Harue Kagetsu - Chapter 123

Gao Yin later mentioned to Gao Qiao that after he left, he was about to ask someone to dispose of the Shaw’s body, but the woman was still alive, and it was difficult to climb to the door, staring at Gao Qiao to leave. in the direction of his mouth, he murmured, as if he was uttering a curse. The villagers who stopped and watched nearby heard it, and it was actually a mantra taught by a celestial master.

The originally peaceful and peaceful days were gone forever because of the chaos of the Heavenly Teachers. People in the capital area mentioned Tianshijiao, and no one hated it to the bone. Finding that the dying woman was actually a religious rebel, one person picked up stones and threw them in a fit of anger. Seeing that Gao Yin did not stop him, the crowd was so excited that the rest of the dozens of people in the village all gathered around and scolded and hurled stones at each other. If it wasn’t for Gao Yin who later ordered the soldiers to drag away the corpse, which had been smashed beyond recognition by the rubble, the sky lantern would have been set on fire by the angry villagers.

Although Gao Qiao didn’t see it with his own eyes, he could imagine how deep the resentment should be when the woman died.

He didn’t care how Shaw felt resentment towards him, but as long as he thought of the resentment she might have cast on his wife, he felt extremely regretful.

As he galloped back to the capital on his way back to the capital, he hated himself, why he never realized that this woman was so ugly.

He hated him even more deeply, even though he had earned a reputation for making a name for himself, the world mentioned his name and looked up to him. He was just living in vain, blind and blind. Twenty years ago, Then he buried the root of the disaster, until today’s incident happened, and he hurt his wife.

He remembered how many times he was soft-hearted and cared about his old kindness, so that on that day, even the prison officer misunderstood, how could she not misunderstand her impatient temper?

But at the beginning, he considered himself a gentleman, and only blamed her for not being knowledgeable enough.

Now that so many years have passed, his wife has finally achieved what he wanted.

But it was all too late.

Gao Qiao remembered the first time she met her back then, the newlyweds getting along with her, the years of cold war between the couple caused by the Shaw Brothers, the sending her up the mountain that day, the last time they saw each other, everyone else walked out, she still The scene where I stopped him and came over to tidy up my clothes and whispered…

Unable to hold back any longer, his eyes froze.

The woman was hysterical and swore that she had killed her disobedient brother, also killed Xiao Yongjia and threw her body into the river.

He would rather not believe it.

As long as he didn’t see her body for a day, he thought she was still alive.

When this national disaster is settled, he will have to look for her again until the day he finds her.

Jiankang is in sight. On the road, an army that had just been dispatched was hurried towards the city gate. The footsteps of the soldiers made the road dusty, and when they saw Gao Qiao riding by, they all stopped to make way for him.

Li Xie was busy at the gate of the city.

The evacuation of more than 200,000 households and nearly a million people in the city is not a matter of one or two days.

To this day, there are still thousands of residents in the city who have not left. These people are either alone, widowed, old or weak, or have limited mobility, and simply cannot travel that far. Li Xie could only send these people to Stone City together with his subordinates.

Compared with staying in Jiankang, it is relatively safer there.

As soon as he came back, he saw Gao Qiao and his group from a distance, and hurried over to greet him.

He knew that Gao Qiao received news from Gao Yin in the middle of the night and went there overnight. Because he has been involved in the search before, he is also very concerned about the whereabouts of the eldest princess. Seeing Gao Qiao’s expression, he could not see any relaxation, his eyes were bloodshot, and he knew that there must be no good news. His heart sank, he hesitated for a while, and comforted: “Xianggong relax. lucky.”

Gao Qiao asked him about the evacuation of residents. Li Xie quickly explained the situation.

Gao Qiao nodded: “I leave this matter to you. Before it gets dark today, be sure to send all those who are left behind.”

Li Xie Ying yes, hurriedly called the manpower and entered the city again.

He rode past near Qinhuai in Nancheng, stopped the horse subconsciously, and looked in the direction of Qinlou.

In that piece, it is usually late at night, and the lights are full of sparks, and the ears are full of silk and bamboo. It was still daytime, but the doors of every household were locked, and the boat was moored on the shore. At first glance, it was deserted, and there was no trace of half a person in sight.

He knew that the woman had left the city, and he might have arrived in Qu’a at this moment.

