Linque

Both siblings were busy with their own work, and Dongjun himself was nowhere to be seen, and it was unknown outside, so over time, they all began to wonder if Dongjun had gone out to do something again.At this juncture, if Dongjun makes another move, he will definitely cut down the big character again, so there will be a little panic.

But no matter how flustered the outside is, it will never be able to enter the Mingcheng Palace.

Chu Heng had a very nourishing life these past few days.

Ling Ye was distressed that he had suffered some internal injuries, and felt that he had lost weight after tossing around in Changzhou, so he was detained in the Ming Cheng Palace, to have a good rest, and to support him.

Even at Yuzheng Palace, Ling Ye didn't allow him to pass on the story of Dong Jun Chu Heng. Dabai Tuanzi had a sticky hand, so if he told him, Chu Heng wouldn't be able to live in peace.By the way, Ling Ye also spared Qing Yan from paying his respects to Mingcheng Hall these days, and went to the East Palace every day to ask him about his homework.

Chu Heng was happy to have a few days of leisure and carefree time, and lay comfortably for several days hugging the Queen's Ceremony that he hadn't finished watching before.

After a heavy rain, the sky was clear in the imperial capital, and the female city lord of Cangwu City, Fang Jingci, arrived.

The Fang clan of Cangwu is well-known in Kyushu as a party member who respects the king. Right now, the armies of both sides are still fighting on the border between China and Wanwan. The situation is very tense. Fang Jingci suddenly came to the imperial capital. Facing the enemy.

But when she asked for an interview at the palace gate, in addition to the Cangwu city lord's decree to prove her identity, she also had a handwritten letter from Ye Jianwei, the lord of the Eastern Capital, and a jade plaque from the Lishan Ye clan for recommendation.

Seeing this, the Royal Guards of the Imperial City withdrew their weapons under vigilance, and reported to His Majesty.The reason for Fang Jingci's visit was unclear, and the imperial guards didn't dare to trust her, so she immediately informed the Hall of Martial Arts. After hearing the news, Xie Chu rushed to Jingzhang Palace.The emperor's shadow guard on duty also passed the news to the empress of Ming Chengdian.

When Chu Heng arrived at the Hall of Respect and Sincerity, he happened to meet Fang Jingci, who came to see her, in front of the platform.

Seeing Chu Heng, the female city lord who seldom appeared in front of people was obviously stunned. She stopped and her eyes were fixed on Chu Heng's face in a trance. He saw the shadow of someone.

It wasn't until the guards in front of the palace couldn't help asking that Fang Jingci suddenly came back to her senses, stepped forward and handed the jade card of the lonely city in her hand to Chu Heng: "No wonder your master said, I went to the imperial capital Naturally I can recognize you." She paused, then said in a shy voice, "...You look a lot like your mother."

On the day of saying goodbye at the junction of Ningchang, Ye Jianwei mentioned a few words to Chu Heng before going to Cangwu City.

It is obvious that Fang Jingci is an old person from the past, and may have had a lot of friendship with her master, his wife, and even his mother.

No one knew what the Dongdu border master had talked with Fang Jingci in the Cangwu City Lord's mansion that day, but after walking out of the Buddhist hall, the female city master changed from the usual silence, and she spent three days adjusting the defenses of Cangwu City. After arranging everything in the family, he embarked on the road to the imperial capital alone.

Chu Heng took the jade tablet, glanced at it with lowered eyes, and said lightly: "The city lord knows my mother?"

The time is too long, when Chu Heng was young, and Ji Wusu Mei only left a few thin and gentle silhouettes in his memory.But he always remembered that in the cold winter when he was four years old, Mu Xiyun carried him into the carriage to Lishan Mountain, and Wu Xi stood in front of the side door of Zhongpinghou's mansion, waving and smiling at them.Mu Xiyun choked up and whispered in his ear - "Ah Yue, she is waiting for you to grow up, when you are strong enough to take her home."

God always loves to make fun of people, complaining that he couldn't wait for him to grow up, when Chu Heng heard the obituary and came to the Hou Mansion when he was ten years old, all he saw was a dark coffin.Ji Wusu couldn't go home either, and finally returned to Lishan with only one cold memorial tablet.

