Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2386: Changes (V) Misconceptions
Gao Mo stepped forward and bowed, "My Lord, the secret agent of the Zheng Mansion reported more than half an hour ago that Zheng Guotai left the mansion about an hour ago and said he was going to the Cilong Temple to burn incense."

Gao Youshi's expression changed, and he suddenly fell silent, his face uncertain.

Menggu Zhezhe didn't know why this happened, so he hurriedly asked, "Master, is this unusual?"

Gao Fusi hesitated for a moment and did not answer. He suddenly asked Gao Mo, "Where is Yu Fu now?"

Gao Mo replied: "In the South Flower Hall, we are collecting reports on the secret agents in various places."

"Call him over." Gao Fusi waved his hand fiercely and ordered, "By the way, call Wu Zheng as well... Where is he now?"

Gao Mo replied, "Sixth Master is in the side hall in the backyard. All the medicines used by the master today were personally checked and tested by Sixth Master in the backyard before being given to the master."

"He tasted the medicine himself? Who asked him to do that?" Gao Youshi was stunned.

"It was Uncle Six who wanted to do it." This time it was Menggu Zhezhe who answered: "Originally, I was planning to taste the medicine, but Uncle Six said that men and women have different physiques, so it would be safer for him to taste the medicine. I couldn't argue with him, so I had to let him do it."

"Hmm..." Gao Fusi touched his chin, hesitated for a moment, and nodded: "Okay, I understand. Send someone to call him over."

Gao Mo nodded, bowed and walked out of the door. Menggu Zhezhe hesitated for a moment, but still couldn't help asking: "Master, what's the problem with Cilong Temple?"

"There's nothing wrong with Cilong Temple. The problem is the area next to Cilong Temple." Gao Youshi glanced at Menggu Zhezhe and said, "Although you seldom go out, you should know where the area next to Cilong Temple is, right?"

The location of Cilong Temple is very interesting. There is nothing special about its east, west, south and north, but the four corners are all famous places in the capital: the northeast is the Pure Land Temple, the southeast is the Fatong Temple, the northwest is the Wine and Vinegar Factory, and the southwest is...

Menggu Zhezhe's face changed: "...It's the Tengxiang Four Guards Camp."

Gao Youshi nodded and added: "After the establishment of the Imperial Guard, the Four Tengxiang Guards were disbanded. Later, some court officials said that the defense of the capital was unbalanced, the Imperial Guards were strong outside, and the Jing Army was weak inside, so the defense inside the capital was insufficient. It was suggested that the emperor restore the Four Tengxiang Guards and assign them to the Jing Army.

At that time, I was fighting in Korea, and the court was led by Duke Duinan (Wang Jiaping, also known as Duinan). He thought there was nothing wrong with this move, so he voted to agree. The emperor then used the treasure, and the Tengxiang Four Guards were restored. Today, the Tengxiang Four Guards have 9,000 regular soldiers, including 2,000 elite soldiers, and are said to have a combat power similar to that of the Imperial Guards. In addition, it also has five Beijing Guards, which should have about 30,000 banner troops. [Note: The Ming Dynasty banner army does not mean the "Eight Banners". Friends who are interested can check it out by themselves, and I will not explain it here.]
Menggu Zhezhe became a little nervous and asked, "Master, do you suspect that Zheng Guotai's visit to Cilong Temple was fake, and that his visit to Tengxiang Four Guards was real? This... the Zheng family would not really dare to mutiny, right?"

Gao Youshi also looked a little surprised, and said thoughtfully: "According to my previous analysis, the Zheng family should not have such an opportunity... It's not that the Zheng family will definitely not be able to persuade Li Chengliang or Li Wenjin, but they have no chance of success if they do so. After all, even if I really can't take charge of the affairs, the emperor only needs an imperial edict, or even an oral order, to make all crises disappear."

"But you are fine now. Didn't Concubine Zheng see it with her own eyes just now?" Menggu Zhezhe was even more puzzled after hearing this: "Besides, the emperor is just recuperating. I haven't heard that his condition has worsened recently."

