Qining's arrow was so sharp that it pierced the air and went straight towards Xiao Shaozong. He was about to hit Xiao Shaozong, but when Xiao Shaozong waved his hand, the arrow deflected and shot into the body of a soldier next to him.
Qi Ning was slightly startled, thinking that Xiao Shaozong's skill was really not weak. He saw him walking through the crowd and reaching the city. The soldiers at the top of the city received orders not to shoot arrows at the city. Xiao Shaozong reached the city easily. The figure flew up and reached the top of the ladder. Then, like a rat soaring into the sky, he stepped on the ladder and climbed to the top of the city in an instant.
Xuanwu Camp retreated in full, but Xiao Shaozong went in the opposite direction and climbed to the top of the city alone. Qining really didn't know what this man's intention was.
As soon as Xiao Shaozong came to the top of the city, the soldiers of Yulin Camp were startled at first, and then all the soldiers around him rushed towards Xiao Shaozong.
However, Xiao Shaozong reached out and grabbed the closest soldier, carried the soldier and rushed to the top of the inner city. Without saying a word, he actually threw the soldier from the top of the city. Amidst the screams, Xiao Shaozong shook his arms. Zhan has already jumped from the top of the city like an eagle.
Xiao Shaozong's move not only shocked the surrounding soldiers, but also Qi Ning's expression changed in horror.
The walls of this imperial city are high and thick. Even if you have great Qinggong skills, if you want to jump from the top of the city, it will be a narrow escape. Qi Ning's current skills are rare in the world. Even so, Qi Ning would not dare to jump off the city like this. Head, he flashed, and when Xiao Shaozong jumped down, he had already reached the inner wall. He saw Xiao Shaozong in the air, falling with the falling Yu Lin soldiers, still some distance from the ground. I saw Xiao Shaozong stepping on the soldier's body with one foot. The soldier fell faster, but Xiao Shaozong used this step to relieve most of the falling force.
Only then did Qi Ning understand. He saw Xiao Shaozong landing lightly on the ground, and went straight towards the palace without looking back.
Yu Biegu was extremely surprised and ordered: "Enter the palace to pursue him!"
Qi Ning raised his hand and said, "Wait a minute!" He thought for a moment and then said, "You welcome the emperor respectfully, and I will go after Xiao Shaozong!"
Qining got off the city and went straight to the palace. When he entered the middle palace, there was an open square in front of him, and a road in the middle led directly to the majestic Chengtian Hall. It was the place where the emperor convened hundreds of officials for court meetings. The eunuchs and maids were all hiding in the inner palace, and all the capable soldiers had climbed to the top of the city. Therefore, the square in front of the palace was empty, and there was not even a single guard.
Qi Ning stopped, looked at the Chengtian Palace in front of him, and finally stepped forward.
In the empty square, Qi Ning's figure seemed lonely and small. He walked straight to the steps in front of the palace. Qi Ning stepped on the steps step by step and walked to the main entrance of Chengtian Palace. The door of the palace was wide open, and there was no court meeting in the main hall. It's even more terrifyingly deserted.
The sky in the east was already glowing red, and the sun was rising. The sunlight shone on the magnificent Chengtian Hall, making this most majestic and sacred hall in the empire shine with brilliant brilliance.
Qi Ning walked slowly into the main hall and saw Xiao Shaozong standing on the Jinluan Hall from a distance.
Xiao Shaozong seemed to be observing the main hall, with one hand behind his back, and the other hand gently caressing the bronze crane in the Jinluan Hall. His movements were gentle, as if he was caressing his favorite woman.
Qin Ning walked to His Highness Jinluan. Xiao Shaozong did not look at Qin Ning. He seemed to expect that Qi Ning would follow and said with a smile: "When I was very young, I heard about Emperor Taizu's wise and powerful martial arts. It was strange at that time. Father Ye Zicheng, why is my grandfather sitting on the throne instead of my father sitting on it? When I got older, I realized that there are many things in this world that do not need to be justified. Justice is not in the heart of the people, right and wrong are based on strength, and you have no strength. , the treasure in your hand is your crime. Once you have the strength, not only will your things belong to you, but things that are not yours will also belong to you!"
Qi Ning smiled lightly and said: "The throne is never a thing, but the people's hearts!"
"People's hearts?" Xiao Shaozong was startled, then smiled and said: "You mean, the one who wins the hearts of the people wins the world?"
"That's what I mean." Qining said calmly.
Xiao Shaozong laughed, walked slowly to the dragon chair, caressed the dragon chair, turned around and sat down, and said with a smile: "You still don't understand. Many times, it is not the one who wins the hearts of the people who wins the world, but the one who wins the world wins the hearts of the people. As long as I sit here In this position, there are many people who have surrendered to me. You have to understand that there are not many truly generous and loyal people in the world, but there are many dirty people who follow the trend and sway with the wind. This time you win, but if you lose Yes, do you know what the result will be?"
Qi Ning did not answer, just looked at Xiao Shaozong.
"Those so-called courtiers who are loyal to Da Chu will respect me as the emperor." Xiao Shaozong said: "Even if they suspect that there is something fishy about what happened this time, for the sake of their own future, no one will say it. ." He raised his hand and pointed at His Highness Jin Luan: "They will kneel at my feet and shout long live. They will also despise you, Qin Ning, as an unprecedented and unparalleled thief. There will also be people vying to help me clean up the royal palace. Home, don’t you think so?”
