Chapter 347 Turning the Tide
"Father, Prince Yong is ambitious and has attempted to usurp the throne. I have already wiped out this villain for you and have executed him!"

Then the King of Yan put his hands together and saluted:
"Please write down the edict of succession. I swear that I will never make things difficult for you. You can just be the emperor at ease!

The proud words of Prince Yan were exactly the same as what Prince Yong said before, it was just that someone else said it!

Then seven or eight ministers who came with Prince Yong and Prince Yan, along with a group of soldiers, also shouted loudly:

"Your Majesty, please abdicate!"

"Hmph, stop daydreaming!" The emperor looked at the ministers in front of him and snorted coldly, "If I write an edict to succeed the throne, I will die on the spot today!"

Then the emperor roared angrily:
"As long as I don't write the edict of succession, you will be considered as traitors plotting to usurp the throne. Even if you seize the throne, you will never be able to clear your name. You will be condemned for eternity and despised by the world!"

However, Prince Yan paid no attention to the emperor's words. Instead, he gently comforted the struggling prince in his arms and said with a smile:

"Alas, it was Prince Yong who was plotting to usurp the throne. As for my reputation, Your Majesty, you don't need to worry about it. After all, I am helping Your Majesty to eliminate the rebellious Prince Yong, haha!"

"Your Majesty, please think about yourself and your children! If something happens to the Crown Prince, wouldn't Your Majesty be worried about the extinction of his family line in the future?"

"Ni~!" When mentioning his own child, the emperor still hesitated, because Prince Yan's words touched his sore spot.

"Kill!" Just as the emperor was hesitating, shouts of killing were heard again outside the bedroom, and the sound was even more violent than before!
At this time, a captain rushed in and reported to King Yan:
"Your Majesty, this is bad! A large group of people are coming in under the pretext of saving your majesty!"

The emperor's eyes lit up when he heard this. He didn't expect someone to come to rescue him at this time, but he didn't know who it was!

"What's going on?" Upon hearing the shouts and screams, King Yan immediately lost his composure and glared at the man who came and said angrily:

"Who is it~?"

······
Time goes back to a quarter of an hour ago. Lin Hao, with a large group of people, watched from afar as Captain Li, a subordinate of Prince Yong, disguised himself as Uncle Chen and tricked the city gate open!

After Prince Yong quietly entered the city of Bianjing with tens of thousands of troops, Lin Hao felt that the time had come, so he also prepared to send troops!
Otherwise, if Prince Yong and Prince Yan really succeeded and got the edict of succession, he would inevitably have to work hard again.

Then Lin Hao shouted to the more than 20,000 soldiers in front of him:
"All soldiers, listen up! The King of Yan and the King of Yong are extremely rebellious and are plotting a rebellion. All soldiers, follow me into the city to quell the rebellion. Those who make contributions will be heavily rewarded!"

"I am willing to die for the general and go to the capital to quell the rebellion!"

Lin Hao looked at the soldiers whose morale was high, nodded with satisfaction, and led more than 20,000 elite soldiers straight to the gate of Bianjing.

The guard left behind by Prince Yong at the city gate saw the dust rising in the distance and his face lit up with joy. He knew that Duke Rong had arrived, so he quickly ordered people to open the city gate and let Lin Hao's army enter the city.

That’s right, this guard general was actually an undercover agent planted by Lin Hao next to Prince Yong.

Therefore, Lin Hao took the city gate without any effort and quietly led more than 20,000 troops into the city. Then Lin Hao divided his troops into two groups!

Lin Hao led more than 10,000 elite soldiers and advanced quickly towards the imperial palace. The remaining 10,000 soldiers held his banner to rescue the trapped families of the nobles!
"Those who lay down their weapons and surrender will live, but those who resist will be killed without mercy!"

Afterwards, Lin Hao led a group of elite troops and pushed all the way to the palace. Perhaps it was because of the prestige of the Zhang family that some of the rebels along the way surrendered and turned around to help suppress the rebels.

When Lin Hao led his men to the door of the emperor's bedroom, Prince Yong had just been stabbed in the back by Prince Yan's men, and was forcing the emperor to write an edict of succession!
It's ridiculous, but when there was no rebellion, for the sake of so-called orthodoxy, an imperial edict was naturally needed to legitimately inherit the throne.

But, they have already rebelled, why would they care about the imperial edict? Little do they know that history is always written by the victors. As long as they sit on the throne, there will naturally be people to help whitewash it!

After all the rebels outside the palace were killed, the King of Yan could be heard roaring inside:

"Who is it~?"

"It's me!" At this time, Lin Hao walked in surrounded by a group of generals.

Upon hearing this, King Yan looked at Lin Hao, and was immediately shocked. He then gritted his teeth and said:
"Duke Rong! It's you! Aren't you suppressing the rebellion in Huainan? Why are you here?"

