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

Chapter 1587 Sanlang, I've avenged you

Lanterns are hung high and torches flicker.

Countless guards from the left gate were patrolling back and forth at Chunming Gate.

A team of fifty imperial guards walked from the end of the long street to Chunming Gate. At the same time, a cold shout was heard: "Stop."

The leading imperial guard looked up expressionlessly, took out a token from his bosom, threw it at the captain who was blocking the way, and said coldly: "According to the order of Imperial Guard General Li Lingwen, take over Chunming Gate."

"Why only you?" Yuchi Xunyu walked down the steps with a gloomy face, walked to the city gate, took a look at the token, his face flickered, that was indeed Li Lingwen's token, why was it so?

"We are just the first team, and more people will arrive later." The Imperial Guard looked at Yuchi Xunyu and said bluntly, "If you have any dissatisfaction, please ask General Li directly. But the Queen will return to Chang'an tomorrow, and if it delays things..."

"Okay." Yuchi Xunyu nodded and said, "Let's exchange defenses."

After saying that, Yuchi Xunyu waved his hands up and down towards the city gate, and in a blink of an eye, three hundred left gate guards were already lined up under the city gate.

When everyone was present, Yuchi Xunyu took out a bunch of city gate keys from his body and handed them to the Imperial Guard General, saying, "In this case, I will take my leave. I will immediately return to the Left Guard and report to the Left Guard General."

"Wait!" In a blink of an eye, another team of guards rushed over from the depths of the long street.

The leading imperial guard looked at the left gate guard behind Yuchi Xunyu, took out another token from his pocket, and said, "Imperial Guard General Li Lingwen is acting as the general. You are now called up."

Yuchi Xunyu looked clearly at the token of the General of the Imperial Guard in the hand of the Imperial Guard General opposite him, and he was really shocked.

The one on the opposite side turned out to be a real token of the Imperial Guard General.

There was a hint of amusement in Yuchi Xunyu's eyes. Did he really think he knew nothing? For this kind of situation, there was no need for the token of the General of the Imperial Guards at all.

In particular, he also knew that although Li Lingwen was now acting as the General of the Imperial Guards, the token of the General of the Imperial Guards was not in his hands.

The people coming now can only be Zhang Qianxu’s confidants.

"Okay! Please come in!" Yuchi Xunyu nodded and extended his hand to ask the two imperial guards to take over the city gate.

The two imperial guards, as well as Zhang Qianxu who was hiding among the imperial guards, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Soon, one hundred guards began patrolling the city gate in groups.

Three hundred guards of the left gate have begun to carry some ropes, white banners, wooden pillars and other things according to the other party's orders. After all, the Queen Mother will return to Chang'an tomorrow, and many preparations for the welcome need to be made.

On top of the city gate, Yuchi Xunyu and a royal guard stood side by side.

After a while, seeing that everything was normal, the Imperial Guard General breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to look at Yuchi Xunyu and said with a smile: "I heard that Yuchi Langjiang is the grandson of Duke E, and later he was deposing the crown prince..."

With a "puff", the imperial guard stopped talking and lowered his head in disbelief.

Looking at the dagger stabbed into his abdomen, the Imperial Guard felt a sharp pain and looked at Yuchi Xunyu in disbelief.

Yuchi Xunyu's face was cold and indifferent. He held the dagger tightly in his hand and stirred the Imperial Guard General's stomach vigorously while pushing him to the front of the parapet. Finally, he kicked him hard and directly fell off the four-meter-high city wall.

With a "bang", the body fell and hit the ground heavily.

The imperial guards, the left gate guards, everyone was stunned.

At this moment, Yuchi Xunyu suddenly shouted: "Guardians of the Left Gate, listen up, draw your swords, the people in front of you are trying to seize the gate and rebel, kill them."

When Yuchi Xunyu said the words "draw the sword", all the soldiers guarding the left gate subconsciously drew the long swords at their waists.

They only vaguely heard Yuchi Xunyu say something about seizing the gate to plot treason, and when they saw Yuchi Xunyu already rushing towards the other party, they did not hesitate at all and followed Yuchi Xunyu to kill the other party.

