Jinghong Tower

Chapter 353 Chaos
After only three or four rounds, Lu Yuncheng felt overwhelmed.

He was suppressed by a young boy who was still wet behind the ears.

Since arriving in Jinling, he not only had no wars to fight, but also no soldiers to train.

He looked for ways everywhere, and all his energy and strength were spent on drinking. He should have been getting up at the crack of dawn, but he was still sleeping soundly with a hangover.

Day after day, year after year, he gradually gained weight. Even though he was stronger than those weak civil servants, he looked old when facing young men in their early twenties.

Just as Lu Zhen said, Lu Yuncheng has ruined himself.

This kind of waste is not only physical, but also psychological.

When Lu Yuncheng's long sword was suppressed by Lu Zhen's spear, Lu Yuncheng did not think of fighting hard, but looked around. Where was his deputy general, his personal soldiers? Why didn't anyone come to help him?
When he saw that his deputy general and personal soldiers were all entangled by the enemy and unable to be distracted, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.

He forgot that there is no room for distraction on the battlefield.

In just a moment, Lu Zhen pulled back his spear.

Just as Lu Yuncheng felt the heaviness on his arms disappear, Lu Zhen's spear stabbed out again, this time, straight into his right shoulder.

The tip of the spear pierced through the gap in the armor, and the aim was just right. If it was off by an inch, it would not have penetrated.

When the severe pain came, Lu Yuncheng had only one thought in his mind: I must have practiced this move at least tens of thousands of times.

In a flash, Lu Yuncheng recalled his teenage self, swinging a long knife at the straw man countless times.

He used to practice like this.

The next moment, another sharp pain came, this time in the chest.

Lu Yuncheng's body fell backwards, just like the straw man that he had chopped to pieces with his knife, and fell off his horse.

Several Ran soldiers stepped forward quickly, raised their swords and cut off Lu Yuncheng's legs, making it impossible for him to escape.

Lu Zhen urged his horse forward and looked down from a high vantage point. In the midday sun, Lu Zhen's face was a little blurry, and Lu Yuncheng seemed to see the Lu Pingnan of the past.

He opened his mouth and tried to laugh, but blood gushed out of his mouth. A huge sadness surged in his heart, and he didn't even have the chance to laugh at himself.

"Lu Yuncheng is dead, Lu Yuncheng is dead!"

"General Zhaowu is mighty!"

"General Zhaowu is mighty!"

The cheers shook the earth. Jiang Tao chopped off the head of an officer and shouted to everyone, "General Zhaowu, please treat us!"

Lu Zhen took the lead and shouted: "General Zhaoyong is mighty!"

Everyone: "General Zhaoyong, please treat us!"

Jiang Tao laughed loudly, and his laughter could be heard from far away.

A day later, Feng Zan's army arrived at the city and the gates of Xuzhou were closed.

At this moment, a messenger came riding in: "Report, the first battle was a victory, Bozhou City was captured, and General Zhaowu took Lu Yuncheng's head!"

Feng Zan: "Brothers, did you hear that? General Lu has won a victory. Can we fall behind?"

Everyone: “No!”

In Xuzhou city, Earl Qing'an paced back and forth in the room. Just yesterday, he received a letter from Jinling. This letter was not sent by the court, but was sent to him by his eldest son.

The letter enclosed the three handwritten newspapers, as well as the turmoil in the court after the incident.

Liu Shanhe is dead, the emperor is under house arrest, Duke Dingguo controls the government, and all government offices at all levels in Jinling are now in chaos.

It didn't take Earl Qing'an long to guess that once Liu Shanhe died, there would be chaos in the court.

Don't underestimate Liu Shanhe's influence. At least half of the officials in Jinling are his people.

Duke Dingguo has had smooth sailing in recent years, but this is only relative to other nobles.

A military general's power and prestige come from his achievements on the battlefield, but in the past few years, except for the Wu'an Marquis Mansion guarding the border, other generals had no battles to fight.

Without fighting, there would be no military merit. Without military merit, even a noble family like the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion would be seen by the world as just a second-generation rich man who relied on his ancestors' influence.

In other words, Duke Dingguo's prestige was not enough to make all the civil and military officials in the court submit.

Earl Qing'an's heart was like a thousand horses galloping.

Like the Mansion of Duke Dingguo and the Mansion of Marquis Wu'an, the Mansion of Earl Qing'an was also a founding hero.

Since he was a child, Earl Qing'an had heard his grandfather talk about the stories of Zhou Tong and Zhou Wen. In his mind, these two people were the white-faced treacherous ministers on the stage.

Suddenly one day, someone told him that the emperor that their Tang family had risked their lives to protect was the descendant of these two treacherous ministers. How could he accept this?

Fortunately, my grandfather passed away before Taizu and did not have to kneel three times and kowtow nine times to Taizong, otherwise my grandfather would have been so angry that he would have sat up from his coffin.

