With a cloud-piercing arrow, thousands of troops will meet each other.
When the dazzling fireworks bloomed in the quiet night sky of Kyoto, although it was only for a moment, it shocked many people's hearts.
The internal cleansing of the imperial army was the first work. It didn't take long for the first prince to successfully control all the forces. The imperial army with about 3,000 people left in the capital has since become the strongest force defending the imperial city.
At the same time, the subordinates of the Overwatch Council who were lurking in the dark night also saw the fireworks. They emerged from the dark night and started heading towards their respective targets.
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The yamen of the Ministry of punishment is always gloomy, especially on such a night. In the silence, a rush of footsteps suddenly sounded outside the Criminal Department. The officers in charge of the night watch watched the movement outside the Yamen in surprise, and then they were shocked to find that a large number of people in black official uniforms were approaching the Criminal Department. .
The officers' faces were pale, and they immediately sounded a gong to warn, intending to wake up the gentlemen in the punishment department and the prison guards behind the punishment department. But they themselves immediately retreated to the office of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, because they knew that these black official uniforms were the official newspaper of the Overwatch Council, and people like themselves were definitely not opponents of the other party.
When the warning sounded, all the subordinates of the Ministry of Criminal Justice rushed to the rear. Everyone knew that the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice was the most important thing, because the crown prince did not dare to send those civil servants who opposed his enthronement to the prison of the Overwatch Council, and locked them all here. Although these people were only prisoners in the Ministry of Punishment, they were ministers who even the Queen Mother would be jealous of if they made a sound in the court hall.
There were not too many terrified fighting sounds, but after a few screams and a commotion, the team of about 300 people from the Overwatch Council entered the depths of the Office of the Ministry of Punishment and rushed to the large square.
The officers of the Ministry of Criminal Justice and the guards of the prison were surrounded by the officials of the Overwatch Council, and the chief officer of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, who was disheveled, couldn't help but feel chilled watching this scene.
The number of the two sides is about the same, and it seems that they are fighting for each other. However, this Lord Shangshu, who is like the commander of the Imperial Army, dare not go home and only dares to guard the prison in the Ministry of Punishment, has no idea of resistance at all.
Because those men in black were holding crossbow arrows in their hands, because the other party was the official of the Overwatch Council that Qing officials feared the most, because this Lord Shang Shu knew that since the Overwatch Council dared to act so rampantly, that little Mr. There was a bloody storm.
The remnant prestige of the Overwatch Council was still there, and Fan Xian's dark name shocked everyone's hearts. Without the help of the eldest princess' power, not many people dared to confront this team head-on.
What's more, he also heard that there was a firework arrow in the palace, and after waking up in panic, he also clearly heard the thunderous shouts and killings from the imperial city that shot straight into the sky.
He didn't know that it was an action of the imperial army, but he knew that there were changes in the imperial city.
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There were some dead bodies lying here and there, and the leading official of the Overwatch Council looked indifferently at the besieged Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, and said word by word: "I am following the Queen Mother's orders and the Prince's military orders, and I am here to fetch you old ministers out of prison. , Lord Shangshu, please hand it over."
transfer? No, this is a prison robbery. But the minister of the Ministry of punishment trembled and did not dare to speak out.
Because last night, one of his servants, who was his right and left hand, died in this ya hall without anyone noticing. No one knows how the servant died, and Shang Shu didn't want to be the second ghost.
If you surrender, is there still a way out? The torch shone brightly on Shangshu's face.
As if guessing what he was thinking, the leading Overwatch Council official stared into his eyes and said, "The Empress Dowager said that if those who follow the rebellion sincerely repent, they will forget the past."
Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment smiled wryly, and even brought out the queen mother's will. It seems that Duke Danbo has already controlled the palace. There has been no news from the Eldest Princess, and I'm afraid something went wrong. In the current situation, why bother to support her
But in an instant, he suddenly thought, if the battle in the palace had not been resolved and Fan Xian hadn't gained the upper hand, if he had surrendered so easily, afterwards... how would he explain to the Crown Prince and the Eldest Princess
Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice gritted his teeth, his eyes kept changing.
