The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 580 Abandoning Liaoxi
dong dong dong...

The sound of drums broke the silence at three o'clock in the morning. Qiao Ping'er jumped up and listened carefully. She heard another drum sound. After three drum sounds, there were three powerful bell sounds. This was the signal for the emperor to summon his ministers to court.

Ping'er did not dare to delay, so she got out of bed quickly, lit the lamp, put on her outer clothes, slipped on her shoes, and hurried to the door of Jia Huan's room. She had been feeling unwell these two days, so Mandalin served Jia Huan in the room at night, while she slept in the next room.

But Mandalin was lazy and sleepy, and often delayed getting up to go to court, so Ping'er was worried and was very alert when she went to bed at night. At this time, she rushed to the front room and found that it was still dark inside.
"This lazy guy has overslept again." Ping'er shook her head helplessly, pushed the door and walked into the room. Finding the small couch in the outer room was empty, she went straight into the inner room and lit the lamp.

Sure enough, Mandarin poked her head out from under the quilt on the bed, her golden hair loose, yawned sleepily, and asked lazily, "Sister Ping'er, is it dawn?"

Ping Er was angry and helpless, and said angrily: "The three drums have been beaten, and the Third Master will be delayed in going to court. How can you, a lazy guy, take night duty? You really make me die of anger."

Mandarin was startled and quickly got out of the bed, her chest shaking. It turned out that she was only wearing a bellyband and tight shorts. Her strong and slender legs were completely exposed to the air. Her fair skin was dazzling, and her curvaceous pear-shaped figure was so curvaceous that even women would be moved at the sight.

"Third Master, get up quickly and go to court." Ping'er woke Jia Huan up and quickly dressed him.

Jia Huan snorted, took out his pocket watch from under his pillow, took a look at it, and said, "It's still early, I should sleep a little longer." Then he fell back asleep.

Ping Erh said anxiously, "Good ancestor, the three drums and the morning bell have already been rung, hurry up and wash up and go out, and accept the punishment carefully."

Jia Huan was startled and quickly got up to change his clothes and wash himself. He asked in surprise, "That's strange. Why is the bell ringing so early today?"

The morning court of the Jin Dynasty was usually held around five in the morning, and would be slightly postponed to six in winter, so the ministers had to get up at three or four o'clock to prepare for the court. They had to wait in front of the palace gate before the court bell rang. Once the court bell rang, the palace gate opened, and the civil and military ministers filed in and quickly rushed to the Fengtian Gate.

Today's court bell obviously rang early, at a quarter past three, which was the time for ministers to get up, wash and prepare. Therefore, Jia Huan guessed that something big was happening, so Emperor Qiansheng summoned the court in advance.

Jia Huan naturally did not dare to delay. He washed and dressed as quickly as possible, changed into court clothes and hurried out. Fortunately, he was young and energetic, otherwise he would have been tormented by Mandarin for half the night last night and would probably not be able to get up now.

Jia Huan hurried to the palace gate and found that many court officials had also hurried there at this time. Some of them even wore their official hats crookedly or wore the wrong boots on their feet. They looked very embarrassed and were obviously caught off guard by the early ringing of the court bell.

At this time, the palace gate had already been opened. Jia Huan hurriedly followed the crowd and walked forward. He met Sun Chengzong on the way and greeted him hurriedly.

Sun Chengzong had a serious expression on his face, he just nodded slightly, then quickened his pace and walked forward. Jia Huan frowned secretly, thinking, could something have happened in Liaodong again?

It is said that the crown prince Xu Wenhong personally went to Diecui Academy to ask Sun Chengzong and the old headmaster Ye Gao to come out of seclusion, but was rejected. Sun Chengzong even pointed at his nose and scolded him. Xu Wenhong was furious and put Ye Gao and Sun Chengzong in prison, and set fire to Diecui Academy.

After Emperor Qiansheng successfully suppressed the rebellion, he released Ye Gao and Sun Chengzong and gave them official titles. Ye Gao was a veteran of four dynasties, highly respected, and did not surrender to the emperor, so Emperor Qiansheng admired him very much and invited him to join the cabinet as the chief minister. Ye Gao declined three times on the grounds of being too old, but could not bear Emperor Qiansheng's strong invitation and agreed the fourth time, serving as the chief minister of the cabinet at the age of eighty.

