Finally, Han Qian, together with Xi Rong, Yang Qin, Zhao Wuji, Kong Xirong, Feng Yi and others, disguised themselves as a private salt trafficking team and took Princess Qingyang with them from the Wuliao people's territory along the Qianjiang River southward, and then from Sizhou.
On the trail at the southern foot of Wuling Mountain within the territory, we traveled all the way across mountains and rivers, over rugged mountains, and endured hardships. We finally arrived at Longya City successfully on the fourth day of February.
At this time in Xuzhou, it is already the season of spring and flowers blooming.
Looking at the clusters of winter jasmine flowers hanging from the cliff in Laolong Gorge, Han Qian had mixed feelings.
The bizarre dream five years ago seemed to have filled his body with soul fragments that were completely different from this era, and also alienated him from the world to a certain extent.
His father's tragic death not only made him miserable, but also made him feel at a loss. At this moment, he saw several clusters of winter jasmine flowers hanging from the cliff of Laolong Gorge in full bloom. Han Qian called him
He felt moved by the feeling of coming home.
Seeing that Han Qian's beard and hair were unkempt, with a few inches of stubble on his messy beard, his eye sockets were sunken, his cheeks were thin and almost out of shape, his long unkempt hair was stained white with frost, his clothes were ragged, and he looked haggard, like a beggar, Zhao Ting'er
Holding her belly, which was several months pregnant, tears flowed down uncontrollably.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were pregnant?" Han Qian took Zhao Ting'er's hand and asked.
"At first Ting'er didn't confirm it. By the time she was pregnant, her father had already gone to Jinling. Ting'er didn't want you to be distracted by this matter, so she didn't rush to tell you about it in the letter. Who would have thought that such a shocking change would happen in Jinling later?
?" Zhao Ting'er wiped the tears on her face and said, "Feng Liao, Uncle Lao Shan, has collected dad's body and escorted it to Longya City."
Han Qian stood in front of Laolong Gorge with his eyes closed for a long time. Without saying anything or asking anything, he walked towards Longya City with his quinoa staff.
Qingyang has a deep understanding of the dangers of the trails at the southern foot of Qianjiang River and Wuling Mountain.
Even though she had someone to support her along the way, it was hard work, but what made her even more unhappy was that Han Qian's temperament became cold and cruel, and he ignored her, so she was forced to go through a bumpy journey and was kidnapped to Xuzhou.
I don’t know what kind of drastic changes happened in Jinling.
At this time, listening to Zhao Ting'er's words, I saw Tian Cheng, Zhao Qi, Feng Zhang, Lin Haizheng, Ji Xiyao, Chen Jitang, who were waiting for Han Qian in Laolong Gorge, and Guo Nuer who stayed in Longya City to monitor the movements of Chenxu and other prefectures and counties, as well as from
Feng Liao, Han Laoshan and others who had gone through great pains to escort Han Daoxun's coffin to Longya City in Jinling were all wearing mourning clothes. She was also shocked: Han Daoxun was dead?
But she didn't have the chance to ask for details, so she asked Xi Ying to arrange for someone to escort her to Longya City in a carriage first, and then put her under house arrest in a separate courtyard.
…………
…………
The news that Han Daoxun died tragically after being quartered with five horses had already reached Xuzhou, and Xuzhou was also immersed in an atmosphere of grief and indignation.
They were hiding all the way, not wanting to attract the attention of any force. Han Qian and the others disguised themselves as private salt dealers and walked around the mountains. They returned to Longya City and put on their mourning clothes again.
Han Daoxun's coffin was escorted to Longya City in half a month, but Zhao Ting'er firmly believed that Han Qian would rush back to Xuzhou as soon as possible after escaping from Shu, and the black sandalwood coffin was still placed in the mourning hall.
Surrounded by cloth flags and incense candles.
Han Qian knelt in front of the coffin, his heart aching for a moment. He never thought that the tragic fate of being quartered on five horses, which he should have borne, would befall his father.
