Chapter 59 Chapter 59 Covenant

"Ah Zhen, don't go!" Gao Zhan woke up from his sleep, he opened his eyes suddenly, and found himself in a gorgeous room.My head hurts, but my consciousness gradually recovers.He still remembered that after he was captured by Western Wei, he met Abi, she was the one who rescued him from Western Wei's barracks, but he was soon discovered, with the pursuers behind, and arrows raining down, she blocked an arrow for him , and finally lost breath in his arms. Then...he remembered that he jumped into the small river, but the water was very fast. He swam with all his strength for a long time, and finally passed out from exhaustion.

Now, what is this place? He tried to open his eyes again, and vaguely saw a man approaching. The dragon robe on his body shone golden under the candlelight, and then he heard a somewhat familiar voice, "Your Highness, you Woke up?" The sight in front of him gradually became clear, he sat up with difficulty, and found that the wounds on his body had disappeared, he raised his head, finally saw the man's face clearly, and then said in surprise: "You are... His Majesty Nanchen Wendi? " Emperor Wen smiled and said, "Yes, when I held the enthronement ceremony more than half a year ago, we met in Jiankang."

Gao Zhan's thoughts finally came alive, he got out of bed immediately, and bowed deeply to Emperor Chen Wen, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for saving your life." Emperor Wen Wen stroked his beard and smiled as he talked about how he met him, "Speaking of it, it's fate. I happened to be on a cruise in Pengshui, and I saw you unexpectedly. Back then, the heroic appearance of the Prince of Northern Qi made our Southern Chen girls fascinated." Mi, otherwise, I wouldn’t recognize you either.” Gao Zhan smiled wryly, "As for my embarrassed appearance, I'm afraid it has nothing to do with Yingzi."

Emperor Chen Wen nodded, "It's really not easy to save you." Looking down at his body, Gao Zhan couldn't help asking: "But I still don't understand. When I jumped into the river, I was obviously injured all over. How could I heal so quickly?" A complex look flashed in Chen Wendi's eyes, but it was soon covered by a smile, and he replied gently: "Naturally, we used an elixir from Nanchen, but that medicine is too strong, you Although the surface is healed now, it will take another year or two to get rid of the root." Gao Zhan couldn't help being grateful, "Thank you Your Majesty for giving me the elixir."

Emperor Chen Wen waved his hand, "Don't be fooled, Princess Hekang is also my cousin. If you marry her husband's niece, you are also my nephew." "Then I will boldly call you uncle. I will repay your majesty's great kindness in the future." After speaking, Gao Zhan hesitated for a while before saying, "Now, I want to borrow two hundred soldiers from you to escort me back Kansai, join the Northern Qi army." "Two hundred soldiers? Is that enough?" Hearing his suspicious tone, Gao Zhan was very puzzled. When he returned to Kansai, the two hundred soldiers were more than enough. Why did Emperor Chen Wen sound like this again?I heard Emperor Chen Wen say again: "I'm afraid you don't know that the Queen Mother Lou of your country has formed an alliance with the Lord of the Western Wei Dynasty and has already led the army to attack the capital? Your brother, Emperor Xiaozhao, has died, and the Queen and your Crown Princess have escaped from the palace. Besides, it has disappeared."

Hearing this, Gao Zhan was shocked, and lost his voice: "What?" Emperor Chen Wen nodded affirmatively to him, "Even if you return to Kansai now, how many troops can the Northern Qi army, which is fighting hard against the Western Wei Dynasty, draw for you to return to Beijing? There are nearly 30,000 troops from the Western Wei Dynasty who came." Gao Zhan couldn't help clenching his fists, with a look of hatred in his eyes, but a sense of bewilderment then invaded him—the Empress Dowager Lou colluded with the Western Wei Dynasty. The Queen Mother even gave Abi to him, and it was because of this that Gao Zhan met Abi.Now, Empress Dowager Lou not only has her own soldiers, but also 30,000 Western Wei soldiers. How could he be her opponent based on his existing soldiers?

