Jiang Qing

Within half a month, Ling Che's first letter was sent back to Pingdu.

After leaving Pingdu, Ling Che gathered troops all the way, and rushed to the city of Benzhou on the fourth day, and at the same time sent people to send letters from His Majesty to Pingdonghou and Nanyanghou.

On the fifth day, Marquis Pingdong and Marquis Nanyang led their troops to their respective border cities. The three met in private and drew up a plan for attacking the city.

Three days later, the city of Benzhou was destroyed, and all the rebels in the city were in their pockets. Ling Che took back the city of Benzhou, reorganized the troops in the city, appeased the people, and sent a letter back to Pingdu.

The first battle was won, and the Benzhou Rebellion was resolved with almost no effort, and Zhao Zhen's heart that had been hanging on was a little more at ease.

According to the letter, in another half a month, after Ling Che cleared up the remaining rebels in Benzhou, and the central government sent a new prefect of Benzhou to take over with him, Ling Che could return to the court.

In addition to the documents sent by Pingdu to Zhao Zhen, there were also two private letters, which were sent to the eldest princess's mansion and the right minister's mansion respectively.

The letter to Bai Bingchen stated that according to his entrustment, Ling Che did not find Zhang Huailiu in Benzhou, so he had to write to him to ask him if he knew where Zhang Huailiu lived so that it would be easier to find.

Thinking of the last time I met Zhang Huailiu, he revealed that he was teaching poetry at the magistrate's house. Bai Bingchen thought that he must not be far from the main city. As long as Ling Che conquered Benzhou and entered the government office of Benzhou, he would always be able to ask Something came, but unexpectedly there was no news at all.

Could it be that Zhang Huailiu didn't live in Benzhou long ago?

Bai Bingchen sensed that something was wrong, but he still asked Mei Shao. Based on his memory, the two drew a range of Zhang Huailiu's residence and wrote back to Ling Che.

According to Bai Bingchen's instructions, Ling Che sent back a letter every three or four days, detailing the reconstruction situation of Benzhou. Although there was no whereabouts of Zhang Huailiu, the hidden dangers of Benzhou Indeed.

Until half a month later, the Zhizhou sent by Pingdu to succeed Ling Che was already on the way, but there was no news from Ling Che.

At first, Bai Bingchen thought that the handover had already been completed and that Ling Che was on his way back to Pingdu, so he stopped sending letters.

Unexpectedly, the day when Ling Che should come back has passed, and there is still no news of Ling Che.

At this time, Zhao Zhen also felt that something was wrong. The letters sent to the east one after another, but they all fell silent, and there was no response. Even the Zhizhou sent to Benzhou could not be contacted.

It was Bai Bingchen who thought of asking the state capitals where Ling Che had borrowed troops along the way. All the state capitals said that Ling Che had not returned the troops, and the two state capitals that depended on Benzhou also cut off the news.

At this moment, Zhao Zhen and Bai Bingchen had to prepare for the worst, something must have happened in Benzhou.

Realizing that something was wrong, Pingdu's letters seemed to spread like snowflakes, and through the responding state capital, Bai Bingchen barely judged the scope of the accident.

Although in the late stage of the suppression of the rebellion, there will always be situations where the rebels will counterattack, but it will not be like today. The aftermath of the rebellion is stronger than itself. There is only one possibility for such a situation. He stepped in and hid behind the name of the peasant uprising to divide the land and split the country.

According to the letters returned, Bai Bingchen sorted out that the four state capitals in the east had no news, and the state capitals around them did not report any abnormal documents. It was broken there, as if an invisible cover had been added out of thin air, and no news could be passed in or out.

Without definite news, Zhao Zhen didn't dare to disturb Chao Xin by speaking out. He seemed to be waiting for the sharp sword hanging above his head to fall, so he could only wait and wait in torment.

Three days later, Bai Bingchen couldn't sit still anymore, and went to the palace, intending to persuade Zhao Zhen to go to Benzhou himself.

Both Zhao Zhen and Mei Shao disagreed that he went there without authorization. The three of them were arguing when someone from the palace came to report that His Royal Highness the Eldest Princess asked to see her.

When Zhao Jinghe came in, her face was stern. She didn't seem to see Mei Shao and Bai Bingchen, she knelt down towards Zhao Zhen, and said, "Please Your Majesty, send troops to Benzhou."

Zhao Zhen was startled, and blurted out, "Did you get some news?"

Zhao Jinghe was also taken aback for a moment, apparently not knowing that Zhao Zhen already knew about this, and slightly startled, "Your Majesty already knew about this?"

Bai Bingchen saw that they were in a hurry and couldn't exchange useful information at all, so he interjected and said, "How did the eldest princess know that something happened in Benzhou? Did you get any news from General Ling?"

Zhao Jinghe pursed his lips, suppressed his emotions, took out five or six letters from his arms, and handed them to Shuangxi who was beside him, and Shuangxi presented the letters to Zhao Zhen.

"The general always sends letters every two or three days, but it took nearly seven days for the last letter to arrive in the hands of my sister, and there has been no news since then. I feel that something must have happened in Benzhou, so I am bold Entering the palace, but His Majesty seems to have known about Benzhou for a long time?"

Zhao Zhen didn't reply to her words, he roughly read the letter several times, and handed it to Bai Bingchen and Mei Shao beside him.

The letters are full of homely words, about the local conditions and customs of Jiangnan, and asking about Zhao Jinghe's situation. questioning in speech.

