King Pingxi led Nie Chen and others, as well as a guard of more than a thousand people, and walked toward the west gate in a mighty manner.
King Andong went to the north gate, King Zhennan went to the east gate, and King Jingshan went to the south gate.
The four kings tacitly understood each other and worked together to put pressure on the court.
King Pingxi and his men quickly rushed to the west city gate.
The guard on the city was not Sima Nan, but an unknown general.
"Whoever comes, stop immediately, the city gate is closed, return to the city quickly!"
The general on the top of the city shouted.
King Pingxi stepped out of the carriage and said coldly,
"I am the King of Pingxi. I order you to open the city gate immediately. We are leaving the city!"
The general at the top of the city immediately clasped his hands and said,
"I will finally pay my respects to Prince Pingxi. The prince is out of the city late at night, but is there anything important?"
"Is there anything I need to report to you? Open the city gate!"
King Pingxi shouted.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I have been ordered to guard the city gates. Without orders from the court or His Majesty, if I open the city gates, it will be a capital offense!"
Please forgive me, Your Majesty, for the general's difficulties. "
"Then you go and report to His Majesty. I will give you half an hour. If you don't open the door, don't blame me for my army coming to take me out of the city."
After saying this, King Pingxi returned to the carriage.
The curtain of Nie Chen's carriage was suddenly lifted, and Zhou An walked in, rubbing his hands and saying,
"My lord, this emperor refuses to let us out of the city. If you ask me, don't wait any longer and just kill us."
There is our army outside to support us. We just go to the city gate, open the city gate and go out.
I see there aren't many soldiers and horses up here. We also have escorts and strong generals here, so it won't be difficult to get out. "
Nie Chen smiled and said,
"If it were in other places, if you kill me, you will kill me. But here is the capital. Attacking the capital is a capital crime of treason. No matter how many reasons there are, you can't explain it.
By that time, people all over the country will know that you have led troops to attack the capital, and they will all know that you are a rebel. At that time, the people's support will be lost.
Can the capital defended by only 20,000 people be able to stop the hundreds of thousands of troops outside? It's definitely unstoppable.
But none of the four kings acted rashly, they just put pressure on the emperor, and no one dared to fight the capital defenders with real swords and guns. "
"Hey, you are all cowards. If you ask me, you are afraid of a bird. This emperor wants no soldiers and no power, so why is he occupying the position of emperor?
Kill him as soon as possible, and we can become emperors ourselves. "
"It's all nonsense, even if the emperor is killed, it won't be our turn to be the emperor.
It's so easy to kill the emperor, it's all done with one sword, but why has no one among the four kings rebelled yet? It's because of the people's support.
The people's hearts are still towards the court and the royal family. "
"To put it bluntly, they are all cowards. Just give them a beating and be done with it. They worry about this and that every day."
Zhou An got off the carriage again angrily.
…
In the palace, the royal study.
"Your Majesty, I just received the news."
A palace guard came in, saluted the emperor and the left and right prime ministers and generals, and said,
"All the troops and horses of the four kings outside the city were mobilized. They gathered at the four gates and prepared to attack the city.
The four kings all arrived at the four city gates, clamoring to open the city gates. "
Upon hearing this, General Sima Luan immediately stood up and said,
"Your Majesty, the four kings are going to rebel. They have gathered an army outside the city to attack the capital. Your Majesty must not open the door. If the city gate is opened and the enemy troops march straight in, our lives may not be safe!"
After hearing this, the emperor pondered for a moment, shook his head and said,
"No, although I want to use their military power, the choice is still in their hands whether to give it or not. There is no need for them to risk the disapproval of the world and come together to kill me!"
"Oh, Your Majesty, they don't dare to do this alone, because they don't dare to bear the crime, but if four or five people do it together? The crime will be much lighter.
They just need to let the army enter the city, kill us all, accuse you of being a tyrant, accuse us of being sycophants, and then go back and proclaim themselves emperors. No one can say anything about this! "
General Sima Luan was so anxious that sparks popped out of his eyes.
However, the emperor still shook his head and said,
"No, if they want to attack the city, they can just attack directly. Why do they need to open the city gate and go out?"
"That's because they are worried that we will hold them hostage. The reason why the army outside has not attacked yet is because they are worried that we will hold the kings hostage to threaten them.
Once the city gate is opened and they go out to join the army, we will be doomed, Your Majesty, they will definitely unite to attack us! "
Tong Yuan also said,
"Yes, Your Majesty, now that the kings have rebelled, even if they still care about the people's support, they can come and kill us in the name of Qingjun, and then kill the entire family of Your Majesty, and then say to the outside world, yes We want to rebel. It was us who killed His Majesty. They said they were avenging His Majesty. But when the time comes and there is no proof, what can we do?
The whole country is under their control, and we are all dead, so what can we do to them? "
Left Prime Minister Zheng Sanlang also nodded and said,
"Yes, Your Majesty, if you take a step back, even if the four kings and one prince do not rebel, we cannot let them go easily.
You have ordered them to send troops and horses to the capital for your dispatch, but if you let the tiger go back to the mountain, who will be willing to listen to you?
How about temporarily detaining them and putting them under house arrest in the city, and then let them go after the troops and horses are mobilized.
Externally, just say that the kings and His Majesty are discussing national policies. "
Each of the three major and first-level officials has their own reasons, but the same opinion is that the four kings must not be let out and the city gate must not be opened!
After listening to what they said, the emperor nodded, then sighed and said,
"What you said is all right, but have you ever thought about whether the reality is really what you say?"
"Reality?"
"Yes, if we really detain the four kings, will the four kings let them be detained like this? They will not let us control them, and they will definitely order the army outside the city to attack the city.
We only have a total of 20,000 troops. If we are assigned to the four walls, we cannot achieve complete defense.
If you don't spread out, the enemy troops will take advantage of the loopholes and enter the city. If you spread out, the defense will be too weak.
Moreover, there are the guards of the kings inside, and the kings also have fierce generals beside them. We have to resist the army outside, but also disperse our forces to capture the kings.
We only have 5,000 men on each side, but the kings' guards have 1,000 men. How many men should be allocated to capture them?
If it’s too little, it can’t be taken, but if it’s too much, the wall will be gone.
The kings cooperated internally and externally, but we were attacked from both sides, and ultimately fell short of success. "
