Niao Ni
Chapter 441: How to Repay?
But he knew that he couldn't kill Fan Xian in Kyoto, a very sad truth. After so many years, he was still painfully aware that even if this fair-faced young man on horseback cursed his son so venomously, threatening him in front of the entire Kyoto... no, intimidating him, he couldn't do anything in advance.
Because he was the son of a hunter, and the other was the Emperor's son.
Yan Xiaoyi was different from the other bigwigs in the military. He wasn't a member of the powerful families like the Qin or Ye clans, nor was he a noble like the First Prince. Although he had the Eldest Princess as his backing, his rise in the military actually depended on his own strength. His current glory and the lofty position of Grand Commandant of the Northern Expedition were all earned by risking his life in the north, west, and south over the years.
No one had ever survived a single exchange under his arrows, and no army had ever been able to defend against his army for three days. He had made countless contributions to the Qing Kingdom court.
That's why he had achieved his present status.
Therefore, even though the Emperor knew that he was close to the Eldest Princess, he still trusted him greatly and showed him great favor. In previous years, he even made him the commander of the Imperial Guards in the palace.
Why was all this? It was because Yan Xiaoyi had a resolute and powerful heart.
As a super expert of the ninth rank, only Ye Zhong in the entire Qing Kingdom military could contend with him, or perhaps the hidden figures deep within the old Qin family. Therefore, Yan Xiaoyi had never feared anything in his life. Sometimes, he even wondered if his troops faced a Grandmaster, could the Grandmaster escape his arrows?
How could he be afraid of a young man? Even this one on horseback below the stone steps, who in his eyes, had only gained a great reputation by relying on his father's and mother's legacy. Even if this young man's gaze was so cold and fierce, but…
Don't provoke me!
His eyes stared at Fan Xian, the two beams of light like the earth-shattering arrow he carried on his back, seemed to be telling Fan Xian that if he wanted to, he could kill him at any time, even if his identity was special. However, some things were best left undone.
……
……
Fan Xian, fearless, raised his face, his eyes narrowed slightly, dispelling the slight stinging pain, and greeted him with a cold smile.
He wasn't sure if this ambush in the valley was Yan Xiaoyi's doing. Although the Eldest Princess was the most suspected, certain doubts prevented him from making a firm judgment. But he still had to speak like this. Because Yan Xiaoyi would eventually come to kill him, so he didn't need to consider too much.
Regardless of whether Yan Xiaoyi had done it or not, Fan Xian knew he had to do something shocking to the world, to warn those who were secretly plotting against him, that if they wanted to kill him, they had to weigh whether they could afford the price!
The two hundred fine heads in front of the Supreme Military Council's stone lions were proof.
……
……
The area around the stone steps of the Supreme Military Council seemed to be frozen by a cold air.
Yan Xiaoyi stood proudly on the stone steps, and Fan Xian sat upright on horseback. The two men's gazes were perfectly level, and the killing intent contained in their eyes was so uncomfortable. Even the surrounding bloody smell and the stench emanating from the heads under the stone lions seemed to fear the two men's gazes and dispersed.
Someone coughed softly.
Qin Heng led his horse to the side of the stone steps, apologized softly to the Right Vice-Minister of the Supreme Military Council, then straightened up and said to Yan Xiaoyi with a gentle smile, "Greetings, Grand Commandant."
His arrival was very timely and ingenious, just blocking the confrontation between Fan Xian and Yan Xiaoyi, and easing the imminent conflict.
Yan Xiaoyi slowly withdrew his piercing gaze and said calmly, "Young Marquis, how are you? How is the old master doing recently? This humble general has returned to Kyoto and must go to see the old master."
Qin Heng had already been ennobled as a marquis, and the old master mentioned by Yan Xiaoyi was naturally the old Master Qin who had been ill and residing in his mansion. With Yan Xiaoyi's status as the Grand Commandant of the Northern Expedition, he could only refer to himself as a "humble general" in front of that pillar of the military, Old Master Qin.
With Qin Heng's intervention, Yan Xiaoyi had to give him face.
But Fan Xian didn't have to. He lowered his head, playing with the horse whip in his hand, and said, "You're blocking me and Grand Commandant Yan."
