At dawn, the sun rises from the east as usual. Its soft light repeatedly breaks through the last darkness before dawn and shines on the iron walls of Jinyang. Soon, the sky is filled with layers of bright morning glow.
Gorgeous and colorful. In the woods outside the city, there are already clear sounds of birdsong, and I don’t know how many early morning bugs have been eaten.
It was still early, and there were already some people waiting to enter the city gathered under the main gate of the East City. On the tower, the young captain on duty rubbed his eyes, glanced at the crowd waiting neatly below, and showed a look of satisfaction.
Yawning, he called to his subordinates: "Get ready to open the door!"
"There's something going on!" At this time, the sentry on the tower shouted a warning.
"what happened?"
"Captain, look!" the sentry pointed to the east.
Deng Deng Deng ran up to the tower in a few steps. The captain looked into the distance to check the situation. Soon, his expression changed. To the east of the city, the field of vision was very wide. Although it was far away, he could clearly see an army.
They were walking towards Jinyang City in neat formation.
"Report immediately!" Seeing this, the captain decisively ordered: "Be alert!"
The guards on the top of the city immediately unsheathed their swords and cocked their arrows. The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and the people below also noticed that something was wrong and dispersed in a hurry, fearing that they would not be able to escape.
When the army approached, the captain of the city gate was confused. There were only about 200 troops outside the city. They were all in the uniforms of the Hedong Army. They were clearly their own people and they did not carry weapons. Suppressing the suspicion in his heart, the captain shouted to stop.
Said: "Whoever comes, stop! Who are you?"
The leader below was none other than Zhang Yanwei. When he heard the question, he stepped out of the queue, raised his head and shouted: "This general is Zhang Yanwei, the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Longqi Army. We have important matters to come to the city and ask to see the King of Peking."
Hearing what he said, the captain's face remained doubtful. He pondered for a moment and replied: "If General Zhang enters the city, there is nothing wrong with it. But the soldiers you lead, please forgive me for being humble and do not dare to let them go. Please also ask the general to disperse the people."
!”
Hearing such an answer, Zhang Yanwei's face suddenly changed slightly, and he couldn't help but mutter in his heart: Didn't I say that everything has been arranged?
Feeling a little irritated in his heart, Zhang Yanwei couldn't help but raise his voice and continued: "We really have something important! Brothers in the city, please open the city and let us go! I'm afraid you won't be able to bear the responsibility if we delay the important matter!"
The captain on the tower was still loyal to his duty, and his tone became tougher. He said coldly: "Please forgive me, General Zhang. I dare not start my humble duty because of my humble duty! General, please stop and send everyone away. Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude to my humble duty."
!”
Obviously, the captain of the city gate had determined that something was wrong with Zhang Yanwei and others. After warning him, he immediately asked his archers to draw their bows and aim at Zhang Yanwei and others. When Zhang Yanwei saw this, he suddenly cursed in his heart: What have you done?
Even the "waiting" can't be arranged well!
"Let them enter the city!" During the tense confrontation up and down the tower, a lazy voice rang in the captain's ear.
Turning around, he saw that the battalion commander had arrived in person. The captain was shocked and asked him, "What did you say?"
"I said open the door and let them into the city!" the battalion commander said again, and this time it was clearly heard by the captain.
The captain's expression changed and he pointed at the city: "But they -"
Faced with the doubts of his subordinates, the battalion commander did not listen to his verbosity and interrupted him forcefully: "What is going on above, do you allow a small captain like you to hang out here? They didn't bring weapons. Even if they were allowed to enter the city, they would still be there."
What could happen? Open the door!"
Accompanied by a dull sound of opening the door, the heavy city gate finally opened. Zhang Yanwei, who was already suffocating under the city, did not care about anything else and immediately led the people in and ran directly to the Peking Palace.
...
In the backyard of the palace, where the mistress Li lives, the mother and son are having breakfast. Liu Chengyou comes to have breakfast every day. The third brother Liu Chengxun is also there, but the eldest Liu Chengxun is not here, probably because he has been too busy in the past few days.
"Erlang, eat an egg." Mrs. Li, with a kind face on her face, peeled an egg for Liu Chengyou herself and gently placed it on the plate in front of him.
