Watch the sea

The Yinghai battle was defeated, and several family heads in Changzhou were put together by Lian Songcheng and Yishan Academy, and all of them were detained in Jindu.When the news spread to the Twelve Cities in the South of the Yangtze River, several aristocratic families immediately panicked.

To this day, King Jing's army is still blocked by Marquis Shuo'an in the south of the Lanjiang River, and it is impossible to break through the Zhongzhou defense line, and it is also difficult to escape from the Zhongwan battlefield.

King Jing's side is in a state of desperation, in a dilemma, not wanting to lose the Yinghai battle, the military report of the capture of the Changzhou family head was "timely" sent to the desk.To make matters worse, something happened to Dingkang before he had time to think of a way to deal with the messy situation in front of him.

Zhou Min thought that the war in Yinghai had just ended, and that Su Lang would definitely take a few days to clean up the chaos inside and outside the city, and it would take at least ten days before he could send troops to Dingkang, but he was too optimistic.

A sudden plague swept Yinghai that day, almost bringing the prosperity of this city that never sleeps to an end.Now that the current situation is reversed, if he treats his own body in his own way, what Su Lang wants to pay back is a surprise——

On the night of the sixth day after the end of the Yinghai battle, the night sky was dark and the sky was full of darkness. The Ying navy and the Ningzhou garrison cooperated back and forth to raid Dingkang.

The two sides have been confronted for many days, and it is not unexpected that the Ningzhou garrison will suddenly attack at night, and Dingkang can handle it with ease.But what Zhou Mincai never expected was that when the two armies were fighting fiercely, a flame of war "falling from the sky" ignited ragingly on the north bank of the Lanjiang River behind.

At that time, among the cities in Changzhou, far more than one Dingkang was in dire straits.

Su Que, Duke of Ying, and Ling Qi, leader of the Shadow Guards of the Son of Heaven, rushed from Yinghai to Jindu. Before they arrived, they told the corresponding families in the Twelve Cities of the South of the Yangtze River about the detention of several family heads with great fanfare. .

The news didn't pass through others, and the emperor's shadow guard passed it along the way.They walked all the way, and the message was passed on all the way. When Su Que arrived in Jindu, he happened to pass on several aristocratic families involved in the incident in the twelve cities in the south of the Yangtze River.

As the emperor's swordsman, the emperor's shadow guard personally ran to his door to deliver a message. The content of the message was concise and to the point, roughly "your father was arrested for treason".However, when the Tianzi Yingwei came to visit, he showed no lack of etiquette and demeanor, even his tone of voice was full of smiles, and there was no trace of coldness and chill, trying to give people a sense of "your father got promoted and made a fortune". illusion.

This kind of action has achieved remarkable results. The princes of the twelve cities in the south of the Yangtze River turned pale when they heard the words, and they were scared out of their wits.

And it's not over yet.

Duke Ying was not idle all the way. On the contrary, once he arrived in Jindu, Su Que didn't do anything. He didn't interrogate the aristocratic patriarchs, and he didn't even meet them. He just let people eat and drink first. After a while, he entertained several family heads.

But what really made people uncomfortable was that he didn't do anything.

These aristocratic families are different from the "hardcore" such as Dingkang Zhou family and Yanxi Zhong family. On the contrary, it is easy for this group of mobs to break their boats and twist their boats into one rope, and then it will really end badly.

So the meaning of the emperor and Ying Guogong is actually very obvious, that is, to "sell a good price" for several aristocratic family heads, and wait for the twelve cities in the south of the Yangtze River to come and "redeem them".

The head of the family is in the hands of others, and all the conditions are naturally left to the emperor, and they can't even say "no".If we talk about it, it will undoubtedly be sent to the door to wait for Mr. Ying to exploit them, not to peel off their skin, not to break their two bones, this person is not surnamed Su.

But even if he knew this, he couldn't help but talk about it.The division of power and intrigue are the most indispensable things in the powerful family.Of course, the head of the family has more than one child, but there can only be one person in charge of the family in the future. Naturally, everyone wants to sit on this child, and the elders who are closest to this child dare not let others pinch their faults.If anyone doesn't even save his Patriarch and his father, how can he convince the public?How can he become the head of a clan?

Besides, the emperor's intentions were already obvious, and he didn't plan to use the knife directly, otherwise the emperor's shadow guard would not be smiling when he came to the door.Most of the imprisoned patriarchs are going to be released. If any of the patriarchs did not go to save their father at that time, would they still have good fruit to eat?

