Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 827 The team sets off for Beijing
Inside the post station outside the capital,

On the second floor of the inn,

The people from the Zheng Palace and the Han Palace stood quietly inside. In the center of the inner hall, a table of wine and food was almost untouched.

The two princes sat there quietly, with thoughtful expressions on their faces. Only the two military advisors from the palace were chatting with each other. When they heard that they were leaving today, the two princes were puzzled. Not only were they in such a hurry, but why did they have to go to Ningguo Mansion?

Xu Langcai didn't understand at all. The princes of Guannei had always kept to themselves and the four kings and eight dukes, especially the dukes' mansions in the capital, who had always treated each other with courtesy. If Ningguo Mansion got involved, even if it was just a small matter of offering sacrifices, there would definitely be a stir among the nobles or in the court.
"Brother, why are you talking about Ningguo Mansion again? What does Jia Jing's life or death have to do with us? We have to go to the palace to express our condolences in the name of the royal palace. Let alone others, I don't know what the nobles in the capital would think if they saw it. Brother, I'm afraid... I'm afraid..."

Xu Liangcai spoke more and more quietly, and an idea suddenly occurred to him. If the people from the palace went there, the nobles in the capital would definitely know about it. How could the palace not know about it? If the palace knew about it, wouldn't the emperor know about it too? Now, who doesn't know about the Jia family's affairs?
Although the evidence is irrefutable and Jia Jing is dead, the favor left by his ancestors is still there, and the retired emperor still cares about him. At this time, what they are doing in the Guannei Palace is to prepare for the retired emperor's birthday banquet in the name of filial piety for the retired emperor, and to prepare for the retired emperor's birthday banquet with the tribute team, just for the princes to return to the capital. As long as the retired emperor nods and agrees, the matter will be done.
Therefore,
Everything they did could not be concealed, and every step was seen by the retired emperor. Going to Ningguo Mansion to pay tribute was out of consideration for old friendship, and it was a good move by senior brother.

Praise,

"Brother is Brother, I admire him sincerely. His calculations are beyond doubt. Once we make a move, the Four Princes will definitely go there. The eyes of the capital will be focused on Ningguo Mansion. The Jia family is the head of the Eight Dukes. In this way, everyone will know that we are in Beijing. Even if Prince Zhongshun wants to make some moves, it will be difficult for him to do so. Once all the people in the Prince's Mansion are here and we can get through this period, the court will summon us next month to prepare for the birthday banquet of the retired emperor. Then the opportunity will come."

After hearing the explanation of Military Advisor Xu, the two princes suddenly realized. Prince Zheng was still okay, but Prince Han had a serious face. Mr. Fan was indeed a genius. As long as he was there, the Zheng Palace would be peaceful. Then, if he was gone, the Zheng Palace would not be a concern. The thought of killing him gradually arose in their hearts, but unfortunately, this man was elusive and left no trace!

"Teacher, if that's the case, why are we entering the city today? We have reliable news that the convoys of the Gong and Lang families will arrive tomorrow at noon, and the Northern and Eastern Palaces have already unloaded their goods at the dock. The tributes they plan to prepare will also take until tomorrow to be arranged. It's too hasty to enter the city now."

The Prince of Han, Zhou Xingshan, was somewhat reluctant. The staff of the palace had not yet arrived, and if they rushed into the capital in a hurry, many things would be unsafe.

The voice just fell,

The prince of Zheng, who was sitting upright opposite him, suddenly smiled and shook his head.

"Brother Shi, it's too hasty. We are in a hurry, and the other party is also in a hurry. Let's not talk about other things. In addition to the Ningguo Mansion matter tomorrow, there is another matter. I wonder if you know about it, Brother Shi."

Zhou Zhengbai kept the secret, his eyes slightly narrowed, wanting to see the capabilities of the Han Palace. The things that the Bei Palace and Dongwang Palace were preparing to pay tribute to were not confidential and could not be hidden from the spies in the capital. However, there were some things that could only be discovered after knowing.

Zhou Xingshan raised his head when he heard this. Among all the vassal kings in Guannei, the most powerful one was King Zheng. Since he asked, there must be something wrong in the capital. Could it be,
"Haha, oh, everyone says that you, Zhou Zhengbai, are an open person. Today, it seems that rumors are just rumors. No matter who is hiding the affairs of the capital, we can't hide them from you and my family. I don't know if you are talking about the two aunts returning to the capital. I learned that at noon tomorrow, yes, at three quarters after noon, the two aunts will each host a banquet at their homes, and there will be many old friends and relatives from the capital."

Zhou Xingshan had a strange look on his face. Only the two aunts would dare to send out invitations and hold a banquet like this. It was three quarters past noon, which was the time when the executioner beheaded people. It seemed that they had bad intentions and wanted to keep him out.

