Empress Chu

Page 258

……

Two farmers in a barren field outside the city watched the fireworks rising from the city. The fireworks were far away from them, and they didn't look very scary. They curled up, but their faces were as if they were burned by the fire when they were close to it. red.

One was about to rush towards the city with a hoe in his hand, while the other held him tightly.

"What are you doing!" he yelled, "Go away."

The farmer who was held back whispered hoarsely: "What about the young master? The young master——"

"Don't forget my master's order!" The farmer who was pulling him shouted in a low voice, his eyes were red, "What are we going to do!"

Being dragged, the farmer's eyes were bleeding: "Then, young master, young master, he—"

"Don't let the young master die in vain—" the farmer pulling him hissed, "Go—"

The two turned around and ran away into the distance.

"Xiao Xun is dead—"

"Xiao Xun is dead—"

……

……

The news of Xiao Xun's death spread almost instantly. As soon as the Zhongshan Palace had time to help the second son to the front of the army, before he had the opportunity to go to various places to report to the new king, the soldiers and horses of the court came from four directions like a tide.

I don't know if it was because of the influence of the Hanjun family, or because Xiao Xun died and felt that the situation was over. Many families and even officials in the prefectures and counties turned their backs one after another. In less than a month, the imperial court's soldiers and horses approached Zhongshan County like a broken bamboo.

In July of the fourth year of Xingping, the Queen's army came to the city of Zhongshan County.

Chapter 72 Ping Ding

With one arm wrapped, Deng Yi walked up the city wall, looked down at the front, and saw a red-clothed figure in front of the covering army.

"Teacher, Grand Tutor, you must emphasize that the Second Young Master must not go to the capital as a hostage." Ning Kun followed behind Deng Yi and urged again, "We can cut the nobles and hand over troops, but the Second Young Master cannot leave Zhongshan County. otherwise--."

After Xiao Xun's death, although the second son continued to lead the army, his morale plummeted. Up to now, everyone in the Zhongshan Palace had no heart to fight. When the Queen's army was approaching, they sent the confession letter in advance.

Deng Yi asked: "Otherwise what?"

Ning Kun turned ruthless: "We will die with the county!"

Deng Yi glanced at him and said nothing.

Ning Kun's complexion darkened again, and he said with a wry smile: "This is also for the sake of my lord. The prince and the son are gone. No matter what, the princess and the princes are all relatives of the emperor. The crime is not worthy of death. It is the lord who the court will not let go." .”

Deng Yi said, "I'm not afraid of death."

"Of course I know that my lord is not afraid." Ning Kun said sincerely, "I am not afraid, but we can still fight, why not live if we can't die?"

He grabbed Deng Yi's arm.

"After doing so many things, the last game is empty, how can we be reconciled."

Deng Yi didn't speak, but looked forward. At this time, the red dress had already arrived at the city gate.

Two teams of shield soldiers guarded closely in front, and five rows of crossbowmen followed closely behind.

Compared with the time when the prince ran into the imperial city, the soldiers are really excellent, calm and majestic.

"Deng Yi." Chu Zhao shouted loudly from under the city gate.

It was daytime at this time, although the gate of the county city was tall, but the face of the woman under the gate could be seen clearly, she hadn't seen it for almost a year, and she was a little strange.

And compared with four years ago, it is even more different.

She is no longer just Chu Ling's daughter, but the queen of Da Xia.

Deng Yi said indifferently: "Empress Empress, long time no see."

"Deng Yi." Chu Zhao shouted without any intention of talking about the past, "Open the city gate quickly!"

Ning Kun couldn't help tugging on Deng Yi's sleeve to remind him.

Deng Yi ignored him, looked at the city gate, and said, "Miss Chu, I don't owe you a meal now, do I?"

meal?Ning Kun froze for a moment, what did he mean?Or to talk about the past, so as to negotiate conditions?

Chu Zhao looked at Deng Yi on the city gate, and said, "So? Don't you open the city gate?"

Deng Yi lowered his eyes: "No."

Wouldn't it be provocative to just say no?It should be a little more relaxed, Ning Kun thought, is this to force the queen to negotiate terms first?

"Teacher, why not—" he couldn't help but whisper beside him.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Chu Zhao called out from under the city gate: "Xiaoman."

Accompanied by this voice, a female guard standing beside her raised the crossbow in her hand, Ning Kun was still speaking slowly, watching the arrows slowly flying from the corner of her eyes——

"—Still directly—" Ning Kun heard his voice slow down.

There was a pop in his ear.

Deng Yi beside him fell backwards, and Ning Kun could only see trembling arrow feathers piercing Deng Yi's chest.

The rest of Ning Kun's words turned into shouts.

At the same time, louder shouts came from under the city gate.

"Refused to open the city gate, shoot to kill—" Chu Zhao shouted, raising his hand, "Siege the city—"

Accompanied by her order, the shield soldiers instantly transformed into a circular formation to protect Chu Zhao and the archers. The archers fired their bows and crossbows at once, and arrows rained towards the city wall like rain.

The soldiers on the city wall were caught off guard by arrows, defended in a panic, fought back, and fell into chaos.

The army waiting in the distance also beat the drums, and the sound of fighting rushed towards the county.

"Open the city gate and don't kill—"

"Disarm and don't kill—"

……

……

In July of the fourth year of Xingping, Princess Zhongshan and her children knelt down to welcome the queen.

