The originally lively and active Wu Wangsheng had seen a lot of human misery during his northern tour of the Tang Dynasty and became quieter on his return trip. When Jiang Gui announced that Tian Wang was pregnant, Wu Wangsheng was so happy that he returned to his normal self, and he kept touching Tian Wang's flat stomach in front of her bed, so that she couldn't take a good rest.
Taking the tonic came in Jiang Gui saw the face of the lesson, the lesson content is how to take care of pregnant women, how to get along with pregnant women daily. Wu Wangsheng listened very carefully, could not remember once, stopped to leave Jiang Gui repeated a few times before letting go, Wu Wangsheng seriously, attentively seeking advice attitude, the Queen of Tian's heart felt unusually warm.
Zheng Yuming learns that Queen Tian is pregnant, and a big stone falls from his heart. The Western Marquis had a wish not to have a concubine grandchild in his offspring, and because of the different status of the concubine and the full-blooded, he did not want to be treated differently. The Western Marquis's last wish was that Queen Tian would not have to share her husband with any other woman.
Wu Wangsheng couple married for more than three years without children, Zheng Yuming is worried, he is afraid that Wu Wangsheng couple one of the infertile.
If Queen Tian has been infertile, Wu Wangsheng over thirty years must be Naji, the future consort family must be well selected, Jia concubine consort in addition to their own character appearance, the mother's family can not be powerful, such as the Queen Tian's family has no ambition.
If it's King Oh Sung who is infertile, Zheng Yuming's head is going to get bigger. In that case, the best solution was for Wu Wangsheng to inherit the heir of the royal family's side branch. Wu's kingdom royal family near branch situation early by Chu Chao Hui investigation clearly, no family situation can let Zheng Yuming satisfaction assured.
Now that Queen Tian was pregnant, both troubles were solved in one fell swoop, so of course Zheng Yuming was relieved.
Wen Wei Po and the South Newspaper have reporters have been following the northern patrol team, the news of Queen Tian's pregnancy in Zheng Yuming acquiescence, quickly on the two newspapers headlines, the news with the newspaper spread all over the country of Wu. The news spread all over the country with the newspapers. All the aristocrats who were thinking of selling their own family daughters to the King of Wu have stopped thinking about it. People everywhere know that the royal family has a successor, and now there is a succession of the royal court system, the people's hearts are more stable.
Probably God loves the child in the belly of Queen Tian, this year's cold spell did not come particularly early, to the end of October, the northern cold air swept across the whole of Da Qin, Da Qin vassal states were shrouded in low temperatures. This year, the cold front came late, but the intensity was powerful, the average winter temperature was the lowest ever.
The unusually cold winter made the people of the vassal states of Great Qin suffer, but the nationals of Wu lived a stable and secure life, and the cold spell brought them less harm. The people of the newly annexed Tang Dynasty were protected by the power of the Wu Kingdom, and the people lived more peacefully than in previous years during this cold winter.
Before the cold front hit Tangland, Ma Ren had already led the local garrison and officials of Tangland counties to distribute relief food to the people. Cotton clothes and coarse cotton cloth transported from Nanbu were sent home on credit by the people according to the number of household members. It turned out that the great nobles of Tangdi prohibited the commoners from cutting down the mountains and forests, and all of them were open to the townspeople, allowing the people to cut down branches to burn rice and heat at home, and the people in the counties and cities were provided with low-cost coal and charcoal to keep them warm. People were recruited to build water conservancy and roads, allowing the people of Tangland to exchange their labor for wages to survive. Thanks to this series of favorable measures, the people of Tangland were able to survive this unusually cold winter peacefully.
Because of Zhao Xuan's focus on people's livelihood, the people of Zhao did not suffer from the Rong disaster, and not many of them were frozen to death by the cold wave. The people of the Northwest County who survived the Rong robbery survived the winter because of Zhao Xuan's all-out efforts to allocate domestic supplies for relief and Wu's generosity in providing assistance, and the majority of the people there survived the winter.
Except for the Wu-Tang-Zhao area, the people of the other vassal states of Great Qin were in a miserable situation. Chu and Chen were located in the south, and were slightly less affected by the cold spell, so the people did not freeze to death, but starved to death because of the drought and poor harvests.
