The younger brother of the First Emperor

Chapter 306 Hate me so much? Killed your mother? Qin Wangzheng was shocked

Thinking that a certain brat would come out tomorrow, Bai Fan, who had just visited his father Bai Jia, felt his head hurt more and more, and his insomnia became more severe.

I undressed and lay down, and in a daze, I heard a hurried call:

"Master! Master!"

He opened his eyes, everything was blurry, as if there was gravel rubbing against his eye sockets, causing a burning pain.

My temples were throbbing as if they were about to explode and my head was aching.

She picked up the buckwheat-filled pillow and threw it at him, then wiped her tears on the bed and half-stood up with an angry look on her face:
"What!"

He finally fell asleep! Damn this slave who disturbed his sleep!
After this tactless slave finished speaking, he would strip him naked and whip him fifty times in the courtyard! Let all the slaves watch!

The servant's forehead was bruised, but he didn't dare to raise his hand to rub it. He just lay on the ground trembling, his voice trembling almost out of tune:
"Master! A thief has broken into the third courtyard! Even the servants in the mansion can't stop him!"

Bai Fan's head buzzed and blood filled his pupils. His first reaction was that it was impossible.

This is the Bai family’s old house. There are more than 1,600 people in the Bai family’s old house. How many thieves are needed to break into the third courtyard?

If there were really so many thieves, could the patrolling guards outside be blind and not see them? Was the curfew just for show?

He was so angry that he wanted to stab to death with a sword the slave who had been talking nonsense and disturbing his sleep.

He grabbed a piece of clothing and put it on, jumped off the bed, and without even having time to put on his shoes, hurried out of the house to check the situation.

After leaving the back room, he stepped barefoot on the cold bluestone slabs and rushed out with big strides.

You can kill the slaves at any time, but if a thief can really break into the third courtyard, every second counts!

The winter plum blossoms are in full bloom, the stars are twinkling, and the scenery outside the house is still as peaceful as ever.

But the servants and guests gathered in the front room looked panic-stricken, some even had their clothes in disarray, and it was obvious that they had also gotten up in a hurry.

Bai Fan knew that a thief seemed to have broken in.

He glanced at everyone and quickly gave an order:
"Yan, go gather all the rooms and send the children and women to the backyard."

"only!"

"Holder, go open the warehouse and distribute armor and weapons."

"only!"

"Jing Gong, you are an expert in archery. Find fifty archers with the best skills to accompany you."

"only!"

"During the day, go to the ancestral hall and take out the eight whistling arrows offered as sacrifices and release them all at once."

"Master, this is an ancient artifact left by our ancestors. It is a ritual vessel. This..."

"go with!"

“Wei…” Bai Tian curled his lips and his eyes were full of dissatisfaction, but he did not dare to disobey, so he could only stomp his feet and turn around.

They were just a few thieves, how could they disturb our ancestors? And we had to release the whistling arrows, but we didn't even know if they would work.

Bai family's ancestor Bai Yibing was a general. This flare arrow was passed down by Bai Yibing. As an offering from the Bai family, its symbolic significance far outweighs its practical significance.

In the eyes of the day, setting off firecrackers in the ancestral hall is almost the same as throwing away the ancestral tablets.

Just a few thieves, what's the big deal? Can he break into the Fifth Academy?
Bai Fan also knew that he was too sensitive.

Not to mention the thieves, even if it was an army with weapons, it would take half an hour to break into the Five Courtyards.

But the long-term setbacks made Bai Fan extremely alert.

He would rather make a fuss out of a small matter and be questioned by the various families afterwards, but he must ensure that the Bai family is absolutely safe, using a butcher knife to kill a chicken!

He thought clearly and issued one order after another.

Seeing that the head of the family was calm and composed, everyone gradually straightened their backs, and the panic in their eyes gradually faded.

What are you afraid of? This is the Bai family!
Bai Fan issued all the orders he could think of in one breath, closed his eyes that were constantly shedding tears, pressed his temples with two fingers, and the blood vessels under his fingertips throbbed.

He returned to the inner room and quickly put on his clothes.

He went to his father's house, took a look at his father who was sleeping with a flushed face, and resolutely went towards the gate of the Fifth Courtyard.

On the way, three flaming arrows shot into the sky, and the sharp sound could be heard for ten miles.

Bai Fan raised his head and took a look, but the gloom in his heart did not dissipate at all.

There shouldn’t be such a powerful thief in Xianyang!

If they can break through the Bai family’s defenses, then no one except the royal palace will be able to stop them.

Such a powerful thief was able to move freely in Xianyang City after curfew... Is he really a thief?

