The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Emperor Ningkang's palace.

This place has already been under complete martial law.

At Emperor Ning Kang's temporary residence, several confidants surrounded him.

“Everything is going according to plan and progressing smoothly.

The Guard Camp gave up all the defense lines and passes, and the Infantry Camp under the Crown Prince and Chen Jiedu's Beijing Camp cooperated with each other to form a complete encirclement from the very beginning. Now they have pushed it to the top of the mountain, less than a few miles away from the retired emperor's palace.

At the same time, Chen Jiedu also sent news that the situation in the North and South camps has been settled, and all the troops have fallen into my hands. "

"Although the capital is far away and we can't receive any news, the emperor is not in the capital. We have the Guard Battalion, the Vanguard Battalion, and the Personal Battalion. There are also the Imperial Guards outside. As long as they follow the plan and take the initiative to eliminate a few commanders, there will be no accidents.

It doesn't matter if we can't get rid of him, it will only cause chaos for two days. When Your Majesty returns to the capital with a great victory, everything will be settled."

"Everything is ready, just waiting for your Majesty's order!"

Those who could sit here at this time were either those who held military power or the absolute confidants and ministers of Emperor Ningkang.

Their eyes were blazing with fire.

As long as this coup succeeds, every one of them will be able to rise to the top.

A great achievement that will last for generations to come depends on this one move, so they can't help but be excited.

In comparison, Emperor Ning Kang above seemed relatively calm at this time.

He tapped the table to stop the noise and asked, "How is the emperor doing?"

"No abnormalities have been found for the time being. The Cavalry Battalion has withdrawn its forces and built four defense circles outside the Emperor's palace. There is no sign of withdrawal.

It seems that they are planning to hold out against us and wait for reinforcements."

  "Haha, how will they face off and how will they maintain a stalemate?

Now all the military forces on and below the mountain are under our control. Can those few thousand soldiers of the Cavalry Battalion still withstand the charge of our tens of thousands of troops?

As for waiting for reinforcements?

With tens of thousands of our troops advancing together, the Cavalry Battalion can be destroyed in an instant. What can we do by then even if reinforcements arrive?

Your Majesty, please order the attack immediately without further delay!"

Emperor Ning Kang nodded.

This time the operation went smoothly.

By asking the retired emperor to leave Chonghua Palace and cut off his connection with the lower classes, he would be able to calmly clean out some of the powerful and stubborn elements.

According to his plan, the actions inside the palace in Beijing and inside and outside the imperial city should have started last night.

He didn't expect his men to accomplish much, just to clear away a few major obstacles, or even just to muddy the waters.

As long as he muddies the water, he will be able to easily control the situation after he gets rid of the emperor and returns to the capital.

At that time, those who should seize power will seize power, and those who should be killed will be killed.

In this way, the power of the entire world will be transferred to his hands relatively smoothly.

Therefore, the only thing to do now is to get rid of the minions that the emperor brought to Tiewang Mountain.

The overall situation had been basically decided, so he was naturally no longer as nervous as he had been in the past.

but……

The reaction from the retired emperor was somewhat beyond his expectations.

But it doesn't matter.

Whether it was a desperate struggle, a pretense, or even the real message was passed on and they were waiting for reinforcements...

These were within his expectations.

Tiewang Mountain is so large, and previous actions have been taken carefully, so it is normal to let the emperor pass on some simple information.

As a mature emperor, he certainly would not decide on impulse to force the emperor to abdicate by force, and then have no plan to resolve the subsequent troubles, thus becoming a sinner who brought disaster to his ancestors' country!

He was confident that he could handle everything before the emperor's reinforcements arrived and take care of the reinforcements that would come later.

Now, he couldn't wait to stand in front of the emperor and make him admit in person that he was wrong.

"Notify Chen Zhao and Feng Sheng, let's get started."

As Emperor Ning Kang spoke, several people below immediately stood up, saluted with fists, and left, preparing for the final blow.

"His Majesty……"

"His Majesty."

The remaining ministers were about to say something when Dai Quanxing came and interrupted them.

"What's the matter?"

"The second princess came and said she had something important to discuss and had to see His Majesty. She also injured the soldiers from the imperial army camp who tried to stop her."

"presumptuous!"

