Shanglin Night Snow

Just after noon, there was a constant sound of cicadas outside the window.The yellow dog was lying in the shade of a tree, sticking out its tongue, listless.

The scorching sun is like fire, and the strong sunlight seems to burn holes in the green leaves of the trees.Dazzling just looking at the dots of light circles under the tree, Shao Jingheng raised his hand to rub his temples, wondering in his heart: In such a sky, how did that man come to fish leisurely?

Footsteps came from behind.

Sitting down before turning back to the case, Shao Jingheng looked lazily: "What's the news?"

The person who came bowed his head: "There is no movement of the imperial army for the time being, but I think it is better for the commander-in-chief not to go for today's trip! Yujin Garden is close to the camp of the Infantry Division. If something unexpected happens, I may not be able to deal with it in time!" Looking up, The tone became more cautious: "According to the reports of the spies, Ding Zhibai has focused on reviewing some documents and files from the past few days, and has asked about many things, including the case of the revitalization of the army! If he digs deeper, it is not difficult to find Abnormal, like this, I'm afraid..."

"I'm afraid that today's trip to Yujin Garden is just a bureau, the purpose is to invite you into the urn." Shao Jingheng folded his arms in front of his chest, and his tone was light.After pondering for a moment: "Is there any change inside and outside Yujin Garden?"

"I haven't seen anything wrong yet." The man in black straightened his body slightly, "But this is also reasonable! To prevent things from leaking, we can't order soldiers to station in a grand manner. If there is really an ambush inside, it should be yesterday or even earlier. layout."

Shao Jingheng hesitated for a while, then said slowly, "It's still early, let me think about it."

I don't know how long it was silent.

The distant bell rang, and the predecessors of the case were slightly startled—the time had already passed!

The sun is a little bit off, and finally there is a breeze coming in through the window, but it is a pity that it is dry and has no effect on soothing people's worries.

"Marshal Dian," the man in black reappeared, "Your driver has already left the palace to go to Yujin Garden. If you don't go, you should think of an excuse and order someone to report to you at this moment."

Rubbing between his brows, Shao Jingheng got up: "Prepare the horse!"

Half an hour later, Yujin Garden.

The shadow of the sun is slanting to the west, and the sunset reflects the water.Breeze crosses the lake, swaying locks of clear waves.

Leaning on the railing to sip tea, Mu Yunqi looked thoughtful.

"Your Majesty," the approaching servant replied, "Shao Dianshuai had already left the house half an hour ago, but on the way..."

With a jump in eyebrows, Mu Yunqi's face turned cold: "What happened halfway?"

"On the way...but turned back again." The servant said softly.

"Turn back?" Mu Yunqi stood up suddenly: "Do you know why?"

Wen Bi was careful: "The Imperial City Secretary reported back that Shao Dianshuai was caught up by his trusted guards halfway, and after hearing what he said, he followed the same route and returned. Now he sent someone to report, but he suddenly fell ill, so he can't accompany him today. If you are fishing, you will be punished!"

"I'm sick?" Mu Yun prayed for a while, "Do you know what happened to the guard and Zhidao?"

The servant's eyes lowered: "It's not yet known, but I have another news right now-Shao Chenye was assassinated on the way to Dengzhou, and he was seriously injured. His life and death are uncertain at the moment!"

Heart sank, Mu Yunqi was speechless, and flicked his sleeves after a while: "Go back to the palace!"

Rushing back without stopping, Mu Yun prayed without changing his sweat-soaked clothes, and went straight to the Chui Gong Hall to summon Zhang Zhongyue, Ding Zhibai, and Zhao Yude.

Knowing the previous situation, Zhao Yude immediately denied that Huangcheng Division had anything to do with Shao Chenye's assassination.When Zhang and Ding heard that Shao Jingheng turned back on the way to Yujin Garden, both of them changed color—no matter what the inside story of Shao Chenye's assassination case was, it really added fuel to the flames at this moment!Shao Jingheng repented and backed away, obviously suspicious. It seemed that either the trick of the bottom line leaked out, or Shao Chenye's assassination put him at risk.

Zhang Zhongyue made a decisive decision, and asked to proceed with the plan: Immediately order Shao Jingheng to enter the palace for an audience. If he does not obey, he will order the Imperial City Division to arrest people on the spot, and at the same time order the Infantry Division to dispatch troops to guard the Imperial City in case of accidents!However, Ding Zhibai refuted his argument on the grounds that "the inside story is not clear, and rash actions may cause military disasters". , to dispel their grievances, solve their doubts, or avoid fighting.

