Chapter 146 – Inviting the King into the Jar

Yuan Hongdao struggled to wake up, a sharp pain in the back of his head, he didn’t know what environment he was in, his years of lurking in the hostile forces had made him accustomed to being silent all the time.

Like Wang Qinian, this Supervisory Yuan official actually had countless doubts in his mind. Half a year ago when His Majesty made his first move against Her Highness the Princess, although Yuan Hongdao was not clear about the reason, the reason why the Supervisory Yuan was able to sweep away those explicit forces of the Princess in half an hour relied on this so-called No. 1 Strategist of Xinyang.

Yuan Hongdao has been puzzled in the past six months – after that operation, he should have left the infernal career, according to the order of the institution, to choose a place of beautiful scenery and honorable retirement, but after escaping from the courtyard, in that small courtyard, Yan Ruohai told him to go back to Xinyang.

Return to Xinyang!

The Eldest Princess’s Xinyang schemer was lucky enough to escape the Supervisory Court, so it was logical that he should be returning to Xinyang. But Yuan Hongdao smelled something else in this instruction from the Supervisory Court.

If after that night of thunderstorm, the eldest princess is destined to collapse and be eternally secluded, then what is the reason for President Chen to call out for himself to return to Xinyang?

What exactly is the court …… thinking? What do you want to do when you return to Xinyang? Yuan Hongdao had been thinking about this question in those months, and when the Princess easily and comfortably passed her plans to Xinyang through the guards of the other courtyard, and gradually transferred Xinyang’s squad to Kyoto, he finally understood something.

The Supervisory Court knew from the very beginning of the operation that the Eldest Princess could not be completely defeated, or rather, His Majesty was not prepared to let the Eldest Princess never turn her back from the very beginning, and that was why he was allowed to remain back in Xinyang as the nail in the coffin, waiting for the Eldest Princess’s summons, waiting for that moment to come.

Well, His Majesty has gone to the Great Eastern Mountains, has been assassinated, there is chaos in Kyoto, the Crown Prince is going to ascend to the throne, and the Rapunzel is contacting the military to prepare for a rebellion …… Even if the Rapunzel did not let Yuan Hongdao know when she was plotting the situation in the Great Eastern Mountains, but later on, Yuan Hongdao was personally involved in all of these things, and he had already known the news as early as at the beginning of the Rapunzel’s scheming.

It seemed as if he should have been able to utilize his skills as the first spy of the Qing Kingdom, but at this moment, Yuan Hongdao was shocked to discover that he was unable to pass on the information and notify the Supervisory Court!

All the channels failed within a split second, the bridge of single line of contact broke off god forbid, Yuan Hongdao was unable to contact Yan Ruohai, not to mention Chen Pingping. And it was even more impossible for a spy of his tier to directly rush into the Supervisory Academy and shout.

So his face was calm, but inwardly he was horrified and uneasy, he didn’t know what was going on in the Supervisory Yuan, and this uneasy state was maintained until Fan Xian finally stormed the palace and began to use the force of his men to sweep away the opposing forces in Kyoto.

Yuan Hongdao had secretly cooperated with the actions of the Supervisory Court, allowing the Imperial Residence, where the Eldest Princess was temporarily residing, to be captured, yet he knew that Fan Xian had already made a fatal mistake, and so in that final moment, he took the risk of shouting out to that Supervisory Court official.

He didn’t trust anyone, but if compared, since he couldn’t contact Chen Pingping and Yan Ruohai, in the entire court, the only person he trusted the most was Chen Pingping’s successor, that little Lord Fan.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know what kind of tempered rash Mu Feng’er was, so he was miserably knocked down by a punch.

Yuan Hongdao calmed down his breathing and opened his eyes, realizing that he was in the corner tower above the Imperial City. And in front of him, a handsome young man was looking at himself with a worried face. He knew the identity of this person, although he was not sure why the other party would personally arraign himself at such a tense moment, but he said directly:

“Frankie Zhang is one of the Elder Princess’s men.”

Fan Xian nodded his head and did not say anything, the commander of the 13th City Gate Department, Zhang francis, the character De Qing, the character that the world thinks of as morally clear and loyal, was actually the Eldest Princess’s person, a fact that was enough to shock everyone, but was no longer able to add too much sadness to his already somewhat helpless mind.

Yan Bingyun didn’t come back, and the official in charge of watching the wind in the courtyard also didn’t come back, there must be a problem there in the City Gate Department.

Unfortunately, this person named Yuan Hongdao woke up too late.

