Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2408: Drastic Change (IX) Forced to Abdicate

With Li Rumei's "rebellion", the battlefield situation changed instantly after joining forces with Ma Gui and Zhang Wanbang. The three of them had a brief discussion and decided that the first priority was to defeat the four guards of Tengxiang and establish direct contact with Yuanfu. The rest of the matter would naturally be decided by Yuanfu.

This is actually very easy to understand. Although everyone knows that if it is simply based on "serving the king" or "clearing the court", the most important thing at this moment should of course be to go to the palace first and try to rescue the emperor, but... if the army is sent to the Forbidden City, and the threatened Zheng brothers and sisters suddenly have a brain injury and hurt the emperor, how should the responsibility be divided?

Therefore, it is really important to find a big man who can take the lead. As for who this big man is, what else can we say? Who else can it be but Gao Yuanfu?

Ma Gui looked at the streets of the capital covered with snow but filled with a solemn atmosphere. He waved his hand and ordered loudly: "Brothers, this suppression of the rebellion is related to the safety of the Ming Dynasty. Give your all!" His voice was loud and powerful, and it was heard far away in the cold wind, greatly boosting the morale of his soldiers.

Ma Gui led the way, his black warhorse neighing, its hooves flying, and charging at the Tengxiang Four Guards like black lightning. He had been through hundreds of battles, his eyes were filled with determination and resoluteness, and the saber in his hand gleamed coldly under the light of the snow. The Imperial Guards cavalry followed closely behind him, their neat hooves crushing the snow, and their shouts of killing were deafening.

Li Rumei led his troops to encircle the enemy from the left. He was agile and looked like a god of war on horseback. "Brothers, for the Ming Dynasty and for the emperor, follow me!" The Li family had the same characteristics since the time of Li Chengliang. His shouting undoubtedly ignited the blood of the soldiers recruited from Liaodong. The whole team was like a sharp blade, quickly penetrating into the flanks of the Tengxiang Four Guards.

Zhang Wanbang was not to be outdone, and led the Jizhen First Army to charge forward from the right alley. His eyes were as cold as usual, but now he had more drive to compete with the Imperial Guards, and he loudly encouraged the soldiers: "We Jizhen men have never been defeated since Qi Shaobao started training! Today, our comrades are the Imperial Guards, who are known as the best in the world. Are you willing to be outdone?"

The soldiers of the First Army of Jizhen shouted in unison: "No! No!"

Zhang Wanbang raised his chin and shouted in the same loud voice: "Since you are unwilling, then show your abilities and kill all the Tengxiang Four Guards without leaving a single piece of armor!" The soldiers fought bravely and shouted slogans, forming a three-sided siege of the Tengxiang Four Guards together with the two imperial guards led by Ma Gui and Li Rumei.

The Tengxiang Four Guards had already been injured in the previous attack on the Jingguo Mansion, and their morale plummeted. Now facing the pincer attack of three top-level Ming Dynasty troops, they were instantly thrown into disarray. Even though the enemy had abandoned all firearms and only used sabers and bayonets for the sake of street fighting, the momentum of the elite troops who had fought hundreds of battles alone frightened the Tengxiang Four Guards who had no actual combat experience. The soldiers of the Tengxiang Four Guards looked at the enemy troops rushing in like a tide in horror, and they were a little unsteady in holding their weapons.

"Hold on, hold on!" Li Wenjin shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to steady the troops. But as a eunuch, his voice, which lacked any masculinity, seemed so weak amid the shouting and killing, like a candle in the wind. What effect could it have? He rode back and forth in the ranks, waving his whip in vain, whipping those soldiers who wanted to retreat.

However, it was all in vain. Ma Gui's imperial guards cavalry rushed into the formation of the Tengxiang Four Guards like a tiger descending from the mountain. The glare of their sabers flashed as they charged, and soldiers of the Tengxiang Four Guards kept falling down.

Li Rumei's troops also launched a fierce attack on the flank. Even though the alley was not wide enough for a large troop to maneuver, after several rounds of bayonet charges, the defense line of the Tengxiang Four Guards was still torn open bit by bit.

