Four hundred and sixtieth eight chapters unexpected
In Xinping County, Pizhou, a cavalry of more than a hundred people was galloping on the mountain road. The leader was Guo Song, who came to Beijing from Ganzhou. He received an urgent call from the emperor to come to Beijing to take countermeasures.
Frankly speaking, the emperor's call was a bit unexpected. From the cold decree of the Battle of Shazhou, it can be seen that the emperor has decided to deal with the affairs of the Western Regions coldly, and he wrote that memorial out of a sense of responsibility.
I thought it would all be lost, but I didn't expect that the emperor would actually issue a decree to summon him.
Guo Song then vaguely guessed that the emperor's call to Beijing this time must have something to do with the Western Regions.
Guo Song sped up his horse and galloped along the official road, stirring up billowing yellow dust.
Two days later, Guo Song led a hundred soldiers to Chang'an.
Guo Song asked his soldiers to rest in an inn outside the city. He took Yang Jun and Zhao Xiu into the capital. At the city gate, he heard someone talking, "I wonder what happened to the golden statue? The Taoist Palace was badly burned."
Guo Song was startled and asked the soldiers guarding the city: "Excuse me, which Taoist palace had a fire?"
"Don't you know? There was a fire in Qingxu Palace last night. The fire was very strong. We don't know what it will look like in the end."
Guo Song was shocked. He spurred his horse and ran towards Jinchangfang. After a while, he rushed to Jinchangfang. As soon as he entered the square gate, he was stunned. The Jinshen Pavilion was burned to a white ground.
He urged his horse to run over, and saw that the Qingxu Palace was almost burned to the ground. Dozens of tents were set up in the open space, and groups of Taoist priests were crying and busy cleaning up.
Guo Song's mind went blank. What was going on?
"Little uncle!"
Guo Song suddenly heard a familiar voice. When he turned around, he saw Qingfeng looking at him with surprise and joy.
"Qingfeng, what's going on?"
"Uncle Junior, go and see Master! We have been harmed."
Guo Song became more and more surprised and asked quickly: "Where is your master?"
"Master is ill. Junior uncle, come with me."
Guo Song dismounted from his horse, threw the reins to Yang Jun, and quickly followed Qingfeng to the tent. Most of Li Ganfeng's disciples and grandsons knew Guo Song, and they all knelt down and cried: "Uncle Master, let us make the decision!"
"Don't worry, everyone, if Qingxu Palace is really framed, I will definitely seek justice."
In fact, Guo Song was more concerned about his master's physical body. He took two steps quickly and asked Qingfeng anxiously: "Has the master's physical body also been burned?"
"No, Master moved the holy statue to the underground palace in advance, and it was safe and sound. It's a pity for the second senior brother, alas!"
Guo Song was a little confused. What did he mean by transferring in advance? Did the senior brother know that the fire was going to happen?
They walked into a big tent and saw senior brother Li Ganfeng, who looked very poor, lying on a bed, and his wife was feeding him porridge.
"Master, my junior uncle is here."
When Li Ganfeng saw Guo Song, tears welled up in his eyes, "Junior brother, we... were... killed miserably."
Guo Song stepped forward and held his senior brother's hand, and asked in a deep voice: "Senior brother, tell me first, who did it?"
"Yes... it's the Hidden Sword Pavilion."
Guo Song's eyes suddenly narrowed into slits and he asked coldly: "Why?"
"You don't know! The fourth child...the fourth child has been...killed by them."
These words were like a thunderbolt from the blue, and Guo Song was shocked to the point of splitting his liver and gallbladder. He was stunned for a long time, huge sadness poured into his heart, and the tears could no longer hold back from rolling down his eyes.
Guo Songqiang held back his grief and anger, gritted his teeth and asked, "Tell me the cause and effect."
"I don't know why Lao Si was killed by Zangjiange, but Lao Si's wife and Sun Xiaozhen fled to the capital. I heard that Sun Xiaozhen was also killed. The whereabouts of Lao Si's wife is unknown. She seems to be pregnant. Cangjiange wanted to hunt her down.
She asked me to hand over the person within three days, otherwise the Qingxu Palace would be burned down. Not to mention that I didn’t see the person at all, and even if I saw the person, it would be impossible to hand it over to them. As a result, a fire suddenly broke out last night, and the entire Taoist palace quickly
It turned into a sea of fire and burned two disciples to death, as well as a dozen disciples and grandchildren. Why are they so cruel and cruel? I hate them!"
As Li Ganfeng spoke, he beat the bed and cried loudly.
Sun Xiaozhen also died, and Guo Song felt sad again. He wiped away his tears and asked: "Who do you think the fourth brother's wife is? Is it Wang Jianying?"
"It's probably not her. It's said that she's a weak young woman who doesn't know martial arts. She should have been married to someone else by the fourth child."
Guo Song lowered his head and thought for a moment and then asked: "Is Master's physical body okay?"
Li Ganfeng wiped away his tears and said: "They threatened to set fire to the Taoist palace, so I was worried, so I moved Master's physical body to the underground palace in advance, and my second disciple Tian Yu was there to guard it. After the fire was extinguished, I went to the underground palace to check. Master's physical body was safe, but Tian Yu.
