Zhaohua's love

Even though wars and smoke are raging in the northwestern border, the morning in Kaifeng Mansion is as clear and peaceful as usual.

Bao Zheng was holding a scroll and reading in the study, when the closed door was suddenly knocked open, and a red shadow rolled in.

"Zhao Hu! Why are you so flustered!" Bao Zheng frowned.

"Master Zhan, he..." Zhao Hu pointed outside the door.

Bao Zheng looked behind him, and saw Li Eunuch beside Renzong trotting over panting, out of breath, said: "Master Bao, you are a real guard, you haven't finished talking about our family, so turn your head and leave run."

Bao Zheng got up to meet him, and asked, "Eunuch Li, what's the matter here?"

Eunuch Li was startled, hesitated for a moment and said, "General Cao Huaiyuan sent an urgent report to the Holy Majesty, the army is lying in wait in the Haoshui River, and Zhan Zhao is missing."

Bao Zheng's body swayed, and he was a little unstable.

"My lord, this..." Zhao Hu said anxiously from the side.

Bao Zheng raised his hand to prevent him from speaking, and said to Eunuch Li: "Please come and tell me, Eunuch."

"Hey, the emperor knows that your lord and Zhan Huwei are like father and son, so let our family persuade you, don't be too sad, after all, you just disappeared."

"Thank you father-in-law."

Not long after Eunuch Li left, the entire government office knew about it.Even though Bao Zheng and Gongsun Ce deliberately concealed it, Ding Yuehua, who lived in the other courtyard of the Ding family, rushed over.

The five trapped mice had already gathered together.

"My lord, Zhan Zhao, is he really?" Ding Yuehua asked with difficulty.

Bao Zheng nodded.I can't bear it.

"I said earlier that he shouldn't be allowed to go. The emperor didn't just think what he wanted, but he wanted to show Zhao..." Bai Yutang wanted to complain again, but he finally changed his mind when he caught Bao Zheng's sight and Ding Yuehua's lost soul. . "It's just missing. Maybe I'll be back in a few days." After speaking, she sat aside awkwardly and didn't speak anymore.

The atmosphere was eerily quiet.

"He said he would come back, I believe him." After a long time, Ding Yuehua said leisurely.His eyes were sore and swollen, but he fought back not to shed a tear.

At this time, Zhan Zhao was being tied up and held in the tent of Li Yuanhao, the lord of Xixia.

Li Yuanhao on the throne was dressed in a gray cloak, looking domineering.He looked at Zhan Zhao for a long time before he said, "How can you treat Mr. Zhan Zhao like this, untie him quickly! Give him a seat."

"Yes!" A group of Xixia soldiers took the order and went to untie the rope on Zhan Zhao's body.

"No need! You can just speak directly if you have something to say." Zhan Zhao turned sideways to avoid it.

"How can this be done? The Han people often say courtesy first, then soldiers. It is already rude and offensive for us to invite you here like this today, and we should never let you be bound again. Master Zhan Zhao doesn't have to refuse, I would like to have a sincere friendship with you." Li Yuanhao said The posture of a corporal of courtesy.

Zhan Zhao was noncommittal, but he was no longer polite. He untied the rope and sat down.

Li Yuanhao smiled slightly and said: "Although I have lived in the desert for a long time, I have heard a lot about the Central Plains. I appreciate what Mr. Zhan Zhao has done. You are born in the Jianghu, but you are willing to serve the Song court, which is also rare in the general Jianghu. Now the Song Dynasty is weak, the court is corrupt, and it is in danger. You are no longer the master of the Ming Dynasty. With your talent, how can you be a fourth-rank guard? If Mr. Zhan Zhao is willing, I, Xi Xia, would like to appoint you as General Zhengyuan. I don’t know Mr. Zhan Zhao how about.

"That's what the lord originally meant." Zhan Zhao sneered, "Although Zhan Zhao is not a benevolent and righteous person, he also knows the words loyalty and righteousness. How can he be lowered to the barbarians. Zhan Zhao has devoted himself to officialdom and never paid for high officials." , only for the benefit of the common people. Without talent, it is difficult to be the general of the expedition, so the king should not waste his thoughts in vain."

