Chapter 367 Commentary]
He whispered, "Don't move. I just want to hold you like this. Feng He, marrying you as my Crown Princess is truly the greatest blessing of my life."
Chen Fenghe: “…”
Why are you suddenly so cheesy?
Especially since I just won a tough battle, so my adrenaline is rushing...
"Your Highness, the most important thing now is to spread these words. It would be best to disguise them as a heavenly message, then turn them into a nursery rhyme, and have children all over the world sing it..."
Xiao Yunshuo finally let her go, looked at her with admiration, and said with a smile, "Okay. I'll do as you say."
As he spoke, he called Yuan Xu in and ordered him to immediately have the people in the Dark Chamber spread the words written by Shen Fenghe as quickly as possible.
"In Youzhou City, have these words copied onto brocade and buried in the soil next to the rockery inside the prefectural yamen. Then, add some gunpowder to the rockery and blow it up. Say it was a thunderbolt from heaven that exploded when fire from the sky descended. Have these words spread throughout the city."
He paused, then continued, "Also, at dawn today, have everyone in Youzhou City gather in front of its four city gates. While the outer siege troops are retreating, we will storm the city in one fell swoop. Everyone in the city, young and old, men and women, especially the children, must chant these words together. It's best if everyone knows them."
Yuan Xu agreed and said, "Yes!" and quickly took the order.
Chen Fenghe listened to his instructions and couldn't help but sigh in her heart, he was indeed worthy of being the supreme rich second generation in ancient times, he was a master of public opinion warfare.
Ancient people attached great importance to divine revelations and omens.
Even the scholars who had studied hard for many years could not escape the limitations of the times and did not believe or care.
Ordinary people in the community naturally believe this even more firmly.
Therefore, the truth is not important. As long as the fuss is big enough, everyone in the world will believe it.
Previously, Emperor Yucheng had simply and crudely put an end to the prince's rebellion by "pardoning", but in fact he had left some "room for maneuver".
There are people in the world who believe that the prince is innocent, and naturally there are also people who believe that the emperor "pardoned" the prince only because he cared about the father-son relationship.
But if this matter gets out of hand, it means that God will vindicate the prince. Then, even if the dog emperor finds out that the prince is still alive, he will not be able to use the crime of "rebellion" to deal with the prince!
There were only two people left in the room. Xiao Yunshuo turned around and looked at Chen Fenghe with burning eyes.
Chen Fenghe: “…”
Chen Fenghe coughed awkwardly twice and said, "Your Highness, Yichuan and Qingxing were frightened to death just now. I... I'll go and keep them company..."
Xiao Yunshuo, however, grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms again. He lowered his eyes and stared at her, saying, "If this succeeds, you will be a great hero. When you return to the palace in the future, I will give you whatever you want."
Chen Fenghe really wanted to say that she didn’t want to go back to the palace. Is that okay?
However, she thought that if she dared to say that now, Xiao Yunshuo would devour her immediately, so she restrained herself, laughed dryly, and said, "Thank you, Your Highness. Can I keep this reward for now? When I think of something I want, I will ask Your Highness for a reward."
Xiao Yunshuo glanced at her affectionately and said with a smile, "It's up to you."
As she spoke, Chen Fenghe suddenly felt Xiao Yunshuo's hand reaching inside her jacket from the bottom, and his cold fingertips caressed her waist.
"Ugh! Your Highness!" Chen Fenghe grabbed his wrist in panic, trying to stop him - this...she had just helped him a lot, and he was planning to take advantage of her?
Is this how he repays her?
Of course... maybe in his eyes, his presence was still a reward...
"Your Highness, this isn't the right place... Ugh!"
Her cherry lips were grabbed, and all her refusal was blocked in her throat.
Xiao Yunshuo simply picked her up and carried her sideways, then sat down on the soft couch beside him, letting her sit facing him on his lap.
Chen Fenghe looked down at her legs, which she couldn't close because of her posture, and felt like crying but couldn't.
Xiao Yunshuo had already untied her belt, bit her red ear with his thin lips, and murmured hoarsely, "I'm afraid there are a lot of things to do tonight, so I don't have enough time. I'll do it for a while and pamper you later..."
Chen Fenghe: “…”
Can she not...
…
When there was a knock on the door, Chen Fenghe's clothes were already in disarray, and only the straps tied around her back were still holding on to her tight-fitting bellyband, which naturally had lost its function of covering her body.
