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◎ "Your Highness, are you injured?"◎
As Pingliang Hou cooperated with the court's land distribution policy, the north also dealt with a group of corrupt officials left over from the previous dynasty who were hypocritically disobeying the court. The people's livelihood in the northern part of Da Qi was temporarily stabilized. At the morning court meeting of the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, which was also the last court meeting of the fourth year of Xingwu, Emperor Xingwu issued an edict to the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue, ordering them to complete the measurement and distribution of the fields in various parts of the southern part of Da Qi that had just been recovered within two years. At the same time, he ordered the Ministry of War to verify the age and disability of the soldiers stationed in various places, and to cut those who needed to be cut and fill those who needed to be filled, so as to put an end to the fraudulent collection of military pay and the filling of numbers.
The Ministry of Rites was about to preside over the Spring Examination after the New Year, the Ministry of Justice had a backlog of cases left over for the New Year, and the Ministry of Works was in charge of a number of construction projects that needed urgent supervision. As for the six ministries of the imperial court, Emperor Xingwu first summarized the government affairs of this year with rewards and punishments, and then put forward new requirements for the six ministries' government affairs next year. With his own efforts, he added an invisible burden to all the officials who were relaxing and preparing to celebrate the New Year happily.
"Well, I've done my job well on this last day of the year. I wish you all a happy and joyful New Year!"
Leaving the dragon throne, Emperor Xingwu said with a smile on his face, looking down at people.
All the ministers knelt on the ground and shouted "Long live the emperor".
Emperor Xingwu walked toward the western imperial road, picked up the little princess who had gotten up early and come here to eavesdrop, and walked toward the central hall in a relatively happy mood.
The little princess was a little unhappy: "Father promised to give me a palace next year, and you just didn't tell the Ministry of Works."
Whenever he was with his daughter, Emperor Xingwu's mouth was usually curled up. He scratched her nose and coaxed her, "How could your father forget us, Lin'er? Don't worry, your father had your palace built the year he first entered the palace. It's right next to your elder sister's palace."
The emperor's Qianyuan Hall and the empress's Central Palace are located in the center of the entire inner palace. The palace complex on the east is reserved for the princes and princesses, collectively known as the East Palace, and the palace complex on the west is reserved for the empress dowager and concubines, collectively known as the West Palace.
In the Eastern Palace, the princes lived to the south, and the princesses to the north. They weren't placed next to each other, to prevent the older princesses from getting too close to the princes' study companions or even the princes themselves, and potentially causing trouble. In other words, the princesses didn't go to Chongwen Pavilion for their early education; it was all done by female teachers.
There are many palaces in the Eastern Palace, and Emperor Xingwu had to worry about a lot of things when he became emperor. In addition, the national treasury was tight at the time, so Emperor Xingwu only asked the Ministry of Works to renovate the palaces where his five children were going to live or would live. The unused palaces remained locked and only ventilated, waxed and insect-proofed regularly. This saved money on repairs and a group of palace servants who cleaned and took care of the houses.
After all, he came from a poor family, and Emperor Xingwu considered himself a frugal emperor.
Qingyang: "I don't want to live over there. I want to live in Cuiyun Palace, east of my third brother. I want to go to school with my third brother in the future."
Emperor Xingwu was silent, then thought: when the youngest son, the third son, left the palace to start his own household, his daughter was only a little over ten years old. She was still young and immature. What could possibly happen to her? Instead, what if he left his daughter alone in the north of the Eastern Palace and she got scared in the middle of the night?
As for studying, since my daughter is so studious, let her continue to study in Chongwen Pavilion with her brothers. When the third brother leaves the palace, my daughter probably won't want to stay in Chongwen Pavilion anymore without her brothers to keep her company. It's a good opportunity for her to learn some talents that noble ladies like from the female teachers.
"Alright, Lin'er, you can live wherever you like. But the name Cuiyun Palace doesn't sound nice. Father will give you a new one."
Cuiyun Cuiyun, too vulgar, not worthy of his little princess.
During breakfast, Emperor Xingwu came up with a new name: "My son is a daughter sent from heaven. A celestial being should naturally live in a palace. Let's call it Jiuhua Palace, implying a palace located in the sky, magnificent and prosperous, which perfectly matches your name, Lingwei."
Qingyang had never seen what Jiuxiaoyunwai looked like, but after hearing a few new words, she thought the name was very nice and her father was very powerful.
