The Ninmen Gate to the west of the inner castle of Akikuni Kyoto is not the main battle tower due to the geographical reasons of the periphery. Because it is good at defense in the architectural pattern, the urn city between the city tower and the arrow tower is wide, with a radius of hundreds of zhang, so that it is difficult to enter the periphery and difficult to get out of the military defense strategy.

And now the open space in the urn city has been illuminated by the torches held by the heavy soldiers on the city tower, and I saw that on the blue-rock paved field in the urn city, a carriage ran wildly against the root of the city wall. If you look closely, you will find that the pace of the carriage is thick and thin, sometimes left and sometimes right, and the middle-aged military generals on the golden bell horse chasing closely behind are caught off guard from time to time.

That medium-sized military general in lacquer armor, how could Yan Lu not know him, isn't he the emperor's meritorious hero, the newly appointed Kyoto garrison envoy, and his boss Xue Zhong?

Yan Lu frowned slightly, stared at the carriage that could not see the driver for a few moments, and finally his gaze fell on the few cavalrymen who accompanied Xue Zhong. Looking at their somewhat timid movements, Yan Lu slowly stretched his eyebrows, pointed to the archer who was still kneeling on the ground and summoned Yu Lang of Ningmen to come.

Originally, the Yu Lang general of Ningmen was carrying out Xue Zhong's order to control the archers on the city tower, and when he heard the summons of the deputy garrison envoy, he hurriedly ran over.

After the expansion of the inner city wall of the Zhao Kingdom, the structure of the original forbidden palace Yulin army also underwent some changes.

In addition to the silver-armored feather forest army in the forbidden palace, there are also a large number of gray-armored feather forest troops distributed on the inner city tower. However, although this royal force has a feather character in the title, there is a substantial difference. The Yulin Army in the Forbidden Palace attaches great importance to personal martial arts cultivation, although it is worse than the Ouchi guards, but they are all good at hard-core kung fu, while the Yulin Army on the city tower focuses on riding and archery kung fu that is conducive to defending the city.

Therefore, the emperor's will to capture the thief alive is not difficult for the master of the forbidden palace, but if the city tower guards the Yulin army to do it, it is a bit like an elephant catching ants, and it is a little difficult to start. So the guards on the city tower temporarily waited and watched, and Xue Zhong urgently found Yan Lu, who was strong in martial arts, to come.

The inner city is open to the people to enter and exit the castle towers, and each building gate has an independent part of the army, and the sovereign officials are called Yulang General. This Ningmen's Yulang will Song Liang, who traces his origins, and is also half of Yan Lu's comrade-in-arms. However, when Song Liang arrived in front of Yan Lu, although he recognized Yan Lu's somewhat familiar face, he stood solemnly after bowing to the order, and said in a firm tone: "Lord Yan." ”

Yan Lu's gaze fell on Song Liang, although he admired the arrogance of this former comrade-in-arms who had retained well, but this was not the time to reminisce about the past, so he just nodded slightly, and then ordered: "This official is going to assist Lord Xue, and when you see the opportunity, when I lead Lord Xue aside, you will immediately order the arrow to be released." ”

Song Liang was in the town, of course, he knew the details of the emperor's edict clearly, so after hearing this, his eyelids raised slightly, his eyes looked at Yan Lu solemnly, and said: "Lord Yan, Lord Xue passed on His Majesty's edict, and he needs to capture the people in the carriage alive, you see"

This sentence again, Yan Lu heard this sentence again, and his heart became a little impatient. Originally, with his temperament, even if there were ten or eight carriages in succession, he could smash them all, but because of the edict, the shields made of iron sheets had destroyed hundreds of him, and in the face of this carriage nailed with wooden planks, he blindly retreated.

At this time, after watching it for a long time, the more I saw that the intention of the carriage in the urn city to play the dignified three-grade master was so obvious, it was really hateful! The carriage turned sharply several times, but there was no strange sound in the carriage, did this look like there was a baby in the carriage?

