Just when Zhao Kuangyin and his confidants drank all night to relieve their worries about the unknown fate, the palace in Kaifeng City was also brightly lit, and the royal family of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the important ministers of the court were also sleepless and worried.

For the Later Zhou royal family and important ministers in the court, the situation inside and outside Kaifeng City all day today can be described as ups and downs and change. From the initial rebels ascending to the head of Fengqiumen, Fengqiumen and even the entire defense line in the north of Kaifeng City were in danger, to the small group of soldiers and horses equipped with sophisticated firearms that appeared out of nowhere to repel the rebels and stabilize the defenders' position, and then to the more than 100,000 "Jingnan Army" that suddenly appeared behind the rebels and surrounded them, and now there is news that the small group of soldiers and horses assisting in the defense of Fengqiumen and the more than 100,000 so-called "Jingnan Army" outside the city are all from the Beiping Army. I also feel incredible, and it is even more difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and it is difficult to distinguish between interests and disadvantages.

Now, although Zhao Kuangyin's rebels have become a turtle in an urn and can no longer pose a threat to Kaifeng City, no one feels relaxed whether it is Empress Dowager Xiaofu, or Wang Pu, Fan Zhen, Li Gu, Wei Renpu and other ministers, and even Han Tong and other generals loyal to Hou Zhou who were carried to the palace by their entourage on soft beds to discuss matters. On the contrary, everyone's mood at this time was heavier and more uneasy than when Zhao Kuangyin commanded the rebels to attack the city. Especially after hearing that the so-called "Jingnan Army" outside the city was actually the Beiping Army, many people became depressed and depressed, and they lost the firmness and confidence they had in the face of Zhao Kuangyin's rebels a few days ago. Although such a change is embarrassing, if you think about it, it is also reasonable.

Although Zhao Kuangyin had a heavy army in his hands and arranged multiple ways to meet the people in the city in advance, he lost the opportunity and the help of the city as Xu Xinsheng defected to the imperial court. The 30,000 defenders in the city defended the city, and they also had the strength to fight with Zhao Kuangyin's 70,000 troops outside the city - Fengqiumen was almost captured, which was completely caused by the court's suspicion and constraints on Xu Xinsheng, and it was definitely not that the soldiers defending the city could not fight. Although it cannot be said that the victory is in hand, it is not left behind, and there is every opportunity to drag the rebels outside the city to exhaust and crush them, and hold out until the army of King Qin, who is loyal to the imperial court, arrives, and then annihilate it in one fell swoop.

Now, Zhao Kuangyin has been replaced by Wang Kunjun, and the 70,000 rebels have become 150,000 Beiping troops. Not to mention that the defenders in the city have lost nearly one-third of the fierce battle after more than ten days of fierce fighting, even if the rebels outside the city return to the imperial court, there is still no possibility of victory in the face of the 150,000 Beiping army. Not to mention that Xu Xinsheng, who was stationed at Fengqiu Gate, was obviously unclear with the Beiping army, and he could open the city gate at any time and let the other party into the city - even the most ignorant ministers also understood that the more than 1,000 elite soldiers and horses who helped Xu Xinsheng defend the city and retreat from the enemy were by no means forbidden troops in the city, and nine times out of ten they were ambushes secretly sent by the Beiping army to assist Xu Xinsheng in seizing and controlling the city gate.

What made the Later Zhou royal family and the ministers of the court less confident was the performance of the various Jiedu feudal towns so far. Not to mention that Zhao Kuangyin besieged Kaifeng for many days, and there were no soldiers and horses from anywhere other than the Beiping Army to come to King Qin. It is said that the more than 100,000 troops of the Beiping Army marched southward, more than 1,000 miles along the way, and the army, state, and county through which they passed did not know how many, but until now, no local governor such as a jiedu envoy, a defense envoy, an assassin envoy, etc., has sent even a word of news about this army to the imperial court, how can this not make the royal family and ministers feel cold.

Speaking of which, the Later Zhou royal family and the ministers of the court and the central government somewhat wronged these local officials. Although there are indeed some self-preservation factions who are wise enough to protect themselves and only care about safeguarding their own interests. But there is no shortage of loyal ministers who are loyal to the court and willing to share their worries and solve problems for the court. The reason why the latter did not send troops to King Qin was not because he was unwilling to support the Later Zhou court, but because it was far away and it was difficult to arrive for a while; Or like the Zhaoyi Army and the Yicheng Army, they were willing to help the imperial court, but because they learned that the Beiping Army had gone south, they had to give up the idea of coming to King Qin - although Zhongjiedu had the courage to fight with Zhao Kuangyin, but did not have the courage to clash head-on with the Beiping Army, how could they come to Kaifeng City to join in this fun.

