When Christfan disappeared, I slowly inhaled a breath, and then slowly exhaled, a cycle of exhalation, the fatigue on my face was exhausted, the originally gloomy eyes quickly regained their clarity, and the eyes flashed with a terrifying glittering light, with the chest and abdomen rising and falling regularly, a light blue light appeared on the skin, the blood no longer spilled, the wound healed instantly, the white and flawless skin did not leave any scars, only the tattered clothes on the body could still witness the previous tragic battle. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

I woke up the unconscious Zolachi and the others, and Zolachi and the other "Silver Tassels" soldiers faced me with frightened and shocked expressions, and their eyes were full of godlike devotion and respect.

I laughed lightly and said to everyone: "Let's go back to receive Your Majesty and General Leigh, and the battlefield outside the palace will be handed over to General Tsykov and other 'Yinying' soldiers!" ”

At this time, the strange aura and dark air flow of the Imperial Palace completely disappeared, indicating that the battle between the Grand Magus Pochettino and the "Shadow Puppeteer" Rucio had ended.

In the restored bright hall, there stood the thin figure of Pochettino, a blue-gray face on his cold and lonely face, his expression was atrophied, as if he had aged for twenty years at once, and there was a black mottled blood stain on the ground more than ten meters in front of him, and Rucio was gone.

"Your Excellency, are you alright? What about Rucio? And Your Majesty and General Leigh......" I asked.

Pochettino saw me coming in, turned slowly to face me, and said in a weak voice: "Rucio was defeated, seriously wounded, but escaped; I have won, but I am dying...... Before he dies, he can still fight with the 'shadow puppeteer', so far in life, what more can a husband ask for? Earl...... My lord...... It's up to you to protect Your Majesty......"

After speaking, a mouthful of blood came out of his mouth, his breath was cut off, he was already dead, and his standing body fell to the ground for a long time, and he still had a happy smile on his face before he died.

The life of Pochettino, the archmage of a generation, began with glory and ended with glory, writing a magnificent epic of a lifetime with legends.

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I found the pale, semi-comatose Li Binglan and the dying Nanzhan Buqi II from the side hall.

I gently called Li Binglan's name, and when I heard my voice, Li Binglan finally woke up, slowly opened her eyes, and when my figure was reflected in the contact lenses, her face showed a beautiful smile like a reunion in another life.

I picked up Li Binglan, and the two hugged each other tightly, pouring out each other's thoughts and love in this silent way......

When I counted the casualties with Libinglan, I found that there was not a single survivor of all the royal guards in the side hall except for Libinglan and Nanzhan Buqi II - which shows the danger of the battle between Pochettino and Rucio, not only Pochettino was killed, but also others were killed.

Li Binglan told me that they wanted to leave through the side door of the side hall, but as soon as they entered the side hall, the entire interior space changed, not only lost their direction, but also an aura of darkness and death alternated in the air, and they all lost the ability to move, and could only use magic to support themselves.

As for the scene of the decisive battle between the two, Li Binglan later told me this: "We hid in the side hall, far away from the center of the decisive battle, and looked from afar, only to see Rucio's body constantly deformed, and finally turned into countless black blades aimed directly at Pochettino's chest and abdomen. His Excellency the Archmage opened his hands and chanted a magic incantation, and with a wave of his sleeves, the boundless darkness enveloped the hall, and we could not see anything......

"We could only feel the terrible pressure filling the space, the pain all over our bodies as if we had been smashed, and there was a strange sound in our ears, which disturbed the heart rhythm and blurred consciousness, at this time, I felt my companions fall one by one, and I forcibly opened my magic to protect His Majesty and myself with my willpower, and finally, even I lost consciousness...... I don't know how long later, when I woke up, I found that my whole body was cold, and my clothes were soaked with cold sweat.

At this time, on the main hall, I saw countless black beams of light criss-crossing, and the space of the entire hall vibrated violently in the black light waves, constantly stretching and contracting, as if it no longer existed in our real space, but fell into some other dimension, and I also lost consciousness again at that moment...... When I regained consciousness, I saw Pochettino's blue eyes like ghostly fire in the endless darkness......"

