Chapter 47 Section VI

This is a secret room full of jewels and dazzling.It seems that all the fat, flesh and blood scraped from the people by the supreme ruler of Liao in the past two hundred years were all replaced with gold, silver and jewelry, and stored in this secret room.The structure of the secret room itself is also unrivaled in luxury in the imperial palace, and it is second to none for the first time.Its special purpose determines that its architectural feature is strong confidentiality.There is a secret door connected to it in the room adjacent to it, and another secret door is installed at the end of a corridor as its exit.The skillful craftsmen made the secret door seamless, and at first glance it looks exactly like the wall. Only when the trigger message is triggered and the wall automatically moves to both sides, the door with several locks and keys is revealed.Users are also afraid that it is not confidential enough, so they cover the walls with thick curtains and wall coverings.But it was still built inside the palace gate after all, and only a very small number of cronies who participated in the emperor's private and secret life knew that there was this secret corridor and this secret room in a relatively inconspicuous palace gate in the back garden.

This secret room was specially built by the famous romantic emperor Tian Zuo, and it was specially set up for trysts with women outside the palace.In order to show off the royal wealth and magnanimity in front of these women, he gradually moved the treasures collected in the inner palace here.When Emperor Tianzuo fled Yanjing in a hurry, he only thought about the importance of escaping. He forgot the treasure in this secret room, and he also forgot to bring two thousand sacks full of treasures from Zhongjing. Flee into Yinjia Mountain.Therefore, these treasures have been preserved intact.After Yeluchun succeeded to the throne, because of his old age and sickness, he did not need this secret room, and now it is all inherited and enjoyed by Empress Xiao.When she cried and said to her officials that she wanted to preserve the precious legacy left by the "former emperor", the secret room was probably the first thing that came to her mind.

She has it alone and completely. She does not allow anyone, even her most trusted personal maids, to enter the secret room unless she is summoned.The only exception is that only the one and only person who holds the key to the secret door of the corridor can come in at any time to worship and serve her. After Yeluchun's death, Empress Xiao became a widow. Like any widow, she had the right to find a replacement for her husband.The problem is that her time, her particular position, does not allow a substitute to assume a public, legal identity, forcing her to take on this mystified form.In fact, this kind of form was not uncommon not only in the Liao Dynasty, but even in the upper class of the Song Dynasty.

This can also be regarded as an example of how the nobles of the Liao Dynasty learned how to imitate the Sinicized life. Now Empress Xiao is alone in the secret room without much hope that he will come without an appointment. After taking off the silver armor, she dressed up carefully at the dressing table again, just to please him. "Women tolerate those who please themselves", or conversely, "women tolerate those who please themselves", both of which are not restricted by status.The queen stayed in the mirror room for so long, in addition to dressing up carefully, it was also to delay until the agreed time when he came to the secret room to worship her on weekdays.He should have come to worship her, there is no need to take care of her in advance.But tonight is an exception, and it is very likely that he will not be able to wait for him, not only because he will lead the guards to protect her and go to the front line to supervise the battle tomorrow morning, but more likely, he will think tenderly and considerately that she will go to the battlefield tomorrow After working so hard, she should have a quiet night to fully rest and refresh herself.He was always so considerate, and that was why she liked him so much.

Although she likes his thoughtfulness, although she already has the mental preparation that he may not come tonight, probably not.When she entered the secret room, she took off the pearl coat of a luminous pearl (this is a veritable luminous pearl the size of an egg, there are several luminous pearls of different sizes in this secret room, and the outer layer of each bead is wrapped A layer of pure white, translucent and thin pearl film like an egg film. The luxurious Emperor Tianzuo used them instead of candles, and added several layers of artificial pearl coats on the outside to cover or remove the pearl coats. When the whole room was immersed in a kind of light blue light that people were not used to at first, but after getting used to it, they felt extremely soft and comfortable. He didn’t notice that he was holding his hand in the dark as usual. Sitting on a pier waiting for her, she couldn't help but still feel a pang of intense disappointment.

"Master Dao!" she said in her own thoughts, but fortunately in this secret room, her privacy is never in danger of being eavesdropped by the servants, "you broke the appointment tonight (actually there is no agreement, maybe it is an agreement) I won’t see you tonight), which means that we have wasted this hour of careful grooming. You are considerate of our body, but not our heart. You must know that as the mother of the country, we do not hesitate to condescend , I love you. Everything we do is for you! Thinking about negotiating peace with the envoy of the Song Dynasty at the time, she did not hesitate to surrender the country to keep your family's wealth (this is she lied to herself, when she accepted Li Chuwen Suggestion to negotiate surrender with the envoy of the Song Dynasty, mainly to consider her own interests). Later, she turned against Yelu Dashi, so we have to go out to conquer in person tomorrow, and it is also to protect you (this is the truth, but she did not take The attractiveness of 'Personal Conquest' to oneself is counted in my account). If you are truly considerate to the depths of our mind, you should come to serve us tonight (this is completely true)!"

