The sudden noise outside the gate of the Forbidden Garden was particularly harsh in this quiet night. The Jinwu Guard soldiers guarding the area between the gate and Fengyi Palace were immediately attracted by the sudden movement and couldn't help but be on guard.
After receiving the order from their superiors, seven or eight Jinwu Guards quickly ran to the gate of the Forbidden Garden with weapons in hand to check. They saw a few warriors on tiger and leopard cavalry pushing and making noise here, while the officers leading the team tried their best to stop them. The scene was very chaotic. .
A Jinwu guard couldn't help but shouted: "How dare you! Why are you making noise in the middle of the night? Are there no rules?!"
When the officer saw this, he quickly came over and explained: "Brother, I'm sorry, my subordinates got into a fight over a trivial matter, and I'm trying to persuade them."
"You're trying to persuade me! Capture me immediately and take me away!" Another Jinwu guard said angrily: "All the nobles in the palace have rested. If you are disturbed, watch your head!"
If he had spoken more politely, the officer would have left it at that. Unexpectedly, Jin Wuwei was always domineering in the palace. He never looked down upon the tiger and leopard knights, and directly reprimanded him when he opened or closed his mouth, which made people angry.
The officer glared and retorted: "I didn't ask them to fight, so why are you so mean to me? Isn't this being dealt with? Besides, this place is still far from Fengyi Palace. At most, it will disturb you, and the empress won't listen. arrive."
Jin Wuwei didn't expect that the other party was deliberately looking for trouble, so he couldn't help but became furious and slapped him: "I think you have itchy skin!"
The officer reacted very quickly, raised his hand to block, then took two steps back and shouted: "This is the defense area of our Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Why are you so fucking arrogant? Come here, surround them!"
As soon as he said this, the surrounding tiger and leopard cavalry stepped forward with their guns raised, surrounding a group of Jinwu guards in the middle. Upon seeing this, the soldiers of Jinwu Guard hurriedly raised their swords on guard and shouted to their companions in the distance to come and help.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten Jinwu guards came running from the direction of Fengyi Palace, rushed out of the gate of the Forbidden Garden, and confronted the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
Although the two soldiers and horses both belong to the Forbidden Army, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry usually act as the emperor's personal soldiers, while the Jinwu Guards are mainly served by the royal family or the children of the nobles, and are responsible for the personal protection of the emperor and his concubines. Therefore, the status, military rank and treatment of the Jinwu Guards are often much higher than those of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
On weekdays, Jin Wuwei always looks down on Hubaoqi, and always tries to overpower him, resulting in a very unharmonious relationship between the two parties.
Under normal circumstances, in order to cause less trouble for themselves, the people of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry adhere to the principle of "no contact until old age and death" and basically do not deal with the Jinwu Guards very much. They hide when they can and give in when they are allowed.
But tonight, the gatekeeper officer got Ouyang Lin's instructions and took this opportunity to express his bad temper. So he took advantage of the fact that his duty area was outside the gate of the Forbidden Garden, and lured the Jinwu Guards out and faced each other with swords.
Anyway, the Jinwu Guards are not his immediate superiors. They cross the line to find trouble. Even if they end up suing the superiors, he is not afraid.
Noisy in the middle of the night? I didn't hear any noise. Tiger and leopard riding fighting? Who fought? No one is fighting?
Anyway, just deny it until death.
The men of the Tiger and Leopard Riders successfully attracted the attention of the Jinwu Guards, which attracted more and more warriors in front of the palace to fight with them. Ouyang Lin took this opportunity and led his men to sneak out from the other side of the dense forest, just in time to reach Fengyi Palace. west side.
About a hundred paces away, there were still five or six Jinwu guards standing guard.
Ouyang Lin observed for a moment and whispered: "We can't hold them back for too long at the gate of the Forbidden Garden. We have to move very quickly. When the first team goes to raid the palace, they must capture Cheng Wen alive and make the Jinwu guards throw rat weapons; the second team follows I went to find the Emperor, and according to the intelligence, His Majesty is probably in the side halls behind the palace."
The men agreed in unison, and with a sudden wave of Ouyang Lin's hand, everyone jumped out of the bushes, sprinted forward, and knocked down the Jinwu Guard sentry with their bows and crossbows.
Although these people moved very quickly, it was still difficult to kill them with one strike. After two Jinwu guards were hit by arrows, they couldn't help but scream for help, which immediately alerted the nearby guards.
In the blink of an eye, more and more people rushed in this direction holding torches, and the corridor on the west side of Fengyi Palace immediately erupted into fierce fighting.
Cheng Wen suddenly woke up from her sleep. She opened the bed curtains and looked outside. In the light and shadow of the palace windows, there were figures shaking and weapons clashing everywhere. The guards' scoldings of being wounded and the howls of tragic death could be heard almost constantly. .
She was immediately frightened and broke into a cold sweat. She took out a self-defense dagger from under the pillow and looked at the door nervously.
Several chamberlains ran in in a panic and said hurriedly: "Madam, leave quickly! Someone is rebelling! Leave quickly!"
Cheng Wen didn't bother to dress carefully at this time. She put on a robe handed over by the chamberlain and ran out without even having time to put on her shoes. At the same time, she asked anxiously: "Who rebelled? Where are the Forbidden Army?"
"The rebels are the Forbidden Army!" The chamberlain was so frightened that he could not speak clearly: "The Jinwu Guards and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry fought. There was blood everywhere and many people died!"