On that day, out of selfishness, he quietly sent his cronies to Qinlou, and wanted to arrange for her to take a military vehicle carrying luggage to Qu’a, and then entrust someone to settle her, lest there would be no place to stay there, and the person who went there unexpectedly came back and told him , saying that she had been picked up by Gao Yin’s people.

He guessed that the members of the Gao family were grateful to her for helping her earlier, and this time they reciprocated.

At that time, he breathed a sigh of relief, but in his heart, there was a faint trace of loss, and some regretted that he had not come over earlier to see the woman again.

His ancestors had been military attachés, and it was because of this shading that he entered the guard camp when he was young.

A long time ago, when he was still in the camp, in his spare time, he was like many military attachés with similar backgrounds and identities in Jiankang City. Hunting, living in a daze, and not wanting to do anything else, the days are carefree. It was not until later when the situation changed suddenly that he was sent, along with Li Mu, who was still a Sima of another department at the time, to pacify the rebellion in Shu County.

It was that experience that was equivalent to life from death. The extraordinary courage Li Mu showed deeply shocked him and completely changed his life.

He knew that Jiankang was dangerous this time, and he made up his mind early to follow Gao Qiao to the death and advance and retreat together with him.

He was ready to die.

Both his parents died, and he used to be afraid of being restrained. He had always been married and refused to marry a wife.

It’s just that I don’t know why, thinking that if I die here, I feel a little entangled in my heart.

The woman’s appearance appeared in front of her eyes again.

Originally from a background like hers, even if she no longer accepts customers, if she likes it, she can just raise it directly.

His official position could not be compared with that of the noble family in the capital, but it was easy for a woman from such a background, and she would not dare to resist.

But for some unknown reason, this time he pretended to be Sven and didn’t dare to offend her easily.

Li Xie turned his head again, glanced at the direction of Qin Lou, and was about to leave, when he suddenly saw one of his men running and said, “Li Duwei, there is a woman at the gate of Nancheng. She wants to come in, but she is stopped, so she asks you for something. .”

Li Xie’s heart jumped slightly, turned his horse’s head, and rushed to the city gate immediately.

He arrived in one breath, got off his horse, ran out of the city gate, looked around, and saw at a glance that not far away, on the side of the road with fewer people, a mule cart was parked, with a woman beside the cart.

She was wearing a gray cloth, her blue silk was wrapped in a headband, and she stood there quietly with a bundle in her hand. The two looked at each other, her eyes lit up and she waved at him.

Li Xie felt her heart beat a little faster, and hurried over to stop in front of her.

“Didn’t you say you’ve been picked up? Why did you come back?”

Lu Niang smiled and said: “Yes. It’s just that I was halfway through, and I remembered something. Before the war started, I came back. I just wanted to go into the city to find you, but they said that they only ordered to go out and not enter. I had to ask someone to call you out. You don’t blame me for disturbing you, do you?”

“How come!” Li Xie hurriedly said.

“What are you looking for me for?”

“I saw your clothes were scratched and didn’t fix it before. I thought it was okay, I made clothes for you, but I forgot to give them to you when I left. I didn’t measure your size, I just made a random guess based on the size, don’t dislike it. .”

The green lady handed over the burden in her hand.

Li Xie took it slowly and looked at her, not knowing what to say for a while.

Lu Niang stared at him: “I have nothing else to do, I’ll go first. The war is dangerous, and there are no swords and guns, so be careful.”

“…When the matter is over, when I come back this time, if Li Duwei doesn’t dislike me, I’d like to be your foot-washing maid.”

She finished speaking in a low voice, lowered her eyes, turned and walked towards the mule cart.

Li Xie watched her climb into the car, sat in, and the door curtain was lowered. The driver snorted, and when he was about to rush the mule, he finally reacted, caught up to stop it, lifted the car curtain, and leaned in and said: “Lv Niang, just wait, I will definitely earn a life for you in the future!”

He looked at her suddenly bright eyes, grabbed her hand without hesitation, squeezed it hard, then released it, closed the curtain for her, and warned the driver to be careful.

He stood on the side of the road and watched the mule cart drift away in the east direction, looking south.

In that direction, the valleys and horses are fighting, the smoke is rolling, and a battle to fight for and defend the capital is coming.

…

In early December, almost a month after Luoshen returned to Jingkou, the beacon finally burned to the vicinity of Jiankang.

The news came that the Xuancheng rebels and Tianshijiao had already attacked Jiankang together. Her father, Gao Qiao, faced the rebels in Liyang, which was less than two days away from Jiankang.

