Chapter 304 The golden cicada escapes from its shell
By December, the Western Army had laid siege to Luoyang with deep trenches and high ravines outside the city.

There was a food shortage in the city. One piece of silk was only worth three liters of millet, ten pieces of cloth were only worth one liter of salt, and clothing and antiques were as cheap as dirt.

As the weather grew colder, the people were in a predicament of hunger and cold. Although the soldiers still had food supplies, they could only make ends meet and it was difficult to get enough to eat.

Murong Yang in the palace was in panic all day long, because he knew the current situation too well. If the Western Army entered the city, he would have no chance of survival.

Everyone else had it, but he didn't. Most of the prime minister and the officials in the court had taken sick leave, and all the ministries and agencies were at a standstill. There was no official business for them to handle, and almost everyone was waiting for the Western Army to enter the city.

At this time, Murong Yang's adviser, Liang Chongli, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, who advised him to kill Duan Yihong and Lou Jushi, gave him a lifeline.

"Your Majesty, why don't you lead the army to break out in the dark? I think the defense of the western army in the north is not tight. Now it is winter and the river is frozen, so we can wade across the river. Although Zhao Yi and Liu Xuanji in Hebei are fighting each other, they are both loyal ministers who have received the imperial edict from Luoyang. Your Majesty can go to Liu Xuanji and use his power to eliminate the Li rebels and restore the Great Yan world."

After hearing this, Murong Yang agreed immediately, and immediately called his trusted ministers and cousin Wei Xiaoju to tell them his decision and head north.

When Wei Xiaoju first heard about it, he wanted to speak out to stop it, because going north to Hebei basically meant becoming a puppet.

But if he didn't become a puppet, then waiting for the Western Army to enter the city would be tantamount to waiting for death.

Between two evils, choose the lesser one. Luoyang can no longer be defended. As the commander-in-chief defending the city, he knows this fact better than anyone else.

In other words, the Western Army is only trapped now and has not launched a siege. If they really attack the city, it is hard to say how many days they can hold out.

Therefore, within the small circle of Murong Yang's confidants, a plan to take advantage of the chaos and suddenly march north was put on the agenda.

The general plan was that Wei Xiaoju would instruct the guards of Shangchun Gate in the east city, Jianchun Gate in the south city, and Dingding Gate in the south city to open the gates and surrender the city to attract attention, while Murong Yang and others would flee northward from Hui'an Gate in the north.

In order to keep the operation secret, Murong Yang did not even plan to bring the empress and the queen mother with him. The only trusted ministers were Liang Chongli and other old people in the Wu Palace and Wei Xiaoju.

Even Murong Wuji was not informed. This is also because Liang Chongli said to Murong Yang that if you bring Murong Wuji with you, Liu Xuanji might have other ideas.

Murong Yang quickly understood the meaning of Liang Chongli's words, that is, as a puppet, one must also be irreplaceable. In such a chaotic world, anyone with the surname Murong has the opportunity and possibility to be made emperor.

So Murong Yang didn't even bring the crown prince with him.

Soon, the Western Army received letters of surrender from the defenders of several city gates, expressing their willingness to surrender the city at night.

The Western Army naturally felt that the opportunity had come, so they mobilized a large number of troops in the South City and the East City, and then quietly sent the troops to the city gates after nightfall as planned.

Sure enough, at the agreed time, the three city gates opened as scheduled, and the Western Army lit a large number of torches and poured into Luoyang City from the three city gates.

Then, according to the plan agreed upon by Li Yuan and his sons, Li Er was responsible for taking over the city defense and guarding the surrendered soldiers. Li San sealed off the treasury and the armory, Li Si was responsible for the palace, and his son-in-law Chai Rong and nephew Li Huaizhen led the imperial guards after entering the city, supervised the military discipline of each army, sealed off each market, and prohibited the soldiers from disturbing the people.

Everything went smoothly. Before Li Si led the Wuwei Army into Luoyang from Dingding Gate, which was facing the palace in the south of the city, Xu Qiande, Chang Yanheng and others who had entered the city earlier had already led their troops to control the city gates and defense facilities to ensure safety.

