Chapter 173
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For a full ten years, Xue Huaiyi has always been in power. In the Tang Empire, he was second only to the Empress Wu Zetian. No one dared to provoke him. Not to mention the city gate, even if he broke into the palace or imperial city, no one dared to intercept him.
When the soldiers on the city heard that it was Xue Huaiyi, they were so scared that they hurriedly reported to the on-duty captain. After a moment, an officer appeared on the top of the city and asked nervously: "Can the General have the order from the emperor to leave the city?"
Xue Huaiyi was furious and pointed at the city wall and cursed: "Bastard, I want to leave the city. How dare you use the lord to suppress me?"
"I dare not be humble because..."
The city guards' officer looked timidly at the raging fire ignited in the direction of the palace. It was obvious that the palace has had an accident. At this time, who dared to open the city gate without authorization?
He did not dare to offend Xue Huaiyi, so he had to tremble: "Because tonight is Shangyuan Night, Shangyuan Night, and there is no order from the emperor, so the city is not allowed to be opened at will."
He found an excuse temporarily, but Xue Huaiyi had never heard of such a statement. He was anxious and even more annoyed. He pointed to the city and cursed, "If you don't open the city, I will kill you today!"
The lieutenant of the city guarding the city was scared and didn't know what to do. At this time, a man in black hurried to him, whispered a few words to him, and showed him something. The lieutenant was stunned and nodded immediately.
He immediately said to Xue Huaiyi: "General, wait a moment, I will open the city gate immediately!"
He saw the man in black running away and disappeared, and then ordered: "Open the inner city gate!"
Luoyang City is full of duplex city gates, divided into inner city and outer city, with a urn city in the middle. The urn city is about 500 steps long and 300 steps wide, and has city gates on all sides. Generally, emperors go out of the city and walk through the intervening path between the inner and outer city walls, so that the residents in the city will not be alarmed and are safer.
The inner city gate opened, Xue Huaiyi led a dozen monks to rush into the urn. The inner city gate was closed immediately, but to Xue Huaiyi's expectations, the outer city gate did not open, and they were trapped in the urn.
Xue Huaiyi was shocked and angry, and shouted to the top of the city: "Dog, do you want to rebel?"
At this moment, a cold voice came from the city wall, "Xue Huaiyi, don't be foolish!"
When Xue Huaiyi looked up, he saw dozens of inner guard soldiers standing on the top of the city, one of them was wearing armor and holding a bow and arrow. It was Li Zhen, the deputy commander of the inner guard.
"It's you again!"
Xue Huaiyi gritted his teeth and said, "Li Zhen, do you really want to go against me?"
"How can I forget the hatred of ambush? Today is the time for you to take your life!"
Li Zhen pulled out an arrow from the quiver behind him, put the arrow on the bow, pulled the bowstring, and a wolf-toothed arrow shot out like lightning. The arrow was powerful, and the monk next to Xue Huaiyi could not dodge and was shot through the throat by an arrow.
He screamed and fell to the ground from the horse's back. Xue Huaiyi and the other monks were so scared that they were scattered. They turned their horse's head and ran to the inner city gate.
At this time, Li Zhen shot two more arrows, and the two monks were shot in the back and screamed and fell off the horse.
Xue Huaiyi ran to the inner city gate. At this time, he no longer wanted to leave the city again. He just wanted to leave the city. He would rather go to Wu Zetian to be punished than be killed one by one by Li Zhen like a cat and a mouse.
"Keep the city! Let me in." Xue Huaiyi shouted with a thunderous voice, hissing so much that his voice changed.
But there was no one on the top of the city wall, and the captain just now disappeared. At this time, another row of arrows shot from the top of the city wall on the left, and several monks were caught in the arrows and fell off the horse.
Xue Huaiyi was frightened and despaired. He saw more than a dozen inner guard soldiers appearing above his head, holding a military crossbow. He was helpless and had to turn his horse's head and flee to the center of the urn.
But they still could not escape the hunting of inner guard soldiers, and cold arrows kept shooting from both sides, cutting off the monks around Xue Huaiyi one by one.
Half an hour later, there were only two people left by Xue Huaiyi. They had already dismounted and hid among the war horses, using the war horses as their flesh shields.
"Commander Li, let it go... me! I can agree to any conditions--"
Xue Huaiyi began to beg Li Zhen, but before he finished speaking, a wolf-tooth arrow shot from the top of his left city, brushed his cheek, and shot through the head of the monk behind him.
‘Ah!’ The monk screamed and threw himself on Xue Huaiyi and died immediately. Xue Huaiyi was so scared that he almost fainted.
The last monk was unable to bear the huge pressure and ran out between the war horses, holding up his yelling, and running towards the inner city gate.
Several arrows shot towards him, and he was hit by at least three arrows, fell to the ground, his body twitched a few times, and then died.
At this time, all the fifteen monks around Xue Huaiyi were shot and killed, leaving only Xue Huaiyi and more than a dozen lost war horses.
The inner city gate finally opened, and Li Zhen rushed over with dozens of inner guard soldiers and soon surrounded Xue Huaiyi.
Xue Huaiyi's face was ashamed and collapsed on the ground, unable to say a word. Li Zhen wished he could cut his head with a sword, but he also knew that Xue Huaiyi could not be defeated by himself and had to hand it over to Wu Zetian for treatment.
"Tie him!"
Several inner guard soldiers jumped off their horses, tied up Xue Huaiyi with ropes, blocked his mouth with rags, and placed them horizontally on a horse. Li Zhen ordered the captain to deal with the remaining bodies. They turned their horses and ran towards the palace city.
