This time, those who entered the palace with him were all core members of Yelu Yixin's group. Each of them held important positions and controlled key military and political departments of the court. Under normal circumstances, it would be very troublesome to get rid of these people, but this' palace coup 'was a very good opportunity. After all, regicide was not a sure thing. Under the circumstances of controlling the situation, the fewer people who knew the details, the better. Thus, in the imperial study, this group of big shots was at their weakest, giving Song Qingshu a chance to cut through the Gordian knot.
Song QingShu walked up to the dragon throne and took out Yelu Hongji's face mold. Very quickly, he created a lifelike mask. It wasn't that his disguise technique required him to take a model of the target's face, but it was faster and more convenient.
After making the mask, he took off his own mask and put it on Yelu Hongji's face, then put Yelu Hongji's mask on his own face. Then he changed clothes.
Seeing the bloody cuts on the dragon robe, Song Qingshu frowned. But this was proof of the tragedy of the coup. After arranging everything inside, Song Qingshu opened the door and staggered out.
When Yelu Hongji had called for protection, no guards had paid attention to him because all the nearby guards had been transferred away by Yelu Chaci and Sa Ba. After all, one was the Grand Bodyguard and the other was the Head Guard, so it was convenient for them to do this.
But once he left the imperial study, he could find the palace guards. No matter how powerful Yelu Yixin's group was, they could not control the entire palace guards.
Seeing the Emperor walk out covered in blood, the guards were shocked, "Your Majesty!"
Song Qingshu raised a hand to stop them from asking. Instead, he ordered in a low voice, "Seal the palace gates, no one is allowed to enter or leave without my permission. All guards at the front of the palace, no one is allowed to leave without permission. No one is allowed within ten zhang of the imperial study. Also, issue an edict to lift the Northern Prime Minister's house arrest. Summon Xiao Shiyi to the imperial study to see me …"
Song QingShu issued a series of measures. It was all thanks to Xue Yi's men that things had gone so smoothly this time that Song QingShu had managed to severely injure Xiao Eleventh Lang. Otherwise, Xiao Eleventh Lang, as the inspector of the Front Hall, would have controlled the Imperial Guards and cooperated with Yelu Yixin.
Now that there was no leader, the guards who had been bribed by the Yelu Yixin Group were unable to react effectively for a while.
As for summoning Xiao into the palace, there was no other way. After all, although the core members of Yelu Yixin's group had been destroyed, he had operated for so many years and had many disciples and old officials under his command. If he didn't deal with them properly, when a powerful figure emerged and gathered this group of forces, it would be a headache for Song Qingshu.
When Wang Yun killed Dong Zhuo, he thought that he had settled the Xiliang Army. When Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei killed Er Zhurong, who had great power in the court, he did not expect that it would soon lead to the bitter revenge of the other party. Therefore, the decapitation plan was not as successful as Kangxi in capturing Oboi.
There was no one more suitable than Xiao Pidi to deal with Yelu Yixin's remaining forces. First of all, he was the Prime Minister of the Northern Mansion, and had always been on the same level as Yelu Yixin. He was Yelu Yixin's mortal enemy. Second of all, he was Su Quan's father. To some extent, he could be considered one of them.
When Xiao Pidi received the news and rushed to the imperial study, he was shocked to see a room full of corpses, especially when he saw the faces of a few familiar faces.
"No need to look," Song Qingshu said "weakly", "Yelu Yixin tried to rebel. Fortunately, the King of the North Yard, Yelu Helu, and the King of the South Yard, Yelu Wuye, risked their lives to protect him. Unfortunately, after a chaotic battle, although the Yelu Helu brothers killed the rebels, they unfortunately died for the country."
The reason why he removed the Yelu Helu brothers was largely because there was no way to explain the scene. He couldn't say that Yelu Hongji was a hidden martial arts master who suddenly dealt with the rebellion, could he? What's more, the North Yard had always been powerful in Liao. If the King of the North Yard rebelled and was killed, his subordinates would rebel in fear to protect themselves. That would be troublesome. Now, not only did this appease the North Yard, but it also alienated the relationship between the North Yard and Yelu Yixin, causing the two sides to seek revenge and kill each other.
