People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1576: Skyfire Falls
At midnight on a summer night, the city of Chang'an was quiet and hot.

Suddenly, the loud sound of horse hooves broke the silence of Chunming Gate in Dongcheng.

Yuchi Xunyu stood on the city gate, looking at a team of guards rushing towards the imperial palace, and couldn't help but frowning.

Late at night, the guards.

The Queen Mother’s edict and the Emperor’s token.

Although Yuchi Xunyu had to let them go because of these things, he always felt that something was wrong.

What happened?

Looking up, Yuchi Xunyu saw that team of elite guards were heading directly towards the palace.

No problem. The guards are supposed to guard the palace. Where else would they go if not the palace?

Yuchi Xunyu forgot that there were many imperial palaces.

In addition to the Taiji Palace and Daming Palace, there is also the East Palace.

……

Zhang Qianxu galloped through the night city of Chang'an without any scruples.

Even if he occasionally encountered patrolling soldiers of the Zuo Jinwu Guard, he would just shout "By order of the emperor" and make way for them.

The side door of Duanmen opened, and Zhang Qianxu rode forward without any hesitation.

The thunderous sound of horse hooves rang out without restraint, and in an instant, countless officials from various departments on duty in the palace were awakened.

Zhang Qianxu quickly turned his horse around in front of the Taiji Gate and headed east.

In an instant, he raised his head and stared at the figure guarding the Tai Chi gate.

General Cheng Chubi of the Left Jinwu Guard.

Cheng Chubi was granted the title of Duke of Lu without having done anything, but Zhang Qianxu, although he had done the most dangerous thing, was still an Earl of Fanyang County, who was nothing.

How could he keep his mind balanced?

No, it will be very soon. As long as he captures the prince, it won’t take long to consolidate his position, and the Queen Mother will confer a higher title on him.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Zhang Qianxu had arrived at the gate of the East Palace.

Looking at the soldiers guarding the gate of the East Palace, Zhang Qianxu shouted coldly without hesitation: "The Queen Mother has issued an edict. Open the door. This general will read it to the prince in person."

There was no sound at the gate of the East Palace. Zhang Qianxu held up the imperial edict impatiently and said, "The imperial edict is here, why don't you open the door..."

With a "whoosh" sound, an extremely sharp arrow shot out from the palace gate and hit Zhang Qianxu's face with great ferocity.

Zhang Qianxu looked at the arrow that was suddenly coming at him with great astonishment, but his right hand reacted immediately.

With a sharp sound of a knife, the long arrow was cut directly into two pieces.

But even so, the broken arrow had already brushed against his face, leaving a long bloody mark.

Zhang Qianxu's heart exploded instantly. He stared at the city gate tower in front of him and shouted angrily: "Are you crazy? Even the imperial envoy who delivered the imperial decree should be shot to death."

"The prince's household steward, Secretary-General Wu Sansi has ordered that no one is allowed to see the prince after nightfall. Anyone who dares to trespass will be executed!" A vague voice sounded from the city gate, and Zhang Qianxu's exploding anger stopped instantly.

Wu Sansi. When the people on the city gate mentioned Wu Sansi, Zhang Qianxu reacted immediately.

Although Wu Sansi didn't know the details of what happened in Luoyang, he knew the general idea.

Things in Luoyang might succeed or fail, and Wu Sansi was clearly preparing for failure.

Of course, it is also possible that Wu Sansi was trying to steal the credit.

If it were in the past, Zhang Qianxu might not care about Wu Sansi, but now, he has no choice but to care.

Chang'an may not have received the news yet, but in Luoyang, Wu Sansi has already become the Minister of Rites.

There is no doubt that he will be the Minister of Rites in the future.

Even as Empress Wu gained more and more power, the status of the Wu family would become more and more important.

Zhang Qianxu raised his head and shouted coldly with a sullen face, "Then tell the secretary to come out now. I will give him the imperial edict right now."

"Haha, I'm sorry, the secretary-general did not stay in the East Palace duty room tonight, but went back to his own home. If General Zhang has anything to do, please go directly to the secretary-general's own residence." A laugh came from the city gate.

Zhang Qianxu was immediately furious. He was being fooled. He raised his knife towards the city gate and said through gritted teeth, "You are looking for death!"

