That night, all the six princes received a letter of arrows in their mansions. All the kings who read the book at zero recognized the arrow, which was exactly the same as the wooden arrow that was shot earlier to inform the general envoy Zhou Yan that he was about to lose his official position. However, Zhou Yan later not only lost his official position.
, and he just lost his life. When I opened the letter, there was only one sentence different from the last time, but this time it was densely packed with many words, but it was still in an extremely correct style.
It says: "The old saint's deadline is approaching, and the saint has temporarily cut off many military pay. The number is guessed by the mountain people, and it may not be accurate. I also guess that someone in the army spreads rumors that the generals embezzled the military pay." There are many names of generals and rough outlines at the back.
The amount of military pay cut off.
All the princes were overjoyed! The news sent by this person last time was very accurate, and I think it will be right this time. They gathered together to discuss it several times, and told each other what they saw when they went to the palace to pay respects recently. They corresponded to each other's details.
After careful analysis, I'm afraid that the old saint is really about to die. If the saint doesn't give money, let's give it to him! So he sat down and divided the money. This place belongs to you and this place belongs to me. After dividing the money, he was ready to win over the generals.
Liu Xianglian was not idle either. As soon as the old sage left, what the sage wanted most besides military power was money, so he might be anxious to search someone's house. Several people sat together and discussed for a long time, guessing that the sage must
Starting from the wealthy families. For those who were very rich and had no problem in copying, the first choice was the Zhen family in Jiangnan, which was protected by the old saint alone. Liu Xianglian then packed up his belongings and gathered his heroes and headed for Jinling.
Gong Sanyi, Jia Huan and others discussed it for a while and gave Situ Pan a supplementary arrow book. It was not to tell him about it, but to let him take the trouble to guess who sent the letter and what the purpose was.
Anyway, the princes are singing and the rebels are watching the fun. Those who watch the fun don't think it's a big deal.
After more than half a month, news came from the palace that the old saint was dying, and all the kings and princes came to the palace to serve him. Three days later, the Supreme Emperor died, and the government and the public wailed.
Since he knew that the old saint was dying, Jia Huan asked Jia Mu to pretend to be ill. Although Jia Mu didn't know the reason, she obeyed Yuanchun's instructions to listen to Jia Huan in case of trouble, and pretended to invite the imperial doctor three or four times, but she closed the door again.
Thank you for your visit. At this time, the emperor was mourning, and all the civil and military ministers of the dynasty and imperial edicts came to the dynasty to observe the nobility system. Jia's mother used her illness as an excuse to stay at home, so she didn't have to go through the trouble. Jia She went south without Mrs. Xing.
Mrs.
We went there together and stayed there for a few days to do various things, at least for a month.
They had only been gone for a few days when Liu Aiyun suddenly arrived at the door of the Taiping Escort Bureau in a carriage wearing a green hat. Jia Si thought he was here to do something and hurriedly invited him inside to drink tea.
Liu Aiyun said: "The emperor returned to the west on a crane and issued an edict to the world: All noble families are not allowed to have banquets and music for one year, and private citizens are not allowed to have weddings and operas for half a year. I am an opera singer, and I have nothing to do for the time being, so I come to you.
Can you make it with two days of free food?"
Jia Si smiled and said: "Everyone Liu has been out of Beijing in the past few years. How can you think of our simple ideas?"
Liu Aiyun said: "To be honest, I have been feeling uneasy these past few days. It is safer in your escort agency."
After hearing this, Jia Si quickly arranged a guest room for him, and Liu Aiyun stayed here temporarily.
Because Lin Hai and Su Zheng had all passed away, Jia Huan went to the escort office every day. When he heard about this, his heart skipped a beat and he said, "Cong'er once said that the Liu family has a very strong sixth sense. Nothing will happen to them, right?"
Then he thought about it and called Jia Baoyu back from the academy because of Jia's mother's illness.
