When Shen came to, he saw at first glance only the carved ceiling above the bed, which slightly opened and then immediately closed.
His head felt dizzy and heavy. He tried to stand up, but saw a familiar figure sitting on the table beside him. Xie Shiguan was still sitting there sipping tea. He clearly heard him stand up, but he didn't even look at the couch.
Shen Que got off the bed in a panic and walked towards him. He quietly reached out his hand, wanting to touch His Highness's shoulder. But before his fingertips touched the fabric of his clothes, Xie Shiguan interrupted him coldly: "Don't touch me."
He seemed startled by the low sound, and then slowly withdrew his hand.
"How capable you are, Chen Que," His Highness said coldly without even looking at him, "You got a note from somewhere, and you dared to go to that dangerous place alone. Do you think your life is too long?"
However, Shen knew he was in the wrong, so he lowered his head and let him ridicule him.
The moment he got the note, he knew that this trip might be a one-way trip, so he deliberately left the note behind. If it was left there, His Highness might not bother to care about it, but if it was him who was left there...
By doing this, he was undoubtedly forcing Xie to watch his fate.
He took advantage of your Highness' sincerity, so whether your Highness is angry with him or hates him now, it is all right.
It was rare for Xie Shiguan to remain silent and refuse to talk to him, but Shen was flustered and raised his hand somewhat at a loss: "There won't be a next time, I..."
"Next time?" His Highness asked sarcastically, "If this happens again, will you really not dare to do it again?"
"Anyway, you have been so deep in your plans that you have surely calculated that the Mu party would spare your life to threaten me, and that I would be able to rush to rescue you in time. Why are you afraid?" He paused for a moment, then continued, "You can ask that little slave to come back and give me the note in an hour. Why not later? I will be able to collect your body in front of the palace later."
But Shen didn't dare to look up at him.
He indeed went there with the intention of possibly losing his life, and it was obvious that the Mu party wanted to trick him into going there, so as long as they caught him, Shen Luo would naturally become a useless bait.
He only hoped that Eleven, who had rebelled for unknown reasons, would be spared when the time came.
After a long while, Xie Shiguan saw him raise his hand and stammered, "Chen Luo, how is he?"
He smiled coldly, and gently pushed outward with his little finger. The cup of lukewarm tea fell at Chen Que's feet, and the cup shattered immediately.
"Chen, Luo," His Highness held the name in his mouth and repeated it again and again as if chewing it deliberately, "Chen Luo, you are willing to die for him, and he is willing to die for you. The deep love between you two as 'brothers' is truly moving and touching."
"I must come between you and him. I seem like a bad person who doesn't know the current situation."
Shen quickly shook his head. He didn't understand why His Highness always had a problem with Shen Luo. If he really had that kind of affection for Shen Luo, he wouldn't have treated him as a brother. They had been colleagues for more than a decade, and he had plenty of opportunities to confess to him.
But he didn't.
Just as Shen Que was about to raise his hand again, he heard Shen Xiangzhi’s voice suddenly coming from outside the door: “Your Highness, there is news from the tower.”
After hearing this, Xie Shiguan finally stood up, but Shen hurriedly went to find a coat to put on, and then followed him slowly.
When he went out, he exchanged glances with Shen Xiangzhi and quickly gestured to him, "How is Senior Brother? Is he back?"
Shen Xiangzhi nodded slightly: "Your body is just a few superficial injuries, not serious. I just couldn't help but come to your hospital to check, and they said you didn't seem to be awake yet, so I didn't go in to check..."
Having said that, he looked meaningfully at Xie Shiguan who was walking in front, and Shen almost understood what he meant.
His Highness had been guarding his room just now, so Shen Luo naturally couldn't come in, but Shen Luo still had the energy to come and see him, so he must not have been seriously injured. Thinking of this, Shen Luo couldn't help but feel relieved.
That evening, the Northern Barbarian Chanyu led his troops to the gate of the imperial city.
His Royal Highness Prince Yan stood on the city wall. The wind was strong in spring, blowing the bright yellow flag, making it rustle in his ears. A few strands of hair on his temples were blown away and fluttered backwards in the cold wind.
The mute refused to stay in the mansion and insisted on following him. Xie Shiguan was still angry with him, so he just gave him a cold look and asked Shen Xiangzhi to take him to change into a light armor before he would let him go up the city wall with him.
The Northern Barbarian Chanyu looked up, smiled and bowed to the people on the wall, and said in not very fluent Chinese: "Excuse me, is the one above, His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan, who invited me here?"
