Chapter 53. Fate (above).

Shangyuan City. [Full text reading]

As the place of the decisive battle between the Great Chu and the grassland coalition army, this is the place where Xiao Mo became famous in the first battle, and it is also the place where hundreds of thousands of corpses are buried.

After months of fighting and life and death, although the fighting has subsided, the damage and suffering caused by the war to the city still shows no signs of abating.

As far as the eye can see, inside and outside the city, there are ruins everywhere; Everywhere you look, thousands of households, everyone wears mourning clothes; From time to time, there were cries and wails, which suddenly came from a corner, but no one cared at all, as if they had long been accustomed to it and had long been numb.

In a way, Xiao Mo can now be regarded as "a success and ten thousand bones".

The Taishou and defense envoys of Shangyuan City are still Liu Xingzhi and Cai Da.

Originally, with the credit of these two people assisting Xiao Mo in defeating the grassland coalition army, at this moment, he should have been promoted to the third pole and merged into Beijing to receive the reward. However, before Xiao Mo entered Beijing, he specially asked for an order to leave these two people in Shangyuan City.

The reason for this is because these two people are most familiar with the situation in Shangyuan City, and they have some talents, staying in Shangyuan City, they can appease the people for the imperial court and restore the vitality of the post-war land, and secondly, Xiao Mo has some secret tasks, and the two of them need to stay in Shangyuan City, preside over the overall situation, and help him complete it.

And Liu Xingzhi and Cai Da, after the battle of Shangyuan City, have long been convinced of Xiao Mo's personality and ability, and are convinced that Xiao Mo's future will be limitless, and sooner or later he will become a very popular minister, so when the dust of the war is just settled, they have already taken the initiative to take refuge and become Xiao Mo's earliest "henchmen".

As for Xiao Mo leaving the two of them in Shangyuan City, Liu Xingzhi and Cai Da were not only not angry, but were overjoyed, but because of the secret tasks given to them by Xiao Mo, the two of them thought that Xiao Mo had regarded them as confidants, which was even more difficult than the reward of the imperial court. And with Xiao Mo's means and credit, they will never be treated badly, although the reward they deserve has been postponed, but the two of them will only get more in the future.

In fact, the secret plan left by Xiao Mo is extremely complex, both public and private, civil and military, so in these days, Liu Xingzhi and Cai Da, in addition to routine official duties, most of their minds are spent on this, although they are busy, they also do their best, and they dare not slack off at all.

However, at this time today, Liu Xingzhi and Cai Da put aside all official duties and led all the civil and military officials in Shangyuan City, waiting outside Shangyuan City early, with solemn expressions and full of eagerness.

It turned out that according to the announcement sent by the imperial court the day before yesterday, the new prince of Great Chu, the crown prince Tian Yuan, will inspect Shangyuan City on behalf of the Son of Heaven today

The prince is coming, this is a major event related to the future and fate, Liu Xingzhi and Cai Da naturally did not dare to slack off, the sky was not clear, and they had already led all the civil and military forces in Shangyuan City, and they were waiting here early.

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It's just that, unconsciously, all the civil and military forces in Shangyuan City have been waiting from early morning to evening, all of them are exhausted, and they are a little anxious, but they have not seen His Royal Highness the Crown Prince arrive for a long time.

Finally, Cai Da couldn't hold back and complained to Liu Xingzhi beside him: "My lord, didn't the notice issued by the imperial court the day before yesterday say that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be here today?" Why is it still nowhere to be seen? Although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a noble status, he is too casual, or is it because the report of the imperial court is wrong and written at the wrong time? ”

Liu Xingzhi glared at Cai Da and said, "Don't talk nonsense, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is known as a virtuous person, when His Majesty established the prince a few days ago, even Lord Xiao Mo supported him, how dare you say that?" …… However, the imperial court's circulars are generally issued after three rounds of review, and they have never been missed, and they should not be the reason for this...... Well, maybe something happened on the road that delayed His Royal Highness the Prince. ”

Just when the two were discussing what to do next, a steward of the Taishou Mansion suddenly ran to Liu Xingzhi's side, his expression was full of panic, and while running, he shouted: "My lord, my lord, it's not good, it's not good."

Seeing that the steward in his house was so out of shape, which caused all the colleagues around him to look sideways, Liu Xing's heart was slightly angry, and he snorted: "What's wrong?" It's made you so out of shape, when the sky falls, there will be tall people on top of it, what are you flustered about?"

After some reprimand, seeing that the steward had finally recovered the demeanor that a person in the Taishou Mansion should have, Liu Xingzhi nodded and asked slowly: "What happened, you can tell it slowly." ”

But seeing that the steward's expression was full of grievances, he said softly: "My lord, how dare the villain deceive you, it's really a big deal, it turns out that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already arrived in Shangyuan City when the city gate is opened today."

