"I actually have a son as stupid as you, who goes to war without permission. Are you going to disobey me?!"
After an angry scolding, everyone in the hall fell into silence, and all one could hear was the heavy breathing of the father and son after the quarrel.
Li Longji originally thought that these words could calm Li Heng.
However, Li Heng was not convinced and said: "The foundation of our ancestors was almost destroyed by my father, and now you insist on going your own way. Are you willing to let the country fall into the hands of outsiders because of your selfishness?!"
It was not that he was stupid, or that he did not know that rashly raising troops would give Xue Bai an excuse to attack him, but he deliberately allowed Li Chu to hold the military power, and more importantly, intensified the conflict and made Li Longji and Xue Bai confront each other tit for tat.
"My son, please ask the emperor to issue an edict."
"That's enough." Li Longji said, "Do you think I don't know what you are thinking?"
Feeling a hint of murderous intent, Li Heng's heart trembled, he pretended to be respectful and bowed, saying: "My child, please leave."
There is no point in saying anything else. Since Li Longji does not intend to declare Xue Bai guilty in the name of the Supreme Emperor, it means that Li Heng's strategy of inciting the two tigers to fight has failed. He can only resort to force and get rid of Xue Bai first.
, and then forced Li Longji to pass the throne.
That's where the two people's concerted efforts ended.
Looking at Li Heng's back, Li Longji said to himself: "This idiot gave Li Qian an excuse to raise troops."
He recruited Gao Lishi and said, "Go and appease Li Qian yourself... No, wait, let my two grandchildren have another chance to show off."
Only halfway through his instructions, he changed his mind.
It would be best to let the two powerful grandsons die so that no one can influence him to take over the government again.
"Tell Zhang Ting that if Li Chu wins, I want to make Li Chu the crown prince."
This sentence sounds very contradictory at first. How could Li Chu win and support Li Ji instead? Naturally, Zhang Ting would have to get rid of Li Chu and Li Heng.
Li Longji said again: "Call Du Youlin again to see me."
"Here."
"Have you found Li Zuo?"
"King Ying and King Qi have gone to the Forbidden Garden in person."
~~
King Ying Li Yan was the thirteenth son of Li Longji, and he was also the one who reported to Li Longji that Li Ying had borrowed two thousand pairs of armor from him.
Li Yan was nearly forty years old at that time, with elegant manners and good writing skills. Xue Bai had been in charge of the country for more than a year and had cut off all his fiefdoms and salary. He was not living well, but due to etiquette and law, Xue Bai did not kill him after all.
He still retains his royal title, which is considered a kind of grace.
He was not grateful, but was fed up with the days of being worried all the time. He felt that since Xue Bai was Li Ying's son, he would definitely kill him sooner or later.
Therefore, he was the most active person in supporting Li Longji's restoration. Li Longji asked him to go to the Forbidden Garden to appease Fan Lao, perhaps out of trust.
The Forbidden Garden is located to the north of Chang'an, with a huge area no less than the entire Chang'an City. Li Xuan went all the way north, out of the Xuanwu Gate in the north of the Daming Palace, then passed through Jiacheng, and out of the Chongxuan Gate. In front of him was the Forbidden Garden.
Both gates are under their control.
The Forbidden Army is stationed in the Forbidden Garden. Fan Lao, the general of the Zuo Shenwu Army appointed by Xue Bai before leaving Beijing, has been recruiting soldiers in the camp and did not even participate in the palace coup. This is now a joke among the nobles in Chang'an.
"King Ying Li Xian and Si Qi Wang Li Zhen, following the edict of the Supreme Emperor, have come to reward the generals!"
When they arrived in front of the military camp, they ordered people to come forward and pass the news.
After a while, the camp door opened, and a burly, rough-looking general stepped out to greet them. He looked them up and down without saluting or speaking.
Judging from his vulgar and rude appearance, it is obvious that he is Fan Lao, a smuggler in iron.
Li Zhen sat astride the horse without dismounting. He did not want to speak to Fan Lao first, but whispered to Li Xuan: "Why is this man staring at us?"
"People from the countryside should not be as familiar with him as he is, and declare the decree." Li Xuan said.
Li Zhen then gestured with her chin to the accompanying officials behind her to reward Fan Lao and the generals of the Forbidden Army.
