Jiang Qing

The biting cold wind was also blowing on the same plain, and the hunting "Jinxi" military flag came from west to east, picking up mountains and rivers, crossing the plain, and coming towards the wind.

The tight armor was attached to his body, and the Ling Ran's wind blew past the horse under his crotch, the brown mane was flying along the wind, the hand holding the rein had lost much feeling, but the strength in Mei Shao's hand did not relax, Almost the whole body galloped close to the horse.

From Pingdu to Jinxi, and then from Jinxi to Pingdong, Mei Shao hardly slept, his lips were so chapped that even a lick would smell like blood, but he didn't have time to drink saliva to moisturize him.

Turning around this mountain, you will be in Benzhou, and after passing Benzhou, you will be the fief of Pingdonghou.

It's here, almost there!

"General, I can't run any longer, more than a dozen horses are exhausted!" A lieutenant turned around from behind, swung his whip, accelerated to catch up with Mei Shao, and walked alongside him.

"The cavalry changed into infantry, follow the army behind." Mei Shao gritted her teeth and did not let go, "Others, light the torches, and we will go to Benzhou tonight."

"Yes!" The lieutenant general had no choice but to pass the order to the back.

The torches lit in turn illuminate the winding roads in the mountains, dotted with stars on the peaks of the mountains, like a long dragon with a long head and tail, circling past from top to bottom.

When the second evening drum sounded, Mei Shao finally arrived in Benzhou.

The bustling street scene in the past has completely changed its appearance. The ruined and scorched city walls and the wide-open city gates are dark without any light. The whole city seems to be dead. Only the evening wind passes through, bringing There is no coldness of popularity at all.

"Go and investigate." After Mei Shao said, a forward general beside him led two or three people directly through the city, and quickly headed towards the Pingdong area.

Mei Shao relaxed the reins a little, and looked solemnly at the messy market. The city did not appear to have experienced brutal killings. Although the doors of the shops were wide open, most of the things inside were neat and tidy, and even slight traces of chaos could be seen. It was caused by the owner's family fleeing in search of valuables.

The news sent back to Pingdu does not seem to be fake. The people of Benzhou really escaped from the city gate in a panic, and the traces of the fire were only at the city gate.

Mei Shao took a cursory glance, then rode his horse and led the army out of the city, heading east again.

The boundary of Benzhou is not very big. This time, Mei Shao arrived at the border of Benzhou in less than an hour. As soon as he crossed the stele of the boundary of Benzhou, he saw several groups of panicked troops heading towards Mei Shao's army in a panic, but In a few breaths, those stragglers were surrounded.

Mei Shao glanced at the hemp ropes tied around their arms, and had already recognized their identities, and said without much nonsense, "Where did they come from?"

"Shencheng..."

"What about Shencheng..."

"General! General! Shencheng is broken!" the former forward who had explored the way came from afar and roared loudly.

"What!" Mei Shao's face turned serious, "Where is Lord Ling?"

The striker lowered his gaze.

Mei Shao took a hard look at the besieged rebels on the ground, clamped his horse's belly tightly, and headed east.

The soldiers behind him understood and dealt with the dozens of bastards neatly, and followed him to Shencheng one after another.

Encountered scattered soldiers from the rebel army along the way, Mei Shao was not in the mood to deal with them, pointed out his silver spear, and the army behind him stepped forward to devour them, and arrived outside the west gate of Shencheng without any hindrance.

The west gate of Shencheng was just like the situation in Benzhou. It had been burned, and most of the city gate was blackened, but the defenses outside the city were not completely destroyed, and it seemed that it had not been attacked by force.

But the further he walked east of the city, the more broken corpses and the strong smell of blood became stronger. When he reached the east gate, the bones on the ground had piled up half a person's height, and Mei Shao could only dismount and walk.

From the side of the city wall all the way up, separated by a wall, above the city tower and under the city wall, there are many corpses, and there is no place to step down. Mei Shao stepped on the corpse step by step with a face, as if stepping on cotton. I don't know whether it's because the feet are tired from running for a long time or the corpse under the feet is too soft, but Mei Shao can't walk.

