flstandardbreds Chapter 354: Secret Escape
Chapter 354: Secret Escape
After Li Guo ascended the throne, he rewarded all his meritorious officials.
In addition to Pei Heng being reinstated to his original position as the Grand Marshal of the Army, he was also given the title of Duke of Dingguo.
Sun Zhonghuai was appointed Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and became a close minister of Li Guo.
In addition to Pei Heng and Sun Zhonghuai, there were four others, including His Royal Highness Prince Heng and Duke Yong, who formed the Cabinet. The Cabinet directly replaced the Prime Minister's authority and became the core of the political power of the Xin Dynasty.
The rest of the meritorious officials will be rewarded according to their merits.
As for Prime Minister Cui, he also fell from power when King Kang was arrested.
The rest of King Kang's followers were also investigated and convicted one by one according to the severity of their crimes.
In short, the main theme is an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves! No one can escape from the fate!
As the year draws to a close, all matters in the court have finally been settled and are gradually getting back on track.
While everyone was excitedly preparing for the New Year, Prince Kang's mansion was deserted and gloomy.
King Kang sat under the porch holding a piece of wood and carving it with a file. Sawdust and shavings fell into the snow at his feet and were blown all over the garden by the cold winter wind.
"Mother, tonight is New Year's Eve. I am incompetent and cannot even prepare a decent New Year's Eve dinner for you. I only have this garden full of plum blossoms for you."
After he carved carefully in a few steps, the spirit tablet of Concubine De was completed.
He found a brush and wanted to write something on the memorial tablet.
Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and the ink had dried up long ago. The brush was as hard as a needle tip and could poke a hole directly in the wall.
"hehe!"
King Kang laughed bitterly.
"The once bustling Kangwang Mansion is now devoid of even a servant to serve with pens and ink. Mother, my son is truly a coward!"
After saying this, he bit his finger hard and blood gushed out. He dipped the blood into the water and wrote words on the memorial tablet and put it aside.
"Mother, tonight is the day I die. Even now, someone is helping you carve a memorial tablet, but I wonder if anyone will remember me after I die!"
The victor is the king and the loser is the bandit. I heard that his execution has already been decided - he will be given poisoned wine.
Just tonight.
As he said this, he turned around and looked into the house.
Three tattered clothes were neatly hung in a row inside. Blown by the cold wind, they seemed to be mocking their own ignorance.
Down the corridor, Ah Li, the parrot in the gilded bird cage, paced back and forth restlessly, chirping non-stop: "Waste! Waste!"
The parrot A-Li's noisy cries became the only lively sound in Prince Kang's mansion. Prince Kang laughed at himself, opened the birdcage, and the parrot A-Li flew away without any attachment, not even looking back.
"Ah!"
It was all just a dream.
When you wake up from a dream, only you know how absurd and ridiculous you were in the dream.
Suddenly, the floor inside the house moved, and with a click, it pushed up from the bottom. A man with dirt all over his head crawled out. Seeing King Kang, he said repeatedly:
"Fortunately, there's still time! Your Highness, please follow me and escape from the tunnel!"
The man who came was King Kang's confidant, his chief guard.
On the day of the coup, the captain of the imperial guards, seeing King Kang being captured, took advantage of the chaos to escape. After leaving the city, he had been busy digging a tunnel for the past few days. He finally finished digging it before King Kang's execution today.
King Kang was already disheartened, but when he saw the chief guard, he burst into laughter.
"God will not destroy me! God will not destroy me!"
He grabbed the spirit tablet of Concubine De beside him, glanced coldly around the huge and deserted Kang Palace, and went into the tunnel without looking back.
When the eunuch who was supposed to give the poisoned wine arrived from the palace, King Kang had already disappeared.
"I'm dying! Where's the person? Hurry up and find him!"
The eunuch was holding the poison that could penetrate the intestines and stamped his feet in anxiety.
But the guards searched everywhere but couldn't find King Kang. King Kang just disappeared from the face of the earth.
……
In the palace, the new emperor Li Guo, who was holding a New Year's Eve banquet, was shocked when he heard the news. He quickly got up and walked to the back hall.
"what happened?"
King Kang escaped, and Li Guo was furious.
Su Zhe fell to his knees and blamed himself:
"Your Majesty, it is my fault for not keeping watch over the place properly. Please punish me!"
Pei Heng also followed him into the back hall. Upon hearing this, he knelt down and pleaded, "Your Majesty, Su's top priority is to send someone to bring him back."
Li Guo took a look at the two people who were in awe and was shocked.
I was anxious just now, so my tone was a little harsh, which scared them. I quickly stepped forward and helped them up one by one, saying:
"I don't mean to blame anyone. Fifth Brother is cunning by nature and has been operating in the court for many years. It is inevitable that his helpers have been caught by chance. This is not Commander Su's fault."
Pei Heng glanced at Su Zhe.
The emperor said this out of kindness, but after all, the person was lost in Su Zhe's hands, so he cannot escape the blame. So he said:
"Your Majesty, Prince Kang has strong roots in the south. While in Quanzhou, I learned that he had a close relationship with Peng Pei of Dali. I speculate that he has most likely traveled to Yizhou."
"I go!"
Su Zhe gritted his teeth and said, "I lost him. I will go and catch him back. Please, Your Majesty, give me this opportunity to make amends!"
Li Guo glanced at him and nodded.
Back to the banquet.
Su Li asked quietly:
"What's wrong? What happened?"
When Pei Heng told Su Li about Prince Kang's situation, her heart sank. What was supposed to happen had finally happened. She had originally thought that as long as Prince Kang drank the poisoned wine tonight, everything would be over and nothing would happen again. But even with Prince Kang's mansion surrounded like an iron barrel, something like this could still happen.
She suddenly grabbed Pei Heng's arm and said:
"Yizhou, he must be heading to Yizhou. We must catch him and not let him escape into the sea. Otherwise, there will be endless troubles!"
A hint of doubt flashed across Pei Heng's eyes, but he soon felt relieved.
Although his Ah Li was a woman, she was extremely intelligent and her insights on many important matters far surpassed his own. For example, when the new emperor was still lingering among the women, she had a keen eye and saw that he was not an ordinary person.
It was precisely because A'li was correct in the general direction that she was able to lead the General's Mansion to avoid disaster time and time again and to achieve greater success today.
At that moment, he no longer wondered why the lady could tell that King Kang was going to Yizhou. He always thought that she was extremely intelligent and had the same insights as himself.
"Don't worry, Azhe has already taken people there. The city is also on alert everywhere and they are searching."
"Instead of going through the trouble of searching, it's better to just go to Yizhou and wait for the opportunity."
Su Li was so worried that the food in front of her didn't taste good anymore.
Is it possible that what is coming cannot be avoided? Is this disaster in the south bound to happen after all?
On the way out of the city, the subordinate said to Su Zhe:
"Commander, are we leaving now? Aren't we going to the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion to tell General Song?"
Su Zhe felt melancholy.
For more than a month, he went to the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion every day, and used his usual stubbornness and persistence. Finally, his relationship with Aci was eased, and everyone in the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion became much friendlier to him.
The dawn of success is just ahead.
But now I have suddenly left the city to pursue him, and I don’t know when I can come back. I am really worried about leaving Ah Ci alone.
"There's no time. I'm sure my sister will help me take good care of her."
As soon as he finished speaking, his men pointed at a carriage on the roadside ahead and shouted:
"The commander is General Song."