The first two rains at the beginning of autumn came and went abruptly, with an inexplicable taste. It seemed that the first rain was just to welcome Chen Pingping’s return, and the second rain was to send Chen Pingping away. When everything in the execution ground in front of the imperial palace was over, the misty autumn rain stopped like this, and the dark clouds in the sky were blown away, revealing a very high, light, and clear sky, except for the wetness of rain in the streets and alleys , everything returned to normal.
The people of Kyoto watched such a shocking scene today, but no one dared to discuss anything, and spread out along the streets in silence. The officials in front of the palace gate looked at each other, they didn't know what to do next, His Majesty had already returned to the palace, the young man left with the old dean's body in his arms, and the rainwater that was flowing all over the ground didn't come together to form an idea , leaving them at a loss.
After rushing thousands of miles back to the capital, Fan Xian and the five hundred black cavalry had already violated countless laws and regulations of the Overwatch Council. What's more, when he broke into the capital, he casually stabbed so many court officials to death. According to the theory, this is an unforgivable crime, but His Majesty did not speak, who can punish Fan Xian's crime, who dares to punish Fan Xian's crime
At this moment, Master Hu came down from the top of the palace, and many officials saluted him one after another. Today, the academician has remained silent. He looked at the bloodstains on the wooden platform that had been washed very lightly by the autumn rain, and the tip of his eyebrows twitched suddenly. Looking back, he saw the former academician who seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. Shu Wu left lonely along the foot of the city without saying hello to these people.
Master Hu's heart darkened slightly, but he knew that he could not be controlled by such emotions. Mr. He had already entered the palace, and he had to sort out the funeral here. He glanced slowly at the faces of the officials of the six departments, three temples and three courtyards, and said calmly: "The severe punishment is over. Open the city gate, and everything should be as usual."
The officials in front of the palace couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they heard this. They have been terrified about how to deal with Mr. Fan's affairs, but at the moment, at least for a short period of time, His Majesty the Emperor can still control his anger, and will not hand over such a dangerous job to the subordinates. .
Hu Dashi didn't care about the reactions of these ministers, and narrowed his eyes slightly. No one from the Overwatch Council was seen in the six departments, three temples and three courtyards. In the middle of the day, it seems that Mr. Xiaoyan has already quietly left.
Not only was the Overwatch Council controlled by the internal and external cooperation, but a serious look flashed across the center of Hu Dashi's brows. He knew that there were also people in the palace who were controlled, such as Ning Cairen who finally risked his life to plead with His Majesty this morning. Prince Jing is under house arrest in the palace right now, and he doesn't know what's going on.
Moreover, Miss Fan's family didn't seem to come out after healing His Majesty last night. Thinking of these things, thinking of the tens of thousands of elite troops of the Qing Dynasty who are still stationed outside the Overwatch Council, Master Hu's heart shuddered, knowing that he must find Fan Xian immediately, to deal with this man who has the strength and courage to stand up to the palace. The little man said something.
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The noon sun shone fiercely on the flowing crystal river outside Kyoto, and the water in the river was cold. It was only slightly warmer, and no happy fog was rising. On the opposite side of the river is an elegant and independent courtyard, with gray and white walls, green and yellow bamboo, and the chill is oppressive. The water on the tiles has been sun-dried into wet marks one by one, but there is more heat like turning back time.
In the sweltering heat of early autumn, a black carriage sped past the bamboo sedan chair by the Liujing River, and stopped steadily at the gate of the other courtyard.
This courtyard was Ye Qingmei's residence back then, the place where the eldest princess died, and the place where Fan Xian worshiped the river several times. Since the Ye family incident, it has been included in the royal family's internal treasury property and has become a courtyard. , but for so many years, His Majesty the Emperor has rarely come here, and no empress or prince dared to ask to come here temporarily, so it has been vacant for more than 20 years, but three years ago, the Eldest Princess planned During the Kyoto Incident, I don't know what kind of emotional considerations, so I lived here temporarily for several days.
It is precisely because this other courtyard is quiet and few people come here, and because of the historical coldness carried by this other courtyard, that everyone has the urge to stay away from it, so the inner court is not very strict about the care here, only four royals The guards are always here.
Seeing the black carriage ignoring the royal seal outside the other courtyard and rushing over like this, the guards turned pale and walked forward, but before they had time to say anything, they were greeted by a group of people rushing over from behind the black carriage. People are restrained with crossbow arrows, disarmed and bound.
