The sun slowly sank, and stars appeared faintly in the sky of Liangzhou City.
A troop of about 800 people, wearing various armors and holding weapons, rushed along the long street under the night, all the way to the princess's mansion.
After passing through the square gate and arriving at the courtyard at the entrance of the lower street, Cao Gu saw that there was no one guarding the street, so he couldn't help but nodded and said, "Doctor Pei is right. The guards at the Princess Mansion are loose tonight, so it's a good time to take action."
Someone said: "Today is the Buddha's birthday. The wealthy families have held Buddhist banquets in the courtyard and invited eminent monks to pray for blessings. Most of the people in the princess's house probably went to the front yard."
When the leaders of the noble clans in the tribe heard this, they were eager to give it a try. They all wanted to rush to the front and make the first achievement.
Cao Gu stopped his men in a low voice, then looked at an outer wall of the Zhunfu courtyard, and said: "Set up a wooden ladder there, find some good hands, climb into the courtyard, and then open the back door... Remember to be quick when doing things, don't
The guards will be alerted!"
The men took the order and left.
Cao Gu led his army to hide on the street corner, looking at the back door of the princess's house. After waiting for a long time, he finally saw the door being opened.
The private soldier responsible for opening the door ran to Cao Gu and said: "Mr. Cao, the door is blocked by the bolt. Other than that, there is no guard in the gatehouse."
Cao Gu was stunned and said: "No one is guarding?"
Just when Cao Gu was suspicious, the private soldier said again: "I approached the wall of the inner garden and heard voices inside, as if there was a banquet."
After hearing this, someone speculated: "Will the guard guarding the back door secretly leave his post and sneak inside to beg for a drink?"
Cao Gu heard this and thought it was reasonable.
During festivals, it is not a new thing for the guards and subordinates of wealthy families to leave their posts without permission.
Thinking of this, Cao Gu ordered: "Surge into the inner garden and search for Princess Wanchun and her son. As for the others, shoot them without mercy!"
The Eight Hundred Steps loudly received their orders, filed in through the back door, and rushed into the inner garden of the Princess Mansion.
The inner garden has landscape corridors, pavilions, pavilions, and artificially dug rivers that carry running water through the entire courtyard, making it full of tranquility amidst the dazzling scenery.
Cao Gu entered the inner garden, looked around, and snorted coldly: "A humble family from a slave family knows how to enjoy it."
Half a moment later, troops and private soldiers came to report one after another, and no one could be seen in the inner garden, no matter the halls or the rooms.
When the situation has developed to this point, no matter how stupid Cao Gu is, he can still sense that something is wrong.
He thought for a moment and gave an order: "Quick! Everyone get out first!"
After receiving the order from Eight Hundred Steps, he was just about to return from the original route. Before he could get close to the back door, he saw countless archers climbing up the courtyard wall.
The next second, the sound of bowstrings came and went, and arrows shot into the inner garden like locusts.
The family members and the private army were caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.
Cao Gu saw that the back door had been blocked and his retreat was cut off, so he quickly ordered: "Form up! The shield men enter the back formation, and the others charge into the Zhongyuan!"
As soon as he finished speaking, one of his subordinates said to Cao Gu: "Mr. Cao, there is something wrong with this water!"
Cao Gu was stunned: "Water?"
Looking in the direction pointed by his men, the running water in the artificial river in the inner garden suddenly gave off a faint pungent smell.
Cao Gu smelled it carefully, and his face turned pale in an instant: "It's kerosene!"
The next moment, the soaring fire spread along the artificial river to the entire inner garden, turning the huge courtyard into a huge fire scene.
The eight hundred tribes who were in it were surrounded by fire and could no longer care about making achievements. There was only one thought in everyone's mind, to escape as soon as possible.
Braving the rain of arrows and suffering countless casualties, someone finally rushed to the back door, only to find that the door was blocked from the outside.
As for the gate leading from the inner garden to the central garden, the Shanglang Guards led by Luo Anyuan had already ambushed it, and the shield soldiers and spearmen had blocked the way.
Eight Hundred Steps, the front and rear roads, were all sealed, and the fire in the courtyard became increasingly fierce.
