Laughing at Chang'an

The news of the assassination of the emperor of the Guangming Empire has spread throughout the territory of China. Many people from China who fled to the border of the Eastern Desolation with their families stopped to watch. Although the death of the emperor is not necessarily related to the retreat of the empire, the emperor is dead. Now, what battle is there to fight?

The situation in Chang'an City is still a bit weird, and the hottest topics right now are undoubtedly the fall of Geng Yan and the return of Li Shen.Li Shen came back from the dead, joined forces with Hui Guang and Xue Tu, knocked Geng Yan off the altar, and seized the power of the Geng Army. This incident shocked many people's jaws.No matter how unknown the inside story is, the fact is that Li Shen did replace Geng Yan as the new leader of the Geng Army, and he used vigorous methods to cleanse the Geng Army. A large number of people were unwilling to obey him, including The people including Geng Liancheng were simply deprived of their power and expelled from the Geng Army.After this catastrophe, the original backbone of the Geng Army was dying, and those familiar faces almost disappeared. Li Shen promoted a group of young cadres. On the whole, the Geng Army’s power has weakened, but it is still relatively weak. This transfer of power has been passed smoothly.

So the people of Chang'an found out later that Li Shen now has the Geng Army in his hands, and he is still the Patriarch of the Huiguang Li family. Supported puppet.The return of Xuetu also seems to have an indistinct relationship with Li Shen, so everyone counted their fingers. The power in Li Shen's hands now seems to be a little more than when Geng Yan was at his strongest?That is to say, after Geng Yan fell, Chang'an will usher in an era that belongs to Li Shen again?

Everyone was silent.

The Li Mansion on Gubai Road once again gained popularity. Although the imperial army outside the city has not yet retreated, the courageous Chang'an businessmen have already pondered the business opportunities for post-war revival.This sudden war can be said to have reshuffled the entire Middle-earth. Once the imperial army withdraws, Chang’an’s counter-offensive will be on the agenda. Naturally, it will be impossible to return the land that was snatched back to its original owner. How can it really make people feel jealous just thinking about it.The guild has announced that it will hold an election for a new president in the near future. Just like Geng Yan at that time, there is no suspense in this election, and because it is wartime, there are many presidents who do not hold real power. A lot of weight, people rushing to curry favor with the new chairman are like crucian carp crossing the river, that is called a steady stream.

Li Shen didn't have much time to deal with them. He was busy reorganizing the Geng Army and liquidating the forces in his hands, and he had to spare his mind to deal with some miscellaneous things.For example, Feng Liancheng was beaten to death in public by him in the meeting hall. Although the dead leader of the Arms Alliance did not jump out to find trouble for Li Shen, the election of the new leader did not go well. The other faction that opposed it was almost at the point of confrontation, even the highly popular Huang Sha was invited to be an arbitrator, and it was useless. In the end, Li Shen came to the door in person, and with one sentence pushed the faction that opposed Feng Liancheng to the leader If there is any objection to the position, it will be shot to death.

Killing and domineering, this is Li Shen's style that Chang'an people are familiar with.

This was not the only thing that bothered him. The adjutant reported that Li Xifeng threw off the person he sent on the road and ran away secretly without knowing where he went.The border between Middle-earth and Eastern Desolation is now full of refugees, all of whom are unfamiliar faces. If Li Xifeng sneaks in in disguise, it will be difficult to find them in a while.

When Li Shen heard this, he was amused, but also felt a little uncomfortable.That guy Li Xifeng has been a spy for so many years, he has long since discriminated between human beings and ghosts, and he regards acting as an instinct.Now that he is free again, I am afraid no one will be able to trust him.Li Shen arranged for his adjutant to send him to his other residence in the Eastern Wasteland, in order to give him a safe place to live in seclusion, but since Li Xifeng couldn't believe it, then let him go.

After so many years of brotherhood, it doesn't matter whether it's true or false if they can get together and get together well.

On the fifth day after Li Shen returned to Chang'an, the imperial army outside the city finally made a move. Tens of thousands of airships attacked Yan Poyuan at night, blasting the night sky south of Chang'an into flames.The energy barrier above Yan Poyuan couldn't hold up even for the first round, and the thousands of Chang'an airships docked inside were completely baptized inside and out by the artillery fire falling from the sky before they could take off. Turned into a piece of debris.Before Chang'an City's anti-aircraft cannons were fully charged, the warships of the empire had already departed gracefully. Shi Shiran flew out of the effective firepower area and assembled and landed in the distance.

The Chang'an people who woke up from their sleep finally realized that they were too optimistic about things.

