In the undercurrent of Zhongzhou City, the burial of the former emperor was ushered in. ￥f，

Due to the ancestral system handed down by the founding ancestors, the mausoleums of the emperors of the Qianyuan Dynasty are not large. In addition, Qianyuanji began to repair in advance, and it was basically completed before he died. It is not like the previous dynasty, the emperor's coffin may have to be parked for several years or even longer before it can be buried.

For the Zhongzhou Bureau, this matter should be the top priority at the moment, and it is naturally prioritized. Whether it is a civil and military official or a member of the royal family, or a musician playing mourning music, or even the Praetorian Legion soldiers escorting along the way, they are all dressed in linen and filial piety, and their expressions are sad. However, unlike the previous position of the hundred officials in the previous dynasty, this burial and the subsequent Taimiao sacrifice, the officials unabashedly led by the two royal families, forming two distinct factions.

After more than two weeks of buffering, the confrontation between the two factions has become acute again, and there is almost no place for neutrality.

For officials, it is either one or the other, and they must choose who they turn to!

During the entire burial process, the eldest prince and the fifth prince did not speak. However, the important ministers who were close to the two princes could vaguely see that the eldest prince's face seemed to be a little yellow, and his complexion was very bad. At the time of the burial, he cried so loudly that even his voice was hoarse.

Although the fifth prince also looked sad, his henchmen who were really familiar with him would know that this prince's actions were more like watching his brother's performance with a cold eye.

The acting is very good, but the five princes don't care.

After all, this is the last curtain call performance of his brother!

Returning from the mausoleum of the former emperor, the burial procession that stretched for ten miles dispersed a lot, but did not return directly to the imperial city. Instead, he turned to the Taimiao near Jingshan. This journey lasted more than an hour. Most of them are open fields. You can't hide people, but there are always a few places where the terrain is intricate and it's perfect for something to do.

For example, Shangqing Bridge!

On the left is a complex of low dwellings, and on the right is a forest, and due to the narrow terrain nearby, the group of priests had to slow down. It's a place where it's easy to get messy.

Of course, this is not a common route to Taimiao, the original route was blocked due to heavy snowfall, and it was difficult to pass, so I chose Shangqing Bridge instead. Since the Janissaries who had arrived early had already double-checked and dispersed the people, Tongguò's brigade was unaware of any problems here. Moreover, no one thought that anyone would dare to make trouble in front of a large number of elite Praetorian Guards.

However, the sudden change happened when people were most unprepared.

The precautions of the Praetorian Legionnaires, naturally, there were no dead ends, but they did not notice the bridge itself!

The brigade of the suemoni was almost halfway through. Several dark shadows appeared under the water of the Shangqing Bridge. A moment later, Shangqing Bridge, which had been passive a few days in advance, could not withstand the weight of the brigade Tongguò. It collapsed with a creak. In an instant, at least fifty or sixty people fell into the icy water, screaming and exclaiming. The entire sacrificial brigade was divided into two sections as the bridge was broken.

For a while, the whole team was in chaos.

There were people who fell into the water and rushed to the riverbank, there were also Praetorian Guard soldiers who knew how to swim and jumped into the water to save people, and some Praetorian Legion soldiers who couldn't figure out the situation hurriedly rushed to this side. In the panic, I don't know who suddenly shouted "There are assassins", which completely intensified the chaos and turned the brigade of thousands of people into headless flies.

The Assassins, who had been ambushed in the distance, approached the team silently in the midst of the chaos.

Disguised as eunuchs and officials, or as soldiers of the Praetorian Guard, they blended into the ranks in a panic and broke out. There are also archers with superb archery skills, comparable to the Shenji Battalion, who lie in ambush on the roof of a private house one hundred and twenty paces away, holding a special heavy gold thorn dragon crossbow that is as hard as two stones, and shooting at the ranks of the court.

In the sharp roar, every arrow goes, there will be a noble civil official and military general killed!

Every death makes the situation even more chaotic. In this case, except for the important ministers who were protected at the first time, people in other positions fled in a hurry, and even a large number of pushing and trampling accidents occurred, and there were heavy casualties.

This is destined to be a catastrophe that is rare in a century and shocks the country!

The soldiers of the Praetorian Guard were stunned by this sudden attack. Realizing that this was a well-planned ambush, the enraged officers were burning their buttocks one by one, desperately urging their soldiers to take action to protect the attacked sacrificial procession and encircle the assassins who should have been condemned.

