In the last years of Tianxi, the princes were divided, and the rivers and lakes were in turmoil. The various sects in the martial arts are fighting for me, and they are ready to move, just to get a treasure that comes out of nowhere......

Since the founding of Gaozu Li Yu, the Tianxi Dynasty has enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous era for hundreds of years, and its national strength is the first among the nine major kingdoms. A hundred years ago, Li Ye, the king of Yishan, rebelled, not only brutalized Zhongliang and killed innocents, but also rode on horseback in the Central Plains with the fierce Northern Barbarian Iron in his hand, causing endless battles in the rivers and lakes, and the dynasty fell into an era of war and chaos for a hundred years.

Li Muyuan, the great-grandson of Li Ye, has 800,000 strong troops in his hands, spanning the Central Plains in the 90,000-li territory of the Tianxi Dynasty. Although Li Muyuan did not claim the title of emperor, almost no one inside and outside the dynasty dared to be an enemy of him.

It can be said that the situation in the world has long been chaotic, the imperial capital is located in the south of the dynasty, sitting on 500,000 imperial soldiers, and Li Muyuan's army in the north is far away, even if Li Mang has the heart to cut the domain, but he has no strength, so he has to climb the tall building alone, look at the distance by the railing, shake his head and sigh.

But in this kind of troubled times, when the heroes and heroes came out one after another, countless chivalrous warriors with the world in their hearts threw themselves into this battle, a long sword, a big sword, a pot of turbid wine, all kinds of reincarnation, the vicissitudes of the world......

In the eighth year of Tianxi III, three years have passed since the battle of Shanheguan, and in these three years, Li Muyuan has not committed it again.

......

At this time, in the spring of March, a hundred flowers are blooming, the breeze is full, and the beautiful scenery is good, and the four seas of the world are full of vitality. Although the Cullinan Dynasty has gradually come to an end, the annual imperial examination in March is still carried out as usual.

On this day, in the city of Hanzhou, which is 300 miles away from the imperial capital, hundreds of white-clothed talents in clothes and clothes danced in the wind and came to the examination hall in the city as usual.

Among them, there is a person with a dignified appearance, clear eyes, and a height of five feet, who does not look like an ordinary character.

In fact, this kid is really an ordinary character.

This person's name is Li Changfeng, a bachelor in a dilapidated village outside the city of Hanzhou, who has no father or mother since he was a child, and grew up with a mouthful of food from the neighborhood. In the first two years of the township examination high school show talent, after several years of hard study, I wanted to be the first in this year's imperial examination, so I resigned from the township, said goodbye to neighbors and friends, and only brought three taels of silver alone, and the road was bumpy, and I came to this Hanzhou city with great bitterness.

Before entering the examination hall, this kid had nothing left on his body, and the only remaining copper money was the usual copper coin, he bought this clean and bright gown, took a bath in the big bathhouse in the city, bathed and changed clothes, and entered the examination hall.

He is full of confidence, this imperial examination will be the first to win the list, since then the glory of the ancestors, rich and bright lintel, with good eyebrows, no longer live the kind of life that no one looks down on.

Even though the Tianxi Dynasty has gradually declined, for tens of thousands of students who have studied hard, this imperial examination is still an opportunity to soar. Which one is not reading at night, more than ten years of bitterness is like a day, learning rich five cars, and having a good chest, in order to be able to be on the list, even if he is only a sesame official, it is enough to shine on the lintel.

With a dull bell ringing, hundreds of Xiucai dressed in different clothes walked into the examination hall, found their respective places, and sat down.

The invigilator is the Taishou of Hanzhou City, and even if ordinary people want to see it from afar, it is difficult to climb to the sky, let alone take a closer look now.

Li Changfeng turned his head and looked around, and saw a total of more than a hundred people, all of whom were such a talented person in cold clothes, and couldn't help laughing at himself.

At this time, the invigilator also asked people to distribute the test papers, but in a moment, more than 100 people had already placed the roll paper with the official seal in front of them, and the invigilator gave an order, the exam began, and ordered the person to take a thick incense plant and insert it in the incense altar in front of him, which means that after the incense is burned out, it is the end of this imperial examination.

Li Changfeng picked up the pen in front of him, dipped it in ink, and was about to write something, but at this moment, he heard the invigilator and the deputy invigilator next to him whispering.

Li Changfeng's position is really a bit forward, in the first row, so he can clearly hear what the two are saying.

"My lord, have you ever heard of the fluctuation in the imperial capital two days ago? Now the whole world is in an uproar, in my opinion, this year's imperial examination is probably the last time for my dynasty!"

"Hugh is a lie, if such words of yours are heard in the ears of the saints, then there will be good fruit for you to eat!"

