Chapter 820: Failed coup!
At 15:00, Murong Lun slowly walked out of Shangguan Mansion. Although the sun had set, it was still hanging high in the sky. However, Murong Lun, who had just escaped from the gates of hell, felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave, his whole body freezing...
With the help of the servants around him, Murong Lun slowly boarded the carriage for his return home. After Murong Lun sat down in the carriage, under the protection of hundreds of servants, the carriage slowly headed towards Murong's residence.

After taking the hand warmer from the servant and getting on the carriage back home, Murong Lun's mentality gradually returned to normal.

About two months ago, a piece of news about Shangguan Hongyuan's physical condition spread from Shangguan Mansion. The content of this news was roughly that Shangguan Hongyuan's condition was much worse than expected, and he had only three to six months left at most.

Because the news concerned Shangguan Hongyuan's physical condition, it attracted a lot of attention as soon as it came out. Shangguan Hongyuan remained silent about the news and the frequency of his meetings with ministers also decreased.

Just as the news was getting more and more intense in Luoan, Shangguan Hongyuan suddenly ordered the monthly court meetings to be suspended indefinitely, and promoted his son Shangguan Changgong, who was the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, to the position of Minister of War, in charge of all the troops under the Luoan court. As for the affairs of the court, they would be handled through consultation between the cabinet and the six ministries.

Although Shangguan Hongyuan did not publicly respond to the news of his health condition, with the suspension of grand court meetings and the decentralization of power to the cabinet and the six ministries, the court remained stable on the surface and nothing else happened, but in fact there were undercurrents.

Even those who had doubts about the news before began to believe that Shangguan Hongyuan really had a serious health problem and would not live long...
The current political structure of the Luoan court can be aptly described as one superpower and many strong powers. Shangguan Hongyuan, as the chief minister, commands the six ministries with his left hand and holds political power, and leads the imperial guards with his right hand and holds military power. No one in the court, civil or military, dares to disobey him!
Apart from Shangguan Hongyuan, the most powerful people in the court are the Minister of Personnel Murong Lun, the Minister of Justice Shi Huairen, and Zheng Chaozong, Marquis of Baijiang. The Murong family behind Murong Lun and the Shi family behind Shi Huairen are both century-old families.

Although they are a little inferior to the Murong family, which had three cabinet ministers in five generations, the Shi family's two generations, Shi Zhengying and Shi Huairen, both served as ministers of six ministries. With the hard work of two generations, many officials in the court were their followers and disciples. The Shi family's power in the court became intertwined and influential!
Because Shi Huairen had competed with Lin Yi for the opportunity to join the cabinet in his early years, he had a very bad relationship with the Lin family. Therefore, although they were both from aristocratic families and had similar political stances, Lin Zhengze did not take Shi Huairen with him when the Luoan Incident happened. However, this also made Shi Huairen a blessing in disguise. He bet on Shangguan Hongyuan and received considerable political rewards.

Although Shi Huairen chose Shangguan Hongyuan in the last political choice between Lin Shize and Shangguan Hongyuan, Shi Huairen had different ideas this time.

Before the first Yunbing War, with the blessing of the great achievement of destroying the Southern Tour Court, most people in the Luoan court believed that Shangguan Hongyuan could unify the world. People like Ye Mingsheng of the Fengwu Army and Xu Zhaojie of the Zhennan Army were nothing but traitors to Shangguan Hongyuan, who was at the peak of his career at that time...

What Fengwu Army and Zhennan Army? When the imperial army of the Great Zhou arrived, they were all just a bunch of vulnerable chickens and dogs!

It was in this political context that the imperial court and the Fengwu Army fought the first battle of Yunbing. The imperial court's 200,000 elite main forces fought for several months, but ended up only capturing five county towns and didn't even see the gate tower of Jinzhong City!

Although Shangguan Hongyuan tried his best to whitewash the battle record, boast about the military exploits of the Imperial Army's Eastern Expedition, and maintain the reputation and confidence of the Luoan court!
It is true that Shangguan Hongyuan's tactics were very effective. They intimidated many middle and low-level officials and made them feel that the court's eastward expedition was very fruitful and that the future of the Luoan court was bright. Next, they would surely be able to sweep away the rebellious Fengwu Army and unify the world!
However, Shangguan Hongyuan's propaganda tricks had no effect on Murong Lun, Shi Huairen and other bigwigs in the court. They were all thousand-year-old foxes and everyone could see what the facts were.

