Soon, a little dawn gradually appeared on the horizon. After Gao Tanglong saw the torch of King Pingyang in the south, he immediately went up to meet it. The two looked at each other, both thinking about the same thing. At this time, Liu Dan's mood was no longer tense, but much lighter. He rode his horse forward and asked as he walked: "Are all the gates well guarded?" Gao Tanglong said in a low voice: "Your Highness, please rest assured. An hour ago, our people had changed the defense of the twelve gates in the palace. All exports in China are already under control.”
Liu Dan asked again: "There is nothing unusual about Chen Chong's party members in the palace, right?"
Gao Tanglong whispered: "Except for the normal defense changes, there is not much movement. Jiang Boyue is keeping watch tonight. Not long ago, I saw him coming out for inspection." But he remembered something again and smiled at Liu Dan. : "Speaking of which, Deng Shizai is busy checking the property in the palace. It has been almost a month. He has arrested more than twenty palace thieves and caused a lot of trouble in the palace. Just half an hour ago, there were still people Send the stolen goods to Tingwei's mansion."
Hearing that Deng Ai and others didn't notice the flaw, Liu Dan breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't care about other trivial matters and said to Gao Tanglong: "It's not too late, so there's no need to wait any longer. Let's go directly to pick up Erlang."
At this moment, a sharp sound broke through the air suddenly in the palace. Everyone was stunned, and then they heard that it was the sound of a thundering arrow. Liu Dan and Gao Tanglong looked at each other, and they both had doubts in their hearts: Why did something unexpected happen in the palace even though they had not sent out the signal yet? Could it be that Fan Xian took action first? In shock and doubt, they did not dare to neglect, and immediately led their men to the direction of Deyang Palace.
However, while walking, they were shocked to discover a fact: Although the sound of swords, gold and iron came from the distance, it did not come from the Deyang Palace where the Emperor was, but from the Yongle Palace where the Queen Mother Liu Jia was! what is going on? Before Liu Dan could get angry, he immediately ordered Gao Tanglong to take some people to Yongle Palace to observe the situation. He himself took most of the dead soldiers to Deyang Palace. After all, this was the residence of the emperor and the primary target of the operation. Even if something happened, Something unexpected happened, so he had to come and visit first.
As a result, when he rushed into the palace, what he saw was silence. The entire palace was empty, except for the fallen leaves and vegetation, there was no light, and no one could be seen, let alone the emperor. When Liu Dan saw this scene, his blood seemed to freeze. Was the plan already leaked? Or was Jiang Wei and others improvising? He didn't have time to think too much, and he didn't dare to waste even a moment. He immediately shouted to his subordinates: "Quickly, rush to Yongle Palace!"
However, it was too late. When he led his troops to join Gao Tanglong, he saw another bleak scene: two huge guards were facing each other in a stalemate at both ends of the palace road. Under Guilin, many corpses were lying in random directions. The blood has coagulated, but the smell of blood has not dissipated. But the strange thing is that the air is no longer filled with chilling air, but no one on either side makes any move. Obviously, during this short period of time, Deng Ai and others took the lead in attacking and completely controlled Changle Palace.
When Liu Dan saw this, he was furious. He immediately walked to the front of the army with his sword in hand and shouted at the Su Wei opposite: "Who gave you the courage to kidnap the emperor and the queen mother! Do you want to rebel?"
Unexpectedly, a young man wearing Mingguang armor stood up and shouted in turn: "King Pingyang, together with Guang Luxun, Wei Wei, and Shaofu, plotted rebellion, how dare you frame the Prime Minister?"
Liu Dan took a closer look and saw that it was Chen Chong's confidant Jiang Wei who came out. He was holding the head of Guang Luxun and Fan Xian in his hand and sneered at him. This made Liu Dan heartbroken. Fan Xian was dead. Does it mean that his uncle Liu Bao was also captured by mistake? Who was commanding the three thousand guards in Changle Palace now? But his expression did not change. Instead, he still stepped forward and angrily said: "Who do you think you are, and you dare to talk to me? And you led the troops to kidnap the Emperor and the Queen Mother, which is clear proof, and you said it was not rebellion!"
Liu Dan was extremely anxious at this moment, and he no longer had any advantage in the strength of his troops, but he had to fight quickly, otherwise Zhong Yao would not see the signal and the entire operation would be cancelled. For this reason, he could only hope to pin the charges on Jiang Wei and others first, so as to force his subordinates to waver, and then wait for an opportunity to regain the emperor.
However, Jiang Wei understood this clearly when he heard this, and then laughed loudly and said: "Your Highness, you don't have to struggle anymore. We sent His Majesty to the Prime Minister's Palace an hour ago. No matter how many comrades you have outside the palace, at this time The prime minister and the emperor are leading the army to patrol, can they still turn the world upside down? I'm afraid they have been captured without mercy! Surrender now, maybe you can save one life."
These words immediately caused an uproar among the crowd. The emperor had actually been sent out of the palace? when? What's the point of being here? It turned out that Deng Ai used Su Wei to deliver stolen goods to Tingwei, allowing the emperor to hide in the box containing the stolen goods, and then hid the emperor from the eyes and ears of Liu Bao and others, and sent the emperor out of the palace. This move can be said to be a blow to the bottom of the pot. Even if Liu Dan kills Jiang Wei and others in the palace, he will not be able to regain the emperor, let alone have a righteous name.
