Chapter 504: Punishment

The soldiers struggled to coil the noose on the city wall, and the stone gate weighing thousands of catties was slowly lifted, and under the stone gate was half of the body and meat mud, exuding the smell of blood. Fang Xie stood in the cave of the city gate, and as the stone gate rose, the situation outside slowly appeared in front of him. I don't know why, Fang Xie suddenly had the illusion of opening the door to a new world.

The fighting outside the city was over, and all the rebels who had no time to flee surrendered. Outside the gate, the general Jin Shixiong rode on a war horse and looked at the caves of the city, he was very curious about who suddenly appeared here to cut off Li Yuanshan's back road. And the generals of the Sui army behind had a lot of resentment on their faces, and they seemed to be a little unacceptable to Li Yuanshan being captured by others.

Fang Xie had seen Jin Shixiong when he was in Chang'an City, and he had heard a lot about this famous Sui general. He saw the surprise, curiosity and dissatisfaction on the faces of those generals, but the expression on Jin Shixiong's face was not so complicated. Fang Xie walked out quickly, and then greeted him with a military salute.

"Excuse me, meet the general."

"No wonder"

Jin Shixiong smiled and jumped down from the horse: "Who is my Dao who suddenly came to this retreat to block Li Yuanshan, it turned out to be General Fang." Wolf Milk Mountain is thousands of miles away from here, and Jinyang City is also separated, didn't you fly over? ”

Fang explained: "I just came to see Your Majesty, and I happened to meet Li Yi and fled. ”

Kim Shixiong didn't believe this, but he didn't intend to expose it either. He walked over and took Fang Jie's hand and asked, "Are those brothers on the Wolf Milk Mountain okay?" ”

The first thing he asked was not how Li Yuanshan was doing, but whether those brothers were okay. Sometimes a person's temperament can be revealed in a casual word. Jin Shixiong is famous for his love for soldiers like sons, and those soldiers on Wolf Milk Mountain are all people who have been with him for more than two years, so he naturally cares.

"It's all right."

Fang explained: "It's just that Master Mou has some changes, and I'll tell you in detail about it later." ”

"Hmm"

Jin Shixiong snorted, glanced into the city gate and asked, "Where is Li Zhi?" ”

"Back to the general, Li Cheng was trapped in the city, and he had already surrendered, but when he was tied up by the lowly post himself, he suddenly made it difficult to capture the lowly position, and the lowly official missed and killed him."

"Dead?"

Jin Shixiong's face changed, and then he sighed and said, "It's a pity." ”

He glanced at Fang Xie meaningfully, and the regret in his tone was very strong. Fang Xie knew the meaning of Jin Shixiong's words, a dead Li Yuanshan was far inferior to a living Li Yuanshan, the emperor was more willing to see the traitor kneeling in front of him, and a corpse was obviously worse.

"You shouldn't be so irrational."

Jin Shixiong lowered his voice and said: "You are not a stupid person, you should know how much credit it is to capture Li Shun alive, and if anyone receives this credit, the future will be bright...... It's a pity, it's a pity. ”

Fang Xie also shook his head: "It's a pity, it's a pity." ”

"Let's go"

Jin Shixiong patted Fang Xie on the shoulder: "Come with me to see Your Majesty." ”

"Yes"

Fang Xie hugged his fists, followed Jin Shixiong and got on the war horse and walked in the direction of the camp. Those Sui generals looked at him with a monster-like look, perhaps guessing who this young man who suddenly appeared was. Speaking of which, they were a lot of unconvinced and resentful, they had fought with Li Yuanshan's rebels for more than a year, and when they were about to capture Li Yisheng, they suddenly killed an inexplicable person halfway, which was a very bad feeling.

That kind of look was not hostile, but it was by no means favorable.

Fang Xie shook his head and smiled as he walked, his expression a little helpless.

"What are you thinking?"

Kim Se-woong asked.

