Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 855 The Arrow is on the String (Bonus Chapter for JJM Alliance Leader)

As Zhao Qi ascended the city tower of Zongyang Palace and looked down upon the city lights, he felt a strange sense of excitement and satisfaction.

When he ascended the throne, he had a regent and ministers assisting him.

When he assumed personal rule, Prince Zhao Qu of Jin was on equal footing with him.

In fact, more often than not, the Prince of Jin was the main character.

Because that day was the day when the King of Jin returned all the power that rightfully belonged to him to him.

Therefore, it wasn't until the very last moment, when he received the symbol of royal power from Zhao Qu and the King of Jin stepped down, that he truly became the protagonist.

At that moment, he looked down at everyone below, and they all bowed their heads before him.

This is what an emperor should be like!

In the whole world, there is nothing but the royal land. On the shore of the land, could it be the king's ministers?

However, in the blink of an eye, he saw the Prince of Jin.

Although Zhao Qu had resumed his carefree princely demeanor, his attire today was not particularly formal.

But Zhao Qu just stood there lazily, and Zhao Qi immediately felt inferior.

This is his uncle, and even his father's throne was given up by this uncle.

However, he inherited the throne from his father.

and so……

Even though Zhao Qu was bowing to him at that moment, he still felt inferior.

A great kindness can be as great an enmity!
It was never out of any twisted mentality of wanting to repay someone or having no way to do so.

That's just a way of covering up something ugly.

It's just that they are ungrateful and refuse to repay kindness. They even feel pressured by public opinion to repay the kindness shown to them. So, they are resentful ingrates who have barely managed to pull out a fig leaf to cover their shame.

"Uncle Wang, today is New Year's Day. We are family, so there is no need to be so formal."

Zhao Qi forced a smile and stepped forward to offer a helping hand.

Upon seeing Zhao Qu's appearance, Zhao Qi felt a sudden pang of unease, his gaze darting around as he instinctively searched for Zhao Chen among the ministers.

Zhao Chen is still called Yan Shen, but his true identity has been sealed away as a royal secret.

He is now just a "secretary," the emperor's secretary.

It has weight, but it can't be considered particularly noble.

When Zhao Chen saw the gaze Zhao Qi cast at him, he nodded slightly, which put Zhao Qi at ease.

He was quite uneasy when he made that decision.

But more than a hundred days have passed, and that unease has long since disappeared, replaced by longing.

In his mind, he had even rehearsed countless times the feeling of being high above and supreme after his uncle Zhao Qu's death.

Of course, the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager still had to keep him in check.

However, they were women after all, and neither Wu nor Xie had ever held regency before, so they had no reason to interfere with him now that he was in power.

So, he suddenly felt a great sense of relief.

Zhao Qi, standing on the city wall, threw some coins down. Watching the people below scramble for them, his initial unease subsided.

The banquet was held on the city tower of Zongyang Palace.

However, in reality, only kings and high-ranking officials were qualified to enter the city tower to drink.

The others were more like attending a buffet.

However, winter in Lin'an is not cold, and those people drinking at tables outside the building are not too upset.

The palace banquet officially began, and the first thing Zhao Qi did was to toast his elders.

Even if he were the emperor, there was no reason for him to defy the Heavenly Spirit and have the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager toast him.

Filial piety is of paramount importance, and the emperor should naturally set an example.

Zhao Qi first offered a cup of wine to Empress Dowager Wu, and Wu's reply was quite intriguing.

"If the emperor does a good job, I will be happy. I am getting old and can no longer drink wine, but it is enough that the emperor's intention is there."

After saying that, he raised his glass and only touched it to his lips.

The emperor should be a good emperor, not a good emperor.

This is the Empress Dowager's assessment of the Emperor's first year of personal rule.

The entire court held the Empress Dowager, who had accompanied Zhao Gou on his travels since she was fourteen and supported him through thick and thin, in the highest esteem.

Although she is called the Empress Dowager, she is only in her early fifties now. She is well-maintained and, being the daughter of a military general, has practiced martial arts since childhood. She looks only about forty years old.

She said she's too old to hold her liquor?

The first drink of the new year was less festive.

When the emperor was presented with a salute to Empress Dowager Xie, she gave him considerable face.

Although she was the emperor's mother, she was only his stepmother.

The relationship between a stepmother and her stepson is inherently more sensitive.

If she says or does anything inappropriate, it will attract more inappropriate interpretations.

After paying his respects to the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager, Zhao Qi then approached Zhao Qu.

"Uncle, I toast you. Thank you for your hard work."

Zhao Qi bowed slightly to Zhao Qu, and when he turned around and picked up the wine pot from the tray held by the eunuch, his fingers trembled slightly.

“I am not tired, Your Majesty is busy with countless affairs of state, that is why you are tired. However, no matter how hard Your Majesty works, you must not discourage the meritorious officials.”

While we drink and make merry here, the Prince of Yan is still struggling to survive in the freezing cold, waiting for your help, Your Majesty.

When Zhao Qu saw Zhao Qi, he was furious.

The Empress Dowager spoke very subtly, but he didn't give her any face at all.

The Goose King has always been like this, always doing whatever he pleases, and he's not afraid of making things awkward for everyone if he reveals the truth.

Zhao Qi's face darkened as expected. He had felt a little guilty, but now his heart turned cold. When he held the pot forward, he gently turned the hand supporting the bottom of the pot half a circle.

This is the "Qiankun Pot," a pot containing a universe within. Ever since Zhao Qu was poisoned by the beauty, he has been much more careful about his diet.

He rarely ate in the marketplace anymore, and the chefs and food in the palace began to pay attention to every detail, starting from the procurement of ingredients.

However, the security procedures in the palace are much stricter than those in the prince's residence.

