Rong Xia didn't expect Ban Han to suddenly ask this question. He looked at Ban Han and suddenly fell silent. @
He didn't want to involve Ban Han in this matter. He even deliberately hid it from her and found a way out for her. If it failed, he would let Ban Han "put righteousness before family." Besides, Huahua had part of the Jiang family's bloodline, so she could still live a good life.
Therefore, he deliberately avoided the Ban Family's power and connections, and didn't let the Ban Family get involved in his private affairs. He was very secretive and didn't even reveal any ambition. He didn't understand how Huahua guessed this matter. Or maybe she didn't want to ask about this matter, or was he thinking too much and Huahua didn't want to ask about it?
The room became quiet.
Ban Han took two exquisite teacups, poured a cup of tea, and put it in Rong Xia's hand. He smiled and said, "Think about it slowly. I'm not in a hurry."
"Huahua, what do you want to know?" Rong Xia took the heavy cup of tea with a bitter smile and drank half of it.
"Just say whatever you want. Think about what you're hiding from me, and tell me." Ban Han raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a faint smile. "You don't have to go to court now, and I don't have anything to do. You can talk slowly, and I can listen slowly."
Rong Xia wanted to put down the teacup with a bitter smile, but Ban Han stopped him. "Don't put down the teacup. I'm afraid you'll be thirsty if you talk too much later."
Hearing this, Rong Xia put the teacup back. "Well, you listen slowly, and I'll talk slowly."
"When I was young, my mother didn't like me. Because after I was born, my mother began to gain weight. She tried many methods, but she couldn't get back to her previous appearance." Rong Xia's tone was flat. She had no reaction to her mother's resentment. "But fortunately, I was good-looking since I was young. My mother gradually treated me better, but she was a little strict with me. She also felt that I was not as good as my elder brother."
"What kind of nonsense is that? You didn't choose to be born or not. Even if she wants to blame someone, she should blame herself or your father. Why should she blame you when you don't know anything?" Ban Han exploded when he heard the beginning of the story. "Can you be reasonable?!"
After scolding her, Ban Han remembered that this was her dead mother-in-law. Her behavior seemed very unfilial.
However, Rong Xia was not angry. Seeing that Ban Han's face was red with anger, he smiled and said, "Don't be angry. It's been so many years."
Ban Han, who grew up being doted on by her grandfather, grandmother, and parents, couldn't imagine what kind of atmosphere Rong Xia lived in when she was young. She took a deep breath and finally suppressed the urge to scold.
"Later, my father's career wasn't very smooth. He didn't spend as much time with my mother as before. My mother suspected that my father had a mistress. She often told me how much she sacrificed because of my birth." Rong Xia's face showed a mocking smile. "Later, she died. Outside, it was said that she died of illness."
"Said?"
"Yes, it's all rumors." Rong Xia lowered his eyelids and said coldly, "She died of poison. At that time, I was young and didn't know what kind of poison she was poisoned with. It wasn't until last year that I found out that she died of love bean poisoning. It was the love bean that my father gave her."
Ban Han felt a chill in her heart. Rong Xia's mother died of suicide or murder?
Who killed her?
Jealous of her woman or … Rong Xia's father?
The Ban Family's atmosphere was very harmonious. Although Ban Han didn't experience all kinds of fights in the family, she heard from some of her sisters that the main wife humiliated the concubines, the concubines whispered in the men's ears, deliberately provoked the main wife. All kinds of grievances accumulated together and could be written into a popular story.
Now that she heard Rong Xia say these, her first thought was those family secrets that she heard before.
Rong Xia saw her strange expression and knew that she had misunderstood. She continued: "My father and my mother had a very good relationship. My father didn't have any concubines, not even a tongfang. After my mother passed away, my father wrote poems and lyrics all day long to mourn my mother. Until the day he died of illness, he repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to be buried with my mother. "
Born at different times, died in the same grave.
It was obviously a very touching love story, but Ban Han didn't feel much after hearing it. Probably people's hearts were biased. She cared more about Rong Xia's life after losing his parents than the love story of his parents.
