Zhi Xuan

In the twelfth lunar month of winter, the sky is frozen and the ground is closed.

Severe wind blows past, heavy snow like goose feathers flutters one after another, and there is not a single speck of color between the sky and the earth.

Under the snow curtain, the western capital city was completely covered in silver.

In the afternoon, the temperature dropped again and the snow fell more quickly.The soldiers on the top of the city guarded the brazier, but they still couldn't get any warmth.The leather jacket on his body was like an iron plate, and it was wrapped in three layers of linen clothes, which could not resist the howling cold wind.

In such weather, the most cold-resistant beasts dare not come out of the cave.Every house in the city is closed, and there is no one in the square except for the patrolling soldiers.

Suddenly there was the sound of horseshoes.

With the sound of thunderous hoofbeats approaching from far to near, a group of black-armored knights galloped along the galloping road against the wind and snow.

When the soldiers at the top of the city discovered the situation, they couldn't identify the identity of the visitor for a while through the heavy snow curtain. To be cautious, they immediately beat the leather drum.

The drums rumbled above the howling wind.

Amidst the sound of the drums, the four armor chiefs stepped up to the north city wall one after another, and when they saw the team coming galloping through the snow, they all had expressions on their faces.

Less than a hundred steps away from the city gate, the knights tightened their reins one after another, and the horsemen stood up and let out a rhythmic cry.

Running all the way, the horse didn't have a moment to rest.It stopped suddenly, and a large amount of white mist spewed out from the mouth and nose, condensed on the bridle and bit made of animal skin, and instantly formed transparent frost.

When all the horses came to a stop, the leader signaled, and a rider on his side rode out to the city, raised his cloak, held up a golden bronze medal, and said loudly: "The Chinese army will win a big victory, take the eight troops, Behead the head of the chieftain. Get summoned by the king, come back in the starry night, open the city gate quickly!"

The knight held up the bronze medal and roared three times.

The long body of the city head armor leaned out of the parapet, barely saw the appearance of the knight, confirmed the identity of the visitor, did not dare to delay, and immediately ordered someone to put down the drawbridge and open the city gate.At the same time, a soldier was summoned and asked to send a letter to the city quickly.

"The situation is not good." Chief Jia whispered.

Recently, the city has not been peaceful. It is said that something happened to the second young master, and he has been unconscious. A witch was called into the monarch's mansion one after another, but there was no good news.

Both the eldest son and the third son are restless, and the rumors change three times a day, making people panic.

In troubled times, the Chinese army general Su Hu went out to attack the Rong people, and there was no one in the country to check and balance. The Mi family and the Yang family jumped higher and higher, as if they were sure that the second son would not wake up, and wanted to push the young master to the throne.

There were constant turmoil in the court, not to mention Doctor Qing and the people of the country, even the common people began to speculate that something big was going to happen in the country.

The Chinese army will rush back suddenly, let alone summoned by the king. This is undoubtedly pouring water into the oil pan, which will explode and hurt people no matter whether you are careful or not.

Not to mention how worried the chief armor was, the soldier rushed down the city wall at a fast pace, accidentally slipped and fell on the stone steps on the way, rolled and hit the wall for several weeks, grinned and got up from the ground, ignoring the bruises on his arms and thighs, jumping After descending the last few steps of stone stairs, he took the reins from the soldiers, jumped on his horse, and galloped quickly towards the monarch's mansion.

Not long after the soldiers left, the suspension bridge at the head of the city was lowered.

Because the rope is covered with crushed ice, it makes a creaking sound when pulled.

The moat has long been frozen, like a dragon hovering outside the city.The suspension bridge was suspended on it, the rope suddenly broke, and the bridge body fell to the ground with a dull sound.

Seeing this scene, the defenders at the top of the city were all shocked.

According to the law, if the suspension bridge is damaged, anyone below the armored leader of the city guard will be punished with thirty lashes.

During non-wartime, the rope of the suspension bridge actually broke, and the Chinese general witnessed it, even if the law enforcement officer wanted to let it go lightly.

When everyone was panicking, Su Hu ordered people to go forward to check, and it was confirmed that only the rope was broken and the bridge body was not damaged.

Watching the team enter the city, the soldiers rejoiced that they had escaped unharmed, and did not dare to be careless, quickly changed the ropes and raised the suspension bridge again.

