last time

Chapter 1
The first snow killed the desolate Gaodu, the sky was covered with silver dust, and there was little life. The strong wind stretched out its hand and scraped people's doors, leaving terrifying traces like trapped animals.Before winter, it was so cold that I couldn't wait for the Beilihu fur to be delivered, and the corpses of beggars were lying on Shenwu Street, which was embarrassing.

Someone stepped on the snow with an umbrella and buckskin boots, the sound was deep and deep, and the dark blue court clothes were rendered lifeless by the heavy snow.The attendant lowered his head, but suddenly heard the footsteps disappear, he raised his head immediately, saw the man looking towards the gate of the palace, he folded his hands and said with a smile: "What are you looking at, Master Tianshi?"

Dayu's celestial master is ruthless, and since he entered the court, his master has won the respect of the emperor, and he has been in the court for hundreds of years.In the fifth year of Jianyu, Tian Wuruo's status has been rising steadily. Although the left and right ministers are afraid of this person, they still dare not take any action.

What's the meaning of the palace gate? The red walls and green tiles are monotonous and boring.Tian Wuruo looked at the back of the snowman kneeling at the gate of the palace, and said, "Eunuch Li, how long has that man been kneeling?"

"It's been two hours," Li Chengru bowed down and said regretfully, "Your Majesty hated the Zhuo family because of Zhuo Ting's defeat and Zhongqu Sanzhou's fall. I didn’t speak a word, I thought I was dumb.”

"It doesn't matter if you're really dumb or you're pretending," Tian Wuruo said as he walked forward slowly, "Lord Liao might be sentenced to death."

Li Chengru retracted his neck and said: "Our family sees that this person has the backbone of a great general, it's a pity..."

The two walked to Zhuo Ran's side, Tian Wuruo glanced at it and then turned his gaze back.Li Chengru exhaled with his nose, stared at the dirt-covered villain, and blocked his eyes with his long sleeves as if he couldn't stand it.

Shivering in the cold winter, she was disgusting, and she couldn't feel any pain at all, and the demeanor of a talented woman in Yongzhou was gone.

***
As soon as Tian Wuruo stepped through the door, he heard the left minister Yan Yingzhen shouting loudly: "Zhuo Ting has the ticket to win, but he, the coach, disappeared before the start of the battle. The loss of Zhongqu Sanzhou is my big Yu's disgrace!"

Emperor Chongwen twisted a corner of the memorial, his brows and eyes twisted together, there is no evidence, and he cannot be convicted.In March, Zhuo Ting disappeared in the last battle in the Pingxi mountain stream. The ten ancient Qiang tribes were like wolves and tigers. To Zhuoting.If the situation changes slightly, Zhuo Ting is guilty of collaborating with the enemy and treason, and the three prefectures of Zhongqu have become the territory of the ancient Qiang in vain, and no one will be reconciled.

More than half of the remaining members of the Zhuo family army were filled into the imperial army, and the rest disappeared after the war. Did they sleep in the mountain stream of Luxi, or fled after hearing the wind? The minister was dizzy every day.

Tian Wuruo lifted the curtain, and Li Chengru took his coat and retreated out. After listening for a long time, he didn't know what the purpose of today's discussion would be. He just stepped forward and saluted, "Your Majesty, I'm late."

Chu Shiyu leaned against the seat, put his hands on the edge of the table, motioned for him to sit down, put the memorial aside, and did not speak.

Tian Wuruo took his seat and found that although the hall was burning, it was horribly cold.

The right minister Xu Zheng cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, only Zhuo Ran and a housekeeper are left in the battlefield where the bones of the Zhuo family are buried. They have been imprisoned for half a month now, what should we do in the future?"

