I really didn't want to burn it.

"Hmm..." Xiang Yu placed his hands on his chin, pondering for a moment before replying, "Your Majesty, for the sake of your life, I think you'd better reconsider your choice of husband. There are plenty of fish in the sea; why be hung up on my adoptive father?"

pat.

Her Majesty the Empress squeezed hard and broke a small piece off the pen in her hand.

"I'm sorry, I'm not that bad." Her Majesty the Empress quickly signed her name on the agreement. "I am, after all, the Emperor of this country."

After speaking, Her Majesty the Queen picked up the seal beside her and pressed it onto the agreement.

The official in charge of ceremonies, standing in the middle, nodded slightly. He took the agreement from the Queen's side and examined it carefully.

After confirming that everything was correct, the official placed the agreement in the center of the table.

"Your Majesty, Representative. Now that the agreement has been signed, it means that both of you have no objections. So please take an oath."

This is the final step of the entire signing ceremony. Although such an oath may seem unnecessary, it is a necessary step in the process and must be treated with care.

Her Majesty the Queen stood up, holding the agreement in her hand and facing east.

"I……"

The empress had barely moved her lips, before she could utter a word, when the palace gates were smashed open.

The loud sound of the door opening startled everyone in the square. They couldn't understand why someone would dare to be so presumptuous in the Daming Palace.

Only those who had anticipated this all curled their lips into a smile.

"They're here!!" *N

Those with ulterior motives tensed up at the same time, and even Xiang Yu, who was about to fall asleep, became alert.

"I have objections!!"

A man in armor strode toward the table where the signing ceremony was to take place, followed by hundreds of menacing, fully armed soldiers.

"Your Majesty, I question you! Since the time of Emperor Taizu, our Great Tang has been invincible! Why must we sign this humiliating treaty that cedes our sovereignty and national dignity? How can Your Majesty possibly explain this to Emperor Taizu?!"

The man drew his sword and roared.

"Are you insane?! Zhang Yangong!!"

A eunuch beside Her Majesty the Empress reprimanded her in a fit of anger.

"Shut up, Li Fuguo! Who gave you the right to speak here!"

Zhang Yangong pointed his sword at Her Majesty the Empress.

"Your Majesty, please rescind this agreement, execute the traitors, and send a large army to quell the rebellion!"

The eunuch Li Fuguo, who was by the Empress's side, jumped up and down and shouted, "Zhang Yan Gong, you are the traitor! You are just a hypocrite who seeks fame and pretends to be noble!"

Bah!

Zhang Yangong threw a short knife and stuck it in front of Li Fuguo's feet, forcing him to swallow his words.

Her Majesty the Empress coldly looked at Zhang Yangong: "How can matters of state be treated like child's play? The Great Tang has just signed the agreement, and you're already going back on your word. Do you want the Great Tang to become a laughing stock?! Considering your sincere heart, I will not pursue your crime. Quickly apologize to the Afghan representative, and then leave!"

After saying that, the Queen forcefully flicked her long sleeves, signaling the other party to get lost.

Little did Zhang Yangong know that the Empress's action was interpreted as her cowardice.

"Ha ha!"

Zhang Yangong laughed heartily and took a step toward the Empress, sword in hand.

"Throughout history, only emperors have ordered their subjects to fight to the death; never have they ordered their subjects to show weakness to rebels!"

At this moment, Zhang Yangong was only a few steps away from the Empress. He rushed forward and tried to grab her.

"Traitor! Guards, seize him!"

Several guards rushed towards Zhang Yangong, attempting to capture him. Zhang Yangong's soldiers immediately drew their swords against the guards, and the two groups clashed in a chaotic battle.

In an instant, shouts of battle rose from all sides, and blood splattered across the Daming Palace.

"Killing!"

"There's a rebellion!"

"Run!"

……

The Luoyang nobles who were completely unaware of the rebellion immediately fled in panic, while those who already knew about the rebellion quickly moved towards the center of the square.

