August 15th is the day when the lunar dynasty comes to the Yuan Dynasty. On August 15th in the fifth year of Zhenglong, Wang Chongyang, the founder of the Quanzhen Sect, met an immortal in Liquan and was taught by the immortal. Therefore, this day has special significance in the Quanzhen religion, and one must stay vigil, burn incense, and worship the Taiyin quietly.
Of course, this is also a good day to make money for Taiji Palace, an important religious stronghold located in Zhongdu City.
Although Zhenren Chongyang once said that being greedy for money and goods on the outside and cultivating the truth internally will not lead to mistakes in this life and avoid retribution in the next life, but the Quanzhen Sect has grown to such a scale that it must be thorough inside and outside, and the use of money is like sand. It all relies on the efforts of powerful disciples like Zhong Xuanzi to maintain it.
Therefore, on August 15th every year, Chongxuanzi held a nine-day fast and feast in Taiji Palace to pray for many believers.
This year, due to the invasion of the Mongolian army, many dignitaries and dignitaries worshiped the Dharma devoutly in the Tai Chi Palace and asked about their future and safety. This is something Chongxuanzi is very good at. Of course, he mustered up his energy and used his magic power to make the entire fasting ceremony so brilliant that the believers in the audience were mesmerized.
But in the past few years, he has been quite pampered, and his belly is bigger than when he was young. Moreover, at the age of forty, his energy is not strong after all. For several days in a row, he sang, chanted, beat, and fought step by step. Eventually, his muscles and bones ached and he couldn't hold on.
On the night of August 23, he really didn't have the energy anymore, so he found an opportunity to ask a disciple to step in and go through a few insignificant procedures. He retreated to the living room outside the courtyard, took off his robe, lay on the soft couch, drank water and rested.
Late at night, when he was about to fall asleep, the door of his room was suddenly pushed open, and a close disciple came in with a panic-stricken look. He hugged Chongxuanzi and shook his head and said: "Master! It's a disaster! It's a disaster!"
Chongxuanzi was furious and kicked the disciple away: "What are you talking about!"
Then he reacted, got up on the soft couch, and grabbed the disciple: "What's going on? Could it be... the Mongolian army?"
Speaking of the Mongolian army, Chong Xuanzi couldn't help but shudder. The year before last, the Mongolian army suddenly arrived in Zhongdu and attacked the city for more than a month. The soldiers who defended the city suffered tens of thousands of casualties. Outside the city of Zhongdu, across Ping and Luan in the east, and to Qing and Cang in the south, no less than a dozen military prefectures were burned and turned into ashes, with mountains of corpses and ghosts everywhere.
In November last year, Chongxuanzi's master, Changchun Zhenren, came to Zhongdu specifically to pay homage to the souls of those who died in the war, as entrusted by the emperor.
This time the Mongols came again, and the court was even more embarrassed than before. Chongxuanzi had already secretly made preparations, planning to sneak out of the city and take refuge in the mountains... However, didn't this come too soon? Oh my God, I haven’t cleaned up my gold and silver!
"Not the Mongols!" The disciple shook his head repeatedly and turned to pull Zhong Xuanzi's arm: "Master, come with me!"
Seeing his disciple's serious expression, Chongxuanzi put on his clothes and followed him outside.
Taiji Palace is huge in scale, with more than ten buildings in front and behind. The place where the fasting ceremony is being arranged is the main hall of the palace, and a place has been specially set aside outside for the servants and followers of the high-ranking officials and nobles to rest.
After all, it was late at night and most people were sleeping soundly. The servants in the palace who were supposed to be waiting on him all went to bed now.
The disciple led Zhong Xuanzi through several doors along the corridor until they reached the back of the main entrance.
With so many noble people in the palace, the main entrance was of course tightly closed. Just in case, Chongxuanzi also greeted Yousi in advance and arranged for the Weijie Army officers to stand guard in front of the door.
This kind of thing should have been handled by the Police Patrol Court.
However, because the thieves set fire to the palace a few months ago, everyone in the Police Patrol Court was suffering. The envoys, judges, and officials had all been replaced. Chong Xuanzi was a little unable to handle the new officials who took office.
Secondly, since the Mongolian army has invaded, God knows when a war will break out. The archers of the Weijie Army of the Imperial Guard Division are all selected masters. If they encounter a fight, they are indeed more reliable than the ruffians from the Police Patrol Court.
The person who was assigned to guard the gate of Taiji Palace tonight was a member of the Weijie Army from the ninth rank, leading his 20 archers.
