Chapter 141: Counting Arrows

A single arrow pierced through the clouds, and thousands of armies came to meet each other.

When that branch of dazzling fireworks, bloomed in the silent night sky of Kyoto, although only for a moment, but I do not know how many hearts were startled.

The internal cleansing of the forbidden army was the first work to begin, it didn’t take much time, the great prince succeeded in grasping all the power, stayed in Kyoto about more than 3,000 forbidden army, from then on became the strongest military force to defend the imperial city.

At the same time, the ministries of the Supervisory Court that were lurking in the darkness of the night also saw the fireworks, and they revealed themselves from the darkness of the night, and began to head towards their respective formulated targets.

The Ministry of Justice’s main office was always eerie, especially on a night like this. In the midst of the silence, a rush of footsteps suddenly sounded from the periphery of the Ministry of Justice, the officers in charge of the night watch were surprised to watch the movement outside the government office, and then shocked to find that a large group of people wearing black official uniforms were pressing towards the Ministry of Justice.

The officers’ faces turned pale, and they immediately sounded the gong to signal the alarm, intending to wake up the lords in the Ministry of Justice, as well as the guards of the dungeon at the back of the Ministry of Justice. While they themselves, they immediately retreated towards the Ministry of Justice’s court hall, because they knew that these black official uniforms were the official reports of the Supervisory Yuan, and these people of their own, were definitely not the opponents of the other side.

Alarm sound, the Ministry of Criminal Department of the Ministry of all to the rear, who are clear, the Ministry of Criminal Department of the dungeon is the most important, because the Crown Prince did not dare to oppose their own ascension to the throne of the civil ministers escorted into the Supervisory Yuan of the Heavenly Prison, all locked up in this room, these people in the Ministry of Criminal Department is only a prisoner, but put on the court is a sound even the Empress Dowager also want to be jealous of the two points of the ministers.

There is not too much fear of killing sound, just a few tragic shouts and a burst of noise, the Supervisory Yuan about three hundred people of the team will enter the Ministry of Criminal Affairs deep yatang, rushed to the large square above.

The officers of the Ministry of Justice and the guards of the prison were surrounded by the officials of the Supervisory Yuan right in the center, while the unclothed chief officer of the Ministry of Justice couldn’t help but cool his heart as he watched this scene.

Both sides are about the same number of people, seems to have a fight, however, this as the general commander of the forbidden army, do not dare to go home, only dare to die in the Ministry of Criminal Affairs to guard the heavenly prison of the Lord Shangshu, but simply can not afford to give birth to any thoughts of resistance.

Because those black-clothed people have crossbows and arrows in their hands, because the other party is the officials of the Supervisory Yuan that the officials of the State of Qing are most afraid of, because this Lord Shangshu knows clearly that since the Supervisory Yuan dares to act so rampantly, that little Lord Fan must have begun to stir up a storm of blood and gore within the Kyoto.

With the remaining power of the Supervisory Court still lingering, and Fan Xian’s dark and great name shaking everyone’s heart, not many people dared to confront this team head-on without the help of the Eldest Princess’s forces.

What’s more, he had also heard that a smoldering order of arrows rang out from the imperial palace, and then waking up in fear, he also clearly heard the earth-shattering sounds of drinking and killing that went straight up to the sky at the imperial city.

He did not know that it was the action of the forbidden army, but he knew that there was a change at the imperial city.

There were some dead bodies lying sporadically in the field, and the leading official of the Supervisory Yuan looked at the besieged Minister of Justice with cold eyes and said word by word: “This official, by the Empress Dowager’s will and the Prince’s military order, came to pick up all the old ministers out of the prison, and annoyed to ask the Lord Minister to hand over.”

Hand over? No, this is a prison robbery. But the Minister of Justice trembled and didn’t dare to speak out and berate.

Because last night one of his ministers, who he relied on as his right-hand man, died unknowingly in this courtroom. No one knows how the minister died, the minister does not want to become the second ghost.

If he surrendered, would there be a way out? The torchlight made the Minister of Justice’s face look a little strange.

Seemingly guessing his thoughts, that leading official of the Supervisory Court stared into his eyes and said, “The Empress Dowager has said that, but all those who are subordinate to the rebels will not be blamed if they are truly repentant.”

The Minister of Justice laughed bitterly, even the Empress Dowager’s decree had been moved out, it seemed that Lord Tanya had taken control of the palace. There has been no news from the Eldest Princess’s side, I’m afraid that something has gone wrong as well, when this is a big situation, why would he suffer any longer?

