At the time of the lantern, a carriage drove slowly out of the imperial city under the escort of a team of guards.

The crown prince Zhu Gaochi sat in the car, frowning, full of suspicion, and looked preoccupied.

His personality since childhood is the opposite of his younger brother Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han, likes to be quiet and disgusted, loves to read and does not like to practice arching horses, which is not only due to personality reasons, but also because he has fallen leg disease since he was a child, plus his body is fat and bloated, and he has difficulty moving, and he needs two internal attendants to support him every day. Therefore, compared with his younger brother, who is skilled in archery and horses and has made many military exploits, he has always been disliked by his father, and it is no secret that his father prefers Zhu Gaoxu, who is more like himself.

Therefore, when the father and emperor issued an edict to appoint this eldest son, who had been evaluated as "a son is not like a father", as the crown prince, not only the ministers, but even Zhu Gaochi himself was very surprised. The father is always like this, no one can guess his mind, no one can guess what he will do next, perhaps, this is called the unpredictable king.

Just like today, what he did surprised the crown prince again, and he actually offered to let Zhu Gaochi's daughter of the British Duke Zhang Fu enter the palace as the prince's concubine. Previously, there were already five princesses and concubines in the prince's mansion, and it was not difficult to add another person, but the intention of the father was probably in this woman's family background.

She was born in a noble family, and she was the queen of the old one. Grandfather is Zhang Yu, who died in the Battle of Jingyan and was posthumously crowned King Zhongwu of Hejian, and his father Zhang Fu was just crowned a British Duke a year ago, and he was also a battlefield general, and he was very prestigious in the army. The most important thing is that although he was born in the military camp, he is not the faction of Zhu Gaoxu, the king of the Han Dynasty, but has always had a good relationship with the ministers around the prince.

Now that my father wants to marry such an important minister in the army, is it because he sees that the crown prince lacks the support of the military forces behind him, and hopes to strengthen his strength in this way, so as to fight against the Han king? Could it be that my father really wants to inherit the unification himself, rather than the younger brother whom he has always preferred?

Zhu Gaochi couldn't figure it out, of course he knew that Zhang Fu was actually on his side, but because his father had always acted moody, it was common for the emperor to change his orders every day, and he had always doted on his younger brother, and his position as the crown prince was really walking on thin ice. Therefore, he has always asked Zhang Fu to pretend to be neutral and not involved in party disputes, in case one day after the crown prince changes the throne, he can still keep this force in the army and will not suffer from the pond fish.

And now that his father suddenly wants to accept Zhang Fu's daughter, does he really want to help him, or is he reminding himself that he already knows who Zhang Fu is? Is this a blessing or a curse?

Zhu Gaochi was upset, and suddenly the carriage was upside down, and he couldn't help but feel angry. Because he had a leg disease, and his body was fat and bloated, he was most afraid of bumps, and he usually made the slave who drove the carriage drive slowly and cautiously, but now this servant was so careless?

He was about to open his mouth to scold, when suddenly the curtain of the carriage door moved, and a figure rushed in. Zhu Gaochi was startled, and when he looked at it, it turned out to be a slave who was driving the car. At this moment, I saw him lying on his back, his eyes wide open, and an arrow stuck in his chest, and he was already dead of anger.

Zhu Gaochi was shocked, but he was not flustered, and rolled on the floor of the carriage. Immediately a few swishing sounds were heard in his ears, and several sharp arrows broke through the carriage and nailed it to the place where he had just sit.

Then they heard a commotion outside the car, and the guards shouted, "Assassins!"

Zhu Gaochi did not panic.

Although he likes to read, he is not an incompetent rotten man who has no power to restrain his hands. Even though he couldn't practice martial arts due to leg disease, in order to win his father's favor, he had also practiced archery hard and was familiar with military books.

In the early days of the Jingyan Campaign, taking advantage of the fact that his father led the army to fight outside and the rear was empty, Jianwen general Li Jinglong once led 100,000 troops to besiege Beiping City. At that time, there were only 10,000 soldiers under his command in the city, but he did not panic, but calmly arranged the city defense with the help of Yao Guangxiao, commanded the battle, and successfully repelled the many attacks of Li Jinglong's army. In the end, he and his father's army to rescue him attacked inside and outside, broke Li Jinglong, and made great contributions.

Since then, Yao Guangxiao has admired him a lot, and his father has always regarded Yao Guangxiao as a teacher and friend, and with him saying good things in front of his father, it still has a lot of influence on the ownership of today's crown prince.

Zhu Gaochi didn't panic in the face of thousands of troops back then, so he won't do it today.

