Chapter 708 Entering the Palace on a Rainy Night

The news of the Tang army's victory in the Northern Expedition came to Chang'an. The Tang Dynasty was jubilant, and Chang'an City was even more celebrating. The lanterns were lit up in Jingzhao Prefecture. The lanterns ten feet high were as bright as the full moon, and the lantern wheels were bright. Hundreds of thousands of people joined hands to sing and roamed all night. The next day, a huge parade was launched. Hundreds of thousands of scholars took to the streets again, shouting slogans and slogans supporting Li Qing'an's ascension to the throne, which attracted 300,000 people to join. Hundreds of thousands of people were huge. The court demanded that Li Qing'an be officially elected as emperor.

Li Qing'an led the Tang army to victory in the northern expedition, which brought his personal reputation to the peak. Not only Chang'an, Luoyang, Taiyuan, Yangzhou, Chengdu, Xiangyang and other major cities of the Tang Dynasty, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people held spontaneous support for the ascension of the throne. After the appearance of Ruizhao in Chuzhou, officials from all prefectures and counties all wrote letters to the court to support Li Qing'an ascension of the throne.

But there were also discords in the midst of the joy, that is, the royal family opposed it. On the eighth day of June, Zongzheng Temple Minister Li Yi took the lead in holding a prayer ceremony in the Taimiao, which was to seek support from the Tang Dynasty royal family. However, because Li Qing'an still maintained a tough crackdown on land annexation, the court issued a clear field order, completed the national land clearance before October, and imposed heavy taxes on land and land property exceeding the fixed quota, which made almost 60% of the royal family opposed Li Qing'an's ascension to the throne. They refused to participate in the Taimiao prayer on the pretext of Li Qing'an's orthodox government as a pretext.

Although most of the Li Tang royal family opposed it, under the great victory of the Northern Expedition and the support of officials and the people of the country, there was no suspense about Li Qing'an entering the Daming Palace. At the same time when the news of the Tang army's triumphant return came to Chang'an, the Political Affairs Hall passed a unanimous resolution and elected Li Qing'an as the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Then, the court officials passed a referendum. On that night, Empress Dowager Shen issued an order to the whole country, announcing that the current young emperor was not suitable for governing the Tang Dynasty due to health reasons. At the same time, the emperor issued an order to appoint General Tiance, the Grand Marshal of the World, and the King of Zhao Li Qing'an as the new emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Then the empress dowager issued an imperial edict to appoint Princess Zhao Dugu Mingyue as the Empress of the Palace and moved to the Daming Palace.

The emperor usually enthronement of the empress is usually issued by the emperor, but as the empress dowager, she also has the power to recognize in special circumstances. Due to the special circumstances, Li Qing'an was not in Beijing, and the royal family collectively opposed it. In order to ensure that the new master of the Daming Palace could move in in time to avoid accidents, Empress Shen reversed the convention and appointed the empress in advance, and issued an order for Empress Dugu to move in with her family overnight.

It started to rain lightly in the sky. As the night came, the rain gradually became heavier and drizzled, beating the leaves and eaves. However, the Zhao Palace in Wubenfang was brightly lit. General Nan Jiyun, the Qianniu Guard General, personally led 5,000 Niu Guard soldiers and 5,000 inner guards, fully armed to protect Li Qing's safe family and move to the Daming Palace.

The road from Wubenfang to Daming Palace has been fully martial law. Another 15,000 Qianniu Guard soldiers have been on guard at three steps and five steps, and are on guard along the way.

The Zhao Mansion was busy in an orderly manner. Mingyue, who had been named the queen of the palace, was instructing her family to pack up the items and move them. She did not move the large items for the time being, but only packed up the fine and soft items and personal belongings. They had been busy for three days and had packed up hundreds of boxes. This was the case with moving. It seemed that there were not many items, but it was unexpected that they packed up. Their children alone accounted for half of the things.

Because they couldn't fall asleep at night, everyone slept for a night during the day. At this time, the lights in the Zhao Palace were brightly lit, and everyone was finally confirming the items. Four hundred guards who were left by Li Qing'an in the palace were carrying boxes. They carried boxes from the side door onto the carriage, coming and going, very busy. In Qifeng Courtyard, Li Qing'an's second concubine Jiang Wuyi was hugging her daughter and watching dozens of soldiers transport her things. Two eunuchs ran back and forth to guide the soldiers.

