Gu Yuanbai had to pick a child among the clansmen to raise in his lap, and this child's character, age, appearance, bazi, and even whether or not he could live a long life had to be taken into consideration.
Gu Yuanbai scrutinized one child after another, incidentally going to scrutinize the clan house behind it. His Holiness was never one to be fooled, and if he was playing with greedy and disgusting ideas, Gu Yuanbai didn't mind another blood bath.
So much so that the previous scene of the black-armored forbidden army intimidating the clan house had also left the royal clansmen with a residual fear that went deep into their bones, and they honestly, peacefully sent their children and then picked them up.
Ten days later, Gu Yuanbai declared an order to recruit Gu Ran, the grandson of King Rui, to enter the palace to temporarily reside in the Palace of Celebration.
The Palace of Celebration is in the east side of Daheng Palace, so it is called the East Palace. His Holiness only Gu Ran placed in the East Palace, but has not given a word of recognition on the surface, the attitude is really ambiguous.
On the day Gu Ran entered the palace, King Rui called Gu Ran to his body, and a large group of people in King Rui's residence sat in the main hall, listening to King Rui's pale and heavy reprimand.
"After you enter the palace, there is only one thing to keep in mind," King Rui pointed to Gu Ran's father, "He is no longer your father, and I am no longer your grandfather. If you are blessed and fortunate enough to be favored by the saint, then you will have to accept the great gift from us, and if you are close to him, you will condescend to address him as 'Third Uncle' and address me as 'Prince Rui', Ran, do you understand?"
Gu Ran made a bow and said slowly, "I understand."
"Not only that," said King Rui, "when I die, or your parents die, you can't keep the filial piety in front of you, at that time, you won't be a person of my Rui Wang Fu, just a person in the palace. Regardless of what the Rui Wang Fu people ask you to do, who is asking you, you do not need to do more scruples, also do not need to take care of them. If there are times when you can't make up your mind, feel free to go and speak with His Majesty and ask for advice on how to act."
Gu Ran couldn't help but reveal a small smile, "Your Holiness is awesome."
Rui Wang's stern face slightly slowed down, he also laughed, "His Holiness is precisely because of the powerful, we must not hide disrespect in our hearts. Our clan is precisely because of His Majesty's greatness that we can have such stable and rich days today, Lu Feng is in charge of the power of the days like that to live in peace, is there really someone who has forgotten? If anyone dares to use the matter of Ran's son to reach out to His Majesty, I will not spare him lightly!"
King Rui abruptly tapped the table, and a dull sound suddenly rose.
The people whose hearts were originally harboring small thoughts lowered their heads and their livers trembled.
A little later, Gu Ran's biological father, King Rui's third son, Gu He, personally sent his son out of the mansion.
Gu He has always been dispensable to his youngest son, and is naturally not familiar with Gu Ran, let alone any father-son bond. But at this moment, he regretted it so much that he wished he could go back in time to be close to Gu Ran. On the way to send Gu Ran out of the door, he was even more hush-hush, and in the end even cried, tears streaming down his face, saying that he couldn't bear to let go of Gu Ran.
The older brothers who usually treated Gu Ran with cynicism were even more tearful and sobbing.
But their eyes, concealed under their sleeve robes, hid what was clearly jealousy and malice.
Gu Ran was silent, although he was young, but he could see things more clearly than some adults. Rui Wangfu as long as Rui Wang lives, no one dares to make a demon, as for after, if Gu Ran is really fortunate to be raised by the saint's knee, Rui Wangfu things, I think the saint will be dealt with for Gu Ran no worries.
Gu Ran was so sure, trusting the saint beyond measure. Although it was unfilial, after Gu Ran realized that he had been chosen by His Majesty, his heart secretly leapt with joy. His majesty was very great in his eyes, and such a person would really become Gu Ran's father. Just by thinking that he might call his majesty "Father" afterward, Gu Ran couldn't help but blush and squirm.
Can't suppress the excitement of being happy.
When Gu Ran entered the palace, His Holiness purposely took time out. He accompanied Gu Ran for his meal, went to see the Hongwen Room in the palace for the royal children to study, and smiled, "When tomorrow comes, you will be able to study here with your older brothers."
Gu Ran's afterglow crossed from the saint's robe, wanting to say some words of thanksgiving, but then remembering the saint's earlier words with him about not being formal, his brows tangled, his still childish face wrinkled into a piece.
The saint laughed softly a few times, bent down to take Gu Ran's hand, touched the top of his head, and led him on a leisurely stroll through the imperial gardens.
Gu Ran's eyes widened slightly, and after a few moments, they had become bubbling red apples, looking at the saint's eyes filled with a reverence that could not be hidden.
