Bu Zang's mind was spinning, and things were turning in a direction that was not good for him. There were two ways at the moment, either to break through the inner garden and take Yeli Dulan and the prince to use this as a threat, or to save his life;
Either he could make a decisive decision and immediately lead his troops out of the city from the north gate, go straight to his home base in the northern fiefdom, publish the secret edict to the world, and then make the prince and queen's rebellion known to the world, raise the flag and start a rebellion, and maybe win other party titles.
Tribal support.
When Wu Zangying was hesitant between the two methods, fifty thousand Xiangqing troops had already marched all the way into the city. The streets were empty at first, but in an instant they were filled with fully armed soldiers. There was a cacophony of footsteps, people neighing, and horses screaming.
The already frightened people huddled behind the bedside table and shivered.
Zhang Yuan and Ren Jingde rode side by side on horseback. Ren Jingde said: "Zhang Zhongshu, should we take control of the Suwei camp first? To avoid causing trouble."
Zhang Yuandao: "It's too late. The palace must be in a desperate situation. If the palace is breached and there is no hidden conspiracy to blackmail the prince and the queen under the orders, what should you and I do? We must not let the queen and the prince fall into the hands of the enemy. This is also the last thing you and I will do afterwards.
Thanks to the credit, those who are under the control of Wu Zang and Pang must have participated in the siege of the palace, and those who have not participated will not participate at this moment. It is best not to provoke them."
Ren Jingde laughed and said: "Zhang Zhongshu is good at planning. He sent an order and went straight to the palace."[
Fifty thousand soldiers marched toward the North City like a torrent along the streets and alleys. The vanguard soon arrived at the outskirts of the palace. The sight in front of them stunned them. The entire palace was on fire, and the tall palaces were burning with flames.
, not only the several main halls in the outer garden, but also the hundreds of pavilions and palaces in the inner garden were already burning brightly. Zhang Yuan and Ren Jingde, who rushed there in a hurry, felt cold. It seemed that the palace was in ruins, and the queen and the prince were probably not dead.
It means it fell into the hands of Wu Zang.
But the strange thing is that not a single person was seen in the firelight. There were no traces of the defenders and attackers. There were only messes and corpses all over the ground.
The soldiers searched around and found a dozen injured soldiers whose faces were beyond recognition in the passage between the palaces, so they brought them all over.
Zhang Yuan saw them wearing the uniforms of the Su Guards, so he shouted sharply and asked: "Aren't you hiding your secrets?"
The wounded soldiers kowtowed and begged for mercy, and one person said in a trembling voice: "The Prime Minister led his troops to escape from the north gate."
"Have the queen and the prince been poisoned?"
"This little guy doesn't know that the Prime Minister ordered a fierce attack on the inner garden. After the inner garden was destroyed, the Prime Minister ordered me to set fire everywhere. We followed the leader and set fire to all the places. But when we came out, we found that a large group of people had already gone there.
The North Gate retreated; just as we were about to catch up, dozens of people were knocked down by arrows shot from nowhere. Fortunately, the few of us ran fast and escaped with our lives."
Zhang Yuanyi said happily: "So there are still people inside?"
The wounded soldiers nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, there are many of them, they are all near the lotus pond in the back garden. I saw hundreds of people there with my own eyes, but I didn't dare to go there."
Zhang Yuan and Ren Jingde looked at each other, their eyes full of surprise. The lotus pond is an artificial lake dug by Li Yuanhao to appreciate the lotus flowers in summer. There are pavilions built on the water, which is the best place to withstand the fire. At the same time, there is only one of the three sides.
The nine-curved corridor connects to the shore, making it an excellent place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
"General Ren, ordered the four cities to be sealed off and a curfew started. Let's go to the lotus pond to welcome the queen and the prince." Zhang Yuandao.
"You mean the prince and the queen are not dead?"
"Of course, hundreds of people are there, which means that it is the last place to guard the queen and the prince. The old thief must have seen us waiting to break the city and come to make a desperate move and burn down all parts of the palace. It would be best if he could burn the prince and the queen to death.
He escaped and fled back to his lair."
"That must be the case. It seems that there is no hidden secret that Pang is going to rebel."
"Yes, but with the prince and the queen here, there will be help from the old thief. He won't be able to survive for a few days. Let's stabilize the current situation first and let him live for a few more days."
"What Zhang Zhongshu said is that we should hurry up and greet the queen and the prince."
While Ren Jingde ordered a city-wide curfew and sent troops to block the gates of the four cities, he and Zhang Yuan led thousands of soldiers around the burning red palaces and pavilions and headed straight to the lotus pond in the northeast.
The fire illuminated the lake surface red, and you could clearly see the dense crowds of people on the pavilion in the center of the lake. The Jiuqu Bridge was also guarded by soldiers, all of whom were stained with blood. They were obviously survivors after the bloody battle.
"Is that Mr. Zhang in front of you?" someone shouted loudly.[
"It's me. I and General Ren Jingde came to rescue you. Is the Queen and Prince okay?"
"Hahaha, not a single hair was injured. Due to the reputation of the two adults, the old thief ran away." The man laughed loudly. Only then did Zhang Yuan realize that it was Su Jin's voice. Su Jin was sick, and Zhang Yuan also felt inexplicable.