The more he walked towards the center of the city gate, the more corpses piled up, until he reached the enemy tower, he looked up and saw not far away, two human heads were hanging on two flagpoles inserted in the recess of the city wall.

The flags behind them have been torn off, leaving only bare flagpoles standing upright in place.

Mei Shao's hands trembled slightly, but she couldn't move anymore.

The general of Jinxi behind him rushed in front of him, staggered forward, and lowered the two flagpoles.

The heart-piercing roar pierced through the thick city wall, piercing through the hearts of the people, and the army below the city bowed their heads and wept.

This night is overwhelming the city, and I haven't moved half a step away.

Mei Shao took a deep breath and stepped forward, half-kneeling at the corpses of Ling Che and Jiang Xiyue, and gently took out the tokens proving their identities through the tattered armor.

The two pieces of jade are warm, but they seem to scald the skin between Mei Shao's hands.

In the winter of the fourth year of Zhaoyuan, Lingche, the Marquis of West Jin, and Jiang Xiyue, wife of the Marquis of Pingdong, defended Shencheng for seventeen days.

----

Nanyang Minzhou.

A few forbearable coughs overflowed from Ren Heyu's mouth, and the woman beside him immediately raised her eyebrows, patted him on the back lightly, and said angrily, "Your injury is fine, why don't you take care of military affairs."

"People from the imperial court are here, so there is nothing we can do about it." Ren Heyu patted Lan Hui's hand reassuringly, and coaxed, "Ma'am, is it time for a stick of incense? I will definitely go back and have a good rest later." .”

Lan Hui pouted slightly, and went out dissatisfied.

Not long after, the housekeeper led Mei Shao in.

"General Mei, please." Ren Heyu stretched out his still moving hand, made a "please" gesture towards Mei Shao, and said guiltily: "Benzhou panicked and said goodbye. I took my life and returned to Nanyang. The news about Pingdong, who knows..."

Mei Shao glanced at his lamenting expression, and said: "In a few days, I will bring the body of Marquis of Jinxi back to the capital. I came here today to ask Lord Hou about the situation in Benzhou at that time. How did you get forced to Shanghai?"

Ren Heyu sighed deeply, and said: "Actually, half a month ago, I heard some rumors about Benzhou, but due to the geographical location of Benzhou, it was inconvenient to inquire about it, and I felt that His Majesty had already sent two ministers. I intervened in the invasion of Benzhou, so I didn't take this matter to heart. Later, I received news from Ling Houye that I and Ping Donghou led the troops separately, gathered outside the city of Benzhou, and dispatched in three places. Repel the insurgents and take back the power of Benzhou."

"Didn't Lord Hou notice anything unusual in the city of Benzhou during this time?"

Ren Heyu pondered for a while, and said: "I really didn't pay much attention to the affairs in the city of Benzhou. General Mei should know that even though I and Marquis Ping Dong are the princes of one party, I dare not go beyond the rules at all. Benzhou is reorganized. Lord Ling started all the affairs, we didn't ask any questions."

The look of inquiry in Mei Shao's eyes didn't fade away because of his water-tight words. He continued to ask: "Since there is nothing wrong in the city, and the rebel army has all retreated outside the city, how did the accident happen in Benzhou?"

"That night was the dinner party where I and Ping Donghou were going to send troops back to their respective fiefs. I drank more wine, and I was too strong to drink. I didn't accompany me to the end. I went to sleep in my room. It wasn't until midnight that I heard the sound of the callhorse and found out that the city had risen. There was a change, at that time Lord Linghou and Lord Sunhou were no longer in their respective houses, and the city was full of flames. My subordinates protected me and searched for the two Lords in the city. Then I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I found that my subordinates had brought me back to Minzhou, and since then I have lost contact with the Pingdong area."

"It's a joke, maybe it's because I'm getting older. My body is obviously not getting better every year, but I suffered a little arrow wound, and it hasn't recovered after nearly a month. I'm really ashamed." Ren Heyu pressed his button Right arm, smiled wryly.

"Your Majesty is also thinking about Lord Hou's injury, and specially ordered me to bring an imperial doctor here to show Lord Hou."

"Okay." Ren Heyu smiled and did not refuse.