Zhang Wanbang's Jizhen First Army was equally brave. He was known for his bayonet formation defense. Today, he let the world know that his bayonet formation was not only invincible in defense, but also in offense! The Jizhen First Army engaged the enemy in close combat, with shouts and screams intertwined, and they actually broke through faster than Li Rumei's troops.

After just one encounter, the battle situation was so unfavorable that the soldiers of the four guards of Tengxiang began to collapse and flee in all directions. Li Wenjin was shocked and angry when he saw the bad situation. In just one day, he already knew that leading troops was not something that an amateur like him could do. At this moment, he finally had some self-knowledge and knew that he was powerless to save the situation. Looking at the fewer and fewer soldiers around him, Li Wenjin gritted his teeth and fled in a panic towards the Di'an Gate of the Imperial Palace in the south with the remaining soldiers.

Along the way, he kept cursing, feeling unwilling. Especially when he passed the alley in front of the Jingguo Mansion, he was killed or injured by the firepower net on the wall of the mansion, and even his own mount was killed, which almost broke his old bones. He was so angry that he cursed: "Gao Youshi, you bastard, you will be in trouble..." He didn't even finish the last word of the curse before he was carried by his confidant and fled for his life.

At this time, Gao Youshi was standing on the Rixin Building of the Jingguo Mansion, observing the situation with a telescope. Seeing that Ma Gui and his men had easily gained the upper hand, he nodded slightly, with a hint of relief in his eyes. Then, he quickly made arrangements and sent someone to tell Ma Gui: "Li Wenjin has entered the palace. The three of you can lead your troops to surround the palace. Do not let the Zheng brothers and sisters and Li Wenjin have any chance to escape!"

Ma Gui and the others were waiting for Gao Youshi to say this!

If it weren't for the order from the Prime Minister, asking them to take the initiative to surround the palace, they would have been a little scared - that's the palace. If the wind blows in the wrong direction, ordering the siege of the palace would be considered a serious crime of treason! As for now, if the sky falls, there's someone tall to hold it up, so what's there to be afraid of? Surround me!

After receiving the order, Ma Gui immediately adjusted his tactics. He left a small number of troops to clean up the battlefield, and he himself sat outside the gate of the Jingguo Mansion, ordered to contact the Jingbei Camp outside the city, informed Ma Dong to persuade Li Ruzhang's Longjiang Second Army to surrender or control it, and then immediately enter the city; ordered Zhang Wanbang's Jizhen First Army, which had the most complete military equipment, to directly break through the Di'an Gate of the Imperial City and approach the palace; and ordered Li Rumei's troops to block the other three gates of the Imperial City - Xi'an Gate, Dong'an Gate and Chengtian Gate.

The attack on Di'an Gate was much smoother than Ma Gui had expected. Perhaps Li Wenjin's hasty escape frightened the Jing troops guarding Di'an Gate. They were so frightened by the murderous threat of the Jizhen First Army behind them that they had no intention of fighting and actually fled with the remnants of Li Wenjin. The Jizhen First Army said that it was an attack, but it was better to say that it was an entry - there was no organized resistance at all, only a few slow-running fools were easily disarmed, and no one on both sides was injured or killed.

Ma Dong's troops outside the city also quickly received good news: Li Ruzhang's troops were just making a feint, and the few people he had were not here to fight. They had primitive weapons and no armor, and they were originally planning to ask the court for the flag after the court awarded them. Therefore, he only coerced the two generals and deputy generals, saying that he was taking the troops out for "training".

In order to mobilize Ma Dong to pursue, he thought he was smart and chose to move towards Gao Fusi's Jianxinzhai Villa. This really made Ma Dong very nervous, and he immediately led his troops to chase. But what Li Ruzhang didn't expect was that Gao Fusi had made preparations in Jianxinzhai - Gao Wu was listening to his scouts report that the Longjiang Second Army suddenly rushed towards Jianxinzhai, and he was immediately furious!