"On December 22, Caizhou's Jiedu envoy Zuo Yadu commanded Han Yuanqi and led his troops to rebel. He killed Han Jian, the Jiedu envoy, and seized the military power of Caizhou. He occupied Caizhou, the south of Ruzhou, and the north of Guangzhou. The world denounced Emperor Liang for being cruel and unkind, with unfair rewards and punishments, and proclaimed himself King of Cai. At that time, King Yong Zhu Yu falsely claimed in Guanzhong that the Shu army was sending troops from Liangzhou to attack Chencang, but was unable to divide his troops to attack Han, Yuan and Qi. Emperor Liang had no choice but to send King Bo Zhu Gui and his deputy privy envoys to Feng Ting'e, the commander of the guards and horsemen, led 80,000 forbidden army horsemen to march south to attack Han Yuanqi. On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, King Yong Zhu Yu led 20,000 soldiers of the Xuanjiadu elite to ride out of Tongguan and march westward along the river. Taking advantage of the empty defense of Bianjing, ten On the fifth day, he invaded Bianjing with lightning speed, imprisoned Emperor Liang in Qiuyang Palace, usurped the throne and ascended the throne..."
In addition to Tian Cheng, Feng Liao and others outside Longya City, the Third Prince, Shen Yang, Zheng Hui and others also expected that Han Qian might return to Xuzhou after leaving Shu, and specially ordered Gao Shao and Jiang Huo to Came to Xuzhou to wait for news about Han Qian.
Seeing Han Qian kneeling motionless in front of the coffin like a statue, Jiang Huo didn't know if his mind was on the current situation. At the moment, he could only bite the bullet and introduce the current situation between Liang and Chu.
It was also at this time that Yang Qin and the others knew that around the end of the 16th year of Tianyou's reign, not only Dachu but also Liang had undergone earth-shaking changes.
After learning that Han Daoxun had accepted the order to be appointed to Jinling in early November, Han Qian further concentrated the scouts he had in private in Shouzhou, Chuzhou, Jinling and other places to keep an eye on the Shouzhou Jiedushi, Anning Palace, East Palace and Movements in the direction of Chuzhou Xinwang and others.
On the seventh day of the first lunar month in Shu, they all learned that Han Daoxun had been tortured to death by being quartered with five horses. On the eleventh day, he fled south in panic. The spies and spies who were lurking in Shu at that time also focused their attention on the Shu army and Shu Zhizhou on the way south. Due to the commotion in the county, Han Qian was not aware of such a drastic change in the Liang Kingdom along the way.
Yang Qin, Xi Rong and the others stood in front of the mourning hall, and were frightened to listen to Jiang Huo's account of the earth-shaking turmoil between Liang and Chu in the past two months.
Seeing that Han Qian was indifferent, Jiang Huo continued to talk about the current situation in Jinling:
"Zongzhengqing Yang En, Shizhong Shi Yandao, Zhenyuanhou Yang Jian and others supported the crown prince and General Zhaowu. After the news came out that Kou Shixiong, the commander of Zuo Shenwei Army, was beheaded by his general Chen Qiao, Xinchanghou Li Pu and Shifei were worried After the Louchuan Army navy was controlled by Anning Palace, Chuzhou soldiers and horses could not cross the river immediately, and the Longque Army could not move eastward along the river at the fastest speed, so they abandoned Taowuji and led their troops east to occupy Runzhou. The Longque Army gathered more than 40,000 children in Taowu, but their actions were slow. Unfortunately, a large number of women and children were intercepted by the pursuers at the southeastern foot of Baohua Mountain. More than 10,000 people were regarded as rebels and brought back to Jinling to beheaded in public. After learning about the drastic changes in the Liang Kingdom, King Xin gathered 100,000 troops in Chuzhou on the 18th day of the first lunar month and went south to occupy Guangling Mansion in Yangzhou. He also divided his troops to cross the river and entered Runzhou as a vanguard, meeting up with Marquis Xinchang and his imperial concubine, and resisting the orders sent by Anning Palace. The army is marching eastward. At this time, Your Highness, Shen Yang, Zheng Hui and other generals are waiting for Lord Han to cross the clouds in Yueyang..."
Han Qian waved his hand to stop Jiang Huo from continuing. He knelt in front of the coffin without turning around and said: "We have taken Princess Qingyang out of Shu. Please ask Mr. Jiang to take her to Tanzhou." Leave it to His Highness. In the next three years, Han Qian will be relieved of his official position and will stay in Longya City to mourn his father. It is useless for Mr. Jiang to tell me these things!"
Da Chu inherited the system of the previous dynasty and established the country based on filial piety. The father stayed in mourning for three years, which was Ding You. It was also one of the most important "unfortunate rituals" in the world.
Although it is said that when there is a conflict between filial piety to the family and loyalty to the country, it is possible to seize love and retaliate, but do we really need to go to Yueyang to see His Highness first, and then His Highness sends ministers to seize the love and summon Han Qian to Yueyang?
