The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 118 Preparing for the Chaoyang Gate Parade

After the thrilling moment, Baochai collapsed in her husband's arms, her fair face flushed, and a hint of charm flashed between her eyebrows.

From holding it at the beginning, to simply hanging it at the end, it has various poses, showing its graceful and charming style.

Shen Yuan caressed the pink and smooth body in his arms.

"Ying'er, go and get me a cup of tea."

After hearing her son-in-law's instructions, Ying'er came back to her senses.

The girl went away in response, taking small steps. She clearly felt a little unnatural and could not help but tighten her eyes.

Ying'er brought the tea, lowered her eyes shyly, stretched out her fair and tender arms, and handed over the cup.

Shen Yuan took the teacup, brought it to Baochai's lips, and said in a gentle voice, "Sister, have a sip of tea."

The beauty in my arms was breathing sweetly, but she still hadn't recovered.

After being stunned for a moment, he slightly opened his lips, licked the rim of the cup and began to drink.

After drinking half a cup of tea, Baochai finally came to her senses. She felt even more ashamed and buried her head in her husband's arms.

Shen Yuan helped his wife to tidy up, put a gauze on her, carried her to the bed, laid her down on the bed, and covered her with a brocade quilt.

Leaning over, she gently kissed the blushing cheek and said with pity, "Your husband has lost some self-control."

Baochai shook her delicate head lightly, and stroked her still slightly swollen belly with her bare hands. She said with a smile on her beautiful face, "I want to get pregnant with Shen Lang's child as soon as possible."

In fact, the beautiful lady is also happy about this. Her husband's obsession with her is a reflection of his deep love.

"Sister, do you like boys or girls?" Shen Yuan gently stroked the beauty's rosy cheek.

Baochai thought about it seriously, then looked up at Shen Yuan for a while, and said with a dimple smile: "I like both boys and girls. Shen Lang is so handsome, so the child will definitely be good-looking too."

Shen Yuan stroked his wife's hair again and said with a smile, "My wife is really beautiful."

After chatting in this sweet and soft way for a while, Baochai fell into a deep sleep with a happy smile on the corners of her soft lips.

Time is like water, years are like a shuttle.

On the fifth day of June, the seventeenth year of Yuanzhen, it finally arrived.

This is destined to be an extraordinary day, as today is the emperor's 48th birthday.

Emperor Yuanzhen ascended the throne in a special way at the age of 31 and has been in power for 17 years.

For seventeen years, the emperor worked diligently day and night. Although he did not achieve any extraordinary achievements, he did his best to maintain the stability and peace of the Great Zhou.

Today, the entire city of Shenjing is immersed in joy because of the emperor's birthday.

In addition, there is another piece of news that has been announced in advance so that every citizen in Shenjing City can know it.

The emperor will hold a military parade this morning, but the details of the parade have not been disclosed.

As a result, the people have more speculations and expectations about this. After all, many years have passed since the last military parade.

At dawn, Shen Yuan left the Shen Mansion and rode on horseback to the New Army camp accompanied by his personal guards.

At this moment, in the military camp, the sentries were on high alert and the lights were bright.

Shen Yuan entered the camp, wearing black armor, with a sword hanging from his waist, and walked up to the camp platform with heavy steps.

The breeze blew across Zhilan Yushu's resolute face, his hair fluttered by his ears, and accompanied by the clanging sound of armor, the young man looked particularly heroic at this moment.

He glanced at Generals Feng Ziying, Jiang Fan and others beside him, and his sharp eyes swept over the five thousand soldiers below.

"grown ups!"

Under the leadership of Feng Ziying and others, all the soldiers saluted respectfully, and the sound of weapons and armor echoed throughout the entire military camp.

Shen Yuan nodded and said in a deep voice: "All troops, listen to my order. After breakfast, we will line up and head to Chaoyang Gate."

"Yes!" The new army guards were all excited.

Seeing such morale, Shen Yuan was quite satisfied and there was no need to say too much to encourage them.

After several months of training and the baptism of the previous battle against bandits, he could feel that every soldier had undergone a significant transformation.

A few months ago, some of them were ostracized and worked as menial workers in the Wucheng Bingmasi; some of them were full of passion but had nothing to do in the streets.
And now, they are about to face the inspection of the current emperor. They will surely appear in front of the people of the whole city of Shenjing with the momentum of suppressing bandits and the most resolute and brave attitude.

Shen Yuan looked at Feng Ziying on the left and ordered: "Prepare the pots and cook, and when the morning hour comes, line up the troops and beat the drums to march forward."

Feng Ziying took the order and left. Shen Yuan looked at Jiang Fan on the right and confirmed, "Is everything ready?"

Jiang Fan said sternly, "Don't worry, sir. Everything has been prepared and will ensure that Your Majesty is safe."

At the time of Chen, the Eastern Crow began to rise.

"rumble."

