Jingtai: Making the Ming Dynasty Great Again

With bloodshot eyes, Ma Ang roared, "Charge! Anyone who gets in will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver!"

The guards behind him looked at each other, and finally one of them couldn't resist rushing forward.

Fan Guang stood guard behind the door, slashing down three of the men who were charging at the front, one by one.

The two sides clashed fiercely at the entrance of the government office, with the sounds of swords clashing, screams, and shouts of battle filling the air.

Meanwhile, outside the city...

Wang Qi stood on a hillside, his brow furrowed as he gazed in the direction of Ganzhou City.

He led his troops day and night, and only arrived outside Ganzhou City tonight.

They planned to rest for one night and then go into the city to meet up with Wu Ning and the others at dawn.

I woke him up on night patrol just now, and he said he saw fireworks signals.

Those were signal flares specially made by the Eastern Depot.

In Ganzhou, only Cheng Jing knew how to use it.

This indicates that the Eastern Depot and local forces have engaged in a direct confrontation.

Wang Qi immediately ordered the entire army to set off at full speed towards Ganzhou City.

When they were still six miles from Ganzhou City, Wang Qi suddenly heard a series of chaotic footsteps coming from afar.

A group of torches could be seen moving toward them from the northwest.

Under the torches were dark, dense figures, numbering at least a thousand!

Wang Qi felt a chill run down his spine and immediately understood.

Those are garrison soldiers stationed outside the city!

Ganzhou City had five garrisons, all of which were stationed outside the city.

The total strength is no less than 10,000.

Although most of them would not obey Ren Li's private orders to transfer them.

But as long as someone has Ren Li's token, they can mobilize at least a thousand people.

At this moment, the only person who can mobilize these people is Ren Li's son, Ren Jie!

Wang Qi guessed correctly.

That group of people was led by Ren Jie.

He was drinking at that brothel tonight.

Suddenly someone came to report that something had happened at the General's Mansion.

His father was tricked into working at the governor's office by Wu Ning.

Ren Jie, feeling intoxicated, wanted to take his men to the governor's office without saying a word.

The messenger then said that in order to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, Ren Jie should go outside the city to summon guards to enter the city.

Ren Jie didn't think too much about it and immediately took Ren Li's token and left the city.

Subsequently, the three nearest thousand-household stations were transferred in.

At this moment, he was leading over a thousand men, rushing towards the city gate.

Wang Qi made a decisive decision: "Stop them!"

Five hundred elite soldiers immediately formed ranks and blocked the path of the advancing troops.

Ren Jie was taken aback when he saw an army suddenly appear in the distance, then flew into a rage: "Who goes there? How dare you block my way!"

Wang Qi rode forward and said, "I am Wang Qi, Commander of the Left Guard of the Golden Guard, and I have been ordered to deliver grain to Ganzhou."

"You have mobilized troops in the dead of night; has this been verified by the Ministry of War?"

Ren Jie was stunned.

Ministry of War reconnaissance?

Where did he get the tally?

He mobilized the troops using his father's token.

However, the token can only be used to mobilize personal guards, not garrison troops.

He knew about this, of course, but he couldn't care less about that at the moment.

Ren Jie gritted his teeth and said sternly, "My father has been imprisoned by villains, and I'm here to rescue him!"

"If you know what's good for you, get out of the way right now, or don't blame me for being impolite!"

Wang Qi looked at him coldly: "Mobilizing troops without authorization from the Ministry of War is punishable by death according to the law!"

Ren Jie's eyes reddened: "Pour it on!"

The garrison soldiers behind him looked at each other, unsure whether to make a move.

They were all temporarily transferred here.

All I know is that someone is carrying the general's token.

But the specifics of what happened are completely unclear.

At that moment, an army suddenly appeared on the opposite side.

They were told they had come by imperial decree, and they immediately hesitated.

Seeing this, Wang Qi raised his voice and ordered, "Soldiers of the Capital Garrison, listen to my command! Anyone who dares to charge into the enemy lines will be killed without mercy!"

A thousand elite soldiers shouted in unison, their voices echoing across the land.

The garrison soldiers hesitated even more.

Someone muttered under their breath, "People from the Beijing Garrison...were they sent by the imperial court?"

Ren Jie panicked and turned around, yelling, "What are you all standing there for? My dad's a general! I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong!"

But as soon as he finished speaking, he saw the opposing army suddenly split into two groups.

One team stayed in place, while the other team quickly circled around to their side and rear.

That's to surround them!

Ren Jie's face darkened; these Beijing garrison soldiers were too arrogant.

Meanwhile, the fighting within the city continued.

Although there are more people on Fan Guang's side, this place is only so big.

However, as the number of injured on both sides increased, the advantage of having more people gradually became apparent.

After fighting for a while longer, Ma'ang's men suffered heavy casualties and retreated.

Fan Guang was also stabbed twice, but they were only superficial wounds and nothing serious.

Ma Ang stood in the middle of the street, looking at the guards across the street.

He looked back at his own men, most of whom had been killed or wounded, his eyes filled with resentment.

Just then, a man covered in blood rushed up to him and said in a trembling voice, "Sir, something terrible has happened!"

News came from outside the city that General Ren's troops were stopped by a Beijing garrison when they entered the city!

That army, they said, came under orders, and numbered no less than a thousand!

Ma Ang was struck dumb, frozen in place.

Jingying? A thousand people?

When did they arrive?

Why haven't we heard a single word about it?

Before the visitor could finish speaking, he said, "Sir, the city gates have also been taken over by Deputy Han... Han Cheng..."

Ma Ang's legs buckled, and he almost fell to the ground.

He knew it was over.

It's all over.

Han Cheng's original task was to keep an eye on Ma Ang and Wang Jing with Cheng Jing.

To prevent them from going to the barracks outside the city to ask for reinforcements.

However, things did not go as expected.

Ma Ang somehow found out that Ren Li had been invited to the governor's office.

As Ma Ang led more than a hundred people off, and Shen Yi issued the signal.

Han Cheng and Cheng Jing knew they couldn't stop them, so they began to implement the second plan.

They led that group of Eastern Depot personnel to the city gate.

Using the tokens of General Fan Guang, Governor Shen Yi, Garrison Eunuch Cheng Jing, and Governor Wu Ning, they demanded that the soldiers guarding the city relinquish control of the city gates.

As long as the city gates are controlled, the outside army cannot enter.

Fan Guang and his group have been in Ganzhou for many days now.

All the soldiers knew what they were there for.

The soldiers defending the city immediately split into two factions.

A large portion of the people chose to obey orders.

A small number of soldiers refused to relinquish control of the city gates, arguing that military power had not yet been handed over and they had no authority to issue orders.

Several people even attempted to arrest Han Cheng and others on the spot on charges of "treason".

The two sides immediately engaged in battle.

After Han Cheng killed three of the leading generals, the rest of the men finally gave up resisting.

As dawn broke, the fighting within the city finally ceased.

Ma Ang was bound hand and foot and taken to the governor's office.

His guards were either dead or surrendered; none of them escaped.

Outside the city, Ren Jie and his more than a thousand garrison soldiers finally laid down their weapons under Wang Qi's intimidation.

Wang Qi immediately announced that all the garrison soldiers who had been transferred were innocent and should return to their camps to await orders.

The leading officers were temporarily detained in the army to await further instructions.

Ren Jie himself was taken into the city to await his fate.

As dawn broke, Ganzhou City returned to calm.

The people opened their doors with trepidation, but quickly closed them again after seeing the bloodstains on the street.

Wu Ning stood on the steps of the Governor's Office, gazing at the gradually brightening sky and letting out a long breath.