On the fifth day of the sixth month of the thirteenth year of Chongguan, not long after nightfall, there was already a curfew in Yanjing City, except for the piles of beggars along the street, the entire street was silent and lifeless. The so-called curfew is only prohibiting free movement, and the streets are full of difficulties, so where can they be driven?

A group of soldiers patrolling the streets sat in the corner of the alley with big guns and weak strength, and a faint light came through the mouth of the alley, shining on their bodies and faces, full of hunger and despair. Their uniforms were stained with blood, and they had just suppressed a riot of displaced people who had looted a grain store, killing more than 100 people in the street before the mob was dispersed. The corpses were dragged out of the city by other teams, and the pools of blood on the streets were ignored, and they hid here to rest.

Because this kind of thing happens dozens of times a day in Yanjing, I haven't been busy going back to the barracks to rest after the suppression - the city is full of hungry people, and there is not enough food in the barracks.

"Ding Dutou, you said that except for Chen Zhihu, why did the Qin Wang Army in the south drag it to this time and not be seen?" A slightly younger soldier leaned over, knelt on one foot and asked the head of the man in the crimson uniform, but an old soldier next to him leaned over and said mysteriously, "There is a forbidden mouth above, the second son of my cousin's mother's family was the flag leader in Datong Town, and he fled back a month ago to pick up a life, saying that Datong is over, and the Xuanfu side has not moved, and he must have played." The cavalry in Donghu is called more than one, and he can't see his head when he stands at the head of the city, and he doesn't dare to send troops to rescue him from the south, even if he sends troops over, it's not enough to stuff his teeth......"

"Day, when you run back, you will be called to pick up a life?" A soldier with a scar on his face took a sip, and weakly spit the yellow-green phlegm in his mouth to the root of his shoe, "Fleeing south is serious, and after entering Yanjing City, half a life will be handed over to the Hades Palace......"

"Hand it over, no matter how powerful the Donghu cavalry is, let them climb in from outside the four-zhang high city wall?" The young soldier was not convinced, arguing. However, a few old soldiers next to him smiled without moving, even ordinary soldiers in the Beijing camp army, when talking about state affairs, they are better than the rich people in the countryside who are better informed and well-informed.

The old man with the scar on his face chirped, "Crawl a fart!" On the first day of this day, half a catty of rough grain was given, and it dragged on for three or five months, and the Donghu people climbed in from outside the city, and you have the strength to kill? The scar-faced old man crawled to the side of the chief of the pawns, and said in a suppressed voice: "It's wrong to drag it down, even if the brothers can hold it, but the family will also starve to death-Hu Ji Rice Shop in Tongqian Lane has already stepped on the plate, this wave of chaotic people has just dispersed, we have to hurry up and start to plant the matter on the heads of the chaotic people...... I still want to be clean this year, but I can't live! ”

Although the Donghu people did not press down their troops, from the beginning of March, Yanjing's contact with the outside world was indeed cut off, and Yanjing was besieged for almost three months. At the beginning, the forward cavalry of the Donghu people came from Taihang Mountain to Yannan, and more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in the southern battalion still wanted to intercept it, but in just three or four days, they were eaten clean, and the Jingying army, which still had 60,000 people, did not have the courage to go out of the city to fight.

Fortunately, Chen Zhihu's department and the Xuanfu army came in time to form the King of West Road Qin, with 30,000 elites available, they entered Taihu in the east of Yanjing and stationed, barely holding out a space, and did not let Yanjing give a solid siege. However, the Donghu people surrounded but did not fight, and did not withdraw their troops, and there were no soldiers and horses of King Qin coming from the south, and the situation in Yanjing City was worse day by day, and day by day it was miserable.

In Yanjing City, in addition to the inner court of the palace and the hundreds of bureaucrats, in addition to the civilians and the influx of displaced people, the largest number of people are the families of the Jingying army and the official craftsmen.

At its peak, the Gyeongyeong Army had nearly 90,000 troops, and nearly 300,000 military dependents were resettled in Gyeonggi counties. The Donghu people came in from several directions, and a large number of military dependents and military dependents poured into Yanjing City with the displaced people; In addition, there are nearly 40,000 official artisan households, and there are also 1670,000 people. This part of the people alone has become a burden that Yanjing City cannot afford at this time, making the entire Yanjing City a chaotic refugee camp.

The official family has always given preferential treatment to the Beijing army, and they have been paid six buckets of grain and six coins of silver every month.