Just when Gao Zhan didn't know what to do, Emperor Wen of Chen surprised him by saying again, "However, I can lend you 30,000 horses to help you fight back to the capital." He raised his head, looked at the other party suspiciously, and decided to open his mouth and said, "Your Majesty, I don't think that the friendship of an uncle and nephew who cannot be reached at all will make you so generous to me." Emperor Chen Wen put away his smile and said seriously: "When the Lou family is in power, it is bound to cooperate with the Western Wei Dynasty. This is not good for us in Southern Chen. But you are a Ming emperor, and Emperor Xiaozhao personally passed on your position before his death. I support you, which is naturally beneficial. A lot."

Gao Zhan didn't intend to play charades with him, he simply asked: "What are the specific conditions?" Emperor Chen Wen showed appreciation in his eyes, and stretched out three fingers, "First, Southern Chen and Northern Qi must not invade each other for thirty years; second, you have to return all the military expenses of the 30,000 people afterwards. Three, you have to promise me one condition." Gao Zhan immediately asked, "What conditions?" "I can't tell you right now, it won't be too late until you succeed to the throne safely." Emperor Wen Wen didn't answer, but seeing that Gao Zhan was suspicious again, he said, "Don't worry, it won't be an unreasonable thing, and I won't let you cede the land and destroy it." country."

There is no harm to nature, no need to cede land and destroy the country, except for these two things, Gao Zhan can't think of other conditions that are not conducive to Northern Qi. At most, he will pay tribute of gold and silver every year. Even so, he doesn't think the request is too much.Thinking of this, he nodded, "Okay, I promise you, anyway, your Majesty saved my life, I believe you!" Emperor Chen Wen smiled, "Okay, then we will make an oath to the sky, and make an alliance with blood!" After the covenant, Emperor Chen Wen really fulfilled his promise and gave him 30,000 soldiers and horses. Gao Zhan also promised to return them immediately, ranging from January to March.Afterwards, he took the 30,000 soldiers and horses to join Shen Jiayan immediately.Soon, he joined Zhongshu and Yuanlu.

Seeing Gao Zhan, the two of them were extremely happy, Uncle Zhong couldn't hold back his tears, "God open your eyes, Your Highness, you are safe and sound!" Gao Zhan also breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Uncle Zhong who was still wrapped in bandages. On the battlefield that day, Uncle Zhong blocked a knife for him, and he was captured by the king of the Western Wei Dynasty. For days, he had been worried about Uncle Zhong. Consolation, the stone in my heart can finally fall at this moment, and I heard Yuan Lu say happily: "Oh, Your Highness, I am so happy. As soon as General Shen received the letter from Emperor Nan Chen, he rushed to send us to meet you!"

Hearing the news, Gao Zhan immediately thought of another matter, and couldn't wait to ask: "Is something really wrong with the emperor? Where's Ah Zhen? Where's the queen?" "It's true that the emperor has passed away. We only heard the news on the way here, and the empress seems to have..." Uncle Zhong's joy dimmed in this question, seeing Gao Zhan's sad face , He hurriedly said again: "However, the empress gave birth to a little prince, and before she died, she issued a will to be raised by Miss Lu." Gao Zhan was a little uneasy, and asked cautiously, "Ah Zhen is still alive?" Uncle Zhong nodded, "The current news is that nothing has happened. Xu Xianxiu and the others are still guarding her and the little prince at the Eldest Princess' Mansion." Hearing this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, raised his eyes to the sky, and sighed, "Heaven will not fail me!" Then he slammed his horsewhip and immediately ordered, "Let's go! We must rush back to the capital within three days!" He was really afraid that the son-in-law would not be able to withstand it. How could the small princess mansion be able to withstand Lou's 30,000 army. A moment later, Ah Zhen and the others would be even more dangerous.He must save her as soon as possible. Ah Zhen, wait for me! What Gao Zhan didn't know was that his Ah Zhen was no longer in the princess mansion.Under the cover of Xu Xianxiu, she had already quietly left the capital with the little prince through the tunnel, and rushed to join Shen Jiayan.But they were discovered by soldiers of the Western Wei Dynasty just after leaving the tunnel. Fortunately, they were protected by guards who escorted them, but because of this, only Danniang was left with her on the road. Lu Zhen decided to go to Zhaojiadu, where the caravans were concentrated, and it was the place she had been to when she escaped. If she could find Hu Shang, she could contact Du Meier's subordinates with