Chapter 430 Great changes in the world
In the 32nd year of Emperor Yao and Taihe, it was the second month of spring.
The Divine Capital, the Imperial City, and the Dragon Head Palace.
As Emperor Yao, Emperor Taihe, who had been on the throne for more than thirty years, sat dejectedly on the dragon chair, eyes drooped, half asleep.
In front of the dragon chair is an imperial platform, on which are rare imperial pens and inkstones.
In the upper right corner of the stage, there is a jade seal quietly placed, which is the symbol of Yao's supreme authority - the Dragon Seal of the Emperor.
As a place where the emperor rested and moved, Longshou Palace was a little less solemn and a little more lively than the surrounding palaces.
But when the emperor was around, no one dared to raise his voice.
At this time, there were only two people in the Dragon Head Palace.
One is the emperor Taihe who looks very old and weak.
One was an old man who looked quite young, but was actually very energetic, sitting half-sitting on a chair across from the stage.
He was even given a seat in front of the emperor, which shows that his status is indeed not low.
Emperor Taihe was half asleep and did not speak. The person sitting opposite him could only lower his eyes and wait quietly.
It was noon, the sun was shining brightly, but there was still a little chill in the air.
The divine capital has been covered in silver all winter. Under the care of the spring breeze, the snow gradually disappears, revealing a bit of life between the sky and the earth.
Only the spring is cold and the wind outside makes people feel chilly.
Heat poured into several corners of the Dragon Head Palace, making the entire palace as warm as spring.
The spirited old man is extremely strong and does not feel cold at all.
The old Emperor Taihe was not only wrapped in mink skin, but also holding a heating bag in his arms, but he was still a little trembling from time to time, looking like he was old and running out of time.
The spirited old man occasionally raised his eyes and saw that his heart became heavier. He shook his head slightly and sighed slightly.
After an unknown amount of time, the mink fur wrapped around Emperor Taihe spread out, and the movement woke him up.
He opened his eyes slightly, his eyes were cloudy, and he looked around, seeming a little surprised.
When his eyes fell on the spirited old man, Emperor Taihe raised his head, leaned forward, and slowly said: "Feng Qing, have I fallen asleep again? I am really too old to be of any use. I can fall asleep even talking about anything. Stay!"
His tone was very slow and his voice was weak, lacking the unquestionable aura of the leader of a country.
"Your Majesty!" The spirited old man stood up immediately and responded respectfully, "Your Majesty is busy with state affairs and is too busy. You should really take care of your dragon body."
Emperor Taihe laughed at himself, remained silent for a while, and then sighed: "Opening the capital...ahem! I really don't have much time left!"
The spirited old man was terrified: "Your Majesty..."
"Listen to me!" Emperor Taihe interrupted what the other party was about to say, his eyes showing some sincerity, "Kai Jing, today, you and I don't need to be polite. These days, I have summoned you to the palace for several days in a row. , in addition to needing to learn more information from you, it is not without the intention of the monarch and his ministers to reminisce about the past. You have been with me for forty years, am I not worthy of you paying some sincerity and telling the truth? "
"I... am scared!" The spirited old man's voice was choked.
Emperor Taihe sighed and said, "If I couldn't even trust you, I wouldn't have entrusted you with the care of the guards."
The spirited old man said resolutely: "Your Majesty's kindness to me, I dare not forget even a little bit, and I will definitely repay your kindness with all my heart. My family will always look up to the royal family, and I will always be the emperor's right-hand man."
He said it very emotionally, and it was clear that there was no falsehood in it.
Emperor Taihe also recognized his words, nodded slightly, and said: "I have always had no doubt about the sincerity of your Feng family. These are troubled times, and we need more efforts from you in Kaijing."
The spirited old man breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this and said: "I have dedicated my life to you and died!"
Seeing him trembling in front of an old man, outsiders would definitely not be able to imagine that he was the commander-in-chief of the Yiyi Guards, Shi Feng Kaijing, who stomped his feet and shocked the city of Yao!
But now Dayao, as Emperor Taihe said, is in troubled times!
It can be said that the current situation in Dayao is the most serious since Emperor Taihe ascended the throne.
No one could have imagined that Yao's world, which had been peaceful for nearly thirty years, would suddenly be in danger.
Not to mention Emperor Taihe, who has entered a state of retirement these years, even Feng Kaijing, who has been on the dark front, could not have imagined that the world would suddenly become turbulent.