Earl Qing'an didn't want to fight this battle. Firstly, his wife was about to give birth and the family was in turmoil. Secondly, there were rumors about the emperor's immorality a while ago. Although the court had refuted the rumors, Earl Qing'an knew that anything that was refuted by court officials was most likely true, not to mention the emperor, so it was 100% true.

After an experienced midwife examined his wife's baby, she said it was a girl.

Earl Qing'an had always wanted a little daughter. He and his wife had dreamed countless times of having a sweet and adorable little daughter to take care of them.

Therefore, even though the rumors about the emperor's bad deeds were debunked, Earl Qing'an was still disgusted and angry.

If such a thing happened to his daughter, he couldn't guarantee that he would not commit regicide.

Now, when he knew that the current emperor was not a true descendant of Taizu, Earl Qing'an actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, my grandfather did not trust the wrong person, and there was nothing wrong with Taizu's bloodline.

Since the emperor is fake, no, now that the emperor has been imprisoned, then it is not too far-fetched for him to rebel, right?
If he were a civil official, he would have certainly thought about it over and over again, but Earl Qing'an was a military general, and the few words he knew were only enough for him to barely read the military book.

Once you make a decision, just do it. You will end up with a scar as big as a bowl on your head.

He read his eldest son's letter again.

In addition to national affairs, the son also mentioned family matters, but only once.

"Jinling is about to go into chaos. In order not to affect my mother's delivery, I sent my mother and two younger brothers to Huizhou the day before yesterday."

The Tang family had a small farm of one hundred acres in Huizhou.

Because the lady was too tired to be pregnant at such an advanced age, Earl Qing'an bought this small farm for her and included it in her dowry.

Although it was a property purchase, it was actually a token of affection between husband and wife. Therefore, no one else knew about this except Earl Qing'an and his wife.

It seems that this was a decision made after discussion between the lady and the eldest son.

Earl Qing'an breathed a sigh of relief, but felt even more guilty towards his wife.

Which lady from a wealthy family would go to a farm to give birth to a child? If something happens, it would be difficult to even hire a doctor.

The lady did it for him, so that he would have no worries.

Earl Qing'an clenched his fists. His lady knew him too well. It would be fine if the person sitting on the throne was a descendant of Taizu, but if not, he would never be able to swallow this humiliation.

In this situation, the choice is either to rebel or to escape.

Are they still waiting for the army to return to the capital, so that Duke Dingguo can give up his military power over a toast?

Earl Qingan wrote back to his eldest son, asking him to stay dormant after reading the letter. The current Earl's Mansion was only a temporary house, so he should give it up if he could. There was no need to feel bad about it. Earl Qingan believed that when his wife went to the manor, she must have taken away all the valuables in the mansion.

After the Earl of Qing'an had arranged all this, he called his close attendant and handed him a letter.

Feng Zan met the long-time attendant of Earl Qing'an, and also saw the letter that Earl Qing'an wrote to him.

After reading it, Feng Zan's brows were twisted into knots. He wanted to fight, and he also wanted to take the enemy general's head like Lu Zhen did.

But what does this old fellow Qing'anbo mean?
He doesn't want to fight anymore, he wants to surrender the city?

Three days later, a raging fire broke out in the mansion of the Earl of Qing'an, and the Crown Prince, his wife, and two sons were all "buried in the sea of ​​fire."

Everyone thought that this fire was somewhat unusual, but at that time the government and the country were in chaos, and the fire in the Qing'an Earl's Mansion was only discussed for less than half a day before it became old news.

The Earl of Yan'an personally brought a coroner to investigate, but found nothing.

Even if he found clues, Earl Yan'an couldn't take care of them at this moment.

He had done something stupid for the Duke of Dingguo, and he felt very uncomfortable. He always felt that something was going to happen this time, and it would be a big deal.

Because of what happened back then, he and his wife had long since separated.

Although the entire Yan'an Earl's Mansion moved south to Nanjing, the lady disliked the excessive rain in Nanjing and the damp and cold winters. Therefore, she only spent one winter in Nanjing and then returned to her family far away in Shu with her adopted little grandson and two granddaughters.

The relationship between husband and wife was not harmonious to begin with, and they lived separately even though they lived in the same mansion. Therefore, when the Earl's wife returned to the clan, the Earl of Yan'an felt extremely relieved.

He bought four beautiful maids who were good at singing and dancing, and lived a comfortable and carefree life in the past few years.

If he had not been increasingly marginalized in the court, the Earl of Yan'an would not have gotten involved in this mess.

But this muddy water flowed in, and he couldn't retract his legs.

Before this, what the Earl of Yan'an wanted to do was to find evidence that the emperor had come to power in an illegitimate way, and take advantage of the war to alienate the emperor from civil officials like Liu Shanhe, and to use these meritorious military generals.

The Earl of Yan'an was self-aware. He couldn't even understand what was going on in his own backyard. Besides, as a nobleman, he understood one thing since childhood, that is, as long as he held the emperor's thigh tightly enough, his descendants would enjoy a good life. Therefore, he never dreamed of rebelling.

What Duke Dingguo is doing now is no different from rebellion.

