When the panicked Yonglang and Mian'en were released from the dark cowhide bag, their minds were in confusion. They thought He Shen had taken them under Qianlong's order. Taking advantage of their daze, the two Heshen's minions rummaged around in their arms and soon found a heavy kit.
The leader took the kit, walked to the table and took out the items, and looked at them carefully under the candlelight. They were two gilt waist medals, with dragon heads carved on the tops, and a swimming dragon with a head and a tail on each side. In the middle, it is written in both Manchu and Chinese characters; one of the waist badges is engraved with "Imperial Ci--Nine Gate Admiral Infantry Commander", and the other is engraved with "Imperial Ci--Eight Banners Protector Camp President Minister". In addition, there is a protruding word "Ling" engraved on the back of the two waist badges, and the surrounding depressions are filled with cinnabar. The words year and month are also engraved on the lower left corner.
The shivering Prince Yi Yonglang hadn't figured out the whole thing yet. All he could think about was what crime he had committed to end up like this. Could it be that his business with Beihai Town was discovered? But which prince and minister doesn't get involved in Anping Port's business nowadays? Apart from other things, if you transport the ginseng and mink skins to the capital, you can earn twice as much if you resell them.
Or maybe the matter of secretly sending people to contact Beihai Town in the past few days was exposed? Oops, this is going to make you lose your head!
Although this man is the ninth iron-hatted king of the Qing Dynasty, facing the crumbling situation of the Qing Dynasty, he also has to consider his own family. Despite the fact that the poor place in Gorkha was said to be like a paradise on earth by the court, in fact few of the powerful people in the government were willing to go there.
Just as he was thinking wildly, Mian En next to him realized that something was wrong, and cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. The faces of these armored men did not look like Manchus or Mongols at all, and from the soft whispers he heard before, Mian En noticed that they spoke with a southern accent.
These people are not Ouchi guards!
You must know that he is the eldest son and second grandson of Qianlong. His father is the deceased eldest brother Yonghuang. More than ten years ago, his brother Miande was demoted, so he took the title of Prince Ding. The year before last, he was granted the title of Dingjun by the Jin Dynasty. Prince. Because Qianlong felt guilty for his eldest brother who died young due to his rebuke, he actually regarded him as his eldest grandson. Moreover, after Mian'en attacked the prince himself, he has been serving as the Presidential Minister of the Eight Banners Guard Camp for more than ten years, responsible for the important task of protecting the capital.
The emperor was still talking and laughing when he met the emperor yesterday morning. It was impossible for him to be taken down in the blink of an eye without any warning. Although Qianlong's words these days were a little inconsistent and he was obviously getting old, what happened just now was not in line with Qianlong's style of behavior at all. What's more, if you want to punish yourself, you don't need to set up an ambush at all, a decree can knock him out of the world.
Thinking back to the way He Shen appeared at the palace gate just now, an answer that frightened Mian En emerged from the bottom of his heart. I never expected that you and Shen, the most favored white-faced traitor in the world, would actually betray the emperor and conspire against Beihai Town!
He crouched desperately, slamming his shoulders into Yong Lang beside him, whining incessantly, trying to remind him. The problem is how could Yong Lang understand? He was knocked sideways and fell to the ground. He lamented in his heart: "Eldest nephew, we are already like this, don't bother with it, okay?"
At the same time, in the main room of the small courtyard, He Shen put down the strong tea in his hand, took two waist cards from a dead soldier leader, looked at them over and over for a moment, and nodded with satisfaction. This is the military talisman that he has always been thinking about. With these two pieces and the jade seal of the "Emperor's Treasure", he can mobilize all the soldiers and horses to guard the capital and the Old Summer Palace.
However, if He Shen wants to implement his plan smoothly, these alone are not enough. Now that the sky is brightening outside, the Old Summer Palace has awakened from its slumber again, and what he has to do is at least control Jiuzhou Qingyan until the palace door is locked today, and absolutely no one can be allowed in or out. The other half that is the key to his success or failure this time depends on Liu Quan.
Time goes back more than an hour.
When Liu Quan, who was guarding Guajia Tun, saw the mute eunuch, his heart suddenly shrank and he paused for a few times, as if he was anxious to speak out. He took the belt card and the forged edict from the other party, checked it carefully, opened the letter written by He Shen and read it from beginning to end twice, and then said to the mute eunuch with a solemn look: "Jin Xiang, Go back and tell the master that I know what to do. Also, your parents, brothers and nephews will follow you, don’t worry!"
The mute eunuch looked grateful and knelt down to Liu Quan and kowtowed repeatedly. Liu Yin on the side saw this and hurriedly helped him up.