Fan Xian sighed in his heart. It was nearly dawn, the city gate department of Kyoto was out of control, the army of Ye Qin’s two families didn’t know when they would enter the city, at this critical moment, he should not have thought of this person called Yuan Hongdao, just looking at those ministers who were resting in the Taiji Hall, he was full of helplessness, suddenly thought of the words that his father-in-law said to himself when he was in Wuzhou.

A generation of treacherous prime minister Lin Ruofu, this life in the court of three people who are jealous, in addition to Chen Pingping and Fan Jian, is that the leader of the Qin old man, and this power relative Fan Xian seriously said, his disciples in the court of the bottom, will not give Fan Xian, so as not to wood show in the forest, blown over by the gale.

Unless …… when the new emperor takes the throne.

Now that Emperor Qing has been lost, Fan Xian is in Kyoto to help the oldest three to grab the throne, which is why those literary ministers of the Lin faction in Kyoto have torn off their disguises and stood behind Fan Xian, following the two great scholars of Hu Shu, to prevent the crown prince from ascending the throne.

Fan Xian thought in his heart, this father-in-law of his was clever for a lifetime, and his timing was really extremely accurate, but he just didn’t know if he would succeed this time.

However, the last words Lin Xiang said always made Fan Xian remember them clearly.

“If the capital is really in chaos in the future, perhaps Yuan Hongdao can help you.”

Lin Ruofu had calculated the matter of Dadong Mountain a year earlier, and Fan Xian admired his father-in-law’s vision to the core, so he had not forgotten about this trick he had supported. When he was caught in a dangerous situation that he couldn’t extricate himself from, he immediately thought of that Xinyang’s number one strategist under the Princess.

Sure enough, this Mr. Yuan was the nail that the Supervisory Court had inserted into the Xinyang side! This fact shocked Fan Xian, and he immediately became bitter – if he had known about the problems with the City Gate Division earlier, why would he and the Grand Imperial Prince have been so passive. It was too late after all, and this was ultimately a matter of fate. There was no telling how long one’s good fortune could last.

Yuan Hongdao stared into Fan Xian’s eyes and said, “Why have I been unable to contact the courtyard?” Although these words were plain, inside they were not quite angry, devoid of Mr. Yuan’s usual spontaneity. He had precious information from the Princess’ side in his hands, but was unable to provide it to the Supervisory Court and the imperial court, and his loyalty to Qing and His Majesty had made this Mr. Yuan feel a hint of great eccentricity, and thus become angry.

Fan Xian was silent not knowing how to speak. If possible, he was also willing to personally ask Chen Pingping at this time.

The morning wind blew into the corner tower of the high imperial city, scraping the smell of last night’s blood gradually faded away, and the smell of burning in Kyoto’s people’s houses couldn’t be smelled much, except that those poor people still didn’t dare to go out, shutting their doors in fear and hiding in their own beds, praying that the game of these big shots killing and slaying would be over soon.

Fan Xian stood beside Yuan Hongdao, his face calm, and said, “The Kyoto Guard Division won’t enter the capital until noon, and the two Qin Ye families will still be three days away, so if we move fast, we can still take back the nine city gates.”

Yuan Hongdao’s eyes flashed with a hint of consternation, and then a fire of anger flared up, saying angrily, “Could it be that the courtyard has no one in the guard division!”

Fan Xian’s heart was startled, and he turned around to look at him with a huff.

Yuan Hongdao looked at him and said word for word, “The Qin family’s army drove in overnight, and is only not far from the capital …… of the capital.”

Fan Xian tightly closed his lips, his face turning pale.

The reason why he didn’t panic even when he knew about the news of the city gate division’s mutiny was because he believed that he was able to get a clear picture of the old Qin family’s movements, and that as long as the army hadn’t arrived yet, he still had time to regain control of the nine city gates by virtue of the lethal force of the forbidden army and the inspectorates which had a much better military strength.

The Qin family’s army will arrive soon?

Yan Bingyun’s old man was amongst the Qin family, so how could it be possible that he hadn’t even sent back news of the army’s departure!

Fan Xian walked over to the Grand Prince’s side and said, “Collect the troops and return to the palace, the Qin family’s army is arriving.”

The Grand Imperial Prince’s brows were furrowed extremely tightly. The forbidden army brigade had just sailed out of the imperial city, yet they were about to retract at this moment, but because of a piece of news that he could not possibly believe. However, he knew that what mattered the most at this time was the speed of reaction, and not being able to discuss anything with Fan Xian, he took a deep breath and had the personal soldier beside him wave the small yellow flag in his hand.

Yellow flag a flip, the imperial city above the horn sound again, woo woo woo woo woo woo …… rhythm gradually rise, gradually tight. Is from the imperial city as several dragons like galloping out of the forbidden army brigade suddenly heard the sound of the horn back to the camp, coincidentally at the same time contraction of the team, began to the direction of the palace back to the gallop. And the far side has been deep into the residential streets and alleys of the team, also began to have movement.