An Overwatch Council official stepped forward and silently opened the car curtain.
Footsteps sounded softly, covered in rain, the pale Fan Xian walked down from the carriage holding Chen Pingping's body, the rain dripped down his close-fitting black clothes and the Overwatch Council official uniform worn by the old man in his arms With a rattling sound.
The door of the Taiping Courtyard opened, and Fan Xian walked in solemnly without looking at these subordinates. With a creak, the door was closed immediately behind him, and the officials of the Overwatch Council immediately dispersed to control the road. All the key positions at the head of the bamboo bridge are watching the surroundings vigilantly.
After a while, there was only the sound of hasty and chaotic hoofbeats, and hundreds of exhausted black cavalry drove over along the official road on the other side of the Liujing River.
Immediately afterwards, there was another thunderous sound of horseshoes that stopped further away, and it was unknown whether it was the Jingdu garrison or the troops of the Imperial Army.
Finally, a black carriage drove over and stopped on the opposite side of the bamboo bridge. An official with a frosty face stepped out of the carriage, and it was Yan Bingyun. He didn't cross the bridge, but just quietly looked at the Overwatch Council officials at the gate of the other courtyard on the other side of the bridge.
The Overwatch Council officials who followed Fan Xian to the Taiping Bieyuan, except for a few Qinian team members scattered in the capital, were mostly officials from the first place. Now, with the help of the palace, Yan Bingyun temporarily controlled the situation of the square and eerie building of the Overwatch Council, but he couldn't control all the eight divisions of the Overwatch Council, especially one.
Fan Xian had such a tough and tough place back then, and the officials in one place treated Fan Xian as his ancestor. Today, the big scene in front of the palace came to an end. Not long after Fan Xian left the square in front of the palace with Chen Pingping's body in his arms. The officials then drove a black carriage to pick him up.
Yan Bingyun narrowed his eyes and looked at his colleagues on the other side of the bridge. He didn't feel strange about Fan Xian's lofty prestige in the courtyard, especially in one place. He just found it strange that His Majesty also sent someone to watch over one place. The news was not clear. Fan Xian had just returned to the capital. How did the officials in one place know? And it was such a coincidence that he was picked up, which is really incomprehensible.
Yan Bingyun didn't know that the young hostess in Fan's mansion reacted immediately after the news of Chen Pingping's assassination of the emperor came out. She had already prepared for her husband in advance and kept secretly Keeping in touch with the first place, when Fan Xian rode alone into the execution ground, the people in the first place had already started to move.
As for the hundreds of black riders who were exhausted but still not to be underestimated, they had received Fan Xian's prior order to gather at the Taiping Courtyard. Before Fan Xian entered Beijing, he had thought clearly that no matter whether he could save the old lame man or not, people like himself would always need to meet in Taiping other courtyard.
Yan Bingyun stood at the bridge in silence for a long time, tidied up his wet official clothes, and walked towards the bridge alone. The creaking sound kept ringing, he finally walked to the other side of the bridge, bowed to the vigilant, hostile and disdainful eyes of officials and spies, and said in a deep voice: "Speak Bingyun everywhere, please see the principal."
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Fan Xian didn't know that Yan Bingyun had appeared outside the Taiping Courtyard at this time, but he could think that someone must come to see him and persuade him, and he could even accurately understand that he walked out of the capital step by step , I don't know how many people are following behind me, I don't know how many elite troops of the Qing Kingdom are gathering outside the Taiping Courtyard at this time, waiting for the success of the persuasion...or failure, it's all about the emperor Is it Lao Tzu's intention
But he didn't think about it, and he didn't bother to think about it. He just felt that he was very tired, exhausted, and his body was empty. The zhenqi that was usually as abundant as mountains and rivers seemed to be vomited out in the previous cry, and the pain in his chest The turbid qi was exhaled, and the real qi was also exhaled, leaving nothing but emptiness.
Fan Xian felt that his footsteps had never been as heavy as today, and his body had never been as weak as today. The old man in his arms was obviously very light, but why was it getting heavier and heavier? It was so heavy that I couldn't hold it anymore.
With slightly damp hair hanging on his forehead, he carried Chen Pingping across the lawn, past the flowering tree, past the small lake surrounded by that side, and came to a secluded place.
There were flowers on the wall, and he gently picked a small yellow flower that was shrinking and blooming. Then he stretched out his hand and pressed lightly in the corner of the flower wall, only a few creaking sounds were heard, and a hole slowly appeared on the ground, with stone steps going down, not too far away, at this time the sunlight in the sky was completely Can be mapped onto the dry slate below.
