Chapter 476: The Second Plan (Double Monthly Ticket Request)
Dusk is falling.
A warm mountain breeze blew across the official road, and the smell of blood on the ground became stronger.
Ouyang Ye's eyebrows were pierced by a silver-shaped nail, and his life was cut off without any suspense. His body, which had lost its limbs, fell down completely.
When he died, his eyes were wide open, still filled with fear and confusion.
Zhao Duan turned around and glanced at the illusory Pei Niannu with a hint of surprise - with his cautiousness and the influence of countless film and television dramas in his previous life, he naturally would not be so careless.
Therefore, although he had his back to Ouyang Ye, he gave the "guard" order to Pei Niannu who was floating in the air.
This is the change in ability he gained after advancing to the worldly realm: he can control the person in the painting visualized by the "Divine Chapter" realm to a certain extent.
Just like Tang Jinxi, the imperial deity, can summon "General Buddha" to possess him.
However, it was beyond his expectation that Pei Niannu would kill someone after "protecting his master".
At this moment, his eyes met with the ghostly sorceress in a wedding dress and golden armor who was floating in the air. The latter looked righteous and confident, as if she had only done a trivial thing.
"...What a pity, I originally wanted to keep this guy to torture him for information." Zhao Duan sighed helplessly, feeling a little regretful.
It seems that Pei Niannu, as a hidden figure in the "Six Chapter Sutra", has retained a certain degree of independence even after he ascended to the mortal world.
For example, he wanted to keep Ouyang Ye, but Senior Pei Niannu obviously didn't have this awareness.
"But I guess there's really nothing you can get out of this kind of assassin, so I'll just kill him."
Zhao Duan smiled and added, his expression natural and relaxed.
The enemies who had chased them breathlessly and made them flee in a panic now looked like chickens and dogs.
Of course, he was also very clear that his world realm was far stronger than others. Because of Pei Niannu's special characteristics, he had a short-term explosive power far higher than that of ordinary strong people in the same realm.
Yes.
Short-term outbreak!
"Although one person being equivalent to two worlds is a bug, such an outrageous combination of results certainly has a price, and that is the astonishing consumption... Pei Niannu's attack is also consuming my internal energy..."
"If I were alone, I might not be able to keep all these people."
Zhao Duan summarized silently, turned around, and was stunned to see the empress sitting in the prison car staring at him with resentful eyes.
Those eyes seemed to contain thousands of complex tender emotions.
From being arrested and worrying that they would never meet again, to being anxious and touched when seeing Zhao Duan running towards her, to the joy after witnessing his advancement...how could all these emotions not be complicated and indescribable?
The last assist was thanks to Ouyang Ye's sneak attack before his death.
"Zhao Duan, how dare you deceive the emperor?"
Xu Zhenguan suddenly became hoarse and said this with a stern face.
What he was referring to was naturally the fact that he had pretended to deceive himself even though he was not stabbed just now.
However, because he had just cried, his voice was nasal, and coupled with his disheveled appearance sitting in the prison cart, he did not have the slightest bit of the majesty of the throne room. Instead, he exuded a rare, lovable weakness.
Zhao Duan hurriedly half-knelt down, so that his eyes were level with the empress sitting in the carriage, and said seriously:
"I have deceived the emperor and my superiors, and I deserve death! However, your Majesty's life is worth a million gold and is more precious than Mount Luo. I beg your Majesty to allow me to perform meritorious service while I am serving my sentence. I will escort your Majesty back to the capital, eliminate the traitor, and return the emperor to the capital!"
Xu Zhenguan looked at him with a serious face, then burst into laughter. He turned his head and wiped his slightly red and swollen eyes, and said softly, "Yeah."
"I'll spare you this time."
If this scene were seen by the officials in the capital's court, I wonder how many of them would be shocked.
Shouting: The character has collapsed.
Ever since the Xuanmen coup, when did the Queen of Yu, who ascended the throne and looked down upon the world, ever show such a coquettish and naive look?
Zhao Duan looked at Xu Zhenguan with red and swollen eyes in the prison car, and was stunned for a moment.
"What are you looking at me for? Why don't you take me back?"
Xu Zhenguan couldn't help but turn his head when he was staring at him, then stretched out his feet, indicating that there was still a chain on his feet that had not been opened.
"Oh, oh, oh." Zhao Duan was a little embarrassed. He quickly broke the anklet and helped the empress get out of the prison car.
After being freed from his restraints, Xu Zhenguan took a few breaths and regained his mobility.
She walked up to Ouyang Ye and kicked off his hood, revealing a face covered with large tattoos. She was stunned for a moment:
“It turned out to be him!”
"Your Majesty, do you know this person?" Zhao Duan was curious.
