However, Xie Yun didn't wait for Shan Chao to send him off, and Shan Chao really didn't have time to rush back.
The East Palace was flooded and severely damaged, and people in the palace were panicked. At that night, Fan Lubing, Liu Yizhi and other members of the Queen's party proposed that it was because the Holy Majesty repeatedly stated that he wanted to be the crown prince, which caused the heaven to send a warning and caused the disaster of the East Palace fire; The idea of an assassin was brought up, and there was a commotion in the Zichen Palace.
The emperor was frightened and frightened, and when he heard the word "assassin", he almost lost his breath immediately.
The crowd hastily summoned the imperial doctor, diagnosed the pulse and prescribed medicine. After dancing around for most of the night, the Holy Majesty finally woke up leisurely, under the eager eyes of everyone.
The awakened emperor supported neither the Queen's Party nor the Orient Palace Party. He first dragged out Fan Lubing and Liu Yizhi who "discussed the emperor's family affairs" and beat them ten times, and then fined Dai Zhide and Zhang Wenguan who were "alarmist" with three months' salary; so the queen and the prince were slapped on their faces. A slap in the face.
Before the bewildered people could react, they just listened to the emperor's decree: Shan Chao, the loyal general, was rewarded with the title of General Huaihua and a hundred taels of gold for his meritorious service.
This set of political Taijiquan can be described as sophisticated, and the same question arose in everyone's mind in an instant: Did your Majesty fake faint just now
They suspect early. Immediately afterwards, the emperor issued an imperial decree that made everyone even more unresponsive: the left and right camps of Xuanwumen, which were set up during the reign of Emperor Taizong, were separated from the guards and renamed the Left and Right Habayashi Army.
The Habayashi Army was handed over to the newly appointed general of Huaihua, Shan Chao, to lead it. From then on, he was specially responsible for defending the imperial city.
—Suppressing the Eastern Palace of the Houdang and supporting the military power stationed in Beijing suddenly weakened the sphere of influence of the Beiya Imperial Army and completely changed the structure of the imperial guards.
Even Shan Chao himself was stunned in the hall unexpectedly.
There was silence in Zichen Hall, and the two parties who were blushing just now and wished they could fight on the spot, were silent at the same moment.
·
"... dead," Ming Chongyan said softly.
In the treasure hall of Lingluan Palace, there are golden Buddha statues with incense table futons, and the brick floor glowing with blue light stretches as far as the eye can see.
Through the towering lattice window lattice, the sky is so high and wide in the distance, and the continuous and heavy eaves of the Daming Palace can be vaguely seen.
Ming Chongyan waved his hand, the disciple bowed to salute, and retreated quietly.
The hall was empty, Ming Chongyan folded his palms together, closed his eyes, and chanted scriptures that no one could understand. After a long while, a bird flew silently in the sky outside the window, Ming Chong opened his eyes suddenly, and the gods and Buddhas looked down at him from the fragrant mist.
"... Thank you Commander."
Xie Yun crossed his arms, and his figure stood like a ghost at the intersection of light and shadow. Then he stepped forward and stood behind Ming Chongyan, looking up at the Buddha statue coldly: "Long time no see Ming alchemist, are you all right?"
Ming Chongyan didn't turn his head back, and said: "Commander Xie's voice is a bit hoarse, are you all right?"
Since Mount Tai was enshrined in Zen eight years ago, the trust of the emperor and queen in Ming Chongyan has increased day by day. They even built the Lingluan Palace in the imperial city as a place for them to practice, and they often asked about the way of ghosts and gods.
Ming Chongyan also knew that an important official and a famous Confucian could not accommodate a alchemist to guide the government, so he consciously lived in seclusion in the Lingluan Palace and did not come out easily. Counting the time, he had not seen Xie Yun for more than half a year.
Xie Yun didn't answer the hoarse voice, and asked, "What sutra did the Ming alchemist recite just now?"
"It's not scriptures, it's just a few prayers."
"Oh? Why pray?"
"... I just heard that Commander Xie's fiancée passed away unfortunately, so I'll say goodbye to you, and I'll do my best."
