Broken Iron Clothes

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On the day of the emperor's birthday, banquets were set up in the Changming Hall. From the Taiwei to the six ministers, all sat around in the hall to celebrate Liu Zhaoyu's birthday. Only King Yin was far away in Ningzhou, so he sent a generous gift.

Amidst the sound of ceremony and music, Yuan Mucheng brought the wine glass to his mouth, his slightly frivolous eyes crossed the rim lightly, following the movements of each dancer, in the few glances around him intentionally or unintentionally, his color Ling Zhihui looked like a prodigal son who couldn't let go of his pretense.

Of course Yuan Mucheng didn't mind how those people looked at him, he had already scanned around the Changming Hall by watching the dance.

Lu Tianrui was also present today, if the assassin wanted to do something, he had to get close to Liu Zhaoyu.However, the food and wine brought into the Changming Palace had to be inspected several times, and it was difficult to get started. At this time, Liu Zhaoyu only had the Empress Dowager and Chang Yi who had served him for many years.So he can only wait and see.

The emperor's birthday banquet was nothing more than a scene where concubines competed for favor and courtiers liked it. Although there were hundreds of officials congratulating them, it was unavoidable.Liu Zhaoyu was sitting high on the golden steps at the moment, with joy on his face, the wine in his cup had long since tasted dull.

Before Yan Youqian sat in the case, he saw that Liu Zhaoyu was a little tired from sitting, so he said to Cen Yu: "I heard that Shilang Cen is looking for folk musicians to prepare a gift for His Majesty's birthday banquet. I don't know when Shilang Cen intends to present this gift to Your Majesty?"

When Liu Zhaoyu heard this, he became interested and said, "Folk musicians? I have never seen it before. Mr. Cen, is what Duke Yu said true?"

Cen Yu straightened his clothes and stood up, went to the hall and knelt down: "Return to Your Majesty, this ceremony is a small tune specially prepared by the musicians carefully selected by the minister in the city of Yan. Thanks to Your Majesty Long, if you can be honored as the court substitute today It is my honor for the people of Dali to present a gift to His Majesty."

"Okay!" Liu Zhaoyu rose up and said loudly, "How is the ditty sung by the folk musicians different from the ones in the palace? I'll have to appreciate it!"

Unexpectedly, before the musicians announced their entry into the hall, the sound of armored soldiers outside the Changming Hall had already drowned out the congratulations. The majesty and majesty made the candles in the hall burst into flames.

"What's going on outside the hall?" Liu Zhaoyu put down his wine glass and asked.

Zhou Qisi entered the palace wearing armor, knelt before the imperial court, and replied: "Your Majesty, there are assassins infiltrating the palace, and most of them died on the passageway entering the palace. The forbidden army is searching for the traces of the assassins in the palace."

Feng Ruoping sneered at this, looked at Zhou Qisi as he brushed off his wide sleeves, and said: "General Lu is just celebrating His Majesty's birthday in the hall today, and the palace guards have already neglected this. Could it be that there is only one Dudu Mansion in the city, and the people in the Ministry of War are Is it dead?"

Yan Youqian didn't like his eccentricity the most, so he replied: "The assassin's identity has not yet been revealed, and Yi Zhonghou impeached the Ministry of War here, is it a bit exaggerated?"

Xu Bin standing beside him stood up and said slowly: "The assassin is on the run, now is not the time to pursue responsibility, the two of you will first listen to His Majesty's arrangement."

There was silence in the hall, and all eyes turned to the dragon chair. Liu Zhaoyu felt that the crown was heavy, but he had been wearing it like this for five years. However, it was never Liu Zhaoyu who was worshiped by Wanmin, but he was made to sit on the edge of the knife day and night.

Under the gold hairpin, the Empress Dowager's face darkened, she lost all smiles, and her voice was as cold as ice: "It's about the safety of the royal family, how should we arrange it? Is it possible that Ai's family is still required to take care of the driver?"

As soon as the Empress Dowager's voice came out, the hall was silent, and all the officials feared that the Empress Dowager would be even more angry, and no one dared to respond.

Yuan Mucheng looked at Lu Tianrui, and met the other party's gaze from across the crowd. Yuan Mucheng naturally understood the meaning, and the two nodded tacitly.

Lu Tianrui got up and moved to the front of the steps, knelt down beside Zhou Qisi, and said: "Your Majesty leads the imperial army, and today's incident cannot be absolved of the responsibility. I hope that your Majesty will allow you to lead the imperial army to hunt down the assassins with all your strength."