"Eh, my lord may not have heard that Prime Minister Wang Zhongtian was removed from his official title by the Holy Lord some time ago, and he will not be allowed to enter the court in this life. But two days ago, Wang Zhongtian was dressed in the official robe of the first emperor's imperial python belt, knelt all the way from outside the palace, left a pool of blood, knelt 9,999 steps, and worshiped in front of the Xilong Palace. ”

When the invigilator heard the man next to him say this, he immediately frowned and asked, "What happened later?"

"Alas, you may not know, my lord, that Prime Minister Wang Zhongtian is dedicated to the country, and in the past few years, I think the officials of our dynasty have also known it, and the saint is drunk with wine, and he learned from the king of business to build a wine pond and meat forest, and he doesn't ask about political affairs all day long, just hiding in the harem, and sleeping with the concubines. Although Wang Zhongtian was deposed as prime minister, he was bent on returning the saint to the court, so he knelt down all the way into the palace and bowed to the saint in front of the Xilong Palace, guess what happened in the end?"

"How?"

"The saint was angry, ordered Wang Zhongtian to be beheaded the next day, and also sent guards to copy the prime minister Wang Zhongtian's family property, and punished the nine clans, when he was beheaded two days ago, the entire imperial capital was in mourning, everyone hid their faces and wept, and the sound shook the nine heavens!"

Hearing this, the invigilator's brows furrowed even tighter, and he smiled bitterly: "Alas, this kind of thing is not something that you and I can talk about, no matter what the saint is, you and I are human ministers, and we can't discuss it in vain." It's a pity that the Prime Minister, when he was willing to save me from danger, he never thought that he would end up like this......"

Li Changfeng heard it clearly, and when he heard that Prime Minister Wang Zhongtian was deposed and beheaded outside the palace, he saw that the hand holding the pen trembled for no reason.

These days, like many Xiucai, he is studying at night, preparing for today's imperial examination, and it is impossible to hear about such a major event in the court. But now, he was deeply shocked.

The name of Prime Minister Wang Zhongtian, he has not only heard of it, but also respects it very much, thinking that if he can win the first place in one fell swoop in the future and vote for Wang Zhongtian's disciples, he will be able to save the dynasty in danger at that time, and fulfill his dream of serving the country and becoming an official.

But today, he actually heard from the two invigilators that this Wang Zhongtian was not only deposed from the official position of prime minister, but also beheaded for the sake of the saints, and exterminated the nine clans!

Li Changfeng couldn't help but put down the pen in his hand and slowly closed his eyes, in this kind of court, the saint is mediocre and the officials are corrupt, how can he open up the prosperous era of the past? He originally wanted to enter the court as an official, be a veteran of the three dynasties like Wang Zhongtian, and seek a life of peace and contentment for the people, but he never thought that this saint would be so mediocre!

Li Changfeng sighed softly, the Tianxi Dynasty has been inherited for hundreds of years, and it will eventually be destroyed in the hands of today's saints, even so, why should he bother to pursue the dream in his heart? Even if he is an official, what can he do with his own strength?

I saw that when Li Changfeng opened his eyes, his eyes were full of fine light, and he picked up the pen again and wrote a few lines of big characters on the rolling paper: "I wanted to be an official to help the prime minister, but the saint ruined the court." The mountains and rivers are 30,000 miles high, and a dry pen writes frenzy. The rivers and lakes are still the same, and they are left to decay and stand beside them. Since then, regardless of the affairs of the dynasty, Li Mang has been loyal!"

Before the ink marks on the paper dried, Li Changfeng stood up, straightened his clothes, ignored the puzzled eyes of the two invigilators, turned around and left the examination hall.

Out of the test hall, Li Changfeng stood in front of the hall for a long time, hiding his face and sighing, thinking about many things in his heart.

Wang Zhongtian as the prime minister of the dynasty, and honored as the elder of the three dynasties, has assisted the three saints, and now just because of the persuasion of the faint king Li Mang, it ended up in such a miserable end, this Tianxi Dynasty seems to be prosperous, in fact, the foundation has long been decayed, the officials are corrupt, the emperor does not accept loyalty, even if there are occasionally Wang Zhongtian such loyal courtiers, but they were ruthlessly strangled by Li Mang, and the end is pitiful and lamentable!

"It's a pity that I have been studying hard for more than ten years, I wanted to serve the court, who knew that the saint was so mediocre, I, Li Changfeng, was born poor, and I have no relatives and friends, where should I go in the future!" Li Changfeng looked up to the sky and sighed, feeling resentful in his heart, but he didn't know how to vent.

"Okay, sell this Xiucai shirt first, and from now on, don't ask about the words, change to a long sword, and go all over the world, and then find a way in the future!"

