Although it was already late at night, the Ning ancestral hall was full of people.

These people are all the people in charge of each house, ranging from old people in their seventies and eighties to young people in their twenties and thirties.

The Ning clan has continued to this day, and the descendants have multiplied and prospered, and there are already thousands of people in the capital alone.

In ancient times, parents were not separated, but in the Ning family, it was a common thing for children and grandchildren to be separated after they became adults, and no one would regard it as a great rebellion, and the Ning family was also different from other families in this regard.

This point of view was also put forward by the first generation of Zhenguo Gong, and now it seems that this practice has indeed increased the competitiveness of the children of the clan.

After continuous branching and branching, the Ning clan has now been divided into more than 100 rooms, and some of them have already been out of the three suits.

However, even if there are three or even five suits, as long as they are descendants of the Ning family, they are eligible to live on Wudao Mountain, which is also the rule set by the first generation of Zhenguo Gong.

They had already heard about the great changes in Beijing and the injury of the patriarch Ning Zhiyuan, so they would automatically and spontaneously organize the children of the clan to arm and patrol the entire Wudao Mountain to prevent outsiders from entering.

After hearing that the patriarch Ning Zhiyuan had woken up and was about to announce something important, they immediately came to the ancestral hall to gather.

When the family members arrived, many people were exchanging opinions in whispers, but they didn't dare to make too much noise.

Most of the people's faces looked serious and nervous, and they all had a hunch that something was going to be a big deal.

Because women are not allowed to enter the ancestral hall of the clan, Ning Zhiyuan only walked in with his son-in-law Chi Fei, and he didn't even bring a personal guard.

When they saw him come in, all the family members immediately stood up and saluted him.

"Sit down, no need to be polite." Ning Zhiyuan waved his hand and asked them to sit down, and then walked to the place where the patriarch was sitting and sat down with Chi Fei's support, while Chi Fei stood beside him and was responsible for helping.

Although Chi Fei is a person with a foreign surname, the family members of each house know that the patriarch values this little son-in-law very much, so no one objects to him staying here.

Ning Zhiyuan looked around at everyone, and then said in a deep voice: "I called you here tonight to tell you something important about the life and death of my Ning clan. ”

When everyone heard this, their expressions immediately tightened, and they all looked at him intently, waiting for him to continue.

"First of all, I want to tell you how I got this injury.

This afternoon, after I went to the palace to attend Princess Yanfang's wedding ceremony, the emperor's personal eunuch Zhang Gonggong suddenly stopped me and said that the emperor had something to discuss with me in detail, so I should not leave yet.

So I stayed in the palace and talked to the emperor until it got dark.

Seeing that it was already dark, the emperor remembered that the princess's mansion was going to hold a nine-lamp banquet, and asked me to hurry out of the palace to go to the banquet.

On the way to the princess's house, when the carriage drove near Longhua Street, I suddenly felt that something was wrong around me.

There was no one on the whole street, and several nearby intersections were blocked by debris.

I felt that something was wrong, and immediately turned the carriage around and prepared to leave.

At this moment, however, hundreds of masked assassins burst out of the alleys and attacked my carriage together. ”

Hearing this, most of the family members had already vaguely guessed something, and their faces became more and more ugly.

This was obviously an assassination operation specifically targeting the patriarch Ning Zhiyuan, but the problem was that the timing of this launch was too strange.

Those assassins seemed to have known that the patriarch would pass through Longhua Street at this time, so they were ready to block the road early in the morning.

And this incident happened to happen during the period when the emperor and the patriarch finished talking about things, and it is hard to believe that it is just a coincidence.

Ning Zhiyuan continued: "Those assassins are extremely fierce, and they are all fearless of death.

They have only one purpose, and that is to take the head of my Ning Zhiyuan's neck.

If it weren't for the desperate protection of the guards, I would have died there a long time ago, not as simple as being cut off a hand.

I recognized the skills and attacks of those assassins at a glance, they were the dead soldiers secretly raised by the emperor. ”

Speaking of this, Ning Zhiyuan didn't say anything more.

The family members present were not fools, and they had already determined that the person who attacked the patriarch was the emperor Jing'an.

"Zhiyuan, why do you think that person did this?" One of Ning Zhiyuan's uncles asked.

Ning Zhiyuan said in a deep voice: "I asked myself if I have not done anything against the Ning family's rules, and I have been abiding by the ancestral teachings for many years and sticking to the path of loyalty to the monarch.

Don't stand on the sidelines, don't stand in line, just be loyal to the person who sits in that position.

But even so, there are still people who can't get used to our Ning family.

He was not a mediocre man, but an ambitious and promising king.

He wanted to take back not only the southwest, but also the northwest.

And our Ning clan is too deeply rooted in the northwest, and the popularity is too heavy.

If he wants to completely reclaim the northwest, he must eradicate our Ning clan.

He deliberately chose this time to make a move, just to make everyone think that it was none other than An Guogong, who committed the rebellion.

If I had not come back alive, but had died on the spot, I am sure you would not have doubted that person. That's what he wants. ”

There was a dead silence in the audience, and many family members gasped in their hearts.

As the patriarch Ning Zhiyuan said, if he hadn't told everyone in person, few people would have doubted that person, and would only wishfully think that the person who did it was really An Guogong.

It's a good trick to kill people with a knife, and it's really ruthless and vicious.

In this way, the emperor did have murderous intentions towards the Ning family.

The murder of the heavenly family has always been about cutting the grass and eradicating the roots.

Especially a big family like the Ning family, which has been entrenched in the northwest for many years and has deep roots, it is impossible to let it go easily.

Patriarch Ning Zhiyuan was only the emperor's first and most important target.

Next, it will be the turn of the rest of the Ning clan, and no one will be spared.

In this capital, they can't stay any longer, otherwise there is only a dead end.

"Zhiyuan, you are the patriarch, we all listen to you, what are you going to do? You say. Ning Zhiyuan's uncle patted his thigh and asked.

The others looked at him and waited for him to speak.

Ning Zhiyuan said with a solemn expression: "At this point, we can only leave the capital and retreat to the northwest.

As for what to do next after retreating to the northwest, it depends on the situation in the capital.

The worst-case scenario is that the emperor wins in this mutiny, then we either retreat overseas for refuge, or directly raise the anti-flag to stand on our own feet in the northwest.

Comparatively speaking, the latter is the toughest.

Even if we have a deep reputation in the northwest, it is difficult to say how many people will be willing to follow us to be this 'rebel and thief'.

After all, that is the lord of the Great Wei and the orthodoxy of the imperial court.

As long as he defines our Ning family as a traitor and informs the world, even if the military and civilians in the northwest are willing to stand on our side, we have already lost in the general righteousness, and the chance of winning this battle is extremely small.

If that's the case, it's better to retreat overseas from the beginning to preserve your strength to the maximum. ”

"Then what if An Guogong wins?" The uncle then asked.

Ning Zhiyuan was silent for a moment, and then said with a cold expression: "If An Guogong wins, then we can hold high the banner of crusading against the traitors and stand on our own in the northwest with the orphans of loyal ministers."

As long as we have this banner of loyalty and righteousness, the hearts of the people and the army will be on our side.

At that time, even if we have to face countless armies from the Central Plains, we will have the strength to fight.

When it comes to fighting, who have we been afraid of in the Ning clan and our millions of soldiers and civilians in the northwest? You say don't you? ”

Hearing the patriarch's heroic words, everyone smiled for the first time.