Gao Wuzheng was one of Gao Youshi's confidential secretaries, so he knew exactly what the Longjiang Second Army was like. How dare this newly formed ragtag army, whose number was similar to that of his own retainers, dare to provoke Jian Xinzhai?

Although several of his retainers and generals told him that Commander Ma Dong of the Jingbei Camp would definitely send troops to pursue, and that our army only needed to hold the outposts outside Jianxinzhai, Gao Wuzheng did not agree.

Gao Wuzheng was actually holding his breath. Why was it that the rest of his brothers were making great achievements in Nanjiang and Nanyang, and even many of his nephews had already made a career, but he was still a hanger-on beside his brother? Was it really that I, Gao Wuzheng, had no ability at all? People are more likely to be red if they are close to him. I have been with my brother for so many years. I have seen pigs run even if I have not eaten pork. How could I not handle such a small matter?

It seems that he has learned something. First, he analyzed Li Ruzhang's thoughts and determined that Li Ruzhang would not really think that he could capture Jianxinzhai (Jianxinzhai has armed servants stationed all year round and has complete fortifications, which Li Ruzhang knew), so he was probably just trying to intimidate and mobilize Ma Dong to chase.

So he judged that Li Ruzhang must be coming with a light force and advancing quickly, trying to prevent Ma Dong from catching up for a while, and even if he heard that Ma Dong was approaching, he would immediately turn to another place and continue to fight.

Therefore, Gao Wuzheng came to the conclusion that he could not passively defend, but had to take the initiative to attack and catch Li Ruzhang by surprise. Gao Wuzheng calculated the time and found that he still had time to set up a simple ambush, so he immediately set up an ambush at West Lake. (Note: This West Lake is not the same as the other West Lake. The artificial lakes and semi-artificial lakes in the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan during the Qing Dynasty were dug and built on this basis. At that time, it was also called "Qilibo" and "Dabo Lake". In this book, this place is located between Jianxinzhai and Jingbei Daying, slightly to the side of Jianxinzhai.)

Gao Wuzheng's move was indeed beyond Li Ruzhang's expectation, and he was ambushed by Gao Wuzheng in West Lake. The armed servants that Gao Wuzheng left in Jianxinzhai for training were all elite soldiers in Beijing. Except that they did not wear heavy armor, were not equipped with powerful crossbows, and did not raise flags (which was not allowed by Ming law), their weapons were exactly the same as those of the Southern Xinjiang Garrison Army. Although many of Li Ruzhang's soldiers were the famous Sauron elite soldiers in the future, they had neither training nor equipment at the moment, so how could they cope? When Ma Dong arrived, he had already been surrounded and beaten for a while...

Seeing that the situation was not good, Ma Dong quickly advised Gao Wuzheng to withdraw his troops, saying that although the Longjiang Second Army had left the camp without permission, the court had not yet made a determination, so it was not easy to deal with them casually - the implication was that your men were just servants of the prime minister, and you could not just wipe out the court's regular army!

Gao Wuzheng had already let out his anger at this point. After hearing what Ma Dong said, he was happy to give face to this veteran general under his brother's command. He patted the latter's shoulder with a smile and said generously: "General Ma is right. I am just cooperating with General Ma to control the situation. How dare I interfere? General Ma, you will handle the rest."

Ma Dong heaved a sigh of relief, exchanged polite words with Gao Wuzheng, and led the army to escort the Longjiang Second Army back to the Jingbei camp without mentioning anything. However, Ma Dong was indeed a cautious person. At this point, he did not do anything to Li Ruzhang, and even did not refute Li Ruzhang's statement of "temporary training", but only said that he would wait for the court to decide - this caution would soon save Gao Youshi a lot of trouble.

In short, when Ma Gui wanted to transfer Ma Dong to the city, Ma Dong could already dispatch an infantry corps and an artillery battalion to help. Since his troops had already received weapons, this force of almost half a town might actually be more powerful than Li Rumei's troops now. Ma Gui's main force had not yet arrived in the capital, and he still only had less than 5,000 cavalry, so the part of the force supported by Ma Dong was directly incorporated into Ma Gui's command.