After suppressing the first disappointment with all her strength, she took off her midi clothes, slipped into the treasure tent embroidered with nine dragons and a satin quilt embroidered with a big phoenix, and went to sleep. When she fell asleep alone and couldn't sleep on the mat, she had a lot of wild thoughts. She suddenly only remembered that he was waiting in the dark room last night. When she saw her for the first time, her face was not very good-looking for a moment. She asked him what was wrong, and said a few words The words were mixed up, and I didn't pay much attention at the time. Now that I think about it, it is worth deliberating. Could it be that there are articles in it.

"Could it be that we withdrew your father's Fan Han soldiers, Marshal Madu, to make you unhappy?" She guessed from the most recent reason, and then came up with a reason to defend herself, "Idiot child! The Song army forced the border, and the soldiers collapsed This Khitan army can't even be restrained by our brother, how can your father, an official from the south, control it? In the past few days, the court discussions have been raging, and those old guys from Xi and Khitan, as well as the old man Zuo Qigong, have also spoken out Complaints are focused on him. We removed his position as the Marshal of the capital and let him withdraw from the army, just to keep his first position. We proposed a personal conquest, also to spread the slander for him, and to credit you The old man knew in his heart that after all our painstaking efforts, he remained calm when we gave the order. Do you think that the son will blame us for this upside-down...

"Could it be that you blamed us for not killing Dashi Linya..." Yelu Dashi has always been someone she fears, even though he has been detained and become a tiger in the cage, she still respectfully uses his official title in her mind Calling him, "Is it for your family to never have future troubles?" She further speculated, "Why didn't we think of this? Back then, your father and the Han ministers supported the first emperor as emperor, and the first emperor was humble. Tuck him into the throne, and you have a share of the credit for Dao's son. You take an ocher robe and put it on the first emperor, and the position will be determined. How can we be ungrateful and ignore the benefits of your family? Your family and the Great Stone Forest The teeth are out of harmony, and the forest teeth are expensive. How can we compare with you and I who have become one? How can we favor the big stone forest teeth to suppress you? But Daoshenger! You are an elf, don’t you know the big stone forest teeth tree? The roots are deep, how can he be easily moved? Now that he is only in custody, many people have become resentful. Today we are determined not to use Lin Ya, and ordered the conquest, and two old guys said that we are destroying the Great Wall. , Abandoning the country, and some people asked us if we want to go to the Liao Dynasty. With 300 guards, you can provoke them? Besides, with your 300 guards, we can really defeat the army of the Song Dynasty. Daoshenger! You have such a smart fetus in vain, so you don’t know the reason...

"Could it be..." There are many other reasons that can be speculated.All in all, these speculations made her very upset.As she lay dreaming on her high pillow, she listened alertly for any movement at the secret door leading to the outer passage.This long night seemed to be spent in listening and expecting, worrying and regretting.Thinking of tomorrow's personal expedition certainly excited her, but she was also afraid that if she didn't sleep well or get enough tonight, she would pick her eyes out tomorrow, and go into battle with a dispirited and lack of energy.But I was also afraid that if he opened the door in the middle of the night and she fell asleep, it would not spoil his interest, he wanted to sleep but dared not go to sleep.It went on like this for half the night.After all, the fatigue of the day and the thirst of the middle-aged made her somewhat hazy, and finally fell asleep in a daze.