Thinking of this, Li Changfeng came to a nearby pawnshop, sold the clothes on his body, as well as the books and paper and pens stored in the inn earlier, changed into a coarse cloth robe, bought a large iron piece, left Hanzhou City, and went to the north.

If you ask the prime minister Wang Zhongtian why he was beheaded, listen to me slowly.

Since the battle of Nashanheguan a few years ago, more than half of the 100,000 imperial soldiers stationed at Shanheguan have been lost, and the news has spread to the imperial capital thousands of miles away, causing Li Mang to be furious......

On that day, in the imperial capital Xilong Palace

"Qi Qi Sheng, three days ago, Yue Long, the general under Li Muyuan, led 50,000 Northern Barbarian Iron Cavalry to approach Shanhe Pass. Zhenbei General Zhang Xiu led 100,000 imperial soldiers to meet the battle, although he forced Yue Long to retreat, but most of the soldiers were killed and wounded!"

On the Xilong Palace, Prime Minister Wang Zhongtian knelt in the center of the main hall, performed courtier etiquette with both hands, and reported to the Son of Heaven sitting on the golden dragon chair the situation of the battle at Shanhe Pass a few days ago.

Hearing Wang Zhongtian say this, the civil and military officials standing in the court immediately frowned, and whispered in each other's ears.

"How can this be? Could it be that all my soldiers are vegetarians! A whole hundred thousand people, they were beaten by the 50,000 people under Yue Long's hands, if they are all this kind of wine bags and rice bags, how can my great Tianxi Dynasty survive in the world forever!" Li Mang was furious, pacing with his hands behind his back, his eyes full of resentment.

"Back to the saint, we shouldn't blame our soldiers for this battle, the 50,000 Northern Barbarian Iron Cavalry behind Yue Long is a brave and good fighting army. Li Muyuan guarded the Northern Barbarians, and led the troops to fight with foreign races all the year round, so the soldiers of the Northern Barbarian Iron Cavalry were all experienced in a hundred battles. But our soldiers are stationed in the southern soil, and there is not much training in battlefield fighting, so they will be weaker than the northern barbarian iron cavalry. Wang Zhongtian knelt in the center of the hall and said respectfully.

Li Mang looked at him coldly, and scolded: "Wang Zhongtian, don't think that if you are the prime minister, I will not dare to punish you! Are you considered to be a long-term enemy army force and destroy the prestige of our army? I still don't believe it, his Northern Barbarian Iron Cavalry is really so strong! Come, draft an order, and tell Zhang Xiu that if there is another enemy in Shanhe Pass in the future, he will have to block me no matter what! Not only will he have to block the enemy who is coming, but he will also fight the majesty of tens of thousands of my imperial soldiers! I will not give him more troops, if I lose the Shanhe Pass, I will destroy him Zhang Clan!"

Hearing Li Mang say this, Wang Zhongtian suddenly became anxious, and hurriedly saluted: "Holy Lord, the old minister's loyalty to our dynasty can be learned from heaven and earth! Please also ask the Holy Lord to increase his troops, with less than 100,000 soldiers and horses in the hands of General Zhenbei now, it is difficult to stop the attack of the Northern Barbarian Iron Cavalry!"

"Hmph, Wang Zhongtian, I don't want to talk to you like this for the sake of you as a patriarch of the Three Dynasties, but you don't take my words too seriously, do you! As the Son of Heaven, my words won't work for you? Or do you have no status for a long time in your eyes!" Li Mang was furious and pointed at Wang Zhongtian's head and shouted.

"Shengshang, the old minister is only dedicated to protecting my dynasty, there is no selfishness, the old minister is willing to use his life as a guarantee, what he just said is true, and please think twice, if you don't send troops to reinforce the Zhenbei general, I am afraid that the mountains and rivers will really fall into the hands of thieves!"

Li Mang snorted coldly, and a fine light flashed in his eyes: "This matter is decided, if anyone dares to intercede for Zhang Xiu again, I will ignore the past feelings and be punished for serious crimes! I don't believe it, with his prestige as a general in Zhenbei, plus tens of thousands of imperial soldiers, he really can't hold the mountains and rivers pass!"

Hearing Li Mang say this, the few people in the court who originally wanted to speak suddenly closed their mouths. Wang Zhongtian had no choice but to shake his head helplessly and sigh.

For example, today's Xi Dynasty has long been close to decline, and the original vast territory has also been divided by the major vassal kings, especially Li Muyuan, who is majestic in the north, and has pocketed almost half of the dynasty's territory.

A hundred years ago, the strength of the entire Tianxi Dynasty was the first among the nine major kingdoms, if it weren't for the rebellion of Li Ye, the king of Yishan, and led hundreds of thousands of troops to suppress the border, the dynasty would not continue to decline in the next hundred years.

