The emperor waved his hand carelessly, and after this laughter, he also felt that Fang was a little too panicked, so he ordered, "Tell the city gate officials to keep an eye on it, and if the king of Zhongshan comes back, he will report it immediately." In addition, let the province pay more attention to the recital in the north. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." The old eunuch hurriedly responded, and at the end he said, "The servant passed by the imperial garden and saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was splashing ink and painting. ”

"Oh, the prince is still so Yaxing, it can be seen that his body is very good." The emperor's beloved son was so anxious that he naturally couldn't sit still anymore when he heard this, so he got up and took a group of palace maids and eunuchs to the imperial garden.

The old eunuch watched the emperor's Luan drive disappear behind the palace wall from afar, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and finally pinched the thick pile of silver tickets in his sleeve, and smiled again. Although he has not received filial piety purses for so many years, no one will think that there is more silver to bite his hands. If you get this money today, you can go out of the palace and become a rich man after asking the emperor for a favor in a few months.

Not to mention the old eunuch's calculation of his pension, he only said that Zhongshu Province was confused when he received the emperor's will, and he didn't understand what was going on in the north that made the emperor care so much. However, the answer to this question was finally revealed early on the morning of the second day, and the Qingxian County ordered 800 li to expedite the report, and a team of Northern Barbarian cavalry did not know how to break through the blockade line of the Guò military city, broke into the vicinity of the county seat of Qingxian, killed and injured dozens of people, and finally plundered the princess of Zhongshan, whose whereabouts are unknown.

But all the officials who saw this report were stunned, and they tossed and turned over and over again, as if they wanted to find out what was wrong with it. There was no news of the military situation in the military city, but a small county town claimed to have been raided by the Northern Barbarian cavalry, which was a joke.

But no matter how suspicious the officials were, such a major incident of being raided by the enemy army had to be reported to the emperor, not to mention that there was an oral message handed down before.

So, early on this day, the fold was presented to the dragon book case. Only then did the emperor know the reason why his nephew Pegasus went out of the city and ran back to the north without permission, and it turned out that his daughter-in-law was plundered. Thinking of this nephew's favor for the peasant girl, he let go of most of his suspicions.

However, the Northern Barbarian cavalry quietly penetrated into the hinterland of Daqi and was not discovered, which also completely angered his dignity as an emperor.

"Bastard! What is Wu Shijie doing, can't he sleep all day holding the talisman? The border is heavy, and it was actually lightened by the barbarians, so do I have to worry about it, and I will be plundered to the North Barbarians one day when I sleep until midnight! ”

The emperor was furious, and the officials knelt down. Especially the head of the Wu family, a family of military generals, Wu Shangshu, who is now in charge of the military department, directly kneeled in front of the Longshu case and kowtowed vigorously, "Your Majesty is angry, and your subordinates have something to say." If His Majesty still feels angry after hearing this, the old minister would rather commit suicide to eliminate His Majesty's anger. ”

The Emperor snorted heavily and sneered, "You say, I want to hear what you have to justify!" ”

Wu Shangshu didn't dare to get up, and kowtowed three times again, and then reported loudly, "Your Majesty, the old minister has also guarded the frontier for the country in the military city for twenty years, and he is the most familiar with the military city. Not to mention that the city wall is high and the river is deep, only that the surrounding mountain passes are also extremely dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The soldiers are even more loyal to defend the country, and they even have to shoot down a goshawk flying over on weekdays.

If the barbarians send tens of thousands of people to attack the city, there may be a 10% chance of entering the hinterland of Qingxian. However, the Qingxian County Order said that the barbarian cavalry only had more than 100 horses, which was simply a big joke in the world. The barbarians coveted the prosperity of our Great Qi country many years ago, and tried every possible way to invade and occupy it. ”

Wu Shangshu's analysis of these words was reasonable, and his words were full of emotion, which provoked many courtiers behind him who had just learned about it to discuss in low voices, and kept nodding in agreement.

The emperor also frowned after hearing this, Wu Shangshu had been in the court for many years, so he naturally felt the emperor's temper clearly, and hurriedly struck while the iron was hot, "Your Majesty, please think about it again, if it is really a barbarian invasion, they put the wealth and goods of the rich merchants in the county town and do not rob them, how can they bypass the county seat and plunder the princess of Zhongshan?" Could it be that the barbarians love beauty more than money, as far as the minister knows, the name of the virtuous princess of Zhongshan is acceptable, but the word beauty can't be occupied! ”

The courtiers remembered the rumors in Kyoto about how the King of Zhongshan and the princess were arrogant, and they couldn't help laughing, and they slandered in their hearts, Wu Shangshu is really an old fritter, and he didn't forget to pat the royal farts in such a situation. The princess of Zhongshan is an authentic evil woman, where can she bear the word virtuous.

The emperor also remembered that time when the princess of Zhongshan entered the palace to thank her, the golden hairpin inserted in her head was thicker than her fingers, and she almost fell off the gold and silver beads all over the ground when she bent over, which can be described as extremely vulgar, so the corners of her mouth also curled. At the end, he coughed dryly twice, and scolded, "Speaking of business, why did you turn to the woman's reputation? ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wu Shangshu heard that the emperor's tone was no longer as annoyed as before, and his heart was a little more stable, and then Shi Shiran said his conclusion.

