I really didn't want to burn it.

"Is there something you need?"

"Two things."

As Ryougi Shiki said this, she handed two slips of paper to Li Ang.

"Elections are about to be held in Bianliang, and our people are ready," Ryougi Shiki said, pointing to the first slip of paper.

“Very well, then let them proceed according to plan.”

Li Ang nodded.

His suggestions to Group A were never well-intentioned; the so-called election was a trap. If Kirshtalia Wodim held the election according to his ideas, he would be walking right into that trap. All Li Ang had to do next was kick him in the back.

"Then comes the second one, about Chaldea's movements..."

"Um... are you sure?"

Upon seeing the content written on the second sheet, Li Ang's expression turned strange.

“Yes, this is a good opportunity for you, Ang…” Ryougi Shiki said, glancing curiously at Li Ang, “Ang, are you sure you want to go?”

Li Ang rubbed his temples: "I want to see her. After all, she is currently the nominal leader of the Tang Dynasty."

“I can’t stay in this singularity for long. This world will eventually have to be handed over to its people. If she can handle it, that would be best. And about DD…”

After capturing Luoyang, Li Ang's first priority was to search for clues related to DD.

As it turned out, although Li Ang found clues about DD during his time in Luoyang, those clues were limited to the Luoyang period.

According to the Taurus guards, DD was taken away by the Queen's envoy two days before the coup.

Before this, Li Ang had always believed that capturing DD was the responsibility of Team A, but...

"It seems that the empress also has her own secrets..."

Leaving aside what the empress would use DD for, and how the other party knew of DD's existence, this point is highly debatable.

"I have to meet that woman face to face."

Li Ang carefully folded the note and said with a serious expression.

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While Li Ang was exchanging ideas with Ryougi Shiki, Ritsuka, who was far away in the Empress's territory, also showed a similar expression.

"What's happening here?"

"Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival of the Tang Dynasty," Her Majesty the Empress replied in a cheerful and carefree tone.

"I am preparing to hold a grand celebration to commemorate this occasion."

"But given the current situation..."

"It is precisely because of the current situation that I feel it is even more necessary to hold such an event, partly to bring good luck, and partly to express my confidence to my people."

"Is it really okay?"

Ritsuka was full of doubt about the Empress's statement.

Unfortunately, Ritsuka had absolutely no concept of governance and had no idea whether it was right or wrong for Her Majesty the Empress to hold such a grand Mid-Autumn Festival at this time.

"This is a rare festival in the Tang Dynasty. Ritsuka, you can get to know some outstanding men. With your looks, I believe it would be easy for you to snag a handsome young man."

Ritsuka realized that her first reaction to the Empress's words was to imagine a scene of Leon taking her for a walk in the streets (with Mashu following behind).

"No...no need!!" Ritsuka shook her hands vigorously, her face flushed. "I'm not interested in this kind of thing at all."

"In the end, it's just your tradition. I'm neither a person of this era nor a person from this small place, so I don't need to participate in such activities at all!"

"Ritsuka, you really have no dreams," the Empress sighed helplessly. "You'll be very happy~"

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty, but I feel you are just making fun of me."

Ritsuka puffed out her cheeks and said angrily.

"I just thought you would definitely gain something from participating," Her Majesty the Empress said casually, fiddling with her fingers. "After all, he loves to use these kinds of opportunities to stir up trouble."

By the second half of the sentence, the Queen's voice was almost inaudible.

"How could there possibly be any gains..."

Ritsuka, who didn't hear the second half of the sentence, clearly didn't believe Her Majesty the Empress's words.

Regardless of Ritsuka's personal reaction, the so-called Mid-Autumn Festival celebration is a must.

Just as Her Majesty the Empress had predicted, Li Ang indeed took this opportunity to arrive at Lin'an, the current "capital" of the territory under Her Majesty's control.

"Sure enough, it's impossible to verify everyone's identity at such a large event, making it much easier to sneak in."

Walking down the bustling street, Li Ang's face was full of smiles.

"The next step is finding that woman. By the way, what are you doing?"

Li Ang stopped and looked at Ryougi Shiki, who was walking and stopping intermittently, with a puzzled expression.

“Looking at the lanterns.” Ryougi Shiki replied with interest, admiring the lanterns in a passerby’s hand. “I really like this authentic festive atmosphere.”

"Haha~"

Li Ang chuckled coldly, too embarrassed to shatter Ryougi Shiki's illusions.

As one of the three major traditional lantern festivals in China, the Mid-Autumn Festival naturally involves playing with lanterns.

The Mid-Autumn Festival doesn't have a large-scale lantern festival like the Lantern Festival. Playing with lanterns is something that each household does at home, and at most, children will take their own lanterns to the streets to show off.

The adults would at most put the lanterns they made into the river to float and play with.

It's quite rare to see everyone carrying all sorts of lanterns on the street like this.

In response, Li Ang remarked, "That Empress really does like to come up with new tricks for me."

Having previously signed an equal agreement with Afghanistan, and now putting on this flashy Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival, it seems that Her Majesty the Queen is not a conservative, traditional woman.

