Chapter 1241 Leaving the Country
Chapter 1241 Leaving the Country
The weather in late September was already a bit chilly.
Shan Xia was about to withdraw from Taicheng and hand over this important location of the Jin Dynasty to the Liang army.
All the treasuries had been sealed, all the palace servants had been counted, and all the files had been packed. All that was left was to be handed over. Before leaving, he had one last thing to do...
In the Shiqian Palace, Shan Xia and Shan Yinan looked at each other in silence. After a moment, he sighed, pushed a cup of golden wine in front of Queen Shan, and whispered, "If you don't want to be humiliated, you can end your life yourself."
After saying that, he sighed and went out.
He was also responsible for doing such a thing, but Shan Yinan was the queen, and it would not look good if she entered the Luoyang Palace to serve Emperor Liang. Shan Xia felt guilty, and was willing to give his niece a chance to end it before he died, so as to avoid being criticized in the history books in the future.
Shan Yinan stared blankly outside the hall.
In her vague memory, she seemed to see her parents who had died of illness one after another after arriving in Jiangnan, seemed to see the brief but precious happiness of her girlhood, seemed to see the hardships of becoming a princess, a crown princess, and a queen, seemed to see the sorrow of the country being destroyed and the family being ruined...
She picked up the wine glass tremblingly, and finally put it down dejectedly.
She hated herself for not living up to her expectations and her tears kept flowing, but the glass of wine seemed to weigh a thousand pounds and her hands were shaking so badly that she could no longer hold it up.
Shan Xia went straight to Hongxun Palace.
He first went to the nearby courtyard and stood in it, watching quietly for a while.
The late emperor's concubine, Wang Cairen, was only in her thirties, in the prime of her life. At this moment, she stood on the desk and dropped a three-foot white silk from the beam and put it around her neck.
Shan Xia waited patiently.
Wang Cairen looked at Shan Xia, and seeing that he didn't show any reaction, she burst into tears of despair, and made up her mind to put the neck in.
The soldiers moved the table away.
Wang Cairen struggled violently. She seemed to regret her decision and looked at Shan Xia with her gradually bulging eyes.
Shan Xia didn't say anything, just turned around and left.
He came to the main hall of Hongxun Palace again, but the door was closed. Not only that, Shan Wei was still standing in front of the door, waving at Shan Xia.
"Yanlin, are you confused? Concubine Wang is fine, but Concubine Shi is someone who is treated as a mother by the emperor and the empress. How noble is her status? If Shao Taibai hadn't seen her and asked about her, how would you answer? I think you have lost your mind." Shan Wei said bluntly.
Shan Xia's face tightened, but he was not ready to give up and continued to walk inside.
Shan Wei was anxious and said, "Don't disbelieve me. Du Hongzhi told me that Shao Taibai hosted a banquet for all the ministers at Guangcheng Garden. When he was drunk, he said that he wanted to marry the two queens of Jiangdong."
Shan Xia paused.
Shan Wei struck while the iron was hot and said, "Shao Taibai's original words were, 'I am forty-six this year. If I could get to Jiangnan, I would be very happy. When I went to Hebei the other day, I met Shi Xi. I knew that his niece was very beautiful. I didn't expect that she had already moved south. I also knew that Mr. Shan was from a family of scholars and had a beautiful daughter. If I could get to Jiangnan, I would take the two daughters, Shi and Shan, into my garden to entertain me in my old age. That would be enough for me!'"
Shan Xia stopped.
Shan Wei stepped forward and held his hand, saying earnestly: "Yanlin, I know you feel guilty. But you can't do this! What if Shao Taibai's wish is not fulfilled and he is furious, can you and I bear it? Anyway, we have already rebelled, what else is there to do? Don't be confused, the Shan family is already in decline, and we are surrendered people, even if Shao Taibai skins us alive, no one will complain."
Upon hearing this, Shan Xia looked up to the sky and sighed.
