An Lingrong's Rebirth: The Lock of Qingqiu

The emperor brought two things to the harem morning meeting on the new day, one was pomegranates from Huaiyuan, and the other was Wuchang fish from Huaiyuan.

Su Peisheng served it on a long red gold plate with pure white rice paper on the bottom. The pomegranate was large and round in appearance and bright in color. To the naked eye, it looked much larger than the pomegranates in other places.

An Lingrong, Zhen Huan, and Shen Meizhuang were sitting in the front row of the concubines. Zhen Huan opened the pomegranate lightly, and there was a clear "click" sound. The fruit inside was like crystal, and the colors were flowing. It was really a good thing that was famous throughout the country.

Su Peisheng's other plate contained a Wuchang fish with a small head, a small tail, and an extremely large body. The meat was thick and dense. After the scales were removed, there were basically no obvious lines on the white fish body.

The emperor asked: "Li concubine, Guan concubine, Hui concubine, I have brought the pomegranates and Wuchang fish you asked for. I am wondering, what do you want these two things for?"

An Lingrong smiled and said: "Back to the emperor, it has been half a month since we went to the Temple of King Yu on Tushan Mountain in Huaiyuan County. During this month, the female spider eggs in the temple can form tiny eggs over a day and night. Female spiders can grow up, reproduce and lay eggs in three days, with a cycle of four days. That is, in these fifteen days, the number of female spiders has reached three times that of when we first invested it. What we dropped is Five thousand insect eggs, three times more, trying to reach 20,000, and continue to multiply as time goes by."

The emperor nodded in agreement, picked up a batch of memorials from the desk, and distributed them to the three of them for viewing.

An Lingrong opened one of the memorials and saw that it read: Your Majesty, I have this memorial to you. An epidemic has occurred in Huaiyuan County, Anhui Province. This epidemic is different from previous epidemics. The symptoms started from Tushan in Huaiyuan County and spread outward. The epidemic is the most severe in mountainous areas. Infected people suffer from syncope, headache, body pain, hoarseness, and itchy skin all over the body. In severe cases, skin ulcers occur. The elderly, young, and those with underlying diseases cannot be treated and die. The number of people has reached thousands, and the number is rising rapidly by hundreds every day.

This was reported by Liao Xian, the Prime Minister of Huaiyuan County. It seems that what he said is true.

The emperor frowned and looked sad: "The people are the foundation of the country. How could I use this method to harm innocent people unless I was forced to do so?"

Zhen Huan was silent, not saying a word, and seemed a little tired.

Shen Meizhuang said: "Your Majesty, Huaiyuan County's annual tribute includes Wuchang fish and pomegranates. So this year, these two items will no longer be collected. The treasury has already collected them before and has not had time to distribute the Wuchang fish and pomegranates. Please ask Your Majesty." Give it back to Nian Gengyao."

An Lingrong said: "Your Majesty, embed female spider eggs in Wuchang fish and pomegranates. As long as the treasury still has it, bring all the female spider eggs from Yanxi Palace. It won't take long, and the emperor won't need to send out any troops." General, Nian Gengyao will destroy himself."

Zhen Huan said: "This is really cruel and inhumane."

The emperor nodded and said: "Wanbi said it is indeed true, but is there any other way to think of?"

Zhen Huan thought for a long time and shook her head. Zhen Huan and An Lingrong also shook their heads one after another.

The emperor pondered: "There are still more than 10,000 Wuchang fish in the palace, and pomegranates cannot be stored well, and there are still 3,000 kilograms. The ministers in the court are thinking of outflanking the front and rear and seizing them with strong troops, but like this This method also means that I will harm countless people."

An Lingrong said: "Ten thousand Wuchang fish and three thousand kilograms of pomegranates are enough. Let's return these two batches of goods intact. The emperor can secretly mobilize the troops and set off at the same time. We can attack Huaiyuan County in a week. When we arrive. At that time, most of the people in Huaiyuan County were sick and disabled, the people were panicked and the military was unstable."

The emperor indeed returned the two batches of goods to Huaiyuan County, and at the same time ordered Zhen Heng to secretly lead 100,000 soldiers to Huaiyuan County urgently. Three days later, the emperor received a memorial from Huaiyuan County Prime Minister Liao. Ten thousand Wuchang fish were damaged during transportation, and 3,000 live fish were put into the Huaihe River. About 7,000 dead fish were put into the market for redistribution.

After seven days, it was time to set off.

