In the antique wing room, the old minister Zhao Fangde, who was about to run out of oil and lamp, did not lie on the bed, but put a bench at the door of the wing room, and just lay on the bench with a thin quilt on his body.

This is to make it easier for that person to come, so as to avoid suspicion, you don't have to go into the wing, after all, that person is a woman.

There was a group of Zhao clan relatives standing in the courtyard, and everyone had sadness on their faces.

There was only one person waiting beside Zhao Fangde.

Zhao Zhen's father, Zhao Lin, who originally served in the Guozi Prison, was exceptionally crowned the queen of the county by virtue of his son, and was transferred to Zongzheng Temple, just waiting for the gradual accumulation of officials to serve as Qingzheng of Zongzheng Temple.

In the courtyard, there is still a noble man who has been here for a long time.

It was Da Liang who did not have much prestige, but in the Zhao family, he was respected by the widow of Shunzong, the Empress of the West, Chen Wanqiu.

No one spoke.

Everyone was waiting, waiting for Zhao Fangde to breathe.

But everyone knows that before that person comes, Zhao Fangde will not swallow his breath, and he still has something to say to that person.

In the vertical arch hall, the woman has been quietly approving.

Liu Yin was on the side, and she wanted to speak several times, but she didn't dare to remind her, after all, she saw that His Majesty would go to see Zhao Fangde for the last time, after all, in terms of etiquette, Zhao Fangde's seniority was higher than that of the empress.

But His Majesty obviously didn't want to hear Zhao Fangde's last words when he was dying.

So His Majesty is waiting.

Waiting for Zhao Fangde to breathe, but he couldn't say a word.

I don't know how long it took, but when Zhao Jin, the Fusi of Nanzhen, came in to report the news, the woman put down her fold, got up and said, "Swing." ”

Get out of the palace and go straight to Qingyun Street.

The courtyard knelt in the dark, the woman did not exempt herself, but just signaled to the Western Empress Chen Wanqiu not to be polite, and immediately came to the door of the wing room step by step, looking at Zhao Fangde, the old minister who had closed his eyes when the oil ran out of oil and the lamp had dried up, and he could only breathe in and could not breathe, and he was secretly relieved in his heart.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Fangde's face suddenly flushed.

And then...... I opened my eyes!

Back to light.

The woman sighed in her heart, a little annoyed that Zhao Jin's handling was not firm, but at this time, she was helpless, so she could only say softly: "Is Uncle Huang okay?" ”

In terms of seniority, Zhao Fangde is worthy of the empress's uncle.

Calling it like this at the moment, this is the family talking.

And not a king.

Zhao Fangde snorted for a while, and said intermittently, Your Majesty, Weichen is not afraid of death, but he is worried about my Zhao family, but the Tiance army has evil generals who eat human flesh and blood, and they must be punished.

The woman is also helpless, but the ethics since ancient times will not go against the will of an old man when he is dying, otherwise it will be regarded as unfilial piety, but if he really follows Zhao Fangde's words, Li Ruyu will really die.

However, after all, the woman is in charge of the country, and she has been fighting wits and courage with the group of civil ministers and military generals in Daliang for more than ten years, and she quickly thought of the rhetoric, and drew a Tai Chi without a trace: "Uncle Huang, this matter needs to be discussed, and I will make a decision after discussing with the ministers, do you have any other instructions?" ”

Zhao Fangde knew that he wouldn't be able to survive for long, so he would give up, and said with his last strength, Lao Chen, I am worried that Li Ruyu will confuse my Daliang Jiangshan, and Your Majesty must guard against it.

After saying this, Zhao Fangde sat up suddenly and glared at the woman.

I want a reply.

The woman pondered for a long time, and then deliberately raised her tone, "Uncle Huang, if the child is not mistaken, last year, under your request, Zhao Zhen was allowed to go north to quell the rebellion, for which you were even demoted to Zongzheng Siqing, and then demoted from Tejin to Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, but what was the result?" ”

It's a fact.

At the beginning, Zhao Wei went north to quell the rebellion, and the Zhao clan led by Zhao Fangde contributed a lot.

Hearing this sentence, the hearts of the Zhao clan in the courtyard sank.

The woman was a little helpless, looked sideways at the north, and sighed faintly: "The result is that Zhao Zhen and Wang Kun are in cahoots, not only did they not quell the rebellion, but they colluded to establish a small court in Kaifeng and openly rebelled." ”

"Now that you want to kill Li Ruyu, don't you know if Li Ruyu will become the one who can turn the tide?"

"Uncle Huang, you are old, and you can't understand many things, but I am in charge of the country, I have the world in mind, and I can see farther from a high place, and some people are not what he shows."

"So Uncle Huang—"

The empress looked back and looked at Zhao Fangde, but the last sentence was frozen in her throat, Zhao Fangde had tilted her head, her eyes were still open, and her spirit was completely gone.

has driven the crane immortal to go.

There was a burst of crying in the courtyard.

The woman sighed and said the last sentence softly in her heart: "Li Ruyu is the sword of my Quartet." ”

Whether this sword hurts the Zhao room or whether it crowns the capital.