The matter started half a year ago, eight months ago to be exact, when it was the birthday banquet of Emperor Taihe, and both the emperor and his ministers were getting drunk in the palace.
Then, in the middle of the night, it was suddenly heard that the Ancestral Temple had been breached, and someone was plotting the Feng Ming Gun.
Before they could fully react, the news came that the Feng Ming Gun had been taken out and brought out of the divine capital by the thieves.
The leader of the thief is the fourth son of the Emperor, His Highness King Yong!
He succeeded because he colluded with the masters of the Rong clan who were from his mother's concubine.
The Ancestral Temple enshrining the ancestor's shrine was destroyed, Dayao's divine soldier Fengming Gun was stolen, and the four princes rebelled against Dayao...
Even one of these things is enough to cause shocking waves, let alone all of them together!
The successive bad news shocked the court, and no one could react for a while. Emperor Taihe was so angry that he passed out.
When the emperor woke up, it was already three days later, and the news reported to him below was gradually improving.
For example, King Yong Tang Zhongyao was well prepared. Not only did he send all the princesses and children who were in the divine capital out of the divine capital in advance, but he also mysteriously disappeared from the divine capital after getting the Phoenix Gun.
When we found out more about him, it was already ten days later and he appeared in the west of Yongzhou, adjacent to the Rong tribe!
The emperor who reacted immediately imprisoned Queen Yong's mother and concubine who was still in the palace, and then ordered the court and the guards to capture King Yong and even retrieve the Phoenix Gun. to the enemy.
Unfortunately, it was still too late. Less than half a month later, news came from Yongzhou that the four counties in the far west of Yongzhou were led by King Yong and rebelled!
The Rong tribe adjacent to Yongzhou also raised a force of 300,000 soldiers to serve as King Yong's backing.
All parts of Yongzhou and Liangzhou became tense. They were unable to encircle and suppress King Yong with all their strength. Instead, they conquered two counties within half a month and occupied one-third of the land of Yongzhou. Some of them became a climate change.
This series of actions was obviously carefully planned, with King Yong and the senior officials of the Rong clan playing a leading role in it.
Dayao was caught off guard due to his mental arithmetic and unintentional calculation, and was a little embarrassed.
That was in July last year. If only King Yong had rebelled, the kings and ministers of Dayao would not be in a panic.
After all, it is true that Dayao lived in peace for decades, but the emperor was not a fool, and he did not cause trouble to the point where the people of the world were in dire straits. Dayao’s national power was still at its peak, let alone Yongzhou, even the Rong people tried their best to take advantage of Dayao. no way.
However, Yongzhou in the west has not yet been resolved. In August, something happened again in Liangzhou in the south!
First, the barbarians went north to attack the southern border of Liangzhou. They tied up Liangzhou, which was the most powerful place in Dayao, and could not go to the west to aid Yongzhou.
The Rong tribe and the barbarian tribe attacked Dayao at the same time. Whether it was calculated cooperation or an unintentional coincidence, no one can say for sure, but Dayao's court and the public were shaken, and no one dared to be careless, so they could only deal with it carefully.
Otherwise, it would be raining all night if the house leaked. Dayao was rich in nine states, and the two places were invaded by foreign tribes. As long as Dayao was united and Dayao's national power, there would be no worries.
However, most of the fortresses were breached from the inside. Just when Dayao was mobilizing some available forces to resist the foreign invasion, something happened again in Liangzhou in the south!
Nanqinghou Wang Yang, who was stationed in the south of Liangzhou and was at the forefront of fighting the barbarians, suddenly rebelled!
At that time, the Governor of Liangzhou was leading a fierce battle with the barbarians near Yuncheng. Wang Yang led his 30,000 troops and horses to attack the Governor of Liangzhou from the side. As a result, the imperial army lost its camp in chaos and was completely defeated, so it had to retreat.
With this retreat, the defensive position was lost. Not only the men and horses suffered heavy losses, but also Yuncheng, the seat of Liangzhou, was besieged and was broken in only half a month.
Then, Wang Yang and the barbarian soldiers and horses gathered together, marched down five counties, and captured all the southern parts of Liangzhou.
No one in the court thought that Nanqinghou Wang Yang would collude with the barbarians, because all of Nanqinghou's military achievements were established in battles with the barbarians.
It can be said that the military medals of Marquis Nanqing are full of the blood of the barbarians!
Can the barbarians trust such a person? Why would he turn his back on the more powerful Yao and become a rebel that everyone reviled?
