hidden moon

Chapter 10

sacrifice

At noon on the second day, the king of Chu had already set up an ambush around the valley that was the only way to pass, and the carts loaded with rolling stones had also been transported to the edge of the hillside, on both sides.

He personally tied Wen Shuyue's hands behind his back, and led him to a high place in the valley. Standing here, he could have a clear view of the entire road at the bottom of the valley.

"What on earth do you want to do?!" Wen Shuyue was pushed closer.

"My king thinks that the conditions you offered last night are not enough. It is better that Ren Xirui is more useful to me. In other words, the military power that the crown prince can give him poses too much threat to me." The king of Chu smiled.

"You want him to betray His Royal Highness and submit to you or withdraw from the battle! It's wishful thinking!!" Wen Shuyue said angrily.

The King of Chu was not annoyed, he raised his hand and rubbed his hair, and said, "This king is actually looking forward to asking him to use military power in exchange for your life. Tell me, will he do this for you?"

Wen Shuyue chuckled, as if she didn't care: "What do you want from me by telling me this?"

"This king is giving you a chance to re-offer the conditions." The king of Chu didn't take it seriously, but smiled even wider, "Did you see that chariot frame? It is full of arrows and crossbows, and the range and penetration are human Hundreds of times that of pulling a crossbow."

Wen Shuyue suddenly fell silent, a chill crawled out from the bottom of her heart.

"If you make a sound to remind, no matter how hoarse you are, the king's arrow crossbow can shoot through his head first." The king of Chu bent slightly, his breath almost sticking to the base of Wen Shuyue's ear.

Wen Shuyue's heart felt stuffy, and she almost wanted to take a deep breath to calm down, until her lower lip was bitten, but she couldn't suppress the anger in her chest.

An hour later, a pair of men and horses appeared at the bottom of the valley.When they were about to enter the ambush area, the scouts nodded to King Chu.

Wen Shuyue struggled to see the face of the person walking in the front.The two words that were about to come out were swirling in his mouth.Be careful, run fast, it's dangerous.He even wanted to jump down and tell him that it would be better to die with him.

However, he can't.

The King of Chu stared at Wen Shuyue while raising his hand.The bowstrings on the left and right sides of the frame are gradually stretched to the maximum angle, and the box for dropping rocks is also ready.

Suddenly, Ren Xirui, who was at the bottom of the valley, raised his hand to signal the soldiers behind him to stop.He seemed to be warning everyone that something was wrong ahead.

One of the soldiers suggested.

After a while, a group of them released a prisoner they captured before and walked in the front.It was not until he was halfway to the bottom of the valley that Ren Xirui led the horse and continued on.

Wen Shuyue watched helplessly as the opponent stepped into the ambush range, getting closer and closer to the best ambush point.His eyes were blushing, but he didn't dare to make a sound.The entangled and chaotic voices in the depths of his heart became clear in an instant.

The king of Chu still looked at him, and waved his raised hand down.

Wen Shuyue suddenly knelt down in front of him with a "plop".Shengsheng interrupted this wave.

He said softly: "I, Qing Mingtian's deputy sect master, can give you the eyeliner you want. I can also ask Ren Xirui to withdraw his troops and not participate in the dispute between you and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. What?"

"Not enough." King Chu said.

Wen Shuyue gritted her teeth, covered her pale face, and continued: "I can... promise you to stay in the palace after you seize power."

"And then?" King Chu raised the corner of his mouth slightly, as if teasing.

"It's up to you, whatever you want." Wen Shuyue tried almost all his strength to conceal his slightly trembling voice. He pinched his finger bones until they cracked, almost breaking, but he couldn't stay calm as before.

The King of Chu looked around in a good mood, signaling them to take back their weapons and prepare to withdraw their troops.

He chuckled lightly: "What do you want in exchange for doing this?"

"My secret, and the evidence of the old prince's injustice." Wen Shuyue closed her eyes in disgust, and couldn't help feeling disgusted and angry at herself.

What he exchanged was the image that the Hou Mansion and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had left for the whole of Nanping, loved and respected by the people.