Fang Xie was silent for a while and then said, "I suddenly woke up and did something that I shouldn't have done. poked a hornet's nest, and he wondered if he would be stung to death. ”

The reason why Fang Xie dared to say this was because he knew that Jin Shixiong and these generals were not all the way. These generals are all brave, and Jin Shixiong has only been leading the troops for a few days, and there is a gap between them and them. These people have not experienced the wind and rain of officialdom, they are angular, and they don't know how to hide their true thoughts. But they have opened a bright door, and as long as they don't die in the next few years, they may become new blood in the court in the future. After a few more years of polishing, it will become the new Jin Shixiong, Liu Enjing, and Xu Xiaogong.

"It doesn't matter"

Jin Shixiong smiled and said: "They haven't even done the six words of joy and anger, what are you worried about?" Instead of having time to think about this, you should think about what you will say when you meet Your Majesty. No matter how big these people's grievances are, they can't hurt you, but no matter how small Your Majesty's grievances are, you can't bear them. ”

Fang Xie smiled bitterly: "The humble position suddenly has a feeling of wanting to escape. ”

Jin Shixiong laughed: "When I was still in Chang'an, I knew that you were a wonderful person...... If you really dare to escape, Your Majesty will send the Jinyi School to chase you back, hit the board first, and then reward you with a glory, do you believe it or not? ”

"Faith"

Jin Shixiong's sentence vividly describes the emperor's temperament.

"Your Majesty...... Well? ”

Fang Xie asked after laughing.

"It seems that my spirit has improved a lot these days, but ......"

Jin Shixiong didn't continue, and Fang Xie sighed.

The two of them fell silent, and after a while, Jin Shixiong suddenly remembered and asked: "You just said that something happened to Master Mou, and it is not good to say it directly in front of outsiders, now you and me, tell me what happened to Master Mou?" ”

"Dead"

Fang Xie replied.

Jin Shixiong's face changed greatly: "Dead...... He's dead? ”

Fang Xie nodded and explained the matter roughly. Jin Shixiong breathed a sigh of relief after a long time and said: "I know what kind of character he is, if it weren't for this, how could he have been in prison for more than ten years in the first place?" Alas...... just sighed, and finally survived the most difficult three years, but he still didn't suppress the greed in his heart. ”

Fang Xie wanted to say that it was precisely because the hardest days had passed that greed would resurface. When a person is suffering and has time to think about what the future looks like, it is good to survive. And when you see hope again, you will not give up.

He hesitated, but didn't say anything. After all, Mou Liangbi is already dead, so why bother to say anything accusatory.

Then the two of them fell silent again, and it could be seen that Jin Shixiong, who had died in Mou Liangbi, was a little sad.

Fang Xie remembered that when Jin Shixiong was in Chang'an City, he was still a powerful person, but this time he had the illusion that twenty years had suddenly passed. His waist was no longer as straight as it had been more than three years ago, his face was no longer as cold and arrogant as a general, and even the beard on his chin had turned gray.

It's only been three years, and it has made a person change so much.

……

……

Fang Xie walked silently and calculated in his heart, he first climbed the nine steps to the imperial chariot, and then walked twenty-seven steps before stopping, he secretly glanced at the distance between the position he was standing at this time and the emperor, and couldn't help but secretly said in his heart that he was really exquisite, from boarding the imperial chariot to sitting on the throne, he had to walk forty-nine steps, dealing with the number of ninety-five.

I don't know why, Su Buxing looked at Fang Jie's face and changed slightly, but quickly covered it up.

The Emperor seemed a little tired and fell asleep leaning back in his wide seat. Su Bu was afraid to go over and wake up the emperor, but Fang Xie waved his hand not to disturb. What Fang Xie didn't know was that just because of his own action, it changed Su Buxing's thoughts and saved him from an unwarranted disaster.

Sometimes fate is so mysterious, and it changes quietly and inadvertently. Fang Xie never thought that in the short period of time from when he stepped on the imperial chariot to the time he waved his hand just now to stop Su Buxing from waking up the emperor, Su Buxing had too many complicated thoughts in the heart of this old eunuch.

