At this time, the atmosphere in the Xuanzheng Courtyard of Taiji Palace was not tense at all. Huo Zheng slowly ordered an official:
"Send someone to Qingyang to ask what's going on? The memorial was sent out before the truth, but why is there no news now?"
The subordinate officer nodded in agreement and went back to arrange for people to go to Qingyang to question him. Not long after the subordinate officer left, he was shocked and ran back panting and shouted: "Master Xiangguo, something bad has happened, a disaster has happened..."
When Huo Zheng saw his subordinates in such a mess, he couldn't help scolding him: "Court officials must have the dignity they deserve. Look at you, what big thing scares you like this?"
The subordinate officer looked pale and said with a horrified look: "Master Xiangguo is in trouble. Tens of thousands of rebels have surrounded Taiji Palace."
Huo Zheng's head buzzed when he heard this! I didn't believe it at first, who the hell dared to come here?
Seeing that the officer's expression was exaggerated and did not seem to be fake, Huo Zheng asked: "Who is it? Who is it? Who dares to rebel?"
The subordinate officer hesitated and said: "Look at the flag...it looks like His Highness the Crown Prince's team..."
Huo Zheng stood up suddenly and shouted to his subordinates:
"What? What are you? The prince is rebelling? How is this possible? If you dare to lie to me, I will punish you when you come back."
When the subordinate official heard this, he even said in a trembling voice: "Master Xiangguo, I will never dare to deceive you. You can follow the official to the tower and you will know."
Huo Zheng's heart trembled, and he hurriedly followed his subordinates out of the Xuanzhengyuan, one step at a time, and climbed up to the east gate tower of Taiji Palace. When he climbed up the tower and took a look from a distance, his heart sank.
Outside the city, covered by the sun, there were crowds of people, with bright armor, and many swords and guns. It looked so dark that it seemed that there were not more than 30,000 or 40,000 people. At this time, officials from Luliang and Xuanzhengyuan also received the news and climbed up the tower. Everyone watched. Looking at the darkness outside the city, he looked pale and panicked.
At this time, a scout from the enemy camp came and shouted to the top of the city: "People above, listen, the Crown Prince, as long as you open the city gate and accept the surrender, and support His Royal Highness on the throne, you can avoid death. If you stubbornly resist, the city will be destroyed." Destroy."
Just as the scout was about to pull his horse back, Prime Minister Zuo Huo Zheng stepped forward and shouted: "Envoy, please move slowly. I am Huo Zheng, Prime Minister Zuo of the imperial court. I have something to tell His Highness the Crown Prince."
The scout reined in his horse and echoed: "Prime Minister, please."
Huo Zheng was also anxious now. Why did he rebel so suddenly? What's going on?
Huo Zheng turned to the subordinate officer who was following him and said, "Go and invite the Crown Prince and Tutor Cui Xiangguo. He is the only one who can persuade the Crown Prince to stay."
Seeing that the subordinate officer was still standing there in a daze, Huo Zheng even cursed in a hurry and shouted angrily: "What the hell are you doing? I'll go and invite Cui Xiangguo."
Only then did the subordinate officer wake up from a dream, rolling and crawling towards the inner palace...
Huo Zheng lay down on the top of the city and shouted to the scouts: "Envoy, please tell His Majesty the Crown Prince that there must be some misunderstanding. We have received His Majesty's order and the city gate must not be opened. His Majesty will wake up in two days." , His Highness the Crown Prince will definitely be summoned to pay filial piety in front of the emperor. If His Highness the Crown Prince retreats, we will definitely fight for leniency for the Crown Prince in front of His Majesty."
The scout immediately took the order and left. At this time, the prince stood on the chariot in the military formation and smiled contemptuously after listening to the scout's report.
After hearing this, Liu Yu sneered and said: "Leniency? How to deal with it? Leave me to wait for a whole body? This traitor wants to suppress us in the name of His Majesty the Emperor even when he is about to die..."
Qin Shao turned around and said: "Your Highness, the Beiying army is here to support us. We only have two hours to capture the Tai Chi Palace. We don't have time to fight with this traitor. As long as we capture the Tai Chi Palace, great things can be accomplished." .”
