Chapter 713: Sacrificing for the Country
Xiao Kun was on a hillside, watching Xie Wei and his confidants ride away on horseback.
He sighed in his heart. Apart from going to Chang'an, where he was sure to die, the governor actually gave Xie Wei another option.
That is to die as a hero, in a glorious way, known to the world.
In this way, Song Mo and Xie Zhan would not be able to use him, and he could also protect his wife and children, and win a good reputation after his death.
If he agrees to the suggestion, they will arrange it immediately.
Unfortunately, Xie Wei rejected their suggestions.
This decision was also within their expectations.
After all, in his opinion, the fact that he would die on this trip was just a speculation from their Pingzhou side.
Perhaps Xie Wei still had some slight expectations for Song Mo, the king, and his biological mother and brother.
He was gambling, gambling that Lu Songli's guess was wrong, gambling on that glimmer of hope.
In fact, Xiao Kun could also understand that when faced with matters of life and death, no one could face death calmly.
It's normal for people to be a little afraid of death and to have a sense of luck. After all, if Xie Wei wins the bet, he will live and be promoted.
This is human nature, everything is fate.
After Xiao Kun returned, he sent a secret letter to Pingzhou, informing them of the situation so that the governor could prepare for the response.
Chang'an, Imperial Palace
On this day, Song Mo summoned ministers to discuss matters in the imperial study, and Xie Zhan was among them.
The subject of discussion this time was the peace talks with Pingzhou. When they heard the Pingzhou lion's high demands, they were both angry and helpless.
The ministers were divided into two factions, one thought that the conditions proposed by Pingzhou could be agreed to, while the other thought that they could not be agreed to.
Because the decision on whether peace talks could be reached did not lie with Dali, the two factions of ministers argued for several hours, but still neither could convince the other.
After the meeting, it was already dark and it was raining heavily outside, so Song Mo asked several ministers to stay overnight.
In the middle of the night, the palace caught fire.
The fire started from the room where Xie Zhan stayed, and the palace where the ministers stayed was turned into a sea of fire.
Lin Ran arranged for people to put out the fire urgently.
"Why is there a fire?"
"Investigate, we must thoroughly investigate the cause!"
It took more than an hour to finally put out the fire. Lin Ran expressionlessly dug out the corpse from the ashes and called for people to carry it out.
The ministers who stayed overnight looked at the corpse with heavy hearts.
It can be seen that the person in front of him was burned to death by fire.
Because except for his face, his body was covered with burn scars and there was almost no intact skin.
There were also burns on the face, but the condition was slightly better than the body, and about 60% of the facial features could be seen.
It can be identified that this person is indeed Xie Zhan!
I didn’t expect Xie Zhan to be burned to death, and die so miserably!
Lin Ran came to report the cause of the accident, "Your Majesty, we have found out the cause of the fire."
"What's the reason?"
Lin Ran replied, "The fire should have started from inside the hall, and it is very likely that General Xie set the fire." Because he did not struggle, he could have escaped when the fire was still small, but he did not.
Just then, Liang An walked in with a small stack of letters in his hands.
"Your Majesty, I found this in General Xie's study."
Song Mo took it, read it expressionlessly, and then passed it to the ministers below.
After reading it, the ministers looked at each other.
This is a suicide note!
In his suicide note, Xie Zhan said that he would die to atone for his sins and asked Dali to give Pingzhou an explanation.
It turned out that Xie Zhan had already decided to die.
Xie Zhan was willing to die for Dali. He was so selfless, but they misunderstood him!
They had previously thought that he was afraid of death, that he relied on the Emperor's protection and disregarded the safety of Dali...
For a moment, the ministers present felt mixed emotions.
Shen Wan asked Liang An, "Eunuch Liang, how is the Grand Commander's Mansion going?"
Liang An replied, "The news has been reported back to the Grand Commander's Mansion. There was crying all over the place, and Madam Xie fainted."
Chen Wan suggested to Song Mo, "Your Majesty, General Xie died for Dali. His funeral should be managed by the Taichang Temple and he should be buried with honor."
Xie Zhan's suicide note also expressed his concern for his family and clansmen.
After his death, the Xie family occupied the clan land in the imperial city of Chang'an. The emperor can take it back. I implore the emperor to allow them to move back to their hometown in Chenjun.
He was also worried about his mother, who was so old and had to endure the pain of losing a son, and his wife and two concubines, who were still so young. He begged the emperor to allow them to remarry after his death if they wanted to...
Most importantly, he entrusted his mother and family to his younger brother Xie Wei who was about to return.
Compared with Xie's selfless sacrifice for the country, these requests were not excessive, so Chen Wan and others were willing to fulfill them.
Outside the palace
Fan Yang, Jiang Boya and others received the bad news and hurried to the Grand Marshal's Mansion.
Now that the Grand Marshal's Mansion has hoisted the white sails, the two men looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes. How could this be?
In a secret house in Chang'an, Xie Zhan slowly woke up.
Everything he saw was unfamiliar. He subconsciously looked towards the light source in the window, only to see a thin figure in bright yellow standing by the window. "Your Majesty?"
Song Mo turned around and looked at him with a serious look.
While waiting for Xie Zhan to wake up, Song Mo also thought a lot.
Everything seems to have come to this point by coincidence...
Song Mo was no fool. He quickly realized that all of this was like there was a subtle mastermind behind the scenes. Although he hadn't found any evidence, the biggest beneficiary of all this was Xie Zhan.
"Your Majesty?" Xie Zhan called out again, his voice filled with confusion. "This isn't the palace. Where is this? Why am I here?"
Song Mo put everything aside and asked, "Thank you, my dear, are you determined to die?"
Xie Zhan looked at him in shock, as if to say, "Your Majesty, how did you know?"
Song Mo added, "Xie Wei had an accident on his way back."
Xie Zhan was shocked, "What? Is he okay?"
"According to his personal guards, his horse became frightened and went berserk, causing him to fall from it. However, the landing was in a bad spot, injuring his lumbar spine and causing his death on the spot."
After hearing this, Xie Zhan was speechless. "How could this be? He's still so young. And he's about to be promoted to the rank of General of the New Southern Expedition Army."
"I have suppressed the news of Xie Wei's death. I only said that he broke his leg and would recover after some rest." Song Mo stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. "I have already lost a great general, and I cannot afford to lose you, my beloved minister. So, I replaced you with him. The suicide note you left in the study has come in handy."
After Song Mo's explanation, Xie Zhan knew that he was "dead" and set himself on fire in the palace.
"Your Majesty!" Xie Zhan was deeply moved.
For a time, the emperor and his ministers sympathized with each other.
Xie Zhan's funeral arrangements cannot be made immediately. His body needs to be reviewed by the envoy from Pingzhou before it can be buried.
This is the explanation to Pingzhou.
They have already notified the people in Pingzhou.
During this period, because there was no commander in the south, even though Xie Wei suffered such a great loss, the emperor took over his mission and ordered him to go to the south with the tiger talisman in hand to take charge of the situation.
All the personal soldiers and confidants that Xie Wei had brought back before were injured. This time when Xie Zhan went to the south, the people he brought with him were all prepared for him by the emperor.
"General, are we just going to leave quietly like this?"
"Um."
He went from being in the open to being in the dark, lying dormant for a while, and at the same time, he also wanted to avoid trouble.
Let those noble families be proud for a while.
Next, the stage is handed over to the aristocratic families, allowing them to fight against Pingzhou.
Song Mo's body couldn't hold on for much longer.
If Dali loses again...
Xie Zhan's eyes darkened.
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