The Rong people robbed the northwestern vassal states, where most of the surviving people had nothing to lose, and the inaction of the rulers and nobles of the vassal states caused these surviving people to die in batches in winter due to cold and hunger. As a result of the Rong disaster, drought and severe winter, the population of the central and western regions of Great Qin was drastically reduced, and the originally densely populated areas were left uninhabited for hundreds of miles.
In addition to the annexation of Tang by Wu and the southward looting by the Rong people, the three years of King Wu's sheng were marked by the death of the king of Zhao. Zhao Xuan's father, King Lengkong, triggered an illness after invading Zhao's capital, and finally broke in the early morning of mid-November at the age of fifty-six.
As soon as Zheng Yuming got the news of the death of the King of Zhao, he asked Wang Jie, who was a good writer, to help him embellish a letter of condolence with earnest words and deep condolences, and sent an emissary to bring it to the King of Zhao to lay a foundation for his sacrifice, and asked the two major newspapers to report on it.
The condolence messenger from Wu was the first to arrive at Zhao, and Zhao Xuan was very touched after reading the condolence letter transcribed by Zheng Yuming. A month later, the Yan condolence messenger arrived late, just succeeded the throne of Zhao Xuan categorically rejected the great-uncle Yan king alliance iron four corners proposal.
Zheng Yuming's efforts to bring Zhao together were successful, and his ambassadors to the surrounding vassal states also achieved great results. Wu's envoys lobbied hard in the royal courts of the vassal states, and Wu's merchants moved up and down, explaining that the King of Tang was to blame, and proclaiming the benevolence and kindness of Wu's ruler and Duke Ming. Many monarchs of the vassal states dispelled their misgivings about Wu, and even the three states of Qi, Lu and Yan, which had just formed an alliance, began to have unstable alliance relations.
"Your Majesty, if the king of the Tang Kingdom hadn't lost his head and sent assassins to assassinate Duke Ming, where would Wu have sent troops to invade the Tang lands." The uncle of the king of the state of Lu advised his nephew.
"But Wu's soldiers and horses are too brave, I'm afraid of what might happen!" Lu's alliance with Qi was not of the King of Lu's own volition.
"Great King, in fact, our country has allied with the wrong country, Wu's soldiers and horses are brave, our country should ally with Wu."
"If you ally with Wu and are annexed by Wu, no vassal will come to your aid!" King Lu shook his head.
"Your Majesty, don't worry, that Duke Ming of Wu is kind, generous and righteous, the first benevolent gentleman of Great Qin, how can a gentleman with such character be that ambitious lord? How can a gentleman with such character be an ambitious lord? With Duke Ming in Wu, he will not do anything unrighteous like annexing a neighboring country. This time, Zhao was hit by the Rong disaster, if Duke Ming had ambition, he would be happy to see Zhao weakened, but Duke Ming assisted Zhao with ten thousand stones of grain alone. Wu is willing to give away grain and other materials to Zhao Xuan boy for nothing, just because the two countries have an alliance!"
The king's uncle lamented that if, after Kui Ji's assassination of Zheng Yuming, the state of Lu had allied with Wu to attack Tang at the first opportunity, even if it did not contribute a single soldier, Wu would surely treat Lu as generously as it treated Zhao. In this way, Lu can also use the people's disaster as a reason to seek the generous assistance of Wu.
The uncle of the king of Lu secretly calculates that if Wu gives 10,000 stones of grain to Lu, after his family resells it, he will earn 40,000 to 500,000 gold, but now the grain in Lu is more than twice as expensive as that in Wu.
After listening to his uncle's analysis, King Lu was so chagrined that he slapped his thigh. "Why didn't uncle propose this earlier at the royal court?"
"It was only in recent thought that I figured out the reasoning."
King Lu's uncle was bitter, at that time he was scared by the old minister of Tang, afraid of Wu annexation of Lu will take away his fiefs and estates, at that time, he was thinking about how to resist Wu, did not think of embracing Wu's thighs. It was only in the past few years that the state of Wu became strong, and if Wu had not destroyed Tang in a flash, the uncle of the king of Lu would have thought that Wu was a weak and powerful state during the reign of his father, Gongzi Guang. Not only does the king's uncle think so about the power of Wu, but also the whole court of the king of Lu.
"Now my country has just made an alliance with Qi Yan, how can we make a pact with Wu again?" The king of Lu regretted it too much, now all of Lu is already on the opposite side of Wu, the three countries alliance just to fight against Wu.
