After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 23: Siege (Part 2)

"Master, you'd better go down."

A family general advised: "The Qian King's army's cannons are far more powerful than ours. They can hit every part of the city wall and are incredibly accurate. We must be on guard!"

Wang Ziteng moved his lips, remembering King Qian's advice to him, but in the end he said nothing and went down the city wall.

Several generals guarding the city were already waiting for him. They had not dared to climb the wall just now, but when they saw Wang Ziteng coming down, they all surrounded him.

They didn't say anything, just looked at him.

Wang Ziteng knew very well that they all advocated surrendering to King Qian. The loyal generals who wanted to fight to the death with King Qian were already commanding at various places on the city wall. Wang Ziteng and the Grand Council had made arrangements yesterday.

These people in front of him are here to persuade him.

He frowned and thought for a long time.

"That's all."

Wang Ziteng thought about the appearance of King Qian that he saw when he went to negotiate peace the day before. Perhaps this country should be ruled by a man of extraordinary bearing like him.

When he sighed, several generals defending the city looked up at him in surprise.

Wang Ziteng said, "Send someone to the palace to report... Prince Qian's army's artillery is far superior to ours, and many of the soldiers are afraid of fighting."

Saying these words before the war was tantamount to shaking the morale of the army. It was reasonable for the court to send a military supervisor to execute Wang Ziteng. He had no choice but to plead guilty.

But if he, the governor of the capital, was executed, the morale of the army would be further demoralized. In Wang Ziteng's opinion, the court would most likely dismiss him and hold him accountable later.

If the Dashun Dynasty still existed at that time.

"We share the honor and disgrace with you, my Lord!"

Several generals bowed and saluted to show their determination. When Wang Ziteng nodded, they hurriedly sent people to the palace to report.

They didn't care whether the court surrendered or fought.

……

The messenger Song Wei rode his horse galloping on the deserted roads in the city, and came straight to the Wulong Bridge outside Chengtian Gate of the imperial palace. He dismounted, and without caring about the horse, he hurriedly ran past the right side of the Wulong Bridge and came all the way to Chengtian Gate.

He held the letter in one hand and the token in the other and walked straight into Chengtian Gate.

He had originally thought that the guards at the gate would not stop him, but unexpectedly, more than ten guards surrounded him at the door. Song Wei hurriedly shouted, "Jiedushi Wang has sent me to report the news to the emperor and the Grand Council!"

The imperial guards laughed and said, "We're not trying to stop you. We're just asking what's going on outside. Tell us, at least. Has Prince Qian attacked the city?"

"Not yet. A round of cannon fire hit the corner tower and killed several soldiers."

"what?!"

"A fight really broke out?!"

These imperial guards had never fought in a war, and when they heard that people had died before the battle even started, their faces changed for a moment.

Song Wei didn't care about them and rushed into the palace. He entered from the Duanmen Gate and went all the way to the Military Affairs Council outside the Linjing Hall. He took a breath and rested for a while. After the eunuch went in to report and came out to call him in, Song Wei went in with the letter.

Emperor Yongning and several elders of the Grand Council were inside. When they saw him, their faces turned ugly.

"Your Majesty, please look."

Liu Ju, the eunuch in charge of the Qianqing Palace, delivered the letter to Emperor Yongning.

"Damn it, you bastard!"

After reading just a few words in the letter, the emperor flew into a rage. He slammed the letter on the table, his face flushed red. "Pass on my oral order. Go to the East Gate and arrest the Jiedushi Wang Ziteng and put him in jail!"

"His Majesty!"

Zhuang Jin and others hurriedly stood up to stop him, saying that Wang Ziteng had been the governor of the capital for more than ten years, and a rash change of generals would only lead to defeat on the front line.

Zhuang Jin advised, "Your Majesty, why not send someone to supervise the army and order Wang Ziteng to assist and let him take command."

Emperor Yongning suppressed his anger and asked, "Who can be sent to supervise the army so that those people will obey orders?"

"The Shi family is related to the Wang family by marriage, and Baoling Hou Shi Nai's loyalty is evident, so he can be sent." "As you wish, go and convey the order immediately!"

The Grand Council quickly drafted the decree, stamped it, and sent someone to deliver it immediately.

