in the sound of swallows

Chapter 168

Indeed, there were almost no one left, only Concubine Ye and Gao Jinxiu were left as concubines.However, the emperor's harem has never been short of people, so she doesn't have to despair, and she doesn't have to be happy too early.

Wen Guozhang's whereabouts are unknown, and the atmosphere in the capital is somewhat delicate.Fu's family was ransacked, many people were implicated and imprisoned, Shi Falong and General Lian heard that there was a quarrel, and led the elite soldiers of the Imperial Forest Army and Nanying to practice gestures on the outskirts of the capital every day.

Shen Guiyan didn't want to ask if the two veterans were really at odds, she needed money very much now.

Fortunately, there were fewer people in the harem, so she cut down a lot of expenses in the harem, and quietly asked Bao Shan to transport some treasures in the palace to sell. After half a month of tossing, she finally saved a lot of silver, and then bought a harem in the north of the capital. storehouse.

Gu Chaobei was very busy and had no time to take care of other things. He arranged the deployment of troops, and sent invitation letters to some princes of the royal family, inviting them to come to the capital to have fun, or to say, to escort them.

However, those old things were too shrewd to see through his intentions, and they were unwilling to disturb the muddy water.Only Prince Xiao heard that he had come to the capital.

"Your Majesty, Prince Xiao and his son Mingyu seem to be traveling with Wen Shoushan and others." The young Shen Guiwen stood in the imperial study and said solemnly: "Young Lord Mingyu is your cousin. Although it is not directly related to the late emperor, it is also of royal blood. I think that Wen Guozhang's intention of treason has been clearly revealed."

Gu Chaobei nodded, knowing that he knew, but now their troops were not enough at all, if Wen Guozhang's soldiers besieged the city and wanted to support Mingyu, what would he do?
"The gates of the capital will be wide open when the order is passed down, but you need a household registration to enter and exit. If you don't have a household registration, you are not allowed to enter."

"Yes."

With this order, the capital became even more tense, and the common people walking on the street could feel that the emperor's army was too weak to defend the capital.

"Little Huangkou, the hair is not neat, and he still wants to fight against the sky." Sitting in the barracks, Wen Shoushan looked at the secret report and snorted coldly: "Jiangshan is Jiangshan on horseback after all, he dares to bully my daughter and kill my son-in-law , then don’t blame me for throwing him down, teach him the rules!”

Fu Xueshi has already arrived at Wen Guozhang's barracks, his home was ransacked, and his granddaughter died tragically in the palace. Now he is full of hatred.

"The emperor is a fool, and occasionally takes politics seriously. I basically know what powers he has in the court. There is still General Yuwen in the capital. The [-] troops in his hands, plus the people here, are enough to overwhelm the capital. Grind it to the ground!"

Wen Guozhang glanced at him: "Do you know the deployment of troops in the capital?"

Fu Xueshi snorted coldly and said: "Before the old man was expelled from Beijing, he discussed with the emperor and all the ministers. The emperor can only use tens of thousands of troops from the southern camp, as well as the imperial forest army and imperial guards. It’s less than half of Guozhang’s here, and they are distributed around the capital. They plan to lure Guozhang into the capital, cut off the army from the middle, and shut the doors to beat dogs. Hmph! Children’s tricks, others will see them as fools.”

Wen Guozhang firmly believed in the information from Xueshi Fu.Now that the situation in the capital was already like that, there was no need for him to cover up, and he directly raised the banner of the Wen family.

Wen Guozhang officially rebelled.

Shen Guiwu went out of the capital overnight to join the Wen family army, with a talisman of [-] soldiers in his hand, and was appointed by Wen Guozhang as a vanguard to attack the capital.

Gu Chaobei hurriedly took up the challenge and dispatched soldiers from the Southern Battalion to fight Shen Guiwu in Dedong Town two days later.

The Empress Dowager Nian was very worried and wanted to talk to Shen Guiyan. After all, Shen Guiwu was also from the Shen family.

But her old man turned the harem upside down and did not see Concubine Yan Gui. She only received news in Yonghe Palace that Concubine Yan Gui had left the palace after she got the emperor's token.

Nonsense!With such a big belly, why go out of the palace?The Empress Dowager Nian hurriedly sent someone to chase after him.

Since the emperor ascended the throne, he had no contact with the princes, so the princes were unwilling to help when the capital was in trouble.Shen Guiyan went to Master Zhou with her big belly in her arms.

In terms of eloquence and lobbying ability, Master Zhou is fully qualified for the job of a lobbyist.

"Master, please persuade the princes to help the emperor." Putting the emperor's token in Master Zhou's hands, Shen Guiyan said seriously: "The only one Guiyan can trust is Master."

Master Zhou twirled his beard and smiled, nodded in agreement: "The old man can go, and he can also take someone with him."

"Who?" Shen Guiyan was curious.

Xu Zhuangzhou came out from the side, and bowed to her: "The grass-roots see the imperial concubine."

Xu Zhuangzhou, who was very skilled, happened to be able to cooperate with Master Zhou to travel.Shen Guiyan smiled and helped him up, and nodded.

After leaving the school, Shen Guiyan went to the largest food stores in the capital.

Bao Shan was a little dissatisfied, and whispered: "Master, you are a dignified concubine, how can you come to deal with these people in person?"

Shen Guiyan smiled and said: "If you don't hurry up to use this identity while it still overwhelms others, you won't have a chance when the capital is in chaos."

What are they used for?Baoshan didn't understand.

