I am imprisoned in Kaifeng Mansion

Zhao Zongqing waited in the side hall with all the ministers. Not only did he see Cui Tao coming, but he also saw Chen Yifa and the "sacrificed" Li Cai appear. He naturally understood the reason why Jin Mingchi's plan failed.

They played the trick of feigning death very well.

Thick eyelashes covered Zhao Zongqing's half-revealed pupils, which were full of unresolved shadows.He is quiet and cold, giving people the feeling that it is difficult to approach.

Zhao Zongli saw his brother like this, so he came to greet him twice, worried that after he killed someone, he would react belatedly and feel scared.

"You did the right thing, brother is proud of you." Zhao Zongli patted Zhao Zongqing on the shoulder and encouraged him.

Zhao Zongqing nodded with a gentle smile.

At this time, the servants came to convey the emperor's oral order, except for those who were called and needed to be escorted back to the palace, the rest of the people could go home.Everyone thought that the ministers called should be Prime Minister Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and other important ministers, but they didn't expect that apart from Han Qi, the only ones left by the roll call were the Duke of Yan'an and Zhao Zongqing and his son.The eldest son Zhao Zongli and the second son Zhao Zongdan of Yan'an County Duke also came today, but they were not among the accompanying drivers.Especially Zhao Zongdan, who has been reading with the emperor since he was a child. The emperor has always trusted him very much, and he didn't expect that he would not even take him with him.

But after thinking about it, it is not incomprehensible. Just now Zhao Zongqing showed bravery, not only uttered words of sincerity and loyalty to the emperor, but also killed the leader of the rebels. The emperor only thought of him for a while, and brought his father along. In common sense.

The ministers couldn't help feeling in their hearts that Zhao Zongqing might be on the rise in the future, and the emperor would definitely rely heavily on him in the court in the future.Later, they had to think hard about how to please the eldest son who was about to be favored.

After receiving the decree, the Duke of Yan'an once again praised Zhao Zongqing's previous performance, but he did not forget to tell him to guard against arrogance and impetuosity.

"Don't worry, Daddy, save the baby." Zhao Zongqing agreed meekly, and followed behind the Duke of Yan'an.

When setting off, Duke Yan'an was invited to ride in a carriage with Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zongqing saw the Duke of Yan'an getting into the carriage after Zhao Zhen.

He wants to ride horses with Han Qi, Cui Tao and others to open the way ahead.The commander in front of the palace was escorting behind.

Zhao Zongqing saw Han Qi riding neatly on the horse, and deliberately showed a pair of probing and curious eyes.

"I saw that Tuiguan Han is agile, and he is not as bad as he was when he was in a wheelchair. Could it be that Tuiguan Han is fake poisoning?"

"It was really poisonous, but it was cured later." Han Qi explained calmly, without shame, but made the person who asked the question feel as if he had offended, which made Zhao Zongqing feel ridiculous.

After Zhao Zongqing got on the horse, he continued: "The official Han Tui pretended to be realistic, his face was pale, and his head was sweating. It's really hard for people to see the flaws. I don't know what's the secret?"

"Think about what you are most afraid of, and it will be like that."

"What's the most frightening thing? Is there something that Han Tuiguan is afraid of?" Zhao Zongqing was curious.

"As long as you are human, you will have something to be afraid of. This is human nature." Han Qi asked Zhao Zongqing, is he not afraid of anything.

"I'm afraid too much, but maybe it's because I'm afraid too much that I'm numb." When Zhao Zongqing laughed at himself, his eyes were lost for a moment, and his expression was a little bit melancholy.

The West Street has been banned, and there are forbidden troops on both sides of the road, and the carriage moves forward slowly.

The whole street is extremely quiet, but the bustle of the street market in the distance can still be heard.After all, it is the most lively Shangyuan Festival, and there are still people who don't know the situation are busy celebrating the festival.

After Wuzheng, the common people were allowed to release sky lanterns.

In fact, after the emperor put up the sky lanterns, he left a period of time for the ministers and nobles to put the lanterns on.But because of what happened to Jin Mingchi, no one bothered to let him go.

When the team entered Yujie from West Street, they just arrived at Wuzheng. Someone knocked on the clapper to announce the time, and he still reminded everyone to pay attention to avoiding fire.

Soon, lights began to rise in the south of Bianjing City, bit by bit, and gradually increased, and then many sky lanterns rose into the sky in the east and west directions.

After Zhao Zongqing looked up and saw it, he secretly raised the corners of his mouth, looking very happy, but no one noticed how much vicious and violent aura was hidden under his eyes.Pleasure?He hasn't been here for a long time, and the last time he was truly happy was seven years ago.

