Later Chu State Capital, name: Yu Zhaojing.

This place, west of the water of Longshang, east of the towering mountains of Tai'an, sitting on the southern part of Jianzhou dangerous place, tightly guarding the main road through the north and south, since ancient times, is the place where soldiers must fight, but it is also the ancestral land of Longxing of the Hou Chu Xiang clan.

The capital of this huge dynasty, after hundreds of years of operation and expansion, has now become one of the two giant cities on the East Lu Sword Continent, standing on the land in the south of the Sword Continent, but it is famous in all corners of the entire continent and beyond.

Everybody knows, everybody knows.

And the other city side by side is the capital of Daqi, Uehara Kyo. In addition, there was originally a third giant city, which was also the most spectacular and majestic city among the three cities, located in the middle of Jianzhou, but it was thrown into the imperial city by the Qichu coalition army, and then extended to all parts of the city, it was all burned clean by the fire, and many things were burned, and now only remains, less than the original tenth.

is naturally the former Han capital.

Now, it has become a memory of the past.

The old people, the old things, the old lovesickness, do the wind and go, and don't think about returning.

......

In the capital of Western Chu, it is also a snowy night. It's just that, compared with the small country of Daze in the south, although the snow is now heavy and urgent, there is no endless wind blowing, which makes this snowy night in the capital a little more rare quiet.

However, Jingzhong is not at peace.

It has been a long time since the curfew, and the various markets in Beijing have closed early, and on the streets, only a single Gyeonggi guard who has been constantly guarding all night, carrying lanterns, is still patrolling all over the capital under the heavy snow, as in the past.

The heavy snow had already stained all their heavy armor white.

Suddenly, at the main gate in the south of the capital, on the Xuanyang Gate, there was a drum sound, which resounded throughout the capital.

The three-way drum was finished, but it was not the twilight drum that had been knocked down earlier to represent the night curfew.

I heard it, and what followed it was the three-way drum sound in the imperial city.

A total of six drums woke up even those who had fallen asleep in the capital.

In fact, for more than ten years, Beijing has not heard these drums at night, and only the older generation of people in Beijing will probably have an impression of these six drums.

And the many Gyeonggi guards who are still patrolling are very aware of the meaning of this drum sound. In particular, those Gyeonggi guards, who patrolled the Qinglong Avenue from Xuanyang Gate to the main gate of the Imperial City, which had nearly 100 guards, after hearing the sound of drums one after another, no matter what they were doing at hand, whether they were patrolling or chasing the snitches who violated the curfew law and came out to commit the theft at night, they had to put aside these things for the time being, and rush to both sides of Qinglong Street。 In addition, on Qinglong Street, there shall be no more idle people and other random haunts, if found, according to the law, the Gyeonggi guards can kill that person on the spot!

There is no trace of affection left behind.

Everything, just because, these six drums represent the most urgent military information transmission of the Later Chu Dynasty, and they are for the emperor to check in person before reaching the palace, but they can't be delayed for a moment!

It didn't take long to see that from the south gate, there was a flying horse under the long wind and snow, and the horse was speeding all the way, and the four hooves were splashing, like a meteor in the frost and snow, only to hear the sound of a rapid horse's hooves, and when I wanted to look up, it was already fleeting.

On Qinglong Street, the snow fell all over the ground, and all of them flew by with this ride, flew up again, and then fell colorfully.

Immediately knights, looking at their heads and faces, have been tightly wrapped with thick towels, used to resist the cold wind and snow along the way, only the line in front of the eyes is used to see, and the body is worn, it is also a special winter armor with armor pieces inlaid with fluff inside, and three small three-color pennants are inserted on their backs, which continue to fly backwards with the wind, but they represent the most important military information transmission.

Between three days and three nights, the fast horse flew to report, non-stop hurrying, changing people and horses along the way, across half of the Houchu territory, and not to mention running thousands of miles away, even if the knight's seat is the best war horse in the Houchu army, known as the most robust in the south, but also known for speed and endurance "thousands of miles of hooves", is also a little unbearable, before that, between several post passes, even ran down several horses.

I saw that under the gate of the Imperial City Palace, the two closed gates were already open, and there were more than a dozen Imperial City forbidden soldiers waiting here, led by a patrol captain himself, with the ride rushing into the palace gate, and then disappeared behind the palace gate, the two gates were slowly closed again, and a thick and melodious loud noise came out.

After the sentinel who transmitted the military information entered the imperial city, the Gyeonggi guards who were on standby on Qinglong Street dispersed and resumed their patrol duties.

It seems to have returned to normal, and nothing has happened again.

However, it is only an illusion.

I saw that not long after the sentry entered the imperial city to transmit military information, the palace gate of the imperial city opened again.

