Following the palace guards who escorted Pei Hongce into the Chongguang Gate, Chen Yingliang was led to a tall and magnificent palace. Along the way, although Chen Yingliang was dressed in commoner clothes, his expression and demeanor were not flustered. The guards of the imperial city who were monitoring Chen Yingliang secretly admired him.
Chen Yingliang is really nothing to be afraid of. The real credit for rescuing Pei Hongce is placed here. Pei Hongce's entire army was wiped out and he didn't do Chen Yingliang's shit.
The guards directly escorted Pei Hongce into the main hall. Chen Yingliang was not polite, and followed into the main hall. The guard guarding the door wanted to stop him, but a majestic voice came from the hall, "Let him in, let the old man Take a look at this young hero earlier, what does he look like?"
The guards got out of the way according to the order, Chen Yingliang walked into the hall calmly, looked up, but saw that apart from the guards on both sides, there were only three people in the spacious hall, an eight or nine-year-old boy sitting high in the middle of the hall, he must be Sui Yang The second grandson of the emperor, Yue Wang Yang Tong, on the left side of Yang Tong stood a tall, white-haired old man with a long beard hanging down his chest, with a majestic expression, and on the right side was a frail middle-aged man with a sick face. Chen Yingliang entered the palace He also coughed a few times, obviously not in good health.
Pei Hongce knelt down a long time ago, kowtowed tremblingly and said, "The guilty minister, Pei Hongce, kowtowed to His Highness the King of Yue, Mr. Fan who stayed behind, and General Huangfu. The guilty minister lost his teacher and humiliated the country. He deserves death. I beg His Highness the King of Yue and Fan Liushou to forgive me. Please forgive me, General Huangfu."
"Grassman Chen Yingliang, I greet His Royal Highness the King of Yue, and I greet the two adults." Chen Yingliang also imitated Pei Hongce's salute, and said loudly: "The grassroots don't know the taboos of the two adults. If you are rude, I will never forget it."
"Mr. Chen, please stand up." Yang Tong, who was nine years old, said in an adult tone skillfully, "Mr.
"Thank you, Your Highness King Yue." Chen Yingliang saluted again before standing up.
"You are Chen Yingliang, Mr. Chen?" The white-haired old man said, "I am staying behind at Fan Zigai in Dongdu. I ask you, apart from rescuing Pei Hongce today, have you ever gone outside Anximen to ask for service in the army?"
"My lord Fan, the Caomin once went to a city gate in the Eastern Capital to ask to join the army, but the Caomin did not know the name of that city gate when they first arrived in the Eastern Capital." Chen Yingliang answered truthfully.
"It's really you." Fan Zigai showed a smile on his majestic face, and said, "If you leave half a stick of incense late, the old man will see you earlier. If I ask you again, you are only seventeen years old." Why would you think of joining the army?"
"My lord Fan, the grassroots have two purposes for joining the army. One is to serve the country and be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor. The other is that the grassroots family is in decline and life is unsustainable. They want to join the army for food and seek a future." Chen Yingliang continued to answer truthfully. , and introduced his origin, explaining that he was the only grandson of Chen Wandi, Duke of Xuchang County in the previous Zhou Dynasty, and he was the last person left in his family.
"I've heard of Chen Wandi's name, so it looks like you're a great general." Fan Zigai nodded, and asked curiously, "But that's not right, if you want to join the army, why don't you join the army in Daxing nearby?" , why did you want to come to this eastern capital to join the army?"
"My lord, the grass people actually wanted to go to Liaodong to join the army. It was only on the way that they heard that the traitor Yang Xuangan rebelled and led the rebels to attack Dongdu. That's why they decided to come to Dongdu to join the army." Chen Yingliang smiled wryly and sent himself to Dongdu. He briefly introduced the process of joining the army, and also said that he had a letter of recommendation from Fang Xuanling, recommending himself to Fang Yanqian, the Fuyu Taoist supervisor.
"What?" Fan Zigai's reaction was a little violent, and he asked in a low voice: "Fang Yanqian's son, recommended you to Fang Yanqian, and asked Fang Yanqian to find you a position to serve the country?"
