The shouts from Chief Minister Xiao's party continued to ring out repeatedly, as loud as thunder.

At the same time, two rows of Xiaoling guards wearing bronze helmets and iron armor poured into the Longen Gate like a tide, with rumbling steps.

The air around was so heavy that it was almost suffocating.

"Abdicate and let someone more capable do the job?" The emperor seemed to know what was going on. He glanced at Xiao Fengyuan, Pei Wenrui and others standing outside the palace, and sneered, "Who will you give the throne to?"

As soon as these words were spoken, a certain name emerged in the minds of the civil and military officials outside the palace as well as the princesses and their wives.

As soon as Xiao Fengyuan raised his hand, the voices in the back asking the emperor to abdicate and let others take over stopped instantly.

There was dead silence inside and outside the hall.

Xiao Fengyuan smiled and spoke clearly, "If virtue does not match the position, there will be disaster; good talents should be used properly and the capable ones should be in the position. Your Majesty, we are willing to follow the example of the sages who came before us to remove darkness, ascend to the throne of wisdom, and restore order."

"King Kang is the legitimate son of the previous emperor, a descendant of the Chu family. He has inherited the style of his ancestors, is wise and brave, and has great talents and strategies. It can be said that he is the one who succeeds the throne!"

Xiao Fengyuan spoke these words passionately, his eyes sparkling and sharp like a blade drawn from its sheath, seemingly able to scratch a person's skin.

When the words "King Kang" came out of Xiao Fengyuan's mouth, everyone present felt that it was indeed the case, and their hearts became heavier.

Although there had been no fighting here, they all felt that there was a faint smell of blood lingering in the air, which could not be shaken off.

Throughout the dynasties, forcing the emperor to abdicate and seize the throne was often accompanied by blood and gore, and it was either you die or I live. In history, has there ever been a deposed emperor who had a good ending!

Since Prime Minister Xiao dared to lead the ministers to force the emperor to abdicate, he would naturally not be unprepared. I'm afraid that today's "Long En Gate Incident" will not end peacefully!

They could almost foresee that the imperial mausoleum would be flooded with blood today! The emperor's expression was still very calm. He stared at Xiao Fengyuan deeply and said in a calm tone: "What if I don't agree?"

Xiao Fengyuan snorted lightly, his eyes remained unchanged, but his eyes were as cold as a pond. He said again: "Your Majesty, please abdicate and let the wise take over!"

These words were spoken almost word by word, without any warmth in the voice.

After he finished speaking, the imperial guards in the rear drew their swords from their scabbards in unison. The swords flashed cold light in the sunlight, adding a murderous atmosphere to this place where the mountain wind was howling.

General Jianwei Wang Nan took a big step forward, walked to the right rear of Xiao Fengyuan with his head held high, and first clasped his fists towards the emperor in the hall and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

Having said this, the next moment, he quickly drew the sword from his waist.

The tip of the long sword was pointing at the emperor in the hall.

Wang Nan's rough, red face was filled with righteous indignation, and he said in a strong and gruff voice: "Gu Ce surrendered to the enemy and killed tens of thousands of people. Even if he is cut into pieces, it will not be enough to atone for his crime!"

"Your Majesty's attempt to overturn Gu Ce's verdict is truly perverse and makes me and hundreds of thousands of Dajing's soldiers feel disheartened!"

Wang Nan's voice was high-pitched and indignant, filled with surging anger, and the sound seemed to burst out from deep in his chest.

The sharp mountain wind carried his every word clearly.

The mountain wind was howling non-stop, not only in the area around the foothills of Tianxi Mountain, but even in the capital city the wind was a bit strong today.

The flowers and trees in the garden creaked in the strong wind, and the withered flowers on the trees were blown off the branches, leaving the ground full of withered flowers.

Empress Dowager Yuan, wearing a black silk jacket carved with a crane holding a Ganoderma lucidum, sat by the window, quietly looking at the withered flowers outside. Her eyes were unfathomable and profound under her half-drooped eyelashes.

The chief eunuch lifted the curtain and walked in, his steps soundless, and he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, everyone has been settled."

The eunuch half lowered his head, swallowed his saliva, and his eyes were dim.

Early this morning, Empress Dowager Yuan issued an imperial decree on the grounds that she was not feeling well, and summoned all the ladies of honor, as well as princesses, county ladies and other female relatives in the capital to the palace.

