The cold palace is on the northwest side of the west palace, although the west palace is the first to catch fire, but the cold palace located upwind is unharmed. Probably the palace maids and eunuchs in the cold palace didn't expect that they would become lucky ones because of this fire in their lifetimes.

In order to get close to the cold palace, everyone avoided the rebels, bypassed the fire, and also saw the ruins of the West Palace, and they finally approached the cold palace. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, never expected that the few surviving buildings in the palace were actually cold palaces, Emperor Dade said: "I have never been to the cold palace, and the concubines of the former emperor and Emperor Weng are locked up." ”

Everyone approached the cold palace and found that there were more than fifty royal guards stationed at the gate of the cold palace, their clothes and armor were bright and cautious, and the spears in their hands were pointing outward. For the sake of prudence, Zhang Xiaowu ordered everyone to hide, and then he took a closer look, and through the torches in the hands of the other party, he knew that these people were not the Royal Forest Army but the rebels.

Zhang Xiaowu frowned, returned to the crowd, and said, "Those people are rebels. ”

"Let's kill it." One of the guards excitedly said that he might have killed too many rebels, causing him to become more confident and blindly think that he could kill all the enemies.

Zhang Xiaowu smiled bitterly and said, "Aren't you strange? The fire in the West Palace was destroyed, and the rebels guarded the gate of the Cold Palace. ”

Emperor Dade said: "Do you think they are protecting whom?" ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "It's not a doubt, but an affirmation, Your Majesty." ”

A "Your Majesty" woke up Emperor Dade, and he immediately thought of something he didn't want to believe, and then shook his head and said: "Impossible, impossible, my mother will never collude with the rebels." ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "Nothing is impossible. ”

Emperor Dade was silent for a long time, and seemed to have made up his mind: "Do what you want." ”

Everyone is a smart person, and there is no need to explain in detail, Zhang Xiaowu understood, and instructed the royal forest army: "Everyone hide, I will continue to investigate, don't think that we are cavalry can be unscrupulous, the palace is not a grassland, there are many walls here, except for the open area, it is not suitable for cavalry combat." You just need to protect Your Majesty, you know? ”

"Got it."

Zhang Xiaowu didn't believe in this group of Royal Forest Army, not because he didn't believe in their loyalty, but because he didn't believe in their ability, he personally went to investigate. As he approached the door, he gradually heard a familiar accent, which was a Daishu accent. Saibei and Liangwolfguan are nominally subordinate to Daizhou, and many Daizhou people will also come to live in Saibei, so that the accent of the people of Daizhou is almost the same as that of the Han people of Saibei, but it is different from the people of Longdu.

A few rebels may have been idle and standing guard for too long, they are not real saint soldiers, although they know military discipline but are not familiar with it, so they still talk in private.

A bearded rebel soldier looked at the fire in the distance and laughed: "You say this fire is so big, how many people can be burned?" Alas, it's a pity, it's a pity. ”

Another long-faced soldier said: "The fire looks big, in fact, it can't burn many people, you see that the palace is so big, you can avoid the fire by hiding in an open place." The county seat in my hometown is not as big as the palace, my God, the ghost knows that the palace is so big. ”

A round-faced rebel soldier said: "That's not necessarily, this fire is evil, and it also has lightning, it is estimated that God is punishing the emperor." ”

The long-faced soldier said: "Actually, the emperor is not so bad, and people are also exempt from taxes and various miscellaneous taxes." ”

Bearded soldier: "If it weren't for the emperor, then why did you flee?" Why don't you stay in your hometown? ”

A squint-eyed soldier suddenly shouted, "Isn't there a plague in my hometown?" ”

The bearded soldier immediately responded: "That's right, you said that there is no plague in normal times, and he has to be the emperor to have the plague, isn't the plague brought by the emperor?" If he hadn't killed his father, killed the king and killed his brother, how could he have been punished by God. ”

The others nodded violently and said, "That's right, I never thought that the emperor was such a person, and even killed his own grandfather in order to compete for the throne." ”

Zhang Xiaowu was shocked in his heart, the emperor who killed his father and killed his brother in their mouths should not be talking about Emperor Dade, right? It seems that in order to be the emperor, the King of Jin can even arrange this kind of rumor, and his intentions are so vicious, he not only wants to kill his brother, but also nails Emperor Dade to the pillar of shame in history.

"But then again, the palace maids in this palace are not as good-looking as the legend, but they are whiter than the mother-in-law outside, and they are better spread."

"Hahaha, palace maid, it's the maid who works in the palace, and you still expect everyone to be a mother?"

"That's right, these palace maids combined, they are not as good-looking as the Queen Mother alone."

"Shhhhh

"What are you afraid of, she can't hear it."

"How do you know she can't hear."

"Liyang Hou accompanies him, you say they-hahaha."

