Seeing Fan Xian walking in with a sullen face, Hong Zhu got up from the ground in a daze, knelt down in front of him, bowed his head, and said nothing.
At this time, there was no one else around this room in the Eastern Palace, only Fan Xian standing and Hong Zhu kneeling. The dim light from outside shone in, casting their shadows on the wall, looking a little weird.
Fan Xian stared at Hong Zhu's dazed face, clenched his hand hanging by his sleeve into a fist, and then slowly loosened it. He said a little tiredly, "I need an explanation for this matter."
Hong Zhu raised his head to look at him, his eyes were full of guilt and deep self-blame, but he just lowered his head and kowtowed again, without explaining anything.
Yes, Hong Zhu was Fan Xian's greatest support in the palace. The reason why Fan Xian dared to break into the harem with two hundred people and control the Hanguang Palace in one fell swoop was because he had a complete grasp of the situation in the harem, the distribution of the guards in the palace and the details of the lives of the nobles.
And all of this was the information that Hong Zhugan took the risk to pass on to the outside of the palace during these two days. This young eunuch who was rising from the sky was originally transferred to the Hanguang Palace, but after the crown prince returned to the East Palace, he was very reluctant to ask him to go back.
Since the Empress Dowager prefers the Crown Prince to succeed to the throne, she will naturally not stop his small request. So Hong Zhu became the strangest person in the palace, he once held memorials in the imperial study room, served the queen mother in the Hanguang Palace, and lived with the queen in the East Palace for two months.
Surprisingly, all nobles appreciate and love him, and Fan Xian is no exception.
It's just that no one ever knew that Hong Zhu was Fan Xian's eyeliner in the palace. It was the eunuch's fault that the third-rank guards on the way from the palace gate to the Hanguang Palace were poisoned strangely and could not be given early warning.
Fan Xian's success in breaking out of the palace was due to Hong Zhu's great contribution. However, at this time, Fan Xian was not looking at him very gently, and he needed an explanation.
The prince and queen were in the East Palace, under Hong Zhu's nose, how could they react to such a thunderous attack from the palace, and escape before Fan Xian's sharp sword arrived
Fan Xian clenched his fists, and with a gloomy voice leaking from between his teeth, he said with a sneer, "Is it your tip-off letter?"
Hong Zhu didn't dare to look into Fan Xian's cold eyes, and nodded heavily.
Fan Xian gasped, looked at him in disbelief, and said, "Do you know what you're doing? We're rebelling, not playing tricks!"
In order not to be heard by the people in the East Palace, he did not raise his voice, but the emotions inside gradually became frenzied.
"What's the matter with you? Soft-hearted?" Fan Xian frowned extremely, and said coldly with incomparably fast speech: "Your soft-heartedness will harm the entire Qing Kingdom!"
He spat on the ground at his feet, and cursed bitterly: "I entered the palace after a lot of hard work, but after you played around like this, it's fine if you don't want to live, but what about these people in the palace? You are forcing me to prepare to run before dawn!"
Fan Xian became very angry, because he couldn't figure it out. Such a thorough plan mobilized the nails that he had spent countless hours hiding in the palace. The leak!
Why? Why! Fan Xian stared at Hong Zhu's face, with a dark fire in his eyes.
"The prince is very kind to the servant." Hong Zhu knelt in front of Fan Xian, and suddenly wept, tears streaming down from the corners of his eyes and into his clothes along his young face, "The empress is very pitiful, I thought about it and thought about it." , I couldn’t hold back in the end.”
Hong Zhu cried loudly, with snot and tears streaming down his face: "Sir, kill me, I don't want to live anymore, Xiu'er was killed by myself, I don't know how many people I will kill... It's all me sins... my sins."
…
…
Fan Xian gasped. Although he had already scolded him before, he never thought that the reason why Hong Zhu let the prince and queen go was...soft-hearted!
"What's going on at Guangxin Palace?"
"I have no idea."
The corners of Fan Xian's eyes twitched, and his heart felt a little cold. Looking at the eunuch kneeling in front of him, he suddenly said, "Stand up."
