Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2401: Drastic Change (II) Taking Over the City Defense

Zhu Yijun collapsed on the throne, his eyes were dark, he felt dizzy, and his ears were buzzing. He raised his head with difficulty, but saw the face of Concubine Zheng swaying in front of him. The familiar face now revealed a sense of determination and ruthlessness. Concubine Zheng spoke softly, but every word pierced Zhu Yijun's heart like a frozen ice cone.

For the first time in many years, Zhu Yijun felt panic. Although he did not sense any murderous intent from Concubine Zheng's words, he knew that the situation was out of control, which was almost unprecedented since he took power.

Zhu Yijun had always known that Concubine Zheng's tactics and schemes were not particularly clever, but he had not expected that Concubine Zheng would be so persistent and resentful about her son's "loss" of the crown prince's position, and that she was even willing to risk everything in order to change the situation. Her words at this moment clearly hinted that a shocking change was about to happen.

Zhu Yijun wanted to struggle to get up, wanted to shout loudly, wanted to stop it all, but his body seemed to be pressed down by an invisible boulder, unable to move at all. He could only watch as Concubine Zheng's figure gradually blurred and finally fell into darkness.

The copper clock in the Yikun Palace ticked to 3:45 pm, and Concubine Zheng stood up suddenly. She looked at herself in the copper mirror with her hair slightly messy, and reached out to insert the phoenix hairpin inlaid with pigeon blood stone into her bun. The copper mirror reflected her slightly pale face, and the fine lines at the corners of her eyes were faintly visible in the candlelight. She reached out and touched the mirror, her fingertips trembling slightly.

"Zheng Zhuo!" She called softly to the outside of the hall, with a barely perceptible tension in her voice.

A respectful response came immediately from outside the curtain: "The servant is here."

"Propagate this palace's decree, saying that His Majesty has suddenly fainted, and order the Left Military Governor's Office Left Military Governor (actual position) and Jinyiwei Commander (nominal) Zheng Guotai to lead 3,000 clean troops into the palace immediately to attend to the patient. After entering the palace, 2,000 people should be sent to guard the Yikun Palace, and another 500 people should be sent to guard the Cining Palace and Kunning Palace respectively."

As she spoke, she took out the "eternal" emperor's private seal from Zhu Yijun and pressed it hard on the yellow silk. The ink was glowing a strange dark red under the candlelight. "Use the name of Li Wenjin, the official in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the seal holder of the Imperial Horse Department, to take this imperial edict to the Imperial Household Department. When you get to the Imperial Household Department, say that Li Wenjin is not in the palace, so you are doing it for him. I have Li Wenjin's official badge here. Take it as a token of trust."

At this moment, the crisp sound of porcelain breaking suddenly came from outside the hall.

Concubine Zheng suddenly opened the beaded curtain and ran into a young eunuch slumped on the ground. Between the broken pieces of the blue and white porcelain cup, the brown medicine was winding like a snake along the cracks of the gold bricks. The young eunuch's face was pale, fine beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, and his lips were trembling and he couldn't speak.

"Drag him to the North Garden." She wrapped a waist badge in yellow silk and threw it into Zheng Zhuo's arms. Her voice was as cold as ice. "I want to see the Jing army seal off the three palaces before noon."

Zheng Zhuo took the yellow silk and the waist badge, and glanced at the young eunuch quietly, his hands trembling slightly. He knew too well what Concubine Zheng's words meant - the dry well in the North Garden had been filled with too many things that shouldn't be filled. He looked down at the limp young eunuch, who was only fourteen or fifteen years old, and still had a childish look on his face.

"Your Majesty..." Zheng Zhuo hesitated to speak.

"What's the matter?" Concubine Zheng turned around and narrowed her eyes. "You are a child born in my Zheng family and entered the palace. I have treated you well over the years. Do you want to go to the North Garden to enjoy the snow today?"

