It was late at night, yet the residences of several important figures in Kaifeng Prefecture were ablaze with light.
The liveliest of them all was the Gao Family, Empress Dowager Gao's maternal family.
Most of the court officials, great and small, and the leaders of the scholar-gentry had gathered at his residence, all discussing a deadly subject.
Rebellion-or rather, installing another emperor!
Everything that had happened at the court session had driven these people to a dead end, leaving them no choice but to take a desperate gamble.
Whatever methods Xu Xiao had used to make the reigning emperor agree to appoint him Military Command Commissioner, from the moment the decree was proclaimed, he and the emperor had become the enemies of every official and scholar-gentry family.
A new interest group was rising, and the old one was bound to fight back with everything it had.
At this moment, everyone was waiting for news from the leaders.
Just then, a night owl swooped down from the sky into the courtyard. Someone stepped forward, untied the letter from its leg, and presented it to the Gao Family patriarch.
The Gao Family patriarch was a tall, thin old man, the current empress dowager's younger brother, born of the same mother.
Gao Huan opened the note taken from the owl. It contained news from the palace.
"Good, good, good!"
Gao Heng's face lit up as he read the message, and he said "good" three times in a row.
"Well? What did the empress dowager say?"
Seeing Gao Heng's delight, someone hurriedly pressed him for an answer.
"The empress dowager said that, for the stability of Great Song and the honor of our great families, she agrees to our request to install a new emperor."
"She has also sent her trusted aides out of the palace to help us mobilize the Imperial Army."
"Excellent! With the Imperial Army, our own private soldiers, and the Prefectural Army troops under our control, this is certain to succeed."
The Northern Song's army was divided into two systems: the Imperial Army and the Prefectural Army.
The former consisted of elite troops stationed in the capital and mobilized with the emperor's tiger tally. The latter were local troops whose combat strength varied, but they were uniformly administered by the prefectural and central authorities.
Of course, not all of the Imperial Army took orders from the emperor, who was still young.
Over the years, most of the authority to mobilize the Imperial Army had in fact fallen into the hands of Empress Dowager Gao, who ruled from behind the curtain. The great families had also used their own methods to win over some of its generals.
That was also the main reason the great families and senior court officials had gathered at the Gao residence.
Over the years, the Gao Family had become more than just the imperial family's in-laws. The Northern Song's scholar-gentry families had bound them to the same chariot through shared interests.
To the Gao Family, Xu Xiao's actions in Daqing Hall meant that the young emperor was ready to use force to reclaim power from the empress dowager.
Moreover, Xu Xiao's slaughter at the court session and his extraordinary office as Military Command Commissioner had seriously encroached on their interests.
Sitting and waiting for disaster to strike was not their style. They chose to stake everything on one desperate fight.
"Very well, there's no time to lose. Everyone, go make your preparations. At the third watch tonight, we'll use fireworks as the signal."
"We'll enter the imperial city and cleanse the emperor's side!"
Empress Dowager Gao's approval filled everyone with confidence. Burning with righteous indignation, they all prepared to take part in this great undertaking of rebellion.
Every face wore a smile. Before they had even begun, it was as though they could already see their victory.
"By the way, what happened to those Palace Front Army corpses outside Daqing Hall today? Did the empress dowager have any news about them?"
Someone suddenly recalled the corpses piled in a corner of the square outside Daqing Hall before the court session.
That bloody, horrifying sight had given the officials attending the session quite a shock.
"Nothing about that. According to the empress dowager, there was some commotion in the palace before evening today, but it was quickly quelled."
"After that, the villain used some unknown method to control the emperor, making His Majesty do things that violated propriety and law."
Gao Heng spoke calmly. Members of the Gao clan had already asked the empress dowager about this when they entered the palace.
Unfortunately, less than half a shichen had passed between Xu Xiao's forced entry into the palace and his taking Zhao Xu hostage.
Empress Dowager Gao only knew that someone had broken into the palace and taken the emperor hostage. She did not know the details.
"Then... what if that man killed all those Palace Front Army soldiers? What should we do?"
Someone ventured a bold hypothesis, only to be mocked at once.
"I think you're being too much of a coward. He's no immortal. How could he kill the entire Palace Front Army?"
"Even those retainers in the imperial palace, those so-called peak experts of the martial world, couldn't face thousands upon thousands of troops alone. A single volley of arrows would be enough to take their lives, let alone let them kill the entire Palace Front Army."
"All three thousand Palace Front Army soldiers are elites of the Imperial Army, and they've trained in external martial arts to a considerable level. Even if they couldn't beat those peak experts one-on-one, they could wear them down-wear them to death."
"But I..." The man who had asked was about to say more, but the initiator immediately shouted him down.
"Enough. If you're afraid, you don't have to take part. But you... hmph, hmph."
He left the rest unsaid, but the people beside the man all looked at him with murderous eyes.
Having attended a gathering to plot rebellion, if he wanted to withdraw now, he could only leave as a corpse.
Seeing how things stood, the man immediately stopped asking questions. Bowing his head meekly, he slapped himself twice.
"I was being a coward. I was overthinking it. I shouldn't have said things to undermine morale before the battle."
"Hmph! As long as you understand. Everyone, go make your preparations."
"Success or failure will be decided tonight. None of us has a way back."
The banquet broke up, and the man who had asked the question took his leave of the Gao residence, still troubled all the way home.
If that villain didn't kill the Palace Front Army soldiers, how did His Majesty fall into his hands?
Could three thousand Palace Front Army soldiers really keep His Majesty safe?
Reason told him that no one could fight a fully organized army of three thousand, fully armored and well equipped, alone.
Yet he could not shake his unease. The corpses in the palace and everything that had happened tonight were too unreasonable, and he could not make sense of it.
If the other side had really fought his way through three thousand Palace Front Army soldiers before taking control of His Majesty, then their plot...
"Ah, forget it, forget it. Whether I can make sense of it or not, once you've boarded a pirate ship, how can you get off halfway?"
"At worst, it's just death. I can only fight with my life on the line!"
Those who could attend the gathering were either conspirators who had long harbored ambitions or people afraid that their interests would be carved up.
Each had his own purpose, and for that purpose, they were willing to wager their fortunes, their lives, and all nine generations of their families.
As for this rebellion, which Xu Xiao had already anticipated before it even began, its outcome was already clear.