Liu Quan squeezed out a few tears, held the other person's hand and said: "Jinxiang, we are all a family, why are we so polite! The master has entrusted everything to you, you must protect him!"
After listening to Liu Quan's words, the mute eunuch was so excited that he said a few words, patted his heart hard, and then said goodbye with fists in his hands.
When the people left, the room became audible. Liu Yin couldn't help but whispered: "Dad, why don't you say hello to me in advance? If this matter gets out, you will be punished."
"Fart! Shut your crow mouth!" Liu Quan glared at his son and said angrily: "It's all useless now! We can only go one way! You go prepare the car and go back to Shihu Garden immediately."
Liu Yin responded, walked to the door, turned around and asked, "Are you really planning to take Sun Jinxiang's family with you?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Liu Quan waved his hand impatiently, motioning for him to prepare the car quickly.
In He Shen's escape plan, the eunuch named Sun Jinxiang was a very key figure. At the beginning, Heshen spread secrets in the palace and bribed many eunuchs, maids, and guards. His original purpose was to find out information and please Qianlong. The reason why he favored Sun Jinxiang was not only that he was mute and could keep secrets, but also that he was a "skilled and brave eunuch" who often stood guard outside the palace at night.
In the last years of Kangxi, the struggle for the throne was fierce, and the princes made friends with Kangxi's close guards and eunuchs to serve as their eyes and ears. After Yongzheng took possession of Dabao, the first thing he did was to clean up the palace. In order to prevent changes in the elbow and armpits, he ordered the selection of eunuchs to practice martial arts and guard the palace. From then on, "skilled and brave eunuchs" appeared in the Qing palace. After Qianlong's reign, there were seventy skilled and brave eunuchs in the Qing Palace who were responsible for guarding the Old Summer Palace and Jizhou Palace.
By the way, in another time and space in history, when the British and French allied forces burned the Old Summer Palace, all the princes, ministers and soldiers of the Eight Banners, including Xianfeng, ran away to the summer resort. In the end, only a few dozen people in the Old Summer Palace could fight to the death without retreating. The famous skilled and brave eunuch, Manqing's face was really thrown into the grandma's house.
Sun Jinxiang was not born deaf-mute. When he was three years old, a high fever damaged his brain nerves, which turned him into a deaf-mute. Like other eunuchs, he was born in a poor family in Hejian and had four older brothers. When he was seven years old, his father overheard someone saying that even though the child was mute, he might be able to make a living as a eunuch, so he gritted his teeth and borrowed money to take him to Beijing to purify himself.
When he first entered the palace, he was just a Sura waiter doing odd jobs. Over time, many people knew that he was mute and could keep secrets, so many eunuchs in the palace ordered him to run errands. In the thirty-sixth year of Qianlong's reign, Prince Zhuang, who was in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was ordered to select eunuchs to learn martial arts. Sixteen-year-old Sun Jinxiang was selected because of his strong appearance. After that, he entered the Old Summer Palace and worked hard every day with the instructors of Shanpu Camp to practice rifle shooting, shotgun, barbed gun, waist knife and Buku. After four or five years of this, only about ten of the more than one hundred eunuchs passed the examination. Fortunately, he was assigned to be on duty in the Old Summer Palace. Every night, he either patrolled around or stayed on duty outside the palace.
Although Sun Jinxiang's status was higher than that of ordinary eunuchs, he only received one tael of silver and two and a half husks of rice more than those of the same level. Unlike the eunuchs in charge and eunuchs who delivered orders, he could not earn extra money and no one bribed him. Furthermore, his family was already poor, and everyone expected to get food and drink from him, leading to a very miserable life.
The reason why He Shen attracted Sun Jinxiang in the first place was actually because he was close to Qianlong, and he wanted to bribe all the eunuchs around Qianlong. In order to make friends, he asked Ma Basan to redeem Sun Jinxiang's "treasure" from the knifemaker for 300 taels of silver, returned it to him, and sent another 200 taels to his family.
You must know that the eunuch's greatest wish is to redeem the "treasure" from the knifemaker and put it in the coffin with him when he is old, otherwise the ancestors will not recognize him. If Sun Jinxiang relied on his own salary, he might not be able to save it in another thirty years. From then on, he regarded He Shen as his reborn parent and was completely devoted to him. In his understanding, no matter how good the emperor is, he is not as good as Mr. He; working for Qianlong is the eunuch's life, and working for Mr. He is to repay his kindness.
When He Shen started planning his escape half a year ago, the first thing he thought of was the need to firmly control Sun Jinxiang, so he asked his men to bring Sun Jinxiang's family from their hometown in Hejian to the capital and live in his "Ten House" outside the Old Summer Palace. Wat Garden".
