The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 447 Knife and Food
Two elite Imperial Guardsmen supported Tang Lanzhou, used their shields to deflect the projectiles coming from both sides, rushed into a house on the side of the street, rushed through the back door to the backyard, and then jumped over the wall into another street.

Shouts of battle were coming from behind.

The two dared not delay. One blocked the bullets coming from behind, while the other carried Tang Lanzhou out of the city gate, heading towards the Shenji Camp's garrison. But then they heard Tang Lanzhou say weakly.

"Turn around and head to the Three Thousand Camp."

The Imperial Guard expert paused in his steps.

"Can--"

Tang Lanzhou forced out a few words.

"I just shouted that out of the blue to scare them."

"Whether or not the Shenji Battalion has been fully controlled, we cannot go there rashly... The Three Thousand Battalion consists of naturalized foreign cavalry who do not speak Chinese, and Liu Jin is the least likely to control them... Cavalry is swift, and the only way to quickly reach the Shenji Battalion and suppress them is through the Three Thousand Battalion... Let's go to the Three Thousand Battalion!"

The Imperial Guard expert nodded and turned to head towards the Three Thousand Camp's encampment.

Meanwhile, outside the capital city.

An Ziyang frowned as he looked at the Gu worms in his hand. Just moments before, the Gu worms had been pointing the way, but now they all lowered their heads and crawled around haphazardly in his palm.

"Liu Jin".

An Ziyang gritted his teeth.

Liu Jin severed the connection between the Gu worms. As a close confidant of the emperor, he also knew the emperor's Gu techniques, so it wasn't surprising that he could do this.

An Ziyang lost the means to pursue those martial arts figures.

At the same time, the deafening sounds of the battle between the celestial beings in the distance gradually subsided. Two guardians flew over and threw a human head to the ground.

“Commander An, we just found a stronghold of martial arts practitioners and were about to make our move when this man suddenly appeared to cover their retreat… We killed him, but the martial arts practitioners scattered like birds and beasts and have disappeared without a trace.”

An Ziyang looked closely.

"The Azure Phoenix Sect is truly brilliant."

That ordinary-looking head with disheveled hair and beard belonged to Gao Ming.

As a result, all three martial arts masters who came to the capital to compete for the Xuanlan martial arts manual died.

An Ziyang's brows furrowed even more.

"What exactly did Liu Jin offer to get Gao Ming to willingly cover their retreat? What do they intend to do with these Jianghu people that warrants using a Celestial Being to cover their retreat?"

"If we have time to search slowly, we will definitely be able to find out where they went... But right now, without the guidance of the Gu worms, it will be difficult to catch up with them in a short time."

An Ziyang clenched his fist and strode toward the place where the two elders and Gao Ming were fighting, hoping to find some clues.

I had only taken a few steps when I felt a tingling, itchy sensation in my palm.

Looking again, the Gu worms raised their heads and all pointed in the same direction.

"this!"

An Ziyang's eyes widened slightly.

“It worked again. No, Liu Jin couldn’t be this careless… Could it be the wrong direction? No, this is a Gu worm that Xiao Si cultivated himself. Liu Jin can’t break it in a short time… No, Liu Jin can’t do it. Someone else can.”

"Ji Tianrui".

"But she has already broken with Yingzhou and the Eastern Depot in fact, and killed several Heavenly Beings and Yan Song from Yingzhou. Did she help Liu Jin break the Gu worm and mislead me, or did she break Liu Jin's method of concealing his whereabouts and give me a hint? What does she want to do? Is she an enemy or a friend of the Commander?"

In a flash, he looked in the direction indicated by the Gu worm.

Upon seeing it, I was shocked.

"The Imperial Palace!"

Mei Qinghe, standing next to her, also turned cold.

"Brother An, the direction indicated by the Gu worm is the palace."

"Yes."

An Ziyang nodded with a stern face.

"But we still don't know if it's misleading..."

Mei Qinghe interrupted.

"Regardless of the circumstances, as long as the commander is safe, everything can still be salvaged; if the commander is in danger, then all is lost. Therefore, whether it's a misdirection or not, we must return to the palace!"

An Ziyang breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s right, Sister Mei, I was overthinking it.” He looked in the direction indicated by the Gu worm and waved his hand.

"Let's go! Back to the palace!"

After saying that, the group climbed onto the roof and chased after the direction indicated by the Gu worm.