For example, today's son Li Mang, although he is not extremely mediocre, but he is not a Ming monarch, the prime minister Wang Zhongtian's three generations of veterans, has assisted the Li family for three generations of the son of heaven, and is even more loyal to the dynasty.

If Li Mang accepted Wang Zhongtian's suggestion and sent tens of thousands of troops to Shanhe Pass, then there would be no situation in the future where the Northern Barbarian Iron rode on horseback and stepped on the Shanhe Pass, and there would be no situation in the future where the Tianxi Dynasty would fall apart and Wei Ruo would be tired!

"Retreat!" Li Mang's voice came from the Xilong Palace, and the hundred officials left one after another, Wang Zhongtian also stood up, patted the wrinkled official robe, bowed in the direction of the golden dragon chair in the hall, turned around and left the Xilong Palace.

Standing in front of the palace, Wang Zhongtian looked around, looked at the majestic and solemn palace, and couldn't help shaking his head and sighing: "The dynasty of hundreds of years will be destroyed in one fell swoop!"

......

Right and wrong, a hundred years of ups and downs, and the decline of the dynasty are the trend of the times. You can see that the passing water flows eastward, and it seems to be the change of dynasty, the rotation of the sun and the moon, tens of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, and generation after generation. The world is yellow, the years have passed, in this long river, hundreds of years have been consumed, what can be done?

In addition, the capital of the emperor, the dragon and the python belt, everyone in the world, how many people can get it? It also corresponds to that sentence: the years change, the dynasties change, and in the rotation of the sun and the moon, countless emperors have been changed.

In the eighth year of Tianxi III, the dynasty declined even more, and after the battle of Shanheguan a few years ago, Li Muyuan quietly withdrew from the army and no longer sent troops to the south. The princes of the world did not understand until the end that the previous battle of Shanhe Pass was not Li Muyuan's attempt to attack Nantu, but in fact it was just to calculate Li Mang's reaction.

What made Li Muyuan happy was that in the end, Li Mang really didn't listen to the advice of the courtiers, not only did not increase the number of troops at Shanhe Pass, but also issued a holy decree, saying that he would not send another soldier or a soldier, if Zhang Xiu could not hold Shanhe Pass, then the Zhang clan would be destroyed.

When Zhang Xiu got the edict, he was stunned, and asked himself the eight generations of the Zhang family, which of the children surnamed Zhang was not a powerful general of the dynasty? If there was no Zhang family at the beginning, this Tianxi Dynasty would have been finished long ago, and it would not be able to keep it today!

can be a courtier, coupled with the ancestral testament, although Zhang Xiu was dissatisfied, but still helpless, had to take a mere 60,000 soldiers and horses, stationed in the mountains and rivers pass, the sun and the moon were melancholy, and he was full of white hair overnight.

If today's strength of the Xi Dynasty has long been greatly reduced, the only general who can really handle it is the white-haired Zhang Xiu. But over the years, Li Mang began to ignore the government and politics, and was obsessed with wine all day long, learning from the king of Shang in the past, building a wine pond and meat forest in the imperial capital, traveling Jiao'er to serve, entering the palace and being slept for a long time, sleeping until the sun was three poles, the sun shone on the buttocks, still can't afford it, and the early dynasty was abandoned.

Hundreds of civil and military officials sighed all day long, headed by Prime Minister Wang Zhongtian, and hundreds of people entered the book, hoping that the saint would come to the court, but this time, it provoked Li Mang's anger, took off Prime Minister Wang Zhongtian's python robe and official hat, and also ordered that if anyone dares to do this in the future, he will be punished.

On this day, Prime Minister Wang Zhongtian wore the golden python robe given by the first emperor, knelt and bowed outside the palace, the huge palace, from the outside of the palace to the Xilong Palace, a total of 9,999 steps, stunned by the elders of the three dynasties, kowtowed step by step, left a long bloodstain on the ground, the cloak was scattered, and the face was full of blood came to the Xilong Palace.

Wang Zhongtian knelt in front of the Xilong Palace, his knees were already blurred with blood, and his head was even more bloody, and he shouted at the Xilong Palace: "Old minister Wang Zhongtian, please see the saint!"

Word by word, Wang Zhongtian shouted heartbreaking, and the voice spread throughout the court, and tens of thousands of people in the palace listened to it clearly. But no one came to see him.

Wang Zhongtian burst into tears, couldn't cry, and then shouted: "Old minister Wang Zhongtian, please see the saint!"

As a veteran of the Three Dynasties, this Wang Zhongtian is now eighty-nine years old, with white hair and a withered face, watching Li Mang grow up since he was a child, and watching the Tianxi Dynasty gradually fall in Li Mang's hands.

But today, in front of the Xilong Palace, there is only one figure, kneeling in front of the palace, looking so lonely.

"Old minister Wang Zhongtian, please see the saint!"

End of chapter