Which side did the reinforcements attracted by the signal arrows support?
Bai Fan's steps were getting faster and faster, his robe fluttering in the wind, and his figure flickered in the light of the lanterns in the corridor, like a wandering soul.

Standing in front of the gate of the Fifth Courtyard, Bai Fan, who wanted to go out to the Fourth Courtyard, was stopped by a servant. Upon learning the news that the Fourth Courtyard had fallen, his face turned pale.

fast!
too fast!
The Bai family has seven courtyards: the front courtyards are one, two, three and four, the main courtyard is five, and the back courtyards are six and seven.

The first and second courtyards are for household slaves and lower-ranking guests.

The three courtyards are middle-level retainers, stewards, and retainers.

The fourth courtyard is for the Bai family's side branches and upper-class retainers.

The fifth academy is composed of the direct descendants of the Bai family and outstanding children from the side branches.

The sixth and seventh courtyards are home to the Bai family’s women and children.

The most capable and militant members of the Bai family live in the first, second, third and fourth courtyards, especially the high-ranking retainers of the fourth courtyard. The average monthly salary for each person is half a gold coin!
If we are breached so quickly, what's the point of fighting! Just defend!
Bai Fan, who had been thinking of killing all the bandits, gave up his fantasy and immediately ordered his men to put up ladders and climb the wall to set up bows and arrows.

He found the people who had escaped from the first, second, third and fourth courtyards and asked them for details. The more he asked, the uglier Bai Fan's expression became.

He had already suspected that the elite soldiers were disguising themselves as thieves to attack. This was how the State of Chu destroyed the State of Lu.

Now, when I heard that the thieves were cooperating so well, my heart trembled even more - cooperative combat is a typical military style.

But Bai Fan couldn’t figure out why the royal family had any reason to attack the Bai family.

What would the royal family gain by annihilating the entire Bai family? Did they really think they could hide this from the other Qin nobles? Aren't they afraid of backlash from the Qin nobles?

The Qin State was a machine, and the old Qin nobles were the screws of the Qin State. One or two of them might seem insignificant, but if all the screws were removed, the machine would instantly fall apart.

Without the help of the old Qin nobles in governing the Qin State, the royal family would be in name only, and the paralyzed Qin State would be completely eaten up by other countries!

Shang Yang's reforms were only intended to weaken the power of the old Qin nobles, not to uproot them.

"Stupid ruler!" Bai Fan cursed inwardly, "Do you still count on those reckless men and outsiders? If I had known this would happen, I would have surrendered to Lu Buwei!"

Bai Fan ordered his armored soldiers to block the door, defending but not attacking, to meet the fleeing Bai family members.

Amid the clanging of weapons as the thieves attacked Bai Shou, Bai Fan made a major discovery: the thieves were not wearing armor!

He perked up and immediately concluded that these were not the thieves or the army in disguise.

There is a huge difference in combat effectiveness between wearing armor and not wearing armor.

One man in armor is invincible against ten men.

If it were a real army, it would definitely not be without armor!

As long as it's not the military, there's nothing to be afraid of!
The sky was still dark, but Bai Fan began to look forward to the arrival of dawn.

The Bai family was attacked tonight and suffered heavy losses. The Neishi Mansion and Taiwei Mansion, which control the guards, cannot escape blame.

But Bai Fan didn't intend to pursue the matter.

He wanted to use this as a medium to reconcile with the Internal History Meng An and the Grand Marshal Xishan, and the three families would advance and retreat together as before!

All the outsiders like King Lu Xiang are unreliable. The Meng and Xi families, who have the same ancestors, are better.

It’s not that the Bai family is afraid of the Meng family and the Xi family, but it is the most advantageous choice for the Bai family.

With the support and help from the Meng and Xi families, the Bai family will soon get out of the low period caused by their cowardice. Time can erase everything.

Bai Fan was even a little grateful to those powerful thieves outside. Without their night attack, how could he find a way to recover quickly?
So, after firing three rounds of cold arrows to drive the thieves back, Bai Fan decided to give them a chance to retreat:

"You bold thief! Are you looking for death? If you don't retreat, I will shoot you all!"

The bandits attacked at night but escaped safely, but the Bai family who were massacred were unable to seek justice that night, and their suffering was even greater.

The suffering is greater, and the desire to forgive the Meng and Xi families is also greater.

Once these thieves leave the Bai family, they will all be arrested in a few days. Bai Fan will then lead the Bai family members into prison, allowing the Bai family members who lost their parents, aunt and uncle to vent their anger and consolidate his position as the head of the family.

Bai Fan's head was still aching, his eyes were still sore and tears were flowing, but his spirit was becoming more and more excited.