It's just that depression is depressed, and the heart is cold, and the Zhou royal family and the ministers of the court will not give up until the juncture. So, after a long silence, Prime Minister Fan Zhen came out and said: "Queen Mother, for today's plan, one is to guard the gate carefully, and send reliable generals to guard the gates of the capital, so as to keep the Beiping army out of the city, and never let it enter the city." Second, when the rebels outside the city are given grace and power, except for Zhao Shun, the rest of the generals should be forgiven as long as they can change their past wrongs, so that they can be grateful to the imperial court, and be used by the imperial court to resist the Beiping army. Third, when secretly sending envoys to convey secret decrees to those local Jiedu feudal towns that were loyal to the imperial court, he promised to be a high-ranking official and ordered him to lead troops to King Qin. Fourth, when the important ministers of the DPRK and the central government were sent to the Beiping army camp in the name of the labor army, in order to find out the truth of the other party. In the meantime, you may ask Concubine Lin to repair a letter and persuade the generals of the Beiping Army to collect their troops and return to the north with the friendship of righteousness. ”

Fan Zhen said that everyone present nodded again and again, and Han Tong even ignored his physical weakness, and sat up with the support of the two attendants, and said: "Queen Mother, what Fan Xiang said is extremely true. The minister thought that the most important thing at the moment was to redeploy reliable generals to take over the gates of the capital, in case someone secretly communicated with the Beiping army and put them into the city. Among them, the first is the command of the right army of the 'Shenji Army' guarding the Fengqiu Gate, and Xu Xinsheng. In order to avoid suspicion, the Queen Mother can issue an order to order all the guards of the capital to enter the palace to receive rewards on the grounds that the soldiers of the 'Jingnan Army' are approaching the city and the siege of the capital has been resolved. After Xu Xinsheng entered the palace, he was ordered to evacuate Fengqiumen and return to the camp to rest in the name of the right army of the 'Shenji Army' defending the city for days, the soldiers were tired, and the casualties were heavy. In this way, it may be possible to temporarily keep the capital safe and wait for the local Qinwang's division. ”

Although she is known as the Queen Mother, in fact, the Empress Dowager Xiaofu is just a young woman less than twenty years old this year, during this period of time, Zhao Kuangyin first rebelled and besieged the capital, and then the 150,000 soldiers of the Beiping Army came to the city and eyed her, and now she has long lost her opinion, so there is no reason to disagree with the proposal of Fan, Han and others. Before Han Tong's voice fell, she nodded again and again, and replied, "In this way, act according to what the two secretaries say." I also hope that all Aiqing will work together to help the imperial court overcome this difficulty, and it will not be in vain the trust and trust of the first emperor. ”

"The ministers will do their best to do their best for the Great Zhou." When the ministers in the palace heard this, they responded in unison.

At the end of the court meeting, the ministers naturally began to make arrangements according to the previous plan. And the Empress Dowager Xiaofu ignored the fact that the night was dark and Lin Xiaoyu might have rested, and after leaving the Zichen Palace, she went directly to the palace where Lin Xiaoyu lived, intending to discuss with the other party about writing a letter to the Beiping Army outside the city.

It's just that what the Empress Dowager Xiaofu didn't expect was that she had just left the Zichen Palace, and there was already an attendant waiting in the palace - who was also the spy in the inner room of the "Dark Feather" Kaifeng Branch Hall - rushed to Lin Xiaoyu's dormitory first, reported to the latter, and reported all the contents of the previous deliberations in the Zichen Palace.

At this time, although it was almost sunset, Lin Xiaoyu's bedroom was still brightly lit. Concubine Lin, who had been paying attention to the battle in Kaifeng City, did not go to bed, but while reading a handwritten letter from the fifth brother Wang Kunjun who was forwarded through the inner room of the Kaifeng Branch Hall of the "Dark Feather", she listened to her own chief attendant, Ma Ping'an and Ma Gonggong, who was also the head of the palace of the "Dark Feather" Kaifeng Branch, report to herself about the battle in Kaifeng City today. Although Lin Xiaoyu knew very well that with the Beiping army approaching Kaifeng, Zhao Kuangyin had become a turtle in the urn, but when Ma Ping'an talked about the critical place where the rebels landed in the city and the city gate was in danger in the battle of Fengqiumen, he was still nervous in his heart, and secretly sweated for Xu Xinsheng.