——The emperor is dead, and the war will continue.

………………

After returning to Chang'an, Li Shen asked the adjutant to clean up the room that had been vacant next to his bedroom. It was originally reserved for the mistress' bedroom, but Haitang liked quietness, so Li Shen built a separate yard for her in the corner of the yard, so this room Also vacant down.Under Li Shen's instructions, the adjutant remodeled the room, removing all the windows, and changing the door to a highly light-shielding material. Even in broad daylight, as long as the door is closed, it will be pitch black inside.And to prevent the incoming and outgoing light, a small compartment was added at the entrance, and a ventilation system was installed in the wall to keep the indoor air fresh.

In order to reduce the closed feeling brought by the lack of windows, the adjutant really put a lot of thought into the interior decoration, but his efforts were made for the blind.Geng Yan, who was recuperating on the bed, had been in a semi-comatose state the whole time, so he couldn't see him naturally, and Li Shen had never stepped into this room. To be precise, he never saw Geng Yan again after that day. Occasionally asked about the other party's situation from the mouth of the adjutant, but he didn't seem to care much.

The adjutant felt that Li Shen seemed to intend to draw a line with Geng Yan.However, with all his courage, he didn't dare to ask Li Shen what he thought. The entanglement between these two people was so complicated that even an outsider would be tired of seeing it, let alone the person involved.

The morning after the imperial army bombarded Yan Poyuan, Li Shen went out to Weiyang Palace to attend an emergency meeting held by the guild, and Geng Yan, who had been lying in bed for several days, opened his eyes awake for the first time.

He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling above his head. After a few minutes, he slowly sat up while supporting the bed post.The new skin on his body is still very fragile, and even a little friction will cause pain. He slowly but carefully inspected his body. Although he suffered a considerable degree of torture, his physical condition is still in good condition, and he does not lack what he should have. Component.Compared with this, his body is unprecedentedly empty and weak, he can no longer feel the flow of source energy in his body, and he can't even detect the degree of damage of source veins in his body.

There is no doubt that his cultivation has been abolished, quite completely.

Geng Yan sat quietly for a while, there was no expression of loss or pain on his face, but unusually calm.For the loser, compared with the result of death, living naturally has to pay a corresponding price.

He can afford such a price.

There was a sound at the door of the room, and the doctor who came for the examination on time opened the door and walked in. Seeing Geng Yan sitting on the bed, his expression was a little surprised, but he quickly reacted, and smiled: "You're awake, how do you feel?"

Geng Yan opened his mouth and said hoarsely, "I want to drink water."

Hearing this, the doctor went to the table beside him and poured him a glass of plain water, and walked to the bedside with the water glass.Geng Yan thanked him, took the water glass, and lifted it to his lips with some difficulty, but with a flick of his wrist, the water glass was about to fall to the side, the doctor hurriedly leaned down to hold his hand, raised his head, but it was just right A pair of ice blue eyes.

Geng Yan stared at the doctor in front of him whose consciousness had been taken away by him, and said in an indifferent tone: "Answer my question, what month and day is it in the Tang calendar?"

………………

The war with the Guangming Empire was once again put on the agenda, and the situation was not complicated. After the death of the emperor, in just five days, the new emperor of the Guangming Empire had taken office.The new emperor is Geng Yan's uncle in terms of seniority, and he is also the only legitimate person in the empire who has the right to inherit the throne.He was able to ascend the throne so smoothly, thanks to Geng Yan's killing attitude towards his brothers and sisters like the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves when he was in power.And the first thing the new emperor did after he ascended the throne was to publicly announce that he would avenge his nephew, attack Chang'an, and wipe out Zhongtu.

At the impromptu emergency meeting, the expressions on the faces of the mercenary regiment leaders were not very good. Every family that can sit here has its own airship, and most of them are docked in Yanpoyuan, but now they have been bombarded A piece of scrap metal.Among them, the one with the ugliest face was Dong Gong's Shen Murong.

As we all know, Donggong's resident is not in Chang'an City, but in the southern suburbs of Chang'an, adjacent to Yanpoyuan.The indiscriminate bombing of Yan Poyuan by imperial warships last night, many of them flew over Donggong’s garrison. Although it did not cause any major damage, it also destroyed two small research rooms and killed several people. Most importantly, it interrupted an important experiment that Donggong was conducting, and ruined more than half a year of hard work by more than a dozen university scholars.

So the old man is very angry now. He said angrily that Donggong is willing to dispatch [-] university scholars and three latest Chaomeng-class Vulcan cannons to create an unforgettable lesson for the warships of the empire. What a terrible price they have to pay for disturbing people's experiments in the middle of the night.

