No matter whether the Crown Prince was shocked and broke the medicine bowl, or the Queen Mother cried and tried to persuade him after hearing the news, it was of no avail.
The King of Qi expressed his loyalty to the Emperor by offering his son, and the Iron-faced General accepted the offer without any hesitation.
Or the Iron-faced General was just waiting for King Qi to take the initiative to say this.
The crown prince could not even see his wife and children, nor could he bid farewell tenderly to his beloved beauty. The cruel and ruthless father was sent out of the palace that same day, and was accompanied by several royal ministers to the capital.
But the Iron-faced General still lived in the palace, and the imperial army was spread all over the palace city.
"Your Majesty." The white-haired Queen Mother wept in front of King Qi's bed. At this time, there were only mother and son in the palace. In the palace that was soaked by the imperial army, the mother and son could express their true feelings for a short time.
For a moment, "The emperor must have you die to feel at ease. If I had known this, why would I have sent the crown prince away?"
Lying on the bed, King Qi let out a hoarse laugh: "I won't feel at ease keeping this son. It's better to give it to Your Majesty to make your Majesty feel at ease. It's also considered that I didn't raise this son in vain."
The Queen Mother knew very well about her son. Although this son was lying in bed, he was smarter than ten able-bodied people. When the old King Qi was seriously ill, the Queen Mother loved her eldest son, but she thought that he was weak.
For the sake of the State of Qi, she took the initiative to ask the old King of Qi to choose another prince as the King of Qi, but the old King of Qi said that the only one who could be the King of Qi was this sickly son.
Sure enough, after this son ascended the throne, although he was younger than the kings of Zhou, Wu, Lu, and Yan at that time, he was not inferior to these people at all. In the disputes among the princes and kings, Qi State not only did not fall and be divided, but became stronger and stronger.
It's a pity that this body is dragging down her body. If she hadn't been so sick and weak, she wouldn't have been so humiliated by the emperor's son today. The Queen Mother's face was full of hatred.
"Although the Crown Prince is stupid and ambitious and disrespectful to you, if he really gives it to the emperor, he will hold it in his hands." The Queen Mother worried, "If you do anything good, our country of Qi will be finished."
The imperial court will definitely not send the Crown Prince back, and King Qi will never think of appointing another son as King of Qi. If Qi State dares to do this, the emperor will immediately send troops to destroy Qi State in the name of bringing order to chaos——
The Queen Mother shed tears and looked at the mirror by the window. Her hair had turned from black to white without her noticing, and the days when she was a lord and king had disappeared.
King Qi, who was lying on the bed, let out an ugly laugh: "It's over when Qi is over, what does it have to do with me."
He can't be the king of Qi forever.
So he didn't care whether Qi State could exist for a long time.
The Queen Mother looked at King Qi with a frightened expression: "Prince, what do you want?"
King Qi's cloudy eyes were clear and crazy: "If you are alone, others will not be able to get what you want, and if you are alone, it will be harmful to others."
.....
.....
Wang Xian walked in with a frown on his face, brushing the fallen leaves off his shoulders while complaining about the horrible weather in Qi.
"Prince Qi is going to the capital to be a hostage. Why don't you be responsible for escorting him and follow him back together?" He looked at the iron-faced general who was still sitting on a sand table surrounded by a pile of documents. "We just happened to catch up with Zhou Xuan, who was granted the title of Marquis. Although the general won't be rewarded,
No, at least you can watch the fun."
The last sentence is of course sarcastic.
Zhou Xuan was successful in attacking Qi. General Iron Face wrote a letter asking the emperor to reward Zhou Xuan. The emperor asked General Iron Face what kind of reward he wanted. General Iron Face said he wanted nothing and would wait until the country was settled and stabilized. So the emperor made Zhou Xuan a marquis.
, and the Iron Mask General has nothing.
The Iron-faced General turned around a letter in his hand and said nonchalantly: "I am old and don't like fun."
Wang Xian sighed: "I'm old and don't like to watch the fun, so why can't I ask for rewards? There should still be rewards. Even if it's not for you, you still have to do it for - for - the reputation of General Iron Mask.
glory."
The Iron-faced General glanced at him: "The glorious reputation you deserve will not be erased. The time has not yet come."
At this moment, Wang Xian clearly understood and opened his mouth. It was not convenient to talk about this topic, but looking at the iron-faced general sitting cross-legged like a dead tree in front of him, he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.
"Just think about it yourself." He just said in a low voice.
The Iron-faced General spread the letter he was spinning on the table: "I've thought about it a long time ago."
Wang Xian looked at the letter he had spread on the table and picked up the turning letter. His eyes were gradually attracted and he said, "What letter?"
The Iron-faced General said oh and put down the letter: "Sent from Zhulin - a letter written by Chen Danzhu."
When Wang Xian heard about Zhulin, he curled his lips and was not interested. But when he heard the next three words, his eyes lit up and he said, "Chen Danzhu? She actually wrote a letter to the general? What did she write?"
"What can I write?" The Iron-faced General turned the letter around and showed it to him, "Of course it's to please me."
Wang Xian took a look and saw that the letter was a simple piece of paper with only one line on it, thank you general.
"Isn't this too perfunctory to please?" He was puzzled, "Thank you for what? What did she do again? What did you do again?"
"There are too many to finish." The Iron-faced General took back the letter, "You can ask yourself, I am thinking about something important."
The iron mask covered his face, so Wang Xian couldn't see his expression, but his voice sounded solemn.
"What else is going on?" he asked, "Everything in Qi State is going smoothly, what other problems are there?"
The iron-faced general pointed at a stack of thick documents: "Qi State has nearly half a million soldiers and horses, but now we only count less than 300,000. Where are the other soldiers and horses?"
Wang Xian also knew about this matter. The statistics of troops and horses had been started since the capture of Qidu, but it had ended long ago. The Iron-faced General was still thinking about it.
"Didn't the captured Qi general say that Qi's so-called 500,000 soldiers and horses are very false. First, their officials falsely registered the number of soldiers. In order to greedily divide the military pay, when the two armies fought, there were many
Deserter, the King of Qi has been seriously ill in recent years, the Crown Prince is stupid, and the country's power has long been reduced to what it used to be." Wang Xian said, "You have seen with your own eyes how vulnerable the Qi army is."
The iron-faced general knocked on the table: "I always feel that something is wrong."
"If there is any problem, look at Qi's empty treasury and you will understand everything." Wang Xian said.
The iron-faced general hummed: "The treasury of Qi State is really in a bad state——"
Wang Xian snorted: "That boy Zhou Xuan led his troops to loot again. I don't know how much he stole. Remember to tell His Majesty."
The Iron-faced General smiled: "Does Your Majesty still care about what he embezzled? Maybe you will feel sorry for him and give him some money and rewards."
Wang Xian felt resentful again. Thinking of Zhou Xuan, he felt wet all over - this boy is so bad: "Now he has been granted the title of Marquis, and he is still in the capital."
Hearing these words, the Iron-faced General thought of another person and laughed: "That's really not easy. There is another person in the capital who wants to go to heaven."
.....
.....
Chen Danzhu looked at the letter on the desk, then at the bamboo forest, and asked, "What is this?"
Zhu Lin said dullly: "The general's reply to you."
"I know." Chen Danzhu said, pointing to three words on a piece of paper and reading them out, "I know." She looked at the bamboo forest again, "What do you mean?"
Zhu Lin glared: "Of course he knows what you wrote to thank the general."
