Tanhualang

In July of the fifth year of Chengxi, Zhang Zhi, a general under the anti-king's command, led [-] rebels to occupy Haimen County.

On the [-]th day of the seventh month, Zhao Heng, King of Yu, occupied the city of Changzhou on the Yangtze River with [-] troops.

The King of Han sent Zhang Zhi to go south, aiming at Nanjing, while Changzhou was on the only way for the rebels to go to Nanjing.

Zhang Zhi led [-] rebels to attack menacingly. On July [-], Zhao Heng met the rebels outside Changzhou.Before the hand-to-hand combat, Zhao Heng ordered hundreds of people to beat the drums in front of the battle, and shouted to Zhang Zhi's army below the city: "According to the law of the Ming Dynasty: follow the rebels, and implicate the nine clans! The King of Yu has an order: those who turn back among the rebels will not be held accountable!"

The hearts of the rebels suddenly fluctuated, Zhang Zhiqiang ordered the attack on the city, but returned in vain, so he had to lead his army back to Changshu temporarily.

Although the rebels retreated, people in Changzhou were panicked for a while.

In the state government office, Shen Jing was playing chess with Zhao Heng.

A game of chess was coming to an end, Zhao Heng counted the pieces, but raised his head and said with a smile: "It's easy to win alone today. Did Miao An let the chess go?"

Shen Jing smiled: "Your Highness is too modest."

Zhao Heng shook his head and said, "Your chess moves are always known for being prudent, but today you are very impatient. Isn't it to make me happy?"

Shen Jing smiled and asked back: "Why does Your Highness think so? Maybe I just want to lose more quickly."

"how to say?"

While keeping the chess pieces, Shen Jing said unhurriedly: "I play chess with Your Highness. From the beginning to now, every time I lose at least two or three chess pieces, and at most a dozen pieces. I have never won His Highness once. Now that I know myself After all, you are going to lose, so why bother trying to change the way to lose? It is better to simply go on a rampage and lose happily."

"You say it like this, it seems that Gu has been bullying you." Zhao Heng stirred up the chess basket and laughed, "If this is the case, let's play another game."

Shen Jing picked up the chess piece: "Okay."

In another round, Zhao Heng intentionally let Shen Jing win, and deliberately let him.However, the difference in chess strength between the two is not huge, so Shen Jing can see all the moves of Zhao Heng's handicap.However, he refused to go and followed Zhao Heng's chess path, and kept doing the opposite, which made Zhao Heng unable to pass the chess three times in a row. He was angry and funny and said, "What do you mean? No? Want to win?"

Shen Jing looked at the chessboard and smiled: "This is called 'Eat without food'."

Zhao Heng: "..."

The two of you came and I played chess for most of the day. It was not until dinner time that Zhao Heng dropped the chess piece: "I can't play anymore. It's time to go patrol the city."

He got up and went back to the bedroom to change clothes, followed by Shen Jing.Seeing him following, Zhao Heng said, "Just call the guards."

Shen Jing lowered her eyes and said calmly: "If your Highness does not dislike it, I have specifically consulted Captain Wei to know how to wear the leather armor. I almost missed a major event this morning, and I hope Your Highness will not blame it."

Going out of the city early in the morning to face Zhang Zhi, because of the hot and humid weather, none of the soldiers in the army wore armor, and all only wore leather armor.The same is true for Zhao Heng, who only covered his head with a layer of leather armor.Leather armor is not easy to wear, you need leggings and arms, and soldiers help each other put it on.Zhao Heng used to be a little waiter, but this morning when changing clothes, Shen Jing was by his side, he wanted to help but was helpless, finally he called Wei Zheng to help, and finally put Zhao Heng in order.

Zhao Heng hesitated when he heard the words, stopped at the door, turned around and said to Shen Jing: "Miao'an."

He saluted quietly: "Your Highness?"

Zhao Heng paused, and said: "Gu doesn't treat you as a servant. You don't have to - deliberately serve Gu's daily life."

"Thank you, Your Highness, for being sympathetic to me." Shen Jing raised her head and smiled at Zhao Heng, "But I have responsibilities, and taking care of His Highness's diet and daily life is my duty, and has nothing to do with my status."

Zhao Heng listened, paused, nodded and said: "Okay."

He stood next to the clothes hanger, raised his arms, looked calm and neat, and dressed the leather vest, leggings, armbands, and waist protector neatly for him one by one.

The last was the helmet. Shen Jing was slightly shorter than Zhao Heng, so he asked Zhao Heng to sit on the chair, but Zhao Heng smiled and lowered his head to Shen Jing.Shen Jing was stunned for a moment, and had no choice but to hold the helmet, raise her arms on tiptoe, and put the helmet on Zhao Heng's head.

