The First Lackey Under The Empress

The bright winter sun seemed to dim at that moment.

Behind the execution platform, Zhao Du'an narrowed his eyes and clearly saw figures suddenly standing on the buildings in the distance.

Drawing bows and nocking arrows.

With the sound of arrows piercing the air, a rain of arrows shot towards the chests of the executioners standing in a row on the execution ground.

“Buzz——”

The arrows in mid-air abruptly collided with an invisible "wall of air" outside the execution ground, and the space rippled like water.

One by one, the arrows lost their momentum and fell softly to the ground.

Sitting behind Zhao Du'an, Gongshu Tianyuan, who had been dozing with narrowed eyes, slowly burned a talisman between his fingertips, turning into ashes in a breath.

A sharp light flashed in his small eyes!

“Rebels! Kill the traitors!” Luan Cheng finally came back to his senses, stood up abruptly, his scarlet official robe fluttering, and he scolded loudly.

His pupils dilated, and he clearly saw figures from the Jianghu world flying down from the rooftops of those buildings after the first volley of arrows fell.

Each of them wearing a bamboo hat, holding knives and swords, swooping down like falcons, heading straight for Lu Zhengchun and the others.

“Clang!!!!!”

Before the large group of government troops responsible for the surrounding lockdown could take action, the sound of swords being drawn echoed around.

Zhang Han, a Jisi from the Peony Hall, leaped up, the seven-foot sword in his hand shining brightly, shouting:

“Seal off the execution platform!”

He had already rushed towards those Jianghu people.

Deputy General Yuan Ji and several powerful subordinates in the army also took action at the same time, killing several rebel parties in the air.

Hou Renmeng and a large group of Jinyi reacted quickly, pouncing on the arena like vicious wolves, surrounding the prisoners such as Lu Zhengchun.

— Although they were going to kill them anyway, beheading according to the law was one thing, and stabbing them in the chaos was another.

“Wu Ling, take action!”

At the same time, in the crowd that had been thrown into chaos by the sudden battle, a branch leader with a bushy beard looked at Wu Ling beside him and said in a low voice:

“The attention of the imperial dogs has been diverted, you go and rescue Alliance Leader Lu, I’ll cover you!”

Wu Ling glanced at Zhao Du'an, who was sitting on the high platform, with a slight hesitation, feeling anxious.

He had received the task of robbing the execution ground temporarily, so he had no time to react and wanted to inform Zhao Du'an, but he was stared at by the other masters in the rebel party beside him.

He didn't know what to do at all.

“Wu Ling? What are you hesitating about?” The branch leader with the bushy beard clenched the dagger in his sleeve, his eyes flashing sharply, staring at him suddenly.

Wu Ling gritted his teeth and said with a stiff face: “Okay!”

He made a hand seal, and a phantom of the God of Theater suddenly appeared in his pupils. The clothes on his entire body quickly turned into ancient opera costumes, colorful and mottled, with a row of flags inserted behind his neck, and two long plumes extending from the top of his head and drooping backward.

He grabbed behind him with his right hand, and a flowery spear shook out its red tassel.

“Rescue Alliance Leader Lu!”

“Kill the corrupt officials!”

“Eliminate harm for the people!”

At the same time.

In the crowd, members of the Kuangfu Society, who had been lurking in various directions, shouted slogans at the same time, pulled out weapons hidden in carrying poles, vegetable baskets, and cotton clothes, and attacked the nearest government troops.

This premeditated surprise attack immediately made the people even more terrified, and they screamed in horror, in a chaotic mess.

A large number of soldiers around, facing the frantically scurrying people, were also unable to organize effective action for a while, and could only draw their swords, shouting loudly, ordering the people to stay where they were and block all escape routes.

Haitang's beautiful eyes flickered, her long legs stepped out, and her jade hand wiped her waist. In an instant, a silver flying knife roared out.

“Puff!”

“Puff!”

