C28

Chapter 28 - Outside the Xiangzhou City

Zhao Chen was still standing there. After a while, Li Gang arrived in front of Zhao Chen and pulled him to a remote corner while talking about the situation in the Xiangzhou City.

"There are many troops in the Xiangzhou City, with more than two hundred thousand on every side, and more than five hundred thousand on every side! Those defeated soldiers still had some fighting strength. In reality, those rebel soldiers were refugees who had fled for their lives. Most of them did not even have weapons. The so-called 'rebel army' was simply self-proclaimed! In addition, a few days ago, Liu Guangshi brought 70 thousand Liu Jiajia s over. These 70 thousand Liu Jiajia s are the current most elite army in the Xiangzhou City! " Li Gang said.

Zhao Chen nodded.

"There are a lot of brave generals in Xiangzhou City now. Other than Liu Guangshi, the number one expert Han Shizhong is also here. In addition, there are many experts in the allied army, and the most famous of them is called Wang Yan! " Li Gang said again.

In a short time, Li Gang was able to obtain so much information, he was truly not simple.

"Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, Wang Yan …" Zhao Chen read the names of these people silently.

, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun, the top three of the four people present, were the Central TV Four Generals. Other than Yue Fei, they had all come here! As for Wang Yan, he had a great reputation throughout history. His army of eight was the most famous in the early days of the Southern Song Dynasty, and they had made many meritorious deeds in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty! From the very beginning, Yue Fei had even been a subordinate of Wang Yan!

To think that there were actually so many powerful generals under the Emperor Kang, Zhao Chen was secretly shocked in his heart!

"Your Highness, these generals are completely loyal to the His Royal Highness … In terms of winning over the hearts of others, Emperor Kang has some ability! " Li Gang was quiet for a moment, then suddenly said.

He was able to find out the number of troops and the names of the brave generals in the Xiangzhou City. He never thought that he would actually find out that these generals were loyal and devoted to the Emperor Kang!

"They are all loyal to Ninth Uncle? To win over the hearts of the people? How did Ninth Uncle win over the hearts of others? " Zhao Chen said in surprise.

"Han Shizhong has fallen for a militant prostitute, although Han Shizhong's martial arts is high, his position is low! He wanted to leave with that soldier slut, but the army slut camp manager simply ignored him! When the His Royal Highness heard about it, he immediately ordered for the soldiers to be rewarded to Han Shizhong! That prostitute was called Liang Hongyu. It was said that she had martial arts skills, and was currently leading troops together with Han Shizhong … Liu Guangshi wanted to become an official, so he made Liu Guangshi the world's vice commander-in-chief … Zhang Jun was born of low status, so he bestowed him a noble title … Wang Yan did not ask for a title, he only wanted to be able to reclaim the Central Plains. He wanted to resist the Jin Army, and he would then bestow all the weapons in the Xiangzhou City to Wang Yan … The His Royal Highness knows how to control the hearts of men. Whenever there is a need for these generals, he will try his best to satisfy them, thus the generals will be completely loyal to him! " Li Gang said.

"Emperor Kang... This Ninth Uncle of mine really has some talent! " Zhao Chen secretly thought.

Although Song Gao Zong was the famous Emperor who had requested for peace in history, when he was still the emperor, he had discovered countless good ministers and generals! He had discovered and promoted Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Liu Guangshi, Liu Guangshi, Hu Quan and the other famous officials. Of course, he had also promoted Qin Gui to be the unparalleled scoundrel, letting Qin Gui be in charge of matters of peace! The ability of a knowledgeable Song Gao Zong, far surpasses Song Huizong and Song Chin Zong in this! If this person wholeheartedly wanted to take back the Central Plains, he might even be able to accomplish something! It was a pity that this person coveted the throne. He was afraid that the two emperors would return and he wouldn't be able to protect himself. Thus, he had always been against the north!

"I had initially decided to enter the Xiangzhou City this afternoon, but after thinking about it at this moment, I decided to wait a bit before deciding." Li Gang said.

"Oh?" Zhao Chen was surprised, he did not understand why Li Gang suddenly changed his mind.

