The night is bright, and stars are shining in the sky, and the brightest one is undoubtedly Sirius, which is located south of Que Qiu and in the well.
Since ancient times, the Heavenly Wolf has been on conquest. Tonight, the cold wind is biting and the Heavenly Wolf is hanging high. Both the inside and outside of the majestic Bianjing City seem to be full of murderous intent.
The night wind, as sharp as a knife, passed through the forest, bringing with it a howl of ghosts and wolves. Although Zhao Zongquan wrapped himself in fur and silk cotton like a rice dumpling, his ears and nose were still sore from the cold.
Beside Zhao Zong, there were dozens of strong men standing beside him. They were Zhao Ceying, Gu Tingye, Shen Congxing and others, as well as a group of Zhao family generals.
They stood upright in the cold wind, motionless, as if they didn't feel the chill at all.
Looking at Bianjing City with flames and thick smoke rising several miles away, the expressions on the faces of the group couldn't help but become solemn.
A few days ago, Zhao Zongquan was assassinated by King Yan after receiving a secret edict. Fortunately, he was saved by Gu Tingye and survived.
Zhao Zongquan originally thought of taking a temporary refuge in Zhuangzi outside the city, and the big matter was reduced to a trivial matter. However, with the instigation of Zhao Ceying and Gu Tingye, Zhao Zongquan finally embarked on a journey to Bianjing to complain.
When they arrived dozens of miles outside Bianjing City, in order to avoid being discovered by King Yan's eyes and ears, the group decided not to take the official road, but to take a small road, dress lightly and stay in bed at night.
As expected, there were no obstacles along the way, and the group arrived outside Bianjing City this evening.
However, it was already dark when they arrived and the city gate of Bianjing was closed. Zhao Zongquan had to lead everyone to make do in the woods outside the city all night, preparing to enter the city again after dawn when the city gate opened.
However, at midnight, the city of Bianjing suddenly burst into flames, accompanied by billowing smoke.
Gu Tingye, who was in charge of the night watch, was shocked when he saw this scene. He immediately realized that something had changed in the city and hurriedly woke everyone up to discuss countermeasures together.
Zhao Ceying and Gu Tingye had already speculated from various previous signs that there might be changes in Bianjing in the near future.
Therefore, when they saw the fire in Bianjing City with their own eyes, they did not panic, but became inexplicably excited.
But Zhao Zongquan was originally tricked into coming to Bianjing by his son, half-coaxed and half-frightened. When he saw the chaos in Bianjing, he immediately backed down and wanted to return to Yuzhou. After seeing the current situation clearly, he Make calculations.
To be honest, although Zhao Zongquan's idea seems a bit cowardly, it is indeed considered mature and prudent.
After all, he only had dozens of riders around him, and he didn't know the specific situation in Bianjing City at the moment. If he waded into this muddy water rashly, he might not even get a splash, and he might even get trapped in it in the end.
But Zhao Ceying was unwilling to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so easily, and tried hard to persuade Zhao Zongquan to stay and wait for the situation to change. If it was really impossible, it would not be too late to return to Yuzhou.
Zhao Ceying's words were not unreasonable, and Gu Tingye, Shen Congxing and others all echoed them.
Seeing this, Zhao Zongquan hesitated for a long time, but finally went with the flow and agreed to Zhao Ceying's suggestion to stay here.
After all, although Zhao Zongquan has always been low-key and steady, as a descendant of the Zhao family, he is by no means a man without ambition.
It's just that Zhao Zongquan has been unknown in Yuzhou for many years. His civility is much deeper than that of his young and energetic son Zhao Ceying, and he is better able to hide his inner desires.
After making up his mind, Zhao Zongquan sent Duan Chengran, who was the best at disguise among his generals, to sneak into the city to investigate the situation, while the others repaired on the spot and waited for news.
Everyone just waited in the forest. Two hours passed and Duan Chengran didn't come back.