Shaking hands with Qi's nemesis has always made the King of Lu suffocated, and the King of Lu now thinks that if he had chosen to ally with Wu, he might have been able to defeat Qi with the help of Wu's power!
"Your Majesty, our country's alliance and covenant with Qi and Lu did not explicitly mention confronting Wu!" King Lu's uncle reminded.
"Haha, not bad, Lu Qi Yan tie is a friendly alliance, it has nothing to do with Wu. Lu can just as well ally with Wu for the sake of friendship." The King of Lu stroked his beard with great joy.
"Your Majesty, I would like to go on a mission to Wu to discuss the alliance with Prince Ming." The uncle of the king of Lu volunteered himself, he learned from Wei Shuqing, a big merchant of Wu, that Wu would increase the export of salt next year, and the uncle of the king of Lu wanted to take the opportunity of his mission to Wu to get the majority of the quota for the export of salt from Wu to Lu. The price of salt from Wu to Lu will be doubled, and the price of salt to Yan will be tripled, which is more profitable than selling grain.
"Good, in that case, I'll be grateful to uncle!" King Lu immediately nodded his head in agreement, then added. "Uncle's mission to the State of Wu should not be publicized first, and when the State of Wu agrees to the covenant then inform the entire royal court."
If Wu agreed to the treaty with Lu, Lu would not have to worry about the accusations of Qi and Yan. If Wu did not agree to the alliance, Lu would not recognize that it had an alliance with Wu, and the iron triangle of Qi, Lu and Yan could still be maintained.
King Lu's uncle understood: "Promise! I will live up to Your Majesty's high expectations!"
In the middle of December, the Wu-Lu two countries covenant, signed a mutual help and friendship agreement. The news spread, Zhao Xuan is a sneer, he has long predicted that the Iron Triangle Pact will exist in name only. The king of Qi knew, cursed the king of Lu State, the vertical son can not be, while cursing, while sending a mission to Wu, to repair relations with Wu. When the king of Yan learns what the king of Qi and the king of Lu have done, the king of Yan's palace is furious and scolds the king of Qi and the king of Lu for their villainous behavior.
In the first month of the fourth year of King Sheng of Wu's reign, an imperial edict from the Emperor of Great Qin arrived in Wu, tacitly recognizing Wu's annexation of the Tang lands. Thus, the threat theory of Wu was eliminated among the vassal states.
After the king of Zhao's death, Zhao Xuan ascended to the throne of Zhao without any doubt. Zhao Xuan inherited the throne, the whole Prince House moved into the palace, but not the first time to seal the Crown Princess as the Queen, and so on to the end of the new year, Zhao Xuan only issued the Queen's Gold Book to the Crown Princess.
"We are going to perform a great sacrifice at the clan temple tomorrow, which of these two sets of coronation gowns is better?" Crown Princess Zhao asked her personal maid, who was her dowry brought from Yan, as she mentioned the two sets of gowns to be worn tomorrow.
"Madam Yeon Li, both sets are very suitable for Madam." There was melancholy on the maid's face, and Crown Princess Zhao was too busy preparing the clothing and jewelry she would wear tomorrow to notice the expression on the maid's face.
"Humph! I'm the one who was explicitly married to His Highness, and some time ago, His Highness was just busy with the national mourning and political affairs, and was late in sealing the register. It's ridiculous that your daughter still thinks that she has a chance to rise to the throne, and she put messages in her residence to try to vilify this Empress." Since Crown Princess Zhao had been awarded the Golden Register by Zhao Xuan, her entire being was gloriously glowing.
The maid was about to say something, but later thought that perhaps it was really your daughter's underhanded tactics that caused the palace to rumor that Zhao Xuan was going to set up another queen: "That's right, Your Ladyship is the daughter of the King's concubine, and she has a son, so how is it possible that Your Ladyship won't be promoted to the position of queen!"
In an exquisite palace on the west side of the King of Zhao's Palace, your daughter's maid was persuading her master.
"His Highness likes the Little Duke, and the Lady has the Little Duke by her side, so what is she afraid of that shrew for!"
Your daughter Ji wiped her tears, "That Yan shrew is so intent on refusing to tolerate me, and although His Highness loves the little son, for more than a month, His Highness has rarely come to the West Pavilion Hall. Without Your Highness' favor, sooner or later I will be sent down by that shrew."
