Good heavens! The Supreme God is being relentlessly harassed!

three days later

Zuo Zhilin was unaware that Xie Liuyan was fully aware of his plans and had even laid a trap for him.

He was still basking in the joy of his impending victory, with many ministers in the court supporting him and the young emperor unable to stir up any trouble.

Xie Liuyan, who was crucial in deciding the outcome of the battle, may have already died from the poison.

Zuo Zhilin has no hesitation in completely exposing his wolfish ambitions; history is always written by the victors.

If he becomes emperor, the Zuo family will no longer need to call themselves slaves, and will be completely transformed into members of the royal family.

Afterwards, he will be showered with glory, and he will enjoy endless wealth and honor.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and he and some of his ministers who supported him had long ago made plans.

Before the morning court session, he and Li Lianwu, the Minister of War, led troops to storm the palace through the Zhuque Gate, the main gate of the palace. At that time, the Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture would open the city gate for them.

All they need to do is fight their way to the young emperor Yunqi's palace, get him to write an abdication edict, and pass the throne to Zuo Zhilin.

Then he donned the dragon robe and went to the imperial court to attend court.

At that time, the ministers who support him will naturally submit, and those who resist will be killed without mercy!

As for Shen Qingcheng and his son, whom he had been unable to win over before, they would become the final stepping stone for him to ascend to the throne.

By making an example of one to warn a hundred, the remaining ministers will certainly not dare to object.

Zuo Zhilin had even planned out Yunqi's future. As Yunqi's maternal uncle, he would ensure that Yunqi had a good future.

Sending him to a remote place to be a prince would be the best ending for Yunqi.

If Yunqi doesn't comply, then he shouldn't blame his uncle for being ruthless.

While he was pondering, a servant announced, "Reporting to the Prime Minister, Lord Li is already waiting at the door."

Taking the sword handed to him by the servant, Zuo Zhilin gripped the hilt tightly, and his aura changed instantly.

Today, there's only one word: Kill!

His eyes were filled with murderous intent and desire, and he was dressed in armor, so that one could not see a trace of the integrity and scholarly air of a man of letters.

Upon reaching the entrance, Li Lianwu exuded a murderous aura no less than Zuo Zhilin's. As someone who had fought his way out of piles of corpses, Li Lianwu understood all too well the principle that one general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand.

"Left Prime Minister, remember your previous promise: if you ascend the throne, I, Li Lianwu, will definitely become the second most powerful non-royal king in Yun Kingdom, possessing supreme power!"

As for why it's second, Xie Liuyan, who is first, is still feared by many.

Fortunately, Zuo Zhilin had orchestrated Xie Liuyan's poisoning, so he probably died from the poison while searching for a miracle doctor. Otherwise, no matter how much courage he had, Li Lianwu would not have dared to commit such a rebellion.

Now that Xie Liuyan is no longer here, he naturally wants to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be granted a title and appointed as a general.

"Of course, you will definitely not be treated unfairly when the time comes!"

Zuo Zhilin's words were exceptionally firm at this moment, and as for what to do after the matter was accomplished, that was entirely up to him.

Li Lianwu stood at the doorway, giving a final pep talk to the soldiers watching them below:

"Brothers!! Today is an extremely important day, because it will determine everything from now on. If we succeed, we, and our wives, children, and elderly parents will enjoy endless wealth and glory!"

"Those who display bravery in today's battle will be directly promoted!"

"Everyone—follow me and kill!!"

The soldiers below were clearly very excited, shouting, "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Seeing that he had finished his mobilization, Zuo Zhilin gave the order: "Let's go!"

Outside the Regent's Palace, a similar scene was unfolding, but Xie Yi's words were far more persuasive than Li Lianwu's enticements.

"Brothers, I've always been strict with you all, all for this day!"

"Our Xuan Tie Army is the most disciplined army under the Prince. Our greatest role is to protect the Prince and serve the Yun Kingdom!"

