The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 490 He is a dog raised by the Jin Kingdom

Yue Fei sighed deeply, and Yue Yun and Zhang Xian also showed resentment on their faces.

But with a foolish emperor on the throne and treacherous officials in power, what can they do even if they are angry?

The three had no choice but to accept reality and were pushed and shoved by the soldiers into Fengbo Pavilion.

The pavilion was small, and few people could enter. Only a few of Qin Hui's closest confidants escorted Yue Fei and others in.

The trusted men exchanged glances and pressed Yue Fei, Yue Yun, and Zhang Xian to the ground.

Yue Fei had been on a hunger strike for many days and had long since lost his strength. Unable to resist, he had no choice but to lie flat on the ground.

Yue Yun and Zhang Xian followed his example and lay flat on the ground.

As soon as they lay down, they were blocked from view by the low wall and railing of the pavilion, and could not be seen from outside the pavilion.

As Yue Fei closed his eyes and awaited death, suddenly, the floor tiles beside him flipped over, revealing a hole. A hand reached out from the hole, grabbed Yue Fei, and dragged him away forcefully.

Yue Fei inexplicably slipped and fell into a cave.

By the light filtering through the opening above, Yue Fei could see that the cave was quite large, as if it had just been dug, and there was still the fresh smell of soil. There were quite a few people lying in ambush inside, at least a dozen or so. He heard someone whisper in his ear, "Don't make a sound, we're here to save you." Where did he hear that voice before?
Yue Fei wasn't stupid, so of course he kept quiet...

Then, Yue Yun and Zhang Xian were also pulled into the cave.

Then, Yue Fei saw three people being pushed out from the corner of the cave. These three people were wearing the same clothes as him, Yue Yun, and Zhang Xian, and were also bound hand and foot. More importantly, their body types were very similar.

Yue Fei was a little confused: What's going on?

Yue Yun, being young and not so composed, couldn't help but speak up: "Hey? These three people..."

The three men wore strange expressions of relief, but remained silent. They were carried up from the cave entrance by the people inside the cave and pushed into the Fengbo Pavilion. Qin Hui's henchmen took over outside, dragging the three men up and placing them on the ground.

Then, the floor tiles were put back on, and the entire cave was plunged into darkness, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

No one spoke in the cave. Yue Fei and his two companions knew that they had come to rescue them, so they were not foolish enough to speak and remained silent.

The atmosphere was rather oppressive.

A minute or two later, Qin Hui's voice rang out from above: "The auspicious hour has arrived. Yue Fei, Yue Yun, and Zhang Xian have committed fabricated crimes. Their identities have now been verified. Execute them!"

The sound of a knife slicing through flesh and bone echoed outside, and blood dripped from the cracks in the floor tiles overhead...

Yue Fei: "!!!"

Qin Hui's voice continued, "The execution is complete, the wicked minister has been executed!"

"The Emperor himself said that the killing of these three people should not be publicized, and their bodies should be buried on the spot and disposed of properly."

Various noises arose outside—digging holes, burying soil—and because everyone was inside the cave, the soil conducted sound even better than air, so everyone heard everything clearly…

After a while, all the noise disappeared.

It was quiet outside; Qin Hui and his large group of men had clearly left.

Yue Fei, Yue Yun, and Zhang Xian were all astonished. They understood what had happened; it was just a case of "switching the prince for a cat," where a death row inmate had been replaced. This kind of thing happened quite often in officialdom. High-ranking officials would often bribe officials to save their own people from the execution ground in this way. The method wasn't particularly unusual.

but……

This time, it was Qin Hui who let us go – that's outrageous! Yue Fei was completely dumbfounded: "How could that treacherous Qin Hui let the three of us go?"

A voice from inside the cave laughed, "Let's go out first and talk about it later."

The floor tiles were flipped up again, and someone lifted Yue Fei up and carried him out of the underground cave.