Seeing Zhou Xingshan answer truthfully, Zhou Zhengbai no longer kept it a secret and admitted it;
"Brother Shi is right. The two aunts have been away from the capital for a long time. They suddenly came back and chose this time to entertain many old nobles. At the same time, which house to go to and which not to go to, I'm afraid it will be enough to give those people a headache. Since this matter will happen tomorrow, how can we wade into that muddy water?"

"This"

Zhou Xingshan also understood, but how could he accept it when Zhou Zhengbai was the one holding him back?

Just at this time,

At the entrance of the stairs, applause suddenly broke out.

Everyone paused and turned to look, only to see the other princes of the palace coming up, with Zhou Yewen leading the way and clapping his hands in praise;

"As expected of you, Senior Brother, you have a good idea. Tomorrow's business will be tomorrow's. Today's business is today. I can't wait to join in the fun. I think the two aunts won't blame me. It just so happens that the carriages in the courtyard have not loosened their reins. There is no time to hesitate. Let's go to the capital now. How about that?"

The three of them had overheard what the two princes had just said downstairs. It was obvious that there were some things in the capital that they didn't know, especially knowing that the two aunts would return to the capital, which would definitely cause trouble in the future. It was fortunate that the two aunts remembered to invite guests to a banquet at 15:30.
Coincidentally,

The soldiers in the post station have not yet taken off their armor. Only three military advisors from the royal palace and their guards have gone into the city first to make arrangements. With all this time involved, who would want to live in this shabby place?

They are all Prince Zhongshun's spies, and they are not allowed to speak loudly.

Zhou Zhengbai and Zhou Xingshan, seeing that the three brothers had come, both stood up and clasped their fists, and exchanged polite words. The two looked at each other, and it was good that everyone was here.

"Haha, well said. If that's the case, then let's move. What do you think, gentlemen?"

Zhou Zhengbai bowed and inquired about the two people who were still sitting there, eating and drinking. He saw that they didn't care about their image at all, as if there was no one around. One of them was tearing a chicken leg with one hand and drinking from a glass with the other hand.

He drank the whole cup of wine, his face full of intoxication, and took a big bite of the chicken leg in his hand, then put it down with satisfaction, and wiped his greasy hands on his clothes again and again without any disgust, then stood up, and Xu Liang shook his head;

"Yes, it's time to go. It's a pity to waste all these delicious food and wine, brother, don't you think so?"

"Ahaha, it's nothing more than the desire for food and drink. There are plenty of them in the capital. Since we are leaving, we must leave in style and display all the flags and armor. His Western Palace has elite cavalry, and the Southern Palace has rattan armored soldiers. How can the vassal kings in the interior not have elite troops? It's time for the world to see them."

Fan Wenhai pretended to be drunk, muttered something, and ignored the princes, staggering downstairs. Xu Liangcai did the same and followed him downstairs, but the princes who stayed behind had a gleam in their eyes.
They looked at each other and understood each other. Which royal palace doesn't have elite soldiers? They bowed in the direction of the stairs and led their people down the stairs hurriedly.

Then, inside the post station, there were the sounds of armor colliding and horses neighing. Then, teams of carriages and rows of armored soldiers left the post station and headed for the south gate of the capital, taking the official road all the way, with an imposing manner.

Above the south gate of the capital,
Fu Cheng, the deputy governor of the Southern City Military Department, stood on the top of the city wall and saw a long group of soldiers heading towards the capital. He was puzzled as to where the soldiers and horses came from. When he took a closer look, he saw that they were fully equipped with weapons and armor and had clear flags, but they were too far away to be seen clearly.

"General Han, where did the team outside come from?"

Han Ling, the South City Gate Guard, heard the adults ask and looked up. He saw the troops coming. They were wearing heavy armor and marching in an orderly and silent manner. They were obviously elite soldiers. Judging from the direction, they seemed to be coming from the post station. Could it be that they were the troops of the vassal kings entering the capital? But there were too many of them.
"Your Excellency, the direction they are coming from is the South City Post Station. I heard this morning that the tribute-paying teams from the various vassal kings have already arrived at the post station to rest. I don't know why they are entering the capital at this time."

The tribute team of the princes was them. Fu Yuancheng was shocked and remembered what Commander He had said. The princes' team would enter the capital the next day or the day after tomorrow, and he had to lead the army to guard the city. To be on the safe side, he led the troops today to go through the formalities. Unexpectedly, they arrived at this time.

You came at the wrong time.

After thinking about it, since the people have come, they can't be stopped from entering the city. After all, the Honglu Temple has already made arrangements. Well, the sooner they come, the sooner they can finish the work.
"Han Ling, blow the horn, raise the horn, organize the troops, and clear the city gates,"

"Yes, sir, I will obey your order."

