Song Yi

Chapter 596 The world is in chaos
Xu Huaqiang led the guards to protect Du Wenhao and the others to break through.Du Wenhao remembered the map that the little emperor showed him. In order to be authentic and avoid Du Wenhao's suspicion, he used the real Xixia border map.This is very important information, go back and look for it.

The corpses of the little emperor, Wei Ma and others had already fallen into the crack. Fortunately, the map was unfolded, relatively long, and hung on the bed rail.After finding it, he rolled it up and put it in his arms.

Du Wenhao leaned on crutches, led the three women, and under the protection of Xu Huaqiang and his guards, began to break out.

There are cracks everywhere on the ground, and you have to be careful to avoid them. Once you fall into it, your life may be in danger.

Rushing to the side of the palace, I found that there were quite a few Xixia soldiers outside the palace, and Xu Huaqiang and other guards were about to fight. Du Wenhao said: "You can't fight recklessly, otherwise the enemy will find us and it will be troublesome if you run away. Change immediately. Put on the clothes of the Xixia Army and get out!"

Soldiers of the Xixia Army who were crushed to death by the earthquake were everywhere on the ground.The guards hurriedly changed their clothes, and Du Wenhao and the three women also changed their clothes. Holding swords, they also shouted, pretending to search around, and moved out in concealment.

At this time, a flash of lightning cracked across the sky, and immediately, raindrops the size of soybeans fell. Soon, the rain became heavier and became like a pour.

Now, the rain curtain became their best cover. Even if they stood opposite, it was difficult to recognize who it was.

The guards were well-trained and surrounded the four of Du Wenhao. Under the cover of the rain, they quickly left the palace and entered the ruins.

This shocking earthquake almost razed the entire Xingqing Mansion to the ground, and the surviving refugees were crying everywhere.

The bodies of the rescued injured refugees and the dead were lying on the ground in piles of rubble.They are willing to help, but they are afraid that they will not be able to get away after saving others.You can only pass quickly with a hard heart.

The city wall also collapsed and turned into a huge pile of rocks. They climbed over the rocks, stepped on the moat filled with rocks, and finally escaped from Xingqing Mansion.

On the way, they encountered a group of Xixia cavalry. They used the Xixia military uniform as a cover to stop these cavalry, and suddenly shot, annihilated this group of cavalry, snatched their horses, and fled south quickly.

Because the regent of Xixia and the new emperor Chongzong had been killed, the dragons had no leader.The whole Western Xia is in chaos.In addition, they were wearing military uniforms of Xixia soldiers, so they were not strictly checked along the way.

The map Du Wenhao held was much more detailed than the map held by Da Song, and it even showed where the Xixia army was stationed.They planned to carefully avoid these places on the way, but what is strange is that there are no troops in these barracks, not even people on duty at the gates.The army in the barracks seemed to evaporate overnight.

This situation becomes more obvious as we go to the border between Song and Xia.

Du Wenhao really couldn't restrain his curiosity, so he sent several guards to arrest a Xixia soldier who stayed behind in the barracks for questioning. Only then did he know that the Xixia army in the barracks was all marching northward, preparing to fight against the fierce Jurchen tribe.Most of the troops originally deployed on the border between Song and Xia were transferred north.

Du Wenhao was overjoyed. Obviously, the Jurchen Ministry's attack on Daliao was real, and Daliao had already collapsed, and the Jurchen Ministry also began to attack Xixia. Xixia wanted to form an alliance with Song Dynasty, so as to deal with Jurchen with all its strength, but the little emperor took revenge Sincerely, he couldn't see so far, he only looked in front of him, so he assassinated himself, probably wanting to push his death to the earthquake, or the riots of the people, so that he could give Da Song an explanation.He could only take revenge but was killed instead.

At present, most of the Xixia army on the Songxia border has been transferred north. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Now that Xixia has suffered two major earthquakes, all the people in power have died, and the country is in chaos. Sending troops at this time is really a godsend opportunity.Therefore, Du Wenhao was very anxious, and wanted to rush back to the Huanzhou government office as soon as possible, and prepared to lead the Western Expeditionary Army into Xixia.

Passing all the way unimpeded, traveling day and night, finally arrived at the border.Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, took off their Xixia military uniforms, and prepared to cross the blockade.

