Chapter 36: Cutting Grass and Eliminating Roots 2

  "Second, without waiting for the officials of the Left Party to agree, tomorrow at dawn when the Left Prime Minister and others enter the palace, immediately issue a letter requesting aid, then together with General He hang the heads of the Left Party members on the city gate, announcing to the world that the Left Party plotted rebellion and has been beheaded. Then order General He to go together to ransack the homes of all party members."

  "Thirdly, after the matter in the palace is settled, I will send someone to inform you. At that time, you draft an imperial edict, which will be personally proclaimed by the princess, announcing to the world that Zhao Song and Zhao Gong have ordered the eunuchs in the palace to personally execute the Left Prime Minister and the Emperor's uncle, as well as several generals of the Left Party. They will also rescue the Empress Dowager and Luo Tian from the jaws of death, and make it clear that the Emperor will heavily reward them."

  "Yes sir!" This time, Hong Xiangguo said "yes sir" without any hesitation.

  At this moment, he was willing to admit that he enjoyed the feeling of being at the beck and call of this young man. It was the wish of all the able men and virtuous scholars under heaven to be able to follow a master like him.

  Sometimes he would suddenly feel that he was no different from Nangong Jin, and sometimes he was even more meticulous than Nangong Jin, a rare talent for governing the world.

  But the one who felt this even more strongly was Nangong Yan. She looked at Nalan Xinnuo, her eyes filled with that unhidden fervor, the man she thought she would never find in her lifetime, now standing right in front of her.

  Hong Xiangguo left to attend to his duties, and a servant came in carrying a set of silver armor. Nalan Xinnuo was about to reach out to take it when Nan Gongyan beat him to it. Nan Gongyan picked up the heavy armor and said softly, "I'll help you."

  Nalan Xixi hesitated for a moment, then turned around and stretched out her arms, letting Nangong Yan help her put on the armor. Nangong Yan tied the straps of Nalan Xixi's armor with very familiar movements.

  Since she was young, she would dress her brother in all sorts of armor almost every day, but each time her brother came back, the armor would be gone.

  There was only once, she secretly saw the armor she had personally put on him that morning lying in the corner, already broken and stained with blood. At that time, she felt that the cruelest thing in the world was to personally put on armor for the person you loved most, and then the only thing left in your hands was just that chill.

  Nalan Xixi was petite and slender, wearing armor gave her a bit of an heroic air, but she still looked like a young boy. However, in Nangong Yan's eyes, no matter what Nalan Xixi looked like, she was the one he liked the most.

  Nalan Xixi took the helmet and put it on her head, turned around and walked out of the secret room. Nangong Yan followed behind her, not saying a word. As they exited the secret room, Nalan Xixi looked up at the sky, the stars were sparse, it was almost dawn.

  She turned around, just about to say something, when suddenly, Nangong Yan tightly hugged her.

  Nangong Yan pressed her face against the cold armor, she cried, and she didn't know why she was crying, why she felt so sad, why she felt like he might be gone forever.

  Nalan Xixi's heart was filled with mixed emotions, and the more Nan Gong Yan liked her, the more she didn't know what to do. She had already experienced too many injustices in her life, and if she were to find out that the first person she liked was deceiving her, how much more sorrow would she have to endure?

  Suddenly, Nalan Xiong was startled by his own thoughts.

  When did she start caring about whether Nangong Yan was sad or not? She even risked her life to find medicine for him, and yet he didn't hesitate to abandon her at that time. Still, she wanted to protect him at all costs, protect his country, his people, his family, and even worry about the woman he loved deeply.

  Nalan Xixi, have you gone mad?

  Nalan Xixi gently pushed open Nan Gongyan and said coldly: "Princess, it's time to set off."

  After that, she walked straight out and walked for a long time. Behind her, Nan Gong Yan said in a low voice as if to herself.

  "You must come back."

  Nalan Xixi's nose suddenly turned sour, and her expression became even colder.

  At dawn, the sky is slightly bright, and the frost condenses on the clear autumn morning, with a hazy white fog.

  The stars are easily buried by the distant faint dawn light, and the lonely crescent moon hangs in the sky.

  The palace gate was solemn and stern, with several horse-drawn carriages arriving one after another. Several high-ranking officials in luxurious clothes stepped down from the carriages.

  A loud rumbling sound, the heavy palace gate opened, and the armored Imperial Guards marched out in an orderly manner from both sides, standing on either side of the palace gate.

  Deep in the palace gates, a sweat-blooded horse carried a person slowly out of the morning mist.

  A youth clad in silver armor dismounted his horse, glanced at Left Prime Minister Chen Canghai, curled up the corners of his mouth, smiled slightly, and made a fist to pay respects: "I've seen you, sir."

  "Who are you?" Chen Canghai watched him warily.

  "I am newly appointed as a Captain of the Imperial Guard, alas." She replied very obediently.

  "Imperial Guard Captain?" Chen Canghai eyed her suspiciously.

  At this time, a group of eunuchs from the Empress Dowager's palace quickly approached Chen Cang Hai. They hastily walked to his front and bowed to several people around him, saying: "Lord Chen, Lord Wang, General Huang, the Empress Dowager summons the three of you for an audience."

  Chen Canghai nodded, adjusted his attire and walked towards the palace.

  As he walked, he felt more and more that something was off. "Guo Shu, I've never seen this captain of the Imperial Guard before?"

