Chapter 74 Entering the City
With everything settled, Zhou She returned to the city and casually tossed the severed head to Su Miao.
Caught off guard, Su Miao blankly held a blood-soaked human head and followed Zhou She, quickly arriving in front of Cheng Zhuoran.
Cheng Zhuoran glanced at it briefly before handing the head to Zhuang Ziqian beside him.
Li Tu was a new enemy to him, but an old adversary to Zhuang Ziqian.
Zhuang Ziqian recognized it at a glance; it was indeed Li Tu's severed head, still glaring angrily, maintaining its arrogant posture until the very last moment before its death.
Zhuang Ziqian looked up at the sky and laughed heartily, exclaiming with deep emotion, "Good! I knew that Li Tu would eventually meet his end!"
Cheng Zhuoran stood with his hands behind his back and said with a smile, "Ruochuan, you should come to the celebration banquet tonight. Su Miao, you and Tianzong will be on duty."
Su Miao mumbled something to himself, but Zhou She couldn't hear a word he said. Finally, Su Miao clasped his hands in a fist and replied loudly, "Yes!"
Before Cheng Zhuoran could say anything more, a middle-aged man suddenly walked up to him quickly and whispered something to him.
As the other person spoke in a low voice, Cheng Zhuoran's expression grew increasingly hesitant. Amidst the questioning gazes of the crowd, he slowly turned his head and said thoughtfully, "...The additional provisions sent by His Majesty have arrived."
Everyone: "..." Ah.
This is truly unexpected.
No one expected that this battle would defeat Li Tu. Their original plan was merely to weaken the enemy's strength and wage a harassing war.
Who knew the results would exceed expectations? Now, the significance of this batch of supplies seems somewhat...
But Cheng Zhuoran was still in a good mood and said with a smile, "Then I will go and count the number first. Tianzong, you call the military commander and record this batch of grain into the register."
At the same time, Zhou She also learned that someone was waiting for him in his barracks, who was said to be an old acquaintance.
Zhou She racked his brains for a while, but couldn't figure out who this person was. So he simply wiped the blood off his hand and went to see which guy it was.
The sky curtain bids farewell to its audience once again.
[Okay, that's all for today's King Jungjong Special: The Successor. The next episode will be the grand finale, so see you next time!]
As she finished speaking, comments began to pop up on the screen.
[Up, did you intentionally freeze here?? I can only give you zero points for this!]
[Congratulations to King Jungjong on his partial victory! [Laughing]]
Xiao Yichun really went back and cried, hahaha.
[I knew history books were prone to fabrication. What's it like to have the old Ning Shu (History of the Ning Dynasty) criticize your own emperor even more than the new Ning Shu (History of the Ning Dynasty)?]
Whoever breaks through the defenses gets hurt.
But sometimes calling him a tyrant isn't entirely unfair, is it? His methods could have been much gentler, but he ended up making such a mess of things. Who's to blame? [shrug]
It's your fault for having a problem with your brain.
[The person upstairs has a sharp tongue!]
[In a place no one cares, Gu Jingshan died and came back to life, but with such a good grandson, he has no regrets even in death [fake crying]]
[I'm dying of laughter, I really want to dig up all the ridiculous fanfiction about Ning Dynasty and share it with everyone.]
Please don't remind me of those grandparent-grandchild pairings, okay? I'm going to gouge my eyes out...
[It's not even as good as the scallion and yellow CP.]
[Help... Zhong Huang's cause of death is still unknown, and it's hard to say who did it. Are you really that confident that Emperor Cheng didn't do it?]
[To be honest, she didn't need to. Secondly, everyone loves eating orthopedic blood packs. Doesn't everyone know how much they hate Zhou Gu? It doesn't stop this group of people from shipping them; fanfiction is flying everywhere.]
Those who can kowtow to King Jungjong and his brother are truly capable people; their hatred for them is palpable, barely contained in their words.
[Rinjo: Hello?]