Of course, these twenty university students and three Vulcan cannons are definitely not enough. The team leaders here look at each other. Although this incident made them very angry, they must be told to fight their own way. Revenge is really unrealistic.Although mercenaries are fighters in essence, they have also acquired the habits of merchants. They are unwilling to do things that don't get paid.

Li Shen sat at the top seat and looked down at the information in his hand. This information came from the Datang General Chamber of Commerce. The Datang merchants all over Fanglu are the most well-informed group of people. He hadn't heard of it before.Even the information on what kind of woman and food the new emperor likes is clearly investigated in the information, but the information about the army is not detailed enough. He put down the information with a frown and said: "The loss of Yan Poyuan, our current situation Very passive, the empire has won the air supremacy, whether it is transporting materials or mobility, it has an absolute advantage. Feijia City is also occupied by the empire, and we cannot get a large number of new airships to compete with the opponent in a short period of time, so we must as soon as possible , destroying their battleships."

It sounds simple, but how to do it?It is impossible for the warships of the empire to gather together and wait for them to destroy, and the advantage of high altitude is also difficult to erase.After all, flying battle armor is quite rare. Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help turning their attention to Wang Ziyun who was sitting next to Shen Murong.

The Fire Phoenix Mercenary Corps is famous for its combat capability as a flying armor unit.This mercenary group composed entirely of women has a natural advantage in the use of flying armor that requires delicate operation.And his fighting style is not inferior to that of men, and he is also well-known.

However, Huofeng's flying battle armor troops do not exceed 200 people at full strength. Compared with the warships of the empire, the gap in numbers is too great.What's more, the flying armor troops can be said to be the lifeblood of Huofeng. Without them, Huofeng's combat power will be weakened by at least half. Armors are difficult to recover, without these armors, Huofeng's flying armor units really cease to exist.

Wang Ziyun, who was gathered by the eyes, sat silently on the chair with her arms folded around her chest. The scars on the incomplete half of her face made her look even more gloomy.She led Huofeng as a woman, and to be able to sit in this seat today, she has experienced hell and tribulations, no less than anyone present, or even more.

"I can dispatch all the flying armor troops, and I will lead them myself." She raised her head to look at Li Shen, and said calmly and seriously, "But I need a guarantee that in the next ten years, no one will do anything to me. Fire Phoenix makes a move."

Her words were addressed to everyone present, but she was looking at Li Shen, and what she wanted was Li Shen's guarantee.

Li Shen smiled.

"In the next ten years, anyone who takes action against Huofeng will be an enemy of me, Li Shen, and they will never die for as long as they live."

This is indeed a very strong guarantee. Wang Ziyun smiled sweetly and was about to speak, but was preempted by Huang Sha who was sitting opposite.I saw this man, who has always been low-key and steady, pull out his mace from his waist and smash it into the table with a bang.

Everyone was startled, even Li Shen blinked in surprise, but Huang Sha raised his head to look at Wang Ziyun, his words were full of strong confidence and determination that no one could hear.

"As long as I live, whoever dares to touch the fire phoenix, I will kill him."

Facing Huang Sha's infinitely gentle gaze, Wang Ziyun blushed slowly and imperceptibly. This time, even a fool would not fail to understand the situation. Huang Sha was not guaranteeing this, he was simply telling Wang Ziyun in public Confession.

Li Shen lowered his head and rubbed between his brows, if Wang Ziyun wasn't there, he would definitely give Huang Sha a thumbs up, praising him for being a man.You must know that confession, when the other party clearly refuses to agree, is like committing suicide, and it requires great courage.

I don't know who whistled, and then someone laughed out loud, and the whole hall suddenly burst into laughter. The two parties who were surrounded by laughter looked away from each other in embarrassment. Huang Sha silently put away the copper mace that was smashed on the table. , Wang Ziyun looked down at the tip of his nose, but the red spot at the base of his ear slowly climbed up to the tip of his ear, and it continued to spread.

Li Shen also laughed at the beginning, but gradually, he couldn't laugh anymore.

Confession is something that someone has done to him, telling him time and time again, knowing that he can't agree, telling him... I love you.

………………

When it was almost noon, when Li Shen returned home, the adjutant had already arranged a table of delicious dishes, waiting for him to serve.Ever since he experienced the feeling of being starved to death, Li Shen has paid more attention to eating. He eats three meals a day, and he will never fall behind if he can eat well, and he will never wrong himself if he can eat well.For him, eating has become a kind of enjoyment, in other words, he has become a foodie just like Mu Xiaobai.