After the prince left Beijing, the Xue family naturally found it inconvenient to live in the Wang family, so they moved back to their house in Beijing. Although the second room of the Jia family fell out with the Xue family, Jia Huan and Xue Pan were on good terms; because of these few
Xue Baochai was in charge of the family's property throughout the year and had a lot of contacts with Jia Huan. Jia Huan then went to the Xue family again and advised the Xue family to stay in Rongguo Mansion or Taiping Escort Bureau for the time being, in case something went wrong.
Take care of.
Baochai was a very smart person and had received many advices from Xue Pan, so he advised Aunt Xue: "Huan'er is not a person who listens to the wind and rain, and he has a wide circle of friends in Beijing. I'm afraid he has gained some trust. Our mother
All three of my sons are girls, I am young, and my family is wealthy. If not, just listen to him."
Aunt Xue hesitated and said, "How can I have the dignity to go to Rongguo Mansion again? Yesterday you said that the actor was staying at their escort agency."
Baochai hurriedly said: "Liu and his brother are partners in business and have helped our family a lot. Mom must not have misunderstood anything."
Aunt Xue twisted her eyebrows and said: "What did your brother make him obsessed with? He refuses to get married. Where did I misunderstand him?"
Baochai said: "I have watched with cold eyes over the years. My brother has never given him any money. When he helped his brother deal with some business matters, he only took a share of the money to be the shopkeeper. In my opinion, this Mr. Liu
I'm afraid he just wants to use his brother to get involved in sea goods, so that he can get rid of his identity as an actor in the future. If he doesn't have the intention, what can his brother do if he has the intention? Besides, I see how his brother has been thinking about him in the past two years.
It's a lot lighter. As for getting married, I'm afraid he's too busy to take care of it."
After hearing what she said clearly, Aunt Xue somewhat believed it. Then she sighed: "It would be great if it were like this. I just hope that your brother will marry a serious wife soon so that he can take over your affairs. Otherwise, how can you get away?
You're getting married. You're already nineteen, how can you go on like this?"
Baochai smiled calmly and changed her words.
The next day Baochai sent someone to tell Jia Huan that their family was willing to temporarily avoid going to the Taiping Escort Bureau. Jia Huan couldn't help but laugh. As far as the Xue family was concerned, living in Rongguo Mansion was more comfortable than living in the Escort Bureau, but they would rather come to the Escort Bureau.
This shows how much Aunt Xue loves face.
Suddenly I thought of Su Zheng's granddaughter Su Cheng, and spent a long time coaxing her into a promise to take refuge in the Rongguo Mansion temporarily and live in the girls' yard. Jia Mu likes young girls, and I heard that she is
The daughter of the Su family became more and more happy and often invited her over to talk.
Seeing that the days were passing by and everything was peaceful in the capital, Jia Huan thought that he was overthinking it.
Suddenly one day, horses galloped on the street, and rebels surrounded Xiaoci County. The saint and the civil and military officials of the court were all trapped! There was a huge earthquake in the middle of Beijing. It turned out that Cao Datong, the commander-in-chief of Tianjin, rebelled and surrounded the emperor.
Ling. Jia Huan was anxious, Jia Zheng and his two gentlemen were there! He quickly sent people to rush to Panlong Mountain. Although Liu Xianglian went to Jinling, Ge Qiao was still there, and he immediately led two hundred brothers to rush all night
Come down the mountain. There are too many people and I dare not go to the escort office. I first go to the big house in the south of the city to set up camp. Ge Qiao rushes to Rongguo Mansion by himself.
Jia Huan is sitting on pins and needles at the moment. Yuanyang and Su Cheng's girl Li Xia are in front of him. One is sent by Jia Mu to urge him to find a way to save his father, and the other is sent by Su Cheng to urge him to find a way to save his father.
To save his husband, Jia Huan hadn't received any real information yet, so he couldn't tell him anything. Hearing someone outside say that Uncle Ge was here, he hurriedly said: "The people discussing the matter are here! Both girls are invited.
Go back temporarily and tell the old lady and Miss Su to feel at ease. I will go with him to the escort office to discuss things." He rubbed oil on his feet and ran away.
He went straight out, took Ge Qiao with him to the escort office, and ordered someone to invite Luo Tainiang over.