Speaking of which, the Forbidden Army has always been under the control of Li Longji through his confidant generals like Chen Xuanli. It was only in the past few years after Li Longji returned to Shu that he fell into the hands of Xue Bai. There are still many generals who are attracted to Li Longji. This is why he can
The reason for quickly controlling the Daming Palace.
The purpose of awarding rewards now is of course to shake the morale of the Forbidden Army. It doesn't really matter what Fan Lao thinks. As long as the decree reaches the ears of each general, that's enough.
Sure enough, all the generals accepted the order one after another and showed no hostility.
Fan Lao asked loudly: "So, the reason why the Supreme Emperor proclaimed himself emperor was because the saint died suddenly and the prince was not in Chang'an. The throne will still be passed to the prince in the future?!"
Li Zhen and Li Xu looked at each other, and Li Xu nodded, meaning that he could admit this. Anyway, Li Heng, Li Chu and his son would get rid of Xue Bai.
"That's right!" Li Zhen said: "The Emperor and the Crown Prince are of the same mind, so you don't have to worry!"
Fan Lao listened and said to the generals behind him: "Have you heard that? The Supreme Emperor has not deposed the Crown Prince. He is still the legitimate Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty."
Li Xian sneered slightly in his heart, and looked deep into the camp, and found that some palace people were active. Among them, there were palace maids holding copper basins and walking around with water.
Sure enough, Xue Bai settled his family here.
Now, first, coax Fan Lao to surrender, control the soldiers and horses, and capture Xue Bai's family. Then, when both Xue Bai and Li Chu are injured, the Emperor can punish whomever he wants.
Suddenly, a soldier asked loudly: "Since His Highness is still the Crown Prince, why doesn't King Zhong let him enter the city?!"
"What are you talking about?" Li Zhen scolded immediately.
"I just don't understand why King Zhong sent troops to intercept and kill His Highness?!"
Li Zhen asked in surprise: "When did he do this?"
This is the Forbidden Garden, and Xue Bai is still at the Golden Light Gate in the west of the city. They are far away. Even Li Zhen and Li Xuan don't know what is happening in the west of the city. After all, when they set off, Li Chu had just sent out troops.
Li Xuan expected that things would not be simple, and frowned: "What is going on?"
"Your Highness!"
Fan Lao suddenly turned around and shouted into a military tent: "Did your Highness hear this? The Supreme Emperor has rectified His Highness's name, and His Highness is not guilty!"
There was a "crash" sound, and the curtain of the military tent was torn open. Xue Bai was sitting in it. He was naked and was being bandaged. The bandage on his body was covered with blood.
Li Zhen and Li Xuan were stunned for a moment when they saw this, thinking that Xue Bai had just arrived in Xicheng, how could he appear here? Who could hurt him so quickly?
Xue Bai stood up, walked in their direction, and said loudly: "You are here just in time, tell me, how did the saint die?!"
"What...what do you mean?"
Li Zhen was confused.
The struggle for power is a very complicated matter, with subtle changes in enemies and friends every moment, and Li Zhen is obviously unable to adapt.
On the contrary, Li Yan understood first and knew that it was no longer possible for them to subdue Xue Bai's power through appeasement. Xue Bai had already made arrangements, and now he wanted to frame them for regicide in order to clean them up.
"Kill him!"
Seeing Xue Bai walking towards them without any armor, this was probably the last chance to kill Xue Bai, so Li Xuan immediately made up his mind.
His reaction was not unpleasant. While shouting, he turned around to grab the bow and arrow from the soldiers behind him, and drew the bow and arrow at Xue Bai.
Unfortunately, this action took some time.
"If they rebel, kill them!"
"Swish swish."
The archers behind Fan Lao were already prepared. They had put their arrows on their strings at some point, and immediately released the arrows at the command.
A hail of arrows knocked down the guard in front of Li Zhen, and Li Zhen screamed and fell off her horse.
When Li Xuan saw this, he turned on his horse and fled.
"Li Qian rebelled, leave quickly!"
"Help me!"
Li Zhen was still shouting, but unfortunately the people behind him were neighing, and the people he was leading had already fled for their lives in a hurry.
He climbed a few steps and saw that he could not escape, so he had to sit on the ground, stared at Xue Bai with wide eyes, and said loudly: "Li Qian! What do you mean? The Supreme Emperor did not abolish your throne!"
In this way, the few forbidden soldiers around him stopped killing him, but took out the ropes around his waist to tie him up.
Xue Bai remained silent and still walked towards him.