"Your Highness!" she panted, her body tensed up by the knock on the door.
Xiao Yunshuo kissed her, then raised his hand and wrapped his coat around her. Then he stood up from the couch, lowered the gauze curtains, and walked out.
When Yuan Xu saw Xiao Yunshuo taking off his outer shirt and only wearing a moon-white gown embroidered with dark patterns, he subconsciously took a peek inside the gauze curtain and saw a vague figure on the soft couch. He knew what had just happened and hurriedly didn't even dare to raise his eyes.
"Your Highness, everything has been prepared according to your Highness's request."
Xiao Yunshuo put his hands behind his back and looked at the night sky outside the door. The sky was full of bright stars, and it was a good day.
"Well, let's get started."
As he said this, he turned around and whispered through the curtain, "I'll be back soon."
Chen Fenghe naturally had no intention of lying down.
After Xiao Yunshuo left, she immediately sat up, straightened her clothes, and went to find Qin Mengyue.
At this moment, a loud noise suddenly broke the silence of the night.
Qin Mengyue was protecting the three children who were frightened by the loud noise. Seeing Shen Fenghe coming in, she couldn't help but ask worriedly, "Fenghe, what's going on outside? Did someone from outside the city throw a fireball in again?"
Chen Fenghe helped Qin Mengyue calm the children down, then shook her head, pulled Qin Mengyue aside, and whispered, "Mother, from now on, those fireballs tonight were all heavenly fire, falling from the sky. You must never let anyone know about this."
Qin Mengyue was stunned when she heard this, but then she reacted: "But Shuo...but what's the plan?"
Shen Fenghe nodded and whispered to him about Xiao Yunshuo's arrangements and intentions in detail.
Qin Mengyue couldn't help but feel happy when she heard this.
"Great! This is a great idea! This way, no one in the world will suspect the Crown Prince of treason anymore!"
Chen Fenghe said: "Mother, you are the biological mother of the prince and the queen of the dynasty. You will need to put on some drama later..."
After explaining this to Qin Mengyue, Chen Fenghe called over Shen Yichuan, Shen Qingxing, and Xiao Yunhao, and asked them to memorize the words one by one. Then he said, "Remember, the three of you, when you are in the crowd, find other children in the city and sing the words with them. If an adult asks you where you learned them, just say you heard them in a dream, okay?"
The three little guys nodded seriously.
"Don't worry, sister! We won't let anything slip!"
As he was speaking, someone from the city knocked on the door and said, "Your Highness, the Ninth Prince, the rockery in the prefectural yamen was struck by lightning, and a roll of yellow silk was found. Your Highness, please go and check it out!"
Qin Mengyue and Shen Fenghe then took the little ones to the prefectural government office.
At this time, Xiao Yunshuo, Yuan Xu and others were standing beside the rockery of the yamen. All the successful scholars, scholars, and tribute students in the city gathered together, holding the roll of yellow silk in their hands, and discussing excitedly.
"This is a sign from heaven! No wonder Youzhou City was fine when suddenly a plague broke out. It turns out that God saw the injustice in the world and deliberately sent down His wrath!" Han, the most respected scholar among the literati, exclaimed.
"Mr. Han, you're driving us crazy. What on earth does the writing on this yellow silk mean?"
"Yes, Mr. Han, please stop keeping us in suspense and tell us the truth. You said that the plague was caused by the wrath of Heaven. Does that mean that there will be another great disaster in Youzhou City in the future?"
The uneducated people in the city asked fearfully.
Mr. Han was very proud of being the center of everyone's attention. He held up the yellow silk and began to interpret the text sentence by sentence.
"Look at the first sentence, 'A dragon was born in the East Palace.' What is a dragon? That's a title only the Son of Heaven can use! Born in the East Palace, what dragon is named after the East? Of course, it can only be the Crown Prince of the East Palace! The next sentence, 'Envy on the way to the west.' The Crown Prince was falsely accused of treason. Wasn't it when he was on his way back to the capital from the northwest after defeating the Northern Rong? Envy means that he was envied, so he was slandered and killed. The next two sentences are easy to understand. 'Heaven is angry and people are indignant, and a plague started in Youzhou.' This means that because God was angry, he sent down a plague in Youzhou. Fortunately, His Majesty was wise and vindicated the injustice. Auspicious fire was sent down from heaven to punish the plague and eliminate the evil. This means that the current Emperor is wise and vindicated the Crown Prince. Heaven then sent down auspicious fire to eliminate the evil spirits in the world and also to end the plague in our Youzhou city!"