After nine years of Chongguan, the price of grain in Gyeonggi skyrocketed, and six coins of silver could not buy a bucket of rice noodles, but even if the soldiers were exploited, they always squeezed out some of their own rations to support their families, and they could barely starve to death. However, by March, the Jingying army only gave rations according to the ding, and no longer released rations, and the rations were also dropped again and again, and to this day, the soldiers who are not on duty are only given half a catty of rough grain every day -- the situation has taken a turn for the worse, not to mention ordinary soldiers, even the military attachés at the grassroots level can not stand it, and there are constantly cases of families starving to illness and even starving to death. Since May, there have been several mutinies in a row, and although the town has been given down, the morale of the entire Jingying army is even more unbearable and chaotic than before March, not to mention being pulled out to fight, and they have no intention of defending the city.

In Yanjing City, dozens of robberies, killings, and riots occur every day. The 20,000 soldiers and horses of the Jiucheng Division of the Jingying Army were directly responsible for the security of the city, running endlessly, and even secretly participating in robberies and killings. The influx of displaced people has caused the city to breed epidemics, and hundreds of corpses are dragged out of the city every day to be killed or starved or sick or plagued and thrown out of the wilderness.

Just when a patrol soldier hiding in the corner of the street and alley who had just suppressed the robbery was secretly planning to rob the rice shop, the rapid sound of horses' hooves galloped from the direction of Xinhuamen in the east. The cavalry on the periphery were all dressed in black armor, and they were the cavalry of the North Park Guards, and they were surrounded by seven or eight ragged people in the middle and galloped towards Miyagi.

The time for the cavalry to pass through the alley was very short, but it was also possible to see that the person who was clustered in the middle of the cavalry was tied to the saddle with a rope, almost out of shape, and mottled with blood on his body—for a while, it was impossible to guess whether the man in the middle was tied to the horse and brought to Miyagi because he had committed a crime, or whether he was too thin and too injured to ride a horse before he was tied to the horse and brought back.

Chen Dingbang listened to the sound of cavalry passing through the street, and avoided under the low eaves of the street shop with two old soldiers who followed the capital from Jizhen. Li Zhuo's cough became serious again at night, and the city was not at peace, Chen Dingbang was bold, and he didn't dare to casually take the silver through the streets and alleys to the pharmacy to grab medicine, and asked the two old soldiers to follow him to take care of him.

When the cavalry passed, a horse lamp hung on the eaves of the shop, which would illuminate the face of the almost thin and deformed person in the middle. Although the man's cheeks were as thin as dry bones, he turned to ashes, and Chen Dingbang also recognized it, and he was shocked in his heart: Didn't Hao Zongcheng catch Dongyu in Linyu, why did he appear here and be tied to a horse?

The other person who was in the middle with Hao Zongcheng subconsciously turned his head to look, and his eyes fixed on Chen Dingbang's face for a moment - Chen Dingbang also recognized him instantly, and Zhang Ximeng, who was captured in Linyu at the same time as Hao Zongcheng.

The cavalry did not delay, in a blink of an eye, galloped towards the palace, Chen Dingbang did not delay, took two old soldiers to the shop he frequented and opened the door, grabbed the medicine and rushed back, telling Li Zhuo, who was bedridden after returning to Beijing, what he had just seen on the street.

"Hao Zongcheng and Zhang Ximiao are back, Hao Zongcheng is still not human......" Li Zhuo responded softly, as if he sighed very lightly, and did not have any comments on the return of Hao Zongcheng and Zhang Ximiao, and only said to Chen Jiabang, "You bring pen and ink, I will write a letter, you will find an opportunity to go out of the city to Jinhai today, and hand over the letter to the ...... of Zongting."

After returning to Beijing for more than two months, Li Zhuo's condition has not improved, his body is like a withered artemisia, and his weight is about to fall out of shape, as if the life in his body has been boiled out, like a candle in the wind, and the last bit of residual fire has not been extinguished.

Chen Dingbang didn't know why the governor suddenly wanted him to go to Jinhai to contact Gao Zongting and let the old man decoct the medicine, so he ran to the study to get pen and ink to Li Zhuo's sickbed and helped Li Zhuo sit up from the sickbed.

Since Gao Zongting and Geng Quanshan went to Jinhai, the Jinhai reinforcements have not been seen for a long time, and Li Zhuo didn't care, but wrote an excerpt on the third or fifth day and handed it to the palace to wait for the response - Li Zhuo returned to Beijing, just in time for the news of the Songshan fiasco to come back, and the court had the voice of discussing his crime. After the collapse of Liaoxi and the entire Jizhen, the palace issued a decree to cut off the title of Duke Li Zhuoyan, and there was no other movement; Li Zhuo's three or five letters were handed into the palace, and naturally there was no response.

