lady, please calm down

In the afternoon, it was raining continuously.

There is a tomb in Fengcao Bay in the east of Anfeng City, which is only wrapped in bluestone. If it were not for the inscription on the tombstone, no one would have thought that this was the resting place of Concubine Shu of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The mausoleum is 'simple' enough that it seems a bit crude.

But even so, there was a thatched cottage next to the mausoleum.

In the thatched cottage, an old woman in cloth clothes saw someone coming to pay her respects in the rain. She stepped forward tremblingly and asked doubtfully: "May I ask, Madam, where does this noble person come from?"

Chai Yuanyi, who was placing the fruit sacrifices, turned around and looked at the old woman's aged face carefully for a while, and finally said uncertainly: "Mother-in-law, is she Li Shanggong?"

Although the old woman was dressed in simple clothes, she acted with dignity in every move. After hearing this, she couldn't help but perform a blessing ceremony and said: "The old woman did serve as a female official beside Concubine Shu of the Great Zhou Dynasty in the past. Forgive the old woman's poor eyesight. You are a noble person."

Hearing her admission, Chai Yuanyi stood up suddenly, grabbed Li Shanggong's hand a little awkwardly, and said excitedly: "Shanggong, it's me! I'm Xiufu, I'm back."

At the last sentence, I couldn't help but shed tears.

Being able to survive in the Kingdom of Jin for more than ten years, Chai Yuanyi certainly has the ability to control her emotions.

But today, she was full of expectations. It can be seen that she was greatly disappointed after seeing her father, and her mother and concubine, who had been supporting her in her life, were actually separated from each other.

At this time, I finally met an old friend from my childhood who was also close to my mother and concubine, and it was normal for me to be overcome with emotion.

Hearing Chai Yuanyi say "I am Xiufu", Li Shanggong was stunned for a moment in disbelief. Then he grabbed Chai Yuanyi's wrist in an extremely rude manner and pushed the latter's sleeve to his elbow.

On the inner side of the forearm, there was indeed a mole the size of a red bean.

This kind of natural mark cannot be faked, but Li Shanggong glanced at the mole, and then his attention was quickly attracted by the scar on Chai Yuanyi's arm.

There are three or four old wounds scattered vertically and horizontally on the slender forearm. Some are scars left by scabs after burns, and some are slightly darker in color and look like whip marks.

Li Shanggong's lips trembled. When she went to the Kingdom of Jin, she had never seen the miserable state of the princes and princesses, so she could guess what Chai Yuanyi had gone through without even asking.

With such heartache, Li Shanggong could no longer care about the distinction between superior and inferior. He hugged Chai Yuanyi and cried bitterly: "It would be good to come back, it would be good to be alive. If the empress knows someone under the spring, it will not be in vain for her to pray for peace for Your Highness by chanting Buddha's name every day." .”

Ever since Chai Yuanyi could remember, Li Shanggong had been by his and his mother's side, almost like a family member.

At this moment, she regarded Li Shanggong as her mother-in-law, and she hugged him hard and cried heartbrokenly, as if she wanted to cry out all the grievances, fears, and humiliations she had experienced in the past many years.

After more than a hundred breaths, the two people's tears stopped and they helped each other into the thatched cottage.

After more than ten years of being imprisoned in a foreign land, Li Shanggong no longer knew where his family had gone. Today, when he suddenly met Chai Yuanyi, he naturally felt like a family reunion.

But she rummaged around for a while and couldn't find any snacks and fruits to entertain Chai Yuanyi. She couldn't get rid of the half-baked cornbread left by herself, so she had to pour a bowl of water and explained guiltily: "It's clean." Well water, it has rained continuously recently, and the firewood at home is all wet. I cannot cook soup for Your Highness. Your Highness forgives me. "

Chai Yuanyi saw that her life was in such embarrassment and couldn't help but said: "Why didn't Shang Gong go home after he left the palace?"

