Li Chengwu's heart sank when he heard this.

The imperial capital, the birthplace of the 800-year-old Guozuo of the Holy Tang Dynasty, has now become a grand metropolis known as "the light of the world and the coming of all nations". The city's population of nearly one million, as well as many royal families, nobles and important ministers, could not withstand the ravages of war.

Even if armed conflict is unavoidable, it is important to find ways to control the scale and scope and minimize the impact of damage.

He nodded lightly and asked, "Shen Lie, in your opinion, what should I do now?" ”

Shen Lie pondered for a moment, and said loudly: "Weichen suggested three steps. First, the forbidden army, tigers and leopards, were fully mobilized to guard the safety of the entire palace. No matter who dares to cross the thunder pool by half a step, don't worry, don't worry! ”

Wang Heng replied beside him: "Your Majesty, even if the minister is crushed, he will never let the little traitor step into the palace!" ”

Li Chengwu bowed his head slightly, and then motioned to Shen Lie to continue, Shen Lie said: "Second, send someone to sneak out through the secret passage of the palace, and order the Qilin Army stationed in the imperial capital to go to the streets, and confront the Xuanjia Legion in various parts of the city, and must suppress the other party in momentum." Only when we put on a posture of fighting to the death will Xie Guang not dare to act further rashly. ”

"That makes sense," Old Man Xu nodded again and again: "At the same time, we must also notify the legion headquarters of Jiyang City as soon as possible, so that the main force of my Qilin Army will set off quickly and gallop to the aid of the imperial capital, in case of contingencies." ”

Li Chengwu said hello twice in a row, and then said with some worry: "This matter is very important, who should be sent to do it?" ”

Murong Xue who was next to Xu Lie all the time: "Just let this doll go." He is half a grandson of the old minister, and many generals of the Qilin Legion know him, so it is much easier to do things. And this kid is bold and clever, and he can calm down in case of trouble. ”

Li Chengwu stared at Murong Xue for a moment, and bowed slightly: "Okay, it's up to you." ”

Murong Xue hurriedly gave up her hand, and was about to agree, but she didn't expect Shen Lie, who was standing on the side, to suddenly speak: "In addition to informing the Qilin Army to launch an operation, there is another important matter that General Murong needs to handle. ”

Murong Xue was slightly stunned and hurriedly asked what was the matter. I only heard Shen Lie say lightly: "If you have time, please ask General Murong to lead the Qilin soldiers and horses, and be sure to leave His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the city, and don't be taken outside by Xie Guang." ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the temple was nervous, but no one spoke. Listening to Shen Lie's tone, it seemed to be saying: As long as you can leave people behind, it doesn't matter if you are dead or alive.

Li Chengwu didn't want to think about this problem too much, and hurriedly told Murong Xue to remember Shen Lie's reminder and do her best to rescue and protect the prince. Then, he turned his head and asked Shen Lie, "Shen Aiqing, what do you mean by the third step?" ”

Shen Lie responded: "Don't hide it from Your Majesty, the Beiya Reverse Scale Division still has some small means, and this is the time to take it out, although I dare not guarantee that it can quell the rebellion in one fell swoop, but it can contain the other party to some extent." The lowly rank will go out with Murong Xue in a while, and immediately start to deploy and implement. ”

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The imperial capital of the Holy Tang Dynasty, covering an area of 10,000 hectares, is like a chessboard. The city is divided into two cities, east and west, with a total of one hundred and eight lifangs.

The so-called Lifang is the place where the people live and live. Each lane is similar in size, and there are not only the mansions of the high-ranking families, but also the courtyards of ordinary people, as well as various wine shops, teahouses, trading shops, and Taoist temples, and so on.

Each lane is surrounded by high walls, and there are doors in the front and back, left and right. The lanes are separated from each other by roads of different sizes, and they look distinct.

Nearly a million people in the imperial capital city are scattered in this area of more than 100 tofu blocks, living their own peaceful and peaceful lives.

Every day, at three o'clock in the morning, after the sun has set, the clocks are chimeed by tall bell towers located throughout the city. Immediately afterwards, the drum towers began to beat the giant leather drums in a fixed rhythm. Within one hundred and twenty drum beats, all the inhabitants of the imperial capital must return to their own villages. The drums fell, the doors were closed, and the government army of Jingzhao Yin Mansion began their daily street cleaning patrols.

At this time, unless there is an imperial order, the person who is still wandering on the street, no matter what his identity, will be arrested by the government soldiers on the spot and escorted to Dali Temple for questioning.

This is the famous curfew system in the imperial capital since the founding of the Shengtang Dynasty.

Today's imperial capital is very different from usual. Seeing that the time has not yet arrived, the city is already a scene of "thousands of paths and people disappearing", and all the alleys have also closed their doors and locked them in advance, and no one is allowed to enter.

There are some brave people in the workshop, who are carrying a long ladder at the moment, climbing on the wall and looking out secretly.

On the street in front of them, there were two teams of soldiers and horses at this time, swords rattling, eyeing each other.

On one side, there was the Xuanjia Army, which suddenly entered the city this morning, and on the other side, the Qilin Army, which was responsible for the defense of the imperial capital.

The Xuanjia Legion is all black-clothed and black-armored, looking cold and solemn; The unicorn soldiers were all dressed in red clothes and red armor, as bright and dazzling as fire clouds.

