mesbooks Chapter 464 The dust has settled
Chapter 464 The dust has settled
The Queen Mother's face suddenly changed. She looked at Luo Xiaoran in disbelief, as if she had seen a ghost.
"Why is the Queen Mother looking at me like that?"
"You and the Grand Empress Dowager are allowed to make plans for the Lin family, and we young people are not allowed to set things right!"
"Although Lin Yuanhao can't jump around much, it's really boring in this palace, so I'm just teasing you for fun, don't mind!"
Luo Xiaoran's eyes seemed to fall on the throne that the Queen Mother was holding tightly. Seeing that the Queen Mother's body was shaking a little, she couldn't help but say inwardly, "How boring!"
The Empress Dowager is not even a little bit inferior to the Grand Empress Dowager who just died.
The Empress Dowager did not master the virtues of “not showing emotions on one’s face” or “remaining calm even when Mount Tai collapses on one’s head”.
……
Outside the imperial city, the shouts of killing were deafening. Lin Yuanhao led his aggressive rebel army and rushed in like a tide.
However, before they reached the foot of the imperial city, countless cold rays of light shot out from the top of the city.
These cold arrows were as dense as a rainstorm, and like an airtight iron net, they covered the rebels all over.
All you could hear was a continuous "whoosh whoosh" sound, and the sharp whistling sound produced by the arrows piercing the air was creepy.
The rebels looked at the sudden rain of arrows in horror. Some of them didn't even have time to react before they were hit in the vitals and fell in a pool of blood with screams.
Lin Yuanhao's eyes were wide open as he waved the sword in his hand, trying to deflect the arrows shot at him.
But there were too many and too dense arrows, and he was caught off guard. A few arrows still flew past him and tore his armor.
Under this terrifying rain of arrows, the rebels' charge momentum was instantly blocked. Those in the front fell one after another, and those behind were frightened and retreated again and again.
For a moment, the battlefield was covered with blood and flesh, and it was a horrific sight.
"You guessed it right!"
Chen Ji, standing on the towering city wall, turned his head solemnly to look at Huo Qingyun, who also had a serious face, and said slowly:
"Chen Lingyi has already admitted that she noticed that the Empress Dowager wanted to get rid of Xuan Li. She and Jiang Bin colluded secretly and used peanut powder to kill Xuan Li for their own purposes."
At this time, the wind whistled across their cheeks, lifting their sleeves, making a rustling sound.
Huo Qingyun clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white from the force, and gritted his teeth as he said:
"My cousin, the Crown Prince, is a man of high rank and noble character, and he cares about the world. If he were still alive, the court would not be as chaotic and muddy as it is now..."
"Today is the first step to avenge him!"
After saying that, Huo Qingyun moved and pulled out a strong bow from his back as quickly as the wind.
He held the bow firmly, his arm muscles bulging slightly, and skillfully placed an extremely sharp arrow on the bowstring and pulled it hard.
Staring intently at Lin Yuanhao under the city, Huo Qingyun's eyes were as sharp and cold as an eagle's.
He adjusted his breathing and posture. As the bowstring was pulled to its limit, a sharp arrow broke through the sky and pierced Lin Yuanhao's chest steadily. Immediately, a blood lotus bloomed in his heart.
"The rebel leader is dead, why don't you quickly surrender and lay down your weapons in order to seek lenient punishment!"
At the same time, a red firework exploded in the clouds, and the general who led the Dingzhou Iron Cavalry to confront 30,000 former Imperial Guards soldiers roared through the sky:
"Lin Yuanhao has already been executed. If he continues to be stubborn, he will die!"
……
It turned out that Chen Ji had already planted a hidden chess piece in the Kyoto garrison, and over the years, this person had become Lin Yuanhao's most trusted subordinate.
Although Chen Ji accompanied Luo Xiaoran south and far away from Kyoto, the news was delayed.
But when that person learned that the Lin family intended to start an uprising on the day Prince Yan returned to Beijing, he immediately contacted Huo Qingyun who had returned to Kyoto, and also passed the message to Chen Ji who was already on his way back to Beijing.
Huo Qingyun made a prompt decision to report to Emperor Tianqi. In order to lure the enemy out of their hole, Emperor Tianqi did not dispatch any troops to Beijing to protect him.
