Going to Beijing to save his father, all the powerful officials in the city are vying to be his fath

The private soldiers of King Liang, a part of the imperial guards loyal to him, and the garrison troops transferred from various places, totaling 100,000 soldiers and horses, surrounded the entire Shangjing City.

In Shangjing City, only Jin Tong, Zou Tai and others were guarding it with less than 30,000 imperial guards, so Prince Liang had a great advantage in terms of numbers.

The King of Liang had someone write a forged edict, and kept shouting the emperor's crimes at the city gate, asking him to abdicate voluntarily for the sake of his ancestors' foundation and the safety of the people in the city. The King of Liang would make him a king and let him enjoy a life of wealth and honor.

"Your Majesty, please do not be so obsessed with power that you will harm the country and the people. You are inhumane and cannot have children. The foundation of our ancestors cannot be destroyed in your hands."

"Your Majesty, if you insist on not abdicating, you will be disregarding the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the city."

"Your Majesty, you must not be confused. You must put the country first and don't become a sinner for all eternity."

......

There were also many ministers who were loyal to King Liang and knelt at the city gate, advising the emperor with tears in their eyes.

The emperor ignored it at first and let the people outside the city to make trouble. The emperor was not in a hurry, but the officials and people stranded in Shangjing City were very panicked, fearing that King Liang would attack and cause trouble for them.

Some people who did not know the truth of the matter went to the gate of the palace and knelt down to beg the emperor to agree to King Liang's abdication for the sake of the people in the city.

It doesn’t make much difference to the people who is the emperor, but if a war really breaks out, the people will be the first to suffer.

But no matter how the people begged, the palace gates remained closed and there was no movement. Gradually, the people thought that the emperor did not care about their lives and began to curse him.

For three whole days, no matter how much they cursed or begged, the palace gates never opened.

As for the officials, even when Prince Liang laid siege to the city, the Emperor decisively ordered them to take their families to the palace for immediate refuge. For three long days, every corner of the palace seemed permeated with an atmosphere of tension and unease. Trapped within the palace, the officials and their families were constantly filled with the miserable cries and angry curses of the people outside. Yet, puzzlingly, despite all these days, they never even had the opportunity to see the Emperor.

These officials were all loyal to the Emperor, but faced with such a stalemate, they had no idea what the Emperor intended. If it weren't for the highly respected Grand Tutor Yan, who worked tirelessly to calm everyone, these officials would have lost their temper and would have knelt down to beg the Emperor to come up with a solution.

Meanwhile, outside the city gates, Prince Liang waited leisurely. Strangely, he wasn't in a rush to launch a siege. Instead, as time passed, the confidence on his face grew stronger. It turned out he already had complete confidence—he was convinced the emperor was helpless!

After all, he had a large number of troops at his disposal. Furthermore, he had secretly bribed the commanders of the garrison troops in several nearby prefectures, making it impossible for them to come to the emperor's aid. Furthermore, nearly half of the imperial guards were completely under his control.

In this case, the troops that the emperor can mobilize are really limited. How can they compete with his powerful army?

Ultimately, this fierce battle for the throne ultimately came down to which side was more powerful. He had already given the Emperor ample time to deliberate. If the Emperor still refused to abdicate, regardless of the lives of the entire court and the countless civilians in the city, then the blame for the war could be placed on the Emperor himself, as it was his greed for power that led to the war.

For the past three days, Zhao Liangchen has been guarding the King of Liang with the imperial guards. He was watching the city wall from afar.

On the city wall were the imperial guards led by the Duke of Lu and the Marquis of Wuning, as well as some of the palace soldiers from the Duke of Lu and the Marquis of Wuning.

Zhao Liangchen recalled his previous life. He was the one standing on the city wall. The Duke of Lu defected to King Liang because the Queen died of depression. He stood beside King Liang and attacked the city. The Marquis of Wuning did not defect to anyone and hid in the mansion without coming out.

