Chapter 66

In the distance, soldiers patrolling the camp rang the gong to announce the time. The sound of the gong came from the night and was particularly clear in the silent tent. The candles burning on the high table trembled suddenly.

Under Xie Zheng's cold gaze, He Jingyuan spoke with difficulty: "My Lord, please treat me as a coward. If I am still alive after resolving the crisis in Lucheng, I will definitely tell you everything."

Gongsun Yin couldn't help but glance at Xie Zheng when he heard this, and both of them remained silent.

He Jingyuan handed over the tiger talisman for mobilizing troops from Jizhou, which shows his loyalty. However, he kept his identity as a couple of the Fan family a secret, just to protect himself. He was afraid that Xie Zheng would get rid of him directly after getting the military power. This little thought was not harmful.

After a brief silence in the tent, Xie Zheng curled his lips and said, "Master He, you can rest assured. I come from the military, and I can't guarantee anything else, but I will never break my promise. Besides, Master He has been in office in Hezhou for more than ten years, and is very popular among the people and respected by the soldiers in Hezhou. I dare not touch Master He easily, right?"

He Jingyuan's forehead was covered with cold sweat, and he lowered his head and said, "You are joking, Lord. In terms of prestige in the army, who can surpass you?"

Xie Zheng tapped the armrest of the chair twice with his fingertips, his dark eyes scrutinizing the Confucian general who was bowing respectfully. He seemed to have weighed something and finally made a concession: "Okay, I will wait for Lord He's answer after the crisis in Lucheng is resolved."

He Jingyuan felt that the gaze pressing on him suddenly lightened, and his breathing became much smoother. He clasped his fists more respectfully and bent his waist a degree: "Thank you for your consideration, Lord Hou."

Xie Zheng stood up. The hem of his garment, embroidered with a sea of ​​clouds, had a great drape. The material even reflected light under the candlelight. He said calmly, "Tomorrow, Lord He will send 20,000 new soldiers and send the craftsmen in the city who are good at building water conservancy projects. After the beginning of spring, the rain will come. If we don't build a dam on the Wu River before the spring flood arrives, this plan will be useless."

He Jingyuan said hurriedly: "I will gather the generals tonight to make arrangements."

After leaving the big tent, Gongsun Yin whispered to Xie Zheng: "You really agreed to his bargaining."

Xie Zheng threw the Jizhou Tiger Tally to him and asked with a squinting look, "What else?"

Gongsun Yin took the tiger talisman with both hands and said, "He has been operating in Jizhou for many years. Since you want to use the Jizhou army as a pocket to swallow the 50,000 troops of Prince Changxin, you really can't move him easily. The death of the commander before the battle will surely affect the morale. However... he has handed over the tiger talisman, and you really dare to bet that you will spare his life for the sake of the Fan family no matter what."

Xie Zheng said, "If he doesn't hand over the tiger talisman, how can I dare to go north?"

Gongsun Yin couldn't help but laugh: "This Lord He is very clear-sighted. It's not unreasonable for him to be so concerned. You won't touch him before the war, but you are jealous of his prestige in the Jizhou army. You may let him die in the war."

Xie Zheng said nothing, which seemed to indicate that he agreed with his statement. As he continued walking forward, he said, "Over in Chongzhou, you write a reply letter on behalf of me and discuss other conditions with old Sui Tuo."

Gongsun Yin understood what he meant. It was impossible to exchange Yanzhou for the little daughter of the Fan family. He wrote back to ask Prince Changxin to propose other conditions so that the other party would feel that they really cared about the life and death of the child. Therefore, it would not be surprising to borrow troops from Jizhou to go to Yanzhou.

Furthermore, if Prince Changxin knew how important the child was to them, he would be even more afraid of letting the child suffer any loss.

-

A few days later, Chongzhou, Changxin Palace.

The man threw the letter into the brazier beside the desk with his bony fingers, and the letter quickly turned into ashes in the red charcoal.

It was chilly in spring, and even indoors, the man still had his cloak draped over his shoulders. His sickly, pale lips twitched slightly, as if he had won a child's game, with a wicked yet joyful smile: "He actually borrowed 20,000 soldiers from Yangzhou."

The man who delivered the letter asked in confusion, "The child kidnapped by the prince was not the daughter of Marquis Wu'an at all. Your Highness, could there be a trick?"

Sui Yuanhuai raised his pair of eyes that were dark enough to send chills down one's spine: "Isn't that his woman's sister? When Qingping County was massacred, he was willing to kill anyone to save them. If he didn't save that child, what do you think his woman would do if she knew?"

The man in brocade robe standing below was Zhao Xun.

He wanted to say that with the status of Marquis Wu'an, he could have any woman he wanted. But when he thought of the woman who had escaped several times but was caught by the man in front of him, he kept silent and said, "Your Highness is right."

Sui Yuanhuai said playfully: "To put it another way, it is a trap. What does it have to do with us?"

Zhao Wen was suddenly startled, realizing that he wanted to sit back and watch the fight, so he bowed and said, "Your Highness is wise."

Sui Yuanhuai looked at him and raised the corner of his lips in an ambiguous way. Zhao Wen felt a little uneasy under his gaze and asked in a trembling voice, "Your Highness, why are you looking at me like this?"

Sui Yuanhuai smiled and said, "I heard that you taught that little bastard how to write?"

Zhao Wen's knees softened and he knelt down: "Your Highness, please forgive me. I am not worthy of teaching the young master. It was because he had been crying and wanted to see... Aunt Yu. I just coaxed him and told him that as long as he studied hard and learned to read, Your Highness would be happy and maybe he would let him see Aunt Yu."