【Ren-jo also has her own romantic partner...】
[Actually, everyone is the same. Emperor Renzong had a bunch of them, right? Like, "dressing up by the small window," but to write that he gave up the throne for his deceased wife and directly inherited it to Emperor Zhongzong... Even Emperor Zhongzong reincarnated wouldn't dare to write that. It's really so satisfying that it makes you lose your mind.]
Stop, stop, stop paying attention to those unofficial histories. Does anyone care why Emperor Zhongzong treated the Xiao family so well? Xiao Yichun was clearly a staunch supporter of Emperor Renzong.
[Zhongzong is just a person who respects his teachers and values tradition, and he's mainly doing this because of Xiao Jianhe's influence. Where else can you find such good oxen and horses...?]
How did the whole country come to know that King Jungjong liked cattle and horses?!
[Be bold, ever since the first-hand historical materials from the mausoleum were unearthed, this man's image has changed from a cold and ruthless emperor to a comedic and sarcastic character—in fact, he has a lot of inner monologues.]
The funniest thing is that he himself is a brotherly and respectful brother, yet he expects Chung Tsung to be a sister and a brotherly and respectful sister.
[How many times do I have to say it? Zhong Huang's cause of death is most likely unrelated to Zhong Cong!]
Zhong Cong is clearly a black-hearted hypocrite...
[Where do you see the whiteness?]
[Heh, she's not even as fair-skinned as her dad. Her dad's a real actor, the top actor in Ning Dynasty, everyone else pales in comparison.]
The thought of it ending makes me so sad [crying]
You'll also see him mentioned in many subsequent introductions to emperors. Especially during the mid-Qing Dynasty...
Zhou Ze silently lowered his head.
What is orthopedics? What is a couple (CP)? What is shipping (or "shipping")?
Why did he seem not to understand, yet somehow somehow grasp something?
He felt he had to do what Tianmu said in his comment and gouge out his own eyes on the spot.
The historian kept the conversation in the sky in mind.
The comment criticizing the emperor's methods for being too ruthless received dozens of insults, the language of which was so vulgar that he didn't even dare to finish reading it.
Does he intend to write against his conscience that the emperor's killing was well done, brilliant, and that everyone should applaud it?
This doesn't make sense!
The historians simply couldn't understand these people's thought processes and tried to find a balance between professional ethics and posthumous reputation.
In the end, he reluctantly convinced himself that King Jungjong's decision not to kill the historians showed that he still respected history.
How can this not be considered a good emperor?
Emperor Hong'an was reminded of distant memories by the mention of his deceased wife.
However, he had to admit that even if his deceased wife were to be resurrected, Zhou She would not be his first choice to inherit the throne.
After all, one cannot predict the future.
These fanfictions... are probably articles written by people from the future, filled with all sorts of unofficial histories and a combination of rumors.
Emperor Hong'an quickly overlooked these things.
Zhou She did not react to his own toxic and unofficial history.
It wasn't that he wasn't disgusted, but rather that he was busy catching up with old acquaintances.
The so-called old acquaintance was actually Cheng Rong, whom he had met at the Imperial Guard not long ago. He grinned and took out a letter from his sleeve, then handed it to Zhou She with feigned profundity: "Zhou Ruochuan, Zhou Ruochuan, you are... tsk tsk."
Zhou She was completely bewildered and wanted to ask what it said, but Cheng Rong covered his face and said, "Hey, don't ask me, how could I dare to look—"
Zhou She: "..." How disgusting.
He opened the letter and saw a beautiful, neat handwriting. Almost immediately, he knew who had written it.
He couldn't think of anyone else besides Gu Xunhui.
Zhou She immediately understood that something had changed in the capital. Perhaps it was a change too significant for Gu Xunhui to judge, so he left the decision to Zhou She himself.
He composed himself, quickly finished reading, and got a general idea of what was going on.
Cheng Rong immediately smiled faintly, feigning modesty, and said, "How about it? Don't hold back your happiness, it's so tempting..."
Zhou She: "..."
He was speechless, so he folded the letter and put it away. He looked up at Cheng Rong and said, "You haven't seen General Cheng for a long time. Would you like to come to the victory celebration banquet tonight?"