Xiao Pidi quickly glanced at the scene and sneered in his heart, "The Yelu Helu brothers have always been close to Yelu Yixin, advancing and retreating together. Would they betray him at this critical moment? If I didn't know martial arts, I would really believe your nonsense. These people were clearly killed by a saber master with one blow. "
Although he saw the flaw, he didn't say it. After all, everyone in this position was an old fox, and he also understood that it would be easier to deal with the remnants of Yelu Yixin's group this way. But when he left the imperial study, he stole a glance at the Emperor and suddenly felt that the muddle-headed Emperor he had looked down on before seemed to have become somewhat unfathomable. For example, this time, he quietly dealt with Yelu Yixin, and he didn't know what kind of trump card he had hidden.
But his family had always been royalists, and could be said to be tied to the interests of the royal family, so he didn't feel any unease because of this.
In the next few days, the case of Yelu Yixin's rebellion was announced to the world. A series of related people were executed, and the Prince of Wei's Mansion was also confiscated. Rebellion was a crime punishable by the execution of nine generations of the family, but Yelu Yixin's only son Yelu Sui had died a violent death in the Yili Courtyard's prison not long ago, and his daughter Yelu Nanxian's whereabouts were unknown. The rest of his relatives were sent an edict from the palace. Since Yelu Nanxian still carried the mission of making peace with the Western Xia, they would be shown mercy and not be implicated for the time being.
Song Qingshu had no other choice. After all, Yelu Yixin was Murong Jingyue in disguise, and he couldn't really execute their nine generations of the family. In the future, when Yelu Nanxian found out the truth, wouldn't she fight him to the death?
But rebellion was a crime punishable by the execution of nine generations of the family. Even as the Emperor, he couldn't just absolve the crime with one sentence. Otherwise, wouldn't he be encouraging everyone to rebel? In any case, the crime could be pardoned in the end, but this would shake the foundation of the rule, and the other ministers would never agree to it.
The higher a person's status was, the more helpless he was. In the end, Song Qingshu had to use the marriage between the two countries as an excuse to barely save the lives of Yelu Yixin's relatives.
After dealing with the matter of Yelu Yixin's family, Song Qingshu also issued an edict to restore the reputation of Empress Xiao Guanyin. He said that the case of Hui Xin Courtyard Ci was all Yelu Yixin's plot to overthrow the Prime Minister's family and clear the way for him to rebel. A series of people involved in the case were executed, such as the palace maid Dan Deng and the Musical House Red-crowned Crane. At the same time, he took the opportunity to purge a large number of palace maids and eunuchs around the Emperor and Empress, so as not to find out that Yelu Hongji had been replaced.
The palace guards also underwent a major change. The first to bear the brunt was Yelu Yixin's trusted aide, Xiao Eleventh Lang of the Front Hall. However, because of the influence of the original work, Song QingShu hesitated for a moment and did not kill him. Instead, he threw him into the Heavenly Prison and would think about how to deal with him in the future.
As for the military, the King of the North Courtyard, Yelu Helu and his brothers, as well as the palace guards, were deployed. After the death of Yelu Ta Buye and the others, there was a vacuum in power. Song Qingshu couldn't think of a candidate to take over. After all, he couldn't hand over everything to the Prime Minister of the North Mansion, Xiao Pidi. No matter how loyal a person was, if he had military, political, financial, and power in one person, it was hard to guarantee that he or his subordinates wouldn't have any disloyalty.
As Song Qingshu was holding the memorial in his hand, Empress Xiao Guanyin came behind him with a wisp of fragrant wind and gently massaged his shoulders. "Song Qingshu, you'd better go and see Miss Zhao. She doesn't look well these days, and I'm afraid something happened to her."
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