Fortunately, all the twists and turns and ups and downs are about to pass, and the fifth brother Wang Kunjun has promised in his letter that he will ensure the safety of his mother and son's life and property and their future glory and wealth - Chai Zongqian's title of Duke of Yanguo will remain unchanged, and his title will remain unchanged, and he will also seal 1,000 households in the food and euphemism for the daily needs of his mother and son. What needs to be done now is to ensure the safety of themselves and their sons before the Beiping army enters the city, so that the Hou Zhou court will not jump over the wall in a hurry, take himself and his son hostage, and blackmail the Beiping army -- judging from the current situation, in the face of the temptation of the Supreme of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, even if the brothers of the Beiping army value their friendship with themselves, they will not give up the huge interests that are about to be obtained for their own sake, and then they and their sons will surely die without a place to be buried. Therefore, as soon as the chamberlain who came to report the news told him about the deliberations in the Zichen Palace and the suggestions of Fan Zhen, Han Tong and others, Lin Xiaoyu ordered Ma Ping'an to immediately pass the relevant news out of the palace, and at the same time, he also had a plan about how to deal with the visiting Empress Dowager Xiaofu.

So, after some "communication" and "exchange", Lin Xiaoyu finally "reluctantly" agreed to the Empress Dowager Xiaofu to write a letter to the brothers outside the city, persuading him to withdraw his troops and return to the domain as soon as possible after accepting the imperial reward, and immediately started writing in front of the Empress Dowager Xiaofu, wrote a letter that was sincere, reasonable, and emotional, and handed it to the Empress Dowager Xiaofu - of course, while Lin Xiaoyu agreed to write this letter, he also repeatedly emphasized that he had not seen the brothers for many years. If the brothers outside the city really want to usurp power and seize the throne, I am afraid that it will be difficult for a letter of their own to be effective. In this regard, the Empress Dowager Xiaofu is naturally very clear and understands.

After getting Lin Xiaoyu's letter, although the Empress Dowager Xiaofu could not say that a stone fell to the ground, she could at least give the young Empress Dowager some psychological comfort when it was still unknown whether several other strategies could succeed.

Sending the Empress Dowager Xiao Fu out of the palace where she lived, looking at the other party's thin and petite back, Lin Xiaoyu felt a little uncomfortable. Speaking of which, Lin Xiaoyu and Empress Dowager Xiaofu have not been together for a long time, adding up to about a year. If it weren't for the fact that Lin Xiaoyu had a deep relationship with his sister the late Empress Xuanyi before, and that the two sides had a lot of contact with some decisions on political affairs after Chai Rong's death, I am afraid that even if the two are not strangers, they will never be able to sit together and have a long talk like now. However, even if the relationship between the two is far less than the sisterhood between Lin Xiaoyu and Empress Xuanyi, it is very clear that once the Beiping army enters the city and gradually controls the entire Later Zhou court, then the young empress dowager, who is only twenty years old, and other princes, including Chai Zongxun, will lose the power and glory and wealth that they have now, Lin Xiaoyu is still very sympathetic to the other party's future experience - even if the fifth brother, seventh brother, and eighth brother will not make that kind of move to kill them all, but for these royal family members who have always been at the top of society, Suddenly falling from the peak of power to the bottom is by no means a feeling that ordinary people can experience.

Thinking of this, Lin Xiaoyu felt even more lucky. From meeting and marrying a group of affectionate and righteous brothers and sisters when they first crossed, and spending the difficult period at the beginning of the crossing together, to the first sight with Empress Xuanyi when they went south to Kaifeng, and became a medical officer of the Imperial Physician's Office, and then to later fall in love with Sejong Chai Rong and enter the palace as a concubine, until now he has been protected and preferential treatment by his brothers, and has been able to keep the glory and wealth he had before, his journey can be described as smooth sailing and no disasters. If there are any ups and downs, that is, before meeting Chai Rong, they experienced some stumbles on the road of affection, and there were some entanglements between Starling and Eleventh Brother, so that these two brothers still can't let go of their feelings until now - this can be seen from the fact that the two of them only have concubines and no wives. As the saying goes, "the bell needs to be tied to the bell", it seems that he will have to enlighten the two more in the future, and find a good girl for each of them to be his wife.