"His Royal Highness is so good at winning over people's hearts, I wonder if that's good or bad … We need to wait a little longer, and see what kind of person the His Royal Highness is! He has such an army under his command, but why are they still staying in the Xiangzhou City? Li Gang said.

He was a famous man who had experienced the three dynasties of Song Huizong, Song Chin Zong and Song Gao. In the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, he encountered countless of oppression and persecution. Although he only understood a small portion of the information, he already felt that Zhao Gou was unreliable, and that there was a huge problem!

He faintly felt that Zhao Gou had great political ambitions, and it was not a blessing for him to be the vassal lord with such political ambitions!

As the sky darkened, the two of them headed towards the west of Xiangzhou City. After walking for more than ten miles, they saw a dilapidated temple.

"Your Highness, we will rest in this temple today." Li Gang said.

Zhao Chen nodded his head. After journeying for so many days, he was truly exhausted! As long as there was a place to block the wind, it didn't matter even if it was a broken temple!

The cold wind howled as Li Gang and Zhao Chen walked towards the ruined temple in large strides! Li Gang pushed the door of the temple open, and realized that there was a fire inside!

Inside the temple sat three people. These three people sat around a fire and were currently roasting the flames.

Through the firelight, Li Gang could clearly see the appearances of these three people. One of them was over thirty years old, and looked rather calm, while the other was over twenty years old, giving people a very honest and stiff look. The last one was seventeen or eighteen, and seemed exceptionally lively! The three of them were dressed in the attire of ordinary peasants, but two of them had short blades by their side and the other one had a spear by his side. It looked like these three were the "allied army" of Xiangzhou City!

"Greetings, three brave warriors! We, grandfather and grandson, have been passing by and wish to spend the night here. Li Gang brought Zhao Chen and entered, bowing and greeting as he spoke.

"This temple is not ours. We are only temporarily staying here! You two can sit down! " The middle-aged man in his thirties laughed.

"Many thanks!" Li Gang nodded, and immediately brought Zhao Chen to a corner of the run-down temple.

The two of them sat there, while the other three ignored them and continued to talk! After a while, the young man of seventeen or eighteen took out a deer. He skinned the deer with his knife, skewered the meat with a branch, and then roasted it over the fire! Gradually, the fragrance of meat wafted out!

Smelling the fragrance, Zhao Chen's stomach started to growl! He had been starving. Not to mention meat, he hadn't even eaten a few moldy steamed buns! Many times, he and Li Gang had to rely on the bark of the trees to survive! By his side, Li Gang's stomach was also making gurgling sounds! In this one month's time, Li Gang was already a bag of bones! Li Gang immediately shrunk and closed his eyes, forcing himself to not look, to not smell the fragrance.

As the three people were roasting meat and talking, their voices were constantly being transmitted to Li Gang and Zhao Chen's ears!

"It has already been over a month since the Jin Army entered Kaifeng. The two emperors being captured is the greatest humiliation in the world! When has the emperor of the Central Plains ever been captured by outsiders? Big brother, second brother, when are we going to rescue His Majesty? " The seventeen or eighteen year old man said.

"Seems like His Royal Highness does not have any plans to head south!" The middle-aged man in his thirties said.

"If he doesn't want to go south, we can go south and rescue his majesty!" The young man said.

"Hundreds of thousands? Many of our allied soldiers do not even have weapons, the only one who is strong is Wang Yan, it's a pity that Wang Yan obeys everything His Royal Highness says! Without the His Royal Highness's order, Wang Yan would also not be able to head south! " The middle-aged man said.

"Big brother, third brother, there's no need to argue about this issue anymore …" In fact, even if the His Royal Highness went south, he would still absolutely not be a match for the Nvzhen! Don't look at how there are now so many defenceless and allied troops in Xiangzhou City, they are just a motley bunch! Even if hundreds of thousands of us add up, we still won't be able to defeat a hundred thousand female true cavalry soldiers! " The wooden youth said.

He was stiff and stiff. On the surface, he looked like an honest farmer, but his voice was unusually sonorous and forceful.

After hearing his words, the other two people actually stopped talking, as if they completely believed his words.

"Sigh, the Tataru invaded, the two emperors were captured, and countless of their compatriots were killed by the Tataru! I, a dignified China, can't bear to be reduced to such a state! " After a long time, the middle-aged man sighed.