In front of the Monarch's Mansion, the soldier delivering the letter arrived first, got off his horse in front of the steps, didn't care to catch his breath, grabbed the waiter in front of the door, and said: "The Chinese army will return and has entered the city!"

The waiter's expression changed suddenly, he waved away the soldier's hand, turned around and was about to rush back to the mansion.Unexpectedly, the action was too hasty, and collided with several waiters who rushed over slowly, his feet slipped, and he rolled into a ball in an instant.

This scene happened to fall into Su Hu's eyes.

The Chinese army general in black armor got off his horse, walked up a few steps, and raised his whip on the spot.

The whip fell, showing no mercy.Several servants were so whipped that they cried like ghosts and wolves. They dared not get up after the whipping stopped, and they prostrated themselves on the ground, enduring the pain and shivering in the cold wind.

"Kneel here."

Leaving four words behind, Su Hu threw out his whip, then strode into the mansion without looking at the servants again.

A servant turned his head sideways and stared sideways at Su Hu's back, his eyes were stern, his cheeks trembled constantly, making the whip marks on his face more ferocious.

Su Hu traveled unimpeded all the way, and none of the servants and soldiers he met on the way dared to stop him.

Clan members headed by the Mi family and the Yang family gathered in the meeting room hall, and kept sending servants to the apse to inquire. When they learned that there was another witch who could not wake up the second son, he was dragged out by the king's order, and the joy on his face could hardly be concealed.

"From this point of view, the second son may be more ill than good." A doctor said.

"Exactly." The other person agreed, carefully observed the expressions of the Mi brothers, and said flatteringly, "The second young master is not educated or skilled at all, but he can only rely on his background. Now that he is unconscious, he will be punished by the heavens, and he will be regarded as unbearable. In contrast, the eldest son Hulian's capital should be..."

"How about it?"

A loud shout interrupted these shameless words, and also made Mi Wu and Mi Ji, who were in charge, suddenly change their expressions.

"Suhu?!"

"Mi Ji, I've only been away for two months, and your brother doesn't know what to wear?" Su Hu strode into the room, glanced at the two of them, sneered, and spoke very bluntly.

Mi Wu and Mi Ji gritted their teeth, because the other party is a Zhengqing and a lieutenant general, with a higher status than themselves, it is not easy to quarrel face to face, so they straightened their clothes angrily, and greeted Su Hu.

The few people who were still talking nonsense just now all lowered their eyebrows and lowered their eyes, silent like a cicada.Meeting Su Hu's gaze, he wished he could huddle into a ball and find a crack in the ground to get in.

But in just a few breaths, the people who were talking so clearly and boasting just now are already silent.

The Mi brothers hated secretly, but there was nothing they could do.

Su Hu scanned the crowd, sneered again, and did not intend to speak.

The silence in the hall continued until a servant came in and was summoned by Lord Yan, then Su Hu looked away, got up and went to the main hall.The crowd who had been oppressed by him just now dared to raise their hands to wipe off their cold sweat.

At this time, the gate of the main hall was open, filled with fireworks.

In the open space in front of the temple, several witches, dressed in colorful robes and trousers, were barefoot, circling and jumping around the altar, chanting words, and praying for blessings.

The monarch in a black robe was sitting in the hall. His originally burly body had lost its magnificence due to years of illness, and instead looked weak.The bead covered his thin cheeks, making it difficult for people to see his expression at the moment, let alone guess what he was thinking.

Marquis Xiyuan succeeded to the throne at the age of ten, married the daughter of the Marquis of Dongliang at the age of 15, and took charge of the government at the age of 16. He led the army to conscript Rong and Di.

At the age of 30, he was attacked by an arrow while hunting, and the arrow was poisoned. Although he survived, he could no longer lead the army to fight.So far eight years ago, the injuries have been repeated, the energy is low, the political power and military power are controlled by the six ministers, the emperor's prestige is weak, the clans are fighting each other, and there are already signs of instability in the country.

As a minister, Su Hu has an arrogant personality, but he always misses the favor of the king.I don't want to see the son with the blood of the secret room and the Yang family in the upper position, and always supports the second son from the main room, and fights against the Yang family of the Mi family.

