The Bad Guys: Everyone, let’s revive the Tang Dynasty together!

Chapter 376 Chess Player (Part )

The boiling shouts echoed throughout the city, throwing the entire Luoyang city into chaos.

All the officials in the court felt as if they were back in the night of Bianliang two months ago, but the momentum tonight was several times greater than that of the mutiny in Bianliang that night!
At that time, a sudden change occurred. Although the rebel army was said to have tens of thousands of soldiers, most of them were corvée laborers in plain clothes and short weapons. Only one or two thousand Jinwu Guards and Kaifeng government servants were involved. Xiao Yan only used eight hundred Dingbadu heavy cavalry to crush all the people below the Hades into pieces.

But those entering the city tonight are thousands of genuine soldiers!
The sound of armor colliding with metal, the thundering sound of horses' hooves, and the crazy cheers of soldiers enveloped the entire city in an instant. The dangerous and murderous aura composed of pure warriors seemed to crush all the people living in Luoyang tonight.

The imperial guards entered through Jianchun Gate. After seeing that Prince Song's Mansion had been completely burned to ruins, most of the imperial guards rushed to the north quarter, except for some uncontrolled soldiers who looted the southern quarters.

At this time, the imperial guards, as an institutional organization, showed their terrifying power.

Even though it was a sudden uprising, each camp had different ideas. Some were determined to strive for wealth and fame, while others simply wanted to take advantage of the chaos to rob private homes and wealthy businessmen for fun. However, as military orders were issued, most of the soldiers were strictly restrained and moved in an orderly manner towards the imperial city.

Once entering the North Quarter, there are organized teams that go deep into the entire North City to take control of either picking up generals and princes from the court or to control key points such as the armory. They have clear goals and are dispersed but not chaotic.

Although Luoyang had not been in war for many years, it was very different from Bianliang, which had been truly peaceful for many years.

Since the Imperial Guards entered the city, the people of Luoyang City had been completely confined to their homes. No one fled out of their homes in a panic, nor did anyone think of joining the chaos. They allowed the Imperial Guards to run back and forth in the streets outside their homes. Even when they heard their neighbors' doors being broken into and their cries and screams, each family remained numb and silent. Their only thought was to silently pray that the chaos would end soon.

No matter who in the court wants to start a mutiny or which warlord is invading, all the people want is stability.

Naturally, the common people only seek peace, and these are the only things they have in mind. In this world where killing is as easy as mowing the grass without making a sound, the warriors wielding knives are the absolute rulers at the top. In their eyes, human life is as cheap as grass.

However, the officials in the Daliang court, especially the literati, had more complicated feelings about this sudden chaos.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, scholars have always followed the crowd and had little say. Although they can keenly perceive that this is a struggle between the King of Song and the central generals and even the vassal states, is it really the imperial army that is in power and the King of Song is defeated tonight? Or is the King of Song taking a risky move to lure his political enemies into the game?

However, for them, whether the King of Song fell or the vassal states took control of the court, there was actually not much difference. They were both military men in power, so what difference could there be?
But if you think about it carefully, is there really no difference?

King Xiao Yan of Song planned to build the Tiance Palace, among whom nearly 70% were scholars, and they were all supported by Xiao Yan with high positions and generous salaries. Not to mention Feng Dao and Han Yanhui, who were Xiao Yan's arms, even Zheng Yu and others who were not of high rank were treated with courtesy by Xiao Yan.

Although the scholars in Tian Ce Mansion might not be respected by all the soldiers under Xiao Yan, at least they would not be like other scholars in the court, who would be pointed at and insulted by warriors of the same rank or even several levels lower than them. It was also normal for them to be scolded and beaten during meetings.

For dozens or hundreds of years, literati and poets have been accustomed to being suppressed, despised and scorned by warriors. In times of political instability and mutiny, being worse than a dog in front of the warriors is considered good treatment. Normally, as long as the political situation becomes chaotic and the soldiers come to the fore, a large number of literati will surely be killed in revenge.

