surrogate wife

Fang Dehai approached cautiously, "Your Majesty, what should we do now?"

The emperor withdrew his gaze, and stared at the corpses of Tu Renying and King Qi in a dark and indifferent way.

The people they brought were very dazed at this moment, almost unable to hold the knife in their hands steadily.

The leaders are all dead, what should they do?

The emperor sneered secretly, but his expression was restrained, and he said calmly: "The chief culprit has been punished, please put down your weapons, and I will spare your family members from dying."

The rebels also knew that if they lost this kind of thing, it would be impossible for them to survive. When they heard that they could save the lives of their family members, they couldn't help but feel hopeful.

After looking at each other, someone threw the weapon first and knelt on the ground, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

With a beginning, a series of clatters were thrown in the follow-up, and all the guards in the hall knelt down.

People at that time had a deep respect for imperial power. King Qi could rebel and they could follow him, but once King Qi died, these people lost their courage and did not dare to be rude to the emperor.

The guards surrounding the palace are still unclear, so most of them are imperial troops loyal to Tu Renying, and the rebellious soldiers brought in by King Qi are still raging in the palace.

The emperor was anxious, but he could only hold back his temper and told himself that he couldn't be anxious, and that he had to subdue these people first before talking about other things.

"Who will cut off the head of the traitor Tu Renying for me?" The emperor's eyes were deep, scanning the kneeling head.

He didn't mention King Qi. After all, he was a clan, and humiliating the corpse would damage his reputation.

Most of the imperial guards hesitated, and some of the brave ones stood up, raised their swords in their hands, cut off Tu Renying's head, and held it in front of the emperor with both hands.

"Here is the head of the traitor Tu Renying, please send it to His Majesty."

"Very good." The emperor smiled with satisfaction, "What's your name?"

"Report to Your Majesty, the guilty minister Chao Meng."

"Chao Meng has meritorious decapitation, I pardon you not guilty." The emperor glanced at the ferocious head, and said in a deep voice.

Chao Meng was overjoyed, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I am willing to do my best to repay Your Majesty's life."

The rest of the imperial guards who were kneeling raised their heads one after another, with jealous expressions in their eyes. If they had known earlier, they would rush to go too.

The emperor helped Chao Meng up, gave a few words of encouragement with a pleasant face, and then turned his face straight, "Chao Meng, I was ordered to do something with you in the face of danger, can you do it well?"

Chao Meng knelt down on one knee, held his head and bowed, "I swear to be loyal to His Majesty, even though I die, I will not regret it."

The emperor smiled faintly and looked at him, "I don't need you to die. You go out with the head of this traitor and tell the imperial guards outside that the chief culprit has been executed. If the rest surrender, the family members will not die."

"Furthermore, if you want to atone for your merits, then take up arms for me and kill all the rebel soldiers of the King of Qi. Every time you kill one person, you can cut off your palm as a proof. If you kill one person, you can be spared the death penalty, and if you kill ten people, you can forgive them." crime."

He looked at the imperial guards in the hall again, "It's the same with you."

Everyone showed excited expressions, Chao Meng bowed deeply, "Your servant, obey your orders."

In terms of scheming, means, and momentum, this seemingly frail young emperor is much stronger than King Qi.

It was they who followed the wrong people from the very beginning.

……

West Gate.

Before the rebels arrived, Wen Changning led his men to kill them first.

After he assembled the team, he immediately rushed to the west gate with the first assembled troops.

Commander Li, the guard of the west city gate, has rebelled, and the other three gates are still stable. Wen Changning brought troops from the south city, and the commander of the south city was sent by him to integrate the troops of the other two gates. Except for the necessary guards, the rest All the soldiers and horses were brought to the west gate.

At the same time, he did not forget to divide a small team and give it to Xue Yi to lead, "Junior Brother, there is no curfew in the East and West cities, and there are still many people having fun there, you take someone to supervise them, and let them all find you." Hide somewhere, don't come out."

Xue Yi nodded, "I understand."

Once the west city gate has not been captured, the rebels outside the city will arrive, and they will inevitably pour into the capital. At that time, those who are still outside may be killed.

They split up, Xue Yi led the troops, and quickly rushed to the West Market, which is the closest to the West City Gate and the most dangerous.

"Today, there was a wave of gangsters fleeing in the city, and all the east and west cities are under martial law. Anyone who hears this should find a place to hide!"

"Everyone who hears this should quickly find a place to hide, otherwise we will be rude!"

He used people to drive away tourists while shouting loudly.

The crowd, who were still dissatisfied at first, panicked when they heard the gangsters coming and going. No one dared to say no, and they all looked for places to hide.

The team leader who followed him couldn't help giving him a thumbs up, "Zhuangyuan Lang, this is you."

Xue Yi smiled and got on his horse, "Leader Li, you're being polite. There's basically nothing wrong here, so I'll leave it to you to maintain order here. I'll go to the west gate to see what's going on."

Leader Li didn't dare to neglect, he cupped his fists and said, "Don't worry."

Xue Yi smiled, reined in his horse, turned around, and galloped away.

