Chapter 15 Soldiers in the Palace (Part 2)

Chapter 15 Soldiers in the Palace (Part 2)

The lights outside the gate were brightly lit, and the road was full of soldiers in full armor, leaving only a very narrow passage. Even the king of the East China Sea, who was used to seeing big scenes, was frightened and stopped, refusing to step over the threshold. , grabbed Han Ruzi's arm, and said tremblingly, "This is not a guard in the palace."

Han Ruzi was also a little hesitant. When he was enthroned yesterday, he had seen a large number of guards, and they were far away. He could only see countless brightly colored flags, helmet tassels, armor and weapons connected together, like a mountain of lanterns. , more majestic, less brave.

The group of soldiers standing outside the door at this moment is different. Their armor plates rub against each other, making very threatening noises. The knives and guns in their hands are shining brightly under the light of the lights. They are clearly more than ten steps away. On the chest, there are more than a hundred people in the area, which is more ferocious than the thousands of guards lined up neatly.

"They are here to protect His Majesty." Yang Feng said softly, hugging the Emperor out of the gate.

The King of Donghai hurriedly followed. He didn't want to be alone at this time, but he was still uneasy. He didn't care whether Yang Feng could hear him or not, so he said to Han Ruzi, "They all came from the camp outside the city. Confederate or Confederate—oh, it must be Confederate, the Queen Mother has sent her brother's army! I'll say..."

The number of foreign soldiers was not limited to the hundred or so. The whole palace seemed to be turned into a barracks, with groups of soldiers stationed everywhere, and the eunuchs and maids who were usually seen everywhere disappeared at this moment.

The king of the East China Sea was so frightened that he almost went limp, and had to be supported by two eunuchs to move forward. Han Ruzi was a little scared at first, but quickly regained his composure. No matter what Yang Feng meant by "the time has come", he didn't care. Just pay attention to all kinds of eyes. The soldiers are different from the people in the palace. The eyes clearly reveal the thoughts in their hearts. There are doubts and curiosity, but also awe and excitement.

Among this group of soldiers of the southern army, there may be loyal ministers like Liu Jie, but they have no chance to show it. With such hope in mind, Han Ruzi took every step steadily and refused the eunuch's help.

The group soon arrived at the Tai'an Palace where the Empress Dowager lived. There were more soldiers gathered here, three floors inside and three floors outside, and the whole palace was tightly surrounded. Han Ruzi felt that he had squeezed in from the crowd.

A phalanx of soldiers was lined up in the courtyard, and under the verandah at the entrance of the main house stood a general, wrapped in armor and covered with an embroidered brocade robe, knelt down awkwardly with the help of the guards as soon as he saw the emperor appearing , "I am late to save you, I beg Your Majesty to forgive me."

Han Ruzi knew that it was not his turn to speak, and sure enough, Yang Feng who was by his side said loudly: "The general is flat, and the general is wearing armor, so you can act with military etiquette."

General Xie En got up again with the help of the guards.

When Han Ruzi passed by him, he recognized that this was the empress dowager's elder brother and the chief commander of the Southern Army Ma Guanxu. The king of the East China Sea guessed right, this was indeed the army transferred from the Southern Daying Camp.

There were quite a few people in the room, but there were no soldiers. On the couch in the middle was the Shangguan Empress Dowager, and Han Ruzi was also sent to sit on the couch. . Zuo Ji led six eunuchs to stand guard in front of Dongnuan Pavilion, but the Queen Mother still refused to show up. Jing Yao and more than a dozen eunuchs in charge scattered around, and Zhongzhang Xi Liu Jie was among them, all of them looked solemn.

In addition, there were two eunuchs and two palace maids guarding in the corner, very unobtrusive. When Han Ruzi saw them, he felt that they were probably the same kind of people as Meng E. The common feature was that they rarely looked at people. Always staring at a place with nothing, seemingly respectful, but actually guarding against accidents.

Meng E didn't know where it was.

The king of Donghai stood beside the emperor, his face was pale, and he dared not say a word.

Yang Fengshou stood in front of the emperor, not speaking. In fact, although there were many people in the room, they were unusually quiet. Come in, sit down quietly, no one looked at him more.

The sky outside the house was getting brighter, and the candles inside the house were burned out, and the quiet atmosphere was finally broken. The chief commander of the Southern Army immediately walked in, pretending to bow down to the emperor and the empress dowager, Jing Yao and another eunuch rushed to support him.

The imperial concubine said to her elder brother: "General Shangguan, you don't need to be polite."

Shangguanxu stood still, clasped his fists and said: "Prime Minister Yin Wuhai, Grand Tutor Cui Hong, Military Commander Han Xing, Right Inspector Shi Shen Mingzhi and others have been ordered to enter the palace, and they have arrived."

The king of Donghai couldn't restrain his excitement, and he cried out excitedly, as long as his uncle Cui Hong was around, he would not be afraid of anything.

The imperial concubine nodded, and Jing Yao walked to the door, loudly announcing the minister to enter the palace.

Prime Minister Yin Wuhai was the first to come in, staggering, sweating profusely, knelt down as soon as he entered the room, kowtowed several times in the direction of the couch and the East Nuan Pavilion, and said in a trembling voice: "Your sin deserves death, my sin Damn it!"

Several other ministers followed behind and also knelt down to plead guilty.