The imperial city and the palace city were already in chaos, and all the monks and believers who participated in the Dharma Assembly were captured by the guards and temporarily detained in the Heavenly Prison of Dali Temple.
The monks in Linzhi Temple were also willing to be bound by death. They came out of Guanyin Hall one by one and were immediately tied up by the Qianniu Guard soldiers waiting outside.
Thousands of monks sat in several courtyards in Linzhi Temple, and mountains of armor and swords piled up in the front yard, becoming evidence of their attempt to rebel.
The fiery fire in the sky had swallowed Mingtang and Heaven. When Li Zhen took Xue Huaiyi into the imperial city, he heard a scream from the palace city, and then the sound of a shocking collapse came.
The dozens of beams at the base of the Mingtang were burnt out and could no longer bear the weight of hundreds of thousands of pounds on the upper part of the Mingtang. The huge Mingtang collapsed, and the paradise next to it also collapsed. The earth shook, and the city walls and the government offices also shook. The dim dust rose into the air and rushed straight to the sky for a hundred feet. The entire Luoyang City felt the shock of the collapse of the Mingtang and the paradise.
Li Zhen held the war horses, and he and his guards held the frightened horses. After a while, the palace city finally calmed down, but the palace city and the imperial city were still filled with thick dust.
Xue Huaiyi closed his eyes tightly, and he had no expression, as if everything had nothing to do with him.
Li Zhen covered his mouth and nose with his robe and took everyone down and walked into the palace city. When he walked to Yingtian Gate, he happened to meet Princess Taiping who had arrived after hearing the news.
Princess Taiping already knew that she had been fooled by Li Zhen, and no monk had transported her armor from the White Horse Temple. Everything that happened today had nothing to do with the White Horse Temple. All of them happened in the Palace Castle and Linzhi Temple.
She was extremely angry and hurried to the palace and comforted her mother for a while. She wanted to find Wu Yanxiu and asked about the situation, so she came out of the palace. Unexpectedly, she happened to meet Li Zhen.
"It's you!"
Princess Taiping's face turned gloomy. At the same time, she also saw a person on the horse behind Li Zhen. She reacted very quickly and immediately guessed that this person might be Xue Huaiyi.
Li Zhen also complained secretly in his heart. Because the dust was too heavy, he did not discover Princess Taiping in time. He had to step forward and bow and salute, "Li Zhen meets His Highness the Princess!"
Princess Taiping sneered twice, "Li Zhen, you still didn't stop Mingtang from being burned by the fire in time!"
Shangguan Wan'er had a solution to this point. As long as Ma Yinglun's murder was not revealed, they could conceal Xue Huaiyi's plan that had guessed in advance, and their attention was all on dealing with the monks in Linzhi Temple.
Li Zhen said calmly: "Your Highness, we didn't expect that Mingtang would be burned. How could he not have thought that he would be so crazy!"
"Yes! This person is really crazy and dares to burn Mingtang."
Princess Taiping slowly walked to Xue Huaiyi and raised his face with a horse whip. She suddenly slapped Xue Huaiyi twice and ordered her to say, "Catch him off the horse, I want to take him to see her mother!"
Several Princess Taiping's entourage guards were about to come forward to attack, and Li Zhen shouted loudly, "Let's wait!"
Princess Taiping obviously wanted to take away the credit for overthrowing Xue Huaiyi. How could Li Zhen allow her to take Xue Huaiyi away? He stepped forward and blocked several of Princess Taiping's guards, and said coldly: "Your Highness the princess is angry and has understood the function, but Xue Huaiyi is a prisoner of the inner guard. He has sent someone to report to the emperor. Please do not interfere with the official duties of the inner guard!"
Princess Taiping's face suddenly became gloomy, and her eyes looked at Li Zhen coldly, and she snorted on her nose, "Does Commander Li want to go against me?"
"He is just a small inner guard commander, how dare he fight against His Highness the Princess?" A slightly mocking voice came from the side, and Shangguan Wan'er walked out of Yingtian Gate, followed by a group of palace maids, staring at Princess Taiping with a smile in her eyes.
Princess Taiping turned around, she took a few steps back, her face was extremely angry, and Shangguan Wan'er's arrival in time made her feel a little embarrassed.
She originally wanted to use the identity of His Royal Highness the Princess to suppress Li Zhen and force him to hand over Xue Huaiyi to herself, but now Shangguan Wan'er has arrived, and it is obviously unrealistic to take Xue Huaiyi away.
Her face turned and turned and shouted: "Let's go!"
More than a dozen guards followed her to the imperial city. Xue Huaiyi suddenly became anxious and shouted, "He hoped that Princess Taiping could take him away. In any case, he and Princess Taiping were an alliance against Shangguan Wan'er. If he was taken away by Princess Taiping, there might be a glimmer of life."
But he had no chance again, Li Zhen turned around and slapped him a few times. Xue Huaiyi was so dazed that he was dizzy. When he found Princess Taiping again, she had already walked away with the guards.
At this time, Shangguan Wan'er slowly walked to Xue Huaiyi, stared at him for a moment, couldn't help but sneer, turned around and said to Li Zhen, "Take him into the palace, I think--the emperor is waiting for him to arrive."
Li Zhen winked at Shangguan Wan'er. Shangguan Wan'er and Li Zhen walked aside and asked him, "Are you any worries?"
Li Zhen glanced at Xue Huaiyi and whispered: "Is it wise to hand him over to the Lord?"
Shangguan Wan'er shook her head, "He burned the Mingtang and the Heavenly Heaven. The law of heaven is hard tolerant. The emperor will never forgive him. Don't worry! My heart is like a mirror, and he can't escape this disaster."
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Chapter completed!