"Zhan Zhao, don't be ignorant of good and bad! The Lord treats you with courtesy, but he thinks that you are a talent and a well-known Southern Xia in the Jianghu. Don't be self-righteous, thinking that we can't unify the world without you .At that time, you still have to bow your head to the lord. If you are sensible, you should surrender quickly, and you can still get an official position, otherwise..." A person standing by said coldly.

"Xia Qing, don't be rude!" Li Yuanhao scolded the man.

Zhan Zhao raised his eyes and looked at the man named Xia Qing. He was wearing a green shirt, tall and thin, with a fair face, and he didn't look like a member of the Dangxiang tribe.And with those dark eyes, even he couldn't help being a little frightened when he saw them.

"Zhan Zhao, this king respects you as a good man. The so-called great achievements do not care about small things. A man does not need to talk about loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness. If you can help me achieve great things, this king will not treat you badly. At that time, you will be the hero of the founding of the country." , Even if it is an official and a title, there is nothing wrong with it. Glory to the lintel and blessing to future generations, why not do it." Li Yuanhao still persuaded with good words.

"Zhan Zhao doesn't seek fame and wealth, and he doesn't need to honor his ancestors. Zhan Zhao's family has been Han Chinese for generations, and he will never do such disloyal and unfilial things. The king doesn't need to waste any more words."

"Are you really obsessed with obsession?" Li Yuanhao asked forcefully.But Zhan Zhao couldn't get an answer.

"Do you really think I dare not kill you?"

"Is Zhan Zhao a person who covets life and fears death?" Zhan Zhao regards death as home.Just this sentence, no more words.

"Okay, come here, take him down, and send him back to the royal court for imprisonment in three days. This king will not kill you, but this king will not let you have the opportunity to return to Song court. I will give you a few more days, If you still don't agree, I don't mind if I, Xixia, also send out a Su Wu."

When Zhan Zhao was escorted out of the tent, Xia Qing stepped forward and said, "My lord, why didn't you just kill him?"

"Kill him? Don't be too impatient. The future will be long."

"But, if he never surrenders to the Lord..."

"No, this king is still very confident about my torture in the Xixia Water Prison."

"But, if this person is not killed, there will be endless troubles."

"Don't say any more, step back." Li Yuanhao waved his hand and said impatiently.

"Yes." Xia Qing could only back down.But there is a deep uneasiness in my heart.

"Wait!" Li Yuanhao suddenly shouted. "Xia Qing, I don't want you to disrupt this king's plan. This king knows that you have a feud with the Ding family, but the second son of the Ding family is the person I like. If I hear that you are against If they kill, don't blame me for being rude."

"I understand." A murderous look flashed across Xia Qing's icy eyes, but quickly disappeared.He never thought it was wise for Li Yuanhao to recruit the Ding family and Zhan Zhao.

Since learning the news of Zhan Zhao's disappearance, Ding Yuehua has been unable to sleep every night.Days of worry made her even more haggard.Fortunately, according to the military report from Yanzhou, although Ding Zhaolan and Ding Zhaohui were heavily besieged in Yanzhou city, their lives were not in danger.This is more or less a consolation.

Bai Yutang, Xu Qing, Jiang Ping, and Han Zhang stayed at the Kaifeng mansion, although they were anxious, they couldn't help them.On this day, Sanshu, who couldn't bear the anxiety in his heart, left a letter and went to Yanzhou together, saying that he would help the Ding brothers.An angry Bai Yutang hopped around the room, but stayed helplessly.

Ding Yuehua can only hope that there will be good news every day. She knows that the disappearance of one person cannot drag down the entire battle situation.After so many days, I am afraid that the front line has given up searching.

Western Xia Royal Court.

Li Yuanhao went south, leaving the prince and many important officials in charge.According to Li Yuanhao's will, as soon as Zhan Zhao arrived, he was imprisoned in Xixia's famous water prison.

Not everyone is happy to see Zhan Zhao imprisoned.Hirano King Li Zhiqi is one of them.

"Rui'er, this is a great opportunity, it was delivered to us by Li Yuanhao himself. I think I, Li Zhiqi, have endured humiliation for so many years, and I can finally stand up!" Li Zhiqi said proudly in the Wangfu study.

"Father, what should we do?" Li Yuanrui, Li Zhiqi's youngest daughter, asked standing by the table.

"We want to cooperate with Zhan Zhao. He helped me seize the throne, and I helped him escape."