There is a secret room in the other courtyard of Taiping. It must have been no secret to those old people back then. Even the eldest princess, who was still young back then, found one in the other courtyard. After the Ye family incident, the emperor should have come to the other courtyard to check the whereabouts of the box, but he couldn't find it, and he had always had some strange feelings about this courtyard, so he never came again.
For Fan Xian, this secret passage is very familiar, because after opening that box many years ago, Uncle Wuzhu took him to the Taiping Courtyard, went down this passage, and found the most needed fire stick. of bullets.
Walking down step by step, it seems to be going into the netherworld, but in fact it is just a secret room about three feet above the ground. The room is dry and clean, without any other treasures, just a few chairs and a few coffins.
Fan Xian put one hand on the edge of the coffin, with a little force, lifted the lid, then carefully put the old man's thin body in his arms, took a small porcelain pillow and carefully placed it on the back of his head. Looking at the silk inside the coffin, Fan Xian tilted his head slightly and did not cover it for him.
Chen Pingping's eyes were tightly closed, and her naked body was covered only with the Overwatch Council official uniform that Fan Xian had taken off. Standing beside the coffin, Fan Xian quietly looked at his thin cheeks and sunken eye sockets, and suddenly felt that the all-black clothes were more suitable for him than those gorgeous silks.
The all-black clothes were the official uniform of the Overwatch Council, and it was taken off from Fan Xian's body. It was naturally the style of the director of the Overwatch Council. From Fan Xian's point of view, Chen Pingping's life is hard to say, but presumably the other party likes to use the Overwatch Council as the official uniform. Long identity dies.
Fan Xian just stood quietly beside the coffin and looked at the sleeping Chen Pingping, thinking that in the execution ground and in the autumn rain, the old man seemed to be gradually falling asleep in his arms. He held his hand tightly before going to sleep, so he shouldn't be afraid, right
Looking at that old and pale face, Fan Xian suddenly remembered many things. When he was very young, this old man who liked to put a woolen blanket on his lap asked Teacher Fei Jie to teach him to learn the ability to protect himself in this dangerous world, so that he was familiar with monitoring from a very young age. All ordinance architecture of the courtyard. Probably from the day he was born, the old man had already thought about leaving the Overwatch Council, which he regarded as the most precious thing, to himself.
Fan Xian thought of the scene when he saw Chen Pingping for the first time. It was in the dark room of the Overwatch Council. It was obviously the first time the two met, but when he looked at the old cripple in the wheelchair, he seemed to see Chen Pingping. They met an elder whom they hadn't seen for a long time, and a natural intimacy lingered in the hearts of the two of them. On that day, Fan Xian lowered his head and gently hugged the thin Chen Pingping, touching his cheek, just like he hugged and hugged him today.
Watching fish talking about the world by the shallow pool, playing with small flowers, and chasing and dancing with two wheelchairs in the Chen Garden, it is probably impossible to reproduce it again, right? Unable to think any more, Fan Xian tightly closed his eyes, then opened them immediately, lowered his body and gently tucked the shrunken yellow flower in his hand into Chen Pingping's white hair.
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After being silent for a long time, Fan Xian didn't say anything more. He closed the top of the coffin, picked up the prepared big nail from the side, pointed it at the side seam of the coffin lid, and then chopped it down with one blow.
There were several muffled sounds in succession, and Fan Xian clapped his palms silently, nailing all the big nails down, nailing the entire coffin firmly, and imprisoning the old man in another world. In a world that I can no longer touch with myself.
After doing all this, Fan Xian stared at the black coffin in a daze. This is only a temporary treatment. One day, Fan Xian will send the old man back to his hometown, or a place with clear mountains and beautiful waters that no one knows, instead of letting him stay near this dark capital forever. It is Taiping Bieyuan, and Chen Pingping must also like living here, but it is still too close to Kyoto and too close to the imperial palace.
Fan Xian's body shook slightly, feeling endless tiredness and exhaustion began to flood his heart, he sat down on the high wooden chair beside him, stepped on the edge of the chair with his legs, and buried his head deeply in his hands. Between his knees, his hands hang powerlessly beside him.
The cut mark on the right palm started to bleed, and the blood dripped on the ground.
Fan Xian just sat there with his head buried. He didn't know how long or how long he had been sitting. The rainwater accumulated on the lawn of the Taiping Courtyard above his head began to flow down the stone steps, getting wet layer by layer and freezing layer by layer. layer.
