Chapter 110

 

The scorching sun in the sky shone on the dripping blood on the Palace steps, and it seemed that it would soon be bake into dry stains. But the white throat bone on the corpse was still burned people’s eyes and make them cold. The green-face courtiers in front of Zichen Palace were all frozen, then closed their mouths.

Looking up, they saw above the palace steps, the man in purple robe was standing tall against the sun. One hand behind his back, and the other holding the sleeve in front of the golden jade belt around his waist, his phoenix eyes were slightly narrowed, and there was a bit of a treacherous smile under his eyes.

Nine years of ups and downs in the officialdom, polished by knives and stones, they suddenly realized that this scholar had unexpectedly grown into a formidable force, with the momentum of a thunderbolt and the soaring stature of an eagle. Just by standing there, with a commanding presence from a higher vantage point, he suppressed them into speechlessness.

On this moment, their thought of Lu Shi Qing had gradually changed from suspicion to certainty.

But it’s useless even if they were certain. As early as an hour ago, someone noticed that the defense of Daming Palace was not right. Several generals rushed to notify the three major battalions of the Capital Army to warn them, but seeing that this message was like a stone sinking into the sea as there was no reply, their heart turned cold bit by bit.

Lu Shi Qing came prepared, not only emptied the entire imperial palace, but also made arrangements for the three major battalions of the Capital Army. As for the temporary reinforcements sent to Chang’an due to the war, the talisman to dispatch them was in the hands of the emperor.

The war was in turmoil, and the emperor panicked and treated everyone as an enemy, he was not willing to hand over the soldier talisman to anyone. Now he was trapped in Zichen Palace, his life and death were unknown, unless they crossed the Jinwu Guard and break in, it would be completely useless. But the military generals all went to support the army, and none of them was able return. Most of the people present were unarmed and weak civil official, and the remaining few princes and imperial grandchildren were also people who couldn’t take big responsibilities like Zheng Pei. How could they break in.

In the dead silence, Lu Shi Qing looked at the corpse under his feet, and said calmly: “The sun is shining, if you all want to lie down and rest like Young Supervisor Zhu, Lu will satisfy your wish.”

When he said this, he made it clear that he meant to rebel.

An old minister with white hair and beard spoke first, pointing his index finger tremblingly at him: “Assistant Minister Lu, you…do you know what you’re doing!”

Lu Shi Qing bent his lips to smile: “Won’t bother Minister Sun to remind, Lu is very clear.”

This Minister Sun was his former immediate boss in the Chancellery, and although he hadn’t formally paid homage to him, he could also be considered his teacher.

Old Sun’s face turned red when he heard this: “No matter how inappropriate or negligent His Majesty is, Great Zhou can only be surnamed Zheng. How can you allow yourself to sneak in when the country is in danger! Great rebellion… Great rebellion… It’s in vain that I treated you like my own grandson all these years!”

He staggered up as he spoke, pulled out the sword from the waist of a guard directly in front of him, and slashed forward.

The Jinwu guards on all sides immediately drew their swords to stop him, Lu Shi Qing frowned imperceptibly, and then shot a stone in his palm, hitting Old Sun’s knee.

The man who was already unsteady in his steps fell to the ground with his knees limp, and the sword that was aim to Lu Shi Qing’s heart missed.

The people below who didn’t know the inside story immediately scolded.

Those who helped people, helped people. Those who cursed people, cursed people. Those who were afraid, shrink at the end of the crowd.

Lu Shi Qing ignored all of it, turned his ears slightly. Then he heard the sound of horseshoes in the distance, until the sound got closer and closer. He stretched out two fingers, put them together and pressed down, signaling that all disobedient ones would be killed.

The Jinwu Guard got the order, drew their swords out of its sheath, arranged a triangular formation and rushed down the palace steps. But the next moment, he heard the earth-shattering shouts of killing coming from the entrance of the palace road.

Hearing the killing shouts, everyone looked back in astonishment, and saw the man in the black armor galloping over, his left hand threw a long spear, blocking the sword in front of an old minister’s heart, and shouted in a deep voice: “Stand back!”