I can see the battle villages from a distance. There are battle villages every 500 meters, which are used to advance step by step. In the battle villages, lathes are used as long-range shooting weapons, and god-arm bows are used as firepower blocking weapons. There are tall beacon fires The platform is used for warning.A large amount of food and drinking water were stored in the Zhanzhai.

Du Wenhao didn't dare to rush over. If he was accidentally injured by the Song army, he would be wronged, so he asked the guards to shout out of range to show their identities.

However, the few battle villages that could be seen did not respond.

Immediately, Du Wenhao sent two more guards, raised their hands and walked forward, shouting to show their identity, while moving to the Zhanzhai.

Du Wenhao looked from a distance and saw the two approaching the battle village, but there was still no movement, which was very strange.Then, I saw two people entering the gate of Zhanzhai.

After a while, the two came out, they came out at a gallop, and when they came close, they found that they both looked confused.He asked, "What's the matter?"

A guard said: "Report to the Duke of the country, the battle village is empty!"

"Empty?" Du Wenhao asked with staring eyes.

"Yes, there is no one." Another guard gasped, "The weapons, equipment and food are gone, and the people are gone. There is only an empty stronghold left, and the inside has been turned into a mess!"

Du Wenhao, Lin Qingdai, and Wang Runxue looked at each other, and they all felt chills on their backs.Du Wenhao ordered several other guards to go to several nearby battle villages to check.

These guards came back soon, but the result was the same, the battle village was empty!No one, no weapons, no equipment, no food.

Du Wenhao frowned tightly, and rode his horse to a battle village in front. Sure enough, there was a mess inside, but there was no one there.

Wang Runxue said with a pale face, "Could it be..., is there a ghost? They were all captured by ghosts?"

Du Wenhao didn't speak. He searched the entire battle village carefully, but found no blood. This shows that he was not abandoned after being conquered by the enemy, but probably evacuated. Judging from the messy situation, this evacuation was very panic. Why did it happen like this? ?Du Wenhao was puzzled.He pondered: "Song Jun should have evacuated on his own initiative. Let's go! Let's rush to Huanzhou immediately to see what's going on!"

After witnessing such a strange scene, everyone stopped talking and felt very heavy. They rode their horses and galloped forward for more than a hundred miles, and finally came to the outpost of Huanzhou on the frontier of Songxia.

When they arrived outside Huanzhou City, it was noon, but when they came to the city gate, they saw that the city gate was tightly closed, and the soldiers on the tower were brightly guarded with bright swords.

Du Wenhao was even more astonished. Although Huanzhou was close to the border, the border was covered with Song troops, and there were battle villages and camps, which were blocked layer by layer, and Xia troops could not break in. Therefore, the gates of the city are open during the day, and the people can come and go freely. , and it is noon now, how could the city gate be closed?Moreover, the city is full of soldiers, ready to fight, as if preparing to meet the enemy.But along the way, there is no enemy army in sight, and there is no shadow of the enemy army. What kind of enemy should we meet?Really strange.

Xu Huaqiang and the guards stepped forward and shouted loudly: "Quickly open the city gate! Duke Du Wenhao is back!"

Soon, the city gate opened.

Xu Huaqiang rode his horse back: "My lord, let's go into the city!"

Du Wenhao reined in the horse's head and looked at the city gate suspiciously.

Although the gate of the city was wide open, no one came out to greet him. It stands to reason that he is a majestic prime minister, he is the Duke of the country, and the most important thing is that he is the commander-in-chief of the Western Expeditionary Army.In other words, these soldiers are all commanded by themselves, why no one came out to greet them?

After waiting for a while, no one came out from the city.

Du Wenhao said: "Let the soldiers in the city go and call Lu Gongzhu and Qu Zhen!"

"Okay!" Xu Huaqiang rode his horse to the city and shouted loudly: "The Lord has an order to let Lu Gongzhu and Qu Zhen come out of the city to meet him!"

After a while, a general from the city poked his head out and said loudly: "Lord Lu and General Qu are discussing the military situation, so there is no time, please come to the city to meet the Duke!"

Xu Huaqiang's face turned green with anger. No matter how urgent the military situation is, the commander-in-chief has to greet him.Ride back.Du Wenhao has already heard the answer from the city.Looking at the empty city gate again, he frowned: "The situation is not good! Everyone be careful!"

Xu Huaqiang said: "Let me take the two brothers into the city to have a look first?"