"Mom, where are we going?" Her three-year-old daughter Li Siyue raised her face and asked her mother.

Wuyi held her daughter with one hand and gently stroked her little face with the other, and laughed softly: "We are going to the new home. Have you heard of Daming Palace?"

Si Yue shook his head, "Mom, where is the Daming Palace?"

"It's a big house with many palaces and houses."

"Is it bigger than our palace?"

Wuyi smiled and patted her daughter's little face, "Of course it's bigger than our royal palace, much bigger, and there is also a large lake called Taiyechi. Don't you like rowing? Can you accompany you to row in the lake! Do you like it?"

"like!"

Si Yue clapped her hands with joy. At this time, she remembered something again and asked, "Mom, they all call you Empress, why do they also call you Empress?"

Wuyi couldn't help laughing, so she picked up her daughter, kissed her little face, and said with a smile: "Silly child, the empress is a kind of name, it's not the same as the mother you call you. In the future, others will call you a princess, do you know?"

Si Yue nodded obediently, Wuyi couldn't help but remember the promise her husband gave her on the eve of her departure, and would appoint her as Shu Concubine, restore her reputation for the Jiang family, and move her parents' remains back to Chang'an. Her eyes couldn't help but feel sour. She didn't know whether it was joy or sorrow, but as soon as she entered the Ming Palace, she didn't know what her future fate would be?

At this time, a little eunuch ran over quickly and said to her: "Empress Jiang, Empress, please come over and be in the front lobby."

Three days ago, Empress Dowager Shen Zhenzhu sent more than 200 eunuchs and palace maids to serve the Zhao Palace. These eunuchs and palace maids had very strong adaptability. In just three days, they were completely familiar with their new masters, especially in terms of titles, and they were not bad at all. Only one hour after Princess Zhao was enthroned as the queen, they all changed their words, faster than the maids and servants of the Zhao Palace.

Wuyi nodded and walked towards the front yard with her daughter in her arms.

In the lobby in the front yard, Dugu Mingyue was making final arrangements for the maids and servants. More than 60 maids gathered together, and today is also a major moment in their lives.

"There is a prerequisite. I will make it clear to you first. Everyone is free. Everyone has no contract to sell their bodies. They are hired by my palace. If you sign a contract, you can leave at any time. But now we are going to enter the palace, so I officially announced that our contract has been terminated. The boss has suspended the contract. According to the agreement, I will pay you three months' salary for each person. At the same time, as the master and servant for several years, I will give each person another 100 stale money to settle the house, and I will also give you a piece of land each person. The land is not much, each person only has twenty acres, and it is all in the suburbs of Beijing. I feel uncomfortable breaking up with everyone, but we must break up. If you have any difficulties in life in the future, you can come to me. As long as it is reasonable, I will do my best to help you. Thank you for your care for my family over the years. Thank you!"

After saying that, Mingyue bowed to them, and the servants were extremely moved. They also knelt down, kowtowed three times to Mingyue, and said with tears in their eyes: "The Empress saluted us with a body of gold, we dare not be the one. We wish the Empress a safe life, and wish the princess and the wife all good health...."

Mingyue nodded, and her voice was a little choked, "Okay, it's getting late, everyone go back and pack up their own things! I will ask Lao Pan to make the follow-up arrangements for everyone."

The butler next to him, Pan Xiaonian waved his hand and said, "Everyone comes with me! Everything is ready, everyone has a share."

Everyone kowtowed to Mingyue again and followed Pan Xiaonian. At this time, Wuyi walked up with her daughter and said with some emotion: "Sister, you look quite sad."

"Yes! Breakup is always sad."

Mingyue sighed, cheered up and smiled at Wuyi, "This time, not all the family members will be dismissed. There are twelve maids who will follow us to the palace. Your room's hugging and playing the flute will follow us to the palace. In addition, the children's wet nurses will also enter the palace. I will treat them even more favorably, so don't worry!"

Wuyi was worried about this. Her two close maids, Baoqin and Nongxiao, were both in Anxi, so she followed her. Both of them were orphans. If they really wanted to dismiss them, where could they go, and their daughter's wet nurse, and her daughter couldn't live without them. After Mingyue said this, she felt relieved.

"Sister comes to me, is that the matter?"

