"Quick, turn over!" At this critical moment, Shao Yan couldn't care less. As long as there is a chance of survival, it is better than waiting to die here. Moreover, this place is very close to the south gate. He firmly believes that the other end of the rope is
It must be one of our own. Without saying a word, he quickly climbed up the rope with Chang Yixiao and others.
"Fire the arrow——"
Seeing that the situation was not good, the soldiers of the Chu army immediately drew their bows and arrows and aimed them at them. In an instant, dozens of carved feather arrows shot over like a shower. The four masters grabbed the rope with one hand and wielded their swords with the other hand. Shao Yan
They pulled the rope hard, not daring to relax their feet for a moment. It was not easy to climb over such a high city wall at once. Fortunately, there was someone on the other end of the rope pulling up desperately, so they quickly crossed the city wall.
On the other side, during this period, except for Chang Yixiao being hit by an arrow in the arm, everything went smoothly.
The moment their feet landed on the ground, they saw more than a hundred Donglin soldiers kneeling on the ground and shouting: "Welcome to the emperor, long live long live long live long live long live the emperor!"
Shao Yan felt relieved. Thinking of the scene just now, he couldn't help but feel scared. Fortunately, the soldiers came to help in time, otherwise they would either be captured alive by the Chu soldiers, or they would be shot into honeycombs. According to one of the soldiers, they were sent to defend the city.
General Zhang Huaide's instructions came to rescue the emperor. Shao Yan could not help but feel grateful and walked into the south gate with these soldiers.
Zhang Huaide, the guard of the south gate, was overjoyed when he saw that the emperor had been rescued, and then led all the city guards to greet him. Shao Yan saw that he was over forty years old, but his face had many scars, and the longest scar even covered his face.
With half of his face shaved, Zhang Huaide told him with shame that these were all left behind on the battlefield. There were countless stab wounds not only on his face, but also on his back.
Shao Yan once heard that there was a brave general in Donglin named Zhang Wudi, also known as the Scarface who could not be beaten to death. He never thought that it was this person. It was an honor to meet him here today. There was a feeling of regret for meeting him late.
meaning
During the conversation, Shao Yan saw that he had a very forthright personality, even worse than the King of the Golden Gun. What was even more rare was that this man was upright and upright. When talking about why the Donglin Kingdom retreated from repeated battles,
He bluntly pointed out the shortcomings of the court to Shao Yan, such as: There are no generals in the court, and civil servants are afraid of death. At this time, the emperor should sit in the court instead of leading troops to conquer in person.
After Zhang Huaide reported it, he learned that since the three gates of Luojing were breached, the palace had been in chaos. In order to protect themselves, most of the civil and military ministers fled the capital overnight, and some even defected directly to Chu and Liang.
Da Ying, acting as their loyal lackeys, now only Dongfang Yi, Deng Bingtang, Zhao Shun, Lu Hengshan and other ministers are left in the court. Empress Dowager Guo remains calm in the face of danger. Whenever she hears the news of someone escaping in the palace, she will immediately send
They brought him back and beheaded him in front of everyone. This method of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys also calmed many people, especially those villains with ulterior motives.
Due to the delay in seeing the emperor come back, the old queen mother had no choice but to accept the suggestion of Dongfang Yi and others and went to the court to command the troops outside the city. At that time, only Zhang Huai's troops were left outside the city. When the old queen saw them
They were brave and invincible, so they ordered people to open the treasury to reward them, but no one was willing to take half a penny. The old queen randomly found a soldier and asked him why he did not want to accept the reward. The soldier told her that the court was not rich, and the money should be used as a reward.
It should be used to recruit more sergeants, and the old queen was moved to tears. After hearing Zhang Huaide's statement, Shao Yan couldn't help but feel ashamed, thinking that as the king of a country, he allowed a woman to provoke a country.
, this is not like what an emperor would do?
However, Empress Dowager Guo's demeanor really impressed him. A woman could keep the army running in an orderly manner. The morale of the soldiers was so high. It was obvious that she, the old empress, had played a role in the rescue of the emperor.
It was also awarded by Empress Dowager Guo. Since Shao Yan's imperial conquest, she, as a mother, has been worried. She sent people many times to inquire about Shao Yan's current situation. When she learned that Shao Yan disguised himself as an ordinary citizen and entered the city, she immediately ordered him to go to the city.