Du Wenhao shook his head: "No! Tell Lu Gongzhu and Qu Zhen to come out of the city again! Let's retreat a little and get out of the range of the bow and arrow!" After finishing speaking, he reined in the horse's head and walked back.

Xu Huaqiang agreed, rode his horse over, and told the city general again.

At this moment, arrows rained down from the top of the city tower, shooting towards them!Lin Qingdai was shocked, and shouted: "Wen Hao, be careful! Run!" As she spoke, she drew out her dagger, and helped Du Wenhao call a sharp arrow.

Fortunately, everyone was alerted by Du Wenhao's warning, and immediately drew out their long swords and called for arrows.

Du Wenhao didn't have this ability, he lowered his head and shouted: "Quick retreat!" The horse's stomach was clamped between his feet, and the horse galloped away.Everyone fights and walks.

At this moment, countless cavalry rushed out of the city gate, armed with weapons, and rushed towards them viciously!

They had already escaped the shooting range at this time, and several special soldiers and war horses were hit by arrows, but fortunately none of them hurt their vitals. Seeing that more and more cavalry and infantry rushed out, Du Wenhao ordered to retreat towards Xixia.

They were all on horseback, and quickly withdrew for more than ten miles, but the Song army pursued them closely. However, after entering the mountain road, the pursuers became long lines, and Du Wenhao immediately ordered to stop to meet them.These special operations team members are all elite one-on-one, one-on-one on the narrow road, the Song army is no match at all, and quickly killed, wounded and captured dozens of pursuers.

Song Jun saw that something was wrong, Ming Jin withdrew his troops, and quickly withdrew.

Du Wenhao ordered a prisoner to be taken over for interrogation. This was a leader of the Song Army. Du Wenhao asked sharply, "Do you know who I am?"

The prisoner knelt on the ground, his hands were tied, he kept kowtowing and said: "Yes, General, please spare me!"

"Knowing that I am a general, you still send troops to kill me? Why?"

The prisoner looked left and right, all with vicious eyes, trembling with fright, said in a low voice: "This is..., this is Master Lu's order!"

"Mr. Lu?" Du Wenhao asked in surprise, "Why did he kill me? Did he want to rebel?"

"It's all Master Lu's order, the younger one is just following orders, I don't know about the others."

"You don't know?" Du Wenhao lashed out with a whip, "You don't know that you are still chasing so hard? You want to cut off my head and go back to claim credit?"

"Damn the little one, please forgive me, my lord!"

"Let me ask you, where are the soldiers in the battle village?"

"All..., all retreated to the city."

"why?"

"The little one doesn't know either. He just received an order, so he withdrew. As for why, the little one really doesn't know. Please spare your life, General!"

"Hmph! It looks like you won't say no punishment!" Du Wenhao winked at Li Pu.

Li Pu drew out his dagger, stepped forward and grabbed the head of the team by the ear: "Since you don't know anything, it's useless to have an ear, cut it off!" With a swipe, one ear was cut off.The pain caused his soldiers to scream.

Li Pu kept his ear in front of him with a blank expression, and grabbed the other ear: "Let me ask one more question, do you want to tell me?"

The team leader moaned: "I say! Spare me! I say!"

"Say it!"

"Lord Lu embraced Prince Cao as emperor, and Prince Cao ordered the arrest of the general..."

Du Wenhao was startled secretly: "Embrace Prince Cao as emperor? What do you mean?"

"Prince Cao has proclaimed himself emperor. Qinfenglu and Yongxing Junlu all support him as emperor."

"Support him as emperor? Has King Cao rebelled?"

"It's not a rebellion. King Cao said that he is the orthodox, so he proclaimed himself emperor."

Du Wenhao said angrily: "It's his grandma's. The current emperor is very good. If he proclaims himself emperor, what is it if he is not a rebel?"

"The emperor has passed away! Now the world is in chaos!" the prisoner covered his ears, bleeding profusely, Nuo Nuo said.

Everyone was taken aback, Du Wenhao was even more surprised, and asked anxiously: "The emperor died? When did it happen?"

"It's been more than a month. There was a big earthquake in the capital that day, and many people died. It is said that the emperor was also crushed to death by the collapsed house."

"A big earthquake?" Du Wenhao, Lin Qingdai, and Wang Runxue looked at each other. Could it be that when the big earthquake happened in Xingqing Prefecture, did the capital Kaifeng also happen?When I asked about the date, it was indeed the same day, and at the same time!
On that day and at that moment, three major earthquakes occurred simultaneously in the capitals of Daliao, Xixia, and Song!The emperors of the three dynasties died in the earthquake at the same time!
Is this still a coincidence?

