Chapter 298: Breaking the City

A cold wind was blowing everywhere, and when I opened my mouth, I inhaled bone-chilling cold air.

Shen Yu coughed twice, held her belly and said, "You said that I worked hard for the people and lost money, but corrupt officials were wiped out wherever the iron hoof passed, and thousands of hectares of corn grew. What did you do in this imperial city?"

The two coughs drifted away in the wind, and Xie Tingzhou frowned when he heard the sound.

The cold wind suddenly lifted Shen Yu's cloak, revealing her bulging belly.

"Oops!" Liu Cheng supported the wall, "She is actually pregnant."

Everyone else also had a heavy look on their face.

"Shen Yu is so cunning that she didn't even mention that she was pregnant. If word gets out about the argument today, the world will say that we bully women and children."

Liu Cheng clenched his fist and hammered the city wall, "Shout thank Tingzhou and let him come!"

Before they could open their mouths, a carriage and carriage arrived.

Xie Tingzhou stepped out of the carriage and spread out his fox fur to completely cover Shen Yu.

"Lean on me." He said softly, picked up Shen Yu and put her into the carriage.

Then he stood on the carriage shaft and looked up towards the city wall, his eyes filled with coldness like thin frost.

"What nonsense are you talking about? The Great Zhou Dynasty is already declining. Today I want to destroy the city. Who dares to stop me!"

Everyone on the city wall was shocked.

If Shen Yu was willing to be reasonable just now, Xie Tingzhou doesn't want to talk nonsense now.

"Xie Yun!" Liu Cheng shouted, "If you forcefully attack the city today, you will be a sinner forever!"

"Eternal sinner." Xie Tingzhou looked at the city wall and sneered, "Do you think I care?"

Liu Cheng was furious, "You..."

Xie Tingzhou said coldly: "How about being famous for a century? What about being infamy for thousands of years? Since history books are written for future generations, let future generations take care of how to write about me."

Rumble——

It seemed like the whole ground was shaking.

Everyone looked up and saw black soldiers coming out of the snow.

Xie Tingzhou narrowed his eyes against the wind and snow, and his voice echoed in the wind and snow, "A gentleman will hide if he has no way, and if he has the way, he will go out. ① If you want me in this troubled world, I will come out."

He raised his hand and pointed to the city gate.

"Give it to me, break it!"

The Qingyun Guards behind him were uniform.

Xiao Chuan stood on his horse and shouted: "Draw your sword! Follow me to break the city!"

Suddenly there were shouts of curses and the noise of running on the city wall.

The trebuchet rolled forward through the snow. Xiao Chuan rode his horse forward for a few steps, but stopped with a look of surprise on his face.

He turned back on his horse and said, "Your Majesty..."

Xie Tingzhou frowned and looked at the city gate.

But all the people on the city wall turned back and became quiet.

The thick city gate slowly opened to both sides.

One person was wearing a thin white lining, without a crown, and his black hair was casually spread behind him.

He walked slowly through the wind and snow.

"Thank you Tingzhou——"

Li Jifeng said loudly: "I am the prince of Zhou Dynasty! Now I will take off my robes, debase myself in white clothes, and come here to welcome you!"

The wind and snow seemed to have stopped at this moment.

Everyone looked at the white figure in the snow.

Gradually, everyone on the city wall realized something.

Their prince took off his crown and robe, opened the door in person and accepted the surrender.

First there were faint sobs, then howling.

"My Great Zhou Dynasty has a century-old foundation! A century-old foundation!"

"The prosperity is gone and all the glory is lost!"

"Swear not to be a minister of the country's subjugation!"

All the cries were swept into the wind and snow, and they will disappear with the wind, but today, they will make a significant mark in the history books.

…

There was no fighting, no fleeing palace people, everyone was performing their duties, as if nothing had changed.

The palace maid added some charcoal to the charcoal stove, then knelt down and sat aside.

Li Zhaonian seemed to be in good spirits today. The palace maid had been grooming him for a long time. He was still dissatisfied when he looked at his thin and haggard face in the mirror and ordered the curtain to be lowered.

The sound of the palace door opening sounded. Li Zhaonian looked sideways and saw a vague figure walking from the door.

The figures gradually became clearer, and the silhouette of an old friend could be vaguely seen through the curtain.

"You came."

"Um."

It was snowing outside, and Shen Yu felt chilly when she entered the palace. It was very warm inside, so she took off her cloak and handed it to the palace maid beside her.

Shen Yu sat down next to the dragon couch.

Li Zhaonian's eyes fell on her abdomen through the curtain, "How many months have it been?"

Shen Yu gently covered it with her hand, "It's been more than four months."

"Time flies so fast." Li Zhaonian's expression was gentle, with a faint smile in his eyes.

"Very soon." Shen Yu asked, "How is your health now?"

"I'm in great spirits today." Li Zhaonian said with a smile, "Maybe it's because I want to see an old friend."

His voice was tired and he was panting slightly when he spoke, but he refused to show weakness in front of her.

Li Zhaonian moved slightly and looked at her face through the narrow gap in the curtain.

Her brows and eyes have lost some childishness, and she looks better than before, but good looks have never been her advantage, and there are still many admirable things about her.

"Shen Yu." Li Zhaonian looked at her figure, "I was not..."

"I know." Shen Yu interrupted softly, "Being in the position you are in, you can't help yourself."

Shen Yu looked at the curtain and could only vaguely see the skeletal figure on the couch.

Time flies by so fast, taking away Li Zhaonian, who was as gentle as jade, as gentle as the breeze and the bright moon, leaving only a broken body.

Li Zhaonian curled his lips and smiled, his eyes gradually turning red, "If there is an afterlife, I will treat you as a confidant."

"You seem to have said something similar to me." Shen Yu said.

"Yes, it seems like it was a lifetime ago." Li Zhaonian asked, "Is it snowing heavily outside?"

"It's quite big." Shen Yu said, "There's no chaos in the capital, and the government is still sending people to clear the snow."

Li Zhaonian nodded, "I don't know how the history books will evaluate me. The last emperor of the Great Zhou is also the most..."

"It's definitely not like that." Shen Yu interrupted him, thought for a while and said, "It should be... Emperor Yongning is well-read, knowledgeable about ancient and modern times, good at poetry, music, calligraphy and painting, and has a side knowledge of Buddhism and Taoism. He has a great spirit in his heart and half of the world."

Li Zhaonian smiled gently, "It sounds good, so I'll be bold and leave it as my epitaph."

The hall was quiet.

Shen Yu turned her head to look at the window, feeling depressed.

As she walked along, people kept leaving. She seemed to be saying goodbye to different people. The only comforting thing was that the person next to her was still there.

Li Zhaonian's eyes slid from her face to her hand on her leg.

That hand was right next to the couch, so close.

He watched quietly, slowly stretched out his hand, and his fingertips were about to touch it, but stopped at the curtain, and then his fingertips slowly curled up again.

① A gentleman hides himself when there is no way, and comes out when there is a way, from "The Analects of Confucius"