The soldiers worked hard to coil the noose on the city wall, and the stone gate, which weighed several thousand kilograms, was slowly lifted. Under the stone gate was half a body and minced meat, exuding the smell of blood. Fang Jie stood in the city gate. As the stone gate rose, the situation outside slowly appeared in front of him. For some reason, Fang Jie suddenly had the illusion that a new world had opened.
The fighting outside the city has ended, and all the rebels who had no time to escape surrendered. Outside the door, General Jin Shixiong was riding a horse and looking at the city's cave. He was curious about who suddenly appeared here and cut off Li Yuanshan's escape. The faces of the Sui army generals behind them often had dissatisfied looks on their faces, and they seemed to find it difficult to accept that Li Yuanshan was captured by others.
Fang Jie met Jin Shixiong when he was in Chang'an City, and he also heard a lot about this famous Sui general. He could see the surprise, curiosity and dissatisfaction on the faces of the generals, but the expression on Jin Shixiong's face was not so complicated. Fang Jie walked out quickly and greeted him with military salutes.
"I will be dismissed from my humble position, and I will pay my respects to the general."
"No wonder"
Jin Shixiong smiled and jumped off the horse: "I wonder who suddenly came here to block Li Yuanshan's retreat. It turned out to be General Fang. Langru Mountain is thousands of miles away from here and also separated by Jinyang City. Could it be that you are Isn¡¯t it possible to fly here?¡±
Fang explained: "I just came to see His Majesty, and by chance I met Li Ni and fled."
Jin Shixiong didn¡¯t believe this, but he didn¡¯t intend to expose it either. He came over and took Fang Jie's hand and asked, "Are the brothers on Langru Mountain okay?"
His first question was not how Li Yuanshan was doing, but whether the brothers were okay. Sometimes a person's temperament can be revealed in just one sentence. Jin Shixiong was known to love his soldiers as much as his sons, and the soldiers on Langru Mountain were the ones who had shared weal and woe with him for more than two years, so he naturally missed them.
"Everyone is fine."
Fang explained: "It's just that something happened to Master Mou. I will tell the general in detail later."
"Um"
Jin Shixiong hummed, glanced into the city gate and asked, "Where is Li Ni?"
"Back to the general, Li Ni was trapped in the city. He had already surrendered, but when Beizhi personally tied him up, he suddenly attacked and tried to capture Beizi. Beizi missed and beat him to death."
"died?"
Jin Shixiong¡¯s expression changed, and then he sighed: ¡°What a pity.¡±
He glanced at Fang Jie thoughtfully, with a strong sense of regret in his tone. Fang Jie knew the meaning of Jin Shixiong's words. A dead Li Yuanshan was far inferior to a living Li Yuanshan. The emperor would rather see the traitor kneeling before him to commit suicide. A corpse was obviously inferior.
"You shouldn't be so irrational."
Jin Shixiong lowered his voice and said: "You are not a stupid person. You should know how much credit it is to capture Li Ni alive. Whoever takes this credit will have a bright future It's a pity, it's such a pity."
Fang Jie also shook his head: "It's a pity, it's such a pity."
"Let's go"
Jin Shixiong patted Fang Jie on the shoulder: "Follow me to see His Majesty."
"yes"
Fang Jie clasped his fists and followed Jin Shixiong on his horse toward the camp. The Sui army generals looked at him as if they were looking at a monster, perhaps guessing who this young man who suddenly appeared was. Speaking of which, they were very dissatisfied and resentful. They had been fighting Li Yuanshan's rebels for more than a year, and when they were about to capture Li Ni alive, an inexplicable person suddenly appeared on the way. This feeling was very bad.
Although that kind of look is not hostile, it is definitely not favorable.
Fang Jie shook his head and smiled as he walked, his expression a little helpless.
"What are you thinking about?"
Jin Shixiong asked.
Fang Jie was silent for a while and then said: "Suddenly I realized that I had done something I shouldn't have done. I stung a hornet's nest. I was wondering if I would be stung to death."