Li Zhuo laboriously lay on the table to write a good letter, packed the envelope, and asked Chen Dingbang to hide it close to him - at this time, the old man fried the medicine and brought it, Li Zhuo took the medicine bowl, and drank it regardless of the hot mouth, as if to reassure Chen Dingbang, and said to Chen Dingbang, who had changed his clothes, "Without further ado, you should go to Jinhai!" ”

Chen Dingbang originally wanted to wait for the opportunity to send a firewood cart into the city after dawn to sneak out of the city, but seeing that Li Zhuo was so anxious, he wanted to go to Xicheng to find a defender he knew who would take a rope from the city wall and slide down.

Chen Dingbang did not delay, left Li Zhuo's room, and summoned several old pawn leaders who were waiting to him and ordered: "There is also chaos in this city, you must guard the house tightly, if there are any difficulties, don't care about the governor or not, send someone to Chen Xiangye's mansion to inform him......"

Chen Dingbang left the mansion, and walked to Xicheng, wanting to find a familiar general, and rushed to the general's mansion in Beicheng, only to know that the man's department had been transferred out of the sequence of defending the city.

Secretly let people out of the city, you can do it yourself, and the general can also trust Chen Dingbang, who was born under Li Zhuo. However, it is not possible to entrust others to do this convenience, and if the news leaks out, no one can afford to be accused of collaborating with the enemy. The general refused to come forward to help Chen Dingbang out of the city, leaving him to drink until dawn.

Although the Donghu people have not yet pressed the soldiers and horses, the nine gates of Yanjing are also closed in broad daylight. Only by carrying corpses out of the city or carrying firewood and water into the city can one or two city gates be opened occasionally, so that there is an opportunity to enter and leave the city in a mixed manner. However, Chen Dingbang wandered around for most of the day, but still did not find a chance to get out of the city, and when it was almost dusk, he had to give up in despair, and came back to see Li Zhuo first, thinking that tomorrow he would take Li Zhuo's name card to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies to meet Chen Zhihu in the name of the Taihu camp, and then dive to Jinhai to deliver the letter after arriving at the Taihu camp.

Since Li Zhuo went north, he has served in Yanjing alone, and his family returned to his hometown in Western Qin from Jiangxi, compared with other important ministers. Li Zhuo's mansion in Xihuaizi Lane is very poor, and there are only a dozen old soldiers in the mansion to listen to errands.

There are several big locust trees in front of the house, in the past, when Li Zhuo was the secretary of the military department in Beijing, these locust trees were always full of mules and horses, and the sedan chairs were parked under the shade. Li Zhuo came back this time, and there were many birds in the court, even Chen Xinbo and Chen Xiangye would visit him for a long time.

Chen Dingbang hurried back to the house, and when he walked to the mouth of the alley, he saw several carriages parked under the trees from a distance, and a large group of guards guarding in front of the house. The carriage is a carriage in the palace, and the first guard is the guard of the North Park, Chen Dingbang suspected that Dou had increased greatly, and thought: The commander handed the folds to the palace twice in three days, and there was no response as if he had been beaten, why did Hao Zongcheng and Zhang Ximiao come back inexplicably last night, and the palace sent someone over?

Chen Dingbang rushed in, and the guard guarding the door dismantled his knife and shouted, "Who is here?" ”

The janitor was not in front of him, Chen Dingbang took off the waist card and said, "I live here, and I want to ask who you are......

Although Chen Dingbang does not serve as a general, he still has the rank of military attache from the third grade, and the waist card is made of silver, and the head of the card is made in the shape of a tiger's mouth, like a tiger talisman. The leading lieutenant saw Chen Dingbang's shabby clothes and no weapons on his body, and said, "You can't pick it up, right?" ”

"Li Shuai is thrifty, and I will exchange it for food when I have brocade clothes, how can you be cheap here?" Chen Dingbang scolded. At this time, a person came from inside, and Chen Dingbang called: "Dog calf, how did you guard the door, where did the soul go, how can there be a reason to let the people in the palace help you guard the door?" ”

"General Chen, why are you back?" The dog calf didn't know how to look at it, and when he saw Chen Dingbang returning, he asked without roots.

Chen Dingbang frowned slightly, this dog calf just lacked a heart, ignored his question, and asked: "Where did the other people go, and who are the guests in the house?" ”

"Everyone else sent the Governor away, but I refused to go, and the Governor had no way to take me. Someone came, so I went inside to say hello," the dog calf said triumphantly, "Chen Xiangye and Wang Qishan, who is in the province, have come over, and they are talking to the Governor in the West Courtyard, and the Governor wants me to come out to greet all the soldiers......"