Fang Jingci's eyes were unconsciously stained with deep sorrow and guilt, she nodded, as if she didn't know where to start, her lips parted twice, and said with some difficulty: "Knowledge, it's all old things, At that time..."

At that time, they were young, and the sisters had a deep and sincere relationship, and they were married to Jinlan, thinking that they would be happy for a lifetime.

Her acquaintances with Xiyun and Yanlan are all due to the chances of her childhood friends.Only with Su Xi, I don't know each other without fighting.I hadn't seen her at that time, and I didn't know she was from Lishan.The only eldest lady in Cangwu City, the young lord of a city, was born with pride, the first and deepest time to know what is "outsiders, outsiders", and she met Suixi halfway.

The four of them know each other well and love each other well.Xiyun and Yanlan fight whenever they meet, and she is also a restless person, but Mei is demure and gentle, with the best temper.

Later, when they grew up, when they were in their teens, they all made a bet when they saw Wuxi standing on the Yaotai holding a sword.

At that time, she was happy and proud, and said that in the future, we will have Lishan Dongjun as the Jinlan sister, how majestic!

after that……

When she came back from visiting relatives at her ancestral home, she knew that the Erfei Medicine Sect had collapsed, and that the instigator was the Cangwu Fang clan, her own father and brother, by the time it was too late.

All of their lives have changed.

She cried, quarreled, broke down, blamed her father, blamed her senior brother, and hated herself.But Jinlan's friendship was still inferior in the end. After all, it couldn't match the family affection that blood is thicker than water, and it couldn't match the love of her childhood sweetheart. She couldn't completely break with her father and her fiancé.

She is the future Cangwu City Lord, and that is her home, her responsibility and her shackles.The family is on her shoulders, and her fate is not hers alone. There is no other way but to accept it all.

Later, evasion became the norm, and I no longer had the courage to face people and things related to the past.

Looking at it today, Yu Jinlan, she is an indirect perpetrator, Yu family, she is not a good mother if she ignores her, and Yu Cangwu, she is indulging in Buddhist affairs and has not truly fulfilled the responsibility of the city lord.

To be cruel or not, to be kind or not.

This life is really in vain.

Fang Jingci stared at Chu Heng's eyebrows and eyes, and couldn't help but said: "You are a good boy, your mother's spirit in heaven will definitely feel relieved. You look a lot like her, but don't be like her in your temper, treat yourself more It's better...Your mother, she has been protecting others, but no one has been able to protect her. "

Chu Heng clenched his palms and remained silent.

A notification came from the Hall of Jingcheng, Fang Jingci withdrew her gaze from Chu Heng, lowered her eyebrows in mourning, and walked in.

The female city lord stayed in the hall for more than two hours. When she entered, the afternoon sun was shining brightly. She was the city lord Cangwu.When she came out again, the sky was already full of red clouds, and she was only Fang Jingci.

Chu Heng sent her to see Fang Hongzhen, the Martial Venerable Cangwu who was imprisoned by numerous formations. Behind them was a shadow guard of the Son of Heaven holding a mahogany tray with pens, ink, paper and inkstones and a jug of wine on it.

From the front court of the imperial city to the dark prison, along the way, Jingci and Chu Heng talked about some old things about Su Xi many years ago.When he reached the gate of the dark prison, Chu Heng stopped, looked at Fang Jingci who had been gentle and gentle to him since the first meeting, and suddenly said: "The city lord should know that Martial Lord Cangwu was sent here by me. of."

What he meant was obvious, but Fang Jingci just shook her head, her tone bitter: "But you may not know that what Cangwu City owes your mother is her entire life. So I have no right to blame you, karma reincarnation, It's all as it should be."

She turned around and took the tray from the shadow guard, and looked up at the setting sun in the sky: "Sin karma ends with me, and there will be no more city lords in Cangwu City for thousands of years. Come and pick up the tray later." , Help me thank His Majesty for the wine, he should be the Lord of Kyushu, and this prosperous world will come as he wishes."

……

It was dusk, and the sky was full of stars. When the entire imperial city was completely merged into the night, the mahogany tray retrieved from the dark prison was presented to the imperial case in the Hall of Jingcheng.

