CH 56.3

At the moment, Wei Yunzhao, who was missed by the empress, was in the camp outside Shengjing City, he was discussing with the generals stationed in the camp about leading the troops to encircle and suppress the rebels.

There was no one who had the right to move the tens thousands of people in the camp except Emperor Changde and the people who held the tiger talisman. The empress also tried to make plans with these people, but failed, so she still chose to let the imperial guards to guard the palace.

Even if the rebel army besieged the palace, they didn't dare to send troops to stop it without authorization, no valid reason as justification. They would get achievements when they could encircle the rebels and protect the palace, but the officials of the imperial court liked to settle accounts after autumn. At that time, those officials would definitely sue them for sending the troops without explicit approval, and they would be severely punished. The generals had suffered a lot from the hands of these officials, and naturally they would have a long memory.

[秋后算账 qiū hòu suàn zhàng: lit. to settle accounts after autumn; settle scores at an opportune moment]

But at the same time they were also worried, if the rebel army was defeated and when the emperor woke up, those officials would sue them again, they would say that they didn't send the troops to help encircle and suppress the rebel army because they didn't respect the emperor or maybe they joined the rebel army. Anyway, these people had a mouth, and they could say anything.

When Wei Yunzhao appeared outside the camp to see them, several generals in the camp suddenly felt that they had a backbone, and quickly invited him in.

The general who lead this troops was named Zhang Meng, who used to be Wei Yunzhao's father, Wei Su's subordinate, and belonged to his own group.

Zhang Meng and the others asked Wei Yunzhao to help them come up with an idea, whether to send troops or not.

Wei Yunzhao looked at the border map hanging on the wall in the tent, his eyes were deep, and he said, "Go, we only have to wait for someone to invite us to go."

Zhang Meng was puzzled, "What do you mean? How can there be an imperial edict?"

Wei Yunzhao said, "There is no imperial edict, but there will be a imperial decree, unless our empress wants to accompany the emperor to die in love."

[The imperial edict (圣旨) is the highest will, the representative of the imperial power, the only legal basis for the imperial government's major decrees, and it embodies the highest administrative power and the highest judicial power. Only in some special periods (emperor's death or young age), imperial decree (懿旨) can be temporary substitutes.]

"That's impossible, "Zhang Meng waved his hand, "We still don’t know what kind of morality and conduct the empress has. She wholeheartedly hopes that her son will ascend the throne and want to be the empress dowager. How can she be willing to die?"

So there must be an imperial decree.

Not only there was an imperial decree, but it was the empress’ elder brother, Mr. Cao, who asked the empress to write it herself.

Mr. Cao had more foresight than the empress. As soon as the second prince attacked the city, he asked his son to go to the palace to find the empress and let her order Wei Yunzhao to lead the troops from the camp outside the city to stop the rebels, and then he went to the Wei mansion to find Wei Yunzhao. But when he arrived at the Wei mansion, he found out that Wei Yunzhao was not in the mansion, he went to the farmhouse outside the city yesterday and still hadn’t come back.

Mr. Cao could only go home and wait for the imperial decree, but before the imperial decree came, the guard who was ordered by the empress came first and asked him to find a way to defeat the enemy and bring Wei Yunzhao into the palace.

Mr. Cao looked at the guard who sent the message, "What else did the empress say?"

The guard thought for a long time before saying, "The empress was very anxious, the empress said that you can hurry up."

Mr. Cao almost couldn't come up in one breath, how could she send such a fool, "What about the others, the empress's handwritten order? The imperial decree? Is there any?"

"If there is nothing like that, what can I do?, can I mobilize the tens of thousands of people in the camp outside the city?"

The guard didn't know how to answer him, After hearing the words, it took a long time before he said: "Then, the little one will go back to the palace now and ask the empress for the imperial decree?"

Mr. Cao waved his hand angrily, "Get lost! I can't count on you."

This younger sister was also a no-brainer. She didn’t even look at what time it was, could you call someone if you wanted?

Mr.Cao still went to find his father and asked the old man to take out a token, "It's also my fault, I couldn't persuade her with a few more words a few days ago, otherwise we wouldn't be as passive as we are now."

Old master Cao shook his head, "It's too late to say anything now, go find someone outside the city first, after this, let’s talk about the future after we get ovet this difficulty.”

When Cao Guojiu, Mr.Cao showed up at the camp outside the city with his badge, the situation in the palace was already very critical, and the number of Imperial Guards was reduced by more than half, only enough to guard Emperor Changde's palace.

In order to save their lives, the empress and the crown prince also entered Emperor Changde's bedroom, while the other concubines in the harem suffered, they were all arrested by the second prince's people. Although they didn't kill them right away, everyone knew that as long as the second prince succeeded, none of them would survive.

The empress and crown prince were not found in Changning Palace, the second prince was not surprised, "Look carefully, even if the crown prince and empress are not there, but Bendian’s sixth younger brother must be there, those mother and son wouldn’t take him away."

The second prince waved his hand, another group of people rushed in, but after searching the Changning Palace, there was no sign of the sixth prince.

The second prince laughed after listening to his subordinates' report and shouted to the direction of Changning Palace, "Sixth brother, second brother will give you some time to find a place to hide, you must hide well, don't let second brother find you, otherwise, don't blame the second brother for being cruel."

The second prince reined his horse, turned around, "It's time to go and see Bendian’s good father."