Chapter 156

When Tang Peiyi and his men arrived at Xie's house, they saw that a building of unknown origin in the front yard of the house was on fire, with flames reaching the sky. The blue bricks paving the ground in front of the door had been stained red with blood, and the blood was still flowing further away.

The heavy snow falling from the night sky fell onto the scarlet ground and melted away in an instant.

Corpses were lying all over the ground. Xie Zheng stood among them holding a halberd in one hand. The black armor on his body had long been stained dark red by blood. Blood was also dripping from the halberd blade engraved with ancient and strange beast patterns. He lowered his head slightly so that people could not see his expression at the moment. Only the firelight illuminated the cold white half of his jaw, which looked arrogant and vicious.

Behind him stood several hundred guards who were also filled with murderous aura after experiencing a massacre. In the darkness, they looked like ghosts.

Even Tang Peiyi and the others, who were sitting on horseback and saw this scene, couldn't help but take a deep breath.

The blood slowly devoured the accumulated snow and continued to spread outwards towards the street corner. When it reached the horse's hooves, the horse seemed to be frightened by the evil spirit and lifted its hoof and took a step back.

Xie Zheng then raised his eyes and looked coldly towards Tang Peiyi.

Tang Peiyi clasped his fists towards him on horseback and said, "My Lord."

I just called out this one time, but I didn't know what to say next.

Judging from the corpses in front of the Xie Mansion, the troops surrounding the Mansion were at least from the five guard posts of the Central Army Battalion. There was also a cannon mounted not far away. They even brought firearms with them, but they all died at the hands of the hundreds of Xie family guards.

Didn't they say that Wu'an Hou only had 800 Blood-robed Cavalrymen under his command? Fan Changyu had already taken away 700 to 800 men, so what were these?

Tang Peiyi was shocked beyond words.

The blazing firelight illuminated the different expressions of the people on horseback.

Xie Zheng kicked away a corpse lying at his feet. His bloodstained face showed an almost indifferent calmness: "With only two thousand men, you dare to bombard the gate of my Xie family."

He sneered: "You are really tired of living."

The strength of each of the 72 guards in the five military camps was different, but the Central Military Camp alone had 8,000 people. The Li family allocated a quarter of the Central Military Camp's strength to besiege Xie's mansion, which obviously showed that they were still wary of Xie Zheng, but they still underestimated Xie Zheng.

From the other end of the street came the sound of horse hooves and torches intertwined like dragons.

The elite soldiers of Xie's army, who had just fought a bloody battle with Xie Zheng, and the people brought by Tang Peiyi looked to the side and saw an unfamiliar general on horseback. But judging from his armor and clothes, he was from the Three Thousand Battalion.

Xie Zheng looked at them coldly, his expression still strangely indifferent. He just handed the halberd in his hand to the guards behind him, took aim with a bow and crossbow, and said casually, "Here comes the one who wants to reap the benefits."

-

The wind and snow were raging, and paper money for ancestor worship was rolled up from somewhere and flying in the empty streets. This originally lively New Year's Eve also had a bit of eeriness.

Outside the Meridian Gate, lights were bright and flames were blazing. The dark army was lined up in the officialdom sandwiched between the East and West Wing Towers. The front row covered their heads with thick shields to block the arrows fired by the archers and crossbowmen on the Wing Towers. There were no siege hammers in the capital to break down the city gates, so the soldiers below lifted the thousand-pound tripod on the square and rammed the palace gate again and again.

At the rear of the army, Li Taifu, who was wearing an official robe with a crane pattern, looked at the army surging like a tide in front of him, and said to the pale and gloomy man wearing a cloak at his side: "We have people in the Jinwu Guard. This palace gate can be broken open in another stick of incense."

Qi Min looked obviously sick, and he raised his eyes lazily: "No movement from Marquis Wu'an?"

Li Taifu glanced at him, and in response to his words that seemed to question the Li family's deployment, he remained calm, "I have already instigated the rebellion of four of the five military camps. Wu'an Hou did not bring any troops with him to the capital this time, and the eight hundred personal cavalrymen with him were also taken away by the Meng family's daughter. Even if Xie Zheng is a god in commanding troops, without any soldiers to use, what kind of turmoil can he stir up?"

