General's humble stand-in

On the day of Yun Yi's death, General Gu Zhan of Jing State ordered his troops to withdraw for [-] li.Although the Yu Kingdom is relieved of its difficulties for a while, it does not mean that it will be worry-free forever.Fortunately, although the emperor was young, with the assistance of the empress dowager and the ministers, he began to consolidate the city wall and made full preparations for resisting Jing.

And the former prince Xia Yan disappeared so quietly, and no one mentioned it again.

The black fox fur cloak wrapped Tao Zhuo's petite and frail body, and jumped off the carriage with the support of the eunuch.

Looking up at the dark plaque of golden nanmu, Yunfu.Tao Zhuo's nose was slightly sour, and he hurriedly lowered his eyes.

The servant guarding the gate of the Yun Mansion was slightly taken aback when he saw Tao Zhuo, and the eunuch who followed Tao Zhuo scolded sharply, "Presumptuous, you are not polite when you see His Highness King Ning."

The little servant knelt down, Tao Zhuo ignored him and went straight into the Yun residence, walking towards the courtyard where he and Yun Yi lived.

From a distance, I saw a group of people carrying things in and out, Tao Zhuo hurriedly ran over, and the eunuch hurriedly called out behind him, "His Royal Highness Ning, please slow down. After the winter rain, ice stubble formed and the road was slippery. If you fall, the slave will not be able to bear it."

Running to the entrance of the yard, Tao Zhuo stopped panting.I saw a mess inside, no longer the clean and tidy that he had taken care of before.The rabbit cage was thrown in the corner, Xiaobai and Xiaohei were shivering together, and the swing in the yard also fell to the ground and was trampled back and forth.

"Stop." Taozhuo's eyes were red with anger, and he yelled at the servants at the top of his lungs, "Put it down, no one is allowed to touch anything in this yard."

At this moment, Yun Tianxiang also rushed over.

After seeing Tao Zhuo, he hurriedly knelt down, "Minister, see Your Highness King Ning."

"You let them move things in this yard?"

Surprised by Tao Zhuo's question, cold sweat broke out, Yun Tianxiang looked at Tao Zhuo in front of him as if he had changed.

"Back to King Ning, it's my wife who said that the yard is unoccupied, so..."

"Come here." Tao Zhuo said to the six guards who followed him closely, "Go and smash the lady's yard, and then, slap your mouth."

The guard asked, "How many palms?"

"I'm in a better mood." After finishing speaking, Tao Zhuo looked down at Yun Tianxiang who was kneeling in front of him, "From now on, anyone who dares to approach this courtyard by half a step will be killed without mercy."

After driving away everyone, Tao Zhuo bent over to pick up the swing and hung it under the tree again.In every corner of the yard, Yun Yi's shadow was faintly visible, Tao Zhuo lowered his head and rubbed the sore tip of his nose.

One person wandered around and cleaned the mess in the yard, until the sun set and the afterglow left in the sky, Tao Zhuo restored the yard to its original state.

After feeding Xiaobai and Xiaohei, Taozhuo went into the small kitchen and began to tinker with making pastries.

"It's unpalatable." Sipping the pastry in his mouth, Tao Zhuo said to himself, "It's really hard for you. Every time I eat so much, I thought it was because my cooking skills have improved, but it turns out that you don't dislike it."

Looking up, Tao Zhuo let the tears flow back.

"It's really a very annoying problem. I can't help but want to cry. But without you, who would feel sorry for me and cry."

Missing has become despair, and tears have become mourning.

Tao Zhuo never returned to the palace, and lived in the small courtyard all the time.Still sleepy, and when he wakes up, he will look at the imperial concubine couch where Yun Yi slept in a daze.Then feed the rabbits, make pastries, and clean the house.

A person's life, pretending that there are two people living.

A few days later, the little emperor came to find him, and Tao Zhuo was sweeping the yard at that moment.

"Brother." The little emperor hurried forward to take the broom from Tao Zhuo's hand, "Just order the servants to do these rough jobs, don't tire yourself out."

The little emperor was 16 years old. He was handsome and intelligent, but he had some small disabilities in his legs and was limping when he walked.

"It's okay, it's boring to be idle."

Tao Zhuo led the little emperor into the house and poured tea for him.

"Why did you run out of the palace? Don't you have to go to court early today?"

After the little emperor took a sip of his tea, he replied, "I came out after the morning court, and I want to discuss something with my brother."

"What's the matter?"

"Although the Jing Kingdom has retreated eight hundred miles, there is no sign of returning to the court. I am afraid that it will attack our Yu Kingdom in the near future. Since the death of General Yun, it has been difficult for our dynasty to find military talents. I am afraid that the Yu Kingdom will not be able to resist, so Come to discuss with your brother how to deal with it."

Tao Zhuo is not proficient in family-state strategy, and he doesn't know whether the little emperor came here to ask for advice or to test it out on purpose.

After pondering for a moment, Tao Zhuo said softly, "Why don't you just surrender."

"Brother." The little emperor was surprised.

"There is a huge disparity in national power. Sooner or later, Jing State will annex Yu State. Why don't you take the initiative and propose friendship with Jing State. As long as Jing State accepts the letter of surrender, you can hide your strength and bide your time so that Yu State can return to its former prosperity."

It seems that every word is considered for the country of Yu, but in fact, Tao Zhuo has plans for himself.He had to leave Yu Country, firstly because Yun Yi's death was hard to let go, and secondly because of his embarrassing status, if the empress dowager was a hundred years old, the little emperor might not be so obedient to his elder brother.

Sure enough, the little emperor asked, "Brother, how do we surrender?"

In fact, there is no need to ask about this kind of thing, Tao Zhuo understands it, so how can the little emperor not understand.It's just that the real power of Yu Kingdom is now in the hands of the empress dowager, the little emperor can't speak casually, he can only let Tao Zhuo speak.

