Li Chengwu's heart sank when he heard this.
The imperial capital, the birthplace of Guozuo of the Holy Tang Dynasty for 800 years, has now become a grand city known as "the light of the world and the coming of all nations". The city's nearly one million residents, as well as its numerous royal family members, nobles and important ministers, simply cannot withstand the devastation of war.
Even if an armed conflict inevitably breaks out, we must try to control the scale and scope and minimize the impact of losses.
He nodded slightly and asked: "Shen Lie, in your opinion, how should we deal with it now?"
Shen Lie thought for a while and said loudly: "Wei Chen suggested three steps. First, the Forbidden Army Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are fully mobilized to guard the safety of the entire palace. No matter who dares to cross the thunder pool even half a step, no need to worry, they will be killed without mercy!"
Wang Heng responded from the side: "Your Majesty, even if I am shattered to pieces, I will never let the traitor Xiao Xiao enter the palace!"
Li Chengwu nodded slightly to him, and then motioned to Shen Lie to continue, Shen Lie said: "Second, send people to sneak out through the secret passage of the palace, order the Qilin Army stationed in the imperial capital to take to the streets, and confront the Xuanjia Army everywhere in the city. , we must suppress the opponent in terms of momentum. Only when we assume the attitude of fighting to the death, Xie Guang will not dare to act rashly further."
"It makes sense," Mr. Xu nodded repeatedly: "At the same time, we must notify the legion headquarters in Jiyang City as soon as possible, so that the main force of our Qilin Army can set off quickly to rush to the aid of the imperial capital in case of any eventuality."
Li Chengwu said hello twice in a row, and then said worriedly: "This matter is very important, who should be sent to handle it?"
Murong Xue, who was always next to Xu Lie, said: "Let this kid go. He is half the grandson of the old minister. Many generals and commanders of the Qilin Army know him, so it is much easier to do things. Moreover, this child is bold and clever, and can handle things easily." Able to keep calm."
Li Chengwu stared at Murong Xue for a moment and nodded slightly: "Okay then, it's up to you."
Murong Xue quickly handed over her hand, and when she was about to agree, Shen Lie, who was standing aside, suddenly said: "In addition to informing the Qilin Army to launch operations, there is another important matter that General Murong needs to take care of."
Murong Xue was slightly shocked and asked what was going on. Shen Lie said calmly: "If you have time, please ask General Murong to lead the Qilin troops and make sure His Highness the Crown Prince stays in the city. Don't let Xie Guang take him outside."
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall felt tense, but no one said anything. From Shen Lie's tone, it seemed as if he was saying: As long as the person can be kept, it doesn't matter whether they live or die.
Li Chengwu didn't want to think too much about this issue, and quickly told Murong Xue to remember Shen Lie's reminder and do his best to rescue and protect the prince. Then, he turned to Shen Lie and asked, "Shen Aiqing, what is the third step you are talking about?"
Shen Lie responded: "To be honest with you, Your Majesty, the Beiya Nilin Division still has some small tricks. Now is the time to bring them out. Although there is no guarantee that the rebellion can be suppressed in one fell swoop, it can somewhat contain the opponent. I will talk to Murong later. Go out with Xue and immediately start the deployment and implementation."
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The imperial capital of the Holy Tang Dynasty covers an area of tens of thousands of hectares and is as powerful as a chessboard. The city is divided into east and west cities, with a total of 108 miles.
The so-called Lifang refers to the place where people live. Each village is similar in size, and there are residences of noble families, courtyards of ordinary people, various restaurants, teahouses, trading shops, and Taoist temples, to name a few.
Each lane is surrounded by high walls, with gates set up at the front, back, left and right. Lifang and Lifang are separated by roads of different sizes, making them look distinct.
Nearly a million people in the Imperial City are scattered in this area of more than a hundred tofu blocks, living a peaceful and peaceful life.
At 3:00 a.m. every day, that is, after the sun sets, tall bell towers located throughout the city ring to tell the time. Immediately afterwards, various drum towers began to beat giant leather drums according to a fixed rhythm. Within one hundred and twenty drum beats, all residents of the imperial capital must return to their homes. When the drum beats settled down, the gates of each neighborhood were closed, and the Jingzhao Yin Mansion's army began their daily street cleaning patrols.
At this time, unless there is an order from the emperor, anyone who is still wandering on the streets, regardless of his identity, will be arrested on the spot by the government soldiers and escorted to Dali Temple for questioning.
This is the famous curfew system in the imperial capital since the founding of the Holy Tang Dynasty.
Today's imperial capital is very different from usual. Seeing that Xu Shi had not yet arrived, the city was already in a scene of "all the people were gone", and all the houses were closed in advance, and strangers were not allowed to enter.
There are some bold and meddling people in the square who are carrying long ladders, climbing on the top of the wall and peeking out secretly.
On the street in front of them, there were two teams of soldiers and horses, their swords drawn and their swords drawn, staring eagerly.
On one side is the Xuanjia Army, which suddenly entered the city this morning, and on the other side is the Qilin Army, which is responsible for the defense of the imperial capital.
The Xuanjia Legion is all dressed in black and looks cold and solemn; the Qilin soldiers are all wearing red clothes and red armor, as bright and eye-catching as fire clouds.
The colors of iron and blood once worked side by side, representing the majesty of the Holy Tang Dynasty and sweeping across the world.
