Chapter 363 Ask the Queen Mother to Issue an Order

Concubine Yi frowned and asked, "Before you gathered the troops from all the camps, I heard that there were a full 120,000 soldiers. Why did you say there were only 10,000?"

Lin Hao didn't care about Concubine Yi's attitude. After all, their relationship was not ordinary, so Lin Hao said slowly:
"Although there are 120,000 soldiers, after cleaning out the old, weak, sick and disabled, there are barely 80,000 soldiers left. They have only been trained for two months. In my eyes, they are not soldiers who can fight, because they have almost no combat effectiveness!"

At this moment, both the concubine and the court officials felt a pang in their hearts. No one in the court was a fool, and they could still hear the Prince of Yan's excuses.

Even though those 120,000 soldiers were the remaining selected ones, they were the imperial guards after all and it was impossible for them to be without combat effectiveness.

At this time, the Song Dynasty had reached a critical juncture, but the Prince of Yan, who held a large number of troops, was unwilling to lead them to quell the rebellion. What did the Prince of Yan want to do? Could it be...

Just when everyone was trembling with fear, Lin Hao suddenly said:
"Actually, I know what you are all worried about!"

"You are just worried that I will lead the troops to rebel. In order to divide the little military power in my hands and reduce the threat I pose to you, you actually manipulated the local rebellion!"

"What? Manipulating local rebellion?" Upon hearing this, the ministers looked at Lin Hao in surprise, and then began to whisper. Among them, many civil officials had flickering eyes, and then lowered their heads and remained silent!
Then Lin Hao pointed at everyone in the court and said disdainfully:

"Do you really think I know nothing?"

"The so-called rebellion in Xinyang, Shangqiu and Yuzhou is actually just a farce planned by some people."

"There are indeed people rebelling in these three places, but the scale is not as large as the people in the court today. As long as Zhao Zongquan and others arrive at the place and take a casual walk around, they can put down the rebellion!"

"Well, no, it should be incorporated!" Then Lin Hao said to Duke Qi: "Right! Duke Qi!"

"After all, you went to Prince Pu Zhao Zongquan's residence in person a month ago to discuss this strategy together!"

Afterwards, Concubine Yi and the ministers all looked at the Duke of Qi with suspicion.

"You, you are talking nonsense! I have never, ever done such a despicable thing!" Upon hearing this, the Duke of Qi said angrily with his face flushed.

However, Duke Qi seemed to have thought of something, so he retorted:
"No, if it's true what Prince Yan said, then why did Prince Pu and his men suffer such a miserable defeat? Gu Tingye even nearly lost his life!"

"It's clear that the King of Yan has ulterior motives and is unwilling to lead troops to quell the rebellion. It's even just a false accusation!"

At this time, Lin Hao said calmly:

"Because there are still many people who have not been caught in the previous rebellion of the two kings. Most of these people have been exiled to local state capitals, and they have long been hiding in the local area!"

"But your fake rebellion this time has given them a perfect opportunity to annihilate all the living forces of the court!"

Duke Qi's eyes were hesitant, and then he said firmly:
"Wait, how do you know their plan so clearly? Did you plan the sneak attack and then frame us?"

But Lin Hao was staring at the Duke of Qi at this time, and in the end, the Duke of Qi's hair stood up all over his body.

Duke Qi opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but under Lin Hao's gaze, he didn't say it in the end.

Seeing that Duke Qi did not speak, Lin Hao suddenly said:

"Arrests!"

"Yes, sir!" the golden gourd warriors outside the door responded at the same time.

The Duke of Qi was immediately startled, and thought that Lin Hao had sent someone to arrest him, so he was so scared that he wanted to run away!

However, the warriors who rushed into the court at this time did not catch him, but bypassed him and arrested several fourth and fifth rank court officials behind him!

The captured courtiers immediately shouted unyieldingly:
"King Yan, you maliciously slander and defame good people. We are so innocent. Are you trying to rebel?"

This sudden change shocked everyone. It was obvious that the Duke of Qi and the Prince of Yan were in conflict, but the Prince of Yan arrested someone else, which left them confused for a moment.

At this time, Lin Hao walked up to one of them and said:

"Why, you won't confess on your own initiative? Do you want me to be ruthless?"

At this time, the courtier said with an unyielding look: "King Yan, don't be so arrogant~!"

However, before he could finish his words, Lin Hao said, "One finger!"

The golden-gourd warrior who was escorting the courtier picked up the golden-gourd hammer and smashed it hard on his fingers!
"Wow~~~~!" a scream was heard.