An Lingrong braided her hair into a thick braid and tied it behind her head. She wore a pair of dark brown high riding boots. She was dressed up from top to bottom. She also put a sharp dagger in the high riding boots to blow and cut off the hair. Very sharp, useful for self-defense.

Zhen Huan was a little weak and couldn't cheer up, so An Lingrong and Shen Meizhuang went to Huaiyuan County with the emperor.

Anhui Province was still banned. The emperor, An Lingrong and Shen Meizhuang arrived in Huaiyuan County. There were few pedestrians on the road and the road was smooth. They arrived at Biyang Town, which was still more than ten kilometers away from "Tutang Pass". The emperor ordered Zhen Heng to go to investigate the military situation. .

According to Zhen Heng's report back, there was no one around and no one was guarding the city walls. He directly led 3,000 soldiers to shout in front of the pass, saying that the emperor knew about the outbreak and regardless of his own safety, came to inspect and hoped that they would surrender voluntarily. But exempt from death penalty.

Then, when Zhen Heng was shouting below, Nian Gengyao happened to be there too. Without saying a word, he took up his bow and shot an arrow. However, Zhen Heng had been fighting for many years and was no match for ordinary people. He cut the arrow into two pieces with his knife and shot the arrow. He threw the broken arrow back to the tower.

There was no room for negotiation between the two sides. Zhen Heng mentioned the matter to the emperor. The emperor became extremely angry and ordered to set out immediately to attack the city.

An Lingrong followed the emperor to Tutang Pass. A hundred thousand troops stood in front of the emperor, An Lingrong, and Shenmeizhuang. This was a must-win war, so An Lingrong came with confidence. She and Shenmeizhuang still had One goal is to not allow the emperor to be soft-hearted and to take this opportunity to kill Concubine Hua.

Zhen Heng still tried to communicate with Nian Gengyao according to the emperor's request, but Nian Gengyao cursed on the city wall: "You are a group of insidious and cunning people. You are not worthy of fighting with me. If you have the ability, replace it with someone else."

Zhen Heng said: "Nian Gengyao, those who know the current affairs are heroes. Open the city gate and you can save your life, so you can know for yourself!"

At this time, a white figure swayed in the wind and floated up the city wall. She had tidied up neatly. She no longer had the arrogance and arrogance of the past. Her dark eyes looked forward, with a kind of indifference after seeing too much of the world. It was Concubine Hua. .

Concubine Hua knelt down on the city wall, saluted the emperor and said: "Your Majesty, from today onwards, I will sever all ties with you. There has never been a place for concubines in the emperor's heart. However, over the years, my concubines have always treated the emperor. Ruyi, Your Majesty, do you know? The people in Huaiyuan are in dire straits, and there are countless casualties. My brother sent people to investigate. The pathogen came from Wuchang fish in the Huaihe River. Your Majesty, have you ever thought about concubines? Have you ever thought about all the people in the world? This is the king's land, my concubines and concubines are yours, and all the people in the world are yours."

The emperor was speechless. He stood silently under the city wall. Zhen Heng had already set up his formation. He started to hit the city gate hard with a large cylinder, lit a torch, and threw it over the city wall. Nian Gengyao threw the torch again. He came down and started pouring lubricating oil onto the city wall. Various stones of different sizes rained down from the city wall.

And the emperor said loudly: "Break down the city gate! Don't hurt Concubine Hua! Let her live."

Shen Meizhuang was startled. She suddenly jumped up on her horse and rushed out on horseback. At the front were soldiers holding shields. Using the cover, Shen Meizhuang set up a bow and shot an arrow, a special arrow with a red feather for palace training. , shot towards Concubine Hua, Nian Gengyao pulled Concubine Hua's body and narrowly avoided the arrow.

Shen Meizhuang was not convinced and quickly replenished his arrows. He fired three arrows at once, blocking Nian Gengyao's upper, lower and right sides. Nian Gengyao was still holding Concubine Nian Shilan Hua in his hand, so he could no longer avoid her.

In the light of the carbide fire, Concubine Hua's body suddenly broke away from Nian Gengyao. She turned sideways and fell down, blocking the most deadly arrow for Nian Gengyao. Concubine Hua was shot through the heart by an arrow, and the remaining two The arrow was shot down by Nian Gengyao.

"Your Majesty, if I had not been born into the Nian family, we would have been the envy of the world." Nian Shilan slowly fell down.

The emperor could not hide his heartache.