Qining nodded and said: "If you win, this is likely to be the result."
Xiao Shaozong smiled slightly and said: "Qining, actually I admire you very much. The only thing Xiao Guang is lucky about is having a helper like you." He leaned forward slightly and said: "If I hadn't left you with that only weakness , who do you think will have the last laugh this time?"
Of course Qi Ning understood what "the only weakness" in Xiao Shaozong's words was, and said sincerely: "If the emperor is really harmed by you, maybe the ending will be different."
"Perhaps you are laughing at my stupidity in your heart." Xiao Shaozong smiled and said: "Why should I leave you a chance to fight back when I can obviously achieve my goal without any flaws?" He rested his elbow on the handle of the dragon chair and spoke. He held his left cheek with one hand and looked at Qining and said, "I know you want to take a gamble in the end, but I didn't expect that you could really see through my cards."
"That night, you asked Mo Ying to lead people to kill me at Hongyun Teahouse. That was your biggest flaw." Qining sighed.
Xiao Shaozong frowned and said, "I didn't understand!"
"You wanted to kill me that night, but you showed off your best." Qi Ning said: "Those people are your hidden strength in the capital. To do such a thing, you don't even have the people from Kyoto Palace and Shenhou Palace." If we use it, we will naturally not mobilize our troops.”
Xiao Shaozong said "Oh" before Qi Ning continued: "If I just let them surround me and kill me, it wouldn't be a flaw. It's just that the weapons in those people's hands revealed something."
"weapon?"
"Most of the weapons used by those people were obtained from the Qinhuai Army." Qi Ning said slowly: "The weapons of the officers and soldiers of the battalions guarding the capital are all made of high-grade fine steel, which is stronger than the Qinhuai Army fighting on the front line. This kind of weapon can be seen almost at a glance. But this is natural. Weapons forged from fine steel not only require high-quality fine steel, but also are very troublesome to forge. If the Qinhuai Army's 100,000-strong army were all equipped with such weapons , It’s almost impossible. I once saw the swords of the soldiers of the Qinhuai Army, and I still remember it fresh. That night, many of the weapons in the hands of your men were the same as those used by the Qinhuai Army. "
Xiao Shaozong seemed to understand: "Did you guess that these weapons were smuggled out from the Qinhuai Army?"
"The imperial court has long issued a sword hunting order. Even in the palaces of high-ranking officials, the weapons used are restricted and registered. Of course, even if there are weapons in the palace of the capital administrator, they cannot be those of the Qinhuai Army. All kinds of knives are at least made of fine steel." Qining said: "So it seems simple to collect such a batch of knives in the capital, but in fact it is not easy. I know that there are some scum in the Qinhuai Army who are secretly hiding from the general. The weapons were smuggled out, but their whereabouts were unknown. When I saw the weapons of the Qinhuai Army appearing in the capital that night, I immediately knew what was fishy. The capital was heavily guarded, and these weapons had to be transported from the front lines to the capital, and they had to pass through the heavily guarded City gate, how can that be done?”
Xiao Shaozong smiled and said, "So you thought of Ding Yitu."
"Ding Yitu was originally from the Qinhuai Army. Although he was expelled, he must still have familiar people in the army." Qining sighed: "Man perishes for wealth, and birds perish for food. If Ding Yitu bribes the army, It is not difficult for him to smuggle the weapons back to the capital. He goes in and out of the capital under the banner of the escort agency. On weekdays, he will inevitably give some benefits to the soldiers guarding the city. As time goes by, the Rising Sun Escort Agency comes in and out. Naturally, goods in the capital will not be inspected as strictly as others. Since you want to cause trouble in the capital, it is inevitable that you will secretly store a batch of weapons in case of emergency."
Xiao Shaozong gave a thumbs up and said, "It's really smart. Not everyone can think of this."
"Since Ding Yitu has such a close relationship with you, he naturally also participated in your plan." Qining said: "You are the prince of the Huainan Palace. Generally speaking, it is difficult to connect you with a mere escort agency, let alone It’s impossible for anyone to think that you would put the Emperor under house arrest in the Escort Bureau, so you think that the Emperor’s whereabouts must be extremely secret, and no one would ever think of it.”
Xiao Shaozong sighed: "But in the end, you guessed it. You really should open a casino."
"My gambling luck is not always so good." Qining sighed: "If I make a mistake this time, I will lose everything, and it will be impossible to reverse the situation."
Xiao Shaozong sat on the dragon chair, thoughtfully, pondering for a moment, and then said: "When I was a child, I was sent to the palace to read to him. Do you know what reading to accompany him means? It means to stay with him and always be inferior. Next, I would never be able to understand the knowledge that the teacher talked about before he understood it. I would always be a hindsight and understand the knowledge later than he did. I kept thinking at that time, why did I understand it so clearly? I knew all the knowledge, but I had to pretend not to know it in front of him, and let him point at me condescendingly. Why did he make a mistake and need me to be punished on his behalf? Later I found out that because he was the prince, He is the one who wants to inherit the throne and rule the world, so I have to be like a dog. I can never object to whatever he says, and facing him, no matter how painful I am, I must With a smile on my face, because if I am angry and cannot make him happy, then I have ulterior motives." Still with a smile on his lips, he said calmly: "It only took me three months to read the book he read in three years!"