I will follow the king's orders! Me? When will I...
Queen Dowager An looked at Ziman with a stubborn face, and finally nodded in agreement. She hid him among the envoys and sent him back to Anguo together.
She would definitely not return to Anguo. If she left, the king would definitely discover what she and her son were doing and would block the city gates and not let them leave.
"I'm really worried about you, Mom. Good opportunities don't come easily. Why don't you go with me?"
Before leaving, Ziman grabbed Empress Dowager An's sleeve and spoke seriously with an anxious look on his face.
Empress Dowager An was deeply moved by Ziman's words, but she still shook her head firmly. She would never flee back to Anguo in such a miserable state. One day, she would go back openly!
Seeing that Empress Dowager An refused to give in no matter what he said, Ziman could only sigh, take two steps back, kneel down and kowtow three times to his mother, then follow Empress Dowager An's confidant out.
The group took the Queen Mother An's order and left the palace, heading all the way to the city gate. Once they were out of the city gate, they got on a carriage and headed west.
Anguo is to the west of Jingchang.
When he looked out from the carriage and could no longer see the gate of Jingchang City, Ziman breathed a sigh of relief. The heavy burden in his heart was lifted. He had finally escaped from Jingchang.
He could venture forth freely in the future. One day, he would become famous and take his mother away! By then, the world would no longer be able to mock his background. Everyone would have to look him in the eye!
Just as Hui'an Jun's ambition began to take shape, a group of masked men suddenly emerged from the dense forest.
These knights appeared out of nowhere, and as soon as they appeared, they shouted and shouted for killing, and rushed straight towards the carriage without paying any attention to the slave guards who were guarding around the carriage.
In the eyes of the ranger, there must be nobles in the carriage, and anyone who is a noble should be killed!
There are no good people among the nobles these days. Taking human lives is a small matter. When people have power and are not restrained, there are so many unscrupulous things they can do.
Knights were a group of people unique to the Zhou Dynasty, because at that time the world was in chaos and war, people were living in poverty, and the power of the government was strong and weak. The powerful vassal states could definitely maintain order and provide a good life for the common people. Those weak vassal states might even be defeated and become slaves themselves, not to mention the common people.
The common people are living a miserable life and the government is not doing anything. Naturally, someone will step forward to act on the government's behalf and enforce justice, exercising its authority to punish evil and promote good.
A large portion of the rangers are good people who cannot tolerate the evil deeds of the bad guys, so they stand up and take up weapons to protect the villagers.
Of course, there are also some people who, just like the modern yellow-haired T, are purely trying to make a living and have no moral bottom line.
Hui'an Jun was still in the carriage dreaming of his future glory when he was frightened by the shouting and killing outside. He gritted his teeth, rushed out with a sword, and started fighting with the group of rangers.
He was quite skilled and could easily deal with one or two villains, but he was outnumbered. There seemed to be many people hiding in the dense forest. After killing one, another one rushed out. After killing three people in a row, Hui'an Jun could not bear it anymore and his hands and feet became weak.
The next moment, a ranger swung a sword at his wrist. The sword cut the tendons in his hand and he could no longer hold the sword.
In the blink of an eye, the head flew into the sky and then fell heavily to the ground. The headless body fell to the ground, and blood flowed out from the bowl-sized scar, dyeing the ground blood red.
The guards and envoys around cried out in pain when they saw this. Some gave up struggling directly, while others killed the enemy even more ferociously. Their reactions were different. When the rangers saw that their goal had been achieved, they picked up the head from the ground and ran away without lingering in the fight.
After the rest of the people escaped from death, the envoy looked at the headless corpse and burst into tears. He quickly turned his horse around and went to the royal city to call for help.
"Don't go, don't go. There aren't so many Rangers near Jingchang. It's obvious that the one who escaped angered them..."
Another envoy stopped his friend who was about to run back and pointed upwards with the tip of his sword, which was still stained with blood.
The envoy who had already mounted his horse had an extremely ugly expression on his face. He was the confidant of Queen Mother An and naturally belonged to the Kingdom of An. Hui'an Jun was the child he had watched grow up, and now he had died tragically in front of him, and his head had been taken away by the enemy to seek credit. It was a great shame!
"Even the emperor can't be so bloodthirsty! He's her brother!"
"We are not related, what kind of brother is he? Get off your horse quickly and bury him properly. If the Queen Mother knew that you and I had just left the city gate and watched Hui'an Jun die, I'm afraid she would pay with her own life. It's better not to come back this time."
As another envoy spoke, he raised his sword and killed all the people who were frightened and collapsed on the ground, as well as the unfamiliar faces. The remaining people were all their people, that is, all An people, so they were not afraid that they would go back and inform on the matter.
"Boyou's words are polite."
The envoy on horseback watched his friend finish everything, frowned, dismounted, got on the carriage, took out clean clothes, and distributed them to the living people.
Take the clothes, take off the bloody clothes, and the matter will naturally be over.
One of the guards did not change his clothes immediately, which attracted murderous looks from the envoys Juyan and Boyou.
The young guard hurriedly explained that he was thinking of burying someone soon, so he would change into clean clothes after finishing the work.