Xu Zhen nodded and said:
"I was the top scout in the southwestern border army during my father's reign. I once penetrated deep into the heartland of the Liao people. I was also one of the few people from the Yu Kingdom who had a direct confrontation with the Liao people and escaped unscathed.
However, he was later arrested and brought back to Beijing for committing a serious crime and sentenced to exile. It seems that he was secretly rescued by Prince Jing.
No wonder the secret agents in Prince Jing's mansion are so successful, second only to the shadow guards. This person is indeed good at this."
"The Liao people?" Zhao Duan was not interested in Ouyang Ye's past. He was more concerned about this alien race in the southwest outside the territory of the Yu State.
"Well, they are a group of foreign races living in the mountains, and they are also the targets of vigilance of the Southwestern Border Army. However, the population of the Liao people is not large, and they have been relatively well-behaved in recent decades. The Southwestern Border Army is mainly responsible for suppressing banditry on the border." Xu Zhenguan explained casually.
Zhao Duan nodded. There were even more mysteries outside the territory of Yu State. For example, what exactly did Old Xu do in the depths of Mubei Forest... It was a mystery that he cared about very much.
But these are still too far away from him at the moment.
"Ouyang Ye's death will undoubtedly damage the secret agents in the palace. This is good news for us, and it will make things much easier going forward... However, the death of an entire team will also alert Prince Jing and other rebels. I'm afraid that the next pursuit troops they send won't be of this level anymore, but masters capable of threatening the world..."
Xu Zhenguan analyzed calmly.
Suddenly I heard a "puff puff" sound behind me, and turned my head in shock:
"What are you doing?"
Zhao Duan picked up a sword and was carefully "whipping" the corpses one by one. Hearing this, he remained calm and said, "Finish off the wound."
"…Is it finished?"
"Puff... Alright, everyone's dead, confirmed. Your Majesty, please follow me back to the village. Baihua Village has burned down, so there has to be a follow-up."
"Yeah..." Xu Zhen nodded, but walked in another direction:
"When I was arrested, I deliberately left the Tai'a Sword in the mountains. Go get it back first."
…
When the king and his minister returned to Baihua Village again, they saw only faint black smoke still rising from the houses in the village under the dark sky.
That is the afterglow after the flame is extinguished.
The villagers lit some wood for lighting and were moving the surviving items out of the houses.
Xiao Baihua sat on a wardrobe in front of her courtyard, gazing at the path leading into the village. Suddenly, she stood up and shouted:
"Sister Xu and the others are back!"
Upon hearing the news, the villagers rushed over and gathered at the village entrance, looking at the king and his ministers with mixed emotions.
At this moment, they have realized that this must be an extraordinary "noble person", otherwise how could he attract so many officers and soldiers?
Xu Zhenguan looked ashamed. As the emperor of the Yu State, she was responsible for causing harm to her people. It was her fault.
The only thing to be thankful for is that these rebels still wanted to make meritorious deeds, so they only captured people and did not massacre the village, and the only losses were property.
Zhao Duan stepped forward and said to the villagers:
"Those were the rebels from Prince Jing's Mansion. They came to hunt us down, and now I've killed them all."
Wow—the villagers were in an uproar.
Zhao Duan didn't wait for them to express their opinions and continued with a stern face:
"If nothing unexpected happens, more rebels will arrive soon. If you don't want to be implicated, flee as soon as possible and seek shelter with relatives. The rebels are after us and won't waste their energy looking for you."
He took out several thousand taels of silver notes from his pocket and handed them to Liu Qi in public, saying:
"Here are three thousand taels as compensation for you. If you don't want to die, leave as soon as possible."
He deliberately put on a stern face, showing off his strength and majesty before offering compensation.
He knew very well that these villagers must be resentful of the two men at this moment, but they were afraid of their identities and military power and did not dare to attack.
However, now is not the time to be sentimental. Three or two thousand silver coins are enough to renovate and rebuild the entire village more than once.
At the same time, from another perspective, the rebel forces of Prince Jing and Prince Mu have not yet reached here, so Baihua Village is still peaceful.
But even if the king and his ministers did not come, how long could the peace here last?
As a flower field exclusively for the royal family, it would undoubtedly be taken over by the rebels, and it might be a good thing to let these villagers escape the disaster early.
"this……"
As expected, when the villagers heard the amount of three thousand taels, they were stunned, and their anger was almost extinguished.
An old man in the village shook his head and said:
"Sir, it's not that we don't want to flee, but we are all craftsmen. If we flee without permission, the court will hold us accountable..."
Xu Zhenguan came out at this time and said seriously:
"You can all disperse. As long as the Yu Kingdom is still there, nothing will happen."
The villagers looked at each other in confusion. Although they did not fully believe it in their hearts, their fear of war drove them to quickly reach an agreement. They went home to pack their belongings and prepare to leave overnight.
