The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 60 A dark and windy night

It was a dark, windy night with heavy snow covering the ground.

Zhao Cheng prepared several carriages, took his concubines, jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and asked a team of trusted soldiers to escort him out of the city, preparing to escape at night.

But as soon as he walked out of the city gate, he saw Feng Changqing and his men had been waiting in line at the city gate for a long time.

Zhao Cheng shouted, "Feng Changqing, how dare you, a mere regiment commander, block my way? Get out of the way immediately, or else don't blame me for being rude!"

Feng Changqing took out Li Heng's handwritten order and said, "By order of His Highness Prince Shou, the Anxi Army Commander Zhao Cheng has embezzled military pay, killed people, and plundered people's property. He must be arrested immediately!"

After saying this, he put Li Heng's warrant back into his arms and continued, "General Zhao, dismount and be captured!"

Before Zhao Cheng could say anything, one of his trusted generals said, "General Zhao, I'll hold him back, you go first."

"Feng Changqing, when you get to Hades' Palace, remember that the one who took your life was General Hu Bugui!"

Hu Bugui shouted loudly and rushed towards Feng Changqing with his horse and spear in hand.

Feng Changqing rushed forward with a spear in hand, the two horses met, and the spear shot out like a dragon. Hu Bugui fell down and fell heavily to the ground from the horse's back, dying.

After killing one person in a short while, Feng Changqing said, "Those who resist arrest will be killed on the spot as a warning!"

As soon as Feng Changqing finished speaking, the archers behind him immediately shot a volley of arrows, which landed in front of Zhao Cheng and others.

"preparation……"

Feng Changqing spoke again, and the soldiers behind him drew their bows and arrows.

As long as Feng Changqing says one more word, the battle will break out.

But seeing Feng Changqing's power, the soldiers guarding Zhao Cheng instantly became intimidated and dropped their weapons one after another.

Zhao Cheng sighed, dismounted from his horse, and surrendered.

……

……

……

Li Ying returned to the city and went straight to the prison.

Arriving at the prison, Li Ying had Dou Bai and the soldier who had killed a family of 15 people pushed into Zhao Cheng's cell and said, "General Zhao, how are you?"

Zhao Cheng laughed at himself and said, "I underestimated His Royal Highness the Prince of Shou. I want to ask, how did His Royal Highness the Prince of Shou know that I wanted to escape?"

Li Heng said, "Because killing me means you have risked everything. As long as I am not dead, all your deeds will be exposed. It is easier to escape from the border of Anxi than to kill me."

"You are so scary!" Zhao Cheng exclaimed.

Li Heng asked, "Dou Bai said that General Zhao forced him to contact the Tibetan secret agents to ambush me. What explanation does General Zhao have for this?"

"If the criminal had this ability, he would have escaped long ago." Zhao Cheng denied indifferently.

Li Ying nodded, looked at Dou Bai, and asked, "What do you think?"

Dou Bai immediately kowtowed, and while knelt he said, "Your Highness, please spare my life. I have important information to present."

"One piece of information for one life. That depends on what the information is." Li Ying said calmly.

Dou Bai said: "The Tubo is preparing troops and food supplies to attack the small Bolor Kingdom and then march to Anxi. Your Highness, this information is much more important than my life."

Gao Xianzhi, who was standing by, heard Dou Bai's words and looked at Li Heng with admiration.

A few days ago, Li Heng had asked him to send a spy to the Little Bolor Kingdom to find out the situation. He thought at the time that Li Heng was just taking precautions, but when he heard Dou Bai say this, he realized that Li Heng seemed to have expected it. In his eyes, Li Heng was almost an omniscient person.

Li Heng nodded and said, "This information is so important that it can save your life. I can spare your life, but whether you live or die will be decided by Miss Hongyue."

In fact, this information and Dou Bai are not important to Li Heng. In comparison, Li Heng thinks that Hongyue is a talented person with great potential. If he can subdue Hongyue and make her follow him wholeheartedly, then with Hongyue's ability, he should be able to use Pingkangfang to collect a lot of information about Chang'an.

After all, all the dignitaries, talented men and generals in Chang'an liked to visit Pingkangfang.

Hongyue heard Li Heng's words, walked in from outside the cell and came to Dou Bai.

When Dou Bai saw Hongyue, he immediately rushed over, hugged Hongyue's legs, and cried, "Hongyue, please let me go. For the sake of our previous kindness, please let me go. As long as you let me go, you can let me do anything! Please, please!"

Seeing Dou Bai's expression, Hong Yue said coldly: "Where is your backbone? You were not like this before!"

"I..." Dou Bai was also confused by the question. After a long pause, he cried, "I... am just a coward."

Once a person crosses his bottom line, there is no going back.

For Dou Bai, ever since he chose to live between Hong Yue and him last time, he has completely lost everything.

He is no longer the man who said, "Don't touch her, come to me if you have any problems."

Dou Bai saw that Hongyue was silent and seemed to be hesitating, so he continued, "It's been a long time since we last met. You look much prettier now, and your temperament is even more outstanding than before. It's obvious that you are living a more comfortable and happy life now than before. But I just want to live. We said before that we would live and die together. Can you really not remember our old friendship and give me a way out?"

As Dou Bai spoke, he lay at Hongyue's feet, as if begging, or as if trying to recall the old feelings between them.

Hongyue seemed to be moved. She squatted down, looked at the red string on Dou Bai's hand, and said, "Have you been wearing this all the time?"

"Yes." Dou Bai replied quickly, "When I wear it, it feels like you are always by my side."

"Let me see it." Hong Yue said softly, reaching out to untie the red rope on Dou Bai's hand, holding the red rope to look at it, and smiled: "People's hearts are fickle."

After saying that, he took out a dagger from his arms and stabbed it into Dou Bai's heart.

Dou Bai couldn't believe it at all. He thought Hongyue was going to let him go.

He looked at the blood on his chest in shock and asked, "Why? Why?"

Hong Yue said: "If you had died earlier, I might still remember your kindness. Now the more you live, the more disgusting I feel!"

After saying that, the dagger went in two more inches, causing Dou Bai to close his eyes completely.

After killing Dou Bai, Hong Yue came to Li Ying and said, "Your Highness, Hong Yue said that she would kill him with her own hands. Thank you for your help."

Li Heng smiled and said, "He colluded with the enemy and plotted to assassinate me. Logically, he should be tortured to death. Killing him like this is a bargain for him."

"Hong Yue deserves to die." Hong Yue was shocked and quickly knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Hong Yue tortured me without authorization, please punish me, Your Highness."

"Just kidding." Li Heng helped Hongyue up, took the dagger from her hand, and said, "You are no longer an assassin. Little girl, don't play with these weapons. Learn more about music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and songs."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Hongyue said sincerely, feeling moved.

Hongyue originally thought that once Dou Bai died, she would no longer be of any use to Li Heng. Even if she was of any use to Li Heng, he would probably let her go back to her old job and then wait for an opportunity to assassinate someone depending on the situation.

She should be a chess piece that Li Heng could use to kill at any time.

She was prepared for this, too.

But she didn't expect that Li Heng asked her not to play with these weapons anymore. The implication was that he wanted her to live an upright life in the future.

(End of this chapter)