The emperor and the eldest prince were away, and the person with the highest status in the palace was Empress Dowager Yuan. At her order, the palace guards temporarily placed the female family members under house arrest in Chunxi Hall.

Thinking of this, the eunuch's heartbeat quickened, and he asked with a little trepidation, "Does the queen want to go to Chunxi Palace to take a look?"

Empress Dowager Yuan didn't even look at the eunuch. She lowered her eyes to look at her own fair and delicate fingers. The nails on her ten fingers were trimmed neatly and roundly. Her hands were well maintained and as delicate and beautiful as a young girl.

She shook her head indifferently: "No more."

She placed these women under house arrest only to make those noble officials afraid to act rashly. After all, they were just powerless women, so there was nothing to see.

Empress Dowager Yuan stroked the cloud pattern embroidered on her cuffs and ordered calmly, "Knock."

Her tone was calm and her mood was also calm, like a lake without a single ripple, clear and tranquil.

The chief eunuch hurriedly took the order and retreated, passing by the senior palace maid who was walking over with a teacup.

The old tea was replaced and new tea was served.

Empress Dowager Yuan gracefully picked up the teacup, opened the lid, and gently stirred the tea leaves floating in the teacup.

She drank her tea slowly.

The refreshing aroma of tea filled the room along with the rising hot steam.

When Empress Dowager Yuan had almost finished her cup of tea, the head maid came in again and said, "Empress Dowager, Madam Yuan is here."

Empress Dowager Yuan put down her teacup and said decisively, "Announce!"

Almost at the same time as he finished speaking, a loud bell ringing sound was heard outside.

"Bang!"

Then, there was the second bell strike, the third, the fourth...

The sound of the bell resounded through the palace like thunder, and spread to almost half of the capital city with it as the center.

Upon hearing the noise, the people of the capital came out of their homes and looked towards the direction of the imperial palace.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The sound of the bells striking one after another was endless, making people's ears buzz.

Soon, more and more people gathered on the street, and it was bustling.

In the crowd, an old scholar with a haggard look looked up at the sky, listened carefully, moved his mouth slightly, and counted silently. When he counted to twenty-eight, his face suddenly changed.

He murmured to himself: "Death knell, this is the death knell!"

When the bell tolls twenty-seven times, it means the Queen Mother or Empress has passed away.

But the death knell has not stopped yet. It has exceeded thirty times and is still ringing...

Not only the old scholar was counting, but other people on the street were also counting: "...forty-three, forty-four, forty-five."

The counting sounds were a bit chaotic at first, but gradually, they became uniform.

After the bell rang forty-five times, it became quiet.

All the officials and common people who heard the bell were startled and looked sad.

The bell rang forty-five times, the number of nine and five, which was the sound of a great funeral, meaning that the emperor had passed away! Most people might only experience such a major event as the emperor's death once in their lifetime, but thousands of people in the capital had experienced it once a year ago, and they all reacted immediately and knew that it was a death knell.

Everyone's heart sank.

Although this emperor has only been on the throne for a year, he is kind and benevolent, and loves his people like his own children. In just this one year, he has implemented benevolent policies, issued edicts to reduce taxes and labor service for the people, vigorously developed farmland and water conservancy, reduced penalties, etc. The people are also grateful.

"The Emperor has passed away!"

No one knew who was the first to shout out in the crowd.

The old scholar looked towards the direction of the palace with sadness and slowly knelt down.

The two scholars beside him also knelt down with him, and it seemed that other people around were also infected by this emotion. Word spread from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand, from a thousand to ten thousand... All the people on the street knelt down, and everyone was a head shorter, forming a dark mass.

The atmosphere was solemn and sad.

Suddenly, the sound of messy horse hooves came from the street in the distance, approaching closer and closer, awakening the people from their sadness.

A group of imperial guards wearing bronze helmets and iron armor rode past on horseback, their hooves flying, and they shouted loudly:

"All of you common people should go home and are not allowed to stay outside."

"Anyone who wanders around will be considered a troublemaker and will be arrested."

“…”

The people kneeling on the ground were frightened when they heard this. They stood up and went back to their homes, fearing that they would be arrested and thrown into jail.

The whole capital city was in a state of panic. Soon, there were almost no passers-by on the streets, and the streets became empty and lifeless.

Groups of imperial guards rode their horses through the streets and alleys of the capital, shouting or waving their whips, forcefully driving away civilians from the streets and not allowing them to wander outside.

Not only that, teams of soldiers surrounded the Jingzhao Prefecture, the Five Cities Military Command, the Northern Pacification Command, and the residences of the major noble generals.