Ling Ye glanced at the handwriting on the paper. He had in his hands the iron coupon of the alchemy that Dayin had bestowed on the Cangwu Fang family when he founded the country, the Token of the Lord of Cangwu and the gold-plated seal, as well as all the light and dark defense maps inside and outside Cangwu City.

The reason for Fang Jingci's visit was beyond everyone's expectations. When Ling Ye heard the report from the Imperial City Guards, he thought that the female city lord was here to negotiate terms and important people, but he did not expect that she was here to return Cang Qing. The Wufang family looked at the land, and those who went to die.

The sixteenth family has always been higher than other families in Kyushu, and they have the prestige bestowed by the Taizu after making an oath to heaven and earth.For the sixteenth family, being on the wrong side in the struggle for imperial power is not the most terrible thing, but it is the blood price that the contemporary people have to pay for it.

The land on which the clansmen lived and thrived still belonged to them. Even if the emperor could punish the three or nine clans, the seat of the city lord would still have to be occupied by a person with this surname.Who among the descendants of the Pingchuan Ling family would dare to break their promise to heaven and earth?Who dares to break the Taizu oath?As long as the land is in sight, after a few generations of recuperation, it is another prominent family.

Hundreds of years since Dayin's founding of the country, there has not been a family head of the sixteenth family who would give up for his own life after standing in the wrong team.For them, it is not shameful to stand in the wrong team and follow the wrong dragon, but if they lose their sight, they will have no face to meet their ancestors, and they will not live in peace after death.

But today, Fang Jingci handed back the iron certificate of Danshu and the seal of the city lord to Ling Ye, and from then on, Cangwu City no longer belonged to the Fang family.

In comparison, Fang Jingci's condition is not too much. She will die with Fang Hongzhen, but the old, young, women and children in the family, as well as the clansmen who did not participate in the king's rebellion, and her only son, Ling Ye To save the lives of these people.

She would persuade Fang Hongzhen to hand over the marching map of King Jing's army in exchange for the survival of their only son.

Ling Ye finally agreed.

When the female city lord entered the palace, she was ready to hand over everything, and all the city lords of Cangwu brought everything.When she went out, she only asked Ling Ye for a jug of wine.

Ling Ye's eyes fell on the detailed handwriting on the tray, he picked it up to read it, called the shadow guard and said, "Together with the confession sent by Changzhou Jindu, it will be sent to the Marquis of Shuo'an on the front line of Zhongzhou in [-] miles. "

……

Today, the civil war in Changzhou is basically settled, all the family heads who participated in the rebellion in the twelve cities in the south of the Yangtze River have been detained in Jindu, and King Jing's deployment in Changzhou has collapsed across the board.

It's just that on Yichong's side, what Ling Ye has been worrying about for a long time still came.

The Nanyang Zeguo navy that King Jing colluded with sees the internal stability of Changzhou, and knows that their allies are at a disadvantage. Prince Jing may not be able to fulfill the benefits he promised.It cost a lot of money to run thousands of miles to Nanyang Zeguo, so naturally he didn't want to return empty-handed, he had already used his weapons, and he had torn his face with Emperor Dayin, so he simply didn't do anything.Immediately, he gave up Yichong, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and began to turn northward, attacking along the Dayin East Sea, intending to plunder.Marquis Xiao Wencong of Yong'an has led the Yichong garrison to intercept first, but Nanyang Zeguo has also made sufficient preparations this time, deliberately making more clicks to break through, and accepting as soon as it is good. The Dayin East Sea defense line is already fragile, and the coastal people will inevitably suffer some wars.

When the Tang report was delivered to the imperial court, Lian Songcheng, governor of Changzhou, had already led the reorganized Donghai Navy to the front line.These foreign enemies were the sins of King Jing, but in the end the emperor had to go to put them down.

Ling Ye knew very well that his own Donghai navy was inferior to the Nanyang Zeguo navy in a short period of time.Nanyang Zeguo's intentions are obvious. They rely on water to draw water and live with the ocean, and they cannot defeat Dayin's garrison on land.Their purpose is not to invade Dayin's territory and attack the coastal cities, but to plunder all available resources.What Nanyang Zeguo really wants is the sea——the Dayin East Sea area north of Baishazhu, which was seized by King Jing during the civil strife, and now they don't want to return it.