Chen Dingbang's heart sank, and then he guessed that the commander asked him to go to Jinhai to deliver the letter urgently, but he was actually deliberately sent away, and the commander was like a god, so Chen Xinbo and Wang Qishan could never be a good thing when they came over this time.

Chen Dingbang walked to the west side courtyard in a muffled voice, and did not take back the waist card from the captain's hand, the captain saw that Chen Dingbang was indeed from the house, and did not block him.

Chen Dingbang was dressed and dressed as a sneak out of the city, as if he was destitute and walked silently. There were more than a dozen old soldiers in the house to take care of them before, but today they were all dismissed by Li Zhuo, and the courtyard of Nuoda was empty, which seemed extremely lonely.

Chen Dingbang walked to the west side courtyard, not only did he not see the people in the house, but he also did not see Chen Xinbo and Wang Qishan waiting to follow up, as if they only brought a team of guards from the North Park.

"Lord Hao is back, the defeat of Liaoxi has been decided, this glass of wine was given to you by the emperor!" This is Chen Xinbo's voice.

Chen Dingbang wondered in his heart, the defeat of Liaoxi has been decided, what does it have to do with wine? After a moment of hesitation, he slowed down.

"It's okay for me to drink this cup of wine, it's not a pity for me to die, but Hao Zongcheng was captured in Linyu for more than two months, and he suddenly escaped last night, which is really a conspiracy of Pseudo-Yan!" Li Zhuo's voice was sad.

"You mean the bitter meat tricks of the Donghu people?" Chen Xinbo asked rhetorically, "If it weren't for the brave soldiers who were unwilling to be driven away by the Dongyu and risked their lives to save people, Hao Zongcheng would have died in the Dongyu prison." I heard that they came back at night / passed through Suzaku Street and met your subordinate Chen Dingbang. Hao Zongcheng looks like this, people are not human, ghosts are not ghosts, you won't think it's a bitter trick when you see it! As for the defeat of Liaoxi, I know that you are unwilling, but it was you who made a promise of five years of peace, right? This expedition to Liaoxi is also your initiative, right? It's also true that you supported Matsuyama and missed the opportunity, right? Otherwise, how could the captives get rid of Datong? The defeat of Liaoxi was all because Yuan Lishan led his troops to surrender first and the whole army collapsed, Yuan Lishan is the right-hand man you relied on when governing Jizhen, right? You can't blame the emperor for all these crimes, right? ”

Chen Dingbang's chest seemed to be stuffed with a fire, about to burst out, and suddenly understood that the so-called wine was actually a cup of poisonous wine to take the life of the commander, this dog's day Chongguaner will have to be the commander to bear the responsibility for the defeat of the army for him, Chen Xinbo and Wang Qishan came over to be an accomplice - he picked up the arch of his foot, and he was about to turn around and go back to the house to get the blade, and cut Chen Xinbo and Wang Qishan into seven or eight pieces, before leading the commander out of Yanjing City to find Chen Zhihu! What is there about the Governor that can't stand them?

"The king wants the minister to die, and the minister has to die, which is also the duty of the minister. If Chen Zhihu wants to ask, he will say that I committed suicide in fear of sin, and you must have arranged it this way. This is the suicide note I wrote to Chen Zhihu, without my suicide note, Chen Zhihu will not believe your words - I have drunk this glass of wine, Chen Xiang can go back to pay the errand, and please Chen Xiang on my behalf to thank the emperor for his great grace, please make the last word to the emperor on my behalf: Yanjing broke through, so that Chen Zhihu's palace will still have a glimmer of life in the south, and you must not listen to Hao Zongcheng's words to go east to Jinhai! Yuan Lishan still has some generals, his relatives are all in Beijing, it is impossible to surrender without a fight! Please ask the emperor to give a generous reward to the generals and dependents of the generals of Jizhen, and when they can't break through, let the Jizhen army be used by the Donghu people! And ......" The cold and tragic words stopped abruptly here, followed by the sound of the wine glass falling to the ground and shattering.

Chen Dingbang didn't care to get the blade and broke in. Li Zhuo's withered body stood in front of the table, and he was already lifeless, but his hands were still supporting the table to keep his body from falling......

"Governor!" Chen Dingbang cried loudly, hate, grief, pain and regret in his heart.