The team continued to walk for a further distance, and part of the sky lanterns that were lifted into the sky floated towards the direction of Yujie due to the northeast wind.

Han Qi had been secretly observing Zhao Zongqing, and couldn't help admiring him for being so calm.

"Do you know why the officials left the Duke of Yan'an and specially invited him to ride in the carriage?" Han Qi decided to take the initiative to provoke, and asked suddenly on purpose.

Zhao Zongqing thought of the possibility from the moment he learned that the emperor deliberately left the Duke of Yan'an.Han Qi's special question at this time is equivalent to giving Zhao Zongqing an affirmative answer.

"You suspect that I am the one behind the scenes, and you are worried that the official's return to the palace will not be peaceful, so you threaten the life of the Duke of Yan'an?"

The emperor died, and the most likely successor was the Duke of Yan'an County.But if the Duke of Yan'an dies, the possibility of choosing his next generation is not high.Because there are still other brothers of the first emperor to consider, even if the remaining ones are concubine princes, the status of the prince or county king is higher than that of the heirs of the Duke of Yan'an.Even if he really planned to consider candidates from the younger generation, he would only select the heirs of the kings, and no matter what, it would not be the turn of Zhao Zongqing, the youngest son of the concubine.

Therefore, Han Qi must have thought that if he wanted to seek the throne, the only way he could do it was: kill the emperor first, let the Duke of Yan'an take the throne, wait for himself to become a prince, and then find a way to get rid of his brothers and take the throne himself.

If the Duke of Yan'an died with the emperor today, his "plan" would suddenly become a wedding dress for others.

When Han Qi heard Zhao Zongqing calmly express his thoughts, his reaction was too calm, and suspicion suddenly arose in his heart.

"It turns out that Han Tuiguan thought I was coveting the throne?" Zhao Zongqing's ridicule was very obvious.

Han Qi therefore thought of Wang Meiren, "Revenge?"

Zhao Zongqing raised his eyebrows, laughed, and sighed that Han Qi really knew how to joke.But when Han Qi mentioned Wang Meiren, his eyes froze for a moment, as if thinking that Han Qi had found Wang Meiren.The corners of Zhao Zongqing's mouth twitched. This smile was not very good-looking. It seemed that some bad memories had come back, and it was difficult to restrain the violence hidden under the smiling appearance.

However, Zhao Zongqing did not reveal too many flaws in the end.

"Han Tuiguan is worthy of being a genius in solving crimes. Everyone looks like a sinner. It's a big show."

Han Qi also smiled, said no more, and continued to ride his horse forward.

Zhao Zongqing stared at Han Qi's back, and the warmth in his smiling eyes suddenly disappeared. When those eyes were staring at people, it gave people a cold feeling like a poisonous snake slowly climbing up the spine.

But soon he looked up and looked at the rising sky lanterns in the sky, silently counting how many lanterns floated over their heads.

Suddenly, a sky lantern caught fire in the distant sky and fell to the ground.Then two more lamps caught fire and fell one after another.

The places where the sky lanterns are released are different, and the time when the sky lanterns catch fire and the places where they land are also different.There will only be more and more fireballs falling from different places, including of course the sky lanterns that are floating above their heads.There is so much freedom in the sky that no one can control it.

Zhao Zongqing noticed that the people present did not pay attention to the things in the sky, only himself. When he saw the falling sky lanterns, he couldn't help but raise his lips.

He observed the situation on the street, and then rode his horse to the front.

Cui Tao has been following on horseback, observing Zhao Zongqing's actions.At this moment, she suddenly raised her waist and stretched her waist, a burning fire pocket on her right hand wobbled and drew circles in the night sky.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

A few burning lanterns suddenly fell down, igniting the wall on the side of the street.The orange flames suddenly shot up very high, over the wall, and everyone was in a mess for an instant, shouting to protect the officials!

Boom!boom!

There was the sound of an explosion coming from behind, and it was approaching in an instant, and everyone was even more chaotic, so they had to rush forward to protect the emperor's car.

Continuous explosions, chaotic footsteps, neighing of horses, and shouts of many guards... everything seemed so chaotic.

From the moment the fireball fell, Zhao Zongqing rode his horse quickly and ran towards the alley ahead.The appearance of riding the horse in a hurry, obviously fleeing desperately, as if fleeing from a mountain of swords and a sea of ​​fire.Of course, originally this place was supposed to be a more Shura place than mountains of swords and seas of fire.

"Okay, stop acting!"

Cui Tao knocked a small gong, and the chaotic sounds around him gradually stopped, and the horses were also brought under control.The sound of the explosion disappeared, and finally there was only the clear sound of horseshoes running towards Jiaxiang in the distance.

