The Qin envoy was about to arrive, so King Zhao had to return to the palace to wait.
But he sent people to rescue Zhu Xiang, and summoned Pingyang Jun, Pingyuan Jun, Lin Xiangru and Lian Po back to Handan to overcome the difficulties together.
King Zhao waited anxiously for a quarter of an hour. Cai Ze, dressed in cloth, walked slowly into the palace holding the King of Qin's edict.
Cai Ze's appearance was still so ugly, but the nobles including King Zhao thought that Cai Ze had a very powerful aura and was obviously a talented and virtuous man. They treated Cai Ze with respect and did not look down on him because of his appearance.
Cai Ze bowed to the King of Zhao and said, "Your Majesty has ordered that Handan City be exchanged for Duke Xiang of Zhu. Our country will also send back the hostage of Zhao in exchange for the hostage of Qin, Prince Zheng."
Cai Ze smiled at the King of Zhao with a haughty smile: "It is a state etiquette to exchange a hostage for another. And the value of Zhu Xianggong is worth Qin exchanging the city of Handan. King of Zhao, Wu'an Jun has already laid siege to the city, but the gates of Handan have not yet been closed. Now, can you come with me to escort Zhu Xianggong to Qin?"
After he finished speaking, he did not wait for King Zhao's answer, nor did he pay attention to the Zhao minister who wanted to speak. He stood up, laughed loudly, turned his back to King Zhao and walked out.
The Qin envoy insulted the King of Zhao so much that the King of Zhao's close ministers all looked very unhappy. They wanted to rebuke Cai Ze on behalf of their king, but Cai Ze's words "Wu'an Jun has already approached the city, but the gates of Handan have not been closed yet" made them dare not disrespect the Qin envoy.
If we disrespect the Qin envoy now, will Wu'an Jun immediately use this as an excuse to lead his troops to attack
They were very depressed. Without Lian Po, did Zhao State have no one who could lead the army? How come they only got the news when the Qin army had already reached Handan? Now they didn't even have the chance to pack up their gold and silver and escape!
"Your Majesty, please be patient for the time being." The attendant who was in collusion with Qin said, "Bai Qi once burned down the capital and ancestral land of Chu. Your Majesty must be patient for the sake of your ancestors and the foundation of Zhao! The former king was able to endure the humiliation and go to Mianchi. Please follow his example!"
The attendant's words made King Zhao's expression relax.
The other Zhao officials also felt much better. Yes, the previous king was also forced to go to Mianchi and play the harp for the King of Qin. At this time, Zhao was weak and Qin was strong. It was most important to endure this moment and hold on to the capital of Zhao and the ancestral land of the King of Zhao.
King Zhao took a deep breath and said, "I am willing to follow the example of my predecessor in suffering humiliation for my country!"
The attendant shouted: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Once someone took the lead, the officials of Zhao State also shouted "Your Majesty is wise" and followed the footsteps of King Zhao who stood up and left the palace, walking closely behind the envoy of Qin State.
Cai Ze glanced back out of the corner of his eye and saw in the crowd the nobles who had laughed at his appearance and expelled him from Handan City.
The nobleman did not recognize Cai Ze and gave him a flattering smile.
Cai Ze withdrew his gaze.
He remembered the horrific nonsense Zhu Xiang had said when he was drunk.
Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different species
Why do these people, who are arrogant at first but humble later and have such ugly behaviors, always stand above us virtuous commoners
Cai Ze took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.
He strode forward and went to welcome his close friend to Qin as an envoy of Qin.
At this moment, he thought that maybe it didn't matter if he couldn't live a rich and peaceful life.
The door finally opened and Zhu Xiang saw the daylight again.
"Zhu Xiang!" Li Mu rushed in first.
When Zhao's mother led her family servants to attack Zhao Wang's secret guards, Li Mu arrived in time and joined the battle.
Zhu Xiang raised his hand: "The key is on the ground."