It was an affiliated garden of the Old Summer Palace given to him by Qianlong when he was promoted to co-organizer of the bachelor's degree ten years ago. It used to be just a paddy field with few buildings. After Heshen's extensive renovation and construction, it became the most private garden in the capital. Usually, when He Shen is not on duty at the military aircraft duty house, he will stay here in case he is summoned at any time.
The dozen or so members of the Sun family are usually responsible for taking care of the flowers and plants in the garden, and they live a very comfortable life. Hefu did not say that they were servants to the outside world, only that they were relatives of the housekeeper Ma Baishan. For Sun Jinxiang, He Shen's move made him feel that he had nothing to repay. Under the care of He Shen, he would go to the Shiko Garden every month to reunite with his family and enjoy family happiness in the name of going to the Military Academy to repair ordnance.
After only one meal after Sun Jinxiang left, Liu Quan left Guajiatun with more than 20 guards from Hefu and returned to Shihu Garden not far away. As soon as he entered the garden, he asked Liu Yin to call Ma Bashi, Hushtu, Hu Liu, Fang Cun and Wang Ping to the flower hall, and also asked people to go to the back house to invite the second aunt.
Two quarters of an hour later, except for the eldest second aunt, a group of people who didn't know why were waiting late. As soon as he entered the door, Hushtu yawned and said in a drake voice: "Manager Liu, Uncle Liu, what are you going to do in the middle of the night? What can't be discussed until the morning?"
This man, whose surname is Liu, is from Dacheng County, and he is also a purified eunuch. Now he is the housekeeper of the He Mansion, and he is one mile away from Liu Quan. He is He Shen's right-hand man and loyal lackey, and he is deeply trusted. In order to distinguish him from Liu Quan, the family called him "Nei Liu". When He Shen was building the Jiale Hall, he sent this person to collude with the palace eunuchs, sneak into the Forbidden City, and bring out the architectural samples collected in the Ningshou Palace. After that, the famous Nanmu Hall was built. .
Don't be surprised. There were many eunuchs in the Qianlong era, but most of them worked in the homes of princes and ministers. Even if some high-ranking Manchu officials were not members of the clan, they still used it at home; the emperor used eunuchs because they were afraid of being cuckolded by others, and they were equally afraid. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has always lacked effective management of eunuchs outside the palace, which has caused many eunuchs to work as slaves in private mansions. Historically, this situation was not clearly stipulated until Jiaqing came to power, and how many people should be used at each level.
Hearing the other party's complaint, Liu Quan put down the tureen in his hand and said sadly: "Something big has happened, otherwise it wouldn't disturb your sweet dreams."
Hey! Look at my bad temper. Hushtu's expression changed, thinking that he had only been gone for a long time, so why did he speak so strangely? Just as he was about to have an attack, Ma Baishan beside him suddenly asked, "Did something happen in the Forbidden Garden?"
Liu Quan said nothing, but nodded solemnly. Seeing his appearance, Hushtu felt a chill in his heart. He felt no sleepiness at all and said hurriedly: "Where is our master?"
"I'm staying with the emperor, and I can't leave him for a while."
Khushtu asked: "Then why are you back?"
Just as Liu Quan was about to explain, he heard a woman's voice coming from outside the house. He and everyone present stood up in a hurry, greeted the beautiful woman who came in through the door, and said in unison: "Greetings to Second Grandma."
The person who came was none other than the second wife of the He Mansion, the second aunt, followed by Liu Yin and several maids and women. The eldest aunt obviously didn't expect that there were so many people in the room and was shocked. After he scanned the people in the room and found that they were all the confidants of the house, he asked everyone to get up, then walked to the master's chair and sat down, asking: "Quan'er, what happened to make such a big fuss? "
Liu Quan looked at the eldest aunt and motioned to the maid and mother-in-law to step back. Although the eldest aunt was confused, she still obeyed. When there were no more outsiders in the courtyard, he took out He Shen's letter and circulated it to Chang Ergu and others. He also told what happened in the palace at night, and everyone was shocked.
After reading the letter, Chang Ergu turned pale and almost fainted. Although she knew He Shen's escape plan and had made a lot of preparations, she didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. She bit her lip, forced herself to calm down, turned to look at Ma Baishan sitting on her right, and said: "Guanshi Ma, you helped come up with this idea, what's the next step? "
Ma Bashi twirled his goatee and thought for a moment, then said: "Second Grandma, the situation is so imminent that we have to strike. Now that Master has made up his mind, we have no way out. The most important thing right now is to survive today's day. Wait until the city gate is closed at night before launching the attack, so that you can cover the master's journey to Tongzhou to board the ship."
