Mister Tan's expression had already explained everything.
King Yue felt as if he was thrown into a bottomless abyss. A chill rose from the bottom of his heart and spread throughout his body.
His hot-bloodedness from before instantly turned cold.
King Yue refused to accept the truth before him. Just when he thought that he had seen the light, someone slammed the window shut and told him that it was all fake.
No one could accept that.
King Yue unconsciously tightened his grip on Mister Tan's shoulder. Feeling the pain, Mister Tan pushed his hand away, "Get them to retreat first and close the gate!"
It wasn't that they wanted to retreat, but the army had forced them to retreat and find another way out.
King Yue gnashed his teeth. He wasn't willing to give up just like that.
"We can't retreat. If we're trapped in the city again, we won't have any chance. We have to end this quickly and break out of the encirclement as soon as possible."
Mister Tan briefly pondered and felt that King Yue's words were reasonable. They couldn't be trapped in Hanzhou City, or they might die here. This was their only chance.
As they spoke, the people below also noticed that something was amiss.
"Is someone coming?"
"Our men? Or … the imperial court? "
Not only were the soldiers under King Yue, but the imperial court's army was also the same.
When the battle started, they knew that King Yue had a backup plan, but they didn't expect the other party to be so much stronger than them. The general had already written a request for help from the imperial court. The reason why they waited until now was to delay King Yue and wait for reinforcements.
After fighting for so long, they could no longer hold on. If the imperial court still didn't send reinforcements, King Yue might be able to break out of the encirclement today.
"General, there are traces of a large number of troops nearby."
The man who was addressed as the general grabbed onto his sword and asked, "Are they our men or King Yue's men?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding people all held their breaths. Many times in the past, after they heard such reports, King Yue's forces would grow stronger. From being able to crush the other party in the beginning to being evenly matched, it only took less than a month for them to be crushed by the other party.
They wished that they could hear a different answer.
"General, it's the imperial court's army!" The soldier couldn't conceal the excitement on his face.
Hearing his words, everyone felt relieved.
When everyone looked at the general, they saw that there wasn't any trace of relaxation on his face and his brows were tightly knitted.
"General?"
"Don't let your guard down. Carefully confirm the other party's identity."
"Yes!"
The general's words cleared their minds. They recalled what had happened not long ago. The King of Yue's men had disguised themselves as soldiers of the Imperial Court to get close to them. If not for the general's timely reaction, they might have already been killed by the enemy.
Gu Huai brought his men closer. Everyone saw the flag they were holding high. It was the symbol of Da Huan.
"The people sent by His Majesty have arrived!"
Gu Huai's arrival completely reversed the situation on the battlefield.
Like a landslide, the dark clouds that shrouded the sky above Hanzhou City had finally dispersed.
Before the new year, the imperial court received news that the rebels had been executed.
The King of Yue escaped under the cover of his trusted aides. Before they could get far, Gu Huai's men caught up with them and captured them.
In this battle, Gu Huai had once again made a great contribution.
As one of the commanders, Gu Huai rode at the front of the group when they returned to the capital.
The citizens of the capital lined the streets to welcome them. They had already received the news of the King of Yue's defeat from the newspapers. The King of Yue, Mr. Tan, and the rest were locked up in prison wagons, attracting countless rotten eggs and leaves.
The King of Yue blankly looked at everything before him. It wasn't easy for him to escape from the capital, but he came back in such a sorry state. The difference in his heart was too great, and he no longer knew what expression he should show.
A rotten egg smashed into his head with a "bang" and broke. A disgusting stench instantly overflowed.
In the beginning, the King of Yue was still unhappy and frowned. But now, he no longer had any expression when facing this.
Along the way, he could only hear the disdain directed at him.
The ones responsible for escorting the King of Yue's group back to the capital were the five thousand troops that Gu Huai brought back from the Subei Province. The troops that the imperial court sent to Hanzhou City were temporarily left there to deal with the aftermath.
To show the importance of a meritorious official returning to the capital, the imperial court would send officials to receive them. If the meritorious service was great enough, the emperor would personally receive them.
This time, Gu Huai had rendered meritorious service twice, and even turned the tide to capture the King of Yue. The imperial court had to pay attention to him.
On the day that Gu Huai brought people back, Shen Yu and Shang Junlin changed into casual clothes and left the palace.
In the restaurant and teahouse, everyone was talking about the King of Yue. This time, Shen Yu and Shang Junlin didn't choose the Yingxing Tower. Instead, they chose another teahouse and asked for a private room on the second floor by the window. It was convenient for them to observe the situation outside.
They chose the place that Gu Huai's group had to pass through after entering the capital.
Shen Yu poured tea for himself and pushed a cup in front of Shang Junlin, "The tea here is pretty good. Your Majesty, try it."
This teahouse was recommended by Jiang Huaiqing when he wrote to him. For a long time, Shang Junlin was busy with government affairs and couldn't leave the palace. Today, he was free. Under Shen Yu's invitation, he came out with him.
Shang Junlin picked up the teacup and took a sip, "I still prefer A Yu's cooking."
Shen Yu knew a lot of things. The art of tea had accompanied him for two lifetimes. In his previous life, he was alone and liked to make tea for himself. In this life, there was one more person, Shang Junlin, so he made tea for Shang Junlin.
Shang Junlin was used to drinking the tea made by Shen Yu, so he couldn't accept the tea made by others.