As for Sun Zongcheng, he was originally the Junior Chancellor of the Chancellery, with a rank of fourth grade. This time he returned to the court and was directly promoted to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and concurrently a Hanlin Scholar.

After this coup, Emperor Qiansheng became obviously more cautious and suspicious. He probably felt that the Donglin faction headed by Zhao Mingcheng was too powerful, so he pulled out Ye Gao and Sun Chengzong to check and balance the Donglin faction.

Therefore, in the court today, a practical faction headed by Diecui Academy is slowly forming. Its representatives are Ye Gao, Sun Chengzong, Jia Huan, Liu Qing and Liu Yi father and son, also known as the Diecui faction.

Of course, at present, the strength of the Diecui faction is still far inferior to that of the Donglin faction. The Donglin faction has a large number of people and almost controls the six ministries and various departments, so the Donglin faction does not take the Diecui faction seriously, but is just a little vigilant. In addition, Ye Gao has been very low-key since he became the chief minister of the cabinet, and has not opposed the Donglin faction, so the two factions are still getting along very harmoniously.

Let's get back to the topic. Jia Huan rushed to the Fengtian Gate and stood in the line of ministers from the Ministry of War. Standing at the front was the Minister of War Zhang Heming.

The queue of ministers of the Ministry of Works was located on the right side of the Ministry of War, so Jia Huan stood almost shoulder to shoulder with Old Man Zheng. The father and son looked at each other, and then turned their heads away with disgust.

After a moment, Ye Gao, the chief minister of the cabinet who was over 80 years old, also arrived. He had a head full of white hair but looked energetic, which made people envious. Even Jia Huan wanted to ask Mr. Ye about his health-preserving methods.

At this time, the bells and drums on the drum tower on the left side of Fengtian Gate rang again. Soon, Emperor Qiansheng's imperial carriage arrived and he took the throne on the steps in front of Fengtian Gate.

After all the officials bowed, Emperor Qiansheng announced a shocking news with a sullen look - Liaodong was defeated and Jinzhou fell. Wang Huazhen, the then Liaodong governor, was greedy for merit and reckless. He sneaked out of the city at night to attack the enemy and tried to recapture Guangning City. As a result, he suffered a great defeat and abandoned his army and fled back to Ningyuan City, so that the King of Dai and the King of Qing were besieged in Jinzhou. Finally, Jinzhou fell, the King of Dai died in battle, the King of Qing was captured by the Jurchens, and the 100,000-strong army in Jinzhou collapsed.

When the news was announced, all the officials present were stunned, and they all had an ominous premonition and were terrified.

The country has just experienced a catastrophe of civil strife and has been severely damaged. Now Liaodong has suffered another defeat. Among the only three remaining princes, one is dead and one is captured. This is the rhythm of the demise of the Jin Dynasty.

Even worse, the Liaodong governor Xiong Tingbai believed that with the fall of Jinzhou, the Jurchens would pursue the victory and their offensive would be unstoppable. Ningyuan City would certainly not be able to be defended, so he withdrew the remaining 100,000 troops back to Shanhaiguan, and relocated hundreds of thousands of people from western Liaodong into the pass, implementing the policy of scorching the walls and clearing the fields.

Tsk tsk, Xiong Tingbai's move is undoubtedly equivalent to completely giving up all the territories in western Liaoning. The defense line that had been built over the years at a cost of several million taels was thrown away like a worn-out shoe. It was truly astonishing and breathtaking. No wonder Emperor Qiansheng, sitting on the throne, had such a gloomy face at this moment.

It was all over now. Liaodong was gone, and Liaoxi was gone too. The defense line that the 200,000-strong army had painstakingly built up collapsed in an instant. The Jurchen cavalry could march directly south to Shanhaiguan in a few days and threaten the capital of the Jin Dynasty.

In this case, there is undoubtedly a sword hanging over one's head. How can Emperor Qiansheng, the emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty, sit on the throne peacefully?
Not to mention Emperor Qiansheng, even the ministers standing outside the Fengtian Gate were trembling with fear and unable to sleep or eat. Once the Jiannu cavalry broke through the pass, the Jin Dynasty would be doomed. Should they abandon the city and flee back to Nanjing to rule over the Jiannu?

(End of this chapter)