“Puff!”

Three rebel members in the crowd instantly had their necks cut off by flying knives, their eyes widened, covered their necks, and swayed and fell down.

“Quell the chaos!” Haitang shouted in a low voice, flying knives surrounding her, killing towards the crowd.

At the same time, a group of Jinyi followed her and left the arena to control those Jianghu people.

The execution ground suddenly became empty. A gust of cold wind blew, and three figures suddenly and subtly leaped out of the crowd under the cover of the chaos created by the crowd, rushing towards the execution platform like the shadows of poisonous snakes.

The burly man with the bushy beard and another middle-aged woman, one on the left and one on the right, seemed to be covering Wu Ling and attracting the attention of the remaining Jinyi, but in fact they also sandwiched Wu Ling in the middle, guarding against any changes.

Wu Ling was unable to get Zhao Du'an's order for a long time, so he had to grit his teeth and shake the flowery spear. In the air, there was a sudden burst of gongs and drums.

The command flags behind his neck flew out, turning into clones, protecting his real body, tearing apart the Jinyi's defense, and successfully breaking through to Lu Zhengchun.

“Quick! Hurry!” Hope flashed in Lu Zhengchun's eyes, and he shouted eagerly.

Whoosh whoosh…

A stream of water suddenly appeared in front of him, forcibly blocking Wu Ling. The stream of water floated in the air, like a river cut off in mid-air.

In the river, Ji Yue, with red clothes and white pupils, slowly blocked Wu Ling like a swimming fish.

She raised a pale finger and gently poked it.

“Bang!”

The flowery spear that Wu Ling handed over was instantly covered with water vapor, condensed into frost, and then "crack, crack", shattered into pieces.

A flowery spear was frozen into sections.

Those clones were also frozen and shattered one by one, falling to the ground and returning to the appearance of command flags.

Wu Ling's pupils narrowed, and his body was also wrapped in a stream of water. The stream of water condensed into a "cage", imprisoning him in it.

“Ah!”

At the same time, a scimitar stabbed out diagonally, piercing the heart of the middle-aged woman. Lang Shiba turned his wrist expressionlessly.

The powerful aura destroyed the woman's vitality in a destructive manner.

He pulled out the blood-stained scimitar, dropped a corpse, glanced at the burly man with the bushy beard whose eyes were flashing with a desperate fierce light, frowned slightly, and his figure flashed.

The scimitar swept past.

“Puff!”

“Puff!”

With two strikes, the burly leader with the bushy beard had both arms unloaded and dropped to the ground. The dagger clanged and rolled to the bottom of the execution platform.

The prefect Luan was so frightened that his expression changed drastically, and he almost vomited.

Overwhelming!

Wu Ling and the other three were already considered masters in the Jianghu world, but in the face of the strangulation of two Shijian realm experts, they had no power to resist at all.

The smile on Lu Zhengchun's face froze, and he looked at the scene blankly, suddenly shouting:

“Where are the others? Where is Qi Yuchun? Where is Ren Kun? Why are there only you trash?”

Zhao Du'an sat steadily on the high platform, frowning slightly, seeing that the surrounding riots were being quickly brought under control.

Faced with the well-prepared imperial troops, this group of rebels robbing the execution ground collapsed extremely quickly.

“That's it? It's over?” Prefect Luan finished vomiting, his face pale, his expression blank:

“Zhuang Xiaocheng sent people to rob the execution ground, why did he only send so few? Doesn't he know that these people alone can't accomplish anything?”

At this time, Haitang and Zhang Han also returned, and they both noticed something was wrong.

Zhang Han suddenly took a few steps to Wu Ling, who was trapped in the water cage, and the burly man with the bushy beard, whose arms had been cut off and was being trampled on the ground by Lang Shiba, his body stained with blood.

He glanced at the two of them, and the seven-foot sword rested against the burly man's neck, and he said coldly:

“Speak, where are the others? Don't tell me that Zhuang Xiaocheng only sent you people here.”

