Time flies, like a white horse, and the coldest weather of the year is approaching in an instant.

The capital of the Yan Empire, in the Broken Leaf City, seems to be calm after the hustle and bustle, but there is still a bit of chaos.

After the Dayan Empire, which narrowly defeated in the "Zhongliang War", drove away the enemy, the whole country did not rejoice and celebrate the victory, but the whole country was shrouded in a depressing atmosphere.

Even ordinary people can see that the imperial army defeated only a vanguard army of the Southern Barbarian Guardians, although there are more than 30,000 defenders in it, and even the entire continent can be called the most elite Shadow Legion, but the total number of the Northern Expedition is only 150,000, and in this battle, the sea lost the southern gate town - Dingbian City, and Dingbian is difficult to recover in a short period of time, so the fact of a narrow victory is not worth boasting about.

At the same time, after this victory of the empire, the young and wise emperor Murong Dan suddenly deposed Prime Minister Murong Feng on the grounds that "in the first battle of Zhongliang, Prime Minister Murong Feng attacked the enemy lightly, mistakenly fell into a treacherous scheme, lost his troops and lost his generals, fell into danger in the saint, and shook the foundation of the empire", and declared that he would never use it again.

And Shangguan Yu had meritorious service in saving the country and had the power to govern the country, and soon after returning to Broken Leaves, he took over Murong Feng and was appointed by the emperor as the prime minister of the empire.

Shangguan Yu thus became the first foreign prime minister of the Yan Empire, and the emperor gave him the title of earl in order to reward his contribution to saving the country, and allowed him to enter the palace with a sword.

As the side of the vanquished, although the country did not shake the country's foundation, it also suffered a lot of losses in this battle, especially the Shadow Legion suffered nearly 20,000 casualties in this battle, which can be called a great injury.

Moreover, the bereaved families of the patriotic soldiers who lost their relatives in the war are countless, and the expenditure of the consolation money alone is enough to make the life of the already weak Wei Kingdom even more sad, because if the Han Empire does not reinforce and support, the Wei Kingdom will not have the strength to go north to attack Yan in a short period of time, and it is necessary to beware of the Yan State taking advantage of the situation to counterattack, for a while, the whole country wailed, and even some ministers have begun to secretly prepare for the family members to take refuge in the Han Kingdom, in case of accidents.

And at this difficult moment, what can make the defenders feel at ease is that the kingdom has not been shaken at all, Dongping City is as calm as in the past, and the British King Liu Xiu has been stationed in the border city - Pingyan, and will soon send troops to the north, taking root in the original Yan Empire town - Dingbian City, although it cannot be attacked, but there are more than enough guards.

Therefore, although the people of the country are worried, they are not as flustered as in the past.

For a time, the two countries were in a stalemate.

Time flies, winter goes to spring, and the new year is here in a blink of an eye.

Weiguo, an important town on the northern border, in the city of Pingyan.

Winter in mountainous cities is always longer than in the plains, and even in March, people still don't see a little green in early spring, and still feel the cold of the last winter.

In this city that has experienced countless wars, the original Weiwang Palace has been changed into the British Palace, in the eyes of the surrounding people and the soldiers of the kingdom, this British Palace, day and night, seems very quiet, and even a little lifeless, as if there is no one living in it, if it is not for the soldiers guarding the outside of the palace, every morning there are generals who hurriedly enter the mansion, there are rumors in Pingyan City that have been secretly spreading.

The night was deep, darkness covered the earth, and the heavens and the earth were silent, as if the whole world had fallen asleep.

At this moment, the owner of the British Palace, the third prince of the Han Empire, and the British King Liu Xiu, who is very likely to inherit the imperial throne in the future, is sitting quietly in his own room.

The room was furnished in a very simple way, with no decoration other than the necessary furniture, and not even a single incense was lit in the emperor's house.

Since Yan Shuo led the army to the Northern Expedition, Liu Xiu has become simple and silent.

At the moment, the room was very quiet, except for the occasional crackling of the candle on the table, which woke up the darkness.

In the dim candlelight, Liu Xiu, the king of England sitting at the table, had a calm gaze and an indifferent expression, and in front of him was a map of the mountains and rivers of the three kingdoms of Han, Wei and Yan.

As if remembering something, Liu Xiu suddenly frowned, picked up the map of Weiguo, and stared at the southern mountains and rivers, at this time his gaze was deep and bottomless, staring at the map and frowning lightly, in his bright eyes, there seemed to be something that people couldn't see, and it turned lightly with the wave of his eyes.

He bowed his head lightly and looked at the map as if he was thinking about something.

It's just that the southern part of the country, which has always been calm and far away from the flames of war, what is there to see for him?

In this room shrouded in darkness, in the faint light of candles, everything in the room disappears from time to time, covering a layer of mystery.

But when you look closely, you will find that there is only a bed, a table, a few chairs and a wardrobe in the room.

The whole room seemed empty where the candlelight lit, but it also allowed the shadow of the imperial prince to stretch out unhindered until it melted into the darkness and was out of sight.

Although the shadow is long, it also seems a little lonely, and a little lonely.

No one could understand his feelings, and no one knew that from the moment he set foot in the struggle for supreme power in the continent, he had given up the pursuit of enjoyment.

Even almost all feelings have been abandoned.

For the sake of the world, in order to step on the highest position in the world, all things can be sacrificed, and all means can be used!

Under the candlelight jumping, Liu Xiu's eyes became deeper and deeper, making people dare not look directly.

After a long time, he raised his head and looked south, where he could not see, in the south of the country, in a remote place, what was the emperor there doing now?

He took a deep breath, shook his head, and glanced at the map of the mountains and rivers in the south of the country in his hand, and suddenly frowned, with a rare look of worry on his face.

