Chapter 221 Never kneel on these knees again
"My lord, this is the imperial edict sent by Kuai Ma from the capital..."
"Where's the messenger?"
"Still waiting outside..."
"killed..."
Chen Cao closed the official document and handed it to Wang Xiaojie, Hong Chengchou and others to read: "Do you think my experience will be exactly the same as Li Rubai's when I return to Beijing to report on my work?"
"My lord, did you kill the messenger?"
Sun Chuanting just walked in from the door. Before entering, he saw Zhao Xin and his men taking action.
Chen Cao asked them to hand over the official document to Sun Chuanting. After reading it, Sun Chuanting sighed: "Hey, don't the people in the court have any insight? At this critical moment, we have to force people to rebel to get things done?"
Chen Cao laughed, and then said: "Everyone, since the imperial court wants to force me to rebel, I, Chen Cao, cannot sit back and wait for death. However, I am always the Duke of the Ming Dynasty and a man of lofty ideals. In this case, then I can just be a spectator. ;
According to our military order, all Liaoxi General Military Offices were relocated, and all the soldiers and civilians from the forts around Guangning City were transported to Songjiang by warships. The Dingwu Army temporarily stayed in Guangning and took away all the heavy materials that could be taken away. They must not be left behind. A little something available for Jiannu. "
"Sir, there are only four warships in our army plus the flagship, which cannot transport redundant personnel. Zhao Tianlin and most of the fleet are still outside Shuangtaizi, but they are far away from our warships. They are still afraid. die."
After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he said: "Master, why don't we follow the example of Yuan Chonghuan and have a Hongmen Banquet."
"Zhao Tianlin is a chicken thief, I guess he won't be fooled,"
Chen Cao shook his head: "But Deng Guang won't follow him. It depends on Deng Guang's choice."
"Then how do we trick him into landing?"
Chen Cao held the official document in his hand: "Send someone to hold the badge of Bei Company. This official document is the transfer order."
.
Capital, Duke Baoguo's Mansion
Zhu Yanrong was receiving Sun Chengzong at the moment. The emperor had issued a series of decrees in the past day, including an imperial edict confirming that Sun Chengzong should go home to retire.
"Supervisor Sun is here not just to talk about simple state affairs, right?"
Sun Chengzong looked serious. He first told Zhu Yanrong exactly what Chen Cao said, and then put on a pensive expression: "Wei Zhongxian disrupted the government and poisoned the emperor's father. This is a treasonous crime. Lord Bao Guo ,What do you think?"
Zhu Yanrong was surprised that Chen Cao would tell Sun Chengzong this, but thinking that he was coldly treated by Wei Zhongxian in the capital, he could also think of the key point in the middle.
"Supervisor Sun, His Majesty's dragon body is still in good health..."
"I'm not here to joke with Duke Baoguo. On the 12th, in front of all the cabinet ministers, His Majesty praised King Xin as Yao and Shun, Duke Baoguo. In the past few days, His Majesty has stopped the court discussions and all military and state affairs are important. They were all reviewed by King Xin, and Huo Weihua even donated a 'miracle medicine' that he didn't know where it came from. This...
Li Kezhuo’s incident can be vividly remembered..."
Zhu Yanrong also became serious, and then looked at Sun Chengzong: "Superintendent, I and other dignitaries in the capital also visited His Majesty's condition last day. He is still in good spirits, but a little swollen."
"In the past few days, for some reason, there were a lot of unknown palace maids in the palace, and the personnel transfers in the internal officials and prisons were also unusually frequent. I am very worried about your majesty's safety, but now that he has been dismissed and returned to his hometown, the eunuchs are taking power. ..
Lord Baoguo, you are in charge of the Shenji Camp and you need to take responsibility for His Majesty's safety. "
Zhu Yanrong frowned: "The Beijing camp troops are under the control of the British Duke. Unless it is a last resort, I believe that our Shenji battalion will not come forward. Besides, there are still four Tengxiang guards in the imperial city. What can go wrong?"
"Mr. Baoguo, the four guards of Tengxiang are in the hands of the Royal Horse Supervisor, and the eunuch who supervises the Royal Horse Supervisor is Wei Zhongxian's man."
"Master Supervisor? What do you mean by this? Do you mean that Wei Zhongxian is the one who is harmful to the emperor?"
Zhu Yanrong finally understood. It turned out that Sun Chengzong's purpose was this, and he immediately laughed and said: "He is an eunuch, how dare he bring trouble to the government? Besides..."
Zhu Yanrong said in a low voice: "Even if the emperor has no heirs, he has summoned King Xin a few days ago. What does this mean? What else is needed to prove? Once the emperor's dragon body is in danger, Wei Zhongxian will not be able to decide the throne. "
This is what Sun Chengzong was worried about. The foundation of the Ming Dynasty changed during the Wuzong period. From then on, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was no longer the eldest son. Wuzong had no heirs, and the throne could only be passed on to his cousins, although they were all adults. He became the descendant of the emperor, but lost his status as the 'eldest son'.
What Sun Chengzong is worried about now is that as he guessed, once the emperor is buried, someone will tell the world which woman is pregnant with the emperor's seed. However, this kind of thing is always a guess, and no one dares to bring it up. Because of this, Sun Chengzong will Come visit Zhu Yanrong now.
