C343 (2/2)
Who would have known that outside the palace, Dong Zhong was hard to clap with his palms, his strength was not as powerful as Dong Hou had imagined. He Jin had only sent the rest of his troops to surround the hussar general Palace, Dong Zhong knew that the situation was no longer good, and before he could do anything, he had committed suicide.
If Jian Shuo's death caused her to lose all hope of letting Liu Xie succeed the throne, then Dong Zhong's suicide undoubtedly caused her to lose the courage to continue living. Although she stood strong and didn't say a word, his heart was bleeding. If it wasn't for Crown Prince Liu Tong snuggling close to her, she really didn't know if he would have had the confidence to live on.
The moment of destroying her confidence came soon after.
The Chief Eunuch, Zhang Jean, came himself, and followed a large group of eunuchs bravely. Zhang Yu held onto the imperial edict and glanced at Empress Dowager Dong with a cold gaze. He then started to sing loudly, ”According to the royal family rules, the vassal lords cannot stay in the capital. They must bring Queen Dong back immediately. Crown Prince Liu Tong has changed the title of King Chen Liu and left it in the palace. ”
From the start till now, the Queen Dong had not opened her eyes. Even when he took Liu Xie away from her side, she did not say a single word. What made Zhang Wei even more surprised was that even the nine year old Crown Prince Liu Tong had a solemn look on his face. He only took a glance at the Queen Dong, and followed Zhang Ci out of the Gardner Hall.
Queen Dong was the only one left in the Gardner Hall, but she still did not open her eyes, nor did she shed a single tear. There was no one left in this imperial palace that she missed, and she did not want to take another look at this imperial palace. Twenty two years ago, she followed her son to Luoyang and became the ruler of this imperial palace. Twenty two years later, she sat like this and followed her son out of the imperial palace.
The blazing sun was baking the land of Jizhou, the crops in the fields were drooping their heads lazily. Due to the constant harassment by the Army of Montenegro, most of the counties and counties around the Five Element Mountain had become barren, and even a few crops were growing sparsely.
Under the hot sun, a few farmers kept busy in the fields, plowing their last hope. Their faces were full of sorrow, and they looked at the delicate crops and sighed silently. Without a doubt, this year was yet another desolate year. It was hard for ordinary people to fill their own stomachs. Only the flocks of sparrows sang carefreely in the fields.
”Sigh …” It's been five years, I never thought that Jizhou would become more and more dilapidated! ”
Tian Feng let out a long sigh and couldn't help but close his eyes. Five years ago, he was still a small county magistrate of the Jizhou. Five years later, when he stepped onto this piece of land again, all he saw was desolation.
”It's natural disasters, and it's man-made disasters. It's forcing the commoners to have no way out.”
He shook his head weakly, feeling extremely depressed. Jizhou was originally a fertile land, and had always been a granary for the entire country. However, due to the overpowering feud between the imperial government and the greedy officials, there were victims everywhere, as well as thieves and robbers. This led to Army of Montenegro running amok.
Receiving Yang Lin's order, Tian Feng and brought Guo Tong, Gao Sheng, Jiang Zhen, Lu Tong, Ren Qian, and Qian Lin's three cavalry brigade s to Peace County. It had been five years, and this was the first time they had returned to their hometown. However, everything they had seen and heard along the way had caused the joy in their hearts to vanish without a trace.
It was the height of summer, and should have been the time for the crops to flourish, but the sorghum in the Jizhou fields was stuck into the ground like a few sticks of incense, while the wild grass grew crazily, becoming almost as tall and short as the sorghum. It was hard to tell whether they would harvest sorghum or grass seeds in the autumn.
An Ping County was a border region for the Army of Montenegro's activities, but it was actually the center region. Yang Lin's army was stationed in An Ping County, on one hand, to deal with the Army of Montenegro, and on the other, to control the Jizhou.
After the political situation in the Luoyang was stable, Yang Lin followed the orders of the Empress Dowager He and brought his troops to the capital. In fact, even without Empress Dowager He's orders, Yang Lin was already prepared to leave Hanoi County, he did not want to interfere in Luoyang's matters. Whether they live or die, let them torment themselves! He had only left the Zhang Banxian, Fei Hong and Liang Ming behind in the Luoyang, in order to keep an eye on the situation.
In the afternoon, Tian Feng and his army finally made it to the Xin Du Camp. It had been a long time since the commoners had seen so many cavalrymen. Many adults and children had come to see the commotion.
The sun was about to set, but the crowd was still unwilling to leave. Looking at these simple and honest fellow villagers, Yang Lin immediately ordered the kitchen to steam more steamed buns. He, Tian Feng and Lang Hui brought the group of commanders and generals out to distribute them to the onlookers.
As the hussar general, Yang Lin personally distributed steamed buns to the citizens, causing them to be at a loss of what to do. Some of the older villagers even started to cry. Although the villagers were very hungry, they couldn't bear to eat the steamed buns.
In a short while, Yang Lin's steamed buns had actually shocked Jizhou. Since ancient times, only the government bullied the people, and the people could not tolerate each other. Now, Yang Lin was just a small relative of his own, he immediately won over the hearts of the people in the Jizhou, and even the Army of Montenegro in the Five Elements Mountain was deeply touched by him.