Because he didn't know, Fang Jie's expression didn't look contrived.

Su Buxing smiled at him, with a little more kindness in his eyes.

Fang Xie stood below for half an hour. Su Buxing seemed to want to remind the emperor several times, but he held back. But just when the emperor woke up leisurely, he found that Fang Xie was still standing straight without the slightest reaction. Su Buwei helped the emperor to sit down, and then coughed a few times to remind Fang Xie to salute, but at this time he heard a slight snoring...... The guy standing up straight was asleep.

The Emperor was stunned, then laughed.

The laughter woke Fang Xie up, and he hurriedly saluted: "Minister Fang Jie, knock to see Your Majesty." ”

"Get Up"

The emperor looked smiling purely, but Fang Xie didn't think that what seemed to be true, the emperor waved his hand and ordered: "Move him a chair to sit on, I have seen someone fall asleep on a horse, or the first time I have seen someone who can fall asleep while standing, tell me, how long have you not slept?" ”

Fang Xie replied: "Four days and three nights"

"Huh?"

The emperor was slightly taken aback: "Why? ”

Fang Xie saluted again: "The minister is guilty, he arrived here four days ago but did not come to see His Majesty immediately, but camped dozens of miles west of Xiping City, and then led people to fight outside Xiping City. ”

The Emperor nodded: "Sit down and talk first." ”

Fang Xie hurriedly shook his head: "The minister is still standing...... The minister was afraid that he would be forked out and beaten before he sat down......"

The emperor gave him a blank look: "Then you can explain it yourself, why did Li Yuanshan die?" ”

Fang Xie lowered his head: "The minister did it on purpose." ”

Hearing these four words, the trace of anger in the emperor's eyes disappeared: "I know that you did it on purpose, if you just said many reasons, I would really have people fork you out and beat you to death." ”

"The minister does not dare to bully the king...... The minister made some illusions to make it appear that Li Yuanshan was the last time he struggled to kill the minister, and the minister had to fight back to kill him. But these ministers did not do it to deceive His Majesty, but to deceive the generals. The minister didn't plan to let Li Yuanshan live from the beginning, and when the opportunity came, the minister didn't let it go. If the minister is guilty, please punish him. ”

"Very good"

The emperor nodded: "Since you said it yourself, then I naturally can't indulge...... Su was not afraid, wrote it down, stripped Fang Xie of the title of the first-class county, demoted from the fourth-rank general to the fifth-rank general, and fined him for three years to offset his mistakes. ”

"Whoa"

Su Buwei nodded hurriedly.

Fang Xie slowly breathed a sigh of relief and said sincerely: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for not fighting." ”

"I also made some pretenses to hide from people...... Could it be that the injuries on Li Yuanshan's body can only be caused by a miss? ”

Fang Xie lowered his head: "Minister...... I couldn't help it. ”

The emperor smiled, pointed to the chair placed by Fang Xie and said, "Now sit down and talk." ”

"Your Majesty"

Fang Xie leaned over and sat down on the chair, not daring to sit down.

"Tell me, why did you come to Xiping City? Is it just for revenge? ”

"It's not"

Fang Xie said seriously: "The minister came to Xiping City because of Your Majesty. ”

The emperor's face changed slightly, and after being silent for a while, he said in a calm tone, "I know...... You're a lover, and I'm glad I did. ”

It can be seen that Fang Xie only said that the emperor understood what his purpose was in Xiping City. Sometimes you don't need to use too many words to talk about what you have done, and you can let the other person know your mind in front of the right person.

"Ministers are just ministers."

Fang Xie replied: "It should be the duty of the minister." ”

The emperor was silent again, and then turned his head sideways to Su Buxing and said: "Write down, Fang Xie killed the first rebel, and the contribution is indispensable, Jin Yi and other townspeople, add the opening of the mansion, and promote the four-grade eagle Yang Lang general." ”

Su Buxing's face changed, and then he laughed: "The slave has written it down." ”