It's still the first few days of junior high school, as usual, those red firecrackers and confetti are still flying on the snow, and the slightly pungent smell of firecrackers is still wonderful behind the house on the street, everything is lively and festive However, for the officials and common people in Kyoto, the Spring Festival in the twelfth year of Qingli was really not going well, not only not going well, but also a little bleak.
Yesterday was the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the first day of the opening of various ministries. On this day, an official of the Neihe faction in Kyoto was brutally assassinated. The blood awakened the minds of countless people who were still a little drunk. Today, martial law has begun near the imperial city. I heard that the imperial court finally found out who those evil people who dared to assassinate ministers in the most benevolent place in Kyoto were, and launched a culling operation near the imperial palace.
It was heard that many people died, and it seemed that Mr. Fan, who was deprived of all official positions by His Majesty the Emperor, was also involved in the incident. There were even rumors that there were many Northern Qi and Dongyi people among those extremely insidious assassins.
Countless sergeants are walking in the streets and alleys of Kyoto. The Overwatch Council, the Thirteen Yamen of the Ministry of Justice, the Inner Court, Dali Temple, the Thirteen City Gate Divisions, the Kyoto Garrison, and the huge state machinery of the Qing Kingdom are already in full swing, with indifferent and heavy footsteps. The sound echoed in the snowy Kyoto, searching for those assassins who escaped the snare by chance, and the gates outside the capital were tightly sealed.
Under such a situation, no matter how terrifying the assassin was, it would be difficult to escape from the capital easily.
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A group of teams jointly formed by the Overwatch Council and the inner court had already surrounded Fan's mansion, and there were many sergeants outside the mansion carrying out blockade work. The search of Fan's mansion had been carried out three times, but no trace of Fan Xian was found. .
Another search and arrest team led by Yan Bingyun personally rushed to the west city immediately after the chaos in the square in front of the palace, and rushed to the most secret contact point of the Qi Nian team. The small courtyard purchased for one hundred and twenty taels of silver was originally the secret of the Qi Nian team. However, looking at the heavy blow suffered by the old subordinates of the Xiliang Road Supervisory Court, one can imagine that His Majesty the Emperor must have been by Fan Xian's side once. A spy was planted, and the meeting place of the Qi Nian team was found.
However, this small courtyard is still lonely. The pens and papers are placed on the table, the residual ink in the inkstone has long been frozen into black ribs, and the bucket at the mouth of the well outside the house is tilted feebly. here.
Yan Bingyun stood at the gate of the small courtyard and frowned slightly, thinking to himself, where is the dean hiding at this time? Although Young Master Xiaoyan is now the head of the Overwatch Council recognized by the Qing court, in fact, like most officials in the court, he always subconsciously puts Fan Xian as the head of the Overwatch Council.
Kyoto has long been under martial law, and the Kyoto government has already mobilized all Lili Zheng and some people who can take care of things, turning it into a big net and casting it on the streets and alleys. Of course, everyone knew how many dark spots the Overwatch Council had hidden in the capital, and with Fan Xian's ability to appear and disappear, no one dared to hope that this kind of hunt could really catch him, but today's situation is a little different. First of all, the dark spot of the Overwatch Council is no longer a secret to the current imperial court, and the most important thing is that Yan Bingyun already knew that Fan Xian was seriously injured today and has long since lost his former courage. If no one responds, I'm afraid that his injury will never recover, and he will not be able to escape at all.
But where is Fan Xian? It has been a whole half a day since the hunting operation. Under the strong mobilization, the whole capital has been overturned. The thirteen city gates are firmly guarding the gates. All the adults in the Qing Dynasty's court concluded that Fan Xian Impossible to get out of town.
Yan Bingyun's frown became tighter and tighter. He took a breath of the heater, patted his tired cheeks, and tried his best to calm down the emotional ups and downs in his heart so that it would not be easy for others to notice. He gently waved his hand and let the Overwatch Council The officials continued to disperse.
The hunt continued until late at night, and the residences of ministers who had some relationship with Fan Xian in the past were also searched. Even Prince Jing's residence and Liu Guogong's residence were not missed, but still no one found Fan Xian's whereabouts. Everyone felt a chill. If this big man really survived this time, escaped from the capital alive, and really betrayed Daqing, who knows what kind of changes it will bring to this world
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Yan Bingyun returned to Zichengjue Mansion with a tired body. He did not go to greet his father, but went directly to his room, ate two mouthfuls of hot food brought by the cook, took a hot towel from his wife, and vigorously After wiping his eye sockets twice, he sat in a chair in a daze.
"What's wrong?" Shen Wan'er asked softly, looking at the worried look on his brows.
A slightly bitter smile appeared on Yan Bingyun's cold face in the past, and after a long silence he said, "Speaking of which, I really admire him, I heard that he was knocked unconscious by His Majesty before he left the square. , it is absolutely impossible to recover in a short time, and in order to attract the pursuit of those masters, he abruptly broke away from the assassins' large team... a seriously injured body, alone, why can't he find it?"
"Where are the other assassins?" Shen Wan'er asked, frowning slightly.