No matter how harsh the conditions are, no matter how distressed or uncomfortable or reluctant to part with, all the aristocratic masters have not seen any one who has lived enough. For his own life, what is it to knock out teeth and swallow blood?

Just as they expected, Duke Ying will definitely not disappoint when it comes to "negotiating the price".

The day after Su Que arrived in Jindu, the imperial capital's secret decree arrived - all the conditions required by the emperor were written in it.Not wanting Su Que to finish reading it, he pondered for a while, and added a few more strokes, even if it was so, his face still looked like "it's a big loss".

Ling Qi watched from the sidelines, from the most direct money and silk, to the future tax sharing of each city, to the important official positions, and even the scientific research after Changzhou, what His Majesty mentioned but did not mention, Duke Ying almost All added.Ling Qi hesitated for a while, but still hesitatingly said: "Grand Duke, is this going too far? What if they don't agree..."

Su Que was thinking about adding two more strokes, and without raising his head when he heard the words, he just said lightly: "Don't worry, these old foxes in Changzhou know in their hearts that they usually don't look up and look down. I'm very tolerant. It's not that I don't know, Yinghai just caused a man-made plague, and I'm getting angry, so I should ask for more conditions. If it's Su Lang who is inferior to them and doesn't have any friendship with them, then at least I have to go back Add [-]%."

"..." Ling Qi looked at the smiling Su Que who was "on fire", and suddenly felt that he needed to re-acquaint Yinghai Su's family tradition.

Su Que spent the whole morning adding many conditions, but he still felt at a loss, and regretted not being able to bring Su Lang over.He was not very happy, so he wanted to find someone to clean up. Those aristocratic families in the Twelve Cities in the South of the Yangtze River mainly kept their selling money and could not move, but Murui Hesi of Changzhou Prefecture was not treated so well.

Su Que and Ling Qi immediately went to interrogate the Changzhou state shepherd who was determined to capsize twice.Five years ago, King Qi, the elder brother of King Jing and his mother, rebelled, and the Rui family got involved in it.But after all, the Rui family is the mother clan of His Majesty's biological mother, Empress Chengde, so she picked it up high and put it down gently.But no matter how deep the affection is, it can't resist crossing the emperor's bottom line for the second time.

There was a long table in the room, and Murui Hesi of Changzhou, who had been imprisoned, no longer had the same demeanor of entertaining the city lords of various aristocratic families. He sat behind the long table slumped, with a pen, ink, paper and inkstone in front of him.

"You know what's on your neck, and no one can protect it. But I heard that your eldest son gave you your eldest grandson not long ago." Su Que looked at Rui Hesi who suddenly raised his head and widened his eyes. Pushing the paper in front of him, he continued: "After all, the Rui family is the mother family of Empress Chengde, His Majesty will keep a thread anyway. But how much life is left in this thread depends on how much you write and what you write."

Rui Hesi was stunned for a while, and finally picked up the pen with a trembling hand, the ink dripped on the paper, blurring into a dark ball.

Su Que stood up and walked to the window, "Let me remind you, at the friendship between China and Wanzhou, the battle between King Jing and Marquis Shuo'an is not over yet."

It was raining continuously outside the window, obviously it was a summer day, because of the continuous rain for several days, the air was a little refreshingly cool.Most of Changzhou is rainy and rainy, and Huaize City, thousands of miles away, is also the same today.

Mu Xiyun was sitting by the window sill of Lishan Silver Building, shaking a grass fan. The water on the red clay stove in front of him had boiled to a second boil, bubbling and bubbling.When the scent of tea filled the room, the old friend she had been waiting for in Huai Ze City finally stepped into the door of the silver building.

30 years no see.

They have all changed a lot.

Fang Jingci and Mu Xiyun didn't speak, they just looked at each other calmly.Fang Jingci took the tea made by Mu Xiyun, and they sat side by side in front of the window sill, as if they had been for many years, and began to chat about some old trifles.

No one mentioned the bloody and tearful past, until the cup of tea was slowly drank, Fang Jingci looked at the continuous drizzle outside the window, lost her mind for a long time, and asked, "Can you forgive me?"

This sentence was asked once 30 years ago, and it will still be mentioned when we meet again 30 years later.In fact, each of them has deep obsessions in their hearts, complaining is to go home, Yan Lan is to revenge, Fang Jingci is to forgive, and what Mu Xiyun desires most in his heart is probably a reunion after a long absence.