But only halfway around the Imperial Garden, snowflakes like willow flakes fell.
Xue Yuan picked up his cloak and stepped forward, wrapping His Holiness tightly in the cloak and raising his hand to block the top of His Holiness' head, "Go back quickly!"
Before the flakes of snow fell on Gu Yuanbai's body, he was already like an enemy.
Gu Yuanbai didn't hold back a smile and beckoned towards Tian Fusheng, taking the small cloak that the old eunuch sent up and tying it around Gu Ran's neck.
The wind picked up and the snowflakes suddenly became bigger. Xue Yuan tsked, and bending down, he picked up Gu Ran with one hand, holding His Holiness's hand as he hurried toward the palace, "Your Holiness, can you let me worry less?"
He couldn't help but feel self-congratulatory and whispered, "What would you do without me."
"Without you, there is still Wang Jiuyao, Zheng Jiuyao, Li Jiuyao," Xue Yuan's expression grew more and more somber with the saint's words, Gu Yuanbai leisurely drew out his hand, his cloak was hunting by the wind and snow, and he smoothed over Xue Yuan's spine as if to pacify a lion that was about to riot under the cover of his cloak, "but none of them are as good as you. "
Xue Yuan's body was crispy and his back straightened.
After the evening meal, Gu Ran was brought back to the Palace of Celebration by the palace guards, and when Gu Yuanbai lifted his head from his political duties, he saw Xue Yuan and the head of the guards practicing against each other outside.
Xue Yuan was young and vigorous, and had lived for twenty-five years before he had a sexual intercourse, his lips were thin and his nose was high, his face alone could tell that he had a strong fire. Zhang's disciple, Zhang Hao, could tell at a glance that Xue Yuan was a person with a strong internal fire, and this is indeed the case, but Gu Yuanbai's body, the imperial physician's advice, now can not be frequent sex. Xue Yuan couldn't afford to do so, so until now, he had only had that one bite of meat.
If you don't eat it, it's just a matter of not eating it, but if you eat it and then abstain from eating it, that's the hardest part.
Xue Yuan can only find some other ways to vent his energy, boxing in the morning, juggling swords at noon, sparring with the guards at night, and occasionally going to the Dong Ling Wei to crush those elites and kill their energy.
Sweat dampened the lapels of his coat, and the lines of his stance became more and more beautiful, long and strong, to say the least.
Gu Yuanbai's gaze sucked in Xue Yuan's body, trailing over his waist, stomach and long legs. After circling around a few times, he got up and walked out into the middle of the corridor outside the palace to watch the two of them. The guards were half screaming for the head guard and half screaming for Xue Yuan, the two of them going back and forth in a wonderful scene.
The head guard gasped and dodged Xue Yuan's stone-like punch again, "Lord Xue, did you, did you lie to me about something?"
Xue Yuan smiled sorrowfully, "Elder Zhang, Chief Tian told me that you had warmed the bed of His Majesty when I was far away in the North?"
The head guard's handsome face reddened and he stammered, "It was warmed up just that once."
Xue Yuan abruptly exerted his force, violently dropping the head guard onto the snow as he laughed out a mouthful of glazed teeth, "How many times does Senior Zhang want to warm up?"
The head guard endured the pain and asked what he'd wanted to ask for a long time, "Lord Xue, be honest with me, what exactly did you and His Holiness--"
"Senior Zhang," Xue Yuan lowered his eyes and interrupted him, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, don't think what you shouldn't think. His Holiness is the Nine to Five, what kind of filth can't be thrown at His Holiness, you say it without meaning to, but there will always be someone who listens with intent, do you hear me?"
The head guard's face was solemn as he slowly nodded.
Xue Yuan let go of him and turned around to meet the gaze of the saint on the porch.
Xue Yuan raised his lips, a large amount of strength sprang in from his limbs as he walked towards the saint, and in the end, the faster he walked, the faster he had run.
Again, he jerked to a halt beyond the porch.
Gu Yuanbai couldn't help but say, "Why don't you come over?"
Xue Yuan said, "I'm afraid that the coldness in my body will impinge on His Holiness."
Gu Yuanbai pursed his lips and whispered, "Put on your clothes quickly, don't get cold."
Xue Yuan took the thick coat and put it on, finally stepping into the corridor and slowly walking to the side of the saint.
He stared at the saint with his eyes, as if he wanted to put the saint into the fire to roast. Gu Yuanbai inclined his head, clenched his fists uncomfortably and coughed lightly a few times, his remaining light glanced from his collar and frowned, a moment later, "All turn your backs."
The courtesan obeyed and turned around.