After a moment of silence, Xie Yun gently placed a hand on Ming Chongyan's tense shoulder: "Do you know how Miao Rong died?"
Ming Chongyan's body trembled strangely, Xie Yun said leisurely:
"It is said that there is a plant in the wilderness of Qianzhou called 'Dragon Grass', which has a delicate and lingering fragrance. Decades ago, the Qinglong clan migrated thousands of miles from Qianzhou because they discovered that the Dragon Grass can forcibly induce the opening of seals. Even the terrible consequences of exhaustion and death from exhaustion."
"I thought this kind of plant was extinct. Unexpectedly, a few days ago, the east palace was flooded, and the smell of dragon-binding grass wafted from the inner room."
"..." Ming Chongyan smiled wryly, and said, "Then how did Commander Xie avoid opening the seal?"
-boom!
Ming Chongyan's body was forced to turn in a circle, and he fell to the ground with his back to the sky. Xie Yun's throat was condescendingly strangled by Xie Yun. The severe pain and suffocation made his eyes black.
"I've thought about it," Xie Yun said softly, "The only mortal in this world who knows about the dragon-binding grass is you, an alchemist."
"I don't know!" Ming Chongyan struggled and said loudly: "I don't know anything! Really!"
With a clang, Tai Ah unsheathed, and the sword edge stuck close to his face and pierced into the floor tiles. The murderous aura even directly broke a bloodstain on his cheek. Xie Yun said coldly, "You swear?"
"I swear!"
"Alchemist!" "Who?" "Bold, stop!"
When the disciples of Lingluan Palace heard the movement, they rushed into the gate of the palace one after another. However, at the next moment, the Tai'a sword rose from the ground, Xie Yun turned his wrist and swung it behind him brazenly, the invisible sword energy turned into a huge wave, pushing the disciples out like chests!
There were screams, Xie Yun picked up Ming Chongyan, and strode out like dragging a little chicken. Ming Chongyan was pinched until his face turned blue, and he struggled with incomparable anger: "Let go! It really has nothing to do with me, Commander Xie!"
"Since this is the case, I will take you back to Guanshan in Liangzhou and explain Yang Miaorong's death to the entire Qinglong clan. Naturally, they have many ways to trust you."
Ming Chongyan's complexion changed drastically, and the next moment he suddenly transformed into countless black birds flying all over the sky, rushing towards the back hall in an uproar.
Clang!
A sharp sword that fell from the sky pierced straight into the flock of birds, and Ming Chongyan appeared in a state of embarrassment, with the tip of his nose barely stopping in front of the sword's edge, and half of his face was almost cut off.
"What are you afraid of?" Xie Yun mocked, knocking Ming Chongyan to the ground with one punch!
Ming Chongyan didn't even have time to dodge, his ears were buzzing, and he felt that his teeth were almost bursting out. When he regained his sanity a little bit from the severe pain, he found himself falling on his back to the ground, with Xie Yun's single knee supporting his chest, the strength was so great that his lungs could almost be squeezed out of his throat.
"..." Ming Chongyan was covered in blood, looked up at Xie Yun's cold and handsome face, forced a wry smile and said, "You, you... what are you doing?"
Suddenly there was a cold and pain in his chest, it was Xie Yun who cut off the loop of his clothes with his backhand, and the blood on the left chest quickly overflowed from under the blade.
"Commander Xie is very beautiful. If you are interested, I would like to recommend you a pillow seat. Why is this... ah!"
With a loud slap, Ming Chongyan's face was slapped to one side, and the four fingerprints immediately floated up with blood.
"I'm really... ah!!"
Another slap, this time the fingerprints on both sides are alive, presumably the Ming alchemist's face will be swollen like a pig's head after a while.
"Forgive, spare! Commander, spare," Ming Chongyan begged for mercy incoherently: "You don't hit people in the face, because you and I are officials in the same dynasty, and we are pawns in other people's hands..."
His voice stopped suddenly, because the tip of Tai'a's sword was firmly pressing against his heart, and if he went in half a minute, he would be able to dig out the heart from his chest cavity alive.