Therefore, although Xiao Yan did not issue any major measures or policies in the past two months, the smart literati still vaguely saw that Xiao Yan seemed to be pursuing a balance between civil and military affairs. Apart from other things, since military men were in power, at least Xiao Yan seemed to be a rational person who knew that civil and military affairs should not be too divided. Even if military men are still respected in Tiance Mansion, at least everyone can see a hope, right?
What changes would be brought to the current situation if Yang Shihou or any other warlord were to take control of the court?
That's why Li Ting would join Xiao Yan and even be willing to work for this situation. Not only him, but at this point tonight, although the Imperial Guards have swept across most of Luoyang, most of the civil servants did not go out to join the Imperial Guards. Even if they were forced to flee by the Imperial Guards who broke down their doors, few people would offer advice to them.

This is naturally not what Xiao Yan really wants, but the literati have no choice. After all, if you want to compare who is worse, there are many people in the world who kill more cruelly than Xiao Yan and treat literati like pigs and dogs.

The civil officials at all levels stood by and watched, but the generals of the imperial guards who had already connected with each other could not escape the blame. Not only Niu Cunjie, but Yuan Xiangxian also soon met with his trusted soldiers. The two of them took over the command of the army, gathered a number of other generals, and led the imperial guards directly to the Duanmen Gate of the imperial city.

"Just now a soldier reported that he saw a carriage heading for the imperial city at 25 minutes past midnight. I wonder if it was the thief Xiao Yan."

Pan Qige came galloping with a group of cavalrymen, clasping his fists on his horseback and saying, "Also, the residences of Wei Wang Zhang Quanyi and Zuo Jianyi Dafu Li Ting are all deserted. I wonder if we should send people to search the entire city."

Niu Cunjie was wearing a full set of armor, looking very majestic, but his face was extremely dark at this moment, and he was unable to speak for a long time.

Yuan Xiangxian also fell silent, but he was even calmer than Niu Cunjie. He knew that he must not reveal the fact that he had fallen into Xiao Yan's trap in front of the soldiers, otherwise people would be in chaos and might even mutiniate. By then, the entire army would disintegrate and the generals would scatter, and they would really become fish on the chopping board.

He just said to Pan Qige in a deep voice: "Things have their priorities. King Wei and Doctor Li have other arrangements. There is no need to send people to take care of them. You quickly gather all the troops to the front of the imperial city and prepare to break into the city to rescue the emperor! At the same time, tell the soldiers of the imperial guards that Taiwei Yang in Chang'an has led tens of thousands of troops to help. The matter here has been settled. All the soldiers who participated in the purge of the emperor tonight will be promoted to the Imperial Guards to receive heavy rewards, and the commanders will all be appointed as the governors and regents!"

Brother Pan Qi's eyes widened, his throat rolling up and down. As long as one was the commander of an army, he could be appointed as the governor and remain as the governor. Then, as the leader of the troops entering the city, wouldn't he be given an even greater title?

"Hurry up and go!" Niu Cunjie gritted his teeth and said.

Brother Pan Qi did not dare to delay. With hot air coming out of his nose, he immediately led his troops and sent out orders.

Niu and Yuan looked at each other, both knowing that the situation tonight was dangerous, but they did not say much at this time. They just led their troops to the street and headed straight for Duanmen.

But they did not stop there, they also specially ordered their soldiers to invite many officials from the court from all directions, no matter whether they were civil or military officials, and no matter whether they dared to rebel against Xiao Yan or not, they just broke down the doors of the mansions and forced them out.

Similarly, they also welcomed those who came forward excitedly to introduce themselves and want to join the group. For a time, Niu Cunjie and the other two were in the limelight and had great prestige. All the ministers obeyed their orders and gathered their troops to march towards the imperial city.