Concubine Shi hid at the door and listened attentively.
When he knew Shan Xia was coming to take her life, he turned pale with fright until he was stopped by Shan Wei.
It was at this time that Shi found that tears had unknowingly flowed down her face. After wiping them away hastily, she found that she had already started to hate Shan Xia.
Want you to mind your own business?
At the same time, her face was slightly hot. Did Shao Taibai really ask for her? Alas, at her age, it was really embarrassing. But it was really hard to live in the cold palace these years...
I heard that Shao Taibai was very big and strong, and most horses could not bear the weight of him wearing armor and holding a spear. I wonder if Dong Zhuo could withstand it if he took advantage of him.
What if she got pregnant? Shi Guipin's mind was in a mess, with all kinds of thoughts coming to her mind, but there was no word of death.
******
On the 26th, the sky was a little cloudy and there was a drizzle, as if it was crying for the Jin Dynasty.
Of course, some people don't think so, especially the new conquerors.
After breaking their oath at Luoshui, the Sima family probably no longer had a good reputation with the Emperor of Heaven. So how could they possibly cry for the demise of their family?
Sima Fei stumbled into the carriage, looked around, and found that the queen was not there. He was suddenly at a loss.
But no one cared about him and the carriage started off soon.
Shan Yinan held the hands of the two girls and got on the carriage.
One is Princess Xunyang, the daughter of the late emperor, who is twelve years old this year and whose mother is Zheng Achun; the other is Princess Yongjia, the daughter of Shan Yinan, who is ten years old this year.
She was fine, but the two girls were much more scared and hugged each other with red eyes.
Shan Yinan sighed and hugged the two girls in his arms.
The third carriage was occupied by the imperial concubines headed by Shi Guipin, and the fourth carriage was occupied by the royal family members...
Zhang Shuo stood outside the Changhe Gate, watching the surrendered people leave, feeling quite complacent.
He was the first to contribute in the battle to destroy Jin.
After sitting in Huainan for so many years, he finally lived up to Master Shao's expectations and took away this credit.
From now on, he can be ranked alongside Wang, Jin, Hou and Li, and become one of the "Five Elite Generals" of the Daliang Dynasty.
The pinnacle of life is nothing more than this. Du Yi, the governor of Danyang, stood aside, stroking his beard and smiling.
A lot of people have come to him privately these past two days! If the new Yangzhou governor Tang Jian hadn't arrived yet, he wouldn't have been able to decide on too many things, and there would have been even more people coming to him.
In addition to the Governor of Yangzhou and the Prefect of Danyang, the positions currently decided include the Prefect of Yixing Yang Qin (concurrently) and the Prefect of Wuxing Qian Shou - the latter is very interesting, as it was not given to Shen, but to Qian Feng's nephew who managed to survive.
Xiong Minghu, a secretary of the Jin Dynasty, was appointed as the prefect of Dongyang, while his uncle Xiong Yuan went to the capital to take up a post. Xiong Minghu's father, Xiong Jin, the prefect of Poyang, refused to send food, fodder or arrows at the critical moment, closed the door and refused to accept the defeated soldiers, and still served as the prefect of Poyang.
Shanxia's governor Zhou Guang led his troops south and served as the prefect of Linhai.
These are the Jiangnan territories that are currently under our control. The rest still need to be fought, but they are just minor issues. It will take some time and we can take them down this winter.
There was crying sound not far away.
Du Yi turned his head and saw that a prisoner was being executed.
All the middle and senior officials in Jianye went north, where they were summoned one by one by the emperor who had returned to Bianliang to decide whether to stay or go.
Most of the low-level officials remained in their posts, after all, they were still needed to collect conscription and pay donations.
In addition, there was a group of people who were neither retained nor given the opportunity to be appointed and were directly executed.
For example, Liu Chao and Zhao Yin.
The two men suffered consecutive defeats at Changcheng and Yangxian and were later captured.