In response, a doctor came in and checked Ren Heyu's injuries in front of Mei Shao.

Lifting off the clothes she was wearing, there was a deep bone wound, even though it had been sewn with thread, but the wound had not yet started to heal, and the red flesh inside could still be seen through the gap of the black thread.

The doctor held his arm and moved it slightly. Ren Heyu hummed softly, frowned, and a look of pain appeared on his face.

Mei Shao waited quietly by the side, taking all this into his eyes.

After checking, the doctor retreated to prescribe the medicine, Ren Heyu moved twice, but failed to put on the fallen clothes.

Mei Shao pursed her lips, walked over, stretched out her hand to cover him with clothes, and pressed his fingertips on his wound unconsciously, and it was as soon as he touched it, but Ren Heyu groaned in a low voice.

"Hand slipped." Mei Shao said lightly.

"It doesn't matter, warriors always have stronger hands. General Mei certainly didn't do it on purpose." Ren Heyu smiled, not showing any signs of impatience, "If you want to know anything else, General Mei, you might as well just tell me."

"The east gate of Shencheng is connected to the hinterland of Pingdong Hou. How could the rebel army suddenly appear there? The sheer number and complete equipment are really astonishing. The Marquis has lived in the south for a long time. Have you ever heard that there is any force that can To this extent?"

"There are indeed very few forces that can achieve such a level, but the power of ants, gathering and swallowing elephants, maybe the leader of the peasant uprising has united several villages? After all, this is not a matter of my fiefdom. The specific distribution of villages , I really don't know how strong it is, but General Mei is interested, so he can stay here for a while and investigate it carefully."

Ren Heyu's words were not salty, and he did not provide any beneficial information, but Mei Shao did not let him and Xi Ni go, and said bluntly: "Then, does the Marquis know how the relationship between Ping Donghou and his wife is?"

"Huh?" Ren Heyu was surprised, very puzzled why he asked this suddenly, and said: "Ping Donghou and his wife are naturally a loving couple, a good couple."

"Ping Donghou is missing, Lord Hou should have heard the news. The few stragglers I caught said that it was Ping Donghou who saw that the situation was not good, so he opened the east corner gate and ran away without permission." Mei Shao turned slowly. With the white jade finger in his hand, he said coldly: "It's just a coincidence that not only he is missing, but also all the people in Shencheng are missing. So many people, even if they die, are an astonishing number. They disappeared out of thin air. It's so weird."

"So when General Mei asked me about the relationship between Ping Donghou and his wife, was he suspecting that Ping Donghou had something wrong with him?" Ren Heyu frowned and said, "According to Ping Donghou's temperament, he dare not."

"The Sun family and the Jiang family were just married. Over the years, Jiang Xiyue has taken over half of Pingdong's military affairs. Wouldn't Sun Zhe be unhappy?" Mei Shao asked, looking straight at Ren Heyu , as if to lure him to say something, "Master Hou really didn't hear any rumors about their discord?"

"Ren and his wife have a very strong relationship, so they seldom speculate on other people's emotional matters. Even if there are some rumors, they are just rumors and don't take it to heart." Ren Heyu leaned forward slightly, seeming very interested He asked, "General Mei doesn't seem to believe in the marriage under the words of the matchmaker."

"No. Aren't Lord Hou and Madam also the words of a matchmaker?" Mei Shao replied indifferently, "I just think that things between the beds cannot be fully believed. Identity becomes a bondage instead."

"It turns out that Master Mei views emotions in this way." Ren Heyu's voice remained the same, but Mei Shao could see the restrained excitement in his eyes.

The flash of excitement was so creepy, for a moment, Mei Shao almost thought that he had misread it, but when he looked closely, Ren Heyu turned his expression away, and couldn't see anything anymore.

"Since that's the case, Master Hou is recovering from his illness, so I won't bother you."

"It's hard to get sick, General Fei, send a gift to General Mei."

Someone outside answered "Yes", Mei Shao nodded and walked outside, Ren Heyu suddenly said, "General Mei, send my regards to Prime Minister Bai."

Mei Shao felt a little strange for a moment, but she didn't think about it, and turned to leave.