Li Mu immediately ran back, picked up the key and ran back again: "Are you okay?"
Zhu Xiang asked, "Are the jailers outside the door okay?"
Li Mu was silent.
Zhu Xiang closed his eyes, then stared out of the prison door and walked outside.
The people brought by Li Mu and Zhao's mother voluntarily withdrew from the passage, leaving a way for Zhu Xiang.
Zhu Xiang walked out of the heavy wooden door of the corridor. The strong smell of blood and flesh rushed into his head, making his breathing slow down. Then he saw the tragic scene on the ground.
Zhu Xiang stood there for a while, then asked in a trembling voice, "Is there anyone still alive?"
Mother Zhao gritted her teeth and stepped forward to plead guilty in person: "Duke Zhu Xiang, please forgive me, I..."
Zhu Xiang, who usually respected the elderly, seemed to not see Zhao's mother and continued to shout, "Is there anyone alive?"
He lowered his head, bent his body, gently patted the shoulder of the man wearing jailer's clothes on the ground, and asked in a pleading tone: "Is there anyone alive?"
He walked through the courtyard with his back hunched, and then walked to the lobby. He ignored the people standing outside the door and patted their shoulders one by one: "Is there anyone alive?"
He searched among the piled-up bodies, carrying the jailers one by one to the courtyard and putting them away, muttering to himself, "Is there anyone still alive?"
Some people stood guard outside the door, while some followed Zhu Xiang into the courtyard and helped him carry and sort out the jailer's body.
They looked at Zhu Xiang who kept talking to himself and did not dare to speak to him.
Li Mu clenched his fists and was about to step forward, but then he retreated.
He didn't know how to comfort Zhu Xiang.
Even though they had not been together for a long time, Li Mu knew how much Zhu Xiang valued human life, especially the lives of those who were good to him. That was why Zhu Xiang took the risk of bribing the favorite minister of King Zhao and went to Changping to lobby Wu'an Jun and King Qin for the sake of his neighbors.
Now that these people have died for Zhu Xiang, how can he comfort Zhu Xiang so that he can recover from the blow
"Alas..." Xun Kuang also arrived.
He looked at the corpses scattered all over the ground and sighed.
Xue covered her mouth with one hand and covered the eyes of Ying Xiaozheng who was tied in front of her with the other hand.
Ying Xiaozheng struggled: "Aunt, put me down!"
"No, no." Xue hugged Ying Xiaozheng tightly, "Zheng'er, be good, stop making trouble, let's go find your uncle."
Ying Xiaozheng howled, "Uncle! Uncle! Where are you! Zheng'er and aunt are here! Uncle!"
Zhu Xiang, who was in the courtyard, heard Ying Xiaozheng's sharp cry, and the scattered light in his eyes gradually gathered.
He finally stopped talking to himself and deceiving himself.
Zhu Xiang fell down in a pool of blood, staring in a daze at a body whose head had been chopped into pieces and whose stomach had been cut open.
The man's clothes indicated that he was the jailer in charge of the prison. The jailer had never spoken to Zhu Xiang, and when he occasionally saw him, his expression was always cold.
Zhu Xiang originally thought that even if the jailer didn't hate him, he would at least ignore him.
"Why is he like this?" Zhu Xiang said to himself.
Zhao's mother thought Zhu Xiang was asking the jailer why his head was split open, and said, "He swallowed the key. These people guessed it and are looking for the key."
Zhu Xiang suddenly looked up at the lock on the wooden door. The key in the lock was still dripping with blood.
Zhu Xiang put his hands around the jailer's stomach, gritted his teeth and took a deep breath: "Is that so."
Li Mu was unable to stop it and turned his head away, unable to bear to watch any longer.
Even though he was a general who had been to many battlefields, the pain in his heart was still unbearable when he saw this scene.
The person who would be chosen to guard Zhu Xiang must be a fair and capable official, and the person who would die in such a painful way must be a rare righteous man in the world.