How unfair it is to hate the acting governor of the world, and hate the governor for treating Chen Xinbo as a teacher and friend, but Chen Xinbo came to force the governor to death!

Grief and pain are desolate, and his ambition has not been rewarded, and he has to suffer on behalf of the king.

Remorse may not react in time, and snatch the poisonous wine from the commander's hand.

**********

Chen Dingbang broke in, and Chen Xinbo and Wang Qishan were taken aback. Chen Xinbo didn't care that he had known Li Zhuo for decades, he took the letter written by Li Zhuo to Chen Zhihu on the table and left, and he didn't have time to check it, Wang Qishan reacted quickly, followed Chen Xinbo and walked out, and only then did he say in a suppressed voice when he walked out of the west side courtyard: "Who is this person, is it possible to hear anything to him?" ”

Chen Xinbo and Li Zhuo have known each other for decades, Chen Dingbang he naturally recognizes, he didn't say a word, walked to the gate, saw the leader of the Beiyuan armor, beckoned him to come to him, suppressed his voice, and said: "Li Bingbu committed suicide in fear of death, and two thieves broke into the house, please kill them with Captain Liang, don't let them go!" ”

Wang Qishan realized that he underestimated Chen Xinbo, and cut Li Zhuo's two disciples to the roots, with the decision to leave a legacy, how could Chen Xinbo be lacking in the phase all these years?

The captain waved his hand and led many armor soldiers to break in, Chen Xinbo stood at the door, and said secretly in his heart: "Li Zhuo, Li Zhuo, don't blame me for being cruel to your people, you are also willing to take responsibility for the king, you can't make any more extraneous branches, right?" ”

Chen Xinbo didn't mean to kill everything, with his understanding of Li Zhuo, it was not difficult for him to die for the emperor and commit suicide, and he didn't expect that Li Zhuo would dismiss the servants in the palace first, but the content of the secret conversation in the West Courtyard just now is likely to be heard by Chen Dingbang, Chen Dingbang is a hot character, Chen Xinbo doesn't want too many accidents.

At this moment, the janitor dog calf poked his head out of the hall and asked Chen Xinbo under the eaves: "Chen Xiangye is leaving!" When he was really missing a tendon, the four or five soldiers on the left and right pulled out their knives and did not notice the abnormality, and when they raised their knives to stab at him, they were shocked and shouted: "Mom! The whole body shrank into the porter, except for a stab in the left arm, but avoided a few fatal blows.

The people waiting in Li Zhuo's mansion are all loyal veterans he has brought out from the army over the years, and it is not surprising that the janitor is strong in martial arts.

A pawn was in front, holding a knife and was about to break in, Chen Xinbo saw the calf hit a pot-sized punch as fast as lightning, and a punch knocked the pawn's face down, and the pawn died - who could have such courage with one punch, who would have thought that the gatekeeper in Li Zhuo's mansion had the unstoppable martial arts, and no one dared to break in at once.

Four sword-wielding guards blocked the door, and the people behind removed the step bow on their backs, and the leading lieutenant asked the guards to protect Chen Xinbo and Wang Qishan. Before he was ready to rush in, there was a bang from the side, but it was the dog calf who broke through the wall from the side, holding a pair of black steel shovels in his hand, and ran towards the west courtyard like a meteor.

The dog calf shouted as he walked: "Chen Gui'er, Chen Gui'er, Chen Xiangye wants to kill me!" "Where is he a dog calf, obviously a bear calf! The walls of the house and the portal are twisted and turned, which is not conducive to archery, and it is too late for the armor to chase here.

When the dog calf broke in covered in blood, Chen Dingbang suddenly woke up, knowing that Chen Xinbo had murderous intentions, and said to the dog calf: "The commander killed them, and they want to kill us......

When the dog calf saw Li Zhuo, who was still standing like that after losing his life, he forgot to chase and kill, and sat on the ground and cried. Chen Dingbang slapped him twice, knocked him sober, and said: "Lu Xiong, how did the governor die, only you and I know, we will flee separately, remember, we must escape, we must let ourselves live, do you know?" The commander must not be allowed to die unjustly! ”

Li Zhuo's mansion does not employ many people, but after all, it is the house he arranged when he was the secretary of the military department, and there are seven or eight courtyards, although there are many soldiers in the North Garden, they are not familiar with the terrain in the house, and they did not encircle at first, so they simply gave Chen Dingbang and the dog calf to escape over the wall and cross the house.

There are hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Yanjing, Chen Xinbo regrets in his heart, in addition to informing the city guards to strengthen their vigilance, he can only go back to the palace to reply to the decree first.