Yan Lu couldn't hold back a little, but he was still making the final deduction and judgment in his mind, if he didn't really kill those two people, just destroyed a carriage, then it wouldn't be considered a rebellion, even if he really killed those two, so what? With the presence of the lord in the court, the advantages always outweigh the disadvantages.

In front of his old comrades-in-arms, Yan Lu, who was swelling first and then playing, also smiled a little bit of contempt in his faint smile. Thinking that Xue Zhong's main merit for his rapid promotion was to pull a city gate latch for the emperor, he snorted lightly and said, "Do you think that carriage looks like a baby is hidden?" ”

After he finished saying this, the expression on his face became stern again, and his voice was a little cold: "I think that the forest thief is sinister, and he wants to use the golden cicada's plan to get out of his shell, and he wants to put another one, so that Lord Xue will lose face as soon as he is promoted." As Lord Xue's future right and left hand, how can I watch it alone? Just do what the official wants, and if something happens, the official will bear it alone! ”

Song Liang heard him say this, although there was still a trace of hesitation in his heart, but he did not make a word debate, just lowered his head slightly, and replied in a deep voice: "Yes!" ”

After arranging the preparations on the city tower, Yan Lu went down the city tower, stepped on his golden bell horse, and chased after Xue Zhong in just a few breaths. When the knights around Xue Zhong saw that Yan Lu was coming, they could only salute him slightly on the back of the galloping horse, so they consciously dispersed a little, but the overall encirclement did not relax the encirclement of the carriage.

Yan Lu clamped the horse's belly between his legs, and rushed up to be parallel to Xue Zhong, he quickly hugged his fists at Xue Zhong in salute, and before Xue Zhong could speak, he hurriedly arrived: "Lord Xue, shoot this horse to stop this carriage." ”

Xue Zhong saw that it was Yan Lu coming, and his face naturally showed a slightly honest smile. To Yan Lu's Jianyi, he just said calmly: "Your Majesty's will, to capture the thief alive, so the official's talent is exhausted, you came to think of a way." ”

Although Yan Lu has always been difficult to argue the truth of Xue Zhong's smile, he has always disliked Xue Zhong's posture in his heart, and it is only because of his official rank that he has been holding back, but when Xue Zhong inadvertently slowed down the speed of the galloping horse, Yan Lu's car unconsciously overtook Xue Zhong.

Yan Lu, who had just realized this, subconsciously wanted to lift the reins of the horse, but his shoulders were slightly tensed but let go, and as soon as he turned his head to look at Xue Zhong, he saw that the smile on Xue Zhong's face was still there, and he didn't seem to care about his somewhat rude prancing horse forward.

Behind his ears, he heard Xue Zhong say with some concern: "The carriage stopped suddenly, I am afraid that the baby in the car will be endangered, the saint sighs."

Xue Zhong sighed unfinished, Yan Lu had already expected what he was sighing. Yan Lu also has concerns about this, the baby is always His Majesty's blood and bones, and the word captured alive also reveals a trace of the emperor's tiger poison and inedible son's blood tenderness. In case the emperor saw the child again and his mind changed, it would be difficult for him to do what he had prepared in his heart. In fact, it doesn't matter how the strategist lives or dies, the key is that this child is best handed over to the emperor in its entirety.

When Yan Lu thought of this, he couldn't help but feel a hatred for that strategist again.

However, although Yan Lu's temperament is too strong, he is not a reckless man who has nothing to show for himself, since he has a plan in his heart, he must have considered it thoroughly, and he is confident that the advantages of this move outweigh the disadvantages.

If a person's self-confidence does not depend on the kindness of his seniors, he or she has real talents.