Tian Wuruo saw Chu Shiyu sigh, sniffed, and said: "It is His Majesty's intention to go to prison. But when I came, I saw Zhuo Ran kneeling at the gate of the palace, and seemed to have been tortured. Because of love, Zhuo Ting is the Grand Protector of the country." General, fighting for the country is in vain, and his heirs should not be reduced to this; Yu Li, there is no corpse, the charges are not yet determined, and it can be done in the name of imprisonment, so why lynching?"

"Zhuo Ran is Zhuo Ting's daughter, she should know any news, besides this kind of rebellion, how could she not know anything about it." Yan Yingzhen said.

"Left Prime Minister, how can a woman who is not as good as Ji understand these things? According to your opinion, Concubine Yan also knows about the Right Prime Minister in front of the hall?" Tian Wuruo took a sip of tea.

Yan Yingzhen patted the case: "Tianshi, what do you mean by this?"

"Enough." Chu Shiyu finally opened his mouth and said, "I know what I know, and there is no need for the ministers to argue. Then Liao Ze is really punished?"

Tian Wuruo nodded: "Your Majesty, first imprison her and wait for interrogation. After all, Zhuo Ran is a woman."

Yan Yingzhen twirled the teacup again and again, and the enamel map of mountains and rivers on it was almost wiped away by him: "The Celestial Master is too sympathetic to the fragrance and jade, so let His Majesty ask Liao Ze for these things, where did you put those [-] soldiers? "

"When did I tell His Majesty to question Liao Ze?"

Xu Zheng pulled Tian Wuruo: "Tianshi Mo Nu, Mo Nu."

Chu Shiyu frowned, and said: "Jiang Rulan has gone to investigate along the way, and the matter will be concluded soon. Peng Ge, recently comforted the people in the Ministry of War."

Peng Ge didn't dare to make a sound all this time. Seeing that these people didn't dare to intervene as if they were cursing, when he was called suddenly, he stood up in fright: "Yes."

Before the voice fell, someone communicated.

"Your Majesty, something has happened!"

Li Chengru was holding a bloody letter in his hand, with tears on his face, he sobbed and said, "A young general desperately delivered the letter. This is, it is General Zhuo Ting..."

Chu Shiyu's complexion changed suddenly, and he grabbed the envelope. The content of the letter was Zhuo Ting's agreement with the ten chiefs of the ancient Qiang to retreat to Yizhou before the battle. Home army military deployment.

Chushi Yu's eyes were about to burst, and he said, "Where is the man?"

Li Chengru trembled, lowered his head, and said: "It should be the remnant soldiers who fled back. After delivering the letter, they died."

Chu Shiyu pulled the dragon robe, trying to force himself to calm down, accidentally stepped on the corner of the clothes, and fell on the chair, Tian Wuruo took the letter suspiciously, trying to find the forged mark there, but he couldn't find anything .

Chu Shiyu clenched his fists, his knuckles turned white, and said in a hateful voice: "I order Liao Ze to pry open Zhuo Ran's mouth, and I want to listen carefully to what she said about her father!"

Tian Wuruo saw Chu Shiyu furious, said nothing, and went out of the imperial study together.

***
Prison.

Sitting at the table, Li Chengru rubbed the peanut skin in his hand, opened his mouth and blew, watched the person approaching, and said with a smile: "Zhuo Ting has been convicted, are you comfortable?"

Liao Ze was wearing a crimson official uniform. On the cloak, the bear embroidered with black silk thread was faintly illuminated by the faint candlelight. On the right side was a whitebait bag. Liao Ze walked to Li Chengru's side with light in his eyes. .

Liao Ze touched his waist card, looked at the words on it and said "um", "That disabled soldier lent me a wind."

Li Chengru said: "He is Zhuo Ting's former subordinate, and he risked his life to deliver the letter. When he discovered that Zhuo Ting was planning to rebel, the world really went downhill."

Liao Ze lowered his head and smiled, then shook his head: "That old man Zhuo Ting can't talk about the downfall of the world, you see, even a loyal minister like him can see that the emperor is not a Ming emperor, and he is eager to join the ten tribes of the ancient Qiang."

