Master Yuan, start!

"If it succeeds, I will be a meritorious official of the Eight Banners; if it fails, I will continue to serve as the Governor of Jingxi."

But before Tieliang could receive the news of Yuan Shikai's death, Prince Zhuang Zaixun had already fled to his army.

He became the mastermind of the assassination without knowing it, and made one wrong step after another, leading to his current situation.

The details of the assassination he had just explained to Shou Chang were actually just a projection of his subconscious mind.

But it is obvious that Shou Chang does not believe his "nonsense"

"My original intention was really just to assassinate Yuan Shikai." Seeing that Shou Chang didn't believe him, Tie Liang hurriedly explained.

But halfway through his explanation, Tieliang suddenly came to his senses. Why should I explain to him? Do I, Tieliang, need the approval of a mere lieutenant to do things?

Then, he returned to his fierce and gloomy expression:

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"Shou Chang has ruined my grand plan. His head will be displayed throughout the city, letting the remaining Eight Banners rebels see that this is the price of being Yuan Shikai's running dog!"

"Yes!"

Just as Tieliang was watching the soldier beside him raise his sword and about to chop off Shouchang's head, a shout suddenly came from behind him!

"Report! The Wehrmacht, defeated a few days ago, is back again, under the banner of the 5th Regiment!"

"Commander, Nine": D: We...we seem to be surrounded!"

"What?" Tieliang was a little surprised:

"Why so fast?"

There was no time to display the head in public, so Tie Liang hurriedly took his men to the city wall.

On the city wall, looking at the densely packed blue defense forces around him, his mood sank to the bottom.

"Where are the 10 battalions of security forces left in Yongding Hexi? Are they all dead?!" Tie Liang turned his head and asked.

"My lord, it seems to be all there."

The deputy general pointed to the front of Gongji City, and the National Defense Army pulled cannons and slowly approached Gongji City.

The hundreds of national defense troops in blue uniforms at the head were riding horses, pulling a group of Eight Banners who had lost their armor and weapons.

The clothes they wore were exactly the same as the white military uniform of the Bannermen Town that Tieliang was wearing.

"Damn it, Yuan Xiangcheng plotted against me!"

In an instant, Tieliang figured it out.

It was not that Yuan Xiangcheng could not defeat him before, but he used a trick to trick him into attacking Gongji City, and then took the opportunity to eliminate the tail he left behind.

However, he did not expect that the genuine National Defense Army would be so powerful. The 10 battalions of troops he left behind were wiped out before he could even send a single message.

What should I do? I am trapped in the city. There is a river to the west, and the National Defense Army is everywhere to the east, south and north. What should I do? What should I do?

Tieliang's brain was working rapidly. He didn't want to die here. He hadn't proven his innocence to the world yet. He didn't want to die!

Looking at the increasing number of national defense troops gathering under the city, Tieliang thought of Shouchang who had just been stubborn, and suddenly came up with an idea.

"Wehrmacht soldiers downstairs, look up at the city wall. Do you recognize this man?"

Tieliang tied Shouchang's hands behind his back, stood in front of the city wall, and ordered his men to hold Shouchang's back and pull his braid, shouting to the outside of the city:

"If you don't know him, let me tell you, his name is Shou Chang, and he's the most stubborn of the Eight Banners rebels in Gongji City."

"Tieliang, you are not worthy of being a bannerman, how can you take bannermen as hostages!" The roar of the National Defense Army came from the bottom of the city.

Tie Liang smiled contemptuously, not caring at all, and continued shouting:

"Yuan Xiangcheng, you lured me to Gongji City, hoping to catch me in a trap. I think you are capable, but have you ever considered the safety of the Eight Banners' rebel army?

There are still more than 5000 anti-rebel troops left in the city, and their lives are all in your hands.

Should you let me go and save the lives of these 5000-plus people, or let these 5000-plus people be buried with me?

Yuan Xiangcheng, loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, what do you want?"

Tie Liang's voice came from far away on the city wall. After hearing it, Duan Zhigui and Ming Ye, who had just arrived, looked at each other in surprise.

