Chapter 432 The Grand Finale (2)
Lu Xiao led his soldiers to kneel on one knee, clasped their hands in salute, and said, "This humble general pays respects to the Emperor Emeritus!"
When the retired Emperor Zhao Hui was helped out of the sheepfold, he saw the group of soldiers dressed in the armor of the Great Zhou Dynasty and was filled with disbelief.
Their Zhou soldiers have already reached the enemy's capital, Shangjing.
Could it be that I'm still dreaming and haven't woken up yet?
"Heng'er, Father seems to have seen our Great Zhou soldiers... I'm dreaming again, pinch me quickly."
Zhao Heng was an honest boy; he pinched Zhao Hui's arm without hesitation.
"Ouch, that hurts! Let go, let go..." Zhao Hui winced in pain, quickly pulled his arm back, and slapped Zhao Heng's hand away.
Great! This day has finally come! Before this, he had always thought he would die far from home.
Heaven has ultimately been kind to him, allowing him to live to see this moment, so that he may not die with regrets.
He looked around at the soldiers, his eyes brimming with emotion. He turned his head away to wipe his eyes and said three times, "Good! Good! Good! Rise! You are all good sons of my Great Zhou. It is a blessing for the people of Great Zhou to have you."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The sheep in the pen were terrified when they saw a group of unfamiliar faces, and they ran around in a panic, bleating loudly.
Zhao Hui was still wearing a smelly sheepskin, and upon hearing that familiar cry, his scalp tingled.
He threw the sheepskin on the ground, took two quick steps forward, and urged the adjutant who was supporting him: "Quickly, quickly send me and the Crown Prince back to the Great Zhou!"
Wearing armor, Yun Zhaoxue cupped her hands and said, "Uncle, Shangjing is now part of the Great Zhou territory. There are hundreds of thousands of troops protecting your safety. We have captured more than two thousand members of the Great Jing royal family. You don't need to worry about being thrown into the sheepfold again."
"Xue'er...did you come to rescue your imperial uncle?"
"……yes."
Zhao Hui looked at the face that resembled her old friend and silently moved closer to the Crown Prince. If she knew how her mother died, would she throw her back into the sheepfold or chop up his bones to feed the sheep?
He hasn't lived enough yet, he doesn't want to die.
Upon returning to the Great Zhou, he deposed Zhao Xuan from the throne, installed Zhao Heng as emperor, and became the retired emperor himself. He devoted himself to studying calligraphy and painting, appreciating rare stones, surrounded by servants, and enjoying a life of luxury and honor.
Although he was imprisoned in the sheepfold, he heard about everything that was happening outside from the jailers.
Last year, Xiao Xuance led his army to conquer Youzhou, and if he continues north, he will soon be able to reach the capital.
He longed to return to his homeland of the Great Zhou Dynasty day and night.
To everyone's surprise, a little over a month later, they heard that Zhao Xuan had withdrawn his troops and wanted to negotiate peace with Da Jing. If he wanted to negotiate peace, he didn't even bother to discuss terms with Da Jing to let him go back.
This clearly shows they don't want him to go back; they hope he dies in Dajing.
That unfilial son doesn't deserve to sit in that position.
Now that they have just captured Shangjing, Yun Zhaoxue and Xiao Xuance need to arrange for soldiers to defend all the city gates and to purge the remnants of the Dajing regime to prevent them from launching a counterattack. The couple is so busy that they don't have time to rest.
Zhao Hui, however, felt that living in the capital of Dajing brought back humiliating memories, and insisted that they send someone to escort him and Zhao Heng back to Dazhou first.
Yun Zhaoxue said, "Isn't Your Majesty afraid that there might be spies from the Great Jing lying in ambush on the road and capturing you again? Why don't we wait a few more days?"
Her two sons are in Dingzhou.
She was in a hurry to go back too, but he was.
Zhao Hui said, "Send more troops... send 50,000. Surely 50,000 troops will be safe?"
Yun Zhaoxue told him, "The south isn't peaceful either. Lin'an has already dispatched 100,000 imperial guards to besiege Dingzhou, believing that our welcoming back of you and the former crown prince would threaten his throne. If you go back now and fall into their hands, they could accuse you of impersonating the retired emperor and put you in..."
She made a throat-slitting gesture. "Wouldn't that be a huge loss? What do you think?"
Zhao Hui shrank back, and from then on dared not clamor to go back first again.
"Then let's wait for you all to go back together."
Seven days later, Xiao Xuance and Yun Zhaoxue made arrangements for the defense of the capital, leaving several trusted generals and 30,000 troops to guard it, and then led the cavalry back to Dingzhou to provide support.