……
……
Qin Heng was speechless for a moment, then stunned. He didn't understand what Fan Xian was thinking. Was he planning to challenge Yan Xiaoyi at the gate of the Supreme Military Council? Although the whole world knew that Fan Xian was as famous as Haitang and was recognized as the number one expert of the younger generation in Qing Kingdom, no one would favor him in the face of Yan Xiaoyi.
Moreover, the identities of the two men were different, and this place was special. How could they fight here?
Qin Heng tilted his head slightly and lowered his voice, saying, "You're injured."
Fan Xian's facial expression was extremely calm, but Qin Heng's heart began to tremble. Everyone in Kyoto was most afraid of this situation after learning of the ambush today.
Everyone was afraid that Fan Xian would go crazy.
If Dean Chen Pingping was an old black dog, Fan Xian was naturally a little black dog. If the little black dog was stabbed hard, it would bite indiscriminately, regardless of friend or foe. What the officials feared was that Fan Xian would cause a lot of trouble in his anger and shake the foundation of the entire Qing Kingdom court.
Fan Xian listened to Qin Heng's question and replied slowly, "I just want to ask some questions. Treat with courtesy, return with virtue; give with a sword, repay with a knife. Grand Commandant Yan, is that the principle?"
(Provided by a reader, added in.)
……
……
Fan Xian was ready to question some things face-to-face, but he had no chance to say them.
The people in the Supreme Military Council heard the words of swords and knives and thought that Lord Fan was about to go crazy. They subconsciously prepared for battle. Although the Supreme Military Council was mainly composed of staff officers and their martial power was not as strong as the five border armies of the Qing Kingdom, it was, after all, the essence of the Qing army for decades. Today, they were confusedly bullied by Fan Xian, and they had been忍受ing for a long time. There would always be a moment of rebound, and all the officers and generals grasped their sabers.
Yan Xiaoyi could only bring one hundred personal soldiers when he entered Kyoto. At this time, these one hundred personal soldiers had already deployed to the side corridor of the Supreme Military Council, nervously watching the more than one hundred officials of the First Bureau of the Supervisory Council in front of the yamen gate.
The soldiers who had returned from the northern border had a lot of wind and frost on their faces, and had long been forged into an iron army by Yan Xiaoyi. However, unlike the various border armies of the Qin and Ye families, these one hundred personal soldiers all carried bows and arrows.
The Qing Kingdom did not ban bows but forbade crossbows in Kyoto, which was a manifestation of the martial imperial family's confidence.
The two sides confronted each other, but Qin Heng, the Kyoto garrison commander who had been worried all the time, was relieved. If Fan Xian had previously squeezed Yan Xiaoyi with words and launched an invitation to fight, as long as Yan Xiaoyi agreed, even the Emperor could not stop it, then the two sides would definitely be in a life-and-death situation.
But the current situation involved the conflict between the Supervisory Council and the military. Qin Heng knew that this battle could not be fought, because there were countless eyes watching here in Kyoto. Neither the Emperor nor the officials in charge of political affairs could watch the foundation of Qing Kingdom's dominance of the world collapse because of the heads in front of the Supreme Military Council.
As expected, shouts came from afar, and the sound of horses' hooves was slightly chaotic.
A team of Imperial Guards in bright armor galloped up. The Supreme Military Council was located between the Supervisory Council and the Imperial Palace, so the reaction of these Imperial Guards seemed to be a bit slow. But some discerning people knew that this was the Imperial Guards deliberately leaving some time for Fan Xian to vent his anger.
The Imperial Guards represented the Emperor's majesty, and no one dared to despise them, at least on the surface.
Therefore, when the Imperial Guards lined up and interspersed, separating the people of the Supervisory Council from the soldiers of the Supreme Military Council, no one expressed any opposition.
Moreover, the person leading the troops was the First Prince.
The First Prince was the Grand Marshal of the Western Expedition in those years and had close relations with the military. Now, everyone knew that his relationship with Fan Xian was also quite close.
Seeing that it was him who came to mediate, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, deeply feeling that the Emperor was wise and that this candidate was really suitable.
The First Prince led the reins to Fan Xian's side. The worried look on his face appeared and disappeared quickly. He nodded slightly to indicate, and did not say any nonsense, but said, "Father knows about this. You should go back to your residence to recuperate."