Li Shanggong looked at Chai Yuanyi and said with a smile: "I have been cut off from my family for more than ten years. Now that I am nearing my old age, it would be a burden to go back. It is better to guard the tomb of the empress. I can still talk to the empress on weekdays, and I will be at peace." So as not to make others dislike you when you go back.”

Hearing what she said, Chai Yuanyi was naturally moved, but she still said: "Father, I should give Shang Gong a reward for letting Shang Gong leave the palace. Why is Shang Gong in such a difficult situation?"

When the maids are released from the palace, each one will receive a severance payment. For the younger ones, this money will be used as a dowry for the bride who leaves the palace.

If you are older, treat it as pension money. With this money, you will not burden your children and grandchildren.

Ordinarily, given Li Shanggong's age, the reward should be very generous.

Even if the palace's expenses are tight now, Li Shanggong will not be left to fend for himself.

Li Shanggong hesitated for a moment, but then said: "I offended the emperor and was kicked out by the emperor. How can I get a reward?"

"Shang Gong, what is going on?"

Chai Yuanyi seemed to hear something unintelligible and subconsciously grabbed Li Shanggong's hand.

The latter seemed to be holding back her resentment, but when she opened her mouth, her eyes turned red again. She said in a low tone: "Back then, I and the empress were kidnapped to the Five Kingdoms City. Among the concubines, only the empress was allowed to reunite with the emperor. , to take care of the emperor's food and daily life. But at that time, the Jin soldiers who were guarding the emperor did something evil. They refused to give the emperor food even though Jin Ting had allocated it.

Speaking of this, the look of resentment on Li Shanggong's face became more obvious, "How could the emperor not know that Jin Bing was deliberately making things difficult for the empress! The empress went and she was humiliated! The emperor pretended to be I don’t know, every time when Jin Bing made things difficult for him, he would force the queen to deal with it. It wasn’t until a few years ago that the queen got older and her appearance was not as good as before, so she gradually got better. "

Chai Yuanyi naturally 'understood' what humiliation meant, and she felt even more resentful!

After all, the identity of the father has great political significance. As long as the Jin Emperor does not have murderous intentions, the guards will make things difficult once or twice, but they will not dare to starve the father to death. Chai Yuanyi can understand this. , she didn’t believe that her father could not think clearly.

But even so, in order not to be hungry for a while, the father actually allowed his mother and concubine to rape and humiliate Jin Bing, just to exchange for a bowl of rice for him!

If you are so cowardly, how can your country survive?

After hearing this, Chai Yuanyi had vaguely guessed some clues. She couldn't help turning her head to look out the window at the simple tomb in the wind and rain, and whispered: "Didn't the mother-in-law die of illness?"

Li Shanggong raised his head suddenly, and then looked at the carriage dozens of steps away. It wasn't until Chai Yuanyi said "No problem" that he said with red eyes: "My queen is not sick! The emperor was rescued by King Jin." Later, because I was afraid that my mother would tell me about the past, I had her killed for the crime of 'disrespect'! The poor woman regarded him as a god, so she hanged herself in her residence that night while I was away."

After saying that, Li Shanggong started wailing, but Chai Yuanyi sat quietly for a long time.

After a while, Chai Yuanyi returned to the tomb.

Regardless of the cold muddy water on the ground, he slowly knelt down, then took out a stack of dry paper money from his arms and placed it on the bluestone board. However, after taking out the fire fold, he didn't know whether it was because of the wind, rain, or other reasons, but he was trembling. Lips never burn the fire.

The more this happened, the more stubborn Chai Yuanyi became, as if he wanted to compete with the gloomy weather.

Until the rain suddenly stopped, Chai Yuanyi looked up and saw the King of Chu standing next to him holding an umbrella.

Maybe it was the umbrella that blocked the steady rain, but the next time I tried, Huozhezi finally caught fire.

Chai Yuanyi ignited the paper money, watched the fly ash swirl and dance in the wind and rain, and was quickly smashed into the mud by the raindrops. Finally, she murmured: "Mother, why are you so stupid? He is not worthy of you." Like.”