But Liu Dan's expression remained unchanged. Even though he felt like he was falling into an abyss in his heart, he still maintained the anger on his face and said proudly: "You said that I am treason? The Queen Mother is my mother, the Emperor is my son, and the late Emperor is My eldest brother, why do I want to rebel? I just got the Queen Mother’s secret edict to fight for the country! If you don’t believe it, go with me to see the Queen Mother immediately and ask for the Queen Mother’s judgment!”
Seeing that he still refused to give up, Jiang Wei sneered: "Your Highness plotted to murder the late emperor. The evidence is conclusive, but he still has the nerve to ask the Queen Mother for judgment!"
Liu Dan was furious: "You say I plotted to kill my brother, where is the evidence?"
Jiang Wei turned around and shouted: "Where's Zhang De? Why don't you come out to testify?"
Liu Dan was stunned when he saw Zhang De coming out of the crowd behind Jiang Wei and standing sideways behind Jiang Wei. Seeing Zhang De, Liu Dan realized where he had made an oversight. Then he became furious and yelled at Zhang De: "You evil beast, ungrateful thing!"
Zhang De bowed and did not answer.
Jiang Wei held up a letter and a puppet and said to Liu Dan: "Is this written by you yourself? You colluded with the palace to use witchcraft to murder the emperor, and now you want to lead troops to force the prime minister. What else is it but rebellion?" He then pointed to the dead man lying behind Liu Dan and said: "You are raising the dead man secretly, and you are working together to kill him and enter the palace. Isn't this rebellion?"
Everyone present was silent. No one thought that the originally well-planned plan to force the palace to be imprisoned would be easily solved. The situation was over. The remaining Su Wei who followed Liu Dan also had the idea of giving up. Only those who followed Liu Dan were left. What role can some of King Pingyang's dead soldiers play?
At this time, a voice suddenly came from behind Jiang Wei, shouting for the two armies to disperse. People looked at it one after another and found that it was the Queen Mother Liu Jia who had arrived. Wearing a gorgeous dress, she walked alone through the sea of people and slowly walked between the two armies. It was already dawn, and there was a purple-red light in the eastern sky. The cold wind blowing from Beimang made her figure look particularly thin.
As soon as Liu Jia stood still, he scolded Liu Dan: "Erlang, you still haven't admitted your guilt! You have committed such a heinous crime and want to harm more people?"
Without waiting for the reactions of the people on both sides, Liu Jia turned to face Jiang Wei and said to him in an almost pleading tone: "Young general, this is my family matter, and I really shouldn't have to work hard all night for you. You might as well go and rest first. Next, let me escort him to see the Prime Minister."
The Queen Mother held Jiang Wei's hand and spoke humbly and sincerely. It was not difficult for Jiang Wei to realize that the Queen Mother was afraid that the conflict would intensify and lead to the death of King Pingyang, so she came to stop it. The Queen Mother said she wanted to discuss something with the Prime Minister, and she was probably thinking about how to save her son's life. But Liu Dan's rebellion plot has been foiled. As long as the dead soldiers behind him are eliminated, Jiang Wei doesn't care whether Liu Dan is dead or alive, and has no reason to offend the Queen Mother. So after lowering his head and thinking for a while, Jiang Wei replied: "Queen Mother, as long as I can get King Pingyang's subordinates to put down their swords and obey the arrangements, I will naturally open the door."
By this time, everyone knew that there was no chance for King Pingyang to stand up, and there was no need for Jiang Wei to step forward to persuade him to surrender. The rest of the guards following Liu Dan had already dropped their weapons and voluntarily moved out of the way. Jiang Wei ordered several of his subordinates to come forward, wanting to get close to capture Liu Dan. The dead soldiers were also at a loss, and they all looked up to see their lord's movements.
When Liu Dan saw the other side approaching, he waved his hand and struck with a knife, forcing the attackers to retreat. He shouted angrily: "I am the biological father of today's son and the legitimate son of Emperor Liezu. Who of you dares to arrest me? Stand back! If I don't die, you will all die!" If I die, I will take you to be buried with me!"
In a desperate situation, King Pingyang actually fought to the death. This was something no one expected, but no one dared not take his words seriously. For a moment, the guards who captured him were in a dilemma, but Liu Dan moved forward with a knife. He grabbed one person and slashed him with the knife. Blood spattered out, staining his court clothes red and covering his body with blood. Everyone was frightened by his momentum and retreated step by step.
When things got to this point, Jiang Wei had no choice. He immediately ordered the soldiers behind him to hold their bows and arrows. Regardless of the pleading eyes of the empress dowager in front of him, he said to Liu Dan: "If King Pingyang doesn't plead guilty again, don't blame us for our ruthless bows and arrows." Got it!"
Liu Dan still cursed: "I am today's biological father and the legitimate son of Emperor Liezu. How dare you kill me even if you have ten courages?!" Then he continued to move forward with the knife.
Jiang Wei did not look at him and waved to the soldiers behind him. In an instant, hundreds of arrows flew towards him, and before he could even let out a scream, Pingyang King Liu Dan was shot into a hedgehog. The Queen Mother was stunned for a long time when she saw her son's miserable condition. Then regardless of her body shape, she lay on her son's body and cried bitterly. The archery officers and soldiers were all sad, but Jiang Wei comforted him and said: "It's my fault alone if you die, please rest assured."
At the same time, Chen Chong outside the palace has successfully put down the rebellion and captured Zhong Yao, Fazheng and other party members alive. However, this is not the end yet. How to deal with such a major case that shakes the country is the biggest problem.