Huanxi, he already admires this guy a little.
Yeli Dulan and Li Ningling walked to the shore surrounded by everyone. Yeli Dulan looked calm, but the panic on Li Ningling's face had not receded, and his body was trembling, as if he had collapsed.
generally.
"Greetings to the Queen and the Crown Prince, I was waiting for help to arrive late. The Queen and the Crown Prince are frightened."
Brother Li Ningling said: "Why did you come here? We were almost killed by the old thieves. You are too slow."
Yeli Dulan frowned and shouted: "Your Majesty, shut up." He turned to Zhang Yuan and Ren Jingde and nodded: "Thank you for your hard work, I will keep your efforts in rescuing him in mind. Get up. The prince is too frightened.
Don’t take it to heart.”
Both of them said: "How dare you! It was the minister's fault."
Su Jin secretly laughed. This Li Ningling brother is so ignorant. He doesn't understand the danger tonight. In terms of time, Zhang Yuan acted at least two hours in advance, otherwise he wouldn't have arrived so quickly. This guy actually blamed others.
It was too late; if he had taken action at dawn according to the original plan, Pang would definitely have succeeded, and he would have been able to recover.
Yeli Dulan raised his head and looked around at the fire. The familiar palaces and palaces were all engulfed in the sky-high fire. Thinking about this day and night, he felt a little sad. His husband was killed by his son, the palace was destroyed, and it seemed that he didn't even have a place to stand.
It’s gone, it’s really like being in a dream.
Zhang Yuan saw Queen Yeli's thoughts and said softly: "Queen, please don't worry, the palace can be rebuilt. As long as the Queen and His Highness are well, it will be a blessing for the Great Xia. We must quickly stabilize the situation now."
Yeli Dulan took a breath and smiled: "That's right. Mr. Zhang, General Ren, what do you think we should do next?"
Zhang Yuanren Jingde said in unison: "Please give me your instructions."
Yeli Dulan pondered for a moment and said: "Immediately issue an edict: Wu Zang and Pang commit regicide, attack the palace with the intention of usurping the throne, and all the ministries of Great Xia will attack the rebels and Wu Zang and Pang. Immediately search for all members of Wu Zang's party and those who are involved.
All of them were executed; the emperor was newly mourned, the country could not be ruled for one day, the prince chose a day to ascend the throne, and the palace coordinated with the government; Zhang Yuan was promoted to the prime minister of the country, and the commander of the Xiangqing army Ren Jingde had meritorious service in saving the country.
The commander-in-chief of the army and horses is responsible for all security inside and outside the capital, and other meritorious personnel will also be rewarded."
Everyone knelt down to thank them. Zhang Yuan and Ren Jingde were secretly happy. They won the bet. With one winning move, they went straight to the top of their dreams. Originally, the positions of Prime Minister and Privy Council were out of reach. After only one night, their dreams came true.
It is true that wealth can be found in danger.
Both of them thanked one person in unison, Su Jin, the initiator of this bold plan. Naturally, Yeli Dulan would not forget Su Jin. She looked at Su Jin and said: "Master Su is not from Daxia, and he cannot be awarded an official position."
, there is no shortage of gold and silver treasures, so how can we reward them?"
Su Jin smiled and said, "Don't you know what I want?"
Yeli Dulan glanced at Ahri who was nestling next to Su Jin, sighed and said: "Forget it, Ahri will be left to you, but I can't hold a grand wedding for you. I want to announce to the public that Ahri will be here tonight.
Died in chaos, can Ahri understand his mother?"
Ah Li nodded and said, "Ah Li knows my mother's painstaking efforts. This way, the Liao people will have no reason to provoke. Thank you, Queen Mother, for making this happen."
Su Jin smiled and said: "I have nothing to do here anymore. If I stay here and my identity is exposed, it will incur the anger of you Xia people. I have to say goodbye."
Zhang Yuan said in astonishment: "Master Su, you are leaving now? Why don't you stay for a drink to celebrate your victory?"
Su Jin smiled and said: "Celebrating? You are very busy. Hundreds of officials have to deal with it. The situation needs to be stable. There is no conspiracy and Pang is not dead. Do you have time to celebrate? Mr. Zhang, you owe me this drink first. One day I will
I will ask you for this glass of wine, so you owe me."
Zhang Yuan cupped his hands and said: "We are always waiting for you."[
Su Jin bowed his hands and bid farewell to everyone, then got on his horse and left with the two women, Wang Chao Ma Han and others.
Yeli Dulan watched their figures disappear quietly, and sighed softly: "With this person in the Song Dynasty, I am afraid that our Daxia territory will have no chance to expand southward."
Zhang Yuan nodded slowly and said: "Yes, this man's resourcefulness is inferior to that of a million soldiers."
Ren Jingde suddenly said: "Why don't you take the opportunity to kill him? Since he is so powerful, wouldn't it be possible to break the arms of the people of Song Dynasty if he were to be killed?"
Yeli Dulan and Zhang Yuan both turned to look at Ren Jingde with playful expressions in their eyes, but they did not dare to discuss such a topic.