His Holiness raised his hand, the onion-white fingertips in his robe were warm and cool, and layer by layer, he straightened Xue Yuan's messy lapel.
Xue Yuan's eyebrows and eyes were filled with joy, and he took the opportunity to lower his head and kiss the Holy Lord's fingertips.
His Holiness lectured in a low voice, "How old are you that you can't dress well?"
"That's not true," Xue Yuan, "I'm the one who puts on His Majesty's daily robes."
"Then it was intentional," Gu Yuanbai lowered his hand and nodded his chest, "Xue Jiuyao, want me to dress you?"
Xue Yuan lost his smile, he hated that Gu Yuanbai walked with him in his arms, how could he give up. Instead, His Holiness pinched his chin, forcing him to bend over, before placing a kiss on Xue Yuan's lips.
The smell of sweat, which I used to find unpleasant, is surprisingly but OK now.
His Holiness's voice was hoarse, "Don't be petulant."
Xue Yuan looked at Gu Yuanbai sullenly, the green fire in the bottom of his eyes ghostly.
Gu Yuanbai lifted her hair behind her ear, her white ear beads trembling slightly, Xue Yuan's gaze glued to her ear, and her throat rolled. Gu Yuanbai stifled a laugh and passed by his side with a spring in her step.
Gu Yuanbai is too much, now can not do bed things, he is always in this kind of inadvertently provoke Xue Yuan a bit, tease him a bit. The more Xue Yuan is crazy for him and fascinated by him, the more he endures because of his sweaty face, he will feel the bottom of his heart trembling, so pleasurable that the spirit of the taut, as if walking a tightrope in the air, stimulating to make Gu Yuanbai addicted.
Under such a bad side of the saint, and even now, even if the saint just touched Xue Yuan's finger, he would stir up a crazy dry grassland.
*
Before the army moves, the food comes first.
While preparing the grain and grass to the northwest, Gu Yuanbai took time out and purposely held Gu Ran, appearing brightly above the wedding banquet of Kong Yilin and Lord Mi's youngest daughter.
Kong Yilin was flattered and immediately got up in front of the crowd to give His Holiness a meticulous salute.
Gu Yuanbai drank the toast and wrote down the words "Heavenly Good Fortune" in the eyes of Lord Mi's surprise. Gu Ran snuggled up next to the saint and looked at the words, but couldn't hold back a smile: "Father, your words are so beautiful."
At the banquet, the courtiers around the Emperor heard the word "Father", their faces suddenly startled. Gu Yuanbai, however, was not in a hurry and leisurely said, "A good handwriting is pleasing to the heart, Ran Ge'er, you are still young, but you should practice diligently from this time onwards, in order to be able to write a satisfactory handwriting, do you understand?"
Gu Ran earnestly said, "My son keeps this in mind."
Soon after, Gu Yuanbai held Gu Ran and walked out of the Kong Mansion, Kong Yilin insisted on sending His Holiness out of the mansion, Gu Yuanbai looked at him in a red dress and joked, "Just leave the bride there?"
Kong Yilin smiled faintly, "I have to come first to greet Your Majesty."
"Go back," Gu Yuanbai said, "in a few days the army will be pointing straight to the northwest, and you'll have to go with me; at that time you and your wife are afraid you'll have to part ways as newlyweds."
"I must go to the Northwest with you," Kong Yilin's complexion was correct, "the first thing the Western Xia Emperor did after ascending to the throne to stabilize the domestic chaos was to send troops towards Daheng, he must also need a victory to lay down the prestige, the Western Xia Emperor's imperial expedition is a major matter, the Holy Spirit is again sure of victory, I also have to go with you. I have to follow up, at least I can help advise."
Gu Yuanbai smiled, "Then you should cherish these few days. Mo send, go back."
Kong Yilin stopped in front of the gate of the mansion and watched as His Holiness was helped onto the carriage by Lord Xue.
His heart warmed slightly.
Thousand-mile horses often existed, but Bole did not. His Holiness had a renewed love for him, but Kong Yilin also did not expect that His Holiness would personally attend his wedding banquet.
What's the harm in dying for such a monarch?
Kong Yilin walked back with a smile on his face, the people at the banquet toasted to him one after another, the smiles on their faces were more sincere and much more enthusiastic than before. Toward Lord Mi toast is one after another, each laughing and praising Lord Mi to find a good son-in-law, Lord Mi's serious face has smiled so much that he can't see his teeth and eyes, and humbly claimed: "Dare not to be dare not to be."
The presence of the saint in person was a climax, and Gu Yuanbai naturally knew that, as he sat in the carriage, his robes resting on his knees, and asked Gu Ran, "Do you know why my father personally went forward to Kong Qing's home to congratulate him?"
