Yanqiu Gate.
Before daybreak, and long before the market gates were opened, people gathered in the west of the Forbidden Garden, waiting to leave through the already opened west gate. The first and last were carefully selected Jinwu Guards, and every three people held up a torch to illuminate the gold-embellished and jade-decorated carriage in the middle. Sitting in the carriage was Li Chengjing, who had decided to abandon the city and flee south.
Once Tongguan was breached, Chang'an City was no longer protected. The troops stationed in the city could not stop the enemy at all. The Shuofang Army and the Tiande Army were also too late to rush to the rescue. The rebels only needed to go all the way southwest and they would be able to break through the gate of Chang'an City in a few days. As soon as the news reached Chang'an City, the city was in chaos. Few officials attended the court the next day. Those who could run wanted to run, but they did not dare to do so due to the rules. They were afraid that the emperor would be furious and chop off heads before the city was breached.
Officials were afraid, but Li Chengjing was not. On the day he received the battle report, he smashed teacups all the way from Zichen Hall to Changsheng Hall, and cursed the garrison and the commander guarding Tongguan for their incompetence, which frightened Feng Yan so much that he dared not speak. He was angry, but after that, he knew that he was not capable of defending Chang'an City with such a small number of troops. He endured a few days of fear and finally made up his mind. He asked General Longwu to select trustworthy people and led people to Yanqiu Gate overnight.
There is a road outside Yanqiu Gate that leads directly to Shu. The rebels will not abandon Chang'an City. As long as they rush to Chengdu before Chang'an City is broken, they can save their lives. As for the people left behind in the city, he doesn't care.
However, Li Chengjin was not really only concerned about himself, and he still brought Concubine Xiao, the Crown Prince, and several close ministers. Li Taoqi sat in the carriage to Shu, and out of his responsibility as a husband and father, he also brought the Crown Princess and Li Cangbi.
The carriage was decorated with gold and jade on the outside, and the interior was well decorated, with a thick carpet underneath and even a small incense burner in the corner. The curling incense came out of the gilded beast's mouth, spreading over the faces of the three people with different expressions. It didn't seem like they were fleeing, but rather a not-so-pleasant trip.
Li Cangbi was young, far from being able to be a governor, but he vaguely knew that something was wrong. He leaned against the window, secretly glanced at the Jinwu Guards holding torches outside, and then shrank back into the Crown Princess's arms: "... Mother, where are we going?"
"Let's go to Shuzhou." The Crown Princess' shoulders were stiff, but she had to pretend she wasn't afraid. She patted her son's back gently, breathing rapidly, "Don't be afraid... Don't be afraid, mother is here, and father is here too."
Li Zhuoqi could only respond and touched Li Cangbi's little face: "Well, let's go to Shuzhou. It won't take long to get there."
"Oh." Li Cangbi was always obedient, nodded obediently, and leaned back into the Crown Princess's arms. After leaning back for a while, he felt something was wrong, "What about my sister? Isn't she going with us?"
The Crown Princess shuddered, her hands froze for a moment, and then she continued to pat, "She's not going... Sister needs to rest, so she can't go with Bi'er."
"... Yes, Shu'er needs to rest." Speaking of his daughter, Li Zhuoqi showed a trace of pain on his face, and followed the words of the Crown Princess, "Bi'er should think about her elder sister. When her elder sister recovers, we will take her to Shuzhou together."
"Sister is sick again..." Because of his frequent lung disease, Li Cangbi rarely sees Shu'er, "When will Sister get better?"
The Crown Princess was unable to answer and remained silent for a moment. Then Li Taoqi spoke up: "Ten days. After ten days, Shu'er's illness will be cured."
Chang'an City can only hold out for ten days at most. Once the city is breached and the rebels rush into the city, only 30% of the people in the city can survive. With Shu'er still suffering from lung disease, she will die if no one takes care of her, and she will also die if she is seen by the rebels. The lung disease that has plagued her for eight years has been cured, and she will no longer cough day and night and be unable to utter a complete sentence.