Lin Xiaoyu was full of thoughts in his dormitory, bothering about Xu Shao'an and Qian Yuanshan's lifelong events, and Xu Xinsheng and Wang Feng, who had obtained the content of the Zichen Hall of the Later Zhou Dynasty transferred from the Kaifeng Branch of the "Dark Feather" Kaifeng Branch, were in a heavily guarded and undisturbed room in the Fengqiu Gate Tower, discussing how to keep the Fengqiu Gate before the arrival of the Later Zhou Dynasty's will, and take down the Anyuan Gate opposite the Fengqiu Gate, which can go straight to the inner city of Kaifeng.

With the forces under the control of Xu Xinsheng and Wang Feng, especially with the participation of more than 1,000 officers and soldiers of the special unit of the "Flying Dragon Army", it is not difficult to take Anyuanmen. In fact, the biggest problem facing Xu and Wang now is the timing of the seizure of the gate, rather than the seizure of Anyuan Gate itself. If the door is seized too early, it is likely to attract the attention of the Later Zhou court, and send men and horses to counterattack. In that case, although the strength of Xu and Wang had the certainty of defending the city gate, they had to face a confrontation with the forbidden army loyal to the Later Zhou court in the inner city of Kaifeng, and this was exactly the situation that the Beiping army tried to avoid; If it is too late to capture the gate, when the main army of the Beiping Army has already entered the city and then seize the gate, it will bring unnecessary trouble to the Beiping Army to control the entire Kaifeng City, and affect the speed of the Beiping Army to take over Kaifeng City. Second, it is also possible to create a situation in which the Beiping army and the forbidden army loyal to the Later Zhou court confronted the Kaifeng city. Therefore, in order to grasp the "degree" of the time to seize the door, Xu Xinsheng and Wang Feng can be said to have worked hard and racked their brains. The two of them studied until the ugly time, and then they set a plan and a precise time point, and only waited for a big fight after dawn.

Xu Xinsheng and Wang Feng had a plan, and in the main camp of the Beiping Army outside the city, Wang Kunjun, Qian Yuanshan, Zeng Zhilin, Mutel and others also arranged the next day's action arrangements almost at the same time. According to Jihua, the next day, that is, in the early morning of March 19 of the lunar calendar of the ninth year of Xiande, the main force of the Beiping Army divided into two routes. Among them, Wang Kunjun and Zeng Zhilin will lead an army of 50,000 to bypass the rebels of Zhao Kuangyin, who are currently surrounded under the city of Kaifeng, and with the cooperation of Xu Xinsheng, Wang Feng and others in the city, they will pass through Fengqiu Gate and Anyuan Gate to reach the city of the Imperial City of the Later Zhou Dynasty. During this period, Wang Kunjun and Zeng Zhilin will monitor the gates of the inner and outer cities of Kaifeng with a force, and be responsible for maintaining order in the city. This part of the force had to guard against the Kaifeng defenders loyal to the Later Zhou court from obstructing the movement of the Beiping army, and at all times to stop those soldiers and splashes who tried to take advantage of the chaos to loot. Qian Yuanshan and Muttel will lead an army of 70,000 to join up with the former army and cavalry units under their previous jurisdiction to complete a comprehensive and strict encirclement of Zhao Kuangyin's rebels under Kaifeng City, so as not to make a sudden move by this Liliang army and hinder the operation of the Beiping Army to control Kaifeng City.

In the early morning of the 19th day of the third month of the ninth lunar calendar of Xiande, the royal family of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the important ministers of the court gathered again in the Zichen Palace. Since the previous night had already set a policy to deal with the Beiping army in Kaifeng, what everyone had to do at this time was to make an order according to the policy and immediately send an envoy out of the palace to deliver the decree.

Seeing a group of messengers leaving the palace, the Later Zhou royal family and important ministers did not feel at ease. After all, the strength of the Beiping Army is too strong, and everyone really has no bottom in their hearts about whether their own countermeasures can be effective. Now, all they can do is to pray to God to bless the Great Zhou, and all they can do is to wait patiently for these messengers to bring them good news.

The envoy left not for a long time, about the beginning of Mochen (seven o'clock in the morning), just in the Zichen Palace, the Hou Zhou royal family and the important ministers of the court were anxious to know the opening of the guards of the gates, especially the guards of the Fengqiu Gate, Xu Xinsheng, to enter the palace, and the transfer of the right army of the "Shenji Army" under the command of Xu Xinsheng to return to the barracks to standby, the door of the Zichen Hall was suddenly pushed open, and then I saw a person who looked like a court envoy stumbling and panicking into the main hall, fell to the ground, and stammered: "Qiyu official, queen mother, big... Big things are not good. North... The Beiping Army has... Already in... It's in town.