"Chengqian, surrender..."

Fan Xian's gentle words stunned tens of thousands of people inside and outside the imperial palace. They felt an incredible absurdity. At this moment, the rebel army was besieging the city. Even if the people in the palace had wings, they couldn't escape. Yet, Lord Fan was brazenly urging them to surrender!

Riding on his horse, Crown Prince Li Chengqian, dressed in military attire, inhaled sharply. He thought to himself that Anzhi's face was getting thicker and thicker. He could actually say such a thing, and with such naturalness. If someone who didn't know the situation heard it, they might think that today, Li Chengqian was the pitiful one being chased like a rabbit, not Fan Xian.

It was indeed miraculous. In just one night, Fan Xian had transformed from a court-designated criminal to a so-called regent. He escaped his life as a fugitive, burst into the imperial palace, and almost captured the Crown Prince in one fell swoop, successfully reversing the situation. But in the early hours of the morning, the Crown Prince managed to escape, and his army entered the city, instead trapping Fan Xian in the palace.

The so-called change of banners on the city walls described the story that unfolded that night. The story was already absurd, so what was one more absurd word from Fan Xian?

Li Chengqian looked up at his two brothers on the imperial city wall, smiled bitterly, and shook his head, thinking self-deprecatingly. After Old Man Qin spoke, it should have been his turn to sincerely persuade his eldest brother to surrender. Unexpectedly, Fan Xian preempted him, blocking his words. This Fan Xian was indeed extremely treacherous.

The sound of scattered hooves rang out on the plaza to the right. Li Chengqian subconsciously turned his head to look. He saw the Dingzhou army, which had entered the capital through the West City Gate, slowly approaching his central army. He frowned and saw the handsome face of the Second Prince at the head of the thousands of troops. A faint chill arose in his heart. This Second Brother had simple thoughts. His face was very similar to Fan Xian's, and his calculations were probably just as treacherous.

The Dingzhou army slowly stopped on the right flank of the rebel army, carefully maintaining a respectful attitude towards the rebel army's central camp.

"Brother, you and I..." Crown Prince Li Chengqian glanced at the Second Prince and finally spoke. He couldn't wait for the Second Prince to speak first, but without the support of internal force, he had to shout to be heard by those on the imperial city. Although he still maintained the majestic imperial aura cultivated as the Crown Prince for more than ten years, compared to Fan Xian's powerful condemnation of the Qin family, he was not as impressive.

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Fan Xian picked at his ear and glanced at the Eldest Prince, saying nothing. Because the Eldest Prince was listening very attentively. All the words spoken by the Crown Prince were within his calculations, nothing more than an attempt to persuade the Eldest Prince with brotherly affection, while still pinning the blame for the Dadong Mountain incident on Fan Xian.

Although the Crown Prince knew that the Eldest Prince would not believe that Fan Xian was the assassin, he still had to say it that way. Any brotherly affection had to be based on a reasonable logic.

The Eldest Prince's expression darkened. The Emperor had five sons in total. If you didn't count Fan Xian, who grew up in Danzhou, and the youngest Third Prince, he and the Crown Prince and Second Prince had grown up together since childhood. Although the Crown Prince had a prestigious status, the three brothers had a good relationship, especially before His Majesty showed favor to the Second Prince. The interactions between the three princes were more worthy of cherishing than the bloody conspiracy stories in history books.

Everyone had thought about it, but no one wanted to imagine that one day, these three brothers who had grown up together would face each other with swords drawn.

At this moment, the Second Prince, who had remained silent since the rebel army besieged the palace, also spoke. He gently tapped the mount under him with his boot heel, letting the horse bring him a foot away from the rebel army's formation. He looked at the imperial city and, following the Crown Prince's words, began to shout to the Eldest Prince with extreme sincerity.

It must be admitted that the Second Prince did have a trick for winning people's hearts. He didn't mention the matter of asking the Eldest Prince to surrender. He just played on their past friendship, using a tone of indignation to express his dissatisfaction with the Eldest Prince's help to Fan Xian, and vaguely mentioning Qing Emperor's attitude towards the Eldest Prince... which didn't seem like a father's attitude towards his son.

Fan Xian glanced at the Eldest Prince and found that the Eldest Prince's expression was becoming more and more gloomy. He wasn't worried that the Eldest Prince would fall under the pressure of the situation, under the emotional offensive of the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, because his analysis of things always started from people's personalities, and he knew that the Eldest Prince's nature was like a raging fire.

He turned to look at the Second Prince, who was still shouting, and frowned slightly, because he recognized that the general beside the Second Prince was Ye Zhong.

Ye Zhong was already the commander of the Kyoto Garrison thirty years ago. Now he was over fifty years old, but he didn't look old at all. Moreover, unlike the usual Qing Kingdom generals who were domineering, he was a bit short and a bit fat.

