Chapter 369: The Fall of Bianjing and the Fall of the Imperial City

At this time, the 20,000 Qin soldiers who had just rushed to the city wall were dumbfounded when they saw the slowly closing city gate and the King of Qin who was driven out!

Then they were hit head-on by rows of archers on the city wall. The losses were not too serious, but it was very demoralizing.

Moreover, the gates of Bianjing City were high and thick. Without an insider to open the gates and without siege equipment, it was impossible for their 20,000-strong army to capture Bianjing City.

So the King of Qin took one last look at Bianjing City and said unwillingly:
"We will first withdraw from the attack range of the Bianjing city wall, then collect nearby wood and build siege equipment. We will attack the city tomorrow morning when our reinforcements arrive!"

"Yes!" all the generals responded in unison.

Afterwards, the King of Qin's 20,000 troops immediately withdrew from the attack range of Bianjing City!
However, what the King of Qin did not expect was that before dawn the next day, he received a piece of news that made him despair!

"Your Highness, the Liao army of 200,000 was ambushed by the King of Yan half a month ago. Afterwards, the King of Yan chased the Liao cavalry like a dog and beat them away!"

"What?" King Qin was stunned when he heard this. In his mind, the Liao cavalry had always been invincible, but he didn't expect that they would be defeated by Lin Hao!

Then the King of Qin suddenly shuddered and immediately reacted:

"That means our reinforcements are gone?"

"Yes, Your Highness, what should we do now?" asked the guard dejectedly.

He wanted to cook up all the evil spirits in the capital into a stew and then seize the throne easily, but he didn't expect that what he cooked was a pot of half-cooked rice.

"Then why didn't we receive any news before?" However, no one could answer him.

Then the King of Qin looked at the rising sun and knew that he could not stay in Bianjing City any longer.

If they continued to stay near Bianjing City, these 20,000 elite troops would soon be surrounded and annihilated by the army outside the city.

So, not caring about not receiving the news, the King of Qin gritted his teeth and said to his guards:

"Take our people and return to Chang'an immediately. Then we will recruit soldiers, conquer the Western Corridor, and divide the land into ~!"

"Kill~~~!"

However, before the King of Qin could finish his words, shouts of killing were heard outside the camp, and then a general ran over and shouted without even having time to salute:

"Your Highness, we are surrounded by a large army~!"

It turned out that after the King of Qin evacuated last night, the King of Shu acted decisively and asked the Queen Mother for an order to quell the rebellion while the Queen Mother was still unaware of the situation outside, allowing him to lead several large military camps outside the city to quell the rebellion.

The panicked Queen Mother was also afraid that the King of Qin would attack the city of Bianjing, so she immediately wrote an edict and handed the tiger talisman to the King of Shu.

In this way, the King of Shu took command of the military camp outside the city.

The King of Shu, who had obtained the military power, ordered his troops in the city to rest and recuperate. At the same time, he contacted the military camps outside the city and sent troops to quell the rebellion of the King of Qin!
Thus, they surrounded the King of Qin without him noticing, and when daybreak came, they launched an attack at the same time.

As expected, a battle between 100,000 and 20,000 took place outside the city of Bianjing. What was surprising was that the battle was quite brutal!

After the Qin army was surrounded, the King of Shu led 100,000 men to besiege them. However, only a small number of troops fought against the Qin army, and the rest surrounded them outside.

Behind these generals who were fighting against the King of Qin were mostly families that were on good terms with the King of Wu.

It is obvious that the King of Shu wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to eliminate the power that the King of Wu had been building up during this period.

Sure enough, after the 20,000-strong army of the King of Qin was annihilated, most of the power that the King of Wu had built up among the nobles was cut off and could no longer pose a threat to the King of Shu.

Drawing his sword and looking around, the King of Shu, who now had no rivals, set his sights towards the supreme position!
Then the proud King of Shu looked at the 100,000 troops standing before him and said:

"All soldiers, follow me into the city to quell the rebellion!"

"Yes~!"

As the sun blazed high in the sky, the city of Bianjing lost its former prosperity. The huge city of Bianjing looked like a forbidden picture.

After the great battle outside the city stopped, a hundred thousand troops marched into the city of Bianjing in a relatively orderly pace.

You must know that in this era, the army stationed outside the city was not allowed to enter the city of Bianliang on a large scale without permission.

But after the great battle outside the city today, these troops continued to flow into the city. Anyone could see the problem.

At first, the people of Bianjing City thought that once the war outside the city was over, they would be able to return to normal immediately, so they all prepared to go out.