The so-called Jiaxiang is an extremely narrow alley, barely enough for one person to pass through on horseback, and a horse-drawn carriage will certainly not be able to pass through, let alone the large carriage that the emperor rides in.

"Hahahaha... go to hell!"

Zhao Zongqing yelled something when he rode his horse into the alley. He might have yelled something before, but because the scene was noisy, everyone didn't hear it, but now they could hear it clearly.

Everyone saw Zhao Zongqing riding his horse into Jiaxiang, and then slowly backed out.

Immediately afterwards, several guards with knives emerged from the alley, and several soldiers with bows and arrows also jumped down from the wall, aiming at Zhao Zongqing.

Zhao Zongqing was shocked by what he saw, and immediately responded. The interface suddenly became quiet. He turned his head to look at the team, and saw Han Qi, Cui Tao, and all the guards of the forbidden army were watching him quietly.The walls on both sides of the street are intact, without any signs of blasting or breaking.

The wall didn't collapse, but Zhao Zongqing's heart thumped, and it all collapsed!

how come?how come……

Zhao Zongqing looked at the sky in disbelief.The sky lanterns in the night sky rose higher and higher, drifting farther and farther away, each of them was floating well, like unusually bright stars, dotted the whole night sky, dreamlike and unreal, beautiful.There is no sky lantern, and there is no tendency for fire to fall to the ground.

Zhao Zongqing still didn't believe it in the end, and went to check again and again to confirm——

"Are you all right?" Han Qi rode over.

"It's okay." Zhao Zongqing responded in a panic. He looked away and blinked twice, "I thought I was in danger just now, so I ran away quickly. It was my fault that I didn't care about the safety of the officials. , I’m going to make amends to the officials!”

"It's a trivial matter. It's human nature to think about protecting yourself in case of danger. Besides, it's not your responsibility to protect the emperor, it's the responsibility of the guards of the imperial army." When Han Qi said this, he stared at Zhao Zongqing with his eyes, as if he was in a hurry. The sword pierced him, "I'm just curious, why didn't you go to the two alleys nearby, both of which are spacious, but chose to take this long and narrow alley instead."

"I was flustered for a while, and I didn't make a clear distinction." Zhao Zongqing was much calmer than before, and he gradually came back to his senses, but his face was still not very good-looking.

Han Qi chuckled and didn't speak, just looked at Zhao Zongqing silently, and the others didn't say anything either.

The entire Royal Street suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

In the end, Zhao Zongqing realized it under Han Qi's clear eyes.If he kept on pretending, there was no need for it anymore, these people were clearly trying to trick him on purpose.Since Han Qi had noticed it a long time ago and had an insight into everything, he must have got the handle on him.

Suddenly, a string of men's laughter broke the silence of the entire street.

Lu Jiong, the commander in front of the palace, was actually very confused. Before that, he didn't quite understand why Han Qi asked his subordinates to cooperate in acting, and why he arranged to throw fire lanterns and set off firecrackers.Now when he suddenly saw Zhao Zongqing showing a ferocious expression, he realized something, and immediately drew his knife to defend: "Could it be that he is also a traitor—"

At this time, the Duke of Yan'an got off the carriage angrily, pointed at Zhao Zongqing's nose and cursed: "Nizi, what have you done? Explain to me!"

"Niezi?" Zhao Zongqing sneered, not at all afraid of Yan'an County Duke's angry accusations, but instead spoke to Yan'an County with a very interesting tone, "'Daddy' doesn't know? I'm not actually 'Daddy''s son at all." .”

Duke Yan'an was stunned, completely unable to recover.This... what does this mean?What do you mean it's not his son?

Unexpectedly, there was a bloody plot in it, Cui Tao weighed the last firecracker left in his hand, and threw it out casually.

boom--

The sound is loud, but the power is very small, it is purely a sound.

However, many people present were shocked, including Han Qi, because they paid full attention to Zhao Zongqing's side, and they didn't expect the sound to be heard again.

Han Qi looked back at Cui Tao helplessly, and Cui Tao immediately retracted her neck and hid behind the horse's buttocks.

"Evil! Tell me clearly!" the Duke of Yan'an roared angrily.

Zhao Zongqing sneered, but the conversation ended here.Duke Yan'an was hooked, making him angry, confused and irritable, but Zhao Zongqing just kept silent.

"Take down the traitor Zhao Zongqing quickly!" Lu Jiong ordered.

When the guards stepped forward, Zhao Zongqing drew out his dagger, which immediately attracted the vigilance of the guards, who immediately confronted him with their knives.

