The Blood Crown

After Shen Hexuan agreed, Yan Sikong left a letter to Ali, stating that he left without saying goodbye because he was worried that he would keep him, and that he would join She Zhun and go to Liaodong together, asking him to take good care of Yingmei and the child in her belly, and In the letter, the names of a son and a daughter were left, which the young couple asked Yan Sikong to take.

At the beginning, I wanted to give Ali a home, so that he could stay on a piece of land and not have to follow him. Now that he has his wife and children, Ali will definitely not be able to let him go. He hopes they will never see each other again. Once he does, he won't bring bad luck to those he cares about.

Yan Sikong's hands and feet were shackled and stuffed into the carriage, just as he came to Bazhou without a sound, he left without a sound.

Shen Hexuan's leg was exactly as he said, one was crippled, and he had to rely on crutches everywhere. Seeing his inconvenient appearance, Yan Sikong was not without guilt in his heart, but the guilt was not worth the regret—the regret of not being able to completely kill Shen Hexuan.

Bazhou was originally only about half a month away from Taiyuan, but now Fengye is in power, and their eyes are all over the world. To prevent changes on the road, they dare not dress up as officers and soldiers, dare not enter the city to stay in inns, and try not to go to the official if they can detour Road, and day and night travel, walking very slowly.

Yan Sikong always wanted to find a chance to escape, but Shen Hexuan guarded against him tightly, and there were people watching him all the time.

One day, when they were resting in the mountains, Shen Hexuan asked Yan Sikong to play chess with him.

Yan Sikong raised his hands: "Master Shen wants me to play chess with you in shackles?"

"What's wrong? You only have to move your fingers." Shen Hexuan nodded again, "And here."

Yan Sikong put down his hands and sat opposite Shen Hexuan: "I haven't played chess for a long time."

"Maybe I haven't played chess for a long time." Shen Hexuan gently fiddled with Bai Zi, "It's a great joy in life to meet an opponent at chess, if you always win, it's meaningless."

"I really think so." Yan Sikong picked up a sunspot with two slender fingers, "I just took a step ahead." He said and put the sunspot in a corner.

Shen Hexuan also picked up a white piece and landed on the other corner of the opposite star position of the sunspot.

"Did you know what the world has become during these days of recuperation?" Shen Hexuan said.

Yan Sikong said calmly: "She Zhun will send me information after a while."

"Then you should also know that Feng Ye is the regent..."

"The current situation is turbulent, and what he has done is indeed to be criticized, but the problem is not all his. If it is not for internal and external troubles, and the injustice of the four sides, there are many advisers around him, so it is not unreasonable to be unreasonable." He has no intention of defending Feng Ye. It's just the fact that Feng Ye is not an emperor, but he is definitely not mediocre, but he must always be on guard against internal disasters and foreign enemies, so he doesn't have the energy to govern the country.

"You know in your heart what will happen when Fengye comes to power. Now all the princes are enclosing their lands for self-respect. With the appearance of the capital, the place is bound to be too big. General Zhao died of illness, and Liaodong is in crisis. Within a year, the world will be in chaos." Shen Hexuan A sharp shot fell heavily.

Yan Sikong said in a deep voice, "I know."

Shen Hexuan said coldly: "You know, you also sent him to the Forbidden City, you know, you also burned King Chu's food and grass."

"Actually, without me, Feng Ye would probably win. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have the opponent of the King of Chu, and he might win even sooner." Yan Sikong held the sunspot, thinking about where it should fall, "I thought The trend of controlling the situation by one person, with the king of Chu as the emperor, and Fengye and I as assistants, I finally found out that I was overthinking my own abilities, and the situation was not controlled by manpower. A game of chess is nothing more than a chessboard, with black and white pieces, and I You can take one step and count as ten steps, but fate, there are many changes, and even the next step is unpredictable."

"You have caused chaos in the world, but do you have any remorse?"

"The mistakes I made, the crimes I committed, are too numerous to write down, and the reincarnation of the nine generations is hard to repay. But, without me, would the world not be in chaos?" Yan Sikong smiled softly, and said, "Without me, The eunuch party can continue to cause disasters for at least ten years, without me, Feng Jianping would be killed unjustly, without me, Chen Yu would not be willing to be a deposed prince who was "exiled" for the rest of his life."

Shen Hexuan looked at the chess game, but didn't speak.

"I have experienced so many victories and defeats, right and wrong, joys and sorrows, and I finally understand that people are like a ladle of water in the torrent of the times. If we plunge into it, it will splash a spoonful of water at most." Yan Sikong looked at Shen Hexuan, "Of course, this does not mean that we should follow the tide, because one spoonful of water after another, the water gathers to form a sea. Someone do it."

Shen Hexuan mocked: "Arrogance. You always feel that you are saving the world and the people, but you don't want to think about those innocent soldiers who died in vain. Why do they have to kill each other?"

"I'm trying to save the nation." Yan Sikong looked at Shen Hexuan calmly, "If you break down and then stand up again, you won't have to sacrifice."

"How do you know that you can turn the tide by sacrificing everything?"

"How do you know you can't?"

Shen Hexuan gritted his teeth and said, "Open your eyes and look at this country full of holes."

Yan Sikong said indifferently: "You have to drag the sick body forward, and I will go into battle after removing the bones and healing the wounds. Mr. Shen, right or wrong, maybe there will be no answer in this life, maybe today's answer will be tomorrow. Repeatedly, maybe a hundred thousand years later, it has nothing to do with right or wrong. You and I are both players in the game today, so why bother to argue about merits based on this, and leave it to future generations to judge."