Fan Xian looked at him with a smile that was not a smile, and waited in silence. He was naturally going to leave, and he couldn't possibly have a big fight with the Supreme Military Council here. It was just that the people he was waiting for had not yet arrived.
Before long, three eunuchs ran over from outside the crowd, panting, conveying the Emperor's oral order, expressing their shock and condolences for the assassination of the Imperial Envoy in charge of Jiangnan Road, severely criticizing the Kyoto garrison commander, releasing subtle reminders and deterrence to the people in the Supreme Military Council, and then ordering Lord Fan to immediately return to his residence to recuperate, and make a decision after the court investigated the matter.
After a while, two ministers whose bodies were obviously not very healthy also ran over panting. They were Scholar Shu and Scholar Hu, the two extreme ministers of the Secretariat, expressing their comfort to Fan Xian and their infinite anger at the murderers.
Shu Wu was an old acquaintance of Fan Xian, but Fan Xian saw Scholar Hu for the first time, and found that he was younger than he had imagined, at most forty years old.
Fan Xian sat on his horse in silence for a while, then said to the First Prince, "You understand me. This first round of face is enough. I won't go crazy for the time being."
The First Prince nodded and said, "I'll send you off."
Fan Xian pulled the reins, turned around on Tianhe Avenue, transferred the horse whip to his left hand, raised it and pointed it at the military personnel on the stone steps of the Supreme Military Council, waved it, and said nothing more.
The military personnel in the Supreme Military Council felt that this distant whip seemed to be hitting their faces.
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Back at the Fan residence, the First Prince asked about the specific situation in the valley at that time. After being silent for a while, he left the residence. Fan Xian knew that he was in a hurry to return to the palace to face the Emperor's stormy interrogation, but he didn't want to remind him too much, because he himself still had many doubts about this matter.
The palace sent three imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital to the Fan residence, but Fan Xian didn't use them. He just asked his brothers and sisters from the Third Bureau to apply medicine and heal his wounds. The remaining poison should be dispelled in a few days. As for the miserable wound on his back, he didn't know how many days it would take to recuperate.
Until this time, lying on his own warm bed, Fan Xian's body and mind finally completely relaxed, and he immediately felt a sense of irresistible fatigue. Even though his back was still burning with pain, he still hugged his pillow and fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up, it was already dark. A maid went out to fetch a bowl of rice porridge warmed with hot water. The one who had been guarding Fan Xian's bedside took the rice porridge, helped Fan Xian sit up, scooped it with a spoon, blew on it carefully, and fed it to him slowly.
Fan Xian took a bite, pursed his somewhat dry lips, and looked at his father who was carefully scooping porridge beside him. He found that his father had more white hair and deeper wrinkles than he had seen in a year. For some reason, he felt a pang of sadness in his heart.
"I made you worry."
Fan Jian did not speak, but fed him a few more mouthfuls before putting the porridge bowl on the table, and then said calmly, "When you wanted to enter the Supervisory Council, I told you that there would definitely be problems in the future, but... since the problems have already appeared, there is no need to say any more about this."
Fan Xian was silent for a moment before saying, "I have many things that I don't understand."
Fan Jian said gently, "Tell me about them."
Fan Xian told his father all the questions in his heart beside the broken carriage in the valley, hoping to get some reminders from this father who seemed inconspicuous in the court, but in fact had a solid foundation and sophisticated methods, and even the Emperor could not force him to abdicate.
"Since you have determined that it was the military who did it," Fan Jian said, "then we can analyze it. In addition to the Kyoto defense, our Qing Kingdom's army has a total of five border armies and seven state armies. The border armies are the most powerful, with the Ye family's Dingzhou being one of them, the Qin family being one of them, the border army in Cangzhou being under the control of Yan Xiaoyi, and one on the Nanzhao line. The strength of the state armies can basically be ignored, but even so, the five border armies are not divided so clearly. For example, the Ye and Qin families have disciples and former officials all over the army, and have a certain influence in all aspects."
Fan Xian paused slightly, then continued, "And like the First Prince's western expedition in the past, it was actually a large army drawn from the five border armies. Once the war ended, they returned to their respective sides."