Naturally, the imperial court would not sit still and wait for death. All nine states in the world took action and mobilized all the power of the world to support the Yongzhou Da Rong tribe and at the same time support Liangzhou to fight against the barbarians.
There were countless martial arts masters on the Rong tribe's side, and there was a stalemate.
There were relatively few top barbarian masters. Originally, the power of the imperial court gradually gained the upper hand, but when Nanqing Hou was retreating steadily, things suddenly changed - Luoshen Valley, the holy land of martial arts in Liangzhou, mobilized its entire faction to support Nanqing. Hou, join the ranks of conquering the city and killing the imperial masters!
A year ago, there would have been nothing to fear in Luoshen Valley, but the year before last, two of them had broken through to the top of the Nine Realms, breaking the balance of the world's top martial arts!
Two top masters of the Nine Realms joined the rebel army, and they also brought a martial arts holy land with them. It was not a simple superposition of force, but had an inestimable influence.
First of all, the masters of both hands dare not fight against it.
Secondly, it also aroused the imperial court's attitude towards the enemies of various factions in the world, making various martial arts holy places a force that had to be guarded against, which also affected the imperial court's power.
Finally, the warriors in the world also had vague dissent and secretly became resistance to the imperial court.
Under such a situation, the top nine masters of the imperial court and the royal family did not dare to dispatch easily. They had to protect the safety of the divine capital and the imperial city first.
In short, all the unfavorable factors are added up. Eight months have passed since the rebellion of King Yong last June. From summer to spring, Liangzhou and Yongzhou have become the scene of four battles, and both sides are almost exhausted. Fight.
What worries the most important officials in the imperial court now is that their emperor, Emperor Taihe, may feel too much pressure due to the wars in these two places. His already low energy body has become even worse.
The world is in turmoil and the emperor is dying. Dayao has never encountered such a severe situation in decades!
The most terrible thing is that as King Yong shouted out that father is unkind and brothers are not friends, while the people in Shendu were devastated, they were also worried that King Yong would make a bad start and make more princes have other thoughts. , so that the crown prince's position is no longer guaranteed.
These are extraordinary times, and the emperor may die at any time. If something unexpected happens when the prince takes over the throne, Dayao will be really in danger.
This is what the knowledgeable people in both the government and the public are worried about.
However, Emperor Taihe seems to be able to think of these consequences. Recently, he has kept the imperial doctor close to him, and also invited many experts to take care of his body at any time, supporting his body and presiding over important events.
He had told Feng Kaijing several times that he, the emperor, could not give up his burden at this time. Even if he was going to die, he would have to die after the war between Yongliang and Yongliang had been quelled before he could meet his ancestors.
He was also worried that the prince would not be able to clean up the mess, even though the prince was now nearly forty years old and had been watching politics for a long time.
However, the prince is a prince after all, not the real emperor!
The emperor's supreme authority cannot be achieved by sitting on the dragon throne, but by controlling the government and the opposition with time and skill.
But with the current situation in Dayao, there was no time for the prince to try and make mistakes, so Emperor Taihe could only cheer up, support his body, and handle government affairs.
Being with Emperor Taihe for a long time made Feng Kaijing even more worried. He could see that the emperor was already in his twilight years and was about to run out of oil. He was half asleep and half awake every day, and could only be awake for more than two hours.
No, the two of them were just chatting in Longshou Palace, and the emperor fell asleep again.
As the saying goes, when a rabbit dies and a fox is saddened by its own kind, seeing Emperor Taihe in such a state, Feng Kaijing, who has been a monarch and minister for more than 40 years, can't help but feel sad, as if he is seeing an era slowly coming to an end.
"By the way, Kaijing, what did you just say that Wang Yang, that rebellious minister and traitor, did?" Emperor Taihe remembered the topic they had talked about before.
Feng Kaijing replied: "Your Majesty, Marquis of Nanqing...oh, it's Wang Yang! The guards came to report that after Wang Yang and the barbarians broke through Qingcheng, he suddenly broke away from the barbarian army five days ago and turned to march eastward. After conquering Gui County and occupying the city, I captured some people and asked the court to tell someone."
"Who? Tell who?" Emperor Taihe looked surprised.
Feng Kaijing hesitated for a moment and said: "Chu Tang, the commander of the Po Army of the Xuanwu Camp of the Zhenyi Guards! He is from Guijun, Liangzhou. Wang Yang captured his relatives and friends and asked him to arrive in Guijun within a month. Fight him to the death, or kill all his relatives and friends!"