Emperor Ning Kang was a little angry.

The second princess was Princess Zhaoyang, and her eldest princess was conferred the title by Emperor Ning Kang.

Although people below her still called her the eldest princess, as a person in the palace, Dai Quan naturally had to change his words after Princess Zhaoyang was deprived of the title of eldest princess by the retired emperor.

  The Imperial Guard Camp is the emperor's personal army and can fully represent the face of Emperor Ning Kang. How dare Princess Zhaoyang take action?

However, after his instinctive anger, Emperor Ning Kang felt that his princess had always been a person of integrity, and if there was no reason, she would not have come to cause trouble for him at this critical juncture.

So he suppressed his anger and said coldly: "Let her in."

At that moment, Princess Zhaoyang came walking on the stars and the moon.

"My son, I pay my respects to my father."

"What's the matter with you?"

Emperor Ning Kang spoke directly to the point, which made Princess Zhaoyang stop bowing.

  She first glanced at the swaying figure on the side of the screen, and then asked directly: "I came here to ask my father, did my eldest brother really rebel?

Why did he want to rebel?"

Princess Zhaoyang's questioning tone displeased Emperor Ning Kang, and he said coldly: "Why did he commit treason? You should ask him, why ask me?"

Princess Zhaoyang continued, "Father, can you really bear to watch father and son kill each other, and watch so many innocent people, even loyal ministers and generals, die tragically?"

Emperor Ning Kang's breathing suddenly became rapid and his expression turned ugly.

Of course he could understand what Princess Zhaoyang said.

From the moment he decided to use force to force the emperor to abdicate, he knew that his decision would result in the sacrifice of some innocent people.

  He also knew that among those who were loyal to the emperor, there were also many loyal ministers and good generals. But so what? The more loyal those people were to the emperor, the more difficult it would be for him to use them!

Therefore, his eyes suddenly turned cold, and he looked at his daughter indifferently, "So, you are here now to ask me for punishment?"

When he decided to embark on this path that was destined to be criticized and attacked, he also hoped to gain understanding from those around him, especially his closest relatives.

Although Emperor Ningkang did not give a direct answer, Princess Zhaoyang could still see his determination from his expression and tone.

After a moment of silence, Princess Zhaoyang's tone softened and she said, "Of course I am not here to ask for punishment.

Others may not know the difficulties that your father is going through, but I, as your son, naturally understand.

I came here just to ask Father a question."

Emperor Ning Kang did not reply, but just looked at Princess Zhaoyang.

Princess Zhaoyang looked at him hopefully and asked, "Father, what are you going to do to Grandpa?"

Emperor Ning Kang suddenly fell silent.

This was the first time he had heard such a sharp question.

No one else, including his most trusted confidants, dared to ask him.

He had neither wanted nor been willing to answer.

But facing Princess Zhaoyang's expectant eyes, he thought about how his daughter had grown from being so little to being so old and her thinking had matured.

In particular, he thought somewhat unwillingly that by letting her go to marry, he might have disappointed her bright eyes once.

My heart suddenly softened.

He lowered his head and replied slowly: "Although I am not a wise ruler, how dare I do something that the Tang Emperor dare not do."

"Okay, I'm tired. Let's talk about it later. Go down."

Emperor Ning Kang picked up a booklet and felt a little pain between his eyebrows, so he put the booklet down and rubbed it with his hands.

When he opened his eyes again, he found that Princess Zhaoyang had not left, but had walked up to him and was very close to him, so Dai Quan calmly stopped her.

Emperor Ning Kang did not expect Princess Zhaoyang to harm him. He just looked at her and asked impatiently, "What else do you want?"

Emperor Ning Kang felt that he had been tolerant enough towards his daughter. If the Fourth Prince dared to bother him like this at this time, he would have kicked him right away.

Unexpectedly, Princess Zhaoyang changed her tone completely and said, "I just went to see the Empress Dowager."

Emperor Ning Kang frowned, not understanding why Princess Zhaoyang said such an insignificant thing.

"I want to tell you, Father, that what you are about to do is of such importance that you cannot be too careful.

Now, my father has already led his troops straight to our place, but I see that my grandfather the Emperor does not seem to be too panicked.

From top to bottom, there was no panic.