Zhang Shuo directly ordered the beheading of the family members, killing all male members, and confiscating the wives and daughters into the Shaofu. The side branches of the clan were gathered together and moved south to Jiaoguang at a later date.
Zhou Yan was also captured.
Before the arrival of the Jingzhou navy, he escaped on his own boat, but was later captured in a reed marsh near Jingkou and taken to Jianye to be beheaded.
Liu Qun was spared from death because Wang Yan, Wen Qiao and Lu Chen pleaded for him, the emperor was too lazy to kill him, and he was also spared because he led his army in surrender in the end.
So many officials were executed collectively that it seemed as if one had returned to Pingyang, Chang'an and Chengdu of the past.
Those who have connections and channels can survive, those who have made contributions can even stay in office, and those who have nothing or even have a bad record will either be exiled or executed. For a time, Jianye was filled with blood and gore, which made people silent.
"There are also counties like Kuaiji that need to be conquered." Zhang Shuo retracted his gaze, called the clerk, and said, "Tell Su Jun to lead his troops across the river and join forces with the first and fifth battalions of the Wansheng Army and the troops from Liyang to attack them. Don't delay too long, the emperor is waiting for victory reports."
"Yes, sir." The clerk immediately went to draft the order.
******
Outside the Stone City, masts and oars are like a forest.
Zhuge Hui landed surrounded by the crowd, but saw a large group of carriages and horses coming towards him.
Sima Fei had sharp eyes and immediately spotted Zhuge Hui in a cloak. He was so angry that he wanted to curse. He opened his mouth but finally closed it.
Wang Yanzhi and Wang Yunzhi were sitting in the prison car. When they saw Zhuge Hui from afar, their eyes were bloodshot.
Zhuge Hui also noticed them and just smiled faintly.
When another car came, he quickly stepped forward, bowed and said, "Mr. Yan."
Yan Han did not sit in the prison van, but was half lying on an ox cart with bedding under him.
After seeing Zhuge Hui, he snorted coldly and pretended not to see it.
Yan Han's children and grandchildren stood aside, bowed and returned the greeting, saying in unison: "Thank you, Mr. Ge, for your help."
Zhuge Hui smiled and said, "In fact, the emperor heard of Lord Yan's reputation for being loyal and upright, so he insisted on meeting him. If the conversation goes well, he will certainly use Lord Yan to correct his subordinates."
"A loyal minister does not serve two masters." After saying this, Yan Han closed his eyes and said no more.
After Yan Han came Liu Kui and his son.
Liu Kui lowered his head, as if he did not want to be seen by Zhuge Hui, but his son Liu Sui (not Liu Sui of Gaoping) greeted him warmly.
This guy was the Duke of Jin's imperial concubine, and he married a girl from the royal family. But they are divorced now, and the relationship was severed very quickly.
Because of the late Jizhou governor Liu Chou, Liu Wei and his son were not held accountable, so they were lucky.
"It's a pity about Bian Wangzhi." Zhuge Hui walked to Liu Wei's side, shook his head and sighed.
Liu Wei's face suddenly turned red.
As one of the old ministers to whom Sima Rui entrusted his affairs, Shizhong Liu Wei ultimately valued his life and did not commit suicide like Wang Dao, Wang Shu and Bian Xu. After being secretly ridiculed by Zhuge Hui, he could not bear it.
"Bian Wangzhi only dared to commit suicide. This is called 'incompetence'. It is not as powerful as your counterattack." Liu Wei could not help but say.
Zhuge Hui laughed, not taking it seriously, just looking at the vast mountains and rivers, silent for a long time.
The convoy moved forward again.
Under the Stone City, one ship after another docked, loaded thousands of people on board, and then rowed into the river.
Their destination was Hefei, where they changed to a small inland boat and went straight to Bianliang via the Feishui River, Huaishui River, and Suiyang Canal.
For those who have lost their country, it is hard to say where their "homeland" is.
(End of this chapter)