The prince sneered, drew his sword, pointed in the direction of Taiji Palace, and shouted to the soldiers behind him: "My sons, attack! The first one to reach the top of the city will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins!"
The military formation suddenly shouted long live the prince, and the soldiers, like a group of wild beasts, pushed various siege equipment and rushed towards the outer city of Taiji Palace.
Right Prime Minister Huo Zheng saw that the enemy troops were approaching in darkness before the scouts came back to send the message. At this time, the expression on Du Chen's face changed drastically, and he quickly called to the generals of the Forbidden Army, shouting: "Go and light the beacon tower, let the North The soldiers of the battalion came to rescue him."
The lieutenant general took the order and left.
At this time, Mr. Cui Yan, the right prime minister, was sweating profusely and climbed onto the city tower. He also knew that His Majesty was not dead. He had summoned him several times when he woke up. When he heard that the prince had rebelled, he immediately became furious and ran to the top of the city. He wanted to shout below, but before he could say anything, he was greeted by countless arrows.
Seeing this, Huo Zheng quickly held down Cui Yan's head and hid under the battlements. He barely managed to escape. At this time, the enemy troops had already rushed to the east gate and began to attack the city.
Hearing the shouts of killing outside, Huo Zheng pulled Cui Yan and told everyone to run down the city. Cui Yan was heartbroken at this time. No matter what the reason was for His Highness to rebel, the position of the Crown Prince would definitely not be preserved.
Cui Yan ran after Huo Zheng and cursed: "Huo Zheng, you are a treacherous minister who forced the prince to rebel. Can't you be gentler on the prince?..."
When Huo Zheng heard this, he suddenly became furious. He turned around and scolded Cui Yan: "Old man, if you weren't so suspicious and came to the palace again and again to test your majesty, would I have made such a move? Besides, it's not my fault to suppress the prince. I mean, that’s His Majesty’s intention. He has been suppressed for so many years, and you don’t think about how the prince could rebel because of this?”
Guard Du Chen suddenly asked: "Could it be that the prince misunderstood that His Majesty has been promoted, so he is so desperate?"
Everyone looked at each other, feeling that Du Chen might have a point.
At this time, Zhao Chu shouted: "We will go to the inner palace immediately to see if His Majesty is awake. As long as His Majesty comes forward, this military chaos will definitely be stopped."
When everyone heard that the words made sense, they all ran to the inner palace. Cui Yan was very conflicted at this time. At the same time, he regretted that His Highness the Crown Prince, who had taught him for so many years, was about to lose his position. However, he also vaguely hoped that the Crown Prince could successfully remonstrate and take control of the palace. Given the current situation, it would be a good ending to force His Majesty to become the Supreme Emperor. Don’t you want to live forever? I will support you, and my love will live forever.
When everyone saw this critical moment, they all had their own thoughts. In fact, they all understood that the initiator of all this tragedy was caused by the emperor who was still lying unconscious in the inner palace when he woke up and prayed for immortality.
Everyone came to the emperor's palace in the inner palace anxiously, and saw Zhang Daoling guarding his majesty. Now his majesty's condition is much better, and the smell of blood in the room is much lighter. It is no longer as messy as before, and the hall has returned to an orderly state. , the chains on His Majesty’s body were also removed.
As soon as Cui Yan entered the door, he saw Zhang Daoling guarding His Majesty, and couldn't help but snorted coldly.
At this time, Huo Zheng stepped forward and raised his hands to Zhang Daoling: "Master, how is your Majesty now? When will you wake up again?"
Zhang Daoling said: "Master Xiangguo, your Majesty still needs another hour to rest and wake up."
Huo Zheng turned around anxiously and said: "Master, do you think you can cast a spell to wake up His Majesty in advance? Now that the rebels have reached the door, Your Majesty needs to step forward to stop the rebellion."
Hearing this, Zhang Daoling was shocked and said: "I understand. Anyway, your Majesty's condition has stabilized a lot now. I will inject spiritual power into your Majesty, so that you can wake up roughly half an hour earlier."
Huo Zheng heard the words and said: "Okay! Please ask the Imperial Master to cast the spell quickly. The matter is urgent."