Zheng Zhuo shuddered, saying he dared not, and bowed and left. He heard the suppressed sobbing of the young eunuch behind him, and the little song hummed by Concubine Zheng. The song was as melodious and beautiful as usual, but at this moment it made his back cold.

Not long after, in the west alley of Cining Palace, Chen Ju wrapped the jade seal and half of the imperial guard tiger talisman in his cotton robe, and the whistling north wind filled his ears. Just now, he found that the Jingjun soldiers wandering outside the Silijian's duty room were too strange, and even the eunuch in charge of the seal had to be questioned three times. This reminded him of the warning from Yuanfu a few days ago, and he quickly took back the two treasures from the confidant who was instructed by him to keep the talisman and seal properly, and left in a hurry.

His footsteps left a shallow imprint on the snow, which was soon covered by the newly fallen snow. In the distance, the footsteps of the patrolling Jing army could be heard, and the sound of armor rubbing against each other was particularly clear among the silent palace walls.

"Master Chen, please stay!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of horse hooves treading on the snow behind him. Chen Ju quickly dodged and hid in the pavilion covered with withered vines, watching Li Wenjin's confidant and more than 20 people running hurriedly, their galloping footsteps splashing tiny ice crystals on the snow. He held his breath and only breathed a sigh of relief when the footsteps faded away. Fortunately, he had been in the palace for his entire life, and any corner could serve as a cover for him to hide.

He subconsciously touched the hard object behind his waist - it was a short gun given to him by Gao Yuanfu last year. The brass gun body was soaked with cold sweat, but the gunpowder filled in the mechanism made him feel a little relieved.

This short gun was specially made by the Jinghua Artisan Workshop. Although it is different from the three-barreled gun and has only one barrel, it can fire three bullets in a row, making it an excellent self-defense weapon - but he has never tried it.

Chen Ju originally wanted to escape from the palace through Xuanwu Gate immediately. If he did so, he would have to go around Coal Hill and head north through Di'an Gate, and he would have basically reached the Jingguo Mansion in Zhaohui Jinggongfang. However, he thought it was not a good idea, so he quietly turned back to Kunning Palace. Kunning Palace was still being guarded by his people, so there was still a chance to get the Empress and the Crown Prince out.

Although the current situation is not clear, he only knows that the emperor may be in a coma. At the same time, the emperor's handwritten instructions came out from Yikun Palace, a total of four. One of them mentioned "order the seal holder of the Silijian Chen Ju to return to Yikun Palace to serve the sick" - but the people in Yikun Palace were too careless. They came to "invite" the seal holder of the Silijian with strong armor on their bodies and sharp blades in their hands. He saw through the flaws and slipped away under the pretext of changing clothes.

Chen Ju knew that something serious must have happened in the Yikun Palace, so he immediately remembered Gao Youshi's request to hide the seal, and planned to take the seal to find Gao Youshi. But he immediately thought of another thing, that is, he must protect the queen and the prince - in fact, the prince may be more important, but because the prince is still young, few of the ministers have seen him, so the queen must be there for the prince's identity to be authentic. In short, now the queen and the prince must be taken out of the palace and sent to the Jingguo Mansion to be safe.

Chen Ju knew very well that the reason why he had been able to send people to take over the guards of the Cining and Kunning Palaces smoothly was because the other party had not fallen out with him. Once they really fell out, Li Wenjin, as the seal holder of the Imperial Stables in charge of the military power of the Jing Army, would be able to easily capture the two palaces - even if the defenders of the two palaces resisted, it would be of no use as the strength gap was too great.

Two flowers blooming, each with its own beauty, not to mention Chen Ju rushing to Kunning Palace. In less than two hours, Li Rumei, deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, had already climbed up the Deshengmen Tower, one of the northern gates of the capital, and stared at the dragon flag fluttering on the tower with an expressionless face, his knuckles knocking on the hilt of his sword in a regular rhythm. He had to wait for the detachment he had sent out earlier to come back before deciding on the next move.

