Chapter 28: Meeting a Confidant by Chance (5)
——This way——
"Your Majesty, this is the information I gathered from the generals who defected to our side—"
"Um!"
Zhao Ziyan handed the paper with the information to Zhao Ziheng.
"As expected, all the important officials including Prime Minister Wang have been captured—"
"Yes, because they are all prestigious and senior officials in the court, so King Ling should not do anything to them now. However, I heard that General Yuan, the commander of the Imperial Guard, was executed on the spot for resisting-- "
"Commander Yuan, it's not hard to imagine that he would rather die than betray. When I first took over the throne, he seemed very reluctant, but he is the one I trust the most."
"What should we do? The royal palace has almost completely fallen into the hands of King Ling. Even if we take the royal city, it will be impossible for King Ling, who has been fully prepared, to be easily defeated. Even if it is a protracted war, I am afraid that the important officials under house arrest will not be able to hold on. King Ling must be desperate to do this. He is fully prepared to surrender even if dozens of royal cities are lost. The longer the time drags on, the more proud he will be. In addition, we don't know how much grain they have stored. He will definitely wait for us to voluntarily abandon the city and surrender to him. Even if we attack by force, he will use those hostages as a threat-"
Zhao Ziheng seemed indifferent to Zhao Ziyan's worries and seemed to be thinking about other things?
"emperor--"
"Uh, ah, I understand. Tell the soldiers to rest first, and then gather General He and the others to formulate the next plan—"
"yes!"
Zhao Ziyin was a little worried when he saw Zhao Ziheng was indifferent, but when he heard his normal attitude, he immediately became happy and took action immediately.
The dawn light appeared in the distant sky.
Looking at the morning light in the distance, Zhao Ziheng felt uneasy. He would not feel at ease until the coup was suppressed one day earlier. Moreover, his worries seemed to be more than just that...
【emperor--】.
"Well?"
Zhao Ziheng suddenly heard that familiar voice, the kind of voice that seemed so close yet so ethereal...
"Vell?"
For some reason, although he pretended to be indifferent to Lin Wei and tried to stay as far away from her as possible, he always felt uneasy after hearing what Zhao Zixi said.
In the same royal city , in the bedroom of the Zhonghe Palace of the royal palace...
Messy clothes on the floor and empty space.
What the maid Qingqing saw after entering the room made her heart timid: "Madam——"
There was no response to her soft call. She only dared to come to this room after Zhao Zixi left here before dawn. It was not difficult to imagine what had happened from the messy clothes on the floor, but she still wanted to hold on to a glimmer of hope.
When she saw him lying on the bed covered by the quilt, tears were flowing silently in the corners of his eyes, his empty eyes did not blink, as if he had no soul, his eyes were open and lifeless...
"Mother, mother——"
The most worrying thing has become a reality. Qingqing watched it all in shock...
"How could he do this to you, my lady -"
Qingqing cried out in grief and anger, but she could do nothing. All she could do was stay by Lin Wei's side.
"My queen, please say something, my queen——"
Facing Qingqing's crying, Lin Wei did not react at all, not even blinking...
"Your Majesty, wu——Your Majesty, please come and save your Majesty——"
The word "Emperor" in Qingqing's words made Lin Wei's eyes fluctuate slightly: "Emperor——"
"Eh? My Lady??"
Finally, I could hear Lin Wei's voice, but her expression remained unchanged, and only the pain in her eyes was left...
"Your Majesty, the Queen needs you very much, please come and save her quickly——"
Qingqing felt extremely helpless and could only cry and beg...
On the inner wall of the royal city.
"What is the King of Zhao thinking about?"
Zhao Ziheng, who was looking ahead with a worried look in his heart, was brought back to his senses by the handsome man's voice. "Well, nothing, I just felt that time was really long, but also very short——"
"Are you thinking about the Queen?"
The handsome man's words made Zhao Ziheng turn around and look at him: "How can you read my mind?"
"Haha, how could that be? It's just that the King of Zhao has his mind written all over his face. How can I not see it?"
"You are such a secretive person!"
"What about King Zhao?"
There are some unknown secrets between Zhao Ziheng and the handsome man, but they also have the same aura.
"This is the first time I've met someone who can easily see through my thoughts—"
"Can't King Zhao see through me?"
"No, I can't tell what you are thinking about—"
"That's just on the surface. In fact, King Zhao has already seen through my inner thoughts, right? This should be the so-called confidant that is hard to meet in life, right? For us, it should be purely a coincidence, so it is a confidant that we met by chance, right?"
"Meeting a close friend by chance? Humph, if that's the case, why did you hide your name and origin from me?"
"Please forgive me, King Zhao. I have no intention of hiding anything. It's just that everyone has privacy that they don't want to make public. Please forgive me for this. At first, I didn't dare to marry someone too high, but now I feel that I shouldn't hide anything. Of course, it's not because the situation has changed. My name is Feng Qinghan, and I'm from Wu. It's just a coincidence that I came to Zhao this time-"
"Coincidence? That's quite convincing. I understand Brother Feng's concerns. Since we have met by coincidence under the arrangement of God and we are rare confidants, we will call each other brothers from now on. How do you feel, Brother Feng?"
"If King Zhao doesn't mind—"
"Okay, Brother Feng is really straightforward. From now on, there will be no need for our identities to separate us. Brother Feng can just call me by my name—"
"Brother Ziheng ?"
"right!"
"...Then I will respectfully obey your command. First of all, I will still address you the same way as others in public, but I will not be bound by etiquette in private."
"no problem!"
It can be seen that Zhao Ziheng and Feng Qinghan each have their own thoughts, but they do not show it on the surface. The two become close friends under the guidance of God or the arrangement of fate. At this time, Zhao Ziheng does not know whether the person in front of him is an enemy or a friend. All he knows is that Feng Qinghan is definitely not someone he can imagine.
For Feng Qinghan, who came to Zhao State specially, everything might be within his expectations. The only thing that was beyond his expectations was that his heart had changed from the moment he came into contact with Zhao Ziheng, a change that even he himself had not yet noticed...
