by Zhi Bai
Empress Dowager Su: "They dare? You overestimated them. Which of them didn't value their own benefits the most? Who dared to step out first? They were just a bunch of despicable people who instigated others to throw their lives away. Did they really think that they would dare to work for a country?! I still have the same line, you can talk about it now, talk about it, and no matter what means you use, it will be easy to get those people to come to my side. Tomorrow, before noon, if you can't even kill a small Heavenly Awakening Sect, you guys would have no more value, so I might as well use the plainsman. "
Zhuge Chouyun opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but Empress Dowager Su waved her hand, "I'm tired, and my body is a little tired. I don't care what methods I use, I only want the results. If the Heavenly Awakening Sect is not extinguished by tomorrow afternoon, then An Zheng and that bastard Mu Qidao will not die, so don't blame me for this. "
Before the sky grew dark, the orders from the Embroidery Palace had already spread through the entire city. According to the Embroidery Palace, the people from the Heavenly Awakening Sect kidnapped the Swallow King in an attempt to pass on the throne to a fake descendant of the Mu Family. The former crown prince did not have a son at all. That child was a scam from the Heavenly Awakening Sect. The Embroidery Palace called on all the citizens to surround and exterminate the rebels together with the imperial government. As long as they joined the army, they would be paid three times the army's salary.
In fact, since the beginning of the incident, the people had been confused. No one knew what was going on. The Swallow King said that he was persecuted by the Embroidery Palace, and the Embroidery Palace said that the Swallow King was kidnapped.
However, joining the army, paying three times the military salary and rapidly increasing it was still quite attractive. Especially those scoundrels, those who had nothing better to do, who wouldn't want to mix in military uniforms? With such a huge advantage, not to mention using the banner of exterminating the traitor, even if he used the banner of 'defying the law', there would still be people following him. Ever since the old Swallow King passed away, the influence and deterrence of the Mu Family towards the common people had dropped to an extremely low level.
An Zheng was worrying.
Chen Zaiyan, Gu Chaotong, Fang Daozhi, Wang Kaitai, Tan Taiche and the rest were gathered in An Zheng's room, discussing how to deal with the situation.
"If there really are countless civilians surrounding us, we won't be able to do anything."
Gu Chaotong sighed: "Embroidery Palace was indeed vicious this time, not only did he not reveal his true strength, he even forced us into a corner."
He looked at An Zheng: "Owner, it's about time to make a decision on this matter. My suggestion is … Leave the Fanggu. "
An Zheng asked: Where to?
Gu Chaotong glanced at Fang Daozhi: "Eastern Frontier, General Fang Zhiji's side... Right now, the imperial army was at the eastern border. Hundreds of thousands of troops, military experts, as well as the experts from the various sects who were assisting the military were all there. As long as Swallow King gets to the eastern border first, he can get support. So what if he temporarily gave up the Fanggu? What is the purpose of Empress Dowager Su wanting this city? "
Fang Daozhi was silent for a while, before he said: "Even though father is unwilling to participate in the disputes of the imperial court, and wholeheartedly wants to lead troops to fight against outsiders, but in this kind of life and death situation, he will not sit idly by. "With father's prestige, a single word from him is enough to change the decisions made by those clans."
Wang Kaitai nodded his head: "I also think that it is more appropriate this way. Swallow King is currently delirious, and cannot reveal himself. It's fine to stand on the high wall for others to see. Once you talk to someone, as long as we are still under the control of Old Man Zhuge, it will definitely not be good for us. Right now, I can still affect some of the city guards. After leaving the city in the middle of the night, they would rush to the eastern border. If they were fast enough, they would not even need a month to reunite with General Fang Zhiji. "
Gu Chaotong said: "But doing this is not without its drawbacks, our combined manpower is not strong enough. If he left the place where he now had so many defensive weapons, he would be attacked from all sides. Especially after we leave the city. We have no idea what else we can do for Her Majesty …. However, if there are really many experts and armies hidden, wouldn't they be taking them out now? "
An Zheng said: "It is indeed hard to understand."