The Overwatch Council official looked at him indifferently, stopped communicating with him, and slowly raised his right hand. Some of the hundreds of Overwatch Council officials around him raised their crossbows, and some pulled out their crossbows. He started preparing to launch an attack on the heavy gate of the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.
"Three." The Overwatch Council official counted expressionlessly: "Three, two..."
"Wait a minute!" The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment was finally overwhelmed by the monotonous counting, and shouted: "Wait a minute! I want the words of Mr. Dan Bo!"
A mocking smile appeared on the corners of the Overwatch Council official's lips. In this critical situation, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment was terrified. He has not yet become demented. He knows that the Queen Mother's will is just a piece of paper. The one who can really save his life is the commissioner. adults' wishes.
He took out a document he had prepared from his pocket and threw it over.
The Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice picked it up from the ground, looked at the document in the dim light of the torch, and confirmed that it was the edict written by Mr. Fan himself.
I don't know when this edict was written or when it was prepared, but it clearly stated that the eldest princess and His Royal Highness conspired with the assassins from Dongyi City and Northern Qi to assassinate His Majesty on Dadong Mountain! The crimes are very clear, and it is written later that Yan Xiaoyi, the governor of the Beiying Camp, was involved in the conspiracy and was executed by Fan Xian himself!
The crime is not the key point, what Shangshu of the Ministry of Criminal Justice cares about is the last words. At the end, his complexion finally eased a little. In this document called Xuanzhao, there are about 400 characters in total, and among the last 100 characters, it is clearly written, Some of the ministers were deceived by Li Chengqian, but those who repented and made contributions to Xinzuo should not blame the past.
The hands of the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment trembling while holding the edict, this edict does not have the seal of the Empress Dowager, but it has the seal of His Majesty!
The most important thing is that there is Fan Xian's autograph at the end!
The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment knew that at this moment, no seal would be as effective as Fan Xian's signature, and he believed that Fan Xian was not a person who broke his promise and became fat.
His face became paler and paler, and he took a look around him to pluck up his courage, but the guards from the Ministry of Punishment, who had a pale complexion, lowered their heads, knelt down in front of the Overwatch Council official, and said in a mournful voice: "My lord... plead guilty."
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Disarm, bind fingers, pull rope. All the armed forces of the Criminal Ministry were brought under control in a very short period of time. It's just that this group of teams saved some face for Lord Shang Shu, except that he didn't have the official uniform and black gauze.
All kinds of knives, guns and sticks were piled up in the corner, and all the officials of the Ministry of Punishment had their arms bound behind their backs with special steel finger cots made by the Overwatch Council, and these finger cots were held together by strong hemp rope, just like being strung together in a string during the famine of old age. Grasshoppers to be fried.
All of these actions are extremely familiar and fast, because the Office of the Overwatch Council has been using these methods to deal with various departments in the huge state machine of the Qing Kingdom from the first day of its birth.
Therefore, it cannot be said that the Minister of the Ministry of Justice is cowardly and cowardly, nor can it be said that the government of Qing State is too useless, but it has been many years, and the terror of the Overwatch Council has been deeply rooted in the hearts of all Qing State officials, like natural enemies. Officials Facing this group of men in black, he couldn't summon up the courage to resist.
The Overwatch Council, a terrifying royal secret service, became the sharpest blade in Fan Xian's hands after Emperor Qing died and Chen Pingping was poisoned.
While dealing with the remaining affairs of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, the two heavy prison doors of the Ministry of Criminal Justice had already been opened. Officials from the Overwatch Council entered, assigned a lot of hands, and rescued forty or fifty officials who seemed to be in a state of distress.
The official uniforms of these officials have not come to be stripped, but they have been beaten with scars all over their bodies. This shows how hurried and chaotic the prince was when he arrested these officials in the Tai Chi Hall. After being tortured, many officials were already unable to walk. With the support of these Overwatch Council officials, they moved out of the gate of the prison of the Ministry of Justice with the help of these officials.
The leading official of the Overwatch Council fixed his eyes, stepped forward quickly, knelt down in front of these officials, bowed a heavy salute, and said in a deep voice: "Murong Yan, the head of the Second Division of the Overwatch Council, under the order of the Queen Mother, Come to welcome you adults, you adults have worked hard."