Hong Zhu knelt on the ground, not daring to get up.
"Stand up!" Fan Xian roared in a low voice.
Hong Zhu stood up timidly, but suddenly felt a pain in his crotch, and couldn't help but cry out in pain. Fan Xian slowly retracted his hand, with extremely complicated emotions on his face, watching Hong Zhu remain silent, and after a while he just shook his head and sighed.
Hong Zhu's face was pale, and he looked at Fan Xian terrified, but then he thought, since he secretly informed the queen and the prince to escape before the incident happened, I'm afraid this life is gone, and the matter has come to an end, so there's no need to be afraid.
So he stood up straight and looked at Fan Xian without saying a word, but the deep sense of guilt in his eyes couldn't go away.
To his surprise, Fan Xian didn't say anything, nor did he take out his sword and cut off his head in great anger. Fan Xian just sighed, waved his hand, and walked towards the outside of the East Palace alone, his back looked a little lonely and desolate.
Hong Zhu stared blankly at Fan Xian's back, and for some reason began to cry again.
…
…
Fan Xian walked out of the main entrance of the East Palace, and could no longer hear Hong Zhu's cries. His anger was much less for no reason, but his heart felt a little empty.
He waved his hand to summon his subordinates, and ordered him to take all the ladies and eunuchs of the East Palace and Guangxin Palace to the cold palace area at the Chenlang for collective custody, and walked into the darkness of the palace alone.
Hong Zhu's temporary soft-heartedness brought irreparable losses to his plan. In an instant, the angry Fan Xian did have the urge to kill, but this urge disappeared immediately because he heard the word Xiu'er.
When he was in Hangzhou, he had thought about how the death of that court lady would affect Hong Zhu's state of mind, because he knew from the very beginning that Hong Zhu was not an ordinary eunuch, but a loving and righteous eunuch. Otherwise, Fan Xian would not have dared to entrust so many important matters to him.
It's just that Fan Xian didn't expect that Hong Zhu would be so sentimental, that he would soften his heart during such a big event as the palace change.
It can be seen from this that the prince is really a generous and affectionate person. Moreover, Hong Zhu, who harbored a secret, lived with the poor queen in the East Palace during the months when the crown prince was expelled from Nanzhao, and perhaps developed some different feelings for each other.
Hong Zhu is a passionate eunuch who has feelings for Fan Xian, so he took the risk of causing chaos in the palace to help him enter the palace. He has feelings for the prince and the queen, so he let go at the last moment. Human beings are very complicated animals, especially a eunuch like Hong Zhu who is more like a scholar than a scholar.
"Maybe it's because I'm too ruthless that I can't imagine that people can be so sympathetic."
He thought about it in his heart, and couldn't help thinking of Xu Maocai in the Jiaozhou Navy, a self-deprecating smile appeared on the corner of his lips.
Xu Maocai and Hong Zhu were the two deepest nails he had driven into the court of the Qing Dynasty, but it was during this chaos that shocked the whole world that these two nails had their own ideas, a plan for Fan Xian. brought great evil.
But without Xu Maocai, Fan Xian would not be able to get out of the deep sea under Dadong Mountain, and without Hong Zhu, Fan Xian would not even be able to enter the harem, so he knew he had no right to blame these cronies.
He was reluctant to kill Hong Zhu, and couldn't bear to blame Hong Zhu, but he thought helplessly that the prince had already cultivated stronger than himself in the aspect of moving people with emotion—the prince occasionally had true temperament, but he was hypocritical to the end in this life.
…
…
With the help of the subordinates of the Overwatch Council, the Imperial Army has cleared the harem, and all the guards in the palace have been captured, so there shouldn't be any further disturbances. Fan Xian returned to Hanguang Palace with a sullen face. He didn't go in to see the Empress Dowager to comfort the family members of the third child, but whispered a few instructions to Jing Ge who was guarding outside the palace.
Jing Ge's complexion was slightly different, as if he hadn't thought that Lord Tisi was actually thinking about the issue of failure when he was winning this big victory, but he didn't ask anything, stretched out his right palm and pressed the silver mask on his face tightly, and knelt down on one knee After accepting the order, he took some of the black riding masters out of the two hundred people who entered the palace, and left the palace.