He just asked Huo Qingyun to take out all the arrows that had been stored for years, so that they were fully prepared.
So what if I don't have the advantage in numbers? I can shoot the rebels from the top of the city wall. I have the advantage.
After Luo Xiaoran and Chen Ji returned to Beijing, they were summoned to the palace by the Empress Dowager. Huo Qingyun had sent someone to synchronize all the latest news to the two of them.
Chen Ji knew in his heart that the Kyoto garrison was the Lin family's visible strength, and secretly there were also the 30,000 soldiers of the Imperial Guard who suddenly disappeared.
In order to lure the people out and catch them all in one fell swoop, Chen Ji decided to use the Dingzhou army as bait, and finally eliminated this force of the Lin family lurking in the dark at the lowest cost.
In addition, the dark chess piece also found out that there seemed to be a secret passage in the palace. Lin Yuanhao was angry that the Empress Dowager was unwilling to tell the Lin family the entrance to the secret passage, which made them fall into a situation of attacking the imperial city head-on, and could not use the secret passage to enter the palace as if by divine help.
After Anqi reported the matter to Chen Ji, Luo Xiaoran naturally also knew about it.
She was very interested in this, and finally found the secret passage leading directly out of the palace under the Phoenix Throne in Shoukang Palace.
The secret passage was built secretly in Shoukang Palace where the Grand Empress Dowager lived when she was still the Empress Dowager. Very few people knew about it, and even several emperors kept it secret.
……
"The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims: The Lin family, who do not appreciate the Emperor's grace and are plotting rebellion and subverting the government, shall be executed and all the women shall be exiled and made into menial servants in the army!"
"The queen has behaved improperly, and the throne has been abolished and she has been moved to the West Palace."
"The Queen Mother will move to Wanshou Temple from now on to pray for the country."
……
The Lin family's massive and unscrupulous act of rebellion finally came to an end with the issuance of several majestic and solemn imperial edicts.
However, this was just the beginning. Subsequently, a series of shocking crimes committed by the Lin family were revealed one by one.
It turned out that in addition to this earth-shattering treason, the Lin family also committed ten major crimes, including directing and acting in their own anti-bandit drama, cleverly using salt taxes to gain huge private profits, etc.!
Each of these crimes was enough to shock the government and the people and cause an uproar.
However, the murder of the former crown prince was not included.
……
"The Yun and Huo families had our reminders and made preparations in advance, so there were not many casualties."
"Although many people from the Jiang family and the Qi Wang Mansion died, all the 'bandits' were stopped in the outer courtyard. This is very telling."
At this time, in the Prince of Yan's Mansion in Kyoto, Luo Xiaoran, Chen Ji and Huo Qingyun were sitting together, eating hot pot, looking very happy.
Especially Luo Xiaoran, who had been detained in the palace since she came to Kyoto for so long. Now, she finally got the nod from Emperor Tianqi and moved into Prince Yan's Mansion. She suddenly felt that the sky was high and the sea was vast and she was extremely free.
"It's really strange. In order to avoid alerting the Lin family that we already knew about their plan, we were very careful when sending messages to the Yun and Huo families so as not to let the news leak out."
Huo Qingyun was sighing in his heart that Luo Xiaoran's way of eating was very novel. After hearing what he said, he agreed and continued:
"The Qi Wang Mansion has many guards, no less than the 'bandits', and the rich and powerful are easy to defend, so they didn't take advantage of them."
"After this incident, it was revealed that the number of guards exceeded the limit. Emperor Tianqi severely reprimanded the King of Qi for this and ordered him to reduce his guards."
"It is said that the Jiang family heard a lot of noises that day, like... the sound of firecrackers."
"What's even more strange is that afterwards, all the bodies of the 'bandits' who died in the Jiang family were burned by Jiang Bin's order."
Luo Xiaoran paused with the chopsticks in her hand when she heard this. Could it be that Jiang Bin... had he already invented a gun?
After this thought appeared in her mind, Luo Xiaoran suddenly felt that the hot pot in front of her was no longer fragrant. She stared at the bubbling soup in the pot for a long time without saying a word.