Chapter 309 People’s support
Li Yunning directly ordered people to seal off the Taiji Palace to prevent the news of Li Xiaoyan's death from spreading. He then ordered people to notify Gao Zhenghui to take control of the Western Inner Courtyard and lead the army to defend the North City and not to break into the Forbidden Courtyard.

Gao Zhenghui was Li Yuan's confidant, otherwise he would not have been entrusted with the responsibility of managing the palace and staying behind to assist Li Xiaoyan.

After receiving the order, he did not think much about it. After all, Li Xiaoyan was seriously injured, and if they attacked the Forbidden Garden now, it might be disastrous if the emperor died in the chaos.

At the same time, Li Yunning also did two things. The first was to send a message to the dignitaries in Chang'an City, asking them not to act rashly. Li Yuan was on the way back to Chang'an with his army.

The second thing was to order the messenger to go to Tongguan and inform Li Yuan that something had happened in Chang'an.

In the forbidden garden, Murong Chang in the Hanguang Palace was still anxiously waiting for news.

Finally, Murong Yanqing sent someone to report that the Turkic cavalry had been brought into the Forbidden Garden.

Afterwards, the Turkic Khan's brother Ashina Duobi personally came to Hanguang Hall to meet with Murong Chang.

"Your Majesty, Emperor of Dayan, I didn't expect you to be so young and yet so wise."

Duobi looked at Murong Chang, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old, and felt deeply moved that although this boy was young, he made such a move in a puppet position. Whether in terms of courage or strategy, he was a hero.

Murong Chang answered directly in Turkish: "Thank you for coming all the way to help me take back the Great Yan. If I can successfully defeat Li Yuan and his sons, I am willing to give the entire Liang Province to the Turks. And the treasure house of Chang'an City can be taken away by the Turkish cavalry as long as they can take it away."

Upon hearing this, Ashina Duobi laughed and said, "Your Majesty can actually speak our Turkic language. I know that Your Majesty is a smart man. Your price is very fair. The Turkic warriors are willing to do their best for Your Majesty, a generous friend."

The meeting between the two was very pleasant. As the little Khan, Duobi quickly left Hanguang Palace, joined his army, and prepared to launch an attack on the Western Inner Courtyard.

But at this time, the Turkic cavalry encountered a problem. As an important defense system in the northern part of the Chang'an Palace, the wall of the Western Inner Courtyard was not low, and a large number of siege equipment were needed to attack it.

The little emperor had no way of preparing for this kind of thing. After all, his orders could not even leave the Taiji Palace.

Even though he now controls more than 2,000 imperial guards, some of these troops were coerced for unknown reasons, while the other part were He Chang's subordinates who were lured into taking risks by huge sums of money.

But without exception, these people would not work hard for him, let alone risk their lives.

Now he had to gamble that the Turks would be able to successfully attack Chang'an, and also that the powerful people in Chang'an would be loyal to Great Yan and, for the sake of the kindness shown to them by Emperor Wen, Emperor Zhaowu and others, would stand up at the critical moment and support him in his fight against the Li family.

Even though the chance of winning is slim, he still wants to take a gamble.

Because he didn't want to be a puppet, and he didn't want to hand over his ancestors' world to others.

Before entering Chang'an, he asked Li Sanlang whether he would die suddenly like his second brother.

Li Sanlang replied yes, you can be the Duke of Shanyang.

After the abdication of the Duke of Shanyang, Emperor Xian of Han, the Cao family did not treat him badly. He could use all the systems of the Han Dynasty in his fiefdom, including the use of the emperor's rites for sacrifices. In other words, Cao Pi recognized that Shanyang County was an independent country and did not belong to the Wei Kingdom. In addition, if Liu Xie wanted to write a letter to the emperor, he did not need to call himself a minister.

The implication is that if you cooperate well, the Li family will do the same as the Cao family and ensure that you live in peace and contentment after you step down from the throne.

Later, the Li family married their daughter to be the empress, which was actually imitating Cao Cao's marriage of his daughter to Emperor Xian of Han.

If you, Li Yuan, want to be Cao Cao, why can't I be Cao Mao?

But the current situation, according to his plan, can be said to be very unsatisfactory.

He felt that there should be some old ministers loyal to Dayan who would stand up and respond to him in Chang'an City, right?
But why is Chang'an so peaceful now? Is it possible that Great Yan has no loyal ministers in the end? In fact, the powerful people in Chang'an really don't have much loyalty to Great Yan. At first, when they heard the news, almost everyone was watching.

But when they learned that Murong Chang had the support of the Turks behind him, they all took the initiative to ask their servants and guards to help defend the city.

However, Li Yunning refused. She said that the city's defense force was sufficient to protect Chang'an and declined most people's offers of help.

However, she mobilized the power of the entire Li clan as well as her in-laws, including the Dou, Dugu, and Chai families.

The reason why the powerful families in Chang'an City were willing to help was that they could accept Murong Chang regaining power, but they could not accept the Turks entering the city.

Because no one knows what these wolf cubs will do after entering the city. Anyway, they are not here to celebrate the festival.

At this time, Li Yunning was only willing to believe these blood relatives, the Dou family was the maternal family of her and her brothers, the Dugu family was her maternal family, not to mention the Chai family.

These families and the Li family are in a situation where they all prosper and suffer together.

There were less than 20,000 soldiers in the city and the palace. Excluding the basic soldiers needed to guard the gates, there were only 6,000 people left. With the servants of several families mobilized as guards, there were only about 10,000 people. Li Yunning handed over 4,000 of these 10,000 soldiers to Gao Zhenghui and ordered him to guard the West Inner Courtyard. All the rest of the troops were placed in the Fanglin Gate area.

Because this is the gate leading from the Forbidden Garden to Chang'an City.

If the Turks cannot capture the Western Inner Courtyard, they will inevitably look for another place.

Facts proved that Li Yunning's prediction was accurate. Not long after she and her men arrived at Fanglinmen, the Turks came with huge logs and tried to break down the door.

Fortunately, Chang'an City had no shortage of military equipment. Strong bows and crossbows were all available as if they were free of charge. Arrows fell like rain, causing heavy casualties to the Turks.

The two sides fought a fierce offensive and defensive battle in two places in the north of the city.

If Li Yunning had not responded in time, the Turks might have attacked Chang'an in the first wave.

But after the surprise attack failed to achieve its goal, the Turks realized that this trip might be in vain.

As a nomadic people, they were not good at sieges and battles, let alone facing the capital of the Central Plains dynasty before them.

If it were any other Central Plains dynasty's army, they would surely cut down the trees in the Forbidden Garden to make siege weapons.

However, the Turks lacked craftsmen who could make large-scale equipment, and this kind of surprise military operation would not bring a large number of craftsmen. Without the ability to build siege equipment, the next step of the siege could not be carried out.

These Turkic troops had originally penetrated deep into the heart of Guanzhong, taking advantage of the time when the main force of Guanzhong was on the eastward expedition and the defense was empty.

Once the main force of the Guanzhong army returns, whether they can leave is another matter.

But Ashina Duobi was still a little unwilling to give up this opportunity. After all, he had come all the way here, and Chang'an City was just a wall away. If he could enter Chang'an, his influence within the Turkic Empire would not be much less than that of his brother, Shibi Khan. After his brother's death, it would be a natural thing for him to become the Great Khan.

So Ashina Duobi and his generals agreed to attack for three days. If they failed to capture Chang'an, they would plunder the treasures and women in the Hanguang Palace and the Forbidden Garden, and then withdraw.

But time is always the most precious.

(End of this chapter)