It's better to fall in love than seize the heir

Inside the main hall of the palace, the tense atmosphere is almost tense into a thin string, which is constantly pulled and stretched in the air, as if it will break with a "snap" in the next second.

The attendants on both sides lowered their heads and did not dare to take a breath, because the aura of the two people standing face to face in the hall was too terrifying. It always made people feel that the faint sparks were about to spread like a prairie fire in this small world in an instant. Spread and spread, roaring and burning everything up.

Deng Lei scanned the contents of the letter paper blankly, sneered, and read each word carefully.

The Southwest King stood opposite him, with a complex expression mixed with generosity and determination.Seeing that Deng Lei finally finished reading the letter, he let out a long sigh and closed his eyes.

"...the miasma forest didn't trap them to death."

"I am naturally aware of this point, and there is no need for the lord to remind me." Deng Lei's tone was a little blunt, his eyes were slightly cold, "We have lost this last barrier, and the lord knows how dangerous the current situation is."

A trace of struggle flashed in the eyes of the Southwest King, and images changed in his mind. For a while, it was the face of the precious son he held in the palm of his hand since he was a child, and for a while, it was the soldiers behind him and the grand plan that had been planned for many years.His forehead seemed to be forced out a few gray hairs because of the huge impact. He never imagined that one day he would have to make a life-or-death choice between these two things.

"The letter... have you finished reading it?"

After a long silence, the Southwest King still spoke in a low voice.

"Yes." Deng Lei's voice was loud, and he stared straight at Xixi Wang without hesitation, "I don't know what the prince thinks in his heart, and you have your own conclusions about which is more important. However, I, Deng Lei, am not afraid to put The words are left here, this letter is too ridiculous, no matter what, it is absolutely impossible for me to hand over my general!"

The Southwest King had been hesitating between the two, but now that he heard Deng Lei's resolute and ruthless words, the anger in his heart was instantly ignited.He snatched back the letter paper fiercely, raised one hand high, and raised it excitedly.

"Master Deng, what do you mean? The head of your general is important, so is this king's only biological son not important? This king sees that your general is not an outstanding figure. There are so many soldiers, there would be a lot without him. But this king has only this one son! He is the son of Southwest, the future king of Southwest!"

Deng Lei has been annoyed by the stalemate and difficult battle situation in Japan these past few days, and there is nowhere to dispel the depression in his chest.Now being yelled at indiscriminately by the King of Southwest, I couldn't restrain my emotions for a moment, and sneered, "Isn't it some top-notch person? My lord, in the past, I respected you, and I even respected your eldest son a little bit." But we both know what kind of virtue he is! I am not afraid that my subordinates will be completely chilled, but I am afraid that my own conscience will be hurt Woolen cloth!"

The Southwest King was furious, his tiger eyes widened, and he pointed at Deng Lei tremblingly with his hand, his face also twitched and trembled because of the anger, "You... okay, okay! At this point, you are finally willing to put your heart out The words that have been hidden for so long have come out, right? Then the king is not afraid to tell you today! What does this king’s eldest son look like, then he also has the blood of the Southwest King flowing through him. I don’t know which grassy ditch you came from The general who got out of the hole will die, and being able to sacrifice his life for the son is actually a blessing he has cultivated in eight lifetimes!"

"My lord! Don't try to bully me too much!" Deng Lei was furious when he heard these words, and also widened his eyes not to be outdone, and shouted back at the Southwest King with a trembling voice.

The two people in the hall glared at each other with necks straightened, their faces flushed with rage, as if they were about to draw their swords at each other in the next second.

Deng Lei puffed out his chest and panted heavily. After a long time, he still forced himself to calm down first.He closed his eyes, took a step back restrainedly, and put one hand between the two, signaling to calm down both of them.

The Southwest King also withdrew from the tit-for-tat stalemate just now, looked around angrily, and finally gave a cold snort, turned around and sat heavily on the seat behind him, closing his eyes and not saying a word.

"...My lord, let's calm down first." Deng Lei breathed out, a gleam of cold light flashed in his eyes, "This letter from Liang Yan is clearly intended to create estrangement and suspicion between us. If we really continue arguing like we did just now, it will be as he wished."

"Then tell me, what else can we do now?" The Southwest King rubbed his hands on his somewhat sluggish face and pulled himself together, "Now that the prince has been captured by him, he has raised such harsh conditions again. , if Tianming doesn't hand over the head according to his request, this king's son will really..."

