Chapter 89 Entering the Imperial City with the Army
Chapter 921 Entering the Imperial City with the Army
"Second brother, didn't you say that the rebels have all gone to the imperial city? Why are there more rebels in the city now?"
Seeing soldiers galloping past on horseback again on the main street, Rulan asked in panic.
"This may not be the same group as before. If the two sides meet, a fight may begin. Let's go home quickly." Sheng Changbai made a judgment and said.
Sheng Changbai left home at Wu Shi (7 or 8 o'clock) just after dark. He ran from the junction of the inner and outer cities where the Sheng family was, to Rulan's house near the outer city wall.
I took another detour to greet the He family, and now I'm back near the Sheng family near the inner city. It's already past midnight (eleven o'clock).
With more than three hours, Zhao Zongquan should have reacted if he had some backup plans.
"Ru Lan, it's fine that you're fine. Mom is worried about what accidents might happen if you live alone."
After returning home, Wang Ruofu and Sheng Hong saw that Ru Lan was safe, and they felt happy again for the rest of their lives after the festival.
Even though both of them think that Ru Lan is the least useful and least loved child in the family.
But the two of them still have a lot of sincere love for Ru Lan.
Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu generally pay more attention to their children than ordinary people.
Even Minglan, who has always been said to be ignored and treated lightly by her father, actually has a much easier life than ordinary concubines.
"Changbai, your trip went smoothly. Is Minglan safe enough in the He family?"
After the excitement here was over, the old lady also started asking questions, equally eagerly.
"It went smoothly. They are just ordinary little Wu thieves. I don't care about them yet. The He family was very well prepared, so I didn't mention taking Minglan home for refuge." Sheng Changbai replied.
After all, Minglan's He family is different from Rulan's Li family. The Li family only has Rulan as its head.
Even though the He family has a simple population, there is still He Hongwen, He Hongwen's mother, grandparents and grandparents.
If Minglan is to be taken over, it would be inappropriate for the rest of the people to take care of her.
One patient and two old people could, if possible, lead the family to run around and toss in this turbulent night.
Even if you are not in danger, just by being frightened, you can send someone away directly.
If this family goes out, the risk is greater than staying at home.
"After I left, nothing happened at home, right?" Sheng Changbai continued to ask.
"Nothing happened. After you left, we all carefully guarded the door to prevent the bad guys from taking advantage of it. Except for a group of stupid thieves who pretended to be palace officials and said they would take us into the palace for refuge. They wanted to To open the door to our home, nothing else happened except that we were not fooled."
Sheng Hong replied with an arrogant look on his face, probably because he thought Sheng Changbai was very capable when he went out to pick up Rulan home, but he did a good job of stabilizing the family at home, so this old father was not useless.
As Sheng Changbai grew older, he threatened the authority of Sheng Hong, the head of the family, from all aspects.
Sheng Hong also instinctively defended his authority and did not want his son to overpower him.
Ordinary family fathers know how to protect their own status, let alone the royal family, the lord of the world.
Zhao Zongquan himself is mediocre in all aspects, but he has a son who is better than him in all aspects.
Thinking about it carefully, the possibility of Zhao Zongquan not being afraid of King Huan is almost non-existent.
"..." Sheng Changbai.
After hearing Sheng Hong's words, Sheng Changbai didn't know what to say. Those internal officials might not be pretending.
It was a trick used by a group of rebellious people who wanted to gain hundreds of officials and their families into the palace.
Senior officials such as prime ministers and ministers may send more soldiers to arrest people by force.
But Sheng Hong had no power and was just an official with no rank.
It's not worth the waste of troops by a gang of rebels. Maybe just send some eunuchs randomly and call the door, and you can deceive every one.
It's best if you can deceive them. If you can't deceive them, these people are not necessary.
"Father has experienced a lot and handled things properly." I didn't know what to say, so I just continued to praise him: "Father, mother, when Ru Lan and I came back, we saw another group of soldiers entering the city and heading towards the imperial city. , maybe they were brought in by officials to counter the rebellion, I want to go find out more."
Fire can be seen everywhere in Bianliang City, and it is impossible to rest peacefully even with the shouts of killing.
Sheng Changbai was ready to go outside again to see how things would develop.
"Changbai, since our family members are all fine, why don't you stay at home safely? Why go out?" Wang Ruofu said worriedly.
If he wasn't really worried about Ru Lan, Wang Ruofu wouldn't be happy when Sheng Changbai went out for the first time.