He crouched in the carriage, stretched out his hand to lift the corner of the door curtain, and saw more than a dozen black shadows jumping out of the roofs and corners on both sides of the stone street outside, holding bright blades, and pounced on the guards protecting the car. For a while, the sound of shouting and the intersection of blades was everywhere, and the figures staggered and swayed, making a mess.

These black shadows are all dressed in night clothes, covered with black scarves, and their skills are abnormal. The Jingshi has always been peaceful in law and order, and Zhu Gaochi entered the palace this afternoon, because he discussed with his father and the emperor about welcoming Zhang Fu's daughter until dark, so he didn't have many guards with him, and he was completely defeated by the assassins in the fight, and he fell one after another.

Zhu Gaochi saw that the situation was critical, and it was definitely not a good strategy to drag it any longer, and when he looked down, he saw that the dead driving slave was still holding the reins of the horse tightly. He reached out and snatched the reins, sat up, shook it hard, and shouted, "Drive!"

The horses and horses were refreshed when they heard the drink, and they galloped forward with their hooves. The carriage crashed into several people in front of it all the way and rushed straight forward. When the assassins saw this, they whistled and abandoned their guards and chased after the carriage.

Zhu Gaochi looked back nervously, although the horses were wonderful, but the prince's car was luxurious and heavy, and he couldn't run for a while, plus these assassins were all highly skilled and well-trained, and they were about to catch up.

He was anxious, and was about to urge the horse, but suddenly a row of figures appeared in front of the carriage, and the light was unknown in the darkness, and it was impossible to see the truth.

A tall figure stepped forward and held the horse's head with an outstretched hand. The gallop of the horse was so fierce that he held it down with one hand, and with a long neigh, he stopped all four hooves, and could not take a step forward.

Zhu Gaochi was taken aback, and couldn't help but feel cold in his heart, and secretly shouted: "My life is over!"

By this time, the Assassins had already chased after them, and the one in front of them jumped to his feet, his sword shining brightly towards the carriage.

As soon as it was too late, the tall figure let go of the horse's head, shouted, took two steps forward, and threw a punch at the assassin.

The assassin screamed, and there was a gurgling sound of broken bones on his body, and his body flew straight backwards like a leaf in a raging wind, knocking over the two assassins who followed him, and he saw that he was not alive.

At this moment, the row of figures shouted, rushed towards the assassins, and fought in one place. Look at the clothes on their bodies, they are all official and military uniforms. Look at the tall figure again, with bright armor and iron armor, and an officer's attire, bowing down in front of the carriage at this moment, with a loud voice: "Li Feihu, commander of the patrol battalion of the Chenjing Division, is late to save the car, I hope His Highness will forgive his sins!"

Zhu Gaochi's hanging heart was put down, and he was speechless for a while, but he grabbed Li Feihu's hand tightly and didn't let go for a long time.

The battle was soon over.

After dozens of people from the patrol battalion joined the battle, the number of people was immediately superior, and the assassins left a few corpses and then retreated, in order to protect the safety of the prince, Li Feihu did not order the pursuit.

After examining the assassin's corpse slightly, Li Feihu knelt down to the crown prince to report the battle.

Zhu Gaochi froze and asked, "Have you caught the mouth?"

Li Feihu lowered his head: "The assassin is very skilled, and the minister is concerned about the safety of His Highness, so he did not pursue, so there is only the body of the assassin left." ”

Zhu Gaochi frowned and asked, "Is there a clue on the corpse?"

Li Feihu's head hung lower, and his voice lowered: "It's still ...... Please see for yourself Your Highness. ”

Zhu Gaochi was stunned, but he didn't ask again, and followed Li Feihu to the assassin's body.

At this moment, the soldiers of the patrol battalion had dragged the body of the assassin to one place, lined up, and surrounded the body with torches, illuminating it as if it were daylight.

Zhu Gaochi stood in front of the corpse and asked, "What did you find?"

Li Feihu bowed down and said, "Your Highness, please take a look." ”

He leaned over and pulled open the shirt on the chest of one of the Assassins, revealing his chest, only to see a pattern clearly tattooed on his chest.

Zhu Gaochi frowned and asked, "What is this?"

Li Feihu approached the prince and whispered in his ear: "The sergeants of the forbidden army are all elites selected from various armies, and once selected, they must tattoo their respective insignia of each guard of the forbidden army on their chests. The minister has checked, and these corpses are tattooed with the same emblem. ”

Zhu Gaochi was silent for a moment, and asked softly, "Which guard's forbidden army is this?"

Li Feihu suddenly fell to his knees and replied in a very soft voice: "Tian Cewei!"