"He is a wise master." Li Chengru said, "Zhuo Ting is your elder brother, but you lynched Zhuo Ran, why didn't I realize that you hated him so much before."

Liao Ze shook his robe: "Human."

Li Chengru smiled when he heard the words, he pushed aside the folds on his sleeves, and said, "I'll leave it to you, Zhuo Ran, take it easy before His Majesty tells you to kill me."

***
Liao Ze asked someone to lead Zhuo Ran to the open space in front of the hall. He flipped through the confession he had made a few days ago, and said, "It can be seen that what you said a few days ago is all deceitful. Xing, I was tricked into turning around by you!"

Liao Ze squinted at the confession, and said word by word: "Obviously Zhuo Ting could win this battle without any difficulty, but he disappeared before the battle and told you and Zhou Yu to go to the ancient Qiang place. This is not a betrayal or something. Zhuo Ting On the eve of the battle, someone delivered the letter back, so you and Zhou Yu ran all night. Unfortunately, the letter came too late. You and Zhou Yu were intercepted by the ancient Qiang people who rushed in before they left the city. The ancient Qiang people did not recognize you. , why didn't they kill you, it was because of your father's letter that they didn't do anything!"

Zhuo Ran hoarsely said: "No..."

"No?" Liao Ze jumped at the case and said, "Lies are full of lies at such a young age! Zhuo Ting has been charged with the crime, you just need to sign and pledge, maybe His Majesty will spare your life."

The jailer pressed Zhuo Ran, knocked her face on the table, and forced her to look at the revised confession. Liao Ze said coldly, "Your life is tough, but life is not so comfortable."

The jailer's hand was so strong that Zhuo Ran couldn't move, so he spat at the confession, staining a large piece of handwriting with blood.

"You!" Liao Ze said angrily, "Given you a chance, you're going to die. You've got a tough temper. Come here, and you'll be punished."

The jailer slipped the clasp into Zhuo Ran's fingers, and seeing Liao Ze's command to tighten it, Zhuo Ran couldn't help struggling in pain for a while, but the jailer stepped on his back and tightened the clasp even more.

Liao Ze ignored Zhuo Ran's cry of pain, sat down slowly, and asked someone to take the confession again. He prepared a lot of things, and he had a lot of time.

"I'll give you another chance, can you draw or not?"

Zhuo Ran was trembling, almost hearing the sound of the bones of her fingers breaking one after another, and the blood was flowing down the cheek, she still said: "No..."

Liao Ze patted on the table: "Okay, let's see how long you can be tough! Use some strength, haven't you eaten yet!"

Zhuo Ran lost her mind in the severe pain, she was almost unable to bear it anymore, the smell of blood was so disgusting, it made her nauseated.But she couldn't recognize it, and if she recognized it, she would lose everything.

The wind at night is more terrifying and crazy than the wind during the day.The cold wind coming through the small window shivered, the villain shrank in a dark corner, clenched his teeth, and the wounds torn by the wind made his consciousness even more blurred.

"Father, brother..."

The heavy lock of the cell door fell to the ground, Zhuo Ran heard vague footsteps, she couldn't open her eyes, it was just a very vague silhouette, like her father, like her brother.

Zhuo Ran stretched out her hand, wanting to reach that person, but suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her stomach.The man did not know when he took out the dagger and stabbed her. Zhuo Ran whimpered and wanted to ask for help, but his mouth was tightly covered.

The man obviously wanted her life, and the blade pierced into the flesh inch by inch. Her fingers had been broken during the torture just now, and she had no strength to resist at all, so she could only endure it.

Will you die?

Are you really going to die?

The moment the dagger was pulled out, blood gushed out of her throat uncontrollably, and Zhuo Ran felt that she was dead.

The guards outside were huddled together, as if they were asleep, ignoring what happened in the prison.

(End of this chapter)