Chen Zaiyan, who had been silent all this time, said: "If you don't take it out, you will not be afraid of us, but the people who will watch the show. Until now, none of the courtiers has come forward to say whether they are on Her Majesty's side or ours. Any one of these people would definitely not be a match for the empress dowager, not even for us. But if these people are gathered together, it will make the empress dowager fearful. "
An Zheng replied: "Give me four hours."
He stood up and looked at everyone, "I still want to enter Embroidery Palace. If I don't bring back good news within four hours, then everyone will leave Fanggu at that time. General Wang has arranged for the guards of the city to come and support them. Zaocang and my horse carriages have enough power to transport everyone away. "
"No."
Wang Kaitai said: "You cannot go risk your life alone, I will go with you."
An Zheng shook his head. "I can't get in touch with the city guards without you."
Fang Daozhi: "Then I'll go with you."
An Zheng said: "Even General Fang cannot go, the group of Tie Liuhuo that is left in the capital is our last barrier. Especially after they had left the city, Tie Liuhuo was the strongest guard. If you leave, no one will be able to command Tie Liuhuo, and the power will be greatly reduced. "
He slowly said, "For this matter, it is more convenient for me to go alone. I can come and go as I please, but if there are too many people, it will be a hindrance. If I don't return in four hours, you can leave immediately. You don't have to wait for me. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to me."
Zhuang Feifei said: "Still not enough, it's too dangerous."
An Zheng said: "You should believe me, since the empress dowager doesn't know of my trump card."
Zhuang Feifei: "You can't underestimate the empress dowager too much as well. She has been gathering and gathering the forces of the Jianghu for so many years. She didn't show it on the surface, but she might already be moving. No one knows how much power she has. If she doesn't understand you, do you understand her? If she was that easy to get rid of, things would not have turned out like this. "
An Zheng remained silent for a while, before saying: "How about this, you all go discuss what to do after we leave the city, and invite the Oldman Huo over. I'll go make some preparations. After all of you have discussed the results, I'll see who will enter the Embroidery Palace with me. "
Everyone saw him loosen his grip and nodded their heads.
An Zheng left the room, avoiding the people and started to walk out. The sky was already completely dark, he moved along with the walls, ready to sneak out. When he walked to the wall, he saw Du Shoushou puffing on Oldman Huo's pipe that was still in his mouth. Seeing An Zheng coming over, Du Shoushou laughed: "I knew it. I know you better than the worm in your stomach."
An Zheng sighed: "Fatty, it's too dangerous."
Du Shoushou knocked his pipe against the wall. "Danger? What do you think is the greatest danger? Was he dead? When we were in Fantasy City, I was afraid of death, but I was still willing to die with you. "I know you don't want to involve us, but in fact, you said that if a person doesn't even have a friend who has died while taking risks, wouldn't it be a pity?"
An Zheng said: "I'm not here, but you can still take care of them."
Du Shoushou curled his lips: "Stop bullshitting!"
With one hand on An Zheng's shoulder, he asked, "Are you
saying that Xiao Liu'er needs my care, or Xiao Yezi needs my care?"
An Zheng laughed: "Alright, since I can't beat you, let's go."
Du Shoushou: "Don't think about something and leave me alone from the back. I'll tell you the correct view of life … If you don't want to involve your brothers and friends in the face of danger, you will lose them. Are you the Savior? The Savior does not need help. "
An Zheng gave a thumbs up, "Surrender."
Du Shoushou said: "Just learn and sell."
"From whom?"
"We …"
Qu Liuxi and Gu Qianye walked over from behind a corner and smiled at An Zheng: "Do you know what a family is? "If you know, then shut up. If you have business to attend to, then hurry up."
An Zheng felt his nose sour. "Alright, alright, alright, you guys have the final say."
