On the vast wilderness, a piece of decayed grass has not yet turned green.
A cold wind blew through the dawn sky.
Zhuozhou City stood in the darkness only twenty or thirty kilometers away from the capital, like a vicious beast about to wake up, lying on the outline of the earth.
Xue Kuang sat in the barracks of the North City Camp. Under the lit oil lamp, there was a brand-new white cloth dipped in mellow liquor, and he wiped the stains on the sword bit by bit.
A series of hideous scars coiled between his shoulders and neck.
Even wearing a layer of white tunic outside, it couldn't hide the scary silhouette.
If a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools.
After more than ten years of hardships abroad, he has long been accustomed to such a situation, and he is even calm about all the dangers and sudden changes that will come.
Even if it was Gu Juefei's heavy calculations.
But what fundamental obstacle does this have for him
What should be done is always done.
It was Gu Juefei's step-by-step persecution that made him see himself more clearly and deeply, and he had an unwilling and unwilling ambition!
Ambition, what's wrong with it
The bad is never the lack of ambition, or the mismatch between ambition and ability.
"General, the three armies are in formation and ready to go!"
A young general, clad in armor and pressing his sword, entered, and when he bowed and bowed, he had already stated the situation of the preparations of the troops in the city.
But Xue Kuang did not respond.
The young general raised his head in doubt, only to see this general, who used to be like a god in the eyes of the common people, whose profile was illuminated by the dim yellow light, outlined a few lines of determination, which was actually the fundamental He didn't look at him, just focused on wiping the sword.
It is not a famous sword, nor is it a rare Honglu sword, it is just a very ordinary, finely forged three-foot long sword.
It's just that this sword is not as elegant as written in the play.
It is heavy, and it can give people a huge pressure between swings. It is an old sword that has been with him for nearly twenty years.
He didn't speak, and the general didn't dare to disturb him.
After waiting for a short while, I saw him put down the white cloth, put the long sword in the sheath, then put on the heavy armor, put on the sword, and strode out.
The sky was bright at this time.
The purging team was already waiting outside the city gate. There was a tall camp under the city, and many subordinates, including Cai Xiu, were already waiting beside them.
When they saw Xue Kuang coming, everyone bowed down!
"Meet the General!"
30,000 people gathered together, all with strong physiques.
Their rough voices converged like a torrent, and with the collision of the armor and weapons on their bodies, they rushed high into the sky.
Xue Kuang strode onto the camp platform.
The palm of the weathered and tempered palm pressed the hilt of the sword on his side, and his cold eyes swept across the bodies of countless soldiers.
There was a moment of silence, but soon, a solid and thick voice was heard far away.
"Xue Mou has been in the army for half his life, and he has done his best for the country."
"In the past days, you either admired my name, or fought with me! All the people who killed were the alien races with wolf ambitions, and they fought hard battles to defend the family and the country!"
"But today! I, Xue Kuang, want to rebel!"
The whole army was quiet.
Sunlight poured out from the horizon, smearing the gloomy sky with a dazzling bright color, illuminating the original torches above and below the city walls.
The look on everyone's face is different.
But the same, it was the sudden clamor at the moment, the shivering in the body with blood and fear!
The same words, they have heard it before.
Just last night, after Xue Kuang let Xiao Tingzhi return to the capital under his nose!
"Last night, there were 50,000 people standing side by side with you! Today, there are only 30,000 soldiers standing by your side who will shed blood with you!"
"Swords have no eyes, wars are ruthless!"
"I, Xue Kuang, can't promise anything to you, only at this moment, this person's heart, full of blood!"
"Zheng-"
The long sword that had followed him for most of his life suddenly pulled out!
The icy cold light flashed across his resolute face, and then poured into the 30,000 pairs of eyes below, turning into countless murderous auras that shot straight into the sky!
Xue Kuang's voice was even more stern than these countless rushing murderous auras: "The princes and generals have no seeds! Born naked as an ordinary person, death is no more than a handful of loess on the head of a grassy grave! You and I were born and should never be slaves. Slaves! Today's affairs, but I ask for the two words of justice and righteousness between heaven and earth. Later historians should remember today's events and cite all people as a warning! For this reason, it is clear that the laws of heaven, my bloody males, even if they die, it is not a pity!"
Even if you die, it's not a pity!
Countless sons and daughters have been ignited by these words. At this moment, they only raised their swords, spears, swords and halberds together with him, and screamed vigorously!
"Do not hesitate to die, do not hesitate to die!!!"
The majestic and mighty voice was far superior to Xue Kuang's own voice, and it echoed between the heavens and the earth, spreading all over the wilderness, as if it could shake the entire city!
The strong war wine was brought up, and everyone drank it with pride.
He just threw the empty bowl and let the fighting spirit surge in his heart, and with the sound of the loud horn, he brazenly started!