The adjutant was the first person to feel this change in Li Shen, and he was overjoyed about it, as if he wished to bring all the delicious food in the world to Li Shen, not afraid that the other party would not eat enough, so he I am afraid that the other party is not enough to eat.You have to know that Li Shen used to be indifferent to the monks. He was not picky about food, he had no other hobbies except fighting, and he didn't even have the basic physiological needs of men. The adjutant felt wronged when he saw it. Now Li Shen finally has it. Eating this hobby, he finally has room to play.

Li Shen was eating, the adjutant hesitated for a while, and said: "Master, that... Geng Yan woke up."

Li Shen chewed and swallowed the rice in his mouth, and said "oh" lightly, without expressing any more.The adjutant couldn't figure out his attitude, and instinctively felt that it was not good to speak again, so he abruptly changed the subject: "Master, how will the morning drive be? Is it going well?"

"It's not good." Li Shen raised his eyebrows and glanced at him, and said angrily, "Haven't you heard that you can't eat or sleep without talking? Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

Then the adjutant suddenly realized that it was his first sentence that offended people, he shut his mouth without saying a word, and made up his mind not to bring up topics related to Geng Yan unless Li Shen asked.

After eating, Li Shen simply washed up, changed his clothes and said that he was going to Penglai City, and asked the adjutant to take a good look at the house.The adjutant pondered over the meaning of the words "watch carefully", and thought it was to tell him to keep an eye on Geng Yan, so he specially assigned two guards on a 24-hour shift outside Geng Yan's house. As a result, the night when Li Shen left, the two guards It's gone, and so is Geng Yan.

The adjutant had no choice but to call Li Shen for help.

On the other end of the phone, Li Shen heard that Geng Yan had run away. He was surprised, but not angry. He told the adjutant not to be in a hurry or to look for him. If you want to leave, then go.

The adjutant was dumbfounded, and wanted to say something more, but the other side had already hung up.The adjutant was thinking hard but couldn't figure out what Li Shen meant. He was so distressed that he didn't sleep well all night, but Geng Yan came back by himself before dawn the next day.

The adjutant watched Geng Yan walk in from the gate of the courtyard, and walked into his room with a normal expression. The two guards also obediently followed behind him, and returned to their posts at the door to stand still.He felt that this scene was a bit unreal, too unreal... It must be that he was still dreaming when he didn't wake up.

A few seconds later, he slapped himself twice, and the adjutant ordered the two people standing at Geng Yan's door to be taken away and dragged down for questioning.On the other hand, he moved a bench to replace them and sat at the gate of Geng Yan.

Li Shen looked at the adjutant sitting at Geng Yan's door, and asked in surprise, "Why are you sitting here?"

The adjutant's tears were about to fall, and he said aggrievedly: "I'm not afraid of people running away again... Lord, Geng Yan will give spiritual hints, and ordinary people can't see it."

Li Shen looked at him with disgust, and said, "Then you can watch it instead? Didn't I tell you not to make a fuss, he left as soon as he wanted to, you don't need to waste your energy, just get up."

The adjutant felt that he was thankless, and was extremely wronged. He slowly stood up with the bench in his hand, and followed Li Shen into the next bedroom.As soon as he entered the room, he was stunned, and saw the person sitting on Li Shen's bed, who was it not Geng Yan?

... Haunted?The adjutant's eyes widened in disbelief. He had obviously been sitting at the door all day without moving a single step, and he didn't even go to the toilet.How did this man get here? Did he punch a hole in the wall?The adjutant ran out without saying a word, rushed into Geng Yan's room and searched carefully up and down, um, there wasn't even a mouse hole.

The adjutant was at a loss, while Li Shen and Geng Yan who were left alone in the room were speechless.After about half a minute, Li Shen said, "Your room is next door."

Geng Yan looked a little tired, and asked calmly: "You don't want to see me?"

After he woke up, he only saw the doctor and the adjutant, but Li Shen never showed up.So the answer to this question is obvious, Li Shen doesn't want to see him.So what he asked was not whether Li Shen wanted to see him, but why he didn't want to see him.

Since you don't want to see him, why save him?Why not just let him be tortured to death?

Both of them knew the answer, but Geng Yan just wanted to hear Li Shen say it himself, and hear the other party confess his feelings for him.Even if he is reduced to this point, he will not accept Li Shen's pity or sympathy. If Li Shen still refuses to admit his feelings for him, then he will really let himself give up—for this feeling, the price he paid It has far exceeded expectations.

He can bear the price of failure for his ambition, but he can't bear any more price for this relationship... because he has no capital to squander, only the so-called love is left.

Unrequited, failed love.