The queen angrily reprimanded King Zhongshan and his eldest son Xiao Xun on the spot, demoted all the people in the palace of Zhongshan King to ordinary people, and assigned them to guard the border.

The Zhongshan Wang rebellion, which lasted for nearly a year, ended.

The letter soldiers rushed in all directions to deliver the news.

The army of the imperial court did not rest, and continued to track down the remnants of the fugitives, and collected the cities that had returned to the monks and stubbornly resisted.

The officials stationed in the county city also have complicated affairs, setting rewards and punishments, comforting the people, and repairing the damaged city.

But the queen who had been rushing forward disappeared without a trace.

……

……

An autumn rain made the county town much quieter.

A Le raised his umbrella high, and protected Chu Zhao into the mansion. The mansion could be imagined to be magnificent just by looking at the gate.

But at this time, the houses facing us were completely collapsed and almost completely burned, and the original appearance could not be seen at all.

A team of soldiers and guards were digging hard in it, not counting the ruins, but they had to dig three feet into the ground.

"At that time, we were discussing to burn down the house, so as to convey the news to those who were on guard outside." A soldier stood beside Chu Zhao, and said in a nasal voice, "And, the young master said, this way is also conducive to escape."

Ale stared at the ruins, and shouted: "It's all burnt down like this, how can I escape!"

Before the soldier could speak, Chu Zhao, who had been silent all the time, said, "I guess I wanted to take advantage of the chaos during the firefighting."

"That's a method, but it's very difficult to implement." The soldier whispered, "Because this is in the mansion, the guards must have been surrounded."

Valley

Some people are busy fighting the fire, but there must be many people around.

Chu Zhao stopped talking.

"The best way is to hide in the fire." The soldier continued, "We sneaked into the mansion several times, first arranged a fire in the hall, and at the same time hid a layer of fireproof cloth on the screen, and pried open the window by the window. floor, dug a hole leading to the outside of the house, and hid a corpse in the hole in advance—”

A Le was elated when he heard this: "I see, so Xie Yanlai can pull out the hidden corpse with a fireproof screen when it is on fire, let him pretend to be himself, and then drill out of the hole, so that no one can find out .”

As she spoke, she stomped her feet happily, staring at the soldier and asking anxiously.

"Did he escape? Did he escape?"

The soldier also wanted to ask the answer to this question. His face was pale, and he said: "The Taifu's house is full of soldiers and guards. The young master said that they will wait in the cave... because Xiao Xun is inside, the fire should be extinguished soon, and then When they find the corpse, they will disperse, and then..."

The smile on Al's face disappeared.

Should, then, etc... What these three words form is not hope, but fantasy.

"You know how hot the ground gets when the fire is burning?" she murmured. "How do you guys think that's the best way?"

The soldier trembled and knelt on the ground, covering his face with his hands and sobbing: "Because the young master didn't think about surviving."

Therefore, any method that can be tried is a good method.

A Le only felt a sharp pain in his throat.

"Your Highness, we found it." The soldier over there shouted suddenly.

Before Ah Le could react, Chu Zhao had already rushed over. Ah Le hurriedly chased after her with an umbrella. Chu Zhao ran very fast. The rain and the mess on the ground could not stop her speed.

A pothole with obvious artificial traces appeared in front of him, winding from under the ruins to under a big tree.

There is some distance from the house here, but even so, half of the big tree was smoked to death.

The pothole was littered with wooden supports and even tree roots, but no bodies.

Chu Zhao's footsteps softened, and A Le hurriedly supported her.

"Climbed out?" Ale said tremblingly, "Did it really crawl out?"

No one could answer her.

Because it has been a month since Xie Yanlai hid here.

"...Maybe it was dug out at that time."

"Where can I hide when I climb out? The city must be searched for assassins."

"One more question, is General Xie injured? A total of ten people came in, and all of them died, which shows the danger..."

"Go and ask the officials and generals in the county and the palace, how many assassins have been captured, and they must be dead or alive."

"Maybe they don't even remember..."

The voices of the soldiers kept coming, and Chu Zhao knelt on the ground, letting the muddy water soak his clothes, motionless, without saying a word, just looking at the pothole.

This pothole is not big, it can only accommodate one person, lying down and moving.

He was here at that time, was it hot or not?

Is it hard to breathe?

How long has he been in there?

"Miss." Ah Le held an umbrella in one hand, hugged her in the other, and said tearfully, "If you haven't seen the body, you are still alive. Let's search the whole city quickly. Ah Jiu must be waiting for you to save him."

Chu Zhao nodded: "Yes." She looked around again, "Search, search here, search all over the city, search anywhere."

The soldiers responded and hurriedly dispersed.

A Le helped Chu Zhao: "Miss, get up, let's go back first."

Chu Zhao shook his head: "My legs are a little numb, let me sit here for a while and take it easy."

What kind of numbness in the legs? You can't sit on the rainy and muddy ground with numbness in your legs. Ah Le held back his tears. The lady just didn't want to leave, she just wanted to guard the pothole.

"Then, miss, let's go slowly under the eaves over there, shall we?" She coaxed carefully.

Chu Zhao didn't speak or move, and at this moment, another soldier came quickly.

"Your Majesty." He said, "Deng Yi woke up and said he has something to ask Your Majesty."

Deng Yi.