But why did such a capable and righteous official, such a capable and righteous man of Zhao State, die in the conspiracy of King Zhao
"Uncle! Uncle!"
Zhu Xiang finally came back to his senses: "Zheng'er?"
Li Mu said: "Xunzi, Xue, and Zheng'er are all here."
Zhu Xiang first retracted his hand, then stretched out his hand again, continued to cover the jailer's belly, and said: "Can you help me borrow some needles and thread? Xue and Zheng'er. Please ask them to leave temporarily. I will be there soon..."
"I won't leave." Xue walked from behind Zhu Xiang to his side, squatted down and said, "Your needlework is not as good as mine. I'll do it."
Regardless of the blood on Zhu Xiang's hands, Ying Xiaozheng threw himself on him and said, "Uncle, Zheng'er is here. Zheng'er protects uncle!"
"Hmm..." Zhu Xiang closed his eyes, and tears finally fell.
He rubbed Ying Xiaozheng's tearful face with his own, and then touched his forehead with Xue.
"Okay, let's go together. Zheng'er, if you are afraid, go out first." Zhu Xiang said.
Ying Xiaozheng shook his head vigorously: "I'm not afraid! I'm helping my uncle! I..."
Ying Xiaozheng looked down at the corpses all over the ground, and he was indeed not afraid.
With that dream, he was no longer an ordinary child.
"Did they die for their uncle?" Ying Xiaozheng asked.
Zhu Xiang twitched his lips: "Yeah. They didn't know me, but they died for me."
Ying Xiaozheng lowered his head, then raised his little face: "Zheng'er, come and help, I'll help wipe their faces!"
"I'm going to get some water." Li Mu said, "Don't crowd around here! Come and help!"
Mother Zhao said, "I'll have someone get some clean clothes and prepare coffins for them. I'll pay for the burial. Sorry, Duke Zhu Xiang..."
Zhu Xiang shook his head and interrupted: "Even if you are a parent, you shouldn't be boundlessly responsible for the mistakes of your children and grandchildren. I don't blame you."
But he just didn't want to see anyone related to Zhao Kuo again, nor did he want to chat with Zhao's mother, even though Zhao's mother saved him.
Zhu Xiang was silent again. He continued to hold the jailer's belly, and when the needle and thread came, he bent the needle tip a little, and sewed the jailer's body together with Xue.
Xiang He, who rushed over together, said, "I'll make the mold for the missing parts."
He felt very guilty.
He had clearly decided to die for Zhu Xiang and had sent Mohist disciples to wait nearby, but by the time they found out, it was already too late.
They didn't even open the door, and it was a dying jailer who opened it.
"Zhu Xiang, please accept my condolences." Xu Ming said, "If you get into trouble because of excessive grief, their deaths will be in vain."
Zhu Xiang nodded: "I know."
Xun Kuang looked at Zhu Xiang, whose expression became overly calm after crying, and sighed.
He said, "I will write an obituary for them. Zhu Xiang, you must live. They all want you to live, because if you live, you can save more people. Do you understand?"
Zhu Xiang nodded again: "I know."
Looking at Zhu Xiang's calm expression, Xun Kuang didn't know what to say.
He could only accompany Zhu Xiang to collect the bodies for the jailers. The bodies of the Zhao king's secret guards were piled together at this moment, waiting for someone to come and investigate the case.
If these were not evidence, the angry people would have burned the bodies of King Zhao's secret guards long ago.
But they were also very sad. Even if they kept the bodies as evidence, what could they do? It was the King of Zhao who did it!
By the time Cai Ze led King Zhao and others to the prison, Zhu Xiang and Xue had already helped the jailer sew up the body, leaving only the head.
It's hard to spell brain.
They first used animal glue to piece the skull together, and then sealed the head with thread.
This head with threads all over it is very scary, but the people around it are not afraid at all.
They even smiled with relief. Even if they had to sew up the chopped-up bodies and bury them, they would be happy about it and smile.
