Chapter 66 Chapter 66 Don’t ruin the prince’s legs again…
The elderly Steward Xu knelt on the cold bluestone slabs, looking at the young general who came out of the palace with tears in his eyes. The scenes of him fighting on the battlefield, making many military achievements, and founding the Great Yin were still vivid in his mind.
It has only been three years since we last met. Why did the loyal and kind general of the past become the cruel and vicious usurper of today?
He cried out "General Heng" in an attempt to awaken Yin Jingheng's conscience, but what he didn't understand was that his General Heng had always been so cruel.
On the day when Princess Chunyu sentenced Bai Runen to death by pouring poison into her wine, the young Yin Jingheng was also present.
Bai Ruen, despite the pain, called out his childhood nickname, "Heng'er, I am your mother!"
Bai Ruen, who had been bedridden for a long time, didn't even have the strength to stand up. She could only reach out and try to touch the son she had never held in her arms.
Unexpectedly, what he got was Yin Jingheng's eyes full of disgust and disdain.
He pushed Bai Ruen's hand away and returned to Princess Chunyu's arms.
"My mother is my mother! She is not a lowly merchant girl like you!"
When Bai Ruen heard the word "lowly" from her own son's mouth, the pain in her heart had already surpassed the pain of her illness. She tearfully begged Princess Chunyu to let her see Long Er one last time.
But Princess Chunyu flatly refused, saying, "Long'er is also my child. Even if he was born with a defect or died someday, he is still my son and has nothing to do with you! Your time has come. In recognition of your contributions to the palace, I will leave you with an intact body. Please go with dignity!"
Bai Ruen drank the poisoned wine with a dead heart. Her eyes, open and wide, stared at her Heng'er, as if filled with great resentment.
At that time, Yin Jingheng was less than ten years old, but he could only watch his biological mother die in front of his eyes. He did not shed a tear, and did not even feel a trace of sadness.
At this moment, he looked at Manager Xu with the same indifference. He just felt that this old servant was really annoying and was dissatisfied with him calling him "General Heng".
"Old Xu, I consider you a servant from the old prince's mansion, and I'm willing to leave your body intact, but you must tell me the truth about Yin Jinglong's whereabouts."
Manager Xu wept in despair: "You'd better kill this old slave!"
"I never thought that Yin Jinglong, a selfish and cruel man, would have a loyal servant who was willing to die for him? If that's the case, then I'll send you on your way!"
He raised his sword and chopped off Manager Xu's head. Blood splattered on his newly made imperial robe. The pungent smell of blood made him frown.
He took back the Qinglong sword in his hand and was not very satisfied with it. Although it was the emperor's sword, it was not very comfortable to use. Even chopping off an old man's head was a bit difficult.
So he threw away the Qinglong Sword, replaced it with the General Sword he always wore, and massacred the entire Prince Yin's Mansion with blood.
When he had killed the last head, he wiped the blood off the sword and stroked the general's sword that he hadn't touched for three years. He said in a deep voice: "This sword still suits my hand."
Yin Jingheng searched the entire palace, from the ground to the underground, but he could not find any trace of Yin Jinglong and Hanyu even after digging three feet deep.
So he issued the third imperial decree: Massacre the Snow Mountain Tomb Guardians!
At this time, Hanyu followed Yin Jinglong and escaped from the secret passage of the palace before he massacred the palace.
The palace's secret passage led to a mass grave outside Shangjing City, and the pungent smell of decaying corpses filled the air. Yin Jinglong was the first to crawl out of the secret passage. He leaned over the entrance and pulled Hanyu up with his own hands.
Hanyu covered her mouth and nose as she looked at the eerie mass grave in front of her, feeling a chill in her heart.
"Why does the secret passage in the palace lead to this mass grave? Why didn't you pick a better location?"
"It's precisely because this is a mass grave that no living person would discover the secret passage's exit. Do you want me to choose a bustling market as the exit?"
Hanyu sneered. Although she had complaints, she couldn't refute it. However, she couldn't go back to the capital and the palace now, and Yin Jinglong was wanted nationwide. Where could the two of them escape to on their own?
"Don't think about anything else for now, just leave this damn place first."
Yin Jinglong brushed off the dust on his body, covered his nose with his sleeves, and quickly left the smelly and gloomy mass grave.
One kilometer away from the suburbs is the gate of Shangjing City. It is currently heavily guarded, with soldiers patrolling day and night. He is a criminal, and going there will only lead him into Yin Jingheng's hands.
When they were resting in a dilapidated temple not far from the mass grave, they heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the direction of the city gate at night.
Hanyu was awakened by the noise, thinking that Yin Jingheng's men were coming to catch up with her, and wanted to go over to find out what was going on.
"Don't go! You're a weak woman, not good at running away or hiding. If you go, you'll probably be caught red-handed by those people. Let me go on this dangerous mission!"
Yin Jinglong held her down as she tried to get up, and took off his outer robe and put it on her.
"It's winter now, and this dilapidated temple is leaking everywhere. The nights are cold and the dew is heavy. Be careful not to catch a cold." After saying this, he turned and left.
"Then you... be careful and come back early!" Hanyu said in a low voice.
Even if she spoke in a low voice, Yin Jinglong who was standing outside the temple heard it. He looked back at her worriedly and showed her an intriguing smile.