At the same time, Gao Fusi, who had been ill for several days, also came to the outside of the palace with Gao Qi, Fei Yingdong and other trusted servants (Gao Mo was old and stayed at the Jingguo Mansion). At this time, Gao Yuanfu did not look sick at all. He was rarely seen wearing full armor, with a goose feather sword on his waist, and stood majestically in front of the team.

Following behind him were several generals including Ma Gui, Li Rumei, Zhang Wanbang, and Ma Dong. Looking at the tightly closed palace gate, Gao Youshi's eyes were stern, and he shouted an order: "Shout to the palace!"

A soldier with a loud voice stood up, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly with a large wooden trumpet: "Listen carefully, traitors! You have been surrounded by the Imperial Guards and Jizhen's 100,000 troops, and you can't escape even if you have wings! If you immediately invite the emperor and the queen mother to leave the palace, tie yourself up and come out, confess your crimes, and wait for investigation, you may be given a lighter sentence. If you don't repent and resist stubbornly, you will die without a burial place! If there is no response within an hour, the anti-rebel army will attack the city, and then all nine clans will be wiped out, and there will be no mercy!"

The soldier shouted several times, and his voice echoed in the silent air and reached the ears of every Jingjun defender in Xuanwu Gate.

Soon, the atmosphere in Yikun Palace was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe. Concubine Zheng looked pale, her eyes were wandering, and she paced around in panic. Zheng Guotai and Li Wenjin were anxious and desperate, walking back and forth in front of her, shouting non-stop.

"Sister, Gao Youshi has led his army to force us into a desperate situation. If we don't hold the emperor hostage to issue an edict in person, we will all die!" Beads of sweat rolled down Zheng Guotai's forehead, and his voice became sharp because of anxiety.

Li Wenjin also echoed, with a hint of ruthlessness in his tone: "Your Majesty, at this point, you can no longer hesitate. Only by holding the emperor hostage can we have a chance of survival. Otherwise, if we fall into Gao Youshi's hands, none of us will survive!"

Concubine Zheng bit her lip, struggling painfully in her heart. She knew what the two said was true, but she couldn't bear to hurt the emperor. However, at this moment, the army in the palace was in their hands, and she didn't dare to refuse directly. She could only pretend to be calm and said, "Brother, Li Hujun, this matter is too serious, and let me think about it... You go out first, let me be quiet."

"What time is it now..." Li Wenjin said angrily.

"Get out!" Concubine Zheng also said angrily: "One hour, I only need one stick of incense to think it through and make a decision!"

Li Wenjin was furious and was about to speak, but Zheng Guotai stopped him. Li Wenjin and Zheng Guotai looked at each other, and Zheng Guotai whispered, "If the imperial concubine hadn't persuaded us, even if we woke up the emperor, I'm afraid you and I wouldn't be able to persuade him."

Li Wenjin was suddenly speechless. Although there was reluctance in his eyes, he did not dare to disobey Concubine Zheng's wishes and could only retreat temporarily.

As soon as they left, Concubine Zheng immediately ran to the emperor, took out the antidote from her bosom, and hurriedly fed it to Zhu Yijun. While feeding, she cried softly: "Your Majesty, please wake up, I was wrong, this time I really got into big trouble..." Tears dripped onto the emperor's face and mixed with the antidote.

After a while, Zhu Yijun slowly opened his eyes, with a trace of confusion in his eyes. He looked at Concubine Zheng, whose face was covered with tears, and asked weakly: "My beloved, what happened? Why am I so weak? I feel like I have been sleeping for a long time..."

Concubine Zheng threw herself into the emperor's arms, burst into tears, and told him the whole story. The emperor was shocked, angry and disappointed with Concubine Zheng's behavior. But when he regained his consciousness, he knew that this was not the time to pursue responsibility.