"Black light?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes...... Li Binglan nodded, and continued, "It's something darker than darkness, a strange flow of energy that looks like light but is not light, although it is also black, it is clearly recognizable in the dark hall, and I can't think of a better adjective...... At that time, I found that the people around me were no longer breathing, and the reason why I was still alive was because even though I was unconscious, I could still continue to open the magic power of my whole body, and put myself and Your Majesty under the protection of magic......"

Speaking of this, Li Binglan looked at me with infinite affection and said, "Alex, you saved me!" At that time, I had only one belief in my heart: I must live to be with you, and I must not lose you again as soon as I meet you! It is this strong belief that makes me refuse to give up the belief in survival in my subconscious, even though my consciousness has been lost, and I always have a steady stream of magic to persevere until the end...... There was not a single living person among the royal guards who followed us that time, apart from me and Your Majesty......"

Hearing this, I opened my arms again and comforted the rest of my life with fiery love......

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Finally, at the corner of the round pillar, I found the Seven Princess Emily, who was still alive and breathing.

I used my spiritual energy to inspect her current situation, and found that she should still be alive, but she was only condensed by some strange magic to form an internal breath cycle in her body, and reached the state of turtle breath, thus avoiding the crisis and preserving her own vitality.

After a little thought, I put my palm on her forehead and injected a wisp of sword fighting energy, only to see Emily cough lightly, and slowly wake up, but her eyes are still a little dazed, and she still can't fully remember what happened before.

At this time, a force of nearly 10,000 "Silver Silk" knights finally arrived, and the leader of this army escorted by King Qin was General Tsykov's adjutant Azelio. Azelio was imprisoned with Tsykov after the Battle of the Desert for his involvement, and was released with Tsykov only two days earlier by Kamio holding an edict from Nam Chambuchi II.

After Azelio saluted me and Libinglan, he reported the current situation in the city: after General Tsykov was released, he quickly mobilized the 100,000 soldiers and horses of the "Silver Silk" Knights with a complete tiger talisman in his hand, and when Zolachi led the riot in the imperial palace to attract the attention of the forbidden army, he divided his troops into three routes, led by Zikov, Joseph, and Azelio, and attacked the north, west, and south city gates, and the three city guards either surrendered on their own initiative or were killed by the lieutenant general, therefore, Zikov quickly gained control of the major city gates, and then ordered Azelio to return to the imperial palace, Assist me in my actions.

On the other hand, after the failure of the palace coup, Aruton quickly gathered his troops and launched a fierce attack on the north gate where Zikov was stationed, trying to seize the gate, while the 50,000 soldiers and horses of the "Imperial Tiger" army led by Etiria and Carlos, who were placed by me, attacked the southern gate, and James, who was the weakest, was cruising in front of the east gate controlled by Van.

Hearing this, I couldn't help but cast an admiring look at the unconscious old man, Nan Zhan Buqi II: the entire situation in the imperial capital was completely reversed in a breath and hand, it was really old and strong! This kind of means of turning hands into clouds and covering hands into rain could not have come from the hands of this dying old man! The ambitious Aruton still looked a little tender compared to his father.

Aruton removed the four major city guards at the beginning, controlled the overall situation of the imperial capital with lightning speed, restrained his father, coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, coerced Li Binglan to marry him, and held the military and political power in one fell swoop. However, the emperor planted double agents around him, and the city guards who were replaced were either the emperor's own line, such as Van, or the main subordinates who were interested in the imperial family, and even Pochettino was also the emperor's person, calmly decided the plan in the urn. What is particularly clever is that the emperor Akari punished Tsykov, but in essence protected the veteran from getting involved in the political dispute between the princes, thus keeping an important piece of the military in his hand, which in fact proved that Tsykov played an important role at a critical moment.

It can be said that Arutun's arrangements before the coup d'état were quite perfect, and when it came to the wedding banquet, it was only one step away from success, and it was almost a sure thing to grasp the military and political power of the empire, but this palace coup ended in the defeat of Aruton, the reason for which was that Aruton seriously underestimated his father's strength, and did not think of the truth that the hundred-legged insect died without stiffening, so he made a fatal mistake, of course, he also underestimated the variable of me, and the existence of the mysterious figure Ka Miao was completely beyond Arudon's budget.

