The Ling family is very good at palace fighting, but they have no talent for leading troops in battle.
This was true for Concubine Ling's brother, who once served as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Army, and also for Ling Yue, who now led 5,000 troops in the Western Suburbs Camp to stop King You.
As the saying goes, catch the leader first.
King You's side controlled the 5,000 troops without losing a single soldier with just a few words.
At this time, the commanders of various states who had been "invisible" for a long time finally showed up.
Obviously, they had already made the right choice in their hearts.
There are still half of the remaining troops from the Western Suburbs Camp in the capital, as well as the Five Cities Army Guards guarding the capital, and the Imperial Guards guarding the palace.
Adding the three together, there are about 10,000 people.
The number of troops Qi Xu brought was actually not much more than this.
However, as they rushed here, troops from various states surrendered one after another.
Now, as long as he raised his arm, half of Dayong’s troops would serve him and march straight to the capital to force Qi Yao to give up his throne.
However, it is not necessary.
He had no intention of letting Qi Yao, the traitor who dared to kill his father and his king, go free. Giving him the opportunity to abdicate the throne and be crowned king would be too much of a compliment to him.
He doesn't deserve it.
The enemy is at the gate.
Bad news came one after another. For three consecutive days, no one from each team sent by Qi Yao returned. All of them were detained by King You's troops.
He did not dare to send any more people out of the city, so he had to use the name of orthodoxy to persuade King You to surrender.
He also promised that as long as King You stopped, he would pretend that nothing had happened. In addition to the original three states of Tan, Qian and Yi, he would find three more nearby states and transfer them to King You.
The conditions offered by Qi Yao became more and more tempting.
However, no one thought that King You would agree.
After all, compared to being a prince who controls six states, it is more tempting to sit on the dragon throne and rule the world. Between the two, I am afraid that no one in this world would choose the former.
Qi Yao's words of persuasion to surrender were in vain.
…
"Mother, what should we do? Are we just going to let Qi Xu enter the city?"
King You's army has been besieging the capital for three days.
In the camp outside the capital and the Five Cities Military Command, many military officers belonging to the Ling family faction were killed, and the remaining people had long lost the will to fight against King You.
Concubine Ling was also anxious.
Because the emperor's son succeeded to the throne in a hurry, the Censorate kept submitting petitions to the emperor, and the empress dowager suddenly claimed to be ill a few days ago, so she has not yet been officially awarded the title of empress dowager.
She hasn't even become the most noble woman in the world, and his son is going to give up the hard-earned throne?
Concubine Ling gritted her teeth and said, "There is another way."
"Bring Changping back from Miaoqing Temple. After all, she is Qi Xu's biological sister. Regardless of others, he must take Changping's life into consideration. He is willing to take care of Changning, so he will definitely not want to leave Changping."
Although Concubine Ling had a good idea, Qi Yao said with a dark face: "Changping is not in Miaoqing Temple. I sent someone to pick her up three days ago. We always thought she was in Miaoqing Temple, but the person who was actually there was a substitute they arranged. Changping must have been picked up by Qi Xu a long time ago."
"That……"
Imperial Concubine Ling frowned, "The virtuous concubine has passed away, and the Queen Mother and Qi Xu have long since broken off relations. Does that mean we have no way to control him?"
"Not necessarily." Qi Yao's eyes flashed, and he suddenly thought of something. "I heard that Qi Yao and Princess Changning's cousin, the daughter of demoted Imperial Censor Wei Maolin, were very close. In the North, there were rumors that the two of them were on par with each other, and that Qi Xu might want to marry this young lady from the Wei family as his princess."
"Miss Wei?" Concubine Ling couldn't remember who it was at once.
He was stunned for a moment, then he realized something with a hint of surprise, "The former wife of the prince of Jinyang Marquis's mansion, Wei? Qi Xu actually fell in love with a divorced woman?"
Qi Yao also found this unbelievable. He was not familiar with the Wei family girl, but he was very familiar with Xue, who replaced the Wei family girl as the wife of the Marquis of Jinyang...
Even someone like Xue can replace the girl from the Wei family.
I think Wei's character and appearance are just so-so.
Qi Yao curled his lips in disdain and rolled his eyes and said, "Since Miss Wei is Changning's cousin, she is also the cousin of Duke Xu's Mansion. Although Concubine Xian is dead, Duke Xu's Mansion is still there. I will have people surround Duke Xu's Mansion and take all the family members inside to the city wall."
Time waits for no one, and Qi Yao's men acted quickly.
However, when they broke down the gate of Xu's mansion, there was no one inside. In such a huge mansion, there were only two servants guarding the gate.
Even these two servants quickly ran towards the crowd after the gate was broken, and disappeared in a short while.
The soldiers gained nothing from the Xu family. They did seize a lot of gold, silver and treasures, but they did not find any of the truly important "hostages".
"Where are the Xu family members?"
"Conspiring with King You to rebel, he deserves death!"
In the Golden Palace, Qi Yao was furious.
The subordinate's trusted confidant shrank back, and stepped forward to report carefully: "Mrs. Xu is ill. After the winter came, she went to the hot spring manor in the suburbs of Beijing to recuperate. The prince of Xu asked for leave three days ago and went to the manor to visit Mrs. Xu..."
It’s not that he left Beijing for no reason, he did ask for leave.
Later, the capital city was under siege, and the official roads outside several city gates were heavily guarded by King You's troops. People couldn't go back even if they wanted to, right?
The Yong Dynasty valued filial piety, and Emperor Xiaoming claimed to have ruled the country with filial piety during his twenty-odd years on the throne. There was really nothing wrong with the actions of the Prince of Xu.
“…” Qi Yao held his breath in his chest.
Is it really the only solution left to abdicate and let others take over?
Outside the hall, a noisy sound suddenly rang out.
The sound of weapons clashing followed.
"Your Majesty, King You's men broke in—"
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