The dense drumbeats rang out in the New Army Guard camp, shaking the hearts of all the soldiers and making their blood boil.

Feng Ziying and his generals heard the drumbeat and quickly reorganized the soldiers according to the previously trained formations.

"set off!"

Following the deep command from the commander Shen Yuan, the entire army marched in a mighty and orderly manner towards the Chaoyang Gate in the east of Shenjing City.

Shen Yuan also mounted his horse and led the army forward, accompanied by a dozen personal guards.

At this time, outside Chaoyang Gate.

Hundreds of thousands of people from the capital had gathered in the open spaces on both sides of the city gate in advance.

The crowds on both sides were so dense that there was no end in sight.

This grand occasion rarely seen in more than a decade, no one wants to miss it. If the venue is not too full, I am afraid that more than one million people in the city will appear here today, and the streets will truly be deserted.

"Which army are you reviewing in today's military parade?"

"Needless to say, apart from the Twelve Battalions of the Capital Army, is there any other army in the Capital that is worthy of our emperor's personal inspection?"

"That's true. Looking back at all the military parades held by the Great Zhou Dynasty, apart from the Beijing Camp, the only ones reviewed were the border troops returning from victorious battles. I haven't heard of any victories recently, so the only one that can be reviewed today is the Beijing Camp."

At this moment, someone suddenly had an idea and asked suspiciously, "What do you think? Is it possible?"

"What is it?"

"Shen Zhuangyuan's new military guard."

After the man finished speaking, he immediately shook his head and denied it himself: "It shouldn't be. The emperor would not hold such a grand military parade just for this group of soldiers."

"Well, it's impossible. Absolutely impossible."

Although the New Army Guard had just wiped out the banditry in the capital with lightning speed not long ago, no one believed that the emperor would hold a military parade just for this achievement.

At the same time, on the Chaoyang Gate Tower, a red satin flag with black characters of the Great Zhou Dynasty fluttered in the wind. Surrounding it were flags like a forest. The Jinyiwei were on guard with knives in hand, and the atmosphere was solemn and stern.

Chaoyang Gate is the largest main city gate in Shenjing City. The gate is more than ten meters wide and magnificent. The corresponding city tower is also extremely wide, enough to accommodate thousands of people.

In the middle of the tower were the royal family members who came to watch the ceremony. Even the emperor emeritus was present in person. In addition, there were the eldest prince Gao Ling, the second prince Gao Jun, the third prince Gao Yan, the fourth prince Gao Yue, as well as Prince Zhongshun and other relatives.

On the left side of the tower were seated civil and military officials, including the Chief Minister Yang Yanzhi, the Second Minister Sun Xingchang, the Minister of War Yu Qian, the Minister of Rites Zhou Xian, the Governor of Nanjing Jiang Zhongnian and other important civil officials, as well as four kings, eight dukes and twelve marquises, and other military heroes, as well as General Shenwu Feng Tang, and the Jingying Jiedushi Wang Ziteng and Jia Zheng were also there.

On the right side of the tower were Concubine Wu, Concubine Zhou and other concubines of Emperor Yuanzhen, as well as the wives of important court officials. Lady Jia, Mrs. Wang and others were among them, and even Baochai, Daiyu, Xiangyun and the three sisters Chun came along.

For the female members, it became a relatively independent private area because of the curtains drawn by the palace maids, servants and nannies.

Among these people, the ones who are most looking forward to it would be girls like Chai, Daiyun and others, but who is the happiest today would be Yuanchun.

Yuanchun came to watch the ceremony as the lady historian of Concubine Wu. She didn't care much about the military review, but was very much looking forward to seeing her family.

"Go ahead. You probably haven't seen your family for many years." Concubine Wu said with a smile.

Ever since she climbed onto the city wall, she noticed Yuanchun standing on tiptoe and searching around with her eyes, so she naturally knew what the girl was looking for.

Upon hearing this, Yuanchun was overjoyed and bowed to Concubine Wu, saying gratefully, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

"Go ahead." Concubine Wu said with a smile, "Give my regards to the old lady of the Jia Mansion on my behalf."

Although Concubine Wu had an honorable status, she was not favored by Emperor Yuanzhen in these years. It was Yuanchun who accompanied her and helped her through countless lonely days and nights. In her heart, she had long regarded this graceful and quiet girl as her own daughter.

Yuanchun responded happily, and went to the women of the Jia family impatiently.

He walked quickly to Lady Jia and Lady Wang, bowed deeply, and called out, "Old lady, mother."

Grandmother Jia, who was talking to a few girls, looked over at the sound and was stunned for a moment. Her nose felt sore and tears welled up in her eyes. She called out in a trembling voice, "Big girl!"

Mrs. Wang, who was standing by, held a handkerchief and looked at her daughter whom she had not seen for many years, and she also shed tears.

When Baochai, Daiyu, Xiangyun, Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun and others saw this scene, they all stood up from their seats and gathered around.
(End of this chapter)