"I didn't catch a single one alive, I just killed a few of them, all of them are masters that can be counted in the world..."
Yan Bingyun sighed. He was not in the square in front of the palace at the time. It was obvious that His Majesty trusted him, but His Majesty was unwilling to let the Overwatch Council intervene in the ambush and murder of Fan Xian. And he also knew that if it wasn't for the methods of the mysterious assassin who was like the wrath of the gods, Fan Xian and the others would have died long ago, so how could they have killed them out of the chaos.
After saying this, Yan Bingyun noticed that his wife's expression was a little weird, he was slightly taken aback, and asked, "What's wrong?"
Shen Wan'er was silent for a long time, and said with a forced smile: "It's nothing, I just went to pay my respects to my lord father in the evening, it seems that the old man is not here."
Yan Bingyun's body froze slightly, and he didn't move for a long time. Although his father, Yan Ruohai, has already retired from his position as the supervisor of the Overwatch Council, he is actually an extremely powerful person. As a son, he naturally knows this well. The problem is that he knows better. Your Excellency is the most traditional Overwatch Council official, and his loyalty lies more in Chen Pingping and Fan Xian than in His Majesty.
"Probably went out for a stroll." Yan Bingyun moved the corners of his lips, smiled with some difficulty, and said nothing more. In the early autumn, Dean Chen was tortured until his death. Yan Bingyun was always worried about his father's violent reaction. However, to his great surprise, his father returned to his usual appearance except for getting drunk that night. The whole day's price is just to serve the rockery garden at home.
Yan Bingyun knew that His Majesty was looking at his loyalty, and did not make things difficult for his father. However, today, His Majesty and Fan Xian officially broke up, and they fought from inside the palace to outside the palace. Fan Xian naturally wanted to avenge Dean Chen, so With his father's ability, he must be able to know this matter. If he knows this matter, what will he do
"You stay in the house and don't see anyone." Yan Bingyun frowned slightly, and said to his wife in a deep voice: "I'm going to see my father."
Not too far to the west, Yan Bingyun came to his father's room and entered respectfully when he passed the surprisingly large rockery in front of the corridor. The first-class viscount Yan Ruohai, who had gray hair long ago, didn't seem surprised by his son's arrival, and said directly: "He didn't come to the mansion. He is not so stupid as to throw himself into your snare."
Yan Bingyun was silent for a long time and said: "This is hospital affairs, my son can't show favoritism."
Yan Ruohai glanced at him and said, "You know best whether people can be hidden in the mansion."
Yan Bingyun saluted and greeted him, took his leave and left. When passing the surprisingly large rockery in front of the corridor, he stopped in a daze, looking at the slightly dry moss and some residual snow on the rockery, and suddenly thought of some strange rules at home when he was a child, and always felt that he seemed to be a Something was missing, something was missing.
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Fortunately, it was winter, so the dark room was not very humid, but it was still dark. The meridians in his body were riddled with holes, and those red iron wires still ran through the meridians. The endless pain pierced into his mind like tens of thousands of thin needles, making him want to howl from time to time. This kind of pain, this kind of injury, made him unable to mobilize the snow-capped mountain air sea behind his waist, and he couldn't even mobilize the small circulation of last week. He wanted to use Tianyi's natural Qi to repair his meridians, but at this moment he changed became a luxury.
You can only rely on time to slowly nourish it, or put your hope on that magical booklet, absorb those precious vitality from this seemingly empty space, and slowly fill your own empty sea of energy. However, the vitality in the air is so thin, if he recovers at this speed, maybe twenty or thirty years later, he will still be a useless person.
Fan Xian leaned halfway on the wall of the secret room covered with woolen blankets, and controlled his breathing with a strong mind. His instinct made his breathing a little rapid and loud at the moment. Although the night was quiet at this moment, he was deeply surrounded and could not careless.
His body has already been bandaged, and the most expensive and effective wound medicines are used at no cost. On the ground beside him, there are a lot of food and water for replenishing the spirit. Although the secret room is small, the things prepared inside are extremely complete.
The cracked sternum began to ache again, and his brows furrowed, thinking of His Majesty's powerful fist and the sound of the gun. From the previous panic in front of the palace to the extremely strict and effective search and arrest by the imperial court, he confirmed that the emperor Laozi did not die under the gun. This fact did not make him feel too disappointed, but he just began to calculate the way to go in the future.
When the muffled sound of an outside blow made the first deep hole in the imperial city, Fan Xian had already woken up. The first person to react and clearly judge the position of the shooter, because in this world, he is most familiar with that voice and the box.
Three years ago, Uncle Wu Zhu left the capital to find the ultimate answer to who he was in the distant Ice and Snow Temple. From that day on, the box left Fan Xian's side. Fan Xian always thought that Uncle Wu Zhu took the box away, so he didn't have the slightest regret, because he knew that the enemy that Uncle Wu Zhu was about to face was a supreme being who was more unfathomable and ruthless than His Majesty the Emperor.
