When I arrived at the inner court of the palace, I saw the imperial study from afar, and before I could go over, the sharp-eyed Wang Xiaolai saw many members of the secret guard who came in and out of the door of the imperial study.

After all, Wang Xiaolai also stayed in the dark guard, and he also knew a lot about the members of the dark guard, and he was curious at the moment, and said what was going on, looking at this posture, how could there be a feeling that the sky had fallen.

"Squire, please." Fair and fair.

Wang Xiaolai glanced at the red incense that followed behind him, and the father-in-law said, "Don't worry, the lady of the red fragrance will settle down in the next place." ”

Hearing what Father-in-law Le said, Wang Xiaolai relieved his heart and went directly into the imperial study.

When he entered, it happened that Narcissus came out of the inside, and the two of them didn't pay attention, so they collided directly.

This time, it can be said that Wang Xiaolai was frightened, and he thought that Narcissus was going to beat him, but who would have thought that Narcissus just glanced at himself tiredly, and pointed behind him with his chin: "You are here, Your Majesty has been waiting for you for a long time." ”

Hearing this, Wang Xiaolai frowned, went over with doubts, came to the front, and shouted softly: "Your Majesty." ”

The empress didn't react, and Wang Xiaolai shouted again: "Your Majesty? ”

The empress woke up suddenly, raised her head directly, and asked in a panic, "What's the matter, did I fall asleep just now?" ”

Wang Xiaolai didn't speak, but squatted down, helped the empress brush her messy hair, and sighed: "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?" What's wrong? ”

The empress raised her head, revealing a shiny face, her eyes were red and swollen, and she looked haggard, who would dare to believe that this was the empress who was still alive the day before yesterday?

"Hehe, it's okay, little Laizi, it's good that you're here."

The empress's reaction made Wang Xiaolai even more puzzled, and glanced at a newly sent fold on the dragon book case, and didn't think about it, so he took it directly in his hand.

The empress glanced at it and didn't say anything, as if she had acquiesced to Wang Xiaolai's approach.

When he picked up the fold and opened it in his hand to see the contents on it clearly, Wang Xiaolai was stunned for a moment.

How do you say, these days, the Eastern Front defense line, which has been as stable as Mount Tai, has been broken.

It stands to reason that Zhao Yuanche, who is known as one of the twin walls of Sui and Yang, is in charge, and the eastern front should be no weaker than the defense of the northern border, after all, the combat effectiveness of the grassland is far from being comparable to the rabble of the eighteenth road anti-king.

But why? things, still have to look forward and go back and say.

About eight days ago, Zhao Sui used Cheng Degao and Feng Sanxing to defect to Zhao Yuanche to carry out a bitter plan. Although Zhao Yuanche had already seen through it and planned to leave the two of them to give Zhao Sui false information, how did Zhao Yuanche know that these two, at the beginning, were abandoned sons thrown out by Zhao Sui, and after completely using the two of them to attract Zhao Yuanche's attention, they turned around and used the protégé of Baixiaozhuang under Huhu Gate to sneak attack the grain road of the Suiyang army and burned hundreds of thousands of stone life-saving food.

If this is the case, then Zhao Yuanche still has a chance to stabilize the situation after beheading Cheng Degao and Feng Sanxing.

Anyway, there are many unscrupulous merchants in Xiaoyang City who store grain at low prices, and they only need to take grain from them, and they can still survive.

However, what Zhao Yuanche never expected was that when the soldiers captured Cheng Degao and Feng Sanxing, they also brought back a letter, which was specially written by Li Tianxing and asked Cheng Feng and the others to open ten days later.

No one knew what the content of the letter was, but when Zhao Yuanche saw it, his eyebrows and beard trembled, and he couldn't even stand on his feet, and he fell down directly, spurting out black blood, and that night, he was already unconscious.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the eighteenth road anti-king launched a general attack, the defenders of the young sun were leaderless, first Zhao Sui used the method of digging the ground to break the city to take the city gate, and then, the spies who mixed into the city set fire everywhere, and instantly turned the young sun into a sea of fire, and the 100,000 defenders in the city, only less than 30,000 escaped, covering the seriously injured Zhao Yuanche who was not awake to evacuate from the young sun.

Moreover, when Zhao Sui took the young sun, he did not choose to stop, in the face of the young sun that was on fire on all sides, Zhao Sui ordered to ignore it, and the whole army took advantage of the situation to pursue.

Originally, the eastern defense line was broken only by Yanyang, but Zhao Sui chose to continue the attack regardless of Yanyang, and in just an instant, the rest of the defense line on the eastern front entered the embarrassing situation of being attacked by the enemy, and the war also changed from a positional battle at the beginning to a pursuit war.