The civil servants who were helped out looked at this Overwatch Council official in black official uniform, and couldn't help but have mixed feelings and couldn't say anything.
Murong Yan didn't get up, but instead bowed solemnly to the two leading officials, and said in a low voice: "Master Tisi ordered the officials to thank the two great scholars on his behalf."
Yes, these two officials are the two first-rank ministers who fought bravely in the Taiji Hall and forcibly prevented the crown prince from ascending the throne, the leader of the Zhongshu under the door, University scholar Hu and Mr. Shu Wu.
There was still a wound on Shu Wu's face. Seeing the official and sighing, he didn't have much joy in escaping from his birth, but he was only deeply worried about the situation in the capital. He knew Fan Xian's temperament, since he Risking a prison robbery tonight, there must be chaos in the palace, Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I don't know how many relatives of Your Majesty will die in this storm.
Master Hu, however, smiled and said, "Mr. Dan Bo was wrong, I didn't help him, how can I thank you?"
Murong Yan was taken aback when she heard the words.
It was too late to describe the detailed situation in the palace, ten carriages had already arrived outside the Ministry of Punishment, picked up the wounded ministers, and then went to the palace. The situation in Kyoto is still very dangerous. These ministers who have just escaped from prison cannot return to their residences for the time being.
Looking at the carriages under the protection of the Overwatch Council heading towards the palace along the long street, Murong Yan, who was standing at the entrance of the criminal department, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although there are still many things to deal with in the yamen of the Ministry of Punishment behind him, his heart has settled down.
He is the head of the Second Office, and he was originally responsible for the work of intelligence summary, but in this incident of the Overwatch Council, he was given the task of storming the Ministry of Criminal Affairs by Mr. Xiaoyan, perhaps because of his calmness.
It is not difficult to storm the Criminal Department, but the difficulty is to rescue those adults in the prison intact. Murong Yan was very aware of this, otherwise the chief commissioner would not have distributed hundreds of people to himself even with such a small number of people in the capital.
The specific tasks were given by Yan Bingyun, but the requirements were drawn up by Fan Xian himself. For the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Fan Xian issued a death order, in order to ensure the safety of Hu Shu, the two academicians, and the civil servants.
Because he knew that if it wasn't for these civil servants who were not afraid of death to stage an attack in the Taiji Hall and forcibly postpone the crown prince's enthronement, the government would be in chaos and the capital would be difficult to stabilize. It would be difficult for him to find an opportunity to successfully break into the palace.
These civic officials who seemed to have no strength other than their remonstrance were Fan Xian's major contributors to this action. Once Fan Xian borrowed bones from these ministers, he wanted to ensure that their bones were intact. This was gratitude and a touch of guilt.
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The fireworks are moving, and thousands of people come out. When the prison of the Ministry of Justice was opened, the Kyoto Prefecture, which seemed to be more difficult to attack, now had its gates open and brightly lit, which looked very strange.
The Kyoto prefecture always manages the public security in Kyoto, and has a large number of government officials under it. And when the fireworks in the imperial city sounded the arrow, Sun Jingxiu, a second-rank minister with a solemn face, walked into the main hall with a heavy expression.
The subordinate who didn't understand what happened looked at Mr. Fu Yin dumbfounded, thinking to himself, why is Mr. Sun still wearing a full official uniform at such a night
After a few breaths, footsteps came like thunder. Sun Jingxiu looked at his subordinates with a complex expression, sighed with great regret, and ordered his subordinates to open the gate of Kyoto Prefecture.
As soon as the gate opened, the Overwatch Council officials filed in. Under the watchful eyes of the Kyoto government officials who were looking at each other, they occupied a favorable position in the main hall and surrounded Sun Jingxiu in the middle.
As soon as the Overwatch Council officials in black uniforms separated, a person walked out from among them, and it was Mu Tie, the head of the Overwatch Council. The iron-faced official looked at Sun Jingxiu indifferently, and asked, "My lord ordered the officials to come and ask my lord, have you made up your mind?"
Sun Jingxiu sighed again, his face struggled for a while, his legs seemed to suddenly become weak, he knelt down on the ground with a slap, and said in a low voice: "I am guilty, I dare not beg for forgiveness."
As soon as this scene happened, there was an uproar in the audience, and everyone was extremely shocked. They didn't understand why the governor, who had been obedient to the Queen Mother's order and desperately arrested Fan Xian in the capital, would, when the Overwatch Council officials came to the door, He didn't want to resist, so he surrendered like this!
Mu Tie's face was still as iron as before, seemingly unmoved, but he was equally astonished in his heart. He was ordered to come to stabilize the capital today, and he thought he was going to face the most tragic fight in his life, but unexpectedly, Yan Bingyun only ordered him lightly, and made him come like this.
As soon as he entered the capital mansion, he saw that the mansion was full of light. Mu Tie thought he was in the middle, but unexpectedly, the situation was as Mr. Xiaoyan said, and it went surprisingly smoothly!
Sun Jingxiu knelt on the ground, his face was extremely gloomy, he held Wusha in his arms with his left hand, thinking in his heart that he had no other choice. Not to mention whether the capital city can resist the Overwatch Council head-on, the main reason is that the conversation with the young man in white in the back garden earlier made him have no choice but to surrender!
It wasn't until tonight that he found out that Fan Xian had been hiding in his mansion for several days, and that the start of the Kyoto Change was actually in his backyard, in his daughter's room!
The assassins who broke into the palace this time, 400 people used the documents of the Kyoto Prefecture to sneak into the capital secretly!
As long as this matter is exposed, no matter how he behaves tonight, he will definitely not be tolerated by His Highness the Crown Prince or the Eldest Princess, and he will definitely think that he is a spy on Fan Xian's side.
So he had no choice but to make a difficult decision and completely fell in favor of Fan Xian—anyway, someone who would be regarded as Master Xiao Fan, who would simply become Master Xiao Fan, at least could survive.
The future, safety... Should Xiaoer be able to speak for herself
Thinking of this, Sun Jingxiu couldn't help but get angry and almost fainted from anger. The documents for the assassins who broke into the palace to enter the capital were all sent out from his own study. Except for that girl, who else could pretend to be her own handwriting and steal her official seal without being suspected by her subordinates!
I will never have a daughter in my next life, and my daughter's elbows are always turned outward. Sun Jingxiu, the Governor of Kyoto who was forced to betray him, thought very sadly in his heart.
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Not long after the battle in the imperial city ended, the brigade of imperial guards forcibly broke into the harem through the main entrance. In front of more than a thousand sergeants like tigers and wolves, the inner court guards and eunuchs who had lost their minds wisely chose to surrender. Even if there were some tough ones, they were just dead bodies under the sweep of the imperial army.
The harem returned to silence for a while, and the sound of orderly footsteps and the clacking sound of armor hitting could be vaguely heard.
Fan Xian pushed open the gate of the East Palace with a gloomy expression, and left the swordsman Tugong who was stationed here outside the palace. Looking at the dead bodies along the way, he walked into the newly restored palace.
In the Hanguang Palace, Fan Xian was very calm, but only he knew how disappointed he was deep in his heart. If he didn't catch the prince and princess, he would have torn a big hole in his plan.
A hole that may never be repaired.
He looked at the eunuchs and maids who were cowering in one place, and after a while he lowered his head silently, as if he could hear the sound of horseshoes sounding outside the palace wall far away.
He knew it was an auditory hallucination, but he believed that the speed of the First Prince's march was basically under control in the palace, so he must have already divided his brigade and began to march deep into the capital, trying to control a larger area, but he would be careful not to Contact with the thirteen city gate division sparked a fire. The First Prince is the same as him, once he has made a move, he will not hold back. The Imperial Army and Overwatch Council are currently in the capital trying their best to track down the Prince and Eldest Princess.
The most important thing is that Wan'er and Dabao were taken away by the eldest princess, and he failed to save his relatives, which made him angry and depressed. Walking into a quiet room next to the hall, looking at the eunuch sitting on the ground and the acne marks on the eunuch's face, Fan Xian was furious, but in an instant his heart softened and he sighed helplessly.