Chapter 111 Funeral Ceremony
Yu Yangji originally planned to pursue the victory and use the swords of the city defenders to eliminate Huo Gannian. This is why he deliberately left the ruined temple as a "gap" for the Huo Gang to hide.
However, when the defenders heard that Princess Nanlijun was on her way with her troops, they were unwilling to engage in a head-on confrontation with her.
Due to the dispute with Yu Yangji, the defenders could neither advance nor retreat, and could only stay at the foot of the hill above the temple and wait and see what would happen.
Yu Yangji was very anxious. Although he wanted to send the Yu family guards to the mountain to surround and kill him, the temple was built on the top of the mountain. Although they could trap him to death, it was also a difficult place to besiege because one man could block a thousand men. So he had to give up.
When Nan Lijun hurriedly arrived, more than half of the Huo Gang's guards had already fallen unconscious, and Huo Gannian also had a high fever due to the suppuration of his wounds.
Seeing that the main hall of the temple was in a mess, with blood-stained clothes and towels everywhere, and the offerings on the altar had been eaten up without even the cores left, Nan Lijun quickly ordered the accompanying medical officer to treat the patient and asked the attendants to prepare several tables of hot food.
After the Huo Gang members had eaten and drunk their fill, they re-applied medicine and bandaged their wounds and rested for half a day before they felt alive again.
Huo Gannian was hit by two arrows on his calf. Although he didn't feel any pain, the wound was in serious condition and needed to be cleaned of pus and flesh and then applied with herbal medicine.
The medical officer was a little hesitant, so Huo Gannian took the razor himself, cut the skin cleanly and neatly, and removed all the pus and flesh, which gave Nan Lijun goose bumps all over his body.
Huo Gannian's voice was a little hoarse due to the high fever, and he said:
"Princess, even though I'm disabled, I'm still a man. Shouldn't you step aside?"
Nan Lijun rolled his eyes at him and sighed:
"At this point, are you still concerned about such trivial matters as sexual hygiene? Huo Gannian, I should have listened to you and not rashly attacked the Yu family... Now it seems that the Yu family's continuous defeat over the past year, as well as the concessions made by the ministers in collusion with them, were all false pretenses, used to paralyze us... No, to paralyze me..."
Huo Gannian remained silent, waiting for the medical officer to apply the herbs, bandage the wound, and leave before he spoke calmly:
"That's all right. Victory and defeat are common in war."
Nan Lijun glanced at Huo Gannian gratefully, "Thank you for not saying things like, 'I advised you a long time ago, but you didn't listen,' or 'I told you a long time ago, but you didn't believe me.' To be honest, I thought you would scold me."
Huo Gannian, as usual, calmly served his tea and drank it slowly, not at all like someone who had just escaped a near-death battle.
Nan Lijun had heard that the Huo family ancestral hall was completely destroyed and most of the Huo gang guards were killed.
Huo Gannian asked, "How many soldiers did you bring with you?"
Nan Lijun said, "They are only three hundred of the Princess' personal guards... They said they were coming with troops to deceive the city guards... Although General Cao Fang and the Black Armor Army are on my side, I cannot allow them to borrow or transfer troops at will. If we are not careful, we will be charged with 'treason', which would be disastrous."
After hesitating for a moment, Nan Lijun suppressed his uneasiness and took out a secret letter from his pocket:
"You said before that it's okay if the official records can't be found. Even if the physical evidence is gone, it's okay as long as there are witnesses..."
Before Nan Lijun could finish, Huo Gannian interrupted, "I guess the person in charge of the merchant seals has turned against us and won't testify for us anymore, right?"
As usual, Huo Gannian had everything under consideration and it was not a sudden disaster.
Nan Lijun was dejected. "Yes... He had promised to testify for us before, but for some reason he changed his mind now, insisting that the official records had always contained half of the character 'Huo'... You're right, people are the most unreliable... I shouldn't have trusted him so easily..."
Huo Gannian took a sip of tea and began to review:
"In other words, the armory is now in my Huo family's ancestral hall, and the seals on the relevant evidence were originally fake. But because the official records were replaced, the 'witness' temporarily changed his statement, so the fake became real, correct?"
Nan Lijun was too embarrassed to look at Huo Gannian, so he lowered his head and said, "Yes."
"It can be said that the evidence that the Huo Gang privately manufactured weapons and intended to rebel is now irrefutable. Add to that the large number of onlookers deliberately attracted by the Yu family today. Soon, from the common people in the market to the imperial court, everyone will believe that the Huo Gang is plotting a rebellion, right?"
"yes……"
"Except for the neutral faction and those who lean towards our Princess, the rest of the pro-Jade faction. The Princess said before that she had made arrangements to ensure that they would be humble and not support the Dingyu family this time. Does that still count?"
Nan Lijun swallowed hard, "From what I can see now, the idea of setting up a primary school was fake from the beginning...it must still be the Li Dingyu family."
Huo Gannian took a sip of tea, thought for a moment, and took another sip. His voice was unremarkable:
"This situation is really very unfavorable."
After a long silence, Nan Lijun sighed and whispered:
"We lost this round..."
Soon, the news of the Huo Gang's defeat spread throughout the entire Nan Kingdom.
This bloody lion-leopard fight between the Huo and Yu families was known to everyone from the common people in the market to the factions in the court, causing unrest both inside and outside the court.
Under the escort of the Princess' personal guards, Huo Bang returned to Yancheng Mansion; Yu Yangji also led the Yu family guards to temporarily live on a water island;
The city officials and the defenders appeared to be respectful and neutral to Nan Lijun, but in reality they still belonged to the Yu family.
The two sides were in a stalemate, maintaining an eerie calm.
The Huo Mansion was quiet and empty inside and outside. The guards were resting and recuperating, waiting for their master's next order for a fight.
Yun Chen and Xiao Liu packed up Xun Kan's belongings from the Huo Gang. They were just a few old clothes, an empty purse that was washed white, and some toiletries. There were so few things that they couldn't even fill a small box.
Ye Yan, Hua Jue and Buyan took turns going to Xun Xuan's house to help with the funeral.
When they saw the dilapidated house, the small firewood courtyard, the room full of people of all ages, and a babbling child, the men felt so sad that they couldn't help crying.
After learning the truth about Xun Xun's "rebellion", Hua Jue was deeply distressed. He took the initiative to cover all the expenses for Xun Xun's funeral and even wanted to buy a good house for Xun Xun's family with his own money. Without saying a word, he said:
"Without a man to look after our family, we dare not show off our wealth... If we are targeted by thieves, it would be bad luck, alas..."
Ye Yan also agreed, "It's safer to take it slow and steady."
Several people couldn't help but look at the woman kneeling in front of the mourning hall. She was Xun Xun's widow, Liu.
Unlike Ye Yan and the others who were very skilled in handling funeral matters, Liu and the children's faces showed more confusion than sadness.
From now on, the burden of the whole family fell on a widow.
From now on, these five children no longer have a father.
Yun Chen looked at the brand new coffin and felt it was unreal.
The brother who was grinning at her yesterday and saying "How about I, am I not handsome?", is lying silently in that small coffin today.
She always felt that Xun Jian would suddenly jump up in the next moment, laugh and say, "You little bastard! I was kidding! I'm not dead!"
So she always couldn't help but walk closer to the coffin, but she only saw Xun Xun's face which had turned blue-gray.
That stiff body was wearing the only piece of clothing he had never mended in his life:
A brand new and expensive shroud.
Yun Chen felt heartbroken. Just as he was lost in thought, a guard came running over and said:
"Brother Yun, there's a Yu Family guard outside looking for you—he said he's only looking for you."
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