said that he went through mountains and seas and tried every possible means to beg her three times before she agreed.

Then they conveniently set the wedding date for the Mid-Autumn Festival next year.

Everyone knows that the longer a lady's marriage is prepared, the more important it becomes.

Therefore, this wedding was planned after the flower viewing banquet and was prepared for nearly three years, which shows how much importance Situ Zhen attached to it.

After the wedding, Princess Cheng suddenly entered the palace and asked for forgiveness from the Queen Mother and His Majesty.

Afterwards, the truth was revealed that Prince Cheng was actually the only legitimate son of the late queen, which was another earth-shaking scene.

Some people say that it is a blessing for the Xue family that the eldest daughter can marry the only legitimate son of His Majesty when she remarries; others say why don’t they have a father who can be the prince’s martial arts master?

In short, after this, the trend of practicing martial arts became popular.

The trend of having daughters was at its peak.

(End of the article)