However, the Golden Gourd Warrior ignored his screams and saluted Lin Hao:
"Please forgive me, Your Highness, I accidentally hit two of his fingers!"

Lin Hao patted his shoulder and said:

"It doesn't matter. He won't confess anyway. He will be hammered sooner or later. Just keep hammering. If your fingers aren't enough, use your toes!"

Then Lin Hao squatted down and said to the court official:
"If his toes aren't enough, I'll hammer all the protruding parts of his body into pulp!"

"Suck~~!" Everyone in the court, whether it was Concubine Rong or the courtiers below, including the few people who were arrested, gasped in unison!
"Too cruel!" This is the common thought in everyone's mind!
The court official trembled all over upon hearing this, not knowing whether it was because of pain or fear. Thinking of the way the Prince of Yan had killed people in the court before, they had no doubt what the Prince of Yan would really do!
The saying that officials should not be punished and common people should not be treated politely was meaningless in the eyes of the King of Yan, so he stopped trying and immediately begged for mercy:
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything. No matter what Your Highness asks, I'll tell you the truth. Please spare my life, Your Highness Prince Yan!"

Lin Hao raised his eyebrows and said with disdain: "I didn't expect you to be such a wimp again!"

Then Lin Hao stood up and asked:
"The King of Yan you were loyal to before was still the King of Yong!"

Seeing that Lin Hao was waiting for him, he had no choice but to explain:

"It's Prince Yong!"

It stands to reason that Lin Hao should ask about the participation in the rebellion at this time, but Lin Hao cleverly avoided this question and continued to ask:
"Then who protected you when you were being liquidated before?"

"This~!" The courtier hesitated.

"Hmm~?" Lin Hao narrowed his eyes slightly.

Then Lin Hao said to the Golden Gourd Warrior: "Another finger!"

The courtier immediately trembled and said:

"I'm telling you, I'm telling you, it was Han Zhang and Fu Bi who got us out before His Highness could settle accounts with us!"

After getting the answer that Lin Hao wanted, Lin Hao stopped questioning and looked at the other people. They immediately said:

"It was indeed Han Zhang and Fu Bi who protected us, and more officials were sent to the local areas, while we stayed in Bian Jing to gather information!"

Then Lin Hao found that they wanted to explain more things, so Lin Hao immediately interrupted:

“Come here, take them all away and we will try them later!” “Yes!” Then the golden gourd warriors took the men away, and as they were taken away, they shouted, “Thank you, Your Highness, Prince Yan, thank you for not killing us…!”

However, at this moment, everyone felt that King Yan's question was a little strange, but they didn't know what was strange about it for a moment!

Lin Hao said loudly to Concubine Yi:

"Your Highness, Han Zhang and Fu Bi have gathered a crowd to rebel. I ask Your Highness to execute them to serve as a warning to others!"

"Okay!" Concubine Yi nodded without hesitation.

You know, although Prince Yan and Prince Yong were dead, the remnants they left behind also threatened her son's throne.

Therefore, when Lin Hao said that he wanted to execute these two guys, she agreed without hesitation. For her, anyone who threatens her son's throne should be executed!

In fact, she wanted to kill Zhao Zongquan even more, because he posed the greatest threat to the throne.

However, there are some things that she cannot handle personally, but should, like King Yan, seize the handle and let others help her deal with it, just like King Yan!
The thought of Zhao Zongquan being ambushed seemed to be good news. The key point was that they were all involved in the rebellion of the two kings. If handled well, perhaps they could seize the military power from Zhao Zongquan!

Just as Concubine Yi was thinking about asking Prince Yan to send troops to quell the rebellion right away, Lin Hao continued:

"Your Majesty, Prince Pu Zhao Zongquan, Duke Qi, Gu Tingye, and Liang Han are guilty of inciting rebellion and should be executed!"

"If these four thieves are not killed, it will not be enough to appease the people's anger. Please ask the Queen Mother to issue an order to exterminate these four people and their entire clans!"

Then all the court officials, including Concubine Yi, were stunned. Wasn’t the Queen Mother sent back to the palace?
However, at this time, the eunuchs who were supporting the empress dowager retreated back to the court step by step. It turned out that when they were about to send the empress dowager Cao back to the palace to be treated by the imperial physician, they were stopped by the golden gourd warriors at the door!

At this time, when the King of Yan called the Queen Mother, the Golden Gourd Warriors approached step by step, and the eunuch could only retreat with the unconscious Queen Mother.

At this time, Lin Hao continued, "Please ask the Queen Mother to issue an order!"

The "unconscious" Queen Mother Cao did not move, but Lin Hao was unmoved. Then the golden gourd warriors approached again, and they retreated again.