"I just went to the outer city. This time I plan to go into the inner city to see the situation. Don't worry, mother. Father knows that. Even when we were trapped in the imperial city during the military chaos two years ago, I came to collect it. Being free, you won't encounter any danger." Sheng Changbai explained.
"Yes, but the current situation is different from two years ago." Sheng Hong did not fully support Sheng Changbai.
"It's safer outside than the Imperial City. No matter what, these rebels are heading towards the Imperial City. I just want to see if the soldiers and horses that just entered the city came back to quell the rebellion..."
Although a lot of talk was wasted when he came out this time, Sheng Changbai still went out.
Since there was no mission to pick up anyone this time, Sheng Changbai simply didn't take anyone with him.
The best way to ensure safety is by one person. One person and the other rode away and ran toward the imperial city.
The first stop is to take a look at Haijia.
After hearing Sheng Hong say that someone came to the Sheng family to invite people to the palace, Sheng Changbai thought that he should go to the Hai family to take a look.
Otherwise, for a high-profile family like the Hai family, with many clansmen and servants, and neighbors who have been acquaintances for several lifetimes and are always there to help each other, it is still very safe.
I'm afraid that I fell into a scheme and was deceived into the palace by the eunuch, which would be embarrassing, and I might actually encounter danger.
Not to mention the relationship between Weng and his son-in-law, just considering the interests, nothing can happen to the Hai family.
Without his father-in-law, Sheng Changbai's road to becoming the prime minister and assistant minister might be much more bumpy.
When he arrived at the door of Haijia, Sheng Changbai also knocked on the door directly. In such a chaotic situation in Bianliang tonight, no one could sleep peacefully.
Even if it was already past twelve o'clock, there was no need to worry. The person who opened the door for Sheng Changbai was the steward of the Hai family:
"Uncle, there is a turmoil outside, why are you here at this time?"
"I heard that the rebel faction has recruited people to gain hundreds of officials and join the palace. I'm worried about my father-in-law's condition, so I came here to ask."
"Are the rebels who came to take the Lord into the palace to take refuge? The Lord, the eldest lady, and several young men have already left with those people. Those are indeed the palace officials. Did I make a mistake?"
The housekeeper said with a panicked look, what he didn't want to happen happened.
"How long have they been gone?"
"Two quarters of an hour."
"You keep an eye on the family home, and I'll see if I can find them."
Although half an hour is enough to take a carriage from Haijia to the Imperial City.
But Sheng Changbai still wanted to try hard to see if he could catch someone.
If a group of forbidden troops came in later to quell the rebellion, maybe this family would be stuck somewhere and what kind of situation they would encounter.
Then Sheng Changbai rode his horse and continued running towards the imperial city.
After walking not far, some traces of fighting could already be seen.
You can see the corpses of some soldiers who died in the battle sporadically. No one has taken care of them, and they are casually dumped on the roadside.
"Whose carriage is this? Don't go to the Imperial City anymore. The rebels and the rebel Imperial Army are already fighting. The officials have not sent anyone to ask people to take refuge in the Imperial City. Whose order did you people follow?"
On the way to the Imperial City, Sheng Changbai also rescued several officials who were trying to take refuge in the Imperial City.
The rebel group may be really short on manpower, and the manpower sent to recruit high-ranking officials in the inner city is obviously not sufficient either.
One team consisted of two eunuchs and about a dozen soldiers.
After the leader was shot and killed, the group of people lost their will to resist.
After rescuing the person, Sheng Changbai gave his name and didn't have much time to write down, so he continued running towards the imperial city.
"What on earth happened, what on earth happened!"
When he was approaching the imperial city, Sheng Changbai suddenly heard a familiar shout.
Zongma turned a corner on Royal Street and found this person who was familiar with the call.
Seeing Han Zhang's family in a state of embarrassment, they stood at the door of their house and screamed.
There were soldiers and corpses at the door. It was obvious that something had happened.
"Mr. Han, why are you up late at night and standing on the street barking?" Sheng Changbai shouted.
"What the hell happened?"
Han Zhang still kept shouting, feeling that the old man had been frightened and his mental state was not right.
Sheng Changbai called the nearest soldier over:
"Come here and tell me what happened here. Are you people here to protect Mr. Han, or to harm Mr. Han?"
"We were..."
These soldiers were originally sent by the rebels to deal with Han Zhang.
As Zhao Zongquan's number one henchman, the rebellious party also paid Han Zhang enough attention.
The largest number of troops were sent, and they directly broke into Han Zhang's Yuci mansion and captured Han Zhang's family.