It turned out that not long ago, in the Beijing North Camp, Li Rumei was discussing the recent situation with the generals. Two days ago, Ma Gui had personally led the first regiment to Zhangjiakou to prepare to welcome Shunyi King Ba Hannaji, who was coming to Beijing for the first time after his surrender. The fourth regiment was sent to Zhuozhou and the fifth regiment was sent to Wuqing.

Although it was not explicitly stated, according to past custom, whenever there was a major event in the capital, the Imperial Guards were often deployed to key locations around the capital to ensure that the capital was not threatened from any direction.

For example, when Ma Gui went to Zhangjiakou, it did not mean that he had to go directly to Zhangjiakou, but that he only had to arrive in Changping and send troops or lead troops to the Zhenbiancheng Guarding Thousand Households to welcome him.

This border town is actually a pass on the inner line of the Great Wall - the Ming Great Wall splits into two lines twenty miles west of Miyun, the northern one leads to Zhangjiakou, the southern one leads to Zijing Pass and Daoma Pass, and between the two lines is Xuanfu Town, one of the nine borders. Ma Gui can complete the task handover with the Xuanfu First Army here, because it is definitely the Xuanfu First Army that "escorts" Han Naji in the Xuanfu jurisdiction.

In other words, Ma Gui should be in Changping at this time. As for the fourth town going to Zhuozhou, it was to block the road to Beijing from Baoding; the fifth town went to Wuqing, which was to block the road to Beijing from Tianjin. In short, this was the arrangement in the past, but the specific town was not fixed, so as to prevent someone from deliberately arranging and winning over the generals of a town of the Imperial Guard to plot against the will.

Now, there are only Zu Chengxun's Second Regiment, Ma Dong's Third Regiment, and 3,000 people from Longjiang's Second Army waiting to be awarded the flag in the Jingbei Camp. Since Ma Gui is not here, Li Rumei is actually the highest-ranking general in the Jingbei Camp, half a level higher than the Chief of Staff Cao Fu.

"Deputy Commander, the situation in the capital has been different recently. The prime minister has fallen ill and the Prince of Ying has died suddenly. We must be careful." Cao Fu said worriedly.

Li Rumei frowned slightly and nodded: "Everyone should be vigilant and follow my orders. Do not act without authorization."

At this moment, a team carrying the emperor's flag suddenly arrived from south to north. Although the Imperial Guards had closed the camp, the observation post had already seen it and quickly notified Li Rumei, Cao Fu, Zu Chengxun, Ma Dong and others.

The emperor's flags and banners did not mean that the emperor had arrived. After all, the emperor would not easily leave the capital city. The one who came must be an angel to deliver the emperor's orders. Of course, this could not be neglected, so Li Rumei and others hurried to the gate to prepare to receive the order.

"Deputy Commander Li, the emperor has issued an order. Why don't you lead the generals to kneel and receive it!" Li Wenjin got off the carriage, and an eunuch in front of him immediately shouted at the top of his voice.

Li Rumei and others had already arranged the incense burner and other ceremonies. Upon hearing this, they knelt down to receive the order. The eunuch took out the imperial edict and handed it to Li Wenjin with both hands. Li Wenjin coughed lightly and read the imperial edict: "The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, decrees: I heard that the capital is an important place, and people from all directions gather here. Recently, the white disaster is approaching and the prime minister is sick. I am afraid that some villains will take advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos. Li Rumei, the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, was born in a general family. He is loyal and has made many military achievements. I have always known his ability. Now I specially order you to lead a town of elite troops to take over the defense of the nine gates of the northern city immediately.

From now on, you will be solely responsible for all matters concerning the city defense. You must lead the soldiers to guard the city strictly day and night without any slackness. Anyone entering or leaving the city gates must be carefully checked. No one with suspicious appearance or unknown identity will be allowed to pass. If there is an emergency military situation or rebellious elements, you are allowed to act according to circumstances and make decisions according to your own discretion. You must ensure the safety and stability of the capital.