But Fan Xian would never underestimate him, because he knew that this person was a renowned Level Nine expert. Ye Liuyun's closest nephew, someone who had fought with his terrifying old mother, was no simple person. Moreover, a person who could become the commander of the Kyoto Garrison at the age of twenty-something could hardly be described as simple.

Fan Xian's frown deepened, but his eyes became brighter and brighter, as bright as a star that refused to fade under the morning sun.

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The Eldest Prince suddenly shouted loudly at the rebel army below the city: "Enough!"

The Second Prince smiled helplessly and stopped speaking.

The Eldest Prince said sternly: "What time is it already? You still don't forget to frame Fan Xian! I know that for the sake of the throne, you will not hesitate to do anything ugly, but don't forget, there are some things I can't do! If you want to attack, then attack. Don't be like a bunch of nancy boys, long-winded here!"

These words were decisive and full of momentum, not giving the Crown Prince and the Second Prince below the palace any room for maneuver.

The Second Prince's always gentle face finally turned gloomy at this moment. He didn't know why he became so angry, and he roared angrily at the imperial city: "Brother! Don't forget, we are brothers!"

"Brothers?" The Eldest Prince had been worrying about the defense of the imperial palace and the major plans with Fan Xian for several days, and his mind was extremely exhausted. His eye sockets were deeply sunken, but instead, it made his eyes look very sharp.

He looked at the Crown Prince and then at the Second Prince, and suddenly said sternly: "Brothers! You are not even willing to be sons, and you still want to be brothers!"

There was silence. This sentence revealed too much. The imperial guards on the imperial city had already learned about this matter from the will, and their eyes immediately revealed sadness and pain. The faces of the rebel soldiers under the imperial city became somewhat strange. Although His Majesty the Emperor had been assassinated at Dadong Mountain, His Majesty's dragon威 still existed. As Qing soldiers, carrying the Crown Prince's banner, they were actually doing the deed of regicide and usurpation. Who wasn't frightened? Who wouldn't be drumming in their stomachs?

The Eldest Prince stood between the battlements of the imperial city, frowning deeply, and said to the Crown Prince sadly: "The Dadong Mountain incident was done by Princess Chang! I know you don't have the ability, but you must know about it! Even if Father wants to abolish you, you are still his son. How can you do such a beastly thing?"

The Crown Prince's face was somewhat dim, and he remained silent, allowing the Eldest Prince to scold him. Old Man Qin beside him frowned, waved his hand, and the rebel soldiers behind him began to prepare for the siege. Gradually, the sound of drawing bows, which made people's teeth ache, rang out from the rear of the formation.

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While the three princes were fiercely discussing the imperial secrets above and below the city, and were angry with each other, no one noticed that Fan Xian had already left the city wall alone, walked down the long stone steps to the interior of the imperial palace, passed through the empty square, and walked towards the Taiji Hall.

Along the way, Fan Xian carefully looked around and found that although the Eldest Prince was good at grassland warfare, he was also extremely skilled in city defense. Preparations had been made everywhere. Even beside the entrance of the stone steps, two imperial city corner towers had been dismantled, and stones and heavy logs had been prepared, apparently to deal with the upcoming siege.

Beside the three palace gates under the imperial city, some strangely shaped stones had been prepared, some of which were even covered with moss. Fan Xian squinted his eyes and wondered if the rockery in the palace had also been dismantled by the eldest brother. As he was thinking, a team came in front of him. He saw that under the escort of several imperial guards, more than a hundred seemingly exhausted eunuchs were pushing carts with mossy stones, indeed the rockery in the palace.

Of the three palace gates at the main city of the imperial palace, only one was usually opened, but when the rebel army attacked, they would certainly not choose just one. Fan Xian understood that the Eldest Prince was preparing to use the rockery stones to block these three palace gates tightly. This work was probably prepared before dawn.

Blocking the rebel army outside the palace and trapping himself inside the palace, this was the so-called holding to the death. Fan Xian sighed, knowing that the eldest brother had made up his mind to die.

The imperial guards seen along the way were not enough in number. Compared with the empty imperial palace, they even seemed sparse, and there was really no confidence.

Fan Xian sighed again, knowing that more than a thousand imperial guards had been pulled to the palace workshops where the eunuchs and maids usually lived, one to suppress the unstable elements in the palace, and the other because that was the easiest place to break through in the entire imperial city.

Entering the Taiji Hall, looking at the worried ministers, the Ning talent and Yi Consort with heavy faces, and the restless Third Prince, Fan Xian sighed in his heart three times. He bowed to the scholars Hu and Shu, but with a smile on his face, he said to the Third Prince: "Chengping, the war is about to begin. Don't you find it exciting?"