The reason why Fang Jie dared to say this was because he knew that Jin Shixiong and these generals were not from the same group. These generals were all brave, and Jin Shixiong had only been leading the army for a few days, so there was a gap between him and them. These people have not experienced the ups and downs of officialdom, they are angular, and they do not know how to hide their true thoughts. But they have opened a bright door. As long as they don't die in the next few years, they may become the new blood in the court in the future. After a few more years of polishing, they will become the new Jin Shixiong, Liu Enjing, and Xu Xiaogong.
"No problem"
Jin Shixiong smiled and said: "These people can't even express their happiness and anger. What are you worried about? Instead of having time to think about this, you might as well think about what you would say when you meet His Majesty."No matter how big the grievances of these people are, they can't hurt you, but no matter how small your Majesty's grievances are, you can't bear it. "
Fang Jie smiled bitterly and said, "I suddenly feel like I want to run away from the battlefield."
Jin Shixiong laughed loudly: "I knew you were a wonderful person when I was still in Chang'an If you really dare to escape, His Majesty will send the Jinyi School to chase you back from all corners of the world, beat you first, and then reward you with a glory." Believe it or not?"
"letter"
"Jin Shixiong's words describe the emperor's temperament vividly.
"Your Majesty are you well?"
Fang Jie asked after laughing.
"I seem to be feeling much better these days, but"
Jin Shixiong did not continue speaking, and Fang Jie sighed.
The two fell into silence. After a while, Jin Shixiong suddenly remembered and asked: "You just said something happened to Mr. Mou. It's hard to say it directly in front of outsiders. Now it's just you and me. Tell me what happened to Mr. Mou." ?¡±
"died"
Fang Jie answered.
Jin Shixiong¡¯s expression changed drastically: ¡°Dead¡dead?¡±
Fang Jie nodded and roughly explained the matter. After a long time, Jin Shixiong breathed a sigh of relief and said: "I know what kind of temper he is. If not, how could he have been in prison for more than ten years? Alas I just sighed. I finally survived the most difficult three years. I still haven¡¯t suppressed the greed in my heart.¡±
Fang Jie wants to say that it is precisely because the most difficult days have passed that greed will reappear. When a person is undergoing hardships, he has no time to think about a bright future and just survive. And when you see hope again, you will naturally not give up.
He hesitated for a moment but did not say the words. After all, Mou Liangbi is dead, so there is no need to say anything accusatory.
The next two people fell into silence again. It was obvious that Jin Shixiong was a little sad about Mo Liangbi's death.
Fang Jie remembered that when Jin Shixiong was in Chang'an City, he was still very impressive, but when he saw him this time, he had the illusion that twenty years had passed. His waist is no longer as straight as it was more than three years ago, and his face no longer has the cold arrogance of a general, and even the beard on his chin has turned gray.
It¡¯s only been three years, but it can make a person change so much.
¡¡
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Fang Jie walked away and silently calculated in his mind. He first climbed the nine steps to the royal chariot, and then walked twenty-seven steps before stopping. He secretly glanced at the distance between where he was standing and the emperor. , couldn't help but secretly said in my heart that it's really important, from getting on the imperial chariot to sitting on the throne, you have to take forty-nine steps to deal with the number of ninety-five.
I don¡¯t know why, but Su Buwei looked at Fang Jie¡¯s expression and changed a little, but he quickly covered it up.
The emperor seemed a little tired and fell asleep leaning on the large chair. Su Buwei wanted to go over and wake up the emperor, but Fang Jie waved his hand to signal not to disturb him. What Fang Jie didn't know was that just because of his action, he changed Su Buwei's inner thoughts and saved him from an unnecessary disaster.
Sometimes fate is so mysterious, changing quietly and inadvertently. Fang Jie never expected that in the short period of time from when he stepped onto the chariot to when he waved his hand to stop Su Buwei from waking up the emperor, Su Buwei, an old eunuch, had too many complicated thoughts in his heart.
