Chapter 266 Complete destruction
Chapter 266 Complete destruction
The day of offering in Yique County has ended hastily. The Mahayana Temple caught fire, indicating that Maitreya's reincarnation failed. The believers were afraid of bringing disaster upon themselves, so they all went home in a panic.
The county town, which was bustling in the morning, suddenly became deserted in the afternoon, with no one on the streets.
Song Zixian and dozens of core members no longer had the heart to care about these believers. All their attention was focused on the ruins, or to be more precise, under the ruins. The Maitreya Pavilion had completely collapsed, and the surrounding dormitories were almost burned down. Only a few rooms were left, and the rest were in ruins.
Thousands of believers worked together to throw water and pour fire, gradually putting out the fire in the Maitreya Pavilion which was still burning fiercely.
The scene was in a mess. The believers were still running with water to put out the remaining flames. More than a thousand warriors were responsible for cleaning up the ruins, carrying away the burnt wood, and cleaning up the bricks and soil.
Song Zixian and dozens of core members were searching for twelve golden Buddhas in the ruins. It didn't matter if they couldn't find anything else, but these twelve golden Buddhas were worth one hundred thousand strings of cash. They had secretly melted gold and cast them without telling Huang Yaokuan.
Huang Yaokuan had no idea that these twelve golden Buddhas existed. If he had known, he would have snatched them away and presented them to the King of Han.
Of course, there should be other treasures in the ruins, such as more than 300 bronze Buddha statues of various sizes, tens of thousands of strings of money buried deep in the underground palace, and various gold and silver inlaid gadgets. As for porcelain, cloth, silk, tea cakes, medicines, furs, furniture and so on, they don't count on these items, as they must have been burned or smashed.
They had found dozens of bronze Buddhas, but not a single golden Buddha, which made everyone very frustrated.
At this time, the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard in the county town, like thousands of horses galloping, the momentum was shocking, everyone looked up, and saw a group of Sui cavalry rushing towards this side.
Song Zixian and others thought that it was Huang Yaokuan who led the army. There were no other troops in Luoyang area except the 10,000 troops controlled by Huang Yaokuan.
Nine hundred cavalrymen surrounded the ruins. Xiao Xia raised a command arrow and shouted, "According to the order of Chief Huang, we will take over the Mahayana Temple. Everyone, put down your weapons and come out."
Song Zixian stepped forward, clasped his fists, and asked, "Excuse me, where is Manager Huang?"
Xiao Xia glanced at him and asked, "Are you Sect Leader Song?"
"I am you!"
Xiao Xia nodded and said, "General Manager Huang will soon accompany Prime Minister Gao to inspect. General Manager Huang ordered us to come first to inform you. Please ask Master Song to have all the warriors put down their weapons and put them together. Don't let Prime Minister Gao find out, otherwise General Manager Huang will not be able to explain to the court!"
Xiao Xia even brought up Prime Minister Gao Jiong, and made his argument sound so convincing that Song Zixian believed it and turned around to order, "Everyone, put down your weapons and lock them up in the room!"
Over a thousand warriors laid down their swords, and dozens of them stepped forward to collect the swords, put them in a room that had not been burned, and locked them up.
Xiao Xia gave Dou Dexuan a wink, and Dou Dexuan immediately led dozens of soldiers to control the armory. At this moment, the thousands of warriors were left with bare hands.
At this time, several people felt something was wrong and hurried forward to remind Song Zixian.
Xiao Xia waved his hand, and a hundred cavalrymen surrounded Song Zixian and dozens of key members.
Song Zixian was shocked, "What is the general going to do?"
Xiao Xia sneered and said, "You have swindled people out of money in Luoyang, ruined countless families, and even killed officials appointed by the imperial court. Do you think you can still live?"
Song Zixian shouted anxiously: "I have an agreement with your manager!"
"You bastard chief, we are the imperial army, kill us!"
Hundreds of soldiers raised their spears and stabbed together. Suddenly there was a scream. In a blink of an eye, Song Zixian and more than 30 key members were all stabbed to death.
The other believers and warriors fled in fear, but they were surrounded by cavalry and had nowhere to escape.
Xiao Xia shouted, "Everyone, kneel down and wait for my order!"
The cavalrymen raised their crossbows and shot down more than a hundred warriors who wanted to escape. The remaining thousands of believers and warriors were terrified and knelt down one after another.
At this time, the county magistrate Pei Wen'an and the county lieutenant Yang Jishan arrived with a large group of yamen runners.
Pei Wen'an was greatly relieved when he saw Song Zixian and others being killed. He stepped forward and saluted Xiao Xia and said, "General Xiao's thunderbolt method is indeed well-deserved. He wiped out the Mahayana sect within a day. I wonder how the general plans to deal with the followers?"
Xiao Xia said slowly, "I will eliminate the vicious ones for you, and the county will resettle the rest. There are tens of thousands of strings of money in the underground palace, and there are also valuable items in the ruins. These treasures are left to you to cover the various expenses required for resettlement. I hope that County Magistrate Pei will write a resettlement report and report it to the court!"
Pei Wen'an and Yang Jishan were overjoyed and thanked Xiao Xia again and again for his efforts. Xiao Xia immediately ordered a screening among the believers and warriors to look for two types of people. The first type were those who had killed people and risen to become leaders, and the second type were the wanted criminals among the warriors.
The Sui army asked the believers to report on each other, and soon they caught more than 300 people and tied them up. After a preliminary interrogation, they all met the conditions of two types of people. Xiao Xia then ordered the army to take them outside the city and execute them.