Li Zhen was greatly frightened. She kept moving her hips and stepped back, saying, "I'm not going to deal with you. The Supreme Emperor has reserved a place for you. I'll take you back to the palace."
"Li Zhen betrayed Li Heng and killed the king to seize the throne. This is a heinous crime!"
"Are you crazy? Did you hear what I said..."
"puff."
Xue Bai ignored Li Zhen's words and simply picked up a knife and killed Li Zhen.
As a result, the face that looked exactly like Li Longji froze, with a look of ferocity and fear, his pupils were dilated, but there was a look of sudden enlightenment in his eyes.
In the end, Li Zhen actually understood.
Xue Bai's plan was to deliberately let Li Cong die in their hands and then purge them. No matter whether they deposed Xue Bai or not, the result would be the same. If they came to declare Xue Bai's guilt today, they would be greeted with the same kind of swords and arrows.
But why?
In fact, if everyone compromises with each other, Xue Bai can successfully ascend the throne. Why does it have to be so bloody?
Li Zhen failed to understand this.
"The country is in dire straits, and foreign invaders are constantly intruding. Li Heng took advantage of me to lead the troops to defend against the enemy, colluded with Tibet, and killed the saint. This crime is unpardonable. I ask you to follow me today to put down the rebellion!"
Xue Bai stood next to Li Zhen's body, put on his armor, and said: "Surge into the Daming Palace and punish all the rebels!"
"kill!"
Fan Lao raised the knife and thought of what Xue Bai had said to him before taking office.
His mission is very simple. Anyone who dares to prevent Xue Bai from ascending the throne will be killed.
~~
Li Xuan finally rushed to the Chongxuan Gate.
He glanced back in shock, but fortunately, the pursuers had not arrived yet.
However, it is easy to leave the Daming Palace and go to the Forbidden Garden, but it is difficult to go from the Forbidden Garden to the Daming Palace.
"Open the palace door quickly, I am Prince Ying!"
"Yang Hui! Let me in quickly."
Currently, the people responsible for the defense of the Daming Palace are Yang Hui, Li Tan and others. The reason why they are used is not only because there is no other available person around Li Longji for the time being. It is also because the positions of these people are naturally opposite to Xue Bai and Li Heng.
.
At this time, Yang Hui was at the Chongxuan Gate. Seeing Li Xuan coming back so quickly, he knew something was going on and did not dare to open the palace door. Instead, he had someone put down the hanging basket and hoist Li Xuan and others up.
After such a delay, Li Xuan heard the sound of the pursuing soldiers behind him again. He felt anxious and cursed Yang Hui, and climbed up the hanging basket with curses.
"quick!"
"Swish swish swish."
The hanging basket was only halfway pulled, and arrows were already shooting at him again.
There were even a few sporadic "bang" sounds. It was someone under Fan Lao who was aiming a heavy firegun at him, hitting the palace wall, sending dust flying, and frightening Li Xuan.
"Fire the arrow!"
On the palace wall, Yang Hui finally gave the order and suppressed the pursuers with a rain of arrows.
Li Xuan finally climbed over the battlement and immediately grabbed Yang Hui by the collar and cursed: "You almost killed me."
"Don't get excited, what happened?"
"Li Qian rebelled!"
"What is he rebelling against? The Emperor has not punished him yet, how dare he rebel?"
"He used the excuse of Li Heng to kill the king. Please tell Father Ming to make a decision. You guard the palace gate and don't let him come in."
Li Xuan did not dare to stay here longer, and immediately prepared to get off the city wall and enter the Xuanwu Gate in the south.
However, when he turned around and took a look, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "What is that?"
I saw the firelight flickering on the Xuanwu Gate side, and the sounds of fighting could be heard. It seemed that a group of people came from the Daming Palace to kill people and seize the city.
"Is there still Li Qian's rebel army in the palace?" Li Xuan asked.
"No." Yang Hui was in a daze and murmured: "There shouldn't be, right?"
"Should you? Haven't you searched Miyagi?"
"Miyagi is so big, can I identify all the rebels in just one day?!"
Yang Hui also cursed and said, "Maybe Li Heng rebelled."
He seemed to think it would be easier to deal with this.
Before the two men could figure out the situation, they turned to look north and saw Xue Bai leading the imperial army approaching Chongxuanmen.
"what to do?"
"Go quickly."
Yang Hui was burdened with heavy responsibilities, but he had no intention of resisting to the death. He ordered his soldiers to guard the palace gate, and then tried to escape to the Yinhan Gate in the east.