At this time, the patriarch Ahrami wearing a burqa walked in from the door. Huo Zheng was about to tell the patriarch what was going on outside, but Ahrami raised his hand and said:
"Master Xiangguo, I have roughly understood what is going on. I will summon the clan members to guard the Wanshou Palace to protect Your Majesty."
Huo Zheng nodded repeatedly and said: "Okay! Then I leave your Majesty's safety to the patriarch."
Ahrami turned to Zhang Daoling again and warned him: "Daoling, you will take good care of your majesty in Chu. If we can't bear it, we will immediately take your majesty to the cave where Guixu grass is planted. There are tens of thousands of kilograms of grass there." The iron gate can temporarily block the rebels waiting for rescue, so there should be no problem."
"Yes, master."
Ahrami wore a hood and couldn't see his face clearly. He just nodded slightly and turned around to leave.
Except for Huo Zheng, everyone present saw the patriarch for the first time. Although she could not see her appearance, her voice seemed to be that of a young woman. Even Zhang Daoling called her master, which surprised everyone.
Only then did everyone realize that Zhang Daoling was just a figure on the stage, and there was someone behind the scenes.
After everyone exits the hall.
Cui Yan twitched the corner of his mouth and snorted coldly: "Why is my Majesty so obsessed with the art of immortality? It turns out that there is a witch behind him..."
Everyone was silent after hearing this. At this juncture, there is no need to be a witch or a witch. The most important thing is to save their lives. If the rebels attack, they will have to move their heads.
In less than an hour, a lieutenant general covered in blood ran into the inner palace and reported to Huo Zhenghui who was standing on the high platform: "I would like to inform the Prime Minister, there are too many of them, and they have siege equipment. We can't attack the city at all." Unable to resist, the east gate and south gate have been lost, and the prince has already led his men to attack..."
When Huo Zheng heard this, his expression changed drastically, and he immediately ordered: "Immediately order all the lieutenant troops to retreat to the inner palace to guard."
The general heard this and said, "Hey!" After making a sound, he returned to the outer palace to deliver the order.
At this time, Ahrami led hundreds of Sanmu warriors to guard around the emperor. The emperor himself had woken up and was sitting in a wooden wheelchair due to limited mobility.
Huo Zheng ran to the emperor and asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, I think that in order to be safe in the meantime, we should immediately go to the back mountain to avoid the front of the rebel army."
Although the emperor had just woken up, he already knew what happened. He said with a gloomy face:
"I didn't expect this traitor to be impatient now and dare to rebel against me? What Aiqing said is true. Go to the back mountain to take refuge immediately."
Huo Zheng got the order, waved his hand, and everyone followed the order and left. The officials of the Xuanzhengyuan, the warriors of the Sanmu tribe, and the remaining hundreds of lieutenants fled to the cave Zheng Zheng who planted Guixu grass in the back hill.
Cui Yan also instinctively followed the team to escape to the back mountain, but as he walked, his thoughts moved, and his steps slowed down, gradually falling behind the team. Fortunately, everyone was busy running for their lives and did not notice his skinny appearance. How about the old man.
Cui Yan saw that they were all busy running for their lives. He looked around and saw a side hall next to him. He ducked in and found a group of palace maids and eunuchs hiding inside. When he saw the old man barging in, he was frightened. They screamed, and the old man quickly scolded them to shut up. When the palace maids and eunuchs saw that the old man was wearing an official uniform, they knew that he was a powerful leader, so they all shut up...
His Royal Highness the Prince drove a carriage into the east gate of Taiji Palace, followed by countless troops wearing helmets and carrying armor, and entered Taiji Palace.
At this time, Qin Shao ran over and reported: "Your Highness, we have captured a prisoner of the Lieutenant Army. He knows where Young Master Sheng is hiding."
The prince laughed ferociously and thought to himself that Young Master Sheng was indeed hiding in this place. He said, "Take the orphan over right away. I want to meet him personally."
The prince turned his head and ordered the soldiers: "Immediately step up the attack on the inner palace and search out Huo Zheng and his gang of traitors."
Everyone followed the order and left. At this time, Taiji Palace had become a purgatory on earth, with flames burning and rioters looting wantonly everywhere. Many people in the outer palace had already gone to the inner palace, and there were no casualties. Guarding the outer palace. Most of the lieutenant troops saw that the situation was not good and surrendered.