Zhang Qianxu, who was standing on the city gate and not far behind Yuchi Xunyu, was also stunned when he saw this scene.

He never thought that things would change so suddenly.

Originally, he wanted to let his generals test Yuchi Xunyu's attitude first to see if he could pull him into his camp.

After all, Yuchi Xunyu was once a subordinate of Li Xian. Although he did not participate in Li Xian's rebellion later, because of this incident, he no longer had any possibility of promotion.

So, it is very likely that he can be used by him.

In this way, the problem of insufficient manpower under Zhang Qianxu can be solved.

But who could have thought that his men had just opened their mouths when the other party started killing people.

Looking at Yuchi Xunyu charging towards the other side, Zhang Qianxu felt it was infinitely absurd, and at the same time, a deep sense of crisis inexplicably appeared in his heart.

The next moment, almost subconsciously, a figure jumped directly from the city wall and fell directly out of the city.

Yuchi Xunyu subconsciously turned around. He had no idea what had happened. When he looked below the city wall, the figure who had jumped off the wall had disappeared.

Suddenly, a voice sounded in Yuchi Xunyu's ears, and then Yuchi Xunyu made up his mind and began to fight fiercely with the guards in front of him.

The entire city wall was already a scene of bloodshed.

The three hundred generals of the Left Gate Guard fought hard, but although there were only a hundred imperial guards, not a single one of them surrendered.

Each of them was ready to die, just like a death warrior.

Not long after, a team of Right Jinwu Guards finally arrived and cooperated with the Left Jianmen Guards to kill all the imperial guards.

……

In the inner alley of the East Market, a secret corner door opened, and Zhang Qianxu, dressed in red and golden armor, quietly sneaked into the street.

It was dark, the city was under curfew, and there was no enthusiasm in the East Market anymore.

Zhang Qianxu, who was in a miserable state, with a sword at his waist, walked quickly towards the nearest warehouse.

He jumped directly in from the courtyard wall, and the moment he jumped in, Zhang Qianxu was stunned.

The entire warehouse was empty. No, at this moment, empty was the right thing to do, and filled with people was wrong.

But facing this empty warehouse, Zhang Qianxu's face looked terribly ugly.

At this moment, a calm voice sounded in the corner: "Is the general waiting for someone here?"

"Who!" Zhang Qianxu drew out the sword from his waist instantly and pointed it directly at the corner, looking at the other party fiercely.

Under the slanting moon, a middle-aged man in a black Taoist robe walked out from the corner.

The Taoist priest, who was dressed in a pure and unarmed manner, bowed and said, "I am Xuanmiao, and I am honored to meet you, General."

Xuan Miao, no, it’s Li Xuan.

Li Xuan bowed slightly, and there was a deep coldness in his eyes as he looked at Zhang Qianxu.

"Are you from the secret guard?" Zhang Qianxu looked at Li Xuan and couldn't help gritting his teeth.

Li Xuan shook his head slightly, stood up, and then looked at the entire courtyard and said softly: "The general is from the Cui family, right?"

This sentence rang in Zhang Qianxu's ears like a thunderclap.

Zhang Qianxu subconsciously took a half step back, but in an instant, he stopped, took a deep breath, looked at Li Xuan and said, "What do you know?"

"Know what?" Li Xuan laughed and looked at Zhang Qianxu and said, "Did the general secretly send all the family members of his guards out of Chang'an City, or did the general go to meet with the Yellow Gate Minister Cui Zhiwen in private, or did the general let Minister Cui meet with Prime Minister Pei in private, or did the general secretly send someone to Bazhou?"

With every word Li Xuan spoke, Zhang Qianxu's face became paler.

"What happened at Chunming Gate tonight surprised the general, right?" Li Xuan looked at Zhang Qianxu, whose face changed, and shook his head. "There were many things that surprised the general. For example, after the general met with Minister Cui in private, the next day Minister Cui reported to the Queen Mother that the general had met with him and asked him to meet Prime Minister Pei."

"What?" Zhang Qianxu's face suddenly turned angry, and he gnashed his teeth and cursed: "This spineless bastard."