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The sunlight is slowly shifting in the sky, and the light in the underground dark room is also flickering. I don't know whether it is the angle of the light or the thickness of the cloud that brought all this. A sound came to Fan Xian's ears, he slowly raised his head from between his knees, got off the chair, took another look at the silent and dark coffin, and walked up the wet stone steps .
After a strange noise, the secret door above the stone room was tightly closed, no more sunlight and stream of water could seep in, and the place returned to calm and darkness.
Fan Xian walked along the path in the grass beside the lake to the entrance of the Taiping Courtyard. When he was not far from the wooden gate, he heard a low-pitched report from a subordinate. A complex expression flashed across Fan Xian's indifferent face, he said something softly, and sat down on a cut tree in the courtyard.
The wooden door opened, Yan Bingyun walked in, stood in front of Fan Xian, lowered his head, and didn't speak for a long time, perhaps because he didn't know how to speak.
"From the day when there was movement in the palace, you should be involved from the beginning to the end, so I don't want to miss any details." Fan Xian sat wearily on the broken tree root, with his right hand on his lap, and his face was a bit unhealthy white.
Yan Bingyun took a look at his right hand and found that it was bleeding. His heart shook slightly, but he didn't explain too much, but calmly said: "In the second year of junior high school, I was called into the palace. Arrangements. As for the capture of Gundam by Master He in Dazhou, and His Majesty's use of this matter to keep the dean in Dazhou, and then use the Kyoto garrison to capture him, I only know the general idea, not the details."
"Tell me the details you know."
Yan Bingyun looked at Fan Xian with his head down, and found that today's Little Master Fan was different from any other moment in the past. His facial expression was so calm, so calm that it was heart-palpitating. It was not at all like a normal person should have. Reaction.
From the morning when the Kyoto defenders escorted the black carriage into the capital, to the quarrel in the imperial study in the palace, to His Majesty's serious injury, and to Chen Pingping being injured by the celadon cup and sent to the prison of the Overwatch Council, Yan Bingyun He didn't hide any details, and even the ugly role he played in it was clearly explained.
Fan Xian was silent for a moment, then slowly raised his head, looked at him and said, "Then what are you doing with me at this time? Do you want to drag that old cripple back and cut him a few more times? Or do you want to let him die without a burial?" land?"
Yan Bingyun didn't need to control his emotions in front of him, a trace of grief that was not fake appeared on his face, and he said in a hoarse voice: "You must come to see the dean, I want to guarantee that you will not go crazy. "
"What is madness? Rebellion?" The corners of Fan Xian's lips curled up slightly, and his laughter was full of chills. "Isn't the troops of the Kyoto garrison and imperial guards outside the other courtyard just for this purpose?"
At this time, smoke and dust loomed outside the other courtyard. The ground was obviously dry after it had just fallen an autumn rain. Who knew how many troops were ambushed outside the Taiping Courtyard, and how many masters were used to suppress Fan Xian.
Yan Bingyun firmly controlled his mind, looked at Fan Xian and said indifferently: "Anyway, the old dean has already gone, no matter how angry you are, you can't change everything. Even if you can escape from the capital, you can What should I do? Yes, Deng Ziyue is in Xiliang, Su Wenmao is in the Northern Fujian Neiku, Xia Qifei is in Suzhou, the generals of the Qi Nian team, the most powerful officials and spies in the hospital, all of them were sent out by me. Once you leave the capital, you can regain 60% of the power of the Overwatch Council, but... what can you do?"
Fan Xian looked at him indifferently, without saying a word.
"Okay, now you are the master of the Sword House in Dongyi City, and you have countless swordsmen under your command, plus the 10,000 elite soldiers stationed in Dongyi City under the command of His Royal Highness at this time, but... those 10,000 elite soldiers are not necessarily big. Your Highness can completely control it, and if you step back ten thousand steps, will His Highness turn against His Majesty because of you or because of the old dean?" Yan Bingyun's lips were a little dry, and his throat was a little congested, but he still said forcefully: "Shizi Hongcheng is here. Dingzhou, he is your best friend, but even if he raises troops for you, those Dingzhou soldiers will listen to him?"
"I have to say that in this world, only you have the strength to stand on the opposite side of His Majesty, but...you are still not His Majesty's opponent."
"Finished?" Fan Xian squinted his eyes and looked at him, shook his head wearily, and said, "If you want to convince me, shouldn't you show me the letter Chen Pingping left for you?"