"Father, Zhan Zhao won't agree." Li Yuanrui frowned deeply.

"How is it possible, doesn't he want to go back?" Li Zhiqi was puzzled.

"Zhan Zhao is a man with high martial arts skills and a tenacious personality. Based on what my daughter knows about him, he would rather be tortured in a water prison than cooperate with us." Li Yuanrui replied.

"Why? He didn't surrender Li Yuanhao because he was a Han Chinese. I didn't let him surrender, but let him go back. Why not? As long as he wants to escape, he must confront the defenders of the royal court. When the time comes... ..”

"Well, I'll try it tonight, but father, don't have too much hope." Li Yuanrui replied.

The Xixia Water Prison at night is gloomy and quiet.A black shadow passed through several cells without a sound. The sleepy jailer blinked his heavy eyelids, only seeing the flames of the candlestick jump a few times.

Zhan Zhao sat alone on the stone bed in the prison cell. These days, he could hear the screams from the execution room every day, and saw bloody people being carried past here more than once.But I don't know why, I haven't experienced the power of Xixia Water Prison until now.

Suddenly, Zhan Zhao heard a sound with his sensitive hearing.He raised his head vigilantly, and saw a masked man in black standing by the door.

"What a quick effort." He sincerely praised.

"Master Zhan, I'm flattered. How is it better than you?" The man in black smiled lightly.There is a bit of familiarity between the words.

"On par." Zhan Zhao couldn't help smiling.

"Even in prison, there is still a gentleman's demeanor, as expected of a Southern Xia." The man in black praised.

"You came to see me, are you reminiscing about the past?" Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows and looked at him.

"Brother Zhan is really astute." The man in black laughed again.Immediately, he pulled off the black scarf on his face.

It was the face of the dead Zhuang Xiaoli.

"You..." Zhan Zhao was subconsciously startled. "Sure enough, I guessed right. You are Zhuang Xiaoli, and the Jiangning mansion was killed only by your substitute."

"As expected of Zhan Zhao, you can guess my identity. Yes, I am Zhuang Xiaoli and Qiao Yuli."

"You are very clever at hiding such a powerful kung fu," Zhan Zhao said.

"But you and Bai Yutang saw the clue." Qiao Yuli was a little annoyed.

"Miss Qiao, after chatting for so long, you still haven't explained your background." Zhan Zhao said with a smile.

"I came here because I knew I couldn't do it. Maybe you can't think of it, my father is the Pingye King Li Zhiqi of Xixia, and I am his youngest and only daughter, Li Yuanrui. Witty as a show, you say I What is the purpose of coming."

"You are the prince's daughter! Zhan Zhao never thought of that. I'm afraid it was your father who asked you to persuade Zhan Zhao to surrender." Zhan Zhao was very surprised.

"Yes, it's not right. My father thought so, but I knew you would never agree, so I settled for the next best thing. I hope you help my father win the throne, and we can send you away. Li Yuanhao wants you Taste the torture of the water prison, surrender to him, and we will not let you get hurt." Li Yuanrui said.

"It turned out to be you, and you were able to disobey Li Yuanhao's orders in the royal court. However, Zhan Zhao never accepts favors easily. No matter how I say it, I owe you a favor."

"Li Yuanhao wholeheartedly wants to annex the Song Dynasty. In the past few years, he has only a handful of time in the royal court, so we took the opportunity to install a lot of cronies. It is only because the military power is firmly in Li Yuanhao's hands that we are restrained and dare not act rashly. Now He is far away in Huaiyuan, if there is you again, the chances of winning will be even greater. As for the favor, let me repay you. You are also a kindness to Brother Feng." Li Yuanrui's expression became a little sad.

"You, and Zhuang Yufeng..." Zhan Zhao probed.

"He used to be the person who loved me the most in this world, and he was also the person I loved the most in my life. However, we cannot escape the shackles of fate. After all, we will part ways and even hurt each other for our respective missions and persistence."

Li Yuanrui's eyes were empty, as if he had fallen into deep memory.