The fragrance of the meat became stronger and stronger, at this moment, the middle-aged man looked towards Li Gang and Zhao Chen's direction, and said: "You two, the meat is already cooked, come over and eat something."

Li Gang and Zhao Chen were originally listening to them speak, but when Li Gang immediately opened his eyes, he hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Alright! Thank you very much! "

Immediately, Li Gang and Zhao Chen arrived beside the bonfire. When they arrived, they first felt a wave of warmth and heat, and Li Gang and Zhao Chen couldn't help but reveal a trace of happiness.

The middle-aged man cut apart the musk deer meat with his blade, then divided it between Li Gang and Zhao Chen! This musk deer meat was boiling hot, but Li Gang had already started to eat in big bites! It was not that he was that hungry, but he wanted to taste it first. It was true that there was no problem with the musk deer meat, and then he would let Zhao Chen eat it. After a while, the musk deer meat seemed to have turned cold, only then did Li Gang look at Zhao Chen and nod his head, only then did Zhao Chen start to eat!

The two of them had not eaten meat for over a month, and at this moment, they both felt that the musk deer meat was incomparably delicious! Especially Zhao Chen, since he was young, he had never suffered in such a way, and right now, he was feeling it extremely quickly! Although he ate very fast, he still gave off an elegant feeling! He stayed in the Imperial Palace for more than half a year, receiving more than half a year of education in etiquette. Regardless of sleeping or eating, all of them had their own set of etiquette rules! As a result, his every move was elegant and generous. Although he had been running for a month, covered in dust and tattered clothes, he still exuded an aura of nobility!

The three of them had originally treated Li Gang and Zhao Chen as ordinary grandfathers and grandsons, but now they knew that this was not the case.

"This old man, did you grandfather-grandson pair escape here?" The middle-aged man said.

"That's right!" Li Gang nodded.

"Where did you escape from? From the sound of your accents, it seems like Kaifeng is a human! " The middle-aged man said.

"We escaped from Kaifeng!" Li Gang said.

Hearing this, the three of them revealed looks of surprise! Right now, there were a large number of citizens escaping from the Xiangzhou City, but the majority of them came from Hebei, Hedong generation, and there were practically none from the Kaifeng Mansion!

"I heard that the Kaifeng City was surrounded by a hundred thousand female True Tataru and not many people could escape. How did you escape?" The middle-aged man said.

"We were living outside of the Kaifeng City in the first place. When the female True Tataru arrived, we hid in a small hill to the side in order to escape." Li Gang said.

"So it's outside the Kaifeng City … I wonder how Kaifeng City is doing right now? " The middle-aged man said with some disappointment.

He thought that the two of them had escaped from the Kaifeng City, so he knew more about the situation in the Kaifeng City and even knew the whereabouts of the two emperors. Thinking about it this way, it wasn't strange for them to be able to escape!

"Kaifeng City's situation isn't very good! On the night of the 25th of November, the Nvzhen attacked. That night, we did not escape. We could hear the screams from the Kaifeng City from far away! From night time onwards, blood flowed like a river from the Kaifeng City, the stench of blood had attracted all the wolves in the mountains! We knew something was wrong, so we left Kaifeng City immediately! " Li Gang said.

"Kaifeng City must have become a hell on earth!" The middle-aged man softly sighed and said.

"This Xiangzhou City has all these defeated soldiers and army, as well as 70,000 Liu Jiajia, can't they really save the Kaifeng City?" Li Gang could not resist asking at this moment.

"Firstly, it seems that the His Royal Highness did not have the intention to save the Kaifeng City. Secondly, my brother said earlier that the Xiangzhou City's forces were a motley bunch. Even if they went to Kaifeng, they would still not be a match for the Nvzhen." The middle-aged man said.

"Then what? Could it be that the Emperor Kang and the various armies are going to watch helplessly as the two emperors are killed or taken away by the Nvzhen and they are going to suffer the ultimate humiliation? " Li Gang said.

"This …" The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and didn't speak any further.

"I'm afraid it will be difficult to save the two emperors! Now, not only were the two emperors captured, the crown prince was also captured. All the clan branches in Kaifeng City were captured! Right now, only His Royal Highness was able to escape. From now on, the only hope for Song Dynasty Zhong Xing was to rely on his own body! When we rebuild our army in the future, we will find the Nvzhen to get revenge! " A seventeen or eighteen year old young man said.