At that moment, Luo Tainiang came and told her some recent news. Cao Datong only led 6,000 men and horses. He bypassed the imperial army from the mountain path and attacked the imperial tomb. Now the saints, civil and military officials are all in his hands, and others
I didn't dare to move for a while. The one who led the rescue was Gan Lei, the president of the Royal Forest Army. The others were just paying off, but there were so many people there, and they only relied on the monks and nuns nearby to send some meals every day. You may not be able to get enough if you all take orders together. Jia Huan
He said sadly: "Looking at it like this, even if you want to rush in and snatch the master and the two gentlemen out, it will be difficult." So they discussed for a long time, and first they had to find a way to feed the people inside.
The next day, Liu Aiyun returned to the troupe and invited several leading members of his fan club to go over together. He said: "Today, being trapped by rebels is like a dragon swimming in the shallows and being tricked by a shrimp, or a tiger falling flat and being bullied by a dog."
. Loyalty to the community does not matter in size, and respect for the emperor has nothing to do with status. However, I am just an actor, and I am unable to save him. There is only one thing. I am very sad to hear that the Holy Sage and all your lords did not have enough food and drink in the imperial mausoleum. If you are interested, please join me, if you have money.
If you have the money and the strength to do so, we will take turns delivering three meals a day to the emperor and all your lords. There is no need for fancy delicacies, just ordinary rice and steamed buns. We are ordinary people, not the Royal Guards, so the rebels don't have to deny us entry if they want to come."
Those fanatics all followed his lead, and they all claimed that they were, and praised them for a long time. Many of them were rich people, so what was a mere piece of rice and noodles? They all went back and prepared their things with great vigor, and transported them to Xiaoci County by the truckload.
He borrowed the local people's kitchen stove and cooked it. Gan Lei heard about it and praised it greatly! "It's rare for an actor to have the heart to repay the emperor. It shows that the emperor is very kind."
Liu Aiyun personally led a group of fans who were delivering rations to the formations of the two armies. He bowed his hands to the rebel soldiers and said, "Young man Liu, please see General Cao."
Cao Datong also heard that an actor and his fans came to deliver food to the emperor. He thought it was interesting and called him in to hear what the actor had to say.
Liu Aiyun led a boy into the military tent, and calmly bowed to Cao Datong: "Thank you, General, for meeting this villain."
Cao Datong snorted coldly: "You are an actor, do you really appreciate the emperor's kindness?"
Liu Aiyun shook her head: "No. The villain and his fans are ordinary people, they just love drama. But we all have relatives and friends who are trapped in it for various reasons. Some are minor officials and were brought here to pay their respects.
Yes, some of them are servants who follow the gentlemen. I heard that monks and nuns nearby deliver vegetarian meals to the nobles every day. But I don’t know how many monks and nuns there are nearby? How many vegetarian meals can be delivered? Needless to say, they must be close to the emperor’s family.
Eat first when you are full, then eat together with the eldest and younger wives of the emperor's brothers and sons. Then come the adults with higher official titles and their wives. Finally, come the minor officials. As for the servants, everyone can eat a bite.
Not bad. So we prepared a lot of rice and steamed buns, which are ordinary dry food, and everyone can be full. It is more than the vegetarian meals sent by the masters. Only with more, the servants can have a full meal. General
, the villain does not want to bring food to the emperor and the adults; it is just that if the emperor does not eat enough, the villain's friends will also be hungry. Besides, if the villain only delivers food to an old servant of an adult, will he dare to eat it?
?”
Cao Datong was stunned. After a long time, he smiled and said: "That's it! What can I say, that old thief has never done anything good that benefits the country and the people, so that he can provoke an actor to give him food."
Liu Aiyun said with a smile: "Anyway, what the general wants is the emperor. What is the use of ordinary officials? They just work for the emperor to earn a salary. Working in a shop with ordinary clerks and earning a salary is generally useless."
Wei. How about letting all the adults come out and leaving the disciples of the Tian family alone?"
Cao Datong snorted: "Why didn't you let your friend out?"
Liu Aiyun sighed: "I don't know how the general and the saint will resolve this chaos in the future, but it will be resolved one day, right? If the general lets my friend out alone, we don't know how long he can survive."
