Jiang Qing

Outside Yanzhou City, the sky is high and cloudless, and the trees are covered with ice.

A thin line came over from the snow and stopped on the dirt slope outside the city.

The dozen or so horses all had bits in their mouths and could only breathe hot air from their nostrils, fluttering their ears impatiently and wagging their tails.

Qin Chengtao decided to rein in the horse, watching the flames in the city from a distance, glanced at the blue-eyed young man who was half a horse's head away from him with some approval in his eyes, and boasted pointingly: "I never knew that the fifth emperor brother had such It's the ability to keep things in the dark."

Helian Gouyue didn't wear an iron mask, and the icy cold wind blew on his stern side face, making it even whiter.

"My brother's preparations have taken a long time, and the emperor brother is secretly taking care of it, so it will go smoothly." Helian Gouyue lowered her eyes and said respectfully.

Qin Chengtao let out a "hum" from his nose, his eyebrows stretched, and he said in a good mood: "Then I will trouble my fifth brother to take care of the funeral."

"When Yanzhou is conquered, my brother must count the population of the army register in the city for the emperor to read."

Before the words were finished, another black line suddenly appeared from the other side of the plain, and about a dozen people galloped towards the city on horseback.

The archers behind Qin Chengtao raised their arrows one after another, and most of them aimed at the leading young general in white robe. Helian Gouyue clenched his fist silently.

"Didn't the emperor say that all the residences of the Marquis of Zhenbei are in the city? Why is there one outside?" Qin Chengtao gave him a sideways glance with a half-smile.

"My brother doesn't know."

"Heh." Qin Chengtao sneered, but still did not issue the command to shoot the arrow. Seeing that the pedestrian was about to leave the shooting range, the general behind him reminded: "Your Highness."

"That's all. If he wants to go to the city to die, he can go in. I can't bear to separate their flesh and blood." As Qin Chengtao's words fell, the archers put down their bows and arrows one after another.

Qin Chengtao drove his horse and turned his head, leaving five or six people for Helian Gouyue, and said with a light smile, "Massacre the city."

"Brother Emperor?" Helian Gouyue's eyes flickered, "This is the first city we captured, why not win people's hearts..."

Qin Chengtao pointed at him sharply, and said with a sneer, "We've already hit the door, so there's no one left, why don't we boost our morale and let my soldiers of Great Liang taste their blood."

When he and Helian Gouyue staggered, they patted him on the shoulder, and said: "What I want is a dead city, my brother is smart, he should know what to do."

The army crossed the border, and there was no rest, no roosters crowing, no dogs barking, and a dead city without a trace of vitality.

"My brother understands."

-

The gates of the city had already been opened, and the oil-filled moat was burned into a ring of fire.

There were cries and cries in the city one after another, all of which were drowned out by the sound of burning flames.

Meng Ye's horse was still covered with hunting skins. He rushed into the flames and was about to go straight to West Street, where the fighting was most intense, but was firmly stopped by several uncles behind him.

"Go house!"

Meng Ye gritted his teeth and glanced at the red hair tassels among the soldiers gathered, then turned around and galloped off on the winding streets.

"Go to the shop, go to Gouyue, see if he is in the spice shop, protect him from coming out of the shop, and go when I'm done here." He galloped his horse and said to his two subordinates.

Immediately, they parted ways at the next intersection.

Meng Ye turned to the back side of West Street, climbed up to the house facing the street, and ambushed on both sides with the rest of the people.

"Ah——" Meng Yilin, who was surrounded by Liang soldiers, shouted loudly, holding dozens of long guns, forced back another group of soldiers, and turned to Zou Xue who was behind him, "Where is the Tiger Camp?"

"Retreat at the east gate to protect the people." Zou Xue swung his sword and chopped off the head of a person who was close to him. "Where's Ye'er? Does Ye'er know the situation in Yanzhou?"

"He doesn't know what's best!" Meng Yilin growled, ignoring the wound on the inside of the elbow to open, and blocked another blow.

Forced to back again and again by hundreds of cool soldiers, Meng Yilin and Zou Xue leaned on them and withdrew to the east gate with dozens of elite troops.

"Swish, whoosh—" A few feathered arrows fell from the sky, hitting the back of the frontmost soldier.

"Ye'er!" Zou Xue raised her head and saw Meng Ye's figure, and said excitedly, "Why are you back?"

The Liang soldiers turned around and shot arrows at the roof. Meng Ye rolled a few times on the roof to avoid it, bowed his waist and shot arrows, and shouted: "Father! I will cover, retreat!"