"Who said that Song Dynasty ZTE's only hope is on Emperor Kang? While we were running away, we heard that His Highness the Crown Prince had already escaped from the Kaifeng City! " Li Gang said.

"What?" Upon hearing this, the three of them were shocked and they froze in place!

"The citizens around the Kaifeng City have spread, the Crown Prince has escaped the Kaifeng City! In just one day, the female army had surrounded Kai Feng. That very afternoon, the female army had already started to gather in large numbers to chase after the crown prince! " Li Gang said.

According to Li Gang's thinking, the news of Nvzhen gathering and chasing after Zhao Chen that day had already spread far and wide! However, within this Xiangzhou City, the ordinary army did not know of the crown prince's escape. They did not even know of the news that had flooded the Nvzhen that day. He guessed that the Emperor Kang was sealing the news, and he felt more and more that the Emperor Kang's goal was impure, so he had to spread the news!

"Why didn't we know about this?" The young man who looked stiff and honest said.

"I don't understand!" Li Gang shook his head.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is the Lord of the Song Dynasty. Now that the two emperors have been captured, if the Crown Prince is able to escape, we naturally have to use him as our leader. We need to get to the Song Dynasty!" The middle-aged man said.

"Of course!" Li Gang nodded.

"I don't know if this news is true or not …" Furthermore, even if it is true, even if the Crown Prince managed to escape, the Crown Prince is only ten years old. A seventeen or eighteen year old young man said.

"Third brother, don't talk nonsense! Although the Crown Prince is young, he is the first grandson of the Emperor and the first son of the Emperor. In the future, he will inherit the throne, so if the task of reviving the Central Plains is not placed on him, then who else can it be? " The middle-aged man said.

"Big Brother, I feel that Emperor Kang is more suitable! The Emperor Kang was the elder, and had countless of generals supporting him. Right now, it should be the Emperor Kang who led everyone to revive the Central Plains … However, the Emperor Kang was the vassal lord and could not inherit the throne. But in this chaotic world, there are many rules and regulations that we can't care about. Big brother, second brother, do you think it is possible for us to take Emperor Kang as our master? " The young man hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Nonsense!" At that moment, the wooden youth suddenly let out a roar, the sound was actually so loud that it made people's ears ring, the dust on the walls of the broken temple fluttered down, it was obvious that he was extremely angry! At this moment, his face was flushed red. He pointed at the young man, his fingers trembling!

"Second brother, I …" The young man sat aside fearfully, not daring to say another word.

"Humph!" Although the Emperor Kang was older and supported by numerous generals, he was still just a vassal lord! With the two Emperors captured, the Crown Prince inheriting the throne was a matter that was natural and inevitable. What qualifications did the Emperor Kang have to inherit the throne? "Third brother, your words just now were extremely outrageous. From now on, you can't let me hear anything like that again!" wooden youth said coldly.

"Second brother, I understand. I was just muddle-headed just now …" The young man mumbled.

The ancients paid attention to the word 'loyalty'. This loyalty was different from the loyalty of future generations. It was loyalty to the emperor, loyalty to the monarch! Loyalty was the foundation of the ancient people as well as the minimum moral requirements. In this era, there was nothing worse than disloyalty! If the two emperors were captured and the crown prince fled, then the people of the world would be loyal to the crown prince! The two emperors being captured, being unfaithful to the crown prince and being loyal to a vassal lord, and even supporting the vassal lord as the ruler of the world, did not conform at all to the moral standards of the ancients and the concept of patriarchal law. It was an extremely rebellious and immoral act, and could be called "treason".

Li Gang secretly nodded as he listened to them speak! He thought that although the north was occupied by the Nvzhen, the people of the north did not forget to be "loyal" to him.

He lowered his head to think of something, but didn't see the wooden youth over there suddenly raise his head, and look out of the temple! After a while, the middle-aged man and the young man also raised their heads and looked outside the temple! After a while, Zhao Chen also raised his head and looked outside the temple! At this time, Li Gang finally became alert!

"What happened?" Li Gang said.