The four of them jumped over the wall, and in the darkness of the night, they groped their way towards Embroidery Palace.
And at this time, in the Embroidery Palace, in the empress dowager's room, Zhuge Chouyun's face had already turned completely ashen when he looked at her.
Su Qingnuan's voice had actually become a lot gentler, "It's not that I'm impatient, but those warriors that you spent nearly five years creating, are still not completely successful. As these people are too destructive, all of the martial artists I've recruited are in charge of guarding them. If something goes wrong, even you and I won't be able to save ourselves. Originally, I calculated that in half a year, I would only need half a year to succeed. But An Zheng suddenly doing such a thing has completely messed up my plan. Right now, if all the experts in their hands were transferred out, annihilating a Heavenly Awakening Sect would just be a gesture of a hand. Even if those clans were destroyed, it wouldn't be a difficult task. However, the moment they leave the underground palace, the poison warriors will lose control of their bodies and will be difficult to deal with. "
She said softly, "Half a year, when the Poison Warriors come out of the underground palace, what would those prairie patrolmen be worth? You think I'm willing to hand over the iron ore? "Of course I know about the Tarantula's ambition."
Her hand brushed past Zhuge Chouyun's face. "Half a year is good enough."
Zhuge Chouyun sighed, "It's better if I go. I can destroy Heavenly Awakening Sect by myself."
Su Qingnuan said: "But if you leave my side, what should I do?"
Zhuge Chouyun was silent for a moment: "Go to the underground palace, I'll be back in one night."
Su Qingnuan: "I'm not going. None of those people in the underground palace can be relied on. I should still send a few people over. Asking them to go would also be a test of their results. "
Zhuge Chouyun remained silent for a longer time, "I'm worried that they will lose control of themselves. Once they lose control of themselves, these few people can cause a disaster."
Su Qingnuan said: "Disaster? We'll clean up after the disaster. "
Zhuge Chouyun said: "Forget it, it's up to you."
He walked to the door and waved his hand. Two people quickly approached from the shadows. "Master, what can I do for you?"
"Release the few people with the name of the land and go to Heavenly Awakening Sect."
Chapter 274 - Encounter
An Zheng, Du Shoushou, Qu Liuxi, Gu Qianye, the four of them added together, just past sixty years of age, rushed to Embroidery Palace. No matter what, there was the feeling of a youth rushing to the Devil Nest to save a person. If Embroidery Palace was really the Devil Nest, and Empress Dowager Su was really a dragon, then this story would definitely be spread around. But this was not a fairy tale, this was a bitter struggle.
Maybe there were people who did not understand why An Zheng did not become a rich person and wanted to get involved in this kind of struggle. The reason was simple. Revenge meant losing everything to the enemy. An Zheng hated the empress dowager and hated Zhuge Chouyun, but that did not mean he liked Mu Changyan and the fight in the imperial court. On the contrary, An Zheng didn't like Mu Changyan and disliked him, even if he wasn't considered a bad person.
As for the court battle, if An Zheng liked this when he was in the Great Western Ming Fa Si, then his opponent would have died a pitiful death. There would not be the fierce battle with the Mount Cang Man later on, and there would not be people who he thought were his brothers stabbing him in the back.
An Zheng's methods were always straightforward. If you liked it, you didn't like it. He would not compromise with people or things he hated, so he was destined never to be a qualified politician.
But if a person's position was very important, it would affect the entire world. He would take what he liked and root out what he did not like. So, no matter if it was a politician or an avenger, what An Zheng disliked was the ugliest thing in the world.
The four of them moved through the darkness, gradually approaching the Embroidery Palace.
Some people said that they would not trip over the same rock twice. Therefore, An Zheng prepared to enter from the Tiantong Palace. He had brought Mu Changyan away from the Tiantong Palace, so that the Embroidery Palace would be put in a passive position. But this was An Zheng's luck, not his scheme. If An Zheng was someone who was good at scheming, he might have played Mu Changyan from the start.
