A rebellious minister forced me to be a foolish king

Chapter 921 The Cook Starved to Death
Yuan Wuyou immediately asked why the soldiers on the battlefield were not given weapons. Just now, when she left the post house, she saw a soldier holding a fire stick and going up to meet the enemy. Where was the armory officer?
The county lieutenant was stunned for a moment, then whispered, "Did you see him? The man at the inn is the armory officer."

Yuan Wuyou was shocked instantly.

She felt very uncomfortable.

These Xinye soldiers were more loyal and brave than she had known before. With such strong soldiers under his command, it was no wonder that the governor of Xiangyang was so confident in his position as a frontier official and dared to confront the Zhou Kingdom.

Gao Changgong, who was standing by, also sighed with sympathy after hearing this, "What a loyal and brave soldier! I admire him."

Even Yuan Wuyou could tell from the tone of his words that he was expressing his admiration from the bottom of his heart, and thought to himself, this is bad! Gao Changgong admired this kind of people the most and took them as a lesson, but the people he admired and respected were all reserve heroes who were very likely to die for their country.

Yuan Wuyou quickly glared at him, wanting to say, "Don't learn this, I don't want to be a widow," but she knew it was inappropriate to say this, so she held back.

King Fengling's questioning instantly turned into consolation and comfort.

The county lieutenant also asked cautiously, who is the general beside King Fengling?

Yuan Wuyou glanced at Gao Changgong and said firmly, "My personal bodyguard."

She didn't dare to say directly that it was Prince Lanling of Northern Qi, for fear that it would cause the Xinye soldiers, who were already unfamiliar with her, to become even more panicked and see enemies everywhere.

When Gao Changgong heard her introduce herself in this way, he finally put his mind at ease, fearing that she would reveal her identity and make the Xinye soldiers wary.

Yuan Wuyou then gave them a basket of pot-cakes in her hand and asked them if they had eaten to fill their stomachs. She said that a fireman gave it to her and asked what the fireman’s current arrangements were.
The county lieutenant said it should be in the kitchen at the back door, but they had never seen the fireman come to deliver food.

Gao Changgong thought to himself that this was not good. His eyes suddenly became serious. He silently pulled her sleeve and whispered:

"I'm afraid something bad happened to him."

After he reminded her, Yuan Wuyou quickly grabbed a strong man to lead the way and took her to the kitchen.

When Yuan Wuyou arrived at the yard near the kitchen, the strong man leading the way suddenly shouted, "What are you doing? Ah——"

Before the strong man could finish his words, he was stabbed to death by a rough man in black clothes.

Yuan Wuyou then realized that there were assassins in the dark courtyard! The strong man leading the way just happened to see a group of black-clad assassins moving around in the courtyard.

It was the middle of the night and the sky was as dark as ink. These people were obviously scouts gathering information, and they were wearing black clothes, making it even harder to see them clearly.

Before she could make a move, Gao Changgong suddenly jumped out from behind her and went to grab her.

However, this group of scouts did not want to fight. Gao Changgong wanted to capture them alive. As a result, the first scout resisted him with a knife and was stabbed to death by Gao Changgong. Both groups were shocked and scared for a moment.

These scouts were all wearing black clothes, which made it easy for them to hide at night. At this time, they all ran away in all directions. Gao Changgong did not catch any of them alive, but judging from their clothes, they looked like people from the Zhou Dynasty.

After driving the outsiders out of the yard, Yuan Wuyou, who had no guide, had to find a place by himself. Fortunately, there were only a few rooms in the yard and no one was there.

The last room left was the one where the firemen cooked. But they found that it couldn't be opened. Gao Changgong kicked the wooden door and broke it, only to see that a millstone was blocking the door from inside.

The two men climbed up and jumped into the house on the millstone. They looked around and found it empty. Next to the stove, there was a wooden rack with several layers of cakes on it, and a sleeping figure leaning against the stove.

Yuan Wuyou squatted down in front of the fireman, took a closer look, and found that the man was pale and thin, and was no longer breathing. When he looked at the man's face carefully, he found that it was the fireman who was so afraid of death that he wet his pants and gave Yuan Wuyou the pancake.

He was indeed dead, but he died next to the stove. She thought the cause of death was unknown, and then Gao Changgong squatted beside her, took a closer look, and patted the warm body of the dead body twice, and said with certainty: "He starved to death."

"Huh? But there are pot cakes all around..."

"He must have been reluctant to eat it, and actually starved to death in front of the stove full of pancakes... He was truly a man of steel." Having said this, Gao Changgong, who was kneeling on one knee beside the princess, had a lonely look in his eyes.

"When I first joined the army, some of my subordinates died of starvation. Their faces looked like his, and their stomachs were shriveled. But I had no power at the time, and my influence was not influential. I couldn't borrow food. Even if I shared my own rations, I couldn't feed so many soldiers."

When talking about the past, Gao Changgong still feels sad and guilty for his powerless and incapable self back then.

Yuan Wuyou sighed and patted his phoenix-wing shoulder armor.
"At least, you have remained true to your original aspirations over the years, and you have compassion for the sufferings of the world."

Hearing this, Gao Changgong's eyes became resolute. He glanced at the fireman who was starving to death leaning against the stove next to him, his face full of awe.

"But I am the only one who is like this. After following you all the way today, I have seen that every soldier in Xinye is like me, Gao Changgong. Those who are in charge of military supplies are freezing to death, and those who are in charge of cooking are starving to death. It's really... I respect and admire them too much."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Wuyou's heart instantly sank. Taking advantage of the fact that there were only the two of them and the remains of a martyr in the room, she immediately said angrily:

"Just admire them, but when it comes to life and death, don't follow their example and die for your country! Do you want me to become a widow?"

The princess in front of him was dressed in orange royal uniform, with a golden crown on her head to tie her hair up. She looked noble to the point of looking dignified. When she frowned, she looked intimidating without even getting angry. Now that she was angry, she was even more frightening.

She simply turned the prince's casual clothes into an imperial robe.

When Gao Changgong heard her call herself a "widow", he was of course happy that she naturally classified him as a husband and wife and a family, but he was also a little chilled because she strongly opposed his willingness to die.

Of course he knew that she was doing this for his own good, but he also knew that his life and death were not in his own hands.

So the man had that handsome face that everyone praised, with his sword-like eyebrows and phoenix eyes slightly curved, and the corners of his lips curled up in a shy smile.

"What about suicide for love?"

Looking at Gao Changgong's smile, with his pale face and red lips, under the light of the night, his angular facial features seemed somewhat softened, and he was as beautiful as a ghost, captivating everyone.

Yuan Wuyou did not forget that he was next to the body, so he pursed his lips, stood up, and pulled the man up before humming.

"Don't curse me, and don't curse yourself. I just want you to live a hundred years."

As soon as Gao Changgong stood up straight, the princess grabbed his hand and clasped his hands.

"Let's go and find reinforcements."

"You have reinforcements? When did you contact them?"

"It has been planned for a long time, but it was sent out to recruit soldiers. I think it will be back now."

The Zhou Kingdom hated the Dangxiang and tried to win over Bai Lan. Now it is openly trying to attack King Fengling, which means it has completely broken off relations with Yuan Wuyou.

But even so, Yuan Wuyou didn't really want to turn against the Northern Zhou because no one knew better than her how great the disparity in strength was between us and the Northern Zhou.