What he traded was the future scenery of Prince Ren's Mansion.

What he traded was a way of life for Ren Xirui no matter who came to the throne.

It was three days later that the king of Chu joined the army of Yunshu.

Wen Shuyue curled up and hid inside the soft couch when he was in bed. His body was covered with bruised finger marks and hickey marks. There was a large bruise on the inner thigh under his body, and the bruises between his thighs were mixed with blood. It dripped down his legs, arousing King Chu's desire to abuse again.

Darkness crept up his cheeks and over his head.He couldn't whimper, and was unable to sob. He just stared at the dark red gauze curtain in front of him for a few moments with his gray and dilapidated dark brown eyes.

The pain gradually faded, and indifference crawled all over her cheeks.

He looked at himself who was completely unrecognizable, and said softly: "Your Highness, we have to leave for the Yunshu garrison tomorrow morning, so let's rest earlier."

King Chu's heavy breathing gradually calmed down. He pulled the tulle over him, wrapped his arms around his body, and buried his face in his black hair.He said quite satisfied: "The king is tired, so I will let you go tonight."

At the end of Mao on the second day, King Chu was awakened by bustling people outside the tent.He put on his clothes, glanced at Wen Shuyue who was still sleeping lightly on the bed, and walked out of the tent.

All the soldiers surrounded one person in layers. The King of Chu coughed lightly. They turned their heads and noticed that the Queen of Chu stepped back to make way.

And standing in the middle was Ren Xirui.

Originally, His Royal Highness thought that the matter of King Chu borrowing troops was a foregone conclusion, and wanted to repatriate Ren Xirui to discuss countermeasures.But on the way, he suddenly received the news that Wen Shuyue disappeared on the way to find him, and came here alone.

The King of Chu was neither surprised nor annoyed, but said politely: "My cousin came here specially to ask for death."

"Where is Shuyue?" Ren Xirui stared at the bank account behind him, repeating the word "impossible" countless times to himself.

But at this time, the curtain was slowly lifted by a person, and his gaze happened to meet the fiery gaze of that person.

The moment Wen Shuyue saw Ren Xirui, it was like falling into an ice cave, all the blood in her body was frozen, and her whole body froze in place, not knowing how to react.

"Shuyue, come here." King Chu waved to him.

Wen Shuyue walked over gently, pretending to be the most innocent, facing Ren Xirui's scorching eyes.

He quietly raised his sleeves to cover the blue hickey on his neck, and suddenly showed a long-lost smile, a very sweet smile, as happy as the first night when we hugged him.Like the scorching sun rising suddenly in the night wind, Ren Xirui's eyes were bloodshot, but he still wanted to see his smile clearly.

"Don't laugh like that! Do you hear me, Wen Shuyue!" Ren Xirui excitedly stepped forward and grabbed his skirt.

Those imprints ironically remind Ren Xirui that he has become something in the hands of others. This person is no longer Wen Shuyue who only belongs to him, nor is he the extremely precious Wen Shuyue, let alone the single-minded Wen Shuyue lived only for him.

Wen Shuyue didn't care, he took Ren Xirui's hand away gently but firmly, turned to King Chu and said, "You promised me something."

The king of Chu raised his hand, and ordered someone to bring the testimony and evidence given by Duke Wen.He walked up to Wen Shuyue, and said softly: "You forgot what I taught you how to beg me."

Veins crawled up Wen Shuyue's fair neck, but he still lowered his posture and said stiffly, "Shuyue...please Your Highness..."

Ren Xirui couldn't bear it anymore, and said angrily: "Enough! Enough, Wen Shuyue! Why did you ask him! Even if I die here with you..."

With an extremely crisp "slap", Wen Shuyue raised her hand and slapped Ren Xirui on the face.Only now did his eyes shine.He pulled down Ren Xirui's skirt with his backhand, his hands trembling slightly, but he still stared at him without blinking.

"Shuyue, that's all." King Chu took Wen Shuyue's hand and handed the things into his hands.

Wen Shuyue casually stuffed these things into Ren Xirui's lapel, and returned them to King Chu.