Under the deliberate guidance of the monarch, several forces present a delicate balance, and the country is stable.

However, as the second young master fell into a coma for unknown reasons, this balance became precarious and would be broken at any time.

"Meet Your Majesty."

Led by Su Hu, all the ministers lined up to enter the palace to greet the monarch.

After Xi Yuanhou sat in the case, he seemed to be turned into a statue, and he didn't say a word for a long time.

If the monarch doesn't shout, everyone can only continue to bow down.

The witches in front of the hall stopped suddenly, one of them held the dagger behind his back, slashed his wrist, took a mouthful of blood, mixed it into a blue concoction, and sprayed it fiercely towards the burning fire.

In an instant, the flames shot up two meters, and the attendants dodged in panic, but the witches ignored the flames and flying sparks, approached further, flew around the fire, shouted loudly, and chanted the diabolism that has been passed down for thousands of years.

The flames rose to the highest level, and several witches reached out at the same time, grabbed the burnt wood, and stamped it on their foreheads and chests.

"Blessed by the gods!"

At this moment, they didn't seem to feel the pain, raised their arms high, raised their heads to the sky, let the wounds be exposed to the cold wind, and shouted in unison.

Amidst the loud shouts, the wind blowing across the front of the hall suddenly strengthened, and it was swept into the hall, causing the curtains hanging in front of the windows to fly in layers.

Everyone was swept by the wind, almost unable to open their eyes.

The servants in front of the temple were astonished, and they all prostrated themselves on the ground, praying to the gods.

In the bedroom on the east side of the main hall, a pale young man was lying on his back on the bed.

The young man had a handsome face, his eyebrows were as black as ink, and his lips were bloodless.If it weren't for the slight ups and downs of the chest, it would hardly seem like a living person.

Several servants stood guard in front of the porch separating the inner and outer rooms, blocking another group of servants and not allowing them to enter.

The waiter who was blocked was very arrogant, pushing and shoving each other because of the number of people.After pushing the two down, he stepped on each other's fingers through the chaos and crushed them hard.

Behind the waiter are two rows of maidservants surrounded by a luxuriously dressed woman.

The woman's face was like a lotus, and her red lips were slightly raised. She watched the chaos for a long time, and she was obviously in a good mood.The sound of witch wishes from the main hall will not affect her good mood at the moment.

She knew better than anyone else the reason for the teenager's coma, knowing that it would be useless to invite witches from Central Capital, she was confident.

The voice came into the room, and the servant girl guarding the bed was full of anxiety and wanted to go to the main hall to ask for help, but Mrs. Mi blocked the door and couldn't get out at all.

"What should I do, if that person is allowed to come in, the Second Young Master may die!"

The servants on the porch finally failed to resist and were all pushed away.

Mrs. Mi was surrounded and walked into the room, smelling the smell of incense burning in the room, she frowned in disgust.

Seeing this, the two maidservants immediately turned around and opened the window to relight the incense, not caring about the patient on the bed at all.

Mrs. Mi walked to the bed and looked down at the pale boy.Fingers painted with bright red Kodan stretched out and covered the boy's neck.Just one swipe and it's all over.

The maid who served the young man was crushed to the ground, desperately raised her head, and watched this scene in horror.

At this moment, a human voice came from outside the door, it was the end of the exorcism and blessing, and the monarch sent Doctor Sang to check on the situation of the second son.

When someone came into the room, Mrs. Mi had already changed her expression. She was sitting on the edge, looking down at the unconscious young man, full of worry.

The boy's servant and maidservant were dragged to the side room and gagged together to prevent them from making a sound.

Dr. Sang greeted Mrs. Mi, as if he hadn't noticed any abnormalities in the room, he bent over and walked forward, intending to deal with it, but didn't want to meet a pair of dark eyes as soon as he lowered his head.

The boy's face was still pale, but his eyes were extremely bright and deep, which clearly reflected Doctor Sang's surprised expression.

"Second, Second Young Master?" Doctor Sang couldn't believe it, he was sure he hadn't misunderstood, and he didn't care about Mrs. Mi's ugly face, so he stayed by the bed in person, not serving anyone, and ordered to follow his medical servant to the front hall to deliver the letter.

"Hurry up and report to your majesty, the gods favor you, and the soul of the second young master returns!"