He was ready to resign from the position of head of the family because the pressure was too great for him to bear.

He knew that the Bai family would be able to survive, but he felt that he might not be able to survive. "What the hell! If you really had so many arrows, why didn't you shoot them earlier?"

The young man's voice coming from outside the wall made Bai Fan slightly stunned and his vision was interrupted.

The voice was so familiar that it awakened the deepest hatred and sorrow in his heart.

His eyes were bloodshot:
"Ying Chengjiao! It's you, a brat!"

A smiling response came from outside the wall:

"It is you, Lord Bai. We will meet again in the court."

"To see your mother!" The anger that had been suppressed for a long time mixed with Bai Fan's rationality. He firmly restrained the idea of ​​leading the troops to rush out and kill as much as he could: "Shoot! Shoot! Whoever kills Ying Chengjiao will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins! Whoever injures Ying Chengjiao will be rewarded with a hundred gold coins!"

He didn't want to let the enemy of the Tu family who killed his wife and children escape, but he would not chase him out and die.

Then we can only hope for arrows and huge rewards!

Killing a thousand gold coins will injure a hundred gold coins.

The eyes of the Bai family's followers also turned bloodshot, especially the archers on the wall.

Jinggong, a top-ranking guest of the Bai family.

Jinggong is not his name, nor his courtesy name, but his nickname in the underworld.

He is an expert archer and can hit the target from a hundred paces away.

His arm strength is so extraordinary that he can draw an eight-stone longbow!

The standard for archers in various nations to use longbows was two stones.

Its pair of eyes can see people at night, like a civet cat.

[A huge sum of money!] He aimed his gaze at Ying Chengjiao who was speaking, his heart aching, and the bowstring made a "boom" sound when he pulled it.

The long arrow exploded! It shot out a vacuum!
The startled archer shot an arrow in front, and the other archers shot arrows behind, all of which were shot towards Master Chengjiao.

Shooting to death is best, but injuring is also not a loss!

"Retreat!" Ying Chengjiao, who wanted to trick Bai Fan into giving up his advantage, was startled and retreated hastily:

[You hate me so much, did you kill your mother?]
Although this greeting inherited from Zuan is not accurate, it is not far off.

No, the actual situation is more exaggerated than Ying Chengjiao’s greeting!

Ying Chengjiao only knew that Bai Ma had lost his life, but he himself had been in jail for several days.

He was full of grievances and didn't care at all what happened to the Bai family or Bai Fan.

Bai Fan's mother died early, leaving only his father Bai Jia.

Baijia was old and loved to drink ice in winter. Although he had been treated by a medical expert, his health gradually weakened.

As one of the three great Qin noble families, the Bai family enjoyed great honors and privileges.

It's fine as Baijia doesn't have any worries on a daily basis, so the symptoms don't show up.

After Bai Ma died, he was humiliated in the court but could not get angry. He had to admit with his own mouth that his most beloved grandson Bai Ma deserved to die.

After leaving the court and spending a night there, Baijia fell ill due to exhaustion both physically and mentally.

He lay on the kang, unable to get up, and remained there in a daze for an unknown number of years.

Bai Fan, who had lost his son and wife, was already extremely grief-stricken.

Sitting alone in the study every night, with the candlelight flickering, he stared at the family bronze sword on the desk, his eyes bloodshot, and his knuckles knocked on the scabbard with a dull sound.

But as the head of the Bai family, the first thing in his eyes is always the family and not the small family. When he can only choose one between the family and the small family, he chooses the family without hesitation.

This is the order of the head of aristocratic family. Without it, there would be no way to intimidate hundreds of people in the direct and collateral branches, and there would be no way to pass down the family for hundreds of years.

Bai Fan suppressed his grief to the deepest part of his heart, and usually handled trivial matters fairly.

However, if any servant's hands trembled even a little when serving tea, or if the documents were not arranged even slightly, he would be greeted with a cold glance from him, followed by a silent beating.

Bai Fan, who had never been so sad before, never thought that this was not the end - his father was seriously ill and could not get up.

The old patriarch, Bai Jia, is not an emperor who is unable to let go of power. Since he passed the position of patriarch to his son, he has not been in charge of household affairs.

Whether Bai Jia falls sick or dies, it doesn't matter to Bai Fan in handling the affairs of the Bai family.

But the mental pressure on Bai Fan was enormous, especially at this time when his wife and son had both passed away.

The most important thing for a noble family to avoid is a lack of successors, and the Bai family has neither.

The series of blows made Bai Fan dizzy and unable to sleep. The long-term insomnia caused him to have headaches frequently in the past two days.