In a house behind them, Ji Tianrui gently placed the Gu worm in her hand on the table, watched the departing figures of the group, and chuckled softly.

"Lord Li, are you awake yet?"

"You owe me these favors, so next time we meet, you can't just come at me with threats of violence, can you?"

As she was speaking, another voice came from inside the room.

"Sacrificial Lord, the purpose of the boat is ができました. いつ东瀛へ帰りますか? (Priestmaster, the boat is ready, when will it return to Japan)?"

Ji Tianrui chuckled and replied in the same language.

"Private favors, favors, favors, favors, favors, favors, favors, favors, favors, favors, please wait for me at the dock, ready to set sail at any time)."

The sound paused for a moment.

He didn't understand and wanted to question why they valued a person from the Central Plains so much that they would abandon many important domestic affairs and travel across the ocean to come here just to do a favor... But his respect and fear for Ji Tianrui were ingrained in his bones, so after hesitating for a while, he only dared to reply respectfully.

"かしこまりました(obey)."

After that, the room fell silent again.

Let's turn back the clock to the moment Zhu Zai received the message.

Upon hearing the report from the Imperial Guard, his face flushed red, and he cursed angrily.

"Damn it! Thousand Machine Battalion... Good!"

"What Tang Gong said is probably just misleading. He won't go to the Thousand Machine Camp. If I'm not mistaken, he should be heading towards the Three Thousand Camp."

Zhu Zai reached out and took out an item, then beckoned a servant to hand it to him.

"Take the tiger tally, catch up with Lord Tang, and dispatch three thousand cavalry battalions to encircle and annihilate the Thousand Machine Battalion rebels. Do not fail!"

"Yes!"

The attendant accepted the order and flew away.

At this moment, Zhu Zaicai finally had the chance to throw himself into a chair, raise his hand to pinch his forehead, his mind racing.

"wrong."

"Leaving aside the matter of the Divine Machine Battalion, what exactly is Liu Jin's intention in sending civil officials and Jianghu people to the palace... If these people were just creating a stir, they might be useful, but now their true intentions have been revealed. A bunch of scholars and a group of roughnecks, how many tributes can they possibly exchange?"

“An Qisheng has not recovered, and the Celestials of Yingzhou are not all dead. His arrival at the palace is merely a change of venue for his fight with His Majesty. What is the point?”

"Strange, very strange."

Zhu Zai rubbed his temples, feeling a sudden twitch in the corner of his eye.

After this period of fighting, the opponent has very few pieces left. Now the opponent has pushed all the pieces out and is heading towards the palace, clearly intending to fight to the death... but I can't even figure out the opponent's intentions.

Amidst his chaotic thoughts, Zhu Zai suddenly remembered something.

Nanjing.

Zheng Anqi held a religious ceremony in Nanjing, hoping to cultivate the minds and spirits of the people in preparation for achieving perfect enlightenment. Where did his method of cultivation come from?

Before betraying Yingzhou, Zheng Anqi had probably never left Yingzhou, and he had no way of obtaining other methods of cultivating sexual techniques. Therefore, this method of cultivation was a tradition inherited from Yingzhou.

In other words, An Qisheng would also do it.

Civil officials and江湖人 (jianghu people) are of no value in terms of martial prowess, yet Liu Jin was willing to use a celestial being to cover their retreat.

Furthermore, with officials pressuring for the emperor's abdication, why would An Qisheng risk directly confronting Li Miao to come in person? Was it just to protect Yan Song?
If killing all the celestial beings of Yingzhou would restore his condition, why didn't An Qisheng kill them before? He doesn't care about family ties at all!
Like a thunderclap, lightning linked the clues together.

Zhu Zai suddenly stood up.

"No, the coup that day was not to seize the court, nor was An Qisheng to protect Yan Song... He wanted to use the coup to replace the sacrifice of the Yingzhou Celestials with the minds of the officials to restore the perfect state, and then use the perfect state to control His Majesty and carry out the act of usurpation!"

"It's just that Da Li killed too quickly and decisively, ruining his plan!"

"Now, the last Yingzhou Celestial Being has been taken away by Zhu Shoujing, and An Qisheng has planted a seed of sexual energy in Da Li, causing his cultivation to decline. To break this deadlock, he must return to his perfect state... Therefore, those civil officials and martial artists are not weapons, but provisions!"

"The resources for An Qisheng to recover!"

(End of this chapter)