  The king's uncle waved his hand and said, "Oh dear, people say it's new to take office, let alone you, Left Prime Minister, who handles a million things a day, how can you have the energy to manage the palace gatekeepers?"

  "But why does the Imperial Guard Captain want to change? And why did the Empress Dowager summon us together today? There must be some ulterior motive!" Chen Canghai keenly sensed the danger in this audience.

  "I'm talking about Chen Xiangguo." Wang Guobo turned back with some impatience. "I take responsibility for my own actions, the Empress Dowager just wants to ask me about my grudge against that old eunuch, what's there to hide? Besides, we have an army of 400,000 at our disposal, are we afraid of him just guarding the gate?"

  At this time, Huang Rong's son, Huang Ting, also spoke up. As a martial general, Huang Ting was quite like his maternal grandfather, Wang Chongyang - simple-minded and rough-tempered. "Don't worry, sir! If anything happens, I'll take the blame. I'll lead an army of 100,000 to trample down that woman!"

  Chen Canghai furrowed his brow in dismay, and then, as if thinking of something, asked: "Wang Guigong, has Wang Guifei been in contact with you recently?"

  "Hmm..." The king's uncle was suddenly reminded by his words. "It has been some time since we last contacted each other."

  Chen Canghai had a strong bad premonition in his heart, but as they said, now that they have a tight grip on the military power here, what can the eunuchs and the small number of imperial guards in the palace do to them?

  A group of people soon arrived at the palace of the empress dowager, and along the way, there was nothing unusual. A small number of imperial guards were on routine patrol, while eunuchs were busy with various chores in the palace.

  In the main hall, the Empress Dowager was reclining on a phoenix couch, while beside her, Zhao Song held an incense burner and gently fanned her with an exquisite feather fan. Several people in the hall knelt down. "Greetings to Your Majesty."

  The empress dowager slowly opened her eyes, lightly waved her hand, and several people stood up. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

  The empress dowager slightly inclined her body, and Zhao Song immediately understood that the empress dowager wanted to get up. He hastily put down the incense burner and respectfully went forward to gently support the empress dowager in getting up. With meticulous care, he placed a soft cushion for the empress dowager and took a cup of tea from the table behind him to give to her.

  The Duke of Wang looked at Zhao Song with a disdainful snort, Empress Dowager heard his cold hum, raised her eyes to look at him, he immediately converged, Empress Dowager handed the teacup to Zhao Song, slowly opening her mouth. "What's going on with you two again?"

  Zhao Song put down his tea cup, knelt down in front of the Empress Dowager and said: "Empress Dowager, please forgive me, it's all my fault. A few days ago, Guo Shu bought assassins to kill Liu Gonggong, I was in charge of Liu Gonggong's funeral, but unexpectedly Guo Shu brought soldiers to seize Liu Gonggong's body, I refused, and thus offended Guo Shu. I'm afraid that Guo Shu will buy assassins again to kill me, so I thought of asking Empress Dowager to intercede on my behalf."

  "What the hell are you talking about!" Wang Guo's uncle pointed at Zhao Song and roared.

  "How dare you!" Zhao Song suddenly stood up, furious: "The audacious Wang Guo, actually dares to be disrespectful to the emperor, speaking wildly, is he trying to start a rebellion?! Guards, come!"

  "Not good! We've been had, let's go!" Chen Canghai heard this and immediately stopped in his tracks, turning around to head back.

  At this time, the eunuchs who were originally just passing by and the eunuchs who had come to lead the way earlier all drew their short swords from their waists and stabbed at them with well-trained movements.

  Wang Guo's uncle and Huang Ting were both martial generals, dodging nimbly. However, only two whizzing sounds were heard, two figures flashed in quickly, suddenly, the hall was silent...

  The officials of the Left Party have all arrived at the Yi Zheng Ge, but only Guo Shu and Zuo Xiang are missing, and Huang Ting is nowhere to be found.

  The officials of the Left Party also asked each other, but none of them got any results. At Chen time, the officials of the Right Party began to enter the Policy Hall one after another. Hong Xiangguo had a hint of pride at the corner of his mouth, and it had been too long since he walked into the Policy Hall with such confidence.

  The left-wing officials were still unclear about the current situation, and they saw the right-wing officials coming one after another, all of whom raised their chins in disdain, either sneering or coldly snorting.

  Suddenly, neat and powerful footsteps mixed with the sound of swords rubbing against armor echoed outside the door.

  The left party official looked back at the door in confusion, only to see He Xian wearing armor and leading a team of soldiers quickly squeezing into the policy hall. The soldiers walked past in an orderly manner and stood behind the left party official.

  The left party officials were at a loss, looking at each other in dismay. At this time, Hong Xiangguo slowly opened his mouth.

  "Today, let's discuss the matter of writing a letter asking for help."

  At this time, an official opposite him sneered: "Humph, Lord Hong, you must be getting old and muddled! Requesting reinforcements? Who would send troops to help you at this time, let alone that the Emperor doesn't need any assistance!"

  "Oh?" Hong Xiangguo slightly raised an eyebrow. "Your Excellency's meaning is, you don't agree?"

  "No, I disagree." The official said with a smug tone, word by word.

  Suddenly, a loud "whoosh" sound was heard, and blood splattered everywhere. The soldier behind him pulled out the knife from his body, expressionless, and sheathed it. All the officials of the Left Party were shocked.

  He unsheathed the sword at his waist and slammed it onto the table, bellowing: "Those who disobey will be killed!"