There were bursts of shouting coming from outside the mansion gate, and the mansion soldiers and Cai Zhong were confronting each other with swords and guns drawn.
"I am here to protect the lord and the government office under the order of Sima. Anyone who dares to stop me will be killed without mercy."
Cai Zhong was originally ordered to guard the South Gate. Just now, Cai Mao sent someone to report that Liu Pan had started a rebellion, and asked him to guard the government office and protect Liu Biao.
Unexpectedly, by the time he had arranged the city defense and led his troops to the scene, he was one step too late. Liu Qi had already entered the palace and was preparing to break in.
"Stop!" Liu Qi shouted, stepped out of the door, and looked at the soldiers filling the streets with cold eyes.
Liu Qi took out the seal and said slowly: "My father has ordered me to take charge of Jingzhou. Who dares to disobey?"
When they saw the seal and the golden order in Liu Pan's hand, all the soldiers became agitated and unconsciously put away their swords and guns.
Cai Zhong's eyes were filled with panic, and he raised his sword and shouted, "The lord is seriously ill, Liu Qi must have stolen the seal and plotted treason and usurped the throne, arrest him quickly!"
The soldiers looked at each other. Except for dozens of Cai family's generals who took a few steps forward, the rest were hesitant.
Liu Qi snorted slightly, strode out of the door, and said in a deep voice: "Cai Mao plotted to kill the emperor's uncle in order to force the emperor to abdicate and seize power. Your brother was in collusion with him, and he deserves death for his crime."
Cai Zhong looked at Liu Qi's murderous eyes and took a step back unconsciously, "Da Lang, what...what do you want to do?"
Liu Qi said in a cold voice: "This is the seal of the General Zhennan. Seeing Yin Ru's father coming, why don't you kneel down?"
Cai Zhong's eyes twitched when he heard the sound of fighting in the distance becoming much quieter. He thought that Cai Mao must have pacified the rebellion and his courage grew again.
"Da Lang, you must be threatening the lord. When my elder brother comes and meets the general, everything will be revealed..."
Before Cai Zhong could finish, Liu Qi raised his seal and shouted, "Cai abused his power and bullied his master, killing Emperor Liu. He deserves death! If you don't want to be implicated by him, quickly capture this traitor and use his merits to atone for your crimes."
Cai Zhong turned around abruptly, holding his sword horizontally, and said sternly: "Let's see who dares!"
"I'm here!" Before he finished speaking, a man rushed out from the side and slashed at Cai Zhong with a knife.
Cai Zhong was shocked and quickly raised his sword to block, but with a clang, the sword flew out.
With a deep shout, the man kicked Cai Zhong over, stepped forward and stepped on his chest, with the tip of the knife pointing at Cai Zhong's face.
When Liu Qi looked over, he saw that the man was over eight feet tall, with a face as red as a date and a mustache under his chin. His heart skipped a beat.
Cai Zhong shouted, "Wei Yan, you are so brave."
It was indeed Wei Yan. It turned out that he was still in Xiangyang. No wonder Huang Zhong had never seen him.
In the excitement, Wei Yan sneered, "Your brother deceived his superiors and subordinates, used people improperly, and withheld food and wages! Now you are trying to murder the emperor's uncle. This is a heinous crime. We are under the command of the General Zhennan, not your Cai family's lackeys. How can we allow you to do evil?"
This is really a case of searching for something unsuccessfully but finally finding it without any effort.
First, Liu Bei entrusted his son to Wei Yan to avoid a lot of trouble, and then Wei Yan took the initiative to come to him, which was like divine help.
Such a dream start makes him look like a time traveler blessed with good fortune. How could Liu Bei be the true emperor? He is nothing in front of me, the Son of the Plane!
"Well said!" Liu Qi was so happy that he almost laughed out loud, and took the opportunity to shout: "I am the General of Zhennan, why don't you retreat?"
Cai Zhong was controlled, and the soldiers behind him were in an uproar. Many of them retreated, and only a few were still hesitating.
Liu Qi suddenly saw a white shadow flashing at the corner of the street. It was Zhao Yun leading his troops back. This was a chance to show off in front of the two famous generals.
Without further ado, he stepped forward, snatched the weapon from Wei Yan's hand, and slashed down with the sword.
The blade flashed a brilliant light in the setting sun, and with a slight "hissing" sound, the head rolled out.
The action happened in an instant, and not only Wei Yan's eyes widened, but even Liu Pan behind him was stunned.
No one expected that Liu Qi would dare to kill Cai Zhong so decisively and ruthlessly.
Cai Zhong's head rolled to the side, his eyes wide open, and blood was oozing from the neck of his body, making a hissing sound.
Hot blood splashed onto Liu Qi's legs, but he remained unmoved. He raised his sword and shouted, "Anyone who disobeys me will be killed!"