But Zhang Zhongyue sneered at this: "Soldiers are expensive and fast! But if there is a chance here, we will miss the only opportunity, so we can only sit and wait for the Shao family to force the palace, people are swords and I am fish, and then I will regret it and sigh. It's too late!"

The two were at loggerheads, when they suddenly heard that Guo Kai brought a woman out to ask for an interview. It was said that it was related to the case of Gui Yungu's conspiracy.Mu Yunqi called himself Xuanjin.

Seeing someone, Mu Yunqi was surprised: This woman is actually Gu Lianyou!According to her own report, whether "Gu Lianyou" or "Gu'e" is just a fake name to deceive people's eyes, in fact, her real name is Tang, her small character is Daiyun, and she is the daughter of Tang Tinghui, the former governor of Liangzhou!

"Tang Tinghui?" Mu Yunqi sounded familiar.

Ding Zhibai saw that everyone was bewildered, and hurriedly played: "Tang Tinghui was indeed the magistrate of Liangzhou. At that time, the Qiang and Hu were rampant, and they repeatedly violated the frontier. The plan is to open the gate of the city to let the thieves drive straight in and poison the people. As the head of a state, he doesn't want to stand up to serve the country and protect the people. The officers and soldiers rushed to repel the Hu thieves and regained the lost city, Tang Tinghui knew that he must be blamed for his crime, so he would not be punished, and committed suicide with guilt!"

"There is such a thing!" Mu Yunqi's face turned serious, showing anger.

Seeing that Tang Daiyun was in a hurry, she argued hastily: "My late father was a Confucian literati, or he didn't understand military strategy, but it was not unreasonable! At that time, the horse bandits attacked the city. If it weren't for the huge difference in the number of enemies, how could my late father agree so easily?" Negotiating peace? Let’s talk about the court’s investigation afterwards. Although my father must bear the crime of losing the city because of credulity, it may not be lifeless if the judgment is made. On the contrary, if a person dies, it seems to be broken at first glance, but in fact the crime is deeply buried. Man made it up! My late father always respected his name, Your Majesty, just think about it, how could he commit suicide without a word and leave it behind with unclear merits and demerits?"

After the "controversy" between the two of them, Mu Yunqi remembered: On that day, he and Zhao Yude mentioned that Taijian Shangshu impeached Shao Jingheng for arbitrariness and wanton killing in the northwest, and this Tang Tingjiao is One of the unjust dead in his mouth!After pondering for a while, he looked at the woman: "What do you mean, do you think there is something hidden about your father's death?"

"Exactly!" Tang Daiyun's eyes turned sharp: "The servant's face today is to reveal the inside story and complain for the father!"

Mu Yunqi nodded: "Let's listen."

The woman obeyed: "The horse bandits came to attack that day, but the elite soldiers who were supposed to guard Liangzhou City all went north to capture Heiyan Village earlier. There were only a few hundred soldiers and horses left in the city, but the number of horse bandits was several times that of me. My father was afraid After the Hu bandits broke through the city and slaughtered the common people, for a moment their ears softened and they believed the Hu people's words of peace, and they opened the door to steal and lure wolves in. Father argues strongly! But the reason why I am not convinced is that the matter is definitely not as rumored, and the guilt lies with my father alone!" His eyes flashed: "Your Majesty is not curious, Liangzhou is a frontier fortress, why is it that foreign barbarians are coming When the crime was committed, there were only a few hundred soldiers in the city?"

Seeing her questioning eyes glance over him, Ding Zhibai immediately replied: "Liangzhou originally had 5000 defenders, but two days before the Hu bandits invaded, the elite soldiers in the city were ordered to attack Qiang Hu's army in Nankou and needed Sai Heiyan Village. This battle is very important and must be won! At that time, the bandit army was rampant and invaded our border towns from time to time. Xingzhou, Suzhou, Xuanzhou, etc. all suffered from it. Only Liangzhou's defenders were brave and famous, so they were rarely attacked As a result of the nuisance, the minister accepted the suggestion of his subordinates and sent soldiers from Liangzhou to attack Heiyanzhai northward, but he did not expect the bandits to attack at this time, and the incident happened."

"In this way, Ding Xianggong does not deny that the loss of the city was not only due to the failure of the father's duty, but also the lack of soldiers and horses?" Tang Daiyun asked.

Ding Zhibai said solemnly: "At that time I learned that Liangzhou was trapped, and I ordered Tang Tinghui to tell Tang Tinghui that no matter what, he must defend the city to the death, and the reinforcements would arrive in two days at most, but he ordered him not to do so, it is really a crime to escape! "

"Then dare to ask Mr. Ding," the woman said aggressively, "If you lose this, according to the law, what crime should your late father be responsible for? Is there a certain death?"