But in a flash, he suddenly thought, if the fight in the palace has not been resolved, Fan Xian did not have the upper hand, if he is so easily surrendered, afterward …… how to explain to the crown prince and the eldest princess?

The Minister of Justice gritted his teeth, his gaze shifting.

That Supervisory Court official looked at him indifferently, no longer communicating with him more, slowly raised his right hand, and the hundreds of Supervisory Court officials around him some raised their crossbows, some pulled out their braziers, and began to prepare to launch an attack towards the thick door of the Ministry of Justice’s prison.

“Three sounds.” That Procuratorate official counted expressionlessly, “Three, two ……”

“Wait!” The Minister of Justice was finally crushed by this monotonous counting sound and hissed, “Slow down! I want Tanya Gong’s words!”

The Supervisory Yuan official’s lips floated up a trace of mocking smile, when this critical situation, the Ministry of Justice’s guts scared out of his wits, people have not yet become demented, knowing that now the Empress Dowager’s will is just a piece of broken paper, what can really save his life is still the will of the Lord of the Tantalums.

He took out a long prepared paper from his bosom and threw it over.

The Minister of Justice picked it up from the ground, and with the ghostly light of the torch, he looked over the document and confirmed that it was a grant written by Lord Fan himself.

It was not known when this grant was written or prepared, but it clearly stated that the Eldest Princess and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had conspired with assassins from Dongyi City and Northern Qi to assassinate His Majesty on Dadong Mountain! All the charges, very clear, the back also wrote, conquer the north battalion governor Yan Xiaoyi involved in the plot to rebel, has been Fan Xian hand by the death!

The charge was not the key, the Minister of Justice was concerned about the last words. See the end, his face finally eased some, in this seal called declaring the edict to repudiate the letter, a total of about four hundred words, and in the last one hundred words, clearly written, the court ministers have been deceived by Li Chengqian, but any repentance and merit in the new throne, not to be blamed.

The hand of the Minister of Justice holding the grant is trembling, there is no seal of the Empress Dowager on this grant, but there is His Majesty’s seal of execution!

The most important thing was that it had Fan Xian’s handwritten signature at the end!

The Minister of Justice knew that at such a moment, no seal could be as effective as Fan Xian’s seal, and he believed that Fan Xian was not a man who would go back on his word.

His face grew more and more ghastly white, glancing at the Ministry of Justice’s errand boys and yamen guards around him who were drumming up their courage but whose faces were ashen, he hung his head and knelt down in front of that Supervisory Yuan official, saying in a forlorn voice, “I …… plead guilty.”

Disarm, bind the fingers, and take the rope. All the armed forces of the Ministry of Justice were brought under control in a very short time. Only this group of teams left some face for Lord Shangshu, except for his already undressed official uniform and ocelot.

Various types of knives, guns and sticks were piled up in the corners, and all the officials of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs were restrained with their arms back by the special steel finger cuffs made by the Supervisory Board, and all these finger cuffs were laced together by sturdy hemp ropes, like grasshoppers strung together to be fried during the old age famine years.

All of these actions seem particularly familiar and fast, because the Supervisory Yuan this Yamen from the birth of the first day, is using these means, against the huge state apparatus in the Qing dynasty ministries Yamen.

So can’t say that the Ministry of Justice is cowardly, can’t say that the ministries and government offices of the Qing Dynasty are too useless, it’s just that it’s been many years now, the terror of the Supervisory Yuan has been deeply rooted in the hearts of all the officials of the Qing Dynasty, just like a natural enemy, the officials can’t rise up with the courage to resist in the face of this group of black-clothed people.

After Emperor Qing’s death and Chen Pingping’s poisoning, the Supervisory Yuan had become the sharpest blade in Fan Xian’s hands.

While dealing with the residual affairs of the Ministry of Punishment, the two heavy prison doors of the Ministry of Punishment had already been opened long ago, and the officials of the Supervisory Yuan entered, separating many of their hands to help out forty to fifty officials who looked in a sorry state.

These officials had not even had time to strip off their official uniforms, but had already been beaten and bruised all over their bodies. This shows how hasty and chaotic it was for the Crown Prince to arrest these officials at the Taiji Hall that day. After being tortured, many of the officials were already unable to walk, and it was only with the assistance of these officials of the Supervisory Yuan that they moved out of the entrance of the Ministry of Punishment’s prison with their breath dying.