However, although it was obvious that Shangguan Hongyuan had suffered a complete strategic failure and the carefully planned offensive was far from achieving the expected results, from a tactical point of view, five counties were still captured, which was not a complete loss and they barely managed to keep their bottom line. Therefore, although the bigwigs in the court were very disappointed with the Eastern Expedition, they were still very confident in the court.

However, the second Yunbing War a few months later disappointed all the bigwigs, and they completely lost confidence in Shangguan Hongyuan and the Imperial Guards...

Facing the counterattack launched by the Fengwu Army, Wang Muzhi was defeated after winning at first. The 200,000 imperial troops spent countless money and food and suffered casualties. The five counties they had just conquered were taken back by the Fengwu Army. As the news spread back to Luoan, the Luoan court, which was already suffering from internal and external troubles, was undoubtedly even more precarious.

Against this backdrop, a voice emerged within the Luoan court, which believed that peace talks should be held with the Fengwu Army at this moment, and that Ye Mingsheng and his Fengwu Army should be recruited as much as possible. Shangguan Hongyuan also followed suit and contacted the Fengwu Army again.

Shangguan Hongyuan's representative once again expressed to the Fengwu Army that as long as Ye Mingsheng was willing to stop completely, the court would be willing to appoint Ye Mingsheng as the King of Yan. On the basis of hereditary succession and sharing the same fate with the country, the King of Yan could decide on all matters concerning Liaoyang, Youyan, Jiyu, Qilu, Anqing and other territories currently controlled by the Fengwu Army, and the court would never interfere.

Such conditions are almost equivalent to that as long as Ye Mingsheng stops, the imperial court will tacitly allow the Fengwu Army to become an independent small kingdom!

However, Ye Mingsheng scoffed at such conditions. He once again emphasized the goal of the Fengwu Army to purge the emperor’s side, and expressed his willingness to swear an oath by the Luo River. He did not need to be crowned a king, as long as he could kill the traitor Shangguan Hongyuan for the court, he would be willing to give up completely and guard the northern border forever for the Great Zhou Dynasty...

As Ye Mingsheng was determined to kill the traitor Shangguan Hongyuan, the peace talks between the two sides lost their basis for negotiation and the negotiations were completely declared broken!
However, although the negotiations with the Luoan court represented by Shangguan Hongyuan broke down, the negotiations between the Fengwu Army and other court leaders have been ongoing!

During these negotiations, the Fengwu Army's negotiating representatives always emphasized one point: Ye Mingsheng was only targeting the traitor Shangguan Hongyuan, not the entire Luoan court. Ye Mingsheng himself had great respect for the bigwigs of the court, and he supported all of them to remain in their respective positions!
As long as Shangguan Hongyuan, the traitor, is eliminated, Ye Mingsheng is willing to sign a peace treaty with the Luoan court immediately! Never fight again!

After hearing Ye Mingsheng's statement, these court leaders were a little embarrassed. They had been in the political arena for most of their lives and were no longer children. They immediately agreed to Ye Mingsheng's promises. They were also afraid that Ye Mingsheng was just playing tricks on them and was just using them to get rid of Shangguan Hongyuan. Once Shangguan Hongyuan died, Ye Mingsheng would lead his troops west to Zhuluo'an. At that time, they could only follow Ye Mingsheng's lead.

In this dilemma, they saw that the Fengwu Army was thriving and sending troops to Huainan again, taking over half of Huainan including Kangyin. They soon realized that if they allowed the Fengwu Army to continue to develop, then in three to five years, the world would really belong to the Ye family...
It was in this context that news came out that Shangguan Hongyuan had health problems, and people's hearts began to move. Everyone knew that even if Shangguan Hongyuan was really dead, he would not really return power to the cabinet. He would want his son Shangguan Changgong to become another him.

Shangguan Changgong, who grew up under the wings of his father, does not have as much prestige in the court as Shangguan Hongyuan. Therefore, in order to consolidate his regime, Shangguan Changgong, who holds the military power, is likely to launch a new round of killings to establish his prestige in blood and corpses!

For these bigwigs in the court, tolerating Shangguan Hongyuan, who held the emperor hostage to control the princes, was already at the limit. They did not want to tolerate another Shangguan Changgong.