Zhang Huaide was ready to welcome him, so the above scene occurred.
I have to say that Empress Dowager Guo is indeed a hero among women, with means, wisdom, and courage. Based on these three points alone, she is by no means inferior to Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty, or Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang of the Qing Dynasty, Shao Yan
Thought with emotion
When talking about the next battle plan, Zhang Huaide clearly pointed out that the Western Chu army is approaching the city, and the thousands of officers and soldiers at the south gate alone may not be able to last for too long. The only solution now is to send troops to various states in the name of the emperor.
The county issued a decree, instructing them to quickly move closer to the capital in the name of the king. If things go well, more than 300,000 soldiers will be brought to the capital.
The Donglin Kingdom was plundered by the two countries. Although it was riddled with holes, the people who were ruled by the enemy still missed the peaceful days in the past, and the soldiers who took off their armor had long been against Chu.
The soldiers of Liang and Liang were dissatisfied with the evil deeds. If they were not forced by the situation, they would rather die in battle than take off their armor. As long as they received the emperor's personal handwriting, they would naturally rush to support without hesitation, but Zhang Huaide seemed to have some doubts.
Undecided
Shao Yan also felt that the matter of mobilizing troops was not a trivial matter. Moreover, most of the generals in the past were Guo Wei's old troops. At this critical moment, they were lucky not to surrender to other countries. If they wanted to ask them to come to rescue him, I'm afraid they wouldn't.
Selling this favor, otherwise they would not be able to disarm at this time. This behavior is tantamount to watching the fire from the other side.
After thinking about it, Shao Yan made a decisive decision and decided to adopt Zhang Huaide's suggestion and issue instructions to all major prefectures and counties. As for Guo Wei's old troops, he also had the mentality of giving it a try. Anyone who comes is just a guest, and those who don't come will not be held accountable.
Responsibility, after all, these are extraordinary times, and everything must be dealt with with extraordinary means.
That night, Zhang Huaide picked out ten smart warriors from the army, and each took the emperor's decree and slipped out of the city. At this time, Chu troops were stationed everywhere outside the city. Shao Yan was worried that they would not be able to get out. Zhang Huaide patted his chest and told
He, these ten warriors are all top-notch warriors in the army. They are second to none in terms of martial arts and wisdom. They are also good at disguising themselves. When Shao Yan heard what he said, he felt much more at ease.
In order to give Shao Yan and others a clean break, Zhang Huaide specially prepared a sumptuous dinner, but was severely reprimanded by Shao Yan. Thinking about the wounded soldiers outside, how could Shao Yan stay down and enjoy the delicious food, so he
Order the cook to mix all the vegetables on the table into the rice, mix it into vegetable pickled rice, then send it to the tower and distribute it to every soldier
Most of the people in the city had moved away. Although they left a lot of food before leaving, the soldiers had been defending the city for nearly a month and there was not much food left. In addition, the Chu army had burned down all the nearby villages, completely cutting off their escape route.
For long-term planning, Zhang Huaide asked the cooks to cook some porridge every day. The soldiers could only rely on the thin water to survive. Now that they saw such delicious vegetable pickled rice, they were naturally ecstatic and picked up their rice bowls and ate it with big mouthfuls.
, not even the last grain of rice is left
Shao Yan saw that they were eating with gusto. For some reason, instead of feeling any joy in his heart, he felt a pain. Hey, war kills people. He sighed and shook his head.
Zhang Huaide realized the mistake he had made, and suddenly felt a little worried on his face, so he and the cook served rice to the soldiers. After the soldiers learned that it was a "gift" from the emperor, they were all deeply moved and shouted in unison that "Long Live the Emperor"
After getting off the tower, Shao Yan returned to the living room accompanied by Zhang Huaide. However, he did not enter the room to rest. Instead, he walked out of the barracks alone. Under the hazy moonlight, he walked slowly along the street towards the palace. About
About half an hour later, he saw the magnificent palace from a distance. He wanted to go straight in, but he stopped after taking a few steps. Considering that it was already getting late, the Queen Mother Guo must have fallen asleep.
I had no choice but to turn around in boredom. At this moment, there was a sound of "ah" and the palace door was opened. After a moment, two figures flashed out, followed by seven or eight servants carrying lanterns.