"Oh, no! Imperial Guard General Zhang Qianxu broke into the Eastern Palace at night to plot rebellion!" A pinched voice sounded at the city gate. The next moment, his voice became cold and he said in a cold voice: "Crossbowmen, fire a volley."

Before Zhang Qianxu could even react, hundreds of crossbow arrows had already shot up into the sky, and more of them were shooting directly at Zhang Qianxu.

Zhang Qianxu suddenly felt cold all over. He immediately knew that the purpose of his coming here had been known to others, and it would not be so easy to take over the Eastern Palace again.

At this moment, a flash of fire suddenly appeared in the air above the East Palace, and then slowly rose into the sky.

It can be clearly seen that it is an extremely huge Kongming lantern, and there seems to be a basket hanging underneath, with someone in the basket.

"The prince is trying to escape." Zhang Qianxu chopped off all the arrows in front of him with a knife, and the whole person exploded backwards in an instant.

Despite his quick reaction, many of his men still died from the crossbow arrows.

"Send people, send five hundred guards over, quickly." Zhang Qianxu handed over the golden arrow token in his arms without any hesitation. He just wanted to be quick today, so he rushed directly to the East Palace, but he didn't expect that the East Palace had already reacted.

If the Crown Prince escapes from the Eastern Palace...

Zhang Qianxu couldn't help but shiver.

……

In the basket under the hot air balloon, Li Xuan, who was controlling Li Miao's body as Emperor Taiyin, looked at Zhang Qianxu in front of the East Palace with a cold expression.

At his feet, Crown Prince Li Chongzhao had completely fainted.

To be precise, he was knocked unconscious by Li Xuan.

Li Xuan had no time to say anything to Li Chongzhao. What happened in Luoyang, how did Li Xuan know about it, and what was going on with his current body.

If I really want to explain these things, it will probably take three days and three nights to finish.

As for the incident at the gate of the Eastern Palace, Li Xuan simply dealt with Li Chongzhao and then wrote a sealed warrant to Wei Sili in Li Chongzhao's name.

Let Wei Sili use Wu Sansi's name to delay Zhang Qianxu.

The warrant was then burned.

Only Wei Sili knew the contents of the warrant.

As for what will happen to Wei Sili in the future, Li Xuan no longer cares.

Perhaps, Wei Sili's fate was doomed when he was dragged to the Eastern Palace by Li Xuan. However, Li Xuan did not expect that Empress Wu had arranged some things more closely than he did.

Wei Sili's elder brother Wei Chengqing is now the assistant general of the household department of the Yangzhou Grand Marshal's Office, and their father, Wei Siqian, the Minister of the Imperial Clan Affairs Bureau, is now in Suzhou, investigating the case of Prince Ze's treason.

It’s even harder to say, as they haven’t arrived in Suzhou yet.

Once the news that Wei Sili was killed by Zhang Qianxu reached Yangzhou, how would Wei Siqian and Wei Chengqing react?
Especially when Crown Prince Li Chongzhao fell into their hands.

You know, Li Chongzhao was not only the crown prince of Emperor Zhongzong, but also the grandson of the Wei family.

Li Xuan's eyes calmly swept across Weiqu in the south of Chang'an City.

Once the people of Jingzhao Wei family learned that Li Xian was dead, Empress Wei was deposed, and Crown Prince Li Chongzhao was executed, what was their reaction?

Li Xuan withdrew his gaze and looked up at the hot air balloon above his head.

In fact, hot air balloons are not difficult to make.

Whether it is the "using moxa fire to make eggs fly" in "Huainanzi Wanbi Shu" by Liu An, the King of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, or the "take eggs, remove their juice, light moxa fire, hollow out the eggs, and let the strong wind lift them up and they fly" by Gao You, a disciple of the famous Confucian scholar Lu Zhi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, or even the Kongming lantern by Zhuge Kongming, all of them thoroughly explained the principles involved.

A hot air balloon generally consists of three parts: the balloon, the basket, and the burner.

The balloon and hanging basket were fine, as Li Xuan used the best materials at the time to make them.

Of course, it was not always satisfactory, but fortunately, Li Xuan did not plan to fly too far.

The only trouble is the burner and the fire source used inside. The fire source must burn the most violent flame in the shortest time.

Wood is obviously not a good option, and even coal is a poor choice, but fortunately, this world has kerosene.