"Chief Instructor, what should we do?"

Duan Zhigui was the first to break the silence. He looked at Yuan Xiangcheng with an expressionless face, waiting for the final instructions.

Unexpectedly, before Yuan Xiangcheng could react, Shou Chang, with his hands tied behind his back, struggled and shouted:

"A few days ago, I was just a captain, but now it's worth it in exchange for the life of Tieliang, a traitor who killed the king.

"Master Yuan, it's worth it to avenge the Emperor and our fallen comrades in the Anti-Rebellion Army!"

"Master Yuan, fire your cannon!"

"Sir Yuan, I am the descendant of a loyal minister. I am a good man and I will not lose face!"

"Master Yuan, please fire quickly!"

Chapter 264: Where will the only seedling of the Eight Banners go?

While Tie Liang was still fighting in Gongji City, the panic-stricken city of Beijing gradually calmed down as the Shanhaiguan National Defense Army moved south and good news came from the south.

Three regiments of the National Defense Army stormed Yangzhou City, and the Hunan Army defending the city was defeated in one day.

The army's front was only separated from Liu Kunyi's base in Jiangning by a river.

What surprised the people of Beijing the most was that Yuan Shikai was not on the front line, but the National Defense Army was still fighting so fiercely.

Doesn’t that mean that the Tieliang rebel army in western Beijing is even less to be feared?

After all, they had such fighting power even when the coach was away. Now that the coach is by their side, won’t the National Defense Forces be even more ferocious?

...E

Seeing the eunuchs and palace maids around him all with expressions of having survived a disaster, the temporary regent Yixun walked out of Guangxu's ward and headed towards the Council Hall separated by a wall.

"Seventh Brother, how is the emperor?" Prince Gong Yi D tapped his pipe and asked when he saw Yi X walk in.

"Sixth brother, it's still the same." Yi X sighed and sat aside helplessly: "He's still breathing, but he's been unconscious all day. I can only feed him some liquid food."

After Yuan Shikai led the Eight Banners Anti-Rebellion Army out of the city, in order to stabilize the situation in Beijing, Yi Xin invited his "sixth brother", Prince Gong Yi Xin, to come out.

There are two reasons why YiX wants to invite YiD.

One is debt and guilt.

After Tongzhi's death, Guangxu was made emperor, but Guangxu was not Cixi's biological son after all, so in the early days of Guangxu's reign, Cixi was not as strong behind the scenes as she was when Tongzhi was in power.

In addition, Prince Gong Yi D, who was the Grand Councilor at the time, opposed her in every way, which made her quite uneasy.

Later, in order to seize power, Cixi used the excuse of poor response to the Sino-French War to launch the "Jiashen Change of Principality", dismissed Yi D and replaced his sixth brother, Prince Gong Yi D, with Yi X as the Minister of Military Affairs.

Yi X knew that he had indeed taken advantage of his sixth brother in this matter.

But at that time, Yi X could endure anything for the sake of his son's throne. Although he felt indebted to his sixth brother Yi D, he could not do anything due to the situation. He just visited him more often during festivals to express his friendship.

It was not until Cixi took action against Guangxu that Yixuan could no longer tolerate it and relied on Yuan Shikai to drive Cixi away.

Logically speaking, after Guangxu was restored to the throne, he should have compensated his sixth brother Yi D, right?

But after the situation was settled, Yi X took a look at the court and found that Yi D's seat was gone.

The Grand Council could have a member of the imperial clan serving as Grand Councilor, but the convention was that there was only one.

At that time, Yuan Shikai had just taken office as the Governor-General of the Three Northeastern Provinces and was trying out new policies outside the Great Wall. As a result, the only royal family minister in the capital could be Prince Li Shiduo.

From an emotional point of view, Shiduo contributed money, effort and son to the war to overthrow the Curtain, so he should be the Minister of Military Affairs; from a logical point of view, Shiduo and Yuan Shikai had a close relationship, and it was not easy for them to have any rifts with the cooperation between the inside and the outside.