"However, in fact, my father didn't die of normal causes. Like my mother, he died of acacia bean poisoning." Rong Xia took a sip of cold tea. "But I think that he probably didn't want to live. Even if he wasn't poisoned, he couldn't have held on for many years."
"Later, my eldest brother also fell ill. He became thinner and thinner day by day. Before he died, he didn't receive the imperial edict to inherit the title. Sister-in-law went back to her parents' home during the mourning period and accidentally miscarried." Rong Xia's eyes fell on the vase in the corner. "In the end, I was the only one left in the big Rong family."
"Now I have you." Rong Xia's lips curled up. "This became a home again, not a gorgeous but empty mansion."
"I …" Ban Han turned her head and said, "Let's not talk about it."
She felt sad just listening to it, not to mention Rong Xia who had experienced these things.
"I've been hiding these things in my heart, and I can't tell anyone." Rong Xia held her hand. "Huahua, can you sit with me for a while?"
Ban Han pursed her lips and nodded.
Rong Xia chuckled and said, "You don't have to be sad. These experiences may not be very lucky, but at least I was lucky to meet you."
"At this time, you still don't forget to say nice things."
"I don't say nice things, I only tell the truth."
"Are you going to talk about other things? If you don't, I'm going to sleep."
Rong Xia took her into his arms. "I'll continue. Don't go."
"After my eldest brother died of illness, I found out that some of the medicines he took were very harmful to the body. They seemed to help people refresh themselves, but in fact, they couldn't be used easily." Rong Xia smiled bitterly. "At that time, I was only in my teens. Even if I found something suspicious, I didn't dare to tell anyone because I didn't know who I could trust."
"I found more and more things. In the end, I found out where the mastermind behind the scenes came from." Rong Xia smiled sarcastically. "It was His Majesty."
He looked down at Ban Han, thinking that she would be shocked or defend Emperor Yunqing. Unexpectedly, she just listened quietly and didn't have any intention of defending Emperor Yunqing.
"His Majesty repeatedly showed kindness to me and made me the leader of the secret agents." Rong Xia's beautiful starry eyes were full of mockery. "The whole country praised me as a gentleman, but they didn't know that I was doing the secret agents' work."
This kind of shocking news would normally shock anyone who heard it.
Ban Han was indeed shocked, but she was shocked by something else. "Your swordsmanship is like a toy. It's okay to use it to scare people, but how can you be the leader of the secret agents?"
"The leader of the secret agents is not the leader of the killers. Why must I be good at kung fu?" Rong Xia shook his head and smiled bitterly. "Can't it be because I'm smarter?"
"That's possible." Ban Han nodded. "You're smarter than me. Go on. I'm listening."
"The more I worked as a secret agent, the more I felt that the whole country was like an empty shell full of holes. It was hopeless." Rong Xia shook his head and smiled. "At that time, I thought it would be good to support a prince who had the courage to be the emperor."
Ban Han thought of Emperor Yunqing's sons and said with a complicated tone, "Did you find him?"
Rong Xia: "I thought you wouldn't ask me this question."
Ban Han: "…"
"Huahua, I'm not a gentleman. I'm an ambitious man," Rong Xia said. "The places where you and Brother Heng buried treasures were both related to me."
Benny swallowed his saliva. "You buried things there too?"
Rong Xia laughed. "Yes, I buried some ironware."
"Isn't ironware a bit euphemistic?" Ban Han thought carefully. Before, she didn't feel that there was anything strange about her coincidental encounter with Rong Xia. Now that Rong Xia explained it clearly, she felt that something was wrong.
The first time was early in the morning, and the second time it was almost dark. Who would go to the wilderness at this time?
Thinking of this, she felt a chill on the back of her neck. Rong Xia didn't kill her to silence her. She was too polite. "You didn't kill us to silence us. Brother Heng and I are really lucky."
"If it were someone else, I might have to choose this outcome. But you're different."
"Because I'm especially beautiful?"
Rong Xia nodded silently.
