Chapter 543: The Last Morning Court Meeting of the Tianji Year
Huailing City.
While Ning Yongnian was deploying troops and making secret arrangements, waiting for Wei Changtian's arrival, Xu Suisui and others who had set out earlier were already in an inn in the north of the city.
"Miss, there is still no result on the fifth condition. I'm afraid we haven't reached an agreement yet."
In a guest room on the top floor, the innkeeper was nodding and bowing to Xu Suisui as he reported the latest progress of the peace talks.
"I think we will continue the discussion tomorrow. Don't worry, young lady. I will always have someone guarding the place. If there is any disturbance, I will inform you immediately."
"Okay, thank you very much, boss."
Nodding, Xu Suisui stood up and handed over a small piece of silver.
Upon seeing this, the shopkeeper immediately put on a smile, bowed and backed out of the room.
"Auntie, please take a rest. I will leave first."
"If there is anything else you need me to do, just tell me."
"Squeak~"
The stiff wooden door made a sound. Xu Suisui shook his head helplessly as he watched the shopkeeper happily leave.
Alas, the millions of people in Huailing City did not know that they were just one step away from not seeing the sun tomorrow.
If he knew, I'm afraid the shopkeeper wouldn't be so happy over a few cents.
He walked back to the table silently and sat down. The window behind him was not closed tightly, and the cold wind blew in.
Xu Suisui shuddered and stood up to close the window.
When she closed the window, she glanced outside and found that the snow outside was getting heavier and heavier, with no sign of stopping.
Although it has been raining for a whole day, it will probably continue to rain for a while at this rate.
"Strange, I remember the book didn't mention that it would snow in Huailing."
He muttered in confusion and slowly closed the window.
Xu Suisui sat on the edge of the bed somewhat uneasily, staring at the flickering candlelight motionlessly.
The outcome of Huai Ling's peace talks was no different from what was written in the book, at least that's what it seems now.
There were five conditions in total, Dafeng agreed to four of them, and the last one was firmly rejected by Li Qi, which eventually led to the breakdown of the negotiations.
The situation in the capital should not change.
The Wei family will support Ning Wenjun to ascend the throne, and will also reveal the shocking news of "the real murderer in Yuanzhou City", which will put Ning Yongnian in a very embarrassing situation.
From a "legal" point of view, Ning Wenjun had successfully usurped the throne and became the new Emperor of Da Ning.
From the perspective of "public opinion", the title of "evil king" was confirmed, and the states were wavering.
In terms of "strength", apart from the 400,000 troops left in Dafeng, it is difficult to mobilize any more troops from the country.
Ning Yongnian ended up in this situation just after leaving Beijing for negotiation. It must be said that Wei Changtian's plan this time was very bold and it indeed achieved very good results.
As for the subsequent development of the incident, that is the part that Xu Suisui needs to change.
But now, everything seems to have gone astray.
Turning his head to look at the snowflakes drifting outside the window, Xu Suisui didn't know if he was overthinking.
But she always felt that this heavy snow, which shouldn't have fallen, seemed to be foreshadowing something.
The next morning, at the Daning Palace.
From fierce battles over the city walls to fighting all over the palace.
Although the Xuan Jing Si had broken through the Zhengyang Gate and entered the palace at midnight, the entire battle did not end until the end of Yin hour.
With the fall of the last red-armored soldier who resisted stubbornly, a total of 50,000 guards were completely destroyed.
More than 20,000 people were killed in the battle, more than 10,000 were injured or disabled, and more than 10,000 surrendered.
The Xuan Jing Si, Du Wei Fu, and Cheng Bei Army also paid the price of nearly 30,000 casualties.
It seems that the number of casualties on both sides is actually similar.
But you have to know that the Wei family had the upper hand in this battle.
Not only was the attack extremely sudden, giving the Imperial Guards almost no time to deploy their defenses, but they also had a complete advantage in terms of "high-end combat power".
Under normal circumstances, the general configuration of the Royal Guard is one main general and five deputy generals.
