Seeing Mrs. Pan holding the little emperor in her arms and coming in from the back hall surrounded by a group of eunuchs and maidens, Queen Mother Liu did not have time to think about anything else and directly ordered:
"Come here, the guilty woman Pan has escaped from confinement. Capture her quickly!"
No matter what the situation in the harem is now, as long as Pan can be controlled, the situation can be saved.
When the officials in the palace saw this, they all became nervous. No one thought that just a few days after the coup, another coup would happen again, and it was still when they were receiving envoys from Liao and Xia. The Song Dynasty is about to end.
When Zhang Dun saw Wang Anshi looking at him, he immediately smiled and nodded again, as if he was sure of victory, but his heart was already in his throat.
The people sent by Cao Bin clearly said that the uprising was about to start, and Zhang Dun himself had a mission to confuse the public. Unexpectedly, Queen Mother Pan launched the uprising more than half an hour in advance. She was going to do something bad...
In fact, Queen Mother Pan was also helpless.
When the Pan family gained power, she was wary of Cao Bin. As a result, the number of "swallows" that infiltrated the palace was not large and their strength was slightly weak. Moreover, she did not want to rely solely on Cao Bin's power to seize power.
In that case, it would be easy to be controlled by Cao Bin afterwards.
Therefore, she had to summon her confidants and gather enough strength before she dared to start an uprising with confidence.
It was just that her men were not secretive when they were working together, and the adopted son of the old eunuch Guo discovered the clues, so they had to take action in advance.
Fortunately, the Empress Dowager was feared by the late emperor and had lived in seclusion in Ciyuan Hall for many years. After gaining power in just a few days, she failed to cultivate many confidants.
After killing more than a dozen loyalists and intimidating most of the palace attendants, Empress Pan was able to break into the Ciyuan Palace and seize the young emperor without any danger.
Later, she did not dare to delay at all, and while urgently sending someone to notify Cao Bin, she came to Zichen Palace to seize power.
As long as she can capture the Empress Dowager and Wang Yanling by surprise, she may be able to seize power successfully before Cao Bin takes action.
Queen Mother Pan didn't expect that the old woman didn't give her a chance to speak and just sent someone to kill her.
At this time, seeing several burly eunuchs and palace guards rushing toward her, she instinctively panicked and immediately ordered:
"Cao Wei..."
Without her instructions, Concubine Pang's personal maid had already stood in front of her with three companions, and swung her sword to kill the fastest eunuch.
At the same time, Queen Mother Pan's confidant eunuch stepped forward with a knife and rushed towards the dragon chair.
For a moment, the Zichen Palace was filled with blood. No one expected that Queen Mother Pan's people would act so decisively and ruthlessly.
When the ministers saw the flash of swords and blood splattering in the palace, they were so frightened that they retreated hurriedly for fear of being hurt. Some were so anxious that they stamped their feet, but they didn't know what to do:
"It's over. There are frequent killings in the main hall. This is a sign of troubled times. The Song Dynasty is in danger!"
Only the envoys of Liao and Xia looked excited and had some time to relax. The more chaotic the Song Dynasty, the more beneficial it was to them.
They believed that no matter which side won, they would not dare to offend the Liao-Xia Alliance at this time.
Just as Cao Wei and others suppressed several palace guards and charged towards Empress Dowager Liu, Imperial City Secretary Wang Xianzong also rushed into the palace with a group of Imperial City Imperial Guards.
Queen Mother Pan turned extremely pale when she saw that her men were no match for the imperial guards of the imperial city. Even the good men arranged by Cao Bin were killed by so many armored guards and they retreated.
Seeing Wang Xianzong approaching her, Queen Mother Pan quickly suppressed her weak legs, hugged the little emperor tightly to her chest, and shouted angrily:
"Bold, the emperor is here, Wang Xianzong, do you dare to kill the king?"
Hearing this, Wang Xianzong stopped immediately and was a little at a loss. No matter how crazy he was, he would not dare to hurt the emperor in public.
Otherwise, even if he could please the Empress Dowager, he would not be able to save his life. Not only himself, but also the three and even nine tribes would have to be buried with him.