The southeast sea area is the barrier of Kyushu, and it is also the land of Dayin laid down by generations of ancestors. It is impossible for Ling Ye to let go of every inch of mountains and rivers and blood.With Dayin Kyushu in his hands, the frontier can only be expanded, and there is absolutely no reason to take it back.Compared with civil strife, this naval battle to drive out foreign enemies may take longer.

However, there are worries and joys.

The plague in Yinghai city has been resolved, and the good news was sent urgently from eight hundred miles last night. The Ying navy and the Ningzhou garrison cooperated back and forth, and attacked Dingkang at night from the north and south, and won a complete victory.After the Cangwu Fang clan, Dingkang Zhou clan, the other arm of King Jing, was also broken off.All the members of Dingguo's mansion were arrested, and Su Lang and Ye Xinghui will escort these people to the imperial capital for trial in a few days.

Once the battle of Dingkang is over, there will be no hindrance to the fortification of the Lanjiang Chengshui diversion in the future; in this man-made flood, the five counties of the Nanjiang River that suffered so much will also be compensated; The servant of the Ministry of Industry in Dali Temple Prison will also be rehabilitated and released.

Everything is on track.

Ying Guogong Su Que and Yingshou Ling Qi had already rushed to Jindu, Changzhou a few days ago to meet those aristocratic patriarchs in the Twelve Cities in the south of the Yangtze River who got on the wrong boat.

I don't know whose idea it was from the two of them. Along the way, before they arrived in Jindu, they first told several corresponding families about the detainment of the Patriarch with great fanfare.

The news did not pass through others, but was passed directly to the emperor's shadow guard, who was the sword of the emperor, at their door. The content of the message was concise and to the point, roughly "your father was arrested for treason".However, when the emperor's shadow guard came to visit, he showed no lack of manners, even his tone of voice was full of smiles, without any trace of coldness, trying to give people the impression that "your father got promoted and made a fortune". illusion.

This kind of action has really achieved remarkable results. The princes of the twelve cities in the south of the Yangtze River turned pale when they heard the words, and they were scared out of their wits.

……

They belong to the same [-] cities in the south of the Yangtze River, and the people who usually look up and look down are all old acquaintances. Duke Ying didn't make things difficult for these old guys when he arrived in Jindu.He entertained them without food and drink, as if they were easy to talk to, but when it came time to "negotiate the price", Duke Ying would never let them down.

These big fish caught are essentially scumbags, and it is not advisable to kill them all. The emperor can choose a family or two to use his sword, but it is not good to directly wash half of Changzhou with blood, otherwise it will be easy for this group of mobs to die. It has become a rope, and the foreign enemies in Nanyang have not been eliminated at present. If there is another civil strife in Changzhou, it will not end well at that time.You might as well weigh one catty and two catties, and let the twelve cities in the south of the Yangtze River "take money to redeem people".

The head of the family waited on the chopping board, with the knife hanging by his neck, all conditions were naturally left to the emperor, and these princes couldn't even say "no".To nod is to be deceived by traitors, and it is not too late to return to justice, but to shake one's head is to treason and treason, and the whole family suffers in the market.

Everyone can reach an agreement peacefully, and it will be easy to handle, and everyone is happy.

The day after Su Que and Ling Qi arrived in Jindu, the imperial capital's secret decree arrived - all the conditions required by the emperor were written in it.

It is not without reason that Ying Haisu's family is extremely rich.Duke Ying Su Que finished reading the conditions in the secret decree, pondered for a while, and then added a few strokes to it. Even so, he still had a "big loss" look on his face.

Ling Qi watched from the sidelines, from the most direct money and silk, to the future tax sharing, to the important official positions in various cities, and the selection of officials in the imperial examination after Changzhou, what His Majesty mentioned but did not mention, Duke Ying All added.Ling Qi hesitated for a while, then said hesitantly: "Will this be too much? What if they don't buy it..."