There are four large grain stores in the capital with tens of thousands of shi in stock. The normal price of grain in the capital is one tael for a shi. Shen Guiyan only brought out 3000 taels of silver bills today.

However, every grain store went to the store in person, and all the grain was stored in the warehouse in the north of the city. She still had 1000 taels left on her body.

Baoshan was stunned, and after walking out for a long time, his mind was still full of the conversations between his master and the bosses of various grain stores just now.

"Xu Bengong uses the grain and grass, and Bengong pays the deposit first, and then uses the tax to offset the interest, and pays off in monthly installments. The grain collected will not have to pay tax for the next year."

Taxes have always been a major concern of businessmen, once they heard that there was no need to pay taxes, and with the coercion of the dignified concubine, several grain stores happily released grain.

Only one family refused, but it didn't matter, Shen Guiyan had already issued a plaque to the three grain companies that released the grain, which was more competitive in comparison, and the last family would figure it out soon.

Running back and forth, her child is also obedient, motionless in the stomach, and occasionally kicks her when she is too tired to remind her to rest.

Back in the palace, the Empress Dowager Nian's face was very ugly: "You still have a body, even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about the child in your stomach. Go out and run around, what are you talking about?"

Shen Guiyan was trained to stand up obediently and apologize sincerely.

But still go out the next day.

The political affairs of the court were handed over to Prime Minister Gu for temporary handling, and Gu Chaobei went to Nanying and put on the clothes of a general.

"Is the emperor thinking of going to the battlefield?" Baoshan asked Zhuiyun with a frown.

Zhuiyun sighed helplessly: "This time the battle was fierce, the emperor said that he couldn't do it unless he went up in person."

But how insignificant a person is on the battlefield, like a drop in the ocean, what should the master do if something happens?
When Shen Guiyan heard the news that Gu Chaobei planned to take the imperial conquest, she was not too excited, but just stayed in the palace honestly, and began to make armor for him with her own hands.

In the battle two days later, Gu Chaobei went into battle against Shen Guiwu. After all, he was a young emperor with no actual combat experience. Gu Chaobei was defeated and retreated to the capital, and Shen Guiwu won a big victory.

"You really deserve to be my strong general." Wen Shoushan was very happy, and hosted a banquet to celebrate Shen Guiwu.

Fu Xueshi frowned and looked at Shen Guiwu, and whispered to Wen Guozhang: "It's okay for the Guozhang to trust this person so much? He is from the Shen family, and the whole Shen family is still in the capital."

Wen Shoushan snorted, looked sideways at him and said, "Do you know what this kid is asking me for?"

"What?" Fu Xueshi was puzzled.

"After we invaded the capital, he asked me to order the entire family of the Shen family to be executed as a reward."

Fu Xueshi was shocked, and turned to look at Shen Guiwu.

This is too harsh.

In the second battle, the emperor will be in the future, General Lian will play, and Shen Guiwu will win, and the same will be true for the third battle.Wen Shoushan was delighted to see it, and assigned 8 men under his command to Shen Guiwu, asking him to detour from the northeast of the capital, and then attack with him on both sides.

A signal was sent to Yuwen Changqing, and Yuwen Changqing had already left Beijing, and he would be able to join him soon.

However, within half a month, the capital was already under heavy siege.

Gu Chaobei tried on the armor in the Yonghe Palace, the silver-black light armor, the heart part was thicker than the armor in other places.

"Worried about me?" Looking down at Shen Guiyan, he asked softly.

Shen Guiyan tied the cloak for him, pursed her lips and said: "The concubine will naturally be worried, the concubine is waiting in the palace, if the emperor wins, the concubine will celebrate for the emperor, if he loses, the concubine will go with the emperor."

Gu Chaobei took a deep breath, lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead.

The people in the capital fled, and the city was empty. The emperor dispatched guards to deploy in the capital, track down spies, and patrol back and forth.

This battle seemed to be worthless. When Shen Guiwu arrived at the place and attacked the capital from three sides with Yuwen Changqing and Wen Shoushan, it was already half a month later.

Wen Guozhang was full of confidence, and he was already thinking of going directly to break open the city gate and sit on the throne.

However, he went with 5 people, but was entangled in Dedong Town by the Nanying Army and the Yulin Army.As if he knew his marching plan early in the morning, 3 people came from the southern camp, and the imperial forest army was only [-], but they surrounded him so that he couldn't move an inch.Withdrawing troops to the east, they even fell into someone else's Tiankeng trap.

Wen Shoushan's face changed, thinking that this should be a coincidence. The 5 people were cut in half, and he quickly withdrew.

The people behind did not chase after him, but returned to the camp on the outskirts of the capital to gather.

All the troops have been used against him, so Yuwen Changqing and Shen Guiwu should be going well, right?
When he returned to the barracks, he received letters from Yuwen Changqing and Shen Guiwu, who asked him, "Why didn't you attack the city today?"

Wen Shoushan is stupid. He made an appointment to attack today. Who said he won't attack?

"What's going on, go check it out for me!"

The spies reported: "General, both General Yuwen and General Shen have received your secret letter, saying that they will not attack the city today, so neither side took any action."

His secret letter?Wen Shoushan's face was livid, and he cursed: "You despicable boy!"

It must be Gu Chaobei's conspiracy to send secret letters randomly, disrupting his marching plan.

"Send the order, rest for three days before attacking, no matter what news you hear about not attacking, don't believe it!"

(End of this chapter)