People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1689 Entering the Palace, He Must Enter from Xuanwu Gate

The morning light shone on the Luo River, and the smoke that filled the air gradually began to dissipate.

On the south bank of Luo River, Li Xuan's figure is still clear.

Countless soldiers on top of Duanmen looked at Li Xuan with fear in their eyes.

A dozen war horses came from the east, and Li Xuan slightly turned his head.

Su Baotong quickly stopped his horse, then jumped off, and bowed in front of Li Xuan and said, "Reporting to the prince, Di Shaoqing has entered the Ziwei Palace."

"Yes!" Li Xuan turned around and looked towards the Duanmen Gate again, and said softly: "In the past few days, the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple have arrested many family members of criminal officials. You go to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple now, take them out, and send them here."

"Yes!" Su Baotong bowed with a serious expression.

Li Xuan smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Don't worry, we are not going to behead them in public, but we are going to let them stand here and persuade their relatives to surrender."

After a short pause, Li Xuan continued, "Let's go to Luozhou Prefecture again. These ordinary soldiers on the city wall have relatives, parents, wives and children. Let Luozhou Prefecture organize people to tell them that as long as they can persuade their families to surrender, all past events will be forgiven."

"Yes!" Su Baotong bowed solemnly, and then asked carefully: "Does everyone want to let bygones be bygones?"

"How is that possible?" Li Xuan looked at Su Baotong in surprise and said, "No matter what, ordinary soldiers are just following orders. The ones who should be punished are the generals. Pass the order down. All generals above the rank of team leader who surrender will be demoted one rank and exiled to the Western Regions and not allowed to return for ten years."

"Ten years?" Su Baotong was slightly stunned.

"Many people may not live to be ten years old, but remember, you should always leave some room for others." Li Xuan raised his head and looked at the top of the city wall, and said softly: "Let those people tell their families that they don't need to run down from the top of the city. They just need to shoot arrows into the air when we attack the city."

"Yes!" Su Baotong was shocked, bowed, then turned and left.

Li Xuan continued to look at Duanmen with a hint of smile in the corner of his eyes.

Di Renjie has entered the palace, and I'm afraid he has already known what he had done, so he is in trouble now.

"Li Lang, go to the Secretariat in person and tell Prime Minister Lu that Di Huaiying has entered the palace." Li Xuan slightly turned sideways.

"Yes!" Li Lang bowed, then quickly mounted his horse and left.

Turning around, Li Xuan looked towards the direction of Qianyang Palace.

Now, he has sorted out the affairs after his death, and all that remains is to send Empress Wu to the west.

A murderous intent flashed in Li Xuan's eyes for a moment.

Not only to Empress Wu, but also to Li Zhi.

When they started to target Xia'er, Li Xuan had already made plans for revenge.

Today, everything is finally coming to an end.

Li Xuan's gaze passed over the Qianyang Palace and fell on the Xuanwu Gate further north.

To enter the palace, he had to go through the Xuanwu Gate.

……

The palace walls are cold, solemn and depressing.

Di Renjie was taken into a side hall by a soldier. The soldier did not say anything, but just bowed and turned away.

Di Renjie hid in a side hall, his eyes full of horror and disbelief.

He entered the palace, and in the midst of smoke, he was carried to the palace wall, then slid down the wall and was taken into a side hall.

The person who was responsible for sending him off was none other than Li Lingwen, the General of the Imperial Guard.

No, now he is the General of the Guards.

That's not the case. During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong, Li Lingwen was the General of the Imperial Guard. During the reign of Emperor Ruizong, he became the General of the Imperial Guard.

But unfortunately, he was left idle by the Queen Mother afterwards. Although he still held the position of the Royal Guard, he was no longer seen in the army.

But today, he showed up again.

Di Renjie leaned against the pillar, his face becoming solemn.

Li Lingwen appeared here, so Li Dazhi, Qin Shandao, Qin Ming, Yuchi Xunyu, and even Li Xiaoyi and Li Rong should also appear one by one.

The sound of patrolling footsteps continued to be heard outside the palace, and Di Renjie's breathing became lighter.

There were more soldiers patrolling the palace than at the city gates.

If Di Renjie remembered correctly, there were at least 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers in the palace, and there were also some people here that he didn't know.

If it weren't for the smoke just now, he wouldn't have been able to get in at all.

Starting three days ago, it has been set off three times every night, always when people are most sleepy.

King Peng has always been the best at these things.

Di Renjie suddenly laughed. He knew Li Xuan as well.

However, now that he has entered the palace, how can he convince more people to take over the Ziwei Palace and even the Qianyang Palace, and also ensure the safety of Prince Ping'en and the deposed emperor Li Chongjun? This requires Di Renjie to slowly consider it himself.