Chen Yingliang nodded in agreement, and took the initiative to take out Fang Xuanling's recommendation letter. A guard came up earlier and passed the recommendation letter to Fan Zigai. Fan Zigai took the unsealed letter, opened it carefully, and then burst out loud He laughed, "Fang Xiaozhong, Fang Xiaozhong, I never thought you would have today. The person recommended to you by your precious son would vote for me on his own accord! Today, old man, it's revenge!"
"Master Fan, do you know Mr. Fang?" Chen Yingliang noticed something wrong in Fan Zigai's words, and quietly began to get nervous.
"Of course we know each other!" Fan Zigai said with a sneer with an angry look on his face, "Not only do we know each other, but we also have a bit of hatred!"
Chen Yingliang was shocked, and the sickly middle-aged man sitting opposite Fan Zigai was also taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Fan Liushou, when did you have an enmity with Fang Xiaozhong? Why have I never heard of it?"
"In recent years, the court officials have assessed that the one surnamed Fang has always occupied the first position, and the old man has always been ranked second. Do you think the old man has no enmity with him?" Fan Zigai replied viciously: "He just occupied the position. The family has no money and is cheap, and the old man suffers because he has some land property at home, so those assessment officials always rank him first and let the old man rank second! Otherwise, in terms of integrity, the old man is worse than him?"
The sickly middle-aged man laughed, coughed and laughed happily, while Chen Yingliang breathed a sigh of relief, and saw Fan Zigai's weakness at a glance - good name! Especially good name!
Sure enough, after Fan Zigai finished speaking viciously, he soon smiled again, and said to Chen Yingliang, "That's right, Fang Xiaozhong's son has a bit of vision, just because you dare to go to Liaodong alone to join the army and dare to join the army." Rescuing Pei Hongce under the pursuit of the rebels can be regarded as his recommendation letter to you! Since you are willing to come to Dongdu to join the army, well, this letter of recommendation from Fang Xiaozhong's son is also useful in front of the old man. Come on, the old man will see what position he will arrange for you later."
Chen Yingliang was overjoyed, and quickly saluted Fan Zigai to thank him, while the weak middle-aged man smiled and said: "Fan Liushou, this kid is very courageous, I like it, since he is here to join the army, then don't rob him, let him go." Arrange for my right guard."
"We'll talk about it later." Fan Zigai waved his hand, then turned to Pei Hongce, staring at Pei Hongce with a majestic expression, until Pei Hongce was trembling and sweating profusely from his sharp gaze, Fan Zigai was cold Said: "Unexpectedly, you still have the face to come back."
"Fan Liushou, the subordinate has done his best!" Pei Hongce shouted for grievance profusely, "The subordinate fought five battles with the rebels, five battles! It was Da Xi who took the lead in running away with good intentions, and those soldiers under the subordinate's command Don't live up to it, one escapes faster than the other, and the lower officials have lost consecutive battles!"
"Shut up!" Fan Zigai yelled angrily, "It's a shame that you have the face to say you've been defeated in a row. Daxi also listens to your command with good intentions. Thirteen thousand Youwuwei troops, 13,000 well-equipped Youwuwei troops, don't In one day, you have completely thrown me away! With so much incompetence, what is the use of the court to support you? I am following the order of the emperor to stay in the Eastern Capital and restrain the officials of the Eastern Capital, so what is the use of keeping you?!"
"His Royal Highness Yue, spare your life! Fan Liushou, spare your life! Forgive your life!" Pei Hongce kowtowed desperately, crying, "I have tried my best, I have tried my best, it's the bandits who are fierce, the bandits are fierce, I really can't resist it! "
"You can't resist, I'll replace you to resist." Fan Zigai snorted coldly, then suddenly raised his voice, and shouted: "Come on, push Pei Hongce out of the imperial city and behead him in public! The head will be sent to the Nine Gates of Dongdu, Use the law of the army!"