her signature, and wait for Shen Jiayan there. Lou's obviously knew the news of their escape. Lou's minions were everywhere along the way, and they were almost spotted several times. Fortunately, they were alert and escaped, but food became their biggest problem.The adults can bear it, but the little prince was only born after all, how can he bear it, the water on the leaves can't solve the problem at all. The little prince should have been lucky, when they passed by a small village, Tanniang begged for some rice milk.But this is only a solution to the urgent need, food is still their biggest problem.But in the end, Lu Zhen came up with a countermeasure.She remembered that there were quite a few beekeepers next to them, holding gold earrings, they would definitely be able to exchange them for honey, and by that time adults and children would all be in a position. Hearing that there is honey to eat, Danniang licked her lips, and said with infinite expectation: "It's great, there is honey to eat, sister, can you get some bee pupae back, I like it the most..." The two leaned against each other like this, and fell asleep without knowing when, but this sleep didn't take long, and they were soon awakened by the sound of chaotic footsteps. Passed indistinctly. The soldiers were questioning the villagers, "When did that woman come?" Someone replied: "The fourth watch came, saying that the child was very hungry and asked us for milk." Then I heard two soldiers discussing, "They must not be far away in the middle of the night. I reckon they must still be in the village!" Another voice was obviously excited, "Search quickly! If you hit the big luck and find them That’s right, there’s a reward of ten thousand taels!” Then there was a crackling sound. Danniang's eyes were full of regret, and she whispered: "Sister, I'm sorry, it's all because I was careless yesterday..." "Now is not the time to talk about this." Lu Zhen interrupted her words, the little prince is still sleeping, this is a good thing for them, otherwise they would not be able to escape at all.She looked around quietly, and quickly retracted her head, she already had an idea in her mind, "Didn't we see a river over there when we came yesterday? Let's run out and jump off that cliff, maybe we can Run to the river!" Seeing Danniang nodding, she looked again, and then said: "I count one, two, three, I'm in front, you are behind, let's run at the same time." Danniang stood behind her as she said, and she was about to get up when she suddenly felt a shock in the back of her head, and she only had time to look at Danniang before she passed out. When Lu Zhen woke up, she found that her body was covered with straw, and the back of her head was aching. When she touched it, there was a trace of blood on her hand.She suddenly remembered the situation just now, and shouted anxiously: "Tan Niang!" There was silence all around, her heart was suspended, she instinctively touched her side, touched the swaddling baby, and then she was relieved, the little prince was still by her side, she didn't know when she woke up, she didn't cry, she just spoke with a black and white face. eyes on her.Her heart warmed up, she hugged her and kissed her, "Good boy. Let's find your Aunt Dan together." She reckoned that Danniang must have knocked her out, and led those soldiers away by herself. For some reason, she had an ominous premonition in her heart, but she could only try to comfort herself: Danniang is fine, she just got separated, and we will definitely meet up . But this self-comforting excuse collapsed instantly in the face of the ironclad facts.On the edge of the cliff by the river, Tanniang's embroidered shoes quietly told her a fact—Tanniang jumped off from here. Tanniang must have lured those soldiers here, and then jumped down pretending to be her.That's why I didn't see any soldiers along the way, so people who came and went turned a blind eye to her, because Lu Zhen was dead, and the little prince was dead, so naturally there was no need to search. "Danniang..." She fell to the ground, looking at the unfathomable cliff, all the images of being with Danniang appeared in her mind, and at the end, Danniang's last words were all in her ears: "That's great, there's honey to eat..." She thought in a daze, tears welling up in her eyes. But she couldn't stay, she hadn't met Shen Jiayan, handed over the little prince to Gao Zhan, and got rid of Lou, she had to move on. However, when she arrived at Zhaojiadu, she found out that the place had already been tossed by rebels to dilapidated condition. A large number of refugees crowded the pier, waiting for ships to send them to unknown distant places. Lu Zhen was crowded among these people, waiting to go. Nan Chen's boat.Given the current situation of Zhaojiadu, it is impossible to seek refuge with Du Meier, and the only hope now is his uncle. But she didn't expect that