The First Great Ancestor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 423 The journey back is difficult

After a simple bandage by the old man in monk's robe at Lianghe Medical Center, Zhou Zong's stab wound was no longer serious, but his robe was stained with blood, and his already old face looked even more withered and miserable.

Zhou Min's eyes were red, and he helped his old father get into the carriage, bid farewell to the old monk from the medical clinic, and headed towards the palace city under the escort of a group of patrolling soldiers and Jinwu Guard officers and soldiers.

Liu Yanzhen, the commander of the Shenwu Army, had already rushed back to the palace ahead of him to report the incident at Qingliang Mountain to Li Jing.

In the carriage, Zhou Zong closed his eyes and rested for a moment to regain some energy.

Zhou Min couldn't help but whispered: "Dad, why did you and Zhu Xiu do this?"

Zhou Zong glanced at him and said calmly: "Do you think this is a big deal?"

Zhou Min muttered: "Zhu Xiu has been granted an official title by His Majesty. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with staying. Why must he return to the Northern Dynasty?"

Zhou Zong sneered: "Do you really think that His Majesty will value Zhu Xiu's talents? Because he is knowledgeable about the astronomical phenomena, can recite poems and make jokes, and can do some new tricks to make the king smile, your Majesty will really use him and trust him?"

Zhou Min was puzzled and said: "What does father mean?"

"Huh~ Qi Qiu of the Song Dynasty can't gain your majesty's complete trust, let alone my Zhou family and Zhu Xiu? Your majesty has very deep thoughts, and many things must not be taken at face value! Zhu Xiu is right. In your majesty's heart, the only thing you want is the inheritance of the throne. That's the most important thing.

Your Majesty will eventually find a way to break the oath that was made before the death of the late emperor, that brothers will treat brothers as brothers.

It was precisely because of this that the King of Jin took the initiative to resign as the crown prince.

The Tang Dynasty can only be inherited by the prince. Anyone who dares to speak out on this matter will be punished by His Majesty! "Zhou Zong shook his head and said in a deep voice.

Zhou Min was startled: "My Zhou family is close to the King of Jin, and is regarded as a party of the King of Jin by the government and the public. The prince has never had a good look towards the Zhou family. According to this, when the prince succeeds to the throne, my Zhou family will Wouldn’t it be a disaster?!”

Zhou Zong said calmly: "Now you know why my father took the risk of sending Zhu Xiu away and entrusted Ehuang to him."

Zhou Min swallowed his saliva and said, "Father wants to establish a good relationship with the Northern Dynasty to prepare for future emergencies."

Zhou Zong showed a slight smile: "Ehuang has followed Zhu Xiu, no matter what the future situation of my Zhou family in the Tang Dynasty is, it will not be exterminated after all."

"Father has full confidence in Zhu Xiu," Zhou Min muttered.

Zhou Zong said in a low voice: "Guo Wei and his son have the appearance of a heroic leader, and their subordinates are both resourceful and brave generals, but Xinli of the Great Zhou Dynasty is prospering.

On the other hand, in the Tang Dynasty, there were constant internal strife, wasting national power, nobles and nobles encroaching on land and monopolizing commerce and trade. How many coins and stones of grain in the treasury were collected through taxation?

As things go on like this, the imperial court has become more and more dependent on the aristocratic family, and the regime seems to be stable, but the people at the bottom are living in dire straits.

The people are the foundation. If the foundation is not stable, how can the court be stable?
During the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Great Tang Dynasty, one worked hard to govern, while the other was confused all day long. One was ebbing and the other was ebbing, and eventually one of them would be completely annihilated.

Zhu Xiu said that within three to five years, a war will definitely break out in the Jianghuai area, so let us prepare early."

Zhou Min was so shocked that he opened his mouth wide, and it took him a long time to say: "Is it possible that my Zhou family wants to move to Kaifeng?"