Li Taoqi was not a cold and aloof person. On the contrary, he was born with a passionate nature, otherwise he would not have been entangled with the Crown Princess for so many years. He felt guilty about his daughter, but he really couldn't take her with him. She was being taken care of in Chang'an City, and she still had a few days to live. The road to Shuzhou was bumpy, and if he didn't take good care of her, she would suffocate to death in the carriage.
He closed his eyes, touched his only son's face again, and then withdrew his hand: "Bi'er, be obedient. When we get to Shuzhou, Aye will fly a kite with you."
"Okay!" The child was easy to coax and immediately became happy, but then he felt a little sleepy again. Li Cangbi rubbed his eyes and said, "Mom, I want to sleep."
"Go to sleep, go to sleep." The Crown Princess quickly moved her body so that Li Cangbi could lean on her more comfortably. "When you wake up, you will be in Shuzhou."
Li Cangbi was getting sleepy quickly, nodded in a daze, leaned on A Niang's arms, and soon closed his eyes. Everything was finally ready outside, General Longwu gave an order, the Yanqiu Gate was opened, and the Jinwu Guards escorted the carriage, rumbling towards Shu.
There was wind when she left Yanqiu Gate, which happened to lift the curtain hanging by the window. The Crown Princess looked out of the window, and in the dim light of the sky, she saw the lush vegetation in the Forbidden Garden and the shadowy eaves of the Daming Palace and Taiji Palace in the distance.
**
Prince's Mansion.
At dawn, the deputy captain opened the door and could barely see a figure lying on the couch with the light coming in. Li Qishen was lying on his side with his back to the door, the quilt only reaching his waist, his long hair curled up, and the ends of his hair meandered and fell to the edge of the couch along with the corner of the quilt.
“… Prince? Is the Prince awake?” The deputy lieutenant swallowed, called a few more times, and walked in cautiously.
No one responded. He lowered his voice deliberately, and made no noise when he entered and left the room. He was fast asleep, so how could anyone hear him
"Is the prince still asleep?" The deputy lieutenant approached the couch step by step. He couldn't tell what he was thinking. He felt nervous and secretly happy. His heart was rising up, beating rapidly as if in his throat.
It was not his fault. After all, it was his first time to do such a thing. The knife had never seen blood before. The first person he wanted to kill was the prince, a legitimate Longxi Li family member. It was a letter from the East Palace asking him to do this. Since it was the East Palace's intention, of course he had no worries. What's more, along with the letter came two boxes of gold bars, each strand was clearly visible.
He had heard of the reputation of the Prince of Yanyang, but holding a gun on a warhorse was one thing, and lying on a couch in pajamas was another. Without a weapon, a person was just a piece of meat to be slaughtered. With a single blow of the knife, even a victorious general would be killed.
“…Prince?” The deputy lieutenant stood beside the couch and called out finally.
Still no one responded.
The lieutenant swallowed a big mouthful of saliva, encouraged himself, raised the knife high, and chopped down hard.
The next moment he saw a ray of light, which clearly flashed by, but in his eyes it was stretched out very long. The arc was extremely graceful and extremely calm, like a swordsman who had practiced in the mountains for thousands of years, finally drawing his sword again and easily cutting down a flying bird.
But he didn't see the bird fall to the ground, he only felt the crack between his eyebrows, blood dripping, and then the next light. This time it was a real knife light, his wrist tightened, his neck felt cold, and the skin that the blade touched gradually cracked.
The last thing he saw was the cold and beautiful face of the Prince of Yanyang. The young man, who was between a young man and a man, was calm and relaxed. He let go of his arm holding the knife. His long black hair was loose and his eyes were light amber, like a cat. And what Li Qishen was holding in his hand was actually a golden hairpin, with blood dripping from the sharp end. The flower cloud on the top was so beautiful that it could be a girl's hair accessory.