The emperor took a deep breath, forced himself to sit up, and reviewed the current situation in his mind. His eyes gradually became firm: "My beloved concubine, things have come to this point. I will find a way to solve it. It's just... you are confused, how can you get involved in such a thing!"

Concubine Zheng was filled with guilt and kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong..."

The emperor helped Concubine Zheng up, sighed and consoled her, "Let's not talk about this for now. The most urgent task is to stabilize the situation." After that, he straightened his clothes, stood up with difficulty, and walked out of the Yikun Palace with Concubine Zheng.

Zheng Guotai and Li Wenjin were waiting outside anxiously. When they saw the emperor suddenly appear, they were both startled and subconsciously took a step back. The generals behind them also showed surprised expressions. For a moment, everyone was a little at a loss.

The emperor glanced at everyone, his expression calm, and his tone steady as he said: "Don't panic, my friends. This is all a misunderstanding. I know you are all thinking about me and the court, but your methods are a little inappropriate, but it doesn't matter. Now Gao Youshi has misunderstood my meaning, so he brought his troops here. This is easy to do. I will come out and persuade him to withdraw his troops. Don't act rashly to avoid casualties."

Li Wenjin and Zheng Guotai were full of doubts and wanted to oppose, but the majesty of the wise leader of the restoration made them dare not act rashly. Li Wenjin cautiously said: "Your Majesty, Gao Youshi is now at the gates of the city, I am afraid he will not give up easily..."

Zhu Yijun seemed to be unaware of the role he played in this incident. Instead, he smiled and said confidently, "Don't worry, uncle. Gao Youshi and I have been king and minister for many years, and he has always been loyal to me. As long as I come forward to explain, he will definitely withdraw his troops. You wait here for news, and don't do anything impulsive."

Li Wenjin immediately objected, but said it more tactfully: "Your Majesty, let me and Uncle Zheng go with you."

Zhu Yijun's pupils shrank. He glanced at Li Wenjin, then at Zheng Guotai. Suddenly, he pointed behind them and said, "You guys, each lead a hundred people and follow me to Xuanwu Gate. The rest of you, stay here to protect the Imperial Concubine and the two uncles-in-law." (Note: Generally speaking, the brothers of the Queen and the Queen Mother are called uncles-in-law. Because the Imperial Concubine is also noble enough, Zheng Guotai is also called uncle-in-law.)

When Zhu Yijun said this, Li Wenjin and Zheng Guotai were shocked and turned around to look behind them. This look was so terrible that it was almost like their souls flew away. The generals who were pointed out by the emperor knelt down without saying a word and turned around to count the troops without even looking at the two of them. Needless to say, the rest of the people dispersed one after another, pretending to strictly guard the Yikun Palace under the order.

It's over, it's all over... The two looked at each other in despair, knowing that everything was no longer under their control.

Emperor, oh emperor, you are worthy of being the ruler of the country, worthy of being the ruler of the revival of the country for thirty years! When he was unconscious, they could act recklessly under the banner of the emperor, but once the emperor appeared alive in front of people, with just one word, all their conspiracies and tricks were like mist under the scorching sun, disappearing in an instant. No one would listen to their orders, and they would only respect the imperial edict!

Zhu Yijun himself breathed a sigh of relief, and shook his head slightly, feeling emotional: With your limited ability, you can't even fully control the most trusted generals, how dare you play this in front of Ri Xin? Is it really all because of my beloved concubine that I can gain your trust and let you control me while I am unconscious? It's really ridiculous, but you don't know that after I am unconscious, Ri Xin can do whatever he wants... You are so stupid!

He glanced at Concubine Zheng and whispered, "Be good to me, I will never let you down." Concubine Zheng's nose felt sore and she cried, "Your Majesty..."
-

PS: A few days ago, my family of three was infected with the Norovirus, from the child to the mother, and then to me... Fortunately, I was half dead yesterday, but I recovered today and am full of energy! So I will update more today, 5k7, to celebrate my recovery and to celebrate Gao Youshi's recovery.

Thanks to book friend "Myzen0915" for the monthly ticket support, thank you!