After listening to Azelio's report, Li Binglan said with a deep gaze: "The empire will be divided!" ”

※※※

I nodded heavily in agreement—Li Binglan was a great general in the Empire, and she had a precise vision of the development of the situation, but this simple sentence contained a lot of unspoken deep analysis and far-reaching thoughts.

But Azelio asked blankly, "Why did General Leigh make such an inference?" General Qi has already controlled the imperial capital, Aruton and the others are just turtles in the urn, as long as we can eradicate their forces in one fell swoop, we can stabilize the overall situation, and the empire will not be divided, right? ”

Li Binglan replied: "First of all, the defense of the city gate itself is strong on the outside and weak on the inside, and the design and layout are mainly to prevent attacks from the outside, and the defense on the inside is relatively weak, so the city is the easiest to attack from the inside......"

Li Binglan gasped, her body didn't seem to have recovered, and she still had some difficulty speaking.

I glanced at Li Binglan, who was still pale, with concern, and continued for her: "Secondly, 100,000 'Silver Silk' soldiers and horses are scattered in the four major city gates and important military strongholds in the city, it is difficult to contain the concentrated Aruton or Ettiria army, and in the current situation of life and death, these two families and even the three forces of James will definitely combine into a considerable strong force, although it is impossible to occupy the imperial capital, it is more than enough to break the city. Tsikov's use of troops is characterized by prudence, which is his greatest strength, but also his biggest weakness - he is bound to defend the major city gates, and will not boldly predict the direction of the enemy's main attack and concentrate his forces to attack on the initiative and annihilate the three in one fell swoop. And with Carlos's ability, what Li Binglan understands, he also understands. Carlos is an excellent soldier, I know him by name, although I have not seen him, although he was on the same path with Etiria, but he was jealous of Etiria because of his high self-esteem, arrogance, and talent, but at this time of danger, Etiria will re-use such talents. If he leads the army, he will inevitably adopt false and real means, divide his troops to attack the various city gates, confuse Tsykov's sight, and cover up the real direction and intention of the attack. ”

"Again, the union of the three families is only a stopgap measure, after leaving the city, they will definitely go their separate ways, each returning to its own base, and with this as a start, the empire will be divided into four, and from then on it will fall into a continuous civil war, and the largest power in the southern continent, Ferratis, will fall apart and even collapse completely." After Li Binglan finished analyzing the last point, she rested for a while, her spirits improved, and she cast a charming gaze at me, and she was infinitely pleased and proud that her man could understand her thoughts.

Li Binglan and I are completely on the same page, and we are in the same mind, but we are both powerless, because even if I or Li Binglan personally lead the army, it is too late, and we may not be able to change the current situation.

At this time, Nanzhan Buqi had already woken up, seemed to have heard our discussion, and said in a weak voice: "Alex, Li Binglan...... I'll leave the rest to the two of you......"

After saying this with difficulty, the emperor fell into a coma again.

At this time, Li Binglan looked at Nanzhan Buqi II with deep concern, I understood that she had a father-daughter relationship for the emperor, thinking that the emperor was already running out of oil at this time and his life was short, so his heart was full of sadness about the loss of his relatives, so he held her jade hand tightly and comforted her wordlessly.

Li Binglan moved her gaze back to me, turning into a piece of tenderness and gratitude, and she was very considerate of me.

I sent Nan Chambuqi II and Emily to be escorted back to the palace by soldiers, and sent for the royal physician to treat them, and ordered the dead and wounded to be properly housed—and after these matters were taken care of, I took matters into consideration with Libinglan and Azelio before the palace.

"General Leigh, Lord Earl, where do you think they will break through from Aruton?" Azelio looks at us with admiration, one of the most famous of the Empire, the other the legendary King of Meinster—both of whom are known for their brilliant exploits, and who have been delighted by his previous analysis.

"What do you think, Alee?" The rejuvenated Li Binglan stared at me with beautiful eyes, which was both the man who handed over the control to her, and also implied consideration.

