Seventy-five miles south of Chang'an City
A thousand cavalry guarded a carriage and advanced quickly along the official road towards Chang'an City. The rhythm of the hooves of the horses was like the sound of raindrops hitting banana leaves, forming a continuous piece. Each of the cavalrymen was covered with a layer of dust, obviously they hadn't removed their armor for a long time. From the looks on their faces, they were also very tired. Someone poured cold water from the kettle and wiped their faces to stay awake.
Except for only two hours of rest every day, since they left the brigade to protect the car and headed northward, they almost never got off the horse. A few sips of cold water. They didn't know who was in the carriage. General Liu Enjing issued a very strict military order. Anyone who dared to ask around would be executed on the spot. The carriage was surrounded by more than a dozen guards in brocade clothes, and no one was allowed to approach easily.
The old man driving the carriage, these soldiers naturally didn't recognize him as Su Buwei, the eunuch who held the pen in the imperial study.
In fact, the soldiers were very curious about what kind of big man was in the carriage, so that General Liu Enjing personally ordered a thousand fine horsemen to escort him to Beijing.
They had also discussed it in private, but no one could have imagined that the emperor who should have died was in the carriage. The crown prince has already ascended the throne and proclaimed himself Emperor Yuan Xinghuang, and the emperor's funeral has already been held. The soldiers never thought that the emperor was still alive.
And the reason why Liu Enjing ordered that no one should be allowed to inquire who was in the carriage was a helpless act. Before the emperor arrived in Chang'an City, he could not leak the news that he was not dead. Those who want to kill the emperor are not only those in Jiangnan Tonggu Academy, there may not be none in the capital.
If they knew that the emperor was still alive, those who strongly supported the crown prince's enthronement would tremble in their hearts.
Even if they don't have the intention of treason, this is already an act of treason.
Seeing that it was not far from Chang'an City, the soldiers also breathed a sigh of relief. Although they rushed along the way, they came here without any surprises or dangers.
Or because he could enter Beijing early tomorrow morning at the latest, the unknown big man in the carriage ordered the cavalry to rest for a while and eat something, and it was indeed time to feed the horses.
The team stopped by the side of the road. Many of the soldiers' inner thighs had been worn out and stuck to their trousers. The pain when they got off the horse made them groan in a low voice. This intensity of rushing, even a layer of cotton pads on the saddle will not help. What's more, they have nowhere to look for cotton pads.
After the carriage stopped, Su Buwei immediately got into the carriage. He glanced at the emperor who was completely out of spirits, and his heart trembled.
"Your Majesty, would you like something to eat?"
he asked softly.
The emperor opened his eyes a slit, then shook his head slightly. Not to mention eating, now he can't even drink water, he spits out every mouthful, he looks as thin as a piece of wood with clothes on, and his complexion is so pale that people dare not look carefully. His current weight is probably not even half of his healthy weight, curled up in the quilt, if he doesn't move, he looks like a mummy.
"how much longer?"
asked the emperor.
Su Buwei quickly replied: "If you hurry up, you can go outside Chang'an City after dark today, but you can't go in before closing the city gate. If Your Majesty is impatient, why don't you send someone back to inform the Crown Prince first, and let the Crown Prince personally Come out of town to greet me?"
"No… "
The emperor swallowed hard, with chapped lips: "The prince... the prince must never leave Chang'an City. Once he leaves the city, there will be no guarantee that someone will take the opportunity to make trouble... Now there are people who want to kill my father and son, and Chang'an City is not without it." .As long as the prince does not come out of the Taiji Palace, they... they will not dare to act rashly. I kept my affairs in the Taiji Palace because I was afraid that someone would harm the prince."
Su Buwei said: "However, if you don't know how to meet His Royal Highness, the servants are afraid that some people in the city don't want you to go back to the city."
"There must be..."
The emperor murmured: "They are anxious to let the crown prince succeed, but in fact they want to control the power of the court. The crown prince is young, and they think he can be humiliated and bullied. If I go back, they are afraid that I will retaliate against them. In fact, those in Chang'an city Aren't the people and the outsiders in the same mind...cough cough...they both want to take over the country of my Yang family. It's just that some people want to rob it openly, and some people want to control it secretly."
He paused and said: "Now the prince is surrounded by their people. Once they send people back first, they will know before the prince... To be honest, I was a little surprised that Liu Enjing was able to send troops to protect me back to Chang'an. Now Those in charge in Chang’an City, some of whom I left for the crown prince, and some climbed up by themselves, they are all afraid, once I go back, will their status be preserved, and will I change someone to assist the crown prince... "
"Who wants to give up what you have already got?"
Su Buwei opened his mouth, but he didn't dare to speak out because of a worry.
He actually wanted to say, prince... looking forward to the emperor's return
At this moment, a very noisy sound suddenly came from outside the carriage, and someone shouted loudly from time to time, Su Buwei heard carefully that it was the cavalry general ordering the cavalry to assemble. He was a little displeased, he hadn't informed them to go on the road yet, so in such a hurry to form a team, could it be that they were more eager to enter Chang'an than His Majesty
"Slaves go out and have a look."
Su Buwei said a word, and then got out of the carriage.
As soon as he came out, he was taken aback by what he saw, and immediately understood what it was. The Jinyi school guarding the carriage looked at the cavalry with angry faces, some of them bit their lips.
"what happened?"
Su was not afraid to ask.
"A few dozen cavalrymen came from behind just now, and the cavalry general who led the troops got together and said something together, and then the cavalry general ordered the soldiers to assemble, and no one informed us that he left with the cavalry! "
Su Buwei looked at the team that quickly assembled and rushed south along the official road, his face was ashen.