Gu Juefei in Beijing has been waiting for him for a long time.
Fang Shaoxing and Liu Jin firmly held the inner and outer cities, passed the soldiers, laid out careful traps and defenses, and stood ready.
At the end of the time, Xue Kuang's army is approaching the city!
At this point, this turmoil that will eventually be recorded in the annals of history by later generations finally kicked off and was staged in the once prosperous but now empty capital.
Blood spilled from the mountains five miles outside the city to the streets all over the capital.
The halberd collided with the armor, the horse's hooves stomped on the flesh, the 30,000 rebels fought with the 40,000 forbidden troops, and the bloody arrows flew all over the sky... The alternation of day and night could not replace the inflated ambition.
No one is willing to admit defeat, no one dares to retreat. Once you choose a path, you must go from there to the end!
You can't change your life, you can't die!
According to the historian's pen, this turmoil lasted only two days and nights, and the outcome was already decided. It was faster and more violent than any battle that took place at the border. , but it is as long as the drowsy sky, and I don't know when it will stop... The noon sunset, in exchange for a night of new moon.
Lu Jinxi couldn't sleep at all.
The sound of swords shouting and killing can be heard in the distance outside, and even if it is quiet, it will not last long. The guards left behind in the Grand Master's Mansion were divided into three shifts, rotating day and night, so they didn't dare to take it lightly.
In the first few hours, some news about the battle situation came back from time to time, but as soon as night fell, the attack outside the city became more and more violent, and all the news was cut off.
I don't know what's going on outside, and I don't know if I'm going to die tomorrow.
In the small pavilion in the back garden, Lu Jinxi had been sitting for a long time, only staring at the starless night sky and listening to various sounds from outside.
At first she wanted to guess something from it.
But now that all kinds of voices entered my ears, they only stayed in my mind for a while, and then dissipated without leaving a trace.
There was also a table of leftover wine on the table.
It was she who couldn't sleep and wanted to drink a little so that she could sleep better and let someone put it on her. But after drinking this cup and plate, she was still awake, and she didn't feel sleepy at all.
When Xiao Tingzhi walked over from the other side, what he saw was this scene: the wine pot and wine cup on the table were crooked, and she was wearing a pale moon-white brocade robe. The drenched eyes only stared at the night sky, and the lips dipped in the alcoholic liquor were as bright and beautiful as the petals dipped in dew.
So he walked over uncontrollably, walked to the pavilion, and walked to her side. At this time, I didn't even think about what I was going to say in my mind.
But Lu Jinxi had already noticed it.
She turned around and glanced at him, and there was no respect for the so-called seventh prince in her eyes, and there was no undeserved affection in her eyes, it was just faint.
"Can't His Highness the Seventh Prince fall asleep?"
Lu Jinxi's head was a little dizzy, but her thoughts were still clear, and her voice was steady when she said this, as if she didn't drink the wine alone.
"sit down."
If you are going to think about it, you don't have to think about it in the blink of an eye.
Xiao Tingzhi sat down.
There was a faint scent of fragrance in the cold air, but at this moment, he could not tell whether it was the dark fragrance of Lu Jinxi's body or the mellow fragrance of the wine that had been overturned on the table... "The world is really wonderful, the dead Xue Kuang is not dead, nor is the dead seventh prince. Xue Kuang came back to rebel, and the concubine also transformed into the seventh prince."
Lu Jinxi's eyes fell on his face. Looking left and right, he didn't feel much resemblance to Wei Yi or Wei Taifu, and even less to the unfortunate emperor Xiao Che, who was beheaded by Gu Juefei's sword. what the same.
So the old doubts surfaced at an inopportune moment and let her speak: "I'm just curious, maybe you don't know, that day when Jin Nixuan met, the old lady also saw you and recognized you. Here you come. But it's not like you haven't been to the court or the Hanlin Academy, and no one else recognized you in the past, so why did you recognize you on that day?"
The news of Gu Chengqian's death spread long ago.
Xiao Tingzhi couldn't tell whether he was mostly happy or confused when he heard the news. He just felt that all the grievances in the past were suddenly settled at this moment, but they were empty.
It's more complicated than ever.
At that time, Princess Yongning used rumors to incite the fourth prince to rebel, but Gu Chengqian, as a master, chose to stand on the side of Princess Yongning in order to weigh the two Gu Wei families, and took advantage of the situation to kill his mother.
At that time, Taifu Wei had no military power and was powerless.
The Taifu of one day, he could only watch his own sister Hengjian fall in a pool of blood.
So he was left alone as an ignorant young child, crying in the shadow of swords and swords. In his few memories, Wei Binggan's denunciation of these chaotic ministers remained, with blood and tears.
He knelt down and kowtowed, hoping to save his nephew.
