Broken Iron Clothes

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The bird that Liu Zhaobi played with earlier hadn't survived the late spring, and was trapped in the cage. Liu Zhaoyu didn't want to find another bird to replace him, so he stood on the corridor with an empty cage to blow the wind.Others found it strange, but only he knew that there were clearly many people locked in that empty cage.

Xu Yixu saluted by the side, presented the booklet with both hands, and said: "Xu Taiwei complained of illness, this humble minister has overstepped his power and submitted the new government decree formulated on behalf of the Taiwei, and I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

"What's the crime?" Liu Zhaoyu signaled Chang Yi to pick up the things, and said politely, "The Taiwei is still worried about state affairs when he is ill, so Xu Siye will go back and bring me a good one."

Chang Yi took the booklet and continued to hold the fly whisk and wait quietly at the side.At this time, a little eunuch came to the end of the corridor, he walked quickly to Chang Yi's side, whispered something, then bowed his head and stood aside.

Liu Zhaoyu looked at the scattered pavilions and pavilions from a distance, and tapped his fingers on the railings. He heard the sound of his knuckles, and suddenly remembered something, and said, "By the way, I seem to have heard something coming from somewhere just now. Shock, what's going on?"

Chang Yi replied: "Return to Your Majesty, it seems that it came from the yellow book library."

Liu Zhaoyu turned around and asked, "It's all right, what happened to the Yellow Book Library?"

Chang Yi said: "I don't know what happened yet, I only heard that General Yi and Peng Shangshu are still inside, and now the fire has started, and the people around are rushing to put out the fire."

"Xiao'an..." Liu Zhaoyu's expression changed drastically, he didn't care to look at the empty birdcage in his hand, and walked straight to the steps.

Chang Yi stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, it is absolutely impossible—"

"Step aside!"

Liu Zhaoyu was so angry that his brows were full of gloom, he simply pushed him away, and the palace servants beside him had to follow quickly, running all the way down the steps.

-

Zhong Dingshan seldom went out to do morning exercises today, and he didn't know which mountain he was going to. Just arranging his clothes, he clattered in the courtyard for a long time. Early in the morning, he also went to Yue Tea House by the way, brought back a booklet from it, and is currently discussing matters with Jiang Shiqing in the courtyard.

"The identity of Sand Snake's collapse has been found out in the past few months, and it's all recorded in it. Vice-owner Jiang will take a look." Gu Nanxing leaned against the tree trunk and threw the booklet towards Jiang Shiqing casually.

Jiang Shiqing sat at the stone table, raised his hand to take it easily, turned the page and read it carefully.

"They are all black households who concealed their names in order to avoid taxation and corvee. According to what Lai Chang said in the past, after Sand Snake kills these black households, they will replace their identities, and then exchange residences with each other, avoiding the old acquaintances of those people." Gu Nan Xing straightened up and walked towards the stone table, and leaned against the edge of the table after standing still for a while.

"Is there any other orders from Deputy Zhuang Zhuang that you want to pass on to me?"

Jiang Shiqing closed the pages, handed back the booklet, and said, "In the past few days, we will first find out the old acquaintances of these people based on their identities, so that someone can testify and confront them."

Gu Nanxing took the booklet between his fingers, and said, "That's it."

"Also," Jiang Shiqing paused, "Do you have any news about Mr. Chuan?"

Gu Nanxing said: "I have asked, Mr. Yu Chuan has stopped in Aozhou for several days, and he is still fine."

Only then did Jiang Shiqing feel more at ease, and continued: "What about you, the next step is to..."

"Master! Master!" Xu Guo rushed forward in a hurry, stepped on the railing by the corridor and jumped down the steps, almost breaking the Tang bamboo planted by the corridor.

Seeing him flustered, Jiang Shiqing asked, "What's the matter?"

"Master! The Yellow Book Storehouse of the Ministry of Household Affairs was bombed just now, and now it's on fire. I heard that the general... the general is inside!" Xu Guo took a deep breath, and finally finished the last half of the sentence.

Jiang Shiqing's pupils suddenly dilated, and there was a buzzing in his ears. He immediately got up and ran outside without saying a word.

"Huai Chuan——" Gu Nanxing stuffed the booklet into Xu Guo's arms, and said, "I'll follow him, put this away, and go get Mr. Lin Meng back."

-

The smell of gunpowder smoke filled his nostrils, and Yuan Mucheng felt that he had fallen into the abyss in a daze, but he seemed to be on the battlefield in a trance, with the loess under his feet, and the overwhelming sound of fighting in his ears, one deep and one shallow. The hooves of the feet kicked up thick blood and dust, and then ran forward over the corpse.

This reminded him of the first time he went to the battlefield to kill with a knife.He rolled under the horse's hooves, and the enemy's swords slashed at him.He had never killed anyone, but unexpectedly, his momentary soft-heartedness turned into an opportunity for the enemy to take advantage of.

In the end, he stabbed the knife cruelly, but when the knife passed through the man's chest, it was as blunt and heavy as if it had not been sharpened. He had to be sprayed half of his face with blood before he pulled it out with brute force , continue to fight with people.

He was just then.

From then on, whenever he won a battle with Xuan Hejun, he would kneel in front of Yuan Mujie's tent, and if he lost, he would kneel outside Yuan Haoxun's tent.He wants to remind himself that if he wins, the honor should not belong to him, but if he loses, the responsibility should be his.

The cold wind in Yuzhou camp in winter can freeze and crack skin and flesh, sometimes it takes at least one stick of incense for him to kneel.The coldness was piercing, his exposed skin turned purple from the cold, and his lips trembled unconsciously, but he was still stubborn.

He wanted to use this method to turn himself into a soldier, he had to be extremely cold, and he had to hold back.