Su Que was thinking about adding two more strokes, but without raising his head when he heard the words, he just said lightly: "Don't worry, they are all old acquaintances in Changzhou, so this condition is enough. It's not that they don't know what to do with the Dingkang Zhou family. Together they blew up embankments on the Lanjiang River, created a man-made plague for Yinghai, and nearly destroyed half of my city that never sleeps. I'm in a rage right now, if you didn't stop me, Commander, I'd fill them all in Lan Feed the fish in the river. So no matter how harsh the conditions are, they will keep them. None of these old foxes have lived enough. Compared with their lives, the others are worthless. Besides, I am already very tolerant. Lang Lai, if he is not in the same generation as them and has no friendship with them, then at least another [-]% must be added."

"..."

Ling Qi looked at Duke Ying, who was refreshed, "on fire", and was about to send people to Lanjiang to feed the fish, and suddenly felt that he needed to re-acquaint Ying Haisu's family tradition.

……

The conditions negotiated between Duke Ying and the Twelve Cities in the South of the Yangtze River were sent to the Royal Case of Jingcheng Palace a few days later.

One of the most important ones - the twelve cities in the south of the Yangtze River can sponsor three students to be exempted from the college examination, state examination, and general examination in every imperial examination, and the privilege of directly entering the palace examination is taken back to the imperial capital.Moreover, for the families involved, the number of core quotas for direct descendants of the three generations and top-ranking officials after the crown has been reduced.

Everything is difficult at the beginning. After three generations, the imperial examination has been on the right track, and how to continue to support it depends on the future emperors.

It is true that aristocratic families are an obstacle to the imperial examination, but it is also a kind of balance.Dayin established the country with military force, and the aristocratic family defended the Kyushu military based on this.The principals of sixteen aristocratic families, who can rule the country with a pen and put an end to chaos by riding a horse, the existence of the aristocratic family is not harmful or beneficial.

Ling Ye didn't know what the future of the imperial examination would be.But there must be two sides to everything. If there is no check and balance, no one can say whether it will become rigid and degenerate in the future, and what will happen to the new forces it will generate.The essence of the reform of the selection of officials is to select talents who manage the country in a relatively fair way.

Respecting the king is just a hook, the emperor wants more than suppressing rebellion.

The Son of Heaven looks up to the sun and the moon, facing the four poles and governing the eight wastelands. Every inch of land in Kyushu should be surrendered under his feet, and the aristocratic families who grew up on it should bow their heads and obey.

The rebellion of the King of Qi five years ago was an opportunity for the emperor who was enthroned when he was young but was controlled by others to regain the power of the Son of Heaven. Today, King Jing has also unknowingly embarked on the old path of his elder brother, becoming the emperor who can truly rule the world and control Kyushu. paving stones.

Dayin Jiuzhou is Ling Ye's country.

……

The audience of Fang Jingci, the lord of Cangwu City, made the Dongjun Chuheng, who made Shenlong see his head and tail, finally appeared in front of people.

Where he went a few days ago, no one knows, everyone is curious, but... no one dares to ask.

After all, there is a big difference between the former imperial servant who was not happy for the emperor and was miserable, and the current master of Lishan Mountain who is unrivaled in the world and has the strongest martial arts.It was so big that everyone couldn't tell for a while whether the Chu Shimo who used to work with them in the imperial court, who was righteous and good-natured, was really him?It can't be someone else pretending to be disguised... Dongjun Ji Wuyue came to the imperial capital back then, and she was not easy to mess with in the impression that she belonged to an existence that should be avoided.

All kinds of speculation emerge in endlessly.

Of course, the worst place is the Hall of Martial Arts.

After Lu Ji learned of Chu Heng's identity that day, he floated back to the Guard camp in a state of disorientation.He has always been big-hearted and doesn't pay attention to everything. It's rare to see this wandering spirit who has seen a ghost. His colleagues immediately stopped him and asked him that he was bullied by some forbidden army bastard.

Lu Ji shook his head, his eyes were straightened, and he said dumbly: "I saw Dong Jun, he looks the same as Chu Heng."

"...?"

The colleague raised an eyebrow and touched Lu Ji's forehead. He was not stupid. He is a good-looking person, why is he still talking nonsense when he is in the daylight?

The colleague stretched out two fingers and waved in front of Lu Ji's eyes, "Can you see clearly? How much is it?"