"Chu Tang?" Emperor Taihe's turbid eyes shot out a glimmer of light, "The reason Wang Yang, the rebellious minister and traitor, rebelled was because of him, right? It seems that Chu Tang killed Wang Yang's son, but the imperial court accepted him as a guard. So Wang Yang holds a grudge and doesn’t hesitate to rebel?”
Feng Kaijing shook his head and said: "The murderous hatred is true, but as far as I know, the so-called hatred of the imperial court because of Chu Tang is an exaggeration. It is said that... Wang Yang couldn't kill Chu Tang in Liangzhou, and he couldn't forget it, so he had an affair. Because of the inner demon, his temperament has changed drastically and his behavior is difficult to predict. Even if Chu Yiwei does not take in Chu Tang, as long as Chu Tang does not die, it will be difficult for Wang Yang to behave like ordinary people. "
Emperor Taihe hummed, without commenting, and then said after a long time: "Then did you tell Chu Tang?"
"I have asked the Yongzhou Yiyi Guards to convey to him the situation in Liangzhou."
"Will he go?"
"This...I don't know."
"Kaijing, you said he went to Liangzhou. After Wang Yang settles his revenge for killing his son, will he let go of his inner demons and return to Dayao?"
"I...can't guess, I'm afraid...it's difficult! After all, there is Luoshen Valley by his side, and he is the younger brother of the owner of Luoshen Valley. And Luoshen Valley and our court..."
At the end, Feng Kaijing hesitated and did not explain clearly.
However, Emperor Taihe's eyes were dark, and he sighed and said: "Luoshen Valley and the imperial court... to be precise, do you have such an unbreakable hatred with the royal family? When our Tang family was able to conquer the world, they Luoshen Valley contributed the most, even the founding queen. They are their disciples, and the Fengming Spear also comes from Luoshen Valley... The Tang family really can't stand them."
Feng Kaijing didn't answer. There were some things that the emperor could say, but they, as ministers, couldn't comment.
The grudges between Luoshen Valley and the royal family happened hundreds of years ago. Except for the person involved, most of the secrets were heard by others.
However, as the commander-in-chief of the Zhenyi Guards, Feng Kaijing knew very well that after the disappearance of the Nine Realms masters in the Luoshen Valley decades ago, there had been no top masters in the Nine Realms. The royal family and the court were inseparable, among which the Zhenyi Guards contributed. Quite a lot!
It would be fine if the Luoshen Valley had been in decline. Now that two top masters of the Nine Realms have emerged one after another, it is naturally time to settle old and new grudges together!
They would rather risk the world's infamy than to rebel against Wang Yang and follow the barbarians to rebel against Yao. This shows that they have not forgotten the hatred for decades.
Feng Kaijing couldn't tell whether it was right or wrong. He only knew that the positions were different and the choices were different.
Seeing Feng Kaijing's silence, Emperor Taihe suddenly lost interest in speaking. After a long time, he said softly: "Kaijing, if that kid named Chu goes to Liangzhou and narrowly escapes death, let him... wander around the world, don't waste it. Even if he loses his life, the world... would be the same without him!"
After saying that, Emperor Taihe lowered his head, his eyes drooped, and he became groggy again.
Feng Kaijing felt mixed emotions in his heart when he heard this. He knew that what he just said was not what a qualified emperor should say, but what he said from the heart of an elder who sympathized with his younger generation.
If it were normal, Emperor Taihe would never have such soft-hearted words.
"Your Majesty, you are indeed old..." Feng Kaijing sighed inwardly, "It's just that Chu Tang... what he has experienced in the past six months or so is so amazing! It's so amazing that I don't even dare to report it to you, Your Majesty!"
Feng Kaijing also fell silent and turned to look at the doors and windows on the west side of the palace. The light outside was shining, but it couldn't reach the deep palace.
Further west on the horizon is the direction of Yongzhou.
There, after the shocking incident in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Chu Tang has been active in Yongzhou with the imperial troops and guards for more than eight months, creating one miracle after another in a narrow escape environment.
There are many experiences and changes that even Feng Kaijing, the commander-in-chief of the Yiyi Guards, would not dare to imagine!
"Chu Tang, Marquis Nanqing is determined to kill you. Will you go to Liangzhou to face thousands of troops and countless masters?" Feng Kaijing murmured.
The voice was too low to be heard, and there was no response in the deep palace. (End of chapter)