The moonlight was cold, and the campfire in the distance was crackling, mixed with the roar of cheers. Lu Zuo fell into deep thought again. After thinking for a long time, he spoke: "Second uncle and third uncle, you also know my body. The days are getting worse, even if I really become the emperor... Hey, what can I do? If I suddenly disappear one day, wouldn't it be chaos in the world again. Besides, this world does not belong to our Lu family. "
Qin Fu continued to speak bluntly: "Didn't the Liu family also steal the emperor's throne? How could you not do anything about it?"
Lu Zuoyi raised his hand and said sternly: "Okay, don't talk anymore! The two uncles must put the people of the world first and take the overall situation into consideration. Since we have elected King Ning as the leader of the rebel army, we should work together and not have two minds. "
Kyoto has been in the outskirts of the city for two days. The soldiers guarding the city changed guard day and night. Seeing that the rebels were surrounded but refused to attack, they gradually became weak.
In the early morning, the sound of sutras in Yanfu Temple was still there, and Liu Yan stood in front of the Fu Hall, chanting something.
"His Majesty……"
Liu Yan was a little surprised. He stopped picking the rosary beads in his hand and did not look back. "Chen Ziyuan, you called me by the wrong name!"
Chen Ziyuan stepped into the hall and bowed slightly, "Your Majesty, the situation is dangerous now. Lu Zuo has led three to four hundred thousand troops and has surrounded the capital. Xun Mou can't take care of you now, I will find a way to escort you out of the city!"
Liu Yan sneered, "Do you think I will believe you?"
Chen Ziyuan blushed, "Your Majesty, I was indeed confused before. Now the situation is critical. After we escape, Your Majesty will not be too late to punish us."
Liu Yan noticed his sincerity, turned around, and carefully looked at whether the person in front of him was trustworthy, "You have already said that Lu Zuo's army has surrounded the capital, how are you going to take me out of the city."
In fact, Chen Ziyuan also knew that he just wanted to leave the palace first before talking about the wrong place, so he said directly: "It may be difficult to get out of the city, but I feel that the siege is just a temporary measure for the bandit army. The capital has sufficient food and grass, and we cannot besiege it for a year and a half." No matter what the result is, the rebel army will definitely not be able to wait until then. What they have to wait for is that Your Majesty's life is in danger before they break the city."
"Why?"
"The throne of Xun Yu was nominally given by you. In the eyes of the people of the world, he is already Zhengshuo. The reason why Xun Yu has not attacked you yet is because he is wary of what the people of the world say. And now, the first person in Lu Zuo's army is the son of King Ning. Liu Xingyuan, if he wants to successfully attack the city, he must first besiege the city and wait for the opportunity."
Liu Yan understands that now he is hot tofu. Although he is weak, he is still hot. Lu Zuo wants to die in Xun Yu's hands and transfer the infamy to Xun Yu, so that he can get rid of Xun Yu legitimately. And Xun Yu He hoped to keep himself, make his throne more stable, and make Lu Zuo afraid of attacking the city. In the end, even if the city is defeated, it will still lay hidden dangers for Lu Zuo, allowing them to take action and leave eternal infamy. Thinking of this, Liu Yan sighed and didn't know how to deal with it.
Chen Ziyuan continued: "Now Xun Mou is mobilizing troops and generals, and I haven't had time to place more people around you yet. Now as long as you and I disguise ourselves and leave the palace, when the time is right and Liu Xingyuan has the opportunity to attack the city, we will take advantage of the chaos to leave the city."
"Liu Xingyuan?" Liu Yan suddenly had a change of thought, frowned, lowered his head in thought, and after a moment asked with bright eyes, "Now the rebels still recommend Liu Xingyuan as Prince Ning, and will he lead it?"
Chen Ziyuan nodded doubtfully.
Liu Yan sighed, "Forget it...Liu Xingyuan and I have the same ancestry and lineage. According to the etiquette, he is my cousin, and he also has a share of the throne."
Chen Ziyuan was shocked, "What do you mean, Your Majesty?"
Liu Yan walked slowly to the incense table, took out the seven-star sword on the table and looked at it up and down, and said: "Now I am just the fish and meat on the table. It is meaningless to leave or stay. When my grandpa Huang was about to die, I once told him not to let this great land disappear from my hands. Now it seems that as long as I die, I will not be considered as letting down the ancestors of our Liu family. It’s just that it’s ridiculous that he lost it from his father last year. The throne he fought so hard to win, now has to give up to him at the risk of death..."
Chen Ziyuan trembled and said: "Your Majesty, you can't do it... If you keep the green hills, you won't be afraid of running out of firewood."
Liu Yan sneered: "The green mountains are still the same, but I... I am no longer me. From the moment Grandpa Huang committed suicide, I am no longer me, and the hearts of the world are no longer mine! Haha... It's a pity that I am still It’s too late to understand…”
The cold seven-star sword reflected the colorful morning clouds outside the window of the Buddhist hall. Liu Yan's desperate eyes fell on the sword and murmured: "It's too late... it's too late..."
Then Liu Yan couldn't help but kill himself with his sword.
Xun Mou, who had been busy mobilizing troops and generals and preparing to defend the city for the past two days, was extremely busy, rushing between various city gates. The current number of defenders in the city plus the imperial guards was less than 70,000. Compared with the soldiers who were fighting, they were really dwarfed, so the idea of catching strong men arose spontaneously. However, in this current situation of internal and external embarrassment, the only option was to capture adult men, otherwise it would cause public outrage and the city gate would collapse without attack.
Xun Mou then assigned the task of catching young men to generals at all levels. In the past two or three days, only more than 10,000 young men were captured. There were countless adult men who cut off their limbs for this purpose, and there were also many who were hiding in Tibet. , and at this time, the war was imminent, Xun Mou had no time to take care of those who escaped, and those who harmed themselves were left alone.
When Xun Mou was deploying troops at the north gate and learned that Liu Yan had committed suicide, he quickly entered the palace to find his father Xun Yu. The father and son were discussing anxiously in Tianlu Hall, the study room of the inner palace. Xun Yu was obviously a little worried. If Liu Yan suddenly committed suicide, he would definitely become the target of public criticism. Lu Zuo would definitely use Liu Xingyuan's name to attack the city under the pretext of "Qingjun's side" If the slogan becomes "restoring Han Dynasty orthodoxy", it will be even more troublesome.
"Your Majesty," a eunuch's voice came from outside the door, "Chen Ziyuan is waiting outside the palace!"
Xun Yu replied angrily: "Let him in!"
The door of the palace slowly opened, Chen Ziyuan walked quickly, and quickly knelt down in the hall, "I am guilty!"
"What's your crime..." Xun Yu's facial features were distorted with anger, "In a few days, everyone in the world will start asking me to accuse you. If you can't even look at a piece of trash, what do you do for food!"
Chen Ziyuan knelt on the ground again and said: "I am guilty. I didn't expect that Liu Yan, a man who cherished his life so much, would choose to commit suicide. I was negligent for a moment. Please punish me."
"You can also call this a moment of negligence," Xun Yu scolded, "Liu Yan has a murder weapon on his body, why didn't you confiscate it..."
"This...Wei Chen doesn't know when he has hidden a sword."
Xun Mou stood aside, knowing that no more blaming would help, so he said: "Father, it won't help to talk about this now. Liu Yan really wants to die, and we can't keep watching. Now that the matter has come to this, we can only see it. It’s time to recruit and demolish.”