He was stunned when she turned around, but that wasn't the real reason why he kept them alive. It was because he was sure that the siblings didn't find out his secret, and they didn't have the brains to find out.
He didn't tell Huahua about this idea. He was worried that he would sleep in the study tonight.
"You have good taste." Ban Han patted Rong Xia's shoulder and continued to maintain her silence.
"Huahua," Rong Xia looked at Ban Han. "I don't want to implicate you, and I don't want to implicate the Ban Family. If I fail, pretend that you don't know about this. I've already arranged everything else. I won't let you be implicated. "
"What implicating?" Ban Han said angrily. "You're my man. If I say that what you did has nothing to do with me, will people believe me?"
"If the Crown Prince ascends the throne, he will definitely believe me."
"The Crown Prince is cowardly. How can he be the ruler of a country?" Ban Han said angrily. "Besides, we don't even know if the Crown Prince is dead or alive. You're thinking too far ahead."
"You don't blame me?" Rong Xia felt that Huahua gave him a new feeling every day. "What I want is this world."
"Isn't that good? If you become the Emperor, I'll be the Empress." Ban Han looked calm. "Do whatever you want. I won't stop you."
"The Emperor …"
"I'm not an idiot." Ban Han looked a little disappointed. "Although Grandmother never told me about what happened to the Ban Family and some old grudges, I have some guesses in my heart. I just didn't dare to believe it."
Emperor Yunqing could even poison his childhood companion. What was wrong with him harming her grandfather?
"On the day of Grandmother's accident, I went to the Grand Royal Residence to visit. She gave me something."
"Grandmother gave you something. What was it?"
"The Tiger Seal of the Three Armies."
"What did you say?!" Ban Han looked at Rong Xia in shock. "Didn't you lose the Tiger Seal a long time ago? It's just that His Majesty didn't announce it to the public."
So such an important thing had always been in Grandmother's hands? Why did Grandmother give it to Rong Xia? If she knew Rong Xia's thoughts and still gave the Tiger Seal to Rong Xia, did it mean that she had a grudge against the Jiang Dynasty?
Ban Han's feelings towards Emperor Yunqing were very complicated. He was grateful that Emperor Yunqing took care of him, but he also hated that Emperor Yunqing was cold-blooded and heartless, burning the bridge after crossing it. Her grandfather had been very good to her since she was young. Every memory related to him was a happy one.
She couldn't bring herself to harm Emperor Yunqing with her own hands, but she couldn't pretend that her grandfather didn't suffer.
"Rong Xia." Ban Han looked at Rong Xia steadily. "You will succeed."
The Jiang Dynasty would eventually usher in a new era.
When a dynasty reached its peak, it would inevitably decline. The replacement of a new dynasty was something that had long been destined.
Rong Xia thought that his confession would lead to a storm, but he didn't expect that it would only be a gentle breeze and a drizzle. This huge difference made him understand what it meant by "happiness comes too suddenly."
"That …" Ban Han looked at Rong Xia with some embarrassment. "Can you let me see what the Tiger Seal looks like? I'm very curious."
The Tiger Seal was made of gold. It looked very majestic, but it also looked a little cute. Ban Han looked at it over and over again. "The Tiger Seal sounds very powerful, but it's actually not very useful. When you mobilize troops, the general has to be willing to listen to you. This Tiger Seal can be very useful sometimes, and sometimes it's just a mascot. The most difficult thing to control is people's hearts. "
"I know that it's impossible to mobilize troops with just a Tiger Seal." Rong Xia saw Ban Han throw the Tiger Seal around like it was a small toy. "But sometimes it's also useful."
"Don't tell me these things that require thinking." Ban Han returned the Tiger Seal to Rong Xia. "I'm hungry. Let's go eat."
She stood up and suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Is there anything else you're hiding from me?"
Rong Xia thought for a long time and nodded affirmatively.
"Good boy." Ban Han patted his head. "You should have been like this from the beginning."
After Prince Ning ascended the throne, he named the country "Fengning". It was a good meaning of harvest and tranquility. However, the days in the Daye Dynasty weren't peaceful. Riots broke out everywhere. The officials in the court changed again and again. Prince Ning listened to the slanderous words of petty people and often lost his temper. He didn't give any face to the court officials.