Shao Yan didn't want to disturb them, so he quickly found a corner and hid. Under the light of the lantern, he saw Queen Mother Guo and Xiao Shunzi leading several maids walking towards them. After not seeing each other for many days, Queen Mother Guo was thinner than before.
Many, her skin color was a little sallow, and there were layers of dark circles around the corners of her eyes, probably due to lack of sleep. Shao Yan was so excited that he couldn't help but want to rush over to see her, but he heard the Queen Mother Guo say to Xiao Shunzi.
: "Xiao Shunzi, is everything okay, Your Majesty?"
"Reporting to the Queen Mother, I heard from people that the emperor and his entourage were besieged by a group of Chu troops during the day. The emperor was fine. Chang Yixiao, who was beside him, was hit by an arrow. Fortunately, it was a skin injury and nothing serious." Xiao Shun
Zi said respectfully
"That's good. The Emperor is fine, and the Ai family can rest assured." A look of loneliness flashed across Queen Mother Guo's face, and she said calmly: "Today, the Donglin Kingdom is facing the crisis of ruining the country and the family at any time. The Emperor is the one who is full of peace."
The only hope for the civil and military dynasties and the emperor and all the people, nothing can happen to him."
Xiao Shunzi nodded and continued: "Empress Dowager, it's a good thing you didn't mention it. As soon as you mentioned those civil and military ministers, I got angry. I really don't understand. The late emperor was not kind to them, and the emperor was even more kind to them."
Yes, but they were lucky. As soon as they heard that the Chu army was coming, they all ran faster than anyone else."
Queen Mother Guo was silent for a long time before saying: "It's no wonder they are there. There are a few people who don't cherish their own lives these days. Everyone has the right to choose to live."
"I don't think so," Xiao Shunzi pouted and said disapprovingly: "Take Mr. Dongfang and Mr. Deng as examples. One of them is the Right Prime Minister and the other is the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, but they are not like those adults."
Queen Mother Guo smiled slightly: "You are right, they are indeed the pillars of our Donglin Kingdom, or our emperor has the foresight to leave political affairs to them. To be honest, the Ai family treats them both.
I am very relieved, but we are now in trouble both internally and externally, and I am afraid that even if the emperor personally takes charge of the battle, it will be difficult to turn the tide."
"Empress Dowager, do you mean that Donglin Country is really hopeless?" Xiao Shunzi paused for a moment and couldn't help but continue asking.
Empress Dowager Guo sighed and said: "The situation in Donglin Kingdom is over. Unless there are magical soldiers to help, our current strength is no match for the two powerful countries. And what we can do now is to try to delay the enemy as much time as possible.
So that the emperor can be moved to a safe place."
"Your Majesty is right. Forgive me for being bold. Could it be that Your Majesty wants to tell the Emperor this idea tonight?"
Empress Dowager Guo hummed, then said nothing, and then led Xiao Shunzi and others to continue walking forward. Unexpectedly, at this moment, a black figure suddenly appeared on the other side of the palace wall and blocked the way.
They were on their way, everyone was surprised, Xiao Shunzi hurriedly shouted: "There are assassins coming, come and save them quickly"
"Stop shouting, it's me"
As soon as he finished speaking, Shao Yan walked over with a smile on his face. Empress Dowager Guo was stunned for a moment. Xiao Shunzi was suddenly surprised and delighted: "Look, empress, it's the emperor."
"Long live this slave when he meets the Emperor——"
"Shhh, it's so late, don't disturb the neighbors, please get up." Shao Yan said calmly, Xiao Shunzi and all the servants then straightened up respectfully.
"Your Majesty, why are you here?" The moment Queen Mother Guo saw Shao Yan, her eyes were slightly wet. She gently stepped forward to wipe her tears, then turned around and said in surprise: "The Ai family is preparing to find you. You
But I came here by myself, without a guard by my side. If something goes wrong on the way, how do you want the Ai family to face the ancestors of the Chen family?"
Seeing the reproach on her face, Shao Yan knew that this was out of a mother's concern for her son, so he smiled heartily and said: "Don't worry, queen, since my son can sneak into the city, naturally he doesn't need to worry about anything else. Look, son."