Heifu served as an official in Xianyang and got married in Xianyang. In total, he lived here for two years, so he was very familiar with this city. After crossing the Wei Bridge, he had skilled memories everywhere. The carriage had not yet turned the corner, and he could
Know what the next street scene will feature.
But most of the people under his command, whether they were rural children from Nanjun or soldiers who were exiled from Lingnan, came to the imperial capital for the first time in their lives, and they immediately felt a great shock.
Following Heifu Rong's chariot, everyone held their breath.
The scale of Xianyang City is something they have never heard of. It has no outer walls, which makes the city appear even more boundless. Although the imperial court centered on it has been defeated by the country people in the south and the territory has shrunk sharply, it has not affected the prosperity of the city at all:
Xianyang has a population of one million, while Jiangling and Wan, the largest cities that the Northern Expeditionary Army visited before, only have about 100,000 people. How do second- and third-tier provincial capital cities compare with first-tier giant cities?
After crossing the magnificent Wei Bridge across the Tianhe River like a rainbow, the soldiers could see that in front of them was a prosperous city. There were elm trees, locust trees, and lush forests on both sides of the road in the city.
The square courtyard is lined with orderly houses. Such a good plan is obviously the work of Shang Yang, a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
At present, every guest in the village is guarded by soldiers from the Northern Expedition, and the door is closed tightly. This is to avoid greater chaos.
When passing the Weibei Riverside Avenue, Xianyang South City is here, which is a place for trading horses, cattle, sheep, corn, rice and other livestock and grain. In the past, during the peace, the horses and sheep sent from Shuofang, Shangjun, and Beidi neighed, and they came from Guandong.
The food was also coming and going, piled up like mountains, and it was very lively. You could hear the sounds coming from the city more than ten miles away.
But today, it was very deserted, so the soldiers didn't feel deeply.
The most magnificent ones are the Xianyang Palaces on Beiban.
Looking at it from a distance, I don't know what palace or tower it is. It is far higher than the inner city wall. It stands tall and majestic, as if it is connected with the sky. Its solemn tower is just like Ji Ying once used unkind words to the villagers.
As described:
"As if suspended in the air."
In short, all the soldiers of the Northern Expedition who came to Xianyang for the first time had their eyes widened and felt that their eyes were not enough.
If people hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn't believe it. The scale of this city is unparalleled. Even the bravest people can't help but tremble when they see such a majestic landscape.
What soon grew was greed...
"How much food, money and silk should there be in such a big city?"
Although, the soldiers still cannot fully understand what is in those palaces and shops:
The broad square paved with stone slabs, the narrow corridor between the two palaces' earthen walls, the tall and mighty twelve golden figures, the grand hall decorated with gold and jade, the fully displayed bronze ritual vessels, and the rows of chimes, from large to small.
The tripod gui, the copper lamp candle holder that can illuminate the whole Xianyang brightly, and the beautiful lacquerware.
There is also the endless wealth plundered from the six kingdoms when Qin Shi Huang unified the world, jade, gold nuggets, beads, strings of half a tael of money in the treasury, large gold cakes packed in boxes...
As well as the bamboo slips and tablets that condensed thousands of years of Chinese wisdom, the history of the twelve princes, and the works of hundreds of schools of thought, they all lie quietly in several libraries of the Yushi Mansion.
Everyone was salivating. If it weren't for the constraints of military law, and if Marquis Wu Zhong wasn't walking at the front with his baby in his arms, all the soldiers would have been unable to move their legs and would have rushed into those palaces and robbed them!
Heifu could feel the shock and greed of his soldiers. Most of these soldiers who were qualified to follow him into Xianyang had been with Yunmeng since he raised his army. Their military discipline was the best among the entire army. Even they were the wealth of this city.
The temptation makes you restless, let alone other troops?
Human nature is evil, and desires need to be channeled rather than blocked. Heifu knows what he relies on to get to where he is today. He cannot let his soldiers brave arrows and stones to walk all the way to Xianyang, only to return empty-handed in the end...
So before entering the city, Heifu asked the army to pass the order: "Let the forward army have official officials and civil servants, seal the treasury, ban the palaces, collect the Prime Minister's censor's laws and regulations, and store them. He also told the soldiers in the villages to wait for the counterfeit goods to be issued."
There will be great rewards behind the emperor's treasury, and those who dare to plunder will be punished, and those who dare to offend officials and common people will die!"
Having said that, Hei Fu cannot guarantee whether the soldiers who were ordered to seal the treasury and guard the palace rooms would secretly stuff something into their lapels? After all, when the Qin army defeated Shouchun, Wang Jian also issued a similar order.
But Heifu and his men also enriched their own pockets and obtained the first pot of gold. Otherwise, how would they have the money to expand the sugarcane fields...
With the heart of one person and the hearts of thousands of people, what he couldn't do back then could be accomplished by the soldiers of the Northern Expedition who were not as enlightened as him?
Heifu didn't expect that. His request was just to put an end to murder, arson, and deceiving the people, so that he could go to Beijing to take the exam and get a passing grade.
"At least, no more Chu people will set fire to the scorched earth... This city will not have to be destroyed in one day!"
"The money in Hu Hai's private treasury is taken from the people and returned to the people. It is not too much."
Thinking like this, the carriages and horses stopped, and when they raised their heads, they saw that the majestic Xianyang Palace had arrived...
…
There was a group of people waiting in front of the Xianyang Palace. Ji Ying stood at the front with a proud face. Next to him was a carriage with what looked like a corpse lying on it. There was also a man with disheveled hair kneeling on the ground on the side of the carriage.