"Now we have such an opportunity before us—the Zuo family has been plotting something sinister all along, and has even tried to assassinate the prince several times. Shouldn't we rid the people of such a treacherous minister?"

The Xuan Tie Army shouted in unison, "We must! We swear to protect the Prince to the death! We swear to protect the Yun Kingdom to the death!"

Xie Yi was clearly very excited: "Good! Good! We've been training for a thousand days to use them for one day. We'll follow the Prince closely and make sure these traitors never return!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

Xie Liuyan was dressed in black armor, with his ever-present sword Yunhong hanging at his waist, its tassel swaying slightly in the breeze.

With a single gesture, he exuded absolute authority, and the arena fell silent.

"I am delighted to see the indomitable spirit of the men of my Yun Kingdom, and I am also grateful to all of you for standing with me through those difficult days."

"Hereby, I, the King, make a promise that all soldiers who sacrifice their lives or are gloriously wounded for the country today will have their families richly rewarded, and their descendants will be blessed!"

Hearing his words, the soldiers below became even more excited; they never doubted what the prince had said.

"Thank you, Your Highness! We will follow you closely!"

*

Everything was going smoothly, so smoothly it felt unreal.

After the Prefect of Jingzhao opened the palace gates as agreed, Zuo Zhilin and Li Lianwu led their soldiers into the palace under the last vestiges of darkness.

I thought that although the palace wasn't heavily guarded, there should at least be a small number of Xuan Tie soldiers patrolling there.

It would be quite difficult to deal with the Xuan Tie Army without alerting anyone.

But they hadn't seen a single patrolling soldier along the way, which was really strange.

Zuo Zhilin suppressed his unease, thinking that perhaps the palace was not heavily guarded.

What he didn't know was that after all the soldiers were let in, the palace gates, which had been open, suddenly closed.

Because of the darkness of night, they were able to launch their coup with peace of mind, but this also sowed the seeds of their fatal failure.

If they knew that Liu Huizhou, the Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, had always been a fence-sitter, and that they could win him over, why couldn't Xie Liuyan? They would definitely regret trusting Liu Huizhou so easily.

Unfortunately, any complete failure is inseparable from those seemingly insignificant little people; the most fatal mistake is when a fence-sitter turns against them at a crucial moment.

Shortly after they left, Xie Liuyan and Xie Yi led the Xuan Tie Army to the palace gate, where Liu Huizhou was already waiting.

Upon seeing Xie Liuyan, he immediately knelt down and bowed, saying, "Your Highness!"

Xie Liuyan waved his hand, "No need for formalities, get up, Lord Liu."

Liu Huizhou then stood up, bowed, and reported to Xie Liuyan, "This humble official has followed Your Highness's orders and put all the traitors into the palace, while keeping the palace gates tightly closed, ensuring that no one escapes!"

Xie Liuyan walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder, and said in a light tone, "Lord Liu is a pragmatic man. When the rebellion is quelled, Lord Liu will surely deserve some credit!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!!" Liu Huizhou was extremely excited. Fortunately, he had chosen the right side, otherwise he would probably be the one being trapped and beaten now.

Thinking of this, he silently lit a candle for the Left Prime Minister, who seemed to be alive but had already stepped into the gates of hell.

These days, being a subject is a high-risk profession!

After exchanging a few words with Liu Huizhou, Xie Liuyan and Xie Yi led the Xuan Tie Army into the palace.

This was a moment destined to be recorded in the annals of the Yun Kingdom's historians, who later recorded it as follows:

In the early years of Emperor Qi's reign, Zuo Fan rebelled, and Li Lianwu, the Minister of War, joined the rebellion. The emperor was alarmed, and the regent quelled the palace turmoil, and all those guilty were executed.

However, the Left Chancellor shouted "It's fate!" and then smashed his head against a pillar and died.

This was known to contemporaries as the "Rebellion of Zuo and Li".