"I also find it strange." Gao Youshi nodded and asked in confusion: "Could it be that I was pretending to be sick too much? But even if I was lying down and didn't get up, at least I could talk without any problem. Could Concubine Zheng still conclude that I can't take care of things?"

Meng Gu Zhezhe couldn't figure it out either, so she could only put this aside for now and asked, "Let's not talk about what happened to the Zheng family. If the Imperial Horse Administration is really unreliable now, how bad can things get?"

Gao Fusi became serious and said, "That's why I asked Lao Liu and Gao Qi to come here quickly." When he said this, there was a knock on the door. Gao Fusi and Meng Gu Zhezhe looked at each other and said, "Come in."

The door opened, Gao Mo led Gao Wuzheng and Gao Qi in quickly, and greeted Gao Fushi one after another. Gao Fushi waved his hand and said, "We are all family, no need to be polite."

Then he asked Gao Qi directly: "How many armed servants are there in the Duke's Mansion? What are their weapons and equipment?"

Gao Qi answered without hesitation: "There are 475 people, all equipped with the latest Wanli Type 3 rifles, no cannons, no heavy armor. However, the mansion has enough light firearms, both cold and hot weapons for infantry and cavalry, enough bullets and gunpowder, and even at least 5,000 palm mines."

Gao Youshi knew that the number of people was no more than 500, because this was the capital, and the inner city, and he would not violate taboos on such matters. The same was true for no cannons and no heavy armor. However, he was not aware that there were at least 5,000 grenades in the mansion - he only knew that there were, but he had never asked how many there were.

After a rough calculation, Gao Youshi ordered Gao Qi: "Deploy the defense according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs' top-secret Plan B."

"Yes, uncle." Gao Qi agreed immediately, but hesitated for a moment, especially secretly glancing at Menggu Zhezhe, and whispered: "In Plan B, there is another place that needs to be focused on defense..."

Gao Fushi's expression remained unchanged, and he said, "Luo'er is in the Princess's residence, so we naturally need to deploy defenses. You can ask people to mobilize servants from Jinghua Commercial Society, Jinghua Pharmacy, etc. in the city to arm them, and send 300 people."

Gao Qi agreed, and then asked: "Are these three hundred people under the command of the eldest princess?"

Gao Fusi frowned and said, "The princess doesn't know how to command the troops. Didn't Gao Jing just come to visit me from Jianxinzhai? Let him command."

Gao Qi subconsciously shrank his neck, thinking: It's probably not Xiao Luo who has face, but the eldest princess who has face... Although Gao Jing was demoted one level of rank because of the massacre in Bengal last time, he was also a senior naval general who served as the commander of the Western Expedition Fleet. Now he is sent to command a mere 300 servants... Hey, as a naval general, can he command land defense and guard a mansion?

Although he was thinking about it, Gao Qi did not dare to be negligent. He asked Gao Youshi if he had any other instructions. Gao Youshi waved his hand and asked him to do it first. Gao Qi went ahead.

Gao Fusi turned to Gao Wuzheng and said, "Before everything starts, Lao Liu, you should leave the city immediately and rush back to see Xinzhai to command the servants." At this point, he paused and said to Menggu Zhezhe, "Menggu, give my Tianshu sword to Lao Liu."

Menggu Zhezhe hurried to the bookshelf nearby, took the sword of Gao Wushi, which represented the military power of Jinghua, from the sword rack, and handed it to Gao Wuzheng with both hands.

Gao Wuzheng had been very careful recently since he was reprimanded by Gao Guoshi last time, fearing that he would displease his elder brother. Today, he even tasted the medicine for his elder brother in person. Now that he finally gained his elder brother's trust, he could not help but feel pleasantly surprised and at the same time felt a great sense of responsibility. With slightly trembling hands, he took the Tianshu Knife, took a deep breath and said, "I will repay my elder brother's trust with my life."

