In front of the palace gate of the inner palace, teams of guards were arranged there, with swords drawn out and arrows on the strings. The palace gate behind them was tightly closed. The city wall above was also heavily guarded. A general with armor stood on the hilt of the knife with his hand on his hand, and his eyes were swept around, monitoring the movements of any place around.

Zhao Yan strode to the palace gate. When he saw the scene in front of him, he smiled coldly. The guards beside him did not need his orders, and immediately rushed forward and roared: "The King of Yue entered the palace to meet the Empress Dowager, and open the palace gate!"

The soldiers guarding the palace gate only received an order from the superior, saying that they were going to join the palace gate and no one was allowed to enter, but they did not know that they were going to stop Zhao Yan. Therefore, when they heard that Zhao Yan was about to enter the palace, they all showed hesitation, because Zhao Yan's prestige in the army was unmatched. Whether it was the increasingly prosperous military academy to send soldiers, or the leading army to attack the Liao Kingdom and forcing the Liao Kingdom to sign the Luanhe Alliance, the soldiers in the army were extremely awe-inspiring. In addition, Zhao Yan's special identity, they didn't know whether to move out of the way or continue to stop.

When the general standing with a knife on the top of the city saw Zhao Yan, his resolute face was also stunned. Then he hurriedly turned around and went down to the city, then opened the palace gate and separated the soldiers in front. He walked a few steps and bowed to Zhao Yan with his fists and said, "Students will meet the school supervisor!"

Looking at the general in front of him who was less than thirty but looked particularly steady, Zhao Yan also felt familiar. After thinking for a moment, he finally said, "Are you Xu Sheng, a student of the second military academy?"

"I didn't expect that the school supervisor still remembers the students. If it weren't for your encouragement from the school supervisor, I'm afraid there would be no such thing as the last general!" Xu Sheng said even more excitedly when he heard Zhao Yan call out his name. His always-fashioned face also had a bit of flush on his face, and even the corners of his eyes were a little wet. This surprised all the soldiers around him who knew Xu Sheng. Is this still the ruthless Xu Sheng and the King of Hell they knew?

Zhao Yan didn't expect to meet a student from a military academy in front of the palace gate. When talking about Xu Sheng, he had some impression of Xu Sheng. His grades in his studies were not very good at the military academy. He was almost dropped out of school because of his poor grades. However, after seeing Xu Sheng, Zhao Yan believed that this student still had the potential to become a general. After all, the academic performance of the military academy does not mean everything. Some people can become a generation of famous generals on the battlefield even if they do not understand military tactics at all.

Although Xu Sheng is not smart, he has a firm and steady personality, which is also a necessary quality for a general, so Zhao Yan made the decision to keep him and encouraged him not to be discouraged. Later, Xu Sheng successfully graduated from the military academy and was assigned to the Western Army. At that time, the Western Xia was destroyed, but wars ignited from time to time. Xu Sheng grew up step by step in the army with his firm and steady character, and made countless contributions to the Song Dynasty and became the most dazzling group of generals among the graduates of the military academy. However, he did not expect that he would return from the northwest and enter the imperial guards in the capital.

"Xu Sheng? You are from the Xu family. And the Xu family seems to have had a good relationship with the Gao family for generations, right?" Zhao Yan suddenly thought of something and couldn't help asking.

"This... I report to the governor, our Xu family has indeed had a good relationship with the Gao family for generations. My mother is the cousin of the Empress Dowager." Xu Sheng said again. He was able to be transferred here to guard the palace gate of the inner palace because of his relationship with Empress Dowager Gao. However, with his personality, he originally did not want to go through such a back door, but was suppressed by the elders in the family, which forced him to follow the arrangements of the family and come to the inner palace to work.

"So that's it. No wonder you can be trusted by the Empress Dowager so much. But now I'm going to enter the palace. Are you going to stop it or let it go?" Zhao Yan said with a deep face. Although Xu Sheng is his own student, he is also a person with a deep relationship with the Gao family, so Zhao Yan is not sure that the other party will let it go. However, if Xu Sheng really doesn't let it go, the rift between him and Empress Dowager Gao will be deeper and the contradictions will be more irreconcilable. Even he himself will not be able to predict what will happen in the future.

Xu Sheng didn't know in advance that the person to stop was Zhao Yan. Now that he heard Zhao Yan say this, he also showed a very entangled look on his face. Zhao Yan is the person he respects the most. Not only is Empress Dowager Gao, but also their Xu family also has extremely complex interests entanglements with the Gao family, so no matter who encounters this situation, it is probably difficult to make a choice.

"Open the door!" Xu Sheng stood in front of the palace gate and hesitated for a long time, and finally suddenly shouted to the soldiers behind him. Although he had not been in the capital for a long time, he had established his prestige with extremely strict practice style. Therefore, as soon as his order was issued, almost no one dared to have any objection. The heavy palace gate was opened again, and the soldiers in front of the gate also gave up a way.

