A large group of people were kneeling in the corridor of a secluded building located in the corner of Xijing's inner court. Not far from the building, there were many corpses lying on the ground. They were all Beimang's most valuable Qi cultivators.
An old woman in a black robe and a white fur coat stood under the eaves. Her hands were folded in front of her chest, and her sleeves were rolled up like bat wings.
This old woman who made Beimang men grovel under her skirt rarely got angry, but today, her expression was very ugly. First, the Daode Sect's Immortal Nan Ming, who was good at divination, told her in a trembling voice that the Chess and Sword Music School's Bronze Ancestor was unknown, and that the Sword Qi was close to yellow and blue. Then, the Hibernating Cauldron, which was a national treasure, was smashed by an unknown land immortal, and the True Dragon that had been raised for more than 20 years broke out of the cauldron. That was not all. Under the rolling thunder, the True Dragon that had taken advantage of the situation did not gain any advantage, so she decisively decided to help it. This was because she had always dared to gamble with the heavens. It was fine if she did not gamble, but if she did, she would gamble big. Last time, she won a lot of money, and the entire Beimang Dynasty followed her surname. But this time, the Immortal Nan Ming told her that she had lost, and the hundred corpses outside the building were proof. In fact, her anger was not because she had lost a battle in Liuzhou of Beiliang that did not affect the overall situation. It was not even because of the death of the True Dragon, and definitely not because of those Qi cultivators who did not care about the world.
What really made the old woman unable to accept was a small matter that could not be told to anyone. When she was at the lowest point of her life, she lost to an unknown brute of Liaodong. When she was at the peak of her power, she lost to his son!
The Peace Warrant stood beside the old woman, and the old man was the only Beimang official who still dared to stand.
She finally spoke.
"Pass down the decree to Dong Zhuo that he is allowed to mobilize all the troops at the border without permission. Regardless of whether it is a general or a military officer, all must listen to him. Those who disobey will be executed by Dong Zhuo first and report later! "
"Pass down the decree to Tuoba Bodhisattva to lead the troops to the south and head straight for Liuzhou."
"Pass down the order to Li Mixi. Prepare for the carp crossing the river."
"Pass down the decree to Huang Songpu, order him to rise and lead the troops to Xijing."
Imperial edicts came out of her mouth one after another.
She was, after all, an old woman in her twilight years, so it was inevitable that her energy was lacking. For a moment, it was difficult for her to conceal her old weariness. However, today, she did not allow herself to slack off for even a moment. She pulled out her hand from her wide sleeves and abruptly tore off the old fox fur coat on her body, throwing it into the snow outside the steps. Then, she strode away, not looking at the old thing that was constantly accumulating snow again.
— —
Great Peace City never lacked excitement, but many of them were hard to join. Once they encountered something they could join, no one was willing to fall behind.
Right now, there was a rumor that the new Right Chancellor of the Imperial College, who would replace Jin San Lang, was going to teach martial arts. Whether it was an armchair strategist or he really had a belly full of strategies, the truth would be known after a walk. The majority of people were there to see a joke.
The current assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, Jin Lanting, had a good reputation in the Imperial College. Not only had he obtained many gifts from the Imperial Court for the Imperial College, he had also founded the most famous poetry club in the capital. Together with the seven scholars in the club, they were known as the Eight Talents of Great Peace City. They included the top three in the new exam, the top scholar Li Jifu, the second place Gao Tingshu, and the second place Wu Congxian. Among them, Gao Tingshu, who had the reputation of being a "poet ghost," wrote the popular "Drunken Eight Immortals" at a banquet, instantly causing the eight people present to become famous overnight. The Eight Talents of Great Peace City came from different backgrounds, like the difference between heaven and earth, but they often sang poems and showed the elegance and elegance of scholars. Those with discerning eyes could see that although the head of the Eight Talents, Jin Sanlang, was not very popular among the central cabinet officials, the "imposing manner" that he had slowly gathered could not be underestimated.