The security control of Hanguang Temple was handed over to the imperial army at this moment.
The two masterminds of the first palace chaos in the history of the Qing Kingdom finally met on the high walls of the imperial city about half an hour after the fireworks shot into the sky.
Fan Xian bowed silently to the fully armored prince. The prince's face was heavy. Even though he was wearing the armor, he still solemnly returned the salute. When the night wind came suddenly, the big red cloak on the prince's body fluttered, blowing the cloak on Fan Xian's body. A black Overwatch Council official uniform was as stiff as starched.
Watching this scene, the officers and soldiers of the Forbidden Army who were nervously patrolling the imperial city couldn't help feeling broken, and suddenly burst out with indescribable confidence. After the Overwatch Council, she seemed to become Chen Pingping's second, but she was much more glamorous than Dean Chen.
Such two princes, like the battle robes on their bodies, are fiery bright red, indifferent pure black, light and darkness join forces, how many people in this world can resist.
Fan Xian and the First Prince straightened up, without saying anything, they came to the outside of the turret, staring at the peaceful square at the foot of the high imperial city, the faint sound of fighting in the distance, and a few more attention-grabbing flames in the distance .
The two of them didn't need to say anything. To be precise, they hadn't met or spoken to each other since the Dadongshan incident broke out, but they single-handedly contributed to today's court riot.
This relies on the two people's trust and confidence in each other. This kind of tacit understanding is not based on interests, but on history. These two princes were the insulted and neglected part of the emperor's family. Their mothers and elders had fought side by side, and today the two sons finally began to fight side by side.
There are 3,000 imperial troops. At this time, 1,000 people are stationed in the palace, 1,000 people are at the top of the city, and another 1,000-man brigade has already galloped away, rushing deep into the capital, and must control the entire capital before dawn. It is indeed too difficult for a thousand people to control the capital, but if Fan Xian added the more than a thousand Overwatch Council officials who deliberately stayed outside the palace as helpers, it would be much smoother.
"Before dawn, we must catch them." The eldest prince said indifferently. The "them" in this remark naturally refer to the crown prince, mother and son, and the eldest princess Li Yunrui. Looking at the line at the laundry shop, they are desperately looking for those people who escaped from the palace.
Fan Xian remained silent. The moment he learned that the prince and eldest princess had escaped from the palace, he had already issued an order. The spy swordsmen of the Overwatch Council were also working hard in the capital at this time. It's just that he knew in his heart that just as it was extremely difficult for the eldest princess to catch him when he was hiding in the vast sea of houses in the capital, it was also extremely difficult for him to catch the other party.
This kind of thing depends on luck, and what is extremely disadvantageous to Fan Xian and the First Prince is that they only have three hours before dawn.
"Everything is fine in Hanguang Palace." Fan Xian ignored the question of the First Prince, looked at the soldiers under the imperial city, and said instead, "The Empress Dowager is fine."
The eldest prince frowned, but didn't say anything.
Because the eldest prince has always been a rough, tolerant and filial person, so it is impossible for him to do the things that Fan Xian can do, but even hearing the name of the queen mother, his mood is a bit depressed and a little uncomfortable.
Fan Xian looked at him with a smile, as if he had seen through the shadow in his heart, and said, "The struggle for imperial power has always been a life-and-death struggle. We are only carrying out your majesty's will, and the history books will give you the due evaluation."
"I don't care about this." The eldest prince shook his head, facing the night wind high above the city, and said softly: "There is no need to say any more, since the royal father has given you full authority to handle this matter in the will, I believe you can handle it well ,I believe in you."
If there is no confidence, the eldest prince who has always been filial would certainly not dare to risk Ning Cairen's life and rebel.
"But can you give me confidence?"
Fan Xian looked at the soldiers of the Forbidden Army who looked a little sparse compared to the vast imperial city, and sighed. At this time, there were only a thousand soldiers around the imperial city, and they couldn't give people strong psychological support.