However, the small group of people who had just captured the Xuanwu Gate were already rushing towards this side and shot an arrow from a distance, hitting Yang Hui's thigh.
"Help me!"
Li Xuan didn't even save Li Zhen, so how could he save Yang Hui? He simply ignored him and continued running towards Yinhan Gate.
Unfortunately, after running for a while, he saw the bright fire on Yinhan Gate from a distance, and the sound of fighting could also be heard.
"Damn."
Li Xuan was about to cry but had no tears, so he had to turn back and rush to Qingxiao Gate. He had been running back and forth all night. By now, his physical strength was exhausted and he really couldn't run anymore. His will was even more unbearable, and he had no idea of surrender.
Keep popping up.
After running, he finally stopped and fell to the ground.
From the front, one can already see Xue Bai leading his troops into Chongxuan Gate, and Yang Hui has already surrendered.
Only Li Xuanbai ran back and forth.
"I surrender... Your Highness! I surrender!"
~~
"Come down, I'll surrender."
Yang Hui covered his wound and watched Xue Bai slowly walking towards him. Suddenly, he had a premonition that Xue Bai would definitely kill him.
In his sight, he seemed to have returned to that snowy day in Tianbao's fifth year.
That day, he secretly went to his villa and stayed in his outer room in darkness. He knew that Li Niang must also be having fun, but he had no choice. She was a princess and he couldn't restrain her. When he returned home, he saw that she was getting angry.
"Eating dog intestines, this kid's name is Xue Pingzhao... Li Baniang did it on purpose. She sent the remnants of the three common people case to me."
"Just kill him."
At that time, Yang Hui just gave such a casual order.
Whether it is a slave of the Xue family or Xue Xi's son, to him, it is as simple as crushing an ant to death.
But if time could go back again, Yang Hui would really be more careful.
He would personally cut off the official slave's head and bury his head in the east of the city and his body in the west.
No, he will cut him into pieces.
With such deep regret and hatred, Yang Hui, who was lying on the ground, showed the loyal and pitiful eyes of a dog to his master, and called out: "Your Highness, I am waiting for you, I am waiting for Your Highness to return to the palace.
"
Xue Bai was still walking towards him and didn't answer.
Yang Hui was even more uneasy. When Xue Bai was supervising the country, he thought Xue Bai would deal with him, but no, it was because Xue Bai focused on the overall situation. The atmosphere now is very different.
"Your Highness, please ascend the throne!" Yang Hui had an idea and thought that he might be able to persuade Xue Bai to put the overall situation first, so he said loudly: "Li Heng committed regicide, and I am a witness. I only ask Your Highness to succeed to the throne!"
He crawled towards Xue Bai.
"puff."
With one stab of the knife, Yang Hui was nailed to the ground.
Fan Lao's background is true, but he is not a fool. He wants to kill all those who block His Highness's ascension to the throne, but how can he establish his authority if he lets go of those who surrendered after seeing that they could not stop him?
"Your Highness." Yang Hui did not give up, and murmured: "Actually, Concubine Wu Hui knew that the saint wanted to get rid of the prince, so she asked me to offer my advice. I..."
Fan Lao glanced at Xue Bai and saw that Xue Bai's face was still stern, so he took another stab.
Blood kept pouring out of Yang Hui's mouth. Xue Bai was not interested in knowing his story at all.
Seeing this scene, Li Xuan was frightened and wanted to escape again, but her legs had no strength.
He didn't hear what Yang Hui said at the end and thought that Xue Bai killed Yang Hui to avenge Li Ying.
"Your Highness, listen to me, my second brother and I have a very good relationship, but there is another hidden secret about what happened back then."
As Li Xuan spoke, her words gradually became tearful, but this did not seem to stop Xue Bai's murderous intention at all.
He had no other choice but to continue talking.
"My father thought that Zhang Jiuling was too close to his second brother and wanted to test Zhang Jiuling, so he instructed me to report his second brother's secret possession of armor in front of Zhang Jiuling to test Zhang Jiuling's reaction."
When Xue Bai came here, he showed a slight smile.
Li Xuan didn't know what the smile meant, and was greatly encouraged.
"Perhaps as long as Zhang Jiuling advocated deposing the prince, they would be fine. But Zhang Jiuling wanted to intercede for his second brother. He followed the advice of others to admonish Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: 'A son who betrays his father's army will be punished by being whipped. How can Kuang Yuanliang's country be touched?'