Combining the above two points, the old minister dared to guess that the report of the county order of Qingxian County was afraid that it was untrue. The barbarian cavalry may have been disguised as thieves, or the Zhongshan King and his wife had a grudge with people on weekdays, or for some reason, which caused trouble. The old minister implored His Majesty to issue an order to find out this matter, if the old minister's guess was wrong, it was indeed Wu Shijie's negligence, and he let the barbarian soldiers enter the customs privately, and the old minister was punished by His Majesty. ”

After saying that, he buried his head deeply again, and fell to the ground in a proper manner.

The courtiers looked at the emperor whose face was uncertain, and then looked at Wu Shangshu, who seemed to be unable to fall for a while, and they all came out to speak to help, "Your Majesty, what Wu Shangshu said is reasonable, this matter is indeed strange. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. The king of Zhongshan is 'upright' by nature, and he often causes some gossip at the foot of the son of heaven in Kyoto, and he must not know how many people he has a grudge with outside on weekdays, so he can't say for sure that there is such a disaster. ”

Although there were many courtiers who followed, not all of them were like this. Some clan relatives who also had some friendships in the Zhongshan Mansion also stood up and said a few words of mud.

"Your Majesty, since it is written in the report of the Qingxian County Order that the barbarian soldiers have invaded, there must be a basis, otherwise there will be no reason to shock the palace, but you will have to cut off your head. Besides, there are many injuries among the people, and it is possible that one person is wrong, but many people say that they are barbarians, so they will not be dazzled. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. Wu Shangshu's guess was a bit too simplistic. ”

The emperor listened to the noise of the crowd, and raised his hand to rub his temples vigorously in annoyance. The eunuch standing beside him hurriedly shook the whip three times, and the courtiers immediately shut up.

The emperor frowned and thought for a long time, and then said, "Since this matter is a matter that everyone Aiqing has a lot of suspicions, then send someone to Qingxian to visit." ”

Everyone bowed in unison and responded, "The emperor is sage." ”

The emperor pointed to a young imperial historian in the imperial history team, who is usually known for his honesty and outspokenness, and said, "Zhao Duo should go to Qingxian County immediately, and quickly rush back to report after verification." In addition, when he saw the king of Zhongshan, he told him not to act too recklessly, if it was really a barbarian invasion, he would be the master of his own life. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhao Yushi hurriedly knelt down to accept the order, and no one noticed that a different color quickly flashed in his lowered eyes.

After saying this for a long time, the emperor felt tired, and after listening to a few miscellaneous things, he simply waved his hand and retreated. Wu Shangshu smiled and said goodbye to the same class of people, and finally hurried home, quickly wrote a letter and handed it to his henchmen, tied it to the letter eagle and sent it to the military city.

Although he analyzed the head of the court and successfully appeased the emperor and a group of courtiers, he always had a sense of shock, as if this matter would definitely become a catastrophe for the Wu family, so he hurriedly wrote to his eldest son, no matter what, he must put away his feet, so as not to be found out by the imperial history. Now that the Wu family has not shown its decline, the courtiers dare not show it even if they have calculations, but if they show their handles, they will soon become a high wall pushed by everyone.

The people of Kyoto still don't know what is happening in the northland, and they still get up in the morning and go to bed late day after day, the rich eat, drink and have fun, and the poor are exhausted. Even some people who have heard some rumors in the door also take this news as a joke, and are used to being safe and peaceful, if it weren't for the Northern Barbarian cavalry rushing to the scene, slashing and slashing, seeing their relatives fall in a pool of blood, I am afraid that everyone from the bottom of their hearts does not want to believe the fact that the war is coming...

Besides, Murong Huaide fought all the way to the north, eager to insert his wings and fly over thousands of mountains and rivers immediately. Every time I think of the woman who was leaning on her arms not long ago and smiling and saying that she was going to earn a lot of silver and come back, I don't know what miserable things she was going through at this time, and the blood in his whole body was like finding fire. It's all to blame on him, he thought that the Northland was safe and sound, and he lost his vigilance, so why did he leave her and the child behind.

Thinking like this, he was so remorseful that he couldn't look up to the sky and shout, and the whip under his hand swung even more sharply. The secret doors behind him hurriedly looked at each other, their faces were worried, the master was in such a sleepless hurry, maybe he would be tired if he didn't wait to return to Qingxian, and when the time came, he was afraid that he would be powerless to save the master's mother. It's better to find a way to let the master rest.

Fortunately, the secret guards didn't wait long to make a mistake, and they had just run not far from Quxian, and they actually ran into their own convoy head-on on the official arrival.

Zhang Yang led the convoy all the way south, blaming himself for not protecting his mother well, and worrying that the master would do something radical when he heard the news, he couldn't eat and sleep well, but after a few days of hard work, he was so thin that his eye sockets sank.

Originally, I saw a horse team coming from afar, and everyone picked up sticks, and the Fuzi and the sturdy men sent from the shop surrounded the carriage with the nurse and the little master in the middle. It's not that they are too timid, but the ferocity of those barbarian cavalry that day has cast a shadow in their hearts, and now they instinctively become vigilant when they see the cavalry.

When he saw clearly, the person in the lead of the horse team was his own master, Zhang Yang immediately rushed out, fell to his knees and cried, "Lord Wang, you are here!" ”R638