Soldiers struggled to wind up the noose on the city wall, and the stone gate weighing several thousand kilograms was slowly lifted up. Under the stone gate was half of the body and meat paste, exuding the smell of blood. Fang Jie stood in the city gate, and as the stone gate rose, the situation outside slowly appeared in front of his eyes. For some unknown reason, Fang Jie suddenly had the illusion that a door to a new world had opened.
The fighting outside the city had ended, and all the rebels who had no time to escape surrendered. Outside the door, General Jin Shixiong rode on a horse and looked into the city cave. He was very curious about who suddenly appeared here and cut off Li Yuanshan's retreat. And the faces of the Sui army generals in the back had a look of displeasure, as if it was difficult for Li Yuanshan to be captured by others.
Fang Jie had met Jin Shixiong when he was in Chang'an City, and had heard a lot about this famous Sui general. He could see the surprise, curiosity and dissatisfaction on the faces of those generals, but the expression on Jin Shixiong's face was not so complicated. Fang Jie walked out quickly, and then greeted each other with a military salute.
"It's a humble job, and I pay my respects to the general."
"No wonder."
Jin Shixiong smiled, and jumped off his horse: "I don't know who suddenly came here to block Li Yuanshan's retreat. It turned out to be General Fang. Langrushan is thousands of miles away from here and Jinyang City. Could it be you? Is it possible to fly over?"
Fang Jie said: "The humble official just came to ask to see His Majesty, and happened to meet Li Ni and ran away."
Jin Shixiong didn't believe this, but he didn't intend to expose it either. He came over and took Fang Jie's hand and asked, "Are the brothers on the Wolf Milk Mountain all right?"
What he asked in the first sentence was not how Li Yuanshan was, but how the brothers were all right. Sometimes a person's temperament can be revealed in a single word inadvertently. Jin Shixiong is famous for his love of soldiers like his sons, and those soldiers on Langru Mountain have been with him for more than two years, so he naturally misses them.
"Everything is fine."
Fang Jie said: "It's just that Mr. Mou has some accidents. I will tell the general in detail later."
"Um."
Jin Shixiong hummed, glanced into the city gate and asked, "Where is Li Ni?"
"Back to the general, Li Ni was trapped in the city. He had already surrendered, but when Beizhi personally tied him up, he suddenly tried to capture Beizhi, and Beizhi missed him and beat him to death."
"died?"
Jin Shixiong's expression changed, and then he sighed and said, "What a pity."
If he looked at Fang Jie meaningfully, the regret in his tone was very strong. Fang Jie knew the meaning of Jin Shixiong's words, a dead Li Yuanshan was far inferior to a living Li Yuanshan, the emperor preferred to see traitors kneeling in front of him, and a corpse was obviously worse.
"You shouldn't be so irrational."
Jin Shixiong said in a low voice: "You are not a fool. You should know how much credit it is to capture Li Ni alive. Whoever receives this credit will have a bright future... It's a pity, it's a pity."
Fang Jie also shook his head: "It's a pity, it's a pity."
"Let's go."
Jin Shixiong patted Fang Jie's shoulder: "Come with me to see His Majesty."
"yes."
Fang Jie clasped his fists, followed Jin Shixiong on his horse and walked towards the camp. The generals of the Sui army looked at him with monster-like eyes, maybe they were all guessing who this young man who appeared suddenly was. Speaking of how dissatisfied they were, they fought against Li Yuanshan's rebels for more than a year, and when they were about to capture Li Ni alive, they suddenly killed an inexplicable person on the way. This feeling is very bad.
Although that kind of look is not hostile, it is definitely not favorable.
Fang Jie shook his head and smiled as he walked, with a helpless expression on his face.
"What are you thinking?"
Jin Shixiong asked.
Fang Jie was silent for a while and then said: "Suddenly wake up, I have done something that I shouldn't have done. I have stabbed a hornet's nest, and I am wondering if I will be stung to death."
The reason why Fang Jie dared to say this was because he knew that Jin Shixiong and these generals were not in the same way. These generals are all of brave origin, Jin Shixiong has only been leading the army for a few days, and there is also a gap between him and them. These people have not experienced the ups and downs of the officialdom, they have edges and corners, and they don't know how to hide their true thoughts. But they have opened a bright door. As long as they don't die in the next few years, they may become fresh blood in the court in the future. After a few more years of polishing, they will become the new Jin Shixiong, Liu Enjing, Xu Xiaogong.
"No problem."
Jin Shixiong smiled and said: "These people didn't even show their emotions and anger. What are you worried about? Instead of having time to think about this, you might as well think about what His Majesty said after meeting. The resentment of these people No matter how big it is, it can't hurt you, but no matter how small your majesty's resentment is, you can't bear it."
Fang Jie smiled wryly, "The humble officer suddenly has a feeling of wanting to run away."
Jin Shixiong laughed loudly: "I knew you were a wonderful person when I was still in Chang'an... If you really dare to escape, His Majesty will send Jinyi School Tianya Haijiao to chase you back, beat the board first, and then reward you with a letter of honor." Do not believe?"
"letter."
Jin Shixiong's words fully described the emperor's temperament.
"Your Majesty... how are you?"
Fang Jie asked after laughing.
"It seems that my spirit has improved a lot in the past few days, but..."
Jin Shixiong didn't continue talking, Fang Jie sighed.
The two fell into silence. After a while, Jin Shixiong suddenly remembered and asked, "You just said that something happened to Mr. Mou. It's not easy to say it in front of outsiders. Now it's just you and me, tell me what happened to Mr. Mou." ?”
"died."
Fang Jie answered.
Jin Shixiong's face changed drastically: "Dead... dead?"