A provincial pawn called Sun Yin had made an exception to fill the empty position of the Right Chancellor, which was especially abrupt and rude. What was even stranger was that this person did not have any solid backing. Therefore, Sun Yin's rampage, entering the Imperial Court with the local official Xu Gong as the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and Chen Wang's meteoric rise, became the "Three Surprises" of the capital's officialdom at the end of the first year of the Auspicious Talisman, extremely eye-catching. Furthermore, Xu Gong, who had the status of Lady Xu, had previously had the foundation of being a Dragon General. Chen Wang, Chen Shaobao, had the double foundation of being the Crown Prince's Attendant Lecturer and the Meritorious Service Examiner. In contrast, Sun Yin felt even more strange.
Moreover, Sun Yin was extremely arrogant. He publicly announced that the content of his lecture would be a great martial arts demonstration. He would be the attacking party and would have two forces in his hands, Beimang's millions of Iron Horse Cavalry and the remnants of West Chu's restoration of the Guangling Road.
Everyone who listened to the lecture belonged to the defending camp. There was the army led by Lu Shengxiang, the commander of the Southern Expedition, who was newly conferred the title of General Piao Yi by the Imperial Court. There was also the Liao defense line led by Gu Jiantang, the vassal state's forces that participated in the quelling of difficulties. Finally, there was also the Beiliang cavalry that had been deliberately forgotten by the Central Plains for many years.
This could be said to be an unprecedented battle of words. Just the number of Imperial College students who participated in the lecture amounted to more than six thousand people. In fact, most people were destined to not be able to hear what the new Chancellor was saying. However, there was no need to worry. Very soon, there would be people from the front to the back to pass on the message, layer by layer, like waves after waves. The students who rushed to occupy the seats early all sat on the ground. Those who came later could only stand. Those who came later had to stand on their tiptoes and stretch their necks. After that, they had to stand on benches and chairs. However, in the best position not far from Sun Kuangtu at the front, there were many simple but thick praying mats placed there. There were about thirty of them. Those who were qualified to sit on the praying mats were really honorable!
Among them, the leader was the first Prime Minister of Liyang imperial court in 30 years, the head of the Secretariat, Qi Yanglong. On the left side of the head of the Secretariat was Huan Wen, Tantanon, who was in charge of the province. On the right side was the "frustrated person" who failed to succeed Bai Guo as the Minister of Rites in the change of power, Yao Baifeng, a master of science who continued to be in charge of the Imperial College, and Bai Guo, who was transferred from the Minister of Rites to the Ministry of Revenue. There was also a certain member of the imperial family who was particularly proud of his success in the middle of winter. Yes, it was the Prince of Chai who swaggered into the capital with the help of his good son-in-law.
This long martial arts lecture went on from noon to dusk. There was no sign of it ending, but no one left. In fact, there were even a lot of new faces coming in. There was a sea of people.
During this time, the Crown Prince, who was in charge of the country, quietly joined in with the Crown Princess.
Soon, the old Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the new assistant minister of the Secretariat, Zhao Youling, broke through the crowd without hiding his identity and joined in. He sat on a newly added praying mat.
Compared to Zhao Youling, the Prime Minister, Yin Maochun, who had been promoted from the Chancellor of the Hanlin Academy to the Minister of Personnel, was much more reserved and low-key. He arrived at the Imperial College with a light carriage and stood side by side with Chen Wang, who was young enough to make one's hair stand on end. He couldn't see or hear anything. However, these two could be called important officials of the central government. One was a second-rank official of the external court, and the other was a third-rank official. They stood there for a full four hours. Because they stood at the very back and didn't have any retinue to protect them. They also didn't wear purple official robes. On their left and right were ordinary students of the Imperial College who studied hard. No one knew that there were two important officials of the court standing right in front of them. They only thought of them as ordinary Confucians of Great Peace City.
The Imperial College continued to be noisy and lively. It became the hot topic of discussion in the capital. The restaurants and teahouses outside the Imperial College were even more crowded, waiting for the results of the debate to be revealed.
There were constantly scholars running onto the street to report the "real-time situation."
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