Only after preparing these things could Li Xuan take out the hot air balloon hidden in the East Palace in advance and take it off at the most critical moment.

……

The officials on duty and patrolling guards in the imperial city had already been awakened by Zhang Qianxu's sudden action.

The hot air balloon that suddenly appeared in the air was a hundred meters high and was a "monster" that they had never seen before.

Especially the sound of fighting that followed in the East Palace, which immediately made everyone understand that something had happened tonight.

Three hundred Royal Guards quickly gathered on the ground and followed the hot air balloon floating in the wind closely.

In the East Palace in the distance, a fire had already started.

The hot air balloon is more than thirty feet high, and no one can do anything about it, but Donggong is different.

If the hot air balloon was just a decoy and the prince was still hiding in the East Palace intending to escape in the chaos, then it would be Zhang Qianxu's fault.

Therefore, Zhang Qianxu finally broke into the Eastern Palace and launched a brutal massacre.

If the prince escapes, the world will be in danger of division.

Everything will be Zhang Qianxu's fault.

So, in the end, few people were able to survive in the Eastern Palace.

A river of blood flowed.

Li Xuan didn't care about these. He controlled the hot air balloon and followed the north wind towards the direction of Da Ci'en Temple.

Da Ci'en Temple was built by Emperor Gaozong in memory of his mother, Empress Wende.

Later, the living Buddha Xuanzang lived here. While translating Buddhist scriptures, he also founded the Yogacara school.

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda enshrines Xuanzang and countless Buddha relics.

Now, the hot air balloon is heading towards the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

……

Standing in the hanging basket, Li Xuan could clearly see that someone in Da Ci'en Temple had already noticed the movement of the hot air balloon.

Soon, even the people in the four nearby districts of Jinchang, Zhaoguo, Xiuxing and Xiuzheng noticed the commotion.

Da Ci'en Temple is where Emperor Gaozong worshipped his mother, Empress Wende.

Even royal family members come to pay tribute every year.

Either Emperor Gaozong himself, or the Empress Dowager acting as his agent, or the Crown Prince himself.

Most of them are the powerful and wealthy people in Chang'an.

Because of the existence of Da Ci'en Temple, this area is becoming more and more prosperous.

More and more people depend on Da Ci'en Temple for their survival.

Although there is a curfew now, people can still move around as usual in the neighborhood.

Li Xuan's eyes fell on the Imperial Guards cavalry who were tracking closely on the ground. Not only them, but even the patrolling Jinwu Guards rushed over.

Li Xuan sneered, the more people come, the better.

Li Xuan's expression calmed down. He raised his head and stared at the rapidly approaching Big Wild Goose Pagoda, quickly calculating the distance and wind direction in his mind.

From the very beginning, Li Xuan knew that Empress Wu would take action after he left Fanzhou.

In May, the wind in Chang'an is mainly from the northeast. As long as Li Xuan pays attention to adjusting the wind direction, he can easily reach the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

Tonight, although the wind was slightly northerly and easterly, the angle was not large. Li Xuan adjusted the direction of the weight on the hanging basket and easily controlled its flying direction.

Suddenly, Li Xuan aimed in the direction of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, and then suddenly pulled open the small cover under the oil tank. The next moment, the oil in the burner began to flow directly towards the hanging basket.

It was at this time that Li Xuan grabbed Li Chongzhao from the hanging basket and jumped up while holding him.

In an instant, Li Xuan had grabbed the rope on the edge of the airbag and quickly flew to the top of the airbag.

With a cold look in the direction of the top of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Li Xuan stepped hard on the top of the airbag, and the whole person instantly flew ten feet into the air.

It was at this moment that his arms suddenly broke free, and a black flying suit suddenly appeared high in the sky, and then flew quickly towards the direction of the city wall.

It is only two blocks away from Li Xuan.

Li Xuan lowered his head, glanced at Li Chongzhao who was tied up, then turned back to look at the sky above Da Ci'en Temple.

The basket of the hot air balloon was burning violently, and in an instant, the flames had even spread to the airbag.

The entire hot air balloon was like a raging fireball, falling heavily towards the Big Wild Goose Pagoda where the Buddha's relics were enshrined.

Like fire from heaven.

Fire from heaven falls to the earth.

(End of this chapter)