Chapter 37: Imperial Capital in Chaos

  As soon as He Xian's voice fell, an official on the opposite side slammed his hand on the table and stood up. He was Chen Shangshu's most trusted official, and the power in his hands was not small either. With a fearless attitude, he slammed his hand on the table and shouted: "How dare you, He Xian, to utter such arrogant words and threaten an official appointed by the imperial court! What crime should you be guilty of!"

  He snorted disdainfully, picked up the knife on the table, and with a swooshing sound, he drew his sword towards him. The official saw that he really drew his sword, although frightened, but because of his face, he still tried to put on a brave front. "You dare to kill me? I am..."

  However, before he could finish speaking, a dull thud was heard, and blood flowed like a river. He stared in shock with his eyes wide open, looking at the knife stuck in his chest, pointing at He Xian, and fell to the ground.

  He was the highest-ranking official in the current cabinet, and his death caused panic among left-wing officials, with several slightly empowered officials attempting to make a last-ditch struggle.

  An official stood up and warned, "General He, our Left Party has an army of 400,000 stationed outside the Imperial City. If you continue to be so arrogant, don't blame us for being impolite!"

  "Huh?" At this time, Hong Xiangguo spoke up. "Stationing 400,000 troops outside the imperial capital, what is your intention! Are you thinking of rebelling?! General He!"

  "Got it!" He quickly flashed past, pulled out the knife of the guard behind him, and with a "ka-cheng" sound, the official's head was cut off halfway, hanging on his bright red neck, which was quite frightening.

  Zuo Xiang, Wang Guo Jiu, Huang Jiangjun and others were not present. These few somewhat powerful people were also killed, the Left Party officials of the Council of State were completely thrown into confusion, and they all got up and fled in disorder.

  However, all those who stepped out of the council hall let out wave after wave of mournful howls, scaring those who had not yet reached the gate to retreat repeatedly.

  At this time, one person led the way and knelt down. The other officials only reacted at this moment that saying anything was superfluous. As long as they resisted, it would be a dead end, and they all knelt down to beg for mercy.

  He Xian waved his hand and said, "Come on! Tie them all up and put them in a prisoner cart to parade around the city, beating gongs to announce that the Left Party members who attempted to rebel have been completely captured!"

  The guards under his command took the remaining officials away, and He continued to order: "Hang the heads of these people on the city gate, post a notice, and announce to the world that the left-wing officials in the court have been eliminated."

  The first step has been completed, Hong Xiangguo stood up and said: "Don't delay, General He, now you take the troops to search the house, I will go to the imperial palace to see the princess, draft an imperial edict, and proclaim it to the world!"

  Luoyang City, early morning.

  The shops on both sides of the street had just opened their doors, and the common people had also just gotten out of bed to start a day's work.

  Just as the number of people on the street was gradually increasing, suddenly, two teams of soldiers escorted a huge prison cart slowly forward. In front of the prison cart, two soldiers beat gongs, and in between, one soldier announced along with the sound of the gongs:

  "The rebel bandits of the Left Party have attempted to usurp power and have been apprehended. If any remaining members of the Left Party are discovered, report to the authorities immediately; otherwise, you will be considered equally guilty!"

  The common people thronged the roadsides, pointing and gesticulating at the wretched officials in the prison carts. In the crowd, some left-wing faction members saw this and immediately turned around to leave, preparing to flee.

  At that time, the imperial capital was in an uproar, and all those who had connections with the Left Party were reported by the people one after another. Most of them were arrested, and a small number of party members narrowly escaped. All left-wing figures in the country knew about the chaos in the imperial capital and were thinking of ways to make contact.

  They always thought that the Left Party had an army of 400,000 at its disposal, and with the support of Zuo Xiang and Guo Shu, they would never be defeated so easily.

  In the East City, a pair of officials and soldiers quickly surrounded several mansions, He Xian jumped off his horse and didn't let anyone knock on the door, directly ordering people to smash the door to pieces with a siege mentality.

  Then, with a group of people, they rushed into the mansion like bandits, this was Nalan Xianyu's intention, she wanted to create momentum, making everyone in the world think that the Left Party's luck had run out, and disrupting the formation of the Left Party members.

  The common people kept reporting to the government, and the families of left-wing officials were all arrested, and the imperial capital prison was in a hurry.

  The imperial palace, on top of the grand hall of politics, all officials gather together.

  In the palace, Hong Xiangguo handed over the imperial edict to Nan Gongyan. Nan Gongyan wore a phoenix robe and was solemn.

  She opened the imperial edict and read it aloud ——

  "By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The Left Prime Minister Chen Canghai and Wang Guo's uncle-in-law, along with Huang Renzhong and others, have formed a private clique, monopolized military power, plotted against the imperial court, and attempted to usurp the throne, putting the people in danger. Zhao Song has timely saved the Emperor, beheaded the rebels, and his merit is imperishable. He is specially appointed as the Great General of Martial Might, with a reward of 10,000 taels of gold!"

  At the same time, in the Empress Dowager's palace, there was a silence.

  The eunuchs maintained their knife-holding posture, but stood frozen in the hall, unsure of how to react.

  In the center of the great hall, Chen Xiangguo and Wang Guojiao as well as Huang Ting's heads had already fallen to the ground. This manner of death, although unseen by everyone, was something they had all heard before - it was the doing of the life-taking ghost of Bailing Tower.

  Zhao Song stared at the three people whose necks were still bleeding, and suddenly realized that he had fallen into a trap.

  Outside the hall, the morning light shines on the marble floor. A silver figure approaches from the backlight, his body is weak and small, but there is a kind of irresistible oppressive feeling that gradually approaches with his approach.

