General, please be a loyal minister!

Xu Zhongyan, who returned to Dongdu, did not see Emperor Shao, but was placed under house arrest.

He guessed that it was Cheng Ju who said something to the young emperor, which made the young emperor change his mind and forced him to stay in Dongdu—this Cheng Ju really underestimated him all the time.

Xu Zhongyan knew that Cheng Ju was born in Tingtao Academy, but Tingtao Academy was originally a neutral organization open to the outside world, and there were many bachelors who had studied there, and there were about a dozen of them in the court.And Cheng Ju entered the court before Han Zhao entered Tingtao Academy, so he didn't pay much attention to this low-key newcomer, but Cheng Ju caught him off guard.

First, he was soaring through Yan Huan's appreciation, and then he did not know what method he used to gain Dou Xiao's trust, and helped Dou Xiao repair his relationship with the young emperor, thus gaining the young emperor's trust, and finally overthrew Yan Huan with thunderous means , and controlled the court with the help of Shaodi Yizhong and Dou Xiao.

Xu Zhongyan likes to be a black hand behind the scenes too much, and the role he arranges for himself is just a small civil servant, so that after Yan Huan's downfall, he doesn't have enough power to counter Cheng Ju.

However, the puppet dynasty has become the abandoned son of the master, so there is no need for him to continue to put in effort.

But Xu Zhongyan did not expect that Cheng Ju would be aware of his intention to escape from the puppet dynasty.

Why did Cheng Ju know?

Could it be—he knew about the existence of his master, and knew that he had never truly been loyal to the puppet dynasty?

Xu Zhongyan realized that he had missed a very critical message, a message that could reveal Cheng Ju's true identity and the real reason why he came to the puppet court.

……

Dou Xiao has been confronting the Jingzhou army in Shaoshan for ten days, and he also learned that the commander who overwhelmed him on the main battlefield that day was called "Gu Chongming". As for why his fighting style is so similar to Liu Ji's, it is unknown.

Dou Xiao noticed that the Jingzhou army had been avoiding large-scale battles with him for ten days.Dou Xiao faintly sensed something was wrong: "Come here! Send out scouts to search for news within two hundred miles from east to west."

The soldiers asked: "What news are you looking for?"

Dou Xiao: "Find out if there are any troops passing by these days."

Han Zhao got the news as soon as the puppet army pulled out of camp.Presumably Dou Xiao has already heard the news about Liu Ji's escape, and wants to catch up and outflank Liu Ji.And what he has to do next is to use 15 people to hold back the pace of Dou Xiao's army.

The march of the puppet dynasty was very urgent, but the Jingzhou army chasing behind them kept trying to hold them back.Dou Xiao couldn't figure out why Liu Ji and Gu Chongming would take such a risky approach, but they are not incompetent generals, and they must have something to rely on to make such a decision.

And the hidden information behind this makes Dou Xiao feel uneasy.

After three days of slow marching, Dou Xiao simply handed over the large army to the leadership of his cronies, and led [-] light cavalry and [-] elite infantry to the Eastern Capital with all his strength.

……

Dongdu, the residence of the prime minister.

Hearing that Xu Zhongyan was under strict surveillance, Cheng Ju nodded.

Except for those ministers in the court who favored Xu Zhongyan, and his information network, Xu Zhongyan's trump card should be his secret guard.

According to the information provided by Han Zhao, there are fourth, seventh, fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighteenth guards following Xu Zhongyan now... and according to the spies' reports, the seventh and eighteenth left Dongdu some time ago. I couldn't work hard and lost them, but these two people didn't come back, so now only the fourth, fourteenth, and fifteenth are left.

This guy Xu Zhongyan can't afford to turn the tide...

The latest battle report arrived, Cheng Ju took it, opened it, and read it with lowered eyes.

After reading it, Cheng Ju raised his hand, threw the letter paper into the brazier, picked up the pen, and wrote a new "battle report" on the paper.

In the brazier, the paper ash was lifted up by the heat wave from the tongue of fire, and it fluttered upwards. Suddenly, its trajectory had a strange deflection.A ray of silver light shot out from the beam, stabbing towards Cheng Ju quickly.Before Cheng Ju could react, another silver light flew out from the side and shot down the arrow.

Lao Wu rushed out from his hiding place, pulled out another throwing knife from the back of his waist, and threw it towards the beam.

The person hiding there was forced to come down, he was a heroic middle-aged man.The fifth pupil shrank: "Fourth brother!"

The fourth child replied with a hoarse voice, "What's the accident? You should have thought that this day would come." It was he who was surprised to see the fifth child. Cheng Ju really had something to do with Han Zhao.

After a brief conversation, the fourth child drew out the dagger at the back of his waist and attacked Cheng Ju who was behind the fifth child.

The fifth child rushed forward to stop the fourth child and protect Cheng Ju.There was not much difference in martial arts between the two, and they could only fight [-]-[-] even if they both had old injuries.

During this interval, Cheng Ju had already left the battle field and called his guards.Soon, the guards transferred from the Southern Army broke in.The fourth child was subdued to the ground in a short time because his right hand was disabled, and his martial arts were greatly impaired.

But at the moment of defeat, the fourth child bit the poison in his mouth, and black blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

The fifth brother rushed to squat down in front of the fourth child, and seized the last moment to ask for the information he wanted: "Tell me where the third brother is?"

The fourth child replied in a hoarse voice: "You will turn against us for the sake of the third brother, and I will be able to keep the secret for the sake of the second master."