Man, holding a sword high in both hands...
Wang Wu arrived panting behind Heifu's car. Only then did Zhou Qingchen understand.
The protagonists who surrendered today were obviously not them, but someone else...
Hei Fu put down the little kid he had been holding for a long time and asked someone to take him down to take care of him. He then ordered the charioteer to drive to Ji Ying, pointing to the kneeling man and saying:
"Who is this?"
The man raised his head, revealing a honest but haggard face: "Cui Chen Ying, I have met Marquis Wu Zhong."
Heifu looked surprised: "Why is Zong Zheng so haggard?"
Ziying sighed: "That day in Meiling, I thought I would never see you again. I was so sad that I wished I could go with you. In addition, the water poison recurred, and I thought it was going to be ruined. Later I heard that your ruler had launched an army in the south, and he still wanted to go with me."
I was doubtful, but I never imagined that I would actually see you again. I am overjoyed!"
"What sword is this again?"
Ziying said: "This sword of the emperor is Tai'a sword!"
The emperor always wore a sword. Ever since Qin Shihuang got hold of the legendary Spring and Autumn sword "Tai'a", he couldn't put it down and thought it was the sword of the emperor. Heihu often wore it when he was a doctor.
"I dare to tell Marquis Wu Zhong that Zhao Gao wanted to rob the puppet emperor and fled east to Xihe (Hexi, south of Hancheng, Shaanxi). He offered the emperor's seal and the Emperor's Sword to the Chu people, but Ying couldn't even make him succeed, so he attacked him.
I tried my best to persuade the puppet emperor to surrender to Marquis Wuzhong, but Hu Hai..."
Ziying lowered his head and said: "Hu Hai knew that he had committed a serious crime and hanged himself in a pavilion by the Zhengguo Canal. Ying had no choice but to collect his body and offer it together with the Emperor's Sword!"
"So, this is Hu Hai's corpse?"
Heifu was slightly moved and asked Ji Ying to open the carriage mat, only to see a stiff corpse lying there, still wearing the emperor's crown, and there was an obvious strangulation mark on his neck...
Judging from his appearance, it is indeed Hu Hai, but the possibility of a substitute cannot be ruled out.
"Zhou Qingchen, Wang Wu?"
Heifu called to the two surrendered Jiuqings behind him and asked them to come closer and take a look.
"But Hu Hai?"
Wang Wu took a closer look and saw that it was really Hu Hai. Although he had a lot of objections to this ridiculous emperor, seeing the miserable state of his death still made his nose sore and he almost burst into tears on the spot. He muttered: "It seems to be Hu Hai himself..."
"
Unexpectedly, Zhou Qingchen on the side immediately shouted: "This is definitely Hu Hai. I remember the mole on his face. It can't be fake!"
Wang Wu was tricked by Lao Zhou again.
Hei Fu was very satisfied with Zhou Qingchen's attitude, and asked the officials who had followed him to come forward. Although there were many people who were secretly wiping tears, in front of Hei Fu, everyone learned the lesson, no matter whether they had met Hu Hai before or not.
, everyone insisted that this was Hu Hai, who could not die any more!
Ziying sneered in his heart, wishing that he could immediately draw his sword and kill these officials who had forgotten the kindness of the Ying family. He understood that Hei Fu had to make everyone convinced that the false emperor was dead and there would be no more trouble.
coming.
Afterwards, according to Ziying's imagination, Heifu, who always liked to lie, would announce that Hu Hai had committed suicide. He would even sigh at Hu Hai's corpse and say, "Why don't you wait for me?" Then he would be buried hastily.
In this way, Marquis Wu Zhong achieved Jing Nan's slogan of punishing violence, and the Qin royal family was able to end with dignity, preserving Hu Hai's last shred of dignity.
The most important thing is that with this achievement, his son Ying will continue to rise to the court and be appointed by Wu Zhonghou as the new leader of the court, responsible for restraining the young masters.
But Ziying will secretly find a way to preserve the blood of the public family for the future...
The situation in Guanzhong is not optimistic. Heifu cannot usurp the throne in a short time. As long as he survives, there is hope.
But what he never expected was that Heifu skipped Hu Hai's funeral and said first:
"Zong Zhengying..."
After Shifu'er, who was ordered to inspect Hu Hai's body, said a few words, Heifushu looked at Ziying for a long time and suddenly announced something to everyone:
"Zong Zhengying is a really strange person. He inherited Shi Que's style. Although he was deeply trusted by Hu Hai, he still killed his relatives in a righteous way. He personally killed Hu Hai who was trying to usurp the puppet emperor and the queen Wang Shilai!"
The officials who secretly wept for Hu Hai were stunned and looked at Ziying.
Is this true?
In the past, they were Hu Hai's closest friends, and later they were the only two people he trusted. Zi Ying, who had always been honest, obedient and well-received, would do such a thing in order to survive and get rich?
This is much more serious than simply leaving the city and surrendering...
Zhou Qingchen could not hide his surprise, while Wang Wu secretly gnashed his teeth.
The Emperor's Sword in Ziying's hand fell to the ground with a clatter, and he was stunned.
"Young has made great contributions to the country and should be rewarded with a title! He succeeded his father to the title of Qi, and his title..."
Heifu looked at the shock on Ziying's face, and with a meaningful smile, he said the words that the three Ziyings had worked hard to obediently for half their lives and tried to erase from themselves:
