Surrounded by faint smoke, a strong smell of blood, and a faint smell of burnt horror. The whole capital is already in chaos, apart from around the imperial palace, there is nowhere else fighting and strangling, the faint sound of killing has never ceased.
The second prince frowned beautifully, stared blankly at the unclear scene above the imperial city, and said softly in a low voice: "They won't be able to keep it, it just depends on how long they can hold on... Auntie's arrangements for the surrounding areas of the capital, everything The courier has been killed, so it is impossible for reinforcements to come. With Fan Xian's temperament, knowing that he is dead, how could he fight so bravely? If it was normal, he should have run away long ago."
Ye Zhong's armor was a little old, with a dim light. This important figure in the Qing Kingdom's military glanced at his son-in-law, his eyes flickered, and he said slowly, "There are so many people in the palace, how did he escape?"
Everyone admits that if Fan Xian led the people from the Overwatch Council to flee as soon as he saw that something was wrong, it would be extremely difficult to dig him out in Kyoto, where hundreds of thousands of people lived, even if the eldest princess had so many soldiers under her command. , everyone recognized Fan Xian's tyrannical strength and ability to escape.
After a moment of silence, Ye Zhong said, "And since Fan Xian doesn't run away, then he must have something to rely on."
The second prince's face calmed down. The Tianhuang nobleman obeyed his aunt's advice, held back his ambition for the time being, stood behind the prince and waved the flag, but the string in his heart had already been played countless times, but the current situation was uncertain, and he would not do too many crazy things , especially compared to the prince, he was more afraid of Fan Xian's existence.
Fan Xian's blow to the second prince not only caused great damage to him in terms of strength, but also in terms of spirit. The second prince took a deep breath and said, "Fan Xian will always draw his hole cards when people don't expect it. I will never underestimate him..."
Ye Zhong suddenly cut off his words coldly: "However, we can no longer preserve our strength... The eldest prince led thousands of imperial troops to defend the palace, and the Overwatch Council secretly assisted in the battle. His strength is much stronger than we originally imagined. Taipingfang On the other hand, if you don’t attack with all your might, I’m afraid there will be variables if you drag it on.”
The second prince lowered his head slowly, thinking about something in his heart. This time, Qin Ye's two families merged into the rebel siege palace, and they naturally supported the crown prince's succession in name, but everyone knew that, at least for now, Dingzhou Ye's family was his second child...so the number of days since the morning For the second offensive, the Ye family did not put in all their strength. They were extremely cautious in the direction of Taipingfang, the main attack, because they were worried that their own strength would be compromised too much.
It was precisely because of this that the offensive of the rebels was not continuous enough, and all of this was something that the second prince had secretly acquiesced to.
Ye Zhong glanced at his son-in-law, and said calmly: "I believe Fan Xian has already seen this, and I think he will take advantage of this immediately to sow discord between you and the crown prince... Your Highness, please put it aside for now. In the past, I thought in my heart that I should help the prince enter the palace first."
The second prince took a deep breath, with a gentle smile on his face, and nodded: "Your Excellency Yuezhang is right, you can't give Fan Xian any chance to take advantage of. At this time, His Royal Highness and I will be suspicious of each other. It will make the three brothers in the palace happy."
He turned his head to look at Ye Zhong, and said seriously: "Let the crown prince and Mr. Qin rest assured to attack... I will go to the middle camp and ask the crown prince for instructions."
Ye Zhong frowned slightly, knowing that the Second Highness was going to use himself as a hostage, using his own safety to ensure the unity and will of the tens of thousands of rebels at this time, and not give Fan Xian a chance to take advantage of it.
"It's too dangerous." The commander of the Dingzhou Army slowly closed his eyes and said, "As a lieutenant general, I should go to the middle camp to lead the army. I will take a few personal soldiers there, and the Dingzhou Army will hand it over to His Highness." As for the siege of the city, all military orders will be issued by the middle battalion, so there will be no difficulty in delivering military orders."
The second prince was startled, and after a moment he was moved and said with concern: "Yue Zhang is careful."
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As expected by the second prince and Ye Zhong, seeing the Dingzhou army preserving its strength there, Fan Xian refused to let go of this opportunity to alienate him. Standing at the top of the city, looking at the place where the rebel army was encamped, he began to confront the rebels again. The prince shouted.
At this time, the attack under the city was extremely urgent, drums were beating like thunder, and shouts of killing were everywhere. Some rebels along the ladder began to climb towards the top of the city, braving arrows and rolling stones. But at such a tense moment, in such a noisy and dangerous environment, Fan Xian's words and words were branded in the ears of all the rebel soldiers and the generals of the Qin family.
He just yelled a word to the imperial city: "Old thief Qin, don't you feel sorry for the death of so many of your people?"
Not a single word mentioned the Ye family or the Dingzhou army. But at this time, the corpses were scattered in the square, and the horrific remains of the rebels who were burned into scorched pillars were still exuding a vomitous breath. Anyone who was not blind would find that in these waves of offensives, the dead were basically It was the sergeant of the Qin family and the two subordinates of the Kyoto garrison, and Dingzhou did not suffer much loss.
As soon as this remark came out, the leaders of the rebel army's middle battalion were all stunned. The crown prince smiled, and said to the generals beside him, "Only a fool would believe this kind of childish provocation."
That's right, even a blind person could understand his intentions for such an open and aboveboard provocation like Fan Xian's. Only a fool would foolishly fall for his tricks and start to suspect each other's intentions. Although the crown prince and the second prince used to fight to the death in the court, after experiencing the Dadongshan incident, under the long-sleeved light dance and strong suppression of the eldest princess, they had no choice but to be closely linked. The two princes surnamed Li are not fools, so they naturally know that at the moment, the superficial unity and cooperation must be maintained.
However, no matter how clear and simple the strategy is, if it is transformed into direct words and falls to everyone's ears, it will naturally have a certain impact on people's emotions. Especially the generals of the Qin family from the old man down, even though they knew what effect Fan Xian wanted to achieve, they still couldn't help but feel a little bit of anger. Since the siege, the Qin family has been the main force, while the Dingzhou army has basically been fighting. How can these generals of the Qin family feel comfortable watching from the sidelines
After capturing the flag and returning, Gong Dian, who had been standing beside the prince two horses away, began to look a little unnatural, as if feeling a little ashamed. Everyone saw the performance of the Dingzhou army at this time, and knew that Ye Zhong and the second prince must have small calculations in their hearts. Although it would not have any major impact on today's events, the Qin family must be extremely angry.
The crown prince glanced at Gong Dian gently, and said, "Fan Xian knew that he was at a dead end, so he would do such a boring thing. The so-called blame is not blame, and the blame is self-defeating. There are only such people in the palace. The army is suppressing it, as long as we don't mess up, great things will eventually come true, I hope you will work hard."
"Follow your orders, Your Highness." All the generals beside him bowed in unison, knowing that what the crown prince said was the right way, to be right, to win by odds, if the right way is magnanimous and powerful, why should you care about the strange way
With just a brief mention, the crown prince crushed Fan Xian's words and threw them away, and the generals began to get busy again. The crown prince whispered a few words to old master Qin, and at the same time cast his eyes on the top of the city.
At this moment, a soldier holding a banner came quickly, and under the slightly different eyes of everyone, he said loudly: "Deputy Commander Ye Zhong is here to invite Prince Ling."
The prince was slightly taken aback, but his eyes lit up. On the other hand, Old Master Qin suddenly opened his eyes with a cold glow, but immediately calmed down. At this time, the general situation is set, and Mr. Qin can't help but start to think about what kind of blow his only son Qin Heng suffered under Zhengyangmen, and why he hasn't returned to the team at this time. Therefore, although Ye Zhong came suddenly, Mr. Qin is just Just a little movement in the heart.
The old man guessed why Ye Zhong came, but he was not worried that Ye Zhong would take away any achievements of the Qin family. The so-called Conglong, the contribution of the Qin family in helping the crown prince rise to the throne cannot be erased by anyone. As long as the crown prince becomes emperor, the Qin family can at least maintain peace for decades after the old man's death.
The prince's surprise and slight joy had other ideas. He knew that Ye Zhong came here because he didn't want Fan Xian's words to affect today's plan to raise troops. However, this respect for himself and the emphasis on the overall situation made the prince seem to see another light.
Today, Fan Xian put the queen mother and queen's three gods on the top of the city, and the prince had a fierce conflict with Mr. Qin. Although the crown prince forcibly suppressed the thoughts of the generals of the Qin family in the end, some other thoughts arose in his heart—ideas that Fan Xian wanted him to have.
A few days ago, the crown prince and the queen mother's grandfather and grandson conspired several times, but they never made up their minds to let the Qin family lead the troops into Beijing, fearing that the military would dominate in the future. Looking at the situation today, the prince knows that he is not the emperor after all, and his influence on the military is still too small, so he must find some means of balance.
At this time, Ye Zhong's sudden arrival made the prince find a possibility—yes, Ye Zhong is the father-in-law of the second prince, and logically speaking, he should be the most vigilant character of the prince, but the prince does not think that the alliance in this world will last forever. As long as it continues, everything has to do with profit, and has nothing to do with affection and family affection—I am the real prince, and I will ascend the throne soon, and the Ye family's support for me is more beneficial than supporting the second child.
Of course, he didn't dare to expect the Ye family to suddenly turn to him. These things must be considered after a long time, but he discovered this possibility.
Li Chengqian felt slightly bitter in his heart and thought, the group of people in the city are all traitors, what can't be done
Ye Zhong joined the ranks, saluted the prince solemnly, and reported the situation of the war in Taipingfang. His personal soldiers were separated far away from the middle camp. Although the Qin family would not guard against him, they would not allow him to bring their personal soldiers in.
Old Master Qin narrowed his eyes slightly, and nodded slightly to Ye Zhong, which was regarded as a courtesy. Ye Zhong's complexion was slightly dark, extremely calm.
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The siege battle was still going on, with arrows flying all around, and the sound of shouting and killing never stopped. The Forbidden Army has begun to suffer obvious casualties, but the imperial city Xionggao, the palace gate is filled with rocks and sand, and it can still hold on.
Fan Xian squinted as he watched the deaths happen one after another, not knowing what it was like in his heart. At this moment, the eldest prince had already adjusted his light armor, took off the long sword at his waist, took the long sword he used in the battlefield from his personal soldier, and walked past him silently.
Fan Xian suddenly reached out, grabbed his shoulder, and said in a deep voice, "Let me go."
"I admit that you are very powerful, but leading an attack is not an assassination by one person." The eldest prince frowned, and said, "I'll do this kind of thing. If you look after the city, my mother's life will be entrusted to you." is you."
Fan Xian remained silent, knowing that he could not persuade this brother who was about to go to war.
The eldest prince looked at him, and suddenly said: "I wonder if I'm crazy, I don't know anything, and I'm going to take these hundreds of people to Chonglianying..." He gave a wry smile, and spat on the ground , "After Lao Tzu dies, if you can escape, remember to burn some paper money for me every year."
Fan Xian smiled shyly, knowing that the custom of the old Li family's fortune was to burn paper money, he couldn't help but patted the First Prince on the shoulder when he heard this, but he didn't say anything after a while, he just choked out a sentence: "Brother, be careful."
Hearing the word "eldest brother", the eldest prince laughed loudly, and said, "It's not bad for you to suddenly admit that I am your elder brother when you are dying."
The eldest prince knew that Fan Xian didn't even want to recognize his father, but he was willing to recognize himself as his eldest brother, and he had real emotions in it.
Looking back, Fan Xian looked at the Eldest Prince who was drifting away and those imperial guards who were ready to go, and watched them gently stroking the only two hundred horses left in the palace, his eyes gradually softened. He knew that if he lost the bet, he might still have a chance to stand up, but these people, as well as most people in the palace, would pay their lives for their bet.
"If you die, I will spend a few years killing everyone in Lao Li's family to avenge you."
Fan Xian said this to himself in his heart, his eyes slowly passed over the top of the city, the bottom of the city, the soldiers of the imperial army who were bravely resisting the rebels, and looked at the guards at the city crossbow, who were in charge of communication everywhere. The confidants of the Overwatch Council looked at the two great scholars, Hu Shu, who had pale faces but insisted on standing right in front of the imperial city.
Shu Wu's white beard fluttered in the wind, messy. Fan Xian's heart darkened slightly, wondering if this was the last time in his life to see the vivid faces of these people.
He lowered his head and confessed a few words to the third prince Li Chengping. With a clap of his palms, he turned over and stood on the three coffins in the imperial city.
At this time, the autumn sun was approaching Zhongzheng, but it got into the dark clouds that suddenly floated over. The three coffins in the imperial city were painted completely black, and Fan Xian was also completely black. He stood calmly on them, facing the slightly startled wind, looking at everything that was distressing.
Everyone in the imperial city saw this scene. The bloody soldiers had no leisure to watch, but the people in the rebel camp couldn't help feeling chills when they saw the man in black standing against the wind in the imperial city.
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Since the start of the war, Fan Xian's small means have not had much effect. However, since Ye Zhong met the prince, the rebel camp finally underwent some small changes, and the entire rebel camp began to change positions slowly and step by step.
The Dingzhou army must take over from the old Qin's family and take on some of the responsibilities of the conspirators. This was the scene Fan Xian wanted to see. He watched all this and found that although the Qing army was well-trained, Ye and Qin's two families seldom cooperated. When the formation was changed, several gaps were finally exposed in the entire front.
At this time, the Dingzhou army was far from being transferred, and the Qin family still occupied the central area, but the cobweb-like streets and alleys on the upper left exposed their crossings.
Fan Xian didn't have much military accomplishment, but he also knew that he couldn't take advantage of those gaps. He could only pray silently in his heart that the good luck that had accompanied him for twenty years would be able to shine at this moment.
It seemed that there was God's will in the dark, and God's will listened to the prayer in Fan Xian's heart. Just as the rebel army changed into chaos, there was finally a hasty and murderous sound of horseshoes from the long street at the gap.
Fan Xian lifted his spirits and looked intently, but his eyes turned cold.
Not reinforcements, but Qin Heng!
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After experiencing the brutal sniping at Zhengyangmen, Qin Heng, who had personally experienced the Nanzhao War and was a general after the gate, finally broke through the joint sniping by the Overwatch Council and the imperial cavalry with his powerful 5,000 cavalry. An hour later, they finally arrived at the palace!
In an instant, it could be seen that Qin Heng's cavalry had rushed to the street, and the blood-stained wounds on those cavalry could be seen. As for the 5,000 cavalry, there are only nearly 3,000 left at this time. One can imagine how brutal the sniper killing under Zhengyangmen was.
Fan Xian's heart ached as if being pricked by a needle. He knew that his most loyal subordinates of the Overwatch Council would suffer heavy losses under the Zhengyang Gate. completely annihilated.
A bitter and bloody taste rolled between his lips and tongue. After coughing twice, Fan Xian stared into his blood-red eyes, knowing that while the domineering Mahuang Wan forcibly raised his realm, it also deeply hurt his heart. .
However, he just stared at the gap, watching the team of cavalry led by Qin Heng appear in everyone's eyes, carrying smoke and blood.
"Do it."
He covered his bleeding lips and said vaguely. Although the order was vague and the voice was extremely low, the members of the Qi Nian team who had been waiting by his side did not hesitate at all. They raised their right arm and pulled it vigorously. In a gloomy sky, a beautiful firework bloomed.
From last night to now, the second fireworks in Kyoto.
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As soon as the fireworks were issued, there were bursts of strange sounds in the houses behind the square in front of the palace, which attracted the attention of many people. And in the middle of the three streets and alleys in the front left, there was a sudden sound of horseshoes.
Qin Heng's cavalry had arrived, where did the sound of hooves come from? Who are these firm and hasty cavalry, even faster and more murderous than the Qin family's bloodbathed cavalry
As if two gusts of wind were destined to meet, the cavalry who rushed towards the Palace Square along the two roads finally met at the intersection of the two streets and alleys, and collided violently and suddenly!
There were not many cavalrymen hiding in the dark, but they had an aura that was different from that of the general Qing army. Not only was it murderous, but it also had an extremely indifferent and ghostly taste. They are covered in black armor, and it seems that they can't even reflect a ray of light, but the blackness is as thick as ink to the extreme.
The Black Cavalry of the Overwatch Council is said to be the cavalry with the strongest sniper ability in the Qing Kingdom, but few people have ever seen their combat methods and formidable strength. Within the Qing army, many people showed disdain for the black knights, thinking that Chen Pingping, an old black dog, could not train iron-blooded knights.
However, today, this mysterious black cavalry unit finally collided with the Qing Kingdom's elite cavalry, and told everyone with bloody facts that in terms of cavalry quality alone, the black cavalry... will always be the strongest.
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The sudden appearance of the black knight was beyond everyone's expectations. At the beginning, a trace of excitement flashed in the eyes of Mr. Qin, who immediately discovered the problem, and a cold light flashed in his eyes again.
No one knew how Fan Xian hid this cavalry unit in the continuous residential houses behind the rebels, and no one knew how this all-black dark cavalry did not make a sound.
Qin Heng led the cavalry across the street at a fast speed, and then saw those slashing towards him from another road beside him...those black shadows of the cavalry!
The number of black cavalry is too small, only two hundred people. If the eldest prince was still at the top of the city at this time, he would have guessed that this was the team that Fan Xian sent out of the palace last night, the team led by the deputy commander of the black cavalry, Jing Ge, who disappeared quietly for a long time.
Although there were only two hundred people, this group of black knights seemed to be two thousand... no, it was like fighting alone. The leading general is wearing a silver mask, holding the spear tightly, like the sharpest point on the blade, rushing to the front at an extremely fast speed!
And the two hundred cavalry behind him, like the sharp blade and solid blade behind a dagger, maintained a tight formation, supported by extremely superb riding skills, closely followed the silver-faced Jing Ge, and moved towards Qin Heng. Right in front of more than 2,000 cavalrymen, they plunged in fiercely!
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With two hundred enemies against two thousand, only the black cavalry can have such determination and courage, because decades ago, under the leadership of Chen Pingping, the predecessors of the black cavalry raided three thousand miles north and penetrated deep into the Great Wei Dynasty. Within the national border, capture the leader of the Great Wei Tiqi, Xiao En, and escape with his body!
The black cavalry can do it in a surprise attack of three thousand miles, let alone a mere three hundred feet. Only those who memorize history will understand that the black cavalry is the most powerful cavalry in the world, and will understand why Emperor Qing always forcibly ordered Chen Pingping to limit the number of black cavalry to less than a thousand!
Fan Xian in black stood on the black coffin, watching his black cavalry making a dark surprise attack, his lips were dry, and he said nothing. He knew that the counterattack would start from here, and the black knight's surprise attack was just the prelude to his gamble.