"This..." Ding Zhibai hesitated slightly, "Although the crime of losing the city is serious, it seems that it was an unintentional mistake, and the original intention was to protect the people in the city. Insider information, in order to deal with it lightly."

This remark showed the girl's heart, and she continued: "In our dynasty, there have always been cases of civil servants who committed minor crimes, so in the end, my late father was mostly dismissed from office and exiled. Since the crime is fair and the punishment is fair, I feel at ease, so why rush to death?" A bow: "Your Majesty clearly learned that although my late father was not a hero, he was by no means a coward without responsibility. His death should be treated strangely!" Then Ding Zhibai said: "My lord, forgive me, I have something to ask, the same day In the northwest, who advised Xianggong and sent Liangzhou defenders to attack the Qianghu fortress?"

His complexion changed slightly, Ding Zhibai pondered for a moment, and finally said truthfully: "It was the Liangzhou General Judge at that time, Shao Jingheng."

With a serious look on her face, the woman said loudly: "Tang Daiyun, the daughter of the guilty minister, complained for her father, and sued Shao Jingheng, the commander of the former commander of the palace, to kill people and support the army to rebel! At the beginning, because of her miscalculation, she dispatched troops to the north, leaving only a few Hundreds of people defended the city, which led to the fall of Liangzhou. Then he excused himself and put the blame on his late father, and because his late father had heard about his disobedience outside the country, he forced his late father to avoid future troubles. Suicide; now he has a heavy army in his hands, his wolfish ambitions are prominent, and he will raise his troops to rebel soon!"

As soon as he said a word, several people in the hall were shocked and looked at each other in blank dismay.

"If you say this, you must have evidence!" Ding Zhibai forced himself to remain calm.

The woman was confident: "If I dare to come, I will never come empty-handed! I have a certificate, but because it is inconvenient to bring it in, it is currently in the hands of the Huangmen outside. Your Majesty can order someone to go and check it."

Zhao Yude led the decree to go, and returned after a while, with a solemn expression: "Return to Your Majesty, the evidence is the head of a person. I have carefully identified it. It must be the leader of the Qiang Hu Luoming tribe who was involved in the case of the Tibetan soldiers in Guiyun Valley. Er Zhukuan!"

Everyone was shocked again.Mu Yunqi had a look of surprise on his face: "Where did you get this thing?"

The woman replied: "The slave's family dug it in the flower garden in the backyard of the Shao's house. A few days ago, the slave's family found that there was a lifetime hidden in the hut in the backyard of the Shao's family. After asking, the man claimed to be a new gardener, but I think He doesn't know anything about gardening, because he was suspicious. The slave's house passed by the back garden the day before yesterday, and happened to hear that he was arguing with Shao Jingheng. It seems that Shao Jingheng has refused to fulfill his promise to send him back to the north. The barbarian was annoyed and threatened to break through the gate and leave by himself. Beijing! Shao Jingheng reluctantly agreed to send him out of the city in three days, but before he left, two men in black sneaked into the hut where the Hu people lived, and came out dragging a dead body after a while. The more he thought about it, the more unwilling he became, so he had the courage to send him back to the backyard at night to search, but he followed the blood and found the remains buried in the flower garden. He thought this was evidence of Shao Jingheng's crimes, so he took the head out, and escaped from Shao Jingheng today. I wanted to go to the Kaiping Mansion to appeal for grievances, but I was hunted down halfway, but fortunately, General Guo rescued me, and I knew something serious, so I begged him to take me to the palace to face the saint, so that the hidden secrets can be heard directly to the heavens!"

Guo Jie admitted: "Today, I was accompanying King Jia into the palace. When I met this lady who asked for help, she said she was being chased and killed. We didn't believe it at first, but suddenly there was a dark arrow flying, and I hurriedly ordered the guards to fight back. Assassin, in order to prevent accidents, he persuaded King Jia to go back the same way, and because of the urgency of the matter, he did not dare to delay, so he took the initiative to bring this little lady directly to the face saint."

Mu Yunqi lowered his eyes thoughtfully.

There was a moment of silence.

Ding Zhibai first questioned: "Shao Jingheng has always acted cautiously. Don't tell me why he took Er Zhu Kuan into the mansion, and said that after the murder, he didn't remove the body to wipe it out as soon as possible, but buried it in the garden. Isn't this unwise?"

The woman was in a hurry: "What I have said is true. If Your Majesty has any doubts, please immediately send someone to the Shao Mansion to dig up the remains of Er Zhu Kuan's body. If nothing is found, I am willing to die for the crime!"

Mu Yunqi's brows became tighter, and he looked at Zhao Yude who was standing beside him: "The Imperial City Secretary has been looking for Er Zhu Kuan for a long time, why didn't he find that he had entered the city and hid in the Shao Mansion?"