Seeing the worried look on Sun Chengzong's face, Zhu Yanrong cupped his hands and smiled and said: "Don't worry, old governor, the Beijing camp troops are in the hands of the British Duke, I am in charge of the Shenji Camp, and Cheng Guogong still has The five military camps, the three thousand battalions in Duke Dingguo's hands, and these troops are all in the hands of our nobles. I forgive him that Wei Zhongxian will not dare to do anything untoward."
"Why..."
Sun Chengzong sighed. He finally understood. This group of hereditary nobles are not afraid of the change of emperors at all. Unlike the civil servants, who have one emperor and one courtier: "I still say the same thing. Once there is a change in the capital, we still hope to protect it." Only the Duke and others can take responsibility for His Majesty's safety."
"That's natural..."
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August 21st, Forbidden City
"How about it?"
Keshi looked anxiously at Wei Zhongxian who had just walked out of Qianqing Palace: "Did the Queen agree?"
Wei Zhongxian shook his head with a bitter look on his face: "This is not the place to talk."
Wherever the two of them walked, every palace lady they met was as silent as a chill. From time to time, the two of them left the Qianqing Palace and entered the main hall of the House of Internal Affairs.
There were already many people waiting in the hall. Cui Chengxiu, Xu Xianchun, Tian Ergen and other confidants were sitting in their seats. Even the retired Gu Bingqian appeared openly in the Ministry of Internal Affairs at this moment, which showed how important this matter was.
"Duke (adopted father)..."
These are Wei Zhongxian's confidants, and the title has not changed. However, Wei Zhongxian is already called 'Nine Thousand Years Old' by the outside world.
Cui Chengxiu was the first to speak: "Duke, is there any clue about what happened?"
Wei Zhongxian sat on the main seat with a gloomy face and remained silent. Xu Xianchun was the best at observing words and expressions, so he saluted to the guest family: "Madam, is there no room for change in the matter?"
Keshi sighed and shook his head.
Wei Zhongxian then said: "Your Majesty is unconscious and has not yet woken up. The Queen will not allow this."
The four people in the hall were stunned. If the queen didn't agree to this matter, how could they dare to do it? Gu Bingqian said: "If this is the case, it is better to send those palace ladies out as soon as possible. Don't let anything go wrong, otherwise there will be endless troubles." .”
"Just kill..."
Keshi said coldly.
Wei Zhongxian scolded: "You shrew, you have done all kinds of things that are detrimental to your morality. If not, the emperor would not be so unprotected by his ancestors. Now, you don't want to do some good deeds for the emperor." He is still thinking about killing people."
The Hakka family was so scolded that they didn't dare to reply. Wei Zhongxian, who was angry, looked at the four of them: "The queen did not agree to this, saying that the emperor has decided to believe that His Highness will succeed to the throne. Huo Weihua's medicine has not improved. Today, the emperor I have fainted four or five times and the situation is not good. Our family is feeling very uncomfortable right now. Do you have any good ideas?"
"King Xin has always been educated by the Donglin Party members, and he hates us very much." Cui Chengxiu said nervously.
Wei Zhongxian still remembered the shocking words that King Xin Zhu Youjian said when he saw him last year.
"If I were the emperor, I would kill you..."
Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but shudder. Not only him, but also someone who had been scolded by Zhu Youjian. Now that the emperor's life may be in danger at any time, how to save his own life is their most important choice now. .
What's more, Wei Zhongxian's eunuch group has made too many enemies over the years. Once the emperor dies, it will definitely be difficult for their eunuch group. Although several people in the cabinet were promoted by him, the chief minister Huang Liji seems to be obedient. In fact, many things seemed to go against Wei Zhongxian's wishes.
Moreover, Huang Liji's students also taught Zhu Youjian in the Tenth Prince's Palace, which made Wei Zhongxian extremely worried.
"I can still believe the arrival of Shi Min, but if something happens to the emperor, I'm worried that their direction will suddenly change." Gu Bingqian, Wei Zhongxian's think tank, was also saying with worry at this moment: "It's broken..."
When everyone looked over, Wei Zhongxian raised his head: "What's the matter?"
Gu Bingqian stroked his beard and shook his head: "We shouldn't be so anxious..."
Cui Chengxiu's mind was spinning very fast. As soon as he heard what he said, he thought of who it was: "Master Gu, do you mean Chen Cao's side?"
Gu Bingqian nodded, then looked at Wei Zhongxian with a grimace: "Chen Cao has a lot of troops outside, and the situation is tense now. If we force Chen Cao to rebel, it will only do us harm, not any good..."
Wei Zhongxian said anxiously: "How could you do such a stupid thing at that time?"
Who dares to answer this sentence?
No one dared to take it, because it was Wei Zhongxian himself who wanted to kill Chen Cao, and now that there was danger, there was no point in regretting it.
Several people looked at each other and said nothing, because they all knew that they had made a big mistake.
In front of the civil servants, Chen Cao was from the eunuch party. As long as they had this reason, even if Chen Cao was at odds with them now, they could try to win over him as much as possible. After all, he had troops outside.
When the new emperor ascended the throne, considering Chen Cao's reasons, he could at least protect himself for a while, but now they have pushed Chen Cao to the opposite side.
Cui Chengxiu handed over his hand and said: "Duke, the plan has not kept up with the changes. No one could have imagined that the Holy Emperor's illness would be so serious."
Wei Zhongxian looked at Gu Bingqian: "Do you have any good suggestions today?"
Gu Bingqian shook his head: "No, we can only take it one step at a time. If there are really uncontrollable factors, I think we still have to work on Chen Cao."