The screams and begging for mercy could be heard clearly outside the gate; the stench of burnt human flesh floated far away with the wind.
When Cao Gu's entire army was wiped out, Pei Sizhao led more than 2,000 troops and lurked outside the palace and waited for a long time.
Seeing that Princess Wanchun and her son were still waiting, Pei Sizhao said to the leaders of the powerful families: "Soldiers are very fast. We can no longer wait for Duke Cao, so we can only storm into the palace and rescue His Majesty!"
When the leaders of the noble clan heard this, they looked at each other and nodded one after another: "The doctor once served in the army in Longyou and Shuofang. He is a leader in both military merit and intelligence. We all listen to you."
Pei Sizhao nodded and ordered to his soldiers: "Form up! Attack the city!"
More than two thousand well-equipped troops rushed towards Ming'en Gate.
There were soldiers on the gate tower. When they discovered this situation, they quickly sounded the alarm bell on the tower.
At the same time, arrows were shot from the city and fell into the courtyard in front of the city gate.
However, it was now dark outside the city, and the visibility was not high. The accuracy and damage of the arrows were greatly reduced, and they failed to cause any damage.
Liang Qian Buqu was brave and not afraid of death. He braved the rain of arrows and relied on the rope hook to climb the city wall in the first attack.
When Pei Sizhao saw this, he felt very confident and ordered the second and third teams to attack the city.
In just half an hour, with less than 200 people lost, Ming En Gate was captured by Pei Sizhao.
Seeing that victory was in sight, Pei Sizhao mounted his horse, drew his sword, and shouted in the direction of Chengyun Hall in the palace: "My sons, it's time to serve the Tang Dynasty! Follow me into the palace and rescue Your Majesty. His name will be remembered in history.
Famous for eternity!"
"Serve the Tang Dynasty and rescue His Majesty!"
All the troops were excited after having just won the battle. They cheered happily and followed Pei Sizhao's horse and rushed towards the palace.
The corridors of the palace, the inner hall, the residence, the fortress... It is strange to say that the defense was lax everywhere tonight. Occasionally, there were armed guards patrolling the night. When they saw the army led by Pei Sizhao, they all fled before engaging in battle.
At this time, Pei Sizhao only felt that victory was within his grasp and the matter was decided.
A group of people rushed into the middle hall of Chengyun Hall. In the huge hall, not even a guard could be seen, and there was silence everywhere.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Upon seeing this, Pei Sizhao felt something was wrong and quickly stopped the army.
Someone under his command asked: "Doctor Pei, after passing through the apse, which is His Majesty's bedroom, why did you stop?"
Pei Sizhao looked at the palace door and shook his head. He was about to say something when he suddenly heard a sound of arrows coming from the sky outside the door.
The next second, heavy footsteps sounded uniformly in the hall.
Hundreds of heavy infantrymen holding tower shields lined up from the apse, firmly blocking Pei Sizhao's way.
Immediately afterwards, footsteps were heard from behind Erqian Buqu, and another heavy infantry unit blocked the former's retreat.
In an instant, the situation took a turn for the worse.
The troops under Pei Sizhao were blocked in the main hall, unable to advance or retreat. As the heavy infantry troops approached step by step, the formation of two thousand troops could only be squeezed again and again.
In the end, the group of people gathered together in the main hall like a school of fish in a fishing net.
"Doctor Pei, Shilang Xue, Shijun Du, and Li Changshi... we are far away from home."
Hearing this voice, Pei Sizhao looked into the distance and saw Kong You, dressed in a red official robe, standing in front of the apse door, with a veteran general with white beard and hair standing next to him.
Pei Sizhao shouted angrily: "You idiot! How dare you show up! You are rebellious officials and traitors, why don't you surrender quickly!"
Kong You looked at Pei Sizhao, shook his head, and refused to say another word. He just waved his hand gently.
Above the main hall, suddenly countless crossbow arrows were shot down from a high position.
Hearing the screams of the people around him, Pei Sizhao looked up, and found in despair that there was an ambush soldier above the roof, who had been ambushing him here for a long time.
Facing the ambush above his head, Pei Sizhao knew that it was impossible to stand firm and could only charge forward to fight, maybe there was still a glimmer of hope.