But I didn't expect that the box was still in Kyoto, but it was not with me. Just as His Majesty the Emperor confirmed before he passed out, Fan Xian also knew that it must not be Uncle Wu Zhu who used the box today. If Uncle Wu Zhu really came back, regardless of whether he would use the box or not, he would definitely regard the over ten thousand elite Qing soldiers as scarecrows, and would still hold the iron rod in his hand indifferently and kill them immediately. into the palace.
Who was the shooter? Fan Xian guessed for a long time, but he still didn't think of it. Even though he thought of a few people, he couldn't believe it. He could only be sure that the person who shot the gun must have a very close relationship with him, otherwise Uncle Wu Zhu wouldn't dare Put your life in the hands of the opponent.
This heavy attack from outside was not in Fan Xian's plan. The exit he originally planned was still in the palace, but he didn't expect that people from the Northern Qi Dynasty and Dongyi people would come, so that the last gap to take advantage of His Majesty's will would be closed. What's even more frightening is that he didn't expect that not long after he realized it, the very powerful sword energy between his fingers would be broken by His Majesty's fingers, and his meridians were all messed up, making him a useless person, unable to approach the exit at all. !
But that's good too, at least Hong Zhu doesn't have to take such a huge risk.
When Fan Xian and his party came out from the square in front of the palace, they still encountered great obstacles. Although there was an assassin who could inflict divine punishment, even though the third prince stood at the top of the palace, trying to use his own The thin shoulders helped Fan Xian find a way out, but His Majesty's order had been issued early, how could those over ten thousand soldiers watch these foreign assassins escape.
Fan Xian didn't know the exact process of escaping, because he fell into a coma again. When he woke up, the group of people had turned into rabbits who were hunted down. They were originally some powerful people in the world, but they were wounded and killed. In the end, there were only five people left, running wildly in the capital. , No matter how you look at it, there is no possibility of escaping.
Fan Xian knew that he was already a burden at that time, so he left very coldly and forcefully. After making an appointment with Haitang and others to meet at the old place, a Sword Cottage disciple paid with his life and sent him to the surrounding area of this mansion, and then Fan Xian slipped in while taking advantage of the chaos, and finally found a chance to rest.
Among the four disciples of the ninth rank of Sword Cottage, one fell in the rain of arrows, and two more died for Fan Xian's survival during the escape afterwards, especially the last one, who beheaded more than ten Nanqing masters with his sword, still died under the crossbow arrows in the end. The Seventh Senior Brother died the moment Fan Xian turned the corner of the alley, and Fan Xian could see his eyes.
Thinking of the light in those eyes, Fan Xian's heart felt extremely heavy. He knew that his debt was even greater than before. If he could survive this time, he would not be able to hide it. He would have to do a lot of things. to pay off the debt.
Fan Xian meditated while adjusting his breath, and the secret room was dead silent and dark. Now that his zhenqi was exhausted and his eyesight was not as good as usual, he fumbled to get the clear water beside him. But when his fingers just touched the kettle, he froze.
He raised his head and looked at the dark wall of the secret room quietly, as if he felt that there was a pair of eyes watching him quietly just outside this wall.
The well-maintained mechanism was smeared with a lot of grease. When the door of the secret room was opened, there was no sound, just like a silent pantomime. Faint light came in from the secret room, illuminating Fan Xian, who was pale inside but calm in his eyes.
Fan Xian looked outside quietly, the dim light made the familiar figure outside the secret room appear dark.
"I thought if you found out, you should break it with a hammer." Fan Xian looked at Yan Bingyun and said with a smile.
Standing behind the rockery, quietly watching Fan Xian in the secret room, Yan Bingyun felt mixed feelings. With just one glance, he knew that Fan Xian had no ability to resist at this time. After a moment of silence, he said: "Don't forget, after all, I grew up in this garden. Although my father strictly prohibited me from climbing this rockery since I was a child, you also know that children are always curious. How could you not climb."
"This rockery is too big. When I first entered your house, I felt a little weird. I told your father several times, but he never believed me." Fan Xian coughed twice and said with a soft smile. : "Sure enough, I can find the problem here, and of course you can too."
Fan Xian was hiding in the rockery in the first-class Chenghai Viscount's mansion. No matter how stormy the capital was, he was hiding in Yan Bingyun's house. Who would have thought of this? If Yan Bingyun hadn't tried to open the hide-and-seek room in his childhood on a whim, Fan Xian must have been able to get through this most tense moment safely with Yan Ruohai's help.
"Father doesn't know that I know the secret of this rockery." Yan Bingyun lowered his head slightly and said, "Otherwise he will definitely choose a more suitable place for you to hide."
"Okay." Fan Xian sighed wearily, and said, "I just said that my luck in this life is so good that I don't seem like a human being. There must be a time when I was unlucky, but it turned out that I should be in this rockery." inside."
Yan Bingyun was silent for a long time and said: "I told my father earlier that this is court affairs and private affairs cannot be discussed, especially...you, my lord. For the sake of my Daqing Dynasty, I cannot let you go to Beiqi."
"I'm not going to Northern Qi, I'm just traveling to the temple brigade. Can we discuss it?" Fan Xian grinned and asked softly.