It was as if there was something he remembered.

Suddenly, there was a slight sound of footsteps at the door, Liu Xiu's eyes flashed, put the map in his hand on the table, and slowly stood up at the same time.

At the same time, almost instantly, a breeze blew in through the doorway, followed by a figure in the candlelight.

Liu Xiu's eyes froze, and his body instantly straightened, and at this moment, the figure had already moved forward, and then knelt down suddenly, and said in a low voice:

"His subordinate Yuan Lie participates in His Highness!"

Liu Xiu smiled indifferently after hearing this, shook his head, pointed to the chair next to him and said:

"It's you, this king hasn't heard from you for a long time, I don't want to see you at this time, I came to Pingyan late at night, what's the matter?"

Yuan Lie stood up according to his words, and after saluting again, he pulled out a chair and sat down, after sitting down, he didn't talk much nonsense, but said to Liu Xiu:

"Your Royal Highness, there is news from the Shu Kingdom, saying that Mu Jintian, the prince of Shu who has been missing for a long time, suddenly returned to the country, and was immediately appointed by the emperor as the king of Shu Jin, the general of the protector of the country, responsible for rectifying military affairs, and making every effort to clean up the soldiers and horses in Shu, and even reorganizing the Shu army, almost in a short period of time, the wind and clouds surged, and for a while, the name of 'His Royal Highness Mu Jintian' resounded throughout the land of Shu, especially the emperor Muyang gave him a lot of power, and there was a faint tendency to be on par with Prime Minister Ouyang Yunzhong."

"Mu Jintian!"

Liu Xiu's eyes flashed, he read a sentence in a low voice, stood up, and after pacing a few steps with his hands in his hands, he turned to look at Yuan Lie and said:

"After Mu Jintian returned to China, what about the heavy troops deployed by Ouyang Yunzhong of Shu Kingdom in Jingyun City on his border?"

Yuan Lie nodded after hearing this, and replied: "The subordinates disturbed His Highness late at night just for this matter. ”

Liu Xiu nodded and said, "Let's talk about it." ”

Yuan Lie immediately replied: "The subordinates got the news, saying that after Mu Jintian returned to China, after rectifying the military affairs a little, he ordered the border soldiers and horses to return to the country on the grounds that 'the national strength is weak at this time, and the people's livelihood should be the priority, and it is not appropriate to confront the Han State', Ouyang Yunzhong was forced to withdraw half of the 300,000 soldiers and horses in Jingyun City, and now on the Shu Han border, there are only about 150,000 soldiers and horses in Shu, and there are more than enough guards, and the attack cannot be done." ”

"Mu Jintian is really amorous, it's really hard for him."

Liu Xiu read a low sentence in his mouth, walked to the window with his negative hand, pushed open the window, and looked at the takeaway like ink, and the darkness took the opportunity to enter and hug him.

Behind him, Yuan Lie looked at his back and didn't speak for a while.

After a long time like this, Yuan Lie coughed lightly, broke the silence in the room, and said:

"Your Highness, it seems that through these news, Mu Jintian seems to have the ambition to seize power, and he has the ability and ambition, if the imperial power of Shu is allowed to dominate and there is no check and balance, in the long run, I am afraid that it will be unfavorable to the empire."

After hearing this, Liu Xiu turned his head, looked at Yuan Lie and asked lightly:

"Where did you see that Mu Jintian was ambitious?"

After Yuan Lie heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then hesitated for a while before saying:

"After Mu Jintian returned to the country, he acted frequently, and the means were extremely high, and he was resolute, for a while, even Ouyang Yunzhong avoided his edge, and did not dare to confront it head-on, the second person in Shu State, Shunyang Hou He Yaochen even lost his armor, the power in his hands was taken away, and he was left with an idle job, at this moment, before Ouyang Yunzhong's counterattack, Mu Jintian was the most powerful person in Shu, and his orders, even Emperor Muyang's holy decree could not be changed, all this he did, fighting for power and profit, wasn't it all to realize his ambitions?"

Liu Xiu smiled slightly after hearing this, in the candlelight, this smile seemed mysterious, he pondered for a while, shook his head, and did not answer, but asked:

"Luojing City, what happened after my father got the news?"

Yuan Lie frowned, and after thinking for a while, he replied:

"In this short period of time, the wind direction in Luojing City is getting more and more wrong," Speaking of this, he paused, glanced up at Liu Xiu, and made Liu Xiu's face flat, and had no intention of asking, and then continued: "I don't know why, the emperor suddenly withdrew the guards who took care of the eldest prince Liu Zhao and the second prince Liu Rui, and allowed them to enter and exit the palace gate under the guardianship of the guards every month, and the deployment of the Praetorian Guard and the Yulin Army in Luojing City has also been adjusted. It's all the emperor's own personal guards. ”

Liu Xiu didn't look overly excited after hearing this, just let out an "oh", and asked: "What about the Prime Minister Yaheng and the hussar general Wang Xiangzuo?" ”

Yuan Lie said: "They are doing business as usual. ”

Liu Xiu nodded after hearing this, then slowly turned around and looked out the window, but after a while, he asked another topic:

"In Luojing City, is there any movement in Tuoba Yu, the princess who left the country?"

Yuan Lie was stunned for a moment when he heard Liu Xiu ask Tuoba Yu, and then he frowned and thought for a while, and replied: "Because the country of Deli is located in the wilderness of the extreme south of the mainland, his subordinates didn't pay much attention to the country of Exodus at first, because they didn't pay much attention to the princess of their country, but later, their subordinates found that Tuoba Yu seemed to be a little wrong."

When Liu Xiu heard this, his brows furrowed suddenly, and he turned to look at Yuan Lie and said, "Oh? Something is wrong, let's hear it! ”