As the two answered, Gao Fang went down from the tower to organize his troops and clear the civilians at the city gate, while General Han commanded many soldiers to go up to the city wall to be on guard, and ordered the bugler to blow the bugle.
"Ohh Ohh ohh!"

The sad horn sounded and spread throughout the capital. Zhang Jinyu, who had just left Sanshanju, bought a crispy pork biscuit at the street corner and was chewing it. He was still complaining that Lu Wenshan was pretending to be mysterious. What kind of Sanshanju is this? There is not even a decent dish. It is not as delicious as the crispy pork in his hand.
A trumpet blew.

Zhang Jinyu reacted instantly and pricked up his ears, listening to the direction of the sound. It seemed to be coming from the South Gate. Interesting, at this time, the only ones who could make the gate guards blow the horn were the troops of the princes. It seemed that they were entering Beijing so quickly!
"My Lord, it should be the princes' team that has entered the capital. I don't know who arrived first. All the princes from the interior of the country have come to pay tribute this time. And I heard from you that the four princes of different surnames have also prepared their own tributes. I don't know how they prepared them."

Zhang Jinyu was shocked. Four kings of different surnames also wanted to come to the capital to give gifts. Aren't they Shui Rong and his men? They should just stay in the capital and give gifts. But then he thought, as the saying goes, the sentiment is great, and it doesn't matter how much you give, as long as you give as much as you can. The two princes in other places are giving gifts as tribute. If the two princes don't give anything, they will be worried about it, which is not good.

"It is not the lack of money that is worrying, but the inequality of the money, and the same is true for gift giving."

After hearing this guess, I don't know what Ning Bian was thinking, he suddenly asked;
"My Lord, since they have all sent it, will you send it too? After all, the emperor outside the pass..."

After looking around, Ning Bian said no more, but Zhang Jinyu's face darkened. What was he talking about? Wasn't it just that when the emperor was conferring titles outside the Great Wall, the emperor raised his rank? This was considered a favor, and it was okay to give him a higher rank. I just didn't know what name to give him!

After all, the impression given by the people inside the Great Wall is that the place outside the Great Wall is a poor place, but the place is huge. Thinking of this, I suddenly felt a bad thing in my heart.

"Damn it, you're actually looking for trouble with me. Don't we still have a lot of goods from overseas at the Chamber of Commerce? Deer antlers, old mountain ginseng, and a batch of top-quality medicinal materials. Send someone over to sort them out now. Take out four boxes. And the coral tree and golden branches and jade leaves. Prepare six more boxes. Clean them all. Also, prepare two umbrellas for the people and two boxes of rice in the shortest possible time."

"Well, Lord, those things are easy to prepare, but Lord, there are ten boxes in total, and each person in the palace only has five boxes, which is too polite,"

Ning Bian was confused. Aren't these things too few, and they were all worthless. Those princes and noble families would probably send rare treasures and gems, and they would rush to send them. After all, the Marquis had obtained some treasures at that time. If someone gossiped about this matter, the Marquis would be embarrassed.

Zhang Jinyu saw that Ning Bian had become much duller. Why couldn't he figure it out? No matter how precious the gift was, it was really not worth mentioning compared to the secret vault in the palace. Especially in the previous dynasty, most of the good things in the palace fell into the hands of the Zhou family. In addition to the tributes from all over the country, they had seen all kinds of treasures. These were not important. What was important was the rarity. He patted Ning Bian's shoulder with his hand.
"How could you be so stupid? It's bitterly cold outside the Great Wall, and it's good to have nothing to eat. But you still have two umbrellas for the people, and two boxes of rice from outside the Great Wall. They will be very useful."

As the saying goes, if you don't have enough money, you can make up for it with things. Once you make up for it with things, you will look better.
"My Lord, it is not difficult to prepare an umbrella, but it is more troublesome to get the signatures of all the people. I am afraid that we cannot gather them all in a short time."

This is what troubled Ningbian. It is easy to make an umbrella bigger, but how to sign the name?
Zhang Jinyu was also confused after hearing this. What he said was right. The literacy rate of the ancients was not high. Only those scholars and students in the academy could write. Ordinary people couldn't even write their own names. But it was fake.

"You ask the clerks in the barracks to write a few names first, just scribbling them casually, and then ask the brothers in the barracks to work hard to write their own names. If they can't, ask the clerks to arrange it. Of course, everyone will be given an extra month's salary, and the clerks will be given two extra months. You must do this well. We can't just watch them send it."

"Yes, Lord Marquis, I will finally understand."

"Okay, let's go to South City."

Zhang Jinyu and his group pulled the reins, turned their horses around, and headed straight for South City.