This way I can persuade my father, who hates comparing him to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In short, it was my father who gave me the instructions. I didn’t want to harm my second brother, really!”
Xue Bai finally agreed to him and asked, "Do you think they would be fine if Zhang Jiuling advocated deposing the crown prince?"
"Yes, yes, it was Zhang Jiuling who killed his second brother, not me." Li Xuan said.
"You are wrong. No matter how he answers, they will die."
Li Xuan was stunned for a moment, and then she realized what she was doing.
Since Li Longji suspected that the prime minister was colluding with the prince, and went so far as to ask him to file a complaint, even if Zhang Jiuling changed his explanation, it would only be considered intentional.
Death is inevitable no matter what.
"Yes, my father wanted to kill my second brother anyway." Li Xuan said: "Look, it has nothing to do with me. Whether I file a complaint or not, it doesn't matter."
"It's all the same."
"puff."
Another slash with the knife killed Li Xuan on the spot.
In this way, Xue Bai had captured the north gate of Daming Palace. He did not stop and continued to kill into the palace.
~~
After Li Heng met Li Longji, he knew that the throne could not be obtained through request, so he immediately made up his mind to seize the throne with iron and blood tactics.
"How many more people do we have?"
"Only three hundred." Zhang Ting said: "The rest were taken to the west of the city by Li Chu."
Li Heng frowned, but instead of asking her again, he called an old eunuch and asked, "Where are they?"
"It must be coming soon."
"Hurry up." Li Heng groaned and paced back and forth.
Zhang Ting knew that the old eunuch was responsible for dealing with filth in Prince Zhong's palace. He usually kept quiet and would not attract anyone's attention at all.
She could probably tell from their conversation that there was another force.
Li Heng was good at using eunuchs. Zhang Ting knew this, but she didn't expect that Li Heng would hide his secret behind her back.
"What? Are there any troops available?" Zhang Ting asked.
"Not counting the military strength, they are the old soldiers sent to Beijing by Huangfu Weiming."
"Those people? Aren't they already dead?"
"There was not just one group. The last group was discovered by Li Linfu and Pei Mian failed to deal with it. As a result, several of them defected to Xue Bai." Li Heng said, "But we had already accumulated hundreds of dead soldiers in the farm outside the city at that time.
, to prepare for unexpected emergencies.”
Zhang Ting said: "Are they still there?"
Li Heng shook his head and said: "After so many changes, there are not many left. Only more than a hundred have been recalled one after another."
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Zhang Ting smiled, showing some joy, and asked, "What are you going to use them for?"
Li Heng still didn't tell her directly, but just comforted her with a few words.
"As long as Li Chu can get rid of Xue Ni, you don't have to worry too much about things in the palace. You will be my queen then. I want to see Li Tan. Can you help me arrange it?"
"Okay, as long as Li Tan joins us, it will be safer."
Zhang Ting smiled on her face, but she was guessing in her heart. Li Heng said that Miyagi didn't need to worry. There must be a way to directly let the dead soldiers enter the Daming Palace to stage a coup.
It's a pity that this is based on the premise that Li Chu gets rid of Xue Bai. If Li Chu controls the military and becomes the prince, what is the use of her becoming the queen?
Everyone was making plans in their minds, but bad news came again.
"King Yu is back!"
Li Heng felt uneasy. Seeing Li Chu hurried back, he quickly asked: "Have you got rid of Xue Ni?"
"I fell into the trap." Li Chu said: "Xue Ni is not in the west of the city at all. He is bluffing. I suspect that he went to the Forbidden Garden."
"What?"
Li Heng was shocked and quickly said to Zhang Ting: "You first go to Li Tan and persuade him to join forces with us."
Zhang Ting felt suspicious when he saw that the father and son were plotting again, but he still responded: "Okay."
As soon as she left, Li Heng and Li Chu walked to the desk and unfolded a map. It was the map of the Daming Palace that they had prepared many years ago.
"Xue Ni must have entered the palace through Chongxuan Gate." Li Chu traced his fingers on the map and said: "The Supreme Emperor still has prestige, so it is still possible to organize the imperial army to temporarily guard the front hall. They are killing each other and are attacking us.
It will be very beneficial, I'm afraid..."
"Are you afraid they won't fight?"
"Yes, if they join forces, we will die."
"They will kill each other." Li Heng clicked on the map and said, "I have arranged manpower here, and after waiting for more than ten years, I finally used it."