Chen Chu stood for a moment holding an umbrella. Perhaps out of pity for Chai Yuanyi's misfortune, his tone became softer, "Queen, it's time to go back. I swear by heaven that when you help me kill Wan Yanliang, I will I will give you your freedom and I will never break my promise.”

But after hearing this, Chai Yuanyi, who was still kneeling in front of the tomb, looked at the cold rain curtain in confusion and murmured: "My mother and concubine are dead, so even if the King of Chu lets me go, what's the point?"

Chen Chu felt a warning in his heart. He was most afraid that Chai Yuanyi would have nothing to care about in the world. In that case, there would be no way to control Chai Yuanyi.

But the next moment, Chai Yuanyi seemed to have found a new target quickly. She smiled sadly, tucked the wet bun on her forehead behind her ears, then turned around, kowtowed solemnly to Chen Chu and said: "The King of Chu I will cooperate with you wholeheartedly, but I have one condition. I hope the King of Chu will agree."

"Speaking."

"When the king of Chu succeeds, you need to help me kill the entire Wanyan royal family, then destroy the Great Zhou Dynasty, and depose the two emperors Chai Ji and Chai Chong!"

Chen Chu looked down at Chai Yuanyi's frozen pale face, and for a moment he didn't know what to say. But then, Chai Yuanyi, who had a calm face, seemed to squeeze out a sharp and vicious sentence from his throat.

"Both the Jin and Zhou countries need to be buried with their mother and concubine!"

On the second day of February, when Chen Chu returned to Caizhou, Chai Yuanyi fell seriously ill.

During this period, Zhang Duofu's 10,000 followers from Anfeng Dynasty and Wugong, the governor of Jinghu Road from Lin'an Dynasty, had 20,000 followers arrived in Caizhou one after another.

In the middle of the month, Han Shizhong, who was stationed in Huainan, mobilized 30,000 Huaibei troops to gather in Caizhou.

The front lines of Huainan and Huaibei were handed over to Jiang Huaixiong and Peng Er to garrison.

Yang Dalang's more than 20,000 soldiers who stayed in Tokyo were ready to regroup when the army passed through Tokyo on its way north.

As for the Xixia side, Ao Daochong has assured Chen Chu that the 30,000 retinue troops departing from Xingqing Mansion will arrive in Nanjing of the Jin Kingdom by the tenth of April at the latest.

On the Huaibei side, Tiance Mansion plans to lead the entire army to launch operations in late February.

In the north of Caizhou City, because armies from all over the country gathered and camps were connected, many hawkers carrying food and drinks came after hearing the news, and it quickly became lively.

On February 15th, after several sunny days, the temperature rose rapidly.

The feeling of spring is coming. The two guest generals Zhang Duofu and Wu Gong knew that this was the hometown of the King of Chu, so they paid special attention to military discipline and strictly ordered their subordinates to enter the city to avoid causing trouble.

The subordinates of Zhang Duofu, the general of Qianniuwei at the left of the Anfeng Dynasty, had experienced the Dayi Army last year. Most of the army's veterans were Huaibei veterans as key officers. Although the military discipline was not as good as that of the Huaibei Army, it is rare to have good military discipline nowadays.

However, Wu Gong's Jinghu Army inevitably retained some oily habits. Fortunately, the commander-in-chief Wu Gong repeatedly explained that his subordinates did not dare to enter Caizhou.

On the same day, General Zhu Deen of the Luzi Camp of the Jinghu Army walked out of the camp with more than ten of his subordinates.

Outside the camp, although there were scattered vendors selling food, it was far less lively than outside the Huaibei Army camp a mile away.

A Jinghu soldier named Du Hong looked at the Huaibei Army Camp in the distance and muttered: "Fuck his mother, even outside the Huaibei Army Camp, there are more food sellers than outside our camp!"

Another brother said with envy: "Who doesn't know that the Huaibei Army's military salaries are high and they are all paid in real money? When hawkers do business, of course they go to places with more money."

"They are all fighting as soldiers, and they have to be divided into three, six, and nine ranks." Du Hong was very dissatisfied.

