Eighteen years later, the West Nanning Kingdom, Ning Li Tianjia 17 years. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It's a vast expanse of sand.

Wave after wave of cold wind blew by, passing by a certain place and then rushing forward, whirling into the air, rolling up the yellow sand in the sky. The blood-red sunset hung dimly in the sky, and the whole world seemed to be filled with red mist, and every once in a while, one or two vultures flew in, hovering low in the low sky, and on the sand below, hundreds of soldiers in fine iron armor were lying scattered, all of them were lifeless corpses, and it was they who attracted the vultures for a long time.

About a mile south of the corpses was an ancient city tower, the city wall that stretched on both sides of the tower stretched five or six hundred zhang from east to west, and the wall was black and mottled, and in the cracks there grew withered yellow grass, some of which were charred black, as if they had been burned by fire. The whole city tower is full of vicissitudes and the tragic situation that has been experienced, and the smell of desolation oozes under the dim blood-red sky, and the tattered flag planted above the wind-blown tower is still fluttering firmly, and the faces of people pierced with a piercing chill are painful.

Zhou Zicheng stood at the front of the platform on the second floor of the city tower, looking at the camps about two or three miles away from the gate in front of him, his brows furrowed tightly, and he couldn't feel the pain on his face at all. He rubbed his aching eyes vigorously, and looked up at the tattered banner above the tower, the silk cloth that should have been embroidered with the pattern of the stars and the moon, only a few strips of cloth remained, and there were only a few stars on it.

He exhaled anxiously, and then looked back in the opposite direction of the city. At the end of the field of vision, there were endless mountains, lush and green, and there were completely different views from this side, but he did not bother to look at it, but kept looking for something to be seen farther ahead, such as a carrier pigeon flying from where heaven and earth meet.

"See the general-", a rush of footsteps suddenly sounded, and the commander of the scout battalion walked up to the city tower and respectfully saluted Zhou Zicheng.

"How's it going, is there any news?"

"General, we have sent five heralds, four of which have rushed to Pingyuan, Ansui, Honghua, and Pengcheng, which are closest to us, for help, and one has rushed directly to Yuandu to report to the emperor. But until now...... Pingyuan, Honghua has already replied that there are not enough troops in the city, and there is really nothing they can do about our situation except for guarding the city. And Ansui, Pengcheng and Yuandu, all ...... There was no news at all. The battalion commander of the scout said in a slurching voice.

"These selfish people who don't know what to do!" Zhou Zicheng scolded angrily when he heard this, the border pass of Rongyue City was in danger, and those city guards must have thought that this was just a routine border harassment in the past, so they dared to delay the dispatch of troops like this, how did they know that the dispatch of troops this time was actually a real crisis that threatened the entire Ning Kingdom!

Zhou Zicheng frowned tightly, pacing back and forth, looking at the distance behind the city for a while, and looking up at the camps on the opposite side, the night was about to fall, and piles of bonfires had been lit in the camps opposite. Shadowy figures were noisy around the campfire, and the shouts of the crowd were faintly visible, but the deathly silence on the side of the castle tower was set off. At this moment, a group of patrolmen came up, and the two groups of soldiers met on the castle tower to change shifts, and the soldiers who were replaced dragged their tired steps down, and in the cold wind, only the sound of heavy metal iron boots echoed in a low voice.

The moon had already risen, and the moonlight was strange, obscured by a thin and large dark cloud, revealing a very faint layer of dark red, as if it had been stained red by the blood of the dead below, flickering in the clouds. The gates of the city were almost empty, and the once prosperous trading shops and liquor inns were now gone, except for the door panels, which slammed against the door frames inside and out, making a clattering sound one after another.

In the tragic siege of the city three days ago, as long as the people who have some ability, they have basically left with their families and mouths, and defected to a town with relatives not far away, Zhou Zicheng also arranged for them to rush to Pingyuan Ansui and other four important cities for help as much as possible, hoping that they can imagine the seriousness of the situation here after seeing these fleeing people. Those who have not been able to leave and remain here are some poor families who cannot afford to travel far, as well as lonely old people who can no longer walk, they have lived most of their lives, and they are unwilling to leave this place where they have lived all their lives.

Therefore, in the past three days, this important town, which has been dominating the southwest border of Ningguo all the year round, has almost become a deserted city, and the hustle and bustle of the past has disappeared overnight as if it has grown legs, and it is likely to be difficult to find it again.

"Your Majesty, if you don't give an order, I'm afraid the situation will be irreparable......"

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The imperial palace in the dusk of the capital of Ningguo is the quietest scene of the day. The sound of the dusk drum slowly drifted away, and on the long palace road, the maids and eunuchs followed carefully and calmly, and each was ordered to go to the destination of the palace, and the east and west palaces were peaceful and peaceful.

Among the many scattered palaces on the east side, a remote temple away from the other palaces seemed a little lonely.

When I got closer, I saw that this temple had a different view. The black eaves that had been washed by a heavy rain were sparsely dripping with the rainwater accumulated on the tiles, and the air after the rain gradually spread with a cold coolness, which was particularly refreshing, and the bright flowers of various colors were not pruned, but bloomed in an orderly manner with water droplets.