Xiao Xia left another 300 cavalrymen to Pei Wen'an to assist him in controlling the situation in the county, and then Xiao Xia led 600 cavalrymen to attack Luoyang.
The next step is to capture the real Mahayana leader Huang Yaokuan. Song Zixian and others are just his puppets. Of course, there is a bigger leader above him, and how to deal with him has nothing to do with Xiao Xia. Some readers may ask, Xiao Xia led 600 cavalrymen to Luoyang, isn't he afraid that Huang Yaokuan will lead 10,000 troops to destroy them?
There are two key questions here. First, does Huang Yaokuan want to rebel? Second, is he able to rebel?
Huang Yaokuan's wife, sons and grandchildren are all in Chang'an. If he rebels, his family will certainly not survive, and his parents and ancestors will also have their reputations completely ruined. Is he determined to do this?
Even if he decided to abandon his wife and children and rebel, how many people would be willing to rebel with him? There were ten military headquarters in Luoyang, and each of them had a chief general. These chief generals were under the dual leadership of the court and Huang Yaokuan. Huang Yaokuan could mobilize these military headquarters within the boundaries of Luoyang County, but if he crossed the boundaries, he must have the military token of the court. The emperor's gold medal was useless. The emperor's gold medal was only for individual officials. The military token was required to mobilize the army.
Unless it is a time of chaos, the military commander may work with Huang Yaokuan to establish a foundation and seek a future, but if it is a prosperous time, don't even think about asking these generals to follow him in rebellion.
Even if someone like An Lushan had been deeply rooted in Youzhou for more than ten years, the Han generals in Youzhou would still not follow him in rebellion. Only after An Lushan completely replaced the Han generals with dozens of Hu generals, would the low-level soldiers of the Youzhou army follow him to Chang'an in a daze to purge the court.
Therefore, military rebellion usually only happens at the end of a dynasty or in the early days of a dynasty, or when a nationwide civil strife breaks out, such as the An-Shi Rebellion, the generals will raise troops and establish their own regimes. This is not a rebellion, but just a covert disobedience to the court.
If rebellion could be easily perpetrated, then what was the point of Cao Cao using the emperor to control the other lords?
Xiao Xia was not worried at all that Huang Yaokuan would rebel. He knew that Huang Yaokuan had only three options and there was no fourth option: escape, commit suicide, or surrender.
It was already midnight when they arrived at Luoyang City. Xiao Xia used the Imperial Censor's order to open the city gate. If there were 600 troops arriving, the general guarding the city would not dare to make a decision on his own. He had to report to the general manager before deciding whether to open the gate. But if there were only a few people outside the city and the Imperial Censor was investigating a case, there was no need to report to the general manager and the city gate could be opened directly to let the Imperial Censor in.
Before the defending generals could react, six hundred soldiers rushed out from the darkness and quickly took control of Changxia Gate.
Xiao Xia led five hundred cavalrymen to surround the official residence of General Manager Huang Yaokuan.
Huang Yaokuan was woken up by his concubine in his sleep. He sat up and asked, "What's going on in the middle of the night?"
The housekeeper said outside: "Master, it's terrible, there is an army outside that has surrounded the mansion."
Huang Yaokuan was stunned. "Who are they?"
"They said that the army came from Chang'an, and the leader is the Imperial Censor named Xiao Xia, who seems to be a general. Tell the prince to get out immediately!"
"Clang!"
The teacup in Huang Yaokuan's hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. He was stunned for a moment.
At this time, shouts came from the front, and a servant came running over, "Master, the army is coming!"
The concubine was terrified and asked, "Master, what happened?"
"Put on your clothes and get out!"
The concubine put on her clothes, but didn't even have time to put on her shoes, and ran away barefoot.
As soon as the concubine left, hurried footsteps were heard outside. Xiao Xia shouted in the yard, "Huang Zongguan, I am Xiao Xia, the Prince of Xihai County, the General of the Right Wuhou Guard, and the Imperial Censor. I am here to investigate the Maitreya case under the order of the Emperor. I have solid evidence that you are seriously involved with the Maitreya religion. I will give you a decent gift. Come out and follow me to the capital to see the Emperor!"
Huang Yaozong had a glimmer of hope in his heart, and asked in a trembling voice: "I am a third-rank general manager of the Great Sui Dynasty. What does this have to do with the Maitreya Sect?"
Xiao Xia sneered and said, "I went to the Maitreya Pavilion and climbed up to the attic from the aerial stairs. You should know it, Master Huang."
Huang Yaozong's head buzzed, and his body felt as if he was falling into a cold cave. He was not afraid of Xiao Xia searching the General Manager's Mansion, as there was no problem there. He was just afraid that Xiao Xia would enter his secret study.
Not only was he doomed, but the King of Qi was also doomed. The written evidence that he kept to prevent the King of Qi from turning against him eventually became his own death warrant.
Huang Yaokuan was trembling all over. He took out a small bottle from the secret compartment beside the bed, opened the cork with trembling hands, and drank it all in one gulp without hesitation.
"Clang!" The small wine bottle fell to the ground.
Huang Yaokuan laughed bitterly, "Your Highness Prince Qi, I am so sorry!"
His body tilted and he fell onto the bed, curling up.
"Boom!" The door was kicked open and Dou Dexuan rushed in with his soldiers.
Xiao Xia also followed in. Dou Dexuan walked forward and felt Huang Yaokuan's breath, then shook his head at Xiao Xia.
Xiao Xia nodded and ordered: "Search his official residence thoroughly!"
(End of this chapter)