However, Lin Hao ignored Prince Yan and saluted respectfully to the emperor:
"Your Majesty, I am late in coming to your rescue. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me!"

“Hahaha~!” The emperor heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Lin Hao, and then laughed excitedly:
"Well, well, well, man proposes, God disposes. You traitors, no matter how hard you try, you never thought that Duke Rong would return to the court at this time!"

At this time, the emperor finally smiled, and he didn't bother to ask why Lin Hao came back to rescue him, because he saw that the prince was still in the hands of Prince Yan, so he immediately said to Lin Hao:

"My dear minister, you have come at the right time. The Prince of Yan is ambitious and is trying to usurp the throne. He is forcing me to pass the throne to him. Please help me capture this beast!"

"As you command, Your Majesty!" After saying that, Lin Hao waved his hand and said, "Commendations, Prince Yan is plotting treason, arrest him immediately and wait for his punishment!"

Afterwards, the soldiers brought by Lin Hao rushed forward and prepared to capture King Yan.

However, at this moment, the King of Yan raised the Crown Prince and threatened:
"If any of you dare to take another step forward, I will die together with the prince today!"

As he spoke, he held the prince in front of his chest to prevent a sneak attack from the archers.

The soldiers paused when they heard the words and dared not move forward. The archers also unconsciously shifted the direction of their arrows.

After all, Prince Yan holds the emperor's crown prince and the future heir to the Song Dynasty.

If Prince Yan really kills the prince because of them, none of them who are charging at the front today can escape, and no one can be held responsible for it!
At this time, the Prince of Yan knew that he had no way out, so he shouted to the emperor:
"Old man, quickly write the edict of succession and hand over the throne to me, otherwise I will kill the prince!"

As he said this, he pointed the dagger at the prince's neck, as if trying to threaten the emperor, saying that they would die together if the emperor didn't agree!
"Pfft~!"

In the confused eyes of Prince Yan, Captain Li held the dagger in one hand, and with the other hand, he pointed the eyebrow-tipped knife at Prince Yan's waist and stabbed him without any hesitation!

Because Prince Yan's kidney was pierced, his strength was rapidly drained away, and the dagger in his hand was also taken away.

“Puff~, puff~, puff~, puff~, puff~, puff~!”

Then Lieutenant Li stabbed him several more times, and Prince Yan fell to the ground, and then he expressed the same sentiment as Prince Yong:

"Why the hell did you betray me?"

However, Captain Li once again said his famous words:

"I have never pledged allegiance, so how can I betray you!"

Then, in the puzzled look of King Yan, Captain Li smiled for the first time:

"You are going to seize my nephew's throne. What choice should I make?"

"Puff~!" Under the understanding eyes of Prince Yan, Captain Li swung his sword without hesitation and chopped off his head with one stroke. He became a headless ghost like Prince Yong, and went to the underworld together!
“….”

As Prince Yan's head fell to the ground, several civil servants and generals who followed Prince Yan and Prince Yong in the rebellion were dumbfounded when they saw this situation.

who I am? Where am I? What am I doing?
"Please spare our lives, Your Majesty. We were forced to do this. Please spare our lives, Your Majesty!" Then, those who followed the second kings in the rebellion immediately cried out for mercy!

However, Lin Hao didn't care what they thought and said directly to the soldiers:
"Capture these traitors!"

"Yes!" Lin Hao then said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, there are still remnants of the enemy and the rebellious imperial guards in the palace. I will wipe them out first and return a clean palace to Your Majesty!"

The emperor lowered his head and hugged the prince, his face changing from gloomy to bright, because he didn't know why Lin Hao came back at this time.

After the rebellion of the two princes of the royal family, the emperor did not dare to trust anyone. Even Lin Hao, who came to rescue him, was suspected by him.

But in the end, I didn’t ask, thinking it wouldn’t be too late to ask after the situation stabilized!
So the emperor said: "Okay, my dear, go and clean up the palace!"

But before leaving, Lin Hao said to Captain Li:
"Uncle Chen, the safety of His Majesty and the Crown Prince is now in your hands. You must protect them!"

At this time, Captain Li finally smiled. It turned out that he was the real Uncle Chen.

Then Uncle Chen saluted and said:
"Don't worry, Lord Rong. No one cares more about the safety of His Majesty and the Crown Prince than I do!"

Lin Hao nodded, then led his troops to clean up the harem, and the first stop was Concubine Rong’s bedroom!
After watching Lin Hao leave, I only heard Concubine Yi say:
"Brother, it's you!"

Chen Guojiu smiled and said, "I scared you just now! Fortunately, you didn't expose me, otherwise I would not be able to escape today!"

"I recognized you when you followed Prince Yong into the room, but I don't believe you would betray His Majesty and the Crown Prince, so I guess there must be something fishy going on!"

Uncle Chen nodded, and finally bowed to the emperor and said:
"I am guilty of concealing the news and putting Your Majesty in danger. I beg Your Majesty to punish me!"