However, as waves of troops entered the city through the city gates, the gates of Bianliang were closed, and the army took over the defense of the gates of Bianliang.

The entire city of Bianjing was under martial law. The army blocked the streets and drove all the people who were still wandering outside back home. Then the city gates were closed.

Soon the streets were completely cleared. On all the streets in the entire Bianjing city, except for the patrolling soldiers, there was no other human figure to be seen.

The King of Shu followed the army into Bianjing City. At this time, a middle-aged scholar asked the King of Shu:
"Your Highness, is it inappropriate for us to enter the city like this? What if the King of Yan returns with his troops?"

The King of Shu smiled faintly and said:

"Haha, what are you afraid of? The Prince of Yan is still at the border between Song and Liao and won't be back for a while. By the time he comes back, everything will have been settled in Bianjing!"

"Besides, he has not suffered any loss. We promised him the real territory of Yan. I believe he is now eager to establish his fiefdom in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun!" Hahahaha!

"Your Majesty is wise!" The flattery of the young scholar surged, and immediately the King of Shu said with great interest:

"As vassal kings of the royal family, we three kings are naturally qualified to fight for the throne. This is our own business and is legitimate. It cannot be considered a rebellion."

"But the King of Yan is different. He is not a member of the royal family, so he cannot act this way, unless he wants to be despised by the whole world and betrayed by his subordinates!"

Looking at his subordinates who seemed to be thinking deeply, the King of Shu then arranged:

"Alright, immediately send out troops to surround the residences of all officials above the third rank in the imperial court. No one is allowed to enter or leave. Even if a bird flies in or out, have the soldiers shoot it down with crossbows!"

"Yes, I will arrange it immediately!"

As the King of Shu's siege plan unfolded, the entire city of Bianjing was shrouded in panic for a while.

This scene is so similar to the rebellion of Prince Yan and Prince Yong five years ago!
At this time in the Sheng Mansion in Jiying Lane, Zhang Cuifen brought the old and young of the Sheng family to the house next to the Sheng family and hid in the basement in the yard, leaving only the empty Sheng Mansion!

On the other side, the King of Shu finally arrived at the gate of the imperial palace, only to see that the gate of the imperial palace, which had been wide open, was suddenly closed.

On the walls of the palace, rows of armored soldiers were holding swords and spears, as if a steel wall had grown on top of the brick and stone walls.

The King of Shu said nothing. Countless soldiers behind him transported all the siege equipment made by the King of Qin yesterday to the gate of the palace.

At this time, the Queen Mother came to the wall of the imperial palace, looking at the army lined with weapons from afar, her face so gloomy that water could almost drip out of it.

You have to know that these soldiers are not all from Bianjing. Those recruited near Bianjing had been taken by the King of Yan to support the border. Most of the soldiers in front of them were selected from outside later. They didn't expect that after handing the tiger talisman to the King of Shu, they were bribed by the King of Shu and besieged the palace.

The most crucial issue is that she was the one who invited the three kings, intending to check and balance Lin Hao. However, she did not expect that the King of Yan was actually planning to conquer the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

Before, she only wanted to suppress the King of Yan, but she didn't expect that the first person to betray her was not the King of Yan, but the King of Shu whom she invited!
"Traitor! You are so audacious that you even want to usurp the throne. How despicable!"

When everyone heard what Empress Dowager Cao said, they immediately looked away and pretended they didn't hear what the Empress Dowager said.

At this time, Queen Mother Cao felt extremely tired. If she had known earlier, she would have ignored them. Then she said with emotion:

"The troubled times are coming!"

At this time, the King of Shu shouted loudly:
"Please Queen Mother, please ask the young emperor to abdicate and give the throne to me. When the time comes, I will definitely recognize the Queen Mother as my legal mother and share the Song Dynasty with the Queen Mother!"

For a moment, Queen Mother Cao even wanted to agree, but after thinking it over, she calmed down and finally gave up the idea.

The King of Shu had already come to this point, and it was no longer meaningful to be the Queen Mother, but she still shouted to the soldiers below:
"My fellow soldiers, the King of Shu is trying to usurp the throne. If you don't want to be infamous for eternity, kill him and I will reward you handsomely!"

Then he asked Uncle Chen who was standing beside him:
"How many troops do we have to guard the Imperial City?"

Chen Guojiu looked down at the 100,000 troops besieging the palace and said:

"There are less than 2,000 soldiers guarding the Imperial City. If we add the soldiers who have fled to the Imperial City, there are less than 8,000 soldiers that can be mobilized!"