The burly man with the bushy beard knew that his life was not long, but he laughed wildly:

“Hahahaha… You, cough cough, thought… the Grand Tutor would be fooled… right, no… you've been tricked… your manpower is all here, Fengcheng is empty… haha…”

As he laughed, he coughed up blood, and suddenly his eyes widened, staring at Zhao Du'an on the stage:

“Puppet Emperor's lackey! Grandpa will take a step first! I'll wait for you on the road to the Yellow Springs!”

After saying that, he suddenly sat up and wiped his neck on the seven-foot sword, committing suicide!

In the water prison, Wu Ling was stunned and didn't understand what was happening at all. Only then did he realize that the action plan he knew was completely fake.

“Zhao Shaobao, this…” Prefect Luan was shocked and looked at Zhao Du'an subconsciously.

Zhao Du'an had been sitting calmly in the chair from beginning to end, even at this moment, he was just frowning slightly, as if he was thinking.

“I understand!”

Suddenly, Haitang, the little expert in solving cases, exclaimed. Seeing that everyone's attention was attracted, her expression was solemn, and she said quickly:

“This is a feint! Zhuang Xiaocheng didn't intend to rescue Lu Zhengchun at all. We gathered our troops here and set up a trap. Knowing that it was difficult to attack by force, he simply gave up and sent more troops to other places…

That's right! Taking advantage of the emptiness in other places in Fengcheng today, they can completely attack the official office, even the granary, archives, armory and other important places…”

Prefect Luan's mind buzzed, but he shook his head and said:

“That's impossible, if Zhuang Xiaocheng intends to do so, why would he send these people over to die? Wouldn't it be meaningless? Wouldn't it be a waste of the lives of the society's masters?”

Haitang shook her head, her expression bitter:

“No, it's not meaningless! He must send people to rescue, to unite the hearts of the members, so he sent these people over, the purpose is to die, so that he, as the leader, only failed to rescue, and will not lose the hearts of the people!

Moreover, he also needs these people to contain our attention. From the beginning, these people were abandoned sons he threw out.”

“Impossible! Impossible!”

Hearing this, Lu Zhengchun, who was kneeling on the execution ground, retorted loudly. A look of shock appeared in his eyes, and he couldn't believe the speculation that he had been abandoned.

However, no one paid any attention to him at this moment.

As if to confirm the speculation, suddenly, from different directions in Fengcheng, special "signal flares" rose one after another.

They emitted sharp whistles.

At first, there was only one sound, like a horn signaling a simultaneous action, followed by signal after signal rising in response.

"Damn it!"

Luan Cheng exclaimed, "Those places are important government offices in the city and cannot be lost! If they are destroyed by the rebels, or even massacred..."

"Divide the troops."

Suddenly, Zhao Du'an, who hadn't spoken much, raised his head and calmly scanned the crowd, saying:

"We cannot allow the rebels to run rampant in the city, or what will become of the imperial court's dignity? Yuanji, Zhang Han, Haitang, Zhang Jian... each of you lead a team of soldiers to the granary, treasury, prison, and other important places. We may not be able to arrive in time to rescue them, but we must minimize the losses and capture and kill the rebels!"

After a pause, he thought for a moment and added:

"Among the rebels are Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun, two experts. Since they are not here, they must have gone to the important government offices... Lang Shiba, Ji Yue, you two go with them as well, in case they try to encircle and ambush our people by sending stronger individuals to ambush our people separately."

"This..." Haitang keenly sensed something was wrong:

"If we all leave, what about you...?"

Zhao Du'an said calmly:

"Today is the execution at the execution ground. Governor Luan and I need to oversee the completion of the execution and use this place as the central hub to gather intelligence and issue orders to all parties. This is the location of the central command tent. As for our safety, don't worry. Brother Gongshu is here, and even if we encounter danger, we can always escape."