Originally, some ministers who knew the inside story were still trembling with fear, worrying that they had fallen into Xiao Yan's trap. But when they saw Niu Cunjie and Yuan Xiangxian, the two backbones, show up in person and look sure of victory, their confidence immediately soared. They all felt that after the incident tonight, Xiao Yan would definitely be killed by the ministers!

As for some of them who wanted to ask where the Chang'an troops were, Niu Cunjie and the other man did not respond, nor did they even try to evade the question. They just led the troops forward proudly.

When they arrived in front of the imperial city, they found out that Duanmen was under the control of the imperial guards. It turned out that Ye Bushou, a general under the command of the thief Xiao, had abandoned Duanmen and retreated, and now had retreated to Yingtianmen in the palace.

It is not surprising that Niu Cunjie and the other two were there. Duanmen Gate was too long and too big. If the imperial city was not well guarded, it would be difficult to cover everything. Moreover, there were many government offices in the imperial city. If there were any accomplices from the imperial guards among them, Duanmen Gate would be very difficult to defend.

After entering the imperial city, two more people joined the formation. They were Kou Yanqing and Zhao Yan. The former not only led hundreds of soldiers, but also brought a lot of siege equipment because he had broken into the armory, such as iron-wrapped battering rams, several-meter-long wooden ladders, and even a stone cart that could throw fireballs.

Kou Yanqing was also wearing armor, with a solemn expression, and he just clasped his fists towards Niu Cunjie and the others before he came closer. However, Zhao Yan looked worried, and asked eagerly, "Generals, has Commander Yang really led the troops from Chang'an to rush to our aid?"

Niu Cunjie glanced around, his momentum not diminished, but his voice became lower: "This happened suddenly, how could Yang Taiwei get here in time? But now that Xiao Yan has raised his butcher knife, how can we just sit and wait for Chang'an? With troops in hand, how can we not give it a try?"

Zhao Yan's face changed drastically, and his heart instantly turned cold.

Kou Yanqing snorted coldly and said, "The Imperial Guards have entered the Imperial City. Even if the thief Xiao has another trick up his sleeve, what can he do? Break through the Yingtian Gate, capture Xiao Yan first, and then eliminate the Tiance Mansion's followers. Even if the emperor is restored to the throne in the future, we will still have something to say!"

Zhao Yan pursed his lips and asked in a low voice: "Where is the emperor? Has he been rescued from the White Horse Temple by the two commanders?"

Niu Cunjie's face was dark, and he seemed to be angry, but Yuan Xiangxian shook his head and said in a deep voice: "This is just Xiao Yan's evil plan. We are not sure whether the emperor is in the White Horse Temple. We can no longer put our hopes on him... If we want to survive this time, we have to break through Yingtian Gate and lead the emperor to Chang'an in the west. We can occupy the land of Guanxi, and then call on the world to come to the king's aid, attack Bianjing, and fight to the death with Xiao Yan!"

Zhao Yan was stunned by this, and Kou Yanqing was also angry after being shocked. "How can we not save the emperor? If we follow the emperor to the west, won't the country be divided? We can take up arms to destroy the city and kill Xiao Yan, but we can't split the country and set up another court! Jin and Shu are raising a large-scale war this time. If there is another civil strife, how can Daliang survive? The emperor raised an army in Xuanwu and went through thousands of difficulties to lead us to this foundation. If he causes chaos, won't it be a waste of money for Li Keyong? The two commanders, please think twice!"

Niu Cunjie stabbed him fiercely and said in a cold voice: "Kou Yanqing, don't pretend to be a gentleman here! It's not your turn to talk about the country and the people! Now that things have come to this, you are already a dead man in Xiao Yan's eyes. If you don't seize the emperor and go to Chang'an to set up a new court, are you going to wait for Xiao Yan to catch us all in one fell swoop? If you are really loyal to the emperor, you should stay here and wait for death!"

Kou Yanqing's face was trembling, but for a moment, he could not refute, so he could only stare at Niu Cunjie. Zhao Yan was shocked and was actually worried that the two would fight here.

