Jiuxi

Chapter 857 855 [Secrets in the Military Camp]

Letting Chen Lanyu investigate Lu Chen's Ruishi Battalion cavalry was a decision that was recognized by the vast majority of important officials in the palace.

For Empress Dowager Xu, she only has two choices at the moment, either Yuan Xingqin or Chen Lanyu. After all, under the premise that Shen Yulai has an important task and cannot leave without permission, only these two powerful military heroes with heavy troops can not be afraid of Lu Chen's momentum. How can ordinary officials have the confidence to set foot in the base of Ruishiying?
Her final choice of Chen Lanyu was naturally an advance arrangement by Li Shizhi. Judging from various events in the past few years, Chen Lanyu, who came from the border army system, had already parted ways with Xiao Wangzhi, and the conflict between him and Lu Chen had become increasingly acute in the past six months, to the point where they had reached the point of never speaking to each other again.

But Li Shizhi wanted to go further.

Now Empress Dowager Xu can mobilize the imperial guards under Shen Yulai, and Li Shizhi's infiltration of the imperial guards has been ongoing. In addition, he has already controlled the brave camp of the Beijing Army through Yuan Xingqin. As long as Chen Lanyu makes his position more clearly stated, the 150,000 troops inside and outside the capital will be under their control, and Lu Chen will naturally not be able to cause any trouble.

However, Lu Chen’s reaction made Li Shizhi a little confused, but at this time he could no longer go back on his word.

In the eyes of important officials loyal to the court, such as Xue Nanting, Xu Zuo, and Yao Chong, although they did doubt Lu Chen at the beginning, and the subsequent doubts of Jing Qingshan and Li Shizhi were not unreasonable, Lu Chen's reactions from beginning to end today were honest enough, and he did not get angry at all because of being hit in a sore spot. Such an attitude could not help but shift the balance in their hearts.

Just as Lu Chen said, if he was involved in the assassination case two and a half years ago and had harbored rebellious intentions for a long time, then when he was in charge of the military affairs of the three states in northern Jiangnan, he could have disobeyed the orders of the emperor and could have found an excuse to stay in Dingzhou and not come to the capital.

Furthermore, if the assassination of the emperor was planned by Lu Chen, how could he be unprepared afterwards?

Putting aside the more mysterious matter of having something to hide, if Lu Chen really wanted to kill the king, he would definitely take control of the situation at all costs, instead of standing in the hall like he is now and enduring endless questioning and accusations.

After experiencing the initial anger and grief, these important officials gradually reacted. They realized that the fact that Lu Chen dared to come to the palace today already meant something.

Quietly, the atmosphere in the hall was changing.

Empress Dowager Xu was not very sensitive after all. When she was secretly hesitating whether to take this opportunity to confine Lu Chen in the palace, she saw the look Li Shizhi cast at her, and her heart was immediately trembling. So she said, "My dear ministers, I will bury the late emperor in Jingren Palace for 27 days later, and announce to the world that the country has entered a period of mourning. All funeral ceremonies will be managed by Prime Minister Xue and Prime Minister Xu, and Minister Hu of the Ministry of Rites will be responsible for the specific matters."

The three important officials obeyed the order in unison.

Empress Dowager Xu said again: "Li Qing's family."

Li Shizhi replied, "I am here."

Empress Dowager Xu looked at him with deep eyes and said slowly, "You are responsible for thoroughly investigating the regicide case. You will be in charge of deploying personnel from the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and even the Sutra Weaving Department. After Linjiang Hou finds out the location of the Ruishi Camp outside the city, you must report to me in a timely manner. Also, you must catch the assassin named Jin Qiaolan as soon as possible. If necessary, you can search the entire city."

"The minister obeys the order."

Li Shizhi looked straight ahead with a solemn expression.

Queen Mother Xu took one last look at the three dukes who were standing in silence, suppressed the murderous intent in her heart, and ordered all the ministers to return home for the time being to prepare to participate in the national funeral ceremony.

Lu Chen personally supported Li Tianrun and walked out of the palace side by side with Xiao Wangzhi and Li Bingxue.

When they returned to the protection of hundreds of cavalrymen, Li Tianrun suddenly stopped, looked at Lu Chen seriously and said, "You are fine."

Lu Chen lowered his head slightly.

Li Bingxue seemed a little puzzled, and obviously didn't understand why her father said these three words for a moment.

Seeing this, Xiao Wangzhi said, "Your father is saying that in the face of today's seemingly chaotic but actually extremely dangerous situation, Lu Chen did not choose to overturn the table directly, but patiently played along with those people. This is not only a manifestation of his consideration of the overall situation, but also his respect for those loyal officials in the court, and his last softness in the court. If Empress Dowager Xu and Li Shizhi had chosen to force their way today, Lu Chen's hands would probably be stained with the blood of his own people."

Li Bingxue suddenly realized what was going on. She looked at her husband intently, a hint of heartache quietly emerging in her eyes.

Lu Chen turned and smiled at her.

Li Tianrun patted the back of Lu Chen's hand and said softly, "Now that things have come to this, just do it."

Lu Chen nodded and said, "Yes, father-in-law."

……

After leaving the palace, Chen Lanyu did not talk to anyone and left with dozens of personal soldiers.

He did not even return to his mansion, but went directly to the east gate of the capital and met up with several dignitaries from the south of the Yangtze River who knew Ning Bugui. He then displayed his general's seal and the imperial decree issued by Empress Dowager Xu, and after verification by the gatekeeper, he passed through the east gate and headed for the Jinwu camp on the outskirts of the city.

