Standing on the hill and looking out, from north to south, the crowds are like ants, constantly gathering, scattering and shouting.

The beacon fire was rising in the outer suburbs, dyeing the sky red.

After a while, there were calls and commotions from the crowd, constantly disturbing the rice ears hanging outside Yingtian Mansion.

Everyone brought their families and dependents, just to escape quickly.

Big eagles circled in the sky, staring at the people on the ground, waiting for the corpses to appear.

There was a gentle breeze, and it was supposed to be the season of harvest celebrations, but the flames next to the adobe houses on the edge of the fields gave off the smell of killing.

This should not be the scene that Yingtianfu, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, should have seen.

In June of the fourth year of Jianwen in the Ming Dynasty.

With yellow tiles, red pillars and sapphire slabs, the Fengtian Hall, the highest court in the Ming Dynasty, is actually gloomy and unpopular inside.

"Your Majesty! The Yan army is already outside the city, and Zhu Di is about to rush in. Your Majesty?"

Concubine Liu pretended to be calm, but her hands were trembling, and her eyes were horrified as she asked Emperor Jianwen what he meant. Kneeling next to the concubine was Fang Xiaoru, the Minister of Guan Ming, as well as two eunuchs from Fengtian Palace and two guards in front of the palace.

The situation was over, and everyone in Fengtian Hall felt panic-stricken.

The beaded crown on Emperor Jianwen's head was tilted, his hair was disheveled, his eyes were full of holes, and he didn't know what to do. He recalled that when he first ascended the throne four years ago, some ministers advised him to be careful of his uncle Zhu Di, the king of Yan, saying that he had the intention to usurp the throne. The founding minister Xu Da

The eldest son Xu Huizu warned the king of Yan that he must rebel. He did not believe it.

Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and Fang Xiaoru studied many plans for withdrawing the feudal vassal and gave them to him. He did not take action.

Zhu Di's son came to the capital for a visit, and the ministers persuaded him to stay as a hostage. He felt soft-hearted and returned home.

He did not do anything that should be done. Instead, he gave the King of Yan the excuse that "there are treacherous ministers in the court and it is difficult to clear the emperor's side." The war raged for four years and countless people were sent to fight, but they failed to defeat the emperor.

Uncle Zhu Di, finally King Yan and the three guards of Duoyan finally reached Yingtian (Nanjing). General Li Jinglong rebelled and burned the city gate. The Yan army lined up to enter the city.

Emperor Jianwen had two thoughts in his mind, should he surrender or commit suicide? He lowered his head, and a voice in his heart shouted, it would be better to die, and it would be over. The life of the royal family was already heavily restricted, and he hated the royal rules and did everything.

Everything is like playing chess, full of scheming. In order to keep the throne, Emperor Jianwen spent a lot of thought. Sometimes, the emperor is worse than a bird. Birds can fly freely. The emperor rules the world, but he can't go wherever he wants.

Where to go.

"Your Majesty, why don't you open the middle gate and surrender. The green hills are still there, so you don't have to worry about running out of firewood. Zhu Di can't kill you either. He's talking about the side of the Qing emperor, not regicide. He has no reason to kill us." Concubine Liu said.

Surrender is an option, but no one dares to mention it.

Concubine Liu boldly expressed her thoughts, but she glanced at Fang Xiaoru with a guilty conscience. Concubine Liu lowered her head and thought: "After the surrender, it's hard to say whether Fang Xiaoru, Qi Tai, and Huang Zicheng will survive. Zhu Di will definitely kill you.

, but whoever told you that you were helpless should also die."

Emperor Jianwen glanced at Fang Xiaoru, made eye contact, and asked for his opinion.

Fang Xiaoru raised his head and glanced up. As soon as his eyes came into contact with the emperor, he immediately lowered his head without saying a word.

Emperor Jianwen saw that Fang Xiaoru had something to hide and asked, "Xizhi, what do you mean? Get up and speak."

"My lord, we have no plan yet..." Fang Xiaoru raised his head and replied, glancing at Concubine Liu.

Emperor Jianwen said: "What time is this? There are no outsiders here. Please tell me quickly."