Some cavalrymen escorted the royal carriage and the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty on foot.
Ten days later, the group arrived in Dingzhou.
Previously, the commander of the Imperial Guards dispatched by Lin'an was Qin Shu, a disciple of Zhou Tong, Xiao Xuanwu's master.
This person is indeed talented and upright.
Before leaving, Zhou Tong had a long talk with him all night.
Later, Qin Shu led his army to Dingzhou. Just as he was about to attack the city, the cannons of Dingzhou fell to the ground in front of the battle lines.
He hastily ordered his troops to retreat, and although he besieged Dingzhou thereafter, he did not launch an attack for a long time.
The imperial court repeatedly urged him to go to war, but Qin Shu always found excuses to delay.
Upon receiving the news, the Prime Minister of Qin in Lin'an could no longer tolerate it. He dismissed Qin Shu from his post, dispatched his trusted confidant to Dingzhou, and ordered Qin Shu to be brought back for trial.
After the order was issued, he became increasingly angry and worried that Qin Shu might escape en route, so he issued another order: no further trial is necessary, execute him on the spot.
But every man he sent was killed on the way, and every pair he sent died.
After Yun Zhaoxue returned to Dingzhou, she received a secret report from Lin'an: Prime Minister Qin was controlling the court, colluding with his cronies, and forcing the childless Zhao Xuan to make the son of Prince Rui the crown prince.
After Zhao Rui died, he hid Liu'er and her child, and then found an infant who looked like Zhao Rui's son, killed him, and impersonated Zhao Rui's son.
Zhao Xuan has been given a slow-acting poison and will soon die. Once Zhao Xuan passes away and the Crown Prince ascends the throne, the young child, who cannot even write properly, will be unable to rule the country. At that time, the entire Great Zhou will belong to the Qin family.
Just as he was dreaming of seizing power and even becoming the future emperor, the Zhenbei Army had already reached the gates of Lin'an.
Yun Zhaoxue led an army of over 100,000, accompanied by the retired emperor and Zhao Heng, and marched from Dingzhou to Lin'an under the pretext of "purging the court of corrupt officials".
Officials and garrison troops in the cities along the way opened their gates to surrender.
They marched smoothly without encountering any obstacles. The more than 100,000-strong Zhenbei Army reached Lin'an in less than a month.
The steward rushed into the study in a panic and reported, "Prime Minister! The Zhenbei Army has already entered Lin'an City! They've even brought back the Emperor Emeritus... What should we do now?"
Prime Minister Qin slumped back in his chair, tilting his head slightly back: "What can we do? Those useless fools in Da Jing, with an army of four or five hundred thousand, can't even defeat an enemy force of two hundred thousand. What can our few men do? We can only wait to die."
Xiao Xuance led his troops to the Prime Minister's residence, killing any who resisted without mercy, and the place became a river of blood.
The servants and women who did not resist were all tied up.
Qin Yuru thought that Prime Minister Qin might have a backup plan and had dug a secret passage to escape. She rushed to the study, but was captured outside the door.
She struggled and shouted, "Let me go! Let me go! The Crown Prince is back! I am the Crown Princess! If you dare to touch me, the Crown Prince will never forgive you..."
"Father! Father! Please save your daughter..."
The Prime Minister of Qin ordered his steward to pour tung oil from the corner onto the door, the ground, and the beams and pillars, and then picked up a lit candlestick and threw it into the oil.
The flames immediately flared up upon contact with the tung oil.
He told the steward to flee on his own, but the steward refused to leave. As a servant born into the Qin family, he vowed to be loyal to Prime Minister Qin to the death.
He was involved in so many bad things and couldn't escape responsibility. It would be better for him to die in the fire with Prime Minister Qin, which would be considered as fulfilling his loyalty to his master.
Xiao Xuance ordered his men to kick open the door. Zhao Jiu, who had experience in firefighting, led several people in with fire extinguishers and rushed in to quickly put out the flames.
The soldiers rushed into the house and dragged Prime Minister Qin and his steward out.
The Prime Minister Qin and his faction were imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice prison, where they were jointly tried by the three judicial departments. They made him confess to the crimes he had committed over the past ten years, had the clerks record it, and finally made him sign and affix his fingerprint.
The imperial court posted a public notice about his crimes more than a decade ago, when he fell into the hands of spies from the Great Jing and betrayed the lives of more than 30,000 soldiers of the Great Zhou in order to save his own life. This was to let the people of the world know that he was destined to be infamous for eternity.
The Prime Minister of Qin was sentenced to death by slow slicing. In the East Market, witnessed by the people, he was sliced more than a thousand times before he finally died, and the people applauded and cheered.
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