the next person she met would change all her plans, and that person was Li Bold.When she met him, she was being slighted by a refugee, and it was he who relieved her plight and took her to their lodgings. Only then did she know that the Lou family had sent someone to take over the official kiln. The former craftsmen fled here with Li Bold, and her younger sister Lu Zhu followed Li Cheng back to her hometown to visit her relatives and escaped disaster just before the war. Lu Zhen breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly asked him to help inquire about the situation of the Xizheng Army, as well as Gao Zhan's injuries.But I didn't expect Li Bold to be stunned all of a sudden, "Sister Lu, don't you still know?" She looked at him strangely, and heard him say with difficulty: "The soldiers of the Western Wei Dynasty all over the city are saying that His Highness the Crown Prince was not injured, but was captured by the emperor of the Western Wei Dynasty. In the middle, he wanted to escape, but in the end He was shot to death on the river beach by random arrows..." The prince...is dead! Her mind was blank, and these four words were hovering in her mind. Ah Zhan is dead, Danniang is dead, now only the little prince is left by her side, even if she escapes to Nanchen, how much better will it be?Even if he worked hard for the little prince, he would only be able to live alone in the world in the future. Can he survive for a year, ten or eight years? Tears fell unconsciously. Danniang's face floated before her eyes, then Xiao Guanyin, then Emperor Xiaozhao, and finally those Northern Qi soldiers who fell to the ground in front of her and couldn't get up again. She looked down at the lovesickness knot on her wrist, and what appeared in front of her eyes were his hesitant eyes when they parted for the last time. She remembered her firm belief and what she said in front of the emperor when he was in trouble... Lovesickness If the knot doesn't work, then he must be all right, you see, it's still fastened around the wrist. She decided to lie to herself again! For the little prince, for Tanniang, and for those who died protecting her. Just when she was panicked and helpless, Lou's new action gave her the idea of ​​returning to Beijing again. Because it was written on the next day's imperial list: The Empress Dowager Lou, who was ordered by Tianming to perform divine skills and martial arts, brought her prince Gao Wei to sacrifice to heaven and ancestors on September 19th in the third year of Emperor Jian's reign, and then inherited the great treasure in the Taiji Hall. . When Lu Zhen heard the news, she shivered. The little prince was by her side, but the Lou family wanted to bring the prince to the throne. The civil and military officials and the common people didn't know it. They would definitely think that the child was the real little prince. .No matter how dissatisfied they were with the Lou family, they would still support the little prince to succeed him because he was the only blood of the royal family.At that time, Shen Jiayan's class teacher will return to the court, and he will be framed as a traitor by the Queen Mother! She must stop all this and expose Lou's conspiracy!Everyone must know that Lou did not hesitate to kill his own son in order to gain power. But she also knew that this trip was extremely dangerous, and the little prince had to be arranged first. In this way, even if he couldn't come back, the little prince could be safe and sound.After she made up her mind, she immediately made arrangements to hand over the little prince and two letters to Li Bold, and asked Li Bold to find a way to hand one of them to Shen Jiayan, tell him the identity of the child, and ask him to help the little prince. succession.If Shen Jiayan had an emergency, he would send the letter and the little prince to Nan Chen and Princess Kang's mansion, and tell her that the child was her nephew, and then he would be well taken care of. Li boldly accepted her entrustment with tears in his eyes, and sent Lu Zhen to the capital that night. Early the next morning, the Temple of Heaven used for offering sacrifices to heaven was surrounded by the common people. The soldiers of Empress Dowager Lou separated the common people from the civil and military officials with weapons in their hands. The officials trapped inside were pushed and shoved by the soldiers. Embarrassed, some were full of anger.And Lu Zhen had already hid in the hidden place of the altar with the help of Li Bold, secretly watching the movement below. As she expected, although the courtiers complained a lot to the Lou family, they swallowed their anger because of the little prince, but that didn't mean they would submit to the Lou family. When Lou appeared on the altar, only a few people knelt down and kowtowed to her, and they didn't help but kneel down until she asked for the phoenix