The King of Southwest's words were halfway through, and it was obvious that he could no longer continue.Only he himself knows what this old man means to him.If he had to watch his son die in front of his eyes, he would absolutely not be able to bear this fact.

Deng Lei's expression fluctuated, and after a while, he said in a calm tone, "Don't worry, my lord. I thought that Liang Yan was very cunning, and he took the prince away, not just to let us There must be other countermeasures to cause suspicion between each other. Before his methods are completely exhausted, Shizi will still be useful to him, and he will not take it seriously as stated in the letter, and do it at dawn tomorrow .”

He turned around again and comforted the Southwest King to relax, "As long as we step up our deployment in the past few days, we can save the prince before he threatens us with the prince next time, and even take advantage of the situation to counterattack, regardless of whether we can save him or not." It is very possible for Shizi alone to drive them back tens of miles to the north. In this way, isn’t it a way to get the best of both worlds?”

"But..." The Southwest King still hesitated, "Will Liang Yan really keep his son to threaten us next time? When our troops faced Yan Yunqi, who had no leader, we were still stalemate with them. Liang Yan Now that you have come back, isn't it more difficult to do it?"

Deng Lei cursed secretly in his heart, only saying that today, no matter what, he must dispel the idea of ​​the Southwest King sacrificing his general.He thought over and over quickly in his heart, half-closed his eyes, and spoke after considering his words.

"My lord has lived in the Southwest for a long time, and I know the power of this poisonous miasma much better than I do. Even if Liang Yan managed to save his life from the miasma, most of them are still lying on the bed, fighting with the useless people." No difference. From my point of view, most of the advisers under his command sent this letter in his name. The purpose is to use Liang Yan's prestige to deter us. In fact, it is now a counterattack The best time to win Yan Yunqi!"

The more he said, the more he was convinced even himself, with a hint of excitement on his face, "The soldiers of Yan Yunqi saw their master general being carried back half dead, and now I'm afraid it's just a sigh of relief. How could it not be shaken and suffered a blow? When they thought they could rest easy with the trump card of the prince, we took the opportunity to sneak into their camp and make a sneak attack. In this way, the odds of winning have been doubled several times?"

"What you said is not without reason..." The Southwest King had been beaten by Yan Yunqi for so long, and he felt sullen in his heart when he watched the situation of losing ground. Now Deng Lei analyzed it so carefully. , I actually felt that I could vaguely see a clear path to victory.He was a little moved by persuasion, but when he thought of his son who was still in the hands of others, he still seemed hesitant, "But the son is still in their hands after all, what if they really..."

"No." Deng Lei shook his head resolutely when he saw something was going on, and continued to persuade him while the iron was hot, "How can they be willing to take the initiative to destroy such a good card before they can give full play to the role of the prince? If they wait until they support When you can't help but lose, I'm afraid you can't help but want to trade it for the chance of your own life. My lord, this opportunity must not be missed. If you still want to achieve great things, you must not be timid and indecisive at such a critical moment!"

Being so provoked by Deng Lei, and thinking of his painstaking deployment over the years, the Southwest King still couldn't help but gritted his teeth, nodded with a struggling face, "Okay, I will act according to your plan! Forgive them for not daring to take action seriously, you In the past two days, we must speed up our preparations, and we will work hard to drive Yan Yunqi out of the southwest!"

"no problem!"

Seeing that he was finally persuaded by him, Deng Lei smiled gratifiedly.When his eyes inadvertently turned to the crumpled letter on the table, the expression in his eyes darkened for no reason.

……

The hazy morning mist was blown away by the breeze, and the first ray of morning light projected softly from the east, casting a hazy golden glow on the miasma forest.

Shen Jinghe knocked on the table, raised his head slightly to look at the morning scene outside the tent, and hooked the corners of his lips meaningfully.

"It's already dawn. It seems that our Southwest King has finally made a decision."

Liang Yanzheng draped a robe over Shen Jinghe's body, so as not to catch him in the cold morning wind.Hearing this, he just raised his eyebrows, and his tone was light.

"I heard that the prince has been yelling in the camp since he woke up in the middle of the night yesterday. The richness and profoundness of his words is really unheard of. When he knew that he might lose his life early in the morning, he immediately seemed to be a different person." It seems that the tears and snot can't be stopped, and he almost kowtowed to the soldiers guarding him. With such a useless son, it is not difficult to understand that the King of Southwest would do such a righteous act of killing relatives."