The leading Supervisory Yuan official’s eyes condensed, quickly stepped forward, knelt on one knee in front of these officials, performed a heavy salute, and said in a deep voice: “The next official, the Supervisory Yuan’s second division chief book Mu Rong Yan, by the Empress Dowager’s decree, came to greet all of you, all of you adults have worked hard.”

Being helped out of the door of the civil officials looked at this wearing black official uniform of the Supervisory Yuan officials, can not help but mixed feelings can not say anything.

Murong Yan did not get up, but turned to the two leading officials and said in a low voice, “The Lord of the Tishek has ordered me to kowtow and thank the two university professors on his behalf.”

Yes, these two officials are the two first-ranking ministers in the Taiji Hall bravely and forcibly prevented the crown prince from ascending to the throne, the head of the door under the middle book of the senior scholar, Hu senior scholar and old Mr. Shu Wu.

Shu Wu’s face still has a wound, looking at this official sighed, not too much joy to escape from life, but only a deep concern about the situation in Kyoto, he knows Fan Xian’s temperament, since he risked his life to rob the prison tonight, the palace must be a big mess, his majesty,…… His Majesty, I do not know how many of His Majesty’s loved ones will die in this turmoil.

Hu Daoshi, however, laughed and said, “Tanya Gong is wrong, I did not help him, why is the word thank you?”

Murong Yan froze at his words.

Too late to describe the detailed situation in the palace, the Ministry of Justice has long been outside the ten horse-drawn carriages, these injured ministers received the car, and then traveled to the palace. Now the situation in Kyoto is still very dangerous, these just out of prison ministers, temporarily can not return to their homes.

Watching those carriages under the protection of the Supervisory Board, traveling down the long street in the direction of the palace, Murong Yan standing at the entrance of the Ministry of Justice finally let out a big sigh of relief. Although there were still many things that needed to be dealt with in the Ministry of Justice’s court behind him, his heart had already settled down.

He was the chief bookkeeper of the second division, originally in charge of intelligence summarization, but in this incident at the Procuratorate, he was given the task of attacking the Ministry of Punishment by Lord Xiaoyan, perhaps because of his calmness.

Attacking the Ministry of Justice was not difficult, what was difficult was rescuing those adults in the prison without any damage. Murong Yan was well aware of this, or else Lord Tisi wouldn’t have given himself hundreds of men despite Kyoto’s low manpower.

The specific task was awarded by Yan Bingyun, but the requirements were drawn up by Fan Xian himself. As for the Ministry of Justice’s prison, Fan Xian had given a death order to ensure the safety of Hu Shu’s two university scholars, as well as those civil ministers.

Because he knew clearly, if not for these civil ministers who were not afraid of death in the Taiji Hall, forcibly delayed the day of the Crown Prince’s ascension to the throne, causing chaos in the imperial government and making it difficult to stabilize Kyoto, it would have been difficult for him to find an opportunity to successfully break into the palace.

These civil ministers, who seemed to have little power except for their deadly remonstrations, were Fan Xian’s big contributors to this operation. When Fan Xian borrowed the bones of these ministers, he had to ensure that their bones were intact, which was a combination of gratitude and faint guilt.

Smoke and fire moved, and a thousand men came out. When the Ministry of Criminal Affairs prison was opened, looks to appear more difficult to attack the Kyoto Palace, but at this time is the door is open, brightly lit, looks very strange.

The Kyoto Prefecture is always in charge of the security of Kyoto, and has a large number of magistrates under its command. And when the imperial city at the fireworks arrow sounded, a solemn face of the second minister of Kyoto Prefecture Sun Jingxiu, will be heavy-faced walked to the main hall.

The subordinates who didn’t understand what was going on looked at the Prefect with their jaws agape and wondered why Lord Sun was still wearing his full official uniform at this hour of the night.

Just a few breaths later, the sound of footsteps arrived like thunder. Sun Jingxiu looked at his subordinates with a complicated expression, sighed with incomparable regret, and ordered his subordinates to open the gates of the Kyoto Palace.

As soon as the gate was opened, the officials of the Supervisory Yuan entered in a line, and under the gaze of the Kyoto Prefecture officials who looked at each other in dismay, they occupied a favorable position in the main hall and surrounded Sun Jingxiu in the middle of the hall.

As soon as the black uniformed officials of the Supervisory Yuan separated, one person came out from the center, and it was Mu Tie, the head of one of the Supervisory Yuan’s departments. This official with a face like iron looked at Sun Jingxiu indifferently and asked, “Your Honor has ordered me to ask your Honor, whether you have thought about it or not?”