The eldest prince understood what he was worried about, and after a moment of silence, he said: "Father went to Dadongshan to take away a member of the imperial army, and lost part of it tonight, but don't worry, it is always used to defend the city, one against three, especially In a place like the Imperial City, one-on-four is fine."
"But the imperial city is huge, so it's difficult to take care of it comprehensively." Fan Xian lowered his head and thought, "If the eldest princess and the crown prince are really allowed to escape from the capital and meet the defenders of the capital, how many troops can the old Qin family send into the capital? "
"The garrison of the capital is 10,000 people." Since the eldest prince raised his army, he had a clear calculation of the military forces inside and outside the capital, "You and I will join forces together, with a total of 5,000 people, so we should be able to withstand it."
"My people can't be used to guard the palace." Fan Xian shook his head, raised his right arm and pointed to the dark sea of houses in Kyoto, and said, "They can only have power there."
He turned his head to look at the side face of the eldest prince, and said worryingly: "And you forgot one thing, the second child is not in the palace, his movements are fast, I am afraid he has sneaked out of the city. People under Ye Zhong, don't you use it?" Think about it? What's more, the army in the hands of the old Qin family is not just a garrison of the capital."
The corners of the eldest prince's eyes twitched. If Ye and Qin's two families really joined forces to attack, even if three thousand forbidden troops suddenly appeared in the palace at this time, he would not have much confidence.
"Besides, the imperial palace is a lonely palace, unlike a large county that has food and grass. If the palace is besieged by an army, how long can you and I last?"
The eldest prince turned around abruptly, stared into Fan Xian's eyes, and said, "What exactly are you trying to say? Of course I know that the palace is not easy to defend, but why do we have to guard the palace instead of the city?"
"Defend the city? The thirteen city gates are now in our hands. We don't know which of the nine city gates will be gently knocked open by the eldest princess... just like I knocked on the door of the harem. "
"Don't lie to me." The eldest prince said: "You can't give up on the city gate department, your people have already gone to the city gate department, and you killed the nail that the eldest princess buried in the city gate department last night."
Fan Xian laughed at himself, and said: "The Overwatch Council is not a god, it is impossible to dig out all the nails of the eldest princess, and we have to prepare for the worst, if the queen mother's will cannot subdue the commander Zhang of the city gate department." , you and I must be prepared to be trapped in the palace by the army."
"I just want to know that the Qin family's army can enter the capital in a few days, and Ye Zhong leads the order back to Dingzhou. Even if he stops halfway, it will take some time to reach the capital."
"If you only count the garrison of the capital, they will arrive in one day." Fan Xian said calmly: "The Qin family's army will arrive in about four days, and the time for Ye to return to the capital is probably about the same."
The First Prince didn't ask Fan Xian why he knew so clearly about the deployment of the old Qin family, because he believed that the Overwatch Council must have a nail in the Qin family's army, just like in the Forbidden Army. It will not be so easy to point out the object.
"You can control the city gate division." The eldest prince looked into Fan Xian's eyes, and suddenly said back, "If you can't, you don't dare to do it at all, so I'm surprised that you are saying these things to me now because of What to consider."
Fan Xian became silent.
"Earlier, Jing Ge led your court order, came to me to transfer two hundred horses, and then left the palace without knowing where to go." The eldest prince looked at him coldly and said: "Don't tell me, you don't have any ideas."
Fan Xian suddenly laughed and said, "Actually, what I want to say is... let's run away."
…
…
There was a muffled bang! The extremely angry eldest prince slapped his palm on the blue bricks of the imperial city, and said angrily in a low voice, "Run away? Are you crazy!"
Fan Xian smiled wryly and said, "I do seem to be crazy... Where can I escape? Just kidding, don't get so excited, okay?"
"What's the joke now?"
"Everyone is so tense, what are you afraid of if I make a joke to calm down?"
Fan Xian's words were not just a joke. If it was the past, when the situation turned around, he might have already run away for his own safety. Because this conversation is very clear, if the prince and the eldest princess sneak out of the capital, the seemingly good situation at the moment will be ruined.
The eldest prince suddenly sighed, patted him on the shoulder heavily, and said: "You have never led an army, and you have never seen what a real battlefield looks like, so it is not surprising that you have such thoughts."