seal.Afterwards, she walked up to the altar amidst Lamei's "Ritual of Burning Burning" and planned to light the pyre on the altar. Unexpectedly, after putting the torch on for a long time, the pyre did not burn at all, and the child in her arms , also began to cry loudly. Lu Zhen looked at Lou's flustered look coldly. The officials and common people below had already noticed the vision and began to discuss it. Seeing this situation, Mr. Zhang took the opportunity to stand up and shouted desperately: "The sacrifice firewood does not burn, and it will go up to heaven." do not like!" For a while, the voices of the common people became more and more obvious, and Lou hurriedly explained: "No nonsense! Aijia..." But she didn't have a chance to explain, because Lu Zhen wouldn't let her go on, she quickly said, "Mr. Lou, you are a pack of nonsense! You betrayed the country first, and murdered the former emperor and prince later, and now you want to use a fake The prince is stealing the throne, the heavens are virtuous, of course they will not accept your sacrifice!" The sound surrounded the Temple of Heaven, echoed, and seemed exceptionally powerful, shocking everyone in an instant.As if inspired, some people among the people who were stopped outside began to shout: "The Lord Lou stole the country, and the heavens punished him! The Lou family stole the country, and the heavens punished him!" As soon as he said this, more and more voices echoed, It was getting bigger and bigger, and the anger was already evident. At this moment, Lou looked around the altar like a headless chicken looking for the voice, "Who? Who is playing tricks there!" Lu Zhen slowly appeared, and said coldly to Lou, "Look who I am?" Seeing this face, Lou's whole face immediately turned pale, and rouge could not cover her panic. When Zhang Xiang called out the word "Lu Zhaoyi", she couldn't control it anymore like a ghost in daylight. His body trembled, "You! Aren't you already dead? Why, why are you still..." "If I'm dead, how can I expose your conspiracy?" Lu Zhen said, and immediately turned around, pointing to the baby in Lou's arms and shouted to the audience, "Listen everyone, the baby in her hand is absolutely Not the little prince!" Seeing all the officials in the audience standing up one after another, Lou became anxious and ordered desperately: "Catch her, don't let her talk nonsense!" Seeing that the guards were about to rush over, Lu Zhen had no choice but to back away. Just when she thought there was no way to escape, a ball of flames burst out from the pyre that had not been ignited before, and spread all the way along the altar. Keep the guards out.Only then did Lu Zhen heave a sigh of relief, but she didn't dare to delay, and immediately continued to shout: "The real prince has been hidden in the safest place by me. The queen ordered me to raise the prince. If there is any violation, Let the world punish him! Loyal ministers and common people of Northern Qi, do you have the heart to see the throne of Northern Qi being snatched away by this traitorous demon queen?" "Come in quickly!" Listening to Lu Zhen's words, Lou's no longer cared about her manners, jumped up and shouted at the guards, and hurriedly explained to the officials, "She is lying, she is not Lu Zhen, Lu Zhen is dead Now, I have a Phoenix seal, you have to listen to me!" Lu Zhen lowered her face, and immediately raised the prepared national seal to the audience, "The national seal is here, and the officials of the Northern Qi Dynasty still haven't received orders? Punish this demon queen and avenge the emperor and prince!" The angry officials and common people were moved by her words, and finally couldn't hide their anger, they stepped forward one after another, broke through Lou's guard line in one fell swoop, and shouted: "Kill the demon queen, avenge the emperor!" rushed over. In a hurry, Lou threw away the child cruelly, and shouted to a soldier outside the fire circle: "Give me the sword!" The soldier did not dare to neglect, and immediately sent it over.She took the sword and rushed towards Lu Zhen, waving her bulky body towards the altar for a long time, but Lu Zhen deftly dodged it.Just when she was extremely anxious, Lamei rushed in suddenly, grabbed Lu Zhen's ankle and dragged her down.Lu Zhen was caught off guard, one of them couldn't stand still, and suddenly rolled from the altar to the ground, just right beside the child, she turned her head, the child was covered in blood and had no life left.Lu Zhen couldn't help showing pity, turned her face and stared at Lou Shi fiercely, and saw her holding up the long sword in her hand and stabbing at her with a grin, "Lu Zhen, I will send you to the underworld, let you see your dead prince .” Lu Zhen didn't feel any fear in her heart, this time, she was determined to die, so what fear did she have?Ah Zhan, did you see it?I have now exposed Lou's crimes, and