Luoyang Twelve O'clock

On the third day of the sixth lunar month in the tenth year of Yuanhe, at three o'clock in the Yin hour, Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng's carriage had just left Jing'anfang, and thirteen crossbow arrows tore through the morning fog in Luoyang. This was not a simple assassination. When Li Mu, the captain of the Beiya Forbidden Army, arrived, the assassin had disappeared like a ghost, leaving only three corpses and a blood letter: "Tomorrow the peonies will be gone, and the blood will stain the Ziwei Palace." At the same time, there was a fire in Nanshi, a riot at the water transport terminal, and an attack on a Persian caravan—seven incidents broke out simultaneously within twelve hours. Li Mu, a veteran of the Anxi Army who retired due to injury, was forced to get involved in this whirlpool. He discovered that behind the assassination was a three-party game between the feudal forces "Youyan Alliance", the Central Government and the Central Peace Faction, and the mysterious cult in the Western Regions. What's even more frightening is that the female counselor Cui Yuan he rescued carried secret files that could overthrow the Tang Dynasty; his trusted boss Yan Ming received a secret letter from Ziqing late at night; and his own brother from the Anxi Army actually appeared in the assassin's body. From the murder in Jing'anfang to the gunpowder depot underground in Nanshi, from the attack and defense of Dali Temple Prison to the confrontation in front of Ziwei Palace. This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.