Gao Youshi frowned at first, but immediately relaxed his brows and said gently, "You don't have to be so serious. The current situation is unclear. I am just making some preparations in advance. Things may not develop in the worst direction. Besides, there are 3,000 armed servants outside the city. You can quickly contact Sanshen Garden. There are 500 people at the coal mine, and they can be temporarily transferred to Jianxinzhai for your command. These 3,500 people are not inferior to the Imperial Guards in terms of training and equipment. Even if there is a change in the capital, you will not have to risk your life."

Gao Wuzheng nodded repeatedly and asked, "Brother, what is my job?"

"Jianxinzhai is on level one alert. Weapons are distributed to all males, who are responsible for guarding Jianxinzhai. You three thousand or three thousand five hundred people must be ready to go into battle at any time. However, my orders may not reach you directly, so you must always pay attention to the pigeon station. Orders will be issued from the city. When you see my private seal, it is a military order." After a pause, Gao Youshi added, "There will be an ink dot next to the private seal as a secret mark."

Gao Wuzheng took note and asked, "If there is no order..."

"Then stay in Jianxinzhai. No matter how the outside world changes, you must not lead your troops out." Gao Youshi stared at him and said, "What I mean is, as long as you don't have my order, even if the entire Jingbei camp's imperial guards are dispatched to attack the capital, you can't move a single step without authorization. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Gao Wuzheng answered immediately, but after a pause, he hesitated again and asked with a worried look on his face, "But if my brother is in danger..."

"You are not allowed to move without my order!" Gao Youshi glared at him and said, "Don't I know how to judge whether there is danger or not?"

Gao Wuzheng was indeed a little afraid of his elder brother, but correspondingly, as the sixth illegitimate son, the care he received was considered the best among the illegitimate sons of that era, so he was indeed worried about his elder brother.

Even though his elder brother said this, he still couldn't help but say, "Brother, you are a master at commanding troops, but after all, there are less than 500 servants in the city, and the four Tengxiang guards have more than 9,000 people. They are only two miles away from the Jingguo Mansion, so close. I really don't feel at ease."

It was indeed close. Gao Youshi's Jingguo Mansion was located in the former residence of Zhang Zhidong in Beijing in later generations, and the station of the Tengxiang Four Guards was between the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower two miles north of here, exactly one kilometer apart, or two miles. To be honest, this distance was so short that it was almost a charge.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Gao Youshi shook his head and said, "Although the Jing Army has restored the Tengxiang Four Guards, the old Tengxiang Four Guards were selected and transferred to the Imperial Guards, and the new Tengxiang Four Guards were recently trained. Even though there are some physical fitness requirements, the training is also copied from the Imperial Guards, but the posture is still the same, and there is no actual combat experience. They have never even seen a trace of blood. How much combat power can they have?

These servants in my mansion who were carefully selected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs have all participated in at least three complete battles and killed more than three enemies. In addition to armor, they are now equipped with sophisticated equipment.

The Duke's Mansion was cleverly designed when it was built. If there was any danger, there were crossfire holes on the walls to rely on, and the Rixin Building was a natural sentry tower...

In short, my Jingguo Mansion is impregnable, how can ordinary soldiers easily capture it? You just need to wait for my order or keep your troops still."

At this point, Gao Wuzheng had no more to say and had to agree. Seeing that his brother had no other instructions, he left in a hurry, in case something really happened in the city and he couldn't leave the city, which would be a disaster.

Gao Youshi stopped him at the end and told him not to leave the city through Deshengmen or Andingmen in the north, but to go through Xizhimen. The reason was that most of the Jingjun camps were in the north of the city, and the probability of problems was higher if he went through the two northern gates. Although Xizhimen was also in the northwest corner, there were no Jingjun camps stationed there, so the safety factor was higher.

Gao Wuzheng naturally obeyed the order completely. He came out from the south gate of the Jingguo Mansion, and went west from the small bridge south of Qianhai Lake along the Di'an Gate. As expected, there was no trouble along the way.