Fan Xian gave a gesture to the subordinate beside him, and that subordinate nodded, took out the token arrow from his sleeve, and sent it out, slicing out a mournful shriek in the air in front of the Imperial City.

Immediately after, the Privy Council, the Supervisory Board headquarters, the ministries of the Yamen, the key street entrance, all have the order arrows break the sound of the air resounded, thought in response.

When the order arrows fell, in Kyoto nearly two thousand inspectorate secret officers heard the order and moved, disappeared in the streets and alleys.

Not a moment, the whole Kyoto streets, no longer what silhouettes can be seen, especially through the Supervisory Yuan Privy Council straight through the Palace of that Tianhe Avenue, is cold and clear palpitating, only a few pieces of still green leaves, was a night of autumn wind blowing tightly, fell down, in the empty streets tumbling.

“Regardless of how the Crown Prince escaped knowing the news of the Sudden Palace.” Fan Xian stood beside the Grand Prince and said, “But the Eldest Princess leaving the palace was obviously prepared, and she had long guessed what we would do.”

The Grand Prince’s brows were furrowed extremely tightly as he watched the movements of the entire Kyoto from above, mentally analyzing which direction the army should enter from if it were to enter the capital, and what he should do next.

“All of our forces have killed in order to break out of the palace …… while she is commanding the army of Ye Qin’s two families, and she is schmoozing her way in from the city gates division that we can’t control.” Fan Xian calmly said, “She gave the palace to us, and then surrounded the palace to play …… Is this considered inviting the king into the jar?”

“I wanted to blossom in my belly and ignite fire on all sides, but I didn’t realize that this fire didn’t burn her, but instead, she bound me, the flower, with a single layer of veil.”

Fan Xian’s palm gently slapped the sturdy verdant bricks of the Imperial City and said quietly, “We have underestimated this aunt after all.”

The Eldest Princess knew where Fan Xian and the Supervisory Court’s strengths lay, which was why she had willingly retreated and allowed Fan Xian to swoop into the palace, seemingly taking control of everything.

However, nowadays, there was the empress dowager, the third prince in the palace, countless nobles in Yi Gui Concubine Ning Cai Ren, the two university scholars Hu Shu, and countless civil ministers and ministers loyal to Fan Xian.

These people are power, but also a burden, if Fan Xian has a pair of wings, then the Princess deliberately left into the palace of these people, like Fan Xian wings on the hammer, so that he may not wantonly fly.

If the army surrounded the city, I’m afraid they wouldn’t be able to surround a terrifying nocturnal expert like Fan Xian. However, now that you’re burdened with the inheritance of the Kingdom of Qing, and the lives and deaths of countless people in the palace, Fan Xian, how else can you escape, and how can you bear to do so?

The Grand Prince remained silent, occasionally issuing orders to begin preparations for the defense of the Imperial City and the preparation of all implements, not having the leisure to accompany Fan Xian to chat at such a moment, for he knew what a horrific crisis he was about to face.

Fan Xian looked at everything in Kyoto woodenly, and seemed to see Li Yunrui’s face, which was beautiful to the core, looking at himself with a dainty gaze, saying softly, “My good son-in-law, I’ve prepared a lot of things for you.”

He spat into the palace of the Imperial City as if to spit in the other’s face, but he had to admit that his mother-in-law was indeed far superior to himself in these matters. However, Fan Xian thought in his heart that if it weren’t for those extremely bizarre reasons, he wouldn’t be sitting trapped in the Imperial City at this point.

“How long can we hold?” He asked the Grand Imperial Prince for advice.

The Grand Prince’s face was solemn as he said in a deep voice, “The walls of the Imperial City are high, so if the Ye-Qin and Qin families raid all night long without carrying large-scale siege equipment, I can defend it until the last moment.”

As the Grand Marshal of the Western Conquest Army, the Grand Prince did not know how many bloody battles he had experienced in his life, so he did not have a trace of panic when faced with a large army approaching the capital. It was only the last moment in this sentence that already said it all.

“Since Li Yunrui had this plan in mind, the Ye Qin and Qin families are not so unprepared.” Fan Xian bowed his head and said, “I only hope that you can support yourself for a few more days, leading the army into battle, I can only rely on you.”

“Support until the messengers notify the garrisons everywhere and those six governors to come to their aid?” The Grand Prince swept him a glance and said nonchalantly, “Die of that, there’s no way those messengers are still alive.”

Fan Xian sighed inwardly and thought, “Those aren’t the ones I’m waiting for.”