But it was too cold in the wind, so cold that he lost his consciousness, as if he had auditory hallucinations, and always felt that someone was calling him, and the shouting was still the word Yuan Haoxun gave him when he was weak.

Be brave and good at fighting, Anbang will stabilize the country.

"Xiao'an..."

Someone is calling him.

The wind and snow suddenly blinded his eyes, and turned into a puff of thick smoke, and the raging fire burned to his feet, roasting him sorely.He looked down at the spark on the ground, watching it burn out ashes, and then die with all the light, leaving only a dead blackness in the end.

Just now the memory poured into this void like sea water, Yuan Mucheng remembered that there was a secret passage in the northeast of the Yellow Book Library, the moment the gunpowder exploded, the secret passage opened, and the impact knocked him down...

"Xiao'an!"

Jiang Shiqing was calling him!

Yuan Mucheng strongly wanted to open his eyes. He moved his stiff fingers, and the pain suddenly became clear.The smell of smoky smoke and burnt wood became stronger and stronger, Yuan Mucheng choked on a couple of mouthfuls of the smell, his whole body ached in agony.

"Xiao'an!" Jiang Shiqing took advantage of the firelight outside the secret passage to brush away the gravel that fell from Yuan Mucheng's mouth and nose, his fingertips were trembling.

Yuan Mucheng raised his eyes to see the person clearly, then stretched out his fingers and grabbed the person's hand, and smiled with difficulty: "It's not dead, idiot."

Jiang Shiqing let out a sigh of relief, leaned over and hugged Yuan Mucheng's neck tightly, and Yuan Mucheng hugged him back against the man's wet clothes.

The fire at the entrance of the secret passage continued unabated, with waves of heat blowing in. Yuan Mucheng's body was scratched by the flying debris after being blown up, and blood seeped out of his outer shirt.

He woke up from the pain, and saw that they were at the bottom of the steps in the secret passage, with blasted stones and planks at their feet.Looking at it again, Jiang Shiqing's clothes were still damp from being poured by water, but most of his body had been smothered by the smoke.Yuan Mucheng hugged him with pity, and couldn't even imagine how this person rushed in to find him.

"Jiang Huaichuan, are you crazy?" Yuan Mucheng said hoarsely, feeling distressed.

"Let's go, Xiao'an, I'll carry you on my back." Jiang Shiqing tore off a fairly clean wet cloth from his body, covered Yuan Mucheng's mouth and nose, put his arms on his shoulders, and stood up slowly.

"How can I wrong my little son," Yuan Mucheng put his cheek against his forehead, and comforted him in a low voice, "It's just a bad fall, and it will recover after a while, no need to carry it."

The crackling sound of the fire roasting the wood was endless, and they had no way to retreat, so they could only walk down the dark passage, but it was dark in front of them, and they couldn't guess where they would step on the next step when they walked forward.

Yuan Mucheng reached out and touched the wall and took a few steps forward. The wall was covered with congealed earth and rocks, uneven, and the road under his feet was not smooth.This secret passage was dug randomly, as if it was for escape.

Yuan Mucheng turned around and stretched out his palm towards Jiang Shiqing, and said, "Come here, I will take you away."

Jiang Shiqing passed his hand without hesitation. He knew that he would hold Yuan Mucheng's hand, but he didn't need a reason.

With Jiang Shiqing's back facing the flames, a half-yellow silhouette was reflected. Yuan Mucheng looked at the figure facing the light, and suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" Jiang Shiqing asked.

Yuan Mucheng took his hand and shook it lightly, and said, "Actually, I don't know where I'm going to go, so, will you still follow me?"

Jiang Shiqing said, "I'm all here, what do you think?"

Yuan Mucheng pulled his hand even tighter, and asked again: "What if there is a dead end?"

"Then it will be a dead end." Jiang Shiqing said.

"That's right," Yuan Mucheng smiled, and he pulled Jiang Shiqing's hand to his lips and pecked lightly, "I should have known when you rushed in, my family Huaichuan is a desperate little lunatic."

-

There is no light in the dark passage, and it gets darker as you go in. The thick smoke that rushes in makes your eyes sour, making it even more difficult to distinguish the north, south, east, and west.

The two bent down and walked for a while, the sound of the fire gradually faded away, and there seemed to be a vent in front, so the thick smoke in the dark passage also dissipated a lot.

When it was quieter, Yuan Mucheng noticed something was wrong, because when he was pulling Jiang Shiqing, he vaguely felt that the man's hands were shaking more and more.

"Huaichuan." He called out.

"Huh?" Jiang Shiqing answered him, but his voice was very weak.

"What's wrong with you?" Yuan Mucheng tried to turn around to look at him, but he could only see a vague shadow.

"nothing."

Jiang Shiqing's voice sounded weak, Yuan Mucheng didn't ask any more questions, and directly moved up along the back of his hand, until he touched Jiang Shiqing's left back, the man couldn't help but groaned, and he realized that Jiang Shiqing was injured.

He carefully leaned forward to sniff, only to realize that the wet place was not water, but blood dripping out.

He originally thought that the smell of blood came from his body, and he took it for granted that Jiang Shiqing's body was soaked in water, but now he found that the man's back had suffered an unknowingly serious injury. every nerve.

A chill ran down his back, Yuan Mucheng was terrified, and immediately squatted down to pick up the person, not daring to touch the person's wound again.

Jiang Shiqing gently pushed the person: "Don't be brave."

Yuan Mucheng didn't care, he quickened his pace, only paying attention to Jiang Shiqing's breathing, and clenched the legs around his waist even tighter.

"Jiang Huaichuan, I'm an asshole." Yuan Mucheng said.

Jiang Shiqing laughed lowly, leaned on his shoulder and muttered: "No bastard."