"Ceded the city, promised to pay tribute every year, and sent the hostage to make the emperor of Jing country feel at ease."

"Hostage?" The little emperor looked puzzled, "I'm not married yet, and I have no heirs to send."

"You don't have it, doesn't the Empress Dowager have it?"

The little emperor stood up suddenly in shock, "Brother absolutely must not, how could I push him to that dangerous place, and the queen mother would not agree."

The heartbroken appearance made Tao Zhuo unable to tell whether he was sincere or fake.

Secretly sighed, it really is unpredictable.

"I will tell the queen mother that you only need to draw up a letter of surrender and find a way to make Jing Guo accept it."

After seeing off the little emperor, Tao Zhuo leaned against the door and stared blankly at everything in the room.

Smiling bitterly, Tao Zhuo whispered to him, "If you leave, there will be no place for me in this country of Yu. I think I have to leave, and some people should pay for your death."

In a few days, envoys from Jing State arrived in Yu State.The State of Jing accepted the letter of surrender and signed an agreement with the State of Yu, and the Changfeng Army escorted His Highness King Ning to the State of Jing.

On that day, Tao Zhuo went to visit Yun Yi for the last time.From a distance, I saw a person standing beside the tomb, like a green pine proudly.

"You're here." Tao Zhuo stepped forward, bent over and placed the finished pastry in front of the tombstone.

Su Changqing looked down at Tao Zhuo's movements, and suddenly smiled ironically, "He was full of you when he was alive, but I was the one who could accompany him for a long time after death."

Tao burned her body and bit her lower lip hard.

What Su Changqing said was right, when he left Yu Country, he would be far away from him and fear that he would never see him again.

"I really feel worthless for Yun Yi, how could I fall in love with you."

"Yes." Tao Zhuo raised his hand to caress the writing on the tombstone, "I knew this before, I would rather never meet."

The accompanying eunuch urged Tao Zhuo to leave, Tao Zhuo shook off a strand of hair that he had cut off from his sleeve, and buried it in Yun Yi's grave.

"Cut the blue hair, cut off grievances." Su Changqing said coldly.

"Leave blue silk, send lovesickness." Tao Zhuo slid his finger over the word 'Yunyi' engraved on the tombstone again, then gritted his teeth and turned to leave.

Looking at Tao Zhuo's back, Su Changqing shed a tear for some reason.

"How did you fall in love with him? Why can't I let you go? Yun Yi, I will accompany you to the end of my life in this life, just in exchange for you to give me an afterlife."

The winter in Yu Kingdom is rainy and snowy, but the sky was full of snowflakes on the day when the letter was handed in.

Tao Zhuo picked up the bamboo curtain on the car window and looked back again, Luocheng had completely disappeared from sight, only the empress dowager's tearful face was still shaking in front of her eyes.

Tao Zhuo doesn't have much attachment to the empress dowager, but when he thinks about it, he still feels a dull pain in his heart.

Putting down the bamboo curtain, Tao Zhuo put the stove in his arms aside, picked up a few vegetable leaves and fed them to the rabbit in the cage.

The sound of horseshoes, the white snow was broken, and the road was muddy.

Gu Yan rode a black horse and followed behind the luxurious blue sedan, his gaze would occasionally freeze, as if he wanted to see the people inside clearly through the carriage.

When receiving the letter of surrender, Gu Yan was calm and composed, but seeing the proton sent by Yu Kingdom, Gu Yan dropped the letter of surrender in her hands in shock.

Gu Yan really wanted to ask Tao Zhuo what was going on, but he didn't find a chance to ask Tao Zhuo along the way, and Tao Zhuo simply ignored his existence.

Xu Tianlei leaned against Gu Yan from behind, and asked in a low voice, "How could it be Tao Zhuo?"

Gu Yan shook his head.

"How about I ask?"

Gu Yan nodded.

I saw Xu Tianlei stepped forward immediately, and then stopped the guards who were in charge of protecting Tao Zhuo.

Gu Yan was stunned, his mind was full of not knowing how to talk to Tao Zhuo, but he never thought that he could ask Tao Zhuo's guards or maidservants brought out from Yu Kingdom.Not long after, Xu Tianlei came to Gu Yan's side again and told him everything about Tao Zhuo in a low voice.

After finishing speaking, he sighed, "It's really unexpected that Tao Zhuo is the prince of Yu Kingdom. Good luck tricks people, you are born to be hostile."

Gu Yan still didn't speak, but the fingertips holding the horse's rein turned white a little bit.In fact, his identity is not a problem, Gu Yan is worried about Yun Yi's death, he is afraid that Tao Zhuo will hold grudges.

As the sky darkened, the army set up camp on the spot.

Watching Tao Zhuo get off the carriage, Gu Yan couldn't bear it anymore and stepped forward.

"Taozhuo, I have something to tell you."

Tao Zhuo was holding the rabbit cage in one hand, and the small heater in the other. The fluff on the black cloak supported his sharp and thin chin, and his white face looked more and more delicate and cute.

Turning her head to look at Gu Yan, Tao Zhuo showed disdain.Her voice was clear and clear, but she never spoke softly to Gu Yan again.

"You Jing country is also considered a state of etiquette, but the general's words and deeds are really hard to compliment."

Gu Yan helplessly took a step back to distance herself from Tao Zhuo, cupped her hands and said, "Young Master Ning, Gu Yan is rude, please don't blame me, Master, can I ask Master Ning to take a step to speak."

"Bumpy and tiring all the way, I am really tired, and I feel that I and the general have nothing to say."

After finishing speaking, he walked past Gu Chan and entered the tent without looking back.

Gu Yan was left standing alone in the snow and never left.