Shen Jinghe said with some amusement, "I think that at the age of the Southwest King, it is impossible for him to give up his only son so easily. They are still standing still, probably because they think that you have managed to handle such a person. It is absolutely impossible for the person who is the lifeblood of the Southwest King to exchange the head of a little-known general who will be of great use in the future if he keeps it for his son, so he does not take your words seriously."

"Really?" Liang Yan laughed, "But maybe I'm going to disappoint them... I, Liang Yan, always keep my word. I'm afraid the King of Southwest will be really sad for a while."

As he said that, he clapped his hands and summoned another soldier, and ordered in a deep voice: "Get rid of the prince of the Southwest, and hang his body on the bushes on the other side of the miasma forest, so that everyone in Jinyang City can see it." It's clear!"

"Subordinates obey!"

The soldier took the order and immediately turned around and left the camp without hesitation.

Liang Yan thought for a while, then ordered Liu Da to be called in.

As soon as Liu Dafang entered the tent, he immediately bowed to Liang Yan politely, and couldn't help but smile, "General, are you finally going to kill that villainous kid? The general has long heard that the kid is not a What a joke, relying on a bit of bullshit power to run amok in Jinyang City, I am! Now that he is in the underworld, how can he be domineering!"

Liang Yan pressed his brows helplessly, and interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "Okay, I called you here today, but I didn't listen to you to criticize this kid's crimes. I have already ordered someone to deal with him and hang him in a gold medal. In the forest opposite Yangcheng. The King of Southwest saw his beloved son die like this. There is absolutely no way he could do nothing. I will lead most of my troops to lurk in the deep forest, and I also want you to lead a team of elites in the forest. Wait outside the city. Once they make any movement, I will go forward and fight them head-on, and you take this opportunity to find a way to enter Jinyang City. At that time, we should cooperate internally and externally, and we must take Jinyang City in one fell swoop!"

"I will understand at the end!"

Liu Da nodded solemnly, discussed the detailed combat strategy with Liang Yan for a while, and then left for emergency deployment.

After explaining everything clearly, Liang Yan turned his gaze back to Shen Jinghe, who had been sitting quietly by the side since just now. The resolute expression just now seemed to add a bit of distress for no reason.

"He'er, you..." He frowned slightly, as if he was worried about how to speak.

Shen Jinghe looked at him with the same smile, and said, "You don't want me to go, do you?"

Liang Yan was taken aback, and quickly explained, "You have to trust me, I definitely don't mean to underestimate you. It's just that this battle is still dangerous in the end, and it's impossible to leave no troops in the camp. If you can Sitting here, in case something happens temporarily, we can also have other strategies and support."

"I understand." Shen Jinghe nodded, his eyes were clear and magnanimous, "After all, I am not from a general background, if the situation is unavoidable, it's fine, now that you have personally put on your clothes, I will come to the battlefield in person It doesn't make much sense to go up. You are more familiar with the battlefield than I am, if I forcefully want to participate in it, I'm afraid you will be distracted to take care of me."

"...So you can go at ease, I am in the camp, waiting for the good news of your victory."

After finishing the last sentence, Shen Jinghe closed his mouth, tilted his head to look at Liang Yan and smiled.

Liang Yan's expression was a little moved, he couldn't help reaching out to stroke Shen Jinghe's hair, and his tone softened a bit.

"Don't worry, I won't let you down."

Shen Jinghe held his hand that had not yet had time to evacuate with one hand, and squeezed him even tighter, looking straight at him without reservation, with complete trust and defenselessness inside.

"You never let me down."

……

"My lord——"

The attendant swallowed hard, opened his mouth with trembling lips, with a look of death on his face.

"Master Deng is here..."

As his words fell, a pair of military boots emerged from the corner outside the door, and gradually stepped into the study step by step.

However, the King of the Southwest seemed to have heard nothing, sitting motionless on the seat like a statue made of wood, with no expression on his face.

Next to Deng Lei's mouth was a circle of green stubble that hadn't been scraped off in the future, and his face was full of shock, anger and surprise. When he touched the pale ashes of the Southwest King with tired eyes, he couldn't help but remain silent. move away.

"My lord..."

After a long silence, Deng Lei finally opened his mouth to break the unbearable silence.

The Southwest King opened his lips tremblingly, and gasped out of his throat with a "hoho" sound. After trying for a while, he managed to find his own voice.