"But..." Haitang still felt uneasy, but the situation was urgent, and she could only choose to trust him.

Immediately, the officers and soldiers split into teams and rushed to the important places in the city to provide support.

In the blink of an eye, the scene was much emptier, with only a group of yamen runners around, and the common people dared not leave, trembling in place.

Zhao Du'an first had Gongshu Tianyuan use a spirit-suppressing talisman to seal Wu Ling's cultivation and tie him up.

Then, he smiled at the anxious Governor Luan and said:

"Governor, please sit tight for now."

Then, he turned to the executioners and said:

"Continue the execution."

Luan Cheng was stunned, surprised that this Young Guardian Zhao could remain so calm and composed in the face of such a difficult situation, his demeanor so high that it was admirable.

He felt ashamed: "I, Luan, am many years older than the Young Guardian, but now, when faced with important matters, I am far from being as steadfast as a mountain. I am ashamed of my inferiority. I really don't know how the Young Guardian has such a state of mind?"

Zhao Du'an said "Oh" and replied matter-of-factly:

"Fengcheng is Governor's territory. Even if something goes wrong, it is the Governor who will be held responsible. It has nothing to do with me, so naturally, I am at peace."

??

Luan Cheng stared blankly at the young man beside him, his expression dull, almost unable to believe what he had heard.

...

...

Purple Forbidden Mountain Manor.

In the highest pavilion on the cliff edge.

Zhuang Xiaocheng was dressed in loose robes and sleeves. Today, he had changed into his favorite scholar's Confucian robe from his days as Grand Tutor, and sat alone in the pavilion, playing chess by himself.

Suddenly, the Kuang Fu Society member called Fifth Uncle, a pillar of the society, walked over and stood respectfully with his head bowed:

"Grand Tutor, according to your instructions, the prisoners in the vineyard have been scattered and mixed into various teams, heading to attack important places in Fengcheng. The few people you wrote on the list, specifically requesting to be kept, have also been brought here."

Zhuang Xiaocheng grunted, without raising his head, and said, "Bring them here."

"Yes."

Fifth Uncle walked away and soon returned, leading four or five people, among whom was Yunxi.

The group saluted: "Greetings, Grand Tutor."

Zhuang Xiaocheng smiled and kindly asked them to sit around the pavilion, summoning Yunxi to his side:

"Yunxi, come and help your teacher move the pieces."

Whenever the Grand Tutor had important matters to consider, he had the habit of playing chess against himself.

As a disciple, Yunxi was very familiar with this, and immediately walked over obediently, kneeling opposite the chessboard.

Zhuang Xiaocheng would say the point, and she would help pick up the chess pieces from the box and place them in the corresponding position.

"Do you know why I have called you here?" Zhuang Xiaocheng asked with a smile, looking around at the young faces.

The crowd was at a loss.

A young man said excitedly:

"Fifth Uncle said that today our society is going to deal with the court's lackeys and assigned us tasks. We are all waiting, but we didn't expect you to want to see us. Could it be that you want to give us instructions in person?

Grand Tutor, just tell us. We have an irreconcilable hatred with the court's dogs. We would rather die than bite off two taels of flesh from that Zhao Du'an!"

"Me too!"

"We all do!"

"Grand Tutor, whatever you want us to do, just say it!"

Several people echoed.

Zhuang Xiaocheng's smile was like a spring breeze as he looked at these young and innocent faces with emotion.

These few people were carefully selected by him. They had enough potential and talent, firm beliefs, were reliable enough, and had personally suffered the court's punishment and torment, with deep-seated hatred in their hearts.

"Very good, but today there are no orders for you, but to witness the death of that Zhao thief with me."

Zhuang Xiaocheng said calmly, and then, under the surprised gazes of the young men and women, explained his arrangements for today.

Yunxi couldn't hide her surprise:

"Teacher, so the people you sent to rescue Alliance Leader Lu today were just a feint? The real purpose was to have the other brothers and sisters attack the important government offices in the city?"

