The vermilion imperial city gate slowly opened, and the eyes of the officials were attracted.

Soon, they saw the fire inside soaring into the sky, as bright as day. As the city gate was completely opened, everyone saw that behind the palace gate, there were densely packed figures, lined up in an orderly formation, all of them were palace figures.

The eunuch in.

There are at least twenty eunuchs in each row. They line up neatly, and there are at least hundreds of them. Some of the eunuchs hold torches, illuminating the inside and outside of Danfeng Gate as brightly as daylight, while the more eunuchs are holding sticks of wood.

The staff is the wooden staff often used for cane punishment.

A group of eunuchs holding wooden staffs suddenly appeared behind the palace gate. The officials were all shocked, and many people already knew that something was wrong.

But they saw Tian Teng standing on the palace wall saying loudly: "I am deeply favored by the emperor, but I don't want to be loyal to the country, so I gathered people in the imperial city with ulterior motives." Then he shouted in a stern voice: "Drive them away."

After receiving Tian Teng's order, all the eunuchs immediately shouted. Hundreds of eunuchs had already grasped the wooden sticks in their hands and rushed out from the palace gate like a group of mad dogs.

The sixty or seventy officials outside the palace gate were stunned.

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, although Kyoto has been turbulent and various changes have occurred. After the saint ascended the throne, Lu Junzhong of the Ministry of Punishment even turned Kyoto into a bloody hell on earth, but there has never been a case of a large number of eunuchs attacking important officials of the imperial court.

.

Although there were many eunuchs in the palace of the Tang Dynasty who had great influence on the emperor, the emperors in the past dynasties both used and guarded against the eunuchs in the palace, because they were worried that the eunuchs would become too powerful and bring harm to the court. Therefore, until

Before the current saint ascended the throne, the power of the eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty had been unable to compete with the power of the courtiers.

Although today's saints attach great importance to eunuchs, and the power of eunuchs is now the strongest period since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, but even so, eunuchs try their best to avoid conflicts with courtiers.

Nowadays, a large group of palace eunuchs are charging at dozens of courtiers waving their execution sticks. This is of course unimaginable. Not only other officials, but also the old Prime Minister Xia Hou Yuanzhen also looked horrified, obviously not expecting that the situation would turn out this way.

developed to such an extent.

"Protect the Prime Minister!" Dou Fan, Minister of the Ministry of War, was just a few steps behind Xiahou Yuanzhen. After all, he was also from the army. Compared with most other civil servants, he reacted much faster. He rushed forward and protected Xiahou.

In front of Yuan Zhen, two more officials rushed forward bravely, and they protected the old minister in the middle.

However, the eunuchs who rushed over did not attack Xiahou Yuanzhen. They rushed past him, waved the wooden sticks in their hands, and hit the officials head-on. They struck without mercy, as if these court ministers were just doing whatever they wanted.

He is like a beggar on the street who is bullied by others.

The wooden stick hit hard, some officials were hit on the head, and their heads were bleeding immediately. Some officials were hit on the shoulder, and they couldn't bear it, and their shoulder bones were immediately dislocated. For a while, the scene was chaotic, with shouts and scoldings.

The sounds and screams mixed together into a chaotic mess.

Seeing that the situation was not good, a few officials turned around and ran away. However, they were caught up by the eunuchs before they could take a few steps. They swung their wooden sticks from behind and beat them.

Tian Teng stood on the palace wall with his hands behind his back and a sneer on his lips. The dragon-scale guards guarding him were like statues, turning a blind eye.

The eunuchs in the palace have always been looked down upon by the officials who are well-educated in poetry and literature, and are regarded as rootless slaves. Even if they smile at some of the eunuchs in the palace, the eunuchs know in their hearts that these officials cannot regard themselves as ordinary people.

.

They are also jealous of these courtiers in their bones. Now that they finally have the opportunity to beat up these officials who think highly of themselves, they will naturally not miss the opportunity. They will attack regardless of the severity. As long as they are seen wearing official robes, it does not matter who they are.

What is the status of the yamen? He just waved his wooden stick and beat him, and he didn't even care about the life and death of the officials.

Only Xiahou Yuanzhen was unharmed, and the three officials who protected him were spared from being beaten with sticks.

"Stop!" Xiahou Yuanzhen was shocked, but when he saw dozens of officials being beaten with sticks like prisoners, each one crying and howling in embarrassment, he immediately shouted: "You want to rebel, stop it, this is the court."

Sir, how dare you do this?"

It's just that these eunuchs didn't pay attention to the shouts of the chief minister of the court.

Xiahou Yuanzhen shouted so loud that he was hoarse. Not only did the scene not calm down at all, many ministers were even beaten until they vomited blood. Several people were lying motionless on the ground. It was not known whether they fainted or were really beaten to death. There were scattered objects on the ground.

Wearing an official's crown and hat, it was trampled to pieces.

"They're crazy, they... they're crazy!" Dou Fu, Minister of the Ministry of War, has also been on the battlefield. Thousands of soldiers and horses rush to fight for blood. He has seen it a lot. Compared with the brutal fighting on the battlefield, in fact, in front of him,

This scene is far less bloody than the battlefield.

But for Dou Fan, this was a scene he had never imagined in his life. The scene in front of him was far more thrilling than the battlefield littered with corpses.

His face was pale, he was mumbling, and his body was trembling slightly.

