"Okay, then let's go to the palace and have a look." Wang Zhixin thought this was an opportunity. If Chongzhen is still in the palace now, then this is definitely a good time to capture him.
Wang Zhixin agreed, and Wu Mengming and Luo Yangxing immediately contacted their subordinates. But in fact, the two of them have a bit of a headache now.
Without it, there are currently less than a thousand Jin Yiwei they can really contact.
It was said to be two thousand before, because at that time, the Ming Dynasty was about to die, and many Jin Yiwei also took off their flying fish clothes, pretending to be ordinary people and wandering around the market.
What Wu Mengming originally thought was that as long as he raised his arms, these Jinyi guards who were watching would be used by them, and then they would work together to overthrow the Ming Dynasty and continue to work in the Dashun Dynasty. But their plan was well planned, but their plan was disrupted because Zhu Changwu suddenly changed the system and treatment of Jinyiwei.
After learning about the various benefits that the Jin Yiwei would enjoy under the leadership of the new commander, the attitudes of some of the Jin Yiwei who were originally prepared to join the Dashun Army became ambiguous again.
They left Jinyiwei before because they thought Daming was hopeless, and so were Jinyiwei. It's not worth it to work for the Ming Dynasty for three melons and two dates without seeing any hope at all.
But now, things seem to be improving.
At this time, smart people do not make a choice right away. They still want to take a look and wait.
Now, these hidden Jin Yiwei knew about the Ming army's military parade out of the city, but they didn't know that these Ming troops had disappeared, so they couldn't talk about despair.
You can't make a decision without despair.
In this way, it became impossible for Wu Mengming and Luo Yangxing to gather two thousand Jin Yiwei.
Since we couldn't recruit that many people, we could only gather the approximately 1,000 Jin Yiwei we had found before and follow them straight to the palace.
On the surface, the palace at this time was no different from usual, except that there were fewer imperial guards standing at the palace gate.
When Li You led five hundred soldiers from the old battalion, Wang Zhixin and others also led thousands of Jin Yiwei and came here, they were still far away, and these Jin Yiwei discovered them, and then these twenty people made an unexpected move. What everyone expected was to turn around and run away.
He didn't even close the palace gate, so he turned around and ran away.
When this scene fell in the eyes of Li You and others, they were startled at first, and then they thought of something.
"The defense in the palace must be very weak. Quick, let's rush in now." Li You shouted first, and the five hundred old soldiers rushed towards the palace with him.
Wang Zhixin and others also followed the old battalion soldiers into the palace after being stunned for two breaths. But during the process of entering, Wang Zhixin and Yang Guanguang both sighed involuntarily. They thought that the palace must be weak at this time, but because of this, Chongzhen might have already escaped.
Wang Zhixin felt very regretful when he thought that Chongzhen would really escape. Before, he had only ordered people to keep an eye on Luan Jia as he traveled, and had never thought about it. If Chongzhen wanted to escape, he could just change into a suit of clothes and rely on two Legs leave.
And if Chongzhen really escaped, he might not be able to explain it to Li Zicheng. When he thought about this, he felt very bad.
Li You and others rushed into the palace. As soon as they entered, a group of people came to greet them. Before anyone arrived, a voice sounded first, "Is this the prince? I am Tang Tong from Dongchang."
Originally thinking that these young eunuchs were people left by Chongzhen, Li You was about to rush up and kill them. He asked about the situation by the way, but he didn't expect that the people coming were actually one of his own.
Wang Zhixin, who was following behind, naturally heard the shout, and then trotted forward. As soon as he saw Li You, he said with an embarrassed look, "General Li, he is one of our own. This Tang It was our family who arranged to keep an eye on Mr. Chongzhen in the palace."
"Oh, then ask him quickly what's going on here." Li You's eyes lit up after hearing this. It would be best if there were people of his own here, which would save a lot of time.
Wang Zhixin quickly answered yes, then waved forward, and then saw Tang Tong trotting over.
Tang Tong was originally the foreman of the East Factory and was deeply trusted by Wang Dehua and Wang Zhixin. However, Wang Dehua was suddenly captured by Zhu Changwu. Tang Tong, who happened to be away, got the news and immediately left the palace and hid.
Wang Zhixin, who also escaped, found him later and arranged an errand for him to come to the palace gate and keep an eye on him.
After all, this person was once a middle-level member of Dongchang, and he was very familiar with the palace. With him here, if there was any news in Chongzhen, he would be able to know the news earlier.