Shen Hexuan heaved a sigh of relief: "The only one who can hold on to the dangers and support the empire now is the King of Chu. He is the only one who ascends the throne. He can subdue the courtiers internally and rule the feudal lords externally. If the Wolf King continues to be the regent, the Dasheng country will be destroyed in one fell swoop. .You can’t put all the people in the water and fire for your own selfishness.”

"If the king of Chu is sitting on the throne today, will Feng Ye give up? He will definitely give his all to fight against the king of Chu. Dasheng's fate has come. If there is no chaos today, tomorrow will not be chaos, and tomorrow will not be chaos. Can you suppress this disaster?"

Shen Hexuan looked at Yan Sikong gloomyly: "If it is true as you said, his two kings are destined to compete in the Central Plains, is the current situation what you want?"

Yan Sikong paused: "No."

"Let them fight for the imperial power and throne, resort to military force, provoke the princes to rise together, and barbarians take advantage of the vacancy, is that what you want?"

"No." Yan Sikong said firmly.

"Today's endgame, although it can't be all attributed to you, but you contributed to it, 'take the greatest credit', you can't deny it?"

Yan Sikong looked at Shen Hexuan steadfastly: "Master Shen wants to say something, you might as well speak up."

"You still have a chance to set things right and turn things around, as you originally imagined, and let the King of Chu Dengyong."

Yan Sikong shook his head faintly: "I have no ability to make Fengye give up the supreme imperial power. In fact, you know in your heart that the Feng family army has already lived in the Forbidden City. Even if you pay the sky-high price, you may not be able to defeat him. Why don't you save some energy and money?" Sacrifice, if you can persuade the king of Chu to support the new emperor and help the current court rule the four directions, then many crises can be easily resolved."

"Feng Ye can't rule the country at all."

"Fengye can't govern the country, but there are many capable people who can govern the country. Now Fengye promotes and reuses all the capable ministers I recommended to him. But he can't manage the government well despite the pressure from all sides."

"Wolf King won't give way, King Chu won't retreat, and our Zhongyuan people will kill each other. Isn't that opening the door to Jin Renda?"

"That's why I'm going to Liaodong."

Shen Hexuan snorted coldly: "What can you do when you go to Liaodong? You are a criminal who is accused by thousands of people!"

"Liang Huiyong, the deputy general of Liaodong, is my adoptive father's old unit. Now he is in charge of the Liaodong army. I'm going to help him." Yan Sikong said expressionlessly, "Furthermore, only when I show up in Liaodong can Feng Ye send troops to rescue Liaodong." .”

Shen Hexuan narrowed his eyes: "Are you sure he will send troops to Liaodong for you?"

"In order to fight against the king of Chu and the vassals, he will never mobilize the army, but if I am in Liaodong, at least Que Wang will call for reinforcements." Yan Sikong stared into Shen Hexuan's eyes, "I don't expect Fengye at this time. To save Liaodong, do you count on the king of Chu who can't take care of himself?"

Shen Hexuan stared at Yan Sikong, and said for a while, "Okay, I will take you to Liaodong."

Yan Sikong was startled: "You...why did you suddenly change your mind?"

"Because I received the military report today that Zhuo Letai has brought Jin Bingye across Huangshui." Shen Hexuan said in a deep voice, "East Liaodong is at stake."

Yan Sikong stared straight at his eyes: "Winter has just entered..."

"good."

"You were telling me just now." Yan Sikong narrowed his eyes, "Do you think that Chen Kui will be able to attack the Forbidden City by sending troops to Liaodong from Fengye?"

"No, I thought that my door to the northern border of Dasheng was unbreakable. Right now it's more important than who is the emperor."

Yan Sikong took a deep breath, his body began to tremble slightly.

Shen Hexuan said: "I handed you over to the King of Chu to coerce Fengye, but he can't give up the throne for a mere person. At this time, Liaodong needs you even more."

Yan Sikong squinted at Shen Hexuan: "Master Shen understands righteousness deeply, I admire you."

"You don't seem to believe it."

"I believe Master Shen is interested in Liaodong, but I don't believe that you don't have the heart to turn the tiger away from the mountain."

Shen Hexuan smiled: "If he can save Liaodong and take back the capital, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone. Feng Ye may not save you, and he may not save Liaodong, but if he has a chance, he can save you and Liaodong. Like you, I guess he will definitely send troops. In this way, sending you to Liaodong will be more useful than sending you to the king of Chu."

"Master Shen is very cunning." Yan Sikong lightly dropped a sunspot, "It's just that you are also in this game, so you will inevitably be blinded, so don't be careless." He deliberately emphasized the word "carelessness"

Shen Hexuan looked down, during the conversation, black pieces and white pieces had spread all over the chessboard, Yan Sikong made the last piece, trapped the white pieces in the corner, and blocked the way out.

Shen Hexuan glanced at Yan Sikong.

The two of them stared down at the chessboard, quickly calculating, and finally, Yan Sikong smiled: "I have won the half-piece, and I accept it." He stood up.

"Yan Sikong." Shen Hexuan said, "You are just a fish in a rut now, and your life is at stake. If I find out that you have any unruly intentions..." He patted his lame leg, "Is it true that you have no intentions to do anything wrong?" I will be soft on you."

Yan Sikong said contemptuously: "Then trouble Master Shen and be careful with me."