The next morning, the sun was already heating up, and the two of them woke up. Shen Ruoyu warmed up the wild vegetable porridge left over from the previous night as breakfast. When I woke up, the sun was shining, and I was really in a much more cheerful mood and full of energy. Shen Ruoyu examined all the details of his instructions for her to enter Beijing, and when she saw that she was correct, she was relieved.

He kissed her deeply for the last time, turned around and got on the horse, and before leaving, he didn't forget to joke that he wanted to see Yun Jianniang at night and say hello to him.

He crossed the river, walked northeast along the river, looked at the tall and majestic city wall of Yingtian, and went around to the north of the city and walked towards the Jinchuan Gate.

Jingshi has been put under martial law. On the surface, the Jinchuan Gate City is impregnable and indestructible. From a distance, the officers and soldiers defending the city saw a man and a horse galloping from the north, and in a blink of an eye they came to the door and shouted:

"I'm Shen Ruoliao, let me into the city!"

The defenders at the head of the city looked at each other, unable to react for a moment. Shen Ruoyu shouted twice more before a soldier remembered and hurried to report it.

The gates slowly opened. A general came out with a group of men and horses and lined up under the city gate. A big flag was high behind the general, and a Li character on the big flag was very familiar.

Shen Ruoyu immediately saluted and said, "Lord Cao Guogong, everything is okay?" ”

The majestic Li Jinglong led the horse forward, and it was not until he was face-to-face that he dared to confirm that he was not dazzled.

"General Shen of Dongchang; Are you still alive? ”

Shen Ruoliao said: "I was injured by King Yan and was escorted back to Beiping to recuperate, and now the injury has healed, Beiping can't tolerate me, so I left Beiping and fled back to Beijing." ”

Li Jinglong thought for a moment.

"What are the general's plans to come back this time?"

"Where is Yan Jun now?"

"Yesterday, the Yan army crossed the river from Guazhou. The Marquis of Licheng and the King of Yan confronted Gaozigang and were defeated by the Yan army. ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "King Yan's intention is to take Zhenjiang to cut off the wings of the capital. ”

Li Jinglong looked at him vigilantly and politely. "What is the general's plan?"

Shen Ruoyu smiled bitterly. "Even if I have Han Xin's talent, I'm afraid I'm powerless now, right?"

He sighed. "Grandpa, I came back because I didn't worry about the Son of Heaven. The situation is such that, to be honest, I don't have anything I can do about it. The last thing I can do now is to stand guard around the Son of Heaven to ensure that His Majesty is safe. So, I need to go into town right away. ”

Li Jinglong thought about it for a moment and replied:

"At the moment of the great enemy, the Yan army is imminent, General Shen died on the battlefield for three months, suddenly came back from the dead, and came back from Beiping thousands of miles away, no one knew beforehand; I am responsible for guarding the Jinchuan Gate, and I dare not be careless and hasty. The general understandable? ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "This is nature. I just don't know what my grandfather is going to do? ”

Li Jinglong said: "I and His Royal Highness the King of the Valley have received the order of the Son of Heaven to guard this gate, and this matter must be reported to me for discussion with His Royal Highness the King of the Valley." General, please wait here for a moment. ”

When Shen Ruoyu heard the King of Valley, his heart sank, as if he had fallen into an ice cave. He subconsciously replied:

"It's up to Grandpa."

Li Jinglong led the team back to the city, and the city gate was immediately closed as before. Shen Ruoyu looked at the tall city gate where mercury could not enter, and his heart gradually became sad. The choice of Jinchuan Gate seems to be a mistake at the moment. King of the Valley, Zhu Lu? In addition to King Yan, he was the only prince Shen Ruoliao had ever offended. At the same time, he was puzzled: Once the Yan army went down to Zhenjiang, Jinchuanmen would bear the brunt, how could the king of Gu be able to get on the battlefield? Your Majesty, Your Majesty, send the county lord of Qingcheng to cut the land and ask for peace, and send the king of Gu to guard the Jinchuan Gate, you are afraid that the Yan army will not be fast enough to break the Beijing division.

He waited a long time, and when the sun was past noon, the gates were opened again; This time, only Li Jinglong's herald rode out to greet Shen Ruoyu.

"General Shen, His Royal Highness the King of Gu and General Li of Cao Guogong have decided to ask the general to stay in the garrison camp for two days, and when it is confirmed that the general is not the Yan army, then let the general enter the palace to face the saint."

Shen Ruoyu thought about it for a moment and replied:

"With all due respect, if I really did Yan Jun's meticulous work and left me in the garrison camp, wouldn't it be right in my arms?"

The herald was a little embarrassed: "During the general's stay in the camp, there will be ...... There will be a special person who will be responsible for taking care of the general's daily life. ”

"You mean, send someone to watch me and put me under house arrest?" Shen Ruoyu secretly scolded himself again and again for making a mistake and chose Jinchuanmen. He is not a general, and he has no previous suspicions with Cao Guogong; Needless to say, this must have been the idea of the king of the valley. He originally wanted to enter the city from now on, so that he could inspect the defense of Jinchuan Gate by the way, and finally resist King Yan for a while, so as to buy time for the plan in the palace. But he didn't expect to give himself to the king of the valley for nothing and put him under house arrest.

Fortunately, if you think about it, no matter how bad it is, it's just house arrest; Although he lost the autumn wind, he didn't lose his skills after all, and no one dared to do anything to him.

