The guard's actions were extremely rough.
Jiang Suizhou was pulled up from the ground. Then, a rope was pulled down from the beam. Jiang Suizhou felt a sharp pain in his body. It was so painful that his somewhat muddled divine sense suddenly became clearer.
Where did Pang Shao go?
Now, there was only one Houzhu left. Pang Shao's whereabouts were unknown. Then, there were only two possibilities left. Either Pang Shao already knew about Huo Wujiu's plans and movements and went to capture him. Or, Pang Shao escaped when the plan was about to succeed.
Jiang Suizhou groaned as he was strangled. He raised his eyes and looked at Houzhu Jiang.
The guards had already brought up the torture equipment.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down. Then, he laughed coldly, "Imperial Brother, you really think highly of a sickly person like me."
Houzhu Jiang met his eyes.
He glared at Jiang Suizhou. His eyes were filled with unconcealable hatred. He hated Jiang Suizhou so much that the expression on his face was somewhat distorted. The fat on his cheeks trembled slightly.
After a moment, he said hatefully, "Jiang Suizhou, are you very proud of yourself?"
He gritted his teeth. His voice was cold. It was obvious that he was forced into a dead end. He was already filled with hatred.
Judging from his appearance, Houzhu Jiang and Pang Shao's chances of winning were at least ten to twenty percent because they thought highly of them.
Jiang Suizhou closed his eyes and exhaled silently.
This was good. This way, he did not have to worry about the consequences.
Now that he had fallen to such a state, there was no way out for him. However, since both sides were at a dead end and the other side had painfully lost a right-hand man like Pang Shao, he could try to take a gamble.
… He could gamble that Houzhu Jiang still had some extravagant hope and affection for his uncle.
He closed his eyes and said slowly, "Imperial Brother, why do you say that?"
"Why do you say that?" Houzhu Jiang choked out a strange laugh and stood up from his chair. "What? Didn't you deliberately let Huo Wujiu go because you were waiting for this day?"
Jiang Suzhou chuckled.
"That's not necessarily the case," he said. "It's just that Huo Wujiu promised me some benefits so that we can each take what we need."
"Each takes what he needs?" Hou Zhu seemed to have heard a joke.
Then, he gritted his teeth and said as if he had vented his hatred, "Everyone takes what they need. Will you be abandoned by him and stay here to wait for me to kill you?"
For some reason, he emphasized the words "abandoned", as if he was harboring some unspeakable hatred and grievance.
Jiang Suizhou, on the other hand, smiled calmly.
"Of course not," he said. "I also have something on Pang Shao. That thing is what Pang Shao wants the most. Pang Shao won't kill me."
As he said this, he seemed to be a little confused. He looked around and said, "Where's Pang Shao?"
Hou Zhu looked at him and frowned in confusion.
"He's gone," he said. "Why?"
When Jiang Suizhou heard this, he revealed an astonished expression. His previous calmness was completely gone.
"That's impossible!" he said. "Pang Shao won't give up if he can't get that thing. Why would he leave?"
Hou Zhu's frown deepened, but in his heart, he felt as if a rock had been lifted.
He thought to himself, 'As expected, my uncle just went to get reinforcements for me. He didn't abandon me and run away.
… Even if it wasn't for me, it would be for the thing in Jiang Suizhou's hands, wouldn't it? '
Hou Zhu paused and asked, "What thing?"
Jiang Suizhou remained silent.
Hou Zhu was getting impatient.
His uncle was always like this. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he wouldn't tell Hou Zhu anything. He would only say that he had his own plans. Although Hou Zhu was happy to have nothing to do, he was also unhappy sometimes. It was as if he was excluded and became an outsider.
It was fine if his uncle was like this, but what about Prince Jing, the sickly son of the evil concubine?
Hou Zhu was unhappy. He didn't want to hold back anymore. He took two steps forward and kicked Jiang Suizhou's body.
Although he had been indulging in debauchery for many years and his body was weak, his bloated body was still there. With the corner of his full strength, Jiang Suizhou let out a muffled grunt, and his body that was suspended in the air also staggered from the kick.
"I'm asking you a question," Hou Zhu said.
Jiang Suizhou raised his eyes and looked at him provocatively.
"Imperial Brother, if you have the ability, then beat me to death today," he said. "When Pang Shao returns with his troops in the future, whatever he wants will rot in my stomach."
Hou Zhu stared at him intently.
