Feng Yuan was playing the hujia across the table, with her brows lowered and her pretty eyes and eyebrows moving in tune with the music.
Cao Rui sang in unison with her, and Jia Cheng, who was sitting on the left, was also clapping his hands softly.
The eighteen beats of the big Hujia have twelve sentences, and there are long tones between each word, so it takes quite a while to sing.
"When the flute sounds and the zither plays, no one knows my anger and resentment..."
After Cao Rui sang the last line, he leaned back in his chair and stared at Feng Yuan across from him: "The Hujia plays a parting song, and the people are sad after the song. You learned this Hujia song from Cai Zhaoji really well."
"I have only heard of him, but never met him. How old is he now?"
Feng Yuan put down the Hujia with her bare hands and said with a smile: "I played well, but Your Majesty sang even better. Please take care of her, Your Majesty. She is fifty-six years old this year. My grandfather had an old relationship with Cai Bojie, so she is willing to teach me."
"Fifty-six..." Cao Rui repeated Cai Zhaoji's age and said, "If I remember correctly, your grandfather was the Marquis of Tongdi during the Han Dynasty, right?"
"Your Majesty is right." Feng Yuan replied.
Cao Rui sighed again: "Such a talented woman, but her fate is so wandering. Yuan'er, invite her to the palace on a certain day and ask her if she is willing to receive the title of Chongwenguan Scholar and pass on the books and music skills she has read over the years."
"Yes." Feng Yuan responded, walked slowly to Cao Rui's right and sat down, and asked, "Your Majesty is going to Xuchang tomorrow, right? If Your Majesty is interested, I will invite her to the palace tomorrow morning, and Your Majesty can meet her before leaving."
Cao Rui chuckled and said, "No need for that. I admire her talent, but it has nothing to do with her as a person. You can't leave the palace at will, so I will allow you to invite her into the palace later."
"By the way, you stay here with me tonight."
"I understand." Feng Yuan responded while scooping a small spoonful of soup for Cao Rui. The corner of her mouth raised, and she unconsciously glanced at Jia Cheng out of the corner of her eye, as if showing off her victory.
……
Early the next morning, after the favored Feng Yuan had breakfast with the emperor, she stood in front of the bronze mirror in the bedroom and carefully combed the emperor's hair.
The eunuch Bi Jin walked in with a steady pace, and when he was about ten feet away from the emperor, he bowed and saluted: "Your Majesty, someone from the Queen Mother's palace came and said that the Queen Mother wants to see Your Majesty for something."
Cao Rui glanced at Bi Jin and said, "I will set off at 2:00 pm. I will not go to the Queen Mother's palace alone. The Queen Mother should come to see me off. I will talk to her at the South Gate of the North Palace at that time."
"As you wish, I will report this right away." After paying his respects, he retreated carefully.
Cao Rui raised his eyes and stared at Feng Yuan's pretty figure in the bronze mirror for a moment: "I heard that your family and the Queen Mother are old acquaintances?"
Feng Yuan opened her mouth slightly, as if she was extremely surprised that the emperor asked this question. She was stunned for a few moments before she came to her senses:
"Your Majesty is right. The Queen Mother once lived in my house in her early years. I heard about this from my mother. I don't know the truth myself."
Cao Rui said: "The Queen Mother is good at pipa, so she is familiar with Cai Zhaoji. You are also good at guqin and hujia. The music can entertain people and also seduce the ears. You are yourself and my beauty first, and then you are an old acquaintance and friend of others."
Feng Yuan continued to comb her hair with her hands, but her head drooped slightly.
Cao Rui touched Feng Yuan's right hand which happened to be on his shoulder, patted it, and said softly: "Okay, you can go back now, and call Zhao Jie to come in and change my clothes."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Feng Yuan bowed her head and saluted, then walked away in small steps and called the palace maid Zhao Jie in from outside.
At 9 o'clock in the morning, Cao Rui, surrounded by the tiger guards, walked slowly from his bedroom to the south gate of the North Palace.
Concubine Mao and Concubine Sun were waiting here with their sons, and more than ten other concubines also came here to see them off. Empress Dowager Guo had also been waiting here for a while.
Cao Rui walked forward slowly and nodded slightly to Empress Dowager Guo: "My mother just sent someone to look for me. What do you want to tell me?"
Queen Guo walked forward with a smile, smoothed out the wrinkles on Cao Rui's robe that had been caused by walking, and said with a smile:
"Rui'er is going to Xuchang so soon. I want to do something for you but it's too late. How long will it take to return to the palace after going to Xuchang?"
Cao Rui smiled politely and nodded, "Thank you for your concern, mother. I will be back in Luoyang in half a year at the shortest and a year at the longest after I go to Xuchang. Mother, you should take good care of your health in Luoyang as you are in charge of the palace affairs."
Queen Mother Guo smiled and pointed at the concubines behind her: "Rui'er, you are going to Xuchang with light luggage this time. I am afraid that no one will take care of you in Xuchang. Why don't you select a few more concubines to move into the Xuchang Palace?" "This..." Just as Cao Rui was about to speak, Queen Mother Guo continued:
"Offspring are the most important thing for the royal harem. It has been four years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the harem has only given birth to three princes. It seems a little thin. Would you mind taking care of Rui'er?"