Immediately afterwards——

boom!

A violent explosion occurred in the audience area of ​​the venue, turning the ceremony hall into a sea of ​​fire.

This caused complete chaos in the square.

M78 Nebula 756365104

P.S.: Zhang Yangong and Li Fuguo were both real historical figures from the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. However, Mi-chan in this book is just a fictional character, so please don't take it too seriously. ╮(╯▽╰)╭

Chapter 300 The Pride and Glory of the Tang Dynasty

"Ah la~ Ah la~ This is really lively."

Li Ang, observing the situation inside the palace through the familiars present, let out a faint, ambiguous laugh.

If the initial mutiny by Zhang Yangong could only be described as disrupting order, then the subsequent explosion was the source of chaos in the entire venue.

Unfortunately, the scene was too chaotic, and the familiars he sent couldn't fly, making it impossible for him to accurately grasp the specific situation.

However, based on the footage available so far, Li Ang is certain that the explosion just now caused a significant number of deaths and injuries.

"Indeed, it's a bit inconvenient not to be there at such an important moment! Also, who exactly caused that explosion?"

Li Ang shook his head with a hint of boredom, then turned to Ryougi Shiki and said.

"Shi, I have a task for you."

"Do you want me to steal the Queen? Or do you want me to find DD?"

Ryougi Shiki asked.

“No, those two operations are handled by other people,” Li Ang said, pressing down on Ryougi Shiki’s shoulder. “I’ve assigned you other tasks.”

Then, what Li Ang said made Ryougi Shiki's eyes widen.

"……OK."

Despite being shocked by what Li Ang said, Ryougi Shiki nodded out of trust in him.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

The Imperial Palace, the palace of the Ming Dynasty.

"Seriously, what the hell is going on?!"

Zhang Yangong, having successfully repelled a wave of enemies, leaned against the wall and took a slight breath.

At first, he thought his only enemy was the palace guards, and that as long as he controlled the empress, he could control ownership of the palace.

Unexpectedly, an explosion occurred at the Daming Palace, and the palace gates that their own soldiers had captured were then subjected to a fierce attack.

"This is not what we agreed on! I haven't heard anything about it!" Zhang Yangong gritted his teeth and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.

The situation has now completely exceeded his plans, and the powerful figures behind him who instructed him to rebel have not mentioned it.

"No, judging from the explosion just now, this definitely wasn't part of those old men's plan."

An explosion of this scale at a signing ceremony would definitely cause riots. Even if one could escape the blast radius, there was no guarantee that one could avoid the stampede that would follow.

Given the nature of those men who value their lives, they would never do such a thing.

"Could it be..." Zhang Yangong's pupils suddenly contracted, "that our plan has been used against us?!"

At first, Zhang Yangong thought it was a rebellion by the Imperial Guards of the capital, but now it seems that although these people belong to the Imperial Guards, they are not his or the Empress's subordinates, but a third-party force.

"Everyone, hold on a little longer! The reinforcements from the court officials will arrive soon, and we'll be done in no time!"

Before Zhang Yangong could finish his inspiring words, a shout of battle rang out, and several squads of imperial guards rushed toward him.

"Tsk, can't you just let me carry out the coup easily?!" Zhang Yangong complained impatiently.

Although Zhang Yangong is currently in the military, he initially entered officialdom through the imperial examination system. A self-proclaimed intellectual, he detests nothing more than charging into battle like a warrior.

"If it weren't for the chance to get the first prize, I wouldn't bother doing this dirty and tiring work."

Before Zhang Yangong could finish his complaint, the soldiers on the other side had already charged forward.

"Lord Zhang Yan!" a woman's voice called from afar, "Hand over His Majesty to me."

"Ophelia?!"

Zhang Yangong recognized the woman's voice. A shrewd and calculating man, he had already memorized the information about this group of newly rich elites in Group A.