Chongxuanzi was always a good man. In the evening, he specially prepared wine and meat. He also had a few words with Naduha in person and asked him to watch carefully and prevent anything from happening.
"What's wrong?" He trotted over here, panting a little: "Did those archers get drunk and start fighting? Or maybe they bumped into the noble?"
The disciple made a gesture of keeping silent, walked quietly to the front door, and pushed the side door slightly open.
"Master, look!"
Chong Xuanzi stretched his head to take a look outside, and his face instantly lost all color and turned pale.
The weather has been very strange these days, with heavy fog all day long. At this moment, there was still thick fog billowing on the street, making it difficult to see clearly from a distance. But as far as he could see, right in front of the main entrance of Tai Chi Palace, Chong Xuanzi saw clearly that there were dozens of corpses arranged in random directions. These were the people he had seen today, the archers of the Weijie Army he had assigned to guard duty!
The archers all looked frightened, their postures were twisted, and their bodies were all pierced by arrows like hedgehogs. The blood had not yet solidified, but gurgled down the neat white stone steps, and a strong smell of blood hit his nostrils.
Chong Xuanzi's legs went weak and he fell backwards.
The disciple hurriedly rushed to support him.
"What's going on? Is it allowed to kill people like this in Zhongdu City? Who did it?" Chong Xuanzi asked urgently.
The disciple said: "Master, there were soldiers outside the door just now!"
"Fighting?"
"Just now we passed by a group of soldiers and horses, about four to five hundred people, with extremely sophisticated armor and weapons. Apparently, they came in through the Huicheng Gate. They walked south along the street and happened to pass by the gate. The group of powerful soldiers were originally there. Drinking wine, he immediately got up to ask questions. The soldiers and horses entering the city ignored him, and when they got close, they suddenly fired randomly with their bows and crossbows...killing all twenty of the powerful archers in an instant!"
Chong Xuanzi took a breath of air.
The death of twenty Weijie soldiers is not a big deal in itself. A few months ago, the thieves massacred people at Changui Gate, and then it passed with little thunder and rain? The problem is, Huicheng Gate is the north gate of Zhongdu. Going south from Huicheng Gate, it is directly opposite the Tong Paradise where the emperor lived every day!
An army entered the city in the middle of the night and headed straight for the emperor. That was no small matter!
"When did that army pass by?"
"When the soldiers broke out and attacked, I happened to hide in the corner of the side door and escaped. Then I immediately looked for the master without delay... Master, the soldiers passed not long ago. If you go out and look around, maybe you can I can see it!”
Chong Xuanzi sneered repeatedly.
He suddenly turned around and ran towards the back of the palace. The disciple thought he was going to inform the nobles participating in the fasting ceremony, so he quickly followed him.
But he never thought that he would run past the Sanguan Hall with melodious music, suddenly turn into a corner, open the side door, and continue running.
Behind the side door is a corridor sandwiched by high walls on both sides. At the end of the corridor is a small courtyard.
Chong Xuanzi ran into the courtyard, knocked on the door repeatedly, and shouted in a low voice: "Open the door! Prepare the car immediately!"
Without shouting twice, the people in the room opened the door and came out. It turned out that they had been awake for a long time. Seeing Chong Xuanzi shouting, two people rushed towards him and covered his mouth: "Be careful! Be careful!"
Chongxuanzi struggled at first, but then understood. He stopped moving, closed his mouth, and became dazed.
He heard sounds coming from outside the courtyard.
This courtyard was secretly arranged by him on the east side of Fengxianfang and was specially used to contact Tu Shanhang. In front of the courtyard, there is a camouflaged shop. The main entrance of the shop opens on Tongxuanmen Street.
Tongxuanmen is the north gate of Zhongdu. The lanes on both sides of Tongxuanmen Street are all open with no high walls, and the homes and shops along the street are very dense. Two miles south along Tongxuanmen Street, passing through Yanqingfang and Ganquanfang, you will arrive at Gongchenmen, the north gate of the palace.
Late at night, it should be quiet. But at this moment, on Tongxuanmen Street, there were the sounds of heavy footsteps, the clanging of armors, the sound of horse hooves on the ground, the neighing of horses, and the soldiers' deep voices scolding and urging them to move forward. There was even a faint sound of swords cutting into flesh and suppressed cries and whines.
All these sounds gathered together, like some kind of wave rolling up from the deep sea, slowly engulfing Zhongdu City.
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