It was Zheng Zhuo. There were also thousands of Great Zhou soldiers who came to the rescue.

Only then did the courtiers realize that the Sixth Highness had not been under the Palace steps.

As if amnestied, the crowd retreated with tears in their eyes, and ran to hide behind the reinforcements. Lu Shi Qing made another “kill” gesture, and the moment he pressed down his fingers, his eyes collided with Zheng Zhuo who was galloping on the horse. After this one glance, they calmly separated from each other.

With sword in hand, the two sides instantly fought with each other. Zheng Zhuo was like a sharp axe, rushing to the Palace steps in the blink of an eye.

Lu Shi Qing, who was guarded by the Jinwu guards, said coldly: “Archer.”

A Jinwu guard with a heavy bow stepped forward in response. He aimed an arrow at Zheng Zhiu’s heart, bent his knees and pulled the string. The bow turned into a full moon, and in the next moment, the arrow broke through the void.

The courtiers hiding behind watching the battle shouted in unison: “Your Highness, be careful—!”

Hearing the sound, Zheng Zhuo turned slightly to the side, narrowly avoiding the vital point, and the heavy arrow grazed by his right arm, bringing up a streak of white and red flesh.

The old officials who couldn’t help being frightened burst into tears: “Your Highness, quickly retreat!”

The courtiers who were usually not optimistic about Zheng Zhuo were completely convinced by this arrow.

Zheng Zhuo didn’t retreat, still holding the sword steadily with his left hand to charge forward.

His right hand was already wasted.

Lu Shi Qing smiled faintly, then suddenly turned around and retreated into the main hall. When he came out again, he had a dagger in one hand, and the crown-less half-dead Emperor Huining in the other.

He said softly: “If Your Highness move one foot closer to me, the knife in my hand will be an inch closer to His Majesty.”

Zheng Zhuo reined in his horse, the horse’s hooves were raised high and then fell heavily.

Everyone around was horrified: “Your Majesty!”

Emperor Huining’s beard and hair were flying, his face was pale, he was so angry that he couldn’t say anything, and only uttered a few random words for a while, probably scolding Lu Shi Qing.

Lu Shi Qing grabbed the back of his neck with one hand and held the dagger in the other. Without fear, he said calmly, “Your Highness, tell your people to retreat.”

Zheng Zhuo stopped the soldiers and remained silent for a while, before finally speaking, and said concisely: “Conditions.” Asking him the conditions for releasing Emperor Huining.

Lu Shi Qing also answered crisply: “Release people out of the city.” The implication was to allow him to retreat completely and leave Chang’an City safely.

The two sides faced each other silently for a while, Zheng Zhuo stared at Emperor Huining’s eyes full of fear, moved away for a long time, and ordered: “Let Assistant Minister Lu leave the city safely.”

Lu Shi Qing picked up Emperor Huining, got on his horse, and galloped towards the gate of the palace under the protection of a group of Jinwu guards.

Zheng Zhuo followed closely behind, keeping a distance of thirty feet from him.

Seeing this, the soldiers at the side rode their horses and said, “Your Highness, why don’t we use arrows?”

His face darkened, “If it hurts His Majesty, will you be responsible?”

The soldiers immediately fell silent.

They chased all the way, and the two parties didn’t stop until they reached the Golden Light Gate of Chang’an City.

Lu Shi Qing reined in his horse and turned around, threw Emperor Huining to his opponent, and then turned his horse’s head and galloped westward. At the same time, a hundred elite horses sent by Yuan Yi Zhi to guard him suddenly rushed out from the crossroads, and stopped the soldiers and horses on Zheng Zhuo’s side who wanted to go and pursue.

A cavalry soldier followed Lu Shi Qing and heard him ask: “Is County Princess safe?”

“Don’t worry Assistant Minister Lu, according to your instructions, County Princess, Old Lady Lu and Miss Lu have all been escorted out of the city half an hour ago. ”

He said “good”, whipped the horse, and never looked back from the beginning to the end.