What the rebels did to Han Zhang was that if he was willing to surrender, he would be taken into the imperial city.
If you are not willing to give in, send Han Zhang to see Renzong.
Of course, killing is only a last resort, and the rebels still want to conquer Han Zhang.
Even if Shilin no longer recognizes Han Zhang as a person, he must recognize Han Zhang as Prime Minister.
This status as prime minister is still very useful for rogue parties.
Just when the rebels put a knife on Han Zhang's neck, forcing Han Zhang to surrender.
Gu Tingye and King Huan, divine soldiers descended from heaven, killed the leader of the rebel army, and rescued Han Zhang.
The soldiers who were originally going to arrest Han Zhang lost their leader and saw King Huan and Gu Tingye returning. They wanted to take advantage of the situation and had nowhere to go, so they stayed to protect Han Zhang.
Maybe it was the first time he faced the danger of death, and Han Zhang had some mental problems.
Although Han Zhang fought in the northwest and Xixia for several years, he guarded the northern Xinjiang for ten years.
But as a civil servant, Han Zhang always sat firmly at the rear. He had never been to the front lines or faced death threats in person.
When killing his own soldiers, killing his own generals, or ordering the execution of others, Han Zhang might be very calm.
But when it was his turn, Han Zhang obviously couldn't calm down.
"What are you talking about? It was King Huan and Gu Tingye who led the troops to rescue Xianggong Han?" To confirm, Sheng Changbai asked again.
"It is indeed King Huan and Marquis Gu. They led the troops there, but neither of them had a cup of tea." The soldier confirmed.
"Han Dalang, please help Mr. Han back home quickly. How unbecoming is it for a prime minister to behave like this in the middle of the night?"
He didn't have time. After seeing Han Zhang's joke, Sheng Changbai called Han Dalang next to him to take Han Zhang home.
It's not easy for Han Dalang. Among the smartest people in the world, he can only be regarded as an average talent.
He was praised by his own father to a height that was not his own.
Moral mismatch is never a good thing.
If it had not been arranged by Han Zhang, there would be no Han Zhang as the prime minister's father.
Although Han Dalang will not have such a good future, he can probably still get a good reputation.
Han Dalang, a talented person among high-ranking officials, can be considered a genius among ordinary people.
But now Han Dalang only has the reputation of being a good-for-nothing.
After leaving, Sheng Changbai sped up and rushed towards the imperial city.
"King Huan, Zhong Huai!"
Finally, they caught up with King Huan and Gu Tingye's men in front of the imperial city.
After all, there were few horses in the Zhou Dynasty. Even if the two men were leading the elite of the Forbidden Army, a large part of them were infantry.
Sheng Changbai can ride a horse much faster than these people.
"Censor Sheng (Zecheng), why are you here?"
"It's a long story, but I'll make it short. I came after you to rescue you in the imperial city."
Now that he had successfully caught up with the two people, Sheng Changbai was preparing to follow them into the imperial city this time, with only one purpose: Zhao Zongquan could not survive.
The Zhou Dynasty was already too weak and could not tolerate Zhao Zongquan's troubles.
"Okay... time is urgent. If you have any questions, we can talk about it later."
Gu Tingye understood Sheng Changbai's ability and agreed, and Prince Huan naturally had no objections.
"Open the door, I am King Huan (Gu Tingye)."
Before arriving at Xuandemen, the two men did not choose to attack the gate, but started shouting and prepared to show their face and challenge the gate.
The original number one person in the military did have some face, and since the emperor was so big, it was possible that he could open the door based on his face.
"If you say you are King Huan, you are King Huan. If you say you are Gu Hou, do you mean Gu Hou?"
It was originally night, and even with the torches lit, it was indeed difficult to see people clearly through the palace wall several feet high.
"King Huan is still fighting against Xixia in the northwest, and Gu Hou has already died in the battle. Where did you come from as rebels? If you want to bluff, you don't know how to ask for information first. You just talk nonsense when you open your mouth, and you start talking nonsense."
"Bring me some torches." Gu Tingye rode up to the palace wall, "Do you see clearly?"
At this time, the torches were lighting up the city, and it was already as bright as day. It should have been possible to see people clearly.
"can not see clearly!"
"More torches."
"Still can't see clearly."
…
I called several times, wasted a lot of time, and still made no progress.
"Put a hanging basket down and pull me up. I'll give you a clear look."
"Zhong Huai, why take such a dangerous risk?"
"Saving time is important, saving people is like putting out fire."
In the end, it was Gu Tingye who chose to put himself in danger and allowed the defenders to open the city gate.