“That bastard Kirshtalia Wodim! He truly is a good dog raised by Yang Guifei! No, he’s an ingrate.” Zhang Yangong mocked Ophelia without any politeness.

"Hmm, Zhang Yan Gong, I know you are quite talented. Lord Wodim has a good opinion of you. If you hand the Empress over to me, Lord Wodim will definitely reward you."

"It is truly an honor for me, Zhang, to leave my mark on that arrogant fellow's heart."

Zhang Yangong opened his mouth to respond. Originally, he hadn't planned to respond to the woman opposite him, but then he thought that what he needed most right now was time, and wasn't verbal sparring the best way to stall for time?

"Enough with the pleasantries. Hand Her Majesty the Empress over to me. Otherwise..."

Ophelia did not say what the consequences of resistance would be, but the fully armed guards around her were the answer.

Of course, Ophelia's plan was not to save the Empress, nor did she even have the idea of ​​using the Empress to command the other lords.

The Empress is a threat to Kirshtalia Wodim, and his task is to eliminate this threat completely.

In fact, Ophelia should not have been here. The original plan was to have the people of Qin and Zhang Yan work together so that they could get rid of the Empress.

As soon as the battle began, the Qin soldiers vanished without a trace. Furthermore, the army led by Zhang Yan was far more capable than they had imagined, repeatedly repelling the attacks of their Imperial Guards and completely disrupting Group A's plans.

If the Empress cannot be dealt with as quickly as possible, all of Kirshtalia Wodim's plans will come to naught.

So instead of trying to break out of the palace, Ophelia resolutely chose to rush back to Daming Palace herself.

"Alright, Zhang Yangong," Ophelia said coldly, "I'll only count to three..."

Seeing that his opponent was no longer willing to engage in verbal sparring, Zhang Yangong roared, "Hmph, you mere barbarians, you actually think you can make me surrender?! What a joke!"

Although Zhang Yangong had his own selfish motives in kidnapping the Empress, as a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, he also had his own honor and dignity.

In his mind, the natives of the Tang Dynasty were inherently superior, and he would never even consider surrendering to the barbarians to the west.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were quite a few people who shared Zhang Yan's ideas.

In fact, the current Empress's favoritism towards outsiders (Group A) and her disregard for local talents in Tang is also an important reason why many people choose to oppose the Empress.

"What a boring man, using race as a standard for judgment," Ophelia said coldly.

"Woman, what kind of good person do you think you are?! If I am Cao Cao, who holds the emperor hostage to command the nobles, then you are a traitor who opposes the court! You want the Empress not to save her, right?"

“Of course,” Ophelia said without hesitation, “Only her death would best meet Lord Wodim’s expectations.”

"Don't joke around!! Do you know what the Tang Dynasty will become without the Empress?!"

Zhang Yan Gong understood perfectly why he only captured the Empress and did not harm her: it was because there was no one in the entire Tang Dynasty court who could replace Yang Yuhuan.

If the Empress were to die now, with everyone refusing to submit to each other, the Tang Dynasty could very well descend into turmoil, or even civil war.

As for Kirshtalia Wodim, setting aside his status as a barbarian, even if he were the Empress's chosen successor, he is not qualified to maintain the entire Tang Dynasty, lacking both seniority and prestige.

"So what? Boring pride and pointless arrogance." Ophelia clearly didn't care at all. "Your vision is too narrow. Lord Wodim is for all humanity, not for this so-called Tang Dynasty."

"Humanity?" Zhang Yangong retorted, "Emperor Taizu once said, 'The Tang Dynasty is all of humanity!'"

"I personally agree with that statement."

The abrupt answer caught both sides off guard.

At this moment, a black horse crashed through the palace wall, and the rider charged straight toward Zhang Yangong, followed by countless black-armored cavalry.

"Why...why are there Afghan troops here!?"

Zhang Yangong's jaw nearly dropped when he saw the insignia of this unit.