The county seat of Qixian County.

Wuxian Temple.

Chen Junchong has been under house arrest here for more than two days.

The soldiers who were guarding him knew that he was a good officer, so they did not even deny him drinking water. However, Ma Ke had warned Chen Junchong that he would starve to death, and indeed did not arrange food for Chen Junchong, so the guards did not dare to give him food.

Moreover, Chen Junchong's insistence on holding the county seat of Li County indeed caused the death of many of their colleagues.

While they admired Chen Junchong as a good official, they also had some hatred.

Inside the Wuxian Temple.

Chen Junchong was lying next to the wall, already very weak.

In order to urge the soldiers and civilians to defend the city, he had not slept for several days and nights. On the day the city was breached, he only had a quick bowl of gruel in the morning.

Now two or three days have passed, and although drinking water has been brought, there is not even a grain of rice.

Chen Junchong understood that Ma Ke failed to persuade him to surrender twice, and many soldiers died in his hands. He became angry and wanted to starve him to death.

Having passed his forties, Chen Junchong is not afraid of death.

Just thinking that the Ming Dynasty was in turmoil and in danger, he was still worried.

Unfortunately, he is about to die and can no longer contribute to the Ming Dynasty.

When he thought of death, he also thought of his two sons.

After all, he had some selfish motives and sent his two sons away before Marco surrounded the county seat of Qi County.

I just don't know where the two of them are now and whether they are safe.

He died like this, leaving nothing to his sons except a few fields in his hometown.

Then leave one last message.

So Chen Junchong struggled to support the wall, pulled out his sword, and carved words on the wall with great difficulty.

Although he carved each word lightly, he still carved it very slowly.

He originally wanted to leave a few more words, but in the end he didn't have much energy.

So what was finally completed was a few gentle scrawls like this——

"I pledged my life to the country, and there will be no other choice until I die."

He wanted to tell his sons that since he pledged his life to the country, he would die without regrets. There would be no need to grieve, let alone avenge him.

Live well.

After leaving these words, Chen Junchong wanted to kill himself immediately, but he had no strength left.

He simply lay down for a while.

Drowsily, he regained consciousness, fearing that he would lose consciousness and starve to death, so he picked up his sword and prepared to kill himself.

At this moment, I vaguely heard the sound of rapid footsteps approaching.

Then there was the conversation of Shaanxi soldiers.

"Open the door quickly!"

"What?"

"The general has an order to save Chen Junchong's life!"

Then there was the sound of unlocking.

Chen Junchong was anxious and thought: This Ma Ke suddenly wants to save my life. Could it be that he has thought of how to use me?

So he committed suicide in anxiety.

Unfortunately, he really didn't have the strength and his movements were slow. He finally put the sword across his neck and pulled it, but only cut a layer of skin.

It turns out that the blade on this side was curled too much.

Chen Junchong turned to the other side of the sword to pull it away, but someone quickly came over and snatched the sword away.

"Mr. Chen, what are you doing? Go and ask the doctor to come and quickly prepare some rice soup!"

The last sentence is a command.

Chen Junchong sneered at the general, and said with weak strength but strong tone: "Ma Ke wants to take advantage of me? Tell him to give up. I just know the state in a few words, it is of no use."

After hearing this, the general shook his head and sighed: "Mr. Chen misunderstood. My general is now a family member with Mr. Chen anyway."

Chen Junchong was very surprised when he heard this. He looked at the general in shock for a long time before he sneered and said, "Is it Ma Ke's trick again? You still want to pretend to be an officer and enter Chengdu?"

The general was speechless after hearing this.

He felt that Marco's affairs were difficult to explain anyway, and he didn't dare to talk about the princess' affairs casually.

Then he said: "When Mr. Chen regains some strength, I will take you to the Santai Military Camp to meet someone, and you will understand everything."

Chen Junchong was deeply impressed by Ma Ke's cunning, and he didn't think anyone else could turn things around at this time.

Then he sneered and said: "That's fine, I want to see what tricks he can use."

After saying that, he closed his eyes and lay down heavily.

···

In the morning of the next day, Chen Junchong was carried by soldiers on a shoulder cart to Santai Military Camp.

After a night of training, he has recovered a lot and can stand and walk, but his body is still weak.

After all, he is already in his fifties.

On the way, Chen Junchong kept thinking about what tricks Ma Ke would have.

A few days ago, the capital city was captured by the Dashun Army, and the news of Chongzhen's death reached Shu. However, the news of the three princes was not mentioned.

Thinking of this, Chen Junchong couldn't help but wonder: Could it be that Marco wants to surrender me as a prince?

But I'm just a state magistrate, shouldn't it be worth it for Li Chuang to use the prince?

That is, Ma Ke found someone to pretend to be a prince, wanted to deceive me, and then used me and the fake prince's name to enter Chengdu?

Thinking of this, Chen Junchong couldn't help but frown.

If this was the case, he couldn't die easily, he had to endure it so that he could expose Marco's conspiracy under the walls of Chengdu.

Not long after, Jianyu arrived at the military camp outside Santai Town.

What makes Chen Junchong strange is that the camp here is obviously divided into two places. One place is hung with a handsome flag with the word "horse", and the other is hung with a handsome flag with the word "red". In addition, the sun and moon flag of the Ming Dynasty is also hung.

Seeing this, Chen Junchong couldn't help but think: In order to deceive me, Ma Ke actually changed his flag. Even if it was just temporary, he must have a big intention.

As for Ma Ke really returning to Ming Dynasty anyway, Chen Junchong thinks it is completely impossible.

For one thing, Dashun now controls the north and has a great power to dominate the world and replace the Ming Dynasty.

Secondly, since Ma Ke has surrendered to Dashun, he may not be rewarded when he returns to the Ming Dynasty, but is more likely to be punished.

How could Marco do such a thankless job?

As he entered the military camp and walked all the way, Chen Junchong observed carefully and felt that the sergeants in this battalion must be from the Chuang army, because many of them still had the style of the Chuang army or the peasant army.

Arriving in front of the military tent, Chen Junchong saw a group of female soldiers, all of whom looked tough.

'Could it be that General Qin has arrived?'

Chen Junchong instantly thought of another possibility.

Because in his impression, only Qin Liangyu had a team of female soldiers around him.

But he quickly ruled out this possibility.

If it were really Qin Liangyu, her handsome flag would definitely be hung here instead of "red".

In addition, Qin Liangyu should be resisting Zhang Xianzhong in Chongqing Mansion at this time, and it is impossible for him to come here.

When he comes down from the carriage, the soldiers will help him into the tent.

"I can leave."

Chen Junchong waved his hand and walked into the tent.

In addition to some female soldiers who should be personal guards, there were four people in the tent, two men and two women.

There was only one person Chen Junchong knew, and that was Ma Ke.

At this time, Ma Ke came up to him first, grabbed his arm and supported him. He said with an apologetic smile: "Mr. Chen, it was Mr. Ma who was wrong before and made Mr. Chen suffer. Please forgive me."

Chen Junchong was unable to break free and simply let Ma Ke hold him up. However, he did not answer Ma Ke's words. Instead, he asked coldly: "Tell me, who is the person you want me to see?"

As he spoke, he looked at Li Yan and didn't think he could be a prince.

The age is wrong.

He doesn't look like the Ming Dynasty vassal king, his clan, clothes, and temperament are all wrong.

As for the remaining two women, Chen Junchong didn't pay too much attention - it's not that he discriminated against women. Among the women, there were also heroines like Qin Liangyu who were not inferior to men. But in the environment of the Ming Dynasty, most women were just vassals of men.
To be continued...