The news of the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Luanhe made Cixi sigh deeply, but there was nothing she could do about it. The people under her command were so virtuous, and she was already used to it. Victory would be a surprise!
"Prince Qing, don't be too sad. This child Zai Zhen looks good and will definitely turn disaster into good luck." She looked at Yi Kuang who was crying and comforted him and said, the news of Bodisu's death in battle was confirmed.
Even the corpses were snatched back from the battlefield by two loyal Goshiha. Of course, what she didn't know was that no one cared about the dead bodies by the Luanhe River. She could just go and claim them by herself. Now a large number of family members of the missing persons have come to look for them.
, Yang Feng was originally so crazy that he wanted to send someone there to guard the collection, but later he gave up because he felt it was too shameless.
"Old Buddha, it is my honor to die for my son for the country. I will only be happy that he died a worthy death, and I will never be sad about it. But I am worried now that Yang Ni will become even more aggressive after this war." Yi Kuang
He said that he was really not worried about his son's death. This old guy had already sent people to look for him. As a result, he searched the entire battlefield but could not find Zai Zhen's body. He only found the bodies of his own soldier and his horse.
, which means that Zai Zhen is not dead, most likely he was captured by Yang Feng.
This is what he is worried about now. He seems to have a vague feeling that it would be better for Zai Zhen to die in battle. Yang Feng is notorious, especially when it comes to money. He is a villain who burns, kills, and loots even people's ancestral graves.
His son had such a big fat mass in his hands. If he didn't scrape off a hundred pounds of fat, he would probably be struck by lightning.
"Humph, what else can he do?" Cixi said with a sneer, but despite her words, she still felt a little guilty. From the current situation, it seems that Yang Feng has no problem going straight to Beijing. In this case, don't let him break the pot.
, or in other words, don't anger him anymore for the time being.
"The Ai family's decree is to say that the soldiers who died in the battle by the Luan River were killed by suppressing bandits. No one is allowed to discuss this battle anymore." She hesitated and said to Yikuang.
"It seems that this is all we can do. The traitor is rampant first. When Yi Shuai's army arrives and Rong Zhongtang leads his army northward, we will see how the traitor can laugh at that time." Yi Kuang said, Yi Kuang said.
Ketang'a also organized and trained a new army in Shenyang during this period, and is now heading south from Fengtian to attack Shanhaiguan.
At this time, Mr. Zai, who had a fat head, big ears, and good fortune, was dying of hunger in the jail in Linyu County. Since he was captured, only one military doctor checked his body and made sure that he was unharmed. Then he was thrown directly into the prison.
He was given a separate cell. The environment here was undoubtedly as scary as hell for him, who had lived in fine clothes since he was a child. He slept on moldy straw, guarded the toilet full of stench, and the ground was full of bedbugs. More importantly,
It's been a whole day, but no one has given me anything to eat or drink.
"Eat? You are not a prisoner. You are not a prisoner. The prisoners' food here is rationed. There is no extra for you." The jailer sneered at his request.
Damn it, I'm not a prisoner, why are you locking me here? Mr. Zai cried out with grief and anger in his heart. Of course, he couldn't say this. He had to ask with a smile on his face how he could have food.
"Ah, in a situation like yours, you have to pay for it yourself." He was then taken to the warden. Then he saw a very gentle guy wearing glasses saying to him in an official tone.
"But I don't have any money on me." Zai Zhen said with a sad face. His valuables had long been confiscated by the soldiers who captured him. Indeed, except for his clothes, he didn't have a penny now.
"This is simple, you can write an IOU. Then we will go to your house to ask for money. If you want money, we can deduct your food expenses from it. Don't worry about this. We are very reasonable and will never do it.
Of course, we can't feed you for nothing if you do that kind of naughty thing of treating prisoners of war. As long as you have money, even if you want to eat bird's nests and shark's fins, or even change to a more comfortable room, even if you need to find a woman, these are all perfectly fine.
." The warden said with a kind expression.
That was not easy to handle, just write it. Mr. Zai quickly took a pen and paper and wrote an IOU for ten thousand taels of silver, stamped his own fingerprint on it and handed it to the warden.
"Ten thousand taels? Are you sure that's the number?" The warden looked at the IOU and asked with confusion.
Zai Zhen nodded blankly.
"I think I have to remind you that such a small amount of money can only provide you with basic food for two days at most." The warden said with a kind expression.
Zai Zhen almost sprayed blood on his face.
"What is the most basic diet?" he asked in a trembling voice.
"It's very simple. It's just an ordinary vegetable and soup. If there is meat, the price will be more expensive. Those of you who come from wealthy families don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are now, especially in this winter, everything is expensive.