In fact, Chen Guojiu had always been very dissatisfied with Empress Dowager Cao. This Empress Dowager Cao was always restless and always looking for trouble.

It would be fine if they could really succeed, but they failed every time and never learned any lessons, causing the four forces that were originally checking and balancing each other to become unbalanced, until now one force is the only one in power.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just raise the little emperor peacefully?

"Eight thousand men?" Empress Dowager Cao frowned and said, "The walls of the Imperial City are high and thick. If there are only eight thousand men and horses, I wonder if they can defend it?"

"We can't hold it!" Chen Guojiu pointed at the soldiers below and said calmly, "They have siege equipment in their hands!"

"Besides, we only have 8,000 people, while they have 100,000 soldiers. If the casualties are greater, they will collapse soon..."

In fact, the guards of the imperial city were very diligent and conscientious. They held out until dark before being breached by the King of Shu.

Just when the imperial city was about to be breached, a dozen maids came to Concubine Yi's bedroom.

The leading maid said to Concubine Yi:
"Your Highness, the Imperial City is about to be breached. Please follow us to the secret room to hide. This is a token from His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan!"

Then she took out a letter with "From the Queen Mother" written on the cover!

"What?" Concubine Yi said in disbelief, "Are you the King of Yan's men?"

Afterwards, Concubine Yi was about to reach out to take the letter that Lin Hao left for her, but the leading maid took the envelope back.

"It's absolutely true! However, please tell us your choice after reading the letter, Madam Concubine!"

After saying this, the maid raised her head and handed the envelope to the concubine. This maid was Wei Yuner.

It turns out that when Lin Hao left Bian Jing, he had already anticipated that such a day would come. After all, he was the one who directed today's scene!

Just to keep this drama going, someone needs to make Concubine Yi and the little emperor "disappear" at the right time.

Originally, Lin Hao was planning to make Concubine Yi and the little emperor completely "disappear" from this world!

However, thinking of Concubine Yi, who had always been respectful to him and satisfied him in everything, Lin Hao finally softened his heart.

After knowing this, Wei Yuner volunteered to take on this task.

Because Wei Yuner knew that she was born in Guangyuntai and had a low status, so she could not become Lin Hao's concubine, so she did everything she could to help Lin Hao.

Although she would definitely be a concubine after Lin Hao conquered the world in the future, she knew that opportunities always come to those who are prepared, so she volunteered to enter the palace!

Afterwards, Wei Yun'er was sent to the palace and became a maid. Until today when the imperial city was about to be breached, Wei Yun'er brought the secret agents lurking in the palace to find the concubine and the little emperor!

After Concubine Yi finished reading Lin Hao's letter, Wei Yuner smiled at her and said:

"Mrs. Dowager, please tell me your choice..."

At this time, the King of Shu had already rushed into the palace with his 10,000 elite troops, and was unstoppable all the way.

However, after Empress Dowager Cao was captured by them, they could not find Concubine Yi and the little emperor no matter what, and they couldn't even find the imperial seal!

This made the King of Shu go crazy. He was only one step away from the throne. The middle-aged scholar who had been following him said:
"Your Highness, now that we have come to this, there is no turning back. We might as well do it once and for all!"

The King of Shu's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately asked:

"Sir, why are you teaching me?"

"I think the Concubine and the little emperor are in hiding, but they are just tools to us. As long as they don't die in your hands~!"

At this point, the young scholar smiled and said:

"Therefore, we only need to create a story that the Concubine Dowager and the little emperor were killed by the Queen Mother, so that the lineage of the late emperor will be extinct."

"And now that you have taken control of the city of Bianjing, you can make a call from a high place and act like Taizu did back then~!"

Upon hearing this, the King of Shu began to breathe rapidly and spoke word by word:

"Yellow robe, plus body!"

Having said that, the King of Shu looked at the Queen Mother Cao with murderous eyes!

However, the King of Shu obviously knew that he should not do this matter personally, so he said to the young scholar:

"Okay, I'll leave it to you now! You will definitely be a Marquis in the future!"

"Your Majesty, I obey your order~!" The young scholar respectfully changed his address.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Upon hearing this, the King of Shu burst into laughter and felt as if he had ascended the throne!
Then, amid the King of Shu's loud laughter, several soldiers found two corpses, disguised them, and carried them into the Queen Mother's palace. They then poured kerosene on the palace and set it on fire!

Then a raging fire enveloped the palace, but at this moment, three shrill sounds rang out.

Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!

(End of this chapter)