Xie Shiguan lowered his eyes to meet his, and returned the barbarian greeting with a half-smile: "It is me."
"I have long heard of your great name, Khan. Seeing you today, I can see that you are truly extraordinary."
These were all polite words, and after a few sentences, the Northern Barbarian Chanyu below became a little uneasy. He led his wolf cavalry and traveled thousands of miles to the Han imperial city, not to stand in front of the city gate and chat and laugh with this Han prince.
"I have arrived as promised. Since we have guests coming from afar," the Chanyu suddenly said in a loud voice, "Is there any reason for Your Majesty to close the door?"
Xie Shiguan calmly tucked the flying hair behind his ears, and then asked him slowly, "Where is the gift?"
If this action was performed by any other middle-aged man, it would probably look either weird or effeminate, but when he did it, there was always a weird and slightly evil beauty to it.
The Chanyu was slightly stunned, somewhat confused: "What gift?"
His Chinese was not very good, and he was afraid that he might have heard it wrong, so he turned his head to ask the translator beside him who was fluent in various languages. The translator immediately opened his mouth and uttered something in a strange accent.
Knowing that he had not misunderstood his meaning, the Chanyu spoke again: "My dear brother, the Princess Menghe back then was my aunt, so you and I can be said to be cousins."
"If it weren't for these damned Han people, Meng He wouldn't have died. If she were still alive, she would be happy for us if she saw that we, the Northern Barbarians, were able to trample all these Han people under our feet."
He spoke Mandarin haltingly and incoherently, mixed with a few words of foreign dialect from time to time, but fortunately Xie Shiguan could understand the general idea.
"As for the gift, how could I forget yours?" The Chanyu said with a smile, "As long as you are willing to open the city gate, I will take off the head of the dog emperor for you and let you sit on the dragon throne..."
Before he could finish his words, Xie Shiguan unexpectedly asked someone to open the city gate.
The Chanyu originally thought that the man would not agree easily and there would be more time to bargain. He never expected that this man would be so straightforward.
"The city gate is open," Xie Shi looked at the people below with a gentle smile on his face, "Cousin, why don't you come in?"
The Chanyu immediately responded with a smile, but he felt cold in his heart. Along the way, the cities near the capital were almost deserted. He ordered some soldiers to stay behind to search for gold and silver, while he led the three thousand elite soldiers to the front of the imperial city.
I heard from the Han people that even the officials and ministers in the imperial city have already fled. If Prince Yan had any sense, he should have evacuated with them. Why is he still staying here and acting like a lone king?
Such a person is either hopelessly stupid and truly believes that he will keep his promise and give him a share of the pie, or he is ambitious and wants to play some trick of "the oriole is behind the scenes".
But he came here from afar not to serve as firewood for this cousin whom he had never met.
"I am not in a hurry," he said slowly, "but these soldiers have worked so hard and have traveled all the way through wind and rain. They are in a hurry to have a hot meal at my mansion. We should invite them in first."
Xie Shiguan's expression did not change, as if he agreed with him: "That makes sense, then please invite these soldiers in first."
The Chanyu then smiled and waved his hand, allowing the elite troops to lead the way and enter the city gate first.
While he was staring at the wolf riders out of the corner of his eye, he said to Xie Shiguan on the wall, "But since the Khan has arrived, His Majesty has not been standing up there all the time. It makes sense for him not to come and meet the guests, right? Is this how you Han people treat your guests?"
Xie Shiguan smiled and looked him in the eye: "Just now, didn't the Khan and I call each other brothers? How come it has become 'you Han people' now?"
"My Khan doesn't speak Chinese well," the Chanyu said without a doubt, "and it's normal for there to be some mistakes or omissions in the sentences."
But Xie Shiguan was very calm and said straightforwardly: "The Khan has brought so many wolf riders from afar, and I am really scared. If I go down, and the Khan stabs me to death with a sword, who can I complain to?"
The Chanyu below burst into laughter.
"Then the prince can't stay there forever, right?"
Xie Shiguan also laughed with him: "Of course not."
Those who entered the city first were the "eyes" of the Wolf Riders. If there was an ambush in the city, they would know it at a glance. After a while, they heard the Wolf Riders who had entered the city first blew a few short whistles, which meant that the way ahead was safe.
The Chanyu then commanded the remaining wolf riders to enter, and he himself walked in the last row, surrounded by the elite troops as he entered the city.