But now, they are like charcoal in the same furnace, refusing to give in to each other.
The cross streets that run east, west, north and south in the imperial capital have already been divided and occupied by the two colors of red and black. The two sides are getting closer and closer, and a war is about to break out.
At this moment, the commanders of both armies were waiting.
Yang Yunfan, the general of Xuanjia, was waiting for the order from Xie Guang of Shangzhu Kingdom to take action; while Murong Xue, the temporary commander of the Qilin Army, was waiting for Yang Yunfan to die.
Murong Xue sat on the saddle, looking at Yang Yunfan under the flag from a distance, thinking about what Shen Lie said in the Tai Chi Hall.
"General Murong, all you need to do is seize the opportunity and lead your troops to drive away the Xuanjia Army. Leave other matters to me, Nilin Division."
At that time, Emperor Li Chengwu asked Shen Lie curiously, what on earth was he planning to do?
Shen Lie only replied: "Don't use Qianlong", and His Majesty said nothing.
Don’t use Qianlong, what does it mean?
Murong Xue was puzzled by this, and was also very tired of Shen Lie's mysterious appearance. However, what he didn't know was that not long after he and Shen Lie left the palace through the secret passage, the Beiya Government Office outside Xuanwu Gate , suddenly sent out a batch of emergency secret orders.
The recipient of the secret order was the "Ninth Grade" class of Nilin Division.
The ninth day of the lunar month does not refer to the ninth day of each month in the lunar calendar, but refers to the first line of the first hexagram "Qian Gua" in the "Book of Changes": On the ninth day of the lunar month, do not use Qianlong.
This hexagram with the theme of "Heaven moves vigorously, a gentleman keeps improving himself" tells people a truth: the hidden dragon should not show its power easily.
The Ninth Class of Beiya Nilin Division is exactly the hidden dragon that has restrained its power.
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Yin Bai lowered his head and quietly looked at the small bamboo plaque in Zang's hand. On the bamboo plaque were engraved four small and delicate characters - "A strong dragon has regrets."
The meaning of these four words is very simple: the order "Do not use Qianlong" is officially terminated! From now on, Qianlong comes out to show his power and get rid of the target of his surveillance at all costs!
He slowly raised his head, his eyes fixed on the person not far ahead, Yang Yunfan, the general of the Xuanjia Legion.
At this time, Yang Yunfan was carefully observing the movements of the Qilin Army on the opposite side, without taking any precautions against the situation around him. His back was facing his personal guard Yin Bai.
Yin Bai took a deep breath, hid the small bamboo sign in his arms, and then slowly raised the long knife, with a faint blue light glowing on the blade. That was the poison he had secretly smeared on others when they were not prepared, the bottle of poison he had been hiding on his body, preparing to take it himself.
Because everyone around him was holding weapons and looking nervously ahead, no one noticed anything unusual about Yin Bai.
Suddenly, Yin Bai shouted: "Be loyal to my emperor and kill the traitors!"
This roar was as loud as the roar of thunder, and the people nearby were startled. However, before they could react, the long knife had already pierced Yang Yunfan's back.
The unsuspecting Yang Yunfan spurted out a mouthful of blood and fell off the horse without even a struggle.
At this time, Yin Bai seemed to be completely crazy. He immediately jumped off the horse, stared with blood-red eyes, waved the sword in his hand, and kept slashing at Yang Yunfan. While slashing, he yelled hysterically: "Loyal to My emperor! Be loyal to my emperor! Kill the thieves! Kill the thieves! Kill the thieves!"
This terrifying scene frightened all the Xuanjia soldiers on the spot. Everyone around them opened their mouths wide but could not make any sound. The Xuanjia Army gun and shield soldiers in the front row couldn't help but screamed when they heard something was wrong behind them. He turned around and looked around desperately, wondering what happened to the general.
At this moment, the Qilin Army not far away suddenly moved.
Murong Xue had no time to think about why Yang Yunfan was killed by his own soldiers without warning. He only knew that the opportunity must not come again before it is missed!
Swing out the long sword!
Rows and rows of fire unicorns raised their swords and spears high and stabbed, shouting and rushing towards the opposite side. The Xuanjia Army, which had no psychological advantage in the first place, saw the sudden death of their general, and their morale suddenly became dispirited, making it difficult for them to resist.
Objectively speaking, if the two legions were just engaged in an armed confrontation on the streets, there wouldn't be much of a problem. But if you really want to take up weapons and launch an attack on your own people, you must be upright and have a good reputation.
Otherwise, it would be a heinous crime of deliberate rebellion, and it would be difficult for any normal soldier to overcome that psychological barrier.
It is precisely because of this that Xie Guang deliberately tried to drag Prince Li Bing into trouble.
With the lofty name of "upholding the sacred covenant and supporting the crown prince's accession to the throne", the soldiers under his command could muster the courage to confront the Qilin Army and the Forbidden Army, which represented the majesty of the imperial authority.
However, no one could have expected that at this critical juncture, the courage that the Xuanjia Army had finally mustered up would suddenly disappear because of Yang Yunfan's violent death and Yin Bai's roar.
Facing the Qilin Army that had already rushed forward, few Xuanjia soldiers really dared to rise up to resist. At this moment, their expressions no longer looked like the elite demeanor of the "First Army of the Holy Tang". They turned around like a mob. escape.