He knew that what he was most afraid of coming was still coming.
"His Majesty."
Su Buwei took a deep breath, then returned to the side of the carriage, bowed his body and said softly: "The road ahead may not be easy, please Your Majesty, please get on the servant's back, for the rest of the way, the servant will carry you on your back. "
…
…
The carriage was abandoned on the official road, Su Buwei carried the emperor on his back, and asked the guards to tie the emperor to his body with cloth. At this time, the emperor was as thin as a layer of skin. Those guards had not seen the emperor for many days. He looked sour. It wasn't obvious that he was wearing loose clothes, but when the guards supported the emperor and tied it on Su Buwei's back, the strips of cloth sank into the clothes when they were stretched a little. Only then did they know how thin the emperor was.
"Your Majesty, it may be harder."
Su Buwei climbed on the back of the horse and said to the emperor behind him: "Riding on the horse should be bumpy. If Your Majesty feels uncomfortable, please tell your servant."
When the emperor got out of the carriage and saw the thousand cavalry retreating, he knew what was going on. Although he didn't look like a living person, he was still alive after all. As long as he was alive, there was not much he couldn't see through. . Although sometimes, it doesn't help if he sees through.
"Let's go."
The emperor just said two words lightly, and then closed his eyes again.
"Walk!"
Su Buwei pointed forward, and the remaining dozens of Jinyi schools separated to the left and right, protecting Su Buwei and the emperor in the middle. Dozens of war horses marched towards Chang'an City again, looking extraordinarily tragic.
"Su Buwei, why don't you say that Liu Enjing didn't kill me directly, but sent someone to send me not far from Chang'an City, but transferred him away?"
asked the emperor.
Su Buwei tried his best to control the horse to run more steadily, his heart tightened when he heard the emperor's words, he knew an answer, but he dared not say it.
"The servant can't guess."
He answered tremblingly.
"It's not that you can't guess...you dare not say it."
The emperor smiled wryly, then shook his head: "I'm actually very pleased, it's all the same..."
Su Buwei's heart hurt as if he had been stabbed by a knife. He didn't dare to talk to the emperor anymore, bit his lip and urged the horse to gallop forward. Dozens of people ran less than three miles away, when a loud horn sounded in front, followed by countless soldiers rushing out from the woods on both sides, blocking the official road. It seemed that there were at least thousands of people, lined up densely, and the hard bows in their hands had been drawn.
Su Buwei immediately reined in his horse, and dozens of Jinyi schools all stopped. They looked at each other, and then they all focused on Su Buwei.
More than a hundred paces away from the opposite side, a general ran quickly to the back of the army formation, and clasped his fists at an old man in armor sitting outside the woods: "General, someone stopped him! What should I do?"
The old man sitting outside the forest is Yang Shunhui, the Minister of Military Affairs of Gyeonggi Province who was personally appointed by the empress.
"Just do what you want, why ask me again!"
He gave Na Lang Jiang a hard look, and turned his head away from looking south, no one noticed that his nails had pierced his palm.
"Here!"
General Na Lang responded and ran back quickly.
Not long after, a shout came from the army formation: "Archers get ready! Those people in front are the spies of the rebels, don't leave any one behind, let the arrows go!"
Hearing this cry, the battle-tested veteran general Yang Shunhui shuddered violently. He untied the wine bag from his waist with trembling hands, and then spilled the wine on the ground.
"Your Majesty... I have no choice but to do so!"
…
…
Seeing the archers in the opposite army put their feather arrows on their bows, the Jinyi School surrounded by the emperor all looked at Su Buwei.
"Eunuch, what should we do?"
someone asked.
"what to do?"
Su Buwei snorted coldly: "Your Majesty trusts you to use you. It is the blessing of your three lives. Now it's time to be loyal to His Majesty, why do you need to ask me what to do. I just want to say... They all die, I am also the one who can die last, understand?"
Those of us he said did not include the emperor.
"clear!"
Dozens of Jinyi School drew out their horizontal knives and urged their horses to protect Su Buwei in the middle. At this moment, a shout came from the opposite side, the archer let go!
Feather arrows that were as dense as a rainstorm poured towards this side, Su Buwei turned his head slightly and said softly to the emperor: "Your Majesty, close your eyes for a while and rest, and this servant will take your Majesty back to Chang'an."
The emperor nodded, and really closed his eyes and stopped looking forward. He hugged Su Buwei's arm tightly, and Su Buwei's heart trembled immediately.
"For Your Majesty!"
He shouted loudly, and dozens of Jinyi schools followed suit shouting loudly: "For Your Majesty!"
"rush!"
Dozens of people rushed towards the arrow formation formed by thousands of elite soldiers without fear. In the rain of arrows, they brandished horizontal knives to deflect feather arrows for Su Buwei and the emperor behind him. Because of this, they couldn't take care of themselves, so they fell off the horse one by one.
"Jinyi School is a good son, he gave up his hometown for His Majesty, fearless spring thunder shakes summer rain, no matter how autumn wind sweeps winter snow, His Majesty points to where he is, and swings forward with a knife!"
I don't know who sang it first, and the students from Jinyi School immediately sang together. They waved their arms to block the emperor's arrows, but the feathered arrows got into their bodies one by one.
No one stopped until there was only one skinny eunuch called an old dog by the emperor left in the rain of arrows, and he galloped forward with the skinny emperor who was holding him tightly with his eyes closed.
rain of arrows
I don't know who is crying.