Fang Jie nodded and briefly explained the matter. After a long time, Jin Shixiong breathed a sigh of relief: "I know what kind of temperament he is. If it weren't for this, how could he have sat in prison for more than ten years? Sigh... just sigh, finally survived the most difficult three years, but Still haven't suppressed the greed in my heart."
Fang Jie wanted to say that it was because the most difficult days had passed that greed would resurface. How can a person have time to think about a bright future when he is enduring hardships, as long as he can survive. And when hope is seen again, nature will not give up.
He hesitated for a moment, but didn't say the words. After all, Mou Liangbi is dead, so why bother to criticize him.
Then the two fell silent again, and it was obvious that Jin Shixiong was a little sad for Mo Liangbi's death.
Fang Jie remembered that when Jin Shixiong was in Chang'an City, he was still a stately man, but when he saw him this time, he had the illusion that twenty years had passed. His waist is no longer as straight as it was more than three years ago, and his face no longer has the cold arrogance of a general, and even the beard on his chin has turned gray.
It's only been three years, but a person has changed so much.
…
…
Fang Jie walked away and silently calculated in his mind. He first climbed nine steps to the imperial chariot, and then walked twenty-seven steps before stopping. He secretly glanced at the distance between where he was standing and the emperor. , I couldn't help but said in my heart that it was really particular, from boarding the imperial chariot to sitting on the throne, it took forty-nine steps to deal with the number of ninety-five.
For some reason, Su Buwei looked at Fang Xie's expression and changed, but quickly covered it up.
The emperor seemed a little tired and fell asleep leaning on the large seat. Su Buwei wanted to go over to wake up the emperor, but Fang Jie waved his hand to signal not to disturb him. What Fang Jie didn't know was that his action changed Su Buwei's mind and saved him from an innocent disaster.
Sometimes fate is so mysterious, changing quietly inadvertently. In any case, Fang Jie never imagined that in the short period from when he stepped onto the imperial chariot to when he waved his hand to prevent Su Buwei from waking up the emperor, Su Buwei, an old eunuch, had too many complicated thoughts in his heart.
Just because he didn't know, Fang Jie's expression seemed unaffected.
Su Buwei smiled at him, with a little more kindness in his eyes.
Fang Jie stood below for half an hour. Su Buwei seemed to want to remind the emperor several times, but he held back. But when the emperor woke up leisurely, he found that Fang Jie was still standing straight without any reaction. Su Buwei helped the emperor to sit up, and then coughed a few times to remind Fang Xie to greet him, but at this moment he heard a slight snoring... The guy who was standing upright fell asleep.
The emperor was stunned, and then laughed.
Fang Xie was awakened by the laughter, and he hurriedly saluted: "Your Majesty, Fang Xie, kowtow."
"Get up."
The emperor seemed to be smiling innocently, but Fang Jie didn’t think it was true. The emperor waved his hand and said, “Give him a chair to sit on. I’ve seen someone who fell asleep on a horse. You can fall asleep even when you are asleep, tell me, how long have you not slept?"
Fang Jie replied, "Four days and three nights."
"ah?"
The emperor was slightly taken aback: "Why?"
Fang Jie saluted again: "I'm guilty. I came here four days ago but didn't come to see His Majesty immediately. Instead, I set up camp dozens of miles west of Xiping City, and then led people to fight outside Xiping City."
The emperor nodded: "Sit down and talk first."
Fang Jie quickly shook his head: "I'd better stand... I'm afraid I'll be kicked out and beaten when I sit down..."
The emperor gave him a blank look: "Then you can explain clearly why Li Yuanshan died?"
Fang Jie bowed his head: "I did it on purpose."
Hearing these four words, the faint trace of anger in the emperor's eyes disappeared: "I know you did it on purpose, if you just said a lot of reasons, I will really let someone kick you out Hit, beat to death."
"I don't dare to deceive the emperor... I made some false appearances to make it look like Li Yuanshan was trying to kill me in the last struggle, and I had to fight back to kill him. But these things are not done to deceive His Majesty, but to deceive You lied to those generals. From the very beginning, I did not intend to let Li Yuanshan live. When the opportunity came, I will not let it go. I am guilty, please be punished by Your Majesty."
"very good."
The emperor nodded: "Since you said it yourself, then naturally I can't indulge... Su Buwei, write it down, Fang Jie will be stripped of his title of first-class magistrate, demoted from a fourth-rank general to a fifth-rank general, and punished." The salary is three years to cover the fault."
"Here."
Su Buwei nodded quickly.
Fang Jie breathed a sigh of relief, and said sincerely, "Thank you Your Majesty for not hitting me."
"I even made some false appearances to hide it from people... Could it be that the injury on Li Yuanshan's body was caused by a miss?"
Fang Jie bowed his head: "Chen... I really can't hold back."
The emperor smiled, pointed to the chair that the servant placed next to Fang Jie and said, "Now sit down and talk."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Fang Jie leaned over and sat down on the chair, not daring to sit still.
"Tell me, why did you come to Xiping City? Is it just for revenge?"
"no."
Fang Jie said seriously: "I came to Xiping City because of Your Majesty."
The emperor's face changed slightly, and after a long silence, he said in a calm tone: "I know... You are a sweetheart, and I am very pleased."
It can be seen that the emperor understood his purpose of coming to Xiping City with just one sentence from Fang Jie. Sometimes you don't need to use too many words to tell what you have done, a word in front of the right person can let the other person know what you want.
"A minister is just a minister."
Fang Jie replied, "You should do your duty as a minister."
The emperor was silent again, and then turned his head to Su Buwei and said: "Remember, Fang Jie's contribution to killing the first traitor is indispensable. The first-class township lord of Jin Dynasty opened the mansion and was promoted to the fourth-rank Yingyanglang general."
Su Buwei's expression changed, and then he laughed: "Your servant has made a note."