Mingyue held her hand and smiled, "I want you to ride a carriage with me. To be honest, I feel a little nervous. Alas! Rushi was sitting with me, but Ruhua was pregnant and she had to accompany her, so she had to ask you to sit with me."

Wuyi also smiled, "Actually, I'm quite nervous. It's best for everyone to sit together like this. It's better for us to ride the largest carriage and let Wan'er sit together. Everyone is more lively. I guess she's a little nervous."

Mingyue thought about it and said with a smile: "Okay! I'll ask someone to arrange it, so I'll let Rushi Ruhua sit in. Anyway, they only have three of them, so they should be able to squeeze. Although it's a bit unqualified, we can't take care of it."

Wuyi thought about it and smiled and said, "It can be explained in fact! It's just the requirement of the army, for security reasons."

"You! You just have many ideas, okay, this excuse is good."

Mingyue quickly ordered an eunuch to arrange a carriage. When Mingyue saw that the time was coming, she asked someone to inform everyone one by one. She went to the front hall to gather. After a moment, everyone rushed over. Rushi supported her sister Ruhua. Ruhua was six months pregnant and her belly was getting up. It was quite inconvenient to walk. Her wet nurse was holding Rushi's daughter Siduo. Soon, Pei Wan'er also came, and she also hugged her daughter. Interestingly, except for the eldest daughter Siyue, the other children were sleeping soundly.

As they were about to enter the palace, everyone was quite nervous and with a hint of excitement, starting tonight, they will enter a brand new life.

At this time, a eunuch ran into the lobby and bowed to Mingyue and said, "Empress, the time has come, and the carriage is ready."

Mingyue nodded and said to everyone: "Everyone get in the car! It's time for us to leave."

She looked at the old house with some nostalgia for the last time, and led everyone out of the lobby and walked to the front of the screen wall. The carriage was ready. Three hundred personal guards were fully armed and were escorted by horses around the carriage. Mingyue led everyone to ride on the widest carriage in the house, followed by two other cars, which were carried by the personal maid and wet nurse. The main door slowly opened, the carriage started, and drove out the gate.

The door was brightly lit, and the items had been transported into the palace first. Nearly 10,000 Qianniu Guards and Inner Guards were lined up to protect the army. The army was martial law all the way, from Wubenfang to Daming Palace, there were Tang soldiers along the way.

Nan Jiyun urged him to come forward and bow to him with his fists. "I will finally bring Nan Jiyun to the palace to protect the princess and all wives!"

He was used to it for a moment and couldn't change his words. Mingyue smiled slightly, "I'm sorry that everyone can't rest so late!"

"It is our duty to protect the princess!"

Nan Jiyun immediately ordered, "You can go!"

The carriage finally left the Zhao Palace and drove towards the Daming Palace. Everyone looked through the car window and gradually left the Zhao Palace. Their eyes were filled with a sense of indifference.

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Tonight, Princess Zhao's entry into the palace was almost the top priority of the Chang'an army. All the troops stationed in Chang'an did not sleep all night. Although many troops were not related, as military orders, each army maintained a first-level combat readiness. From the Daming Palace to the Mingde Gate, there were troops patrolling almost every important place. Just when most senior generals went to the Daming Palace and Wubenfang to fulfill their loyalty, Hu Peiyun, the leader of the Inner Guard Intelligence Hall, did not go anywhere. He was at the headquarters of the Intelligence Hall and also couldn't sleep all night.

He has received information that hundreds of royal families will gather tonight and struggle to oppose Li Qing'an's ascension to the throne.

'sucker Punch!'

Hu Peiyun thought of this word. What is the meaning of opposing the royal family now? He also had to admire Li Qing'an's foresight. He knew that the royal family would be the biggest obstacle for him to ascend the throne, so he has been constantly weakening the power of the royal family over the years. Although the power of the royal family is no longer as powerful as before and has become the weakest moment since the founding of the country, they still have the right to speak in the choice of emperors.

Li Qing'an launched the Northern Expedition on the eve of ascension, fighting a suspenseless battle to win the support of the whole country. Now that the Northern Expedition was won, the national public opinion was boiling, and Li Qing'an's reputation reached its peak, which made the opposition from the royal family become insignificant.