Zhao Heng suddenly raised his eyes and looked at him with a smile. The two looked at each other. Shen Jing let go of his hand and took a step back in embarrassment, but Zhao Heng straightened his waist and raised his head. Picky eaters when you were young?"

"..." Shen Jing was stunned, "No."

"Then why didn't you grow taller?"

"..." Shen Jing didn't know how to answer the words for a moment, fell silent, and said somewhat self-deprecatingly, "Your Highness, I'm not short." Are you too tall?

As Zhao Heng walked out, he smiled and said, "Yes. It's because I'm too tall."

"..."

Zhao Heng left with a smile, but came back with a gloomy face, shutting himself in the room without making a sound.

Shen Jing was surprised to see his face.This was the second time since he knew Zhao Heng, he had seen him put on such a face, expressionless, but gloomy, and thunder and storm seemed to be brewing in his eyes.

Shen Jing stood outside Zhao Heng's room at a loss, looked at Wei Zheng who came back with Zhao Heng, and lowered his voice: "This is it?"

Wei Zheng also gestured to him with a gloomy face, leading him to the courtyard gate: "Zhang Zhi is killing people outside the city gate."

"……kill?"

"To be precise...it's massacre of people." Wei Zheng paused, "They tied hundreds of people from the outskirts of the city and took them outside the city gate. Until His Highness dispatches troops. Just now His Highness went to patrol the city... Dozens of heads have already been thrown under the city gate."

Shen Jing looked back at the door of Zhao Heng's room, and couldn't help shivering: "Then... what should I do?"

"What can we do, wait. The other party has [-] yuan, and we only have less than [-] yuan. If we go out, we will die. Your Highness has never experienced anything. Zhang Zhi's skills are far worse than those of the Tartars." Wei Zheng cursed in a low voice. "However, when the people in the city heard the screams outside the city, they all gathered in front of the government office and asked to get out. Li Zhizhou was outside to appease him, and he didn't know how long he would last. I'm afraid Your Highness will be very upset now. You Be careful when serving."

Shen Jing heard the words and nodded: "Understood."

More than an hour later, when the hour of Xu was about to end, Zhao Heng still hadn't opened the door.Shen Jing held the dinner that had been reheated several times, hesitated at the door for a long time, and finally stepped forward to knock on the door lightly: "Your Highness?"

After a long time, Zhao Heng responded in a low voice inside: "...come in."

Quietly pushed the door open and entered.

He stood at the door for a moment.

It was pitch black inside the door, only the sparse light pouring in from the corridor illuminated the door, and Zhao Hengduan could barely see that he was sitting upright behind the desk, with his hands on the armrest, expressionless.

Shen walked in quietly, put the tray on the table, and said softly: "Your Highness, it's time for dinner."

Zhao Heng silently waved his hand at him, and asked for a moment, "Do you have a letter?"

Shen Jing stood at the door and said softly: "...No."

Across the darkness, he heard Zhao Heng sigh softly.

Shen Jing suddenly understood how this young man, who was one year younger than himself, had cultivated such a dignified and restrained demeanor.

He hesitated for a while, but finally decided not to bother Zhao Heng anymore.Turning around and walking to the door, just as he was about to close the door, Zhao Heng called out to him in a low voice: "Miao'an, let's play chess with Gu."

Shen Jing paused, and said softly: "Yes."

He re-entered the door, carefully lit the candles, moved a chair opposite Zhao Heng, and set up a chessboard on the table.The two played a few pieces as before, and quietly clicked a chess piece, waiting for Zhao Heng on the opposite side to unravel the move.Zhao Heng's chess style is sharp, and his chess pieces are always played quickly, but this time he waited quietly for a long time and did not see him move.Looking up at him, he saw Zhao Heng holding the chess piece and looking at the board, thinking about something. After a while, he clicked a chess piece and said in a low voice, "It's another quarter of an hour."

... Another twenty heads.

Only then did Shen Jing realize that Zhao Heng was listening to Geng Mo, silently counting the hours.

In that game of chess, the two played for two full hours, and Zhao Heng played a total of sixteen pieces.

In other words, there were 320 more heads outside the city gate at this time.

At three o'clock, Wei Zheng came to report, and Zhang Zhi led the army to retreat.

Zhao Heng dropped the chess piece and stood up: "Ask someone to clean up the outside of the city gate."

Wei Zheng took the order and left silently.

Shen Jing also stood up.

He didn't know what to say, so he could only stand silently on both sides of the chess game with Zhao Heng across a candle.