"Don't worry, I won't abandon you like my brother did. You can hide here, and I will be back soon."
Yin Jinglong hid under a tree not far from the temple and saw that the huge army was indeed his brother's. Although his brother had usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he still wore his original general's attire this time. He rode a horse and led the army out of the city and headed north.
He took advantage of Yin Jingheng's departure from the city and went to the horse farm outside the city gate in the dead of night, intending to steal a horse.
This place was guarded by the soldiers defending the city. He guessed that it might be because Yin Jingheng had taken a large group of troops away from the capital, and he had stationed a large number of elite Yulin soldiers at the various gates of Shangjing City, so the guards at this horse farm were relatively sparse, which gave him an opportunity to take action.
He set his sights on a black horse and was about to take action when a masked man in black clothes ran out of the stable. Yin Jinglong recognized that the man was Li Yu.
Li Yu stopped him. "Where are you going, Your Highness? Last time at the General's Mansion, I let you go because you protected my wife and daughter. I repaid your kindness, but now you're in my hands again. I'm wondering if I should chop off your head and then ask His Majesty for the reward."
"Hmph! If I had known you were such an ungrateful person, I shouldn't have spared your life! If you want to chop off my head, you'll have to see if you have the guts to do it!"
Yin Jinglong picked up the knife and stabbed it hard into the horse's back. The black horse raised its head and roared, galloping towards Li Yu. Yin Jinglong took advantage of the chaos when Li Yu was not paying attention and escaped.
It was late at night and there was no candlelight in the horse farm, which made it easier for Yin Jinglong to escape. However, Li Yu was a martial artist after all and was well versed in horse training. He subdued the mad black horse in a few moves and then quickly chased in the direction of Yin Jinglong's escape.
Yin Jinglong's legs had just healed, and he still felt pain in his lower limbs when running, so his running speed was slow and there was no way he could outrun the well-trained Li Yu.
As soon as he ran out of the horse farm, he was caught up by him. Li Yu drew his sword and pointed it at the down-and-out prince.
"Your Highness has just recovered from his leg injury. Don't let him get hurt again. Now is the time to surrender!"
As Li Yu was laughing wildly towards the sky, a sharp arrow suddenly flew in the night and pierced his chest. He looked at the arrow in his chest in disbelief, and when he fell to the ground, a mouthful of blood spurted out of his mouth, his eyes full of unwillingness.
The person who assassinated Li Yu and saved Yin Jinglong was a soldier guarding the city, and there was another man standing behind him.
It was dark and Yin Jinglong couldn't see the man's appearance clearly. It was not until he came closer that he was surprised to find that this man was his father, Prince Xian!
The virtuous prince came up to him, looked at his body from left to right, and asked with a worried look, "Son! Are you okay?"
Yin Jinglong took a half step back, not wanting his father to touch him, and asked, "Why is Father here? Are you going to take my head and ask my brother for the reward?"
Prince Xian said bitterly, "If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have saved you just now! It's not safe here, come with me!"
Although Yin Jinglong did not understand the purpose of his father's actions, he followed him obediently. Prince Xian took him out of the stable and came to the foot of the city wall, where there was a thousand-mile horse he had prepared for Yin Jinglong.
"I never imagined your brother would commit such a treasonous act. I am ashamed to face the late king for raising such an unworthy son! But now that things have come to this, I cannot change your brother's mind. I simply do not want to see you two brothers killing each other, so I am helping you."
It turned out that not long after Yin Jingheng left the city, Prince Xian secretly replaced more than half of the guards guarding the city gate with his own people. He knew that his youngest son must still be in Shangjing City and would find a way to leave the city as soon as possible, so tonight he took advantage of the princess entering the palace and secretly came to the city gate to wait.
Just now, he heard the sound of fighting from the horse farm. He followed his subordinates to check it out and found Yin Jinglong's whereabouts. He saved him when Li Yu was about to kill him.
Yin Jinglong had a deep prejudice against his father and always had doubts about his father's initiative to help him escape.
Prince Xian's eyes were filled with tears. He no longer had time to explain. He urged Yin Jinglong to mount his horse and warned him, "This may be the last time I will help you. Don't come back after you leave. No matter what happens, you must live! If one day, you and your brother really turn sword against sword, I don't want to see anyone get hurt. Your brother has been possessed by a demon, and I can't persuade him. I only hope that you will try to avoid him and never confront him head-on!"
"Father doesn't want me to hurt my brother, but from childhood to adulthood, I have never thought of brothers killing each other. It has always been him who wanted to hurt me."
Prince Xian looked at Yin Jinglong's right arm and shed tears of regret. In fact, he knew everything Yin Jingheng had done to his brother in the past. It was just because Princess Chunyu protected him and he was afraid of the power of the Chunyu family, so he turned a blind eye, which led to the big mistake today.
Now, filled with regret, he began to think about compensating his youngest son. Although it was too late, he at least hoped that he could live well.
As Yin Jinglong left, he asked, "Father, have you ever loved me and mother?"
Prince Xian nodded tearfully, "You are my son too. How could a father not love his own child? As for your biological mother, she is the only woman I have ever truly loved in my life. It's a pity that I was a useless husband, unable to break free from the control of the Chunyu family. Your mother died with hatred in her heart, and she never had a legitimate status. Your father has let you down."
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