Chapter 255 Sleepless Night
The queen mother returned to the bedroom and sat down comfortably, with Wang Meiren serving on one side, eight guards and four female officials standing on both sides, Taifei Cui sat on a small stool opposite, without a maid by her side, alone, with her legs together, The position is two ends shorter than the queen mother, and the momentum is even worse, like a little girl who is preparing to work under the supervision of the master.
Concubine Cui is willing to endure, she has endured for so many years anyway.
"Listen." The Empress Dowager raised her hand to her ear, "There is a fight in the north, interesting, the imperial city has the strongest city wall in the world, but as far as I know, there has never been a battle here, and today is the first time. Returning to the palace doesn’t count, it’s just the nonsense of a few Jianghu people, Concubine Cui, this time you finally have a good memory and know how to find more people.”
Concubine Cui smiled lightly, "No matter how strong the palace city is, it will protect the emperor. If the emperor is not there, what is the use of the thick city wall?"
"Hey, I'm curious, where did you get the confidence to think that your son would definitely be the emperor? Is it just your surname Cui?"
Concubine Cui smiled without saying a word. She had done everything she had to do. There was no need to argue, just wait quietly.
With the combined strength of the Tan family and the criminal officers, the team led by the King of the East Sea reached nearly a thousand people, and 60 percent of them had horses and quickly rushed to the north gate.
As planned before, the north gate was open for this team, and everyone rushed in, shouting "kill the rebel Shangguansheng" and "revenge for His Majesty". The King of the East Sea has already reminded everyone not to mention the Queen Mother and do everything possible. Reduce the resistance in the palace.
The team broke through two gates in a row, but was blocked in front of the third gate. The King of the East Sea recognized the general path and knew that it was not very far from the Queen Mother and the emperor's palace, so he ordered a hard attack.
The scene was a bit chaotic. After all, this was not a regular army. The momentum when charging and shouting was very strong. When encountering obstacles, it was inevitable to be at a loss.
The Tan family made a contribution. They quickly set up three human ladders, preparing to send a few strong Jianghu people over the wall and open the door from the inside.
It was at this moment that the palace began to counterattack.
Dozens of arrows were shot from the darkness, and several people who had just climbed to the top of the wall fell in response, and many people under the wall were also injured by arrows.
The scene was even more chaotic. Most people couldn't even find where the arrows came from.
The palace's response was a rain of arrows, dozens of arrows at a time, and the number was small, but it was orderly and endless.
Donghai Wang has been following behind, far away from danger, but he is more anxious than anyone else, and shouted at Tan Ye: "Why are there no more internal members? What's the use of opening only two doors?"
Tan Ye was also anxious, looked around in the crowd, and found a eunuch who opened the door, "Lao Xia, what's going on? Who is responsible for opening this door?"
"Chu, Chuan." The eunuch Lao Xia was also puzzled.
"Remove one after another, don't be a target here for others, and wait until I send someone to quietly climb over the wall to eliminate those bow and arrow guards." Tan Ye suggested.
The King of the East Sea nodded, and was the first to turn his horse's head and retreat along the way.
The retreat is more chaotic than the attack. Fortunately, these people are very loyal and take away all the casualties.
The brothers Tan Ye and Tan Diao dutifully summoned dozens of experts from all corners of the world, all of whom are close associates of the Tan family. clear them out.
After the arrangement was made, the two searched for the East Sea King, and the team became more and more chaotic. The East Sea King had to be escorted in order to reassure the criminal officers and police officers.
The King of the East Sea had already run to the north gate of the palace. He had a keen sense of danger and felt that the situation was not right: the third gate did not open as planned.
When the emperor dies, shouldn't the empress dowager panic? Didn't most of the generals of the Eighth Battalion of Suwei promise not to meddle in their business tonight? The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became, and he ran faster and faster. When he turned around, he saw that the three so-called masters sent by Hua Bin followed closely behind him. , but a soldier who can attack and defend.
The worst expectation came true. The north gate of the palace was closed and locked, but no one knew who had the key.
"Is no one guarding here?" Donghai King asked angrily. He entered the palace to be the emperor, but he couldn't pay attention to every detail.
"I'm going to check the situation." said a master.
The wall outside the palace is much higher than the inside, and the master waited for some people to come, then climbed to the top of the wall on a human ladder, glanced at it, and quickly returned to the East Sea King's Horse, and said in confusion, "It's a group of guards."
In the palace, when I heard the shouts from outside gradually fade away, the queen mother said: "It seems that the palace walls built by the ancestors are still somewhat useful."
Concubine Cui finally couldn't bear it anymore and stood up, "What's the use of resisting in the corner? The palace wall can only protect you for a while, and the Eighth Battalion of the Guards, which has been painstakingly expanded by the Shangguan family, will not be loyal to you at all."
The queen mother smiled and said nothing.
Concubine Cui took a few steps forward. The guards wanted to stop them. Seeing that the queen mother did not signal, they all stopped. Concubine Cui said: "Why bother, no matter who is the emperor, you are the empress dowager. I won't argue with you, I just want to see Donghai. The king becomes the emperor."
"Still that sentence, where did you get your confidence?" the queen mother asked.
Concubine Cui was silent for a moment, "Because Emperor Huan promised me."
"Oh? When? How do I remember that after Emperor Huan entered the palace, I rarely saw you." The queen mother smiled, as if listening to a clumsy lie.
Concubine Cui laughed, "Do you think Emperor Huan only likes you? When Emperor Huan was still the prince, he promised me that my son would inherit the throne in the future."