After leaving the Heavenly Awakening Sect, they quickly travelled for at least two miles. Even though the people of the Heavenly Awakening Sect were fighting intensely during the day, it did not affect the majority of the citizens in the capital to sleep comfortably tonight. The citizens would worry about the future of the great swallow, but to the majority of the people, the future of the great swallow was not as important as tonight's meal.
An Zheng took the lead, Du Shoushou stood at the back, with the two girls standing in the middle. At the exit of an alley, An Zheng looked outside.
On the street, patrolling Imperial Guards passed by from time to time. After the sound of the horses' hooves, there was a period of chilling silence. The cavalry of the City Defense Army were basically all in the Heavenly Awakening Sect, although there weren't many of them, they were extremely elite. The majority of the city guards did not dare to participate in this battle which involved a change in power. They chose to remain silent and chose to give up. Of course, they would not accept Embroidery Palace's order to attack Heavenly Awakening Sect either.
Maybe they thought it was safe to give up, but it wasn't. If the Embroidery Palace won in the end, then all these City Guards who had given up their choice would be cleared. If An Zheng and the others win in the end, of course there would be no settlement. But since Chen Zaiyan was the minister of war, these city guards would never be given priority again. The truth was so cruel that even the onlookers would not have a good ending.
In this kind of situation, only the Imperial Guards in the capital could patrol the streets. As for the bailiffs in the Fanggu … It was said that most of the people had already taken off their official uniforms and hid themselves.
In this chaotic world, human lives were cheap, other people weren't heavy, so how could he not be heavy himself?
Right at this moment, An Zheng saw five people dressed in black quickly moving towards the east gate. They didn't try to hide themselves. Their speed was extraordinarily fast, but no matter how one looked at it, it seemed extremely strange. An Zheng couldn't help but think of the strange Feng Xiuyang from before, and couldn't help but pay more attention to him. The five of them were flying at a very fast pace. To be more accurate, they should have bounced and flown. Their legs and knees did not bend as they walked, which was why they looked so strange.
The sound of horses galloping could be heard from afar. At least twenty cavalrymen could vaguely see the few men on the other side. The leader of the imperial guard shouted, "Who are you!"
It was already so late. Under such circumstances, how could a normal person just stroll around on the streets?
More than twenty cavalrymen spurred their horses forward and lined
up in a straight line to stop the five men. The leader of the imperial guards held up a torch and asked, "What's going on?" Don't you guys know about tonight's curfew? "
Actually, these soldiers didn't want to be too nosy either. This was because they knew very well that those who dared to come out during curfew were most likely not people that were easy to deal with. Whether it was the people from Embroidery Palace or the people from Heavenly Awakening Sect, none of them were people they could afford to offend. As such, he regretted it when he brought his men over, so he only wanted to ask a few simple questions to save himself from losing face in front of his subordinates.
The moment the torchlight shone down, the leader of the imperial guards turned pale, "Mother!"
He gave a cry and fell off his horse in fright.
The soldiers behind him did not know what had happened, so they all drew their blades.
The man in black standing at the front saw the Imperial Guard draw his knife, and he slowly extended both hands from his sleeves.
Because the distance was a little too far and the night was too dark, An Zheng only saw the person stretch his hands horizontally by the light of the torch, and then the soldiers fell off the horses one by one. The soldiers seemed to have turned to stone before falling, they didn't move at all, and remained in their horse stance as they tilted to the side before falling to the ground.
An Zheng frowned slightly. Those five people were very strange.
With the sky so dark, those people headed towards the east side of the city, about seventy to eighty percent of of them headed towards the Heavenly Awakening Sect.
After a while, the five of them lowered their heads as if to inspect them before continuing on their way. An Zheng gestured for Du Shoushou and the others to wait there, then he went over to take a look by himself.
Nothing.
The warhorses were still there, but all the soldiers who had fallen to the ground had disappeared and were replaced by puddles of black water on the ground.