Although the steward's voice was soft, it was undoubtedly a thunderbolt in the clear sky when it fell into Liu Xingzhi's ears, and his expression was full of panic and shock, but he couldn't care about his demeanor anymore, but asked anxiously: "What did you say?" The prince has already come to Shangyuan City? I've been waiting here, how could I not see it? Also, why are you only talking about such a big thing now?? ”

Hearing Liu Xingzhi's questioning, the steward became more and more aggrieved, and replied: "If you go back to your lordship, His Royal Highness the prince should be dressed in civilian clothes and enter Shangyuan City from the north gate around the city, so he hid it from his lordship." And the villain just learned about it because the prince's envoy appeared, and he ordered the villain to summon the adult to meet him with the holy decree. ”

After hearing the steward's answer, Liu Xingzhi didn't care about reprimanding, but asked, "Where is the prince now?" ”

The steward replied: "Back to the adult, since the news that the villain got it, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been staying in the north of the city for this day. ”

"Chengbei??"

After hearing the steward's answer, not only Liu Xingzhi, but all the civil and military officials around him all changed their expressions.

After glancing at each other, Liu Xingzhi said urgently: "Let's go."

As he spoke, he was already walking towards the north of the city.

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The grassland coalition army attacked from the north, so the north gate of Shangyuan City was the top priority of the grassland coalition army's attack, especially after the grassland coalition army transported the catapults, siege vehicles, ballistas and other heavy weapons captured from the Chu army, the northern area of Shangyuan City was extremely damaged, and after the end of the war, it was already in ruins.

However, since Xiao Mo left Shangyuan City, Liu Xingzhi and other civil and military officials just wanted to complete the tasks assigned by Xiao Mo, although they did not neglect the reconstruction of the city, the rescue and pacification of the people, etc., so that Beicheng is still the most dilapidated place in Shangyuan City to this day, and a group of poor people, because they have nowhere to go, they are also concentrated there, and all kinds of scenes are really the most unwilling for the prince to see.

It is precisely because of this that Liu Xingzhi and others are so flustered.

Without mentioning the gossip, after the steward took Liu Xingzhi and other officials to the place where the prince of Beicheng was, and pointed out the prince to them, the scene he saw made the civil and military forces of Shangyuan City speechless in shock.

I saw that the steward called "His Royal Highness the Prince" was leading a group of companions, dressed in civilian clothes, carrying rubble and cleaning up the ruins with the poor people around him, and discussing something with the surrounding people from time to time, the clothes on his body were already torn and dirty, but he didn't care.

No one dared to believe that this middle-aged man who was doing coolie work was actually His Royal Highness the Crown Prince today.

It's just that the age, appearance, and characteristics of this middle-aged man are all consistent with the legendary Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and the royal nobility between his hands and feet cannot be concealed - although this middle-aged man who is full of royal nobility is now carrying gravel covered in mud and sweat.

After hesitating for a moment, Liu Xingzhi confirmed again and again with the housekeeper beside him, and finally did not dare to slack off in questioning, came to the middle-aged man, knelt down first, and said in unison with all the civil and military personnel: "The lower official is late to take over, please ask the prince to surrender." ”

(Before the crown prince ascended the throne, he was still a minister, but his rank was higher, so in front of him, hundreds of officials were not called "micro ministers", but "lower officials".) ）

The surrounding people were all taken aback when they saw the reactions of the "officials and masters", and no one expected that this middle-aged man who had just talked to them cordially and took the initiative to help them deal with the rubble of the ruins was actually the current prince

So they all knelt down one after another.

The prince ignored the civil and military forces of Shangyuan City, but said to the people who were kneeling on the ground in a warm voice: "Get up, get up, as the prince, when I am in trouble with the country, I can't protect my family and defend the country, let you suffer so much, I don't deserve your respect." ”

After the prince Tahara and the entourage around him helped the people up one by one, and after being appeased one after another, he received the gratitude of the people without mentioning it, and turned around, and the prince Tahara finally said to the officials: "You guys should also get up." ”

The tone and expression were much colder than just now.

However, Prince Tian Yuan's attitude made Liu Xingzhi and others truly confirm his identity.

If it weren't for the crown prince, who would dare to treat them like this?

After the officials got up, they just wanted to advise the prince not to do such a thing, so as not to hurt his body, which was also inconsistent with his identity, but the prince Tian Yuan had already walked to the side of a large gravel, and preemptively ordered the officials: "Who is Liu Xingzhi, the Taishou of Shangyuan City?" Come and help me move this rock. ”

Liu Xingzhi was just about to speak, but he was held back, and he didn't dare to resist the order, so he hurriedly walked to the side of Prince Tian Yuan and carried the gravel together.

When other officials saw such a scene, they didn't dare to slack off, and they all became coolies, the generals were fine, why did Wenchen do such a thing? All of them are miserable.

But he said that Liu Xingzhi, carrying gravel with the prince, was even more cautious and nervous, for fear of hurting the prince, but he was over fifty years old, and he was a literati, he had just moved a stone, and he was already sweating, and he only felt that he was about to collapse.

As soon as the two of them put the gravel in the open space, Liu Xingzhi didn't have time to take a breath, when he heard the prince Tian Yuan suddenly say: "Liu Xingzhi, are you guilty?" ”

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ps:Tell me,The bug's account was lost.,I've been logging in directly to the author's area to update the chapter these days.,Before the account is retrieved.,There's no way to add essence to everyone.,There's no way to reply to everyone's message.,It's helpless.,Please forgive me.。