For many years, Qianwandi had a secret idea about the relationship between the positions in the palace. Others didn't know about it, but his confidants all knew about it.
He wanted to abolish the two empresses and Prince of Dongyang. He wanted to confer the title of his birth mother. He wanted to place a minor noble in Qing Zheng Hall on the throne.
If this idea was realized, it would shake the most important relationship of the royal family and cause a great change in the world.
Because of these potential threats, Qianwandi didn't take action. This idea could only be called a secret hidden deep in his heart.
Prince of Dongyang's attempt to be independent was an opportunity. In fact, he had already leaked the news a while before he tried to raise the army. Who was Qianwandi?
How could the Secret Guards of the royal family be weak?
When Jinyuan thought that he had done it flawlessly, he didn't know that he had become a chess piece in someone else's hand.
Harboring malicious intentions, Li Ji indulged his younger brother, indulging him to gather troops, indulging him to collude with the court officials, and sometimes even secretly passing through for convenience, quietly tempting him to go further and further down this road of no return.
The day before Jinyuan was about to rise, Li Ji suddenly sent troops to surround the Prince of Dongyang's mansion. The Secret Guards of the royal family found imitation dragon robes, dragon crowns, and secret letters in the mansion. They were waiting for the Emperor's order to search the mansion immediately.
If Jinyuan fell, the Empress Dowager could be brought down as well.
If the Empress Dowager fell, it meant that she was immoral and incompetent. The one who should have been made empress back then should have been Qianwandi's birth mother.
Everyone could feel Qianwandi's undisguised joy that his long-cherished wish was about to become a reality.
However, at this time, the Empress falsified the imperial edict and sent people to send Prince of Dongyang out of the capital.
As soon as Prince of Dongyang left the capital, he immediately rushed to the Hanbei camp at full speed. The Empress secretly ordered the Crown Prince to prepare troops in the palace. When Qianwandi and Prince of Dongyang fought, the Crown Prince could take advantage of the situation and benefit from it.
This plan was originally carried out very carefully. Even if Qianwandi knew what they were doing, he didn't have the heart to care.
It could be said that if things had gone according to the Empress' plan, perhaps the Crown Prince would have ascended the throne by now.
However, no one had expected Dongyang Wang Jinyuan to be strangled to death by Lu Jiuchen not long after he arrived at the Hanbei Barracks.
As soon as King Dongyang fell, the Empress Dowager was immediately deposed and locked in the Cold Palace.
That night, Qianwandi went to Phoenix Cry Palace and calmly said a few words to the Empress.
The first sentence was to give her a dagger, a bowl of poison, and three feet of white silk for her to choose. The second sentence was to have someone read out the posthumous edict appointing the Crown Prince as the new Emperor. It could be said that they had been husband and wife for many years so that she could leave in peace.
The Empress chose poison.
The highest quality Crane's Crown Red immediately took effect. After struggling bitterly for so many years, this most honorable woman in the world finally followed in the footsteps of her sister, Empress Mingrui.
Mingde didn't know how he returned to the camp outside the city.
He should have returned to the Hall of Purity after seeing the Crown Prince, but he didn't go to see the Crown Prince at all.
He turned back halfway. Those people were driving the carriage, but no one noticed that he had secretly jumped off the carriage and left the palace through the secret passage that he had used when he was a secret guard.
Night had already enveloped the suburbs. The withered grass all over the mountains and plains trembled in the cold wind. It fluttered up and fell down one after another.
Which gust of wind had carried that wisp of soul that had not dissipated away, whistling into the distance?
The woman who had once cried and held him in her arms, the woman who had never given birth to a child of her own. Now, she had silently left. He didn't know when she looked back, but it became an eternal farewell.
The river was bone-chillingly cold.
Mingde quietly soaked in the water. All the blood in his body seemed to be boiling and clamoring, but his heart kept sinking until it sank into a bottomless abyss.
Why?
I don't have a mother anymore …
Perhaps the heavens really were unfair to people.
Some people were born into the noble families of the Emperor. They could control the clouds and rain with a flip of their hand. Life and death were at the mercy of a thought. Some people bitterly struggled to survive. After going through hardships and finally grasping something precious in their hands, it would be easily taken away by powerful and high ranking people in an instant.
No matter how much you cherished it, no matter how hard it was to come by, even if it was the most important thing that you yearned for, even if it was blood and flesh, it was just a plaything that could be easily destroyed by those in power as if it was nothing more than entertainment.