Let’s not talk about Gao Wuzheng for now. After Gao Wushi sent Gao Qi and Gao Wuzheng away, he still felt that the situation was quite strange. He compared the information with Gao Mo and discussed what Zheng Guotai’s behavior meant and whether it was just a coincidence.

Gao Mo pondered and said, "Whether it is a coincidence or not depends on whether the Four Tengxiang Guards will take action. However, I think that Master just said that Concubine Zheng actually knelt down to apologize when she saw you. This is really... really unexpected. I always feel that something is wrong."

That was definitely wrong, and Gao Youshi found it very strange at the time. Although Concubine Zheng was not the queen, and Gao Youshi took the opportunity to give her the "imperial" character of "imperial concubine" after the last incident, the concubine herself was already the concubine with the highest status in the harem except for the queen, and it stands to reason that she also had some "king" power. Gao Youshi would usually call her "minister" in front of her.

Under such circumstances, Concubine Zheng actually knelt down and apologized to Gao Youshi in front of the Queen and Chen Ju, which made the Queen a little at a loss. In the end, Chen Ju stepped forward to rescue her, helped her up, and said some polite words to smooth over the situation, thus ending this rather outrageous and strange drama.

You know, no matter how much the emperor trusted Gao Youshi, he would intentionally or unintentionally ignore "etiquette" and deliberately show Gao Youshi's uniqueness. However, the emperor is the emperor after all, he can act "rudely", Gao Youshi can't really take this situation for granted... How many ministers died because of this lack of self-awareness?
Therefore, the moment Concubine Zheng knelt down, he already felt that something was wrong. However, Concubine Zheng's tearful look was indeed a bit of an acting skill, and he couldn't be too moved, so as not to alert the enemy. Moreover, in the absence of the Queen's explicit words to stop him, he could only say something polite like "Why did Concubine Zheng do this?"

In short, if we want to find out the reason for the strange situation now, apart from continuing to wait for the intelligence gathered from all over to the Duke's Mansion, we can only infer the intention of "Empress Zheng kneeling down to apologize."

Gao Fusi and Gao Mo discussed for a while, but could not come to a reasonable conclusion. At this time, Menggu Zhezhe suddenly said timidly: "Master, I think..."

"Hmm?" Gao Youshi hadn't thought about what Menggu Zhezhe would say about this matter. After all, judging from her previous performance, conspiracy didn't seem to be her forte.

Menggu Zhezhe herself did not look very confident, and was almost unable to hold back her next words when Gao Youshi asked her “Hmm?” However, Gao Youshi reacted quickly, immediately showing an encouraging smile and asking, “No problem, just say it if you have something to say.”

Menggu Zhezhe took a deep breath and said carefully, "I think that Concubine Zheng may not be as powerful as Master and Uncle Mo imagined. Although it seems strange that she knelt down to apologize, it may be a common tactic used by women, and she used it subconsciously."

"Hmm?" Gao Youshi was quite surprised, but also very curious. He suddenly had an idea and thought to himself: Hey, this seems to make sense! Uncle Mo and I are both men, and we must think about problems in the same way as men, but Concubine Zheng is a woman, and her thinking is different from that of Uncle Mo and me. And Menggu is also a woman, maybe she can really "put herself in Concubine Zheng's shoes" and put herself into Concubine Zheng's thinking, and then think of Concubine Zheng's intentions...

Thinking of this, Gao Youshi said decisively: "Tell me in detail."

Menggu Zhezhe was greatly encouraged by this and hurriedly said, "It's easy to explain. After the last lesson, I'm afraid that in Concubine Zheng's mind, there are only two people in the world who can control her. One is the emperor, and the other is you, my master."

Gao Youshi was skeptical and asked, "Even if that's the case, so what?"

"That means she is afraid of you, Master." Meng Gu Zhezhe said, "In this case, if she wants to find a way to stabilize you, she will use the most familiar and most commonly used method... showing weakness!"
-
Thanks to book friend "HiHi2010" for the 7 monthly tickets, thank you!

Thanks to book friends "doni" and "Zaixia Nange" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!