readx;? October is approaching, and autumn is getting stronger. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

The crisis in the north of Xinjiang has not affected the singing and dancing of Jinling City, which is located in the center of the holy area, and the people still live a prosperous and stable life every day.

According to the custom, every day before dawn, a group of Sanctuary ministers would wait outside the Imperial City early, quietly waiting for the Emperor to summon them, and then discuss the affairs of the Sanctuary together in the Golden Hall of the Imperial City. Day after day, year after year, with few exceptions. Even if the emperor was unwell, unless it was a last resort, Yan Chong would not easily abandon the court.

In the cool breeze of the late autumn morning, all the ministers of the Holy Domain also changed into thick brocade robes early, and stood tremblingly outside the gate of the imperial city one by one and whispered something, and some frail ministers even looked up at the sky from time to time, hoping that the emperor would wake up early, so that he could summon himself into the golden palace as soon as possible, and save himself to suffer in this cold wind.

Although these ministers of the Sacred Realm came in warm and comfortable carriages, this was the door of the emperor's house after all, and when the carriage traveled five or six miles outside the imperial city, these ministers would take the initiative to get out of the carriage and then walk the rest of the way on foot. In fact, this is not a law, but a voluntary act of these ministers, first, to show their respect for the emperor, and second, to show their humility to their colleagues. Generally, the lower the official position, the longer the road to walk, but the higher the official position, the less road to walk.

Over time, this unwritten rule became a measure of the status of ministers against each other.

"Squeak ......"

With the sound of carriages shaking, I saw two carriages in the distance slowly driving towards the city gate, and the ministers who were originally standing here consciously divided into two sides when they saw this, and watched the two carriages slowly stop in front of everyone with respectful and jealous eyes.

The Minister of the Holy Domain who dared to arrive late at this hour, and dared to drive the carriage all the way to the city gate, looking at the entire Jinling City, I am afraid that there are only three. They are the three powerful ministers under the command of the current emperor, Han Xiao, Lu Haoqian and Lan Shixun. And the masters of the two carriages that came at this moment were Lu Haoqian and Han Xiao.

"Yo! Lord Lu! Lord Han!"

Seeing Lu Haoqian and Han Xiao getting off the carriage respectively, these ministers hurriedly stepped forward and greeted them with a smile on their faces, their respectful attitudes and humble words really gave the two of them enough face, which also showed from the side how lofty the status of Lu Haoqian and Han Xiao among these ministers was.

"Brother Han!"

"Brother Lu!"

In response to the compliments of the surrounding ministers, Lu Haoqian and Han Xiao both nodded their heads, but they did not take the initiative to open their mouths to say hello. The two of them were the only ones who were polite to each other, exchanged greetings to each other, and then stood together surrounded by the ministers.

"You guys are really early today!" Lu Haoqian looked around at the surrounding ministers with a smile, and then pulled an elderly minister and said with a concerned face, "The weather is cold, Cheng Lao needs to wear more clothes!"

"Thank you Lord Lu for your concern, the old body and bones can still survive!" The minister, who was called Cheng Lao, looked flattered, and hurriedly bent over and thanked Lu Haoqian, "It's Lord Lu and Lord Han, every day is in order, you have to pay more attention to your body, if there is no us in the holy realm, it will be like a drop in the ocean, but if there is no Lord Lu and Lord Han, it will really be the Golden Palace has lost its pillars, and the sky has lost the sun and the moon!"

"Yes, yes!" Cheng Lao's words drew a chorus of the surrounding ministers.

"Hey, Lord Cheng is serious!" Han Xiao waved his hand and smiled, "You and I are ministers of the same court, and we are both assisting His Majesty the Emperor to lead the Holy Domain, so naturally we are all humerus, and there is no difference between the sun, moon and stars!"

"Don't dare, don't dare! How dare we compare with Lord Han and Lord Lu!"

"That's it, Lord Han is too elevated to me and waited!"

For a while, a humble voice sounded again from among the ministers, and the atmosphere outside the city gate was quite harmonious and lively.

Lu Haoqian looked around slightly with a smile on his face, as if he was deliberately looking for something, but the result was not satisfactory to him. I saw Lu Haoqian smile and ask the ministers beside him, "I wonder if Lord Lan has arrived today, why didn't I see him?"

"This ......" was asked by Lu Haoqian, and all the ministers' faces changed, and then a touch of embarrassment appeared on the faces of these ministers.

In fact, Lan Shixun has not been present at all, and for these ministers, whether it is Lan Shixun or Lu Haoqian or Han Xiao, they can never afford to offend, and these ministers also know that Lan Shixun and Lu Haoqian have always disagreed politically, so in the face of Lu Haoqian's question, these ministers don't know how to answer. None of them dared to find out that Lan Shixun had not arrived, but no one dared to deceive Lu Haoqian.

"Isn't Lan Shixun here yet?" Han Xiao's face turned cold and he asked in a deep voice.

"This ...... I didn't pay attention to this, I don't know if Lord Lan has ......"