But Paoze said again: "Hey! I am satisfied! After coming to Caizhou, Huaibei has provided food uniformly. I have been eating so much in the past few days that I am so happy that I have never felt so good in my life! If it were in my hometown, Even the village officials don’t want to eat meat every day!”

Du Hong may have felt that the other party was trying to undermine him, so he couldn't help but say with a face: "Cao Laoliu, look at your potential! If the East Route Army hadn't been blocked at the foot of Sizhou City the year before last, maybe Caizhou City would be in trouble now. It’s ours!”

The year before last, although the Jinghu Army experienced several offensive and defensive battles with the defenders under Caizhou City, they were far from the point of becoming red-blooded. News of the defeat of the Jinxia Allied Forces outside Tokyo came back, and the Jinghu Army immediately attacked Under the leadership of Wang Shu and Wu Gong, they withdrew to the Ezhou line south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, Du Hong, who participated in the Northern Expedition that year, did not think that the Huaibei Army was very powerful. He only blamed the senior officials for being too timid and cowardly.

Zhu De'en, the captain on the side, hurriedly reprimanded, "Shut up! Isn't it possible that the adults above you can't understand as well as you, a young person? Now that the imperial court has softened to King Jin, why are you still so tough? That's not the case here. Our Ezhou old camp, don’t talk nonsense, be careful of getting into trouble!”

After being scolded by his immediate superior, Du Hongcai did not retort, but only glanced at Caizhou City in the south. It is said that Caizhou is as prosperous as Jiangning. It was not conquered last time. This time, Marshal Wu ordered that he was not allowed to enter the city during his break. ,Pity.

A dozen people walked and strolled all the way to the military camp of the Huaibei Army.

This place is indeed more lively than outside the Jinghu Army Camp. Not only are there many vendors of all kinds, but there are even a group of young ladies wearing light blue sarongs.

Not only did these young ladies wear the same clothes, but their hairstyles also changed from the complicated bun, and were tied into two braids hanging down on their chests.

Some people are holding books in their arms, and some are carrying schoolbags.
It looks rather bookish.

But in Du Hong's opinion, their behavior was definitely not serious!

I saw a young lady about fifteen or sixteen years old, surrounded by a group of companions, across the wooden fence, mustering up the courage to say to a passing soldier: "Brother soldier, please look for the second platoon of the first company of the third battalion of your regiment." Chief Zhao Heng, how are you?"

The sergeant who was called out seemed to have something to do, and hesitated for a moment as if he was about to refuse.

The young lady was a little shy when she opened her mouth, but the other young lady next to her was much bolder and immediately said sweetly: "Brother Bing, please help me."

The sergeant smiled helplessly at the coquettish girl and said, "I understand, just wait a moment and I'll ask him to come find you here."

Several women suddenly let out a small cheer.

The soldier did what he said, and soon a handsome young man in military uniform was seen walking towards this side.

The little ladies laughed strangely again, "Mingxiu, what are you doing hiding behind? Come forward quickly, lest your brother Heng can't see you, hahaha."

Amidst the roar of laughter, the girl named Mingxiu was pushed to the front.

The setting sun illuminated the military camp playground and Mingxiu's shy face.

Mingxiu lowered his head, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Zhao Heng getting closer and closer, and his heart beat faster.

Zhao Heng also saw Mingxiu and couldn't help but quicken his pace. Unexpectedly, another shout of "Brother Heng" suddenly sounded from the other side.

Zhao Heng took a look and saw that it was his little aunt Hutou, so he had to turn around and walk over first.

"Little aunt, why are you here?"

Zhao Heng touched his head and said with a silly smile.

Hutou, who had grown into a grown-up girl, and Jiachuan, who had come with her to accompany her, stood outside the grille. They handed over a bundle and said: "This is your first time to go on an expedition. My sister doesn't know that you have prepared a change of underwear." Are you done? I specially asked my family to make two sets for you to change. Here, take them."

Zhao Heng moved to Caizhou with his great-grandmother, and he was regarded as Mao'er's cousin. He joined the army after graduating from Lanxiang Academy. This was his first expedition.