now, I will come to see you soon! She closed her eyes instinctively, but the pain she imagined did not appear. Instead, she heard Lou's screams, and the shouts below made her finally unbearable!What are they talking about?The prince returns to Beijing?Ah Zhan, he is not dead? She opened her eyes in disbelief, only to see that Lou's wrist was firmly nailed to the altar by a sharp arrow, and the sound of horseshoes sounded like thunder in the distance. The tall and straight figure in the robe and holding the longbow is clearly the person she thought she would never see again in this life. "Ah Zhan..." she shouted excitedly.He seemed to have heard her call and came running, and she seemed to be able to hear him calling her name, "Ah Zhen..." In the next moment, he had already rushed under the altar, rushed into the fire circle and hugged her tightly in his arms!She hugged him excitedly, for fear that he would suddenly disappear in the next second.That's right, it's not an illusion, it's real, he really came back, he said he would come back, she knew he was the one who kept his promise. It took a long time before she left his arms, opened her mouth, but unexpectedly said at the same time as him, "How did you escape?" He smiled softly and explained: "After I jumped into the river, I drifted down the river to Yang County in Nanchen. I happened to meet Emperor Wen of Chen who was patrolling there. He rescued me and lent me 30,000 elite soldiers." "Danniang and I escaped from the hot spring palace, but she sacrificed her life to save me..." She quickly followed suit, but when she thought of Danniang, she couldn't speak anymore.Immediately, his body was hugged tightly again, and his voice whispered in his ears, "It's okay, I'm back, and I will have everything from now on!" She nodded slightly, turned her head to look at Lou Shi, with hatred in her eyes. The 30,000-strong army quickly subdued Lou's rebels. Gao Zhan drew his sword and put it on Lou's chest, "Lou, you have done a lot of evil, what else can you say now!" Empress Dowager Lou endured the pain and showed a cold smile, intermittently said: "Gao Zhan, don't be complacent, if Aijia dies today, a ghost will curse you to have a short life, and you will not be happy!" Lu Zhen's body trembled slightly, looking at Lou's eyes full of resentment, she unconsciously grabbed Gao Zhan's sleeves, and was then gently wrapped by his big palm.He turned his head and gave her a comforting smile, and ordered Uncle Zhong and Yuan Lu to pull out the arrow from Empress Dowager Lou's hand, and throw it on the altar. He turned around and walked to the front of the stage, shouting loudly: "Everyone in the world, please listen to Gao Zhan's words!" The majestic voice surrounded the Temple of Heaven, as if it came from the sky. The noisy people immediately quieted down, and their eyes fell on the altar, looking at the future monarch of the Northern Qi Dynasty. He continued: "The demon empress steals the country and deserves death! As the crown prince, I bear the emperor's will, and I am willing to kill this person and avenge the emperor's brother!" The common people erupted again, cheering and shouting: "Kill this demon queen! Kill this demon queen!" Seeing Gao Zhan raising the long sword, Lou immediately cursed, "Gao Zhan, you bitch, you killed Yan'er, you..." Immediately, the long sword passed through her chest, and she struggled unwillingly. Fan, finally stopped moving. Gao Zhan let go of the hand holding the long sword, and said softly: "Queen Mother, Sister Huang, Brother Huang, Ah Zhan has avenged you!" At this moment, everyone fell silent again. After a long time, Zhang Xiangcai stepped forward and said respectfully: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has returned safely, and I am very happy! Now that the demon queen has been eliminated, I respectfully ask the Crown Prince to abide by the emperor's will and go to the palace early." Dabao!" The officials in the audience immediately knelt down and seconded, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is respectfully invited to succeed!" Gao Zhan nodded slightly, with a serious face, "Since this is the case, Gao Zhan accepts everyone's invitation and is in danger by destiny! I don't need to hold any ceremony to worship the sky, let alone go to the Taiji Hall to ascend the throne. From now on, I, Gao Zhan , is the emperor of Northern Qi!" Lu Zhen remembered the national seal on her body, and hurriedly knelt down and handed it over.Gao Zhan took it and held it up high, the national seal exudes a sacred and dazzling light under the sunlight! Yuan Lu immediately shouted: "Long live the emperor!" Only then did the officials come to their senses, and hurriedly knelt down, shouting long live. Lu Zhen's face was full of relief, and she wanted to kowtow, but before she did, she was pulled up. She was caught off guard, and passively stood beside him, feeling