Zheng Zhuo, who was blocked by the cavalry over there, looked straight at his fading back.

Last night, Zheng Zhuo sat opposite Lu Shi Qing at the Central Secretariat office, and heard him say: “A Zhuo, His Majesty is determined to wipe out the roots of the Yuan family. The Yuan family has no way out, and neither do I.”

He nodded when he heard this, and after a long silence, he said: “Then rebel. Let’s rebel together.”

But Lu Shi Qing shook his head: “The Lu and Yuan family has no retreat, but you still have.”

He asked what this meant.

At that time, the surroundings were silent except for dripping sound of water clock. Lu Shi Qing replied with a smile: “Whether it’s rebellion or regicide, I can do it, but you can’t. It’s enough for this dirty mud to be splashed on me. I don’t care if I become a crafty official who left a notorious name thousands of years, but you have to be a wise monarch who will go down in history.”

When he heard the words, he suddenly jumped up, gritted his teeth and shouted at him: “Lu Zishu!”

Lu Shi Qing raised his eyes and said, “What? Do you think after you ascend the throne in the future, it will be too boring without an old friend by your side? But you have to think about me too. I have to deal with court affairs for you for so many years, and I haven’t been able to get a single peaceful day. Now it’s time to live a life of idle clouds and wild cranes. If you want to repay me, remember that after you ascended the throne, you tore up the arrest notices on the streets, and just faked my death. If it’s really boring, I still have a set of wumu in my house, you can take it and play with it.”

He snorted coldly and reprimanded him: “In your dream! If I really ascend the throne, the first thing I will do is clean out your crime, rectify your name, and pull you back to the court to be a Prime Minister.”

Lu Shi Qing smiled: “It’s better to go fishing than to be a Prime Minister. You don’t know, Ci Xian doesn’t like Chang’an. When everything is settled, I want to take her back to Luoyang to live in seclusion.” Speaking until here, the usually indifferent person rarely showed a bit of longing, and emphasized, “I’ve thought about it for a long time.”

Zheng Zhuo finally choked, there was nothing more to say, and sighed after a long time: “Why do I have such a serious bad friend like you.”

“I’m not that bad. If you come to Luoyang one day, I’ll take care of your wine.”

“You brew it yourself? I’m afraid of being poisoned, it’s better not to come.” After he finished speaking, he turned around and strode away.

Lu Shi Qing scrambled behind him and said: “Then tomorrow will be our last meeting. Remember to act well, and give an exciting performance.”

Then this will be our last meeting.

Zheng Zhuo sat high on the horse, his eyes passed through countless soldiers and horses and moving heads, and fell on Lu Shi Qing who was leaving in the dust.

The splashed mud stained his robe, but he didn’t care, and just ignored it.

A person who loved cleanliness so much, but he said that he doesn’t care about being criticized by others, and leaving a notorious name thousands of years, just leave the shining light of the future wise monarch of Great Zhou in his eyes.

Zheng Zhuo, Zheng Zhuo, you have to be worthy of it.

There was a noisy sound in his ears, and Emperor Huining, who was thrown off the horse by Lu Shi Qing, finally came to Zheng Zhuo with the support of his soldiers. He whispered to his son while pointing out with shaking hand: “Sixth child, Sixth child… Zhen’s soldier talisman is hidden in the box inside the pillow… You go and get it, go and get it quickly, and kill that bastard for Zhen, kill him!”

When he said this, he didn’t even look at the bloody wound on his son’s arm.

Zheng Zhuo stared at him indifferently, until he curbed the suspicious look in his eyes, and then he smiled: “This son will obey the holy order.” After saying that, he turned his horse’s head and galloped towards Daming Palace.

Before entering the city gate, he reined in his horse, turned around again, took a look in the direction of the opposite road behind him, and saw that Lu Shi Qing was no longer at the end of the official road.

He blinked, and said a sentence silently: The world is far away, so cherish it.

Didn’t have time to say it last night.

Previous     TOC