The little princess didn't say anything, but her bright eyes showed it all. Emperor Xingwu stroked his beard and felt more and more proud of himself for finding a way to study when he was young even though he had no money. Otherwise, he might have taught his daughter only vulgar farts and piss.
"But there's no rush to move. After the spring comes, I'll have the Ministry of Works do some renovations for you."
.
After receiving approval from his father, Qingyang followed his third brother back at noon. They ran to Cuiyun Palace, next to Chengming Palace, and pointed at the old plaque still hanging above the palace gate and said, "My father said that next year this place will be transformed into Jiuhua Palace and become my palace."
Qin Ren: "Jiuhua? Why change the name?"
The little princess was very proud: "My father said that I am a celestial maiden and I will live in the fairy palace."
Tiannv means fairy. Even a three-year-old child knows that this is a compliment, and it is the highest compliment.
Qin Ren skillfully praised his sister: "Yes, Jiuhua Palace is more suitable for my sister!"
Qingyang looked at Zhang Su who was a few steps away.
After several months of close contact, Zhang Su has also mastered some tricks to get along with the little princess. They must not oppose the little princess's words. When the little princess is happy, they must pretend to be happy for her. When the little princess is unhappy, they must go along with her and coax her, otherwise they will have to deal with more entanglements and tempers from the little princess.
So, Zhang Su met the little princess's gaze, which seemed to be seeking approval but also contained a threatening hint of "How dare you not approve?", and said in a cooperative manner: "It is very suitable for Your Highness."
The little princess was satisfied. She lay down in front of two wooden doors with peeling paint and looked through the crack in the door at the palace that would soon belong to her.
After the little princess had seen enough, Qin Ren took his sister and Zhang Su back to Chengming Palace for lunch. Of the three princes, Qin Hong, who had already separated from Qin Liang, ate separately. Qin Bing and Qin Ren ate at the same table with their study partners.
At the dinner table, Qingyang looked across at Zhang Su and asked, "Tomorrow the officials will have their annual leave. Are you going home too?"
Zhang Su put down his chopsticks and replied, "Yes, after my martial arts class this afternoon, I will leave the palace and return after the New Year."
Qingyang was reluctant to let him go, but she knew that Zhang Su missed his father, mother and brothers very much. If she ordered Zhang Su to stay in the palace with her, Zhang Su would feel very pitiful.
Because they were about to part, Qingyang only took a half-hour nap today, then got up with his third brother and Zhang Su, and followed them to the martial arts hall.
Qin Bing teased his sister: "Why, you want to learn martial arts too?"
Qingyang knew his second brother was teasing him and glared back: "I'm still young. I can only learn in two years."
Qin Bing: "If you can read at the age of three, then you can also practice martial arts at the age of three. I think you are just afraid of hardship."
Qingyang went around to the other side of the third brother and ignored him.
Mr. Wu came over and first asked the little princess if she wanted to learn. When he learned that the little princess just came to take a look, Mr. Wu smiled, then put away his smile and led the six adults to perform a set of boxing to exercise their muscles and bones. Then they started the first martial arts class: running.
Qin Ren and Zhang Su had to run two laps around the open space of the martial arts hall, Qin Bing and Yuan Chongli had to run three laps, and Qin Hong and Qin Liang had to run four laps.
Except for Qin Ren who immediately showed sadness, the other five looked calm, as if they were used to it.
The six people were divided into three groups according to their age and set off one after another at a distance of ten steps.
Jie Yu asked the eunuch to bring a chair and asked the little princess to sit on it and wait. The chair was covered with a soft cushion.
The winter afternoon sun was not very warm, and there was a chilly breeze. The little princess put on her fox fur hood and nestled comfortably in the wide chair, with only a little bit of her fair chin exposed.
Qin Hong, who was already used to the hardship of practicing martial arts, ran over first with Qin Liang. Seeing his sister like this, Qin Hong couldn't help but feel a little envious.
When Qin Bing ran over, he didn't feel envious, but just came over and lifted his sister's hood. Because he messed up the jewelry on the little princess's head, he was scolded harshly.
Not long after, Zhang Su ran over alone with an expressionless face, and did not look at the little princess.
Qingyang looked at his third brother, who was walking slowly behind him, holding his stomach, and asked Zhang Su, "Third brother, is your stomach aching again?"
Zhang Su hesitated slightly before nodding.
