Chapter 613: Victory at the East Gate
While the Crown Princess was "asking herself", Sun Shaozong was also marching on the official road between Jinmen Prefecture and Shuntian Prefecture with a troop of more than a thousand men.
In order to complete the entire victory ceremony before the auspicious time of noon, the team set out from Tianjin Prefecture two days ago , and yesterday they set up camp ten miles away from the capital.
Not only that, these more than a thousand soldiers were actually impostors. They were not the ones who followed Sun Shaozong to Huguang to quell the rebellion.
After all, the imperial court had a sudden idea and wanted to put on a show in front of the people in the capital, and the soldiers who had made contributions had to wait until Sichuan was transferred troops to replace them before they could officially return to the capital.
How could there be enough time for this?
The court had no choice but to gather a group of soldiers from the officers and soldiers in rotation training in Tianjin Prefecture, pretending to be soldiers who had made meritorious contributions, and accompanied Sun Shaozong to the capital to report the victory.
"grown ups!"
Sun Shaozong was dozing in the carriage when he heard Wang Zhen's respectful voice outside: "We are less than five miles away from the capital. Do you think we should get dressed first?"
Sun Shaozong lifted the curtain of the car, and seeing that it was already bright outside, he stamped his feet lightly.
“Ouch!”
Zhao Nan, who was driving the cart, immediately pulled the reins. The soldiers in front and behind saw it and hurriedly shouted to stop .
Sun Shaozong jumped down from the carriage, and Wang Zhen immediately came forward with several personal guards to help him put on the gilt armor with mountain patterns.
By the time he had finished packing, he looked at the soldiers in front, behind, and around him. They had all changed their appearance. Each of them was wearing shining helmets and armor, and was full of vigor. Who would dare to say that this army was not returning victorious?
Wang Zhen and several other personal soldiers also helped each other to get dressed, and then they brought over a tall horse and asked Sun Shaozong to ride on it. They came to the front in a proud and confident manner.
The book does not elaborate.
However, in order to keep the army in good shape, they took more than half an hour to walk the four-mile distance. Seeing the East Gate, which he had not seen for many years, right in front of him, Sun Shaozong couldn't help feeling as if he was in another world.
Woo~~~~
At this moment, hundreds of rhino-horn trumpets suddenly sounded from the top of the city, followed by the rumbling sound of horse hooves like thunder. Hundreds of horses galloped out of the city and stood on both sides of the official road for more than a hundred feet!
When Sun Shaozong rode ahead and arrived in front of the waiting cavalry, the hundreds of knights on horseback raised their shiny scimitars, pointed to the sky and shouted, "Ten thousand wins, ten thousand wins!"
After shouting about three or five times, the people waiting outside the city gate also started shouting, followed by the people inside the city!
Although he had known for a long time that this was actually a face-saving project, Sun Shaozong still couldn't help but get excited when he was there.
He stretched out his hand and waved it backwards. A flag of the Great Zhou army with red flames setting the whole field on fire was delivered to his palm by his personal guards.
Sun Shaozong raised the military flag high and shouted "Victory!"
The noise around the bathroom suddenly became louder, echoing throughout the entire imperial capital!
At that time, a dragon chariot slowly drove out of the city gate. The person wearing the nine-chamber crown on it was naturally the prince.
Seeing the dragon chariot slowly approaching, Sun Shaozong hurriedly dismounted, strode forward, knelt on one knee in front of the chariot, and said in a trembling voice: "Sun Shaozong is just fulfilling his duty as a subject. How dare I, His Royal Highness, come out to greet you in person!"
The dragon chariot slowly stopped in front of Sun Shaozong. A young eunuch with him set up a step. The prince quickly climbed down the steps, grabbed Sun Shaozong's arm, and said loudly: "Lord Sun led more than a thousand soldiers to sweep away hundreds of thousands of barbarians. This feat is rare in ancient and modern times. How can you not deserve my welcome?"
As he spoke, he pulled Sun Shaozong up and whispered emotionally, "My dear, you are finally back!"
The latter sentence doesn't sound like a cliché.
Sun Shaozong also shed two tears and choked up, saying, "Even when I was in Huguang, there was not a day that I did not miss Your Highness!"
Upon seeing this, the prince was about to say something about their separation, but an official from the Ministry of Rites came up to remind him that they could not delay the auspicious time for offering sacrifices to the Taimiao.
There was some viciousness in the prince's eyes, but he had no choice but to pull Sun Shaozong towards the dragon chariot.
When they arrived in front of the dragon chariot, Sun Shaozong declined and thanked three times according to the script, and then he got on the chariot with great trepidation.
The dragon chariot had no front or back movement, so the trackers changed direction and slowly drove into the city again.
Amid the sound of drums and music, tens of thousands of people lined the streets to welcome them.
Although they did not dare and could not get close to the dragon chariot, they kept throwing all kinds of food and objects into the hands of the officers and soldiers.
But thinking about it, most of them had never left Hebei, and Sun Shaozong felt sorry for the common people.
As for Xu Shouye, Lu Jianxing, Shen Lian and others, although they missed the welcome ceremony, their achievements were real and would not be diminished at all. They might even get some compensation and rewards for their absence from this victory ceremony.
"My dear."
At this moment, the prince suddenly pointed to a restaurant on the left and said, "Look who is upstairs?"
Sun Shaozong looked in the direction of his finger, but he only saw a few beautiful women who were vying with each other, sticking their heads out and waving desperately without caring about their image. The ones with tearful eyes were Ruan Rong, Xiangling, and You Erjie? !
At that moment, Sun Shaozong was about to respond with a roar, but he was concerned that he was on the dragon chariot and was being watched by so many people around him.
So I could only wave to them.
Seeing this, the three girls became more and more excited, and chased along the balcony from the east end to the west end. If Qingwen, Yuanyang and other maids had not stopped them, they would have rushed downstairs and followed the dragon chariot to the Taimiao.
After passing the restaurant for a long time, Sun Shaozong still looked back reluctantly, but suddenly he saw someone in a carriage not far behind the dragon chariot, boasting loudly:
"Gentlemen, please pay attention. Our general has used this sword to kill countless barbarians like grass!"
"This sword is incredible. It weighs 102.4 jin. It is a fierce weapon handed down from ancient times. Only a peerless warrior can tame it..."
"Those ignorant barbarians are still trying to resist the imperial power, how can they resist the sword of my general..."
The authentic Beijing dialect kept calling people "barbarians", but Sun Shaozong rolled his eyes when he heard it.
The prince also saw the man, and seeing that Sun Shaozong had a strange expression, he smiled and said, "Your subordinate is a man who is good at speaking."
"I dare not deceive Your Highness."
Sun Shaozong was speechless and said, "That guy's original name was Ba Ke, and he is actually a genuine Wuxi barbarian."
The prince was also stunned, and then sneered: "He is indeed a taciturn beast. My dear minister, you can drive him around, but you can't trust him with your heart."
Sun Shaozong understood what he meant without him saying anything, but he still pretended to be taught and responded respectfully.
As they were talking, the outline of the majestic imperial city began to loom large.
Sun Shaozong stood on the dragon chariot, gazing at the magnificent palace from afar. Although he did not utter a word, he could not help but roar in his heart: I, Sun Erlang, am finally back!