Zhao Yan was quite surprised to see Xu Sheng choose to move out of the way, and then he was a little moved, because Xu Sheng's concession would definitely be criticized by the family behind him, and at the same time, it would be difficult to be trusted by Empress Dowager Gao in the future, but he still chose to stand on his own side, and it had nothing to do with any interests, but it was just a kind of respect for the teacher by students.

Thinking of the above, Zhao Yan was even more moved. He walked up and patted Xu Sheng on the shoulder, saying nothing, because any words were redundant at this time. Then he did not stop any longer and strode through the palace gate and entered the inner palace. The news was quickly sent to Empress Dowager Gao by some eunuchs.

"What? Xu Sheng from the palace gate actually let Zhao Yan in?" Empress Dowager Gao was also surprised when she heard the news. Because she knew that Xu Sheng was the son of her cousin and was extremely capable, she arranged to guard the palace gate on the wall of the inner palace. As for Xu Sheng also graduated from the military academy, she also knew that in her opinion, although Zhao Yan was founded, it was also from the court, so she did not take this matter seriously.

But now it seems that the students who graduated from the military academy seem to have a deep affection for Zhao Yan. In this case, she probably had a big mistake about Zhao Yan's strength before. Even if only half of the students who graduated from the military academy respect Zhao Yan as much as Xu Sheng, then the strength in Zhao Yan's hands will be extremely amazing. If Zhao Yan is really forced to rebel, I am afraid she will have no generals?

Thinking of the above, Empress Dowager Gao immediately felt a cold that penetrated her bones, and even an inexplicable fear arises from her heart. She suddenly realized that her move to seize power seemed a bit too reckless. Although she had the support of ministers such as Lu Huiqing and Sima Guang, she had no foundation for the military. On the contrary, Zhao Yan had spread her influence throughout the army through the military academy. Although the Song Dynasty has always valued culture over military military, as long as anyone with a little brain knows that only by mastering the army can she truly stand invincible.

"Empress Dowager, King Yue walked straight toward this place through the palace gate. No one dared to stop him. Now he is about to enter the hall. Do you want to see him?" At this moment, an eunuch beside Empress Dowager Gao asked anxiously. This eunuch was a confidant of Empress Dowager Gao. He naturally knew very well about Empress Dowager Gao's seizure of power, and even participated in it in person. Now that he saw Zhao Yan breaking in, he was naturally very anxious.

"What a panic? King Yue won't eat you!" Seeing the eunuch's panic, Empress Dowager Gao couldn't help but stare at her eyes and scolded. At this time, she was still calm. When she decided to seize power, Empress Dowager Gao had already made the worst plan. Therefore, she immediately ordered again, "I ordered people to open the palace gate and wait for the arrival of King Yue. The Ai family would take a look at what Zhao Yan was going to do?"

After entering the inner palace, Zhao Yan never dared to stop him from walking along the way. Soon he came to Kunning Hall where Empress Dowager Gao lived. When Empress Dowager Cao lived here, Zhao Yan also came to Kunning Hall many times to pay tribute to her. However, after Zhao Shu passed away, Empress Dowager Cao moved to the palace behind him to live. This place was changed to Empress Dowager Gao lived. Since then, Zhao Yan has never been here again.

Seeing the gate of Kunning Palace hitting, the palace maids and eunuchs on both sides were also on both sides when they saw him. Zhao Yan was not polite about this and stepped directly into the main hall of Kunning Palace. As a result, Empress Dowager Gao was sitting in a generous dress, staring at him with sharp eyes, but Zhao Yan keenly discovered that behind Empress Dowager Gao's sharp gaze, there was a bit of imperceptible guilt.

"Son, please see the mother!" Zhao Yan did not show any misconduct when he entered the hall, but slowly walked to Empress Dowager Gao to ritual. Although Empress Dowager Gao was not his biological mother, the etiquette he should have must not be abolished.

"No gift!" Seeing that Zhao Yan was still celebrating her according to etiquette, Empress Dowager Gao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and then said calmly, because this meant that Zhao Yan was not prepared to do anything out of style, which was definitely great news for her.

"Thank you, Queen Mother!" Zhao Yan said with a calm expression. At this time, he was very calm, which was completely different from the way he beat Lu Huiqing because of his anger. This made Empress Dowager Gao unable to guess his purpose for a while.

"King of Yue, I wonder if you came to the palace to meet Ai's house today, what's the point?" At this time, Empress Dowager Gao asked again. She did not mention the matter of having someone close the palace gate just now, trying to block Zhao Yan outside the door, let alone the matter of taking away the power of Zhao Yan's handling of government affairs.
Chapter completed!