The color of iron and blood, once hand in hand, represented the strict authority of the Emperor of the Holy Tang Dynasty, sweeping the Eight Desolations.

But now, they are like ice and coal, and they don't give in to each other.

The cross streets in the imperial capital city that crisscross east, west, north and south have long been divided and occupied by the two colors of red and black, and the two sides are getting closer and closer, and a big war is about to break out.

At this moment, the commanders of both armies are waiting.

Yang Yunfan, the general of Xuanjia, was waiting for the order of Xie Guang of the Zhuguo State to do it; And Murong Xue, the temporary commander of the Qilin Army, was waiting for Yang Yunfan to die.

Murong Xue sat on the saddle, looking at Yang Yunfan under the banner opposite, pondering in her heart what Shen Lie said in the Taiji Hall.

"General Murong, you just need to seize the opportunity and lead the troops to expel the Xuanjia Army, and leave the rest to me to handle the Reverse Scale Division."

At that time, Emperor Li Chengwu asked Shen Lie curiously, what did he plan to do?

Shen Lie only replied: "Don't use the hidden dragon", and His Majesty stopped talking.

Don't use the hidden dragon, what does it mean?

Murong Xue was puzzled by this, and at the same time he was very tired of Shen Lie's pretentious appearance, but what he didn't know was that not long after he and Shen Lie left the palace from the secret passage, the Northern Government Office outside the Xuanwu Gate suddenly sent a batch of urgent secret orders.

And the object of receiving the secret order is the "ninth class" of the Reverse Scale Division.

The ninth day of the first lunar month does not refer to the ninth day of the lunar month, but refers to the first hexagram in the Book of Changes, "Qiangua": on the ninth day of the first month, the hidden dragon should not be used.

This hexagram with the theme of "Tianxingjian, a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement" tells people a truth: the hidden dragon should not be easily exerted its power.

The ninth class of the North Ya Reverse Scale Division is the hidden dragon that converges its power.

-

Yin Bai lowered his head and quietly looked at the small bamboo card in his hand, which was engraved with four delicate small characters - "Kanglong has regrets".

The meaning of these four words is very simple: the order of "do not use the hidden dragon" is officially terminated! From now on, the hidden dragon will do whatever it takes to get rid of the target of its own surveillance!

He slowly raised his head, and his two eyes were fixed on the person not far in front of him, Yang Yunfan, the general of the Xuanjia Legion.

At this time, Yang Yunfan was carefully observing the movements of the Qilin Army opposite, and he had no precautions against the situation next to him at all, and his back was facing his own personal guard Yin Bai.

Yin Bai took a deep breath, hid the small bamboo card in his arms, and then slowly lifted the long knife, and the knife body was faintly glowing with a faint blue light. It was the poison that he had just taken advantage of others and secretly smeared, the bottle that had been hidden on his body, ready to be taken by himself.

Because everyone around was holding their blades at this time, looking nervously ahead, no one noticed Yin Bai's abnormality.

Suddenly, Yin Bai suddenly shouted: "Be loyal to my emperor and kill the traitor!" ”

This angry shout, like a scorching thunder explosion, immediately startled the people next to him, but before they could react, the long knife had already stabbed into Yang Yunfan's back.

The defenseless Yang Yunfan directly spurted out a mouthful of blood, and without even struggling, he turned over and fell off the horse.

At this time, Yin Bai seemed to be completely crazy, and then jumped off the horse, stared at the blood-red eyes, waved the war knife in his hand, and kept slashing at Yang Yunfan, shouting hysterically while chopping: "Loyal to my emperor!" Loyal to my emperor! Kill the thief! Kill the thief! Kill the thief! ”

This terrifying scene scared all the Xuanjia soldiers stupid on the spot, and everyone around them opened their mouths wide but couldn't make a sound, and the Xuanjia army spear and shield soldiers in the front row heard that the movement behind them was wrong, and they couldn't help but turn around, looking desperately, wondering what was going on on the main general's side.

At this time, the Qilin Army not far away suddenly moved.

Murong Xue had no time to think about why Yang Yunfan was cut down by his own soldiers without warning, he only knew that the opportunity would not come again!

Swing your sword!

Rows of fire unicorns raised their long knives and spears, and rushed to the opposite side with a shout. The Xuanjia Army, which had no psychological advantage, saw that the main general suddenly died, and suddenly became disheartened, and it was difficult to resist anymore.

Objectively speaking, if these two legions are just engaged in armed confrontation on the streets, there is actually no big problem. But if you really want to pick up weapons and attack your own people, you must be upright and famous.

Otherwise, it is a heinous crime of deliberate rebellion, and it is difficult for any normal soldier to overcome that psychological obstacle.

It is precisely because of this that Xie Guang is scheming, and he has to pull the prince Li Bing into the water.

With the lofty name of "upholding the sacred covenant and supporting the crown prince's accession to the throne", those soldiers under his command can muster up the courage to face the unicorn army and the forbidden army, which represent the strict authority of the emperor.

However, no one could have expected that at this critical juncture, the little courage that the Xuanjia Army had finally mustered suddenly disappeared because of Yang Yunfan's death and Yin Bai's roar.

In the face of the Qilin Army that had rushed to the front, few Xuanjia soldiers really dared to resist, and at this moment, their expressions no longer had the elite demeanor of the "First Army of the Holy Tang Dynasty", as if they were a rabble, they turned around and fled.