The battle at the West City Gate was raging, but with the arrival of soldiers from the North City Gate and East City Gate, Wen Changning's side gradually gained the upper hand.

Commander Li already had ghosts in his heart, but when he saw Wen Changning, he was even more frightened.

Many of the soldiers under his command didn't know about it, and they opened the city gate when the commander-in-chief said he wanted to open the city gate. They also lowered the drawbridge and let the Minister of the Household Department, Gong Wenzhen, pass.

Unexpectedly, not long after, Commander Wen, who was originally in prison, suddenly appeared and brought troops to attack Commander Li, which made them panic.

Many people inevitably hesitated, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

Listen to the boss, or listen to the boss?

Many people were forced to fight by the situation before they made a decision. It wasn't until the troops from the North City and East City arrived that they suddenly thought, why on earth am I fighting with my colleagues here?

"Boss Wen, what the hell is going on, why are the brothers fighting?!" Someone couldn't help it, and howled.

Wen Changning was taken aback, and suddenly realized that many ordinary soldiers might not know about it.

Yes, why didn't he think of it?Ordinary soldiers, who wants to do this job of losing their heads?What good would it do them?

It's his fault, too anxious.

He immediately raised his voice and shouted: "King Qi conspired to rebel, Commander Li is willing to be a running dog, if brothers don't know, put down the butcher knife quickly, and kill this traitor with me!"

"rebellion?"

"rebellion!"

The soldiers exploded, and Commander Li hurriedly shouted: "Don't believe him, he is trying to escape from prison! Catch him!"

This, who should I believe?

The soldiers were all ordinary people, some of them didn't even know a few words, so they didn't know about the important affairs of the court, they didn't do what the adults said on weekdays.

These two grown-ups insisted on their own opinions, but it was not embarrassing for them.

At this moment, Xue Yi held a hand letter in his hand, and galloped towards him, "Here is the hand letter from the Holy Master, kill the traitor Li Wei'an!"

"The number one scholar, it's the number one scholar!"

"Really, I have seen Zhuangyuan Lang, that's right!"

"The number one scholar has an edict from the sage, it must be true!"

As soon as Xue Yi came, Wen Changning's side immediately stepped up. The soldiers were not familiar with Wen Changning, the great commander, but they had all seen this handsome champion man riding horses through the streets, and they believed in his handwriting, even if it was actually just A blank sheet of paper.

Furthermore, there was one adult on one side, and two adults on the other. The soldiers were all unpretentious, and whichever side had the most people was the one to take advantage. They immediately believed Wen Changning's words, and turned their swords to point at Li. command.

Except for his cronies, no one followed him.

The tide is over.Li Wei'an sighed in his heart, regretting his mistakes.

He was quickly captured without a fight, and Wen Changning ordered someone to imprison him, then quickly put away the drawbridge outside the city, and closed the city gate tightly.

The moat outside the city was wide and deep, and the defenses of the capital city were also strong. Without internal traitors, even if a hundred thousand rebels besieged the city, they would not be able to take it down within a month or two.

Just when Wen Changning ordered people to close the city gate, a large cloud of dust rose up outside the city. About twenty miles away, a large group of people and horses showed their tracks and marched towards this side in a hurry.

Wen Changning let out a long breath, smiled and patted Xue Yi's shoulder, "Junior Brother, this time is thanks to you."

Xue Yi also relaxed. It was really close to catching up.

He smiled and said, "Brother, why are you being polite to me?"

Wen Changning said: "This is not the time to talk, the situation in the palace is unknown, I have to take someone to have a look quickly, it's time for business, you and my brother must have a good drink."

"Naturally." Xue Yi nodded and smiled at him.

"By the way, is the expert you hired reliable? Forget it, let's not talk about it, I have to go."

"Junior brother, please trouble you, supervise the formation here, and deal with the rebels with a few commanders."

Although it's nothing serious, someone still needs to watch, otherwise these ordinary soldiers will panic.

Xue Yi responded, "Brother, don't worry, His Majesty will be fine. Go quickly, and leave this place to me."

Wen Changning got on his horse and led half of the soldiers to the imperial city.

After Wen Yumu left the imperial city, he followed the movement all the way to the west city gate. Seeing that the gate was safe, he felt relieved, went home, changed his clothes, untied his hair, tied it with a hair tie, and came to look for Xue again. as well as.

Not long after Wen Changning left, he arrived.

"Ah Yi." He ran over, his breath a little messy, panting thinly while covering his heart, the hair tied behind him was a little messy.

Although he knew that he was probably faking it, Xue Yi was still amazed by his rare anxious and weak appearance, and helped him straighten his hair with distress, "Why did you come here?"

Wen Yu murmured: "You are here alone, how can I feel at ease."

Commander Zhou, who was left behind to assist Xue Yi, smiled and said, "The two are truly a husband and wife."

Xue Yi gently embraced Wen Yumu, smiling subtly, "I'm just kidding, madam is worried about me and can't sleep well, so it's better to let him stay here."

Commander Zhou spread his arms and laughed loudly: "If you are not afraid of the rebels scaring Mrs. Xue, what do we bastards have to say?"