Qi Min's expression softened a little.

Taifu Li smiled faintly, "The Qin Tianjian has also spread the news that the droughts in recent years are all caused by the rebellion of the royal family and the improper succession. The people have long been complaining about Wei Yan's control of the government. The reputation of Prince Chengde among the people is still the same as it was in the past. Your Highness is the descendant of Prince Chengde, and it is the will of the people and the wish of the ministers for you to succeed the throne."

Qi Min didn't say anything, but his eyes were reflecting the brightly lit Yanchi Building in the distance.

The night was thick and dark, and even the imperial city, which was alight with big red New Year lanterns, seemed to be dwarfed by him and crawled at his feet.

Seventeen years later, he finally returned to this place.

Qi Min stroked the jade ring on his thumb with a very indifferent expression, but the feeling that everything was in his hands at this moment made his ambition expand like a torch burning in the palace in this place of pinnacle of power.

The sky and earth are dark and yellow, the universe is vast and wild...

The rising and setting of the sun and the moon seemed not so important anymore, because he was about to become the emperor of the world.

The palace gate could not bear the weight and was finally broken open by the impact of the large tripod. The soldiers from the Five Army Battalions roared and rushed into the palace. Pools of blood splattered between the narrow corridors of the palace walls.

When Qi Min followed Li Taifu into the palace, he looked at the corpses of the Jinwu Guards lying on the ground, frowned slightly, and it was hard to tell whether his tone was mocking or asking: "Wei Yan has controlled the government for more than ten years, and this is the only method he has?"

After entering the palace, the general who had first gone to Taiqian Palace to capture the little emperor had hurried back: "Grandmaster! There's no one in Taiqian Palace!"

The look in Qi Min's and Li Taifu's eyes changed.

Li Taifu shouted: "Then search the entire palace and find the person!"

Although the general accepted the order and left, Taifu Li and Qi Min could no longer feel at ease.

The palace defenses were lax, was that an attempt to lure them into a trap?

As if to verify their thoughts, the sound of weapons was heard outside the palace gate. The two men climbed up to the Yanchi Tower and saw nearly two thousand cavalrymen standing in the Wumen Square. All of them were wearing full armor and were not comparable to the ordinary soldiers of the Five Army Battalions.

An old man with a straight and vigorous figure slowly walked out from the cavalry formation, and glanced at Qi and Li on the tower with eagle eyes: "Li Xing intends to rebel, and all these traitors and villains should be arrested and brought to justice."

Although Li Taifu looked grim, he was still calm. He immediately shouted sternly, "Old Wei, do you think that you can control the Five Army Battalion with just the three thousand men in your battalion?"

Wei Yan said: "Of course it can't be controlled, but Li Taifu has never commanded an army, so he doesn't know that there is a strategy in the art of war called 'The army never tires of deception'."

Just as Li Taifu was wondering what he meant by that, he saw Wei Yan below the palace make a gesture. The arrows on the city wall, which were originally aimed at the archers and crossbowmen below, suddenly changed direction and aimed at Li Taifu and Qi Min and their men.

The guards of the two men quickly drew their swords and stared at the archers, but arrows have no sight. The situation turned around too quickly and the guards looked panicked.

Of the four battalions that surrendered to him, two were actually Wei Yan's men! The other two battalions and the Li family guards looked at each other in bewilderment.

Li Taifu gritted his teeth and stared at Wei Yan unwillingly: "These two battalions are all your people? When did this happen?"

Wei Yan stood in front of the army with his hands behind his back, his solid and upright figure wrapped in the cold wind: "Master Li, you might as well ask yourself, if you can't even protect your own grandson, how can you convince others?"

Master Li's jaw was clenched, and no matter how strong he tried, his face turned a little pale.

Qi Min, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly clapped his hands and smiled, "Well said, but I don't know if the Prime Minister's wife and children have been captured, can you still convince the soldiers to trust you."

Wei Yan raised his eyes and looked coldly at Qi Min. Qi Min was being pointed at by thousands of arrows, but there was no fear on his face. Instead, the corners of his mouth were raised with interest.

