Five days later, Guluo City.

A group of children were chasing and playing in the streets, their faces were full of happy smiles, and their mouths kept singing loudly, "One horizontal and one vertical king hegemony, the first minister to usurp the country!" ”

In their hearts, these are just two nursery rhymes that they don't know, as long as they say it enough times, sooner or later they will have free drinks like the children in Hualu City, and the deep meaning behind them has nothing to do with them.

The immature voice and the nursery rhyme full of allegorical tales drifted away with the cool cold wind of early winter. Drifting through the long alleys, over the high walls, through the thick wooden doors, and into the ears of Ruan Lu, who was worried about state affairs in his study.

In front of Ruan Kui was a somewhat yellowed map, but the markings on it were still clear, and he could identify the current situation at a glance. His hand gently stroked the ancient conch city, then slowly moved south, and finally rested on Hualu City between his fingers.

"Li Huan, as a general of the Ten Dao under one person and above ten thousand, it is not enough, and you coaxed the young lord to make you the deputy king. Are you going to take that last step now? This step has not been taken, you and I are both Qu Yue's ministers, and our father-in-law can endure everything. But if you take this step, you will be a rebel and thief who kills the king, and you and I can only speak with a sword! ”

Ruan Kuang and Li Huan have known each other for a long time, and Li Huan was a shrewd and capable subordinate in Ruan Lu's eyes, and the two were also close friends. But the world is unpredictable, Ruan Lu twenty years ago, no matter what, he would never have imagined that there would be today.

Although Ruan Lu didn't want to believe it, everything was a foregone conclusion, and he now only had two choices, one was to stay out of the matter and let Li Huan replace Ding as the lord of Qu Yue, and the other was to take the lead in advocating righteousness and leading his troops to serve the king. If you choose the former, you will inevitably live up to the trust of the Ding family and become Qu Yue's sinner forever.

Loyalty, Ruan Kuang does what he wants, life, and Ruan Kuang wants, the two cannot be both, Ruan Kuang does not know whether to give up loyalty and take life, or sacrifice life and take loyalty. After all, loyalty is to others, but life is to oneself, how can there be any people in the world who are not greedy for life and are not afraid of death?

When Ruan was undecided, there was a sudden rush knock on the door, and he only thought that someone in the house had something to ask for advice, so he only said coldly, "Come in." ”

As he spoke, the door was pushed open from the outside, and a middle-aged man in black walked in. Ruan Kuang glanced at this person from the corner of his eyes, then raised his head in surprise, stared at the black-clothed middle-aged man incredulously, and said, "Lord Ding, why are you here?" ”

The middle-aged man in black sighed, pointed out the window and said, "Dingguo Gong, you must have heard the nursery rhymes outside, right?" One horizontal and one vertical is a cross, and the first walk together is a road word, ten, ten, isn't it Li Huan? Even my Qu Yue's children are exposing Li Huan's wolf ambitions, may I ask Guogong why you can still sit in the room! ”

Ruan Kuang bowed slightly, pointed to a chair next to him, and said, "Lord Ding, you sit down first, let's talk slowly if there is something." ”

The middle-aged man in black sat down angrily, "Dingguo Gong, although I, Ding Dian, am only a distant relative of the first emperor, but I also have to defend the Ding family to the death, as the most trusted general of the first emperor, you are willing to bow down to Li Huan and guard Guluo City for him?" ”

Ruan Ruan shook his head and said: "Lord Ding, do you know, the reason why this duke followed Li Huan's order and came to Guluo Town to defend is not because my duke is afraid of him, let alone that my duke intends to serve him as the master, but in fact, it is to master the soldiers and horses. It's just that now the new emperor ......"

Ding Dian was puzzled: "Since the Duke of Dingguo has the heart to eliminate traitors for the country, what are you waiting for?" Why don't you send troops to Hualu immediately, but hesitate here? You have been through a hundred battles and fought all your life, but are you afraid of a mere Li Huan? ”

Ruan Kui said: "Lord Ding, when the new monarch saw the ministers on the first day, you didn't go to the court because you were sick, and you didn't know how much the officials trusted Li Huan. He not only named him the deputy king according to what Li Huan said, in charge of national political affairs, but also said in front of hundreds of officials that the entire court would be handed over to Li Huan in the future. If this duke does not have full evidence, he will only be infamous for disloyalty and injustice by Li Huan, and he will always become Qu Yue's public enemy, even if he really kills Li Huan, what is the use? ”

Ding Diandao: "Dingguo Gong, I did not go to the early dynasty that day because I was ill, but I was there from beginning to end at the banquet on the day the first emperor was killed. First of all, the monster brought by the prince of Dali went crazy, and then the first emperor and the prince were suddenly killed, and the officials were too panicked that day, so that they all believed that Du Shi was a fine work of other countries, and killed the first emperor and the prince in order to cause civil strife in Quyue. But I have been paying attention to Li Huan's every move that day, and his face has always sunk like water, which is extremely inconsistent with his usual temperament, obviously trying to cover up. Therefore, Xia Guan believes that the death of the first emperor is by no means as simple as it seems, and it must be a bureau set up by Li Huan in collusion with Du Shi. Li Huan was afraid of the infamy of killing the king, so he borrowed the hand of Du Shi to kill the first emperor, and then borrowed the hand of the prince to kill Du Shi, and in the end he was a good fisherman. ”

Ruan Ruan smiled bitterly, "Lord Ding, my father has already seen this. Ben Gong just regretted that he shouldn't have killed Du Shi in anger at that time, and Li Huan denied it in public before Du Shi died, and now everything is dead and there is no proof. Now that he has great power, he must hide it in every possible way, and it is difficult for us to come up with conclusive evidence if we only rely on subjective inference. ”

Ding Dian was greatly annoyed by Ruan Lu's attitude, Huo Ran got up, clenched his right hand into a fist, and smashed it on the table in front of Ruan Lu, and then said angrily: "Dingguo Gong, this official has always thought that you are an iron-clad and daring loyal minister, so he took the risk to come to you." Unexpectedly, you are not as good as those shrunken turtles in Hualu City, at least they are not treated so favorably by the Ding clan like you, if you are all afraid of wolves and tigers, then this official has no choice but to mobilize his five hundred old and weak soldiers to fight Li Huan to the end alone! ”

Ding Dianzhi's words poked into Ruan Lu's heart, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty, so he stomped his feet and said: "Okay, this father will raise troops with Lord Ding and swear to destroy Li Huan!" Never let one horizontal and one vertical king hegemony, the first minister to usurp the country, these two nursery rhymes become prophecies! ”

Ding Dian's hand was excitedly grabbed by Ruan Luan's hand when he heard this, and then his knees weakened and he knelt down in front of Ruan Lu, "Dingguo Gong, are you serious about what you said?" If you are willing to send troops to the king, my Qu Yue will be saved, and my Ding family will also be saved, and I will thank you for your great kindness on behalf of the official family! ”

Ruan Kuo hurriedly stood up and picked Ding Dian up, "Lord Ding, get up quickly." The traitor is in charge, and everyone in my Qu Yue hundred officials is to blame him. As long as you and I work together, we will definitely destroy Li Huan in one fell swoop and protect the Ding family forever! ”

(End of chapter)