At this time, the emperor said indifferently:

"My dear minister, what crime have you committed? I just don't understand what happened today."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Chen immediately said:

"Your Majesty, this matter has to start from when Concubine Yi was pregnant!"

"At that time, Your Majesty summoned me to the palace to protect Concubine Yi and the prince in her belly. Later, I was also poisoned several times in the palace, so Duke Rong gave me an idea!"

The emperor said with interest, "Oh! Tell me in detail!"

Uncle Chen continued:
"Duke Rong asked me to find a body double, and then through makeup, I became the body double's personal guard to prevent me from being assassinated or poisoned!"

"And to keep it secret, only Duke Rong, the substitute, and I knew about this. No one else was told, not even my sister, Imperial Concubine Yi, knew about it!"

The emperor glanced at Concubine Yi's expression, then nodded and continued to ask:

"Then what happened today? If you were so secretive, why did you get involved with Prince Yong and Prince Yan?"

Chen Guojiu knew that if he didn't make things clear today, he would be in trouble in the future.

So Uncle Chen immediately said:
"Because I have always been following the substitute, I was seen by King Yan at some point, and then he found me..."

Then he told how Chen Guojiu became a subordinate of Prince Yan, pretended to be Chen Guojiu, and why he was sent to join Prince Yong, and why he stabbed Prince Yong in the back when the time was right!
Only then did the emperor realize that the rebellion of Prince Yan and Prince Yong was premeditated, but the emperor felt that something was wrong.

Then the emperor's eyes flashed, and he asked again:

"Wait, since you already knew that Prince Yan and Prince Yong were plotting a rebellion, why didn't you tell me?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Uncle Chen knelt down immediately.

"Oh, what crime have you committed?" Then the furious emperor gnashed his teeth and said, "Keeping the truth secret, is this how you are loyal to me?"

Uncle Chen sighed inwardly, and then said: "It's not that I don't want to say it, it's that I dare not say it!"

The emperor regained his composure, and then asked slowly:

"Oh, did the King of Yan and the King of Yong force you?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will tell you then!" Uncle Chen said cautiously.

"Stop hesitating. Are you going to tell me or not?" the emperor said angrily.

"It's because Your Majesty doesn't believe it!" Then Uncle Chen said loudly:

"Duke Rong once reported this matter to His Majesty. I was present at the time, but His Majesty reprimanded Duke Rong and accused him of instigating discord among the royal family~!"

Seeing the emperor's face turn pale, Chen Guojiu had to change the subject:

"For this reason, His Majesty also removed Duke Rong from his position as the commander of the Imperial Palace Guards. Later, Duke Rong reported to His Majesty again, and that time, Duke Rong was removed from his position in the Imperial City Division again!"

"And I have reminded Your Majesty before, and was also reprimanded by Your Majesty!"

The emperor only then remembered that Duke Rong and Uncle Chen had indeed reported this before, but the reason he took back Duke Rong's power was not because of this matter.

Rather, he was afraid of the excessive power of the Duke of Ying's Mansion, and used the excuse of provoking family ties in the royal family to take back the power from the Duke of Rong. Unexpectedly, he put himself in danger!

"Forget it, forget it! I deserve it!" The emperor casually brushed it off and continued to ask:

"Then why did Duke Rong suddenly return to Bianjing without asking for permission when he was clearly out suppressing the rebellion?"

At this time, Uncle Chen took out a letter and said:

"Your Majesty, this is the secret letter that Duke Rong gave me yesterday!"

The emperor picked up the letter curiously and looked at it carefully. It turned out that when Lin Hao led his troops to Shangqiu, he discovered two of King Yan's personal soldiers.

From their interrogation, we learned that after the birth of the prince, Prince Yan and Prince Yong sent their confidants to rebel everywhere, which led to the war all over the Song Dynasty.

So he led 20,000 people and returned to the capital secretly, hiding during the day and traveling at night. At the same time, he sent people to inform Chen Guojiu, Prince Yan and Prince Yong of their plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain!
······
At the same time, in Concubine Rong's bedroom, Lin Hao found Concubine Rong in the underground secret room.

Then Lin Hao stepped forward, picked up Concubine Rong, and threw her directly onto the bed, without any regard for the feelings of his one-year-old daughter.

After a fierce fight, Lin Hao finally subdued Concubine Rong and told her what had happened during this period!
After listening to Lin Hao's story, Concubine Rong said incredulously:
"So, you never left Bianjing from beginning to end?"

"What else?" Lin Hao said as a matter of course.

"Then~! Uh-huh-huh!" Lin Hao interrupted the chattering Concubine Rong.

When Concubine Rong was about to lose her composure, Lin Hao let her go and asked:

"Well, these are all in the past. Have you considered it now? Do you want to continue to serve His Majesty as the Imperial Consort in the Imperial Palace, or go to the Duke of Ying's Mansion and be my concubine?"

(End of this chapter)