The envoys from the Southern Tang Kingdom were detained, and no one could leave the Zhou army camp for the time being, in order to prevent them from finding out the truth.
Li Yu in the Jiangning Palace could not get any news and was extremely anxious, but he had no choice but to wait for the result. He felt like a prisoner waiting for trial. After sending Zhou Xian and Liu Liuyao away, everything was out of control. In this mood, Li Yu could not concentrate on doing anything and paced back and forth at the gate of the palace all day.
Looking back, the memorials on the imperial desk were piled up like a mountain. Chen Qiao, Liu Cheng and other ministers were busy writing letters these days. But Li Yu couldn't read a word. At such a critical moment, what memorial could be more important than what he cared about most
When I looked up, the snow was still falling, although light, it seemed as if it had never stopped. It drifted across the sky and earth, covering everything in a world of snowflakes. The double-eaved palaces extended layer by layer in all directions, and the palace was very quiet.
A eunuch came from the corridor under the wide eaves and saw Li Yu standing at the door. He knelt down and saluted. Li Yu said: Stand up. Has the envoy not sent back any news
The eunuch said: Your Majesty, I haven’t seen any news.
Li Yu sighed and murmured: How long have they left Jiangning Mansion
The eunuch replied: Two days.
Li Yu said again: I feel like two years have passed
He could not tell the eunuch much about the secret, so he walked into the palace. Two days was not long, but the Zhou army camp was near Jiangning City. Zhou Xian and his men should have seen Guo the blacksmith by now, but it was unknown whether they had taken action.
Li Yu did nothing for the past two days, but he felt physically and mentally exhausted under great pressure and fear. He returned to his bedroom and lay down on the couch to rest, only to find a folded paper beside his pillow. He picked it up and saw that it was Zhou Xian's handwriting.
It was written where the important things in his collection were kept, where the correspondence files that were inconvenient to make public the court were kept, and where the thick clothes he usually liked to wear when it was cold were kept. The last sentence read, "I know that this will be a farewell forever, and I hope Your Majesty will treat Jiamin well."
After reading these trivial instructions, Li Yu immediately stood up and sighed.
He suddenly realized that he should have many memories of the years with Zhou Xian and his wife, but he could not remember them at all. He only remembered that they had sworn loyalty to each other many times and had some fun under the moonlight. Li Yu shook his head and said silently: The whole country depends on what you, Ehuang, do in the next few days. I really have no choice, so don't blame me.
I just hope they can live up to my expectations and bring exciting good news.
In the Great Zhou army camp, Liu Liuyao was waiting for the dinner to begin.
A group of singing girls were getting ready to perform. They had been frightened and silent for a while, but now they started to chatter. I could vaguely hear them exaggerating each other's beauty against their will. Death was approaching, but these innocent singing girls didn't know it.
Liu Liuyao looked at herself in a round bronze mirror she brought with her. The eyes in the mirror showed cold murderous intent. She did not soften her heart because of pity.
Zhou Xian had missed the previous opportunity. Liu Liuyao didn't know the specific situation now. Was it because Zhou Xian was too soft-hearted to do it or was it because he really couldn't find an opportunity? In any case, he had to take the risk at the dinner tonight, otherwise it would be difficult to find an opportunity to get close to Guo Shao.
Liu Liuyao was very calm and packed her things very seriously. She looked like she was spending the last moment of her life. She tied her clothes tightly inside and put on a flowing dress outside. Although snowflakes were still falling outside the tent, she was wearing very thin clothes. If she wore thicker clothes, she would not be able to dance. Then she picked up a coat and put it on outside to keep warm.
There were almost no ornaments on her body, which actually made it less troublesome for the woman when she was searched later.
But Guo Shao was really bold, allowing the courtesans to perform sword dances. Sword dances must use swords, real swords; otherwise, there would be no momentum, and it would be better not to watch sword dances. Liu Liuyao sensed an opportunity and was ready to act. She took a deep breath, and the pupils in the bronze mirror shrank slightly, and the coldness was gradually covered up by her.
Just then, an older general walked to the door and said: Are you ready? Come over here and stand still, follow me.
Liu Liuyao's heart suddenly tightened. She recognized this warrior. He was the one who was casually wandering by the river that day. Because the Zhou army's imperial guards were almost all young and strong, there were not many people of this age, so it was easy to identify him. Liu Liuyao felt that something was wrong, and she intuitively felt that the Zhou army generals had noticed something.
A group of singing girls walked forward, and Liu Liuyao could not stop either. He mixed in the crowd and walked forward, but he found that the warrior's eyes found him from the crowd and looked at him twice.
Liu Liuyao was born in a family of generals, so she was not frightened by this detail. She walked away while silently saying:
These four words were not only a reminder to Zhou Xian yesterday, but also an encouragement to his own courage.
A group of people walked out of the tent. The ground was a little muddy because the snow in the south of the Yangtze River was light and relatively wet. After a long time, they walked to the largest tent, which should be the central army tent of the Zhou army. Some generals were walking in one after another. When they reached the door, they unsheathed their swords and put them on the knife rack outside the door. It was really funny. The generals unsheathed their swords, but the singing girls carried swords.
However, Liu Liuyao and others did not go to the central army tent first, but were taken to a sealed tent next to it for body search. At this time, Zhou Xian suddenly came in wearing a dance costume and a coat.
She soon saw Liu Liuyao, and the two looked at each other without saying a word.
Liu Liuyao observed for a moment and found that Zhou Xian looked haggard and depressed. Although this woman was the queen, she did not look like someone who could handle a big event. She seemed too weak. It was indeed a bit too much to ask her to seize the opportunity to assassinate at night. However, it didn't matter what happened to Zhou Xian now. This time, Xianwu took action and she didn't need to get involved. Besides, she had no martial arts skills and could not help. Liu Liuyao was ready to accomplish this task by herself.
Zhou Xian's eyes flickered again, and he was worried. Liu Liuyao cursed in his heart, I don't want you to assassinate, just dance well, don't make any mistakes and let the other party be alerted to your appearance, just don't participate in the dance
Liu Liuyao didn't have time to look at it. Several women had walked in from outside the door and pulled down the curtain to cover the door tightly. They were all elderly women, wearing rough cloth skirts. It was unknown where they were recruited from to cook and make fire. But one of them looked a little unusual. As expected, the woman said clearly: Except for swords, no hard objects are allowed, and hairpins and jade ornaments are not allowed. Take off your things first, and search your body; the sword is placed on this table.
No matter what the woman was doing, the singers did not dare to resist and followed her instructions. The woman sat down at the table and looked at the swords on it.
In order to pass smoothly without any mistakes, Liu Liuyao did not bring any other weapons except the sword, and she did not need them. Looking at the scene of the body search in front of her, she could feel that the moment was getting closer and closer.