"No!" The guards in the palace agreed, and they went up to set up Pei Hongce and went out. The frightened Pei Hongce struggled desperately, and immediately burst into tears, crying frantically: "Fan Liushou, please forgive me! His Royal Highness, please forgive me! General Huangfu, please forgive me! I am guilty of a crime." , but I don’t deserve to die for the crime of being an official! I beg you to show mercy outside the law and spare my life!”
The nine-year-old king of Yue, Yang Tong, was silent, and the sickly middle-aged man coughed and remained silent, turning a blind eye to Pei Hongce's cries for mercy. But Fan Zigai yelled again: "Don't you deserve to die? You have the face to say that! A few soldiers who escaped from the upper east gate also said that if the army under your command was defeated, even one of the rebels would be defeated." The charge was not blocked! So incompetent and useless, so disgraceful and humiliating to the country, who deserves to die?! Push it out, cut!"
Pei Hongce continued to cry and beg for mercy, struggling and refusing to get up, but unfortunately Fan Zigai's prestige in the Eastern Capital was too high, and the guards in the palace did not dare to disobey his orders, so they simply lifted Pei Hongce up and carried him outside, Pei Hongce She cried even louder, but no one paid any attention at all.
"Wait a minute!" When Pei Hongce was about to be carried out of the main hall, Shi Potian's shocking voice suddenly sounded, and everyone followed the sound in surprise, only to see that the person who stopped shouting turned out to be a ten-year-old in civilian clothes who had just obtained the position promised by Fan Zigai. The seven-year-old young lady—Chen Yingliang!
"Lord Fan, wait a minute, the grassroots have something to say!" Chen Yingliang took two steps forward, knelt down to Fan Zigai, and said loudly: "Lord Fan, the grassroots believe that Lord Pei has not only done nothing wrong, but has also made contributions to the court. The merits and demerits are also offset, and the crime is not worthy of death! I also ask Mr. Fan to keep someone under the sword!"
"What?!" Everyone was taken aback, and Pei Hongce himself was so shocked that he even forgot to cry. He didn't expect that the distant nephew he just recognized, who had turned around countless times, dared to speak in such a way. Say something like this in the environment!
"Chen Yingliang, are you crazy?" The sickly middle-aged man was so shocked that he even forgot to cough, and shouted: "Don't forget who you are, where is this place, do you have the right to speak?!"
"My lord's words are very true. The grassroots are indeed of low status, and they should not interfere in the government!" Chen Yingliang also went all out, and said loudly with a stern expression: "But the rise and fall of the world is everyone's responsibility! Now the traitor Yang Xuangan has launched an army to plot rebellion. It is near the city of the Eastern Capital, and the Eastern Capital of the Great Sui Dynasty is in crisis. Master Fan, as the Eastern Capital, took meritorious service as his fault, and the rewards and punishments are unknown. In this place, if you don't speak out to persuade, you will be sorry to His Majesty the Son of Heaven, and to your compatriots of Li and Shu!"
The sickly middle-aged man's mouth opened into a circle, and Pei Hongce's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Yue King Yang Tong and other guards in the palace also had no better expressions than them, because since Emperor Sui Yang asked Fan Zigai to stay behind After Dongdu, no one dared to speak to Fan Zigai like that! It was almost like pointing at Fan Zigai's nose and yelling at him!
The most violent reaction was of course Fan Zigai himself. Hearing Chen Yingliang's nonsense, Fan Zigai's snow-white hair stood on end one by one, and his snow-white beard kept trembling. He pointed at Chen Yingliang and roared: " How dare you insult this old man! How can this old man take credit for his merits? How can he not know the rewards and punishments?! If you say something ugly today, don’t blame the old man for punishing you for humiliating a courtier!”
An important minister in the eastern capital like Pei Hongce, Fan Zigai would kill at will, Yang Tong, the grandson of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, and a sickly middle-aged man who was probably the boss of Youwuwei Huangfu Wuyi, didn't even dare to fart. Chen Yingliang still dared to say such things to Fan Zigai - Captain Chen is certainly not crazy!