Chapter 106: Sending Troops into the Pass (Part 2) Update
The Yanjing Imperial Palace, thousands of miles away.
Liu Ziling's coup was successful, forcing Emperor Liu Jian to issue an edict of abdication. With the emperor's abdication, the crown prince naturally assumed control of the government. The formal enthronement ceremony, overseen by officials from the Ministry of Rites, was scheduled for five days later.
There are still 150,000 troops heading towards Yanjing, and this is the first thing that needs to be resolved.
In addition to the abdication edict that day, Liu Ziling also obtained a transfer order from Liu Jian, ordering the 150,000 troops to obey the orders of the new prince from then on.
In addition, there were so many things to do, such as handling state affairs, pacifying the officials and citizens of the capital of Yanjing and the governors of various counties, as well as preparing for the coronation ceremony, that Liu Ziling worked almost all day and night.
But whenever he appears in front of people, he always maintains a sharp spirit and a sharp mind, without showing any signs of fatigue.
Day 4, the last day before the ceremony.
After noon, after seeing off another wave of court officials and ceremonial officials, Liu Ziling finally took a nap for a while on the desk where he handled affairs.
In less than half an hour, another eunuch came to report.
Liu Ziling was a light sleeper, and he woke up when he heard the eunuch's footsteps outside the hall.
His brow furrowed slightly as he detected the hurried footsteps of the eunuchs. Outside the palace gate, the eunuch who had been in charge since his time at the Crown Prince's residence seemed to have stopped the visitor on the pretext that he was lightly sleeping, and a low conversation arose.
He sat up again from the couch, straightened his robes and said, "Who is here to report? Let him in."
His eunuch in charge paced back and forth hurriedly: "Your Highness, you are awake. It is someone from the Empress Dowager's palace." At the same time, he asked the person outside the door to come into the hall and kneel at a distance inside the hall door.
"Your Highness, the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager is in very poor health..."
After saying this, Liu Ziling frowned slightly.
He knew that the Empress Dowager had been ill since the siege of the palace.
His eunuch in charge immediately scolded him, "How can you say such things? The Empress Dowager is a precious woman, and even if she feels a little unwell, you, a servant, are cursing her!"
"No, no, I don't dare! Even if I had eight hundred guts, I wouldn't dare!"
"Have you invited the imperial physician?" Liu Ziling asked.
"Your Highness, please. The imperial physician has no cure. He only said, I'm afraid there's no hope of recovery."
Liu Ziling's mother, Empress Derong, died when he was young. As Liu Jian's eldest son, he was raised in the Empress Dowager's palace for the first year of his life.
The Empress Dowager was not particularly affectionate towards him, but she was definitely not cold or harsh either.
Although he was still not close to the Empress Dowager as he grew older, and they only exchanged routine inquiries and greetings, Liu Ziling still remembered this kindness.
What's more, if the Empress Dowager really passed away, I'm afraid the etiquette of his coronation ceremony would have to be reconsidered.
"Go to the Queen Mother's palace."
The eunuch in charge bowed and said, "Yes."
A group of replaced imperial guards followed the prince to the Empress Dowager's palace.
When he arrived at the Rende Palace, where the Empress Dowager lived, the guards were all sent by Liu Ziling. When they saw him coming, they all knelt and greeted him.
Entering the bedroom, the guards lined up and cleared out all unnecessary eunuchs and palace maids, leaving only one to serve. Liu Ziling stepped forward and, from a distance, he could smell the scent of impending death.
He approached the bed curtain and saw the elderly empress dowager lying on the bed in her dying moments.
He didn't need the imperial physician to arrive, as he was certain that she would not last more than a few hours.
The bedroom was completely silent. Liu Ziling stood quietly before the empress dowager's bed. After a moment, the eyelids of the person on the bed fluttered, and then slowly opened, revealing a pair of cloudy eyeballs.
Her eyes rolled and looked in his direction.
The old empress dowager's lips parted as she called out softly, "Ling'er... are you here?" This was the name Liu Ziling had been called when he was a child, fostered in the empress dowager's palace. Now, no one had called him that for many years.
The hand under the thin blanket moved and stretched forward, as if wanting to hold Liu Ziling's hand.
Liu Ziling looked at the face, hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and held the withered hand.
The old lady held on tightly to anything that was handed to her, just like a young baby.
Liu Ziling also showed a slightly relaxed look, thinking that it was just his last farewell to the old empress dowager who had raised him.
The force in the palm was not strong, and Liu Ziye did not feel any pressure even when being held.
But……
But after a moment, he felt a slight numbness coming from the place where the Queen Mother's grip touched his skin. This was not normal...
Liu Ziling suddenly woke up and quickly pulled his hand out from under the Queen Mother's palm.
The incident happened so suddenly that the guards rushed forward and surrounded the palace maid and the dying queen mother.
"Your Highness! What's wrong with you?"
Liu Ziling's face was as cold as ice, veins and sweat popping out of his forehead. "Go get the imperial physician! The Queen Mother's hand is poisoned!"
This sentence was like a thunderclap. The eunuch supported Liu Ziling, and the guards hurriedly called for the imperial physician while running out to inform General Chi of the incident.
The whole hall was in panic.
Through the gap between the guards, Liu Ziling glanced at the old empress dowager in the tent again, and saw a glint of triumph in her cloudy eyes. But it was only for a moment before they closed again, completely extinguishing all traces of life.
"Why do you hate me so much?"
The poison spread rapidly through his palm and then to his arm. After Liu Ziye said this, he felt dizzy and had difficulty standing upright.