Yuan Xiangxian also had a headache, but he still said calmly: "At present, whether it is the new emperor or the emperor emeritus, they are all in Xiao Yan's hands. What's the point of you fighting? If you don't take advantage of the Guide Army before it reaches Luoyang to break through the palace, all your efforts will be wasted!"

Kou Yanqing's expression suddenly froze.

It was only then that he realized that the two generations of emperors of the Zhu family were in Xiao Yan's hands, and it was them and the ministers in the court, as well as Yang Shihou, who colluded with the imperial guards to cause rebellion!

It was they who instigated the imperial guards to attack the imperial city.

And the one who put down the rebellion was Xiao Yan!

All these plans haven't even started yet, but they have already failed completely!

"Where is Li Ting?" Kou Yanqing asked through gritted teeth.

Niu Cunjie glanced at him coldly and said, "I'm afraid that Li Ting has already become a pawn used by Xiao Yan to lure you into a trap... and the moment Yang Shihou contacted us, Xiao Yan must have already started to set a trap!"

Zhao Yan was so frightened that his teeth were chattering. Upon hearing this, he spoke weakly, "Then the King of Wei..."

"Zhang Quanyi!" Niu Cunjie was annoyed: "He is also a spineless guy!"

"Why are you still talking about this!" Yuan Xiang first glanced at Kou Yanqing, and said in a deep voice: "No matter what, it is right to attack the city quickly while the army's morale is still there. The siege equipment that General Yanqing has collected will be used properly. There are thousands of imperial guards, and Xiao Yan's available troops are no more than half of the imperial guards. We will know who will win after a fight!"

Kou Yanqing snorted, ignored Niu Cunjie, and left with his troops, dragging their equipment.

The rest of the people were speechless. Even though they hated Xiao Yan to the core, they could only pretend to be relaxed and command their troops to charge towards Yingtian Gate.

------

In the flames, the walls of Yingtianmen stood tall.

Under the city wall, countless soldiers were either riding horses or pointing their swords at the top of the city wall and cursing. Countless weapons were raised like a forest, pointing at the Yingtian Gate, which was shrouded in flames. The crowd was like a wave, as if it could roll up at any time and smash this city wall, which was the most regulated in history and was known as the best gate in the world, into pieces.

"Kill the thief Xiao and welcome the Supreme!"

The gate of Yingtianmen was tightly closed, and torches were also lit on the city walls, but the people inside paid no attention to the shouting and cursing from below, and remained silent and awe-inspiring, as if they treated the tide below as just air.

Seeing such a reaction from their superiors, the imperial guards under the Yingtian Gate became even more angry, but no matter how excited they were, they could do nothing about this city wall that looked like the Gate of Heaven until the siege equipment was dragged over.

Not to mention that they are now equipped with horses, equipment, and armor gifted by Xiao Yan. Even if each of them is wearing two layers of armor and is more elite than all the soldiers in the world, they can only stare blankly under the city wall.

At this time, the imperial guards who were brought here first had completely forgotten how they had rushed to shout "Long live the King of Song" to Xiao Yan when they received the reward in Bian Jing. Now that they were not allowed to enter the city, they were so anxious that they jumped and cursed under the city wall.

"Damn it, Xiao Yan, is this guy just a coward? If you have the guts, then open the city and fight! Didn't you say you defeated Li Yazi and conquered the grasslands of Hebei? I think you are just bragging, who knows how you will win! You are such a reckless minister, we don't like you, so we will make you roll down and lie down obediently!"

The shouting and cursing were simply unbearable to hear. No one knew where the imperial guards had such great hatred for Xiao Yan. However, when one thought about it carefully, they had already come to this point and were directly opposed to Xiao Yan. If they did not get rid of Xiao Yan, they would die if they took a step back!
Perhaps only by shouting out these curses hysterically can they make themselves seem like they are not afraid of the General Tian Ce who once crushed countless people's backs in the city of Bianjing and made everyone from the emperor to the ministers and soldiers bow to him!