He had no choice but to agree, and followed the herald into the Jinchuan Gate, and went directly to a special barracks that had been prepared for him.

The barracks was in a small courtyard that was isolated from each other, with only one room of its own. The soldiers who guarded the courtyard in a circle were all people under Cao Guogong, none of them were soldiers he led, and he didn't know anyone. Cao Guogong and Gu Wang Zhu came to greet him in person, chatted a few irrelevant words, and took special care of his diet and living needs, and then took his leave, leaving only the team of guards and a servant.

In this way, he returned to the capital after a year and four months of separation. When he left, he was General Zuo and Marquis of Dongchang, and when he came back, he was still in the position of General Zuo and Marquis of Dongchang, but his treatment was no different from that of a prisoner.

It doesn't matter anymore; When King Yan broke the Jingshi, Li Jinglong would not have to worry. However, he immediately realized that Li Jinglong was not worried, everything was the idea of the Gu King. However, King Gu had secretly colluded with King Yan with Xu Zengshou, the governor of Zuodu, and he had already noticed it. Could it be that the king of the valley wanted to tie himself up and dedicate himself to the king of Yan? - Or, the King of the Valley simply wants to sacrifice the King of Yan even with the Jinchuan Gate, right?

Anyway; He is not defeated by the river now, and in the midst of the chaos and siege, he meets the sword soldiers of King Yan. He will not let the king of the valley slaughter. For now, we just need to calm down and observe everything around us. His original purpose was only to rescue the Son of Heaven, and the team of guards outside the door was no match for him at all. When the time came, he would be able to leave here and rush to the palace.

He stayed in the barracks for three days at a time. Li Jinglong and Zhu Lu never mentioned letting him go again; After the first day, he never came to see him again, and even Li Jinglong's herald was nowhere to be seen. Only the servant and the guard were always around.

The king of the valley wanted to trap him. Then he thought that this might have been King Yan's idea.

On the sixth day of the sixth month of June, he learned from the soldiers guarding the town that Tong Jun, the defender of Zhenjiang, surrendered to King Yan; The Yan army occupied Zhenjiang without much effort. Ying Tian is completely alone.

That night, it rained again. The place where Shen Ruoyu lives is a leaky house. Although it rained in the capital in June, it was not cold, after all, lying in the leaky house all night, the rain kept pouring down, and it was soaked everywhere, and it was really impossible to sleep. He had to roll up the mat and lie down all night in a place where there was no leakage.

The next morning, the rain stopped. The room was damp. After Shen Ruoyu woke up, he only felt uncomfortable and weak. He only said that he had a cold at night, asked for a cup of hot tea, and didn't pay much attention to it.

By the middle of the day, the discomfort was getting worse. The summer was hot, but he couldn't feel it, and he still had the damp feeling of the first night leaking. The joints begin to stiffen and ache. The old wound on his right leg came back to his face. Soon, old and new injuries all over the body began to flare up at the same time. He insisted on walking for a while, thinking that movement would allow the blood to flow and relieve the stiffness and pain. But unexpectedly, after walking for a while, I became dizzy and couldn't support it anymore. He lay down and covered his head.

It was as if countless steel files were being filed in every inch of his body, ruthlessly filed, all the way into the bone marrow, and the pain was so painful that he couldn't breathe. In the drowsiness, someone came in, someone went out, and someone came in. He must have been asleep, he didn't know anything. It was as if someone had called him and tried his forehead. It was as if someone had pinched his wrist. He didn't know what was going on, he didn't know what the hell was going on around him.

Do I have a fever, or what's wrong? Freezing? Drenched? He thought in a daze, with no logic and no answer.

The moment he fell into a coma, one last thought popped into his mind:

The Jinchuan Gate is a mistake; I hope the Three Mountains Gate is not.

After listening to the medical officer's report, Li Jinglong turned his head to look at Gu Wang Zhu Lu.

"Your Highness, look at this—"

Gu Wang Zhu Lu's shrewd eyes looked at Cao Guogong, who was twenty years older than him, and asked, "What does the virtuous nephew mean?" ”

Li Jinglong sighed. "He was sick and couldn't do anything, and staying in the army was a burden. We might as well let him go, report it to Jianwen, and let the emperor arrange a place for him to live in the city and ask the doctor to take care of it. ”

Zhu Yu said: "He came back to protect the Son of Heaven." He has a very high prestige in the Upper Twelve Guards, and once he recovers, the Twelve Guards will follow him. How can King Yan spare you and me? ”

Li Jinglong said worriedly: "Then what should I do?" Let him be sick here? I am afraid that in two days the news will reach the ears of the courtiers, and the Son of Heaven will know about it; When asked, how do we respond? King Yan won't come to attack the city in two days. ”

Zhu Lu smiled smugly and smugly. "Don't worry, I have a way, one can confuse the courtiers of the Son of Heaven, the second can ask for merit in front of King Yan, and the third can take the opportunity to rectify Shen Ruoxiao. Speaking of which, when he was sick at this time, God really helped me; There is no time to lose. ”

Li Jinglong realized: "What does His Highness mean——? ”

Zhu Lu leaned into Li Jinglong's ear, lowered his voice, and prompted:

"Did the virtuous nephew ever think of Lan Zhengjun, the commander of the Jinyi Guard?"