At the female general's command, all the Wusun warriors became alert and aimed their crossbows at the direction of the arrows.
"fight back!"
"Swish, swish, swish" dozens of crossbows were fired at the same time. Suddenly, there was a loud noise behind the warship, as well as screams of fighting and the sound of ice blades clashing.
The female general stared with horror in her heart, "Oh no, there is an ambush!" Who leaked the news?
How did China know that they were attacking from this river?
She suddenly remembered something. Wasn't there a Chinese on board? "Master Yin, how did this plan get exposed?"
Yin Guangfa didn't know why this happened, and said in panic, "What do you mean? You think I leaked it? You must be joking!"
Seeing that he truly looked clueless, the female general glared at him. "What about those assassins you hired? Why aren't they coming out to fight?" The Wusun warriors were braving the Chinese soldiers, yet Lord Yin's masked assassin hadn't stepped forward to rescue them. Was he asking them to lead the charge and then clean up the mess? What a dream!
Yin Guangfa's face darkened, and after a long while he muttered, "...I'll call them out right away."
"That's better!" The female general turned and threw herself into the chaotic battlefield.
Yin Guangfa had no other options. He was also afraid that the female general would complain to the queen later, so he could only call out the masked assassin he had brought with him and ordered, "Go and fight."
With the addition of these masked assassins, the morale of the Wusun Kingdom suddenly soared. They shouted and raised their weapons. Suddenly, two more warships arrived from behind, with flags flying. The soldiers shouted majestically, "Get out of China, you Yin dogs!"
The sound was so deafening that the Wusun warriors were frightened.
Yin Guangfa gritted his teeth, looked at the dead and wounded masked killers and Wusun soldiers around him, looked at the icy river water around him, and with a hardened heart, he jumped in with a "splash" and prepared to escape by the water.
The soldiers on the surrounding warships immediately pulled up the ropes, and a huge fishing net rose from the river. Yin Guangfa, with his hair disheveled and his body soaked, was caught in it.
At this moment, a shout came from somewhere: "The Yin thief has been caught! The Wusun Kingdom will surrender their weapons but will not be killed!"
The soldiers of Wusun were already intimidated by the military strength of China. Seeing the soldiers around them fall one by one, they gradually collapsed. At this time, Lord Yin was captured again, and they became even more uneasy. They couldn't even lift their weapons.
Seeing that the situation was settled, Shen Yuan ordered his soldiers to board the ship and strangle the masked killer who was resisting, and tied up all the remaining Wusun soldiers. The female general of Wusun was also tied up. At this moment, she stared at Yin Guangfa in the fishing net with bloodshot eyes, wishing she could eat him alive.
In the dungeon of Tonghe City, the lights were dim and the ground was damp and cold.
Yin Guangfa was tied to the execution pillar, with whip marks on his open chest, burns and blood intertwined, blood was flowing from the corners of his mouth, but his eyes were still defiant.
Gu Zhen and Lin Chuang personally interrogated the suspect, and Shen Yuan was the one who carried out the execution.
"Yin Guangfa, do you have anything else to say?" Lin Chuang lowered his voice with pressure.
Yin Guangfa sneered, blood trickling down his chin onto the ground. He spat out a mouthful of blood, "Pah! I've lived in this world for so many years, enduring humiliation and spending a fortune to train assassins. I never thought my cleverness would backfire and I'd fall for your Highness's scheme!"
He glanced at the indifferent Crown Prince and chuckled, saying, "Back then, the late emperor had to listen to me in everything. At one point, I was in charge of reviewing memorials, and no one in the palace dared to contradict my decisions. Even the officials only recognized me and not the late emperor. I was so famous."
"Who knew that your Gu family would conserve their energy and quietly build up their power, waiting for the right moment to seize upon my weakness and join forces with several ministers to bring me down!"
"I have made so many contributions to China! The Gu family feels bad for abandoning me!"
Yin Guangfa's eyes were bloodshot, and he became more and more excited as he spoke, even leaning forward to get closer to Gu Zhen.
Gu Zhen remained calm, smiling calmly, and said, "A ruler is a ruler, and a minister is a minister. You disrupt the government, persecute loyal officials, and exploit the people. Do you consider these to be contributions?"
Yin Guangfa narrowed his eyes slightly and said stubbornly, "Loyal and good? You mean the Xie family? That old stubborn man has been complaining to me every other day, asking the late emperor to eliminate treacherous villains. He is good for nothing but complaints. Keeping him around is a waste of salary. The national treasury is empty. If I don't find a way to make money, how can I build canals and expand the military force?"
"During that period, the people lived an extremely hard life. There was famine in the north and floods in the south. Civil and military officials dared not say a word. Why did you become an official?" Gu Zhen recalled that period of time that was recorded in history. Despite the strong military force, countless people starved to death and suffered from constant disasters and diseases.
Yin Guangfa didn't care and still believed that he was right. "The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. I accept it, but I did nothing wrong!"
In order to prevent Yin Guangfa from cheating, he watched him drink a cup of poisoned wine and ordered his head to be chopped off as a warning to others. All the masked killers died in this way.