Then Lin Hao said calmly:

"If the Queen Mother still doesn't wake up, then we will stay here and wait for her to wake up!"

Everyone understood what was happening. The Queen Mother was probably pretending to faint after knowing that Zhao Zongquan and the others had suffered a crushing defeat.

They just didn’t know why the Queen Mother pretended to be unconscious, but they knew that the Prince of Yan must know something!
At this moment, all the ministers in the court felt like fools, as if they were being played around by the Queen Mother, Zhao Zongquan, Duke of Qi, Gu Tingye, Liang Han and others.

No, there should also be King Yan!

Afterwards, the ministers couldn't help but feel resentful towards these people, so they just continued to watch the fun. It was quite interesting to see them fighting each other!

Concubine Yi looked at Empress Dowager Cao in doubt and surprise, as if she had figured something out. So she stopped talking and waited for Prince Yan's next move!
Then the whole court fell silent until a quarter of an hour (15 minutes) had passed.

Finally, Queen Mother Cao could no longer stand it and woke up slowly. Then she pretended to ask:
"Where is this palace?"

However, no one answered her, including Concubine Yi who just looked at her coldly, because when Prince Yan spoke before, she clearly saw Queen Mother Cao tremble!
When Empress Dowager Cao saw that no one paid attention to her, she also fell silent. Then the court became so quiet again that you could hear a pin drop!
Queen Mother Cao is not a fool. She now faces two choices: either agree or refuse!

If agreed, there will inevitably be an imbalance in the court.

Because the Prince of Yan had previously driven Han Zhang and He Fu Bi out of power, and now the Queen Mother has agreed to execute the two, only three of the four forces left by the late emperor are left.

And now he is asked to give the order to eliminate Zhao Zong and others. Then there will be only two forces left. At the same time, the Gu Hou family, which is the second force in the military, will also be uprooted.

But Concubine Yi still can't see the situation clearly. Currently there is no one in the court who can check and balance Prince Yan, so Prince Yan can do whatever he wants.

But if she refused, the Prince of Yan might immediately rise up in rebellion. Now, all the officials in the court have been bewitched by the Prince of Yan and are united against her.

One is to die immediately, the other is to wait for death, how should she choose...!

After weighing the pros and cons, Queen Mother Cao chose the lesser of two evils and said in a dry voice:

"If the King of Yan can put down all the rebellions, I will give you this order!"

After a long while, Lin Hao said calmly:
"If the Queen Mother issues this decree, I can lead the troops to put down all the rebellions at any time!"

At this time, Concubine Yi's eyes lit up and she asked in disbelief:
"They brought 280,000 troops this time. I don't know how many of them will come back. Can the King of Yan really put down the rebellion?"

Facing Concubine Yi, Lin Hao was still very patient, so he smiled faintly and said:

"In the past, I led three thousand cavalrymen to quell the Western Xia. This is just a small rebellion, and I can crush it with one hand~!"

At this moment, everyone in the court was shocked by Lin Hao's powerful aura.

Thinking about how the Prince of Yan led 3,000 cavalrymen at the age of 16, and his army grew larger and larger after battle, until he conquered Western Xia, he had gathered 70,000 cavalrymen.

Therefore, it seems natural for King Yan to have such confidence!
At this time, Lin Hao said:
"However, suppressing the rebellion is not a difficult task for me. The difficult part is that after suppressing it, if there are no officials to manage local affairs, the rebellion may reignite as soon as you leave!"

Concubine Yi frowned and asked, "What should we do then?"

Then Lin Hao looked at the ministers in the court and said:
"At this moment, I don't know if there are any remnants of the Second Prince's rebellion in the court!"

When the ministers heard Lin Hao say this, they immediately lowered their heads, fearing that they would become the remnants mentioned by King Yan!

Lin Hao nodded with satisfaction, and then said:

"The Jinshi candidates of this special examination have not yet been assigned a place because of the rebellion. It would be better for me to take them with me."

"Whenever I pacify a place, I will send a Jinshi to serve as the governor or judge of the place. I think this kind of rebellion will not happen again!"

When Concubine Yi heard this, her eyes lit up. The new scholars were different from the old hands in the court. They were simpler.

After all, they were successful candidates in the imperial examination and were considered disciples of the emperor, and her son was the emperor.

But when Empress Dowager Cao heard this, she felt somewhat confused. The Prince of Yan clearly had the ability to rebel, but he was actually stabilizing the foundation of the Song Dynasty.

Why was Prince Yan so domineering before? What was his purpose?

Could it be that you really want to be Huo Guang instead of Wang Mang?

(End of this chapter)