This thing was very annoying. As long as one looked at him, they couldn't help but think of unpleasant things. However, he had always restrained himself. He had always avoided Hou Zhu's sharp edge and meekly endured it.
This was the first time he had shown such an arrogant look in front of Hou Zhu.
Hou Zhu hated him so much that he wanted to immediately see this person suffer the dozens of punishments in this room. He wanted to cut him into pieces and slice off his flesh piece by piece.
But … he couldn't.
He looked at Jiang Suizhou in front of him.
He had only been hung in this cold prison for a while, but this sickly person's face and lips had already turned pale. This was a good-for-nothing who could die at any time. Even if this good-for-nothing had a rotten life, Hou Zhu didn't dare to take the risk …
No matter how much hatred there was between them, Hou Zhu didn't want his uncle to be disappointed by a corpse when he came back.
After all, his uncle didn't abandon him, right? His mother was still in the palace. She was his uncle's favorite sister. There were still things his uncle wanted in Jiang Suizhou. With these things, his uncle wouldn't abandon them …
Hou Zhu unintentionally acted like an isolated child. He took out all his valuable things, just so that others would take a second look at him.
Hou Zhu stared at Jiang Suizhou. His eyes were red and his hands were trembling.
He wanted to kill this person, but he couldn't.
After a while, as if he couldn't hide his emotions anymore, he snatched the whip soaked in salt water from the guard beside him and slammed it hard on Jiang Suizhou's body.
The whip suddenly landed on Jiang Suizhou's body, tearing a hole in his thick imperial robes. Even though Hou Zhu didn't have much energy, the whip still left a bloody mark on his body.
Jiang Suizhou's eyebrows suddenly furrowed. Even though he gritted his teeth, he couldn't help but groan in pain.
His appearance greatly pleased the future master of the house.
Hou Zhu stared at Jiang Suizhou's bleeding robes. A twisted smile appeared on his face. He gritted his teeth and slammed the whip on Jiang Suizhou's body again.
The sound of flesh being whipped rang out in the prison cell. The smell of blood gradually filled the air and mixed with the rotten smell of blood in the prison cell.
Even if he couldn't take Hou Zhu's life, he wanted to make him suffer.
If Hou Zhu's father in heaven could see this, he would open his eyes and take a good look. Hou Zhu's self-righteous love for this trash could kill him.
— —
Fortunately, Lou Yue deployed his troops very quickly. In less than an hour, the entire Lin 'an was tightly sealed.
In the chaos, he actually detained Pang Shao's carriage. Although Pang Shao brought a lot of men of sacrifice with him and lost a lot of Pang Shao's soldiers, he was still able to detain Pang Shao, his wife, and his youngest son. They were tightly locked up.
At this time, Lou Wanjun, who had failed to capture Hou Zhu, hurriedly returned with his men.
"Now, we need to send the news to the palace," Lou Yue said with a frown.
Lou Wanjun stood to the side with his arms crossed. When he heard Lou Yue's words, he kicked Pang Shao, who was tightly bound.
"What's so difficult about that?" She said. "Cut off one of his fingers and send it to the palace. Won't the emperor understand everything then?"
Lou Yue gritted his teeth.
"Aren't you afraid that he'll cut off one of His Highness Prince Jing's fingers as well?" he said angrily.
Lou Wanjun frowned. "Then what should we do?"
Lou Yue sized up the people who were tied up in the barracks. After a while, he looked at Pang Shao's crying five-year-old son and Pang Shao's wife.
"Write a letter and instruct someone to place the letter and his youngest son at the entrance of the palace." Lou Yue said. "Just say that what I did today was all because Pang Shao took over the 300,000 soldiers of my Lingnan army. I want an explanation. Right now, Pang Shao and his wife and son are in my hands. As long as someone brings back the head of the Lingnan rebel, I will let him go. However, I am indebted to Prince Jing. If Prince Jing can't live, I don't mind killing another Pang Shao. "
Lou Wanjun hurriedly agreed. He picked up Pang Shao's youngest son with one hand and turned to leave.
However, Lou Yue called out to her.
"Don't forget to tell him that Pang Shao has already told him about Huo Wujiu," he said. "Tell him not to worry. As long as the 300,000 soldiers are returned to their rightful owners, Huo Wujiu can be handed over to me. There's no need for the emperor to worry."
Sure enough, within half a day, someone threw the letter out of the city through the gap in the city gates.
It was a letter written by the future emperor.
The handwriting was messy, which showed how irritated the person who wrote the letter was.