Wen Yumu kept smiling quietly and gently, weakening his sense of existence.

However, the benefits of his coming here are also obvious. The world has been peaceful for decades, and the soldiers have never experienced such a thing as an army besieging a city. Relaxed a lot.

It's definitely fine, Lord Xue and Mrs. Xue are here, adults are not afraid, what are they afraid of?

……

After staying up for half the night, the sky finally brightened.

Halfway through the night, the Longwei army stationed outside the city arrived and killed the rebels to the brim. Xue Yi, who was guarding the city, just stood on the city and watched the show.

In the palace, under the double siege of the rebellious imperial army and the people brought by Wen Changning, calm was quickly restored, and the rest of the time was spent moving corpses and cleaning up bloodstains.

Many palace people in the palace suffered disasters. The concubines were in the harem. When they heard the movement, they ran to the empress palace to seek refuge. Those who were late locked the palace door tightly and did not dare to go out. , accidents are rare.

There are guards protecting the Empress Dowager's palace, so nothing will happen, but King Qi ordered her to be arrested to threaten the emperor, so many people came here, the guards couldn't resist, and the rebels broke in .

Although Wen Changning arrived in time, the palace people around the queen mother had been slaughtered, and he kowtowed himself. In addition to being frightened, he developed a high fever that night.

The emperor was very anxious and blamed himself. He couldn't trust those treasonous imperial guards, so he waited until Wen Changning entered the palace before asking him to go to the Queen Mother to check it out, but it was too late.

The empress dowager finally woke up after being treated with all the efforts of the imperial doctors, but she just turned around, and Ling Zheng of the imperial hospital cautiously told the emperor that the empress dowager might not have much time left.

The emperor was frightened and angry, and mourned endlessly, but he still smiled and said nothing happened in front of the empress dowager.

After dealing with the affairs of the harem, on the second day, he forced himself to go to court again.

There was a lot of chaos last night, and if he was absent this morning, I don't know what words will come out.

There were fewer ministers in the court, and no one dared to ask or speak, and they all just waited for the emperor to speak.

The emperor's face was a little pale, but his eyes were bright, dancing with raging flames.

He took out a booklet that was divided into two halves, "Maybe some adults don't know what this is, Xue Qing, please explain it to you adults."

Xue Yi promised to come out and tell the story of the investigation and the ins and outs of what happened last night.

As the courtiers listened, there was a storm in their hearts.

This night was really thrilling.

After he finished speaking, he saluted respectfully and returned to the queue.

The emperor clapped his hands, and the waiter brought out a burning charcoal basin. He threw it away, and the booklet that touched the nerves of many officials was thrown in lightly.

"I use people regardless of their deeds, regardless of their hearts. The people above have not participated in the rebellion. I am willing to give you another chance."

"This time, I won't pursue it. I hope you can learn from it and don't make the same mistake again."

The hearts of the courtiers were relieved immediately, and they all knelt down and shouted long live.

As for the fate of those colleagues who failed to come to the court, they also knew with their toes.

It's just...Since His Majesty has already killed a group of people and burned the booklet in front of everyone, it should be that they really don't care about it.

For a moment, the panicked hearts were temporarily calmed down.

After pacifying the courtiers, the emperor announced the punishment of King Qi and those who participated in the treason.

Among them, Shen Tao is special. Among his nine clans, there is a family member of the Queen Mother, so that branch was specially excluded.

The unsuspecting soldiers defending the city, although they resisted before, thought that they didn't know it, and later they also made meritorious deeds in defending the city, so their merits and demerits were equalized, and they were not held accountable.

Those who have made meritorious service in the imperial army, according to what I said before, will be pardoned if they kill ten people, and if they kill not enough, they will be reduced according to the murder certificate.

And that Chao Meng was made a little commander.

It can be said that he is generous and has clear rewards and punishments.

The courtiers felt more at ease, because the disturbance was so severe before, many of them were caught by their pigtails, and they were really afraid of the emperor's revenge.

Finally, the emperor announced the rewards for the two biggest heroes this time, Xue Yi and Wen Changning.

Wen Changning went one step further and was named the commander of the imperial army, a second-rank officer.

Xue Yi, who was temporarily promoted to Dali Temple Shaoqing because of solving the case, now not only solved the case perfectly, but also saved him, so he was promoted to another level.

"Shen Tao has already settled down, and Xue Qing will replace the Honglu Temple Minister he has vacated." The emperor said.

After finishing speaking, I would like to specifically ask the ministers, "Do you have any objections?"

There is an objection... There is a hair.

This promotion is really like drinking water, but he has made a real contribution, who dares to fart?

The courtiers all expressed that they have no objections or opinions. In ancient times, Gan Luo worshiped at the age of 12. It is not an exaggeration at all that Mr. Xue is such an amazingly talented and talented person.

So, less than five days after being awarded the title of Shaoqing, Xue Yi honorably removed the Shao character, and became Qingzheng, a third-rank official in the imperial court.

As a result, he officially entered the ranks of senior officials who hold power, and he is no longer a dispensable person who can be bullied.