The first rays of morning light spread through the cracks in the wooden house and scattered in the house.
Xu Mu was silent and raised his head, looking at the shadows of trees and birds outside the window, and for a moment it felt like he was in another world.
"Xu Lang." Jiang Caiwei rubbed her sleepy eyes, her face slightly red.
"Xu Lang wakes up, I'm going to make breakfast."
"Let Aunt Lian go. Besides, Xi Niang is back too." Xu Mu smiled.
In fact, the servant girl's wife has been feeling unwell for the past two days, so the two of them did not do any exercise and simply slept in the dark.
After helping the maid and his wife cover the bed, Xu Mu got up, put on his robe, and walked out of the village.
On the twenty-seventh day of the Chrysanthemum Moon, the autumn sky was slightly cool after being soaked by a rain.
Outside Zhuangzi, the day was in full swing. The heroes of Qinglong Camp who went to Paojia did not complain at all. They all put on ordinary peasant shirts. Under the leadership of Wei Feng, they entered the back mountain and carried back a plant from time to time.
The big trees cover the wooden houses.
Occasionally, there would be a young girl who, after falling in love with a good man, would walk away with a blushing face and diligently serve tea and water.
Several brick-burning kilns began to operate again after the weather cleared, and thick smoke rose into the sky, blackening the clouds.
Xu Mu wrapped his robe tightly and looked at it with some relief. For people like them, having a robe to warm their bodies, food to cover their bellies, and a house to cover their heads is the greatest happiness.
At this time, hearing the clanking sound, Xu Mu turned his head and discovered that Chen Blacksmith had, at some point, brought several young apprentices with him to start tinkering with iron objects.
Xu Mu let out a long sigh of relief. Life is slowly getting back on track.
At this time, the sound of a horse riding on the ground suddenly startled Xu Mu.
When Xu Mu raised his head, he found that Gu Ying had arrived in front of Horseshoe Lake covered in dust at some point.
"Little boss." As soon as he got off his horse, Gu Ying hurried over.
"What?"
"My master asked me to tell you, don't run around in the near future. If anyone asks about the border affairs, just say to collect the wolf's skin."
The border crossing is thousands of miles away, and the most common thing is sand wolf skins. On normal days, fur traders often go to the border crossing with their mighty horse teams to collect the skins.
But Xu Mu didn't understand, what did this mean? You know, under the current situation, after one month, those Di dogs trapped in the deserted town were almost starved to death, and the soldiers mutinied.
"Gu Ying, what happened?"
Gu Ying's complexion suddenly turned red.
"The dog prime minister in the court... agreed to Beidi's peace negotiation."
"Peace negotiation?"
After a round of life and death, they finally trapped and killed hundreds of thousands of Beidi troops. This time it was a good thing, the fruits of victory had not yet been harvested.
The court will discuss peace.
A deep feeling of powerlessness instantly spread throughout Xu Mu's body. He braced himself and looked at the heroes of the Qinglong Camp slowly walking behind him. Chen Jiaqiao was also among them, his face burning with anger.
"How many of the trapped Di dogs died?"
"Less than 10,000...Zhao Qingyun received the court's order, handed over his weapons, and sent hundreds of carts of food and grass over."
"I beat them to death, and finally trapped these Beidi dogs!" Hundreds of veterans from the Qinglong Battalion became furious in an instant.
"Stop making noise and listen to your boss!" Wei Feng roared angrily, suppressing the emotions of hundreds of people.
This time, Chen Jiaqiao did not persuade him to rebel. He just stood beside him silently, waiting for Xu Mu's words.
Under the general trend, people are like ants.
"Little boss, my master said that no matter what you want to do, now is not the time." Gu Ying hesitated for a long time, his voice was hoarse.
"My master...has entered the palace."
Without answering, Xu Mu slumped on the ground helplessly, remembering Sheng Xue in white from afar, and worked hard to lay out a game.
In the end, he lost to a bunch of court foxes.
If millions of carts of food were given to the fleeing people, many people might be saved.
…
The sun is setting in the west, and the afterglow of the setting sun, with a bit of sadness, spreads across the royal road in front of the Jinluan Palace.
A figure dressed in white clothes coughed slightly, then continued to kneel down, motionless.
In front of him was the splendid Jinluan Palace. On the dragon chair in the palace, there was a laughing child sitting in a crooked dragon robe. From time to time, the palace maid would fetch honey water and pour it into his stomach.
"Xiangfu, he is still kneeling."
"Let him kneel down." A deep male voice rang out, "Your Majesty, our country is a country of benevolence and righteousness. If we let go of those soldiers who surrendered from Beidi, we can conquer people with virtue and all nations will congratulate us."
"I listened to my father-in-law. This little emperor uncle of mine was a little unreasonable. He even sent eunuchs to secretly pass the blood to the marsh, saying that our era was in turmoil and was in danger, and the people fled thousands of miles away."
"Your Majesty, he is seeking military power."
"I'm not stupid. If the people have no food from farming, why don't they go hunting? The roe deer forest deer in the palace hunting ground are very plump."
"Otherwise, if you open a small shop in Changyang City, you won't starve to death."
"Your Majesty, these people are too idle."
"Of course I understand. If you don't have food to eat, won't you eat meat? Minced meat is not unpalatable."
"Haha, Your Majesty is really wise."
…
Yuan Tao knelt on the royal road, coughing up a large pool of blood on the bluestone in front of him.
He still didn't leave.
In the dusk, he knelt without saying a word.
His advice could not be heard by Heaven, and he was excluded from the court meeting. There was not much time left for him.
"My surname is Hou Yuan, Yuan Tao, come to the palace to see me!"
An old eunuch with a tragic face walked up to Yuan Tao and sang loudly.
Click.
A guard came coldly, cut the old eunuch's neck together, and moved the body to the adjacent aisle.
At first glance, there were at least four or five.
Yuan Tao coughed a few times, and there was blood in his mouth, which bloomed into bloody plum blossoms.
He raised his head and looked at the nearby Jinluan Palace. A deep feeling of powerlessness enveloped his whole body.
"Hello, Lord Marquis." A young eunuch who was still weak ran over with red eyes while the imperial guards were not paying attention.
"Everyone says that the Marquis is a loyal minister. Last year, he helped these eunuchs like me seek blessings. No one helps the Marquis, so I will help."
"Ahem...what's your name?"
"Master Hou, my name is Xiao Spot Lu."
"Little Spotted Deer, go back."
"If the slave doesn't leave, Daji can live without the slave, but it can't live without the Marquis. The slave is willing to die."
Yuan Tao's eyes were red and he slowly closed them.
"Yuan Tao, the wise prince of the Great Ji, entered the palace to pay an audience——"
The body of the small spotted deer was dragged away by the forest guards again, and the bloody mark was dragged along for a long time.
Yuan Tao covered his mouth and coughed violently.
When he opened his palms, they were already covered in blood.
"Yuan Tao, pay homage to Your Majesty! If we negotiate peace with Beidi, our great age will be in danger, and we may be overthrown!"
He shouted, his voice hoarse like a broken gong.
No one responded.
The afterglow on the royal road receded like an ebbing tide, retreating to the middle gate, and darkness fell.