The bad news doesn’t stop there. Wangjiang County on the west line is also at risk. The Jingzhou rebels could break through this line of defense at any time and kill Jiankang.

Once Wangjiang County also misses, Jiankang will be attacked on both sides, and the crisis can be imagined.

But this is also news from seven or eight days ago.

Since seven or eight days ago, she hadn’t received a single word from outside, and she didn’t know how the battle was going.

Because of Jingkou, it was also surrounded.

A group of water thieves with up to several thousand people went down the river, bypassing Jiankang and heading towards Jingkou.

This group of water thieves, originally active in the area of ​​Poyang Lake, ran rampant in the upper reaches for many years, and Zhanze became the king. They took advantage of the Great Yu civil strife to rob the merchant ships, and relying on their familiarity with the terrain and water conditions, they came and went without a trace. It was also a few years ago that Gao Qiao sent a heavy army to encircle and suppress it several times, and then the momentum was stopped and restrained.

Unexpectedly, this water thief would come out of the nest in chaos and come to attack Jingkou.

When the water thieves arrived, it was late at night. With lightning speed, they seized the ferry, then landed and headed straight for Jingkou Town. Fortunately, Jingkou was closely guarded, and the guards found out that a warning was issued, and a thousand defenders immediately went into battle.

Although most of the young men in Jingkou Town had joined Li Mu to join the army, the rest of the townspeople were also unafraid. After a night of fierce fighting, the water pirates were finally defeated.

This group of water thieves were all fierce and vicious robbers from Jiangyang, and they were familiar with water battles. They surrounded several passages entering and exiting Beijing, and did not let the messengers go out to transport and rescue soldiers. Relying on the many people and weapons, they took a rest and attacked again the next day.

Luoshen thought of Xu Mi at that time.

Poyang is adjacent to the mouth of the Yangtze River and faces Jingzhou from afar. The reason why the water thief was so fierce at the beginning, and the court was repeatedly suppressed, is said to have been secretly approved by Xu Mi, the water thief divided the income with him, and he turned a blind eye and let the water thieves move in the upper reaches of the river, even When the imperial court organized the encirclement and suppression, it also gave a briefing.

It is very likely that Xu Mi failed to capture A’s family last time, but this time, he simply colluded with water thieves and unexpectedly attacked Jingkou from the waterway.

Luoshen immediately protected Lu Shi. Considering that if Fan Cheng and Fan Wang couldn’t keep up and were beaten in by water thieves, they could only fight in the street.

If it really gets to that point, at least the manor can still shelter one or two.

The next day, when Fan Cheng and the others led the defenders and the young men in the town to resist, Luoshen opened the gate of the manor and told all the women, children, old and weak in the town to enter and escape temporarily.

The manor occupies a huge area and can accommodate thousands of people without any problems. Shen shi brought the children, the neighbors near the Li family, and many people in the town, all of them into the manor.

With so many people to eat and sleep, Luoshen was very busy leading the servants in the manor. Fortunately, everyone shared the same hatred. After entering, they all took the initiative to do things. Even Xie Sanniang came and led the people in the restaurant, together with Shen shi and others, to cook porridge and cook, and they were busy.

The water thieves were fierce, and the number of people was dominant, so what Luoshen was most worried about had happened.

The defenders gradually retreated.

Three days ago, they had been forced to retreat to the vicinity of the manor. Fortunately, Fan Cheng had previously set up fan screens and positions around the manor, and the manor also stored a lot of food, bows, arrows, flints and other strategic materials. It was with these careful preparations that it was able to sustain it and not be attacked by the water pirates.

Three days ago, a messenger finally rushed out in the chaos and went to Jiankang for help.

Although this news made everyone in the manor feel hopeful, since the messenger left, they have been looking forward to the arrival of Jiankang’s soldiers.

But Luo Shen’s mood was not optimistic.

Once my father received the news that Jingkou was in trouble, no matter how difficult it was, he would definitely send troops to rescue him. She was convinced of this.

What she was worried about was whether Jiankang, who had no news for more than ten days, was in crisis now.

She is also worried that the bow, arrow and flint reserves in the manor are decreasing day by day.

Once it is used up, the manor is probably in danger.

Another three days passed. If all goes well, the rescuers should almost arrive.

But outside, there was no movement at all.

The women in the manor’s eyes, originally burning with hope, gradually turned into worries and worries.

The rescue did not arrive as scheduled, and there were only two possibilities. Either the messenger had an accident on the way, or Jiankang had been surrounded and the letter could not be delivered to his father.