Mingde quietly soaked in the water. In the deep night, he could only hear the deep and shallow sounds of his own breathing.
The sound of people faintly came from the distance. Candlelight was lit in the homes of the people who returned late. The dots were like stars in the distance.
Those were all too far away from him.
That little bit of insignificant, pitiful and lowly earthly joy had finally been completely torn apart and taken away.
The night was like a long river. There would never be a day when dawn would come.
The next day, the palace sent someone to invite him. The main tent was closed and refused to see him.
Then there was an imperial edict above the head of a great eunuch. The main tent sent someone to reply: The general has caught a cold and is seriously ill. He is afraid of startling the Emperor and does not dare to see him.
A few days later, he led his troops into the capital for an audience. His silvery-white armor sparkled. His robes fluttered in the wind. His horse did not step on the ground. He broke into the city like an immortal descending to the mortal world. Tens of thousands of people shouted 'long live the Emperor'. For a moment, the earth shook and the mountains shook.
Inside the palace, there was a high platform. Qianwandi led his important officials and trusted aides. Bright yellow and true dragon ceremonial guards. They magnificently welcomed the army back to the city.
It was not until noon that the black iron gate of the palace in the distance suddenly opened. In the midst of the earth shaking and the mountains shaking, the dust and smoke from the horses' hooves gradually appeared in the distance. It almost covered the entire field of vision and formed a line where the horizon met the sky.
Zhang Kuo asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the palace gate …"
Qianwandi suddenly raised his hand to stop him.
The army was getting closer and closer. The entire ground seemed to be shaking. The loud sound of ten thousand horses galloping was like rolling thunder. It was so loud that the cowardly people did not dare to look directly at them.
Among the dense mass of people, the young general in white robes and silver armor leading the way was particularly eye-catching. He was like the arrowhead of an arrow, rushing into the palace like a waterfall.
Qianwandi did not even turn his head. Zhang Kuo only heard his voice, which carried a faint coldness, "… At such a good time, do not mention something that will spoil my mood …"
The army rushed to the bottom of the city and suddenly stopped.
In an instant, there was no sound other than the echoes of the rumbling. The entire army stood solemnly in the dust and wind. No one moved, and no one spoke.
The officials of the Ceremony Directorate passed down the message from the high city walls to the palace gate below.
Logically speaking, the palace gate should have opened by now. However, for some reason, the palace gate was still tightly shut. From the sound transmission channel, someone repeated:
"… Our Emperor has decreed that all troops dismount and kneel —"
"All troops dismount and kneel —"
"Commander-in-chief Shangguan Mingde, lead the entire army to dismount and kneel —!"
It was as if there were no other sounds in the world. The shrill voice of the decree filled the broken wind, stirring up clouds of dust and sand, rustling against the closed palace gate.
Someone wanted to move, but he was immediately cut down and thrown off his horse.
Mingde raised his head on his horse and looked at Qianwandi in the distance.
In the sunlight, his face could not be seen clearly. One could only see his silver armor shining brightly. It was so dazzling that one could not open one's eyes.
Qianwandi leaned forward slightly and stared at him with a gaze that was almost infatuated and even intoxicated.
If the gaze could be solid, Mingde would have been dragged over by him countless times.
"… So beautiful …" Qianwandi smiled softly. There was an indescribable cruelty in his smile. "… Really … too beautiful …"
His expression was so calm and confident, as if nothing could be out of his control.
Even when Mingde raised his bow in the distance, he did not move his eyebrows.
Mingde's wrist moved quickly. He suddenly pulled out seven arrows and shot them in the direction of Qianwandi!
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In an instant, the city wall was in chaos. Everyone rushed over. Some called for help, some called for rebellion. The buzzing sounds came one after another.
A huge shield was erected in an instant, firmly protecting the entire city tower.
Mingde put down his bow. The deputy general behind him suddenly raised a large flag. It was blown by the wind and made a sound.
"Charge!
Those who break through the palace gate shall enjoy a thousand miles of land and be conferred the title of Marquis! "
"— Charge!"
The army charged forward, and the small group of imperial guards guarding the palace gate was no match for them. In just a few moments, there was a loud explosion in the chaos, and the golden red palace gate was smashed open.
The chaotic army was like a small stream of water in a giant whirlpool. They scattered and charged into the palace.
Mingde's general had rebelled.
He led the Hanbei army thousands of miles to the capital and then charged directly into the Jiuchong Palace where the Emperor resided.