Chapter 90: The Sui and Tang Dynasties (Twenty)

Currently, there are 40,000 defenders in Chang'an, including 20,000 each of the Yulin Army and the Jinwu Guard. The Jinwu Guard is responsible for the outer city and the city gates, maintaining order in daily life and defending the city during wartime, while the Yulin Army defends the imperial city and the palace city. After the incident of Yang Yuanqing leading his army to attack Chang'an last winter, the defenses of the palace city and the imperial city became extremely strict.////

However, the Yulin Army is only responsible for the periphery of the palace city, including the city wall gates in a section of the palace city. The inner palace is not the jurisdiction of the Yulin Army, but Qianniu is responsible for security. The Yulin Army's base is the Forbidden Garden in the north of the palace city. It was once burned down by Yang Yuanqing's fire general camp and the official office, and was later rebuilt.

At this time, Changsun Shunde, the general of the Yulin Army, was in his official office. Changsun Shunde was the younger brother of Changsun Sheng and one of the representatives of the Changsun family. He was loyal to Li Yuan and was extremely trusted by Li Yuan and named him the General of the Yulin Army.

Although Yang Yuanqing almost broke through the palace at the end of last year and Changsun Shunde was dereliction of duty, Li Yuan did not punish him and still trusted him very much, which made Changsun Shunde both ashamed and grateful, more conscientious and conscientious, and dared not slacken at all.

Recently, the conflict between the prince and the King of Qi has gradually deepened, and it has reached the point of fighting between life and death. Changsun Shunde, who is in charge of the 20,000 Yulin Army, has become more and more important. The prince and the King of Qi have both looked for him separately, but Changsun Shunde insisted on being neutral and only served his loyalty to Li Yuan.

Although Li Yuan's order was to make him obey the orders of the King of Qi, Li Jiancheng was kind and generous, while Li Yuanji was cruel and cruel. In terms of emotion, he favored the crown prince Li Jiancheng, but the holy intention was difficult to disobey, so he had to obey the orders of the King of Qi.

Although this is the case, Changsun Shunde only performed official duties, and he ignored the private transfer order of King Qi. Not long ago, Li Jiancheng hoped that he could send troops to protect the East Palace. Changsun Shunde believed that this was his duty, so he sent three thousand Yulin troops to escort the East Palace despite Li Yuanji's opposition.

In the past two days, Changsun Shunde received reports from his subordinates that Yang Yanqing, the chief general of the left army of the Yulin Army, had several secret contacts with the King of Qi and frequent exchanges. Changsun Shunde became suspicious. Yang Yanqing is the brother of the Princess of Qi. It is not that because the King of Qi could not win over his loyalty, he turned to win over his subordinates!

Yang Yanqing had two thousand men under him, responsible for the defense of Xuanwu Gate, and his power and responsibility were extremely important. Due to the defeat of the King of Qin, the day when the King of Qi attacked was getting closer, and Changsun Shunde became a little worried.

Changsun Shunde was sitting in the room reading a book. At this time, a personal guard outside the door reported: "General, Prince Chai has an urgent matter to ask for a meeting."

Changsun Shunde was stunned. Did something happen? He immediately ordered: "Please come in!"

After a moment, Chai Shao hurried into the room and said sadly: "General Changsun, the emperor has passed away!"

Changsun Shunde was shocked and said the words from Chai Shao, and there would be no falsehood. He immediately knelt down on his knees and burst into tears, "Your Majesty!"

Chai Shao quickly grabbed him and held back his grief and said, "General, now is not the time to cry. The situation is critical now. The prince is about to be killed. His Highness asks the general for help!"

Changsun Shunde wiped his tears and nodded, "I know that I will do my best to protect the prince's safety. After the emperor passed away, the prince is the new king. I should be loyal to him."

This is his promise to Li Jiancheng. Once Li Yuan dies and Li Jiancheng will naturally succeed to the throne, he will be loyal to Li Jiancheng, and the order Li Yuan issued to him will be invalid. Since he has promised, he will naturally keep his promise.