I knew that Li Binglan intended to judge the degree of growth in my knowledge and wisdom in the past four years, and I couldn't help but be proud, and smiled happily: "Fiction is real, reality is virtual!" Now Aruton is in the north, Etiriah is in the south, and James is in the east, and on the surface they seem to be doing their own thing, and they are not related to each other, but if the three are actually united, if Carlos is the main commander, the enemy will have a well-coordinated overall operation, and the superficial chaos will only confuse our attention - attack the north gate with a strong force, and then divide the troops to harass the east and south gates. At present, only the West City Gate is the most deserted, and it has not been subjected to any pressure. Therefore, whether it is an offensive in the south, north, or east, it may be a feint, and it is not the center of gravity, but it is only to disguise the enemy's main intention - the next step is that the enemy will return to the west and gather the strength of the three to capture the west gate in one fell swoop. ”

Azelio nodded approvingly, while Libinglan said in a half-gentle, half-disgusted voice, "Alex, is this what you think?" ”

After hearing this, I laughed and said: "Being able to adopt such a strategy, Carlos can already be classified as a famous general, if Carlos is just an ordinary excellent famous general, it is natural to do so!" But he is the same person as Binglan who is called the 'Imperial Twins', how can I take it so lightly? There is no vanity under the fame - with only this level of means, how can Carlos hide from the eyes of the old general Qi? ”

"Isn't their target the West Gate? This is already an excellent strategy, does Carlos have a deeper plan? Azelio asked, shocked.

Li Binglan pursed her lips and smiled, but she did not speak, but the glance at me was already full of admiration and relief, and I knew that she had the same thoughts as me, so I replied: "With Carlos's shrewdness, if his strategy is only to capture the western gates, and the east, south, and north are smoke—do you think he does not know that such a simple strategy cannot be concealed from General Li and Tsykov?" There is also a fog beyond the fog - Carlos wants us all to think that his purpose is to take the west gate directly, to create the illusion of a westward direction, to divert our main line of sight, and then General Qi will have to mobilize the main forces to block it, and the north gate will be empty, and their main force will be able to take advantage of the void. ”

"That is, General Carlos, their target is the North Gate, which was stormed at the beginning?"

After seeing our nodding, Azelio's face turned pale and his expression tightened, and he said anxiously: "I will inform General Qi immediately, so as not to fall for Carlos's scheme!" If General Qi leads the enemy away, it will be too late to return to the division to stop it! ”

Li Binglan sighed lightly and said, "It's too late!" ”

At this time, the messenger arrived: Prince Aruton's army had been attacking the northern gate for a long time, had withdrawn, and was heading west, and the troops of Ettiria and James also showed signs of meeting with them in the west.

Because the "Silver Silk" was mainly cavalry and was not adapted to the way of street fighting, and the numerical superiority was offset by the narrow streets and alleys, the two sides were unable to hold each other for a while, and suffered heavy casualties. At this time, the "Imperial Tiger" army led by Carlos suddenly turned from a slow movement to a furious march, and appeared in the evacuated North City Gate defense line like lightning, turning into a hurry, and the weak defense network was torn apart by Carlos's wolf-like blade.

Aruton used a small number of troops to contain the main force of "Yinying", and the large army quickly withdrew, rendezvous with "Huanghu", James and others, and broke through the north gate and left. General Tsykov, who came to his senses, had no choice but to reorganize his troops and sigh in vain.

※※※

The old general Tsykov finally arrived at the main hall, and with him came Joseph, Van, Kasta, and others, while Vivien, Liuli, and Luo Bai were inconvenient to appear in front of everyone, and after destroying the five hundred dead soldiers of Etiria with Kasta, they returned to the Earl's Palace.

Seeing us, the veteran general, who had added a few locks of gray hair and frost after Maiinster's farewell, said a little dejectedly after asking the emperor that his majesty was all right and had gone to bed: "Your Majesty and His Excellency the Earl have set such a precise plan, but because of the incompetence of the general, they have easily fallen into the enemy's plan, and the success has failed...... If the Earl or the Libing Army personally led the army, why not? ”

"General Qi, don't blame yourself, you've done a good job...... Besides, no matter how sophisticated the strategy is, it is impossible to cope with sudden changes, and it is impossible for us to do better than the general. I said with emotion.