He shouted loudly to his private soldiers: "Don't pay attention to the top, everyone just rush forward! Only by rushing into the apse can everyone survive!"
Seeing that the enemy troops began to attack the shield formation, Kong You did not panic. He just said a few words to the old general beside him and left the palace gate.
The old general put his finger to his mouth and whistled, and all the originally closed doors of the apse were opened.
Accompanied by the heavy rolling sound of axles, huge ballista carts were pushed outside the apse door under the shocked gazes of the gate valves.
Amidst the creaking sound of the winch, huge crossbow bolts as thick as a child's arm were loaded into the gun bed.
I saw the soldier controlling the ballista waving the hammer in his hand high and hitting the ballista's machine with all his strength.
Accompanied by the deafening sound of breaking through the air, dozens of crossbow projectiles, carrying the power of breaking mountains and cracking rocks, directly penetrated the two thousand steps.
In just one breath, dozens of people's bodies were pierced, and their deaths were horrific.
"We surrender! We surrender! Don't fight anymore!"
The sounds of begging for mercy sounded in the hall. As the commander-in-chief, Pei Sizhao saw that the situation was over and stood there blankly, without moving for a long time.
In Chengyun Hall, Kong You came to the courtyard behind the hall.
In the center of the courtyard, a table for banquets had been placed.
Li Longji, Gao Lishi and other internal servants were escorted to the table by the soldiers. As the king of a country, the former was forced to sit down.
Kong You walked up to Li Longji, bowed and saluted: "Your Majesty, today is the Buddha's birthday, and every household has a grand banquet to honor the Buddha. Your Majesty is not here, and you are not well prepared. I am afraid that the banquet will be simple, but I hope your Majesty will not give it up."
Li Longji listened to the constant shouts of killing and miserable cries from the middle hall, knowing that the military coup had failed, he became angry and shouted to Kong You: "You and that Zhou Jun are all born as lowly slaves, and they are worse than livestock."
!I only regret that I was blind and did not issue an order earlier to kill you two!"
When Kong You heard this, he looked at Li Longji quietly without saying a word, but there were some chilling things in his eyes.
After a long time, the old general who was responsible for commanding the battle in the palace came to Kong You and said, "Okay, we've caught them all."
Hearing this, Kong You nodded and said, "General Uncle Shen, it's time to start."
Uncle Shen nodded first, and then ordered the soldiers to set up dozens of wooden pillars.
Not long after, all the officials, including Pei Sizhao, were taken to the courtyard of the back hall one by one and tied to wooden pillars.
When Li Longji saw this, he was horrified and shouted to Kong You: "What do you want?!"
Kong You said softly to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, please have a meal."
Pei Sizhao and others were stripped of their clothes by the soldiers and their bodies were smeared with vegetable oil.
Then, an executioner from the Weiwei Temple in the Army picked up a knife and began to carefully cut off the flesh and blood along the prisoner's texture, nerves and bones.
Suddenly, screams, curses and cries could be heard at the execution site; the smell of blood, feces, urine and stench filled the entire place.
Dozens of people came to Lingchi together, and all the internal servants including Gao Lishi, no matter who they were, had never seen such a terrifying scene.
Some people vomited on the spot, some fainted, and some were even frightened to the point of becoming insane and speechless.
Not long after, a soldier brought over a large silver plate filled with steaming, raw human flesh.
Kong You looked at Li Longji, who was stunned, with cold eyes, and said again in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, please have a meal."
Li Longji looked at the items on the plate and was so frightened that he could not speak. He looked like a stroke patient, and his whole body was shaking violently.
After a few breaths, Li Longji lost consciousness and passed out in front of the desk, his body still twitching.
Seeing this, Uncle Shen came over and said to Kong You: "If the emperor dies here, if the Lord knows about it, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain afterwards."
Kong You: "He won't die that easily. Let's find the imperial doctor."
Uncle Shen first agreed, then looked back at the execution site and asked: "The emperor has fainted and there are no spectators. Can the execution continue?"
Kong You raised his head and glanced at the bright moon hanging in the sky, and said to Uncle Shen: "The execution continues...Tonight, it's still very long."