Zhuang Xiaocheng shook his head, however, and said:

"No. The execution ground is the main attack, and attacking various places in Fengcheng is the feint."

Yunxi was stunned, her delicate and thin face full of confusion and incomprehension:

"Disciple... doesn't understand."

Zhuang Xiaocheng met the pair of clear eyes and smiled, saying:

"Zhao Du'an is using Lu Zhengchun to force us to rescue him, but if we rush the execution ground, not only will we not be able to rescue him, but we will only sacrifice the lives of many generous patriots. Therefore, I deliberately put on a show to make them think that the execution ground is a feint..."

"In this way, Zhao Du'an, in order to protect the important places in the city, will inevitably have to divide his troops hastily to provide support."

"And no matter how he divides them, as long as he divides the troops, it will inevitably mean that the number of strong people around him will decrease, which will give our Commander Qi and Ren Kun a chance to act."

"Ah," Yunxi's eyes lit up and she said excitedly:

"So, Teacher, your real purpose today is to assassinate that running dog! ?"

After speaking, she frowned again:

"But in that case, wouldn't the brothers and sisters who are responsible for dispersing and feinting attacks in various parts of the city be in danger? They will have to face the encirclement and suppression of the court's troops? Also, those righteous people who went to the execution ground to feint an attack earlier..."

Zhuang Xiaocheng's eyes revealed a look of regret and sadness:

"They know the danger of this trip, but in order to support the country and eliminate traitors... You must remember that in this world, there is no victory that can be achieved without bloodshed.

The pseudo-emperor is powerful, and the Zhao thief is vicious. If we want to eliminate this thief, not to mention Wu Ling, Yue Bai and the others, even I, how can I cherish my life?"

However, the truth is:

From the beginning, Zhuang Xiaocheng had prepared to abandon all the Kuang Fu Society members in the city as "pawns."

How cunning is Zhao Du'an?

How could he be easily deceived? Only by throwing out a bloody fortune and pressing so many members of the society onto the chessboard could Zhao Du'an's vigilance be dispelled, making him believe that this play was real, and only then would he adopt a strategy of dividing his troops.

After saying a few words, the surrounding young men and women were moved to tears. Yunxi's eyes were red, and she looked sad, but her heart was as calm as an ancient well, and she even wanted to laugh a little.

And a little sad.

Once upon a time, she was deceived by the old dog in front of her, but now, she has awakened, but there are still so many brothers and sisters in the society who are being deceived.

Yunxi suppressed the urge to kill the old dog, sobbing and saying fiercely:

"I just want to tear that Zhao thief into pieces to relieve the hatred in my heart!"

Zhuang Xiaocheng looked at the young girl's undisguised, heart-wrenching hatred with satisfaction, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly:

"Three-five."

Yunxi picked up a chess piece and pressed it on the corresponding position on the chessboard.

The fall of this chess piece meant that a large area of the chessboard, belonging to Zhuang Xiaocheng's chess pieces, was "dead."

It can be said that this is a "suicide" chess move.

But what if more sacrifices are made? As long as it can obtain a sure-kill, blocking the opportunity to kill all the "Qi" of the "Zhao Du'an" chess piece.

Everything is worth it.

...

...

Autumn Execution Ground.

The execution continued, and with an order, the executioner dropped the knife.

"Puff, puff, puff..."

More than thirty Taoists, one head after another rolled down.

Lu Zhengchun was placed at the end. When he saw the shadow of the executioner's knife reflected on the ground, the last string in his heart finally snapped. He shouted loudly:

"I know where Zhuang Xiaocheng's lair is! Don't kill..."

Before he could finish speaking, in the crowd, the ground suddenly bulged.

In the earthy yellow light.

Two figures burst out of the ground:

"Zhao thief, give me your life!"

The real assassination has arrived.