The rumbling sounds of horse hooves were like the beating of war drums, striking everyone's hearts.

“De de de…”

One of the teams approached the west gate rapidly.

The leading Dragon and Tiger General, General Hong, took out a golden token and said loudly to the soldiers guarding the city gate: "The emperor has passed away. The empress dowager has ordered that the city gates be closed and no one is allowed to enter or leave until the late emperor's funeral!"

The people who were waiting to enter or leave the city inside and outside the city gate also heard these words and were stunned for a moment. Many of them stood there, not knowing whether to continue to leave the city or just go home.

On the city wall, a round-faced young general hurried down the stone steps, frowned at General Hong who was standing on his horse with a short beard, and asked hesitantly, "Close the city gate?"

The capital city is an important capital of the country. The times for opening and closing the city gates have always been fixed. In the fifty years since the founding of the Dajing Dynasty, the city gates of the capital city have been closed early only a handful of times, and each time the order was issued personally by the reigning emperor.

General Hong pulled the reins, and the horse under his crotch blew white air. He moved the token with phoenix pattern in his hand closer to the round-faced young general and said, "Here is the Queen Mother's phoenix token!"

"The Emperor has just passed away, and many things are waiting to be sorted out. To prevent people from being uneasy, the Empress Dowager has ordered the city gates to be closed!"

General Hong spoke righteously, his brows tightly knitted together, and he felt impatient.

"The emperor passed away?" The round-faced young general pushed the helmet on his head and asked with a crooked face, "Who said that?"

General Hong frowned even more tightly. He had thought this task was a simple one, but he didn't expect this guy to be so slow.

He waved his hand, dismounted, and rode two steps closer to the young general, and said condescendingly: "Just now, 9545 funeral bells rang. This is the sound of a great funeral. Didn't you hear it?"

"A big funeral sound?" The round-faced young general leaned lazily on the city wall, but he had a heroic temperament.

He said nonchalantly, "I didn't count the number of times the bell rang just now. Maybe the Queen Mother has passed away."

As he spoke, he casually threw two loquats to a bearded city gate guard next to him and asked with a playful smile, "Is that so?"

The bearded man smiled and took the two loquats, and said, "Captain Fan, I didn't count them just now... Third brother, did you count them?"

Qiu Ran Hu threw one of the loquats to another triangular-eyed city gate guard, who shook his head seriously and said, "I didn't count either."

"I estimate that the death knell just now should have been more than twenty times. Maybe the Queen Mother really passed away!"

General Hong was so angry that his teeth were chattering and his face turned blue and white, looking quite ugly.

He had long heard that the Jinwu Guards guarding the city gates were like the Wucheng Bingmasi, and were filled with many uneducated and undisciplined young men from the families of meritorious military generals.

When I saw it today, it was indeed true!

General Hong tightly grasped the reins with one hand and angrily threatened: "If you disobey my order, you will be executed without mercy!"

"You better think it over!"

He raised his hand and made a gesture, and the dozens of imperial guards he brought with him rushed forward in a menacing manner.

They all drew their swords in a demonstrative manner, and their words were full of intimidation, as if they were going to kill each other if they disagreed with them.

"Who to kill?" A cold male voice suddenly sounded behind him, like a snort, or a sneer.

General Hong felt that the voice sounded familiar.

Who was it? He subconsciously looked up the city wall in the direction of the sound, and saw another young general looking down at him from high above the city wall.

In the backlight, the young general's face appeared a little blurry under the helmet, and his figure was tall and slender.

He casually took off the heavy helmet, revealing a smooth forehead and a handsome yet sharp face, with narrow eyes gleaming with coldness.

Under the blue sky, the sunlight behind the young man was so bright that it was a little dazzling. General Hong subconsciously squinted his eyes.

This person seemed to have just been standing on the city wall, but also seemed to be gone.

General Hong's pupils twitched rapidly, his body seemed frozen and unable to move. He looked at the young general on the city wall in disbelief.

Gu Yuan!

How could Gu Yuan be here?! General Hong's mind was buzzing, as if countless bees were rushing around in his head, and he couldn't think calmly at all.

Shouldn't Gu Yuan go with the eldest prince to the Kingdom of Yue to welcome the bride? !

If Gu Yuan is here... then does that mean...

General Hong's heart beat faster and faster, and it almost jumped out of his chest. He dared not think any further.

(End of this chapter)