Precisely because he didn¡¯t know, Fang Jie¡¯s expression didn¡¯t look artificial.
Su Buwei smiled at him, with a bit more kindness in his eyes.
Fang Jie stood below for half an hour. Su Buwei seemed to want to remind the emperor several times, but he held back. But when the emperor leisurely woke up, he found that Fang Jie was still standing upright without any reaction. Su Buwei helped the emperor sit up, and then coughed a few times to remind Fang Jie to pay respects. At this time, he heard slight snoring The guy who was standing upright actually fell asleep.
The emperor was surprised, and then laughed.
The laughter woke Fang Jie up, and he quickly saluted: "Your Majesty, Fang Jie, is here to kowtow to you."
"Get up"
The emperor seemed to be smiling innocently, but Fang Jie didn't think what he looked like was true. The emperor waved his hand and ordered: "Bring him a chair to sit on. I've seen him fall asleep while riding a horse. This is the first time I've seen him standing on a horse." You can still fall asleep, tell me, how long have you been asleep?"
Fang Jie replied: "Four days and three nights"
"ah?"
The emperor was slightly surprised: "Why?"
Fang Jie saluted again: "I am guilty. I arrived here four days ago but did not immediately come to see His Majesty. Instead, I camped dozens of miles west of Xiping City, and then led my people to fight outside Xiping City."
The emperor nodded: "Sit down and talk first."
Fang Jie quickly shook his head: "I'd better standI'm afraid I'll be beaten out as soon as I sit down"
The emperor rolled his eyes at him: "Then you can explain yourself why Li Yuanshan died?"
Fang Jie lowered his head: "I did it on purpose."
Hearing these four words, the hint of anger in the emperor's eyes disappeared: "I know you did it on purpose. If you had given so many reasons just now, I would really have someone take you out." Beat him or her to death."
"I dare not deceive youI made some illusions to make it appear that when Li Yuanshan struggled to kill me, I had to fight back before killing him. But these things are not done to deceive your majesty, but to deceive your majesty." I deceived those generals. I had no intention of letting Li Yuanshan live from the beginning. When the opportunity came, I will not let you go. I am guilty, please punish me."
"very good"
The emperor nodded: "Since you said it yourself, then naturally I can't indulge Su Buwei, take note, strip Fang Jie of his title of first-class county prince, and demote him from fourth-rank general to fifth-rank general. He was fined a salary of three years to compensate for his fault."
"Here"
Su Buwei nodded quickly.
Fang Jie slowly breathed a sigh of relief and said sincerely, "Thank you for not fighting, Your Majesty."
¡°You also made some false impressions to hide it from others Could it be that Li Yuanshan¡¯s injuries were caused by a mistake?¡±
Fang Jie lowered his head: "I I really can't hold it back."
The emperor smiled, pointed to the chair placed by the chamberlain next to Fang Jie and said, "Now sit down and talk."
"Thank you, Your Majesty"
Fang Jie hunched over and sat down on the chair, not daring to sit down firmly.
"Tell me, why did you come to Xiping City? Is it just for revenge?"
"no"
Fang Jie said seriously: "I came to Xiping City because of Your Majesty."
The emperor's face changed slightly, and after being silent for a while, he said in a calm tone: "I understand I am very pleased that you are a person of temperament."
It can be seen that the emperor understood the purpose of his coming to Xiping City with just one sentence from Fang Jie. Sometimes you don¡¯t need to use too many words to describe what you have done. One sentence in front of the right person can let the other person know your feelings.
"I am just a minister."
Fang Jie replied: "You should do your duty as a minister."
The emperor was silent again, then turned his head and said to Su Buwei: "Remember, Fang Jie made an indispensable contribution by killing the first rebel. He was promoted to the first level of rural lord, opened a new mansion, and was promoted to the fourth rank of General Ying Yanglang."
Su Buwei¡¯s expression changed, and then he laughed: ¡°I will remember it, this slave.¡±