Liu Zhaoyu was not in a hurry, he just waved his hand and said, "Apology is enough to excuse me. These people are just looking forward to it. They don't even want to let go of my birthday. General Lu, it's all up to you."

"I command the order," Lu Tianrui got up, then turned to Zhou Qisi, and said, "Send down the order, seal the gate of the palace, go to the Ministry of War to send the imperial guards to surround the Changming Palace, and the imperial guards will search the palace separately. I will take a trip at the end."

Yuan Mucheng knew in his heart that the folk musicians brought in by Cen Yu were the most suspicious of what happened today, and there were a few musicians who entered the palace who didn't die on the corridor at all, and were hiding in a corner of the palace at this moment, waiting for an opportunity And move.Le Ren was killed for the purpose of transferring Lu Tianrui away. At this time, there is one less threat in the hall, so it is naturally easier to strike.

Not long after Lu Tianrui left with Cen Yu, the imperial guards filled the inner and outer parts of the hall, and Liang Yuanqing, Minister of the Ministry of War, also led the guards to the palace to hunt down the assassins.

At this time, several personal guards escorted a woman in Leren's costume into the hall.

"Report to Your Majesty, this subordinate caught a suspicious-looking woman outside the palace..."

Before the guard could finish speaking, the woman kneeling on the ground showed a fierce look, drew a blade from her sleeve, charged straight at Liu Zhaoyu, and shouted: "Da Li, dying—"

Seeing this, the guards immediately charged at the woman with their swords out. The queen mother lost her face, but rushed towards the frozen Liu Zhaoyu without any scruples.

Just between life and death, a chopstick passed through the back of the woman's hand, the dagger was stained with bright red, and fell to the ground with a bang.Amidst the exclamation, a piece of broken porcelain was wiped across the woman's throat, and then the personal guard penetrated the woman's back with a knife. The hall was terrified, and the bright hall was stained with blood.

Yuan Mucheng had already unloaded his knife before entering the palace, just now to save Liu Zhaoyu he threw the chopsticks on the table and broke the bowl, at this time he was standing in front of Liu Zhaoyu with empty hands.Yuan Mucheng was originally born Yinglang, if not for the blood splattered on the front of his clothes, he would really not be a ruthless character who kills people like mustard.

Everyone felt terrified in their hearts, they should have understood a long time ago, those who can win meritorious service on the battlefield are always as ruthless as risking their lives.

The rest of the guards inside and outside the hall rushed over upon hearing the sound, but the guard who had just drawn his sword was about to continue to step forward to escort him, but was stopped by Yuan Mucheng.

"I caught an unknown person and brought him to His Majesty without first notifying you, Lord Shangshu. He acted as an escort, but the one with a knife is no better than me with my bare hands. How fun is it to play?"

When the words fell, Yuan Mucheng's smile instantly became murderous. He locked a guard's knife-holding hand with one arm, and slashed the opponent's throat with the knife on the other hand. Putting on a disguise, one wave drew a knife and slashed at Yuan Mucheng, and the other wave pointed directly at Liu Zhaoyu.

Yuan Mucheng's expression remained unchanged, he took the knife and swept across the figures beside him very quickly, the light of the knife overlapped with blood spattering, the clanging sound of the blade and the sound of heads hitting the ground resounded through the hall, and finally stopped at a sharp knife The sound of the oblique insertion on the cylinder.

Liu Zhaoyu came back to his senses, only to see that the jade pendant hanging in front of the crown was bleeding down, but the color was not visible on the black brocade robe, as if it had been swallowed.Looking up again, Yuan Mucheng in front of him was holding a wounded bodyguard with a knife, half of his face was splashed with blood red, arrogant but light, and those lying beside them were still bleeding corpse.

"Your Majesty! Queen Mother!"

Chang Yi tremblingly came over to help the frightened two people, the queen mother only wanted to see if Liu Zhaoyu was injured in a panic.

On the other side, the personal guards guarded the steps with a knife, and Lu Tianrui had already arrived.The ministers were all stranded in the panic just now, and there was another frozen silence in the hall.

After Yuan Mucheng stunned the person with the back of the knife, he threw the knife away, walked down the steps with a seemingly ruthless look, and said to Lu Tianrui, "Leave one."

Liu Zhaoyu walked down the steps after the imperial guards stepped forward and moved the people away.Just as Lu Tianrui was about to say something, Liu Zhaoyu raised his hand to signal him, then turned his head and said to Chang Yi first: "Send the forbidden army to follow and escort the Queen Mother back to the palace to rest."