That night, the water pirates finally stopped their crazy attacks during the day, and the defenders who were able to breathe ate some of the meals sent by the manor, leaning against the walls of the manor, and seized the time to rest.

There were so many people that the house could not accommodate all of them, and many people slept under the temporary shelters outside.

A child fell ill and had a severe fever. Upon hearing the news, Luoshen asked the maid to bring the woman and child into the Qinghui Building where she lived to rest.

It was late at night, and the child next door took medicine and finally stopped crying. He should have fallen asleep.

Luo Shen was so worried that he couldn’t sleep, so he quietly got up, passed through the maids and maids who were laying the floor here because they gave up the house, went downstairs, came to the courtyard, and sat in the courtyard, which was washed by the moonlight and stained with a layer of brightness. On the stone steps of Yuehua, he looked up and looked at the bright moon hanging above the treetops.

In this situation, she couldn’t help but think of that night, when Li Muxun himself came here, because he didn’t open the door for him, he climbed the tree to the roof and broke into his boudoir by breaking the window.

It’s been so long apart.

The man she thinks about day and night, where is he now?

Suddenly there was a slight sound of the crutches falling from behind.

Luoshen turned around and saw that Ajia had also come out. He hurried up, supported her, and whispered, “Ajia, why did you come out?”

Mrs Lu said: “Ami, I heard that the water thieves asked me to go out by name. If I go out, they will retreat, right?”

This is true.

From this, Luoshen became more and more certain that these water thieves must have been instructed by Xu Mi.

He probably didn’t know that he was also in Jingkou, so he set his target on Ajia.

Luoshen has been hiding this from Lu Shi. She didn’t want to let her know, and was about to shake her head in denial, when Lu said, “I’ve thought about it, I can’t implicate the whole town because of me, it’s better to let me go out…”

“No! If something happens to you, Ajia, and Lord Lang comes back, how should I explain to him?”

Lu Shi groped, took her hand slowly, and said, “I will leave a letter to Jingchen and make it clear to him. Besides, those people may not kill me. You don’t have to worry too much. .”

“That’s not good either! Don’t worry, Ajia, wait a day or two, and in a day or two, the rescuers from Jiankang will definitely arrive!”

Seeing that Lu Shi seemed to want to speak, she said again: “Ajia, you don’t have to lie to me. Do you think I don’t know? You don’t want to implicate the townspeople, and you won’t implicate Langjun. Have you already thought about it? Wait. You go out, those people retreat, you will not live, lest they use you to threaten Langjun?”

There were tears in her eyes: “Ajia, if the person those water thieves want is me, are you willing to let me out? Even if there is no news from my Ajia, there will be no rescue soldiers, it doesn’t matter, as long as we are here If we can hold on for a longer time, Lang Jun will definitely send someone here! How could he leave us alone in such chaos in the Southern Dynasty?”

Lu Shi was silent for a long time, shook her hand forcefully, and smiled: “Good boy, Eminem understands, Eminem listens to you, waiting for the rescue.”

Only then did Luoshen feel relieved, and sent Lu Shi back to the house to rest without mentioning it.

The next day, before dawn, the water thieves who had surrounded the manor tried to attack the manor again. Fan Cheng, Fan Wang and the others held fast, but Jiankang’s direction remained silent.

That night, the meal was changed to porridge.

Although I had prepared beforehand, no matter how much food I had in store, I couldn’t stand so many people opening their mouths together.

The defenders were going to fight, and Luoshen ordered to keep dry rice, and the rest of the manor, except for the elderly, weak and sick, also ate dry rice, and the rest, including herself, all changed to eat porridge.

Two days later, the situation became more and more dangerous. There was still no movement on Jiankang’s side, but the water thieves outside became more and more rampant. During the day, they even set fire to the house in the town.

Another night came. Under the night, there seemed to be the groans of the wounded and the cries of children everywhere. The atmosphere in the manor was low and depressing.

Luoshen could feel that it was not only the townspeople in the besieged manor, but also the defenders. As the days passed, the will gradually seemed to be shaken. The most obvious is the Beijing password.

In the past two days, his fear and despair had begun to show on his face unconcealedly. If it wasn’t for Fan Cheng and Fan Wang’s support, I’m afraid the defenders would start to give up.

During the meal, Luoshen personally brought a food box containing Hu cakes, and together with Shen shi and others who delivered the meal, they came out of the gate of the manor and appeared in front of everyone.