Zhao Yude hurriedly confessed, and said: "When I ordered people to search for Er Zhu Kuan, several days had passed since Guiyungu case happened, and Er Zhu Kuan might have entered the city at that time." He glanced at Ding Zhibai, "As for moving Corpse, it is not that he does not want to, but he can’t! Because the Imperial City Secretary has recently sent people to guard Shao’s mansion, Shao Jingheng must be aware of this, so he dare not act rashly. snare?"

Tang Daiyun took advantage of the situation and re-entered: "Your Majesty, please issue an order to search Shao's mansion immediately. Even though Shao Jingheng is not in time to move Er Zhu Kuan's body outside, since he sent people to hunt me down, he knows that I have found out the inside story, so he will drag it on." , I'm afraid he will destroy the corpse!"

Confusion.After looking around at the crowd, Mu Yun begged and closed his eyes: "You step down first, let me..." Before he finished speaking, he saw the servant rushing in in a hurry, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the spies from the imperial city came to report, saying Shao Dianshuai led more than a dozen bodyguards and rode out of the front of the palace, and headed straight for the Forbidden Army camp in the south of the city! The Imperial City Secretary hurriedly sent people to chase after him, but it was too late!"

"What?!" Zhang and Ding looked pale.

Mu Yunqi seemed to be in a dream, lost for a while, only heard the noise of the crowd, but couldn't get it in his ears, what echoed in his ears was the words that the man uttered with a smile when the night was quiet and the wind was light Warm words... the words are still in your ears, have you seen the soldiers? ?

"Your Majesty, time does not allow me, please make a quick decision!" Zhang Zhongyue's voice shook the palace.

Standing up, Mu Yunqi stared down, and all the obsessive thoughts and miscellaneous thoughts disappeared: "Pass the order to order the infantry and horse army commanders to immediately transfer troops into the city-King Qin Luan!" His eyes were cold and sincere, not angry.

Ding Zhibai-collar aims to leave quickly with Guo Kai (1).Zhang Zhongyue said again: "Your Majesty, it may be too late for the infantry and horse troops to come to King Qin, so please leave the palace first and go to the nearest infantry commander's camp outside the west city is the best policy!"

It seems that this is the only way, Mu Yunqi immediately ordered Zhao Yude to prepare.Unexpectedly, his talent left for a while, then returned in a panic, bringing with him bad news: two hundred Japanese troops from the Dianqian Division had appeared at Jinshui Wharf in Xicheng, and they were rushing towards Liangmen, where there were less than a hundred guards guarding Liangmen , most of the city gates are in danger!

Zhang Zhongyue couldn't hold his eyes any longer: "How could this be? Shao Jingheng would have arrived at the barracks at the soonest, and besides, how could the Secretary of the Imperial City not notice such a big movement by the Japanese army?"

Zhao Yude was annoyed: "Because the two hundred Japanese troops did not come from the camp of the Forbidden Army in front of the palace, but from two boats on the Zhou River! I speculate that he had already made a plan two days ago to order These 200 people diverted and disguised themselves and boarded the boat, and have been drifting on the Zhou River until now, and once they receive the news, they will immediately disembark and attack the city gate!"

The matter has come to this point, no amount of regret is useless, Zhang Zhongyue shook his sleeves angrily: "Then go to the north gate, just take a detour!"

Zhao Yude sighed bitterly: "The ones guarding the North City Gate are the Tianwu Army of the Dianqian Division, they can't get out!"

Zhang Zhongyue gritted his teeth: "Then go east!"

Zhao Yude still shook his head: "It's too late, the east gate is nearly ten miles away, although the other battalion of the infantry army and the two battalions of the horse army are in the east of the city, Shao Jingheng should have arrived at the military camp in the city at this moment, and he will send troops at this moment. Go forward or meet him head-on, even if you take a detour, I think he is prepared, and the road to the south of the city gate should have been sealed, so this plan will not work."

Looking up to the sky and sighing, Zhang Zhongyue closed his eyes: "After all, we are still negligent!"

Zhao Yude clenched his fists: "Now I have to secretly pray that General Guo can rush out of the east gate before Shao's relatives close the city, quickly deploy troops to serve the king, or there is still a chance of life!"

The hall returned to silence.

I don't know how long it has passed, Mu Yunqi's forehead twitched lightly: I just remembered that today is Qixi Festival.

Cold food, Chinese Valentine's Day—could it be that he, the Shao family, raised his troops, and still had to make good time?

The eyes are far away, the sky outside the hall is high and the clouds are light, and the wind is still in the branches.Tonight is undoubtedly a good night.