"I met him in the royal court. His family was killed by the emperor, and he was the only one left to escape from the Song Dynasty. I thought he was just an ordinary Han. We spent many happy and beautiful days together. But One day, everything changed. He knew my identity, and I was also told by my father that I would become a pawn, buried in the Song Dynasty, and spy on information. At the same time, he and Master Lin were also secretly spying Li Yuanhao's secret military training location and the list of Song Dynasty officials who fornicated Xixia. It wasn't until Yang Bin was accused of embezzlement of military pay and he "fleeed in fear of crime" that I knew they were ready, and Li Yuanhao also sent Xia Qing to chase him all the way. Kill him. I went south with him secretly, rescued him a few times, and left after your Kaifeng Mansion intervened because I was afraid of being noticed by you. Who knew, they took advantage of the loophole. Xia Qing thought I was Brother Feng's helper, and wanted to kill me Well, I escaped only when the golden cicada escaped its shell and found a woman who had a dead husband and was seriously ill to die in her place. You know the rest.

"No wonder Zhuang Yufeng is so resentful towards the Holy Majesty, yet he is still willing to sacrifice his life for the imperial court. He is truly a hero in the world! According to you, it was Xia Qing who killed Master Lin and assassinated the Ding Heroes."

"Brother Feng is just too stupid. He didn't even want to die for those things, but the emperor of the Song Dynasty didn't know anything. Master Lin committed suicide. Xia Qing couldn't find anything. He went in and out of Lin's study several times, and even dug the grave but found nothing. I The whereabouts of his body cannot be exposed, so we found you. Maybe it was Mr. Lin who had the spirit to let us discover the secret. It was that day, when I saw the flesh cut from his body, I suddenly felt that we You may never be able to really rule the Han people. You have perseverance that we can't believe. As for the two heroes of the Ding family, Li Yuanhao's original intention was to try his best to delay them from going to the battlefield to increase their chances of winning. After all, the reputation of the ever-victorious general Ding Zheng is still alive. He wanted to recruit them. But Xia Qing and the Ding family had a sworn feud. When Xia Qing's father defected to our country, it was Ding Zheng who ordered to kill the nine families of the Xia family. So he wanted to kill the descendants of the Ding family. It just so happened that Miss Ding If you are not at home, you have escaped. But my father wants the Ding family to participate in the war, so that we will buy more time, so I ordered people to guide you several times, and finally let you get the antidote."

"Thanks to you, otherwise the Second Hero of the Ding Clan would be more dangerous than good. Although you have your plan, I still thank you on behalf of Yuehua." Zhan Zhao stood up and thanked Li Yuanrui solemnly.

"You don't have to be like this. We just took what we needed at first, but later on, I also felt that I couldn't bear Miss Ding to be sad. Ding Yuehua was born in a general family. Ding Yuehua has a straightforward and delicate personality, and a simple mind, especially when it comes to love words. Simple, she is a rare good woman. You have to treat her well. Even for her, you should leave here safely. "

"Yuehua...I promised her to go back safely..." Zhan Zhao murmured.There is deep affection in the eyes.

Once upon a time, Brother Feng and I also had such a deep affection.After all, it is no match for fate.Li Yuanrui thought so, and then put aside the sourness in his heart, the most important thing now is to persuade Zhan Zhao. "Although it sounds like treason, everyone has the right to fight for their own survival. My father and I have been suppressed by other clansmen for many years, and even threatened our lives. We have to take this road, no matter for self-protection, It's still for the sake of power. This is not considered inhumane, unfaithful or unfilial. It is impossible for Li Yuanhao to ignore an accident in the royal court, and it will also benefit the situation of the border war. If you are willing to help, I will be grateful."

"Then, what benefits can you get? How can I believe that I didn't work for the tiger, feed the tiger, and bring an enemy to my Song Dynasty." Zhan Zhao asked.

"Maybe you don't believe it. In my heart, my father doesn't have a 100% chance of winning, but Li Yuanhao can't afford the consequences. As long as you delay this moment and give you time, nothing will happen in the future." And if my father wins, as me, I will never be your enemy. I don't talk to Miss Ding much, but I envy her very much in my heart." Li Yuanrui said sincerely.

Zhan Zhao didn't speak, and fell into deep thought.There is a battle between heaven and man in my mind, but I can't make up my mind in the end.

"It's inconvenient for me to stay longer, you can think about it." After finishing speaking, she put on a black scarf and left quietly.

It was already light, and in the dark room, only Zhan Zhao sat on the bed, frowning deeply.