Yan Lu had fought on horseback for several years, and his martial arts were indeed beyond Xue Zhong's reach. He looked at the surrounding environment, and the thought in his heart was settled, and he saw him reply to Xue Zhong loudly: "Lord Xue, leave this matter to the lower officials, please Lord Xue take a step back for the time being." ”

He slapped the horse's belly violently, which was undoubtedly an order for the trained Jin Ling Malai. The advantage of Jin Lingma is its swift explosiveness, and in just a breath, it carries Yan Lu close to the left of the carriage five feet.

Although the driver of the carriage was hidden in the carriage, he was still able to control the carriage so skillfully, isn't it shallow? He seemed to sense that there was an extra ride next to the carriage, a hint of danger, and the line of the driving shape was even more distorted, which made Yan Lu only get close to the carriage that kept twisting left and right for about five feet, which made it much more difficult for Yan Lu to jump on the carriage and control the galloping horse.

However, Yan Lu's purpose in approaching the carriage was not like this, for his true thoughts, a distance of five feet was enough!

Yan Lu aimed at an opportunity, and the hands that were originally holding the reins of the horse were replaced by one hand. The left hand tightened the reins, and the force from the reins instantly increased, which suddenly caused the green tendons on his arms to skyrocket, and the five finger joints turned white and trembled slightly. But he was still able to delicately control the Jin Ling horse with one hand and gallop along the twist of the carriage from side to side, and at the same time, his right hand pulled out a short knife from the scabbard hanging from his waist.

The shape of this short knife is somewhat like an outland saber, although the blade is wide and thick, but when viewed from depth, it has a slight curvature, revealing a trace of weird softness in the hard air.

It seemed that in the face of distance warfare, Yan Lu seemed to have scooped the wrong weapon, but his next move was a little surprising to Xue Zhong, who was following behind. Yan Lu held the hand of the short knife, his wrist moved slightly, as if to grasp the angle, and then swung the knife at the carriage, and the blade of the short knife broke away from the scabbard and stabbed towards the wooden ridge on the roof of the carriage.

The blade is not completely detached from the hilt, but is connected to the hilt by a chain that shrinks and flexes like a snake's backbone.

Xue Zhong saw the complete form of this knife, and his eyes flashed with essence.

In a few years of fighting with the army, Yan Lu was able to go from a small soldier to a pioneer in front of the army, and then to the Kyoto garrison, in addition to some of his talents in strategy, but also because of this chain knife stunt.

It is rumored that Yan Lu's knife skills are not very good, but if the chain knife comes out, it is difficult for soldiers to get close to him. The general is single-handed, and the accurate head of the chain knife in Yan Lu's hand is also excellent, the head of the knife is like a bone-eating evil spirit, specializing in cutting the head of the enemy general, but the puppet line that controls the ghost is always in Yan Lu's hands. The soldiers who went out with him privately gave him the nickname "Yan Deshou", which actually alludes to the meaning of "getting the head".

Thinking of this, Xue Zhong suddenly stopped his horse and leaned back at the same time. Jin Ling's horse under his seat was caught off guard, and the front legs that were about to step out had to rise in the air, and under the hard pull of the reins, the horse's chew strangled the horse's head high, and at the same time, the horse's mouth made a sharp horse whistling sound, and a few clusters of horse saliva foam were brought out.

Xue Zhong didn't have time to feel sorry for the emperor's imperial horse, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yan Lu in front of him swinging his knife, and the blade that came out of the sheath had pierced the roof of the carriage, and Yan Lu, who was holding the handle of the knife, shook his wrist, and the blade stirred left and right like a soul, and the roof of a carriage was lifted up like a radish that had been cut into slices. The knife momentum was only halfway through, Yan Lu's wrist was already raised upward, with a force to shake off, and the slightly curved blade hooked the roof of the carriage and flipped over, smashing backwards in a semicircular arc.

Yan Lu's several actions are connected together like a long snake playing in the water, and each action is mutually enlightening, and it only takes a moment to strike.

And Yan Lu, who had just succeeded, saw the head of a person in the dusty carriage for a moment, and heard a commotion on the city tower.

"My lord! Lord Xue! ”