Lu Ji waved his hand away with dull eyes, and said numbly: "You are not blind, there is a leek next to your front tooth. I finished talking with the 'decorating the facade' of our Hall of Martial Arts, and then the shadow guard in front of the hall called him—"Dong Jun '."

"...?!" The colleagues were a little panicked.

At this time, it was time to exchange value in front of the imperial court, and the other two people who were on duty in Jingzhang Palace today also came back—the same out of their minds, and when they met, they said, Chu Heng, Dong Jun.

"?!!"

One mistake, it can't be all wrong, right? !

The expressions of the colleagues began to become terrified.

When a group of people were looking at each other like being struck by lightning, it happened that Commander Xie Chuda came back from the Imperial Palace after finishing his report.

Seeing their lost souls when they entered the door, they couldn't help wondering: "Who beat this up? Why did you make them stupid?"

Holding the last trace of reason in his heart, the colleague stiffly turned his neck and asked: "Commander... that, the facade of our Hall of Martial Arts, Chu Heng...?"

Xie Chu suddenly realized what was going on in front of him, so he nodded, and said calmly: "Oh, you said Chu Heng, he also has a name, Ji Wuyue, you should all know him."

"........."

They looked down at the wide open space under their feet. If they remember correctly, when the Second Young Master of Zhongpinghou's Mansion worshiped the temple on the first day, they gathered here, carrying knives and swords. "Chu Heng"'s rookie got off his horse one by one.

When you come to the Hall of Martial Arts, you always have to fight twice, so you can count how many catties you have.

"…………"

The Hall of Martial Arts went up to the chief instructor and down to the new guards, and there was a collective silence for three days.

Later, when everyone regained their strength, their moods became very complicated. On the one hand, they were a little terrified, and then gradually began to feel complacent. They had been colleagues with Mahayana Dongjun for three years, and they came and went together. What a face!How can the imperial guards compare with our Hall of Martial Arts?What kind of elite guards are going to fight against the Tianzi Guards Battalion?snort!It's no problem for us, the "face" of the Hall of Martial Arts, to pick eight of their teams alone!

There is no one who is not a martial artist among the vigorous young disciples, Lishan Junji Wuyue has always been the most revered existence in their hearts, and they are satisfied to have the opportunity to meet each other.Now that he knew that the great master was by his side, and that he was so familiar with him, he couldn't help wanting to meet him after being shocked.

It's just that Chu Heng hadn't been seen for several days in a row, and everyone couldn't tell what he was thinking, so they couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.Chu Heng has already taken off his mask and turned back into the unattainable Lishandong Jun. When we meet again, will it still be the same as before?And at the beginning...

At the beginning of the morning, in the Hall of Martial Arts.

Everyone has used the court food and is busy getting the tokens on duty everywhere. The topics in the temple these days still cannot get around their "facade".

One person said: "Thanks to the foresight of the commander-in-chief, he came to the Hall of Martial Arts three times a day to inspect, and forbade colleagues from fighting privately. The most important thing is to stop us from letting us down. Otherwise, it will be over after the autumn. ?”

In the past few days, everyone has been detailing all the things they got along with Chu Heng in the past, so as to confirm that they should not bully Shanhua.

One sighed: "Oh, I just don't know if Dong Jun will come to the Hall of Martial Heroes in the future."

The other person was a little worried: "Did you say behind his back that his vase was bullying?"

A group of people were discussing, when Lu Ji, who was squatting on the side planting mushrooms with his head in his hands, suddenly said, "Don't talk about it! What are you guys?"

Lu Jiyan slumped his head: "On the first day Chu Heng came to the Hall of Martial Arts, I quoted the exact words from the imperial guards who called him a jerk, and asked him what kind of person he likes! The most important thing is that I told him in front of him. On the other hand, if you can't even beat him, why stay in the Hall of Martial Heroes, just go back to your hometown and farm!"

As soon as Lu Ji finished speaking, before everyone could open their mouths, Dong Jun, dressed in the emperor's personal guard uniform, suddenly appeared in the field of vision. He leaned against the door of the palace with his arms folded, his eyebrows stretched, and he looked over with a smile, and said, "Who is there?" Want to go home and farm?"