Ren Xirui thought that he was going to betray himself just because of some testimony, and said angrily: "Wen Shuyue, you overestimate yourself too much! You think you have the right to make decisions for me on my own! You think you can make everything right? Do it thoroughly!!”

I can not.Wen Shuyue wanted to say.But in the end it failed to export.He thought himself disgusting, and he hated himself so much, so he couldn't bear to dirty his ears.

The King of Chu reached out and rubbed the back of his neck, and looked at him with a smile: "Don't you have something to say to him?"

Wen Shuyue stood in place, staring at Ren Xirui's face, just raised her clenched right hand, suddenly opened her five fingers, as powerful as a heartbeat, and then slowly closed her five fingers.

Ren Xirui froze, his face solemn.

This is one of the gestures Wen Shuyue made when he was young and he was sitting by the root of the pear tree in the courtyard of the Hou Mansion playing dumb.

More than ten years later, he remembered this action very clearly.

Because they had been arguing over the meaning of this action at the beginning.

Wen Shuyue insisted at the time that this meant letting the other party go.

But Ren Xirui didn't take it seriously, he retorted: "You're wrong, there is still a clenched gesture after you open your fingers. Look, open and clenched, isn't this the meaning of 'let go'?"

Wen Shuyue threw her elbow over at that time, and gave him an annoyed look: "Exaggerated words!"

Many times, he dismissed it casually, but believed it firmly.

In the 48th year of Nanping Yuanlie, three months after the prince was canonized, the king of Chu took the seal of the commander of the Yunshu army in southern Xinjiang and joined forces with two military marquises in Jingcheng.

When His Majesty the Emperor was seriously ill, he passed the Tiger Talisman to the Crown Prince, and pushed His Royal Highness, who was very unwilling to usher in the war, onto the towering city wall.

In order to protect the peace and stability of the South, His Royal Highness imprisoned the imperial concubine and took charge of the Chinese army.Ren Xirui, who had been missing for many days, suddenly led the Northern Xinjiang Jiaqing Army to break through the Chu King Yunshu army from the north when the people of Jingcheng were dying.

The two sides have been stalemate for more than a month. The King of Chu who wanted to surround Jingcheng had already been counterattacked by Ren Xirui's treacherous method of mobilizing troops and generals for several days.His Royal Highness the Prince used both hard and soft methods to subdue the rebels in the city, and aimed the war at the King Chu's party outside the city.

The Yunshu army was outstretched, and Wen Hou Ye managed the Western Jin war successfully. On the way back to the court, the troops cut off the reinforcement supplies of the Yunshu army according to the plan, and the Chu king's army suddenly became chaotic.The coach fled in a hurry.

In the end, the battle ended with the defeat of the King of Chu.The Chu king's party and the surviving generals in the army were arrested and imprisoned one after another.His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ordered Ren Xirui to clean up the mess, and at the same time personally cleaned up all the treacherous courtiers who had a close personal relationship with the King of Chu.

The king of Chu conspired against him, and His Majesty the Emperor was heartbroken over it.He was already weak and couldn't bear the betrayal of his eldest son, so he died of illness.

The former King Chengping and now His Royal Highness the Crown Prince lived up to expectations and ascended to the throne.

On the day he ascended the throne, the replacement year title was "Pingding".

At the same time, three imperial decrees were issued together: the case of old prince Ren's rebellion ten years ago was caused by Wen Guogong's frame, and now the evidence is convincing, telling the world to clear up the old prince's injustice.Ren Xirui lived in the family and the country, was loyal to the world, and made outstanding military exploits, so he was canonized as Prince Ren.Hearing that Lord Hou quelled the rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty and helped Prince Ren take down the rebels, he was conferred the title of Lord Wu.

The case of King Chu's treason was handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and all the people were interrogated one by one. The King of Chu ended up being poisoned and drunk.

Wen Shuyue was sitting in prison, and when she was told all this by the Qing Mingtian whistler who was disguised as delivering food for the prison, she just chuckled lightly.

He was just sacrificing a dying self.

In exchange for the most desired ending.