The Third Prince, Li Chengping, was, after all, a child. After learning that the imperial palace was trapped, he began to be afraid. Although he forcibly suppressed it on his face, after hearing Fan Xian's words at this time, he finally couldn't help but pout, with a smile that was both terrified and provoked by Fan Xian, which looked very comical.

Fan Xian turned around and bowed to the pale-faced Empress Dowager, and glanced at the Queen with her disheveled hair, and said in a deep voice: "I request the Empress Dowager and the Queen to go to the city to watch the battle."

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The work of explaining the great righteousness and claiming to be the legitimate heir, which was necessary for rebellions since ancient times, had ended in the Eldest Prince's rebuke and the Crown Prince and Second Prince's depression. The rebel army below the imperial city had approached, especially the thousands of archers in the rear army camp, who began to prepare for a volley of arrows.

At this time, there were only a thousand imperial guards on the city wall. It was likely that many would be lost after this wave of arrows.

The Eldest Prince held his long sword and walked silently on the city wall, occasionally issuing a few orders, ordering the generals to prepare to meet the rebel army's offensive. This was the first time the Qing Kingdom's imperial palace had been washed by a rain of arrows. He didn't know what kind of bloody storm would wash over them after the rain of arrows.

Because they had not budgeted for defending the imperial palace, and because they had not controlled the city defense department, the imperial guards' defense was already at a disadvantage strategically. Because they did not have enough bows and arrows in their hands, only the four city defense crossbows on the four corners of the imperial city could support them. However, there were tens of thousands of rebel soldiers, and these four crossbows were like using cannons to kill mosquitoes. How many could they kill?

"Prepare!" The Eldest Prince tightly gripped his sword, staring at the dark mass of rebel soldiers under the imperial city, and listening to the constant sound of bowstrings tightening, his heartstrings could not help but tighten.

Thousands of archers drew their bows at the same time. The chilling creaking sound seemed to penetrate the eardrums of everyone on the imperial city and shake their minds.

The imperial guards on the imperial city had already hid behind the battlements, and the personal soldiers holding shields were also waiting behind the Eldest Prince.

A great battle was about to break out, and everyone was waiting for the moment when the rain of arrows would roar.

However, Fan Xian did not let all of this happen. He had no interest in admiring the scenery of the siege, and he was not so pretentious as to wait until the imperial guards suffered heavy losses before offering his clever or evil hand.

A rush of footsteps came from the stone steps. Accompanying the footsteps was Fan Xian, as well as dozens of old ministers behind him who were panting, and several women who were half-supported and half-pushed by the eunuchs.

These women were originally the most noble figures among the women in the world, but today they became the most humble and humiliated figures in the world.

Fan Xian, holding the Third Prince's hand, walked behind the Eldest Prince, squinted his eyes and looked at the rebel army camp below the imperial city that was about to shoot, and couldn't help but be surprised. He thought to himself, how could this imperial palace be defended if so many arrows were shot over... He only heard him using his internal energy, and shouting to the rebel army below the imperial city: "Chengqian, Second... Stop quickly."

The Crown Prince and the Second Prince were startled by the sound, and looked up at the imperial city, and then saw a scene that made their hearts tremble.

"Mother!"

"Mother!"

"Empress Dowager!"

Looking at the women who suddenly appeared on the imperial city, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince couldn't help but exclaim. Even Old Man Qin and Ye Zhong couldn't help but frown. Then they heard Fan Xian shouting to them beside those women:

"Don't panic... I brought your mothers, grandmothers, and brothers to see you..."

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Hearing this sentence, many people felt the urge to vomit blood. No one could have imagined that Fan Xian, who was famous in the world as a poet and displayed the dark power of the Supervisory Council, would actually say such shameless words.

However, only Fan Xian knew that after experiencing life and death on the grassland, a very gratifying change had finally taken place in his life. He had broken free from the yin and sour energy contained in his two lives, gradually moving back, gradually merging with the little boy who shouted to collect clothes when it rained on the roof of the house in Danzhou.

Such Fan Xian was a lovable Fan Xian, an annoying Fan Xian, a shameless Fan Xian, and a terrifying Fan Xian.

No matter how scheming the Crown Prince and the Second Prince were, they couldn't help but be angry at the shocking scene. The Second Prince shouted sternly: "Fan Xian! You are shameless!"

Fan Xian glared back and cursed: "You just found out?"

The Crown Prince was also extremely angry in his heart, but he anxiously said to Old Man Qin beside him in the first moment: "Don't shoot arrows!"

Old Man Qin frowned, thinking that it was only natural for these nobles in the palace to be used by Fan Xian to threaten him. Didn't the Crown Prince think of this? The old general sighed in his heart. The Crown Prince was benevolent, but the timidity that had gradually disappeared in the past two years had finally emerged.