"That's not the case." Zhou Zong said, "The Zhou family's foundation is in the south of the Yangtze River. No matter which side will dominate the world in the future, as far as the imperial power is concerned, the greatest use of the family is to help the court stabilize the place.

After leaving Jiangnan, my Zhou family was like duckweeds, useless. "

Zhou Min's eyes rolled around and he said in a low voice: "Zhu Xiu wants me, the Zhou family, to serve as internal agents of the Northern Dynasty? Will we assist the Great Zhou Dynasty in destroying the Tang Dynasty in the future?"

Zhou Zong raised one finger in front of his mouth, made a sign of silence, opened the corner of the car curtain and looked out.

"It's too early to say that."

Zhou Zongbai frowned and his voice was very low, "Although Zhu Xiu has the ability to observe celestial phenomena, he concluded that the general trend of the world in the future will be that the north will dominate the south, but we must not take one side of the word or believe it. We still have to wait and see how the situation changes. .”

Zhou Min cupped his hands and whispered: "Father is wise! If Lord Zhou and his son work hard to govern, they will send their army south to destroy the Tang Dynasty in the future. With Zhu Xiu's relationship, my Zhou family will definitely be favored by Lord Zhou."

If the Great Zhou Dynasty is also a short-lived dynasty and the melee in the Central Plains resumes, it will not cause much loss to my Zhou family. I can just continue to be loyal to the Li family of Tang Dynasty. "

After a pause, Zhou Min sighed sadly: "I feel sorry for Emperor E. She went to the north and has no friends. I just hope that Zhu Xiu can treat her well."

