Rebellious officials bow their heads

At this moment, he suddenly remembered what Emperor Zhaode had said to him. At that time, he was stubborn, caused trouble with emotion, and was punished to kneel in the ancestral hall.

The royal father didn't beat or scold, but said plainly: "It's okay to be willful and reckless, and it's okay to belittle yourself. You were born at the pinnacle of power, and everything you do depends on it. The imperial power is granted by heaven, and it should be taken for granted, but you must always recognize it." your position."

Xie Linze couldn't remember how he answered at that time.

The voice of the royal father continued to sound in my mind: "You are in a position where only one person can be accommodated. There are no taboos. Pursuing things that you can't get, such as foolish feelings, will only blind your eyes and make you more difficult. The farther you go, the more you turn around, the only right that belongs to you really exists."

-

On the majestic and towering city wall in Lingbei, dozens of soldiers took turns patrolling. Bows and arrows, braziers, etc. were piled up among the stone passages. One of the soldiers saw a black spot approaching in the distance, and quickly issued a warning. The upstairs immediately pointed his bow down.

The heavy city gate opened to both sides, and a group of well-trained black armored cavalry surrounded the comer. The leading lieutenant held the rein in one hand and held a spear in the other and shouted: "Who is the comer?"

Xie Linze's hair and face were covered with snowflakes, he ignored the weapon pointed at him, raised his stiff hand to wipe his face, and he rolled over from the horse.

These wolf-repelling cavalry stationed in Lingbei had all seen Yuan Xuanfeng when he was dealing with him, and there were surprised shouts from beside him, "It's Your Majesty?!"

"Why did the emperor come from outside the pass?"

"Could it be that General Pang has news? The wind and snow have been so heavy these days, and the road is dangerous. Why did His Majesty come here alone? He didn't even bring a follower..."

After a group of soldiers were astonished, they immediately knelt down and saluted.

Xie Linze was too cold to speak, he raised his left hand as he walked forward.

The soldiers got up again and followed his pace. Seeing that Xie Linze seemed to be frozen, they hurriedly crowded up, put a cloak on him, and called the guards to get the hand stove.

"Don't bother." Xie Linze's body finally recovered, although his face still had no trace of blood, "Pang Qing is not here, who is in charge of you now?"

A young general stepped out from among the soldiers, cupped his hands and said, "Return to Your Majesty, the last general Zheng Jun was originally General Pang's deputy general, and now he is temporarily in charge of Lingbei's affairs."

Xie Linze stopped and looked back at him, "You will replace Pang Qing."

"Yes."

"Immediately send an order, and the Scolding Wolf Cavalry and the Lingbei Garrison are assembled to wait for orders."

"Yes."

Xie Linze turned around and entered the city gate. The cloak drew an arc in the air. The soldiers led him in and brought several braziers into the room for heating. After a while, another soldier said outside: "Your Majesty, Several generals have arrived and are waiting outside."

Xie Linze put his hands on the side of the brazier to warm up, and his eyes were fixed on the parchment map on the wall, which showed the mountains and rivers in the Northland area.

Many of them were blurred due to the lack of specific surveys, but he had stayed in Beirao for so long and came all the way from Wangcheng to Lingbei, so he probably had plans in mind.

While discussing with these generals how to defend against the enemy's sneak attack, the curtain was hastily lifted by the soldiers, "Your Majesty, there is a Beiluo man outside the city asking to see..."

A general on the opposite side of the table shouted angrily: "Why did the Beiluo people come here to report? Why don't you hurry up and kill them!"

"But he claimed to have met Ji Shoufu!" The soldier quickly finished speaking.

The war chess in Xie Linze's hand fell with a bang, and his eyes moved away from the sand table, "Send him in!"

But after a while, a Beiluo man covered in rags and wounds was escorted in by the soldiers. Xie Linze recognized him as He Liancheng's personal guard at a glance, and motioned the soldiers to let him go.

From the jade pendant handed over to Ji Han by the man from Beirao, and the anxious and confused words, he knew that He Liancheng and Ji Han were not dead, but hid in the mountains near Mocheng under the desperate resistance of his personal guards. , Now Qingci's people have sealed the mountain and are searching for them everywhere.

The guards around He Liancheng had been damaged too much, and only one escaped to inform him. He was going to find Fei Lianshu's subordinates, but Qingci made the matter go. On the one hand, he sent troops to disturb Fei Lianshu's sight. After chasing them closely, there are spies everywhere, not only people from the Central Plains but also people from Beiluo, so they can only ask for help directly from the valley to the nearest Lingbei.

This is simply a glimmer of life in a desperate situation, but He Liancheng's time to last is too short, and the situation is extremely dangerous. If there is any change in Lingbei at this moment, it is tantamount to declaring war on Beirao.

Countless thoughts flashed through Xie Linze's mind, he turned to look at the map, paused for a moment, "You step back first."

The guard suddenly panicked, "You are the only one who can save the king now! Besides, your chief assistant is also here..."

Xie Linze interrupted him, "Rebuke the wolf cavalry to obey orders!"

Zheng Jun immediately cupped his hands, "The end is here."

The surrounding generals also stood up, the guards were taken aback for a moment, and then Xie Linze said: "Reorganize the army immediately, and when it gets dark, march from Lingguan to Beiluo."

At present, most of Fei Lianshu's troops are marching from Wangcheng to Lingzhou in the border area. As soon as the news of Heliancheng's death spread, he could almost predict that Beirao would be in chaos. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he took down the mausoleum in one fell swoop. Only then can he enter Yingcheng in the north and have a chance to save He Liancheng.