Only then did Hu Peiyun understand the reason why Li Qing'an refused to compromise with the royal family. Once compromised, he would suffer endless disasters. He resolutely did not compromise and mobilized public opinion by launching a foreign war. Hundreds of declining royal families could not confront the 45 million public opinion of the Tang Dynasty. Li Qing'an cleverly used foreign wars to transfer high-level power such as the ascension of the emperor into a national movement. This was an extremely clever power method.

This made Hu Peiyun, who had never understood why Li Qing'an wanted to fight the Uighur War, suddenly realize. He thought that Li Qing'an was really trying to eradicate hidden dangers in the grassland, but now it seems that it is actually a disguised power struggle, but it is just more clever and more hidden.

At this time, footsteps came from outside, and soldiers came in to report: "Zong Zhengqing is here."

"Please come in!"

Hu Peiyun stood up, the moment he was waiting for, and for a moment, Zong Zhengqing and Li Yi walked in quickly. He looked a little panicked and said as he entered the door: "General Hu, they have already started."

"Don't panic, just say slowly, where is it? How many people are there?"

Li Yi swallowed and said, "There are about 300 people in King Sheng's mansion. They are secretly discussing how to deal with the new emperor."

Hu Peiyun nodded. There were more than 300 people, only half of them. It seems that many people are timid and afraid of things and refuse to show up. This is also good, and they will kill a warning to a hundred people!

He immediately ordered: "Send a message to the inner guards and ask them to send troops to surround the Prince Sheng's Mansion immediately!"

Dugu Mingyue moved, and only 5,000 inner guards went to the 10,000 inner guards, and the other 5,000 were lent to the Intelligence Hall for emergency calls.

At this time, the general who led the 5,000 troops was Ji Sheng, the new General of the Inner Guard who had just returned to Beijing. He did not go to Wubenfang, but was preparing to cooperate with the Intelligence Hall. This order was given to him by Li Qing'an before the Northern Expedition.

Ji Sheng is also one of Li Qing'an's most trusted confidants. Among the gold medals given by Li Qing'an, his gold medal ranks eighth, even surpassing Hu Peiyun, which shows that Li Qing'an trusts him. At this time, he is ready. He is full of armor and a sword in his hand, and five thousand soldiers are ready to go.

In the dark night, a cavalry rushed over and handed a request to Ji Sheng. Ji Sheng took a look and immediately ordered: "Send troops, the Sixteen Palaces Sheng Palace Mansion!"

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King Sheng Li Qi is Li Longji's 21st son and one of Li Longji's only sons. He has always lived a low-key life. In recent years, the Tang Dynasty split from north to south. He did not go to Chengdu, but stayed in Chang'an. He almost never went out, so he avoided the cleaning again and again.

But his low-key does not mean that he is cowardly. This time when Li Qing'an was about to ascend the throne to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he finally felt that he could no longer remain silent. He always believed that Li Qing'an could be the King of Zhao, the General of Tiance, and the Grand Marshal of the World, but he could not be the Emperor. The reason is very simple. Li Qing'an was not a descendant of Taizong, not an orthodox background, but a descendant of Li Jiancheng back then. Li Jiancheng was already executed in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. How could his descendants ascend to the Grand Priest again?

This made Li Qi unacceptable no matter what. In fact, it was also unacceptable to all the royal families. Although Zong Zhengqing Li Yi expressed his support, it was because he was not a descendant of Taizong and could not represent the royal families.

More than 320 royal families have been secretly connected for more than a month. Today, the empress dowager officially issued an order to announce that Li Qing'an will inherit the Tang Dynasty throne, which almost made the royal families go crazy. They gathered together regardless of everything and urgently discussed solutions to deal with it.

The lobby of the royal palace was full of enthusiasm, and more than 300 royal families were angrily denounced the absurdity of Li Qing'an's ascension to the throne. Most of these royal families were in their thirties to forties, and enjoyed all their wealth from childhood to adulthood. However, in recent years, they were repeatedly hit, their land was deprived, and their family wealth was confiscated. Especially many royal families who ran to Chengdu came back. When they found that their palace and royal palace had been confiscated. He had to live in other houses he had purchased before, relying on a little savings to live in the mountains. The living standards deteriorated sharply. The blame from his family and the complaints of his children and grandchildren made their anger accumulate in their hearts. The news that Li Qing'an was about to ascend the throne finally ignited their anger.

"I don't believe it! I will never believe it!"