Shen Yu looked at the sky. There was still time, so he asked the waiter to bring the tea set.
"I'm just saying. A Yu doesn't have to do it himself." Shang Junlin saw this and hurriedly pressed down his hand.
"It's fine. I also prefer to drink tea made by myself." Shen Yu didn't say this to appease Shang Junlin. He really thought so. When he was in the palace, he liked to do it himself.
Shang Junlin saw that Shen Yu was interested, so he asked Eunuch Meng to pick a lot of treasured tea sets and send them to Yuzhang Palace.
Shen Yu's movements were natural and smooth. His light blue clothes danced with his movements. He looked down and focused on the white porcelain teacup in his hand.
Shang Junlin's gaze fell on him and couldn't move away.
Shang Junlin was worried that Shen Yu would be hungry, so he ordered a lot of snacks. They were all sweets that Shen Yu liked.
Shang Junlin took a piece of snack and fed it to Shen Yu. Shen Yu took a bite. A faint tea fragrance spread in his mouth. He said in surprise, "Are there tea leaves in this snack?"
It had the fragrance of tea, but it didn't have the bitterness of tea. Instead, it was sweet and lingered in his mouth.
"A special method is used to leave the fragrance of tea in the snack and filter out the bitterness. It's a very famous snack here."
The sun gradually set in the west. More and more people gathered on the street. Shen Yu and the others chose a very good position. They had a wide field of vision and could see everything below.
"Are we almost there?" Shen Yu put down the teacup and looked outside.
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of horse hooves not far away. Shen Yu leaned forward and looked in the direction of the sound.
The soldiers wearing armor neatly walked over. The common people automatically stood on the side of the road and made way for them.
Shen Yu could hear the discussions and cheers coming from below. They were rejoicing for Da Huan's victory and cheering for the brave soldiers.
Shen Yu unconsciously smiled and sat back in his seat.
Gu Huai and the others were very fast. In less than a moment, they had arrived at the teahouse. Shen Yu saw Gu Huai sitting high on the back of the horse.
The current Gu Huai was more determined than before. Shen Yu's eyes were more similar to the person in his memory. Shen Yu couldn't help but think of his previous life. What had Gu Huai encountered before he met him?
Shen Yu's gaze fell on Gu Huai for a long time. Shang Junlin discontentedly pinched his chin and saw the sadness in his eyes.
"What is A Yu thinking about?" Shang Junlin uncontrollably increased the strength of his fingers. His voice had a hint of hostility that his master hadn't noticed.
Shen Yu pulled back from the memory of his previous life. He felt some pain in his chin.
"Your Majesty, you're hurting me."
Shang Junlin released Shen Yu's chin as if he had just woken up from a dream. Unsurprisingly, there were two shocking red marks on Shen Yu's chin.
"Does it hurt?" The hostility in his heart instantly dissipated. Shang Junlin carefully lifted Shen Yu's chin and touched it with his fingertips.
Shen Yu shook his head. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of the King of Yue who was locked in the prisoner carriage.
"This time, Your Majesty wants to punish the King of Yue. No one will jump out and say that it was the order of the late Emperor, right?"
As if he felt something, the person in the prisoner carriage looked up and glanced over. Then, as if he was stabbed, he hurriedly looked away.
"The King of Yue's rebellion is already set in stone. They don't dare."
Seeing the scene he wanted to see, Shen Yu was satisfied.
Now that the King of Yue was arrested, Shang Junlin still had a lot of things to do. After packing some snacks, the two got up and returned to the palace.
Habit was really a scary thing. Shen Yu used more than ten years to get used to being alone. But now, he only used a year to get used to the existence of another person by his side.
After accompanying Shen Yu in Yuzhang Palace for a while, Shang Junlin went to see Gu Huai and the others.
After a simple wash, Gu Huai needed to enter the palace to meet the Emperor. Along with him, there were several other generals who came to the capital with him. Some of them were brought back from Subei, some were recruited halfway, and some were sent to Hanzhou.
The King of Yue and his accomplices were locked up in the Ministry of Justice's prison.
The King of Yue had already rebelled. Even with the late Emperor's order, no one in the imperial court dared to plead for the King of Yue this time.
It was a serious crime of rebellion. Even if they had several lives, it wouldn't be enough to pay for it.
No one would joke about the fate of themselves and their family. A serious crime of rebellion would go down in infamy for thousands of years.
The palace held a small welcoming banquet for Gu Huai and the others. The important officials of the imperial court also attended. During the banquet, Shang Junlin rewarded the people who had made contributions this time.
Gu Huai was promoted to a second-grade general, which was even higher than his original position.
This time, no one raised any objections.
"I order you to arrest the remnants of the rebels as soon as possible." At the same time, Shang Junlin gave out a new mission.
"This subject obeys!"
After receiving the decree, Gu Huai returned to his seat. During this time, many officials came to curry favor with him. They could already see the future of this newly promoted general from Shang Junlin's attitude.
To be able to be placed in an important position by the Emperor, he would definitely have a bright future. Moreover, Gu Huai didn't belong to any power in the imperial court. At this time, it was better to befriend him and pull him to their side.
After the banquet ended, Shang Junlin didn't return to Yuzhang Palace immediately. Instead, he went to the Imperial Study.
The leader of the Hidden Dragon Guards silently appeared in the Imperial Study.
"We need to know everything about Gu Huai, no matter how big or small."
He couldn't ignore Shen Yu's gaze during the day.
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