Cao Rui smiled and shook his head: "Xuchang Palace is not as good as Luoyang North Palace. I don't have that much time and energy to spend on the harem. Mother, just help me take care of it. There should be fewer people, not more."
"Also, when I go to Xuchang, the number of palace maids in Luoyang North Palace will be reduced. For those who are old enough, I will give them some money and arrange for them to be married off."
Queen Mother Guo said with a smile: "Rui'er is still kind-hearted. I know about this matter. Then... how about selecting ten more people to enter the Xuchang Palace?"
Cao Rui frowned slightly: "Ten people are a bit too many, I can't even remember their names. Xuchang Palace already has five concubines, so just take in five more."
"Then I have an idea." Empress Dowager Guo nodded: "Xuchang, Xuchang is not far away. If you have free time, you can write more letters."
Cao Rui agreed and walked to the two daughters Mao and Sun, squatted down and teased the two children. After a long time, he stood up and said goodbye to the concubines one by one.
The ceremonial procession and the carriage stopped in the courtyard in front of the south gate of the North Palace. After Cao Rui said goodbye, he set off immediately.
……
Jingzhou, near Fancheng.
Fancheng, north of the Han River, was now being besieged from the west and east by Wu's Right General Bu Zhi and Fenwei General Pan Jun, who each led an army of tens of thousands.
Xiangyang City is about three miles wide from east to west and four miles long from north to south. Fancheng is much smaller, only two miles from north to south, only half the size of Xiangyang. In addition, it faces the Han River, so the place besieged by the Wu army seems even more crowded.
Compared to Xiangyang, the most anxious person was General Lu Shi in Fancheng. Xiangyang was a large city with 10,000 soldiers. Fancheng was a small city with few soldiers and was surrounded by 20,000 soldiers, so it was even more difficult to cope with.
The Wu army did not start the siege right away. Bu Zhi and Pan Jun noticed that the water level was receding, so they calmly began the siege. They built dams, built walls, dug ditches to drain water, set up ladders, and built siege equipment. They did this one by one under the city in the past few days.
With each passing day, Lu Shi's heart tightened three points. Until the 15th day, when the Wu army began its first siege, Lu Shi still did not wait for the reinforcements from Xinye in the north.
"It's only a hundred miles away, how come there's no reinforcements in five days!" Lu Shi, who was wearing full armor, couldn't help but spit as he looked at the soldiers below the city, who were getting closer and closer to the city wall, holding shields and carrying padding soil on their backs.
"General, don't be angry. Perhaps General Shen is on his way to help." The middle-aged soldier beside him comforted him, "General, you have sent a letter to the court, to General Shen in Xinye, and to General Wen in Jiangxia. Someone will come to help."
Lu Shi sighed, "I hope it's as you said! There's a lot of mud under the city. The weather can hold back the Wu army for two days. After two days, when the sun dries up the mud, the Wu army will be able to attack the city without any hindrance."
Thanks to the navy on the Han River, Sun Quan successfully besieged Fancheng and Xiangyang from both sides, preventing them from communicating with each other. However, facing this situation, Chen Qun, who had been in Jingzhou for a long time, and Zhao Yan, who was now in charge of the military affairs of Jingzhou, had made various contingency plans with their generals.
Fancheng is surrounded like this, just wait for reinforcements. If you act rashly and intend to leave the city to attack Wu Jun, it will only give Wu Jun an opportunity to fight.
At this time, Xu Shu in Deng County in the north, and Zhao Yan and Niu Jin in Xiangyang City in the south, each had different thoughts.
In Deng County, fifteen miles northwest of Fancheng, Xu Shu calmly climbed up the city wall and looked towards Fancheng in the south.
Shen Dan stood behind Xu Shu, pacing back and forth in full armor. After walking for a while, he finally stood beside Xu Shu and asked:
"Mr. Xu, should we go to Fancheng to provide some assistance? We have been in Deng County for half a day. Isn't Fancheng right in front of us?"
"Go?" Xu Shu sneered, "How can we go? The Wu soldiers arrived in Xiangfan in ten days, and it has been five days since then. The camps and trenches should have been built long ago. Are you going to lead the troops straight in?"
"Mr. Xu..." Shen Dan smiled awkwardly, shook his head, and then said, "Even if we don't attack, if Lu Shi can see us coming from a distance, the morale of the army in the city will be stabilized."
Xu Shu ignored Shen Dan and continued looking towards the south.
Shen Dan had been a general for many years. Seeing that Xu Shu ignored him, he felt a little dissatisfied and asked repeatedly:
"Mr. Xu, Mr. Xu, please say something." Shen Dan leaned closer and said, "We can't just stop in Deng County and watch Fancheng being attacked!"
Xu Shu turned around and looked Shen Dan up and down for a while, then said, "General Shen, the most important thing in the battle is the word 'opportunity'. 'Opportunity' can refer to opportunities, favorable weather, favorable conditions, and favorable people, and can refer to anything that affects the war."
"We only have 7,600 soldiers from the prefectures and counties, plus the 500 people from Deng County, which makes less than 8,000. And I estimate that the Wu soldiers near Xiangfan number at least 50,000."
Xu Shu put his hand on the railing of the tower and sighed softly: "If you were the old Xu Zhengnan, then you and I would lead these 8,000 men and dare to march straight into the Wu army camp. But you are not Xu Gongming, and I can't make these 8,000 soldiers become elite in an instant. I can only wait here with the city." (End of this chapter)