"Some chess pieces can go to the end, and some will be smashed halfway." Xie Yun bent down, almost parallel to Ming Chongyan's terrified line of sight, and said slowly: "It seems that you want to be sacrificed!" That's it."
Ming Chongyan's pupils trembled slightly, and countless interests and interests flashed through his mind, and finally turned into a cold sharp blade that was in front of his heart at this moment.
"... I don't know." He finally opened his mouth with difficulty.
Ming Fangshi's tone was hoarse and changed, without the suave look of the past: "I don't know... It's not you who died..."
After what seemed like a century, the Tai'a sword was finally slowly lifted from his chest, and the blood fell from the tip of the sword, and it was reflected in the eyes of the two of them looking at each other.
"Ask you who wants to bind the dragon grass," Xie Yun said slowly, "Is it the prince himself, or the queen?"
·
Commanding Palace of the Imperial Army.
The door creaked open, Xie Yun stepped in, and suddenly stood still.
A stern and sharp figure turned his back to him, sitting in an armchair, raised his hand and turned a page of the book: "Since we are going back to our own home, why did we climb over the wall and across the yard, and keep our whereabouts secret?"
"General Huaihua." Xie Yun taunted unabashedly, walked to the table, tapped the table with his knuckles: "This is my chair, roll up."
Shan Chao stared at him for a moment, then actually closed the book, got up and moved half a step away, smiled and made a "please" gesture: "I was wrong, Master, I'm sorry."
"The Habayashi Army who guarded the house day and night outside the humble house also went the wrong way?"
"That's protection."
"Your Majesty ordered you to investigate whether there is a mastermind behind the water leak in the East Palace. What are you doing here to protect me?"
"Your life is more important than the prince."
Xie Yun looked Shan Chao up and down for a while, and suddenly squeezed his chin with interest: "Didn't the other half of the Habayashi army go to surround the prince? It seems that the life of the prince is as important as being a teacher in your heart."
This time, Shan Chao had nothing to answer, and finally shook his head as if admitting defeat, and laughed.
"The half of the Habayashi army surrounding the prince is also to protect you from committing the felony crime of exterminating the family... so the power should be protecting you, is that okay?"
Xie Yun stretched out a slender index finger and shook it jokingly, but there was no smile in his eyes: "You are worried that I discovered the secret of why Miaorong suddenly opened the seal in the East Palace, and rushed into the palace to kill the prince on the spot ?”
Shan Chao didn't answer, and the expression on his face was clearly acquiescing.
"General," Xie Yun mocked, "I raised you in Mobei, taught Jin Xin after returning to Beijing, and trained Ma Xin carefully for several years after I got him out of the sky prison; There are countless disciples, and the friendship between master and apprentice who met by chance is probably too numerous to count."
"—Among these people, the most stupid is you."
Shan Chao's resolute thin lips twitched slightly: "...why?"
"It's okay." Xie Yun sat in the armchair and said casually: "The most stupid apprentice is often more favored by the master. Things in the world are so unfair."
General Shan: "..."
General Shan took a deep breath and was about to say something when Xie Yun said lazily, "Do you still remember He Lanmin?"
This person's name is already too far away, Shan Chao reacted for a while, and then said suspiciously: "I remember."
"Three years ago, the queen's biological mother, Mrs. Yang, passed away. He Lanminzhi embezzled the funeral gold and silver to fill his own pockets. After the incident, he was exiled to Shaozhou. Later, the queen couldn't forgive her hatred, and ordered him to hang herself with poisoned wine, daggers and white silk. He died, and most of the scholars who had befriended him in the court were also exiled to Lingnan."
"..."
Shan Chao was thinking about why this name was suddenly mentioned, only to hear Xie Yun say again: "But that's not the point."
"The point is, back then you asked me why He Lanminzhi didn't deal with me in every possible way, and even used various methods to create difficulties and frame me many times..."
Shan Chaoxin said that it was not because you went out in person, beat him up, stripped him naked and left him at the door of the teaching workshop
Unexpectedly, Xie Yun changed the subject slightly, and proposed a name that Shan Chao hadn't heard for many years: "Because of Yin Kaiyang."