279, bad news
279, bad news
When the emperor dies, all officials must keep vigil for him.
For the next few days, Lu Mingfei would leave the palace early in the morning to keep vigil for the deceased emperor, and would not leave until dusk. Every day he was exhausted and hungry, and he dared not drink or eat much in the palace, for fear of having to go to the toilet.
After kneeling all day, my legs were shaking even when I walked.
It’s true, even when his parents died in his previous life, he never knelt like this!
But in this era where imperial power was paramount, the emperor was a figure several levels higher than one's own parents. One could not kneel before one's parents, but one could not kneel before the emperor.
When the emperor died, it was a national mourning and people all over the country had to mourn for the emperor.
Moreover, drinking and entertainment, as well as marriage, were not allowed during the period of national mourning; officials in the court were not even allowed to have sex with their wives and concubines. If an official's wife or concubine became pregnant during the period of national mourning and was reported, he would lose his job.
Many of the elderly officials collapsed after kneeling for two days, and the number of people keeping vigil dwindled by half every day. He thought that in a few days, there would be very few elderly people left who could still crawl to the palace to keep vigil.
However, this is also the case. A new emperor appoints new ministers. When guarding the late emperor's body, just do your best. If you do too much, the new emperor will think that you can't forget the late emperor and may have some thoughts in his mind.
After leaving the palace, Lu Mingfei went straight back to the small courtyard on Chunxi Road. The day before yesterday, his mother and his younger brother had moved back in here, and his stepmother also moved in with her children. The rest of the people were still staying at the store.
But today, when he returned home, he saw his father and adoptive father talking in the yard, apparently waiting for him to come back.
"Father, godfather."
"Ming Fei is back. Haven't you eaten yet? Sanniang, go get the food. We'll eat outside."
"Dad, haven't you eaten yet?"
"Yeah, thinking you'd be back soon, we'll wait for you."
"Then father and godfather, you two sit here for a while. I'll go change my clothes and come out soon." Lu Mingfei had just come out of the palace and was smelling of incense and candles. He asked his father and godfather to eat first while he changed his clothes and came out later.
When he finished taking a shower and changed into clean clothes, the food was already set on the table in the yard. His mother, stepmother, and several younger brothers were all there.
Because meat cannot be eaten during the national mourning period, the dishes on their family’s table are all vegetarian.
"You three go back to the study and study, don't make trouble here." Knowing that her husband had something to say to the eldest son, Liu Sanniang asked the three younger ones to go to the study to study, and she and Xu Yueniang went into the house.
After his brothers left, Lu Mingfei asked his father, "Dad, why did you stay in the village for so long? Did something happen over there?"
"Alas, the old clan leader, the village chief, the head of the village, your grandparents, your uncle and aunt, and those old people who stayed in the village are all dead." Lu Youtian sighed and told his eldest son what happened in the village.
It turned out that at dusk that day, Hu Bing passed by their village, broke down the gate at the entrance of their village, entered the village, and killed all the elderly people who stayed in the village and the few young people who were guarding the village.
At the Lu family's old house, the two elderly people, his eldest brother and his wife, his three nephews, their wives, and several children were all dead. Now, at the main house, probably only the eldest nephew and his family of four who had gone to his father-in-law's house were still alive.
"Your second uncle and fourth uncle moved their entire family to the city because they were doing business there, and they escaped this disaster. If your second cousin and third cousin had gone up the mountain with others, they might have also escaped this disaster. It's a pity that they refused to go up the mountain." In the early years, their village sent some young people with their children to the mountains to reclaim wasteland and live there to grow mushrooms and fungus. Therefore, many young people and children in the village lived in the mountains.
The several sons of the Lu family's eldest branch who died were unwilling to go to the mountains and were unwilling to endure hardships.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for the people in the entire Shihua Village to live a better life. Only the eldest branch of the Lu family has been living a tight life these years, because that family and several sons are unwilling to endure hardships and work.
Lu Youtian didn't know what to say about this.
After hearing the news, Lu Mingfei fell silent. Although he had thought of this possibility, he still felt sad when he heard from his father that all the old people and friends who stayed in the village had died.
"What about that side of the mountain?" he asked.
"The people on the mountain are fine. Those Hu soldiers didn't find the way up the mountain. They didn't know there were people in the mountain, so they didn't go there." Lu Youtian said: "I have been in the village these days to deal with those things in the village."
After Lu Mingfei let out a heavy breath, he asked his father, "Did anything happen in our workshop?"
"The people in our workshop discovered the approaching cavalry in advance. Ji Kang realized something was wrong and immediately woke everyone up and went up the mountain overnight. Some things were lost in the workshop, but no lives were lost." Lu Youtian told his eldest son everything that happened in the workshop.