...But he died, he was suffocated to death."
"Then what?"
"Someone from the Ministry of Rites came this morning and blamed us for not taking good care of the golden statue. They asked us to hand over the statue to Xuandu Temple. Junior brother, I... I really don't know what to do now."
Guo Song held his senior brother's shoulders and said: "Revenge must be avenged, but life must go on. You can send the holy statue back to Kongtong Mountain. Didn't senior brother buy the Xuanhu Palace? Move it there first, and wait for the Qingxu Palace to be rebuilt.
Come back later."
"You're right, let's go back to Kongtong Mountain first, but the fourth child..."
"I have nothing to do with fourth brother's affairs, so don't worry about third brother." Guo Song suddenly remembered that he had not seen Zhang Lei.
"He just happened to go to Lingzhou, and I don't know when he will come back."
"Have you seen that little fish girl?" Guo Song asked again.
Li Ganfeng shook his head, "I have never seen her."
Guo Song wondered in his heart where the little fish lady had gone. He recovered his mind and said to his senior brother: "Senior brother, let's leave today to save those bastards in Xuanduguan from worrying about the master's body. Senior brother has no money. I will ask the third brother to give it to you later.
"
Li Ganfeng waved his hand quickly, "I have put the money and gold and silver in the cabinet. If there is no loss, just leave it alone. I will leave today."
After a pause, he told Guo Song with some worry, "You have to be careful. The Hidden Sword Pavilion now is no longer the Hidden Sword Pavilion it used to be. It is ruthless and murderous."
Guo Song nodded, "Senior brother, don't worry! But the Guo Song now is no longer the Guo Song he used to be. I will not kill innocent people indiscriminately, but I will not let go of anyone who deserves to be killed!"
.........
Guo Song immediately stood in front of the Golden Body Pavilion and stared at the burned-to-white pavilion for a long time. He suddenly turned around and shouted in the distance: "Tell Li Man that if she has the guts, she will come to me. One day, I will kill her thousands of times."
Cut him into pieces with ten thousand swords to sacrifice my senior brother’s spirit in heaven!”
Several small black spots suddenly appeared on the distant roof, and they fled in panic.
Yang Jun whispered: "Why don't you catch them and torture them for information?"
"They're just a bunch of minions. There's no need to arrest them. I'll go directly to Li Man."
According to Guo Song's previous character, he would have directly charged into the Hidden Sword Pavilion with a sword and driven out all the people in the Hidden Sword Pavilion. But after all, he had been a leader for several years and gradually built up a city. He would never be stupid in the Tai Chi Palace again.
He went on a killing spree and was charged with treason and assassination. He knew very well that Li Man would definitely come to find him.
Guo Song first came to the Daming Palace to ask for an audience with the emperor. Not long after, a eunuch came out and led him to the imperial study.
"Shijun Guo is so lucky. The emperor is ready to drive back to the palace. When he heard that the messenger was coming, he immediately summoned him. Your Majesty has a very important place in the heart of the emperor!"
"No, it's because the Holy Spirit understands that I come from such a long distance."
"Haha! Guo Shijun is really good at talking."
After a while, the two people came to the imperial study room one after another. The eunuch waved his hand and said with a smile: "Please wait a moment, I will report to the Holy Emperor!"
When the eunuch entered the imperial study, Guo Song shook his head, put aside the previous matters, and returned his mind to today's meeting. He had an intuition that today's conversation was related to Anxi's fate.
At this time, the eunuch came out and said: "Shijun Guo, your Majesty declares!"
Guo Song calmed down and quickly walked into the imperial study room.
I saw Emperor Li Shizheng standing in front of the map of the Western Regions with his hands behind his hands, looking up at the huge map of Anxi on the wall.
"The humble minister Guo Song is here to see His Majesty!"
"Shijun Guo, I have decided to give up Anxi completely!" Li Shi said while looking at the map.
Guo Song was stunned. He had traveled all the way to the capital and what he heard was such a sentence, which really surprised him.
"Your Majesty, when the minister proposed to exchange Shatuo prisoners of war for Tingzhou soldiers, he met with fierce opposition from the imperial court. If Your Majesty gives up Anxi, can the Manchu civil and military officials agree?"
Li Shi turned around and returned to his seat. He was silent for a moment and said, "What I mean by giving up is not what you think, but maintaining the status quo. I will not send more troops or supplies to Anxi. Do you understand?"
"Your Majesty, Tubo is a wolf. It specializes in preying on helpless prey. We opened the passage from Shazhou to Anxi, but the court maintains the status quo. The Tubo will see this, and they will swallow up Anxi without restraint."
Li Shi shook his head, "I have obtained the details inside Tubo. In order to support the army, the common people can't even afford to eat. Let's put it this way! Tubo can't even raise one million sheep, and the entire country's strength is declining.
In a state of collapse, people's resentment is boiling, and the Tubo nobles are also extremely dissatisfied. I heard that there is also a noble rebellion, so I am confident that within at least five years, Tubo will not be able to launch a war against Anxi. The duty of Hexi is to defend the territory and prevent the Shatuo people from coming again.