He didn't really care about his father and brother, but he was still quite reluctant to let go of his newly married high-class wife.
This was the real trump card that gave Queen Mother Pan the courage to take risks and seize power. Even if her temporary plan was thwarted, she could still use the little emperor to delay Cao Bin's arrival.
Seeing the Empress Dowager Pan hugging the little emperor tightly to her chest, even the Empress Dowager hesitated a little. At this time, both sides had their support, and the ministers did not know who to persuade to give up.
At this moment, Wang Yanling said:
"Ms. Pan, even if you resent the late emperor, you should not cause trouble at this time, let alone use the official family as a threat."
"What's more, family scandals should not be made public. Now that the envoys from Liao and Xia are in the palace, this is tantamount to helping our neighbors to steal their families and putting our country in danger..."
Hearing this, Liao envoy Yelu Yixian suddenly smiled:
"Prime Minister Wang's words are serious. We, the Liao Kingdom, only want to borrow two million guan of money and food from our brotherly country to tide over the difficulties. How can we become a strong man?"
"However, our Daliao warriors are indeed working hard to prepare their troops and implement comprehensive strategies."
When the ministers heard this, they were immediately in an uproar. Just now, Yeluyi had asked to borrow one million yuan in food, but he did not expect that the amount would be doubled in the blink of an eye. They all angrily accused him of being greedy and shameless.
Yeluyi scanned the hall for a week before shouting:
"We, Liao and Xia, have joined forces and have millions of people. Since you Song ministers are not convinced, do you dare to lead the army to test the strength?"
"If you dare to agree, I will send someone to report to my Majesty, and I will hunt with the kings and ministers of the Song Dynasty in the Central Plains!"
Zhang Yanshou, the Xixia envoy, saw Yeluyi looking at him first, and quickly nodded in agreement:
"I am willing to listen to the advice of the Liao envoys. I, Daxia, are willing to join forces with the Liao and Song Dynasties to fight."
Seeing that the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty were silent for a while, Yeluyi couldn't help laughing. Although he didn't say anything more, he was extremely arrogant.
Even Mu Guiying, who has always been calm and composed, was rarely angered by Ye Luyi first. She couldn't help but wanted to speak out, but Taijun She held her back and warned her in a low voice:
"This matter is too important for me and other military ministers to comment on. We have to wait for Cao...the court to make a decision. Besides, the court is in such a situation, how can we act on impulse?"
Mu Guiying looked at the silent monarchs and ministers in the hall and felt extremely depressed.
Just when she was disappointed, she saw Wang Yanling turning to look at Queen Mother Pan, who was standing gracefully, and said coldly:
"The Song Dynasty is currently experiencing unresolved internal conflicts, and the court is really in financial difficulties. It is difficult to raise so much money and food for the time being. Why don't you discuss it with the Liao envoy and ask him to be more tolerant?"
Hearing this, the corners of Mu Guiying's eyes twitched, and her mood became even worse.
Empress Dowager Pan's eyes were filled with anger and her heart was full of hatred. She already understood Wang Yanling's intentions.
Wang Yanling's words will inevitably make her become a vicious woman who only pursues personal gain, regardless of the safety of the court, and will use any means in the hearts of the officials.
The second thing is to add a lot of worries to the ministers who support her. The most important thing is to silence the ministers and erase all the legitimacy of her fight for power.
In this way, you don't need to worry too much when dealing with her.
When dealing with a vicious woman who is unscrupulous and disruptive to the country, no matter how destructive tactics are used, it is still justified. After all, the purpose is to eliminate traitors for the country and protect the country and the country.
At this time, Queen Mother Pan was already a little anxious. She did not expect that Liu would summon the Liaoxia envoy today.
But even if she knew, she still had an arrow in her bow and had to fire it.
But if she can't change public opinion, even if she succeeds in seizing power by force, it will be difficult for her to be stable for a long time.
At this moment, she longed for Cao Bin more than ever. On the one hand, she could use his military prowess and strength to reverse the crisis. Perhaps only his recklessness could defeat the arrogance of the Liao and Xia envoys without fear of the threat from the Northern Liao!