At this moment, the soldiers guarding the Duanmen and the Zuoyemen were looking at the troops that kept pouring in from the Dingdingmen. They held torches in their hands and were linked together. They looked like a long dragon with curly beard and long whiskers.

The soldiers on the city wall suddenly panicked, because they understood that it must be the Western Army entering the city.

The general guarding the gate was also stunned, and then ordered his soldiers to lay down their weapons and open the gate. The panicked Eastern Army all laid down their weapons.

When the captain guarding the gate saw Li Yuanhui, he somehow said, "Greetings, your Majesty."

Li Yuanhui, who was riding a horse, was stunned for a moment, but soon came to his senses. He looked at the young lieutenant in front of him and suddenly asked, "Are you Dugu Ying?" The lieutenant said with some surprise, "I am Dugu Ying. I didn't expect that the prince consort still remembered me."

Li Yuanhui laughed and said, "Hahaha, of course I remember you. Do you still like reading? I remember you never put down your book when you were on duty."

Dugu Ying smiled and said, "Learning never ends, and I will never slack off for a single day."

Li Yuanhui nodded when he heard this, and then he remembered that he had something else to do: "Okay, Dugu Ying, gather all your soldiers first, go back to your residence to rest, and don't go out without orders."

After hearing this, Dugu Ying bowed and said, "I obey your command, but Prince Consort, it is already night, you can enter the imperial city, but you should not enter the palace."

"Okay, I remember. I'll talk to you later."

Dugu Ying bowed and then stood up to lead the team back to the camp.

The reason why this captain Dugu Ying knew Li Yuanhui and could have a say in him was naturally because there was some connection between them.

He was born into the Dugu clan, a noble Xianbei family. He entered the palace as a guard when he was a teenager. He happened to be the guard of Princess Jinyang. Later, when the princess got married and set up her own residence, he became the guard of the princess's residence again and was a captain.

Therefore, he was naturally familiar with Li Yuanhui. After all, Li Yuanhui was the consort of Princess Jinyang. In the past, he was often seen with books in his hands. Li Yuanhui even joked, "You will definitely be able to become a minister in the future."

In fact, he just said this casually, but when he met this person today, Li Yuanhui felt that this guy had some brains.

The imperial city came before the palace city. The three provinces, six ministries and many government offices were all within the imperial city, while the palace city was purely the place where the emperor stayed.

The reason why Dugu Ying advised him not to enter the palace was simply to remind him that as a subject, entering the palace in the middle of the night would bring bad reputation and easily lead to trouble.

It would be better to close the palace and wait for the people inside to make their own decisions.

Li Yuanhui also followed his advice and quickly gathered all the surrendered guards in the imperial city and moved them out for resettlement.

Afterwards, he ordered his men to seal off the palace gates as well as Shangyang Palace, Yaoyi City, and the East Palace, and to take over all the city gate defenses.

Everything went smoothly and there was almost no resistance.

Li Yuanhui also repeatedly emphasized discipline, which resulted in almost no bloodshed in the military operations after entering the city.

The situation in the city was constantly reported from various places to Li Yuan who was waiting outside Anxi Gate. Everything was going unusually smoothly.

This puzzled Li Yuan. There was almost no resistance anywhere in the city.

The second brother accepted more city defenses as planned and controlled a large number of surrendered soldiers in their respective garrisons. Although Li Yuanhui did not enter the palace, he controlled all entrances and exits outside the imperial city and the palace, as well as all defense facilities.

Li San also successfully controlled the treasury and armory.

All these things made Li Yuan smell something strange. Even if someone opened the gate and surrendered the city, Murong Yang's cronies should have organized resistance inside the city. But now there is almost no decent resistance, and everyone is cooperating. This is more like a conspiracy. Is there an ambush?
It shouldn't be
While he was thinking, a messenger suddenly came in to report, "Your Majesty, there is a cavalry in the city, they broke out from Hui'an Gate and headed north."

Li Yuan stood up from his seat upon hearing this, "So it's a golden cicada escaping from its shell."

(End of this chapter)