Sui Yuanhuai smiled and said, "You can make decisions for me."

After hearing this, Zhao Wen's face turned pale, and he leaned his forehead against the cold floor and said, "I deserve to die. Your Highness, please punish me."

Just then, a middle-aged woman came in to serve snacks. Seeing Zhao Wen kneeling on the ground, she looked surprised.

Sui Yuanhuai supported his chin with one hand and said slowly: "Get up, Aunt Lan is watching."

Zhao Wensi did not dare to move. The middle-aged woman who brought the snacks also changed her expression. After placing the snacks on the table, she stepped back and knelt down and said, "Your Highness, if Wen'er has done anything wrong, Your Highness will punish her. Please do not torture me."

Sui Yuanhuai smiled and helped the middle-aged woman up: "Auntie Lan, what are you doing? If it weren't for Auntie Lan, I wouldn't be where I am today. Hurry up and get up."

His hands were cold due to long-term illness. When he helped the middle-aged woman up, she accidentally touched the back of his hand and was frightened by its coldness.

Sui Yuanhuai noticed the panic that flashed across her face, and the smile on his face deepened. He looked at Zhao Wen who was kneeling on the ground and said, "Ah Wen, get up too. You and Aunt Lan are my closest people. Don't kneel down for no reason."

Zhao Wen looked at the middle-aged woman and saw her nod slightly. Then he stood up with cold sweat on his back and said respectfully: "It is my duty to be loyal to Your Highness."

Sui Yuanhuai smiled but didn't answer. He glanced at the books on the table with a dull look and said, "I'll have someone bring that little bastard here for me to see how he's doing with his studies."

Zhao Wen bowed his head and agreed.

After Zhao Wen and the middle-aged woman left, Sui Yuan Huai asked, "Are they still loyal to me?"

In the empty study, a shadow walked out from the darkness: "The mother and son of the Zhao family have no second thoughts about Your Highness."

Sui Yuanhuai just smiled and said, "Keep staring."

The black shadow retreated back into the darkness, as if there had never been another person in the room.

Sui Yuanhuai was probably tired, and his handsome eyes and brows showed a hint of fatigue. He supported his forehead with one hand, staring at the scenery outside the study window in a daze.

His body was badly damaged and he had been relying on medicine to stay alive all these years.

Sixteen years... No, another year passed, it must have been seventeen years ago. The fire in the East Palace burned most of his face and almost half of his body. It was because of this that he was able to exchange identities with the eldest son of Prince Changxin and save his life.

The person who actually died in the East Palace that year was the eldest son of Prince Changxin.

It was a long-planned escape of the golden cicada.

The crown prince died, and his mother knew that it would soon be their turn, so she planned the fire in the East Palace.

On the pretext of being extremely grief-stricken, she invited many of the royal family members in Beijing to come with their children to visit her and talk with her to relax.

The Prince Changxin's Mansion was the place his mother had found for him to live. A palace maid accidentally knocked over the teacup while pouring tea, and soiled the clothes of the eldest son of Prince Changxin. His mother ordered the palace maid to take the eldest son of Prince Changxin to change clothes. The clothes that were taken off were eventually worn by him, and the mother and son of Prince Changxin both died in the fire.

His face was burned beyond recognition, and Princess Changxin was already dead. The servants in the palace could not recognize him at all. They only determined that he was the eldest son of the palace based on the clothes and accessories on his body, and took him back.

From then on, he was no longer the eldest grandson of the emperor, but Sui Yuanhuai, the eldest son of Prince Changxin who was burned half to death.

Aunt Lan was once his mother's confidant, but also escaped from the fire. Later, she married a wealthy businessman and had been helping him secretly. After giving birth to Zhao Xun, she poisoned the wealthy businessman to death and let Zhao Xun inherit the business of the wealthy businessman. After Zhao Xun could take charge of his own business, she returned to him to take care of his daily life.

In order to be able to see people again, the burnt dead skin on his body was replaced bit by bit over the years.

His face was burned in his early years, and none of the servants dared to look him in the face. Later, he endured the pain of cutting the skin to replace the burned skin, and the servants became more afraid of him.

Thinking of this, Sui Yuanhuai smiled sarcastically.

However, his mother had many considerations when she chose the Changxin Palace as his retreat.

A useless man with a burnt face is not fit to be the crown prince of the royal palace. No matter who Prince Changxin marries in the future, she will do her best to treat him, a legitimate eldest son who poses no threat, and win a reputation for herself.

Fortunately, after Princess Changxin died tragically, her family members were afraid that Prince Changxin would dislike his half-human appearance and that he would be secretly plotted against if a new bride entered the palace in the future. So they married Princess Changxin's sister to Prince Changxin as his second wife.

Princess Changxin's younger sister really treated her sister's child as her own. After giving birth to Sui Yuanqing, she also taught Sui Yuanqing to be close to her "brother".

But can stolen family affection really be family affection?

When the mother and son find out the truth, they will probably want to eat him alive.

Over the years, he only maintained superficial harmony with the mother and son.

The fingers that were originally resting on the corner of the forehead suddenly pressed heavily on the temple.

In order to conceal the truth, he had burned most of his face. Now, after replacing the wounded skin, his head often hurts as if it were exploding. The pain came suddenly, which made him feel more and more malicious. He just wished he could torture a few people to make himself feel better.

The door was pushed open at this moment, and a little guy appeared at the door, holding a stack of practiced characters in his hands. There was a little fear in the dog's eyes, but he still raised his clear eyes to look at him, pursed his lips, and called, "Father."

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This chapter also sends 100 small red envelopes~