I remember your family has been loyal for generations, so I have entrusted you with this important task. I hope you will fulfill your duties and live up to my expectations. If you see any unusual behavior, you can kill first and report later. I decree this."

Li Rumei looked calm and respectfully accepted the order, then checked it as usual. This time he looked at it and frowned, and asked Li Wenjin: "Guardian, is this the emperor's order?"

Zhongzhi, that is, the imperial edict issued directly by the emperor, was not signed by the cabinet, the six departments, etc. As for its legality... You can't say it is illegal, because Zhongzhi is the emperor's will after all; but you can't say it is completely legal, because the court has its own laws and regulations. If there is no cabinet's signature, it means that the "hundred officials" have not recognized it, and if there is no six departments' signature, it means that the supervisory agency has not confirmed it.

As soon as Li Rumei asked this question, several senior generals came over and focused their eyes on the signature of the imperial edict. They saw that the huge signature was only stamped with a small seal with the four characters "万世立久" (Long Live the Emperor). All the generals knew this seal, which was the emperor's most commonly used private seal.

However, now that the imperial edict has been issued, how can we use only the private seal? Cao Fu was the first to challenge, and he bowed to Li Wenjin and asked, "Hujun Rong: The mobilization of troops is unusual, and the edict should be issued with the imperial seal, and with the joint signatures of the cabinet, six departments, and the Ministry of War, and there should also be a tiger seal as proof. Now this edict is an imperial edict, according to the rules..."

"The situation is urgent, and the emperor has to make an exception. We will complete the formalities later." Li Wenjin glanced at him and said coldly, "Chief of Staff Cao, do you intend to disobey the order?"

"I dare not disobey your order." Although Cao Fu said this, he still insisted: "But I don't know how urgent the situation is when the guards say it is urgent?"

Li Wenjin narrowed his eyes slightly, looked Cao Fu up and down, and suddenly sneered: "I heard that Yuan Fu was very kind to the old general in the past. I wonder if it is true?"

Cao Fu frowned slightly, but answered without hesitation: "It is true."

"That's good." Li Wenjin waved his hand and said, "To tell you the truth, the prime minister was suddenly critically ill, and the emperor was a little unprepared, so he issued this urgent decree. Don't ask me for more details. I don't know the details just like you. Anyway, the decree is here, you can do whatever you want."

He said "you guys decide", but Li Wenjin paused for a moment before adding: "But you guys have to think it over carefully. As the saying goes, 'Strong grass is revealed in strong winds, loyal ministers are revealed in times of crisis'. In the eyes of the emperor in the future, you guys may be useful people. It may all depend on today, so don't make the mistake."

"I obey your order!" Without waiting for Cao Fu to reply, Li Rumei stood up and bowed to Li Wenjin, saying, "The Imperial Guards are the emperor's personal soldiers. How can they not obey your order? I just don't know if the emperor has any other instructions?"

"Deputy Commander Li is the most sensible." Li Wenjin smiled, but immediately shook his head: "There are no other instructions. Deputy Commander Li just needs to follow the order, but you must act as soon as possible and don't delay."

Li Rumei nodded and began to select the troops. Cao Fu opened his mouth to speak, but in the end he could not say anything. Perhaps because the news of "Prince Fu's critical illness" was too unexpected for him, his face remained very ugly.

Soon, most of the Second Town, led by Li Rumei, headed towards Deshengmen. Among the nine gates in the north city, Deshengmen was closest to the Beijing North Camp, so taking over the city defense would naturally start from Deshengmen.

Along the way, the soldiers' footsteps were particularly clear in the snow, and the sound of horses' hooves broke the silence of the snowy day.