After days of fighting, the soldiers were exhausted. Some of them just lay on the ground, closed their eyes, and suddenly saw her coming out, and they all stood up.

Luoshen took the cakes, and sent them one by one to the soldiers in person. When they were finished, he said, “I’m very grateful for your hard work these days. Don’t worry, we just need to keep it like this for a few more days. God, Governor Li’s rescue will come! He is a dutiful son, his mother and wife are here, he will never leave him alone!”

The soldiers held the cakes in their hands and looked at her fixedly, and their originally sluggish expressions gradually became a little more energized.

Seeing this, Fan Wang shouted loudly, “Have you all heard? Pass on the words of Madam! The cakes in your hands were also made by Madam and the others! Hurry up and eat while it’s hot, and cheer up when you’re done. , guard me well! With Inspector Li here, no one will die!”

The soldiers seemed to come to life suddenly, nibbling on the pie, running, and talking to each other.

Fan Wang came to Luoshen and said respectfully, “Thank you, Madam. Please go back quickly, Madam, you don’t have to come out again, leave it to us here. Madam, rest assured, she will work hard, and don’t take a step back!”

…

The defenders outside the manor held on for three more days.

Finally, in the early morning of the fourth day, as Luoshen said to the soldiers that night, the rescue finally arrived.

From the upper reaches of the river, an army of 2,000 people led by Gao Huan came. They rushed straight from the back and burned all the boats parked by the water pirates by the river. Then, they entered Jingkou, and they changed their minds when they learned of the arrival of the rescuers. Together with the spirited defenders, the water thief was caught off guard, and they turned their backs on their horses and tried to escape, but found that the boat was burnt.

Thousands of people were piling up on the riverside, dead and wounded. At dawn, the large swaths of water by the riverside were dyed a faint dark red color, and there were countless floating on the river surface. corpse.

Jingkou, who was trapped for more than half a month, finally got out of the siege.

The gate of the manor opened, and everyone smiled happily. After bowing to Luoshen, they went home one after another.

Luoshen met Gao Huan, his younger brother.

I haven’t seen him for almost a year. He has grown taller and looks a lot more capable.

He told Luoshen that Li Mu had taken a shortcut to return to the Southern Dynasty as early as a month ago, but in the middle of the way, he was attacked by the left-behind Xu Mi army and Bei Xia, and he couldn’t escape quickly for a while, and the army was trapped.

He knew that the situation of the Southern Dynasty was severe, and that Luo Shenren was in Jingkou again. He was worried that she and the Lu family would be in danger, so he sent Gao Huan to take this light cavalry army along an undefended, detoured road. Order him to ignore everything else, and come directly to Jingkou at the fastest speed to ensure the safety of Jingkou.

He was like this, staying overnight at Xiaoxing, and finally arrived today.

“Sister! It’s so dangerous! Fortunately, you held on to it, and nothing major happened! If you have troubles, how can I explain to my brother-in-law?”

In front of the soldiers, Gao Huan had gradually established his prestige as the leader of the team, but facing Luoshen, he showed his true shape again, patted his chest, and looked like he was happy for the rest of his life after the catastrophe.

Luo Shen smiled slightly, took a warm face towel from A Ting, who was looking at Gao Huan curiously with wide eyes, and wiped his brother’s blood-stained face with his own hands. After wiping it, he asked, “Before you leave, Is your brother-in-law’s situation very bad?”

Gao Huan smiled and said, “Don’t worry, elder sister. Brother-in-law’s name of the **** of war is not for nothing. He was just worried about Jingkou, so he asked me to come first. Xu Mi’s army who stayed in Xiangyang wanted to block him for a long time. It’s impossible! Not to mention Bei Xia, he should be too busy to take care of himself. Murong Xi has already sent troops to attack Luoyang.”

“Brother-in-law’s plan is to take Xiangyang as soon as possible, and then directly cross the river to go back to the Southern Dynasty. This is the closest way. Didn’t Xu Mi’s Jingzhou rebels fight Jiankang along the river? My brother-in-law also followed his example and chased him along the river. Hit him in the back and catch him off guard, let’s see how he can attack Jiankang!”

Luoshen’s heart, which had been tense for a long time, finally slowly let go, and there was a long-lost smile on his face.

As long as he came back, no matter how difficult the situation was, Luoshen didn’t feel so worried.

There is such a magical power in him that can make people feel at ease.