"Hmph!" Without waiting for these ministers to make a vague defense, Han Xiao snorted coldly and said with a displeased face, "Now that Lord Lu and I have arrived but he hasn't arrived, this Lan Shixun is really a big shelf!"

"His Majesty the Emperor hasn't summoned the ministers yet, it's not disrespectful when I arrive, Lord Han seems to be a little lenient, right?" At this moment, Lan Shixun's voice suddenly sounded from a carriage not far away, and then I saw Lan Shixun with a sneer on his face and walked out of the carriage, and the two little guys who followed him hurriedly attached themselves to Lan Shixun and tidied up his robes.

"Lord Lan works hard every day, and it is also appropriate to rest for a while, Brother Han should not worry about it!" Lu Haoqian is much softer than Han Xiao's temperament, and he knows the truth of being able to bend and stretch, so in the face of the-for-tat confrontation between Han Xiao and Lan Shixun, Lu Haoqian hurriedly stood up and started a round.

As for the other ministers, they can only stand aside and watch quietly, who dares to speak out?

"Hmph!" Han Xiao had already become more and more dissatisfied with Lan Shixun, who was proud of his achievements, but he had to give Lu Haoqian a thin face, so he could only snort coldly, and then turned his head away and ignored it.

And Lan Shixun has long been surprised by this, such a scene is almost every three or five days. Therefore, Lan Shixun was not obsessed with this, but just arched his hand to Lu Haoqian with a smile, and then walked to the side, surrounded by the greetings of another group of ministers, and chatted with them enthusiastically.

"Squeak!"

Just after Lan Shixun arrived, about a cup of tea, the gate of the imperial city suddenly opened, and then I saw a fifty or sixty-year-old imperial city official flash out from the city gate, and then said to the people outside the city gate: "His Majesty the Emperor is slightly unwell today, please go back first!"

"What?" Regarding this kind of hatred that cannot be encountered once in a few years, the words of the internal official can be said to have stirred up a thousand waves with one stone, and instantly caused an uproar among the ministers.

"Your Majesty is unwell, can you take medicine?"

"His Majesty the Emperor was still full of energy yesterday, why did he suddenly feel unwell today?"

"I don't know if it's serious......"

In the face of the chattering ministers, Han Xiao, Lu Haoqian, and Lan Shixun surprisingly did not open their mouths to speak, but the eyes of the three of them were also filled with a solemn look of slight doubt. Obviously, the fact that the emperor was unwell seemed to have exceeded the expectations of the three of them.

"Ahem......" The internal official, who was silent for a word, suddenly coughed a few times, and the originally noisy scene gradually became quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please go back first!" the internal official's words sounded again, and there was still no joy or anger in his voice.

"This ......" The ministers who couldn't make up their minds invariably set their eyes on Han Xiao, Lu Haoqian, and Lan Shixun, obviously wanting to wait for the three of them to decide.

"Since His Majesty the Emperor is unwell, then I won't bother! Please go back and greet His Majesty the Emperor on my behalf!" Lan Shixun was the first to open his mouth, and without hesitation, he walked towards his carriage not far away.

Seeing this, Lu Haoqian and Han Xiao glanced at each other suspiciously, then slowly turned around, bowed a few polite words to the internal official, and then left.

Seeing that the three powerful ministers had left, the rest of the ministers no longer had any hesitation, and scattered from the city gate one after another, but the city gate, which was still overcrowded after a stick of incense, had become empty, leaving only a few guards on both sides who were as straight as steel guns.

The internal officials were ordered to disperse the ministers, and at the same time, in the Golden Palace, Emperor Yan Chong, who was supposed to be in bed to recuperate, was sitting on the dragon chair in good spirits at this moment, with a glimmer of light in his sharp eyes from time to time, his face was ruddy and full of complexion, and he didn't look unwell at all.

And at this moment in the Golden Palace, in addition to the Emperor Yan Chong, there were four white-haired old men sitting below who were not much different from the Emperor. At a glance, these four old men not only had little difference in age from the Emperor, but even had some similarities in appearance.

And they are the four brothers of the same clan who led Emperor Yan Chong, the four princes of the Yan Dynasty. Among the seven hierarchical divisions of the emperor, king, duke, marquis, ministers, mansions, and officials in the holy realm, the status of the king is second only to the emperor, and the most important premise of the king is that he must be of the same clan as the emperor Yan Chong, in other words, he must be the same family as the emperor!

The old man in white is the oldest, and he is the elder brother of the emperor, the "Holy East King" Yan Yi. The old man in black is the most anxious, and he is also the brother of the emperor, the "King of the Holy North" Yan Lie! The old man in Tsing Yi is the brother of the emperor, and the "King of the Holy West" Yan Zheng! The old man in gray is the youngest of several people, less than sixty years old, he is the "King of the Holy South" Yan Hao!