As if to increase Fan Xian's confidence, the First Prince said in a calm voice, "With the help of your people, to control the City Gate Division, even with 4,000 people, I can hold the capital for ten days!"
Below the imperial city, officials from the Overwatch Council approached the palace gate with a carriage guarded. Here, how do you and I escape? How can we bear to escape?"
Fan Xian remained silent, nodded his head, and said, "According to your words, a grand court meeting will be held today, and the will will be read out to abolish the crown prince."
The eldest prince frowned and said: "Spread to the four directions, so that the four armies will rush back to help."
"The army of the Three Routes is far away at the border, and they will not be able to return to Beijing within ten days. As for the nearest Yanjing camp, if you and I send back troops..." Fan Xian felt slightly cold, "...I'm afraid that you and I might become sinners of the Qing Kingdom .”
What Fan Xian was worried about was none other than the unfathomable little emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty. Information transmission in this world is too slow nowadays, but Fan Xian knew that he had killed the governor of the northern camp. There was no life or death at the foot of the mountain. If there was chaos in the imperial city at this time, and he used the name of supervising the country to mobilize the army stationed in Yanjing to return, he might fall into the calculations of the little emperor of Northern Qi.
I'm afraid that if the Yanjing battalion fails to return to the capital in time to deter Ye and Qin's two families, the northern soldiers will go south!
After so many years of experience, Fan Xian knew that the little emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty was the most powerful character in the world. Since he secretly communicated with the eldest princess and participated in the inside story of Dadongshan, he would never let such a great man go. Chance.
Therefore, the Yanjing camp must not be moved!
The First Prince's complexion also became heavy, knowing that Fan Xian's worry was very reasonable: "Ten days... we can only last for ten days at most, if we can't send troops back to King Jingqin..."
He suddenly laughed, looked at Fan Xian and said, "It seems that what you said makes sense. Our best choice is indeed to escape earlier tonight."
As soon as this remark came out, Fan Xian was taken aback. Immediately, the two looked at each other and laughed for no reason.
Laughter came from far away from the imperial city, startled the two senior scholars, Shu and Hu, who were at the palace gate below, looking up, they could vaguely distinguish it was the First Prince and Fan Xian, the two senior scholars couldn't help feeling a little relieved, thinking about this The two of you can still laugh so happily at this time, it seems that the general situation is settled.
It's just that everyone didn't know how much helplessness and bitterness there was in the laughter between Fan Xian and the First Prince, but the two of them had a tacit understanding and never mentioned the evacuation of the palace. Yes, time has changed, since the two of them Already standing on top of the imperial city, there is no reason to run anymore.
"Today establish the great order, pass down the imperial edict in the streets and alleys of the capital, stabilize the hearts of the people, and invent the decree for the states." After the laughter stopped, Fan Xian looked at the eldest prince with a smile and said: "Use the Queen Mother's order to stabilize the city gate department, and then proceed Control, you said that if you can block the army for ten days, then I will give you ten days."
"It will definitely last ten days." The First Prince clenched the sword at his waist, his face was determined, but he was thinking in his heart that the palace would be destroyed after ten days of siege. Why did Fan Xian value this time so much
"These ten days, you have to fight for me."
Fan Xian coughed twice, took out a pill with a pungent smell from his bosom and swallowed it, and said calmly, "Although I have never been in charge of the army, I also know that the most important thing in the army is the generals at all levels." , Just imagine, if everyone from the commander-in-chief to the lieutenant general to the school officer... all die, what will this rebel army look like?"
"A state of disunity, defeat without attack." The eldest prince frowned slightly, looking at Fan Xian, thinking that if the generals of the rebel army died strangely within ten days, this capital would naturally be able to defend, but... no matter how well the Overwatch Council assassinates, you No matter how poisonous it is, there is no way to accomplish such a heaven-defying thing among thousands of troops.
Fan Xian didn't answer his doubts, and continued to speak calmly: "If even the crown prince and eldest princess died suddenly, what reason do you have for the existence of this rebel army?"