Zhang Qianxu's original plan was for him to join forces with Pei Yan to assassinate Empress Wu, kill Li Dan in the process, and then welcome Li Xian back to the court.

However, when he took action, he found that he could not see Pei Yan at all.

Not to mention him, even his subordinates couldn't get close to Pei Yan.

At this time, he had to find another way. It was at this time that Cui Zhiwen, who used to be the prime minister but was now only the Yellow Gate Minister and was already waiting to retire, caught his attention.

Cui Zhiwen was dismissed from his post as prime minister because of his collusion with Li Dan and his plot against Li Xian.

However, in the process, he was too two-faced, and now that Li Dan has ascended the throne, those around Li Dan also dislike him.

Not to mention that there are not many places around Li Dan now, and there is no extra room for an outsider like him.

Cui Zhiwen was naturally unwilling to retire like this, but he had no choice. But at this moment, Zhang Qianxu came to him.

After some intrigue and discussion, the two hit it off.

Afterwards, Cui Zhiwen went to find Pei Yan on behalf of Zhang Qianxu.

It was normal that Zhang Qianxu and his men could not see Pei Yan, but it was also normal for Cui Zhiwen to see Pei Yan.

The Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel were separated by a street. Cui Zhiwen waited deliberately and ran into Pei Yan several times but no one noticed.

At the beginning, Pei Yan didn't care, after all, Cui Zhiwen didn't say anything. However, when the two met by chance more than three times, Pei Yan felt something was wrong.

All that remains is for the two people to exchange letters in a place where no one is paying attention and finally reach a cooperation.

Zhang Qianxu finally got Pei Yan's handwritten letter, and suddenly realized that his plan was going to succeed.

Pei Yan was the Minister of the Secretariat, Cui Zhiwen was the Minister of the Imperial Household, and they were both third-rank officials in the Secretariat before, and he was the General of the Imperial Guard.

As long as Empress Wu and the emperor died, Zhang Qianxu would be able to control the palace in an instant, and then win over Shangshu Zuo Pushe Liu Rengui, Shangbu Bingshu Duan Baoxuan, and the royal princes to welcome Li Xian to the throne and reward the ministers, and the overall situation would be settled.

This was Zhang Qianxu’s plan.

However, Li Xuan now told him that after he met Cui Zhiwen in private, Cui Zhiwen turned around and sold him to Empress Wu.

"Not only him, but also Prime Minister Pei." Li Xuan looked at Zhang Qianxu with sarcasm on his face and said, "Why do you think Prime Minister Pei was released from Luoyang to Chang'an? Isn't Empress Wu afraid that he will unite with the civil and military officials in Chang'an to eliminate Empress Wu's cronies in the palace and let the emperor rule in one fell swoop?"

Zhang Qianxu's brows jumped involuntarily, and he immediately understood that this was what he was doing now.
It’s just that the person who presided over this matter was him, not Pei Yan.

No, or rather, in Pei Yan's heart, he thought that he was the one who secretly presided over all this.

No, wait, since the Taoist Xuanmiao in front of him can think of this, then the Queen Mother... the Queen Mother can naturally think of this as well.

Zhang Qianxu clenched his fists immediately, looked at Li Xuan and said, "Then the Queen..."

"Since Pei Yan left Luoyang, she also left Luoyang and went to Mount Li Hot Spring Palace." Li Xuan raised his head, looked at Zhang Qianxu with cold and mocking eyes, and said: "Yes, she has been watching you all the time, just outside Chang'an City, watching you at the closest distance, and then waiting for you to start this rebellion."

"Ah!" Zhang Qianxu suddenly looked up in disbelief, but at this moment, there was endless knife light in front of his eyes, reaching his throat.

Blood suddenly appeared and heads flew up.

Li Xuan calmly appeared behind Zhang Qianxu, the short knife in his hand disappeared into his sleeve, and he said in a very light voice: "Sanlang, I have avenged you."

Li Xuan's expression was slightly dim. After all, it was he who initially suggested winning over Zhang Qianxu.

This gave him the opportunity to guard Xuanwu Gate.

Zhang Qianxu's responsibility for Li Xian's death came only after Empress Wu.

So, kill Zhang Qianxu first.

(End of this chapter)