Yan Bingyun's body shook. He originally thought that what he did in the Overwatch Council these days would definitely anger Fan Xian, but he didn't expect that the other party had already found out everything from the very beginning.
Fan Xian looked at him: "But even if you show it, I don't want to read it. It's just to take care of the so-called overall situation, to prevent the Overwatch Council from getting out of control and being forcefully erased by His Majesty... So you must become His Majesty's second dog, Keep this yard forcibly, in order to win the trust of that man, you have to do something."
"I know you're uncomfortable and uncomfortable." Fan Xian looked at Yan Bingyun, who was slightly absent-minded, and said indifferently, "But you asked for it yourself, thinking that it would be a kind of pleasure to endure humiliation? Wrong, you're just still thinking about it. Into the water, what Chen Pingping wants to do, you just listen to him? He wants you to kill him, and you kill him too?"
"The old dean is thinking about the lives of thousands of sons of the Overwatch Council, and the people of the world." Yan Bingyun said in a hoarse voice, "Even if I am misunderstood, so what if I become a thorn in the side of the officials in the court? Watching the world go into chaos?"
"Why can't the world be in chaos? Think about the people of the world?" Fan Xian suddenly laughed strangely, coughing up a few traces of blood, "How many of the people in the world... have thought about them ?”
"I don't forgive you." Fan Xian looked at Yan Bingyun quietly, but every word he uttered was chilling, "All for Qing, all for His Majesty, all for the world, this is your attitude , but not my attitude. For the people I care about, even if tens of millions of people die? And you didn’t do all this for me... So, I don’t forgive you. "
Yan Bingyun knew that under Fan Xian's gentle appearance was an extremely strong heart of love and hatred. After a long silence, he suddenly said, "I don't need anyone's forgiveness. The old dean's choice is in line with mine, so we If I do this, I can do anything for the sake of the country.”
"Very good. Only in this way can he become a good subject of His Majesty, because to those dead common people, he may be a good emperor." Fan Xian stood up slowly, "But to me, he or you, None of them are people who can put a little trust, because in your hearts, there are things more important than partners."
"Prince Jing and Ning Cairen are under house arrest in the palace, and Miss Fan's family is also in the palace." Yan Bingyun suddenly felt a little cold, and said hastily.
Fan Xian answered him with a sarcastic and indifferent voice: "For Your Majesty, this is a matter of course."
Seeing Fan Xian walking towards the wooden door with tired steps, Yan Bingyun's heart suddenly tightened, and an unstoppable fear surged into his heart. It was not for himself, but for Fan Xian. He shouted shouted, "Where are you going?"
Fan Xian's hand on the wooden door froze slightly, without turning his head, he said wearily, "Go home and sleep."
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Walking out of the wooden gate of the Taiping Courtyard, looking at an official of the Overwatch Council at the head of the bridge who was facing a formidable enemy, and seeing hundreds of black cavalry on the other side of the bridge who were suppressing their exhaustion and barely forming a defensive formation, Fan Xian Sighed in my heart, on the other side of the bridge, on the other side of the green and yellow autumn forest, the emperor Lao Tzu used to suppress his own army, how can these subordinates whom he hastily brought back to Beijing be able to resist.
The bright sun dazzled his eyes for a moment, and it was only at this time that he felt that exhaustion and sadness could harm human beings to such an extent. He walked across the bamboo bridge in a nonchalant manner, and gently gave a few orders to his subordinates who were still desperately following him at such a tense moment.
The deputy commander of the black cavalry and the officials in the first place were silent for a long time, but they also knew that the young man was thinking about the lives of his own people, so they stopped talking and knelt on the ground together, not knowing that it was the person in front of him The young dean is still the old dean buried in the Taiping other courtyard.
After kneeling, hundreds of people mixed together and retreated towards the west along the beautiful and quiet Liuxi River. Yan Bingyun, who had been silently following behind Fan Xian, glanced at those people with complicated eyes, followed him across the bridge, onto the official road, and then saw the fields on the other side of the official road, all in full armor. Thousands of cavalry, these cavalry were lined up densely, and their momentum was truly astonishing.
Fan Xian looked at these powerful forces expressionlessly, walked over slowly with his hands behind his back, walked up to the commander under countless pairs of vigilant eyes, and said in a hoarse voice: "Take The scouts and pursuers have withdrawn from the ambush, and I want none of my men to be injured."
Ye Zhong narrowed his eyes slightly, with a slight gleam in his eyes.