Crash-
In an instant, the soldiers brought by Cai Zhong, as well as Liu Pan's subordinates, all knelt down.
Only a dozen of the Cai family's guards were still in a daze. Liu Qi shouted coldly: "Behead!"
The soldiers behind him rushed forward and hacked those family generals to death with their swords. If they didn't behave well, they would have no chance.
There was a river of blood outside the mansion gate. Liu Qi held the knife, blood flowed down the handle, and his hands were sticky. He resisted the urge to vomit and gritted his teeth to hold on.
On the street in the distance, Zhao Yun was watching this scene quietly on his horse. He must not give in at this time.
As night fell, Liu Qi was covered in blood, and the soldiers around him knelt down, like a killing god.
After a short silence, Liu Qi leaned over and helped Wei Yan up, saying to everyone: "Wei Yan is a loyal and righteous man, and now he is promoted to General of the Central Army. From now on, as long as you make contributions, you will all be promoted and rewarded."
The generals and soldiers secretly breathed a sigh of relief and stood up with Wei Yan to express their gratitude.
Liu Qi ordered Wei Yan: "Immediately lead the troops to arrest Cai's followers and seal off Cai's mansion. Don't make any mistakes!"
"Yes, sir!" Wei Yan walked away quickly with the indignant soldiers. It was finally time to deal with the Cai family.
Liu Pan let out a long sigh. If he had been a little careless just now, there would have been a mutiny. He praised: "Da Lang, well done!"
Liu Qi turned around and smiled, "Mrs. Cai was frightened today, so I sent someone to make some porridge to calm her down."
"Understood!" Liu Pan understood and ordered the soldiers to clear the streets.
Liu Qi ordered his men to take Cai Zhong's head and walk towards Zhao Yun. Seeing this, Zhao Yun dismounted from his horse and stood with his head bowed.
"General Zilong, we are fortunate to have the help of our uncle, which has enabled us to avenge our great vengeance!"
Zhao Yun's eyes were still red. Hearing this, he suddenly knelt down and said, "Zhao Yun thanks the general!"
"Please stand up!" Liu Qi quickly supported Zhao Yun and said sternly, "I promised my uncle that I would treat you all as our fathers. You don't have to kneel down and bow."
Zhao Yun stood up silently, looking at the head that was still dripping with blood, his teeth chattering.
Liu Qi said, "It is getting dark. Let's bury my uncle tonight. Tomorrow morning, Yi Ji will go back to Xinye with you. Bring the dog heads of Brother Cai Mao and explain the situation."
"Just follow the general's orders!" Zhao Yun took a deep breath.
This time, he was not able to protect Liu Bei well. He felt as if his heart was cut by a knife and was extremely painful. He didn't know how to face Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and his two wives.
Liu Qi sent people to buy a good coffin and temporarily set up a mourning hall in a deserted courtyard in the east of the city for Zhao Yun and the guards to rest.
When they returned to the palace, Kuai Yue, Liu Xian and all the officials were standing in the corridor in an orderly manner, and some of them did not even dare to look at Liu Qi.
The dim night concealed everyone's uneasy expressions. Many people saw what happened outside the door just now.
Kuai Yue took the lead and stepped forward to salute: "We greet the general!"
"No need for formalities!" When Liu Qi saw Yi Ji nod, he knew that Liu Biao had basically handed over power.
It happened that all the officials were present, so there was no need to notify them one by one. He said to them, "Cai Mao plotted to murder the emperor's relatives, and has been executed! But Liu Shijun was killed, and I am afraid Cao Cao will take the opportunity to attack. The war is about to start. Everyone should return to their stations as soon as possible tomorrow to appease the soldiers and civilians. We should unite to fight Cao."
Everyone's expressions changed again. They were still immersed in today's events. They didn't expect that Liu Qi would think of Cao Cao and have such a long-term vision.
Thinking of Liu Qi's previous performance, everyone was convinced that he had been lying in wait for many years, waiting for the opportunity.
Kuai Yue's eyes flickered, and he even suspected that this was a self-torture trick that he and his son had planned long ago.
The Cai family was executed with lightning speed, will the Kuai family be next
All the officials returned to their inns to rest. Wen Pin and Wang Wei had already pacified the soldiers in the city and had taken all of Cai Mao's men into custody.
Liu Qi received them personally and promoted them to the rank of General of the Yamen on the spot. He gave them wine as a reward, and awarded them 20,000 yuan and ten pieces of silk cloth. All the officers and soldiers in the army also received rewards.
These two people made great contributions to the successful seizure of power today. Although Cai Mao bribed Zhang Yun, he overlooked that although these two people usually carried out orders, they were loyal to Liu Biao, not his subordinates.
The situation in Xiangyang changed drastically on this day, especially the change in Liu Qi, which made many people unable to sleep all night.