"And you believe every word of Emperor Huan?" The queen mother asked back, "When Emperor Huan was the prince, he was worried every day that he would be abolished or even killed by Emperor Wu. Of course, he had to win the support of your Cui family. When he said nice things, it was nothing more than coaxing. You happy."
"That's not important. The emperor's words are consistent, and what he said when he was a prince must be counted. At least Wang Meiren never got such a promise, right?"
Wang Meiren, who was standing beside the Queen Mother, blushed slightly. Since she was pregnant with her child, she had not seen Emperor Huan several times, and she had never had the chance to get along with her alone. Of course, she could not hear any "promises" to make people happy.
Concubine Cui sneered to the queen mother: "It's not a problem for your son to be the emperor, but Emperor Si died, why not let the King of Donghai succeed?
The Queen Mother stared at Concubine Cui for a while, and asked softly, "Then why did you kill my son?"
Concubine Cui was taken aback for a moment, "Si Di? Everyone knows that he was taken by you... What does it have to do with me?"
"My sister hurt me and made everyone think that I killed my own son in order to seize power, but how is this possible? What I want is power, without Si Di, my power will become a castle in the air, and this is the truth, although I set up two new emperors, but the ministers in the court never supported me wholeheartedly. They perfunctory, observed and waited. My words were like pebbles thrown into the water. The criminals did things for me, and even they were not loyal, and they were eventually drawn over by the Cui family."
Concubine Cui listened for a while, and the shouting from the north disappeared completely. She said with a serious face: "I can believe that you, as a mother, will not kill your own son, but you can't lay the blame on me." After a pause, Concubine Cui added: "You should also believe that if I had planned behind the scenes, I would never have let the throne fall into the hands of Wang Meiren's son."
The queen mother laughed and said to a female official: "Bring people in."
The female official went to the door to give orders, and two guards quickly escorted a palace maid in.
The palace maid was injured and her hands were tied behind her back. Facing the queen mother, she held her head high and did not bow, but only saluted to Concubine Cui.
"Is this your person?" There was no anger in the queen mother's voice, but a hint of laziness, as if she was tired of this sleepless night, "She went to poison the emperor in the first half of the night, and the imperial doctor checked it, and the poison she used It's the same as last year, and the poison in Si Di was the same as earlier."
"Hmph, the imperial physician can't even save people, so what he said is worth believing?"
A guard received the Queen Mother's gesture, stepped forward, and said, "There are not many schools in the world that are good at using poison, and most of them are from the south. If I guess correctly, this person is from Guishanmen. The relationship between Guishanmen and the robber Yunmengze It has always been good, it is said that Marquis Junyang has been living in Yunmengze since he escaped from the capital, so he must have brought the disciples of Guishanmen into the capital."
"Is it wrong?" the Queen Mother asked.
Concubine Cui's lips were tightly closed, and after waiting for a while, she asked her maid, "Have you been to the capital before?"
"No." The maid replied, she insisted on not opening her mouth, and was only willing to answer questions in front of Concubine Cui.
"That's just a coincidence, you and the person who killed Si Di hired an assassin from the same sect?" The Queen Mother was still not angry, she waved her hand, and the guard went out, bringing in another person.
Mrs Tan did not kneel to the queen mother, but nodded to her mother-in-law, Taifei Cui.
It was the guard who said again, "The Tan family's business is all over the world. In order to ensure the unimpeded passage of their own goods, they have always had a good relationship with the black and white. The Concubine Cui had a close relationship with the Tan family more than ten years ago, and invited him through the Tan family. A sorcerer tried to smack the Empress Dowager and Emperor Si, but unfortunately it didn't work."
More than ten years ago, the queen mother was still the princess of the East China Sea, but the guards still used the current title.
"I remember that Si Di and I were seriously ill. It should be right on your head, right?" the queen mother said.
Concubine Cui did not speak.
The guard continued: "The two disciples of Guishanmen entered Beijing four years ago, and the Tan family arranged their accommodation. It happened to be the month that Si Di was poisoned, and the two left Beijing."
Concubine Cui remained silent, and her maid asked, "Who are you?"
The guard glanced at the queen mother and replied, "My name is Meng Che, you may not have heard my name, but you should have heard of the East China Sea Yishi Island."
The maid's face changed slightly, and she closed her mouth.
The queen mother smiled and said: "Jianghu Duoqi Shi, but without the help of powerful people, they will never be able to get close to the emperor. Cui Taifei, you have your Qi Shi, I also have mine, we can be considered a tie."
"I want to add a crime." Concubine Cui still refused to admit that she had poisoned Sidi, but she didn't want to entangle any more. "Without the Eighth Camp of the Guards, how long can the palace wall hold you back?"
"Who said I didn't have the eighth camp of the guards?"
"Most of the generals of Su Wei agreed to keep their troops on hold. Even if one or two battalions were willing to obey Shangguansheng's orders, it would be of no avail."
"If I remember correctly, the generals of the battalions promised to keep their troops 'tonight'. You see, the sky is about to dawn. They have not broken their promises and will soon come to defend the palace."
Concubine Cui's expression changed greatly, she finally realized that she had been fooled, and the queen mother deliberately lured the Cui family to initiate a palace change, in order to catch them all.
"Ah, there is a Southern Army outside the city. Meng Che, is there any news?" the Queen Mother asked.
Meng Che replied: "There is no clear news yet, but the soldiers defending the city reported that the fire in the southern army camp thirty miles away was soaring into the sky, presumably not for lighting."
The Empress Dowager looked at Concubine Cui with a smile, and to take revenge, she had to chew slowly.