At this time, outside the South City Gate,
Fu Yuancheng has led 3,000 heavy armored soldiers of the Bingmasi to line up outside. These were specially borrowed by the commander Shi He to boost the reputation of the Bingmasi. With only 3,000 soldiers, most of the money of the Bingmasi government office was spent. It was really a waste of money.
"Sir, we are less than five miles away. The leading flag is the troops of Prince Zheng's Palace, and the ones following closely are the troops of Prince Han's Palace. It seems that they are coming together."

Han Ling was riding on a horse. He stood up and jumped to the south. He saw the leading cavalrymen holding the flag of Prince Zheng's Palace, riding tall horses and wearing heavy armor. Only the Prince Zheng's Palace could have such wealth and power.

"Yes, that's right. King Zheng has always been powerful, his fiefdom is close to the Central Plains, he has a strong army and sufficient food. He should not be underestimated."

Fu Yuancheng sighed slightly. He didn't know when the capital city became such a troubled place. In the past, the Bingmasi was the most comfortable government office, but now, he was always busy with official duties until midnight.

The various military governors, perhaps out of competition, sent people back to the capital to act as advance guards, but things were not going well. The Military Department could not intervene, nor could it ignore it. As for Shuntian Prefecture, that old fox Xu Jiaqing was slippery and would hide whenever possible. However, the Military Department had the responsibility of patrolling the entire city's security and could not avoid it. The matter was reported to Lord He many times, but Lord He actually submitted a memorial to the Ministry of War. What was the use of gathering 3,000 heavily armored soldiers? Aren't the five of them still in the forefront?

"Your Excellency is right, but the vassal kings are still limited. The important town of Anyang is still blocking the entrance to the southwest. No one can enter without taking Anyang. If we can't take Anyang in a short time, the reinforcements from the Beijing camp will arrive."

Han Ling did not think so. No matter how powerful the vassal king was, he was limited to his fiefdom. He had no more than 30,000 soldiers and his fiefdom was only half a county. Even if he really started a rebellion, how could 30,000 people accomplish anything? There were more than 40,000 government troops in Anyang alone. If he could not conquer it in a short time, it would be troublesome.

When Fu Yuancheng heard what General Han said, he felt that it was true. With only 30,000 soldiers and horses, they might not be able to match the people of the Bingmasi and could not accomplish anything great. Why would he think about these things!

While he was talking, the convoy heading south was about to approach, about a mile away. Fu Yuancheng waved his hand and said;
"Follow the plan."

"Yes, my lord."

Han Ling clasped his fists and replied,

Then he began to command the soldiers of the Bingmasi to follow the official road outside the city, with 3,000 heavily armored soldiers blocking the way, and 4,000 soldiers of the Bingmasi divided into two wings, with weapons and armor, and their momentum was not weak at all.

Fu Yuancheng looked at all this and nodded with satisfaction. It was worth it for the military and military officials to spend so much effort. He couldn't help but praise it out loud.

"it is good,"

The commotion at the south gate of the capital was obviously watched by the people around. More and more people gathered, and some even sat on the ground, ready to watch the excitement.

The team coming from the south naturally saw all of this. The princes did not hide in the carriages. They all wore light armor and rode on horses at the front of the team, looking at the movements in the capital and the soldiers blocking the road with great momentum. Wasn't this a warning to them?

The face of Zhou Zhengbai, the prince of Zheng Wangfu, darkened. He saw that there were 7,000 people blocking the city gate. As the saying goes, a good dog does not block the road. The number of people blocking the road was equal to theirs. It was obvious that they came prepared.

"Everyone, the court got the news really quickly. As soon as we left, there were soldiers blocking us. Look where these soldiers are from. I estimate there are about 7,000 of them, no more, no less, which is equal to our number. Tsk tsk,"

After the explanation given by Prince Zheng, the faces of the other princes became even uglier. Only Prince Chen looked up and saw that there were many soldiers on the top of the city wall. Looking at the flags, huh? How could they be from the Military Department? That's not right. When did the Military Department have heavy armored troops? Could it be that they were dressed up by the Imperial Guards?

"Everyone, the flags on the top of the city still belong to the Bingma Division, but on the official road, there are 3,000 heavily armored soldiers. How could the Bingma Division have these? Could they be dressed up as imperial guards?"

This question caused the other princes to look up quickly. Sure enough, Zhou Yewen frowned and shook his head.

"Really not. A few days ago, I heard a junior officer from the Military Affairs Department chatting in a brothel in the capital. He said that the Military Affairs Department had formed a 3,000-strong heavy armored army. The entire command office had become a place for training soldiers, and almost all the money in the treasury of the office was spent on them. When this person spoke, he cursed and didn't seem to be lying."

Zhou Yewen's words made the hearts of several people sink. Even the Bingma Division has heavy armored troops. In the capital, when they think of the Anhu Camp of the Beijing Camp and the elite imperial guards, they feel cold in their hearts. The court is still the court.

Each in silence,

(End of this chapter)