I really don't care.

The death of the old minister Zhao Fangde has scratched the end for the strength of the Zhao family's relatives, and now in the whole world, no one is higher in rank than the empress, only the Western Empress Chen Wanqiu can be equal to the empress in terms of seniority.

But the Empress of the West has no power or power.

Fortunately, the empress has no queen, and succeeded Zhao Zhen as his son, and the Zhao family is not worried that the country will fall into the hands of others, but the far-sighted person is worried that Li Ruyu will become the next Yue Pingchuan.

……

……

The three years of Yongzhen are destined to be eventful.

Soon after the death of the old minister Zhao Fangde, one of the empress's most trusted ministers was also on the bed, but after all, it was a fairy and a person, and it was not difficult to survive for another year and a half.

Before Li Ruyu's disposition came out, a holy decree was issued in Lin'an, stripping An Meiqin of her position as a member of the Privy Council and demoting her to a direct member of the Privy Council, while the direct bachelor of the Privy Council who was originally in Lin'an was promoted to a member of the Privy Council.

All the affairs of the Yuzhou Tiance Army are mainly commanded by the forbidden army and Tian Shun.

An Meiqin is supplemented.

Lu Shengxiang was promoted to the rank of Privy Councillor.

On the same day, the decree was given again.

The general surnamed Jiangdong who was stationed in Jiangjin was crowned General Dingyuan, and he was under the command of the Tiance Army.

Later, the documents of the military department and the ministry were sent to Yuzhou, the Changzhou Junzi Banner was sealed as a guerrilla general, Xu Xiao was promoted to deputy general, Xiahou Chi and Hua Xiaodao were demoted to generals, and Zhuo Zongtang was officially promoted to a general.

Those who have made meritorious contributions in this war have been promoted and rewarded.

Only there is no reward or punishment for Li Ruyu.

No one is surprised.

With the end of the war in Changzhou, the details of Li Ruyu's defeat of Zhao Kuo have been spread all over the world, and the government and the opposition will not talk about it, and the controversy is very loud, and the people have changed the word about this matter.

In folk legends, Li Ruyu became a three-headed and six-armed demon, bloodthirsty, every day to get up to drink human blood, and to eat people's hearts every day, the most like braised red, said that adding more ginger and onions can go sour......

Get rid of a man-eating demon king alive.

In Yanguan Town, on the bank of the Qiantang River outside Lin'an City, four horsemen came on this day, one with a sword at his waist and a lot of heroism on his body, and the other two were clerical officials with Confucian scarves and heads.

The man with the sword is from the Privy Council.

The clerical officials in the Confucian scarf Baotou, one from the Ministry of War, and the other from the Zhongshu Province.

There is also a person who looks extremely gentle, wearing the blue and white Confucian shirt that Daliang scholars like the most, and he also wears a sword at his waist, and his ten fingers are white and long.

The four of them asked for directions, came to a courtyard outside the town with a big locust tree, knocked on the door and asked, "Is this Wen Sanjia's house?" ”

With a squeak, a young man with beautiful eyebrows and an extremely intelligent face opened the door, and behind him stood a woman wearing a light blue coarse cloth skirt.

The old woman's voice came from the courtyard, "Guilan, who is it?" ”

The woman forced her whimper, turned around and said softly: "Mother, it is a tourist who comes to watch the tide, and when you are thirsty, you come to the door to ask for saliva to drink and rest for a while, there is nothing to do, you always rest in the house." ”

The woman said to the young man who opened the door, "Khan Qing, go back and read." ”

The young man named Wen Hanqing glanced at the four people at the door, and said very sensibly that I will take care of my grandmother, and when I turned around, tears flowed down.

Wang Zhushu was slightly surprised, this young man was smart.

Invited the four of them into the courtyard and sat down, the woman poured warm water, and then sat down anxiously, but the tears could not be stopped, but she did not care about the shame of the woman.

Let the gaffe fall into the eyes of the four.

Wang Zhushu sighed, glanced at the other three, and signaled to handle the bereavement matters first.

When it was confirmed that her husband Wen Sanjia had died in Changzhou, the woman could no longer sit still, and sat on the ground, and was afraid of alarming the mother-in-law in the room, so she choked up and was heartbroken.

On and off, the procedures and matters related to the bereavement pension were finally completed - the pension was uniformly distributed by the household department to the local yamen, and then sent by the yamen in person.

After a long time, when the woman calmed down a little, Wang Zhushu motioned to the other three to silence, and then said softly: "Little lady mourns." ”

The woman did not speak.

Wang Zhushu said softly: "Your husband died in Changzhou City, showing the strength of my Da Liang man, and the Da Liang court will definitely not treat his family badly, but there is still one thing at the moment, I need to consult your meaning." ”

The woman nodded, "Please." ”

Wang Zhushu hesitated, "Have you ever heard about Li Ruyu, the guard general of Changzhou?" ”

The woman looked up, her eyes blood-red and her eyes split, "My husband is also the man-eating demon king—" The latter words could not be said after all.