"Hey, Ben is really old...... Lived up to His Majesty's expectations. Tsikov still couldn't let go of it, and sighed.

"General Qi, don't do this! If it weren't for General Qi to protect the country, Your Majesty would be in danger today, and the empire would be in danger! Today's situation, beyond what you and I can predict, we have all misestimated Aruton's strength, I didn't expect that the people of the Jialan Temple would secretly support him, plus there are famous generals like Carlos, changing me or Alec himself to lead the army, and it can't change the final outcome. The two main characteristics of Carlos's use of troops are treachery and speed—deceit is like a cloud of fog, which is indistinguishable; Swift as lightning and wild, it takes people by surprise, so there are few enemies in the world, and even if we can see through his strategy, it is too late to prevent the occurrence of variables, and he does not give us time to think and calmly arrange. Providence is like this, it is not a crime of war - General Qi, please let go, don't be too harsh! General Qi is the minister of Qingtian's protection, the merit is in the imperial family, and the merit is in the community! Li Binglan said softly.

Seeing the old general's face darkened, I walked up to Casta and the others, and said to them emotionally: "Hard work, my good brother! For my sake, you have taken on all kinds of relationships and risks, and Alec will remember it! ”

"Young master, you don't have to be polite! Following the young leader is like following General Leigh, and it is extremely happy! Zolaci laughed.

"And the achievement of a story between you and General Li through the ages, we will also be honored!" Van did not forget to take a tease, which caused everyone to laugh and sweep away the tense and murderous atmosphere of the night.

Li Binglan, a prominent and famous general with a noble status in the empire who was rarely ridiculed, was down-to-earth and generous, and didn't mind everyone's ridicule, and smiled and counterattacked Van Dijk: "I heard that the son of Van also has a love history of the Qinglou that is pestering Mian, but he is always a brother and sister, and the name has not been decided. ”

The ridiculer was instead the target of ridicule, and Van touched his messy brown hair a little embarrassed, and muttered, "How does General Leigh know......

"It's Your Excellency the Grand Magus...... "Li Binglan immediately realized the fact that Pochettino, who had just passed away, was Teacher Van, and immediately stopped talking, "I'm sorry......"

Everyone remembered the venerable old man, and couldn't help but be silent for a while.

Van was silent for a while, and then said: "Teacher, this is to seek benevolence, don't be sad, but should be happy for him!" The teacher's lifelong pursuit is the mystery of magic, and his greatest interest is to explore the true meaning of magic through magic competitions, but he is limited by the identity of the royal family, and has to give up his wish in order to contribute to the royal family......

"He is really a kind and upright elder...... "Li Binglan said quietly.

"Let's all go back and rest...... The chaos in the imperial capital is at the beginning of the peace, and your majesty will ascend to the palace tomorrow, there are still many things to be dealt with by you, don't exhaust yourself at this time. I said to the people.

※※※

"The overall situation has been decided, and although Aruton, Ettiria, and James escaped from the imperial capital, the conspiracy of Aruton's coup d'état was stillborn...... The most important thing is that you and I are finally back together, and we can only live together, not die – and this is the best I want. After everyone left, I hugged Li Binglan and whispered.

Li Binglan buried her head in my arms, her hands gently rubbed against my face, just looked at me stupidly, and did not speak.

I held the soft she had attached to my face and whispered, "Binglan, it's over...... Let's go home......"

On the night of February 26, 1894 in the Holy Lun calendar, the festive colors of the imperial capital Proust were replaced by the bloody red, and every family closed their doors, and people were panicked, as if they were about to die. This day, starting with a world-renowned wedding banquet, ended in the shocking tragedy of a palace coup d'état between father and son, and also opened the prelude to the civil war in which the Falatiss Empire was divided into four, opening a new chapter in the history of the Holy Continent.

This night was a night of death full of pain and sorrow for many, with more than 400 imperial nobles killed and killed directly in the coup, more than 50,000 soldiers killed and wounded, and tens of thousands of innocent civilians implicated. But for me, it was a sleepless night full of love and laughter, and it was a joyful day for me to reunite with Libinglan.

On the imperial calendar, the month of February 1894 in the Saint-Lun calendar was dyed red with blood.

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