Unexpectedly, as soon as the servant finished speaking, a crossbow arrow suddenly shot through the air and hit his throat. The chamberlain covered his neck in horror, leaned back suddenly, and fell to the ground with a plop.
Cheng Wen screamed in surprise, and immediately turned around and returned to the dormitory. A shout came from not far away: "I saw her, she is over there! Kill!"
At the same time, shouts of "Protect your empress! Protect me! Protect me!" came from the other side of the dormitory door. The hurried footsteps suddenly gathered in front of the gate, and the swords clashed with each other. They were only seven or eight feet away from Cheng Wen.
By the light of the torch, Cheng Wen could clearly see that the Hubao Cavalry and the Jinwu Guards were fighting fiercely outside the dormitory door, with blood splattering everywhere, and the situation was tragic.
However, fortunately, there were not many people on the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and the Jinwu Guards protecting Fengyi Palace arrived very quickly. It took dozens of seconds for a large number of reinforcements to arrive one after another, suppressing the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. .
Sixty-seven tiger and leopard cavalry officers were surrounded by more than 30 Jinwu Guards. Seeing that they could no longer attack the palace and kidnap the queen, they could only stand back to back with each other, struggling to resist the siege of the guards.
Seeing that the situation outside was basically under control, Cheng Wen gradually recovered from the initial panic. She suddenly woke up and shouted loudly: "Go quickly! Protect the emperor!"
-
Just when Queen Cheng Wen was blocked in the dormitory by the tiger and leopard riders, and almost captured on the spot, Ouyang Lin had already led his men to search the side halls one by one, and finally found Li Bing's location.
Like the main hall in front, there are also sentries here. However, due to the sudden incident, before the Jinwu guards guarding the side hall had time to react, Ouyang Lin and the others knocked down seven or eight of them with crossbows, and the rest were entangled. Fight, let the tiger and leopard ride and retreat steadily.
Taking this opportunity, Ouyang Lin kicked open the door of the side hall, broke in and chopped down a panicked maid with a knife, and then rushed to the couch.
Li Bing lay on the bed pale and breathless, as if he was asleep.
Ouyang Lin was startled, stretched out his hand to detect the other person's breath, then held Li Bing's shoulders and shook him: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Wake up, Your Majesty, wake up!"
Li Bing gently opened his eyes and looked at the side blankly. With the help of the weak candlelight in front of the bed, he finally recognized the appearance of the person coming. A trace of surprise and fear suddenly flashed through his turbid eyes. A happy look.
"It's... Ouyang... it's you..."
"It's your Majesty!" Ouyang Lin choked with tears in his eyes: "I came too late to save you, and you deserve death! Your Majesty, I'll take you away!"
Li Bing listened to the fierce sound of fighting outside and had already figured it out. He raised his hand with great effort, but in the end he couldn't lift his weak arm. He could only say angrily: "I... I can't walk... I can't walk." Well, then...that witch harmed...me, you...want to take revenge...for me..."
Ouyang Lin stretched out his hand to help Li Bing up and said urgently: "No, Your Majesty, as long as you give an order, we can bring order to the chaos! Shengtang's army, the Forbidden Army, they all listen to you!"
"No... I can't do it anymore," Li Bing leaned on Ouyang Lin's body, panting heavily: "I have been poisoned... too deeply, and it is... useless. Ouyang, go out and find me. Mu...Murong Xue, look for Li Jiangyao!"
As he spoke, he used trembling hands to take out a blood-stained kerchief from under the mattress of the bed, and stuffed it into Ouyang Lin's hand: "This... this was written secretly when... they were not prepared, and handed... ...Leave it to Li Jiangyao! I...have always been jealous of him...and guarded against him, but in the end...only...he can save...save Shengtang!"
Ouyang Lin was about to speak when the door was kicked open again, and several Jinwu guards rushed in with knives.
"Evil thief! Let your Majesty go!"
"Surrender obediently and I will spare your life!"
Ouyang Lin held the weak and dazed Li Bing with one hand, pointed the knife towards the other side with the other hand, and shouted sternly: "The Emperor is here, who dares to make a mistake!"
Li Bing also struggled to raise his chest at this time and shouted: "I order you to follow Ouyang Lin's order and capture Cheng Wen!"
Several Jinwu guards were stunned when they heard this and looked at each other. No one dared to move.
After all, the emperor was the supreme ruler of the Holy Tang Dynasty. Even if he was dying, he still had the power of thunder. The sense of oppression created over hundreds of years is enough to make these imperial guards feel awe from the bottom of their hearts.
Seeing that there was something going on, Ouyang Lin quickly continued to shout: "How dare you not listen to His Majesty's words? Do you want to rebel and kill the Nine Clans?!"
This threat was indeed effective, and all the Jinwu guards lowered their weapons involuntarily. Ouyang Lin was overjoyed when he saw this: According to this situation, as long as he can help Li Bing outside, he can counterattack the imperial army in the blink of an eye. Then Cheng Wen and his group were successfully captured.
Ouyang Lin first supported Li Bing and helped him calm down his rapid breathing, and then said to the Jinwu guards in front of him: "If you help me bring order to the chaos and make great contributions to Shengtang, you will be generously rewarded afterwards... "
Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, a loud shout suddenly came from outside: "The rebels hijacked the emperor and issued a false edict! The Queen has a decree, and the Jinwu Guards must not hesitate to believe it, and immediately use all their strength to rescue the emperor and hang the rebels!"