Sun Jingxiu sighed again, face struggling for a long time after, legs seem to be suddenly weak, snapped to the ground, kneeling, said in a low voice: “I know the crime, do not dare to beg for forgiveness from His Excellency.”

When this scene came out, the room was full of clamor, all the people felt incomparably shocked, they didn’t understand that this Lord Prefect who had been carrying out the Empress Dowager’s will, and who had been dead set on catching Fan Xian in Kyoto, why would the officials of the Supervisory Yuan, when they were on their doorsteps, actually descended in such a way without even thinking of resisting!

Mu Tie’s face was still like iron, seemingly unmoved, but in his heart, he was just as shocked. Today he was ordered to come to stabilize the Kyoto Palace, thought to face the most tragic fight in his life, but I did not expect the word Bingyun just faintly commanded a sentence, then let him like this to come.

Once in the Kyoto House, only to see the house full of light, Mu Tie had thought that the ambush, but unexpectedly the state of affairs as said by the Lord of the small language, smooth as a surprise!

Sun Jingxiu kneeling on the ground, face unusually bleak, his left hand will be held in the arm of the veil, the heart of the thought that they really have no choice. Not to mention whether the Kyoto Prefecture can fight hard against the Supervisory Yuan, mainly because earlier in the back garden, and that white-clothed gentleman’s conversation, really let him have no way to retreat, can only surrender!

Until tonight, he realized, the original Fan Xian actually in his own residence to hide a few days, this time the Kyoto change of the initiation of the place, actually is in the back garden of his own home, in his own daughter’s room!

The assassins who broke out of the palace this time, there were 400 people who used the Kyoto government’s documents to sneak into Kyoto!

As long as this matter was revealed, no matter how he behaved himself tonight, he would certainly not be allowed to stand up to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Princess, and that party would definitely consider himself a spy on Fan Xian’s side.

So he had no choice but to make a difficult decision and turn fully to Fan Xian – he would be considered Lord Fan’s man anyway, so why not simply become Lord Fan’s man, and at least he could still live.

Future prospects, safety and security …… knitted brows should be able to speak for themselves, right?

Sun Jingxiu thought of this point, could not help but be angry and blood, nearly fainted in anger. Those sudden palace assassins into the capital of the paperwork off defense, are sent from their own study, in addition to the knitted knit that girl, who else can impersonate their own handwriting, stealing their own official seal, but also not by the subordinates suspected!

The next life will never give birth to a daughter, the daughter’s elbow is always turned outward. The Kyoto prefect Sun Jingxiu, who was forced to turn against the water, thought in his heart with incomparable sadness.

Soon after the battle in the Imperial City ended, a large group of forbidden soldiers forced their way into the Harem through the main gate. In front of more than a thousand tiger and wolf-like soldiers, the inner court guards and eunuchs, who were already in a state of panic, wisely chose to surrender, even if there were some tough people, they became dead bodies under the sweep of the forbidden army.

The palace has temporarily returned to quiet, vaguely can hear the sound of neat footsteps, armor clashing issued by the popping sound.

Fan Xian pushed open the door of the East Palace with a somber face, leaving the Sudden Palace Swordsman stationed here outside the palace, looking at the dead bodies along the way, and walked into the newly restored palace.

In the Hall of Containing Light, Fan Xian acted calmly, but only he himself knew how disappointed he was deep down. Not catching the Crown Prince and the Eldest Princess was like tearing a big hole in his plan.

A gash that might never be mended.

He looked at the eunuchs and palace maidens who were cowering around in one place, and after a long time, he lowered his head in silence, as if he could hear the sound of horses’ hooves already ringing outside the distant palace walls.

He knew that this was a hallucination, but he believed in the speed of the Grand Prince’s march, since the palace was already basically under control, he must have already split up the brigade and started to advance deeper into Kyoto in an attempt to control a larger area, only that he would be careful not to rub out the fire with the thirteen city gate divisions in contact. The Grand Prince, just like him, since he had moved, he would not keep his hands off, the forbidden army and the Supervisory Board, at this time, were desperately chasing after the Crown Prince and the Eldest Princess in Kyoto.

The most crucial thing was that Wan’er and Dabao were taken away by the Eldest Princess, not saving his loved ones, making him angry and brooding. Walking into a quiet room next to the temple, looking at the eunuch sitting on the ground in a skip, looking at the pox marks on the eunuch’s face, Fan Xian’s heart was furious, but in an instant, his heart softened and he sighed hopelessly.