Although it was true that Zhao Zhen used martial arts to recruit relatives to tie the two together, intending to rely on Zhao Jinghe to tie up the Jinxi Army.But today, seeing Zhao Jinghe, a person who has ignored government affairs in recent years, forget to avoid suspicion because of Ling Che, and came here to question herself, presumably Ling Che also has some weight in her heart.

This was Zhao Zhen's favorite situation, but now that Ling Che's situation is unclear, Zhao Jinghe may not have the power left by King Jing back then. If she is told at this time that Ling Che's life is unknown, will she take advantage of it? Do some tricks in it?

Zhao Zhen looked her face inquiringly several times, but still didn't answer her question directly.

After reading those letters, Bai Bingchen and Mei Shao looked at each other with different degrees of surprise in their eyes.

Zhao Zhen knew what they saw, and wanted to send Zhao Jinghe away. He said in a deep voice, "Go back first. If there is news about General Ling, I will order someone to tell you."

There was a crack in Zhao Jinghe's usually calm face. She knelt without getting up, and took a deep look at Zhao Zhen, with deep entanglement in her eyes, as if she was deeply making a decision.

"Your Highness, please go back first, Your Majesty..."

Bai Bingchen stretched out his hand to help her, but Zhao Jinghe interrupted him hastily before finishing his sentence.

"Brother Emperor!"

Everyone in the hall was taken aback, especially Zhao Zhen, who had no time to hide the astonishment in his eyes.

Zhao Jinghe never called him "Brother Emperor". When Zhao Zhen was still a down-and-out prince, Zhao Jinghe didn't have such a need to get in touch with him, and when he competed for the reserve position, they were already in two camps Zhao Jinghe wouldn't call him that.

Zhao Jinghe clenched her lips and teeth, and Bai Bingchen, who was very close, could even see her lower lip trembling slightly. She closed her eyes deeply, and this time the struggle was a little shorter. She opened them again, He called out very clearly, "Brother Emperor... My sister-in-law, please, send troops to Benzhou... to save my sister-in-law's son-in-law."

The proud Phoenix finally lowered her head, she bowed heavily, and there was a dull sound when her forehead collided with the ground.

This dull sound was silent, but it seemed to hit Zhao Zhen's heart hard, making him come back to his senses in a daze.

Regardless of whether it is "Emperor Brother" or "Consort", Zhao Jinghe originally thought that he would never say such unfamiliar words in his life. , but she fell on the ground at this time, but her heart was filled with indescribable peace.

It was as if the arrogance that had been gritting his teeth in his heart was let go bloodily and happily. Although it hurt, it was also very happy.She has long since lost her honorable status of being above ten thousand people, and her stubborn neck refusing to bow her head is her last obsession and stubbornness, but now she no longer has the capital to be arrogant, and insists on keeping things that don't belong to her , It's like crossing a river with cotton wool on your back, it will only get heavier and heavier, and finally submerge yourself completely.

This obeisance is Zhao Jinghe's submission to Zhao Zhen's silent resistance for three years, and it is also her submission to herself.

She let herself fall from the high platform, no longer being that noble phoenix.

No matter how rare the words are, once they are uttered, they will no longer be difficult. Zhao Jinghe raised his red forehead, looked at Zhao Zhen steadfastly, and said again: "The emperor's brother-in-law must have taken a fancy to his military talents. Now His life and death are unpredictable, is the emperor really willing to give up all of them? This is not just a Ling Che, but a hundred thousand Jinxi army."

After being subdued, she was not pleading for mercy, but threatening openly and secretly. This is Zhao Jinghe, the Zhao Jinghe who would never back down even if she bowed her head.

Zhao Zhen felt relieved, and slowly promised: "General Ling will be fine."

Before the words were finished, an urgent voice came from outside. The little eunuch ran too fast, his feet were unstable, and he almost fell to the ground, "Your Majesty, urgent report from the south of the Yangtze River!"

Just as Shuangxi took the letter in his hand, another young eunuch ran in again and said urgently, "Your Majesty, Pingdong urgent report!"

"Your Majesty! Benzhou has fallen! The Marquis of Nanyang is seriously injured, and his life and death are unknown!"

Since the first little eunuch ran in in a panic, the veins on Zhao Zhen's forehead kept jumping, until the snowflakes of military sentiment rushed over, and he could no longer hear any sound from the outside world.

It's like a flood that has been blocked by a dam and has been silent without any news, but once the flood is released, it will be overwhelming and there is no resistance.

If both Pingdong and Nanyang are lost, the country of Li will be cut off from the richest piece of land. It seems that one-third of the territory will be lost, but in fact, most of the country's economy will be lost. "Shunjiang is broken, Jiangnan is lost, Pingdong is in chaos, Wudu is destroyed, children walk away with babies in their arms, and grown-up men are not seen for ten miles..."

The long-ago, folk nursery rhymes circulated at the beginning of Zhao Zhen's ascension to the throne smashed his three years of hard work, crossed the torrent of time, reappeared in his ears, and sang softly.

The nursery rhyme that he suppressed forcibly never disappeared, it had always been deeply rooted in his heart, just waiting for this moment, it burst out of the ground in an instant, pulled out into a towering tree, firmly grasped his heart, wantonly Knead and knead.

He recalled in a daze the period of the first emperor, Wei Tao asked him with a half-smile when he handed him the seal of the crown prince at the ceremony of his appointment as crown prince.

"His Royal Highness, do you believe in God?"

"Do not believe."

Zhao Zhen gritted his teeth, tightly clenched his fists, and clearly heard his voice coincide with the answer in his memory, his eyes were already blood red.

"I, no, believe it."

The author says:

Rub your hands together and get ready to dry!