As they listened to his interpretation of this sentence, they all exclaimed "Oh! Oh!" for a long time.
At this time, someone couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Han, you said that God cured the plague. That's not right. Wasn't it the Crown Princess who cured our illness?"
Han Juren was very angry about his interpretation being questioned. He glared at the man and sneered:
"This kind of plague, which causes black spots to appear on people's bodies, has never been seen before! The Crown Princess must have received guidance from Heaven to know how to formulate the medicine for treatment. However, this is a secret from Heaven. If the Crown Princess were to reveal it rashly, she would be punished! Naturally, I cannot tell you!"
Besides, if my interpretation is wrong, how do you explain why the plague broke out in Youzhou City just when His Royal Highness's biological mother and the Crown Princess were in the city? This must be God's arrangement, wanting to save the lives of all the people of Youzhou City through the hands of the Queen and the Crown Princess! This also indirectly proves that the Crown Prince's crime of treason is pure nonsense!
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but nod in praise.
"Mr. Han's analysis is correct! Fortunately, the Empress and the Crown Princess were in the city, so our illness was cured. The Empress even risked her life to go to the city wall to collect food for everyone. If the Crown Prince hadn't been pale, how could the two Empresses be entrusted with such an important task by God?"
"That's right! So, this sky fire refers to those fireballs that fell from the sky last night, right? But...how can fireballs falling from the sky be called auspicious fire?"
When one person heard him say this, he asked, "Did the fireball harm the lives of the people in our city?"
The man shook his head: "Not really."
"Doesn't that just happen to indicate that this is a propitious fire? If it were a karmic fire, I'm afraid our Youzhou City would have been burned to ruins long ago. It is precisely because it is a propitious fire, a sign from heaven to the world, that no one's life was harmed!"
"Now that you put it that way, it really is so!"
As he was speaking, Chen Fenghe, Qin Mengyue and others came over.
Chen Fenghe heard Mr. Han's endless talk about detoxification from afar, and felt very relieved.
Fortunately, we have the help of this reading class, otherwise it would take more effort to convey those words to the common people who can't read.
At Xiao Yunshuo's signal, Yuan Xu announced loudly, "The Empress and the Crown Princess are here!"
With Han Juren's explanation just now laying the groundwork, the people in the city immediately knelt down upon hearing these words, shouting loudly: "Empress Dowager, Crown Princess Dowager! Thank you both for saving our lives!"
Qin Mengyue was also startled when she saw this, and hurriedly said, "Everyone, please stand up quickly. My position as Queen has long been abolished, and I am now only a concubine. Everyone, please don't say anything nonsense, or you will get into trouble."
Upon hearing this, everyone said, "Empress, the Crown Prince's rebellion has angered even Heaven. This clearly shows he was falsely accused. It was wrong for the Empress to be deposed. Besides, we have all witnessed how hard the Empress and the Crown Princess have worked to save the people of our city. In our hearts, the Empress will always be the Empress! The Crown Princess will always be the Crown Princess!"
After hearing this, Qin Mengyue felt a little sore in her nose.
However, she quickly remembered what Chen Fenghe had just said to her and said, "Thank you all for believing that His Royal Highness is innocent. Now that the auspicious omen has appeared, it means that the plague in Youzhou City has been lifted, and there is no need for us to remain trapped in the city any longer. However, we don't know if this auspicious omen is only happening in Youzhou City, or if it has appeared throughout Dayu. If it's only in Youzhou, I'm afraid the outside world won't know that the plague has been lifted, and I'm afraid the siege will soon begin again. Therefore, it's best for everyone to open the city gates today while the outer city guards have also been affected by the heavenly fire and their guards are loose, and go out to announce it to those outside!"
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately said, "The Empress is right! We have the imperial edict sent from heaven, which is the best evidence. Let's rush to the four city gates and leave the city to publicize the news of the heavenly omen!"
As they spoke, the entire city marched towards the city gate in a mighty procession.
At this time, Shen Yichuan, Shen Qingxing, and Xiao Yunhao also followed Shen Fenghe's order and began to sing those words in their childish voices.
Seeing how fun it was, the other children also came running over, running around the adults and singing along as they found it interesting...
The city gate was quickly broken open.
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