Seeing Cao Bin walk to the center of the hall with steps that he would not recognize his relatives, Zhang Yanshou quickly shrank his neck and made room for Cao Bin.
Cao Bin glanced at him, then looked at Yelu Yixian, pointed outside the hall and said:
"Go out and wait!"
Yeluyi straightened his neck first:
"My army of millions..."
He was about to threaten, but he saw that the Xixia envoy had already walked out of the palace with his hands folded. He couldn't help but choked, and quickly changed his words:
"Okay, since Da Song has something secret to discuss, we will wait for Da Song's reply outside the palace!"
After saying that, he hurriedly chased Zhang Yanshou, while secretly complaining in his heart.
He didn't expect that Cao Bin would suddenly return to Beijing. This guy was arrogant and unreasonable, and he still occupied a high position in the Song Dynasty.
If forced, he was afraid that Cao Bin would go crazy and find an excuse to kill himself first regardless of the consequences. Not only would he not be able to achieve the purpose of blackmail, but he would also cause a lot of trouble for Daliao.
Moreover, without the support of Xixia envoys, his ability to intimidate the Song Dynasty would be greatly reduced.
Thinking of this, he quickly caught up with Zhang Yanshou, who was running as fast as he could, and scolded in a low voice:
"Zhang Jiyuan, what's the matter with you? Didn't you agree? Do you still want to make meritorious service to Xixia?"
"Are you so afraid of him, Cao Bin?"
There was a bit of contempt in Zhang Yanshou's eyes, and he said calmly:
"General Yelu, please take a long-term approach."
"After all, it is taboo for envoys to get involved in other countries' internal affairs. It doesn't matter if we wait. I believe the Song Dynasty court will understand the current situation."
Three or four years ago, when Cao Bin went to Xixia for the first time, he deceived him about colluding with the Yeli family and the late prince Ning Lingge.
Now, although both of them and even Yuan Hao have vanished into thin air, and Empress Dowager Wu Zang has let go of their old ministers, she is always a little frightened when facing Cao Bin.
Moreover, when the Song army invaded Xia the year before last, Cao Bin, regardless of life and death, led his troops to besiege Xingqing Mansion in a frenzy, still vivid in his mind. He did not hold out hope of subduing Cao Bin.
The best way now is to wait for the monarchs and ministers within the Song Dynasty to persuade Cao Bin.
Seeing the backs of the two foreign envoys leaving the palace, the ministers felt much more relaxed but also had complex expressions. Except for the real traitors, even those who were afraid of war would not be in a good mood when faced with the instigation and bullying of foreign envoys.
At this time, Wang Yanling seemed to be suffering from constipation and felt that her old face was completely humiliated.
He treated each other with courtesy and persuaded them to stay away temporarily, but they refused to leave and kept pushing further. Cao Bin was overbearing and overbearing, but the other party remained silent.
These barbarians really bully the weak and fear the strong, fear danger and have no morals.
As soon as the envoys from Liao and Xia disappeared, Empress Dowager Liu couldn't help but scolded:
"Cao Bin, how do you behave when you bring armor into the palace? Why don't you withdraw your soldiers?"
Cao Bin looked at the Empress Dowager Pan and others who were blocked by Wang Xianzong's imperial guards at the back door of the hall, raised his hands and said:
"Back to the Empress Dowager, the bandits are causing trouble, and I am protecting Your Majesty."
As he spoke, he waved and said:
"Come here, invite the officials and the Queen Mother over."
Upon hearing this, Queen Mother Liu suddenly became anxious and shouted:
"Stop, the criminal woman Pan has been deposed by the late emperor's decree, and now she is holding the emperor hostage!"
As she said that, she stared at Cao Bin closely and said:
"This is the order of the Ai family. Do you want to disobey the Ai family?"
Cao Bin slapped his thigh and said:
"On the day, I asked you why I didn't know that the late emperor had a will. It turns out that when the late emperor died, he had already sent someone to deliver the will to the Empress Dowager of Xixia."
As he spoke, he raised his hands toward the Western Imperial Tomb and said with admiration:
"The late Emperor was truly foresighted!"
When Queen Mother Liu heard this, her eyes twitched and she said angrily:
"The will was left to Prime Minister Wang..."
At this time, she was quite angry. One or two of them mentioned that she was kidnapped by Zhao Ji and sent to Xixia. This matter cannot be dealt with, right?
I wonder what you thought happened to me by Xixia?
This bad, cheap son-in-law should have seized the opportunity to harm his daughter and killed him!
"Prime Minister Wang..."
Before he could question Wang Yanling, a figure rushed out of the courtroom, fell to his knees with a bang, and cried:
"Queen Mother, I want to impeach Wang Yanling for forging the late emperor's decree and bringing trouble to the world!"
"In order to bring order to the chaos, I pretended to be accommodating to him. Now I have gathered solid evidence and risked my life to report it!"
Cao Bin was stunned for a moment, blinked, and looked at He Jianzhang's prostrate figure on the ground, with a depressed look on his face. This guy saw the opportunity early, damn, steal my lines!
The ministers were already dubious about the late emperor's will, but when they saw He Jianzhang openly exposing it, they were immediately in an uproar.