Gu Ran thought for a moment, "My son doesn't know if he's thinking wrong or right."
Gu Yuanbai encouraged, "Speak up."
Gu Ran slowly said three things, firstly, to show that His Majesty loves his ministers, secondly, to show his regard for Lord Kong, and thirdly, to take advantage of this moment to imply that Gu Ran has become His Majesty's adopted son.
Gu Yuanbai raised an eyebrow, and when Gu Ran finished, he shook his head, "There are still some."
Gu Ran's face was full of doubt, "Father?"
Gu Yuanbai took this opportunity to carefully instill in him the way of the emperor.
The carriage slowly drove into the palace. Outside, Xue Yuan, who was driving a high horse, spread out his hands, looked down at the place where His Holiness had just touched, and sighed heartily.
Someone of the guards beside him wondered, "Lord Xue, why are you sighing out of thin air, but seeing Lord Kong take a wife, you are also itching?"
A few people around them laughed lowly.
Xue Yuan was noncommittal as he shook his hand, thinking in his heart that the hand that His Holiness had just placed on his palm was so soft.
It's getting soft.
The saint likes to see Xue Yuan's look of patience, so he even skimped on the touch, as if he was punishing Xue Yuan for his disobedience that day, a slap to give a sweet date, and taming the beast was nothing more than that. Even now, just touching his hand, Xue Yuan's scalp was numb.
He sighed heavily again and looked to the guards, "Do I look haggard?"
The guards shook their heads in unison, "You look not only not haggard, but also full of spirit."
Xue Yuan pressed his brows together, "Alright."
There's no way to act pathetic.
*
While Great General Xue was struggling with how to get the saint to stop being so stingy, the saint was already full of energy and vigor, ready to go on a journey.
At the end of the month, after sufficient pre-war preparations, the army was in full splendor, and the Daheng soldiers who had been drilled by various generals carried a fierce aura, and knowing that this time they were to follow His Majesty's personal expedition, they were even more excited with glowing eyes.
The saint worshipped and prayed for a whole day, and early the next morning, he was dressed in armor, with his hair tied high, looking at the soldiers outside the city, which stretched for a hundred miles.
Every one of these soldiers ate the food given by Gu Yuanbai and wore the cotton clothes that were replenished this year. Everyone of them was strong and powerful, and they looked at His Holiness with eyes of admiration and worship.
Gu Yuanbai's position in the hearts of the soldiers in the army was unspeakable. This was something Gu Yuanbai also knew, and the warm gaze of the tens of thousands of people in the forbidden army looking at him when they selected the Dong Lingwei he had never forgotten even now.
In the past, it was always the Lord Commander who spoke the pre-battle oath, but this time, it was Gu Yuanbai who said it.
The horns and drums sounded violently, and the sharp drumbeats pounded feverishly. The Hundred Officials stood behind the Holy Emperor, looking at the trembling muscles on the faces of the soldiers across the street.
As His Holiness stepped forward, the general and the officers among the ranks pricked up their ears, to carry His Holiness's every word to the rear in time to make sure that every soldier could hear it.
"Generals," Gu Yuanbai gazed calmly at the warriors, looking high into the sky, "I have heard the wishes of an old farmer in the fields, who wanted one more grain of corn for each plant of rice he plowed. I have also asked the smith who is in a broken house, he wants a piece of saw teeth that can sharpen wood faster. The people are simple and can be satisfied with just one more grain of rice and more saw teeth. I then asked the soldiers who had returned from the battlefield, but they told me that they wanted to live."
The generals and officers shouted a message back, and the phrase "want to live" resounded through the city.
"I also have a wish," Gu Yuanbai said, "I will speak with you now about what I want!"
"I want a Daheng where everyone is clothed and fed, I want a Daheng where no one dares to bully, may hunger, panic, and death be far away from my Daheng, may my Daheng people be proud of my Daheng, and be admired by outsiders because of my Daheng. Khitan, Gaochang, Ganzhou, and Xixia, I want you to raise your spine in front of any and all foreign enemies, and be good sons and daughters with iron bones!"
Gu Yuanbai took a deep breath, his eyes burning, "I want victory, I want a thousand armies to step over and everyone to become a hero!"
The soldiers' faces reddened, their veins bulged, and their hands shook as they gripped their weapons.
The high voices of the officers traveled backward with a bang, the soldiers were incited by the words of the saint, their eyes held red, hundreds and tens of thousands of people gradually shouted out a single voice: "Victory! Victory! Victory!!!"
Between the loud shouts, eyes were full of hot tears.
The army is heading straight for the land of Western Xia!