Chai Shao quickly took out a jade talisman order from Li Jiancheng and handed it to Changsun Shunde, "If General Changsun is willing to be loyal to the new emperor, please accept this order!"

Changsun Shunde took the jade talisman order, put it on the table, knelt down on his knees, and kowtowed three respectfully, "Minist Changsun Shunde is willing to be loyal to the new emperor, and he will never refuse to die!"

Chai Shao was overjoyed. The eldest grandson was willing to be loyal, so they could help them. He hurriedly whispered: "Now His Highness of the Crown Prince is going to enter the palace to deal with the funeral of the emperor, but we have obtained information. The King of Qi has set up an ambush in Xuanwu Gate, trying to harm the prince. The prince hopes that the general can help us eliminate the King of Qi's conspiracy."

Changsun Shunde understood what Li Jiancheng meant. He pondered for a moment and nodded, "Since I am loyal to the new king, I should share his worries and problems for him."

.........

The palace city was responsible for protecting security by three thousand guards. The head of the palace guards was Li Daozong, a royal family member. He was named Duke of Lueyang County. After Li Yuan ascended the throne, he served as Zuo Qianniu's backup. Now he is the General of Qianniu Guard and is in charge of three thousand guards.

Li Daozong is the same age as Li Yuanji, just about twenty years old. The two grew up together since childhood and have a very close relationship. This time, Li Yuanji was in charge of the army and got the support of Li Daozong, which allowed Li Yuanji to control the inner palace.

The general guarding Xuanwu Gate was named Yang Yanqing, who was the elder brother of Princess Qi. He also provided convenience for Li Yuanji. He not only allowed Li Yuanji to lead bravely into Xuanwu Gate, but also after the prince entered Xuanwu Gate, he would close the Xuanwu Gate in time to block the support of the Yulin Army.

But whether it was Li Daozong, Qianniu's guards or Yang Yanqing's Yulin Army, they all made it clear that they would not participate in the ambush of the prince. After all, they were the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty and he could not bear this pressure.

At this time, more than 400 elite brave men were in ambush in Xuanwu Gate. These four hundred people were selected from the three thousand brave men. They were all tall and had great martial arts skills. They were led by Li Yuanji himself, with Zhu Jie and Li Deren as the left and right deputy generals.

Li Yuanji had been waiting for a long time on this day. From the day his father ascended the throne, he also longed to be able to one day he could sit in that high position and become the supreme emperor of the world. However, he knew in his heart that this position was not his turn. He had the elder brother and the second brother, and he was at most the king of a country, such as the King of Shu and King of Jin.

But just when he was still worried about the battle in Hanzhong, the opportunity came quietly. Both the eldest and second brothers concealed the truth about their father's poisoning. He seized this opportunity and secretly reported his father, which made him get the most reward and control the 40,000 troops in the capital.

The seed in Li Yuanji's heart began to sprout and grew wildly. At this time, Li Yuanji's heart had completely lost his mind and was desperate. Just like the woman he had played with, he didn't want to have it for a long time. He just wanted to get the body of this woman, he just wanted to possess her, and then change to a new person.

The same is true for this throne. He only wants to get it and just taste the taste of being an emperor. As for how long the country can sit firmly, he never cared about it. With the defeat of the Qin King, Li Yuanji became even more crazy. He knew that there was not much time and if he didn't take action, he would have no chance.

At this time, Yang Rong quietly stepped forward and whispered: "Your Highness, the news from the Eastern Palace, the prince has come out and is coming to Xuanwu Gate!"

Li Yuanji nodded, feeling both complacent and nervous. He swallowed and pinched the knife in his hand tighter.

.........