Wang Yanling never expected that the person who slashed him first would be He Jianzhang, a man who obeyed his orders and did not hesitate to put down his body and "shave" for him.
He was so angry that he couldn't breathe for a long time, tremblingly pointed at He Jiazhang and said angrily:
"You, how dare you...you talk nonsense!"
"The seal, handwriting, and witnesses are all here, I, I..."
As he was talking, he saw General Xiong Hu carrying his eldest son who had been hungover for a long time into the hall, cupping his hands and saying:
"Master Hou, Miss Huamei from Zui Chun Tower found an imperial edict on the son of Wang Xiang's family. She doesn't dare to use the sedan chair, so she came here to report to Master Hou."
Cao Bin took the imperial edict in his hand, glanced at it pretendingly, and said with a smile:
"It turns out that Prime Minister Wang's family is engaged in edict buying and selling. Please take a look, Prime Minister Wang, are the seal and handwriting of this edict correct?"
Wang Yanling's legs went weak, but she managed to stand firm and shouted angrily:
"Cao Bin, you dare to frame me, you are shameless! I am a man who purges himself. If you have the ability, you will bring out all the evidence. I will confront you in front of the Empress Dowager and all the officials!"
"I have worked hard for the Song Dynasty and the people of Li, and I have a clear conscience!"
Cao Bin really admired Wang Yanling. Although this was indeed framed by him, at this point, Wang Yanling could still hold on and his character was really firm.
However, he was using the accusation of falsely passing on a legacy to justify his coup, and would eventually resort to force. Therefore, when he heard this, he couldn't help laughing:
"When you were staying in Bianjing, you sat back and watched King Qi's rebellion, which led to the death of the late emperor. He has been ill since then."
"When you were the prime minister, the treasury was in short supply, the people were all rebelling, and you were helpless."
"To the Liao Kingdom, you pay, and to the Xixia Kingdom, you cut off the land. The land, money and food in the Song Dynasty are not enough for you to squander!"
"You have the energy to strike hard against your ally Chaotang!"
"You were beaten while fighting from the perspective of others, and you killed important officials of the court. You really put all your energy into it, and you worked so hard!"
"Let me tell you, thanks to your old age and weak energy, if you had worked harder, wouldn't you have wiped out the Song Dynasty?"
Hearing this, Wang Yanling almost vomited blood, her face looked like pig liver, she pointed at Cao Bin and trembled:
"You, you, I..."
When the ministers heard this, they all looked at each other in shock.
Kou Zhun also looked happy. This time he felt that what Cao Bin said was right and relieved him. However, Bao Zheng was worried and heartbroken. He was worried that the teacher would not be able to breathe and die on the spot...
At this point, Queen Mother Liu didn't know that she had lost all her advantages, and said angrily to Wang Xianzong:
"Wang Xianzong, why don't you take down this arrogant traitor Cao Bin?"
"Pan Renmei was killed by you. Do you still want to escape unscathed?"
Wang Xianzong's men were no less than Cao Bin, and they were also imperial guards with strong martial arts skills. She didn't think that Wang Xianzong had no chance of making a comeback despite his desperate efforts.
Hearing this, Wang Yanling braced herself:
"No, the safety of the official family is more important..."
Wang Xianzong, who was thinking hard about how to escape, suddenly realized that there was no way out. Pan Renmei died in his hands. If Queen Mother Pan was in power, where would he be able to enjoy his good harvest? I'm afraid the three tribes of Yi Mie are all particularly merciful.
However, Wang Xianzong did not intend to attack Cao Bin directly. He was not the empress dowager Liu who lived deeply in the palace, and had a deep understanding of Cao Bin's military power, but the little emperor was not far away.
Since Queen Mother Pan can blackmail the young emperor, why can't he?
At this point, as long as his men hold Cao Bin back for a few seconds, he won't believe that he can't deal with a few palace maids and eunuchs!
So he gritted his teeth and shouted to his guards with fierce eyes:
"Brothers, the Empress Dowager is watching us. We have been promoted to a higher position and become richer and richer. In one fell swoop, we can capture the traitor Cao..."
He was shouting until his blood was boiling, but he heard a muffled "thud" sound, and his vision suddenly went dark. He was stabbed in the back of the neck with a knife by his men. He didn't even make a "hum" and fell to the ground.
The Royal City Imperial Guard who took action took back his sword, and he and his companions knelt down on the ground in fear:
"Mr. Marquis, please spare your life. How dare we fight against you? It's all Wang Xianzong's deception and coercion. We have to do it as a last resort."
"The Marquis has always made clear rewards and punishments. Now that we have made meritorious deeds, I hope that the Marquis will speak kindly to us!"
Queen Mother Liu was dumbfounded when she saw that Wang Xianzong was dead before he even took action. Now she understood why she ordered her brother to guard the city gate tightly but failed to stop Cao Bin.
The gap is too big. As long as 20 to 30% of the imperial guards in Beijing have this attitude, Marquis Gao Le will be powerless...
Note:
The allusion of the word "Liu Xu" comes from Ding Wei and Kou Zhun in official history and cannot be confused.