Not to mention that I have been mourning for three years. Under the current urgent situation, how can I afford to waste time traveling back and forth?
Besides, it doesn’t look like Han Qian is being pretentious. If His Highness sends a minister over, but Han Qian still refuses to leave, what will he do?
Jiang Huo was silent, but he also refused to take Princess Qingyang to Yueyang to meet King Tan.
Feng Liao knelt down beside Han Qian and said:
"After the thief harmed Mr. Lao, his mutilated body was hung in Dongshi for public display. Fan Xicheng was in Xuzhou at the time. After hearing the news at starry night, he rushed back to Jinling and sneaked into the palace to assassinate the thief. He wanted to avenge Mr. Lao, but was brutally killed. We took advantage of the patrol
The Street Forbidden Army's attention was attracted, and they took the opportunity to snatch the old man's body, and then found a way to transport it out of Jinling and escort it back to Xuzhou. Unfortunately, they failed to snatch Master Fan's body back..."
Han Qian knelt there in a daze. Unexpectedly, Fan Xicheng was also dead. He turned towards Jinling and kowtowed three times to thank Fan Xicheng for his loyalty to the Han family.
Feng Liao continued: "Zhao Kuo's identity has also been found out. He is the elite secret soldier Zhehu raised by King Yong of Liang's secret establishment Chengtiansi. He has been lurking beside the boss these years."
"How is it possible? During the battle between Jing and Xiang, we were building the city in Canglang. Zhao Kuo eavesdropped on our conversation and knew that we had guessed that King Yong of Liang was stationed in Wanzhou (Nanyang) at that time. Han Qian was worried that he had
Question, Zhao Wuji was specifically asked to sneak behind and monitor him for any abnormalities. He returned directly to Xuzhou at that time and did not inform Liang Jun?" Xi Rong found it hard to believe that Zhao Kuo was a secret spy who had been lurking in Liang for many years.
Feng Liao said: "Zhao Kuo confessed that at that time he believed that even if you guessed the whereabouts of King Yong of Liang, it would be impossible to reverse the situation in Jingxiang. He also noticed that Zhao Wuji was secretly following him, so he did not go to Wanzhou to report the news, but it was
I never thought that Liang Jun would suffer so much under Xichuan City."
Xi Rong opened her mouth but said no more.
Since all this was explained by Zhao Kuo, there must be no lie. If you think about it carefully, no one probably expected that the Longque Army would be able to defend Xichuan.
"Do you want to bring Zhao Kuo up?" Feng Liao asked.
Han Qian's eyes twitched and he nodded, asking Feng Liao to bring Zhao Kuo up.
Zhao Kuo was shackled, with a haggard face and disheveled beard and hair, and was escorted in by two guards. When he saw Han Qian kneeling in front of Han Daoxun's coffin, he sighed and knelt down in front of the coffin.
"You had the opportunity to sneak back to your homeland, why did you stay and be captured without mercy?" Han Qian pressed the saber on his waist and stared at Zhao Kuo sullenly.
Zhao Kuo said: "There was a military disaster in Guoyang. My parents and brothers all died in the rebellion. I took my young sister and begged to survive. I was sick in the wild, and the heavens did not respond. I took Yongwang decoction and medicine to help me survive. Only by repaying with my life can I survive."
To repay this great kindness. The old man worked hard for the country and the people, but suffered such a tragic death. It was all Zhao Kuo's fault. Zhao Kuo felt deeply ashamed, but loyalty and justice cannot be balanced. In addition, the old man left a blood letter before his execution.
, and gave it to the jailer to keep it secret. After Zhao Kuo found it, he felt that he should hand it over to the young master himself."
Zhao Kuo took out a blood letter from his arms, cut from his own robe, and written on his fingers. Han Qian unfolded it and saw several lines of blood words: "Old things in Chuzhou have been lingering for many years, and execution is imminent. This life suddenly comes to light, and I really feel
Life and death are trivial matters, don’t take them too seriously..."
Han Qian closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face, and weakly waved his hand, signaling the guards to take Zhao Kuo down.
After a while, a muffled sound was heard in the courtyard, and everyone in the mourning hall was startled. Feng Liao stepped out of the threshold, and saw that Zhao Kuo had fallen in the courtyard, with a big hole in his head, and blood gurgling out. The rockery next to him
The stone is also stained with blood...
Zhao Kuo actually committed suicide by hitting a rock!