Fan Xian was silent for a while, then said, "This is also one of the Emperor's methods."
"That's right. These generals have been promoted to key positions because of the Western Expedition, and they are like the hands and feet of the imperial family, but they cannot be directed by the Ye and Qin families. In this way, none of the five border armies can be controlled alone."
It was very strange that when faced with such a big event as Fan Xian's assassination, these father and son did not seem to have too many feelings or anger, but just calmly analyzed the situation.
"As for the defense of Kyoto, the area within forty miles of Kyoto is under the jurisdiction of the Kyoto garrison commander. The garrison division has 20,000 people. There is the most powerful Imperial Guard in Qing Kingdom, 10,000 people, and the Thirteen City Gate Divisions, which seem inconspicuous, but directly receive the Emperor's orders to manage the opening and closing of the Kyoto city gates, and are also important yamen. There is also a guard in the palace, although it is the custom of our dynasty that the commander of the Imperial Guard also manages the palace guards, but in reality, except for Gong Dian, who really did it, the palace guards are managed by the Eunuch in the palace at other times."
Eunuch? Naturally, Eunuch Hong... Fan Xian suddenly heard a very strange thing from his father's words. Except for Gong Dian who really managed the Imperial Guard and the palace guards?
He suddenly raised his head and said in surprise, "Gong Dian... is so trusted by the Emperor?"
Fan Xian's first contact with the palace's defense forces was when he fought Gong Dian at the gate of the Qing Temple. He knew Gong Dian clearly, and also knew that a large part of the cause of the Hanging Temple incident was that the Emperor wanted to drive the Ye family's forces out of Kyoto and remove Gong Dian from the position of commander of the Imperial Guard. But... according to his father's words, Gong Dian, or rather, the trust that the Ye family had in the past, was really terrible. Then why did the Emperor force the Ye family to the Second Prince's side and to the Eldest Princess's side?
Fan Xian vaguely felt that he had grasped something important, but he still couldn't understand it, and couldn't help but have a headache.
Fan Jian said softly, "Don't think too complicatedly. Although the Emperor is a divine calculator, he wouldn't play tricks on the Kyoto defense forces... As for why he wants to drive the Ye family out, I think... I can guess a little."
Fan Xian frowned and said, "Father, what is the reason?"
Fan Jian smiled, helped him lie down gently, and said slowly, "Don't forget that your mother's surname is also Ye... When she first entered Kyoto, she once beat up Ye Zhong, and Wu Zhu also fought Ye Liuyun. Even if there is no relationship between your two families, the Emperor is afraid that he will worry about certain things. At the time of the Hanging Temple, the Emperor did not trust you as much as he does today, but he was already preparing to reuse you, so naturally he had to prevent certain things."
Fan Xian was stunned, and then sighed coldly. As an emperor, his mind was indeed... But what would be the meaning of such a life? It was just that he did not expect that his father, no matter how powerful he was, would eventually be wrong sometimes.
"I don't have much affection for the Ye family." Fan Xian said, but he thought of the girl with eyes as bright as gems.
"No now, doesn't mean no in the future." Fan Jian raised his eyebrows and said, "What I'm interested in is why the Emperor is so wary of you."
Fan Xian was silent for a long time, then said softly, "Father, do you think this matter could be... arranged by the Emperor?"
In the suburbs of Kyoto, mobilizing the military to kill people, and even moving the crossbows, but he, as the director of the Supervisory Council, in charge of the world's intelligence, had no preparation at all! Whenever he thought of this matter, Fan Xian always felt that behind the ambush in the valley, there was definitely more than just the madness of the Eldest Princess, but something deeper should be hidden. In his list of suspects, the Emperor was naturally ranked first, and as for the one ranked second...
"Not the Emperor." Fan Jian suddenly said quietly, "He's afraid that he won't have enough time to love and spoil you now, how could he possibly kill you... Unless... he's about to die."
Fan Xian was silent and asked, "Who has the power to make both the Kyoto garrison and the Supervisory Council lose their effectiveness at the same time... Besides the Emperor? The Eldest Princess plus Yan Xiaoyi?"
He shook his head. However, Fan Jian smiled and asked, "What should you be guessing, otherwise why didn't you go to your own yard to take a look when you came back from the Supreme Military Council?"