Hearing this, Lu Mingfei said, "It's good that no one was hurt. The losses can be earned back later."
"Isn't there a farm next to our workshop? Is there anything going on over there?"
"I'm not too sure about this. We just passed by and didn't go in. Do you know anyone there?" Lu Youtian asked curiously.
"No, I just asked casually." Lu Mingfei said.
When their military base was first built, they had already moved all the workshops and craftsmen in the village to the newly built military base. So even if the Hu soldiers entered the village that night, they would not be able to find their newly made crossbows and would not harm the craftsmen's lives.
However, there were still some ordinary people on that farm over there, and he would send his men out of the city to check on the situation there. That farm was the only one they hadn't taken action against yet. If the emperor hadn't suddenly summoned Zhao Lang to the palace, they might have gotten rid of that farm that time.
Fortunately, he had recently dealt with many of Prince Ding's properties in Jingdu Prefecture, including several farms outside the city, and had relocated those who could. However, the tenant farmers who had originally lived here were unable to relocate and remained on the farms, serving as tenants for the new buyers.
At this moment, Lu Mingfei was still glad that this group of Hu soldiers arrived a few months late, otherwise the Ding Wang Mansion's industries in Kyoto Prefecture would not be dealt with. Once Zhao Lang left, the court would investigate and the Ding Wang Mansion's industries would probably be lost.
However, the Ding Prince's Mansion didn't have much property left in Jingdu City. All that was left was the empty Ding Prince's Mansion and that farm. If the court investigated and wanted to take back the Ding Prince's Mansion and its property, he would have the housekeeper bring everyone out and find a new place to resettle them.
Lu Qingfeng looked at his adopted son who said "just asking", and he didn't quite believe what he said, that he had no acquaintances in that village.
Of course, these doubts only flashed through his mind, and he would not ask them out loud.
"Will the death of your grandparents have any impact on you?" Lu Qingfeng knew that there was a "Dingyou" system for officials in the court. That is, when an official's immediate family member died, the official had to resign and go home to mourn for his family.
Now that the adopted son's grandparents and uncles and aunts are all dead, I'm afraid the adopted son will have to resign from his official position and go home to mourn for his grandparents and relatives.
Lu Qingfeng had mentioned this matter to him just now, so Lu Youtian looked a little worried. His eldest son had finally passed the imperial examination and became an official in the Hanlin Academy. However, he had only been an official for a few days when he had to go home to mourn for his deceased grandparents, which would take at least three years.
After three years, will there still be a place for him, the eldest son, in the court?
At this moment, Lu Youtian couldn't help but curse his parents and brother and sister-in-law in his heart. Why did they choose to die at this moment when could they die?
However, Lu Mingfei did not take his resignation seriously. Instead, he comforted his father and adoptive father, "It's okay. I will write a memorial to the Ministry of Personnel tomorrow to go home and mourn."
"Given the current situation at court, it might not be a bad thing for me to go home and observe mourning."
He was just worried that he couldn't find a chance to escape, so now the opportunity has come, right?
Then he would find an opportunity to leave Beijing and go to Beijun to find Zhao Lang. It would be perfect! If it weren't for the inappropriateness of laughing now, Lu Mingfei would have wanted to laugh twice.
Lu Qingfeng and Lu Youtian both knew that the late emperor had just passed away and a new emperor had ascended to the throne, but they didn't know much about what was going on in the court. Since their adopted son (eldest son) didn't seem at all distressed about returning home to mourn, they had no choice but to put their worries aside.
Later, Lu Mingfei chatted with his father and godfather for a while. After dinner, he returned to his room.
When everyone in the house went back to sleep in the middle of the night, he called the guard who followed him over and asked the guard to find time to go out of the city tomorrow and go to the manor to check on the situation there.
As for Zhao Lang, he temporarily stopped anyone from contacting him. This was to prevent his relationship with Zhao Lang from being discovered and the new emperor from getting Zhao Lang back and causing trouble for him and his family.
But ever since Zhao Lang left the capital, he has never stopped worrying about and missing Zhao Lang.
He took out the jade pendant from his neck and touched it. This was something that Prince Zhao gave him when he first met Zhao Lang.
Although Zhao Lang gave him many gifts later, this piece of jade still had a different meaning to them.
Just as Lu Mingfei was thinking of him, Zhao Lang also looked at the bright moon in the sky and thought of Lord Lu who was far away in Kyoto Prefecture. "I guess Lord Lu is thinking of me as much as I think of him, right?" He touched the sleeve arrow tied on his arm, which was a gift given to him by Lord Lu not long ago.
When other people gave gifts, they would give jade pendants or various treasures, but when their Lord Lu gave gifts, they would either give him a bow and crossbow or various strange and bizarre things.
Well, their Lord Lu is indeed different! Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading
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