The four princes had neither the right to command the army nor the financial power. This is a rule set by the emperors of previous dynasties, in order to avoid killing each other among the same clans in order to snatch the position of the emperor, so although the status of the four princes is extremely high, the real power in their hands is far less than that of Han Xiao, Lu Haoqian and other powerful ministers. Although they have no power in their hands, the four princes have each cultivated a group of top masters, although the number is not large, but everyone's cultivation is extremely high. More importantly, these masters have the determination to swear allegiance to the Yan Dynasty. These masters are the emperor's strange soldiers, except for the emperor and the four princes, no one knows that there are such a group of masters in the holy realm. Although the emperor did not give the four princes real power, in fact, the most trustworthy people in the emperor's heart are still his four brothers of the same clan.

The four princes did not live in Jinling City, but lived separately in the southeast, northwest, and northwest parts of the Holy Land. And today, when they all gathered together, it must be that the emperor has something extremely important to discuss with them personally. And the importance of this matter has faintly threatened the safety of the entire Yan Dynasty. Otherwise, Emperor Yan Chong would never have summoned all four of them.

The four princes came one after another, and the first to come was Yanyi, who had arrived in Jinling City yesterday evening. And the latest to arrive was Yan Zheng, who arrived at dawn today.

As soon as the four princes entered the imperial city, the leader Yan Chong ordered the imperial city to be blocked, and all the ministers who came to discuss the matter were dispersed, which was enough to show how urgent and secret the matter that Yan Chong was going to discuss with the four princes today.

"Your Majesty!" Suddenly, the internal official trotted all the way back to the Golden Palace, knelt down in front of the emperor, and said respectfully, "According to Your Majesty's orders, the ministers have retreated!"

"Does anyone ask anything more?" the Emperor asked in a solemn tone.

"I only said that His Majesty the Emperor is not in good health, and the ministers didn't ask anything! It's just that Lord Han, Lord Lu, and Lord Lan instructed the villain to say hello to His Majesty the Emperor!" replied with a sincere face.

"Don't the three of them have the slightest suspicion?" the Emperor asked again.

"This villain didn't dare to guess, but when the villain finished saying that His Majesty was unwell, it was Lord Lan and the three of them who took the lead in leaving first, and after they left, the rest of the ministers went back one after another!"

"It seems that in the current court, Han Xiao, Lu Haoqian, and Lan Shixun have already covered the sky with one hand!" Yan Lie, who was irritable by nature, immediately snorted coldly, "They have forgotten whose world this holy domain is!"

"Your Majesty summoned the four of us today, but turned away the ministers, is it true that Your Majesty can't trust his ministers in this matter?" asked the old scheming Yan Yi tentatively.

"You go down first!" The Emperor didn't answer Yan Yi directly, but opened his mouth to ask the officials kneeling in the hall to step down, and then the Emperor Ling leaned lazily on the dragon chair, his eyes finally flashed a look of exhaustion, and he sighed deeply, "The Holy Domain is becoming more and more unstable now!"

"What does Your Majesty mean by this?" Yan Hao asked softly, "But what trouble have you encountered? We can solve it for Your Majesty!"

"In today's Holy Domain, the word Emperor is no longer enough to deter everyone!" "The Emperor sighed again, "In recent years, the various practices of the Holy Domain Sect Leader Dongfang Su have become more and more excessive, and the relationship between the Sect Leader and the Sect Master is already very delicate, although it is calm on the surface, but in fact it is already a dark tide, I am afraid that sooner or later there will be a big mess!"

"The emperor and the sect leader, a civil rule and a martial arts, should complement each other. But since ancient times, one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, and there can only be one person in the lord of the holy realm, and this person is Your Majesty. No matter how capable Dongfang Su is, he is just a martial artist after all, how can he be compared with His Majesty's great cause of unifying the Holy Domain?" Yan Zheng sneered and said, "Besides, there has always been an open and secret struggle between the Emperor and the Sect Master, so why should Your Majesty be too bothered, how many emperors of my Yan Dynasty have come over in peace and stability throughout the ages?" After all, the Sacred Domain Emperor is an ironclad Yan Dynasty, but the Sacred Domain Sect Master is changing from generation to generation, no matter how arrogant Dongfang Su is, there will be a day when the oil runs out and the lamp will run out, he doesn't think about himself, he has to think about his Dongfang clan, right? Your Majesty doesn't have to worry too much, I expect that Dongfang Su won't dare to make any big trouble!"

"If it's just Dongfang Su, but it's also in the Wild Sect, this emperor will naturally not be so worried!" the emperor said in a heavy tone, "But if the ministers of the court and the central government are not impregnable, but have gaps, or even rebel against each other...... So do you think the emperor can still sleep peacefully?"

"Mutual rebellion?" Yan Yi shrank his eyes and said thoughtfully, "Political disagreement and mutual rebellion are two completely different things, is it okay for Your Majesty to say this...... What credentials are there......"

"Smack!"

Without waiting for Yan Yi to finish speaking, the Emperor Ling suddenly took out two books from his sleeve and slammed them on the dragon book case in front of him, and the sound was enough to make the four princes who were caught off guard tremble.

"Three days ago, the Emperor received two secret letters in one day!" said the Emperor word by word, "and more importantly, these two letters actually came from the same place!"

"Where?" the four princes asked in unison.

"Northern Xinjiang!"

......