Zhao Zongqing put the dagger on his neck instead.

With two swishes, the dart hit the eyebrows of the two guards, and a black shadow suddenly jumped down from the roof.

This person was wearing a black nocturnal suit covering his face, but Cui Tao judged from his figure that it should be Mo Zhuifeng.

Immediately afterwards, human heads quietly popped out from the roofs of several surrounding houses, and they all held crossbows condescendingly, aiming at the people on the street.

Zhao Zongqing glanced at the visitor.

"Protect the young master!" Mo Zhuifeng ordered, and the men in black on the roof wanted to act, but they were quickly killed by Lu Jiong's men on the spot.

Zhao Zongqing smiled, "You shouldn't have come."

"I'll take the young master away." Mo Zhuifeng protected Zhao Zongqing behind him, and wanted to use the hidden weapon he had prepared as a last-ditch effort.

"I can't escape, but it's okay. I expected such a day. Unfortunately, most of my wishes have been fulfilled, but I'm only one step away." Zhao Zongqing sighed regretfully, with a self-deprecating tone.

"Young master! Zhuifeng is with you!" Mo Zhuifeng tore off the black cloth covering his face, and held Zhao Zongqing's arm tightly.

"Take it!" Lu Jiong ordered, and the guards captured Zhao Zongqing and Mo Zhuifeng.Mo Zhuifeng resisted, but no matter how good his martial arts were, he could not defeat a hundred with one.

When Zhao Zongqing was captured, he had a self-deprecating smile all over his face, and he didn't know whether he was laughing at himself or his captors.

"Your show is over." Cui Tao, who watched the whole show and led everyone to act, made a concluding announcement at this time.

Zhao Zongqing saw the debris of firecrackers left on the ground, and he didn't understand anything.

He couldn't help asking Cui Tao and Han Qi: "Have you already expected this?"

Mo Zhuifeng just rushed over to rescue Zhao Zongqing, but he was not very clear about what happened just now. He was very puzzled after hearing Zhao Zongqing's question.So what did the young master arrange here?

Mo Zhuifeng's expression was accurately captured by Cui Tao.

"So you didn't know about the sky lantern?" Compared to answering Zhao Zongqing's question, Cui Tao was even more surprised that Mo Zhuifeng didn't know about it.

sky lantern?Mo Zhuifeng raised his eyes to look at the sky lantern in the sky.

Mo Zhuifeng's actions exposed his true thoughts, which made Cui Tao fully confirm that Mo Zhuifeng was completely ignorant of this matter.

This is kind of interesting.

Mo Zhuifeng always thought that he was Zhao Zongqing's confidant, and that Zhao Zongqing would tell him all important plans and arrange them by his hands.He didn't realize until now that it didn't seem to be the case.The young master likes to pretend to be many people, he seems to have thousands of faces, but he always thought that he knew the young master very well, but now Mo Zhuifeng dare not be so sure.

"Actually, it's not too early. I didn't fully find out until the day before the Shangyuan Festival." Han Qi chose to answer Zhao Zongqing's question.

"This is even more impossible. At that time, the sky lanterns had already been distributed to the common people, and it was impossible for you to search them all!"

"It's very simple, sky lanterns are prohibited."

Zhao Zongqing was still puzzled, Han Qi and the others did not order in advance to prohibit the people from releasing sky lanterns.If there is such an announcement aimed at the people in the city, he will definitely get the news as soon as possible.Then he will definitely be vigilant and cancel the action in time.

But before Jin Mingchi's rebellion happened, he didn't hear any news, which meant that Han Qi and the others acted after the rebellion.But at that time, the common people were already holding sky lanterns in their hands, and there were people everywhere inside and outside Bianjing. In just one or two sticks, it was impossible for them to travel to all places and notify all the common people.

"It's too much to scare the snake away. Before the ministers participated in the Jinmingchi Lantern Festival, we did not notify the people that the sky lanterns were banned. But we made arrangements in advance to ensure that every street and alley in and outside the city had people beating gongs and shouting. The giant sky lantern ascended to the sky as a signal, announcing the ban on sky lanterns.”

"What's the matter with the sky lantern?" Lu Jiong was quite anxious. He didn't know the whole situation at the beginning, and he still doesn't know until now, and his mind is full of doubts.

Mo Zhuifeng was also puzzled and listened attentively.

"The sky lantern will suddenly catch fire and fall after being set for a period of time, igniting the wall on the street, and then detonating the brick wall." Cui Tao explained.

Lu Jiong was still a little dazed when he heard it, "It's really unpredictable that the sky lantern caught fire and fell. But after all, there wasn't a big fireball. The brick wall burns and then explodes, isn’t it a bit exaggerated? Even when it’s on fire, the brick wall won’t be able to burn!”