In a flash, he had already sensed his fate.
At this time, he suddenly realized that what made him most regretful was not that he failed to ascend the throne and create a peaceful world for the Great Zhou.
But——
Until his death, he never fulfilled his promise to meet Liu Ziye in Yanjing.
Ziye.
Cousin before, cousin now.
What kind of person are you?
He is real, I really want to see it with my own eyes...
At this moment, a never-before-heard-of secret guard team on the west side of Yanjing took advantage of the chaos in the palace and rescued the abdicated Liu Jian and the imprisoned Qin Feng from the imperial city.
Naturally, the coronation ceremony could no longer be held as usual.
Liu Ziling also died suddenly three days after being poisoned, without any cure.
The situation in Yanjing changed drastically.
Liu Jian's trusted forces were eliminated and controlled, so it was certainly not easy for him to regain the situation.
But Liu Ziling's party suddenly lost its backbone. Even if Chi Zhan was mature and experienced, it would be difficult for him to completely control the situation without a monarch to serve.
Moreover, Liu Ziling's last words meant that they did not need to resist, let alone try to support his youngest son.
Yanjing fell into chaos again.
Half a month later, Liu Jian, who had not yet officially abdicated, received the 150,000 troops to aid Yanjing.
This group of soldiers had already changed their ways and were ready to pledge allegiance to the new emperor. However, who would have thought that the new emperor would die suddenly before he even ascended the throne, and Liu Jian continued to rule as the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty for more than 20 years, holding the highest moral banner.
This team then rejoined Liu Jian and, in response to his order, rushed to Yanjing.
In this way, Liu Jian returned to the Yanjing Palace again and sat back on his dragon throne.
He stroked the Dongzhu on the dragon's head with one hand, with a smug smile on his face.
"Prince, my good son."
"You're always like this, hypocritical and ruthless. You're not completely ruthless. You don't even root out the problem. You don't have the courage to kill your father and your king. How could you possibly win over me?"
Chi Zhan and others led the remaining troops to protect the Crown Princess and Liu Ziling's three young sons and daughters all the way. They took the last words that Liu Ziling dictated on his sickbed and rode away towards the northwest.
·
While the court was in chaos, Liu Ziye led a large army out of Xiguan on the third day after receiving the system message.
Chi Mu's injuries had mostly healed, and he was about to bid farewell to Liu Ziye and return to the capital with the remaining troops, but he suddenly heard the bad news and was filled with grief and anger.
This time, he naturally also accompanied the army.
In the autumn of the sixteenth year of Tianxi, on the third day of October.
The 100,000 soldiers at Xiguan were commanded by the young marquis of Xiguan himself, and were stationed at the Fangshan Pass between Xiguan and Fanyang County.
The governor of Fanyang County and the three guards and four battalions of the central army stationed here had already learned that Liu Ziyan's 250,000 troops had surrendered to Xiguan in one day. How could they dare to fight rashly?
The pass was tightly locked and no one was allowed to escape.
A group of people gathered together and argued fiercely about whether to surrender or not.
Liu Ziye was not in a hurry to attack. She patiently stationed her army on the west side of the pass. She seemed to have no intention of doing anything and seemed to be sure of victory, waiting for Fanyang County to surrender.
On the second day, the news of Emperor Shengzu's edict began to circulate in Fanyang County. It turned out that the King of Xiguan was supposed to be the heir to the throne, and the current Emperor Liu Jian had used underworld means to seize the throne while the late emperor was ill.
Fanyang County was the neighboring county that was most influenced by Xiguan County. Those Buddhist monks first spread the praises of the virtues of the young marquis of Xiguan in Fanyang County.
In the past few years, half of the county residents have moved to Xiguan due to its convenient location close to Xiguan.
Now, hearing that the young Marquis of Xiguan has arrived and that he is the legitimate heir to the throne, people's minds are changing! Everyone is vying to welcome the young Marquis of Xiguan into Fanyang County and take over Fanyang!
However, the guards of Fanyang County and the commanders of Fangshan Pass could not accept the entry of Marquis Xiguan so easily.
After all, they were officials appointed by Liu Jian or Crown Prince Liu Ziling.
Unexpectedly, two more days passed.
Unexpectedly, news came that the Crown Prince of the Zhou Dynasty, Liu Ziling, led an army to besiege the palace, but was defeated and executed!
Chi Zhan, one of the four founding generals, had also fled Yanjing! The Yanjing court had been occupied by the Crown Prince's rebellion, and the two armies had engaged in a fierce battle in the city, leaving half the city blocks in ruins. The court's important officials and military officers were also largely vacant due to the war and the subsequent settlement.
The situation is precarious.
Of the three battalion commanders stationed in Fangshan, two were from the Chi family faction. The governor of Fanyang County had also been recommended by Crown Prince Liu Ziling.
The news finally broke their last bit of defense.
That evening, the barrier at Fangshan Pass was opened.
The three battalion commanders of the three guards of the central army, the governor of Fanyang County and the officials of the governor's office went out of the pass to welcome the young marquis of Xiguan to settle in Fanyang.
The news of Fan Yang's change of ownership spread like wildfire.
Liu Ziye did not stay in Fanyang County for too long. Ten days later, Du Hui sent someone to take over the subsequent contact matters in Fanyang County, and led the army according to the planned marching route.
He left Fanyang, passed Pingshan in the north, and passed through Pingyang and Mangshan counties. Wherever he went, officials, civilians and people opened the city gates and lined the streets to welcome him.
The army hardly stopped and headed straight for Yanjing, the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty held by Liu Jian.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