"I don't dare." Fang Xiaoru still refused to raise his head.

"Speak quickly." Emperor Jianwen no longer had the restraint of an emperor who ruled the world, and almost shouted. This was already burning between his eyebrows, and Fang Xiaoru was still flinching. Emperor Jianwen was dissatisfied that the minister who cared about his orders still had reservations at this time.

Fang Xiaoru kowtowed three times, making the bluestone bricks of the Fengtian Hall bang. Fang Xiaoru stood up straight, flicked his sleeves, made a brush sound, and said with a timid look, "I think that the emperor must never surrender.

, you should die for the sake of the country. If you open the middle gate and surrender, you will become the laughing stock of future generations. At this point, the emperor should advance and retreat with the city of Nanjing. If the city is destroyed, you will die. If you die, your ministers will die, and your ministers will surely die.

Accompany the emperor through the last part of the journey."

"You...you want the emperor to die?" Concubine Liu covered her mouth and exclaimed.

"I have no choice but to say this. The situation is over now. King Yan's army has no name and cannot be orthodox. The emperor is the true dragon emperor. He cannot escape and can only die. Unless..."

"Unless what? What do you mean? Is the only way for me to commit suicide?" Emperor Jianwen collapsed and said with a trembling voice. The thought of death had not crossed Emperor Jianwen's mind, but when he really heard this idea, Jianwen

Emperor Wen was still afraid.

"Your Majesty, you must not do it, you must not do it. Keep the green hills and don't worry about running out of firewood." Concubine Liu stood up from her chair and knelt down. She moved her knees and walked to Emperor Jianwen. She hugged Emperor Jianwen's knees and burst into tears.

.Once the emperor commits suicide, as a noble concubine, she can only die with him. Concubine Liu does not want to die, she only wants to live.

Bang.

At this time, the gate of Fengtian Palace was pushed open forcefully, and Queen Ma came in with six imperial guards wearing indigo flying fish uniforms. These six people were tall, majestic and powerful. The inner hall of the Forbidden City was always heavily guarded, and the guards in front of the palace were responsible for guarding.

When you see a stranger entering, you raise your knife to stop these five people.

Queen Ma gave the order simply: "Kill these two."

There was a man in front of him who was full of heroic spirit, with sword-shaped eyebrows and bright eyes. He clapped and rubbed his hands, and the aroma of burnt oil suddenly filled the room. This man pushed with his hands, seemingly casually, but he could not avoid it. His palms went straight through it as if he was entering an uninhabited place.

Not even one point is enough, not even one point is too much. He passed the guards' knives and pressed them on their chests respectively. His inner energy was released. The two guards exclaimed "Hey", their eyes immediately turned white, and they fell to the ground, motionless.

.

Upon seeing this, Concubine Liu exclaimed, "It's murder. Queen, you are crazy, who did you bring in!"

Emperor Jianwen was also frightened by the scene in front of him. He pressed the dragon chair and shrank into the dragon chair. He said: "Queen, don't come here."

Fang Xiaoru stood up and stopped Queen Ma, standing between the Queen and Emperor Jianwen: "Queen, you are not allowed to take another step forward."

The queen replied: "Your Majesty, don't be alarmed, these are my people. These two are spies of King Yan, and they will report the news soon. I want to clear out the traitor first."

After saying that, Empress Ma turned to look at Concubine Liu and said sternly: "Bitch, you want to live on your own, relying on the emperor's favor, so you want the emperor to surrender. If the emperor surrenders, will Zhu Di let him live? You idiot.

.In order to survive, I risked the emperor’s life, causing the emperor to lose his life in the evening.”

Concubine Liu was so frightened that she did not dare to say a word. She hid behind the dragon chair and looked up at Emperor Jianwen humbly, hoping that Emperor Jianwen would say something. Emperor Jianwen did not make any reaction. He knew that what the queen said was right. Liu Guifei

Seeing that Emperor Jianwen did not support her, the imperial concubine hid behind the dragon chair and trembled.