  Everyone in the hall held their breath, and the only sound left was his footsteps.

  The silver armor reflected dazzling light in the sunlight, he walked slowly, entering the grand hall, his footsteps getting closer and closer, everyone saw his face clearly, plain but cold as ice.

  The fierce and murderous look in his eyes made everyone tremble with fear.

  He walked up to the hall and said coldly: "The subordinate arrived late to save the emperor, and let the empress dowager be frightened."

  Before Murong Taohou could say anything in her stunned state, she raised her eyes and looked at Zhao Song with a serious expression. She slightly curled up the corners of her mouth and smiled shallowly: "Congratulations, General Zhao."

  Zhao Song was taken aback, and his mind had already thought of what had happened. At this time, an eunuch rushed in, shouting: "It's bad! Lord Zhao! Something has happened at the North Camp!"

  Beiying has always been a gathering place for eunuchs, where they have cultivated their own talents to meet the needs of the time.

  "What's going on?" Zhao Song remained calm.

  "The remnants of the defeated Left Wing Army failed to escape and retreated back to the capital, attacking our Northern Camp, with heavy casualties!"

  Zhao Song's body trembled heavily, and he looked at Nalan Xixi in shock. At this moment, she was expressionless, looking back at him, her eyes filled with an unquestionable confidence and an unyielding arrogance.

  He realized it was a conspiracy from the start.

  First, it stirred up the contradictions between eunuchs and the Left Party, forcing the eunuchs to have no way out, and then using the name of the eunuchs to exterminate the Left Party. Arresting the Left Party everywhere, forcing them to have no way out!

  Then, issue a decree to announce it to the world, give him a false name, and let the remnants of the Left Party think that all this is what he has done. The remnants of the Left Party have no way to retreat, so they will point their spears at the eunuchs and fight to the death for revenge. In this way, both sides will suffer losses.

  Zhao Song's face gradually turned pale, a clever plan of killing two birds with one stone.

  But all this is far from being so simple, don't forget what the Left Party has always been relying on.

  "Your Majesty, General Huang and several generals from the Left Party have stationed 400,000 troops outside the Imperial City. Please issue an edict for General He and General Quan to lead the army in defending the capital, lest the rebels break in!" Zhao Song's tone was urgent.

  He wanted to scare the Empress Dowager. Now, as long as he instigated a war between the Left Party army and the Right Party, he could again shift the spearhead towards Nalan Xiren.

  "Absolutely not!" Just then, Nan Gongyan walked in from outside the palace gate.

  Nangong Yan walked into the hall and knelt down with a thud. "Your son requests that Your Majesty take out the Phoenix Seal!"

  What is called Feng Xi, is the special power given by Nan Gong Jin to the Empress Dowager before he left. This time in the war, Nan Gong Jin knew what situation he was in, so before he left, he set up Feng Xi. In times of crisis, whoever holds Feng Xi will have the power to dominate Luo Tian.

  "Yan'er, speak up if you have something to say, hurry up." Murong Empress Dowager hastily got up and looked at Nan Gong Yan with concern.

  Nangong Yan remained kneeling. "At this critical moment, I request that Your Majesty take out the Phoenix Seal and hand it over to Nalan Duwei!"

  "What's going on?!" Mu Rong Tai Hou became suspicious, this Nan Gong Yan had always been a little devil, how could he suddenly want to hand over the entire Luo Tian to Na Lan Xi Nuo? No matter what, he was also the prince of Feng Yun country.

  "Empress, we were able to eliminate the leftist faction in time, all thanks to Xi Nu's efforts. Now that 400,000-strong army is right outside the city, please hand over the imperial seal to Xi Nu and stop the war at once!" Nan Gong Yan spoke with emotion and sincerity.

  Looking at Nangong Yan's expression, Murong Empress was somewhat shaken. At this time, Zhao Song said: "Princess, now that the war is about to break out, it is impossible to stop it. What we need to do is just send troops to fight!"

  "Impossible." Nalan Xianyu spoke up at this time. "Once the Luotian Empire falls into internal strife and starts killing each other, the twelve vassal states will definitely rise up in arms, and the world will be thrown into chaos."

  As she spoke, she looked at the Empress Dowager. "If Your Majesty does not trust me, I will hand over the imperial seal to the princess and have her supervise Xi Nu. Now that war is imminent, there is no time for hesitation!"

  However, they did not know that the Empress Dowager was considering another matter. After a moment of contemplation, the Empress Dowager said: "I can give you the Phoenix Seal, but there is one condition."

  "What conditions?" Nan Gongyan asked urgently.

  "You will engage with Yan'er and become the son-in-law of my Luotian, only then can I hand over the Phoenix Seal to you." A hint of self-assumed cleverness flashed in Empress Murong's eyes.

  But at this critical moment, such cleverness is unbearable.

  Nalan Xixi was thinking about how to respond, but Nan Gongyan on the side said without hesitation: "Good!"

  After saying that, she knew that it was better for her to say it herself, but somehow it didn't feel quite right. Her face turned slightly red as she turned around and gently pulled on Nalan Xinxiao's sleeve.

  Nalan Xixi hesitated for the first time in her decision, she couldn't deceive Nangong Yan like this, otherwise not to mention Nangong Yan, Nangong Jin would definitely hate her if he found out.

  However, now if she can't get Feng Xi, it would really be a case of "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" and personally sending Luo Tian to the guillotine. In fact, she knew this situation, but she was confident in recovering the Left Party army. But unexpectedly, Murong Empress set up an ambush for her here.

  After a moment of silence, Nalan Xixi said softly: "Okay."