There was a commotion outside the cavalry formation, and the people from the Wei Mansion came quickly to report the news: "Prime Minister, the Wei Mansion was attacked, and the lady and the son were kidnapped!"

The informant had blood on his arms, obviously having just been in a fierce battle.

Wei Yan looked at Qi Min again. The two had fought before. Wei Yan naturally knew that Qi Min had a group of royal guards left by Prince Chengde. They were all death warriors who had received favors from Prince Chengde in his early years. They had superb martial arts skills and only obeyed Qi Min's orders.

Many of the top-ranking warriors he trained were killed by those shadow guards.

There were few people around Qi Min, so he had ordered them to go to Wei's mansion.

Upon hearing this, Li Taifu was overjoyed and immediately yelled at Wei Yan, "Wei Yan, let's see if you still want your wife and children. If you are so cruel as to abandon your only son, you will abuse your power like a eunuch in the future. A hundred years later, it will be recorded in history books and made fun of by future generations."

Before Wei Yan could say anything, a casual and cold voice could be heard in the cold wind: "The palace tonight is really... so lively."

Everyone present looked towards the rear of the army formation. The cavalry at the rear of Wei Yan changed their formation almost instantly, pointing their spears at a group of soldiers that were approaching slowly in front of them.

Xie Zheng, wearing a black armor covered in blood, led several hundred elite soldiers of the Xie family army and Tang Peiyi and others from the capital at that time, and walked towards the officialdom outside the Meridian Gate as if leisurely strolling in the garden.

Qi Min had remained relatively calm when Wei Yan appeared outside the palace with three thousand soldiers. But when he saw Xie Zheng, his expression became completely gloomy.

He looked at Master Li and said, "Didn't you say that the people were trapped in Xie's house?"

Li Taifu noticed Tang Peiyi and the group of people from Jizhou, and said angrily: "It must be Tang Peiyi who led people to break the siege. He underestimated these warriors!"

It was also because it was too dark that he could not see clearly that the armor on Xie Zheng and the hundreds of elite soldiers behind him seemed to have been soaked in blood, so he dared to make such a conclusion.

Seeing that Qi Min's face was too gloomy, he quickly added: "The emperor's grandson is in Xie Zheng's hands. He probably wants to take advantage of the chaos tonight to imitate Wei Yan 17 years ago and help the child to succeed to the throne. It's still unknown who will win!"

Qi Min's eyes were dark, and it was unknown what he was thinking. Suddenly, he called out to Xie Zheng, "Since Marquis Wu'an has joined in the excitement tonight, how about joining forces with me?"

Xie Zheng did not answer immediately. He continued, "Seventeen years ago, my father and General Xie died in battle in Jinzhou. I am not the only one who wants to avenge this, right?"

Xie Zheng raised his eyes casually, "Your Highness seems to know the truth behind the battle in Jinzhou that year?"

Qi Min laughed out loud: "How could I not know?"

He pointed at Wei Yan and said, "Jinzhou was lost, the citizens were massacred, and the twelve counties of Liaodong were ceded to the barbarians. These were all planned by Wei Yan in order to get his hands on the Great Yin Empire!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire palace fell into deathly silence.

The vast majority of people present knew nothing about the truth of Jinzhou back then. Even those who knew only a little about it, like Master Li, had their eyelids twitched when they suddenly heard Qi Min's firm tone.

It took more than ten years for the entire Dayin to recover from the devastation brought about by the fall of Jinzhou. If all this was really planned by Wei Yan, then he deserved to die a thousand times.

The hatred that had been pent up in his chest for more than a decade finally had a place to vent. The corners of Qi Min's eyes were stained with a hint of scarlet. He sneered at Wei Yan and said, "Seventeen years ago, you massacred the palace with blood. Do you think no one knows about your lewd and chaotic palace activities?"

Wei Yan's face remained unmoved, but his eyes turned completely cold. He interrupted Qi Min and gave the order in a deep voice: "Attack the city."

The author has something to say:

This chapter is a bit short, I will try to write more in the next chapter~