, To be honest, I have to live my life carefully now." The warden sighed and said, obviously he was very dissatisfied with the quality of his life.
Mr. Zai was so dumbfounded that he stood there speechless and speechless.
"Of course, in order to reflect the humane management of our prisons, we are launching a monthly discount campaign during this period. If you buy the second-level catering service for 300,000 taels, which is a meal with fish and meat, you can get adjusted housing and free meals.
These two special rewards are to have a maid at home to take care of him." Looking at his expression, the warden said seriously.
Zai Zhen didn't know that he was being slaughtered as a fat sheep, but he was originally a super prodigal. As long as he could get out of the current sea of misery, he wouldn't care about money. Isn't it just three hundred thousand taels of silver? I paid for it.
But he is willing to pay, but his father is not willing to pay.
"Go back and tell Yang Feng that I don't have this son. If you want to kill him, kill him as soon as possible. Don't expect me to pay a tael of silver!" Yi Kuang shouted at the messenger who came to ask for money with an IOU. Beside him,
Zai Zhen's mother was crying and waving her armored claws to scratch him, but even so, Yi Kuang, whose eyes were bloodshot, refused to pay for his son's living expenses.
"This, this, what kind of father is this? You are not as good as a beast!" After hearing the news, Yang Feng said as sadly and angrily as Brother Dao. Then he thought about it and said to his officer who was playing the role of the warden: "
Go tell Mr. Zai that his father has said that he has never given birth to a son. He doesn’t know how to pay for it, so we have no choice but to apologize."
The officer quickly suppressed his laughter and went back to tell Zai Zhen.
Because it takes time to go back and forth to Beijing, and to prevent Mr. Zai from starving to death, during this period, out of humanitarian considerations, he was given a dry steamed bun and a glass of cold water every day, which tortured Mr. Zai Zhen until his eyes turned green. He could even see a rat passing by the cell.
I pounced on him, now that I heard the news, I was going crazy.
"Does he think of me as his son? Go tell him, I don't think of him as his father! He doesn't pay, right? Who has he paid over the years?
, I know very well who I have interacted with to displease Lafayette. Since he is unkind, don’t blame me for being unjust. If he doesn’t pay, I will blame him.” Zai Zhen shouted, jumping on his feet.
Yang Feng's envoy quickly drove to Beijing to convey the message to him. Yikuang was dumbfounded when he heard this.
"This, this, this traitor!" The old guy burst into tears.
"My lord, please calm down. In fact, the prince was so hungry that he said this. I have a suggestion. To be honest, you must pay for this money, right? After all, it is your own flesh and blood, so why not just do it this way?"
How about buying him out?" the messenger hurriedly advised.
"How much?" Yikuang gritted his teeth and said, this is indeed something that can be considered, otherwise Yang Feng may have him in his hands, and he may not be able to do any harm in the future.
"Five hundred thousand taels," the messenger said, holding out a palm.
"What?" Yikuang jumped up directly.
"Your Majesty, please listen to me. Five hundred thousand taels is not only a simple way to bring the crown prince back, we can also provide you with some special packaging services. For example, didn't the imperial court fail? And it was a miserable defeat, but if Mr. Zai
I was not captured, but was pulled behind during the retreat. Then I lurked northward alone. With my great wisdom and courage, I reached Shanhaiguan and found out the layout of our army. At this time, I was discovered by our army. After a fierce battle,
You stole one of our horses and killed it back? Our horses are Arabian horses, completely different from the court's military horses. Of course, you have to pay an additional ten thousand taels for this horse." The messenger said with a smile.
Yikuang couldn't help but feel something in his heart. This was indeed a business worth doing. In this way, he would definitely be able to keep his official position as the governor after Zai Zhen came back. Moreover, Lafayette liked such stories the most and might even favor him. These days
To put it bluntly, you have to control the army. Only by controlling the army can you be invincible. Just look at Li Erjie. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to all the trouble to get Zai Zhen into the new army. But that's it.
The price was a bit too high, half a million! When he thought of this number, he couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Your Majesty, it's only five hundred thousand taels of silver. You've earned it back in a year with your own methods. How can you get anything in return for not paying anything?" The envoy guessed his thoughts and whispered from the side.
"You allow me to think about it again." Yikuang said hesitantly, he still wanted to bargain.
"What else is there to consider? My lord, you must understand that our court cannot drive us away. The reason why Mr. Yang does not enter Beijing is actually just to train troops in the north. Do you think that the people in Zhongtang can do this?"
Are you blocking us? So we won’t leave before spring. If we don’t leave, Mr. Zai will have to stay with us all the time. It’s 300,000 taels a month. How long are you going to pay for it?”
The messenger said with a smile. (To be continued...)