If something extraordinary happens and the Zhongshu Sheng represented by the old Prime Minister issues an order, Dou Fan, as the Minister of War, can mobilize the troops in Kyoto to put an end to the chaos.

The three thousand Dragon Scale Imperial Guards were under the command of Tantai Xuanye and guarded the imperial city. They were directly under the orders of the saint and could not be mobilized even by the Ministry of War.

However, the Nine Gate Guards Office in Kyoto is in charge of the 5,000 soldiers and horses of the Kyoto Military Guard Camp, and the Nine Gate Guards Office is subordinate to the Nanyuan. Although the Nanyuan is under the control of the military headed by Liang Guogong Tai Shihong, if it is Zhongshu Sheng

With the official letter and the transfer order from the Ministry of War, it is completely possible for Nanyuan to dispatch the military-guard battalion to quell the chaos.

In addition, Zhongshu Sheng can also mobilize troops from the Kyoto Prefecture, the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple and other yamen, and the yamen of the three law divisions can gather together, and there are thousands of them.

But it's definitely too late now.

The Prime Minister and the Minister of War are trapped here. It is impossible to mobilize soldiers and horses to protect the ministers. Without the transfer orders from the Zhongshu Province and the Ministry of War, except for the Dragon Scale Imperial Guard, no troops and horses can be mobilized without receiving orders.

They dared to approach the palace gate under such circumstances. Even if they learned about everything that happened here, they would not dare to act rashly.

The Dragon Scale Guards looked on with cold eyes, they must be in the same group with these eunuchs.

In fact, Dou Fan also knew in his heart that even if he was not here at this moment, would he have the guts to really dare to mobilize troops outside the palace gate?

The imperial city is guarded by the Dragon Scale Imperial Guard. Once other troops move closer, they will immediately be accused of mutiny and rebellion. That is the crime of killing a family and genocide. No general has the courage to lead an army forward

Come.

Even if there is really a bold general who dares to lead troops here, what crime can he be charged with?

Counterinsurgency?

Who are the rebels? These eunuchs in the palace?

Without the will of a saint, who could label the eunuchs in the palace as rebels?

Dou Fu understood this truth, and the wily Prime Minister naturally understood it even better. He knew that there would never be soldiers coming to reinforce and protect him. Looking at the posture of these eunuchs, they had no intention of stopping. He knew that if he continued to stay here, he might really...

If someone is killed, he can only scream at Tian Teng on the palace wall: "Tian Teng, tell them to stop, I will let everyone leave here. If someone is killed, can you afford it?"

Tian Teng didn't seem to hear it.

After all, the scene was in chaos, with scoldings and screams resounding. Even though Xiahou Yuanzhen tried his best to shout, he might not be heard from above.

"Let's go, everyone!" Xiahou Yuanzhen had never felt so powerless in his life. He waved to the officials and said, "Everyone, let's go. Get out of here first."

Today, he, the veteran chief minister, led the officials outside the palace gate. He wanted to put pressure on the palace. Even if he could not see the emperor himself, he wanted to find out what was going on in the palace. Almost all of these officials

An important minister in the court, even the emperor, cannot turn a blind eye and remain indifferent to the requests of so many ministers.

But this ending was something Xiahou Yuanzhen never expected.

If someone is really killed with a stick outside the palace gate, although everyone in this group of eunuchs will scold them, the officials gathered because of themselves, and they will definitely have to bear a lot of responsibility at that time. At least the families of these officials will feel that the government

They are inseparable.

Many officials could no longer bear it and retreated south one after another. Seeing this, others knew that if they did not retreat, they would really lose their lives here today. Dozens of officials were beaten by the eunuchs while retreating.

Dare to stay outside the palace gate any longer.

The eunuchs, however, refused to give up. They chased for two or three miles and drove the officials far away from Danfeng Gate before giving up.

The night wind is howling and the chill is biting.

On the ground outside Danfeng Gate, dozens of crowns and hats were rolling in the wind. Many torn official robes were scattered on the ground. The blood stains on the ground were even more shocking. Three officials who were lying motionless on the ground were forcefully beaten by the eunuchs.

Drag it out several miles away.

When the chasing eunuchs came back, Xiahou Yuanzhen and the three officials who were protecting him were still outside the palace gate. However, these eunuchs naturally did not take action against the Prime Minister. They walked past Xiahou Yuanzhen excitedly one by one. Most of them

The eunuchs did not look at the old prime minister at all. Some of them glanced at Xiahou Yuanzhen, with mocking looks in their eyes.

Someone ordered a few eunuchs to clean up the ground, and the eunuchs picked up the pieces of hats and clothes scattered on the ground. As for the blood stains on the ground, they couldn't clean it up at all for a while.

After all the eunuchs had entered the Danfeng Gate, the palace door slowly closed.

Xia Hou Yuanzhen calmed down at this time, looked up at Tian Teng, and said slowly: "Beating the ministers with sticks outside the palace gate has never happened since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. Even if you read through the history books, you have never heard of it. Tian

Teng, what happened today is too numerous to write down, it is definitely not the will of the saint."

"Old Prime Minister, it's very late, don't catch the cold." Tian Teng said calmly: "Go back and rest early." He turned to leave, but heard the voice of Xiahou Yuanzhen: "Tian Teng, you and the people behind you
Chapter completed!