If there were only the Assassins outside, with the number of Praetorian Guards present and the number of Su zhì, they would still be able to calm down relatively quickly after reacting. However, these well-planned assassins not only attacked from the outside, but also attacked from underwater and even infiltrated the interior of the Confessional Sacrifice Brigade.

Guarded by the Praetorian Legionnaires in the center of a circle, there were a few Assassins who had infiltrated in advance - this seemed impossible, but in the "unintentional" and "negligent" efforts of some forces, it appeared. What made the tightly protected ministers even more frightened was that these assassins who broke out near the inner circle, all the weapons and hidden weapons hidden under the filial piety clothes were fed with blue poison!

If you touch it, you will die, and you will seal your throat with blood!

Of course, even so, under normal circumstances, it would still be difficult for these dead soldiers to break through the last line of defense of the Praetorian Legion. It's a pity that a qiē is predestined in advance, as long as you can see the greasy inside from the seemingly panicked eyes of a few important ministers who know about it, but they are actually calm and calm.

In a desperate fight, the two Assassins managed to escape the Praetorian Legion's interception and break through to the very center. Coincidentally, the direction they broke through in happened to be the place where the eldest prince and other henchmen were. A quenched poison dart was thrown out, and at least three or four officials who could not dodge were injured, and they were killed in an instant.

The inner circle is suddenly in chaos!

The eldest prince was also not spared, although he was surrounded in the center, but under the impact of the assassins, he was still killed ten steps in front of him, raising his hand to activate the crossbow!

Seeing that the eldest prince was frightened, he fell down in response. The officials in the distance, who did not know the truth, were almost stunned.

"By the decree of the master. Destroy the enemies of my holy path! ”

"Pigs and dogs are not as good as the Qianyuan royal family. Let's all go to hell! ”

As if fearing that the people around them would not hear, the two dead men shouted loudly, identifying themselves, and were immediately hacked to death by the officers of the Praetorian Guard who caught up with them.

"If the ministers are not well guarded, the crime deserves death!"

The officer of the Praetorian Guard Corps secretly lowered his head and looked at the side of the great prince's henchmen who were in turmoil, and he could hear someone shouting for the imperial doctor in the chaos. But you don't need to look at the result to know, as long as you hit the crossbow arrow. Even if you just scratch a little skin, you will definitely die.

The Great Prince is dead!

Whether it was a few important ministers who knew the truth, or the five princes with complicated expressions in the distance, they were all sure of it - they had just clearly seen the scene where the arrow hit the eldest prince and made him fall on his back. And the panicked measures of the great prince's henchmen seem to prove this.

"The wind is tight, retreat!"

At about the same time, seeing that the target had been captured, the assassins who were still fighting outside began to flee. There were really those who didn't have time to withdraw, and they also bit the poison sac in their mouths and committed suicide. When the chaotic procession calms down again. The soldiers of the Praetorian Guard were shocked to find that they had not been able to catch a single mouth!

Either commit suicide or die in battle. There were dozens of assassin corpses lying on the ground!

The losses on the Empire's side were even greater, and by surprise, at least a hundred Praetorian Legion soldiers were killed in battle, plus a large number of innocent people who were injured by mistake or trampled on, the total number was probably three or four hundred. Among them, several ministers and the eldest prince Qianmingde were attacked, and the losses of the Qianyuan royal family were unprecedented.

It can be said that since the founding of the empire for more than 300 years, except for the fifth emperor, there has never been such a big case at the feet of the Son of Heaven in Zhongzhou!

Suddenly suffered such an attack, the original plan to sue the temple must not be able to go, so it can only be postponed for a week.

The barely assembled brigade had to retreat to the imperial city under the protection of the Praetorian Guard. At the same time, other departments of the Praetorian Guard, the city guards, the local yamen's arresters, the military intelligence bureau and other people were fully dispatched to search and arrest several assassins who had escaped in the wrath of the Qianyuan royal family. The handling and aftermath of the relevant deceased personnel were also carried out as soon as possible.

But that's not the most important thing.

Such a big case, and it happened at such a sensitive time, it will inevitably bring a huge shock and impact to the empire. Moreover, as one of the two most likely to inherit the throne, the prince Qian Mingde, who was loyal to a large number of ministers, was also assassinated!

It's simply unimaginable.

Almost as soon as he returned to the city, Shen Liao, the commander of the Praetorian Guard Legion, took down the officer in charge of security, and strictly investigated the dereliction of duty and whether there was a possibility of secret thieves. And the life and death of Qian Mingde, who was sent to the carriage as soon as possible after being hit by a poisoned arrow and under the protection of his henchmen, is the focus of everyone's attention.