For soldiers, at this moment of life and death, there should be no hesitation at all. The so-called fear of breaking the vase was nothing but timidity.

However, Old Man Qin didn't understand after all that sometimes the alias of timidity was humanity.

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There was no doubt that Fan Xian's performance at this time was inhuman. He only accurately calculated the Crown Prince's temperament, and stood calmly beside the Eldest Prince with a smile, and said: "I just don't want to be shot into a hedgehog."

"Why did you bring Chengping here? He is still a child." The Eldest Prince sighed and looked at the ministers, Empress Dowager, Queen, and Concubine Shu beside him, and glanced at the Third Prince, disapprovingly.

"As the future monarch of Qing Kingdom, he must see this scene with his own eyes." Fan Xian gently shook the Third Prince's trembling hands. The Third Prince was really frightened by witnessing so many rebel soldiers.

Fan Xian smiled and instructed his confidants beside him: "Please ask Concubine Shu to stand on the left corner tower, please ask the Queen to stand on the right corner tower, please..." He glanced at the pale-faced, but silent, Empress Dowager and said: "Please ask the Empress Dowager to stand beside me."

"I'll put three ancestral tablets here... I'd like to see if their arrows are so accurate."

The people on the imperial city felt a chill in their hearts when they heard this.

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After a chaotic scene, Fan Xian looked at the people in the rebel army's camp who were arguing fiercely and said: "No matter what decision the Crown Prince and Old Man Qin finally compromise on, they must be very unhappy with each other."

The Eldest Prince inhaled sharply and looked at him and said: "You even calculated this?"

Fan Xian turned his head to glance at the cold-faced Second Prince and Ye Zhong beside him, who was like a short iron tower, and said: "There are many things I am calculating."

"If the leader today was the Second Brother, I'm afraid the rain of arrows would have arrived by now. Although the Queen is not as amiable as Concubine Shu, her life is much better than Concubine Shu's, because her son is stronger than Concubine Shu's son..."

"Even if they don't shoot arrows, the rebel army will still attack..." Fan Xian lowered his head slightly and said: "You go prepare, I need to figure out a question."

The Eldest Prince glanced at him, ordered his personal soldiers to heavily protect the Third Prince, and glanced at the silent Empress Dowager, feeling suspicious, but did not say much and left the place.

Fan Xian let go of the Third Prince's hand, took the Empress Dowager's old and stiff hand, and walked a few steps to the left, like a filial grandson supporting his grandmother, so that the Empress Dowager in her bright yellow phoenix costume appeared on the city wall, like a bright lamp, hanging high in the morning sky, reflecting in the eyes of all the rebel soldiers.

The rebel soldiers unconsciously loosened their bowstrings. Although the orders from their superiors had not yet been passed down, their arms had already begun to ache, and the most deadly thing was that everyone guessed who the old woman in the phoenix robe was - the Emperor's mother, the Crown Prince's grandmother, the only surviving elder of the Qing Kingdom's Li royal family. Such a noble figure, they were afraid of desecrating even talking about her, let alone pointing their arrows at her. What if they accidentally injured the Empress Dowager... who would dare to bear this consequence?

As long as they were citizens of Qing Kingdom, they did not want the Empress Dowager to suffer even the slightest damage. Therefore, when Fan Xian led the Empress Dowager onto the imperial city, the Eldest Prince felt a little awkward, and the scholars Shu and Hu could only sigh after their dissuasion was ignored - those who knew the details of last night's palace coup were clear that Fan Xian had always been good at using the most sinister means to deal with the most noble people.

The trace of the sword on the Empress Dowager's neck was the most powerful evidence.

Fan Xian gently tidied up the Empress Dowager's towering phoenix robe collar, carefully removed a strand of hair, and said softly: "Sure enough... the Empress Dowager still needs to wear formal attire to have enough deterrent power. It was not in vain that I wasted time ordering those old nannies to dress you up."

The Empress Dowager suddenly turned her head abruptly, and her old and tired eyes suddenly showed endless resentment, as if she wanted to swallow Fan Xian.

Fan Xian, however, did not look at her eyes, and whispered in her ear: "I also know that it is painful to be unable to speak, and it is also painful to take my medicine, but think about it, your old Li family deserves this retribution... I am punishing you on behalf of my old mother."

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(There is our own club on the website homepage, Qing Yu Nian cat fans, if you are interested, you can go in and have a look. There are many interesting comments and anecdotes. I personally like this chapter today. If you like it too, please vote for monthly tickets to reward me. There are too many great books this month, and the pressure to get a bonus is too great... ps: I have some personal matters to deal with in the next two days, so I will write less. I sincerely wish everyone a happy weekend.)

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