… Turns out he was awake.
It turned out that the weapon he used to defeat the enemy was half a golden hairpin.
The lieutenant suddenly realized what had happened and immediately fell to the ground. Fresh blood spurted out from the wound on his neck, filling the couch with a strong smell of blood.
Li Qishen didn't even look at it. He casually pulled his coat from the screen and put it on. He washed himself with cold water at the side, tied up his long hair, pushed the door open and went straight to the stable in the mansion.
The deputy lieutenant dared to kill people, so of course he had made arrangements beforehand. The entire Prince's Mansion was empty, and even the Jinwu Guards who were supposed to guard the gate were nowhere to be seen. This made it convenient for Li Qishen. He gave a call, took Zhaoye's reins, jumped on his horse, and rushed straight to Danfeng Gate.
When he arrived at Danfeng Gate, it was just opening. Li Qishen rode his horse straight through the gate without slowing down, and ran all the way to Changsheng Palace before stopping.
The emperor should have gotten up and washed at this time, otherwise he would be late for court. However, Li Chengjing had already escaped in the night and the emperor could not be found. The eunuch in charge was also not there. The Changsheng Palace was in chaos, and several young eunuchs were in a state of panic. The timid palace servants who had served him in the morning had already started sobbing.
The young eunuch who led the group was also surnamed Feng. He was very good at handling things. When he saw Li Qishen coming over, he forced a smile and asked, "Why is the prince here?"
"Come and see if my Aye is still here."
The young eunuch was shocked, and his first reaction was to conceal it: "This... Prince, what are you talking about? Your Majesty, of course..."
"He's not in the temple, is he?" Li Qishen interrupted him.
The young supervisor was even more surprised: "Prince..."
"No need to ask me how I know, I guessed it." When his guess came true, Li Qishen wanted to laugh for a moment. If Li Chengjin could hold on, he could be considered an incompetent emperor. However, he did not expect that he could not even be the emperor in the end, and instead chose to be a stray dog that fled in panic.
"I'm going to the Changsheng Palace now. If you still want to try to save Chang'an City, don't stop me. Then send people to the East Palace, An Mansion, and Lu Mansion respectively." Li Qishen was too lazy to say anything more to Li Chengjing, and reported the place names one by one according to his speculation. "If they are there, don't worry about it. If they are not, go to the mansion to get the battle report and say it's the palace's intention. Quick!"
After saying that, he walked straight into the palace without waiting for the eunuch's answer. The palace servants waiting outside the palace would never let him in casually. Li Qishen was in a hurry to read the battle report and didn't give a good look, which made the palace servants even more angry.
As the two were arguing, Feng Shaojian suddenly shouted, "Alright! Let the prince enter the palace!"
The only person in charge of the Changsheng Palace was the eunuch in charge, Feng Shaojian. The palace servants did not dare to stop Li Qishen, but they were unwilling to do so. They looked at Feng Shaojian and said, "But this is against the rules. His Majesty did not summon us... The prince..."
"It's already this late, why are you still fussing about the rules? Let the prince in!"
The palace maid looked at the young eunuch, then at Li Qishen, and reluctantly made way.
Li Qishen walked inside. When he entered the door, he heard Feng Shaojian calling him from behind. He turned around and saw a eunuch in a scarlet robe bowing to him, which was actually a respectful salute.
He smiled slightly, turned around, and stepped into the emperor's bedroom.
The author has something to say: Changsheng: Cool (.)
I almost forgot to update again, the game is so fun xddddd Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2019-11-23 18:01:38~2019-11-24 12:19:35~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: 1 for Daxi;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Liangliangdeshanxian 20 bottles; Momo 10 bottles; Daxi and Xicheng 5 bottles; Nanmoyuanzhi 4 bottles; Sanhao Niangzi and 123 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!