Wang Zhushu sighed, "This is not known,"

Then he said: "There are some things that need to be said to you, at that time, Changzhou City was cut off from food, only 4,000 remnants, but there were more than 20,000 troops outside the city, Li Ruyu's move was also a last resort, otherwise not only Changzhou would defend to the death, but the 4,000 remnants of the army would also be wiped out, but Li Ruyu's matter was really bad, and the imperial court took it very seriously. ”

After a pause, "Kill?" ”

The woman did not hesitate, and could no longer care about the mother-in-law who would alarm the house, and howled, "My husband guarded the city and died in the city, but he could not be buried in the earth, and became a meat eater, how miserable it is." Even if I cut that Li Ruyu with a thousand knives, it will be difficult to eliminate the hatred in my heart! ”

Then he cried and cried.

Wang Zhushu sighed, turned back to the clerk in Zhongshu Province and said, "Write it down, kill." ”

I have been to several houses before, and on the booklet of the clerk of the Zhongshu Province, without exception, they are all killed, but I am afraid that every family in the future will only end up like this.

The door creaked open.

The young man Wen Hanqing helped a blind old woman out of the door, and the old woman slapped the wooden crutch in her hand heavily, "Guilan, what the hell are you howling, you have lost the etiquette of women and ruined my Wen family style!" ”

The woman shut down, but she still sobbed.

The old woman went to the courtyard with the support of the young man Wen Hanqing, and her voice was very kind: "A few officials, my son died in Changzhou City, not in defeat?" ”

Wang Zhushu nodded, and immediately realized that the old woman couldn't see, and said softly: "Old man, Wen Sanjia is a heroic martyr, not a rout, he, he lived up to your old man's teachings, and defended Changzhou with a body of blood, he is a good man." ”

The old woman nodded, "The old body has heard it before. ”

The blind are deaf.

Wang Zhushu didn't speak, knowing that the old woman still had something to say.

The old woman continued: "Is there really no food? ”

Wang Zhushu nodded: "Yes." ”

The old woman sighed, "There are only 4,000 defenders, but the enemy army has more than 20,000?" ”

Wang Zhushu continued to nod, "Yes." ”

The old woman also nodded, "Then did you finally guard Changzhou?" ”

Wang Zhushu could only continue to nod and said: "Li Ruyu led 4,000 remnants out of the city, killing more than twice the enemy, 4,000 people in Changzhou, and only 600 people survived in the end. However, after Li Ruyu defeated the enemy army, he captured the enemy general Zhao Kuo in a thousand-man formation, and Ling Chi Zhao Kuo on the Changzhou school field, and died in the battle for the blood revenge of Pao Ze. ”

The old woman didn't speak, and was quiet for a long time before she sighed softly: "My son died a good death." ”

Wang Zhushu looked at the blind old woman, I don't know why, and I was a little moved in my heart.

In the cool world, how many old fathers and mothers are there?

In the old woman's dry eyes, there was gradually a mist, "More than ten years ago, my family followed the surnamed Xu to block the northern barbarians in the Lancang River area, and finally died on the battlefield, more than ten years later, the old dog died in Changzhou again, my Wen family is not ashamed of Da Liang, right?" ”

Wang Zhushu was speechless.

The old woman rubbed Wen Hanqing, the young man beside her who had red eyes, but had been stubborn and did not shed a single tear, and said to Wang Zhushu: "Did that Li Ruyu do something wrong?" ”

Wang Zhushu was stunned, and then hurriedly said: "I don't know whether it's right or wrong, but it's up to you." ”

The old woman was silent for a while, "He guarded Changzhou and saved 600 people, this credit also has my son's share, presumably my son knows under the spring, and he will be glad to be blind." ”

Wang Zhushu was overjoyed, "Old man, what do you mean?" ”

The old woman said slowly: "The old man has lived a long time, although he can't see it, but he feels the goodness of the prosperous world, in order to keep the prosperous world, what a pity for my son's flesh and blood, my lord, can you tell that General Li a word." ”

Wang Zhushu was stunned, "Please speak." ”

The old woman didn't say it directly, but patted her grandson Wen Hanqing on the shoulder, "Hanqing, if one day, are you willing to be a soldier?" ”

The young man raised his head, "Don't disgrace the family style, I am willing to serve my father!" ”

The old woman smiled, raised her head and said to Wang Zhushu: "Tell the general, if one day Da Liang falls into a desperate situation, my Wen clan also has a grandson Wen Hanqing, I am willing to take care of the sweat with a piece of Dan's heart, if the sweat green also dies, then the old body I am also willing to feed the city in the flesh to protect this prosperous world." ”

"He's doing a great job!"

After the old woman said this, tears welled up in her dry eyes.

When the child dies, won't the mother's heart hurt.

But an old woman also knows the righteousness of the family and the country.

Wang Zhushu's heart was like thunder, only to be shocked by that sentence and his blood boiled, he almost wanted to sing the festival, a sigh of admiration, and laughter, "What a Wen family style, a good sentence is a piece of Dan heart sweat!" ”