A wave of anger arose in the old fifth's chest: "You are like this, and he still sends you to perform tasks. He doesn't treat you as a human being at all, and you still keep a secret for him?"

The fourth child was taken aback for a moment, and now the fifth child can also say the words "see it as a human being" naturally, and he smiled bleakly: "I did it myself."

Fifth child: "What?"

"I wanted to come by myself." Because I couldn't bear to see the second master in distress, because I wanted to get rid of the root cause of his troubles for the second master.

At the moment when the fifth child was in a daze, the fourth child swallowed his last breath - there was one less person who knew Ji Liang's whereabouts.

The fifth child dejectedly let go of the hand that was holding the skirt of the fourth child, full of grief and indignation.

Seeing the old fifth rushing out of the study without looking back, Cheng Ju turned his head and ordered to the guard: "Clean up the body and return it to Xu Zhongyan."

He doesn't care whether Xu Zhongyan will feel sorry for the death of a hidden guard, he is just declaring one thing - he will never allow Xu Zhongyan to escape, he will pull him and let him perish together with the puppet dynasty.

……

In Weiyang Palace, the frequent urgent frontline battle reports made the little emperor's nerves extremely tense.None of them were good news, and he didn't want to read a word.Throwing all the documents aside, Yu Xiao yelled at the servant: "Where is Prime Minister Cheng? Hurry up and invite him here!"

But before the people sent by the little emperor left the palace, Cheng Ju came.He looked very anxious, and his whole body was dusty, but what made the little emperor feel more ominous than his distressed appearance was his red eyes.

Cheng Ju knelt down on the ground with a "plop", took out a bloody letter from his sleeve, held it in front of the little emperor, choked up, and said, "Your Majesty! The great general - died for the country!"

The bad news hit the little emperor's head like a hammer, making his head buzz: Uncle died?What should he do?What about his country?

Yu Xiao walked forward quickly. He originally wanted to take the blood book, but after hesitating for a while, he swept the letter to the ground and grabbed Cheng Ju's shoulder: "Impossible! Prime Minister, uncle is brave and good at fighting, how could he die? Woolen cloth?"

Cheng Ju bowed his head and said sadly: "It's true. They ambushed General Dou with a trick, and killed him and 20 soldiers in the Shaoshan Valley. Now Jingzhou's army has driven straight in, and is almost under the Eastern Capital!"

The news of Liu Ji's arrival undoubtedly confirms Dou Xiao's martyrdom. If Dou Xiao was still alive, how could he let Jingzhou's army approach Dongdu.

Yu Xiao fell on the steps: "What about Dou Cheng? Let him come back and save you!"

Cheng Ju explained: "There has been no news for more than a month. The road to the northwest is far away, and the war has been tense. It will take more than a month to go back and forth. It will take at least three months for General Dou Cheng to draw troops back. .It's too late, Your Majesty."

For three months, the day lily was cold.

There is another reason why it is inconvenient for Yu Xiao to say it out loud: for Dou Cheng, he can't expect as much as he does for Dou Xiao.

After being dazed for a moment, Yu Xiao looked at Cheng Ju again, with eyes full of prayer and expectation: "Prime Minister, what should I do? What should I do?"

Cheng Ju remonstrated: "Your Majesty, there are still [-] soldiers from the North and South in the Eastern Capital. As long as Your Majesty stands up and orders them, they may take a bloody fight to keep the Eastern Capital."

But Yu Xiao began to doubt herself: "I... can I do it?"

Cheng Ju said earnestly: "Your Majesty, you are the last hope of the people of the new dynasty. They are all waiting for your protection. The eastern capital is well-defended. Let alone an army of 20 on the opposite side, even 30 can fight... Dongdu counts Hundreds of thousands of people can only rely on Your Majesty!"

On the surface, Cheng Ju seems to be persuading Yu Xiao to resist, but in fact he is constantly using words to increase pressure on Yu Xiao.

Yu Xiao has never been a responsible monarch. In the past, Yan Huan helped him manage political affairs, and Dou Xiao helped him manage military affairs. All he needs to do is sit and enjoy himself. Weak heart.

When he went to court the next day, listening to the words of the courtiers supporting the resistance, Yu Xiao was full of thoughts: so what if I can bear it?Who else can come to their rescue?Why does everyone depend on him?

But in the face of the courteous eyes of civil and military officials from the Manchu Dynasty, he couldn't utter a word "no".

On the sixth day after being besieged by Liu Ji, Yu Xiao was forced by Cheng Ju to put on armor and push him up the city wall.However, as soon as he climbed the city wall, he was attacked by the rain of arrows from the opposite side.Yu Xiao was frightened immediately, dropped her weapon, and fled back to Weiyang Palace.

After hiding in Weiyang Palace for three days and listening to the continuous sound of golden drums for three days, Yu Xiao completely collapsed: "Surrender! Kaesong surrender!"

This time Cheng Ju didn't dissuade him, he turned around decisively and passed on Yu Xiao's order.

Originally, the young emperor's escape from the battle had greatly affected morale. As soon as the word "surrender" was uttered, no one had the idea of ​​resisting. The monarch didn't want this country anymore.

The 2 people threw away their helmets and armor, and the ancient city of Dongdu opened its gates to Jingzhou's army while still retaining [-]% of its defensive capabilities.

The author has something to say: The Puppet Dynasty has begun to close the line!

However, there are new plots after the collection is over. Why did I dig such a big hole? _(:з」∠)_

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