A trace of sadness flashed across Zhou Zong's eyes, and he turned to look out the car window and said in a low voice: "Being born in a noble family, this is her fate. I hope her father has not misjudged the person. I hope that the day of unification of the world will come soon, so that I can Father and daughter can be reunited before death"

~~~
Half an hour later, Zhou Zong and his son rushed to Yanjia Hall to see Li Jing.

Liu Yanzhen arrived before them and had already reported everything that happened in Qingliang Mountain.

Li Jing was furious. He never imagined that Zhu Xiu's family members who stayed in Jiangning would flee with their whole family.

"Old Master, what's going on?" Li Jing shouted angrily.Zhou Zong and Zhou Min crouched in the palace, kowtowed sadly and said, "Old minister was deceived by the traitor Zhu Xiu for a moment without noticing.

This thief is not willing to stay and serve the Tang Dynasty and His Majesty at all. Everything he showed before was just a pretense of submission in order to save his life!What a shame, this damned thief not only deceived the old minister and abducted the old minister’s beloved daughter, but also dared to deceive His Majesty and commit a heinous crime!
The old minister requested your majesty to quickly send an order to investigate Wen Hui and order him to send Zhu Xiu back to Jiangning immediately!
Something will change later. This thief must have planned an escape strategy and must capture him before he takes action! "

Li Jing said angrily: "When I received Liu Yanzhen's urgent report, I had already dispatched people to Hezhou to send an order to Zha Wenhui to abolish Zhu Xiu's official assignments and escort him back to Beijing!"

"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" Zhou Zong and his son bowed to the ground.

Li Jing saw that Zhou Zong's brocade robe was stained with blood, his gray hair was messy, and his face was yellow and withered. Zhou Min supported him tightly at the side. The father and son looked miserable, so it was hard to blame them too much. He said, "The old master was injured by a thief. It’s better to return to the mansion to recuperate as soon as possible, and I will ask the imperial doctor to come to the mansion later for diagnosis and treatment. I will personally take care of Zhu Xiu’s absconding."

"Thank you, Your Majesty! If there is any news about our little girl, please send someone to let us know."

Zhou Zong's voice was hoarse and his eyes were full of tears. He looked miserable after being deceived and devastated, and losing his beloved daughter.

Li Jing waved her hand, indicating that they could retreat.

Prince Li Hongji and Prime Minister Song Qiqiu came excitedly and met Zhou Zong and his son at the entrance of the hall.

Li Hongji sneered again and again, while Zhou Zong and his son lowered their heads and left without saying a word.

Song Qiqiu frowned and stared at the backs of his father and son. After a while, he thoughtfully followed Li Hongji into the hall.

"Father, I already know about the incident in Qingliang Mountain. I have requested an order to personally lead the troops to pursue it!" Li Hongji said loudly.

Li Jing was furious and said displeased: "Nonsense! How can the Crown Prince leave the capital so easily? What's more, he is chasing a group of rebellious fugitives!"

Qiqiu of the Song Dynasty saluted and said: "Zhu Xiu's family has fled out of the city and wants to escape back to the north of the Yangtze River. It is very likely that they will go to Chuzhou and pass Qingliu Pass. Your Majesty can order the prince to rush to Chuzhou. In the name of the capital's defense, he will sit in Chuzhou to intercept the rebels!" "

Li Jing said suspiciously: "Since the Zhu Xiu family escaped from Jiangning and want to return to Jiangbei, there is more than one way to go through Qingliu Pass. Why did Mr. Song conclude that they will definitely go through Qingliu Pass?"

Song Qiqiu said with a smile: "Qingliu Pass is an important trade route with strict customs control and inspection, but it only deals with the transshipment of bulk goods, and there are countless traders passing through customs every day. Instead of taking a long way around, it is better to pretend to be a trader and go to Qingliu Pass." Try your luck.

There were old, young, women and children among the fugitives, so it was not far to take a long detour, and the risk was greater than taking the Qingliu Pass. "

Li Jing thought for a while and nodded: "What Mr. Song said makes sense."

Li Hongji said confidently: "Please give me an order from my father, I will capture all Zhu Xiu's dog thief family!"

Li Jing immediately decided: "I will order the prince to rush to Qingliu Pass immediately to supervise the military affairs of Chuzhou and capture the fugitives and bring them back to Beijing as soon as possible!"

"My son leads the order!"

After leaving the Yanjia Hall, Li Hongji couldn't hide his excitement, waved his fist and said viciously: "Zhu Xiu, the dog thief, this time I will cut his family into thousands of pieces, to shame the snowy mountains!"

Song Qiqiu took out a note from his arms, read it, and whispered: "I don't know who tipped off the information and revealed the escape route of Zhu Xiu's family.

The prince should be more careful when he goes to Chuzhou. I am worried that there is fraud. "

Not long after Liu Yanzhen entered the palace to report, word of what happened in Qingliang Mountain had spread.

What's even more strange is that when Li Hongji and Song Qiqiu entered the palace, someone sent this note to them, bluntly stating that Zhu Xiu's family would leave the Tang Dynasty through Qingliu Pass and Shouzhou.

After the two discussed it, they felt that the news was indeed credible.

Song Qiqiu asked the Dianshi to investigate more closely, and at the same time suggested that Li Hongji enter the palace and request an order to go to Chuzhou.

Li Hongji sneered and said: "Song Xianggong still remembers that not long ago, the Dianshi Department received a secret report, saying that someone reported that there was civil strife in the Zhou Kingdom, Murong Yanchao occupied Yanzhou to cause rebellion, Khitan soldiers gathered in Hutuo Hebei, and the news of intentional invasion to the south was deliberate. It spread to Jiangning.

Later it was proved that these news were indeed true.

The Zhou court would definitely not take the initiative to publicize news of civil strife. Even his father only found out about it half a month later when he received a report from Chen Jue.

This shows that some people in Dazhou deliberately leaked the news to us. Some people did not want to see Zhu Xiu return to Kaifeng safely and wanted to keep him in Jiangnan forever. "

Song Qiqiu twirled his beard and couldn't help but look at Li Hongji a few more times: "Your Highness's inference is reasonable."

Li Hongji said bitterly: "It's a pity that the news came a few days late, allowing Zhu Xiu to go to Hezhou, and his whole family also fled out of the city.

Without further ado, I will rush to Chuzhou now. "

(End of this chapter)