In this life, because of his rebirth, the fate of everyone has been changed. Although he and the Duke of Lu are still on opposite sides, they are no longer enemies.

Facing the enemies outside the city, Wu Ning was extremely calm, but the Duke of Lu did not know that the emperor had private soldiers, so he felt a little uneasy and anxious. There were only so many troops in the city. Even if he was experienced in battle, the city walls were strong, and the food, fodder and weapons were well prepared, he had no confidence that he could stop the large number of troops of King Liang.

Marquis Wuning glanced at the Duke of Lu, who was pacing back and forth anxiously, and teased, "Duke, I heard that you had your youngest son secretly take away some of the Duke of Lu's nephews and nieces. It seems that the Duke has no confidence in the Emperor and has secretly kept a backup plan."

Two months ago, the caravan came back and brought back news about Qiao Haomin. Marquis Wuning knew that Qiao Haomin had been following Su Qin and the others, but not only was he shaken off by Su Qin, he was also beaten up by them, so Marquis Wuning felt a little proud and gloating.

His son was pretending to be a dandy to protect himself, but Qiao Haomin was truly an uneducated dandy. A woman could fool him around, and Marquis Wuning felt very happy.

Duke Lu was upset and glared at him when he heard this: "Don't you think the Marquis of Wuning has such thoughts? The sons that this Duke gave away were all illegitimate sons, but the prince of your mansion has been missing for a long time. Isn't this a backup plan that the Marquis has left for himself?"

Marquis Wuning didn't get angry and replied with a smile: "Yes, that brat has been away from home for almost a year. Who knows where he is fooling around now? My family has two sons, and neither of them has any future. It's probably not possible to rely on them to bring honor to the family. Let's just let it go. Unlike you, Duke, you have many children and grandchildren. If one fails, there will always be another who can. You have to be careful to preserve some bloodline."

Duke Lu angrily said, "It's already this hour, and you're still talking nonsense."

He pointed at the huge army below the city and said, "Why don't you think of a solution quickly? If a fight breaks out like this, how long can we hold out with so few men?"

Marquis Wuning shrugged. "What can I do? I'm a scholar who's spent over a decade reciting poetry and painting, and I'm already too tired to lift a knife. If a fight really breaks out, I'll have to rely on the Duke to hold the line."

Duke Lu looked at Marquis Wuning's relaxed expression, narrowed his eyes, and took a step closer: "Are you hiding something from me? Is there something the Emperor has planned that I'm unaware of?"

Marquis Wuning took a step back and said, "How should I know? Duke, I don't hold any official position right now, not even qualified to enter the palace. You are the Empress's grandfather, so you should know more than I do."

Duke Lu frowned. He always felt that something was wrong. Since the emperor had known about Prince Liang's evil intentions for a long time, he shouldn't have just made such preparations. If a war really broke out, relying on Zhao Liangchen to control the imperial guards outside would be a drop in the bucket. There were still tens of thousands of garrison troops and private soldiers outside. Maybe Zhao Liangchen would be killed by Prince Liang's men if he showed any signs of betraying Prince Liang.

The emperor should know this and have made some arrangements in advance. He could only wait patiently.

As night fell, the officials outside the city who had been shouting for three days no longer had the energy to shout. King Liang also felt that the groundwork had been laid, so he asked them to retreat. The city gate, which had been bustling for three days, suddenly became quiet.

Duke Lu's heart sank as he watched the retreating people: "Prince Liang might be going to attack the city."

Marquis Wuning said nonchalantly, "Attack. I haven't fought in a war for over ten years, so I can use him as a training ground."

Duke Lu looked at him and became even more certain that the emperor must have some other arrangements that he didn't know about.

He did not dare to be careless and personally arranged the defense on the city wall.

As the night deepened, King Liang did not attack the city. Instead, he ordered his men to sell pots and cook. Soon, the aroma of meat filled the camp.