Cheng Rong's expression immediately changed.
Given his father's temper, he really didn't want to see his elderly father. But he couldn't avoid it, so he could only nod reluctantly: "Of course."
As night fell, the entire army was divided into three groups, taking turns on guard duty. The camp was brightly lit, and although it was a victory celebration, from the generals to the soldiers, no one drank a drop of alcohol.
Before leaving, Zhou She recalled Gu Xunhui's speculation and his admonition to him.
Could the Third Prince's men have infiltrated the city? He thought it was entirely possible, and for his own safety, he did not remove the soft armor on his chest.
Compared to the bustling capital, the dishes were certainly simple, but the portions of meat and vegetables were generous, and the sauces were rich and flavorful, making it a rare delicacy to be found in the border region.
During his time at the border, Zhou She not only suffered a great deal, but he also truly experienced what it meant to be "take it or leave it, or starve to death."
No matter what his superior said, he would just give a perfunctory reply and then start burying his head in his food, feeling a sense of pathetic self-awareness as he ate.
Cheng Rong moved closer to him and was startled by his starving appearance: "Doesn't my dad feed you?"
Zhou She stole a moment from his busy schedule to look up at him, shook his head and sighed, "Sigh, you don't understand."
Cheng Rong pondered for a moment, ate a couple of bites as a token gesture, and then began to stare blankly into space.
He was sent to escort supplies because the emperor thought he was quite useful, and Cheng's father was at the front line, so the emperor felt he should be a reliable person.
The supplies have arrived, but his father is not satisfied: "The enemy has been defeated, and you're only just arriving? At this rate, you still want to join the army? You still want to achieve great things?"
Go eat other people's exhaust fumes!
Cheng Rong was utterly speechless, unable to utter a single word of explanation. General Cheng was somewhat autocratic; he looked at Zhou She, then at his father on the platform, his eyes growing increasingly sorrowful.
After finally getting through the event, Cheng Rong followed Zhou She back to Zhou She's camp.
Zhou She wanted to ask him what he was going to do, but he was in a great mood and didn't bother to ask. He pushed open the door, and the room was pitch black.
As he bent down to light the lamp, he said without turning his head, "You should have your own place to stay, right? My place is a bit remote. Once the bugle sounds, I doubt you'll be able to sleep."
Cheng Rong gave a mumbled reply, barely adjusting to the darkness. As the dim light appeared, a tall figure materialized beside the long table.
Cheng Rong almost doubted that he had seen it wrong.
He blinked, and the figure became even more conspicuous. Then, the shadowy figure shifted slightly; Cheng Rong's cry was still stuck in his throat when a flash of cold light suddenly appeared, heading straight for Zhou She's heart!
Zhou She reacted quickly, retreating and creating distance almost the instant the lights came on.
With a sharp crack, the dagger grazed his soft armor, sending sparks flying. Seeing the danger, the assassin immediately retreated, but Cheng Rong instinctively gave chase. Zhou She suddenly raised his leg, tripping the assassin in place.
After a struggle, he snatched the dagger from the assassin's hand and pressed the sharp blade against the man's throat. In the dim light, the dagger clearly gleamed with an eerie blue light.
poisonous?
Cheng Rong's heart suddenly raced, and he belatedly realized that Zhou She was wearing armor.
A stroke of luck amidst misfortune.
The commotion attracted a series of footsteps. Cheng Zhuoran arrived the fastest and saw Zhou She sitting on the ground, pinning the assassin to the ground. He immediately turned around and glared fiercely at his son.
Cheng Rong: "..." I'm wronged... but it seems I'm not wronged after all.
The assassin was able to infiltrate the city only because his men entered the city today; there was really no one else who could have done so.
Regardless of the circumstances, the blame for this oversight must be placed on him; it cannot be erased.
Zhou She raised his face, smiled at Cheng Zhuoran, and said in a hoarse voice, "It's not his fault."
Cheng Zhuoran's face was ashen, and he remained silent. Cheng Rong cast a helpless yet touched look at him: "Brother, you are truly my good brother."
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