The boy behind him smiled and said: "Besides, there are many smart people among these adults. Let them be released to prevent them from coming up with any evil ideas and ruining the general's affairs."
Cao Datong raised his eyes and looked at the boy. He was only fourteen or fifteen years old, slightly chubby, and had a naive smile. He asked: "What kind of evil ideas can they come up with? Anyway, they are all in the palm of my hand." He squeezed his fist.
The boy said: "How do I know? There are often cobblers but not Zhuge Liang. There are so many adults in the court who have studied, and there must be some who are particularly smart. What if they come up with some weird and weird ideas? General
Isn’t it impossible to guard against it?”
Cao Datong glanced at him and said, "You don't have to coax me. If Situ Yan disguises himself as some old servant and a coachman and sneaks away, won't my work be in vain?"
The boy smiled and said, "It's not like you don't know Situ Yan. Even if he disguises himself, wouldn't it be over if he just fetched a plate of water and asked everyone to wash their faces before leaving?"
After hearing this, Cao Datong gave him a determined look: "Do you know who Situ Yan is?"
The boy said: "Isn't he a saint today?"
Cao Datong said happily: "Not bad! You dare to call his name, you have the courage!"
The boy chuckled and raised his hands: "Thank you for the compliment, General." He added, "Well... I just said it casually, and the General just listened. General, you are not very smart right now."
Cao Datong glanced at him.
"Look, this is not far from the capital, and you don't have many people. In addition to the Royal Forest Army in Beijing, there are also soldiers and horses from Hebei, who will be here soon. You have so many people in your hands, and there are
Many of them are literati, old men and women, who have to eat, drink, and defecate every day. When the stall is big, it is difficult to take care of it. Why are these people useful? Is it because they are alive? As time goes by, if some of them die, they will be worthless.
There are also petty officials who are worthless. The hostages are not in abundance but in quality. It is better to discard the old, weak, sick and disabled ones inside, and only keep some people named Situ and military generals. If the generals are released, they will probably lead troops.
It's better to beat you than to be trapped inside. Even if the general is negotiating with the court, the most important thing is not the saint's family? What's the use of others?"
Cao Datong laughed loudly when he heard this, pointed at him and said: "Boy, which civil servant's son are you from?"
The boy made a face: "You have guessed all this. The general is so smart. Hey, it's just that I don't dare to tell you who I am. Anyway, he is just a small civil servant. He is more or less."
Why don't you just let him out? You see, I'm so smart, and I can still help you with some ideas; if it's useful, I'll take it as a ransom and ransom me. What does the general think?"
Cao Datong high-fived: "Good boy! That's all, you are so smart, I don't want to kill you. It's just that what you just said is too important, I have to think about it again."
The boy hung his head in disappointment, and after a while he said again: "Then... can dry food be sent in? I'm really worried about my father. Man said that he has a servant, and his little official, who is as big as sesame seeds, can only have a mouthful for him.
He eats well."
Cao Datong thought for a while, the emperor's family couldn't be hungry - and they couldn't all starve to death, so it would be useless. What the child said made sense, so he said: "It's rare for you to be filial, so I will help you."
.”
The boy cheered and gave a deep salute: "Thank you General for your kindness!" He added, "In order not to arouse the suspicion of the brothers in the General's tent, we will not send the things inside, but only send them to the door to call the people inside.
Take it, what do you think, General?"
Just now, Cao Datong was still thinking about whether they would send some agents to pretend to be delivery people to collude with them, but this guy said it first. He was really a well-rounded person. So he pretended to say: "Since I believe in your filial piety, you don't have to
So cautious."
The boy said: "Thanks to the general for being so considerate, I should try my best not to cause trouble to the general."
When the two of them left the rebel camp, they ordered people to carry baskets of dry food. Cao Datong's people followed them through the camp and to the entrance of the imperial mausoleum. They shouted in unison: "Today, Liu Aiyun, Liu's fellow enthusiasts,
Yes, I’m here to deliver food to the emperor and all your lords~~~” The echo echoed back and forth, spreading far and wide.