The family is unstable and the outside world is also chaotic.

The Bai family's forbearance prevented Queen Dowager Zhao from taking advantage of the opportunity, but such cowardly behavior made other old Qin nobles very dissatisfied.

You are the representative of our Qin nobility, you are right, why don't you dare to confront that whore? If you are so afraid and irresponsible, then you are not a representative at all!

Rights and responsibilities are equal. The greater the rights you enjoy, the greater the responsibilities you bear.

The Baili family, the Gan family, the Wang family, the Jian family... many old Qin aristocratic families, no matter how big or small, whether in government or on the farm, began to look down on the Bai family.

In the past, when the children of the Bai family entered the government office, the officials would always greet them with a smile. But now, they are too lazy to even raise their eyelids, and even deliberately make the documents clatter loudly to delay their work.

This is true for just one aspect, and it is also true for the whole picture.

This is the price the Bai family pays for seeking stability, and it is also the price that the Bai family’s disciples have paid for their continuous promotions in recent days.

The Meng family and the Xi family, who have always been closely related to the Bai family, reacted differently this time than before.

At the banquet, the head of the Meng family made a veiled complaint, saying that the world was full of colorful colors, but white was the only colorless one, and he didn't know what the point of keeping it was.

When the children of the Xi family met members of the Bai family on the street, they would turn sideways and look at them coldly, as if they were enemies.

The two great families did not instruct their disciples to embarrass the Bai family, but they did not stop them after knowing that their disciples were doing so.

They decided to teach the Bai family a lesson. They had to pay back what they had earned with the help of Prime Minister Lu.

And all these pressures ultimately fell on Bai Fan, the head of the Bai family.

In just a few days, Bai Fan felt like several years had passed.

The white hair on his temples suddenly increased, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were as deep as knife cuts, and even his waist and back were not as straight as before.

Ying Chengjiao did not kill Bai Fan's mother, but killed Bai Fan's wife and son, and left Bai Fan's father lying in bed with no idea whether he was alive or dead. He also caused the Bai family, which Bai Fan valued the most, to fall into a trough second only to the period when Shang Yang first came to power.

Bai Fan wished he could eat Ying Chengxie's flesh alive, drink all of Ying Chengxie's blood, and sleep on Ying Chengxie's skin!

A little bit of rationality in Bai Fan's heart prevented him from chasing after him, and he just kept shooting arrows.

Before I knew it, all the arrows had been shot.

The Mohist who had retreated into the darkness came again. The boy whom he hated to the core looked at him. His little face was smiling in the light of the torch, and he wanted to tear that face apart!
He saw the boy raise his eyebrows and heard his frivolous words:
"Hate me so much?
"Killed your mother?"

"Shoot! Shoot! Shoot him to death!" Bai Fan shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing at Ying Chengjiao, coughing up blood onto the high wall.

"You still have a shitty arrow." The young man said with a cold voice, "You've never played a turn-based game? Do you understand the rules of the game? Now it's my turn to attack, go ahead."

Chu Mo and Qin Mo move forward together!
Two quarters later, the fifth courtyard was lost.

Knowing that he had been tricked, Bai Fan coughed up blood and led the Bai family to retreat to the sixth courtyard, trading space for time while waiting for reinforcements...

The Central Palace, the Palace for Observing Government and Studying Hard.

The anxious King Zheng of Qin paced back and forth, with no intention of sleeping with his lover.

An hour ago, he finally found his brother. The General of the Eastern Palace reported that Chang'an Jun had left with a tomb keeper, and hundreds of workshop craftsmen were also accompanying him.

"Why is this kid bringing hundreds of craftsmen during curfew? Is he going to build a mausoleum for his father?" King Zheng of Qin was a little incoherent.

He had heard that his brother had been assassinated during the day, and he was very angry.

Because of his anger, he ignored some clues.

He asked Zhao Gao to inquire about his brother's whereabouts.

Zhao Gao first found out about the rumors about Queen Dowager Zhao and him, and then he found out that his brother had been assassinated.

The difficulty of these two pieces of information are obviously unequal, and the latter is much easier to find out than the former.

If tonight passes peacefully, King Zheng of Qin might think of this doubt during the sage time after his energy is released.

But... Zhao Gao panicked and rushed into the palace:
"Your Majesty! Chang'an Jun led his men to attack the Bai family at night! The Bai family fired three whistling arrows! Half of the guards rushed to the Bai family!"

The eunuchs and palace maids who heard the news in the palace were horrified.

“What?!!!” King Zheng of Qin stopped suddenly, shouted loudly, and looked terrified.

(End of this chapter)