However, his mother passed away early, and his father alone may not be able to think of such detailed things. Zhao Heng was moved, but still shied away: "The grandmother's milk has been prepared for my nephew."

"You can take it if I ask you to take it. How can I explain it to my sister when I take it back?"

Hutou is obviously younger than Zhao Heng, but she still acts like a 'little aunt' to an elder.

Zhao Heng didn't hesitate and asked about the health of his aunt and uncle Mao'er, as well as Ji'er's studies.
The conversation was lively here, but Mingxiu over there suffered.

Zhao Heng and Hu Tou, who seemed to have a mutual affection for each other, murmured to each other for a long time. The little girl who had not experienced anything suddenly curled her lips and tears started to fall in her eyes.

The companions saw the scene in the distance, and someone immediately said: "The ones over there are Zhao Xiangyi and Liu Jiacheng from our school!"

They were in the same school, and although they had never spoken to each other, they had heard of these two influential figures in the girls' school.

Several people didn't know what the tiger head handed to Zhao Heng, but the relationship represented by the young man and woman giving gifts in private was self-evident.

Seeing that Mingxiu was about to cry, a little sister couldn't help but said indignantly: "What's going on with Zhao Heng! And Zhao Xiangyi, do you want a third party to get involved! No, I have to go find her to argue!"

But as soon as she took a step, Mingxiu grabbed her and said aggrievedly: "Si Lan, don't go. Brother Heng and I have nothing to do."

"It's nothing! You two are holding hands while watching the lanterns in the first month! No, I have to scold this heartless man in person!"

Si Lan is quite chivalrous
All this is not surprising outside the Huaibei Army camp.

But in the eyes of Du Hong and other Jinghu soldiers, it changed drastically. At least, on Jinghu Road, no young ladies from good families would come out of the military camp together.

Not to mention that a young lady from a good family would come here specifically to find a soldier.

He won't be like what he did just now, chirping, laughing, and calling people "Brother Bing" in a charming way.

Therefore, Du Hong quickly judged that these were a group of wandering prostitutes who came to the military camp to solicit customers.
Even team general Zhu Deen subconsciously thought so.

The girl who opened the door to welcome the guests had slept a lot, but they had never seen someone of this caliber before them. Lively, generous, with a touch of bookishness, not to mention the appropriate hint of girlish shyness.

It has both the softness and beauty of the women from the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River, and the heroic chivalry of the women from the north.

Even the honest man Cao Laoliu looked straight at it, took a sip and said: "Mother, this Huaibei is different! The secret doormen who come to the military camp to attract customers are all so good-looking, even the oiran ladies in Ezhou City are so beautiful. That’s it!”

Du Hong was a man of action. He spat on the palm of his hand, wiped his face carelessly, and walked up on his own initiative.

"Hey, little lady, didn't you get any guests? Come on, follow me, grandpa loves you."

Mingxiu and others turned around in confusion, but only Si Lan reacted. He frowned and cursed: "Where did you come from? Go home and love your mother!"

After scolding, Si Lan saw that there were several soldiers behind this man, so he quickly grabbed his classmates to leave.

But Du Hong's sperm was already in his head, and he became even more excited after being scolded. He raised his hand and slapped Si Lan on the buttocks, and said coquettishly: "Hey, you are quite energetic, Beigu. Tell me, how much does it cost to accompany you?" Let’s play for a while?”

Fortunately, Si Lan, who had a beautiful mouth, had her butt touched. She was so angry that she had tears in her eyes. She opened her mouth and shouted towards the Huaibei Army camp: "Help! The barbarians from the Southern Dynasties are bullying me, a Huaibei woman."

This sound was like thunder on the ground.

Outside the military camp, a vendor selling all kinds of food looked over after hearing this, and then rushed over with a spatula, a pot lid, whatever he was using in his hand.

But what’s even more terrifying is that a bugler in the military camp came closer to take a look. Without saying a word, he raised his suona and blew the emergency rally call (end of chapter)