Painting Doctor Jinhua

Chapter 129 Giving away heads

Xiao Mohe once followed Hou Andu. The two followed Emperor Wu of Chen, Chen Baxian, in quelling the Hou Jing Rebellion and later fighting against the Northern Qi. They made many outstanding achievements in battles with the princes in all directions. They were regarded as meritorious officials who followed the emperor. They were also very brave. At the age of 19, he fought alone on horseback and was invincible.

How could the Queen persuade Xiao Mohe to attack him?

Chen Shuling was both shocked and terrified.

He turned around and asked Wei Liang: "Who do you think can take up the challenge?"

Wei Liang lowered his head and replied, "Your Majesty, I think it is better to surrender than to fight them!"

Chen Shuling's eyes lit up and he asked:

"How to persuade them to surrender?"

He wanted to persuade Xiao Mohe to surrender. If Xiao Mohe was willing to surrender, he would have an extra powerful general under his command. Now the capital was under his control. If Jiankang City lost Xiao Mohe, who among those spineless civil officials and scholars could be his opponent?

"Xiao Mohe has made many military achievements, and now he is still a third-rank general of the Right Guard, guarding the imperial city. The prince promises him the position of the third minister and if it succeeds, he will be considered a successful follower of the emperor. Then, you can tempt him with marriage and promise his daughter the position of queen. This will definitely succeed!" Wei Liang replied.

Chen Shuling thought this plan was feasible, so he said to Wei Liang, "Well, you go and be the lobbyist and go to the west gate to negotiate with Xiao Mohe!"

Wei Liang felt suddenly disappointed, but he dared not disobey the order of King Shixing, so he nodded and said yes.

Carrying the drums and ceremonial guards given by King Shixing, Wei Liang came to the west gate of Dongfu City and explained his purpose to the soldiers guarding the gate. After that, he met Xiao Mohe himself. However, after just one look at this man from a distance, he knew that this man was not someone who could be easily persuaded to surrender.

So the lobbyist Wei Liang simply surrendered and gave advice to Xiao Mohe, hoping that Xiao Mohe could plead for him in front of the Queen Mother and spare his death penalty!

After Wei Liang returned to Dongfu City, he told Chen Shuling that Xiao Mohe did not trust the position of the Three Dukes promised by the prince, unless there was a written document and he sent his trusted men to pay a visit to show his sincerity.

In a hurry, Chen Shuling wrote a note and asked Wei Liang to deliver it. He also sent Dai Wen and Tan Wu to pay a visit and negotiate.

But what Chen Shuling did not expect was that these three people never came back after going to the west city gate. An hour later, he received news that Dai Wen and Tan Wu had been beheaded and hung in the east city market for public display.

Wei Liang never appeared again.

Chen Shuling suddenly felt that his situation was hopeless. All his close confidants had either scattered or died, and no one dared to respond to the call for support. In the end, he fled at night with only his uncle Peng Hong. After Xiao Mohe received the news, he immediately sent a hundred cavalrymen to chase after his team.

Before dawn the next day, Prince Lanling received a secret letter. When he opened it, he found that it said: The promise of the Prince can be fulfilled when the time comes. Please help me break out and meet me at Meiling Mountain!

After reading the letter, Lu Yu felt both amused and confused.

"Is this King of Shixing crazy? Does he really believe that the prince is willing to rebel with him in order to fulfill his promise?"

"Maybe he is really desperate and wants to seek refuge with the State of Qi!"

Prince Lanling also smiled and handed the letter in his hand to Xiao Jinyu.

"Just as you expected, they have already been defeated and fled before noon!"

Xiao Jinyu smiled slightly: In the previous life, Chen Shuling's rebellion only lasted for three hours, but in this life, he has been tormented for a long time!

However, Queen Liu finally understood the meaning of her words and sent Xiao Mohe to pretend to surrender. The outcome was indeed not much different, except that Chen Shuling was not dead yet and actually escaped to Meilinggang.

Even though he is about to die, he still hasn't forgotten his hobby of tomb robbing?

"What do you want to do now?" Gao Changgong asked again.

"Since he wants to seek refuge with the prince, I will go with the prince to personally send him off!"

"Bring Yueying with you, too!"

……

When the sky was about to brighten, the world suddenly fell into a dead silence. There seemed to be crows crying all around, which made people feel very depressed.

When Chen Shuling fled to Meilinggang, he was left with no soldiers. During the escape, his uncle Peng Hao had been killed by Xiao Moha's Ma Rong. The rest of the soldiers also fled when they saw that the situation was hopeless. Some soldiers even wanted to kill him to gain merit. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and killed them instead.