A few more feathered arrows were fired in the dark to block the Liangbing's attack. The Liangbing could only see Meng Ye's figure, but he dodged all the arrows fired one by one. They were all shot and killed neatly by Meng Ye.

Covered on the eaves like this, Meng Ye followed his parents to retreat to the intersection of West Street.

Meng Yilin turned around and called out to Meng Ye, "Ye'er, let's go!"

Meng Ye looked back and took out the arrow, but found nothing. His fingertips paused, and then he smiled at Meng Yilin, "Father, you go first, I brought the arrow feather army, and I will come to join you soon!"

He drew up an arrow that had been shot on the eaves, drew the bow and shot it into the throat of a soldier.

Zou Xue glanced at the faint figure on the eaves, feeling inexplicably panicked, Meng Yilin gave her a hand, "Let's go!"

Until Meng Yilin and Zou Xue disappeared in the street, and the steps around him became less and less loose. Meng Ye gritted his teeth and jumped off the eaves. He landed on the neck of a cool soldier. With his legs, he twisted off his neck. , and then used the bowstring as a rope to wrap around another Liang soldier's neck.

The few remaining subordinates also jumped down after him, took out the daggers they used to cut skin during hunting, and rushed towards Liangbing.

Almost soaked in blood, Meng Ye stood with his two uncles behind his back, the dagger in his hand was already slippery, and his body was so weak that he was about to kneel down. There was a neat blood path in front of them.

West Street is full of corpses of those hundreds of soldiers.

"Go!" Meng Ye wiped his face and gasped, "Get up! Go!"

"Young Master...you can't leave anymore." An uncle said, "Listen."

The sound of horseshoes like a drum was coming from far and near, and the corpses lying on the ground were trembling slightly. Such battles were by no means hundreds.

Meng Ye's face changed slightly, and he exchanged glances with the two uncles, and they both saw the determination to commit suicide in each other's eyes.

Before the Liang army closed the siege, the three of them raised their daggers and stabbed them in the heart.

There was a sound of "Zeng—" metal collision, and a feather arrow knocked down his dagger. Meng Ye clutched his numb wrist and was pushed to the ground by the force of the feather arrow.

But the other two feathered arrows shot steadily at the chests of the two uncles, and Meng Ye's breathing suddenly stopped.

The blood flowed down the uncle's mouth, their eyes widened, and they tried their best to point to Liang Jun who stopped not far away. There seemed to be a mouthful of phlegm in their throats, and they cursed vaguely, "Blue-eyed boy!"

Meng Ye was stunned. The feeling of his uncle dying in front of his eyes, the blood splattering on his palm was so real, and even the scolding was very clear in his mind.

He turned around slowly, but did not raise his head. From his angle, he could only see the legs of the leading horse. The four powerful horse legs seemed to be stepping on him, so that he did not dare to lift his head. Start to confirm.

"Young Master! We didn't find Mr. Helian..." The voice stopped in summer when he turned around the street.

Meng Ye suddenly raised his head and saw with his own eyes that the two people he sent out to find Helian Gouyue had half their heads cut off and died only a dozen steps away from him.

In the same way, he saw Helian Gouyue in the center at a glance. He didn't even wear a mask, so he directly exposed the face that had been with him for more than a year in front of Meng Ye.

A face that was once loved so much, but now it is so unfamiliar and hideous.

"Hehe." Meng Ye chuckled twice, mixed in his throat, he didn't know whether it was joy or sorrow, he staggered a few times, and slowly stood up, as if saying to the two dead guards, It's like talking to myself.

"He's dead, how can you find him?"

Helian Gouyue's lips moved, but he still didn't say anything. He sat on the horse, looked down at the blood-soaked man slowly walking towards him, and looked at him with an indescribable look. It was dusty, as if it had fallen into a black and white dye vat, with no half-differentiated colors.

The soldiers behind him hula surrounded a group, enclosing Meng Ye.The spear was at the side, but Meng Ye walked towards Helian Gouyue with his eyes open as if he hadn't seen anything.

"Your Highness..." Seeing that he was only two or three steps away from Helian Gouyue, the lieutenant beside him couldn't help but remind him.

Helian Gouyue didn't speak, and let Meng Ye go to the horse.

"Your Highness?" Meng Ye raised his eyes and gave him a cold look, as if he wanted to look directly into his heart, then raised his dagger and stabbed Helian Gouyue's thigh.

