Liu Yong said: "When I was in Huashan, I heard many absurd legends of the first emperors, but I didn't know that there were these twists and turns behind them. ”

Li Qiufeng said: "The first emperor has a lively temperament, and he is indeed not calm now. It's just that the first emperor was extremely smart, and he also had the determination to refresh the rule of officials. It's just that he is too impatient, and he is so happy that he trusts Qian Ning, Jiang Bin and others. Although he was forced to do so, he gave Jinyiwei and Dongchang too much power, so that the tail could not be lost. Later, in addition to the personal guards, the civil officials and the vassal kings colluded, and it is not surprising that the first emperor became a real loner and was taken advantage of. ”

Liu Yong said: "But I don't know what happened?"

Li Qiufeng said: "The two factions of the DPRK and China joined forces to help King Xingxian ascend to the throne, thinking that they could maintain their power in the court. It's just that Emperor Jiajing's mind is much more powerful than them, and in the first year of his ascension to the throne, he wanted to use the power of these old ministers to stabilize the political situation. However, starting in the second year, he promoted a large number of old people in the domain, first replacing the key positions such as the commander of the Jinyi Guard, the priest and the eunuch of Bingbi with his henchmen who brought him to the capital, and then replaced the officials, households, rites, criminals, and workers of the five departments of Shangshu and Shilang, and completely controlled the political situation in the capital. At this time, his attitude towards several cabinet scholars changed dramatically, and the concerts of these people were either reprimanded or rejected, or remained in the middle of the court.

It was only then that these bigwigs discovered that Emperor Jiajing was not what they originally thought. These bigwigs are not idiots, when the emperor was in Huguang, they sent many cronies to Xingxian Wangfu to inquire about Xingxian Wang's temperament. At that time, King Xingxian was cowardly and cowardly, and locked himself in the palace all year round, and did not even take a step at the gate of the palace. These bigwigs thought that they could continue to manipulate the authority after supporting King Xingxian to ascend the throne, so they finally chose King Xingxian to inherit the unification. Unexpectedly, King Xingxian was stoic, and his original cautious appearance was completely pretended to fool everyone. At this time, the political situation has stabilized, and he no longer needs to be false and wrongful to these bigwigs as before, and is about to completely eliminate them and sweep away the old forces in order to establish the real Xijing Dynasty.

"These bigwigs were caught off guard by the emperor, and some of them saw the opportunity very quickly and asked themselves to avoid the catastrophe. Some of them can't go to the stack, and Emperor Xitu can change his mind. Emperor Jiajing was unrelenting, and took advantage of the dispute over the 'great etiquette' to expel all these old ministers, and supported Zhang Xuan and other people who had no foundation in the court to become scholars. These new officials were not attached to any faction in the imperial court, but were only instructed by Emperor Jiajing, and the government was new. However, Yang Tinghe and others were driven away from the imperial court and returned to their hometowns in disgrace, and this humiliation was even more uncomfortable than killing them.

"Over the years, although old ministers such as Liu Kang, Lord Liu, Yang Ting and Lord Yang have become officials, they are hundred-legged insects, dead but not stiff, and their protégés are still all over the government and the opposition. Although Emperor Jiajing eliminated a large number of old ministers through the dispute over the 'great etiquette', many of the governors in various places were still old people under Liu, Yang and other old ministers. In particular, although the secretary of the military department has changed several times, the stewards such as the squire and the hall official are still the old men of the first emperor. Emperor Jiajing regarded it as a thorn in his side, and he wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. It's just that the military department is in charge of the soldiers, the soldiers, the major affairs of the country, and one carelessness is the difficulty of losing the country, and the emperor does not dare to take the military department lightly.

And how could Liu, Yang, and others be willing to be humiliated? Over the years, they have been playing power tricks behind their backs, intending to make a comeback. In the past ten years, the garrisons in various places have mutinied, and there are many shadows of two people manipulating behind their backs. Although these mutinies were finally suppressed, the imperial court and others spent countless military salaries, grains and grass, and did not dare to levy in the face of the provocation of the Tartar soldiers, and even the thousands of Japanese soldiers on the southeast coast were unable to completely wipe out.

"Since the end of last year, the Tatar soldiers have gathered heavy troops in the north of the Hetao, and they will go south at any time, and the imperial court war and the plan have not been decided. Some saw this as a great opportunity to change the political situation, and they began to make moves. One faction wants to use Sang Liangtian's soldiers and horses to attack the capital, and the other faction is openly loyal to Emperor Jiajing, and in the name of blocking the rebels, they mobilize the soldiers and horses of the Shanhaiguan general army to sneak into the pass, hide near the capital, and just wait for the opportunity to attack......

Liu Yong's heart was shocked, and he said in a trembling voice: "Li Shaoxia is saying that the soldiers and horses in Shanhaiguan are subject to Liu and Liu ...... Manipulation?"