Then Yue Yun and Zhang Xian were carried out in turn.

The people hiding in the cave also crawled out one after another.

There was still a lot of blood on the ground of Fengbo Pavilion, and a large group of people were standing in the pool of blood.

Yue Fei looked closely and finally recognized the person who had saved him: "Young Master Yue!"

Yue Yun was overjoyed: "He really is the young master Yue of the Northern Song Dynasty."

Zhang Xian was the only one who had never met Yue Wenxuan, but he had heard of him. Now, after a careful look, he could see that the person who saved him was a young master dressed in a scholar's robe. He looked to be no more than twenty years old, very young, but his temperament was outstanding. Every move he made exuded a calm and confident demeanor that captivated people at first sight.

Yue Fei murmured, "I never expected, I never expected that it would be the people of the Northern Song Dynasty who would save me."

In that brief moment, he considered countless possibilities: pro-war officials, his old subordinates, righteous civilians... but he never imagined it would be the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Marshal Yue has been on a hunger strike for nearly two months, and he's only surviving on the food Yue Lei brought. Let's eat something first before we talk." Yue Wenxuan waved his hand, and his subordinates immediately brought over some light porridge-like food. It seemed to have been prepared in advance and was placed in a strange, heat-insulating cup. It was still warm when they took it out.

Yue Fei and his two companions, having been starving in prison due to the lack of charity from treacherous officials, were now enjoying a hearty meal. As they ate, they couldn't help but admire how thoughtful and considerate Young Master Yue was.

After a few mouthfuls of porridge, I felt much better.

Yue Fei's mind started working again: "I don't even need to guess to know that Young Master Yue is here to recruit me to join the Northern Song Dynasty, right?"

Yue Yun: "Go! I'm willing to go! Father, let's all go."

Yue Fei glared at him, and Yue Yun was so frightened that he quickly shut up.

Yue Wenxuan found it amusing and smiled, "Marshal Yue is a renowned loyal minister, utterly devoted to Zhao Gou. I don't believe that saving you will make you willing to come with me. Therefore, I have prepared a letter here as well..."

He took out the letter written by Li Gang and handed it to Yue Fei.

Yue Fei held a bowl of porridge in his right hand and read the letter in his left. He finished reading it in no time and couldn't help but sigh.

Li Gang wrote Yue Wenxuan's modern-day verbal sparring, which was very impressive. After reading it, Yue Fei couldn't help but feel that it made sense. However, his loyalty was not ordinary loyalty, but "blind loyalty." Trying to persuade Yue Fei with righteousness was not so easy.

He was still filled with hesitation...

Just then, Yue Wenxuan took out another letter and said with a smile, "This letter is very interesting. It was written by Qin Hui to Marshal Yue."

"Huh?" Yue Fei and the other two were all startled: "Written by Qin Hui?"

Yue Wenxuan: "Qin Hui wrote down the secret agreement between Zhao Gou and the Jin people here."

Yue Fei was taken aback and quickly picked up the letter to read it.

In his letter, Qin Hui detailed Jin Wuzhu's secret letter to Zhao Gou, demanding that "Yue Fei must be killed before peace can be achieved," including Zhao Gou's instruction to fabricate charges against Yue Fei for execution. He also recounted numerous instances of officials being demoted, exiled, or banished for trying to save Yue Fei. The central message was clear: Zhao Gou wanted to kill you, so no one could save you. Not only would you die, but those who tried to save you would also perish.

Finally, he mocked Yue Fei, saying, "You're about to be eaten alive by Young Master Yue, so I'm making this clear to you so you won't complain to the King of Hell that I killed you. Every grievance has its source, every debt its debtor! The one who truly wants to kill you is Zhao Gou. Don't complain to the King of Hell about the wrong person. Zhao Gou is a dog raised by the Jin Dynasty. The person you're loyal to is a dog of the Jin Dynasty. You still want to resist the Jin? That's laughable."

(End of this chapter)