puzzled, "Ah Zhan..." He held her hand tightly and said in a low voice: "You said that you would stand side by side with me in the future. Ah Zhen, I will share this world with you in the future!" Just as she was about to speak, she heard the people's long live voices coming like a tide. When she looked up, she saw the infinite firmness in his eyes. Finally, she didn't say no. She nodded and turned to look at the prostrating man. The people of the Northern Qi Dynasty felt their blood boil. The emperor, the queen, have you seen it?Ah Zhan is back, and he has avenged you. After the war, the capital city was like a purgatory on earth. Thousands of families were displaced, and the places where the armies fought suffered heavy casualties.As soon as Gao Zhan ascended the throne, he faced such a difficult problem. Fortunately, nothing troubled him. The previous income of the official kiln and the profit of Lu Jin all eased his predicament. A pen of gold, silver and jewelry can just benefit the people.And Shen Jiayan also returned to the imperial court not long after, which gave him even more strength. For Gao Zhan now, there is only one most important thing, and that is to marry Lu Zhen with the most grand ceremony.However, in the Taiji Hall, Yuan Lucai was stopped by Zhang Xiang halfway through the imperial edict to enshrine Lu Zhen as the empress. Only then did Gao Zhan know that Xiao Guanyin ordered Lu Zhen to be the adoptive mother of the prince in the name of Emperor Xiaozhao's concubine in order to prevent the Lou family from taking advantage of the little prince's imperial title.For those in the know, although this is an expedient measure, the common people don't know about it. They only know that Lu Zhen was a chastity for the former emperor, with both loyalty and righteousness. After hearing the news, Lu Zhen decided to talk to Gao Zhan.As soon as he entered the Xiuwen Hall, he saw him dancing with a sword. The sword was fierce and deadly, and the last stroke of force actually split a mountain rock in the courtyard in half. Lu Zhen patted her palms lightly, "Good swordsmanship!" "Ah Zhen, when did you come, why didn't you make a sound?" Seeing her coming, he immediately put away his sword, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and walked towards her. Looking at his face, Lu Zhen suddenly didn't know how to speak, and Gao Zhan immediately understood after the silence, "Have you heard?" "Yes, I know all about it." She said with a soft sigh, "Actually, the moment I took over the queen's will, I had a premonition that it would become an unavoidable bond between us. Oishi. But at the time, I had to do that." He was afraid that she would be thinking wildly, so he immediately dropped his sword and hugged her, "Ah Zhen, I don't blame you, you sacrificed for Brother Huang and Guanyin." Lu Zhen smiled sadly, "So you don't need to worry about me, I don't need the name of queen." He immediately resolutely objected, "No, I must not wrong you in this matter. I have thought about it, no matter what the ministers think, I will make you a queen." "But my identity..." Gao Zhan frowned slightly, "That's a little troublesome, but it's not difficult to solve. Don't forget, I'm not Han. Zhang Xiangzhu used the etiquette of your Han people as an example, but he forgot that whether it is Xianbei or Rouran, there are According to such a rule, if the elder brother dies, his younger brother can marry the widowed wife. That's what my grandfather did. Back then, Guanyin also had this kind of thought in mind, so..." These words were like a ray of dazzling sunshine, sweeping away the haze in her heart, she raised her head in surprise, and asked in disbelief: "Really?" Gao Zhan nodded slightly, and said confidently: "That's true. Even if the Han people have some criticisms, I am confident that I can suppress it. After all, you have made so much contribution to Northern Qi, and everyone is not blind." Seeing the excited smile on her face, Gao Zhan said in an apologetic tone: "It's just that I have to wait for another three months. If there is no such thing, I will take out the marriage certificate from the ancestral temple, and it will be a matter of course. , I will immediately make you a queen, but now, if you marry me in the name of the former emperor's concubine... After all, the emperor's brother has just passed away, and the three-month national funeral must be observed." She nodded understandingly, "I'm not afraid to wait. There is still a lifetime between us. Three months is nothing." But he still sighed, "But I'm afraid of waiting, in fact, I can't wait for a day... Ah..." He said, suddenly a painful expression appeared on his face, and his body fell to the ground uncontrollably. trembling constantly.Lu Zhen hurriedly hugged her, worried and scared, "A Zhan, A Zhan, what's wrong with you?" Uncle Zhong, who had been waiting in the distance, heard