This time, all three doors were opened, and from the three palace gates, there were more than a dozen riders rushing out. I saw that five of them went straight to the east and west gates of the capital, as well as the south gate, and directly showed the secret order to the city gate guards, and went out of the city overnight. And the rest of the horsemen went to various places in the capital, all of which were the mansions of the princes and ministers, the six Shangshu.

The matter was urgent, but a secret order came directly from the palace, urgently summoning the ministers to enter the palace overnight.

It was only half a time to burn incense, and from all over the capital, there were carriages with luxurious or restrained decorations, driving out one after another, and the horsemen on the carriages shouted loudly and shook the whips, drove the carriage against the heavy snow, and then followed the knight who led the way in front of him, and hurried to the imperial city.

After a while, several carriages had stopped at the foot of the imperial city, and from the cars stepped down a number of important officials of the imperial court who held the authority of a yamen. I saw that everyone was wearing mink coats and civilian clothes, gathering together outside the palace gate, most of them were over the age of confusion, and several people looked at each other in four corners, and they all had a little base between each other.

Tonight, I'm afraid I don't have to think about going back to sleep.

......

In the Yongning Palace, I saw the emperor of the Later Chu Dynasty, now, sitting alone on the throne, holding his forehead with one hand, and an old eunuch behind him was rubbing his shoulders for him, the Zhengde Emperor is now a rare one who shows a little energy and haggardness, his eyes are half-closed, and thousands of thoughts pass through his heart, but he is just silent.

On the table in front of him, the 100,000 anxious military intelligence report sent by the sentinel was originally watched by him and then thrown outside in anger, but the old eunuch picked it up again and put it on the table again, and at this time he could even see the wrinkles left on it caused by the angry throwing just now.

At this time, the emperor of Hou Chu was a little angry in his heart.

Outside the door, a little eunuch quietly walked in, and he cautiously glanced at the old eunuch who was rubbing his shoulders behind the emperor.

The old eunuch was stunned, and said goodbye to Emperor Zhengde, and then slowly retreated.

When he arrived at the little eunuch's side, the little eunuch bowed his waist and saluted, and then whispered to the old eunuch.

After listening carefully, the old eunuch nodded and waved it away.

Fu returned to Emperor Zhengde's side, bowed his head and whispered: "Your Majesty, the ministers have arrived. ”

When Zhengde heard this, he came back to his senses from the thoughts that were constantly entwined in his heart, glanced at the old eunuch tiredly, and said, "Xuan." ”

"Yes. ”

In the middle of the ring, I saw several ministers coming in from outside the Yongning Palace, and when they saw the emperor, they bowed their heads and bowed, all of which were the pillars of the current Later Chu Dynasty.

Zhengde looked at the ministers, immediately straightened his sitting posture, strengthened his spirit, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need to be polite. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Everyone thanked them.

"Let's not talk about it," Zhengde looked at everyone, and immediately pointed to the newspaper in front of him, and said, "Zhu Aiqing, let's take a look at this newspaper first, it was just sent to Beijing." ”

As he spoke, Zhengde also deliberately looked at the military secretary standing in front of him, but he wanted to see how he reacted first.

There was still a look of doubt on everyone's faces, although they knew that there was a six-way drum sound in the capital tonight, and the meaning of it meant that there was an urgent military situation to be presented to the imperial front, and they naturally knew it. It's just that what puzzled them was where the urgent military information came from? Could it be that the Great Qi in the north suddenly raised troops, and there was no big move?

But this shouldn't be, if there is any movement in the military situation of a country, there must have been many clues before this, but it is clear that the spies from the north came to report before, and the content of the report is clearly written that the wind and waves are calm, and everything is safe.

But shouldn't it?

Or, is there a new change in the demon scourge of Shangtang County?

Such speculation is to no avail after all, it is better to take a look at the truth and know the matter.

After all, this newspaper is the most urgent military intelligence newspaper, so it was the well-deserved secretary of the military department who picked it up first.

I saw that this was already gray-haired, and he had led the troops in the northern border army of Houchu all his life as a general, until he was old, and he was summoned back to Beijing by an edict from the emperor to be regarded as a military secretary for the rest of his life, and after carefully reading the content of the newspaper, even if he was like this, he had already seen many winds and waves, but he could not be regarded as a person who was not alarmed, and he couldn't help but shake his body, as if he shivered.

Immediately stood on the spot, speechless for a long time.

"Lao Bai, what's the matter?" a minister beside him who had a good relationship with him in private couldn't help but ask.

The secretary of the military department came back to his senses, looked at the colleagues around him, and couldn't suppress the huge shock in his tone, and then became low again: "Daze in the south, the thirteen small countries that were originally attached to our dynasty, have all been attacked in three days!"

Hearing this, in the Yongning Palace, all the Hou Chu ministers were shocked!

The snow outside is getting heavier and heavier.