The 170,000 defenders of the entire Eastern Front added up, there was no escape, there was no way to retreat, and when they were driven all the way to Zhumaguan, finally, Zhao Yuanche woke up, but at this time, his subordinates also gathered a total of 60,000 remnants of the defeated generals, many of whom were defeated and captured in the rout.

And the old general Zhao Yuanche also felt deeply remorseful, and felt ashamed of his high hopes for the empress, in addition, the pursuers sent by Zhao Sui provoked day by day, and under the anger, Zhao Yuanche ordered to take advantage of Zhao Sui's arrival, and eat these pursuers under the pass first.

But Zhao Yuanche knew that these pursuers were only used to attract his attention, and Zhao Sui's large army had already captured Wuyang City, a small city used by the Suiyang military as a transit station for grain transportation.

And the reason why Zhao Sui knew about this place was when Fang Jie, who was the deputy marshal, told him after Zhou Jinglian's assassination.

In other words, Fang Jie, who was sent by Zhao Yuanche to be in charge of the left defense line, surrendered to the enemy at the moment of defeat.

After thinking about it, Zhao Yuanche, who understood this, finally understood what had happened before and after, he raised his head and laughed, and in the midst of laughter, he once again spurted blood and lay down.

When Zhao Yuanche woke up again, he felt haggard, and soon after his death, he asked for a pen and paper left and right, and with his last breath, he wrote this desperate battle report.

sent a letter and arranged the defense of Zhuma Pass, and that night, Zhao Yuanche died of illness on Zhuma Pass.

In the moment after Zhao Yuanche's death, the defenders opened the city gate and voted for Zhao Sui. It is equivalent to saying that Zhumaguan followed Zhao Yuanche and fell.

When Wang Xiao saw this, his brows furrowed.

The empress took out another bamboo stick and said, "This was found in General Zhao's house." ”

Wang Xiaolai took it and glanced at it in his hand, and muttered: "The autumn wind urges the fallen leaves to be urgent, and it is difficult for the general to return to his hometown in armor." ”

The empress put a few other folds in front of Wang Xiaolai: "This is the battle report of the counties in Yuzhou, after the rebels took Zhumaguan, they attacked all the way, but in just a few days, the entire territory of Yuzhou has fallen into the hands of Zhao Sui." ”

Wang Xiaolai was stunned: "It's equivalent to saying that they are far away from Sizhou..."

"It's already in front of the gate of Sizhou, so to speak, the rebels are only one distance away from me, and if Tongguan is lost again, then Daxing City will be in no danger to defend." The empress said such a sentence expressionlessly.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, things haven't reached an irreparable situation yet." Wang Xiaolai said busily.

The empress snorted, and her tone became very calm: "I'm not in a hurry, why am I in a hurry?" Tongguan is the last barrier of Daxing City, and the kings of all dynasties have attached great importance to it, and I am certainly no exception. Where, there are still 30,000 elite soldiers stationed from the north, although it is said that there is no Thunder Fire Iron Cavalry, but if Zhao Sui wants to take Tongguan in a short time, it is still not so simple, with these times, Lu Gong would have come back a long time ago. ”

Although the empress's expression was very calm when she said this, Wang Xiaolai saw the empress's unconsciously trembling hands.

"Your Majesty, Marquis Lu has ten days at most, and he will be able to rush back to Daxing City, at the moment, I think it should be closed news, try not to cause panic."

The empress nodded: "Well, this matter will be left to you to do." ”

Wang Xiaolai: "??? Your Majesty, are you sure that I should do this kind of thing? ”

Hearing this, the empress patted her head: "I'm confused, this kind of thing should be done by the old Xiangguo, the old Xiangguo, the old Xiangguo!" ”

The empress raised her voice and shouted.

"Your Majesty, Lao Xiangguo is not here." Wang Xiaolai reminded gently.

The empress snorted, full of self-blame: "Look at my memory, the old Xiangguo hasn't come over yet." ”

"Your Majesty." Wang Xiaolai squatted down and held the empress's shoulder.

The empress looked up at Wang Xiaolai.

"Your Majesty, you haven't rested since yesterday."

The empress smiled bitterly and shook her head: "How can I still have the heart to rest." ”

Wang Xiaolai said with a smile: "This is not good, Your Majesty, you have to rest, otherwise, when the old Xiangguo and they come, you will behave like this, and you will panic first, so how can it be done, Your Majesty, you say yes." ”

The empress looked up at Wang Xiaolai.

Wang Xiaolai took the curtain from the side, wrapped it around the back of the empress, and said: "It's still early, and there is almost an hour before the old Xiangguo and them come, Your Majesty, you will rest for a while and recuperate." ”

The empress grabbed Wang Xiaolai's arm tightly: "Then what are you going to do?" ”

Wang Xiaolai smiled and sat cross-legged: "I'm not going anywhere, I'm here to accompany Your Majesty." ”