Li Qiufeng said: "Mr. Liu, whether it is the soldiers and horses of Shanhaiguan, or the soldiers of Sang Liangtian, or even the defenders of Yong'an City and the troops of Xuanfu and Datong who came to help, they are not only controlled by a force behind them, but also the commanders and generals of these armies are by no means just listening to the orders of one person. Everyone is watching the situation, watching the strengths and weaknesses of the various factions. It is not until the political situation is obvious that they will stake their net worth up. ”

Liu Yong muttered, "Then won't we become pawns at the mercy of others?"

Li Qiufeng said: "They not only want us to be pawns, but also to be cannon fodder and scapegoats." Mr. Liu, I dare to make a bet with you, no matter what the outcome of this matter is, even if those bigwigs miscalculate, they will still be a happy rich man in the end. Sang Liangtian and others will still lead the troops back to the town to be powerful. And nine times out of ten, these martial arts masters of various factions will be charged with the crime of 'stealing and digging up the imperial tomb and attempting to rebel', and they will be exterminated and ruined. ”

Liu Yong looked depressed and said to Li Qiufeng: "Then aren't we all blocked by the way of life, so we can only wait to be killed?"

Li Qiufeng said: "That's not true, we still have a way." ”

Liu Yong was stunned, and then said eagerly: "I want to hear about it." ”

Li Qiufeng said: "Thirty-six plans are the best! Mr. Liu, you should let the heroes of all factions leave Yong'an City as soon as possible, and stay away from this nest of right and wrong." Right or wrong is the business of those bigwigs and emperors, let's not be their tools. Yong'an City is now just a front, if we really want to attack, even if we resist desperately, the fall of the city is only a matter of blink of an eye. Sang Liangtian is not stupid, Yong'an City is now also a chess piece in his hands. If this chess piece is useless now, the court, the big guys, and the rebels will turn this chess piece into an abandoned pawn at any time, and even if they want to leave here at that time, they are afraid that it will be difficult to fly. ”

Liu Yong nodded and said, "Li Shaoxia is right. Alas, the various sects can afford the Huashan faction and let Liu give orders. went to Yong'an City to help the defenders defend the city, but Liu also agreed. If the various sects encounter great disasters because of this matter, the Huashan faction will become the public enemy of martial arts, and I am afraid that there will be no place for them in the future. ”

When Liu Yong said this, there was a burst of fear in his heart, and cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

Li Qiufeng said: "Mr. Liu, it's not too late to leave Yong'an City at this time. Let's split up and tell Qunhao to leave here as soon as possible. ”

Liu Yong nodded, and the two discussed it again, because Dongcheng City sent the most door-to-door factions, so Liu Yong went to inform them. The south, west, and north gates were notified by the strong autumn wind. At present, there are the camps of Sangtian Liang and Duoyan Sanwei outside the east city, the south of the city faces the South Mountain, and there is the army of Shanhaiguan in the South Mountain, and there are the troops of Xuanfu and Datong outside the West City, only there is no garrison outside the North City.

After the two agreed, they went their separate ways. Li Qiufeng rushed back to the old house of the Zhou family first, called Murong Danyan and Ma Dongqing to pack their things and prepare to leave, and then went to the main hall to meet Mrs. Zhou. Li Qiufeng was afraid that once there was a change, the female relatives of the Zhou family would be killed, so he repeatedly told Mrs. Zhou to leave Yong'an from the north gate with her family as soon as possible, and find a remote place to hide first. If you don't have time to get out of the city, you will temporarily hide in the backyard cellar.

After the three of them packed up, they hurriedly left the old house of the Zhou family. Li Qiufeng remembered that Xiao Zhanpeng was still on the gate of Dongcheng, so he asked Murong Danyan to find Xiao Zhanpeng and make an appointment to gather in Nancheng, so he took Ma Dongqing and hurriedly walked to Nancheng.

At this time, the situation in the city was a little quieter, pedestrians could already be seen on the streets, and some shops on the streets had opened their doors. The two walked a pillar of incense, and then they arrived in Nancheng. When they went to the city gate, they saw that Xiao Zhanpeng and Murong Danyan had already arrived. This is not because the two of them are strong in light skills, but because Ma Dongqing does not understand martial arts, Li Qiufeng walked with her, and his feet were naturally slow.

Li Qiufeng found more than 100 martial arts heroes in Nancheng City, and only said that the overall situation of Yong'an City was now decided, and the heroes could leave from Beicheng and return to their own factions. The crowd of heroes cheered and thundered, and immediately followed Li Qiufeng and others to Xicheng.

When the group arrived in Xicheng, they saw that about five miles outside Xicheng, they could already see the camp of Xuanfu and Datong to help the army. Li Qiufeng didn't dare to stay, and informed the group of heroes guarding in Xicheng about the evacuation of Yong'an City. Naturally, everyone had no objections, so they set off for Beicheng again. When everyone arrived in Beicheng, Liu Yong had already brought more than 500 heroes from Dongcheng to wait there. Li Qiufeng and Liu Yong knew that Yong'an City was already a tiger's den in Longtan at this time, and the sooner they left, the better, so they took people out of the city gate and headed north, until they walked out of more than 20 miles, and then Qunhao stopped, said goodbye to each other, and returned to their own faction.

(End of chapter)