Half an hour later, when Shi Nai arrived at the East Gate, there was a roar of cannons inside and outside the city.

Without bothering to talk much with the somewhat embarrassed Wang Ziteng, Shi Nai went up to the arrow tower at the city gate and looked out of the window. He saw the enemy army filling the moat in an orderly manner on the other side of the moat.

Seven or eight huge shield carts covered the front end of wooden carts with iron sheets to block attacks such as crossbows and artillery shells shot down from the city walls, protecting thousands of civilians carrying loads and dumping piles of soil into the moat.

Once a large number of soldiers on the city wall went up to shoot arrows, the cannons in the enemy camp several miles away would launch a volley of fire, and the small cannons behind the shield carts and battering rams would also launch a volley of fire. The dense firepower would make the soldiers defending the city almost dare not show their heads!

"How should we fight this battle?" A general at the city gate was a little confused.

The rebel army claimed to have an army of 200,000, but it was probably that they had 150,000 available. They could take turns to go to the battlefield and attack the city. There were also hundreds of thousands of logistics troops who continuously transported food from various provinces in Jiangnan and Nanjing, and drove tens of thousands of civilians from all over the capital to make siege equipment for King Qian's army and fill ditches and rivers.

With so many people, they could build a wall as high as the city wall, and then the enemy army could directly bombard them from above!

"We have to fight even if we can't!"

Shi Nai grabbed Wang Ziteng's shoulders, stared at him, and said in a deep voice: "Brother Shi, the safety of the world rests on your shoulders!"

Wang Ziteng had no choice but to smile bitterly and arrange people to go to various places to guard the city.

When his generals saw this, they looked at each other.

"What can we do now?"

"What else can we do? I wonder how many people in the city are willing to surrender."

"Yes, there is a way!"

"any solution?"

"Prince Zhongshun!"

"Yes, yes, hurry up, Song Wei, go to Prince Zhongshun's mansion again and tell him that if he doesn't surrender, there will be no chance!"

People have died on both sides. According to what Prince Qian said, all the princes and dukes will pay with their lives, but as long as the imperial city is not breached, there is still a chance for negotiation!
The messenger Song Wei mounted his horse again and galloped towards Prince Zhongshun's mansion.

Upon hearing the news, Prince Zhongshun sat in his chair in a daze. After a long while, he burst into a violent curse, "It's not my turn to sit on the throne. When the rebels come, I will be beheaded along with them. I asked you to surrender, but you refused. Now that thief king has killed hundreds of his men, and all members of the royal family are going to be wiped out!"

Song Wei listened for a while before advising, "Our Lord said that Your Highness should think of a solution quickly. While the Qianwang army hasn't broken into the city in the past two days, there's still a chance for negotiation."

"Chance? What chance?!"

"My Lord said that as long as the imperial court is willing to surrender, everything else can be discussed. We just need to persuade the elders of the Grand Council..."

He didn't dare mention the emperor.

But Prince Zhongshun dared, and he cursed again: "My mean and ungrateful brother will never surrender. He has been emperor for ten years and sees that my father is about to die... That's right!"

He stood up suddenly, his eyes shining: "I know who I'm looking for. Quick, prepare the horses, I want to go to the palace to see the emperor!"

"and many more!"

Prince Zhongshun stopped the servant who was about to leave and ordered, "Go call Prince Wu, Prince Yi and the others, and tell them to come with me to the palace to ask to see the emperor!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The servant hurried away.

Half an hour later, the princes arrived at the Wanxian Pavilion and found the door open and the eunuchs nowhere to be seen.

The princes hurried in, only to find the Seventeenth Princess Qinghe, Empress Zhang, and a group of young princes all in the smoky hall, all looking towards a place not far away.

Prince Zhongshun saw his father slumped over a smoking alchemy furnace, his hair disheveled, looking idiotic. He kept muttering, "How could he have failed? He clearly took the elixir on an auspicious day... Why hasn't he left this mortal world yet?"

"Father Emperor!!"

Prince Zhongshun didn't care about anything else and quickly shouted, "The enemy army has broken through. Hurry up and issue an order to let my brother surrender!"

(End of this chapter)