"This Liyang Hou is also really interesting, he didn't take the opportunity to kill the tyrant and make meritorious contributions, but ran here to accompany the Queen Mother, it's really a ghost under the peony flower."

"So, there is a knife on the head of the color character, if the King of Jin becomes the emperor, can he stand this second master?" The so-called second master, in the Holy Han Empire, means stepfather, and everyone chuckled for a while, for fear of being heard by the people inside.

The bearded soldier immediately laughed and said: "How can the King of Jin not stand it, if it weren't for the support of the Marquis of Liyang, how could the King of Jin feed so many of us, if it wasn't for the Marquis of Liyang, how could we enter the palace?" If you want me to say, after tomorrow, when King Jin ascends the throne as emperor, he will have to worship the Marquis of Liyang as his father. ”

"What do you say, what's going on with the Marquis of Liyang and the Queen Mother?"

"There are folk rumors about this story, but the people who know it are all old people from Longdu, and we don't know it."

Zhang Xiaowu naturally knew that this Liyang Hou Wu Dong, he was the founder of the Thirteen Heroes, but Liyang Hou has always been honest and will not do anything out of the ordinary, and he will not participate in the dispute between the prince and the prince.

However, Zhang Xiaowu didn't know an incident more than 30 years ago, Liyang Hou Wu Dong couldn't help himself, 35 years ago, Wu Dong, who was still the son of Liyang Houfu, prayed with his father on the bank of the Longdu River to mourn the rest of the dead elders at home, and at this time he happened to meet Zhang Kuan, the head of the Ministry of Officials, and his family also prayed for blessings on the riverside. Zhang Kuan brought the whole family to pay a visit, and Wu Dong also met Zhang's family with his father, Lao Liyanghou.

Because of the same background and the same status, the two families talked happily, and the younger generations of the two families also played together, and the young Wu Dong met Zhang Kuan's daughter, which is now the Empress Dowager Zhang. Wu Dong is very fond of this three-year-old sister, and said in the play: "In the future, I will marry Ah Mei as my wife, and cast a golden house and a jade bed for my wife." ”

Zhang Kuan liked Wu Dong, the son of the Hou of Liyang, very much, and then the two families got very close. However, when Empress Dowager Zhang was sixteen years old, she was crowned with beauty, and was directly selected by Emperor Taiqian to be a beauty in the palace, and then became Zhang Guifei. And after Wu Dong learned that she entered the palace, he was heartbroken and almost starved himself to death, so the Liyang Marquis Mansion was cut off from Zhang Kuan.

A few years later, Wu Dong gradually came out of his sadness and married someone else, and his son Wu Dong inherited the title and became the real Marquis of Liyang, and in a few years Wu Dong suddenly killed his wife inexplicably. The case of Liyang Hou's murder of his wife once caused a sensation in Longdu, and he was detained and interrogated by the Supervision Institute for several years, but he only confessed that he fought and killed his wife by mistake because of a dispute with his wife, but everyone knew that Liyang Hou's wife was gentle and kind, never beat and scolded, and set up a porridge shop every disaster year to save the lives of the people, so he did not believe what Wu Dong said. Wu Dong did not confess the truth, his future was ruined, and he was ordered by Emperor Taiqian to demote the Marquis of Liyang from the Marquis of the First Rank to the Marquis of the Third Rank, and he was not allowed to be an official for ten years.

Although the Marquis of Liyang was exiled to Lingnan for ten years, he did not really do labor due to his status as a scholar, but lived freely in Lingnan for ten years, during which he also married three Lingnan women as concubines and gave birth to five children. But the case of Liyang Hou's murder of his wife is still a mystery case, and no one has learned the truth so far.

During his stay in Lingnan, Liyang Hou stumbled upon a kind of rice with a very high yield, so he selected this kind of rice and planted it in a large area, and finally found that this kind of rice was one-third more than the usual rice yield, and the people of Lingnan called it Liyang rice. After ten years of hard labor, the Marquis of Liyang returned to Longdu and offered this Liyang rice to Emperor Taiqian, but Emperor Taiqian did not think so. So Liyang Hou asked his tenants to plant Liyang rice in a large area, and gradually became the largest grain merchant in Longdu.

Because the Marquis of Liyang could not be an official, he sponsored many poor scholars and made friends with many low-level officials. Many people in the officialdom still sell him face, and even on many occasions, Liyanghou is a distinguished guest who must be invited. At the end of the year, Liyang Hou sent someone to give Yinyi Wei 2,000 stone rice Gu as a gift, Zhang Xiaowu and Wu Song and others also praised this Liyang Hou really good at being a man, if there is a famine in the whole dragon, the only place with rice is Liyang Hou's Mansion.

Zhang Xiaowu thought about everything, connected it back and forth, and after meditating, he suddenly figured out a lot of things. The reason why this fire started from the West Palace is because this conspiracy coup was the participation of the Empress Dowager of the West Palace, who wanted to overthrow her son Emperor Dade and set up her youngest son King Jin as the emperor. And why did Empress Dowager Zhang have to get involved, in addition to the fact that she has always liked her younger son and disliked her eldest son, there is also Liyang Hou involved.