Cui Tao took Lu Jiong to a wall that hadn't been burned yet, and asked him to touch the wall at the place she designated.

Lu Jiong touched it as he said, feeling a little sticky on his hands.

"This is... oil?"

"The night before the Shangyuan Festival, someone pretended to be a person from the street department, and spread a little lamp oil on the walls of the street at intervals. Once there was an open flame, it would be ignited here."

"Oh? Then burning the wall like this will blow it up?" Lu Jiong felt as if he had discovered something extraordinary.

"These places where the lamp oil was painted have traces of repair."

Cui Tao drew a shape diagram of a hollow brick on the ground and explained it carefully to Lu Jiong.

"Put gunpowder in the hollow part inside, and there is a wax pellet at the seal, which is filled with phosphorous powder that will be ignited when heated. Then seal the hole with clay and grind it flat. At first glance, its surface looks no different from ordinary solid bricks. Put this Bricks are built into the wall, and if the outer wall catches fire, the phosphor powder inside the bricks will be ignited and explode."

Lu Jiong suddenly realized, and the sweat on his back immediately stood up, "My God!"

Lu Jiong then took two or three steps back, deciding to stay away from the oiled wall.

Cui Tao smiled, "Commander Lu, don't worry, these bricks have already been replaced."

Originally, the street department's project to repair the street wall was not large, only to repair some damaged walls, but these small places were enough to bury explosives and release great power.When the Imperial Street was banned, Han Qi asked the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry to quickly replace these bricks.

Zhao Zongqing is very cautious, these things are not what he did during his tenure as the street secretary.Instead, he tricked the previous street secretary into his activities and ordered him to build ahead of schedule and complete the repairs years ago. Naturally, the bricks used for the repairs were designated by Zhao Zongqing.

And when Zhao Zongqing was working in the Sub-district Department, even if some people had been suspecting him to pay attention to him, they couldn't find out that there was something wrong with him.He only needs to use the authority of the Street Department to send someone to paint lamp oil on the wall on the eve of the Shangyuan Festival.

As for the alley, it is the nearest alley that has not been repaired by gunpowder bricks. Before the explosion, you can escape safely by walking this alley.This kind of "safety" alley exists in several other streets in the city, which shows that Zhao Zongqing thought carefully when planning, leaving escape routes on every street.But no one would have been able to pinpoint the location in the panic of the explosion if it weren't for someone in the know.

"I trouble Commander Lu to escort the two of them to Kaifeng Mansion." Han Qi said to Lu Jiong.

"Okay, okay, no problem." Lu Jiong ordered his subordinates to take him away quickly, and turned his head to see Han Qi walking up to the completely frightened Duke of Yan'an. Hearing this, he explained a few words, which made the Duke of Yan'an finally look better. a little.

After Mo Zhuifeng figured out the situation, he looked at Zhao Zongqing in perplexity, and asked him why, "Why did the young master keep such a big matter from me?"

Zhao Zong didn't even blink his eyes, and ignored Mo Zhuifeng.

Seeing this, Mo Zhuifeng was even more puzzled.If the young master hadn't promised him again and again, saying that he was the most trustworthy person, he would obediently accept his fate and accept everything, and would not ask such unwilling questions.But under the encouragement and praise of his kind words all the time, the young master actually hid such a big matter from him, he didn't understand why.It's just bombing the city of Bianjing, and he doesn't have any feelings for this Bianjing, why should he hide it from him?

Isn't the young master afraid that he will be injured when he acts in the city without knowing it?Mo Zhuifeng had a bad premonition in his heart, and even had a little suspicion, but he quickly suppressed it. He didn't allow himself to have any thoughts of disloyalty to the young master.

"You will know, during the trial." Seeing Mo Zhuifeng's stubborn eyes, Zhao Zongqing smiled with one corner of his mouth, and finally said something mercifully to him.

At this time, except that his arms were controlled, he did not have the slightest embarrassment of a prisoner, and it could even be said that he seemed to be looking forward to the next trial in Kaifeng Mansion.

"Oh my god, why is he so crazy? This is the first time I've seen a person who has been arrested, so crazy!"

Lu Jiong rubbed his chin in perplexity, then asked and answered with emotion.

"But it's true. If it weren't for this, how could he have the guts to do such a big thing today? If one plan fails, there will be another plan. It's really unexpected!"

Fortunately, Mrs. Cui and Han Tuiguan had insight into everything and could not stop it in time. Otherwise, if today's incident really happened, Lu Jiong would not dare to imagine the result.