The prosperity of this imperial city is naturally incomparable to any other place. He has been puzzled since he was a child. Why do his people have to eat sand in the wilderness, while this group of lowly Han people have to occupy this large fertile land?
So he swore that one day, he would occupy all the territories of these Han insects and let his own people live a prosperous life.
Now he was apparently almost there.
But just as he was proudly admiring the Han empire he had built, the city gate behind him suddenly slammed shut.
Soon, the man standing on the city gate suddenly smiled brightly, and the weak and frightened attitude he had just had disappeared. He stared into his eyes and smiled like a ghost.
"What's so special about the emperor's head?" The Chanyu heard him say, "If you offer the Khan's head as a gift, that would be a sincere gesture."
The Chanyu seemed to have sensed something. He stared at the man on the stage and said in broken Chinese: "Xie Ling, you have no moral principles!"
"My cousin obviously didn't come here to celebrate my birthday," Xie Shiguan smiled, "What morality? Only losers like to talk about morality."
As soon as he finished speaking, the elite northern barbarians under him suddenly began to riot. While he was speaking, someone in the team drew his sword and stabbed the person next to him.
The young Chanyu panicked, looked around, and said in his native dialect: "What on earth did you do to my men?"
On the city wall, Xie Shiguan looked at him with a smile.
"Do you really want to die with a clear conscience?"
The plan was already completed, and His Highness was too lazy to talk to him anymore. He pulled Shen Que into the arrow tower and picked up a Wanshi bow. He wanted to throw it to Shen Que and ask him to play with it, but suddenly he remembered that he had an injury on his forearm, so he didn't bother him.
"Why do you think those wolf riders turned against each other?"
His Highness asked him jokingly while drawing the bow.
All he could hear was the sound of metal clashing against stone. There were also many royal guards hiding in the arrow tower, firing arrows at the same time. At a glance, he could see many foreign corpses lying below.
He was willing to talk to him, so Shen naturally had no choice but to respond. After a moment's hesitation, he raised his hand and said, "Coercion, inducement?"
His Highness was clearly looking at the arrow, but his peripheral vision seemed to be on him. Seeing him answer, he smiled and said, "That's not enough to incite so many wolf riders to revolt. It's too much trouble."
But when Shen listened to him continue talking, he realized that His Highness had actually ordered those death warriors of the palace to secretly ambush on the march of these wolf riders.
While tracking secretly, he would observe and make a mask on the spot. When the time is right, he would replace one of the Wolf Riders. As the number of such "Wolf Riders" increases, they can protect each other and their identities become more and more solid.
While marching, there would not be much communication between these wolf riders. Besides, these death warriors had already undergone special training and were all proficient in the languages of all directions. So speaking a few simple foreign words was not a problem at all.
By the time they arrived in Beijing, the number of these fake wolf riders had reached hundreds, mixed in with the large group, making it difficult to defend against them. The companion who was clearly standing on his side and fighting side by side with him just now, stabbed his heart with the spear in his hand the next moment.
How could the other comrades tell whether the dead man was a spy and the one who took action was just trying to protect himself, or whether the one who took action was a spy and the dead man was one of their own.
Amidst this chaos, they began to fight among themselves.
However, Shen saw Xie Shiguan deliberately shooting arrows at the Northern Barbarian Chanyu's body. He seemed to be particularly "important" to this cousin, and he was playing with him like a monkey, forcing him to hide in panic.
"Xie Ling," the Chanyu said in a mixture of Chinese and foreign languages, shouting desperately at the arrow tower, "I still have tens of thousands of cavalry on the way, and they will soon rush into the imperial city. With your childish tricks, even if my wolf cavalry is defeated, can you defeat those tens of thousands of troops in one go?"
Xie Shiguan didn't even blink, just said with some disdain: "He's so noisy."
After a long while without any response, the Chanyu thought that he was afraid, so he laughed: "Those soldiers have been withdrawn to the south, you have no soldiers. Even if this Khan dies, there will be another Chanyu. Those cavalrymen will not panic, they know what they want!"
He considered himself a man of iron and blood, and the wolf king among these wolf riders. In every battle, no matter how big or small, he would rush to the front, unlike those Han leaders who were timid and dared not move forward.
Even if he died in this capital, those victorious soldiers would spread his story back home, and his legend would be remembered both in the mouths of his clansmen and on the inscriptions on the bones.
But just as he was drowning in this beautiful dream, he heard a voice suddenly coming from the arrow tower.
"Will those cavalry really rush into the imperial city?"
The young Chanyu was stunned for a moment.
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