"Your Majesty, if you were alive, Zhu Di would never have any reason to be the emperor, because the imperial edict of Ming Taizu was to pass the throne to you, and King Yan had no legitimate reason to succeed him as emperor. Why would he use Qingjun to attack you? It's because you don't have

Wrong, there is no reason to be replaced. Once you fall into Zhu Di's hands, he can kill you in 10,000 ways, lie to the outside world that you died of illness, and pass it to King Yan, then your death will be unknown."

Fang Xiaoru knew that Queen Ma was a capable person, and even though she was a daughter, she was very courageous. This analysis was reasonable and well-founded, and it was what Fang Xiaoru said in his heart. Therefore, after much deliberation, he could only persuade the emperor to kill himself to keep his body intact, and

This attack on the legitimacy of King Yan Zhu Di made Zhu Di bear the name of regicide to seize the throne, and he was spurned by the scholar-bureaucrats for the rest of his life.

Emperor Jianwen looked at Fang Xiaoru and asked for his opinion. Fang Xiaoru nodded with tears in his eyes and agreed with Queen Ma's suggestion.

Emperor Jianwen looked at Queen Ma again and asked: "Queen, what do you think I should do? Do I really have only one death?"

Empress Ma shed tears and took out a brocade bag from her arms. She said: "Your Majesty, do you remember that Taizu once left a Linlong brocade bag, saying that opening it in critical moments can solve the problem of life and death? Do you know this?"

"As he spoke, he handed a brocade bag embroidered with a brocade green dragon head to Emperor Jianwen.

"I don't remember this. Did Taizu give this to you?"

"Yes, on the day Taizu passed away, the Empress Dowager came to my palace and gave me this kit. She said it was left by Taizu. When a critical moment comes, if you give it to the Emperor, you will definitely turn disaster into good luck. I look at it.

The situation is urgent, so I took out the brocade bag a few days ago and opened it privately to ask the emperor to punish me."

Emperor Jianwen's right hand trembled as he took the flat brocade bag. The gold embroidery thread was old and looked old. Emperor Jianwen opened the red thread of the brocade bag and found a piece of paper and a token inside. The paper said "Golden Embroidery Thread"

The knife burns the lamp, Ji Xiang jade hands, the vertical and horizontal strategy, the head of Cao's family, Wu's order, the assassin will follow."

Emperor Jianwen had no idea. He looked at Queen Ma confusedly and asked, "What are these sentences?"

Empress Ma got up and walked around, stopping in front of six royal guards, and said sincerely, "Your Majesty, the poem in it refers to these six people. The secret order left by Taizu was to use these six people to solve the country's crisis.

"Shi." Then he pointed to the older one among them and said, "This is Wu Shique, Wu Daxia, the head of the Wu family."

The middle-aged man surnamed Wu bowed slightly and said, "I don't dare, I'm at Wu Shique." He introduced the other four one by one. The tallest one carrying a big sword was called Jin Fuli, and the one with fair face and beautiful beard was called Jin Fuli.

The scholar who looks like him is named Yu Xiaoyuan, the one with a dark face is smart and clever is Ji Yishu, the young man who just started is named Nie Xiaoping, and the middle-aged man with a mustache is named Cao Shixin.

Wu Shique took Cao Shixin in his hands and took a step forward and said loudly: "Your Majesty, we can help you escape. As for whether we will make a comeback in the future, it depends on the fate of the Ming Dynasty."

Cao Shixin followed Wu Shique's words: "King Yan's army has the Duoyan Three Guards. The three commanders of the Duoyan Three Guards are Blood Eagle, Jibao, and Canyun. They have strong martial arts skills and horses trained by Mongolia. Their riding skills are amazing. If the emperor

If you choose to flee, you will be overtaken by Duoyan's three guards within three days. But if you don't evacuate, your life will be in danger."

Fang Xiaoru sounded like her plan was failing and asked anxiously, "You should tell me quickly, what is your plan?"

Cao Shi said calmly: "Don't worry, the five of us come from a long-established assassin family. Each of the five major families has its own special expertise. The Yu family is good at disguise, the Ji family is good at poisons, and the Jin family has the ability to defeat all enemies in the world.