The most important thing now is to fight quickly, if the generals of Lingzhou insist on defending the city, then everything will be over, let alone rescue Ji Han and He Liancheng, their bones should be completely chilled.

In the foggy night, the city wall of Lingzhou seemed to be standing in the dark. Thousands of troops were behind thousands of miles away. Several teams of cavalry rushed through the forest first. , "Your Majesty, the guards on the city tower change a batch for each cup of tea, what should we do next?"

Beside him was Xie Linze, who was dressed in fox fur, his face was ice-cold, without a trace of blood, his eyes were faintly red, and he was quietly staring at the situation on the city wall.

Although Zheng Yun was a military general with a low family background, he was educated by a scholarly family and paid attention to rules and etiquette. He naturally disapproved of the emperor going to the battlefield in person. It was nothing more than a morale booster at the back, but he was still at the forefront.

Thinking of this, Xie Linze suddenly made a movement. He took off the fox fur on his body, revealing the black robe inside, and neatly tied the belt at the corner of the sleeve robe to avoid the excessively long sleeves from catching his movements.

Then without looking back, he left a sentence: "Wait for my order."

Then he walked forward quickly, and his whole body almost melted into the night.

Zheng Yun couldn't believe it, "Your Majesty?"

In just a few breaths, the man had disappeared into the bushes, walked through the open space from the patrolling gap, lurked at the foot of the city, threw the rope upwards, his figure rose extremely fast, and landed on the high ground silently. city ​​wall.

Zheng Yun looked into the distance and nervously clenched the hilt of the sword in his hand.

That black shadow under the night, wandering on the city wall like a ghost, the guards kept falling when they raised their knives, these patrolling guards have been at ease for a long time, they didn't expect someone to attack at this moment, and they didn't have time to react , died under the opponent's sword.

In a moment, the Beiluo flag on the city wall fell down. Zheng Yun knew that this was the signal, and quickly sent an order to the scouts for the army behind to advance.

After a while, Xie Linze returned to the cavalry below. Thirty thousand scolding wolf cavalry were only one mile away from Lingzhou City. At this moment, the guards under the city wall took turns. Seeing the army below attacking at full speed, Beiluo's army was horrified It was so extreme that there was no time to make preparations. As soon as the order to face the army was handed down, it was quite chaotic, completely opposite to the well-trained wolf repelling cavalry.

When the soldiers surged up and down the city, the repelling wolf cavalry had already lined up.

Xie Linze was riding on a horse, with tens of thousands of soldiers behind him, the chilling wind blew up, and the flag of Dazhao fluttered unfurled.

With a wave of his hand, thousands of arrow feathers fell like rain, like a crow representing death spreading its wings to cover the sky and the sun.

After a night of fighting, before dawn, the sound of killing gradually stopped, the city was filled with the smell of blood, corpses were strewn all over the place, the repelling wolf cavalry completely occupied the city, and locked up the captured soldiers of Beiluo.

Xie Linze ordered Zheng Yun to guard Lingzhou, and led a team of iron cavalry to rush towards Yingcheng. The wind and snow covered the ground, looking for the traces left by the chasing soldiers in the canyon. Finding He Liancheng and Ji Han is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The Beiluo people who came to ask for help earlier knew the way, but before they had gone far, they bumped into a group of Jokhang people, who were dealt with by the iron cavalry and tied to the ground one by one.

The soldiers grabbed the leader, twisted his shoulders, and interrogated him sharply, "Who sent you here?!"

The leader screamed in pain, and hurriedly shouted: "It's Qingci! He asked us to kill King Beiluo!"

Xie Linze said lightly: "Is He Liancheng still alive?"

"Live, live! He fled into the mountains now, and our people haven't found it..."

"How many of you are there?"

The leader flinched and said: "Our troops are divided into six teams. When we find He Liancheng, we will burn firewood and use fireworks as a signal to surround him from all sides..."

As soon as the words were finished, Xie Linze raised his head, only to see a wisp of gray smoke rising from the air in the distance.

Under his leadership, the cavalry immediately got on their horses and rushed over. When they arrived at the place, the two sides were fighting together, and the bloody smell was everywhere. against the enemy.

The armored cavalry around Xie Linze surrounded him, desperately breaking through the opponent's attack.

He Liancheng was in a state of distress, his hair and robe were covered with mud and blood. He had been fleeing for nearly three days, and he was already exhausted. He had already held the attitude of mortals, and desperately killed the surrounding enemies with his sword, but there were more and more of them. The shadows of people blocked the way and surrounded them. Unexpectedly, at this moment, reinforcements came to pull out the fire, and they were still frightening wolf repelling cavalry.

He looked at the team in front of him in disbelief. The cavalry retracted their weapons, detained the group of assassins who were still struggling, and retreated to the two sides, revealing Xie Linze who was riding a horse in the middle.

He Liancheng immediately realized the problem, "Could it be..."

"That's right, Lingzhou City is already in Dazhao's hands." Xie Linze calmly got off his horse and walked towards him, "The only good thing is that you are still alive, and you can get it back if you have a chance."

He Liancheng was dumbfounded, and Ji Han on the side recovered from the daze of the rest of his life after the catastrophe, covered the wound on his shoulder, let out a breath slowly, looked around, and asked hesitantly: "Why are you the only one?" One person, what about Xu Yan and others?"