Therefore, in order to avoid becoming a stepping stone for Shangguan Changgong's power, a group of people led by Shi Huairen decided to strike first. They began to plot to seize power through a military mutiny and kill the traitors Shangguan Hongyuan and Shangguan Changgong!
In order to increase the possibility of success, Shi Huairen also approached Murong Lun and confidently introduced his plan. Shi Huairen reached a tacit understanding with some powerful figures of the Imperial Guards through Zheng Chaozong, Marquis of Baijiang, to let them stand aside and watch the coup...

At the same time, Shi Huairen also bribed Luoan Admiral Sun Yourong and gathered an armed force of more than 5,000 people in Luoan City. He planned to close the city gates in three days, rush into Shangguan's mansion with all his men to capture the thief first, kill Shangguan Hongyuan and Shangguan Changgong, and then carry the heads of the father and son to kill Shangguan Hongyuan's other followers.

According to Shi Huairen's plan, it would only take one night for him to completely overthrow Shangguan Hongyuan's actual rule over the Luoan court.

After completing the killing, Shi Huairen needed Murong Lun to stand on his side to help him appease the people of the court and the soldiers of the imperial guards. Shi Huairen also planned to use the relationship between Murong Lun and the Fengwu Army to complete the negotiations with Ye Mingsheng as soon as possible and ensure the smooth signing of the peace agreement.

Although he had many dissatisfactions with Shangguan Hongyuan's rule, Murong Lun still had some doubts about whether Shi Huairen could stabilize the imperial guards, so he did not directly accept Shi Huairen's invitation, but he also promised Shi Huairen in an ambiguous attitude that he would keep the secret for him.

Just when Murong Lun was secretly looking forward to Shi Huairen's ability to change the Luoan court, today, three days before the uprising, Shangguan Hongyuan invited Murong Lun to play chess. For Shangguan Hongyuan's sudden invitation, Murong Lun immediately felt the taste of danger...
At that moment, Murong Lun's subconscious reaction was to inform Shi Huairen to let him start the rebellion in advance, but he soon realized that if Shangguan Hongyuan was really prepared, then it would be too late for him to rule Shi Huairen. If he informed Shi Huairen, not only would he not be able to change anything, but he might also implicate his own family.

So at that critical moment, Murong Lun finally chose to believe in his own rational judgment. He did not inform Shi Huairen, but went to Shangguan Hongyuan's house alone to respond to Shangguan Hongyuan's chess game.

Honestly speaking, when Murong Lun saw Shangguan Hongyuan, who was rumored to be too ill to see people, looking at him quietly in the room with a normal expression, he knew that this was a trap set by Shangguan Hongyuan, and Shi Huairen had fallen into it!

As expected, Chen Jingyu's report made everything settled!

Although he was very unwilling, Murong Lun was also glad for his final caution. Although Shangguan Hongyuan had always been wary of his and his family's influence and worried that killing him would make the situation out of control, if he had really agreed to Shi Huairen at that time, then given Shangguan Hongyuan's character, he would have killed his entire family without hesitation!
During the game of chess, Murong Lun could also feel Shangguan Hongyuan’s conflicted heart. He could clearly feel that Shangguan Hongyuan wanted to kill him, so in order to survive, he decisively admitted defeat to Shangguan Hongyuan and expressed his and the Murong family’s submission...
Even so, Murong Lun was still not sure at that time that Shangguan Hongyuan would really let him and the Murong family go. It was not until the moment he walked out of Shangguan's mansion that he felt temporarily safe.

After an incense stick of time, Murong Lun's carriage slowly returned home. At this time, all the members of the Murong family were waiting for him early.

As soon as Murong Lun got off the carriage, Murong Dou, the sixth master of the Murong family, immediately wanted to step forward to report, but was warned by Murong Lun's eyes.

It was not until they walked into the study that Murong Lun nodded slightly. Seeing this, Murong Dou said with a horrified look on his face:

"Brother, they are all dead! They are all dead!"

"Not long after Shangguan Hongyuan found you, the Supervisory Office and the Imperial Guards rushed into the homes of Shi Huairen and Zheng Chaozong. They killed everyone they saw, regardless of gender, age or status. Shi Huairen and Zheng Chaozong are all dead!"

“People from the Supervisory Office and the Imperial Guards also surrounded our house. They almost rushed in. I just led my people to fight to the death…”

(I’ve been feeling a little lost lately, and I’m a little confused about what you, my dear readers, are thinking. Please express your opinions in the comments and chapter reviews, so that Tongming can understand more clearly what you like to read and which characters you like!)
(End of this chapter)