It is no exaggeration to say that his life and death seem to be just one word apart, but it determines the future of the Qianyuan Empire!

If the eldest prince dies of poison, then needless to say, the fifth prince will directly succeed to the throne as emperor and become the fifteenth emperor of the empire, and no one can compete with him. If it is not dead, it is not known who will kill the deer. Moreover, today's assassination was too strange, there was nothing in the chaos at the time, and after calming down, many people, especially those ministers in the inner circle, were more or less aware of the strangeness.

Not to mention the henchmen of the Great Prince.

If one is not good, the contradictions and struggles between the two sides are likely to be intensified by this assassination, so that the civil war will break out in advance!

Of course, in the eyes of the Five Princes, the death of the eldest prince is already a certainty. Although the other party's henchmen always held the news and insisted that the eldest prince was still in a coma, but mainly because he was frightened and did not suffer fatal injuries, the fifth prince knew very well that the eldest prince was dead before he was carried into the car. The secret agent planted in the Great Prince's Mansion also proves this.

If it weren't for the need to take into account the brotherhood and the relationship with the assassination, maybe the Five Princes Party would have begun to celebrate in advance. Rao had enough restraint on the surface, and the fifth prince Qian Minghao still couldn't hide the excitement in his heart, and drew up a list of rewards after ascending the throne with his henchmen early.

Those courtiers who follow him and have the merits of following the dragon will inevitably be rewarded heavily, so that the ministers will continue to be loyal to the earth. And those who only changed their doors later, and even now are still struggling in vain, they have to find reasons to transfer or even remove them directly.

If you don't send these people away, where can you arrange your own people in so many places?

In fact, not only the five princes themselves, but also several important ministers who participated in or at least knew about the assassination case were also relieved after knowing that the general situation had been decided, and began to think about the five princes after they ascended the throne. The first thing to do is to change the year name; Then with the help of the enthronement and amnesty to the world, we will buy the hearts of the people of the Quartet; It is necessary to reduce the taxes and recuperate in the four southwestern counties......

"The eldest prince is not dead!"

When the Five Princes' faction had almost planned and began to move, a message came from the Great Prince's Mansion that made the entire government and opposition who were ready to wait for it.

"It can't be!"

As soon as he received the news, Mo said that the henchmen of the five princes who participated in this plan were hard to believe, and even some of the officials of the outer Great Prince's faction could not believe it. They obviously saw that the eldest prince was hit by a poisoned arrow, fell down with a blue face, and was carried back to the imperial city in a carriage. No matter how you think about it, the eldest prince Qian Mingde is dead.

The fifth prince was also unbelievable, and he was a little angry. After dropping a set of tea sets, he quickly decided to test this after calming down, and asked the Grand Prince's Mansion to visit his brother's illness.

Not only him, but other ministers of the DPRK and China, as well as other royal relatives of the Qianyuan royal family, also submitted requests to visit the patient.

Including the Five Princes, many people thought that their request would be rejected by the Grand Prince's Mansion. But to their surprise, all requests for visits were granted.

At this moment, the henchmen of the Five Princes' faction are really a little confused and flustered.

Could it be that the eldest prince who was hit by the arrow really didn't die? Or is there something else going on in there?

With a little faint unease, the five princes and the important ministers of the court arrived at the Grand Prince's Mansion in the evening of the same day. Out of the importance of the matter, they even ignored the question of the other dead and wounded ministers and the capture of the remnants of the Assassins. In order to prevent the people and dogs of the Great Prince's Mansion from jumping over the wall in a hurry, the Five Princes' Party also dispatched a large army to escort them, and 2,000 soldiers of the Praetorian Guard Army surrounded the Great Prince's Mansion.

However, the Great Prince's Mansion should only turn a blind eye to this qiē.

Along the way, the curious and bewildered ministers were led into the atrium, and they saw the body of the great prince who had been placed in the coffin, but had not yet had time to nail the lid of the coffin. Although the crossbow arrows have been removed, residual traces of poisoning and blue skin can still be seen on the limbs of the body.

"Isn't this still dead?"

The five princes were stunned, and the other officials who came to visit the patients were also stunned, not understanding why the Great Prince's Mansion insisted that the Great Prince was not dead, but he clearly placed his body here, and in front of almost all the important ministers.

Could it be said?

Something suddenly occurred to someone. (To be continued.) )