On the steps, the Northern Han leader stood there pacing back and forth. Yang Ye knelt on the ground and said: "I have lost my army and humiliated my country. I deserve to die."
His face was almost touching the ground. The broken brick in front of him was exactly where Sheng Shi had stood before the expedition. It was still the same as before, with a crooked crack on the brick. He buried his head so low, he was really ashamed. For a military general, the last thing he wanted was to lose the battle.
But apart from this feeling, Yang Ye's mind felt a little empty, and he was not afraid. Because of his understanding of Liu Jun and the course of the battle, he felt that although he was defeated and guilty, he would not be punished severely.
Sure enough, after Liu Jun finished reading the memorial, he turned around and asked Feng Jinke who was kneeling beside him: Why did we lose so quickly
Feng Jinke replied cautiously: Your Majesty, the Zhou army fought bravely and their morale was high. They were fearless and I, your humble servant, did my best.
Liu Jun sighed in public and said: "We must step up the defense of Jinyang City and defend the city to the death." Then he sent people to Shangjing to urge the Liao Kingdom to send reinforcements.
With the strength of the Northern Han, there was really no other way except to seek help from the Liao. This was also the reason why almost none of the rulers and ministers of the Northern Han had a good impression of the Liao people and still allied themselves with the Khitan.
Yang Ye was not punished, and was given important responsibilities, including the most important deployment of the South City. But he was exhausted that day and went home. He was exhausted physically and mentally, and suddenly felt depressed.
The battle of Baigu Group shocked the Northern Han Kingdom and concerned the lives of countless people. Jinyang had already spread. The Yang family had already known about it. When people saw Yang Ye coming back with a gloomy face, they were very cautious, fearing that they would run into him when he was in a bad mood.
Yang Ye was sitting in a hall. Everything around him was quiet. At least tonight he could finally let go of everything. But his heart was not at peace. There was no one around him, but the battlefield with swords and horses still seemed to appear in front of his eyes, and the shouts and calls seemed to still echo in his ears.
The distant and enthusiastic voices of "Long live" still make Yang Ye tremble in his heart. The bravery and madness of the Great Zhou Imperial Army lingered in his mind. Is this war really worth fighting
Yang Ye slapped the armrest of the chair, stood up suddenly, and paced back and forth at the door with his hands behind his back. His messy footsteps seemed to be his depressed and wandering heart.
Just then, a man in his fifties dressed in cloth robes came to the door, bent down and said: My lord, I have received this, please take a look at it.
Yang Ye took it and found it was an envelope with no words on it. He tore open the envelope and took out a piece of paper. He was stunned by the handwriting and his depressed mood suddenly became energetic. It was a kind of stimulated emotion. The handwriting was from his younger brother Yang Chongxun. He read the contents again and found that it was roughly advising him to give up the dark and surrender to the Great Zhou.
Yang Ye quickly folded the letter to cover the contents. He felt a little strange and thought about it. First of all, he wondered why his brother would suddenly write such a letter. Yang Zhongxun would not write a letter easily, especially after Yang Zhongxun accepted the Zhou Dynasty's call to surrender and led Linzhou to join the Great Zhou; of course, no one cared about what flag he raised. Linzhou was too remote and there were not many people. Most of the countries could not take care of it and would just find someone to persuade and win over.
This letter was probably written by Yang Zhongxun according to the wishes of the Zhou court. Yang Ye was a little surprised, because although he was very famous in Northern Han, he did not expect that even Tokyo would go to so much trouble to win him over.
At this moment, the old slave suddenly took the initiative to speak: I have a few words to say, but I don’t know whether I should say them or not.
Yang Ye said kindly: You came with me from Linzhou, there is nothing wrong with saying this.
The old servant then said: "I have never seen the man who delivered the letter. The Yang Mansion in Linzhou must have accepted other people in recent years, which is not surprising. What is surprising is that this man was able to find me as soon as he came; and I don't even know him, so how could he recognize me? He also knew that I was someone that the young master trusted, so he dared to hand over this seemingly secret letter to me."
The old man paused and continued: I recall that the person driving the carriage at that time was the coachman who had just entered the Yang Mansion two months ago. That man was guaranteed by your concubine Hongying.
"The messenger, Yang Ye, asked.
The old man said: We were at the entrance of an alley at the time, and there was no one around me, so I didn't try to keep him and left.
I understand. Yang Ye waved his sleeves.
The old man bowed and left the door silently.
Yang Ye thought about the old slave's words, and recalled how Hongying had teased the Northern Han Dynasty several times before for ignoring the greater good and forming an alliance with the Khitan. He had not taken it seriously before, but now this incident really made him feel a little suspicious.
I couldn't help but go straight to Hongying's room.
Hongying was happy and wiping tears, still as gentle and lovely as before. Women are fussy and have too many emotions, but Yang Ye didn't dislike it, he just felt that he didn't have that many emotions.
Yang Ye asked calmly: Hongying, what do you think of me
Hongying said with a touched look on her face: My husband has been very kind to me and loves me so much.
Yang Ye nodded, pondered for a moment, and asked seriously: Is that groom really your cousin
Hongying glanced at Yang Ye's face, pursed her lips and said: "My dear, why do you suddenly ask this?"
Yang Yedao: Today I suddenly heard him say that you have been to Tokyo before.
My cousin and I haven't always lived together. I heard that he did stay in Tokyo for a while, but I don't know much about it. After I entered the Shen family, I rarely interacted with relatives and rarely met my cousin. Hongying's face flashed a trace of panic.
When Yang Ye heard this, he suddenly felt a little sad. This woman was indeed a concubine like a slave, not a big deal, but he had been with her day and night for the past few months, and he was sincere to her. It was only today that he realized that this woman was full of lies.
Yang Ye felt that his sympathy was taken advantage of, and this feeling made him suddenly very angry. He now guessed that Hong Ying might be a spy sent from Tokyo. As long as she and her so-called cousin were arrested and interrogated separately, they would certainly be able to confirm their origins.
But Yang Ye endured his anger and curiosity about the truth.
At first he himself did not understand why he was so polite to someone who was hypocritical and deceiving him. Gradually he finally understood his inner intuition because he was so impressed by the combat effectiveness of the Great Zhou army that he had vaguely judged the outcome of the war.
The possibility of Northern Han's fall was too great, and Yang Ye subconsciously wanted to leave himself a way out. He himself was also a Han Chinese, and had no resistance to the Central Plains dynasty; he was still working for Northern Han, but he was only concerned about the kindness of the Northern Han emperor's recognition and his personal reputation for loyalty, but there was no need to sacrifice his life for it.