The imperial concubine changed from her usual gentleness, her expression was stern, she didn't say a word, the eunuchs didn't ask the minister to flatten her body, the prime minister and the other four could only kneel down for a long time, and dared not even lift their heads.

Less than a day later, Shangguan Xu was no longer the upstart who shivered in the face of accidents, but the general who held the military power and was the first to enter the palace to escort him. He stood at the door with a frosty face and held his sword, as if being escorted by four ministers By.

These few ministers were not the only ones who received the edict to enter the palace. Not long after, ten more ministers entered the palace, all of whom knelt behind the prime minister. The old man actually cried bitterly in public, took off his hat, and asked for a heavy punishment.

For some reason, the other two ministers felt that they had committed a serious crime, so they kowtowed and bled profusely from their foreheads.

Han Ruzi looked at this scene in surprise, it was different from the pillars of the imperial court he imagined, even if the ministers could not do what Liu Jie did, they should still maintain a minimum dignity, but looking around, he only saw trembling back and sweaty forehead.

The imperial concubine nodded lightly, Jing Yao understood, waved his eunuchs to help the ministers all over the floor, and then said: "My lords, don't rush to plead guilty, someone entered the palace to assassinate on the first day of your majesty's enthronement, the empress dowager is very worried After hearing the news, he immediately summoned the chief commander of the Southern Army to search the palace overnight, and three hundred people have been arrested..."

Jing Yao looked at a eunuch in charge, and the eunuch immediately reminded in a low voice: "Three hundred and eighty-four people."

"Well, three hundred and eighty-four people have been arrested. According to the current situation, the assassination is not accidental. It needs to be investigated inside the palace, and it must be thoroughly investigated outside the palace. It is necessary to find out who is behind the scenes. Your majesty is in danger, and the country is in danger. Do you have a good strategy?"

Regardless of whether it was true or not, all the ministers present showed unbelievably surprised expressions. The Prime Minister Yin Wuhai took the lead, denouncing the rebellious assassins one by one according to their official positions.

Han Ruzi's shock was real. It was just over three hours after the strange incident happened last night. He didn't even see the shadow of the assassin, but it caused such a big commotion. Not only the troops outside the city rushed into the palace, but also arrested Nearly four hundred people.

The King of the East China Sea said that the Queen Mother has big plans, but the implications of this plan are far beyond Han Ruzi's imagination.

The reprimands from the ministers came to an end, and Prime Minister Yin Wuhai uttered the first useful words, "Thanks to the blessings of the ancestors of Da Chu, Your Majesty was safe and sound. How was the situation at that time? Could Your Majesty briefly describe it?"

"I...zhen..." Han Ruzi was not too afraid to speak, but felt that he should be more cautious at such a time, and the less he said, the better. This was Yang Feng's reminder to him all the time.

The King of the East China Sea jumped out. Ever since he saw his uncle Cui Hong, he became bolder, "Your Majesty was overly frightened, let me tell you. It happened around two o'clock last night. Your Majesty and I were talking about the clan Lords, all of a sudden, the three lighting candles were all extinguished, and the wind was blowing, and there were many shadows..."

All eyes were on the King of the East China Sea, even Han Ruzi. The King of the East China Sea’s narration was vivid and vivid. It seemed that there were not just one assassin, but many assassins. , Called the personal guards, and finally drove the assassin back, and the officials were so shocked that they shouted "Long live".

After the king of the East China Sea finished his speech, Jing Yao came on stage, without much exaggeration, he said bluntly: "The queen mother made a decisive decision and ordered everyone in the palace to stand by, and they must explain their whereabouts when the incident happened one by one. If there is suspicion, at the same time, the Southern Army will be called into the palace to investigate all the guards, and the relevant criminals are being interrogated at the moment, and there will be a confession soon."

As soon as Jing Yao finished speaking, there was noise outside, Shangguan Xu immediately went out to check, came back soon, and said seriously: "One of the assassin's accomplices confessed."

"So fast?" Grand Tutor Cui Hong blurted out, and immediately realized that he had made a big mistake, and hurriedly added: "The empress dowager is wise, General Shangguan acted quickly, the assassin... this one must be caught by surprise..."

"Unfortunately, the assassin himself was not captured, only a few accomplices were captured, two of them committed suicide on the spot, three of them were arrested, and one of them has already confessed." Shangguanxu did not take offense.

Cui Hong became more and more frightened, and kept nodding his head in agreement.

"Have you figured out the identity of the assassin?" Shangguan Empress Dowager asked.

Shangguanxu nodded, and did not answer immediately, but said: "The assassin has been hiding in the palace for many years, and his involvement is very extensive. Please allow me to do it cheaply, so as to uproot him."

The only gesture Han Ruzi could make was to hum, and Shangguan Huang Taifei made the decision instead of the queen mother: "General, just let it go."

Shangguanxu glanced at the dozen or so eunuchs in the room, all of them trembled, even Jingyao, the chief supervisor, and Zuo Ji, the empress dowager's confidant, were no exception.

Shangguan Xu didn't accuse anyone, he waved his hand, two heavy armored officers came in, squeezed through the ministers without saying a word, grabbed the arms of Zhongzhang Xi Liu Jie, and dragged them out.

"You made a mistake, you made a mistake! I have nothing to do with the assassin, and I don't even know who the assassin is!" Liu Jie didn't realize it until he was dragged to the door, shouting repeatedly.

Han Ruzi couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and said, "Wait a minute, I have something to say."

(seeking collection and recommendation)