Until the third quarter of the Yin hour, a rapid sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the distance. Everyone in the forest became energetic when they heard the sound, and they stood up and looked out.
As the sound of horse hooves got closer and closer, Gu Tingye, who had strong eyesight, could even see the face of the man on the horse through the moonlight, it was Duan Chengran who had gone and returned.
Everyone in the forest was overjoyed to see that Duan Chengran was back, but the next moment, they couldn't help but feel trembling.
It turned out that Duan Chengran was not alone when he returned this time. Behind him, there were several unidentified knights.
Gu Tingye and Shen Congxing next to him looked at each other and clenched the weapons in their hands in unison. The other generals also became nervous and subconsciously formed a formation to protect Zhao Zongquan and Zhao Ceying and his son behind them.
Duan Chengran and others reined in their horses and stopped outside the woods. After dismounting, they quickly walked towards the people in the forest.
The few people got closer and closer, and Gu Tingye and others in the forest finally saw the face of the person behind Duan Chengran clearly.
"teacher!"
"Xingyun! Why are you here?"
Gu Tingye and Zhao Ceying, who were the first to identify the person, shouted almost simultaneously, with expressions of disbelief on their faces.
Wei Chen did not answer their questions, but walked straight to Zhao Zongquan and took out the warm blood edict from his arms.
Wei Chen raised the blood edict above his head with one hand and said loudly: "The emperor's blood edict is here!"
The faces of everyone present suddenly changed when they heard this.
Seeing that Wei Chen's expression was solemn and not like a joke, Zhao Zongquan hurriedly led Zhao Ceying to kneel down together. Gu Tingye, Shen Congxing and other generals also bowed down respectfully.
Wei Chen slowly unfolded the bloody edict and read it word by word: "Now there is a traitor Zhao Zonghan. He is rebellious and has no king or father. He gathered his troops and armed himself with swords and entered the palace at night with the intention of plotting to usurp us. I temporarily If you don't pay attention, you will fall into the hands of traitors.
This is the time when the Emperor Zhou's life is in danger!
The son of the clan, Zhao Zongquan, has a noble character and is deeply loved by me. I now appoint you as the prince and inherit the throne. I hope that you will unite loyal people at home and abroad, wipe out the traitors, restore peace to the country, and eradicate the violence that has been in the shadow. Our ancestors are very lucky!
Sprinkle blood on your broken finger, write an edict to your Majesty, be careful again and again, don't let anyone be in trouble! "
The blood edict is less than a hundred words long, and it clearly explains the rebellion of King Yan and the establishment of Zhao Zongquan as the crown prince. It is very inconsistent with the convention of long edicts and quotations from scriptures.
Of course, this was a last resort. Writing one more word in this edict would require Zhao Zhen to shed a lot of blood. How could Zhao Zhen have the heart to talk about those things?
After Wei Chen finished reading the Blood Edict, he handed the Blood Edict and the Tiger Talisman to Zhao Zongquan, who was still in his dream.
Zhao Zongquan took the blood edict and tiger talisman tremblingly, knelt on the ground and lost consciousness for a long time, and his heart was filled with turmoil.
Zhao Zongquan had already had a vague premonition of the rebellion in Bianjing City, but he suddenly transformed from an unknown training envoy of the Yuzhou regiment to the crown prince of the Zhou Dynasty?
This change in status was so great that Zhao Zongquan was a little frightened for a while, his mind went blank and he didn't know what to do.
Not only Zhao Zongquan was stunned, Zhao Ceying and Gu Tingye were also dumbfounded, standing on the ground looking at each other, digesting the shock in their hearts.
They didn't expect that Wei Chen would suddenly appear in front of them, bringing such explosive news that could shock everyone.
Indeed, when they originally encouraged Zhao Zongquan to go to Beijing, they had the intention of taking advantage of the chaos to speculate.
But no one expected that the throne that King Yong and King Yan fought for to the death, even going so far as to launch an army and rebel, would finally fall to Zhao Zongquan so easily!
