On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

Chapter 1137 The Last Main Valve

Li Ge's cry of "I would die ten thousand times over" struck the hearts of everyone in the Zichen Palace like a heavy hammer.

Du Ruhui and Zhou Xing also immediately stepped forward and bowed in greeting.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness! Please issue the decree! We, your humble servants, are willing to follow Your Majesty and Your Highness and fight against this treacherous Heaven!"

Their voices were equally resolute.

Looking at these three elderly ministers, all over sixty years old, yet still willing to risk their lives for the country and its people, Murong Yan felt a surge of warmth in her heart.

She knew she was not fighting alone.

Behind her were her husband, her loyal ministers, and countless kind and simple people.

She took a deep breath, her gaze becoming incredibly resolute.

"it is good!"

"Then let's get started!"

An unprecedented "Battle to Defend Chang'an" quietly began in the dead of night.

Starting the next day, the entire city of Chang'an was transformed into a massive, bustling construction site.

Under the pretext of "celebrating the triumphant return, repairing the capital, and demonstrating national power," hundreds of thousands of soldiers, artisans, and laborers of the Beijing Garrison were mobilized.

They divided the entire city of Chang'an into hundreds of construction areas, using neighborhoods as units.

During the day, they widened the streets, painted the walls, and repaired the roofs, giving the entire city of Chang'an a brand-new look and a joyous atmosphere.

But at night, after the people have fallen asleep, the truly core project quietly begins under the cover of darkness.

Countless craftsmen, under the protection and supervision of the "Night Owl" assassins, entered the intricate underground waterway system, which resembled a spider web.

Carrying torches and carrying the renovation plans that Lin Zhen had redrawn overnight based on his memory and geomantic maps, marking all the suspicious nodes, they began to inspect and repair the valves and interfaces that Kong Zhiqian had tampered with one by one.

This is an extremely arduous and dangerous job.

The air in the underground sewers was foul and filled with a nauseating stench.

In the darkness, poisonous insects and rats often appear.

Even more critically, they didn't know whether Kong Zhiqian, that madman, had left other deadly traps in these places besides modifying the pipelines.

In fact, their fears were soon proven true.

On the third day of the project, a team of craftsmen responsible for checking the main valve of the Vermilion Bird Gate unfortunately triggered a vicious trap left by Kong Zhiqian.

It was an extremely well-hidden poison gas trap, linked to valves.

When the craftsmen tried to break the welded valve with brute force, a colorless and odorless toxic gas instantly gushed out from the gaps in the pipe!

More than a dozen craftsmen and the "Night Owl" assassins who were responsible for protecting them did not even have time to utter a scream before they fell to the ground dead, bleeding from all seven orifices.

The news was immediately relayed back to the palace.

The atmosphere inside Qifeng Pavilion was extremely heavy.

Murong Yan looked at the report presented by Zhao Wuji, which was filled with the names of the victims, and her hand holding the teacup trembled slightly.

She was still wearing that phoenix-adorned dress, but at this moment, this incomparably magnificent imperial robe seemed to sense its owner's grief and anger.

The extremely dark Suzhou brocade fabric appeared exceptionally profound under the flickering candlelight in the hall, like a solidified, unyielding sorrow.

The colossal phoenix embroidered with real gold thread also dimmed its brilliance, its phoenix eyes lowered, as if mourning the innocent lives lost.

The five-zhang-long, dark gold Suzhou brocade train was scattered haphazardly on the gold brick ground behind her, like a black-gold wasteland shrouded in dark clouds, devoid of all vitality.

"Beast! That Kong Zhiqian! Even if he dies, he'll drag so many people down with him!" She slammed the teacup in her hand to the ground!

With a crisp "crack!", the fine official kiln celadon shattered instantly, leaving a trail of broken pieces on the ground.

Lin Zhen stepped forward and gently pulled her into his arms.

"Yan'er, don't be like this. It's not your fault," he comforted her softly.

"How can it not be my fault?!" Murong Yan's eyes instantly reddened. "They were all citizens of my Great Qian! They died for me, for protecting this city! I... I'm so sorry to them..."

She buried her face deeply in Lin Zhen's arms, and suppressed, painful sobs escaped from her throat.

Lin Zhen's heart ached as if it were being pricked by needles.

He knew that she valued the lives of every one of her subjects more than her own.

He could only hold her tightly, using his body heat to offer her a sliver of comfort.

"Yan'er, listen to me." After a long while, he slowly spoke, his voice carrying a hint of icy, bone-chilling coldness.

"The deceased are gone. What we can do for them now is not to grieve here, but to redouble our efforts to complete our plans!"

"We must ensure their blood is not shed in vain!"

"Doesn't Kong Zhiqian like playing games? Doesn't he like setting traps?"

"Alright! Then we'll play along with him to the very end!"

He held Murong Yan's shoulder, making her look into his eyes, and said, word by word, "From now on, I will personally lead all the investigation work!"

"No!" Murong Yan objected immediately without hesitation. "Husband! It's so dangerous underground, you...you can't go!"

"I must go!" Lin Zhen's tone left no room for argument. "I am the Regent of the Great Qian Dynasty, the Commander-in-Chief of the three armies! At a time like this, how can I hide behind and let my soldiers and people die for me?!"

“Moreover,” a confident glint flashed in his eyes, “when it comes to understanding traps and mechanisms, I’m afraid no one in this world can compare to me. Only my presence can minimize casualties!”

"But..." Murong Yan wanted to say something more.

"No buts!" Lin Zhen interrupted her. "Yan'er, have you forgotten our agreement? You're responsible for holding the fort, calming people down, and managing the overall situation. And I'm responsible for being at the front, charging into battle for you, and clearing away all obstacles!"

"This is our respective battlefield!"

Looking into Lin Zhen's unwavering eyes, Murong Yan knew that she couldn't persuade him.

She could only reach out and hold his hand tightly, her voice choked with sobs, and say, "My husband, you...you must promise me. You must come back safely."

"I promise you." Lin Zhen lowered his head and placed a deep kiss on her forehead.

From that day on, Lin Zhen truly spent his days and nights immersed in that dark and damp underground sewer.

He personally led the most elite craftsmen and "Night Owls" to investigate each node one by one and dismantle each mechanism one by one.

With his superb martial arts skills and profound knowledge of mechanical arts, he repeatedly defused the deadly traps left by Kong Zhiqian.

Although there were still casualties.

But compared to the beginning, it's already so much better.

Meanwhile, Murong Yan held up another sky in the palace.

She worked day and night, handling the mountain of official business coming in from all over the country.

To appease the people, allocate funds and grain, severely punish corruption, and promote capable individuals...

She did every task meticulously and flawlessly.

Under her iron-fisted rule and benevolent influence, the entire Chang'an, and even the entire Daqian, did not fall into chaos due to this potential huge crisis. On the contrary, it burst forth with an unprecedented cohesion and centripetal force!

This young emperor and empress, one in the open and the other in the shadows, one in charge of external affairs and the other in charge of internal affairs, fought side by side in their own way to protect the country they deeply loved.

Time passed by day by day in this tense yet fulfilling rhythm.

Twenty days have passed in the blink of an eye.

There are only ten days left until the one-month deadline that Lin Zhen set for himself.

And beneath Chang'an City, of the nine most crucial and dangerous main valves, only one remained operational.

—Located directly north of the Imperial City, beneath the Xuanwu Gate, is the main valve!

As long as this last hidden danger can be completely eliminated.

They won this race against time!