Therefore, Yi X could only let his sixth brother Yi D continue to stay at home unemployed.

After Shiduo voluntarily resigned from the position of chief military minister, Guangxu directly appointed Weng Tong to replace him.

At this time, there were no other royal family members in the Grand Council, so Prince Gong Yi D should have been promoted, right?

The result is that it is even more impossible.

After Shiduo resigned, the Grand Council was headed by Weng Tong, assisted by Li Hongzao, Pan Zuyin, Xu Gengshen and others.

But the bad thing was that Weng Tong and Li Hongzao were dismissed from their posts by Cixi along with Prince Gong Yixin during the Jiashen Change of Privy Council.

In other words, they were originally members of Prince Gong's Seventh Faction and were Prince Gong's "little brothers".

Now my younger brother Weng Tong has transformed himself into the head military secretary. If my elder brother Yi D enters the Military Affairs Office again, he can only be a military secretary, which means he will become my younger brother's younger brother.

Therefore, considering this, Yixuan did not mention Yixuan's reinstatement to Guangxu, but only asked him to do some work of "hosting the celebration ceremony".

After a while, Yi D's affairs were delayed until the chaos in the capital and Prince Zhuang fled. Yi X then remembered his "sixth brother"

The second reason is that Yi D has a special status and can appease the bannermen in Beijing.

Although Prince Gong Yi was dismissed from his position as Grand Councilor by Cixi during the Jiashen Change of State, he lived in seclusion at home and had not been involved in state affairs for many years.

But after all, he had controlled the court for nearly 20 years and handled all the affairs in the capital, so he could be considered experienced, especially those related to the bannermen.

Now the people of the Eight Banners in Beijing are in panic, and they really need someone like this who once had prestige among the Eight Banners to stand up and calm people's hearts.

Therefore, due to practical needs and emotional debts, Prince Gong YiD was asked by YiX to come out of retirement.

"Seventh Brother, this is the details of the telegram sent from the south." Prince Gong Yi D waved the paper in his hand and handed it forward.

"Sixth brother, since we know Yangzhou has been captured, I won't bother to look at the exact number of casualties." The temporary regent, Yi X, waved his hand and said, "The National Defense Army is indeed a powerful force in the world. Now that Yangzhou has been captured, Liu Kunyi has become a member of the Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuzhen factions.

As long as the rebels in western Beijing surrender, the world will be basically at peace, and I, as his father, will not have let down the emperor who is lying in bed."

Yi X took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair feeling a little tired.

He has been feeling very tired these days. He never thought he was fit to govern, but now that Guangxu is in a coma, all the big and small affairs of the court have to be decided by him.

He was too tired and increasingly unable to cope, which was why he called his "sixth brother" Prince Gong Yi D to help share the pressure.

Seeing Yi X mention the rebels in western Beijing, Yi D's eyebrows twitched, and he said calmly, "Seventh Brother, Yuan Xiangcheng reported yesterday that he wanted to use the 3th Regiment of the National Defense Army to besiege Tie Liang and his gang in Gongji City. Is this feasible?"

"Sixth brother, why not?" In order to relieve the pressure, Yi X also picked up a pipe and started smoking, and from time to time he exhaled two streams of white air from his nose.

"Whether it's Tieliang's bannermen or the rebels in Gongji City, they're all brave warriors of the Eight Banners. We can't let them all go in." Prince Gong Yi D worriedly said, "If we push Tieliang into a corner, who knows if he won't just jump the wall and kill all the rebels in Gongji City?"

"Ahem, what else can we do, Sixth Brother? Are we going to let Tieliang and his group of rebels go?" Yi X took a puff of his cigarette and questioned.

"Seventh Brother, the Eight Banners are the foundation of the country and cannot be given up easily." Yi D said with great sorrow.

"Sixth brother, what is the foundation?" Yi X picked up his pipe and pointed to the next room. He said seriously, "My son, the emperor, is the foundation of the country. Now that the 'foundation' is unconscious, how can I make decisions on his behalf and let the thieves go so easily?"