Tang Yuan led the troops to Luoyang day and night, 2,600 miles, and the fastest rapid march took half a month, along the way, Tang Yuan was anxious.

Nalan Xin suggested Tang Yuan: "Let's not go to Luoyang, it's too late, if you are worried that the emperor will be set a trap, it is better to believe that this is a trap set by the emperor himself." We can only gamble, and we must bet on the emperor to win. Although the empress's secret order was brief, I still judged from it that this time the emperor would never resist with his own strength, and if that was the case, Tang Qi would not let us go to Jingzhou to prepare to accept Cao Dingbang's Flying Tiger Army. Do you think that even if the emperor overthrows the queen mother, Cao Dingbang will obediently hand over the military power? So I judged that the emperor must have received strong support, either Cao Sheng supported him, or Min Yue supported him, and the power of Prime Minister Tang Zhen was also one of the leading factors. ”

Hearing this, Tang Yuan nodded and said, "I've thought about what you said, but I can be sure of one thing, Emperor Zhao Ce doesn't have the ability to set up this layout, I think the chief planner of this layout is Tang Qi." Tang Qi used Cao Sheng, Tang Zhen and the emperor to overthrow the queen mother in one fell swoop, if successful, Tang Qi will be the new queen mother of the Liang Dynasty in the future. Of course, there is a premise for this, that is, Zhao Ce will not die so early. I don't want Zhao Ce to die either, I always feel that he is a benevolent monarch, and I hope he will work until the day he gets old. ”

At this time, he received a secret order again, and Tang Qi emphasized in the secret order that Tang Yuan must rush to Jingzhou, wait for the order, and never send troops to Luoyang.

For this military order, Tang Yuan and Nalan Xin looked at each other and smiled.

It is still far from Luoyang, but it is not a few days away from Xiangcheng, and it is still a way, so I simply changed the slogan and went straight to Xiangcheng.

"Alas, Xiaofeng, you said that we killed Ma Butong, will his brother Ma Bufang hate us?" Tang Hu had nothing to do and began to talk nonsense again.

"At that time, I told you that if Ma Butong resisted, you would kill him, but how did I hear that Ma Butong was unarmed at that time, or was he killed by you? You're not asking for trouble. Tang Yuan said angrily.

"Hey, what's the matter, at that time he shouted to kill me, and he wanted to kill my whole family, isn't this resistance? He Nana's, he turned against him, he wanted to kill Lao Tzu's whole family, can I get used to him? Tang Hu glared.

"Very good, you are very reasonable!" Tang Yuan said indignantly: "In the future, when you meet his brother, you must say the same, I believe that his brother will definitely forgive you, and he will praise you for being a shrewd general." ”

"Hehe, that's right. If he doesn't praise me at that time, I'll even do it with him. Let his brothers be the ghosts under my halberd, and it will not be in vain for their brothers. Tang Hu said complacently.

——

The sky was overcast, and the sky was full of dark clouds, except for the western corner, where there was still the afterglow of the sun.

Emperor Zhao Ce stood on a high platform, looking at the city wall of Luoyang, hoping that Zhang Yunlong's plan could be carried out as soon as possible.

But at this time, the emperor's mood was complicated, he pinned his hopes on success, and there was a faint feeling of worry.

Finally, the battle at the north gate began, and there was a battalion of troops guarding it, who was the queen mother's personal soldiers. Although there were not many people fighting, the battle was extremely tragic, and the sound of shouting and killing, the sound of weapons clashing, and the sound of fire and thunder had reached the emperor's ears. At this time, the emperor's heart finally rose to his throat.

A strange soldier flew into the north gate, and the Xuanjia infantry who blocked there was rushed open, and the infantry formation was chaotic, and they were crushed by the cavalry, and the armor was too thick to cut and could not move, so they smashed it with heavy weapons, and the guards guarding the gate held out for less than two quarters of an hour, and they all surrendered.

Zhang Zhikui's soldiers rushed to the city gate tower and erected a yellow flag prepared in advance, symbolizing that the north gate had been taken.

When Zhang Zhikui, Wan Lin, and Huang Ying's troops began to capture the Luoyang City Gate, Emperor Zhao Ce was so excited that he burst into tears, but the closer he got to success, the more worried he became, grabbed Zhang Yunlong's hand and said: "When you attack the imperial city, you must not hurt the queen mother, and I must personally handle her placement." ”

Zhang Yunlong originally wanted to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, but seeing the emperor like this, he could only say: "We mutinied, just to return the power that belongs to the emperor, and we didn't plan to kill the queen mother at all, otherwise, why don't we shout the slogan of the Qing monarch." As long as the Queen Mother hands over the military power, we will not do anything to her. ”

Zhao Ce thanked the old general so much that he almost knelt on the ground and knocked one.

——

"I've given Cao Sheng three orders in a row, why doesn't Cao Sheng do it yet?" The Queen Mother stood on top of the watchtower and looked at the situation at the north gate.

Li Wantang bowed and said: "Report to the Queen Mother, none of the eunuchs who went to deliver a letter to Cao Sheng came back, and it is estimated that they were detained by Cao Sheng." ”

"Don't jump to conclusions, let's wait." Empress Dowager Cao pretended to be calm, her fingers hidden in the sleeves of her robe, pinching each other.

At this time, there were only Li Wantang and Ji Yifa and other secret guards around her, less than 200 people, and the Lu family, who had been actively protecting the Queen Mother, did not know where to go.

About half an hour passed, Zhang Zhikui's vanguard cavalry had rushed to the outside of Guangdaofang, and at this time the soldiers in the imperial city were still standing still, at this time the queen mother finally determined that Cao Sheng had rebelled, and immediately decided to follow Li Wantang to escape from the imperial city, through the tunnel, detour to the north of the city, go to Zhengzhou, find the national governor of soldiers and horses, Ma Bufang, and then summon the Flying Tiger Army and the Tiger Ben Army to escort.

"Before leaving, go and kill Tang Qi for me, and bring the prince Zhao Ling over to me!" Empress Dowager Cao said hatefully.

"It's too late to return to the Queen Mother." Ji Yi said ashamedly.

"Why is it too late?"

"They have already escaped through the labyrinth, if I guessed correctly, it was Cao Sheng himself who let them go."

Empress Dowager Cao suddenly felt that the sky was spinning, she never expected this result, it was like the sky was falling. The many followers he left behind became meaningless under Cao Sheng's rebellion.

But when Empress Dowager Cao had just walked into the secret passage, she saw a faint light in the depths of the secret passage, and the closer she got, the more obvious it became.

The Queen Mother exclaimed: "There are people there! ”

"Don't panic, the Lu family and the Han brothers are here!" A woman's voice came, and it was so familiar to Empress Dowager Cao.

Lu Shi came to the tunnel one step ahead of time and brought two masters to accompany him.

Hearing this, Empress Dowager Cao let out a sigh of relief and said: "Tribulation sees the truth, it seems that I don't usually hurt you in vain." ”。

Lu Shi Yanran said with a smile: "The minister has already contacted the Tiger Army, and now Cen Shen is going to Zhengzhou with illness, I have prepared horses in the north of the city, let's hurry out and go from that side." ”

"Well, your thoughts coincide with the mourning family, which is wonderful." Empress Dowager Cao said happily.