Qingyang sighed, turned around and asked Mr. Wu, "Why do you insist that Third Brother run? I don't want Third Brother to have a stomachache."
Mr. Wu: "...The Third Prince was just too lazy to run, so he pretended to have a stomachache."
Qingyang: "...Do you have any evidence?" Father said that we cannot just listen to one side of the story.
Mr. Wu smiled and said, "Your Highness can pretend to fall and cry. I dare to guarantee that the Third Prince will be the first to run to Your Highness."
Qingyang looked at the running field. The groups of her eldest and second brothers were far away from her again. Her third brother and Zhang Su, who had just run past, seemed to be about the same distance away from her.
Qingyang jumped to the ground, pretending that he also wanted to go running, then deliberately fell to the ground and burst into tears.
Jie Yu and Mr. Wu worked together to help the little princess. Qingyang obediently lay on Jie Yu's shoulder and continued to pretend to cry while secretly looking at her third brother. Seeing that her third brother really let go of her hand and ran towards her, Qingyang forgot to cry.
However, although Mr. Wu had caught evidence that the Third Prince was pretending to have a stomachache, he got one thing wrong. The first person to run over was not the Third Prince, but his study companion Zhang Su.
Panting, Zhang Su stopped behind Jie Yu and looked worriedly at the little princess lying on Jie Yu's shoulder facing them: "Your Highness, are you hurt?"
Qingyang shook his head and questioned his third brother, who was a few steps behind: "Why did you pretend to have a stomachache?"
Qin Ren was out of breath and wanted to check on his sister, but he found that her face was white and clean, not like she had been crying for a long time. Then he met Mr. Wu's disgusted and dissatisfied eyes and smiled awkwardly: "Third brother, I'm not pretending. It really hurt just now, but I was more worried that you would get hurt, so I ran over to see you regardless of myself."
After saying that, Qin Ren held his stomach and leaned against Zhang Su, squinting his eyes and said, "Oh, it hurts even more."
Qingyang quickly got up from the ground to care for his third brother.
Mr. Wu snorted, "I want to see how long the Third Prince can fool the princess with this trick. Zhang Su, you keep running and ignore him."
Zhang Su pushed the third prince away and ran away.
Qin Ren simply sat on his sister's chair. After Mr. Wu walked away in disgust, Qin Ren whispered to his sister, "If Third Brother never becomes good at martial arts, will you despise him for not being as good as the eldest and second brothers, Zhang Su?"
Qingyang shook his head.
Qin Ren grinned: "Good sister!"
After running, you can do horse stance, and after horse stance, you can do boxing.
Qin Ren has always been the one who does things perfunctorily. He was just lazing around and feeling comfortable when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure in the distance. It was his father. Qin Ren was shocked and immediately exerted all his strength.
Qingyang ran towards her father and was picked up by him. She looked at the tray covered with red cloth held by several young eunuchs behind her and asked in confusion, "What is that?"
Emperor Xingwu said: "The New Year is coming soon. Zhang Su and his companions have worked very hard to accompany your brothers in their studies. I would like to reward them with a gift."
Officials can get an extra reward at the end of the year according to their rank or political achievements. The three companions are considered minor officials, so naturally they also get one.
After all the martial arts lessons were over, Emperor Xingwu called the three companions to his presence, encouraged them a few words and then gave them rewards.
Qingyang stood beside Zhang Su. After Zhang Su took the tray, she couldn't wait to lift the red cloth, and saw a red satin purse and a strange object as long as her third brother's palm on the box.
Qingyang wanted to take it, but Zhang Su moved the tray away in time: "This is a dagger, Your Highness, be careful."
Qingyang had heard Jie Yu talk about weapons like daggers, but this was the first time she had seen one. Zhang Su refused to let her touch it, so Qingyang threw herself into her father's arms and said, "I want a dagger too."
Emperor Xingwu: "Okay, okay, I'll give you one too, but you're still young, so you can only play with the unsharpened one, otherwise you might cut your fingers."
Qingyang: "What do you mean by unsharpened?"
Emperor Xingwu put his daughter down, took Zhang Su's dagger, and carefully showed his daughter the sharp edge of the dagger.
The little princess had seen it all before, and she looked at Zhang Su with worry in her dark eyes: "You have to be careful not to cut your fingers."
Zhang Su lowered his eyes: "Yes."
【Author’s words】
Hey, 100 little red envelopes, see you in the evening (second watch) [Three-color cat head]
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