"Duke Zhu Xiang!" King Zhao ran over, holding up the corner of his clothes, and knelt down in front of Zhu Xiang, his face pressed to the blood-soaked ground, "I am wronged in this matter!"
Zhu Xiang washed his hands, knelt down in front of King Zhao, and said, "King Zhao, I am a coward. I am most afraid that the people around me will die."
The King of Zhao cried, "I really didn't send any secret guards! I just took power not long ago, how could there be any secret guards? Yan, Han, Wei and other countries must know how important Zhu Xianggong is to Zhao, and they deliberately framed me!"
Zhu Xiang said: "I once saw a farmer collapse in the field while he was working. He died of starvation."
The King of Zhao cried, "Duke Zhu Xiang believed me! I swear to heaven! I will find out the truth! Give an explanation to Duke Zhu Xiang and the people of this country!"
Zhu Xiang said: "I have also seen a family that was harmonious and happy one moment, and the next moment they were separated from their wives and children because of war."
King Zhao was a little speechless. Was Zhu Xiang frightened and insane? Why was he talking nonsense
Zhu Xiang continued, "Now I see someone die in front of me to protect me. Even if everyone says that I am more valuable alive and they are willing to die for me. But I still believe that the value of every life is the same. King Zhao, your life is no more noble than the people lying around you now."
He stood up and his voice gradually became louder: "No need to investigate. Are you going to kill another bunch of innocent people? Please bury these people with respect. Please don't use my attack as an excuse to kill more people. Please remember one thing..."
Zhu Xiang gritted his teeth, his face gradually turning red. He tore off his crown and let his hair fall.
"The throne of Zhao came from the division of Jin by the three families. If you can be king, so can others! You are no different from them! Water can overturn a boat, but it can also carry it! All countries and dynasties that treat the people as ants will eventually perish!"
The King of Zhao had just stood up with Zhu Xiang, but was frightened by Zhu Xiang's crazy words and fell to the ground.
The Zhao ministers around him all showed expressions of fear.
Could it be that Zhu Xiang was so upset that he lost his mind? How could he dare to say such a thing? !
"I am Cai Ze, an envoy of the State of Qin. In the name of the king, I offer Handan City in exchange for Duke Zhu Xiang's entry into Qin." Cai Ze sighed, then showed a helpless smile and bowed to Zhu Xiang. "Wu'an Jun personally led 200,000 Qin troops to escort Duke Zhu Xiang, and has been waiting outside Handan City for a long time.
The crazy expression on Zhu Xiang's disheveled hair face froze.
Who is coming
How many Qin troops
Where are you waiting for me
Wait, isn't this Cai Ze? How did you become an envoy of the Qin State
Zhu Xiang, who was extremely angry, calmed down as if someone had poured ice water on him.
Could it be that the King of Qin was behind this? He looked at Cai Ze, who gave him a look that said "let's talk about it later".
Zhu Xiang pursed his lips: "Okay, I'll go."
Regardless of whether the King of Qin was behind this, he had nowhere else to go except Qin.
The light that had lasted for so long finally dimmed.
The cold wind was howling, owls were flying and crows were crying. I don't know when, the sky, which had been cloudy for a long time since the first snow, started snowing again.
The heavy snow fell down like goose feathers, and in a blink of an eye, the sky and the earth were covered in silver. The cold air rushed up from the soles of the feet to the body, making people shiver from the bottom of their hearts. Even stamping their feet could not warm up their numb toes.
Suddenly there was a gust of wind, and the dead trees in the courtyard swayed in the wind, making a creaking sound. The snow piled on them fell down with a plop, fell to the ground, and broke into pieces. Soon it was stained with mud, no longer white, and turned into a ball of yellow, black and gray.
After Zhu Xiang said "I'll go", everyone fell silent. Even though there was snow falling, it was still so quiet that it made people feel uneasy.
There was silence for a while, and then, starting from somewhere, whimpering sounds began, which gradually turned into howling.
(End of this chapter)