Chapter 248: The Battle of Xi City
A general who had spent his life on the battlefield was ultimately accused of corruption, not to mention that the other side had leverage over Madam Huo.
General Hu Buwei could only "die peacefully in his sleep."
Unfortunately, the person on the other side had foreseen the general trend of the world, but failed to understand the hearts of men.
After General Hu Buwei's death, Huzhou fell into internal strife, but his three subordinate generals each had their own agendas. They did not offer assistance when the capital was besieged, but they also refused to allow outsiders to encroach on Huzhou's territory.
This was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune; if Huzhou had descended into chaos again, the entire Jiang Dynasty might have actually re-established order.
He embezzled disaster relief funds to expand his military equipment, which allowed him to use the best paper and ink, and he even promised General Hu Buwei that he would take good care of Madam Huo.
All the clues point to one person—General Huo, the highest military commander in Bianzhou.
When General Hu Buwei died, the corresponding General Huo at that time was Huo Zhenyue.
When the capital was besieged, Xu Guanshan had his mother, Hu Yaxian, the daughter of General Hu Buwei, bring Hensheng out of the palace and then hand him over to a Huo family maid to help him escape to the border region.
Why did the Huo family get involved in this matter? Was it really just because General Huo and his entire family were loyal to the emperor and loved their country?
Some things are chilling when you think about them closely. General Huo loved his soldiers like his own children, and his soldiers loved the people like their own children, even using their own salaries to subsidize the people of the border region.
Where did he get so much money?
Huo Zhenyue, however, firmly stood on Jiang Yichun's side.
Su Zhenzhen felt that everything was in complete chaos.
Jiang Yichun used the national treasury for disaster relief, but ultimately, his concern was not about scarcity but about inequality, which led to a riot by the disaster victims and ultimately resulted in the tragedy of the siege of the capital.
But if the disaster relief funds were tampered with in secret, causing this disaster...
Did Jiang Yichun know about Huo Zhenyue's underhanded tactics?
Are they truly of one mind, ruler and subject, or do they each harbor ulterior motives?
And then there's Xu Hua, who secretly raised an army. Where did he get the money to start his fortune?
The Xu and Hu families had fled from the capital, so it was impossible for them to have brought much silver with them.
Moreover, Chunzhi had previously stated that it was her birth mother, the maid, who had sold her body to follow the refugees and thus managed to escape to the border region with Old Madam Xu and her son.
In this situation, if Old Mrs. Xu had anything valuable on her, as an orphan and widow, it would probably have been looted by the refugees long ago.
After Su Zhenzhen finished her deductions, she finally discovered that the one who was most loyal to the emperor and loved his country was actually the biggest traitor.
Su Zhenzhen really wanted to ask Huo Zhenyue a question, but what if she misunderstood something? Once something is said, it's hard to take it back.
The biggest mystery in the entire storyline is that, at the same time as Jiang Yichun's death during the siege of the capital, Huo Zhenyue also died in battle in Bianzhou.
In the end, it was those aristocratic families who benefited.
Who would spend so much time rebelling just to benefit someone else?
Something's not right. Something's not right about this.
By the time Su Zhenzhen slowly reunited with Hensheng, Hu Er, already besieged on all sides, had already offered up a letter of surrender.
The entire city of Huzhou was now adorned with the flags of Huo's army.
The summer sun was dazzling, as intense as the victory before us.
When Hensheng saw Su Zhenzhen, he excitedly pulled her into his arms.
“Zhenzhen, thank you. Without you, 200,000 people could not have been safely evacuated, Yangcheng could not have achieved a great victory, and my battle in Huzhou would not have ended so quickly.”
The capital city is now surrounded on the north, south, and west; it's only a matter of time before it falls.
Su Zhenzhen didn't speak, and her face remained expressionless.
"Really?" Hensheng hesitated before speaking, then belatedly realized that there was nothing in front of him and hurriedly took a step back.
Hensheng looked at Su Zhenzhen's flat stomach, his starry eyes filled with sadness.
"Where is the child...?"
Su Zhenzhen then showed some emotion, her lips pressed down, and she said bitterly, "This is the price for saving two hundred thousand people. Otherwise, they would all have died."
Hensheng didn't say anything more, and pulled the person into his arms again, but this time the force was stronger, as if he wanted to embed the person into his bones.
"Zhenzhen, thank you, and I'm sorry. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had to go through all this. It must have been very painful when you lost the baby, right?"
Even now, Su Zhenzhen still feels a pang of pain in her heart when she thinks about it.
That was not just a child, but her blood relative, her only family in the world.
Hensheng spoke softly, as if afraid of startling the person in his arms.
But Su Zhenzhen could still hear the sound of a tear falling from her back.
"Thud—"
This tear not only fell on her clothes, but also on her heart.
A beautiful woman's tears are undoubtedly beautiful. But if she sheds tears for herself, then that beauty gains an added touch of tender warmth.
Everyone loves beauty, and Su Zhenzhen admits that she is no exception.
"Will we have more children?" Su Zhenzhen asked softly.
He released his embrace and looked down to meet the gaze of the beauty in his arms.
"Yes, we will definitely have more children."
Later, whenever she thought about it, she realized that it was probably because the sunlight was just right that day, and the eyes of the most beautiful woman were filled with tenderness and affection, which is why Su Zhenzhen let herself be soft-hearted.
If she could customize the storyline, Su Zhenzhen would rather Hensheng have remained silent at this point, so that she wouldn't have suffered unbearable pain later.
The Huo family army was gaining momentum, and Hensheng left Qingshan to assist Hu San in guarding Huzhou, while Hu Er, who did not realize the situation from the beginning, was stripped of his military power and confined to his residence.
Hensheng led half of his troops to Yangcheng to join forces with Chunzhi.
In order to attack the capital, Hensheng planned to recruit more troops from the border prefectures.
Chunzhi suggested using Jiang Jingyan as bait, asking the Jiang clan's collateral branch to exchange grain for him. Since they had already broken off relations, they decided not to play games with reputation.
Further east of Yangcheng were two small towns, which Chunzhi easily captured with his troops.
Further east lies Xicheng, the gateway to the capital, a large city no less impressive than Yangcheng. Once it is captured, the capital will be completely exposed to the Huo family army.
Negotiations with the collateral branch of the Jiang clan were not going smoothly; the other side seemed to be stalling for time.
The final battle of Xicheng erupted at the tail end of summer.
The one-eyed old man was the vanguard, Chunzhi was the commander-in-chief, and Hensheng was in charge of the central command tent.
No matter the era, siege warfare is always the bloodiest and most deadly type of battle.
Su Zhenzhen was no stranger to war, but she had fought against barbarians in the border region before, and against the enemy in the Battle of Yangcheng.
However, in this battle of Xicheng, they took the initiative to attack others; they were the ones who first extended their swords.
Even from a great distance, Su Zhenzhen could hear the sound of flesh being cut open by iron, as well as all sorts of screams.
Su Zhenzhen couldn't help but wonder, was this battle absolutely necessary?
If anyone offends me, I will surely punish them.
Why should I offend others when they haven't offended me? What can't be resolved peacefully?
Just like back then, Miss Luo Liu clearly did not intentionally harm anyone, but because of the damned rules of heaven and earth—low-level cultivators would be mercilessly eliminated by the heavenly Dao—those people joined forces to kill Miss Luo Liu.
But why not let those lower-level cultivators improve their cultivation level? The major families possess a great number of rare and precious materials; just one of them would be enough to help them break through several major realms!
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