Half a day passed by unknowingly, and Di Renjie felt inexplicably uneasy.

Suddenly, there was a light sound of footsteps approaching the side hall quickly.

In an instant, Di Renjie gripped the dagger in reverse and stared at the door.

With a creaky sound, the door suddenly opened, and a man in a Qianniu suit walked in from outside, then closed the door silently in an instant. Then, the man turned his head to look into the hall and whispered, "Di Huaiying."

"The prince consort?" Di Renjie walked out from behind the pillar in surprise, looked at Xue Shao, and asked in surprise: "Why is the prince consort here? Isn't it Liu Xiang and Wei Zuocheng?"

Xue Shao suddenly paused, looked at Di Renjie, and asked softly: "Don't you know that Prime Minister Wei and Prime Minister Liu have been imprisoned?"

"Imprisoned?" Di Renjie's heart skipped a beat. He quickly walked to Xue Shao, bowed carefully and asked, "Why?"

Xue Shao frowned, looked at Di Renjie in confusion, and said, "Of course it's because of you, because you want to enter the palace, you want to contact Wei Xiang and Liu Xiang, and then instigate Fan Lubing, Guo Zhengyi, Han Chubin and others to rebel, so the Queen Mother arrested them all!"

"Ah!" Di Renjie couldn't help but open his eyes wide. What happened?

He grabbed Xue Shao's arm and asked hurriedly, "Prime Minister Wei, Prime Minister Liu, Minister Fan, Right Prime Minister Guo, Minister Han, have they all been arrested?" "Don't worry." Xue Shao patted Di Renjie's arm and said, "Only Prime Minister Wei and Prime Minister Liu were arrested and imprisoned. The others, Fan Lubing, Guo Zhengyi, Han Chubin, etc., were just being monitored at all times. It's not just them. Yan Huaidan, Yang Xuanjian, Linghu Zhitong, everyone else is like this."

"How could this happen?" Di Renjie let go of Xue Shao's arm, and couldn't help but recall Xue Shao's words in his mind. He immediately grasped Xue Shao's words sharply, stared at him and said: "Could it be that the palace already knew that Huaiying was going to enter the palace today?"

"About three days ago." Xue Shao sighed, looked at Di Renjie with some pity and said, "You guys made such a big noise on the south bank of Luo River, naturally there will be spies who will report back."

"Didn't King Peng try to stop it? With tens of thousands of troops besieging the city, the news was easily leaked into the palace?" Di Renjie looked at Xue Shao in confusion.

"Don't you understand? He did it on purpose!" Xue Shao couldn't help but sneer as he looked towards the direction of Luo River. He gritted his teeth and said, "He just sent someone to deliver a message, and then had someone release smoke screens every day. The whole palace was in chaos. Some were imprisoned, some were under surveillance, and some were driven out of the palace.

Now, whenever my mother looks at someone, she feels that he will betray her in the next moment, even the King of Liang is no exception."

Di Renjie's eyes widened immediately, but he slowly calmed down, closed his eyes, smiled bitterly and said, "The Prince Consort is right, this is very Peng Wang."

"Yes, this is him." Xue Shao sighed and shook his head helplessly.

Di Renjie collected his thoughts and asked, "Why does today's patrol seem not so detailed? And Prince Consort, why are you dressed like this? Where's the princess?"

"Because no one knows when you will enter the palace?" Xue Shao sighed slightly and said, "King Peng has always been a cunning man. He had people spread the news into the palace, saying that you said you would enter the palace to incite the ministers to rebellion and make the Queen Mother chaotic, but he never told them when you would come in. Every day when the smoke was released, one or two straw men were thrown in. After a long time, everyone got tired of it."

Only then did Di Renjie realize that Li Xuan had done so many things in these three days.

He had a feeling that even if Li Xuan attacked the city now, he would not have to pay too much to take over the imperial city.

However, this does not include Miyagi.

Not to mention Li Chongjun and Li Chongfu in the harem.

Di Renjie instantly figured out his own affairs. First, he rescued Li Chongjun and Li Chongfu, then forced Empress Wu to death, and finally survived.

"As for me?" Xue Shao shook his head and said, "Prince Peng said he would send you to the palace to incite the people there to rebel. My mother doesn't trust anyone, including me, so the princess stayed in the palace to accompany Emperor Ruizong, and I was driven out of the palace and sent to the East Palace."

"Eastern Palace?" Di Renjie looked at Xue Shao expectantly and asked, "Is the heir in the Eastern Palace?"