"Jiang Suizhou is not dead. Don't worry. Quickly send people to the south. Bring back whoever's head you want. But you must deliver the troops and horses without delay. "
Lou Yue finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The successor had been deceived by him. In this way, Jiang Suizhou in the palace could be considered safe for the time being.
However, a day later, his nerves tensed up again.
The new prefect of Suzhou was Pang Shao's henchman. Because it was very close to Lin 'an, he immediately sent a message to Pang Wei in Lingnan and immediately brought 30,000 Suzhou soldiers north to protect the emperor. On the evening of the second day, the Suzhou soldiers arrived.
Lou Yue and his men were guarding the city gates. They could not enter the city, and there were enemy troops outside the city. For a moment, Lou Yue could not even take care of himself. He and a few of his generals each guarded a place to defend against the reinforcements from Suzhou.
Fortunately, one side was guarding the city gates, and the other side had the intention of carefully probing. The person leading the troops was also a civil official who had never fought in a war. They did not even touch an inch of the city gates for an entire day. One group of people was even chased by Lou Wanjun's troops for 20 li.
However, that night, a spy brought news.
When Pang Wei in Lingnan heard that Lin 'an was surrounded and his father was captured, he gathered 300,000 soldiers overnight and headed toward Lin' an.
The distance between Lingnan and Lin 'an was not far. In at most three days, the vanguard would arrive.
Lou Yue and his generals gathered together to calculate. No matter how they calculated, Pang Wei would be faster than Huo Wujiu. What he meant was that everyone's heart had sunk to the bottom of the valley. After the discussion, no one said anything. They silently returned to the front of the city gate that they were guarding. They would lead the few troops under their command to hold on for a few more days until Huo Wujiu's reinforcements arrived.
This kind of low pressure pervaded outside the city for an entire day.
Until the second day.
Early in the morning, the morning sun broke through the sky and shone brightly on the ancient city walls.
The general guarding the north of the city had not slept the entire night. His heart had been stretched taut, and his eyes had long become blurry. He stood on the city walls and was about to go down to eat breakfast when he heard a soldier standing guard to the side suddenly cry out in surprise.
"General!" he said. "They're here!"
The general was shocked and quickly looked over.
He saw dust rising from the horizon in the distance. It was the footsteps of soldiers and horses. A vast and mighty army with no end in sight was heading toward Lin 'an City.
It had only been two days since they learned of Pang Wei's departure that day, but he was actually so fast!
The general hurriedly said, "Go, go and tell General Lou! They're here! "
The soldier hurriedly responded. He had just run out two steps when he turned back. "General, who's coming?"
The general wished he could kick him.
"Who else could it be? How could they be so fast from the Yangtze River? "
As he spoke, he looked in the direction outside the city.
With just one glance, he was stunned.
The north city gate he was guarding … seemed to be in the direction of the Yangtze River.
And the person in the lead of the approaching army really looked like Huo Wujiu.
— —
The general stumbled all the way down from the city wall and went straight out of the city to greet dozens of soldiers. Then, he met Huo Wujiu who was galloping over on horseback.
Just the cavalry behind him alone numbered in the tens of thousands. The rest of the troops would probably be more than ten times that.
How could this be?
The general was so excited that he was about to cry.
The Yangtze River was so far away from here, and he was leading troops from Jiangbei. How could they be so fast? However, the person in the lead on the black horse was indeed Huo Wujiu.
After a while, Huo Wujiu raised his hand and stopped the troops behind him. He whipped his horse and galloped in front of the general. With one hand on the reins, he pulled the war horse to a stop.
The war horse raised its front hooves and came to a stop.
The general excitedly knelt on one knee and saluted Huo Wujiu with his fists. "General Huo!"
Huo Wujiu grunted in acknowledgment. He pulled the reins and headed toward the city gate.
"I didn't expect the general to be so fast. We were so worried!"
The general hurriedly followed him.
However, Huo Wujiu turned around and glanced at him. He responded indifferently and asked, "Where's King Jing?"
The general was stunned. He didn't know why General Huo was looking for King Jing.
"Is His Highness King Jing in the palace?" he asked.
Huo Wujiu tightened his grip on the reins. The war horse neighed and stopped in its tracks.
General Huo turned around.
He was expressionless as well, but his eyes instantly turned cold and ruthless. The tall and burly general couldn't help but tremble.
"What did you say?"
He heard Huo Wujiu speak through gritted teeth.
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