Any official who had a relationship with the Crown Prince didn't have a good ending. Not only that, there were often palace maids who were abused to death. Soon, the Fengning Emperor's tyrannical behavior spread throughout the Daye Dynasty. Rumors about the Fengning Emperor's improper way of obtaining the throne and putting his father and brother under house arrest spread like wildfire on the Internet. Even the people in the more remote provinces and counties could vividly describe how the Fengning Emperor usurped the throne, how he didn't care about meat and vegetables, and how he committed atrocities in the palace.
The people's hearts were a strange thing. Most of the people resigned themselves to adversity and didn't dare to have any rebellious thoughts. But when the higher-ups did things that crossed their bottom line, they would wildly resist. Even if they had to sacrifice their lives, they would overthrow the higher-ups that they hated.
Just as the Fengning Emperor was furious at the court because of the rioters, the people in Xuezhou rebelled. And it wasn't the people who rebelled. It was the local officials and the people who rebelled.
Only then did everyone remember that the Zhao Family had been demoted to other provinces and counties by the Fengning Emperor. The Governor of Xuezhou was the legitimate son of the main branch of the Zhao Family. No wonder he rebelled.
Xuezhou took up the banner of cleaning up the Emperor. Dongzhou, Xizhou, and other large provinces and counties all responded. The court's army retreated in defeat. Jiang Luo, who was always absurd, couldn't sit still. He sent a few trusted aides who were all defeated by the rebel army. In the end, a small portion of the Daye Dynasty's territory fell into the rebel army's hands.
The officials were helpless. Jiang Luo complained endlessly. Only now did he regret that he had demoted the only officials in the court who could fight to the border. Now, there was no one available.
"Your Majesty," the young eunuch who had been serving Jiang Luo said, "this servant actually has a good candidate to recommend, but I'm afraid Your Majesty will be dissatisfied when you hear this person's name."
"Who?" Jiang Luo was already desperately seeking treatment. When he heard the little eunuch beside him giving him an idea, he hurriedly asked, "These useless things. Usually, each of them is eloquent, but when it comes to critical times, none of them are useful."
"Marquis Cheng 'an Rong Junpo."
"Him?" Jiang Luo frowned. "He's a scholar. Can he go to the battlefield?"
"Although he's not good at it, his wife was born in a family of generals," the eunuch said. "Rong Xia has always been indebted to Your Majesty's maternal grandfather's family. He is also Marquis of the Daye Dynasty. At this critical time, even if he doesn't want to stand out, he has to shed blood for the Daye Dynasty."
"Even if we take ten thousand steps back, if he accidentally dies on the battlefield, it will also solve a big problem in Your Majesty's heart. This is a win-win situation."
"What you said makes sense." Jiang Luo suddenly understood. He originally wanted Marquis Cheng 'an to die, but he couldn't find any evidence against him. Now that he died on the battlefield, sacrificing his life for the country, who could say anything?
"You're right. Come, draft the imperial edict."
"That's right. Rong Xia and Ban Han will lead their troops out of the city. The place where the Ban Family lives will be heavily guarded. Don't let them leave the city."
"Yes."
Before this imperial edict was issued, Rong Xia had already ordered people to move the Ban Family out of the capital. The Ban Family that stayed in the city didn't go out much, so no one suspected their identity. When the soldiers of the Yamen guarded the courtyard where the Ban Family lived, "Ban Huai" and "Ban Heng" opened half the door and cursed for a long time. They let people see the bad temper of the Ban Family.
While the Ban Family was being controlled, Fengning Emperor's imperial edict was sent to Marquis Cheng 'an's residence.
As Fengning Emperor expected, after hearing that the Ban Family was being protected, Marquis Cheng 'an and his wife's expressions changed. In the end, they obediently accepted the imperial edict. The next morning, they left the city with their personal attendants and the expeditionary army that was only fifty thousand people, but was called "two hundred thousand."