The horse neighed loudly and sadly, and fell to the side, splashing blood and dust on the ground, Helian Gouyue avoided the dagger and rolled off the horse.

The smelly and hot horse blood drenched Meng Ye's face, like a ghost from hell, he walked towards the place where Helian Gouyue was standing step by step.

"Your Highness!" The deputy general was in a hurry, drew his sword in his hand, and led his horse forward.

Helian Gouyue said angrily, "Back."

He looked at Meng Ye who was standing in front of him, and suddenly his clean hand gently caressed his blood-stained face. The blood was printed from Meng Ye's face to his palm, but Helian Gouyue didn't seem to see it.

At the same time, a dagger touched Helian Gouyue's soft neck, and the tip of the dagger touched a hickey.

Helian Gouyue grabbed Meng Ye's wrist violently, and asked in a low voice, "You want to kill me?"

His heart that had been numb all the time, his body that was completely cold, and his actions like walking corpses all melted away. From the time when his heart began to feel pain slowly, all the sensory feelings that he had ignored surged up. Such grief, hatred, accusations, and abuse poured into his throat, but it turned into a hoarse, short word and red eyes.

"think."

Meng Ye desperately resisted the strength in his hand, and poked the hickey with the size of his fingertips into a bloody mess, but it was only restrained by Helian Gouyue, without going deep,

It was as if he was condescending and watching the child make trouble for no reason, and let Meng Ye go crazy within the scope of his control.

"But I want you to live." Helian Gouyue's subordinates pressed Meng Ye's hand down forcefully, then hugged the man who had not had much strength in his arms tightly, closed his eyes and whispered in his ear .

Meng Ye's eyes widened suddenly, and the dagger in his hand slipped to the ground along his open hand.

His back shoulder was pierced by a sword, and it stopped just an inch from his chest. Meng Ye slowly shed a tear from the corner of his eye.

It was Helian Gouyue who signaled, piercing his chest with a sword.

It was as tender as a lover's sweet words between the bed, but at this moment, it fell into Meng Ye's ears like a snake and a scorpion.

Helian Gouyue kissed his ear lightly, and said softly, "Let's go home."

Being picked up by his waist, trapped in the embrace of the most familiar party, the iron rider opened the way ahead, and Helian Gouyue carried him step by step through the streets and alleys they were most familiar with.

From the gap between Helian Gouyue's arms, Meng Ye opened his eyes and watched the bustling Liang soldiers wantonly massacre. Those who killed were the people of his country of Li, and the northern land that Meng Ye had sworn to protect. .

Helian Gouyue covered his eyes, "Don't look."

His palms felt icy cold.

Obscene laughter, tearing cries, angry roars, and unwilling wails pierced Meng Ye's ears in all directions. He couldn't see the street, but he could hear it from a street prostitute. Crying, he and Helian Gouyue had eaten eel silk noodles there; he could hear the roar of a blacksmith in the blacksmith shop in Xishi, who had beaten Helian Gouyue with a dagger there; he could hear the wailing of the candied fruit shop owner, he The invitation to marry a daughter in March is still in my hand...

He clearly recognized the voices of everyone, his people, his old friends, his... Yanzhou.

The market turns into scorched earth, and old friends become dead souls.

Helian Gouyue firmly protected him as he walked through the long street and walked to the gate of the city without letting a trace of blood splash on his body, while the cold teardrops on his palm became sticky and warm.

Helian Gouyue was stunned, and moved her hand tremblingly, blood overflowed from Meng Ye's mouth, and flowed out from the corner of his mouth.

There was a sharp pain in his heart, and Helian Gouyue stuck his chin firmly, trying to pry open his tongue-clamping teeth with his fingers, but the pressure made his gums bleed so that he couldn't get in even a bit.

He ruthlessly removed Meng Ye's chin, and blood gushed out of Meng Ye's mouth, choking him to cough several times.

"Meng Ye!" Helian Gouyue's eyes were dark, and he pressed his tongue, and he gave him a weak glance.

At this glance, Helian Gouyue's heart suddenly trembled.

He seemed to know why Meng Ye's eyes were so gray and faded like the colors from a black and white dye vat, and Meng Ye's eyes lost their light.

Meng Ye lifted his head feebly, staring at the gray sky.

There was a lone goose flying from north to south. Today, the young master of Yanzhou lost his people, his city, and his... lover forever.

They all died in the winter when the snow had not yet melted.