Empress Wu adopted Li Chongjun as the heir to the throne and changed his surname to Wu. Logically, he should have been in the Eastern Palace.

"How could he be in the East Palace?" Xue Shao looked towards the harem and sighed, "Zhongjun is in Renshou Palace, his mother is watching him. After all, he is only ten months old!"

"Then how can we enter Renshou Palace?" Di Renjie looked at Xue Shao with sharp eyes.

"Then we'll need help." Xue Shao looked at Di Renjie with a smile.

Di Renjie immediately understood that all this might have been arranged.

"Change your clothes." After saying that, Xue Shao unbuttoned his clothes and took off his Qianniu guard uniform, revealing another Qianniu guard uniform inside.

Di Renjie concealed the surprise in his eyes and without saying anything more, he directly put on the Qianniu suit that Xue Shao had taken off.

The clothes were obviously a bit big, but for some reason, they fit Di Renjie perfectly after he put them on.

Hearing the footsteps outside, half a quarter of an hour later, Xue Shao suddenly opened the palace door. In front of the palace, a team of Qianniu Guards were patrolling.

Xue Shao did not hesitate, he strode over and walked directly to the end of the team.

He looked back at Di Renjie, who was also following him silently.

Soon, a Qianniu sword and a helmet were delivered to Di Renjie.

Di Renjie put on his helmet and tilted his head slightly. Just at this moment, Xue Shao could hardly recognize Di Renjie.

Di Renjie nodded slightly, and Xue Shao put his thoughts aside and followed the team to patrol forward.

Di Renjie followed behind and watched a group of people walking in the imperial city. Countless dense tunnels had dug the palace beyond recognition.

It can be seen that they intend to engage in a step-by-step tug-of-war between the city and the army outside the city.

Suddenly, a cry of grief came from the direction of Duanmen. Di Renjie looked subconsciously and saw that Duanmen was already crowded with people. Even the gaps between the catapults and crossbows were filled with people.

What happened again?

……

In the cold duty room, the two of them sat on their sides.

Gong Siye sat on the left, Di Renjie sat on the right, and Xue Shao had disappeared long ago.

Gong Siye held the teacup in his hand and looked towards the Duanmen Gate. "The people in the palace are in a state of confusion. Earlier, King Peng sent people to attack for three days. The palace had no time to think about it and could still hold on with all-out resistance. However, since the arrival of the kings and ministers, they held court in the street and blocked the palace's view of Luoyang. People have become uneasy..."

"Then the news that I was going to the palace spread into the palace. Prime Minister Liu and Prime Minister Wei were imprisoned. Other important ministers and generals were monitored. There was also smoke that disturbed my heart and made me restless. Today, my family members shouted in front of the door. I am afraid that everyone would want to abandon the Queen Mother, surrender to King Peng, and return to the Tang Dynasty."

Di Renjie looked helpless and said, "King Peng's methods always go straight to people's hearts, which makes people panic."

"No need to call me your humble official. You are now the Junior Secretary of Marble, and I am just a General of the Guards of the pseudo-dynasty. I will listen to your arrangements on what you want to do." Gong Siye waved his hand.

"Then Huaiying will take the responsibility." Di Renjie calmed down, looked at Gong Siye and asked, "How are Prime Minister Liu and Wei Zuocheng doing?"

"Qianniu Prison is under my command, but Your Majesty... The Queen Mother has arranged Taiyuan's disciples to watch over it and even set traps, waiting for you to fall into them." Gong Siye looked at Di Renjie with a smile.

Di Renjie hesitated for a moment and nodded: "That means it's safe for the time being, so how about entering the palace?"

"You want to save the emperor?" Gong Siye immediately understood.

"How is it?" Di Renjie asked, staring at Gong Siye.

"Difficult!" Gong Siye shook his head and said, "The one guarding Chengtian Gate is Right Guard General Wu Youji, the one guarding Daye Gate is Hengding County Prince Wu Youzhi, and the one guarding Zhulong Gate is Internal Guard Commander Fenghuang. We can't get in."

"How about making a feint to the east and attacking in the west?" Di Renjie looked at Gong Siye with sharp eyes.

"What's King Peng's trick?" Gong Siye looked at Di Renjie with a frown.

"More than that." Di Renjie looked out the window and said softly, "Before Huaiying entered the palace, Prince Peng said that the Imperial Censor Su Liangsi is also in the palace now."

"Him!" Gong Siye's expression relaxed, and he nodded gently, "He used to be the commander of the secret guards. If he has entered the palace, then even in the palace city, there will probably be no peace... Hey, good idea."

"Let's do it." Di Renjie's voice began to lower.

(End of this chapter)