Although the capital city had been under martial law since early morning and communication between the inside and outside had been cut off, the Sharp Battalion should not have known the situation in the city, but Chen Lanyu's actions were still extremely quick, as if he wanted to find an answer to the doubts in his heart.

In the afternoon, Chen Lanyu personally led an army of 10,000 to the Rui Shi Camp. Before that, the two Beijing troops that had moved here three days ago followed Chen Lanyu's orders and quickly approached the Rui Shi Camp from the north and south directions, forming a clamping force across more than two miles.

In the elite camp, bows were strung and swords were unsheathed, exuding a murderous aura.

Relying on the cover of the camp, the three thousand cavalrymen coldly watched the Beijing army soldiers who were gradually surrounding them from outside.

The flags are fluttering in the wind.

Chen Lanyu looked at the tightly closed camp gate in front of him, took a deep breath, and rode his horse forward under the nervous and puzzled gaze of his generals.

"My Lord!" Dingwei Army Commander Kou Bowen and more than a dozen of his followers immediately followed.

"Stop."

Chen Lanyu left only one sentence and continued to walk towards the Ruishi Camp’s base about a hundred feet away.

More than 20,000 soldiers watched their commander marching forward alone. Although the scene was quite magnificent, they could not help but feel worried, because the border cavalry in the camp were clearly ready for battle. If they suddenly opened the camp gate and launched a charge, even if Chen Lanyu was extremely brave, he would be trampled to death by thousands of cavalry.

The wind was howling, but Chen Lanyu showed no fear.

Just at this moment, the camp gate was pushed open from the inside out.

The hearts of the Beijing army soldiers suddenly hung in their throats, and Kou Bowen and others were ready to launch a charge at any time.

The next moment, a rider came out on horseback at full speed, which eased everyone's nervousness.

As long as there is no direct fighting, the situation will not get out of control. Besides, Lu Chen is still in the capital and cannot escape. It is believed that these invincible elite cavalry will not act rashly.

When the knight was still about 30 to 40 feet away from Chen Lanyu's mount, he suddenly pulled the reins, then bowed and said, "I, Ye Jitang, greet the Marquis of Linjiang. I am wearing armor, so please forgive me for not being able to perform the formal ceremony."

Chen Lanyu rode his horse slowly forward, looking at the brave general who was nearly thirty years old and had a murderous aura all over his body, and asked calmly: "Do you know why I am here?"

Ye Jitang glanced at the Beijing troops standing ready in the distance and shook his head, "I don't know."

Chen Lanyu briefly recounted what happened in the palace today, and finally said, "I am here on the orders of the Queen Mother to thoroughly investigate whether there are criminals plotting treason here. You must immediately order your officers and soldiers to disarm and return to their respective barracks to await investigation."

Ye Jitang remained calm from beginning to end, and asked, "My Lord, do you have the order from Duke Qin?"

Chen Lanyu said: "No."

Ye Jitang said, "Since there is no order from Duke Qin, I am sorry that I cannot comply."

Chen Lanyu narrowed his eyes slightly. You know, when he was the commander-in-chief of the Zhenbei Army in Huaizhou, Ye Jintang was still hanging around in some corner, but now the momentum of this younger generation is not weak at all.

He said slowly: "I am following the Queen Mother's order, and even Duke Qin himself must obey. Do you, the Sharp Warriors, really want to rebel?"

"Master Hou misunderstood."

Ye Jitang seemed to give in, but then he said fiercely: "Let your Majesty know that my Duke has already issued a secret order. If someone else had led the troops here today, I would never have gone out of the camp to greet them. Instead, I would have directly turned back and crushed all obstacles in front of me."

After hearing these outrageous words, Chen Lanyu did not get angry, but calmed down.

Ye Jitang added, "Also, even if the Marquis leads his troops here, if you want to use your strength to overwhelm them, or force the Sharp Warriors to surrender, then I will not say a word. It is nothing more than a duel to see whether the Marquis's Jing army is stronger, or whether the Sharp Warriors will continue to be invincible like they did against the Jing cavalry in recent years."

Chen Lanyu fell into a long silence.

He looked at the murderous cavalry in the camp ahead and asked in confusion: "Why did Duke Qin do this?"

"My Duke said—"

Ye Jitang paused for a moment and said seriously, "He doesn't believe that the Marquis would fall to that level. Perhaps the Marquis has his own unspeakable difficulties. But this is just the hope of my Duke. If the Marquis is stubborn and refuses to change his ways, or has already gone along with those people, we, the border soldiers, will have to solve the problem in our own way."

Chen Lanyu held the reins with both hands and said slowly: "Do you know that the current situation is very unfavorable to Duke Qin? Many people suspect that he is treacherous and treacherous. If he cannot prove his innocence, even if your 3,000 cavalrymen are brave and invincible, how can you fight your way out of the siege of more than 100,000 troops? Can you rely on you to break through the defenses of the capital and rescue him?"

"I don't understand that."

Ye Jitang showed no fear, and raised his eyebrows slightly, saying, "My Duke doesn't care about those things either. He just wants to see the true intention of the Marquis."

Chen Lanyu's heart moved, and he said calmly: "This is a coincidence. I also want to see his true heart."

Ye Jitang then asked, "In that case, would you dare to follow me into the camp alone?"

There was another moment of silence.

Chen Lanyu looked at the calm face of the young general, and finally said calmly: "Lead the way."

Until this moment, a faint smile finally appeared on Ye Jitang's face, and then he turned his horse's head and took the lead.

On the Beijing Army's position a hundred feet away, countless soldiers stared in amazement and disbelief as they watched Chen Lanyu follow that man straight into the Ruishi Camp.

It was as if I had seen the most bizarre scene in the world.

(End of this chapter)