The Marquis Is Innocent - 162.2

Chapter 162.2

Since the founding of Great Yan, the people have been suffering from heavy taxation and corvée service. Waves of riots and chaos surged all over the place. When he finally settled the situation, another bad news came again.

Wei Shao had to rely on Prime Minister Gongsun Yang to appease the people. Before Gongsun Yang died of illness in the field, he gave him an admonition letter saying that due to the consecutive years of war, the state treasury was empty, the people had grievances, and disaster in all its forms, and to advise the king to the solve the water problem, to comfort the people, to stop the war, and be lenient to the people.

Those old generals who followed him to fight for the world have now died in battle, retired, or discouraged by his dictatorship and no longer dare to speak out. Only Gongsun Yang was left, and he would still speak up and advise him, even though Wei Shao had relegated him several times due to his anger. Now, even the last Gongsun Yang died of illness.

In his heart, he suddenly developed a feeling of complete loneliness.

He was finally moved, stopped the court for three days, and wrote a guilty plea. However, just when he decided to issue a decree of recovery, chaos broke again in Baling land. Within the last few months rose thousands of stragglers under the alleged leader, the Green-Eyed General, that once rendered to the previous emperor.

Wei Shao was furious. Once again, his beastly heart was out of the cage. He did not listen to Wei Quan and other people’s persuasion and decided to go on a personal expedition. Before the expedition, he offered a sacrifice to heaven in the Huanqiu, swore to suppress this chaos, and after killing the green-eyes, he will not start the war again.

Full of vengeance, Wei Shao led his army to the south and strangled Baling army. He was victorious and sang a triumphant song. A few months later, he fought the last battle with the stragglers in a deserted field called Wangxiang.

According to the legend, this place was where the spirits of the dead cut off all the ties of their past lives and looked back at their hometown for the last time.

The wilderness of Wangxiang turned into a place of the Shura massacre. Blood stained his battle armor, his eyes were red, his body covered with sweat, and every pore screamed with drenching pleasure. At last, in the heat of the moment, when he rode his horse in front, a stream of arrows like a silent serpent from an unknown direction suddenly tore through the air and shot towards him. Before his blood-filled eyes saw it, the arrow had already reached his throat.

He didn’t even have time to react in any way, and with a coolness in his throat, he felt the cold, hard metal penetrate his soft, unprotected piece of flesh and plunge straight in.

His figure was still, and the blood in his entire body, which had just boiled to the extreme, condensed instantly. Only a moment later did he feel the indescribable pain of having his throat pierced by metal.

The wind rose, the clouds rolled in, and the battle flag fluttered.

The horse underneath him, which had accompanied him for many years to fight in the south and north, sensed the ominous air, suddenly hissed uneasily, and threw him off.

He leaned back, planted on the ground, vaguely seemed to see countless people running in his direction, and panicked shouts filled his eardrums.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty–“

Gradually, the swaying silhouettes and various cacophonous voices that gathered around him became blurred. The last image printed in his bloodshot eyes was a blue sky with white clouds above his head. The sky was blue as a jewel, and the clouds were clean as white shells.

It was alluring.

Why did he never realize this before—

That thought flashed in his mind before he exhaled his last breath from the tube inserted by the stranger.

……

“Lord! Lord!” This voice was ringing in his ears.

Wei Shao cried out while covering his throat. He sat up abruptly, opened his eyes, and what fell into his eyes was Gongsun Yang’s dismayed expression.

Wei Shao’s entire body was soaked in sweat as if he had fished out of the water. His heart was beating so violently that it was almost ready to pop out of his throat.

Gongsun Yang was surprised and hastily moved back, saying, ”Was it me who startled My Lord just now? Please, forgive me, My Lord. The war boat has docked, but My Lord did not come out of the cabin, so I braced myself to call you. What happened to you? Are you having a nightmare?”

Wei Shao slowly lowered his hand over his throat, looked around in a slight daze, and realized he was still in the same cabin as last night. The sky was already bright. It was probably already the next day at noon. The sunshine outside the porthole was bright, and on the deck came the sound of footsteps—

A dream? Fortunately, a dream! He looked sharply at the Gongsun Yang and stared at him, motionless, in dead silence.

When Wei Shao personally went to chase Liu Yan, Gongsun Yang was waiting in the harbor. He waited until the warship returned to the harbor and heard Lei Yan say that the Marquis seemed asleep, probably too tired.

Gongsun Yang felt weird and could not rest assured, so he boarded the warship to find him. Seeing the strange look on Marquis’ face, even if he had accompanied him for years, he still felt puzzled at this moment.

Being looked at by Marquis, his hair stood on end. He touched his face subconsciously and laughed dryly: “Why is the Lord looking at me?”

Wei Shao leaped up from the bed and practically pounced toward him, grabbing his shoulders with a death grip and shaking them hard.

“Sir, you’re still alive! It’s great!”

Marquis’ hands were strangely strong, Gongsun Yang’s shoulders were in his grip, and his bones seemed to be cracking. Being shaken by the Marquis caused him to be dizzy. He forced himself to endure the pain and said, “What do you mean by this, My Lord?”

Only then did Wei Shao realize that he had lost his composure and busily loosened his hands, rubbing them together, casting an apologetic glance towards Gongsun Yang, turning around, and quickly pushing open the porthole.

A gust of sea breeze with a salty odor rushed in.

Wei Shao closed his eyes, took a long breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned his head, and said, “Liu Yan has died. I will go to East County to pick up my wife and daughter.”

Gongsun Yang suppressed the surprise in his heart and hurriedly said: “Lord, please stay for the time being. I still have a word to say. The unification of the world has already taken shape. The people of Luoyang also rejoiced and encouraged. We must put your ascension on the agenda.”

Wei Shao nodded slightly, “I will send a letter to my grandmother. I will leave the rest to you, Sir, and then we will discuss the details after I have picked up my wife and daughter and brought them to Luoyang.”