Du Wenhao asked anxiously: "Where is my mansion? How are my wives, concubines, and apprentices?"

"This... I really don't know."

Du Wenhao was in a hurry, so he ran to the other captives, and said sharply, "There was a big earthquake in the capital, who knows what's going on with the Duke's mansion in my town? Is there something wrong with my family? Who knows?"

All the prisoners looked at each other in blank dismay, and one of the prisoners boldly said, "It should be all right, because King Cao issued a sea arrest document to arrest you and your family, the general, and the name of the general's wives and concubines are listed on the sea arrest document..."

Du Wenhao was overjoyed, since Haizhun, it means he is not dead, otherwise what would Haizhuo do.He asked anxiously, "Who is on the official document of Haizhu?"

The prisoner shook his head: "I didn't look carefully, because I didn't intend to catch the general's family either. ——What about you? Who saw clearly?"

The captives shook their heads together.

The previous prisoner said again: "There is a sea arrest announcement in Huanzhou City, you can know it at a glance."

Lin Qingdai said: "Wen Hao, don't worry, I will sneak into the city at night and reveal an official document of the arrest, and you will know it at a glance."

"No, it's too dangerous for you to sneak in alone. Since it's a sea-capture official document, it must be everywhere. Let's find a way to find one elsewhere."

Knowing that the wives and concubines were probably still alive, Du Wenhao felt relieved and asked, "Who died in the capital earthquake?"

"A lot of people died, almost all the houses in the capital collapsed, even the imperial palace collapsed, Prince Bingsheng who came to greet his relatives from Xixia, and important ministers Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, Cai Que, Wang Gui, etc. all died... "

Wang Runxue trembled all over: "My father is dead?"

The prisoner turned his head to look, and was immediately fascinated by Wang Runxue's all-powerful beauty, and stared at her stupidly.

Wang Runxue said urgently: "Say it quickly! How is my father?"

The prisoner was still stupid, after being whipped by Xu Huaqiang next to him, he woke up like a dream, and asked, "The girl's father is...?"

"Left Chancellor Wang Gui!"

"Oh, I heard he died..."

Wang Runxue swayed and almost fell off the horse. Du Wenhao hurriedly supported her, and Wang Runxue burst into tears.

Lin Qingdai rode over and reached out to support her: "Second Madam, don't worry, he just heard about it."

The prisoner hurriedly said: "Yes, we saw it, and I only heard about it."

"Who said that?"

"Anyway, it's been rumored that the ministers were preparing to send a message to Emperor Zhezong. As a result, there was a big earthquake, and many ministers in the court and China died."

Du Wenhao asked anxiously: "What did you say? Two big earthquakes?"

"Yes, in the first earthquake, Emperor Zhezong died. The Empress Dowager made the decision, and the emperor's younger brother Zhao Ji succeeded to the throne. However, not long after the new emperor took the throne, another major earthquake occurred in the capital. This earthquake It was bigger, and more people died, because the ground cracked many big cracks, and many people fell into the cracks and died. I heard that the new emperor also died in this earthquake. It seems that he fell into the cracks and was killed. Squeezed to death..."

Du Wenhao subconsciously asked: "When is the next scene?
Du Wenhao was dumbfounded when the prisoner answered - it was the day they killed Emperor Chongzong!And also at the same moment!
On the same day and at the same time, shocking earthquakes occurred in the capitals of Xixia and Dasong respectively!
Du Wenhao asked urgently: "Where is the Empress Dowager?"

"Missing. Maybe she fell into a crevice somewhere and was squeezed to death, because I heard that her body could not be found later, and no one was alive or dead." The prisoner talked a lot, and Du Wenhao was very concerned about it. He took the initiative to continue to say: "The nine princes, the eleven princes, the twelve princes, the thirteen princes, and the fourteen princes are all dead, and the concubines are also dead, and those who are missing are missing. The empress dowager is gone, so the world is in chaos They all made themselves kings, and refused to accept King Cao as emperor. They fought for a few times and killed many people. King Cao controlled Yongxing Army Road, Jingxi Road, Jingbei Road and other areas near the capital. The rest of the generals Almost all of them declared themselves kings. Some roads even had several kings..."

(End of this chapter)