Mu Xiyun was silent for a long time, but still said: "I don't forgive you, the living will never be able to answer for those who have fallen asleep."

Fang Jingci saw Ji Wu's face in front of her eyes. It has been so long, but her voice and smile are still fresh in her mind.There was a faint wry smile on the corner of her lips: "You're right, I'd better ask her myself."

Mu Xiyun couldn't tell what it was like in her heart. The reunion between her and everyone was both a reunion and a farewell.She seems to be constantly saying goodbye to her old friends, telling her off, Yan Lan, and now Jingci.

"Actually, you never owed me anything. You are the lord of the city after all, and the family is on your shoulders. You have your own reasons." It's just that I also have my own feelings.

Mu Xiyun turned her head and stared at her old friend who had changed a lot. Fang Jingci's face was morbidly pale, her lips were very light in color, and her whole body was filled with silence from the bottom of her bones.

What were they like before?It seems that a long time has passed, Mu Xiyun thought, in his memory, Xie was gentle and quiet, Yan Lan was bright and lively, and Jing Ci was the only eldest lady in Cangwu City, who was born to be the proud daughter of heaven, who wanted the stars but not the moon.She is proud but not ostentatious, but her innate self-confidence makes her always the most dazzling pearl in the crowd.

Later, the fire at the Er Fei Medicine Sect destroyed not only Gui Haiyan Lan's home, but also all of their lives.

When Mu Xiyun came back to her senses, she withdrew her gaze and said, "Let me tell you about Jianwei, your son is here. The entanglements of our generation have nothing to do with these juniors. When everything is over, I'll let him go again, okay? Go see him before you leave. "

Fang Jingci smiled and nodded, but rejected Mu Xiyun's last proposal: "I don't see him anymore, this kid's temper... Forget it, karma and reincarnation are all fate, I used to avoid too much, now It's too late to say anything. He's grown up and he's going to go on his own, I just hope he can be safe and healthy."

"After I'm gone, help me give him the things." She reached out and handed Mu Xiyun a letter and a jade pendant, looked into Mu Xiyun's eyes, and thought deeply: "Xiyun, we people Here, probably only you, with the same appearance as before."

In the breeze and drizzle, Mu Xiyun sent away his last old friend.The weeping willow outside the door was blown in front of him by the wind, and the sound of horseshoes gradually faded away. Mu Xiyun went back to the window sill and sat down alone. No one left.

Everything is drifting away in the rolling world of mortals.

***

Behind Dingkang City, the fire that fell from the sky on the north bank of the Lanjiang River burned for a day and two nights. At dawn on the third day, Dingkang, who was caught off guard by the front and rear attacks, still failed to wait for the support of King Jing and the Changzhou families. The South City Gate finally fell completely.

In the evening, the gunpowder stopped completely, and the city of Dingkang was replaced with the battle flag of the Ningzhou garrison.

Zhou Mincai sat quietly in the main hall of Duke Dingguo's mansion, the afterglow of the setting sun in the distance sprinkled on the carpet in front of the hall, which was the only light in this hall.

There were footsteps coming from outside the door, and the person who came was impartial and stopped right where the light was shining.

It's Su Lang.

Zhou Mincai raised his head and looked at the person in front of him with heavy eyes.The scene in front of him had appeared many times in his imagination, but the difference was that the place was changed to Dingkang, and the person sitting in the dark was not Su Lang.

All the light left by the setting sun fell on Su Lang's shoulders. His armor was not removed, and his clothes were still stained with blood—probably not his own, but Dingkang's. Zhou Min stared blankly at the glaring blood, and thought Think wildly.

"My son", Zhou Min heard Su Lang's voice, outside the hall was heavily surrounded by Ningzhou garrison, but there were only the two of them in the hall, Su Lang's voice suddenly sounded, and Zhou Min couldn't help trembling in his heart.

Su Lang walked to his side slowly, reached out and put down two things on the case table.

It's a fan and an ink painting, all of which are the waves of the Lanjiang River, and there is still an inscription missing on the fan——

It was the one he gave Su Lang.

Zhou Mincai stared blankly at the unfolded fan.

"I haven't thought about what to write in this inscription, but I think that my son has more words than me now." Su Lang leaned slightly, and lightly patted Zhou Mincai's shoulder.His voice was very low, but his tone was bitingly cold: "So, I will return this fan to you."

The author says:

I'm sorry, Carvin, I was so sad when I read Weibo yesterday.Tomorrow will be updated, and the day after tomorrow will be updated.