This is what Wang Zhixin thought before, but now after seeing Tang Tong, and thinking about Li You saying that Chongzhen might not become a Luan driver after leaving the palace, he lost confidence in his heart, and his tone of voice became a bit harsh, "Tang Tong , did you see Mr. Chongzhen leaving the palace?"
"No." Tang Tong stood and shook his head.
"Is it because Luan Jia didn't leave the palace?" Wang Zhixin asked additionally.
"Yes, Luan Jia did not leave the palace." Tang Tong, who was not sure why, nodded again.
"Trash, who said that when the emperor leaves the palace, he has to be a charioteer? Wouldn't he go out on his own?" Seeing that he seemed to have guessed right, the angry Wang Zhixin raised his hand and slapped him.
Snapped!
An extremely loud slap sounded, and Tang Tong was stunned immediately. He really didn't know what he had done wrong. Why did the prince and his father-in-law hit him as soon as they met?
"Eunuch Wang, what mistake did you make? Can you explain it clearly?" Tang Tong asked with a very aggrieved look on his face.
"Okay, let me make it clear to you. Has Chongzhen escaped from the palace?" Wang Zhixin roared with anger.
Staring at such an important task as Chongzhen, something went wrong in his own hands. If he wanted to get the forgiveness of King Dashun, he had to find a scapegoat, and Tang Tui in front of him was undoubtedly the best candidate.
"Ah? But Chongzhen is still in the palace." Tang Tong was confused by the question. He was stunned for a moment, and then gave an answer that no one could have imagined.
"You..." Seeing that Tang Tong was still trying to quibble, Wang Zhixin raised his right hand high again, but then stopped in mid-air, "You... what did you just say, Chongzhen is still in the palace?"
"Yes, Chongzhen is inside. I saw it just now, and I also found that the eunuchs and imperial guards in the palace were missing. I wanted to report it to my father-in-law, but..."
But what, Tang Tong didn't say. But everyone knew that he wanted to report it, but without saying anything, he got slapped first.
Wang Zhixin didn't think that much. As a Shangguan, he would not apologize to his subordinates. Besides, his attention was now focused on the sentence that Chongzhen was in the palace. "You said Chongzhen is in the palace, but is it true?"
"Eunuch Wang, of course it's true. If you don't believe it, I'll show you the way." Tang Tong nodded repeatedly, as if he was afraid that if he slowed down a little, Wang Zhixin's slap would fall on his face again.
"Okay, you lead the way." Wang Zhixin was also confused. According to what Li You said, all the Ming troops in the city disappeared after leaving the city, so as the emperor, Chongzhen should also leave with them.
But now, Chongzhen is still in the palace, what is going on?
Could it be that the information Li You got was wrong?
Li You, who was standing nearby, had obviously thought of this, and he quickly looked at the soldiers from the old battalion who were sent to collect information and came back to report to him.
"General, I can see it really. The Ming army is really not outside the city. If you don't believe it, ask Li Wu. He went with me."
"Yes, general, we did not see the Ming army outside the city." The man named Li Wu also quickly stood up to testify.
"Okay, General Li, don't be angry yet. We'll find out what's going on when we go out and take a look." Yang Guanguang stood up at this time. He actually didn't understand, but what he knew was who If you tell a lie, you only need to enter the palace to find out.
"Yes, we will find out once we enter the palace and take a look." Li You also thought about it for a moment and nodded immediately. Following them, Tang Tong led the team, and a group of more than a thousand people headed straight towards the depths of the palace.
Just as Tang Tong said, there was not even a single person to be seen along the way.
There is not a single eunuch, imperial guard, or even palace maid in sight.
The entire palace is like a dead city, without any life at all. If a person walks here alone, it is normal for him to be scared and make him sick.
The palace is very big. If you enter here for the first time, you may be confused. But with Tang Tong, a familiar person leading the way, there is no chance of getting lost. I saw him twisting and turning, and after walking with everyone for a long time, I finally arrived at Lingxing Gate. Then I saw him pointing forward and saying: "Ahead is the Yuhe Bridge, and beyond that is Chengguang Gate." Palace, Chongzhen appeared here just now."
"Walk!"
After hearing this, Li You stepped forward without saying a word. The group of people quickly boarded the Yuhe Bridge (Jinhai Bridge), but they were only halfway through when the Chengguang Hall in front of them already appeared in front of them. Including many people standing in front of the hall, they all fell into sight at this time.
In front of the Chengguang Hall, a hundred or so Imperial Guards, a thousand or so imperial guards, and a group of eunuchs and maids all stood here. And right in the middle of them, there was a man wearing a golden dragon robe sitting on a chair, looking at them calmly.