the movement and rushed over immediately. Seeing this scene, he immediately said: "The emperor has relapsed from an old injury. Come here, help the emperor into the room!" After returning to the room, Gao Zhan took Nan Chen's elixir, and his injuries were suppressed immediately. Although he looked haggard at this moment, he had obviously regained his senses.He took a sip of water, and then slowly said: "I said it's okay, it's an old injury, it's like this when you commit a crime, just take a medicine." Lu Zhen still had lingering fears, "How can you say it's okay? You don't know how scary it was when you got sick just now!" Uncle Zhong stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, I am also a little strange. It is said that as your injury recovers, you should take less and less of this elixir. Why these days, I think you were sick once every two days at first, and then Once a day, today, it should happen once in less than eight hours, right?" Gao Zhan was slightly taken aback, "I haven't thought about this problem." "No, this medicine is a bit strange." Lu Zhen pondered for a moment, then immediately turned around and ordered: "Yu Ming, hurry up and send this medicine to the imperial physician, let them check it carefully!" Yuming replied in a low voice, and took an elixir to Tai Hospital. Just as Lu Zhen was about to speak, Yuan Lu came in and said, "Your Majesty, General Nan Chen Wei is asking to see you." Lu Zhen was slightly displeased, "This is the inner palace, how could a foreign general come here? Besides, the emperor is still ill, tell him, see you tomorrow." Gao Zhan stopped her, "Don't, I was able to fight all the way back, General Wei contributed a lot, that's why I allowed him to walk in the inner palace. He has always been polite, so there must be something urgent. Now that I'm fine, I'll see you soon." See him soon." In desperation, she could only nod her head and hide behind.General Nawei walked in quickly, and after saluting, he explained in the future, "The last general came by the imperial order of our majesty. Your majesty sent a letter to the young general today, or he will bring a sentence to your majesty: A few days ago, you Do you still remember the third condition of an alliance with him by blood?" Gao Zhan's face turned cold, "Of course I remember, I'm not a person without faith." "Then please fulfill your promise immediately, Your Majesty." Gao Zhan wondered, "I don't know what the emperor of your country wants?" General Wei didn't answer, but just smiled mysteriously, "Please step out of the palace gate, Your Majesty, you will know soon." Although Gao Zhan didn't know what Nan Chen meant, he could only show off to Helu's family. At this time, people stood darkly outside the Helu Gate, people outside the palace and people in the palace all gathered here, and in front of them, carriages with Chen Ziya flags were parked all over the street, waiting for Gao Zhan to come, General Wei began to sing his name non-stop, "A thousand pieces of golden phoenix satin! Nine handles of white jade wishful thinking! Four thousand pearls! Twenty-four pairs of Dawan horses..." Every time someone shouted, someone would carry the big box in, and it would naturally contain these expensive treasures.It sounded better at first, but when they got to the back, when even the Ten Treasures Acacia Tree and the Hundred Sons and Thousands Suns Bowl were shouted out, everyone already noticed that something was wrong. Finally, after reading the gift list, General Wei respectfully presented the gift list, "Your Majesty, this is the gift list from our lord, please accept it." Gao Zhan immediately declined politely, "I dare not, I was able to return home safely, thanks to the cooperation of Your Majesty, such a great gift, I am ashamed of receiving it, and I would like to ask General Wei to return it on my behalf. I have another gift in Northern Qi Dynasty." General Wei smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you'd better accept these things. These gifts will be needed in future important events." Hearing this, Gao Zhan gradually felt something was wrong, "What's the big deal?" Liu Li, who was following Lu Zhen, whispered to Lu Zhen, "My lord, I understand, this Emperor Nanchen is really knowledgeable, he is here to give you a wedding gift." Lu Zhen was not so optimistic, "It's just a simple gift, does it take such a big battle?" However, General Nawei said in a loud voice: "This is the third promise that our lord has asked His Majesty to fulfill." Then a group of beauties in palace costumes appeared outside Helu Gate carrying an apricot-yellow palace sedan chair, and walked slowly towards the inner palace.来，一直到高湛面前才缓缓停下，一名中年美妇走上前，拜倒在地，“南陈越国夫人，参见陛下。” 高湛忙扶起她，问明来意，“夫人请起，不知道夫人此来北齐，有何用意？” 越国夫人一笑，轻轻挥了挥手，旁边的宫女揭开轿帘，扶出一名少女，却见她身姿绰约，面若桃花，特别是一双眸子，清澈得像个不谙世事的孩子，“南陈同昌公主，参见北齐皇帝陛下。” 越国夫人用只有高湛才听得到的声音说：“陛下，鄙国主上的第三个要求，就是请陛下娶我同昌公主为皇后，从此北齐南陈，永为秦晋之好。”