Only then did Ju Yan and Bo You give up their murderous intentions. When several small mounds appeared in the dense forest, it was almost dark. The group set out on the road in the dark and did not stop all night before they arrived at the place where they planned to stay.
On the other side, it was getting dark and an uninvited guest came to the palace.
Taibuyang came to ask for someone.
Shen Zhiwei sat on the throne, lowered his eyes to look at Taibu Yang standing below, and said "Oh" in a drawn-out voice.
"Oh—so you want to take a few palace servants away today?"
"I dared not delay the king's business, so I returned and selected fifteen men. They were all lowly slaves in my household. They had previously done rough farm work and had clean backgrounds. They were originally minor nobles of Yu Country."
No matter how small the nobles were, it was impossible for them to do much rough work in the fields, so it was very likely that some of these slaves had served as agricultural officials.
Yu State was one of the small countries that was destroyed by An State some time ago.
"Lord An is killing the enemy and looting the battlefield in front, while you are taking advantage of them in the back. How cunning." Shen Zhiwei sighed. The emperor's agricultural officials all ran away, proving that all countries are in short supply of people who can farm.
As a result, an unappreciated noble could easily enslave the entire family of the farming official.
The emperor can suffer but they themselves cannot, which is a true portrayal of this group of nobles.
Tai Buyang didn't dare to answer, as he could hear some dissatisfaction in Shen Zhiwei's words.
Just when Taibuyang was worried that the king was in a bad mood and would not release the people, Hu Youan appeared.
After Hu Youan entered, he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the palace maids responsible for washing have been brought here. There are seven of them in total, and they are all waiting outside."
Hu Youan spoke in a serious tone and never looked at Tai Buyang once the whole time, as if Tai Buyang did not exist.
Taibu Yang didn't care about Hu Youan's neglect of him. He was more shocked by the king's decisiveness at the moment.
He thought the king would make things difficult for him, but he didn't expect that the king had already prepared a deal.
Your Majesty truly keeps his promises, which is quite different from the previous king.
Shen Zhiwei didn't know that Taibu Yang was secretly comparing the differences between the two generations of kings. She frowned in some trouble.
"The fortune teller brought fifteen slaves, but only seven palace maids. Why don't you take some other palace maids back with you?"
"Thank you for your gift, Your Majesty. However, I only need one maid. To be honest, Your Majesty, that maid is my mother. I only want to take care of her and ensure her safety and well-being."
How could Taibu Yang take away so many palace servants? Moreover, the staff in the palace was already very short. If he took a few more away, there might not be enough people to serve the king.
He was afraid that the king would not agree to take only one away, so he gritted his teeth and told the king everything about his mother.
Now that his goal has been achieved, the king can rest assured to accept those slaves. His mother is much more valuable than those slaves.
The mother of a nobleman was actually a laundry maid in the palace, a slave. Shen Zhiwei was shocked. Taibu Yang's father was not short of money, but he actually allowed the woman who gave birth to his child to be a slave outside.
Forget it, Shen Zhiwei doesn’t find it strange no matter what the nobles of this era do.
"You'an, take the fortune teller to take a look and have him take his mother away. The rest can be sent back."
Shen Zhiwei felt inexplicably tired and waved for the two to leave. She felt sleepy again.
When people are hungry, they tend to feel sleepy and less talkative. Shen Zhiwei thinks that's just how she is.
Two meals a day would really make one hungry. Although there are all kinds of snacks available at any time, not to mention two meals a day, even ten meals a day would be no problem. But for a modern person like Shen Zhiwei, snacks are not enough to fill him up!
To be precise, my stomach is full but my mouth is hungry.
Before the big iron pot was made, Shen Zhiwei didn't want to have to eat three meals a day. Not only was it not to her taste, but the ingredients also made her feel too guilty.
The emperor actually eats very well. He can eat anything that flies in the sky, runs on the ground, or swims in the water as long as people can see it. The animals that Shen Zhiwei has eaten in the past few days would get her jailed for life if she were in modern times.
Taibu Yang came back not long after he went down. He told Shen Zhiwei with a happy face that he had found his mother and was very grateful to the king for his generosity.
Then he told Shen Zhiwei the good news he had just received.
"Huian Jun has indeed escaped. I have already sent people to intercept and kill him according to the king's instructions. I just received news that the ranger has cut off Hui'an Jun's head. Would the king like to see it?"
Tai Buyang didn't expect things to go so smoothly.
The Queen Mother An's people returned to Anguo in essence according to the king's order, so Taibu Yang knew very well when they would set off and which route they would take.
Hui'an Jun thought that he could escape to Anguo safely by mixing in the diplomatic team. How naive!
Taibu Yang looked up and saw Shen Zhiwei's cold eyes. He thought to himself that the king was so young, but he already had the appearance of a ruler. He never showed his emotions in front of others. This was truly a blessing for the Zhou Dynasty.
He was just following the king's orders to chop off a traitor's head. He shouldn't be so happy. He should learn from the king and stay calm in the face of difficulties.
As for Shen Zhiwei, his soul had already left his body at this moment.
Whose orders did he take? Me? When did I give him orders?
Who did he kill? Hui'an Jun? Who was Hui'an Jun? The original body's half-brother!
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