Before the year Zhao Xuan to observe filial piety can not be close to the color, after the New Year counted after the period of filial piety, Zhao Xuan still not to Ji Fei compound overnight.
Your daughter's concubine was silent, Yan Wangji was quite jealous and always took advantage of Zhao Xuan's absence to punish her concubines.
Now that the shrew was the head of the royal palace and your daughter's maid was worried about her master, there was only the sound of light sobbing in the room for a while.
"I would rather Your Highness marry the talented Huo woman from Wu." Your daughter Ji spoke out quietly.
"Your Ladyship be careful what you say!" Your daughter's maid panicked and walked to the door, realizing that there was no one in front of the door before she turned back to the room with confidence. "His Highness sent someone to Wu to propose marriage this time is very secretive, His Highness's proposal was rejected is very disgraceful, Your Ladyship must not spread the word!"
Your daughter immediately regretted her complaint, as Zhao Xuan had sent someone to Wu at the beginning of the month to ask for the hand of Huo Sihua, a talented young woman adopted by Duke Ming, but she was rejected by Zheng Yuming on the grounds that Huo Sihua was not of the same generation as Zhao Xuan and was his daughter. Zhao Xuan sent someone to Wu to ask for a marriage, and your daughter only learned about it when she bribed the boy in Zhao Xuan's study.
Your daughter Ji saw that her beloved maid had already observed that her surroundings were safe before she let go of the hand covering her mouth and gloated in a low voice. "That Yan shrew still thinks that her position is untouchable, and if Duke Ming lets go of her mouth, Ms. Huo Talent will be the matriarch of Zhao's royal palace. The shrew still doesn't know that she's already bored by His Highness!"
Zhao Xuan feel that he married the Yan King's daughter is not considered virtuous, he wanted to get closer to Zheng Yuming on the one hand, on the other hand, understand that Huo Sihua not only help Zheng Yuming management of the Prime Minister's Office miscellaneous affairs, or Zheng Yuming approval of the official documents transcription assistants, is very director of the talent.
One of Huo Sihua's older brothers is the head of a county on one side, and the other grew up with David Qing being a promising general of Wu, so if he can marry this woman, both Huo Sihzhong and Wei Qing will have to look at Zhao in a different light.
Zheng Yuming appearance young, looks than Huo Sihua just five or six years older, Zheng Yuming and Chu Chao Hui and never had an explanation to the outside world, Huo's siblings, Wei Qing and their adoption relationship is what the outside world from the age of judgment, has always been when the three people as Zheng Chu's younger sister and brother of the righteous. When Zhao Xuan sent someone to Wu to propose marriage for himself, that is what he thought.
Zheng Yuming and Chu Chao Hui when they adopted three people only to feed them, neither when they are the idea of righteous children, but also did not recognize them as siblings idea. Along with the time long, careful cultivation, Zheng Chu and the relationship between the three has been as family, the two psychological will be three people as juniors, appearance is too young and not suitable for a generation, Zheng Chu two people simply did not give them the relationship between the positioning, only as a family member and talent to cultivate.
Zhao Xuan secretly sends a messenger to ask for Huo Sihua's hand in marriage, not hesitating to offend Yan and treating her as the queen of Zhao. In Zhao's messenger's view, his king already thinks highly of Huo Sihua, who is a commoner at best, and is only given a step up to the throne because of being adopted by Duke Ming.
Zhao Xuan's appearance is impressive, his ability is extraordinary, very elegant, but in Zheng Yuming's eyes is not a good match for Huo Sihua, Zhao Xuan is too calculating, Zheng Yuming does not agree with Zhao Xuan's marriage as a political buy and sell behavior.
Zheng Yuming was quite surprised that Zhao Xuan had sent an emissary to propose to Huo Sihua. Before Zheng Yuming balked, he still sought Huo Sihua's opinion.
Huo Si-Hua never thought she had the idea of leaving her two benefactors' side, and when she learns of Zhao Xuan's marriage proposal, she cries on the spot and begs Zheng Yu-Ming not to drive her away, pleading that she should not be allowed to think about marriage until she is twenty years old.
In order to decently reject Zhao Xuan's request for marriage, Zheng Yuming and Chu Chao Hui officially recognize Huo's siblings and Wei Qing as their legitimate children, and Wei Qing, who has always dreamed of becoming the adopted son of Zheng and Chu, finally gets what he wants.