So who is the mastermind behind Liyang Hou? Who has the energy to mobilize such a huge crowd, who has the energy to mobilize so many troops, and even bribed Li Canglan, who is not afraid of the army of King Qin, who is not afraid of Dushanbo?

This person is the mastermind behind the scenes, and he is the real old fox.

Zhang Xiaowu doesn't quite understand why Empress Dowager Zhang is so stupid, of course, Empress Dowager Zhang has always been not very smart, and she doesn't know the importance of being angry. Thinking back to what the Empress Dowager Zhang did, she has always been an impatient and unbearable person, and after Emperor Dade killed the old lady (borrowed by Zhang Xiaowu), the Empress Dowager Zhang rarely did not protest or mess around, but endured it for half a year.

In this half a year, Emperor Dade did not see half of the Empress Dowager Zhang, but was in the sense of guilt for the Empress Dowager Zhang, and Emperor Dade also allowed the Empress Dowager Zhang to go out of the palace many times in the past six months to return to the Zuo Prime Minister's Mansion, that is, the provincial relatives of Hengshui Bofu.

The wall of the cold palace was only one zhang high, Zhang Xiaowu looked left and right and found a big tree close to the wall, so he climbed up, he turned over and jumped into the cold palace. There were originally many concubines of Emperor Taiqian living in the cold palace, and later Emperor Dade let them go out of the palace to live and recuperate, but there were still some concubines who did not leave the cold palace, these people included some madmen and the concubines of the original Emperor Dao, and now they are also old men with dry bones.

Zhang Xiaowu continued to sneak forward, dodging a patrol of rebels, avoiding the sentinels, and finally approaching a crowded pavilion. The area around this pavilion was heavily protected by the rebels, and Zhang Xiaowu counted about two hundred people, plus the guards at the gate and the soldiers on patrol, a total of three hundred.

According to the distribution of troops, the rebels only had more than 1,200 people in total, and more than 100 people were killed by them, Wu Di and others, so Li Canglan only had more than 800 people around him, and these 800 people were obviously very difficult to control the palace, and they should be very scattered. Judging from the military establishment of the Holy Han, 150 people should be in one capital team, and more than 800 people should be in five capital teams or six capital teams. Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaowu's confidence increased greatly, although Li Canglan had many people, his chances of winning were very large.

At this moment, someone suddenly ran in from outside, shouting all the way: "Report - great joy!" ”

A handsome middle-aged man with a long beard and a crown face pushed the door out and hurriedly asked, "What is the great joy?" ”

"Helan Zong led three thousand Qinglong Army forbidden troops to increase their strength to reach the north gate of the palace, and General Li ordered to open the north gate of the palace and lead the Qinglong Army into the palace." The soldier who delivered the news said excitedly.

The handsome middle-aged guy laughed and said, "It's done!" It's done! Yan'er - Queen Mother, this matter is done. I only heard a sigh in the main hall of the cold palace, and there was no other sound. The middle-aged handsome man knew that Empress Dowager Zhang was in a complicated mood, so he didn't say much, but waved his hand and ordered: "Report this matter to the rebels from all walks of life, tell them that they must find Dade, find him, we will all be promoted and rich, if we can't find him, we will all be connected to the nine clans." Fugui Zhentian is still cramping, let everyone choose for themselves. ”

"Yes." The herald soldier shouted and ran.

The handsome middle-aged man stood on the steps of the main hall of the cold palace, looking at the flames of the Longdu Palace from afar, his face was hideous, and he shouted: "Xuanyuan Linggong, you robbed my wife, harmed my family, ruined my reputation, and ruined my title, and now I want to make you regret it a lot, and I want you to know that arrogance comes at a price." ”

Empress Dowager Zhang suddenly broke out and said with tears in her eyes: "Brother Dong, can you not kill Xiao'er?" Can you imprison him and make him a remote prince? Luckily? ”

The middle-aged handsome guy, that is, Liyang Hou Wu Dong, turned around and comforted softly: "Don't worry, he will definitely be fine." "I have to say that this Liyang Hou is indeed handsome, even if he is middle-aged, he can already see how handsome and graceful this person was when he was young, and standing with Empress Dowager Zhang is really a perfect match.

"But—"

"But there's no way he'll ever be in front of you again." Liyang Hou said indifferently, "The King of Jin is the emperor, if I see him again, I am afraid that it will set off a bloody storm." I told General Li that after finding His Majesty, I imprisoned him and sent him to Jieyang Mansion in Yuezhou, Lingnan, where I had been forced to work hard for ten years, and where I still had many friends. I will also send his wife and palace concubines and beauties, and from now on I will be a happy person and stop participating in complicated disputes between the kingdom and the dynasty. ”