Meilinggang was not originally a burial place. In the early Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Hu people invaded the border and the people fled south. Yuzhang prefect Mei Ze stationed troops here to resist the enemy. In order to commemorate General Mei Ze’s noble character, later generations built the General Mei Temple here and planted plum blossoms, so it was called Meilinggang.

Since then, this place has become a Feng Shui treasure land, and many celebrities and nobles are buried here.

The shadows of the trees are looming at night. It is near Qingming Festival in April, when plum blossoms are in full bloom. The cold wind brings the fragrance of plum blossoms, and the petals fall rustling, making the scene even more eerie.

But Chen Shuling had been accustomed to tomb robbing since he was a child and was not afraid of ghosts and gods.

Walking aimlessly like this, I unexpectedly found the burial place of Xie An, the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty, in a secluded path.

Although he was in such a desperate situation, Chen Shuling was still ecstatic when he saw Xie An's tomb.

When they were about to dig the grave, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the forest, and a fire came from far away, illuminating the Meiling Mountain.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves approached. Chen Shuling hid first, and saw from afar that the person leading the group was Lanling King.

Chen Shuling was overjoyed and quickly showed up. When Lanling Wang stopped his horse, he clasped his fists from a distance and said:

"Chang Gong is indeed trustworthy. A gentleman's promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Zisong is very grateful."

Prince Lanling led several guards up the winding and deep corridor until they arrived in front of Chen Shuling.

"There is no soldier around the prince? Why is he in such a mess?"

"Don't mention it. They are a bunch of cowards who betrayed me and fled when they saw Xiao Mahamarong's ferocity!"

Lu Yu, who was hiding behind Lanling King, really wanted to laugh, so he quickly covered his mouth to prevent any sound from coming out.

"So the prince invited Chang Gong here, is it because he wants Chang Gong to do something for the prince?"

"I still have troops in Xinlin, but I have to cross the river from Xiaohang Ferry. Now Xiao Mohe is chasing me, and I dare not show up. So I need Chang Gong to protect me to Xiaohang Ferry. When I gather troops, I want to surrender to Northern Qi. I hope Chang Gong will recommend me to your Qi Lord!"

really……

"Okay, Chang Gong can draft a letter to the Emperor of Qi to introduce you, but..." He changed the subject and said, "I can't guarantee whether you can reach Northern Qi."

"What do you mean?"

Chen Shuling's face changed and he felt something was wrong. At this moment, a man walked out from behind Gao Changgong.

This person was dressed in black, with a slender body that looked a little thin, and a veiled hat on his head. Under the light of the fire, the aura he exuded had a sense of awe and murderousness.

"Xie Zhen?"

Although he had not seen her face, Chen Shuling could not forget her temperament. When he saw her, he took a few steps back, his eyes wide open in anger.

"Gao Changgong, what do you mean? Are you going to betray me and kill me just for your staff?"

"Your Majesty, there is no trust between you and me! However, Chang Gong does want to thank Your Majesty for trusting him so much and for thinking of me before he died!"

This sentence was a great irony. Chen Shuling felt a chill down his spine. He originally thought that according to Dai Wen's report, Gao Changgong had married a stunning beauty and had long forgotten about Xie Zhen. Moreover, Xie Zhen had caused him so much trouble, so why would he still favor this aide.

He is just an aide to him. If he causes trouble for him, just kill him!

Why...why would Xie Zhen appear here?

"It's all your fault. Because of you, I've ended up in this situation. Even if I have to die, I'll kill you first!"

Chen Shuling drew out his sword and stabbed at Xiao Jinyu. At the same time, another cold light appeared and cut off his wrist in front of his astonished eyes.

In a flash, he didn't even see who pulled out the knife. He let out a shrill scream and fell to the ground holding his wrist.

"No one is allowed to touch her!" Gao Changgong shouted angrily.

Chen Shuling finally realized that Prince Lanling had always been an enemy, not a friend!

"Your Majesty, do you know why you ended up like this? It's not because of me, but because of you!"

At this time, Xie Zhen stepped forward, looked at the man who was rolling on the ground and roaring like a stray dog, and said:

"Your Highness, have you not read Mencius' words: When a country has many supporters, the whole world will obey it. When a country has few supporters, even its relatives will rebel against it. Use what the whole world obeys to attack what its relatives rebel against. Therefore, a gentleman will win even if he does not fight."

"So, when the prince raised the banner of rebellion and summoned the kings and generals, no one dared to respond. It must be unpleasant to have so few supporters when one has lost the way, right?"

Chen Shuling felt that he had never felt such pain before. He whimpered but had no words to refute.

Xiao Jinyu paused for a moment, then smiled and said:

"Your Majesty, if you want to rebel, then rebel. Why are you wielding the banner of clearing out the imperial court? Are you clearing me?"

"Do you believe this? I'm not even a minister, so how can I be called a traitor?"