Zhao Duan looked at the busy villagers and suddenly said:
"If the soldiers arrive too quickly, they may not be able to evacuate in time."
Xu Zhenguan said calmly:
"So, we can't leave. We need to continue living here for a while until the villagers leave completely."
Zhao Duan glanced at Zhen Bao in surprise:
"Your Majesty, aren't you in a hurry to return to the capital? Now that I've made a breakthrough, I can significantly increase the speed of your journey."
Xu Zhenguan didn't look at him, but just stood side by side with him in the night, the night wind blowing her long hair.
The Empress' voice was also somewhat gentle:
"Perhaps, the most urgent task right now is no longer to return to Beijing."
Zhao Duan's heart moved, his mouth felt dry, and he cautiously probed: "Your Majesty, are you referring to..."
Xu Zhenguan turned his head away, his cheeks flushed red, and said softly:
"Didn't you say that besides Fengshan, there is a second plan?"
After a pause, she stroked her hair awkwardly and said:
"After this wave of rebels dies, it will take some time before new pursuers arrive... That time should... should be enough."
Zhao Duan's breathing became heavier again, his Adam's apple rolled, and he looked anxiously around the burnt-out village. He found that there was almost no house suitable to be a new home, and he couldn't help but become more anxious.
Suddenly, his eyes fell on the endless sea of flowers outside the village, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face:
"Your Majesty...want to have a field battle?"
"Ah?" Xu Zhenguan turned his head to look at him blankly, with a silly look on his face.
…
…
On the border of the Huai River, on the canal.
Densely packed warships set sail northward, and on the leading warship, Prince Jing, dressed in gorgeous clothes, stood at the bow.
Behind him was the tired yet excited Crown Prince Xu Jinglong, and the expressionless Princess Lu Yaner who was accompanying the army to the battle.
"Father, does the King Chen of Binhaidao really want to be a coward? He actually blocked the coast and said that if we don't go out, we might enter. He acts like he wants to cede land and occupy the mountains to become the king. Isn't this inappropriate?" Xu Jinglong couldn't help asking.
Prince Jing stood with his hands behind his back and said calmly, "What's wrong?"
Xu Jinglong's rational analysis:
"This time, our main force is heading north, and Jiancheng Road will inevitably be left empty. If we leave Prince Chen by his side, it will inevitably..."
Prince Jing nodded appreciatively, then shook his head:
"You're not stupid for thinking this far. But there's no need to worry. King Chen has no ambitions and is not a powerful leader. His skills are limited to controlling one area at best, not enough to conquer the world.
Moreover, the Binhaidao private army is good at water battles, but once they go ashore, they will suffer heavy losses. How can it be so easy to launch a surprise attack on Jiancheng?
Even if he succeeds, so what?
For the Yu Kingdom, the most important thing is the capital. As long as we go to the capital to defend the king, even if we lose Jiancheng, we can always come back to take it back. The world is in chaos now, so we must not hesitate and miss the opportunity to fight."
Xu Jinglong looked educated and said:
"Unfortunately, when Xu Zhenguan went south to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, he left a retreat and stationed civil and military officials in the capital. If we want to conquer it, we must march with a large army. Otherwise, the fastest way for us to take it is to send a small force north via the canal.
But if we want to advance with a large army, we can only take the short route via the Grand Canal, and ultimately we cannot avoid the Huai River and Linfeng."
Prince Jing's eyes flashed, and he said quietly:
"That may not be the case. As long as Ouyang Ye succeeds and captures Xu Zhenguan, those people in the capital will naturally give up their resistance."
The empress is missing. Although the group is leaderless, she is still just "missing" after all!
Although the capital was in chaos, the court's defenses would not collapse immediately.
Not to mention that the Huai River may not be taken over quickly due to the control of King Mu next door.
Even if the Huai River is occupied, the Linfeng Road, which is the most solid barrier outside the capital, will definitely be difficult to break through.
It's a tough nut to crack.
"What a pity! If the Governor Gao Lian had not been killed by Zhao Duan, otherwise... with Gao Lian as an insider, how could it have come to this?" Prince Jing's eyes were cold.
Xu Jinglong smiled and said:
"Don't worry, father. Hai Chunlin and the others have been held captive by Duan Shuiliu and his men. With Ouyang Ye's abilities and the support of the elite troops in the army, it's only a matter of time before we capture Xu and Zhao. We may have already succeeded."
At this moment, suddenly a falcon flew through the clouds in the sky and was caught by the scout on the warship.
After a while.
The scout hurried to the deck, knelt on one knee, and held up a secret letter in both hands:
"Your Majesty, urgent information from a secret agent!"
…
Happy New Year, fellow book lovers! Today is the first update, and there will be more in the evening.
(End of this chapter)
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