The person who jumped out and shouted loudly was a royal family in his thirties. He was Li Yan, the eldest son of the former crown prince Li Ying, and Li Qiu's elder brother. Li Qiu committed suicide after the city was broken. Li Yan, who was appointed Guangluqing in Chengdu, slipped back to Chang'an. He was originally the Prince of Xinping, and his house was also confiscated. The 200,000 yuan worth of gold and silver buried in the cellar was also confiscated, which made him extremely sad and angry.

Everyone in the lobby calmed down. Looking at him, Li Yan whispered loudly: "Everyone, I have been thinking about it for a long time. I suspect that Li Qingan is not a royal family at all, he is pretending."

His conclusion caused an uproar among more than 300 royal families in the lobby, and King Sheng Li Qi could not hold back. He quickly interrupted Li Yan, "Prince, do you have any evidence?"

"There is no direct evidence, but there are many suspicious places, such as where is Li Qing'an's parents? Where is his brothers and sisters? How could he be the only one? How could his parents die? This is simply unreasonable."

A fierce light shot out in Li Yan's eyes, "I suspect that he has silenced all the family of his true building. Anyway, he is the sky over there, no! Maybe there is no saying that he has built the descendants, it was made up by him."

Li Yan's suspicion resonated in the lobby. Li Qing'an was built and his descendants had already made them unacceptable. If he was still a fake royal family, it would be horrifying. The entire lobby was filled with boiling, shouting, and shouting, as if a pot of boiling water was boiled.

"Quiet! Everyone is quiet!"

King Sheng Li Qi tried his best to calm everyone down. When the lobby was quiet, he said generously: "No matter whether it is true or false, no matter what, before Li Qing'an's life experience is clear, we must prevent him from ascending the throne and never let him ruin the orthodox Tang Dynasty!"

"But...what else can we do now?" someone said worriedly.

"have!"

King Sheng Li Qi simply stood on the table and said to everyone condescendingly: "We should tell the world, expose the face of Li Qing'an's fake royal family, let the people in the world despise him and prevent him from ascending the throne. Time is tight, so we will start tomorrow..."

Before Li Qi finished speaking, his eyes suddenly widened. An arrow shot into the lobby like lightning, and a sharp arrow rushed towards him. Before he could react, the arrow shot through his throat with one arrow. Li Qi covered his throat, his eyes protruded, and he fell straight off the table.

The lobby was silent at first, and then there was a chaos. Everyone was so scared that they were out of their minds. They covered their faces with their sleeves and ran around. Li Yan, the prince of Xinping, who had just swore to doubt Li Qing'an's identity, was even more frightened to get under the table.

"Boom!" With a loud bang, all the windows around were knocked open, and more than two thousand fully armed soldiers rushed into the lobby. They all carried horizontal knives on their waists and bows and crossbows on their hands, aiming at the messy royal family.

"No one is allowed to move! Whoever dares to move will kill anyone!"

The rushing in and shouting from the brigade of soldiers made the royal family present dare not move. Everyone lay on the ground, trembling with fear.

At this time, there was a sound of footsteps, Ji Sheng walked in with more than a hundred soldiers. He glanced at the lobby with a serious look and said sternly: "Someone reported that a crowd was gathering here to rebel, and according to the Tang Dynasty's rule, he should be killed!"

When everyone heard that they were going to be beheaded, they were so scared that they collapsed. Li Yan was the first to shout: "General, please spare your life! We are all members of the Tang Dynasty, and we are discussing and supporting His Highness Zhao ascending the throne!"

Everyone secretly despised Li Yan, but at this time, they didn't care about anything else. It was important to save their lives. Everyone shouted: "Yes! We are all discussing supporting King Zhao ascending the throne, and we will never rebel!"

Ji Sheng sneered, Hu Peiyun was right. These royal families were all cordyceps, and if they were scared, they would be shocked.

He ignored it. These royal families must be closed for a few months before they can write a letter of repentance one by one.

He waved his hand, "Take them all away and put them in the Inner Guard Prison for severe interrogation. Someone must have wanted to rebel!"

The soldiers rushed forward, no matter if these royal families were crying and chaotic, they refused to get up, grabbed their feet and necks, and carried them out of the Sheng Mansion, threw them into dozens of iron carriages that had been prepared, closed the door, and the carriage quickly drove towards the imperial city.
Chapter completed!