Fengning Emperor hated Rong Xia, so when Rong Xia left the city, he didn't even send Rong Xia off. Instead, he casually sent an inconspicuous official to send him off.
His actions made even more courtiers bitterly disappointed, including some of the officials who originally followed him.
After leaving the borders of the capital, the expeditionary army headed south without daring to delay.
Along the way, there were soldiers who disturbed the people and even damaged the crops. Rong Xia ordered these soldiers to be punished, but they weren't satisfied. In the end, they realized that they couldn't beat Rong Xia in archery, and they couldn't beat Ban Han in marksmanship. In the end, they all became obedient.
"General, the rebel army is in front of us." The vanguard rode his horse to Rong Xia's side. "General, please give us your orders."
"Soldiers, you must be tired from the journey. Let's set up camp and conserve our energy."
"Yes."
The vanguard was delighted. They were indeed tired from the journey. If they went to set up camp now, how could they be a match for the rebel army? However, their food was limited, so they couldn't delay for too long. If they ran out of food, they would definitely be defeated.
After setting up camp, Rong Xia and Ban Han lived in the same tent. The other soldiers were already used to it, so they didn't find it strange. During the journey, they had already been impressed by Princess Fule's ability. Although she was a woman, many men couldn't compare to her.
It was a pity that she wasn't a man, otherwise the Ban Family would have a successor.
However, when they thought about how the Ban Family was being held hostage in the capital by the Emperor, the soldiers felt a chill in their hearts. It was the Emperor who was heartless and caused chaos in the world. In the end, he forced a woman to go to war and used her family as a hostage. This was something that even the uneducated people couldn't stand.
It was a pity that Marquis Cheng 'an and Princess Fule were newlyweds, but they encountered such a troublesome situation.
"Looking at the general's attitude, it seems that he doesn't want to face the rebel army." An old general shook his head. Even if he had a thousand things on his mind, he couldn't speak at this time.
"Who wants to face the rebel army?" A young general in Silver Armor said angrily. "We are soldiers to protect the country's borders and resist foreign enemies, not to point our weapons at our own people and innocent people."
The other generals didn't say anything. Their hearts were also heavy because everyone knew that the rebel army was forced to rebel because they had no other choice. However, these soldiers knew that they didn't do anything wrong, but they had to face them on the battlefield. Who would be happy?
"Motherf * cker, I might as well rebel too!" The general in Silver Armor cursed. "I feel wronged to work for such a muddle-headed Emperor."
The young general in Silver Armor was from a military family. Although it wasn't as prominent as the Ban Family, it had been passed down for several generations. He had only been in the army for a few years, and he didn't expect that his first time on the battlefield wouldn't be to kill foreign enemies, but to kill his own people. This made him feel very wronged.
"Don't talk nonsense!" The old general said. "If other people hear you, don't you want to die?"
"Ka!" Someone had stepped on a dead branch.
The generals turned around and saw Princess Fule standing not too far away. She was wearing a golden soft armor.
"Greetings, Princess." The generals' expressions changed and they all stood up to salute her.
Ban Han was accompanying the army and had the title of "Right General". It was clear that the current Emperor was determined to drag the Ban Family down with him.
Some courtiers stood up to oppose Ban Han going on the battlefield. They said that there was no precedent for a woman to be a general in the Great Cause. However, Fengning Emperor refuted this with the reason that there had been women generals in history.
If women in history could do it, then why couldn't Princess Fule do it? Didn't she have any responsibility to the Great Cause? Didn't she have any loyalty to the Great Cause? As a princess of the Imperial Court, she didn't even have this awareness?
The meaning of these words was that if Ban Han didn't want to go on the battlefield, then it meant that she had no loyalty to the Great Cause.
Everyone knew that Fengning Emperor's words were sophistry, but no one dared to speak up for Princess Fule.
This was because those with a backbone couldn't stand in the Imperial Court anymore. Those who remained were fence-sitters or spineless people.
It didn't matter if she followed the rules or not. The world was already in chaos, so what did it matter if a woman went on the battlefield?
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