The Jin family's swordsmanship, the Nie family's inner strength of Lantern Hands are the best in the Central Plains, and my Cao family's strategic skills are unparalleled in the world. We will work together to protect the emperor Wuyou."

"We came up with a plan and asked Prime Minister Fang to set fire to the palace and arrange an attack from the east to the west. The Yu family would help the emperor travel in disguise, and we and others would secretly protect him and escort him out of the capital through the east gate tunnel."

"But King Zhu Di of Yan is suspicious. What if he doesn't believe that the emperor committed suicide?" Fang Xiaoru thought for a moment, worried that if Zhu Di didn't take the bait, all this plan would come to nothing.

"We need to ask Prime Minister Fang to find a corpse of similar size to create evidence that the emperor burned himself to death. In this way, there will be no evidence of death. And the news of the emperor's death is what Zhu Di needs most. He will announce the emperor's death as soon as possible.

."

"Then how to avoid the three guards of Duoyan?"

"Leave this to the Nie family and the Jin family. They will lure away the three guards of Duoyan and ensure the emperor's safe retreat." Jin Fuli and Nie Xiaoping nodded, appearing unworried.

"But there are also Yao Guangxiao and the Ma brothers? According to legend, these three people also have outstanding martial arts skills."

Nie Xiaoping and Jin Fuli looked at each other, and Jin Fuli shrugged, showing no fear.

Emperor Jianwen was silent. He was a little confused at this time, and his indecisive personality made him not sure what to do. He said: "My lords, please let me have a word with the queen."

Knowing that the distressed couple had something to say at the last moment, everyone nodded and turned to leave.

At this time, there was no one in Fengtian Hall, but the sound of horses honking in the distance could be faintly discerned.

"Queen, is this really credible?"

"Your Majesty, you don't have to believe others, but you have to believe me. I will never harm you." Empress Ma said every word with force.

"Queen, what about you?" Emperor Jianwen held the Queen's hand. The two of them had not been apart for so many years, but now it was time to say goodbye.

"Your Majesty, time is running out. Get on your way as soon as possible. Take care of your own health and don't trust anyone else. I have told you long ago that although Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and Fang Xiaoru are loyal ministers, they have no practical experience and will end up in trouble.

The emperor's plan is to stop trusting others."

"Queen..." Emperor Jianwen became afraid. He was designated as the emperor's grandson since he was a child, and he wanted to take over the throne of Daxing Emperor since he was a child. He had never experienced difficulties in his life, unlike Ming Taizu who conquered the world with his bare hands. He

Without that kind of ruthlessness, he would be at a loss when faced with such a crisis.

Empress Ma stepped forward to lift up the emperor's face and kissed his cheek, "Your Majesty, don't be afraid. It will be fine once you pass this level. There will be a bright future in the village. Don't be afraid."

Queen Ma was very calm, hugging the emperor and caressing his back. At this time, they were not the emperor and the queen, but a pair of lovers, a couple who were about to be separated.

Emperor Jianwen remembered that when he married her, he lifted her hijab. For the first time, her beautiful face and innocent smile shook his heart. He thought that she truly loved him.

But now war is raging and the future is unclear. Who knows when we can meet again?

Hugging each other, Empress Ma sang a ditty softly. "Beautiful enemies, at the end of the world. There are green poplars to tie the horse to. Sitting under the south window, several pairs of breeze miss him. Who can teach me how to paint when my eyebrows are pale, Shouyan

The rock is shy and brings pomegranate flowers...", but his voice became thinner and thinner... Emperor Jianwen noticed that Queen Ma's hand slipped and stopped talking. He quickly pushed it away to check, only to find that Queen Ma was vomiting blood in her mouth.

The blood was all over her body and her breath was weak. It turned out that Queen Ma had taken poison first.

Emperor Jianwen was stunned and shouted: "Queen, Queen!"

"Your Majesty, I am honored to be your woman. I cannot escape with you, and if I die, Zhu Di can believe that you are also dead. If I fall into Zhu Di's hands, there is no guarantee that I will be innocent in this life.

I can only be a member of the emperor, and I can only save your reputation by dying."
Chapter completed!