"That's good, it will make communicating with her a little easier."

Li Ang was still standing there talking to himself when Ryougi Shiki had already grabbed Li Ang's arm and walked to the other side.

"Hey! That looks really interesting."

Ryougi Shiki excitedly dragged Li Ang to a mooncake stall, where the owner was arranging mooncakes with various exquisite patterns on the stall.

"Hey, you didn't actually get involved, did you?"

Li Ang didn't think he could happily participate in this so-called Mid-Autumn Festival celebration.

"We have a mission, so we can't just wander around aimlessly."

Even so, Li Ang still bought a few mooncakes for Ryougi Shiki.

"Mmm, it tastes really good."

There was no way Li Ang could resist Ryougi Shiki's blissful smile.

"Well, although I really like eating dumplings, it's nice to do as the locals do sometimes," Ryougi Shiki said while munching on a mooncake.

Japan also has the Mid-Autumn Festival custom, but while they do enjoy moon viewing, they eat dumplings instead of mooncakes.

Li Ang thought this was probably because Japan didn't have the ingredients to make fillings in the past, but he didn't dare to say it to Shiki.

Chapter 314 Unexpected Riots

Compared to Lin'an, where Li Ang and Ryougi Shiki were enjoying a sea of ​​joy, the people in Bianliang, to the north, were experiencing the most miserable Mid-Autumn Festival of their lives.

Forget about smiling and welcoming the holiday; anyone who doesn't cry at this time is considered strong.

The reason for this has to start with the election rally this morning.

Early in the morning, some people left their homes and began to gather in the city center.

After all, elections were a novelty in the Tang Dynasty, and the citizens of Bianliang were very curious about them.

But things changed once the crowd gathered.

Suddenly, someone appeared out of nowhere and began to deliver a passionate and indignant speech to the crowd. The core message of the speech was simple: the candidates in the election were not qualified to run.

This was actually a fact, since Kirshtalia Wodim, when cooperating with local authorities, naturally selected those who were willing to cooperate with him.

Since these people abandoned the Tang Dynasty so easily, they were obviously not good people. Basically, these people were either powerful clans who had been suppressed by the government during the Tang Dynasty, or they were people who were frustrated and unsuccessful in the Tang Dynasty.

It would be a miracle if such a candidate had a clean record.

In reality, if it were just a simple speech, the gathered crowd wouldn't cause much of a disturbance; at most, they would just be expressing their dissatisfaction with the candidate.

Unfortunately, reality was far from simple. As the speech progressed, the crowd gradually began to lose control.

At first, the rioting crowd did not attract much attention from the army.

These past few days, the candidates have been holding daily rallies and speeches to campaign for votes, and it's not surprising that people gather together.

But when the crowd gradually gathered and exceeded ten thousand people, and they all shouted slogans against everyone, the army finally realized that something was wrong.

Initially, the army's idea was very simple: seize the few inflammatory speakers and then disperse the crowd.

They are officials, and the people gathered together are the people. Based on past experience, a little intimidation would be enough to make these people realize the reality and the problem could be easily solved.

Unfortunately, this time the situation was clearly not that simple; at least a third of the people gathered together were carrying weapons.

Although they are just ordinary weapons such as knives and swords used for hunting, these things would definitely be considered controlled knives in modern society.

Worse still, these people were also very well organized. The several teams of soldiers who tried to clear the area not only failed to disperse the crowd, but were instead arrested by the protesters. They couldn't even manage to "beat them to a pulp."

By the time the garrison commander of Bianliang received the detailed information and prepared to forcibly disperse the crowd with his elite cavalry, the assembled crowd had already grown to resemble a surging tide.

"Thank you, dear mother!"

The general nearly fainted when he saw the massive crowd, which numbered at least tens of thousands.

There are just too many people; if an accident happens, it could easily turn into the worst possible situation.

"If this were during the Tang Dynasty, such a thing would never have happened! It's all because of that damn election!"

The general on horseback was furious and yelled, but he had no good solution.

Ultimately, to prevent things from escalating to the worst possible point, the general had no choice but to deploy shield bearers to the front lines, intending to gradually push the assembled crowd away.

however……

boom!

Just as the soldiers held off the crowd, an explosion suddenly occurred on one side of the camp.

The immense force hurled several people into the air, scattering dust and blood in all directions.

"Varied……"

boom! boom! boom!

Before anyone could react, several more explosions followed, with various explosions occurring throughout the crowd.

"Why was there an explosion?!"

The question popped into the mind of the general who was commanding the troops, but it soon became irrelevant.

Gunpowder was not uncommon in the Tang Dynasty, but apart from fireworks and firecrackers, it was a consensus in the Tang Dynasty for two hundred years that only the government could possess military gunpowder.

Regardless of who caused the explosion, in the eyes of ordinary people, it was the military that was behind it.

Thus began a massive, unexpected battle.

"The soldiers are killing people!"

They killed him to cover their tracks!

"Charge! Down with these corrupt officials!"

……

Various slogans rang out from the crowd, and the crowd began to charge at the soldiers.

In an instant, the streets of Bianliang turned into a battlefield.

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"What the hell is going on?"