Song Jin closed the book, walked outside the door, and watched the pear blossoms fall down the water-filled fish pond in the courtyard, with a layer of fallen leaves knocked off in the rain floating on it.

Suddenly, she seemed to remember something, turned around and shouted as she entered the room: "Ah Sheng." ”

Outside the door, a palace maid with an ordinary appearance, a dignified and beautiful figure, and an unusually calm demeanor walked in, "Princess, do you want to pass the meal?" ”

"Don't be busy first, the imperial doctor will come to check the pulse of the queen mother today, you take the stewed white fungus fish maw, and follow me to the queen mother's place."

"It's the princess", Ah Sheng thought for a while, and then asked, "Do you want to take the antler velvet that Princess Li brought last time to the queen mother?" ”

Song Jin thought for a while, Lingxiu's eyes were slightly bent, and said with a smile: "I forgot about that thing, Xiaoli did put one here when she came a few days ago, it was you who thought about it." Let's take it together, and if the imperial doctor said it was okay, he asked Baolin to find someone to make medicinal food. ”

Ah Sheng bent his knees, and then turned his head and walked towards the wardrobe,

"It's very cold at night after the rain, so let's get dressed and set off again." Ah Sheng didn't know where to quickly take a bamboo-green satin squirrel fur-edged cloak and put it on Song Jin, and saw the two of them set off skillfully and lightly, carrying the lantern and walking quickly to the queen's residence.

Song Jin arrived at Chongyang Palace, walked directly into the inner room, the two lamps and candles in it jumped softly, she walked in, a quiet and beautiful figure was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a book and flipping through it. The picture is peaceful and beautiful, the lights are flickering, and even a little unrealistic.

This is a woman about thirty-five or six years old, with a brocade white robe tied around her waist, the style is simple, not complicated, just a wrap, neat and casual. The jet-black hair was not curled, only a glass hairpin with a phoenix wearing a peony was randomly inserted on the side to wrap part of the hair, and the rest was smoothly drooped down.

Song Jin walked to the queen's side, Mu Qingrong turned her head, and a stunning and beautiful face suddenly came alive, with innate nobility and majesty in her eyebrows and eyes.

But at this time, the queen only had gentle eyebrows in the face of this daughter. She put the book down, smiled lovingly at Song Jin, and reached out to pat the bed next to her.

Song Jin took off her coat, shoes and socks, climbed into bed with a cat, hugged her knees and looked up at the queen mother, the image of being silent outside was completely unknown at this time, and her eyes returned to the clarity of her age.

She reached out to cover the queen's knees, rested her head on the queen's lap, felt the warmth of her mother's soft hand brushing her hair, and closed her eyes in satisfaction.

"Queen Mother, these days have always been wet and wet, and today it has rained all day, are your waist and knees okay? How to wear so little. ”

"It's out of the way, it's getting warmer, and I've gotten a lot better with this level of moisture." Queen Mu Qingrong smiled, quite like the beautiful face of her second daughter Song Li, as if covered with a layer of white halo.

Song Jin nodded reassuringly, thought about it and said: "Xiaoli came here just now, the queen mother has been unwell recently, she always keeps the medicine on her body, and she is so active and active, so I didn't let her in too late to quarrel with you, and asked her about the current situation and let her go back."

Mu Qingrong snorted, rubbed Song Jin's hair with her slender hand, looked at Song Jin Wen for a long time, and suddenly asked in an abrupt soft voice:

"Jin'er, can't you help it?"

Song Jin relaxed and bowed her body tightened slightly, and her smile gradually disappeared. At this time, her voice seemed to be condensed steel, revealing a resolute and stiff one.

"Queen Mother, yes, I'm a little anxious, people can't stay here anymore."

Mu Qingrong smiled when he heard this, as if he was expecting, but he comforted: "It's okay, you are still young after all." It was already an accident for my mother to be able to raise her head to such an extent without having experienced anything. If you live the life of a mother, you will also be an old monk like me. ”

Song Jin's eyes flashed when he heard this, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't say anything.

In the night after the rain, from time to time from the window lattice drifted in some trees on the rain silk, mixed with the rain wind is also extraordinarily cold and blurred, in the foggy lights swaying, the mother's expression also seems to drift to an unknown place, that is a kind of resoluteness, a kind of resoluteness, a kind of despair after the tranquility.

"Queen Mother, I saw the rain today, I counted the days, there will be three months before Gu Yu, and we must also be ready," she lay on Mu Qingrong's lap, revealing a little helplessness that can only be revealed when she is by her mother's side, "Mother, I'm a little worried, can we really succeed." ”

The hand touching her head paused, then continued to caress it, and a mellow and firm voice sounded.

"Yes", Mu Qingrong still smiled gently, "We will live the life we want." ”

It's just that when he said this, Song Jin didn't look up and saw that there was a little more incomprehensible profundity in Mu Qingrong's eyes.