Peach Blossoms in Chang'an

Chapter 202 Dawn

The night was dark, Wu Tao rode her horse at full speed, the cold wind blew on her face like a knife. But she didn't care about that, she had only one thought in her mind: get to the border as soon as possible, find a way to fight against the prime minister, save Hu Bugui, and save the Tang Dynasty!

What she saw and heard along the way shocked her. The army under the prime minister was rampant, the people were displaced, and the once fertile land was now in ruins. Wu Tao was filled with grief and anger, and she became more determined to defeat the prime minister.

After several days of traveling, Wu Tao finally arrived at the border. She disguised herself and mixed in with the people to get information. One day, while avoiding the pursuers, she accidentally hid in an abandoned temple.

The temple was in ruins, the Buddha statues were covered in dust, and it looked desolate. Wu Tao looked around, hoping to find some food to fill her stomach. Just then, she noticed that the wall behind the Buddha statue seemed a little strange. She went forward to take a closer look and found that there was a secret door on the wall.

Curiosity drove her to push open the secret door, and inside was a small secret room. There was only a table and a chair in the secret room, and a thick book was placed on the table. Wu Tao picked up the book, blew away the dust on it, and found that there was no text on the cover.

She turned the pages and found that it was a book written in ancient characters, and the content seemed to be about the history of a family. Wu Tao read it carefully and patiently, and gradually she found that the family recorded in the book was actually the prime minister's family!

When she read the description of the prime minister's grandfather's generation, her eyes suddenly lit up. The book recorded that the prime minister's grandfather had committed an unspeakable crime, and the evidence of this crime was hidden in a secret place.

Wu Tao was overjoyed. This was exactly the breakthrough she had been looking for! She suppressed her excitement, memorized the contents of the book, and then carefully left the secret room and resealed the secret door.

She did not dare to delay for a moment and immediately set off to return to the palace. Along the way, she was extremely anxious, but she suppressed her anxiety, carefully avoided all dangers, and finally returned to the palace safely.

"Tao'er, you're finally back!" The Queen was so excited to see Wu Tao return safely that her eyes filled with tears.

"I have found a way to deal with the prime minister!" Wu Tao did not even take a rest and immediately told the queen and Hu Bugui about his discovery in the border temple.

After listening to Wu Tao's story, Hu Bugui's eyes flashed with a gleam of light: "If we can find this evidence, we can completely overthrow the prime minister!"

"But the book doesn't say where exactly the evidence is hidden," the queen said worriedly.

"It doesn't matter. We can slowly search according to the clues provided in the book." Wu Tao's eyes were full of confidence. "I believe that as long as we work together, we will be able to find evidence and restore order to the Tang Dynasty!"

Outside the window, the sky gradually turned pale, and the dawn was about to dispel the haze that had shrouded people's hearts for many days...

The light of dawn gradually dispelled the darkness of the night, covering Chang'an City with a light golden veil. In the palace, the queen paced anxiously in her bedroom, while Wu Tao comforted her.

"My queen, don't worry. Brother Hu is a lucky man and will definitely return safely." Wu Tao's gentle words were filled with firm belief.

“Tao’er, how can I not be worried? The Prime Minister is in command of a large army, and if he doesn’t come back…” When the Queen said this, her voice choked and her eyes welled up with tears.

Wu Tao held the Queen's hand, his eyes firm: "Your Majesty, you have to believe in Brother Hu, and you have to believe in us! We have found the Prime Minister's fatal weakness. He is now at the end of his strength. We will definitely win in the end!"

A glimmer of hope flashed in the queen's eyes. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. "You are right. We can't lose our composure. Tao'er, what do you think we should do next?"

Wu Tao pondered for a moment and said, "My queen, what we need to do now is to use the prime minister's secret to completely defeat his psychological defenses!"

At the same time, in a hidden valley a hundred miles away from Chang'an City, Hu Bugui was gradually recovering under the careful care of a miracle doctor. His face was ruddy and his eyes were bright. Where was the sickness from before?

"Your Highness, your body has fully recovered." The genius doctor stroked his beard and said with satisfaction, "I have been practicing medicine for many years, and I have never seen anyone with such amazing recovery ability as Your Highness!"

Hu Bugui bowed his hands gratefully and said, "Thank you, miraculous doctor, for saving my life!"

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked into the distance with a deep gaze: "Prime Minister, you never expected that I, Hu Bugui, would be back again!"

Behind him, hundreds of martial arts masters and a number of loyal soldiers have gathered. They all have resolute expressions, weapons in their hands, waiting for Hu Bugui's orders.

“Brothers, follow me back to Chang’an, rescue the emperor, rescue the queen, eradicate the treacherous ministers, and restore the peace and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty!” Hu Bugui drew the sword from his waist, with the tip of the sword pointing straight to the sky. The sword reflected a dazzling cold light, as if foreshadowing that a bloody storm was about to come.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The deafening shouts of killing resounded through the valley and spread into the distance.

In the palace, Wu Tao and the Queen were disintegrating the Prime Minister's power step by step according to their plan. They made up a ballad about the Prime Minister's grandfather's crimes and asked folk artists to sing it. For a time, the whole Chang'an City was talking about it, and the Prime Minister's reputation was greatly damaged.