The second aunt Chang lamented: "What should I do with grandma? Her body and bones may not be able to withstand such a torment."
"If Ma is guilty, I can't help it, but I have to. Moreover, the aunt, the concubine, the princess, and other aunts must leave the city in batches before the city gate closes in the afternoon. According to the previous decision, disguises must not be allowed outside. I'm aware of it. You have to go back to the city now, and Hushtu, Hu Liu, and Fang Cun will go back with you."
"That's all we have to do." Chang Ergu sighed and stood up holding on to the armrest. Just as she was about to leave, Liu Quan suddenly said: "Second Grandma, don't think I'm nagging you. You must not make too much noise when you go back to pack your things." , Take away what you can, and don’t let go of what you can’t take away. Once the news comes out, disaster is right around the corner!”
"Of course I understand this. I'll leave everything to you outside." After the eldest aunt said this, she stood up and gave blessings to everyone in the room. He Shen once sternly told her not to let go of this and take that with her. As long as the plan succeeds and reaches Yunnan, and controls the imperial copper mine, she will have everything she wants!
"Second Grandma! You can't do this! This is what slaves should do." Liu Quan and others knelt on the ground with determination on their faces.
The second aunt Chang left and went back to make preparations, while everyone headed by Liu Quan, Khushtu and Ma Baishan had an urgent discussion for a while. Most of the details of the entire escape plan were drawn up by He Shen and Ma BaShi. In addition to transferring property in advance, secretly buying a temporary residence in Tongzhou, and arranging a boat, the most important things were two things; control. The yamen of the military camp and infantry commander were not allowed to allow the princes and ministers in the city to go out of the city to escort them to the Old Summer Palace.
He Shen has already done the former with his minions, but if he wants to achieve the second point, he must put the capital into an early warning state and have all seventy-six city gates closed.
Speaking of urban alarms in the Qing Dynasty, they were mainly implemented by firing message cannons. Specifically in the capital, city-wide early warning is carried out through signal cannons installed on the White Tower of Qiongdao in Beihai and nine city gates. Various regulations were formulated by Longkoduo in the early years of Yongzheng and are still in use today.
One of them stipulates that in the event of an emergency, a gold medal with the words "Instructed to fire artillery" will be sent to the Qiongdao White Tower either by the emperor or by the infantry commander, and the cannon can only be fired after being verified by the officer on duty. At the same time, the yellow dragon flag is hung on the flagpole during the day and lanterns are hung on the flagpole at night.
As soon as the signal cannon on the White Tower is fired, all nine signal cannons in the inner city will respond. At the same time, the four gates of the imperial city and the nine gates of the inner city will be closed under martial law, and bannermen everywhere will be mobilized. If the emperor is in the Forbidden City, all firearms camps and military guard camps outside the city must assemble outside Fucheng Gate; if he is in the Old Summer Palace, the garden must be protected first. As for the princes, ministers and civil and military officials, without the emperor's handwriting, they could not even enter the garden or leave the city gate.
However, this kind of thing has never happened since the day the charter was started. Once something happens, the inner city will definitely be in chaos.
And this is exactly what Heshen wants.
In the Qing Dynasty, there was a special rule for opening and closing the city gates in various places in Beijing, which was called "nine inside, nine outside, seven emperors, four, nine gates, eight o'clock and one o'clock". This rule existed from the Ming Dynasty and lasted until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Needless to say, the first half of the sentence refers to the 20 city gates inside and outside the capital; while the second half of the sentence means that eight of the nine gates in the inner city will be ringed. Only the Chongwen Gate has a bell. After ringing at night, the inner city will be completely closed. . Specifically, at dusk every day, the drum captain on the Drum Tower north of Di'anmen will use the signal "Dai Leng" to start beating the 108-beat "Ding Geng Drum" twice. When the drum sounds, except for Chongwenmen, the soldiers guarding the gates in other places will hit "point" (a kind of sounding instrument, made of copper and flat, with a waistband in the middle and a round hole at one end). After the drums on the drum tower are beaten, the bells on the bell tower begin to ring. The bells ring, the city gates are closed, traffic is stopped, and fences are erected in all the alleys in the city. This is called "cleaning the streets", and then the watchman comes on to play the clapper. On the fifth watch day in the morning, that is, at five o'clock, the "Light Watch Drum" and "Light Watch Bell" will be sounded on the Bell and Drum Tower. The city gates will still ring. After the bells end, the city gates will open.
(End of chapter)