Three days later, the female general of the Wusun Kingdom was beheaded in public, and the enemy soldiers who surrendered had their tendons cut and sent back to the Wusun Kingdom.
After bidding farewell to City Lord Lin and Commander Shen, I returned to the border camp. The biting air made me nostalgic, as if it was even colder than before I left.
Song Jiaren couldn't help stamping her feet, exhaled some hot air to warm her hands, and hurried to see Ling Chen, feeling a little depressed.
He woke up in the early morning, still very weak, lying on the bed, skinny, with sunken eyes and a pale face.
Song Jiaren looked around and didn't see Ling Yun. Then she looked at Ling Chen, who looked like a walking corpse. She understood something and sighed inwardly. After staying for a while, she went out. Shi Tou accompanied her all the way.
"Lingyun..." Song Jiaren was a little speechless.
Shitou's expression was somewhat desolate, and he slowly said, "After you left, the Snow Ganoderma was escorted back the next day. Lingyun persisted on the cliff for a whole night in order to pick the Snow Ganoderma. When the Snow Ganoderma was finally thrown up, he accidentally fell off the cliff."
"I woke up a few days before midnight. I sent everyone away and found out everything from the old doctor. I didn't sleep for several days and nights. I kept crying. I couldn't hold it anymore and passed out. When the old doctor revived me, I started crying again. This went on for several days until I was emaciated."
Song Jiaren sighed softly. This was a result she didn't want to see, so she pestered the Crown Prince and hid in Tonghe City. "Lingyun definitely doesn't want him to be like this. You should persuade him more often."
Shitou nodded solemnly, "I'm afraid he won't listen..."
Song Jiaren felt indescribably uncomfortable and a little painful in her heart. She took a deep breath to try to drive away the sadness, but she was still listless until she returned to the tent.
Gu Zhen was originally reading a book in his hand. He noticed that she was in a bad mood after returning. He knew that it must be because of Ling Yun and Ling Chen. He put down the book and waved to her, "Come here."
Song Jiaren was already in a bad mood, and seeing his imminent arrival, she became even more furious and muttered, "If you tell me to come over, I have to go over there?" The way he waved his hands seemed like he was teasing a cat or a dog, showing no respect for her at all.
Gu Zhen was stunned for a moment, then stood up and walked to the couch, hugging her and saying, "Don't be sad."
Song Jiaren was fine originally, she was just feeling depressed, so she spoke a little harshly. But when he hugged her, she felt a little embarrassed. She said weakly, "I'm not really sad, I just feel a little sad and regretful. They finally escaped, but ended up like this, separated by life and death..."
Gu Zhen felt her depression and slowly smoothed her long hair. Song Jiaren buried her face in his abdomen. The fabric was soft and he had a familiar cold aura that could soothe her uneasiness and helplessness.
She raised her head and glanced at him secretly, and found that he was also looking at her, with a tenderness and pity in his eyes that she had never seen before. She didn't dare to meet such eyes, for fear of getting lost in them, so she lowered her head and buried it in his arms, whispering softly, "I'm just afraid that all this is caused by me."
She had been avoiding Ling Yun and Ling Chen because she was afraid that all this was because of her. She thought she didn't have the courage to bear such consequences, so she felt uneasy and wanted to cry but couldn't.
Gu Zhen didn't understand, but he tightened his grip on her for a moment. "It's not because of you. It's because Yin Guangfa secretly trained assassins that Ling Yun and Ling Chen came into being. If Yin Guangfa hadn't colluded with the Wusun Kingdom, Ling Yun and Ling Chen wouldn't have been seriously injured, and they wouldn't have ended up like this."
Song Jiaren was still very depressed and had been in a bad mood for several days. She would go to the tent in the early morning to look at it for a while, but would not go in. She would just stand outside and watch. The soldiers were confused and spread the word privately that Song was infatuated with Master Ling. General Luo heard about it and told His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. His Royal Highness only said, "The morale of the army is unstable. Strengthen the training."
The soldiers wailed and ran around with their bare chests in the cold weather.
Lingchen left on a snowy day. It was the first time that Song Jiaren saw the heavy snow described in the book as goose feathers. The flying snowflakes blurred her eyes and she could not see the expression on Lingchen's face. She only knew that he could no longer shed tears.
He didn't say a word after waking up. When he spoke that day, his voice was hoarse, "Thank you," and then he turned and left.
This winter passed very slowly, and Song Jiaren lost a few pounds. With the arrival of spring, fortunately, the boredom in her heart also left with the cold winter.
"Awake?" Gu Zhen stared at her for a long time and leaned closer to her.
Song Jiaren felt that she was weak all over, so she stretched out her hands to circle his neck, pulling him closer, and then pressed her rosy lips against his.
Gu Zhen was surrounded by her long-lost aura and was stunned for a rare moment.
Song Jiaren didn't use much force, just put her hands on his neck, her lips pressed tightly against his, feeling cold and motionless. She secretly raised her eyes to take a peek, and saw that there was a hint of depth in his eyes, but no expression on his face. She was slightly disappointed.
Recalling the past process, I clumsily extended my tongue and licked it, and felt that he seemed to tremble.
The reaction was quite good, so she tried harder and stuck out more of her tongue.
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