The kind-hearted and soft-hearted Gu Chengqian has been with Wei Binggan for many years, and he has such a child who doesn't know anything.
In the end, he broke his hamstring with a dagger, just because even if the disabled person is still alive, he will not be able to enter the official position in the future, and he will not be able to inherit the throne.
It’s just that Gu Chengqian didn’t expect—
The seventh prince at that time was frail and sickly, and the cruel pain of breaking his hamstrings was too much for him to bear, and he lost his breath after a while.
Xiao Tingzhi's memory was also interrupted by the severe pain at that moment. When he woke up again, what a pair of young eyes saw was already the famous Huisheng Hall in the capital.
How could they possibly have thought that he was still alive
After all, he was the one they saw with their own eyes.
So even though he has lived under the eyes of everyone all these years, and has even returned to the capital, no one doubts his identity.
As for what Lu Jinxi said...
Xiao Tingzhi laughed inexplicably, and only untied the thing hanging from his waist and placed it in his palm: "If Gu Chengqian really recognized me that day, it would probably be this thing."
It is a delicate jade.
It is only three inches long and two inches wide, with regular holes carved on it, tied with a blue brocade rope, and lying in the palm of his hand.
Lu Jinxi stretched out his hand and picked it up to take a look.
Her cool fingertips inadvertently touched his palm, causing his fingers to curl slightly for an instant, but then she realized something, and quietly clenched them back.
Xiao Tingzhi looked at her calmly.
However, Lu Jinxi looked at the jade in his palm carefully, so he recalled roughly that he had seen this thing, and it was placed on Xiao Tingzhi's desk in the past: "So many secrets and truths have always been hidden. Put it under my nose, but because I didn't know it, I turned a blind eye. Xun, the seventh prince Xiao Xun, the old lady should have recognized it..."
With a soft sigh, she handed the thing back and placed it on the edge of the table.
Xiao Tingzhi picked it up again.
But this time, he didn't hang it back on his waist, but looked at it for a long time, pressed his finger on it, and brought it gently to his lips.
Xun's timbre is simple and simple, ethereal and distant, and always sad.
Playing at this moment, it fits the scene.
Soft and gentle, sad and graceful, Lu Jinxi remembered many, many, many things far and near.
She closed her eyes slightly and leaned lightly on the cold stone pillar behind her, as if she was drunk and sleepy.
Xunqu did not know when, has quietly stopped.
Xiao Tingzhi's eyes fell on her body, on her haggard outline, but suddenly there was a kind of distress and hatred in his heart.
On such a night, she didn't sleep, and she was still drinking here. She was neither worried about the mountains and rivers in this big summer nor the soldiers who were fighting all over the city. She was just... worried about Gu Juefei.
The man who was regarded as a strong enemy by Xue Kuang, the man who forced her to marry her in the Golden Palace.
He knew that this was not just distress and hatred, but also a kind of jealousy that made him burn and suffer. Such emotions drove him, making him approach her at such an extremely delicate and extremely drunken moment.
Every minute you get closer, your heart beats faster.
In the past twenty-two years of his repressed and forbearing life, he had never had such a wonderful and intense experience, secret sweetness and dangerous tension.
For him, Lu Jinxi is the temptation that he can see from far and near but can't pick it up no matter what, making him suffer from the pain of being tormented by the youthful thoughts... Finally, it is near.
Xiao Tingzhi bent down and bury his head, approached him, his slightly trembling lips gently pressed against his soft, wine-stained lips.
At this moment, he felt himself drunk too.
But in the next moment, the eyes that suddenly opened, the projections of the eyes, like the white shadows swaying on the sword, made him wake up... She didn't fall asleep.
So all the thoughts of those invisible people he wanted to hide were spread out in front of her defenselessly, putting him in a kind of embarrassing dilemma.
However, after the predicament was over, it was a sudden impulse that made him unable to stop himself.
He grabbed her hand and stared at her with that kind of forbearance and eagerness. On such a night that could be called "arrogance", he declared the feelings that were destined to be unacceptable - "Lu Jinxi, I like you."
At the moment when the voice fell, Xiao Tingzhi even felt an unprecedented joy, as if he could finally face up to all his thoughts and desires, so he also gained a great courage.
This kind of courage made him say more.
"I know you don't like me, but you married Xue Kuang first, then Gu Juefei, first the general of the dynasty, and then the great scholar of the dynasty! What you want is not Prosperity and wealth? Why can't you consider me? What they can give, I can give! It's another day you want to be the queen-"
"Snapped!"
A cold slap landed on his face, interrupting all the inappropriate and unpleasant words he was about to say below.
Xiao Tingzhi covered his face and looked at her.
Lu Jinxi looked back calmly, got up from his seat, and before turning to leave, he just reminded indifferently: "Do you know that now I can make you die with a single word?"