At the same time, Wu Tao also used his understanding of the prime minister's subordinates to prescribe the right medicine and instigate some people who were dissatisfied with the prime minister. These people were originally dissatisfied with the prime minister's atrocities, and now seeing that the prime minister's situation was over, they turned against him and became an important force in disintegrating the prime minister's power.

In the Prime Minister's Mansion, the lights were on, and there was singing and dancing. The Prime Minister had no idea that he had been pushed to the edge of the cliff, and was still immersed in the joy of victory, toasting to celebrate the throne that was about to be in his hands.

“Report—” A soldier ran into the hall in a panic, fell to his knees, and shouted in fear, “Prime Minister, it’s bad, it’s bad! The Ninth Prince… The Ninth Prince is back!”

The wine glass in the prime minister's hand fell to the ground with a "smack" and shattered. His face turned pale in an instant, and his eyes were filled with unbelievable horror...

In the prime minister's mansion, there was singing and dancing, and the sound of stringed instruments was heard everywhere. The prime minister was very proud of himself, holding a wine glass and laughing wildly. He looked around, and saw only faces that were flattering and fawning, as if the throne was already in his pocket.

"Report--" A hurried shout broke the noise at the banquet. A soldier covered in blood stumbled into the hall, terrified, "Prime Minister, it's bad! The Ninth Prince... The Ninth Prince is back!"

The smile on the prime minister's face froze instantly, and the wine glass in his hand fell to the ground and shattered. He stood up suddenly, his eyes widened in disbelief: "What did you say? How is this possible! He is not..."

Before he could finish his words, deafening shouts and cries of killing were heard from outside the mansion, accompanied by the sharp sound of weapons clashing, and the entire Prime Minister's Mansion fell into chaos.

"Kill!——" Hu Bugui led the way, like a ferocious cheetah, leading the dark army behind him and breaking through the defense of the Prime Minister's Mansion with great force. His eyes were burning with rage, and the long sword in his hand was cold and gleaming. Every time he swung it, he took away a life.

The guards of the Prime Minister's Mansion, who usually showed off their might, were like lambs to be slaughtered in front of Hu Bugui and his troops, and had no power to fight back. The singing and dancing at the banquet came to an abrupt end, replaced by screams, the sound of weapons clashing, and the panicked footsteps of people running away.

The prime minister watched the power he had carefully cultivated collapse in an instant, and his expression changed from shock to horror, and then to despair. He realized that the situation was hopeless, and he no longer had the arrogance of the past, and he wanted to flee this place of trouble in a panic.

"Want to run? Not that easy!" A cold voice sounded behind the prime minister. Wu Tao was dressed in plain clothes, but it was hard to hide the heroic spirit between her eyebrows. She held a delicate dagger in her hand and pressed it against the prime minister's vest, "Your doomsday has come!"

The prime minister trembled all over and dared not move. He turned his head with difficulty and looked at the woman in front of him who he once regarded as an ant. His eyes were full of resentment and fear: "It's you! You planned all this, right?"

Wu Tao smiled coldly: "If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself. Everything you do will be punished!" As soon as Wu Tao finished speaking, Hu Bugui led the army into the Prime Minister's Mansion. He saw the Prime Minister who was restrained by Wu Tao at a glance, and a cold light flashed in his eyes. He walked quickly to the Prime Minister, pointed his sword at his throat, and said in a cold tone: "You murdered loyal officials and intended to rebel. Today is the day you die!"

The prime minister knew that he could not escape death, so he stopped struggling and just laughed up to the sky, looking like a madman: "The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit, it has always been like this! I just lost to you young boys, you can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you!"

"You are wrong," Wu Tao walked to Hu Bugui and looked at the prime minister calmly, "You lost to yourself, to your greed and ambition."

Hu Bugui ignored the prime minister's crazy talk, he raised his sword and ended the prime minister's sinful life cleanly. So far, the rebellion instigated by the prime minister was finally quelled, and the crisis of the Tang Dynasty was resolved.

When the news reached Chang'an, the emperor and the empress cried with joy. They never expected that the key figures in quelling the rebellion would be Wu Tao, whom they regarded as a disaster star, and the Ninth Prince Hu Bugui, whom they had neglected for many years.

The emperor immediately issued an order to make Hu Bugui the crown prince and Wu Tao the crown princess, waiting for them to ascend the throne in the future. At the same time, the emperor also ordered a heavy reward for those soldiers who had made contributions in the process of suppressing the rebellion, especially those loyal officials and generals who had been persecuted by the prime minister, who received special favor from the emperor.

For a time, the entire Tang Dynasty was immersed in the joy of victory. People took to the streets, singing and dancing, celebrating this hard-won victory. They thanked the emperor for his wisdom, Hu Bugui for his bravery, and Wu Tao for his wisdom and courage.

At this time, the protagonists of the story, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui, were strolling on the streets of Chang'an, enjoying the long-lost tranquility and peace. The people expressed their respect and gratitude to them and came forward to congratulate them.

"It seems like we have to get busy again." Looking at the lively scene in front of him, Wu Tao turned to look at Hu Bugui with a teasing smile on his lips.

Hu Bugui held Wu Tao's hand, his eyes full of tenderness: "Yes, but this time, we are no longer fighting alone, but together with the entire Tang Dynasty, we will create a better future."

As the sun sets, the golden sunlight shines on them, making their figures look particularly slender. They walk side by side, their backs gradually disappearing in the crowd, leaving behind only a hopeful and beautiful future, waiting for them to create...