night.
The wind picks up, the temperature drops, and the weather becomes cooler.
The four major city gates were all tightly closed, and the city defense troops were stationed every three steps and every five steps, strictly guarding the city walls. Bows, arrows, oil barrels, slingshots and other weapons were piled up next to the battlements, waiting with high vigilance.
The imperial capital was sealed off.
In the city, the people were in a state of panic, and there was no longer the singing and dancing as before.
"I heard that the city is under lockdown, and no one is allowed to enter or leave..."
"There are so many more soldiers on the city wall. Did something happen?"
"Does anyone know...?"
"I think the Imperial Palace is also closed..."
The common people gathered in twos and threes, not daring to go to the other side of the city wall. They only felt the temperature drop at night. Some of them shrank their necks and folded their hands due to the cold, and talked about it in private.
In the palace.
The atmosphere was solemn.
Concubine Xin, Concubine Wen and others had been sent out of the palace two hours ago, and the enemy army was approaching the city.
There will be a big battle tonight.
Chu Li sat on the steps of the Dacheng Hall, lifted the lid, took a big sip of wine, and looked out at the hundreds of steps and the huge square below. Almost half of the imperial palace was in his sight.
The mountains and rivers remain the same, the palace is majestic, the only thing that has changed is the passing of power from generation to generation.
"Ninth sister."
Chu Aotian sat cross-legged beside her, snatched the wine jug from her hand, and took a big gulp.
"Do you remember when we were little and we were often beaten? Whether it was Master Jiang, Father, or Mother, they would beat us, and we would run and run. Eventually, we ran outside the palace, and the people outside beat us even harder."
Chu Li laughed:
"Yeah?"
"Yes, the worst time was when the three of us were beaten by eight beggars. If I hadn't been smart and given them some silver, Chu Yeli would have been beaten to death."
Chu Aotian laughed and couldn't help choking up.
"Now that I think about it, if I had beaten him to death when he was a kid, there wouldn't have been so many things that happened later."
"Ninth sister, why did you help him at that time?"
"I?"
Chu Li pointed at himself in astonishment.
When did she save Chu Yeli?
When were they beaten by eight beggars?
Which beggar dares to beat a prince?
Eighth brother, are you confused?
Chu Li grumbled, "Why are we talking about this now? It has always been like this. If you don't seize power, there will be people who will seize power. If there is no Chu Yeli, there will still be the Nanman. There will be a lot of intrigue and power struggles."
Just look at the eldest prince, the second prince, the third prince and others.
There is never a truly peaceful time in this world.
Where there are people, there is the world.
Can't avoid it.
"Are you scared?" Chu Aotian asked.
"Are you afraid?"
"I am a little bit... Ninth sister, I am not a brave emperor."
"You are already very brave!"
Tonight, they would survive.
Definitely!
Bang—bang! Bang!
Behind him, in the Dacheng Hall, there was the sound of things being shuffled, accompanied by the angry voice of a woman:
"I am the princess... What do you mean... How dare you!"
"How outrageous!"
Chu Li looked back, took another sip of wine, and then stood up, "Open the door."
The secret guard nodded and pushed open half of the heavy door.
There were more than a hundred people gathered in the hall, most of them were noble ladies and daughters, and there were also quite a few young men, all of them were families of ministers in the court.
Inside the Dacheng Hall, there were twenty secret guards armed with swords on guard.
Outside the palace, there were thirty secret guards surrounding it.
There were fifty people in total, surrounding the entire Dacheng Hall tightly. Not even a fly could easily fly in.
"Thank you Wanyue!"
The angry person who smashed things was Chu Minghua. She walked over quickly:
"Xie Wanyue, what do you mean by this? You want to detain us here? My status as a princess is noble, how can a general's daughter like you offend me?"
Others are also very dissatisfied.
Two hours ago, the emperor issued an order to fill the harem and reward powerful officials. The ladies happily brought their daughters to the palace to receive the rewards. Unexpectedly, they were locked up in the Dacheng Hall as soon as they entered the palace and could not go anywhere.
Isn’t this just house arrest in disguise?
Chu Li glanced at everyone calmly:
"This is what the Emperor wants."
"Even the emperor has no right to put us under house arrest for no reason!" Chu Minghua said angrily.
"Let this princess leave the palace immediately!"
She was about to go out, but when she was at the door, two secret guards drew their swords and pointed them at her.
"How dare you!"
"You are the one who is so bold!" Outside the palace, Chu Aotian walked over with his head held high. "The Dacheng Palace is a sacred place. How can you be so presumptuous as to swear and yell so recklessly? Even if I want to detain you, what can you do?"
“You! You guys!”
This is too much!
Chu Li paced a few steps casually, glancing at a group of powerful officials' families who looked uneasy, and hesitant to speak. He raised his voice to comfort them:
"Don't be nervous, everyone. We asked you to come into the palace to protect you."
"Protect?"
"Miss Xie, do you mean to put us under house arrest, or is this for our own good?"
"Miss Xie, do you think we are fools?"
Chu Li said: "All of you nobles are the families of our most trusted ministers, and you are also the bedfellows of each minister. You must know your husbands and fathers very well. If they are the families of loyal ministers, the emperor will not treat them unfairly. If they are treacherous..."
Everyone's expressions changed when they heard this.
Is this a threat to them?
Chu Li had said this, and since everyone was smart, there was no need to explain it so clearly. He raised his hand and pointed at a secret guard:
"You, pass this message on. Within an hour, you must let all the ministers know. Their families are in the palace. They know what to do and how to do it."
The time has come to make a choice.
Among the civil and military officials in the court, there are bound to be treacherous people who collude with foreign enemies.
At the moment of life and death, should they value the lives of their families, or continue to be stubborn and collude with foreign enemies? It depends on what they choose.
"yes!"
The secret guard went to do it immediately.
close the door!
Amid Chu Minghua's anger, and amid the speculation, panic, and uneasy discussions of the crowd, the door of the Dacheng Hall was closed again, placing everyone under house arrest.
A sleepless night.
According to Chu Li's guess, the Southern Barbarians would be outside the city at the second watch at the latest, but no news was received until the fourth watch.
Nothing happened during the night until dawn.
The city guards guarded the city with full concentration all night, but did not see a single suspicious figure.
Chu Li sat there until dawn.
"Ninth sister, why haven't the enemy come?" After staying up all night, Chu Aotian's eyelids were black and he didn't look very well.
"Give orders to the soldiers to rest well and take turns to be alert at all times and not make any mistakes."
Based on her understanding of Chu Yeli...
He will definitely come.
He wants the country and wants to restore his country. This is more important than his life, and he will not give up.
"I sent someone to give instructions, but you haven't slept all night. Go and get some rest."
"I'm not sleepy."
"How can I cope without a good rest?"
Chu Li sat there all night, thinking about what had happened in the past. His mind was clear: "The reinforcements from the nearby cities will arrive by tomorrow morning at the latest, which is still a day and a night."
Hang in there.
The sun is so nice today. As long as we can wait until the sun rises tomorrow, all problems will be solved.
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