But who would have thought that before the war started, the main general Han Zhao directly rebelled and killed four deputy generals in the process.
As a result, the top combat force of the Imperial Guard was actually only a deputy general of the third rank.
The Wei family, on the other hand, has two second-grade masters, Han Zhao and Wei Zhaohai, plus more than ten third-grade masters.
But even so, the two sides still fought to a "fairly evenly matched" result. It can only be said that the combat power of the Imperial Guards is second to none in Daning.
Of course, no matter how powerful this former imperial red-armored army was, it no longer exists.
All that was left were corpses that had died in horrific ways.
"Check every body carefully to see if there is any survivor!"
"Move everything that has been checked onto the truck and take it away!"
"Send our people to the charity cemetery! Send the Royal Guards to the mass grave!"
"Hurry up!"
"No one is allowed to embezzle the spoils of war! Anyone caught will be punished by military law!"
"Hurry up! Clear the area around the Hall of Supreme Harmony first!!"
“.”
All kinds of shouts echoed in the morning mist, mixed with the disgusting smell of blood, shrouding the huge palace in fear.
It would undoubtedly take a long time to deal with more than 50,000 bodies. It is definitely not something that can be completed in just one morning.
But even though the entire palace was littered with broken limbs and blood, the doors of the Hall of Supreme Harmony still opened at the hour of dawn.
The opening of the doors of the Hall of Supreme Harmony means that today's morning court will continue as usual.
"Minister of Rites, Lord Gong is here!"
"Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Lord Ran is here!"
"Mr. Li, the Supreme Court Justice, is here!"
"Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Lord Yu is here!"
"General Manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lord Tang is here!"
“.”
A eunuch with a strange face stood on one side of the long stone steps with cloud dragon reliefs. Every time he saw someone walking up the steps, he would shout in a shrill voice.
Most of the court officials whose names he called lowered their heads and ignored him, walking even more slowly, as if their legs and heads were as heavy as if they were filled with lead.
There is no doubt that they knew that today's "morning court" was Wei Xianzhi's doing.
However, no matter how terrified or reluctant they were, they still "had to" show up on time.
Of course, many of them already knew what was going to happen.
But there are also quite a number of people who know nothing about this. The rising sun shines on the red building, and the east wind blows through the mortal world.
The rosy glow pierced through the mist, casting a golden red hue on the densely packed city walls and buildings in the capital.
However, this scene, which was once so beautiful and brilliant with treasures, now seems a little dead.
It seemed that in the entire capital, only the Imperial Palace still had a glimmer of life. "Ah!"
On the 102nd level of the Cloud Dragon Relief, a man in a scarlet official robe with a white pheasant embroidered on his chest suddenly cried out in surprise.
This man's name was Ruan Tianfu, and he was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Works, just a minor official of the fifth rank.
This kind of official position can barely squeeze into the court, but can only stand in the last row during court sessions.
The reason why he exclaimed just now was because he happened to catch a glimpse of a severed hand hanging on the stone fence nearby.
Only two of the five fingers of this severed hand remain, and the other three are nowhere to be found. Flesh and bones are clearly visible at the severed end.
Ruan Tianfu was accidentally frightened just because he passed by this hand.
“.”
He stroked his chest gently and steadied his breathing.
Ruan Tianfu quietly raised his eyes and looked around, and found that none of his colleagues nearby noticed his embarrassment. He then breathed a sigh of relief and continued walking towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony not far away.
However, after taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned around and looked back hesitantly.
At this moment, another court official happened to walk to the severed hand.
"This lord."
Ruan Tianfu opened his mouth, as if he wanted to remind this person not to be frightened by the bloody severed palm like himself.
But the person who came didn't even look up, or perhaps he didn't hear what Ruan Tianfu said at all, and just walked past with his head down.
Ruan Tianfu was stunned for a moment, then he realized that he was too self-indulgent.
I can't even protect myself right now, so how can I take care of others?
(End of this chapter)
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