After the Empress Dowager came out of the Changming Hall, he said to the ministers: "I ordered the Ministry of Criminal Justice to take charge of this case, and all those involved will be taken into custody by the Criminal and Prison Secretary. , the pro-guards will be fined for three months, to be enforced by the Ministry of Officials, and verified by the Overwatch Council."

In order to check and balance the military power in the city, Dali set up the Dudu Mansion outside the six ministries.

Liu Zhaoyu asked Lu Tianrui to jury the case, because he did not pursue the fault of the imperial army.Today, although the assassins were disguised as personal guards, the first person to attack was the woman dressed as Le Ren. The sentence "people involved" first pointed to Cen Yu, followed by the personal guards of the Ministry of War.

Yan Youqian knew that this time Cen Yu would be more or less fortunate, and he and Cen Yu got closer on weekdays.Afraid of being criticized by others, he wanted to take this opportunity to escape, so he bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I think Le Ren's identity is suspicious, and the Ministry of Household Affairs should..."

"I'm tired, so all the ministers should retreat first."

Liu Zhaoyu didn't want to listen anymore, so he turned his back, but couldn't avoid the bloodshot eyes, so he had to close his eyes, but the smell of rust still lingered in his nostrils, and the cool wind couldn't blow away all night .

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Yuan Mucheng cleared his face, and handed the handkerchief to the palace servant. He wanted to go to the prison secretary first, but before he left, he was announced by Liu Zhaoyu to the bedroom.

When Yuan Mucheng entered, there was only Liu Zhaoyu in the dormitory. He stood barefoot by the window, which was clearly closed, but he seemed to see an unusual scene from it, and just stared blankly.The flickering candlelight was no brighter than the light in the Eternal Brightness Hall, but it took away a layer of luxury from the person by the window, half of the person was soaked in the residual heat of the lonely lamp, and looked dim.

Yuan Mucheng stood there for a while, and finally walked in.

"It's cold and the night is cold, Your Majesty should not catch the cold." Yuan Mucheng walked a few steps forward, then knelt down to salute again.

Liu Zhaoyu turned his head and walked slowly: "Stop kneeling, you are usually closer to me when you don't call me Your Majesty."

Yuan Mucheng didn't answer, and Liu Zhaoyu stood in front of him, looking rather haggard after taking off the crown.The two are not far apart, but there is an invisible dredged ditch between them, in which there is a sigh that cannot be resolved for a long time, named Liu Zhaoye.

Yuan Mucheng couldn't tell, and Liu Zhaoyu didn't dare to ask.

"Xiao'an, I wanted to say these words on the day I met you, and I felt that it would be unavoidable for me to be close to you in the court. It's not appropriate to say anything, but today, I want to say it again, and you Just listen."

Liu Zhaoyu patted the hand on Yuan Mucheng's shoulder hesitating for a moment, and then he dropped it with neither light nor heavy force, and then he passed Yuan Mucheng's shoulder, and said to himself: "In the past two years, I always remember that when I was young, I was with the emperor brother. , In the days when I played with you and your eldest brother, I had to look at people if I wanted to get the lily cakes in the dining room. Now that I am sitting in the mountains and rivers, what do I want, what do I want..."

Speaking of this, Liu Zhaoyu shook his head like self-deprecating and sighed deeply, his lips and teeth trembling slightly: "I also know that ever since the emperor's brother died in the Bianwu River ten years ago, everything has been terrible."

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The Dudu’s Mansion in this article is somewhat different from the Dudu’s Mansion in history. The role of the Dudu’s Mansion in this article is the same as that of the Ministry of War. Captain.

The main differences between the Dudu Mansion and the Ministry of War are: 1. The Dudu Mansion is independent from the Six Ministries, and the Military Ministry is within the Six Ministries. 2. The Governor's Mansion is in charge of the Forbidden Army, and the Ministry of War is in charge of the Guards. 3. The forbidden army is mainly responsible for the night patrol in the city, and the guards are in charge of guarding the city gates and palace gates after the curfew. The two take turns to protect the palace.

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New characters in this chapter:

Feng Ruoping: Cabinet minister.The younger brother of Concubine Yi during the reign of the First Emperor, the father of Feng Han, and the uncle of King Yin.

Cui Cheng: Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment.

Liang Yuanqing: Minister of the Ministry of War.