Just as the crowd was surging and countless imperial guards were shouting, they heard cheers behind them. Looking back, they saw more imperial guards rushing along Tianjie, followed by many siege weapons!
The imperial guards finally became excited and shouted loudly to generals such as Niu Cunjie and Yuan Xiangxian in front of the army, asking the commander-in-chief to lead them to break into the city and capture the thief Xiao!
Niu Cunjie and others looked at each other and finally breathed a sigh of relief. The morale of the imperial army was extremely high, and the hearts of thousands of brave soldiers were mobilized. It seemed that they might have a chance of winning tonight.

But at the same time, when the imperial guards under the city were going crazy to the extreme, heavy footsteps suddenly came from Yingtian Gate. It was the sound of people wearing heavy armor, so the footsteps were dull.

Countless people looked up and saw hundreds of soldiers in heavy black armor pouring out from the city wall. Each of them held a crossbow with arrows already mounted on it, which flashed coldly in the firelight.

Even among these armored soldiers, there was a crossbow placed every few dozen steps. The giant arrows on it were shaped like spears, pointing down from above at the crowd of imperial guards, leaving no doubt that this weapon could pierce through several people with one arrow.

Then, at this time, several Ye Bushou wearing dark black flowery skirts that could ward off evil spirits appeared, holding torches and surrounding a person, until they arrived in front of the city wall.

The heavy-armored soldiers and crossbows before did not reduce the arrogance of the imperial guards, but when they saw the figure of this man clearly, the countless shouting and cursing subsided unconsciously. Niu Cunjie and others in front of the army also had gloomy faces, and Zhao Yan, who was following beside them, even trembled all over involuntarily.

On the Yingtian Gate, Xiao Yan stood with his hands on the parapet, looking down at the thousands of people below the city.

Almost all eyes in the city were focused on him. The cheers from thousands of people just now had all disappeared. Although countless weapons were still raised, they seemed to have lost their edge and chill.

Xiao Yan, wearing a piece of armor with traces on it, stood there as if he was stepping on the heads of everything below the city. His eyes turned calmly and indifferently, sweeping across the countless armored guards below the city. Some of them looked ferocious, some were stunned, and some were unmoved, but at this moment they were all unusually quiet, so quiet that it was scary.

The Yingtian Gate was as tall as the Gate of Heaven. When Xiao Yan stepped on it, he could only hear the gentle collision of armor and weapons below the city, as well as the sound of countless people breathing heavily and swallowing saliva.

After a while, Xiao Yan smiled softly, pointed his finger at the battlements of the city wall, and said, "The military discipline and law of my army have always been very strict. I will never tolerate or condone any military action. Anyone who dares to deploy troops and cause chaos in front of me will be punished with death, and there will be no pardon. If you lay down your weapons and return to the camp, you will be punished with death, and your family members will not be included."

There was a moment of silence between heaven and earth.

At this moment, the city is surrounded by thousands of troops, with swords and knives around the city. The personal troops of King Song are not in the city, and Xiao Yan has only a thousand soldiers and horses. Now that they have retreated to the palace, he should obviously humble himself, promise rewards, appease the people, and use countless generous rewards, high positions and generous salaries to make my imperial guards calm down their resentment!
But this official is a thief and a reckless person!

How dare you let us retreat back to the camp and wait for death! ?

Countless people in Yingtianmen were silent at first, and then suddenly, countless soldiers of the imperial guards roared like thunder: "Destroy the palace and kill Xiao the thief!!"

On the city wall, Xiao Yan just laughed, not afraid at all of the rain of arrows that were madly shot at him from below the city.

He just stretched out his hand and grabbed an arrow in front of him, then threw it down casually, and shot the soldier with a ferocious look on his face directly, causing the latter to fly backwards several feet. When he fell to the ground, the arrow shaft on his chest was still shaking.

Then Xiao Yanji was seen pointing downwards, slowly sweeping from left to right, with only a sound.

"kill."

(End of this chapter)