When they arrived at Deshengmen, the Wucheng Bingmasi troops in charge of the city defense saw that it was the Imperial Guards and did not dare to stop them. Li Rumei took over the city defense smoothly, but he seemed very cautious and refused to send troops into the city. He just followed the "imperial edict" and began to send troops to take over the other eight city defenses. As for the seven gates in the south city, he did not care.

However, having said that, perhaps taking into account that the Second Town had not obtained weapons in advance, the entire town only brought 3,000 muskets, 6,000 spears and corresponding cold weapons that the entire guard usually used for training, barely arming 9,000 people, and about 4,000 people were almost unarmed. Therefore, Li Rumei sent two engineering battalions under his command to the Wu Zi warehouse in the west of the city to collect weapons.

However, when the engineering battalion arrived in front of the Wuzi warehouse, they were blocked by the city defense troops of the Wucheng Bingmasi.

"Stop! The Wu Zi Ku has received strict orders from the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue. No one is allowed to enter to receive weapons without the Prime Minister's order!" The city defense general saw that the guards who came were unarmed and were obviously not afraid, so he shouted loudly in front of them.

"We have come here to receive the weapons at the order of the Emperor. How dare you stop us?" The general of the Second Town's Engineering Battalion showed no sign of weakness.

"Since the emperor has issued an order, please go to the prime minister to get the order first. We will follow your orders and proceed as soon as we see them!"

"The Prime Minister is still ill, how can we ask for orders?"

"That's your business. Why are you asking me? Did I collect your military pay for you?"

The two sides were deadlocked, and the atmosphere became tense in an instant, with swords drawn and a conflict seemingly imminent. The city defense army was not afraid, and the soldiers all held their weapons tightly, with vigilance and hostility in their eyes. The Imperial Guards suffered a great loss. First, they were just an engineering battalion. According to the professional principle designed by Gao Youshi, their combat training was much less than military training. Second, they were still unarmed. Although the number of people was basically the same as that of the other side, with a scale of less than a thousand people, it was obviously impossible to force it.

The snowflakes fluttered down, but it did not ease the tense atmosphere at all.

Soon, Li Rumei learned that the engineering battalion was blocked. Zu Chengxun was furious and asked Li Rumei to allow him to send troops to forcibly disperse the city defense army. He said that even if only cold weapon troops were sent, it would not be difficult to defeat the city defense army that had not been in battle for a long time. However, Li Rumei frowned and thought for a moment, and finally shook his head and ordered the troops to stay put, only strictly guarding the nine city gates to exert pressure on the capital.

He stretched out his hand to catch a snowflake, watching it melt into water droplets in his palm. "Order the troops at each city gate to stay where they are, and the musketeers and archers to take turns to rest. Ask the firemen to make the ginger soup thicker - I'm afraid the snow won't stop today."

"Deputy Commander, should we send someone to ask the old marshal..." Zu Chengxun couldn't help but ask.

Li Rumei suddenly turned around, stared into Zu Chengxun's eyes, and said coldly: "Your family has now become one of the military families. Have you ever heard of the saying: There is no father-son relationship in the army?"

Zu Chengxun did not dare to argue. His tone softened and he clasped his fists and said, "Since the deputy commander has given the order, I will obey it." Although he was born a servant of Li Chengliang, he had to admit at this moment that the little master of the past was now a general of the dynasty and no longer the child who chased him and called him "Uncle Zu".

Zu Chengxun lowered his eyes slightly and saw the sword on Li Rumei's waist. It was the Tang sword inlaid with oriental pearls that Yuanfu personally gave to Li Rumei when she married Miss Gao. It was said to be from the same batch as the seven "Seven Star Swords" named after seven stars in the Gao family of Xinzheng, and was only used as a gift to Yuanfu's most trusted people.
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PS: I have returned to the city from the countryside, and the updates will return to the usual level. Last year, several elders in my family aged, so this year was quite busy. Thank you readers for your understanding.

Thank you to book friend "Single Rider Zhao Bixin" for your support of 10 monthly tickets, thank you!

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