She didn't know how deep she was sleeping, or how long she had been asleep, when suddenly a sound woke her up.The sound was so faint, and it was far from the secret door, but with the sensitivity unique to lovers, as long as she heard the first turning sound in the keyhole, she could definitely judge that it must be him who made her come to the appointment unexpectedly. up. Her heart was beating wildly with excitement.While excited, he couldn't help but secretly condemned in his heart: "This kid! He didn't come to serve us until midnight. Isn't it too late? If he came to serve us to lead the army, it would be too early. This idiot child is so ignorant." She accused him of being unreasonable many times in her heart, but she didn't realize that it was these unreasonable places that made her love this "child" so much.At this time, another gratifying thought flashed through her mind: "Could it be that the child is clever and wants to take advantage of the time before the expedition to come and spend a moment with us. This little elf is so clever, he came neither early nor late." Hearing the footsteps that he didn't want to cover up, she had already walked straight to the edge of her bed, she still closed her eyes, but softly called "Dao Sheng'er!" The softest and most charming cry from the mourning.In this cry, the dignity of the empress was completely excluded, but it contained so much heat.Hot enough to melt the big "bug" she had forged into liquid.She raised her head slightly in the darkness, ready to meet his tenderness for a moment. Strangely, he was not moved by this call, he didn't follow her wish, or he didn't obey her gentle command and bent down to caress her eyelids and cheeks as usual.Instead, she took off the beaded garment smoothly, causing the secret room to re-radiate the light she least needed at this time. This made her somewhat disappointed. She slowly opened her starry eyes, and found that he was fully clothed, ready to be a soldier in battle.Her first thought was to forgive him thoughtfully: "He is in armor, no wonder he can't bend down to get close to us." This thought gave her a little comfort.Then she was surprised to find that he had completely lost his usual calm and leisurely attitude, his movements were flustered, his expression was tense, and his voice trembled a little when he spoke: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, get dressed quickly, something is wrong." "Why panic?" She still stretched out an arm from the warm quilt calmly, grabbed a piece of clothing, put it on slowly, and said lovingly, "God It collapsed, and it was your master who supported it! What is Dao Sheng'er worth making such a fuss about?" "Your Majesty... something is wrong. Guo Yaoshi lured Yang Keshi's army of 100,000 people to attack the capital by surprise. He captured the Yingchun Gate and entered the city in the middle of the night. Right now, he is searching for Xi and Khitan in the outer city, and he is about to enter the capital in no time." Here we come." Li Shi said out of breath, obviously he could no longer control his panic. This astonishing news shook her like a thunderbolt, dispelling all her wild thoughts.She quickly lifted the quilt, stood up, put on her clothes, and ordered: "Dao Sheng'er, go out and spread our decree, close the gate of the king's city, mobilize the soldiers in the city, and prepare to defend it to the death, and have a showdown with Yang Keshi." Li Shi agreed verbally, but his feet did not move. "Why doesn't Qing go out to pass the decree?" She asked a little strangely. "I think that Yang Keshi is the enemy of ten thousand people. Now that he has entered the outer city, how can he be underestimated? I wait for His Majesty to get dressed." "Quickly, Qing, go outside and fetch our suit of armor. After we put it on, we will go to the city to resist the enemy." He still didn't obey the order, hurriedly helped her get dressed, found a sable fur, put it on her and said: "Your Majesty doesn't need to wear any clothes. It's cold outside. It's important to take care of your health. I swear to the death that Your Majesty will go out of the palace." "Qing told us to go out of the palace dressed like this, where are we going?" This mink fur is made up of the armpit skins of many martens. use.The queen's hair was in a disheveled bun and her clothes were messy. Wearing this sable fur, it was obvious that she could neither meet with the ministers to discuss defense strategies, nor go to the city to supervise the battle in person.She tossed off the sable fur and issued another order: "Daosheng, go out quickly and get the armor, wait for us to put it on, we don't want this one." "What clothes your majesty wants to wear, I'm afraid it's up to your majesty to decide." "Daosheng, what do you mean?" The queen's reaction was not slow, her tone had changed from gentleness to suspicion, and now it changed from suspicion to quite severe. When the queen became strict, Li Shi's tone softened again, and he said his original intention in a roundabout way: "I saw that the Song army entered the city. People's hearts are in chaos, and the big things are not good. The soldiers in the king's city have dispersed one after another, each trying to protect themselves. In this situation, how can we meet the enemy? The only thing I can do is fight this small body, It is the best policy for His Majesty to go out to meet the Song army. My father also agrees with this idea, and has led the family to protect Shengjia at the gate of the back garden." The earth-shattering words "welcome the Song army" made her fully understand his intentions, and she couldn't help being shocked and angry.Now the romantic Xiao Puxian as a lover has disappeared from behind the scenes, and the realistic Empress Xiao has reappeared as an empress.In essence, she has a somewhat romantic atmosphere, and she is never satisfied with the dull life of an ordinary lady, and demands to break through it in various forms.But long-term political