But, he is still with Duke Dingguo.

The Earl of Yan'an was so worried that he pulled out several strands of his beard. At this critical juncture, something bad happened at the Earl of Qing'an's mansion.

The Yan'an Earl's Mansion and the Qing'an Earl's Mansion are relatives. Not only their two families, but all these nobles are related.

The wife of the Earl of Yan'an and the wife of the Earl of Qing'an were cousins, so when they were still in the capital, the two families had a very close relationship.

Later, the wife of the Earl of Yan'an went to Shu, and the two families gradually became estranged.

Now Earl Qing'an is fighting in Xuzhou, his home has caught fire, his wife and son are all dead. The more Earl Yan'an thinks about it, the more strange it seems.

Just as he was about to investigate carefully, the battle report from Bozhou came, saying that Lu Yuncheng was dead!

The Earl of Yan'an was stunned for a moment. He had always looked down on Lu Yuncheng. He was obviously a dog raised by the Marquis of Wu'an Mansion, but he had to put on a noble face.

But now Lu Yuncheng is dead.

"This is too quick a death. How could he die like this? That's why all these military scholars who passed the imperial examinations are useless. When it comes to war, we, the noble families, are the ones who will win."

Although Earl Yan'an said this, he felt uneasy in his heart. He didn't want to go to war.

In his life, he had never held a bow and arrow except for hunting.

Who wants to go to war?

The unlucky Earl of Qing'an was chosen by the emperor to go to war.

Thinking of Earl Qing'an, Earl Yan'an was suddenly stunned.

The fire
He remembered very clearly that the Earl of Qing'an was going to have a new baby and his wife was pregnant, so he was very unhappy when the Earl of Qing'an left.

Oh no, Earl Qing'an is going to rebel!

When the Earl of Yan'an thought of this, he could no longer sit still. He pushed away the beautiful maid who was approaching him and went to the Duke of Dingguo's mansion.

The steward recognized him and quickly led him into the study of Duke Dingguo.

As soon as he entered, he saw several people already sitting in the study, including Duke Dingguo's staff, as well as court officials and nobles he knew.

But no matter who it was, everyone in the room looked unhappy.

"What's going on? Why are you all here?" Yan'an Boqiang forced a smile.

A court official said in a deep voice: "Xuzhou has been lost."

Although the Earl of Yan'an was surprised why it happened so quickly, he had already expected that Xuzhou would fall.

"How come?" He pretended to be surprised.

"Marquis Qing'an, open the city gate and welcome Feng Zan into the city." Duke Dingguo's voice was cold and stern with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ah? How could this be? Earl Qing'an surrendered? He is not that kind of person." Earl Yan'an pretended to be confused even though he knew the truth.

A nobleman who usually did not get along with the Earl of Yan'an sneered, "I remember that your two families are relatives, didn't the Earl of Qing'an tell you before he surrendered?"

The Earl of Yan'an was furious and poured a cup of tea on the man: "Try to fart again, kid?"

Duke Dingguo coughed dryly and said, "Okay, let's not fight internally at this time. I believe in the character of the Earl of Yan'an. Besides, it is the wife of the Earl of Yan'an who has relatives in the Earl of Qing'an's mansion. This has nothing to do with the Earl of Yan'an."

After all, the entire capital knew that the Earl of Yan'an and his wife were not getting along.

The Earl of Yan'an had lost all his face, so how could he have the nerve to associate with his relatives from the Yue family?

At this time, Duke Dingguo said, "Xuzhou and Bozhou have been lost one after another, and the large army of the Ran army is about to attack. Let's discuss who should be sent there."

The Earl of Yan'an felt a sinking feeling in his heart. He came here on his own, and the Duke of Dingguo did not notify him to come for the discussion.

And the people in the study were obviously invited by Duke Dingguo.

They came to discuss matters.

Therefore, Duke Dingguo did not invite him!

Yan'an Bo suddenly felt as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a fly, and threw away his previous idea of ​​not wanting to get involved in muddy water.

Fortunately, no one's attention was on him at the moment, and he sat in the corner sulking.

Finally, Duke Dingguo decided to send Zhou Ding to intercept Feng Zan's attack.

Zhou Ding is one of the few promising members of the royal family. In the past few years, he has been suppressing bandits in the Huguang area. Since last year, he has been fighting with Zhou Cangyue, and lost two of Zhou Cangyue's generals. However, Zhou Ding himself was also seriously injured. He is now in the capital and his injuries have healed.

Another reason why Duke Dingguo decided to send Zhou Ding was that Feng Zan had been defeated by Zhou Ding.

When the Earl of Yan'an came out of the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, it was already dark.

He had no objection to sending Zhou Ding to intercept Feng Zan.

He didn't know Zhou Ding. Besides, as long as they didn't send him, anyone else would be fine.

But he still felt uncomfortable.

He was riding his horse down the street when he suddenly saw a small restaurant on the side of the street. He had been to this restaurant before and the wine was good and the proprietress was also nice.