The Emperor didn't even forbid us from entering or leaving the palace.

Although I don't know what the Emperor can rely on, but father, the Emperor has ruled the world for too long. If you want to defeat him, you can't be careless.

I, your son, only wish that your father and all his relatives are safe and healthy. I hope your father will understand this wish."

Princess Zhaoyang said these words with sincerity, then bowed deeply and turned to leave.

Behind the desk, Emperor Ning Kang's brows were already furrowed.

Several ministers came out from behind the screen and they all heard the conversation between Princess Zhaoyang and Emperor Ning Kang.

"Your Majesty, don't worry. The Second Princess is just a woman, so you don't need to take her words too seriously.

Perhaps the second princess just doesn't want to see the disaster of war, or perhaps she just cares about the safety of His Majesty.

But no matter what, the arrow has been put on the string and must be shot. Your Majesty must not hesitate."

When one person said this, the others all agreed.

Most of the military forces on and below the mountain were under their control. Under such a situation, they really couldn't imagine any possibility for the emperor to turn defeat into victory.

Emperor Ning Kang did not say much. While waiting for news, he discussed with his ministers how to deal with the aftermath.

……

Time passed minute by minute, and soon the prince's "rebels" had completely climbed up the mountain.

However, these rebels did not rush directly to the palace of the retired emperor to wipe out the Cavalry Battalion as Emperor Ning Kang and others had imagined.

Instead, just like their original slogan, they held high the banner of serving the king and protecting the emperor, and charged towards the guard camp that had given them the green light all the way, and surrounded the palace of Emperor Ning Kang.

In this hunting expedition at Tiewang Mountain, apart from the Cavalry Battalion and the Personal Army Battalion surrounding the Two Saints, the most important forces were the Guard Battalion stationed on the mountain, the Imperial Guard Infantry Battalion stationed in the mountains, and the Beijing Battalion stationed at the foot of the mountain.

The Guard Battalion, the Imperial Guard Infantry Battalion and the Cavalry Battalion are the three main forces of the Imperial Guard system, among which the Guard Battalion has the largest number of people.

The main duties of the Guard Camp are to guard the safety of the imperial city and to escort the emperor when he travels.

This hunting trip to Tiewang Mountain seemed to be arranged by the Crown Prince, but in fact, it was all the idea of ​​Emperor Ning Kang. Therefore, the soldiers from the Guard Camp who were transferred there were naturally loyal to Emperor Ning Kang.

However, most of the generals in the Imperial Guard Infantry Camp were left over from the period of the retired emperor.

However, Emperor Ning Kang knew that the prince had cultivated some forces in the infantry camp over the years. In order to make the cover of "prince's rebellion" look more reasonable and to make everything more natural so as not to arouse the suspicion of the retired emperor, Emperor Ning Kang acquiesced to the prince's act of transferring the infantry camp to Tiewang Mountain for garrison.

As for the Beijing Camp, the biggest intervention of Emperor Ning Kang in recent years was to replace the Jiedushi.

There was no need to hide this, as everyone knew that Chen Zhao was his man. The soldiers from the Beidaying Camp that Chen Zhao brought with him were naturally loyal to Chen Zhao and Emperor Ning Kang.

Therefore, of the five main forces in the entire Tiewang Mountain, except for the few thousand officers and soldiers of the Cavalry Battalion under the command of the retired emperor, all the others are under the control of Emperor Ning Kang.

Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that Emperor Ning Kang and his trusted ministers felt that the overall situation had been decided and everything was under control.

However, at this time, the guard camp was at its outermost defense area.

Emperor Ning Kang came riding on his horse.

The soldiers of the two armies who were originally fighting each other retreated a little when they saw the figure of Emperor Ning Kang.

If those nobles on Tiewang Mountain are still confused until now, then these ordinary soldiers at the bottom are completely at a loss.

Because the leaders all had their own opinions, they had no way of judging whether it was true or false.

Therefore, we can only act according to the orders from above.

But after all, they are part of the Imperial Guards, so it is impossible that they don’t know Emperor Ning Kang.

Emperor Ning Kang ignored the soldiers in the infantry camp who looked suspicious and shouted coldly towards the distance:

"Rebellious son, why don't you come out and see me." (End of this chapter)