"Thank you, mother!" Liu Chengyou took a mouthful of millet porridge and said in a loud voice.
"You, although simplicity is a virtue, don't be too harsh on yourself. You are still young, and your father and brother will take care of the military and political affairs. Don't work too hard. During this period, I have seen you lose a lot of weight!" Her eyes fell on Liu Chengyou, and Mrs. Li muttered softly.
In Liu Chengyou's impression, Mrs. Li has always been a very wise and reasonable woman. Her overthinking character made Liu Chengyou sensitive to Mrs. Li's words. "Let father and brother do the hard work", could this be a hint to himself? ?
He raised his eyes to look at Mrs. Li, but met the concerned look in his mother's eyes, which could not be faked. He breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded towards Mrs. Li: "It's my son's fault to worry about my mother. It’s a sin. I will pay attention to it.”
With Li's wisdom, he couldn't see Liu Chengyou's intention of perfunctory with him, but he sighed helplessly: "Eat the eggs! It's almost cold."
Pick up the peeled egg with two fingers. It is tender and smooth, with a few wisps of heat floating around. The egg is a pigeon egg. This stuff is good for nourishing the kidneys and replenishing essence...
"I want it too!" Liu Chengxun, the third brother on the other side, couldn't help but spoke to Mrs. Li. He looked at Mrs. Li eagerly, as if he needed care. Mrs. Li would not favor one thing over another, so she picked up an egg with a smile. , take action.
"Second brother, when will you take me to the military camp?" Liu Chengxun is still young, but he is the liveliest among the three brothers. At this time, he couldn't sit still and looked at Liu Chengyou expectantly.
"With father's consent, I will take you there!" Liu Chengyou replied calmly.
When Liu Chengxun heard this, his little face suddenly became bitter, he stuck out his tongue at Liu Chengyou and muttered: "Forget it then, it's better to sneak out..."
"What did you say!" His words were heard, but Mrs. Li next to her opened her eyes slightly and stared at him angrily.
"No, it's nothing!" Liu Chengxun immediately shook his head and said with a sly smile.
Liu Chengyou looked at his third brother. He was a thirteen-year-old green boy, full of childishness, good-looking, with a great body, and a good prospect for a military commander. Looking at this young man, Liu Chengyou's thoughts couldn't help but wander far away.
He vaguely remembered that there was a record in the history books, to the effect that: Guo Wei led his Ye army southward to "the side of the Qing emperor". Emperor Yin died in the suburbs of Beijing. As the country must be left without a master, he asked for the emperor's younger brother to be crowned. The queen mother refused because of the emperor's younger brother's illness. , Wei and others paid a visit, and sure enough, they proposed to establish Liu Yun as Liu Zhiyuan's adopted son. Later, Liu Yun was deposed and executed. Liu Chengxun also died the next year, but he did not explain whether it was due to illness or other reasons.
At this time, looking at the lively young man in front of him, Liu Chengyou's heart felt a little colder, and the faces of Zhang Qian and Su Shen appeared in his mind. Guo Wei, hehe...
As his thoughts were wandering, a burst of noise suddenly came from outside the palace. Even in the deep courtyard of the palace, one could vaguely hear the shouts of some "King of Peking".
Everyone in the hall suddenly looked at each other in shock. Li's eyebrows were raised and she ordered an inner court steward who was waiting on her: "Go and ask what's going on!"
Liu Chengyou put down the chopsticks in his hand, picked up a silk handkerchief, and wiped his mouth, looking very calm.
Weiji, the steward who went out to inquire hurriedly returned and reported nervously: "Madam, a large number of soldiers and civilians have gathered outside the palace, and they are clamoring to meet the king!"
"Is there such a thing? I want to go take a look!" Liu Chengxun became interested when he heard this and said excitedly that he wanted to join in the fun.
"You stay here! You are not allowed to go anywhere!" As a result, Li suppressed her with one sentence.
Liu Chengyou took his time and stood up, bowed to Mrs. Li and left to see what was going on. Noticing the calm expression of his second son, Mr. Li's concentration gradually dissipated, and he looked outside the hall, gently He breathed a sigh of relief.
Turning around, he began to teach the restless third son a lesson.