"You said they wouldn't do anything to the crown prince... You said it would be useful for them to keep the crown prince! You said it to me personally!"

The Southwest King seemed like a volcano that had been silent for many years erupted suddenly at this moment. The red lava flames spewed out from the ground, trying to ignite and swallow him and all the life in front of him.His body leaned forward hugely, the corners of his eyes were red, and he was about to burst into tears, and he questioned Deng Lei in a voice that broke his heart.

Deng Lei hesitated and remained silent for a moment, he closed his eyes wearily, and whispered, "My lord, I never thought that they would be so decisive... How could it be possible that they would actually do this at this time?" Do it?"

"Didn't you think so?" The Southwest King stared at him in grief, his tone was almost stern, "You didn't think a word, you can let this king's only son die in vain, even if he dies, he will be punished." Humiliated by hanging in the woods? If you hadn’t insisted on ignoring them yesterday, this king’s eldest son would have returned to Jinyang City in good condition by now!”

Deng Lei's lips parted, but he didn't speak out the rebuttal words.He sighed, turned his head and looked out of the window with a heavy expression, "My lord, the matter has come to an end, I can only ask for your condolences, after all, nothing you do now will help..."

"Doesn't help? Deng Lei, you have such a big face, how can you say such a wolf-hearted thing!" The Southwest King approached step by step, the corners of his red eyes were almost bleeding, "This king's son is still dying. Hanging on the ground in the woods, how can you say that the king is mourning!"

"Then what does the lord want from me?" Deng Lei turned back to look at him with no emotion on his face.

"This king wants you to bring someone back to Jinyang City tonight! This king did not save him when he was alive. Now that he is gone, how can this king just watch him being humiliated like this!" King Xixi gritted his teeth. , asked Deng Lei angrily, "It was you who caused this king to lose his only son. You must bring back his son intact, and this king will definitely bury him with honor!"

Deng Lei was startled, and his face immediately became extremely serious, "My lord, be careful! They deliberately hung the dead son's body in the woods, and they made it clear that they wanted to use this to lure us out. If we really obeyed their wishes, then what's the difference?" Yu took the initiative to jump into the fire pit!"

The Southwest King sneered and shook his head again and again, "Deng Lei, Deng Lei, why didn't I realize that you don't have much talent in leading troops, but you are so quick-spoken! Last time you said they wouldn't attack the prince , Ben Wang believed you, but what happened? The son is still dying in the forest opposite Jinyang City! Now I want you to take him back and return him to this king, but you push back and forth, and jump into the fire pit... Ben The king will tell you clearly now, even if it is really a fire pit in front of you, you must let me drill into it! This is what you owe this king and your son!"

Deng Lei almost became angry from embarrassment, he clenched his fists tightly, and the veins on the back of his hands were bulging, "My lord, don't blame me for everything! Yesterday's decision, you can make it yourself Yes! Take another ten thousand steps back, if it wasn't for Shizi's arrogance, he couldn't bear his temper at such a dangerous time, and insisted on running outside the mansion, how could he be caught by Yan Yunqi and the others, and sent away alive? Die!"

"Deng Lei, don't be ashamed of yourself!" Southwest King yelled, with a flushed angry face under his messy hair, "Don't forget who you and your Xin'an army are now. On the site. This king’s words are put here, tonight you have to be willing, and you have to be willing if you don’t want to, you have to send troops to the outside of the city to bring the prince back!”

"You!" Deng Lei was so anxious that his throat choked and he couldn't say a word.

The Southwest King gasped for a few breaths, and snorted coldly, "What are you still doing? Master Deng, hurry up and set up your troops! You are above the boundaries of my Jinyang City, and you have to abide by the rules of my Jinyang City." rule!"

Deng Lei stared at the Southwest King with a gloomy expression for a long time, and finally waved his sleeves angrily, turned and left, and slammed the door heavily.

The Southwest King stood stiffly on the spot with half of his body, looking at Deng Lei sternly without turning his head away.He waited until he couldn't see any more people, then he drooped his shoulders as if discouraged, turned around and walked back to the seat, and sat on the chair limply.

Grief and resentment flickered alternately in his eyes, almost tearing his whole life in half.After a long time, he finally couldn't help but thumped the wall behind him heavily, and the snow-white wall dust kept falling down with his movements.

"You all have to pay the price... everyone!"