Moreover, he never imagined that his nephew would harm him.

In his eyes, Zhao Qi was just an honest, dull, easily influenced child with little vision.

This child isn't very ambitious, and he doesn't think much of him, but fundamentally, he's not a bad person.

This was Zhao Qu's opinion of Zhao Qi.

Seeing his nephew's overly polite and sarcastic remarks, he felt somewhat embarrassed, but still smiled and offered a toast.

Zhao Qu finally softened his heart.

Enough, let's not embarrass him in front of all the officials.

After all, he was the emperor; he deserved the dignity due to him.

Zhao Qu sighed inwardly and readily drank the fine wine that Zhao Qi had personally served him.

……

Lin'an is a city that never sleeps and never imposes a night curfew.

Despite this, a large group of burly men, each carrying a sword and spear, strode out from the dock, and the city's guards could not help but question them.

However, this question was posed by officers and soldiers dispatched by the Infantry Command to the capital to maintain order in various places.

Some of these officers and soldiers were wearing military uniforms, while others were wearing civilian clothes; they were quite considerate.

After verifying their "certificates," it was confirmed that they were indeed issued by the Privy Council and the Infantry Commandery, with two large, bright red seals clearly affixed.

Thus, the security guards, dressed in military uniforms and civilian clothes, entered Lin'an City in groups of several hundred men.

Fei Yuye, Leng Yuchan, and Xue Bingxin were originally female officials in the Privy Council's Information and Speed ​​Office.

Fei Yuye's godmother was also the wife of the Minister of the Interior, Lady Zhe.

With these two identities, their old connections in the machine room, and their skills, it wouldn't be difficult for them to secretly obtain the Privy Council's official paper, affix the seal without anyone noticing, and then smuggle it out of the Privy Council.

As for the Infantry Division, that's even easier to handle.

When Yang Yuan built the academy on the hill behind his house, the engineers he hired were from the Infantry Division.

From that time onward, he and Wu Ting began to secretly associate with each other.

The relationship between the Wu family and Yang Yuan is very delicate.

In a sense, Wu Ting's twelfth brother could be said to have been driven to his death by Yang Yuan.

However, all Yang Yuan did at the time was simply carrying out orders from the Song Dynasty court.

The Wu family's increasingly awkward situation, and the fact that Wu Ting, who should have become the commander of the Wu family army, was forced to go to Lin'an and become a de facto "hostage," are all due to the Song Dynasty court's fear of the Wu family.

Therefore, when Yang Yuan became powerful enough and began to be feared by the Song emperor, who began to use even more extreme methods to deal with him than he had used against the Wu family, Wu Ting and Yang Yuan became brothers in misfortune.

The Wu family has always been patient and dared not take any excessive actions because they are very clear that:

The Wu family already possessed power that made the emperor wary, but they did not yet have the strength to rival the emperor.

But what if we add Yang Yuan?

Therefore, it was Fujiwara Himeka who was responsible for contacting Wu Ting.

The unassuming soldiers behind Fujiwara Himeka were the best of the best among the secret agents of the same boat.

And the leader of them is Yazawa Kanon.

If they disagree, Himeka and Hanon will suddenly start a murder.

However, just as Yang Yuan had predicted, Wu Ting, who grew up in the Western Army's den, was never a person who was afraid of everything.

Wu Ting was not one to hesitate. He lowered his eyes and pondered for only three breaths before decisively agreeing.

This was an opportunity that Yang Yuan desperately needed, and also an opportunity for him to change the fate of Wu Jiajun and his own destiny.

Therefore, the procedures for troop deployment by the Privy Council and the dispatch of troops by the Infantry Command were all in place.

Several groups, consisting of officers of three thousand light cavalry and a mix of Shandong militia, swaggered into Lin'an City.

Yang Yuan knew better than anyone the defenses of Lin'an City at night, especially during festivals when the royal family celebrated with the people.

He had served as an official in the Privy Council and Lin'an Prefecture, and he even served as the "Street Cleaner".

And these security measures have remained almost unchanged.

Therefore, Yang Yuan was essentially playing a game against his opponent while looking at his opponent's open cards.

Yang Yuan arrived at Zongyang Palace with Wu Youyao, Chunwu Xiaonai, Yang Shou, Yang Ze, and Xin Qiji.

Six people, men and women, all dressed in traditional robes, stood in the crowd, looking no different from ordinary people celebrating the festival.

There is a "lotus-shaped water clock" set up on the street.

Tonight, the government and the people are celebrating together, which is a major official event, so it's impossible to estimate the time by simply looking up at the sky.

Although people in this era have developed the ability to judge the time by looking at the sky.

During the day, they could simply take a chopstick and measure the angle of sunlight, and at night, based on the positions of the moon and stars in the sky, they could determine the time with the most accurate time, with an error of no more than five minutes.

Yang Ze squeezed to the "lotus-shaped water clock" guarded by the neighborhood guards to check the time, and then returned to Yang Yuan's side.

"Second Brother, it's six quarters past 9 PM!"

He had already accepted Yang Yuan as his second brother, and Yang Yuan was indeed a year older than him. However, when he impersonated Yang Ze, he had been vague about his real age to Yang Che.

Yang Yuan nodded. As agreed, Wu Ting's side would begin their operation at 2:45 PM.

It is now the sixth quarter of Hai hour, which is an hour in modern time.

They set off from the barracks and should be in position by now, ready to launch their attack immediately.

Yang Yuan arrived earlier than Wu Ting.

Otherwise, if there is any disturbance, the palace gates will be closed, making it extremely difficult to break into the palace.

Yang Yuan said to Yang Ze, "Let's go, get ready to make our move. After this is over, I'll take you home to pay our respects to our elder brother!"

(End of this chapter)