Li Jiancheng's carriage slowly drove out of the back door of the East Palace, entered the forbidden garden, and turned the road toward Xuanwu Gate. Nearly 300 guards were guarding the carriage left and right, Xue Wanjun and Luo Cheng were on the left and right, and the guards were on both sides of the carriage. The curtains were pulled up from time to time, revealing Li Jiancheng's pale and thin face.

About a quarter of an hour later, the carriage arrived outside Xuanwu Gate, and Xue Wanjun shouted loudly: "Your Highness the Crown Prince is going to enter the palace, please open the palace gate as soon as possible!"

After a moment, Xuanwu Gate slowly opened. In the darkness, three hundred guards in full armor protected Li Jiancheng's carriage into the palace and drove forward slowly. About one mile away was Linhu Hall, with dense woods on both sides, which were easy to hide.

Li Jiancheng's carriage did not seem to have any accidents and continued to drive forward. At this time, the gate of Xuanwu Gate slowly closed again. A person appeared on the top of the city, and he looked at the carriage coldly with his hands behind his back and drove forward. This person was Prince Li Jiancheng. The person in the carriage looked just a little like his guard. It was difficult to tell whether it was true or false when viewed from a distance at night.

Next to Li Jiancheng, Yulin General Changsun Shunde also came out. He shook his head and sighed: "He is simply crazy!"

Li Jiancheng snorted faintly, "A man who has been deviled for the throne. If he wants to destroy himself, he will not blame me."

In the woods next to Linhu Hall, Li Yuanji raised his bow and arrow and aimed at the carriage. At this time, the carriage curtain was opened, revealing Li Jiancheng's face. Li Yuanji's eyes suddenly narrowed into a slit. The bowstring was loosened, and a wolf-tooth arrow shot out quickly. It was powerful and shot directly at the carriage window. With a "click!", a shield appeared on the carriage window, and the arrow shot on the shield, which made Li Yuanji slightly stunned, and a feeling of something bad surged in his heart.

But Li Yuanji's arrow was an order, and he suddenly shouted loudly. Four hundred brave men rushed out from both sides, accompanied by countless arrows shooting. Luo Cheng and Xue Wanjun were prepared. They raised their shields to correspond, waving their spears and shouted: "There is an assassin!"

Three hundred guards from the Eastern Palace raised their shields and spears to fight. The two sides fought in an instant. At this time, Zhu Jie led dozens of people into the siege and rushed to the front of the carriage. He smashed the door with a copper hammer. He was stunned. It was empty inside, and there was no one. Where was the prince in the car just now?

When he turned around, he suddenly saw the prince who had just now, and was fighting fiercely with the brave. The prince was wearing guard armor and holding a spear in his hand. He was very skilled in martial arts and tall and burly. Except for his appearance of a little like the prince, he was not the case at all.

Zhu Jie's mind banged, and he knew he had been fooled. He turned around and shouted, "Your Highness, King Qi, we are fooled!"

As soon as he finished speaking, thousands of Yulin soldiers rushed out of Linhu Palace and Xuanwu Gate and shouted loudly: "Kill the assassin!"

Li Yuanji was so shocked that he turned around and wanted to escape into the deep palace. Unexpectedly, a spear stabbed towards him. He couldn't dodge. The spear pierced his chest, and Li Yuanji screamed. The person in front of him clearly was Yang Rong. Yang Rong smiled grimly, "Your Highness, just give me this credit!"

He pulled out the battle knife and slashed it with a sudden knife, slashing Li Yuanji's head to the ground.

Yang Rong picked up the head and shouted: "Li Yuanji was killed by me!"

"Li Yuanji was killed by me!"

But he couldn't shout a third sound. A cold arrow shot in his throat. The arrow shot through his neck. Yang Rong suddenly covered his neck. Only then did he see that Luo Cheng was holding a bow and arrow in his hand and looking at him coldly.

Yang Rong's eyes went dark and fell from the carriage to the ground. On the top of the city, Li Jiancheng issued an order, "No one left, kill all!"
Chapter completed!