The First Prince looked at him with a puzzled expression, thinking that Fan Xian must be sick, right
Fan Xian smiled and said, "The reason why I didn't run away and was willing to defend this lonely city with you was not because I had so much courage, but because I never lost confidence. It's just that after this incident, I'm afraid Not having a good time."
The eldest prince didn't understand, so he naturally didn't know what Fan Xian meant. If Fan Xian really sacrificed a heavy sniper weapon, who knows what will happen in the future.
At this moment, there was a commotion at the gate of the palace, a group of cavalry arrived, and seemed to have captured a person. The eldest prince looked intently, and saw that the captured person was a woman, but the distance was too far. I can't see her face clearly, but she seems to be wearing an ordinary court lady's costume.
Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and said quietly, "Our luck has always been that good. Look, we have captured the queen. Are the crown prince and princess still far away?"
After saying this, he turned around and walked down the imperial city, and went down the wide stone steps, preparing to meet the old ministers who had suffered, preparing for tomorrow's court meeting, and secretly thinking about what should be given to the crown prince and eldest princess. What kind of charges are arranged, and at the same time, I am ready to comfort that poor, stupid, and extremely unlucky empress.
"Should we lock the Queen and Hong Zhu together?" Fan Xian suddenly had a strange thought in his heart, thinking that he was actually quite affectionate.
Walking on the stone steps, his cough became more and more severe, and it seemed that the pungent medicine-smelling pill that he ate earlier had no effect. He leaned against the wall next to the stone steps, calmed down, took another medicine from his bosom, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed hard twice, and swallowed it.
The pungent smell is the smell of ephedra leaves. This is the second time someone in the world has taken this pill since Fan Xian and the three brothers developed it. Because the medicinal power of this pill is too overbearing, ephedra leaves are similar to stimulants, which can easily make people's minds stunned and their true qi become disordered.
It was also Fan Xian who took this medicine for the first time. It was a few years ago at the cliff of Western Mountain in Northern Qi, before facing the joint attack of Langtao and He Daoren.
Fan Xian took a few breaths to calm himself down. After escaping from Dadong Mountain, he was scratched by Ye Liuyun's sword intent, and was chased and killed by Yan Xiaoyi for hundreds of miles at the same time. In the end, he was shot by an arrow in his heart. He was seriously injured and could not get a good recuperation. The body has reached the end of its strength.
Although he rested in Miss Sun's boudoir for several days, his current state is actually only 80% of his peak stage. In order to break out of the palace, he had no choice but to take this extremely harmful drug again, so as to ensure that his powerful strength could be fully exerted.
The first time I took this medicine was for Xiao En, for the secret of the temple in the old man's mouth. The second time I took this medicine was to break through the palace and for the great country of Qing. There are many things in the world that are more important than health, Fan Xian, whose face was a little pale, was thinking as he walked down.
———————
Kyoto was in chaos. Compared with the victory of the Ministry of Justice and Kyoto Prefecture without a fight, the attack on the eldest princess Beppu fell into a bitter battle from the very beginning. The few clusters of flames that Fan Xian and the First Prince saw from the top of the city were the poisonous tricks that the Overwatch Council had to resort to when they stormed.
Fortunately, the eldest princess was not in the mansion, and Yuan Hongdao, the chief counselor of Xinyang who was supposed to be in charge of the defense, seemed to be frightened by the offensive, so the masters and maids in Befu were finally killed by the Overwatch Council after asking the Overwatch Council to pay the price of dozens of corpses. The crossbow shot turned into a hedgehog, and was turned into a zombie by poison.
The officials of the Overwatch Council attacked in, and Mu Feng'er, the chief secretary of the leading one, was cut deeply on his left arm, bleeding profusely. on Yuan Hongdao's neck.
He was Mu Tie's nephew, and Fan Xian's direct descendant, so it was impossible for him to soften his heart in a life-and-death struggle like this.
What surprised him was that the counselor in the eldest princess's house under his control didn't have much fear, but panic.
Yuan Hongdao looked at Mu Feng'er anxiously and said, "I have something important to report to Duke Dan Bo!"