practice has trained her to be a realist, because politics itself is a kind of social practice with strong reality, and her romantic atmosphere has to be constrained by the reality of politics.At the beginning, she made a contract with Ma Kuan because of the actual interests at the time. Later, after Langoudian's victory, she changed her position and became a resolute anti-Song faction. This was also based on actual considerations.Reality is ever-changing, and political forms are also ever-changing.Therefore, politicians of the exploiting class have no permanent principles to abide by, only real interests that they must always pursue.Her intuition told her that the Song Army could be defeated, and her current real interest was to defend the city and defeat the Song Army.Yang Keshi's 100,000 troops (and her clear political mind also told her that Yang Keshi couldn't bring a 100,000 troops to carry out a surprise attack) could not scare her. "I have my own opinion about war and surrender." After the romance faded, she commanded Li Shi, the commander of an insignificant guard army, with the emperor's dignity, "Li Shi, you and lead the guards to follow the order and go to the city to defend. .” "Didn't I say that the soldiers in the city have fled one after another, and Yang Keshi is giving orders at the Minzhong Temple?" With the change of the queen's attitude, Li Shi also became tough at this time, "I will enter the royal city in no time to search the palace and kill him." Officer, what did your Majesty say about going to the city to supervise the guards, it is better to follow the ministers to welcome the surrender, and the ministers have to intercede with Yang Keshi, and leave your Majesty with his life." "The defenders of the city are all dead," Empress Xiao said angrily, "I am going to fight the Song army alone. Li Xi, how dare you disobey my will again and again!" "To tell you the truth, your majesty, I have ordered the soldiers to open the city gate to wait for Master Song," Li Shi said with a smirk, "whether the guards in the palace listen to your majesty or the minister, your majesty's heart Countless. Could it be that His Majesty really single-handedly fought against Yang Keshi?" Now everything is no longer clear. "Li Xi!" Empress Xiao scolded harshly, "I have always treated your father and son well, but today when you are in danger, you actually want to betray me to Yang Keshi." "Your Majesty has always treated ministers and sons kindly," Li Shuang said with a sinister grin again. "Today, you may as well be as wealthy as a minister! To tell you the truth, I have sent someone to negotiate with Yang Keshi. As long as Kaicheng donates the Queen, If the ministers and sons do not lose the titles of dukes and marquises, His Majesty's life will be saved." Empress Xiao was extremely angry, she wanted to call out loudly, but the secret room was sealed like a wax seal, so even if she shouted, she couldn't hear it from outside.The saber I was carrying with me was also thrown in the mirror room last night when I was trying on makeup. How could I deal with the brave Li Shi with my bare hands.She took a chance, and when she was about to move, Li Shi had already rushed forward here, blocking the secret door leading to the outer room.With a slightly mocking tone, he warned the queen: "The palace is in chaos. Your majesty's cronies are close by, and the ministers have sent people to guard them. Your majesty has become a bird in a cage. Where are you going?" "You are so demented, Mr. Dao!" Losing your temper is never a realistic solution to political problems.Empress Xiao saw that she was at the end of her rope, so she had no choice but to sit down on the embroidered pier, softened again, and tried to touch him with tenderness, "Our confidant, who else is there besides you? Only you and I work together to recruit soldiers and repel the Song army, and everything will remain the same. If Yang Keshi is surrendered, you and I will become prisoners of the Song army, at the mercy of others, don’t say that the prince is hopeless, just walk and talk You won’t be free anymore. At that time, how can you and we come here to stay together every night? How can you trust Yang Keshi’s words? Daosheng, you are so cruel, once you ask someone to separate you and me, Feng Husband and wife, we will work together forever, and we will not rest in peace when we die." However, whether the heroine's strict orders or the lover's soft coaxing, it's too late now, and it's too late for her methods to be used.Empress Xiao suddenly heard a burst of random footsteps in the corridor.Li Shi gave a whistle, and many guards in uniform poured in from the secret door Li Shi opened, pulled down the curtain on the wall, sang a promise in unison, and said: "I have been waiting for a long time in the corridor to serve the holy driver." , please start Luan now!" Empress Xiao recognized everyone among them, and could call a few of them by name, and always regarded them as her cronies, but unexpectedly at this time, all of them became rebellious.Without any explanation, they opened the big cabinet in the secret room, put a lot of gold, silver and jewelry into their pockets, picked only the soft ones, and threw the heavy ones on the ground.Then they rushed forward, pushed Empress Xiao into the aisle, and roughly pushed her into a plain car that was already parked there. Li Shi was quite affectionate, so he slipped a mink fur to her and asked her to wrap her body tightly.The guards didn't care about her rubbing her feet in the car, shouted angrily, and closed the door with a "bang".All the decorations on this palace car have been torn away, which fits the bleak status of a widow queen who was forced to surrender.In order to block her from the sight of the outside world, the guards put a few thick cloths on the outside of the car, making her feel stuffy and breathless inside. Li Shi whistled again, and several guards pulled up the official car and rushed outside the official.